Eddie Varley - Page 206

Variety reports that Philip Seymour Hoffman has picked the film he'll be doing for his directorial debut, Overture Films' 'Jack Goes Boating,' an adaptation of Bob Glaudini's Off Broadway play in which he'll also star. 'Gone Baby Gone' star Amy Ryan will co-star opposite Hoffman, while John Ortiz and Daphne Rubin-Vega will reprise their roles from the stage production. 'Jack Goes Boating' premiered at Hoffman and Ortiz's LAByrinth Theater Co. in 2007. Press notes described the play as 'laced with cooking classes, swimming lessons and a smorgasbord of illegal drugs, 'Jack Goes Boating' is a story of date panic, marital meltdown, betrayal and the prevailing grace of the human spirit'.

Simon Callow (Pozzo) and Ronald Pickup (Lucky) will join Ian McKellen (Estragon) and Patrick Stewart (Vladimir) in Sean Mathias' Theatre Royal Haymarket production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Waiting for Godot will preview at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 30 April with press night on 6 May 2009 and is booking until 28 June 2009 for a strictly limited season. Designs are by Stephen Brimson Lewis and lighting is by Paul Pyant. Waiting for Godot is produced by the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company in partnership with Duncan C. Weldon Productions Ltd. Prior to the Theatre Royal Haymarket run, Waiting for Godot tours to Malvern Theatres (5 - 14 March), Milton Keynes Theatre (16 - 21 March), Brighton Theatre Royal (23 - 28 March), Bath Theatre Royal (30 March - 4 April), Norwich Theatre Royal (6 - 11 April), Edinburgh King's Theatre (13 - 18 April) and Newcastle Theatre Royal (20 - 25 April). Waiting for Godot follows two consecutive days in the lives of Vladimir and Estragon, who divert themselves by clowning around, joking and arguing, while waiting expectantly and unsuccessfully for the mysterious Godot. Beckett's Waiting for Godot exploded on to the London stage over 50 years ago when it shocked as many people as it delighted.

Lifetime Television today announced the pick up of Drop Dead Diva, a spirited new comedic drama series that puts a uniquely compelling twist on the age-old battle between brains and beauty. Drop Dead Diva tells the story of a shallow model-in-training who dies in a sudden accident only to find her soul resurfacing in the body of a brilliant, thoughtful and plus-size attorney. Drop Dead Diva is produced by Sony Pictures Television and is set to premiere on Lifetime Television in the Summer 2009. 'I couldn't be more excited about Drop Dead Diva,' said JoAnn Alfano, Executive Vice President, Lifetime Networks. 'It's the type of show that truly enhances the Lifetime brand - the duality of emotionally compelling drama with an equal balance of humor.'

Sir Cameron Mackintosh's spectacular ?4.5 million revival of Oliver! is already the fastest selling on record, with ?15 million in advance ticket sales before it even opened on January 14th at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Oliver took in ?3 million more than Dirty Dancing did in 2006, a stunning feat in these tough economic times. Robert Goold (Best Director, 2008 Olivier Awards) directs this production of Oliver!, which is based on Sam Mendes' triumphant 1994 staging, along with Tony award winning co-director and choreographer Matthew Bourne. Production design is by Anthony Ward; lighting design by Paule Constable and sound is by Paul Groothuis, with orchestrations by William D Brohn and musical supervision by Martin Koch. Cameron Mackintosh presents Rowan Atkinson as 'Fagin' in Lionel Bart's musical masterpiece 'OLIVER!' at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

BAT BOY, THE MUSICAL plays February 27 (press opening February 28, 8pm & March 1, 2pm) through March 22, 2009 at the Lohman Theatre at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. For tickets ($18-26) and information, the public may visit www.foothillmusicals.com, or phone the box office at 650 949-7360.

The lives of David Beckham and wife Victoria has become the basis for a spoofy musical comedy based on Shakespeares Macbeth. It is currently playing the stages of Dublin. Titled MacBecks, the musical traces the story of Posh and Becks, told in jokes, song and words of few syllables. Macbecks tells the story of a certain celebrity footballer and his A-list wife and their global brand - his trials and tribulations with his marriage, his manager, his beautiful game and, most importantly, his bendy ball. Press notes state, 'WARNING: This show contains scenes of SPICE, SPORT, SEX, CELEBRITY and some mild SOCCER!' Book & Lyrics by Gary Cooke and Malachy McKenna. Music & Additional Lyrics by Jody Trehy. Directed and Choreographed by David Bolger. 'Move over I Keano. There's a new Irish football musical on the way!' The Sunday Tribune. The World Premiere of Macbecks starring Gary Cooke, (Apr?s Match) a host of football musical veterans and some feisty young ladies, this is a show to cast off the winter chills and start having some fun again.

