Online Rave for Will Ferrell's Upcoming Broadway Show

A contributer to popular web site Ain't It Cool News, had the good fortune to attend a rehearsal of Will Ferrell's upcoming stage show, You're Welcome America, A Final Night with George W. Bush and has come away raving and reporting on the experience. 

The site writes "I'm not going to give away too much of the funny, but since what I saw was a working version and is likely to change dramatically, it wouldn't matter anyway. In the show, Ferrell's Bush stumbles through the telling of his childhood adventures, his collegiate misdeeds, his Gubernatorial days in Texas and on through the 2000 election debacle, September 11th, the subsequent coercion of the press and congress, and the consequent invasion of Iraq... oh, we get a small smattering of Hurricane Katrina to boot. Does is sound like a fairly comprehensive history of our 43rd commander in chief? It is. Does it sound like a scathing portrayal of a sitting US President? It is."

Click here for the full report. 

Variety recently reported that HBO has signed on as a producer of Will Ferrell's upcoming Broadway show, "You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush". The cable network is also set to air a live telecast of the show from Broadway, at a date to be named later. (It's assumed that it'll be from towards the end of the show's run). 

The TV special will be directed by Marty Callner, who previously has directed other HBO comedy specials including those of Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld, Robin Williams and George Carlin. Executive producers will be Callner for Funny Business as well as Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Jessica Elbaum for Gary Sanchez Productions.

Film and television star Will Ferrell's upcoming Broadway debut in his new one-man show "You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W Bush" will officially open on Thursday, February 5th, 2009, with previews starting on January 20th. The show will be directed by Adam McKay, Ferrell's longtime collaborator, and director of the comedy classics Anchorman, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and this summer's box office hit Step Brothers.

Performances will begin on Tuesday, January 20, 2009, the same day as the United States Presidential Inauguration, in preparation for the February 5th opening. The limited engagement will run through March 15, 2009 at the Cort Theatre (138 West 48th Street)

"You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W Bush" is being produced by Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel and Steve Traxler the producing team behind the current August: Osage County and Speed-The-Plow, as well as Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's Gary Sanchez Productions with Executive Producer Jessica Elbaum.

Will Ferrell has come a long way since his days on Saturday Night Live, crossing over from television icon to motion picture star. Most recently, Ferrell reunited with John C. Reilly in the comedy Step Brothers. Ferrell also reunited with longtime collaborator, writer/director Adam McKay, to co-write the screenplay. Released this July, Step Brothers went to earn over $100 million domestically.

In 2006, Ferrell demonstrating that his dramatic gifts equal his comedic talents, Ferrell earned his second Golden Globe nomination (Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical) for his portrayal of IRS agent Harold Crick in last year's Stranger Than Fiction, starring opposite Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah and Maggie Gyllenhaal for director Marc Forester.

That same year Ferrell starred in the hit comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby with co-stars John C. Reilly and Sacha Baron Cohen. Earning nearly $150 million at the U.S. box office, the film became the season's #1 comedy (non-animated) and continues to set records on DVD.

In the summer of 2004, Ferrell starred in the comedy Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy for DreamWorks Pictures, which grossed over $85 million domestically. Ferrell co-wrote the script with writer Adam McKay. Judd Apatow produced, with David O. Russell (Three Kings) executive producing. Ferrell portrayed Ron Burgundy, a 1970s anchorman with an inflated ego threatened by the arrival of an ambitious female newscaster who, unlike him, has mastered journalism. Ferrell and McKay plan to team up again to release a sequel in 2010.

Ferrell completed his seventh and final season on the legendary NBC late-night hit Saturday Night Live in 2002, having taken the nation by storm during "Indecision 2000" by impersonating President George W. Bush on the show. Some of his most memorable SNL characters include Craig the Spartan Cheerleader, musical middle school teacher Marty Culp, and Tom Wilkins, the hyperactive co-host of "Morning Latte." Among his many cross-gender impressions are Janet Reno, Alex Trebek, Neil Diamond and the late, great Chicago Cubs sportscaster Harry Caray. His work on SNL earned two Emmy nominations in 2001 (Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, and Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program).

Ferrell's previous film credits include Zoolander, Elf, the Woody Allen feature Melinda and Melinda, the comedies Semi-Pro, Bewitched and Old School, and the screen adaptation of The Producers, which earned Ferrell his first Golden Globe nomination in 2006 for Best Supporting Actor. He recently wrapped production on his next feature film, Universal's Land of the Lost which he stars opposite of Danny McBride and produced by Jimmy Miller. The film is set to release in the summer of 2009.

In 2007, Ferrell and McKay founded the video website Funnyordie.com. The comedy video website contains exclusive material from a number of famous contributors such as Judd Apatow and Jack Black, and has its own "Funny or Die Team" ("FOD Team") which creates original material for the site. The site's first video, "The Landlord," has received over 55 million views and features Ferrell confronted by a swearing, beer-drinking two-year-old landlord. In June 2008, the site they announced a partnership with HBO to develop television projects.

Following their website success, Ferrell and McKay teamed together again to open their own production company, Gary Sanchez Productions. So far, they have supported the 2006 Sundance hit The Foot Fist Way starring Danny McBride (Tropic Thunder), who also co-wrote with director Jody Hill. The film was released last May by Paramount Vantage. Currently, Gary Sanchez is in production with a new dark comedy HBO series titled East Bound and Down also starring Danny McBride who, again, will be co-writing with director Hill which is set to debut on the network in 2009.

Raised in Irvine, California, Ferrell attended USC and graduated with a degree in sports information. Upon graduation, he worked as a sportscaster on a weekly show broadcast over a local cable channel. Soon after, he enrolled in acting classes and stand-up comedy workshops at a nearby community college and was eventually asked to join the esteemed comedy/improv group The Groundlings after just one year of training. It was at The Groundlings that Ferrell was discovered for Saturday Night Live.

Adam McKay is a writer, director, and producer who has done the movies Anchorman, Talladega Nights and most recently, Step Brothers, which he co-wrote with Will Ferrell. He is a former head writer of SNL and one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade. Other past credits include writing for Michael Moore's show "The Awful Truth." Most recently he co-founded the comedy website Funny or Die and just finished producing the movie The Goods: The Don Ready Story. He is currently in production on a comedy show for HBO through his production company with Will Ferrell, Gary Sanchez Productions.