One of the many questions regarding the new administration is what the arts policy might look like in relation to the Obama presidency. Robert L. Lynch, director of Americans for the Arts, a nonprofit group that works to give the arts a new political visibility, has met with members of the Obama transition team and reveals to the Los Angeles Times that the nine proposals the group released Tuesday give an informed reflection of where things are likely heading.

Kristin Chenoweth revealed that there could be a potential direct to DVD 'Pushing Daisies'. She states that when and if the the unaired episodes eventually air, they won't resolve all of the plotlines on the show - but she told TV Guide that show creator Bryan Fuller has an idea for a movie that would. 'It would wrap up a lot of the unanswered questions that people will have once they finally air our final episodes,' the singer-actress told TVGuide.com. 'It's way too good to push on somebody,' she said. 'You either air it and let the world see it or - you know, that show, I'm sorry if it sounds arrogant, but it's the best thing ever.'

THRILLER LIVE is a spectacular, high-octane show that is moonwalking into the West End after three acclaimed UK tours and standing ovations across Germany, Holland and Scandanavia. In a phenomenal, unparallelled career, Michael Jackson has to date sold more than 750 million records, had 13 number one singles - more than any other male artist - and is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice; once as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997 and later as a solo artist in 2001. His numerous other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records, including one for 'Thriller' as the world's best-selling album of all time - 100 million copies and counting. In Thriller - Live, the non-stop hits just keep on coming from 'I Want You Back', 'I'll Be There', 'Show You The Way To Go', 'Can You Feel It', 'Rock With You', 'She's Out Of My Life', 'Thriller', 'Beat It', 'Ben', 'ABC', 'Man in the Mirror', 'Dirty Diana', 'Billie Jean', 'Earth Song', and many, many more.

La MaMa E.T.C. and Watson Arts will present the World Premiere of COMING, APHRODITE! beginning February 20th. This new musical adaptation of a novella by Willa Cather is written and directed by Mary Fulham with lyrics by FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award winner Paul Foglino (Hercules in High Suburbia), and music written by Mark Ettinger. Opening night is slated for Thursday, February 26. COMING, APHRODITE! is a love story about a man, a woman, and a dog that explores the pursuit of art and the nature of success. A painter, Don Hedger and his dog, Caesar, live in a one-room apartment. Their daily life is upended when Eden Bower, an aspiring actress who likes to sing show tunes and exercise in the nude, moves in next door.

Media industry website Broadcasting & Cable.com has revealed that musician John Mayer is currently at work shooting a variety show pilot for the CBS Network. CBS Network entertainment president Nina Tassler discussed the project at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Los Angeles. Tassler expressed the potential that the pilot could end up becoming a series of specials or a full series. Mayer hosted the short lived 'John Mayer Has a TV Show' which aired for a single episode on VH1 in 2004.

The Washington Post reports that music impresario Quincy Jones' passionate call for President-elect Barack Obama to give the arts and humanities a Cabinet-level post is gaining momentum online. By yesterday reports The Post, over 76,000 people had signed the online petition, started by two New York musicians who were inspired by producer Quincy Jones. In a radio interview in November of last year, Jones described the country needing a minister of culture, like France, Germany or Finland has. And he said he would 'beg' Obama to establish the post.

Former 5 Star lead vocalist, songwriter and Brit Award-winner Denise Pearson is to make her West End debut in Thriller - Live, the spectacular, high-octane show specially created to celebrate the career of the world's greatest entertainer and undisputed King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

Jeremy Piven, for the first time on a national news program defended his sudden and shocking exit from SPEED-THE-PLOW in an exclusive interview on 'Good Morning America' this morning. Piven told GMA host Diane Sawyer was 'brought to my knees' by his condition and said that on doctor's orders he 'couldn't do it.' 'You talk about 'the show must go on,' this is in my DNA. To have the rap be on me that I walked out on this thing. ... This was the greatest moment of my life,' he revealed to Sawyer. To watch the entire video visit the official GMA site by going here.

TThe Old Vic announced that the World Premiere of the new play, COMPLICIT by Joe Sutton and directed in-the-round by Kevin Spacey will be postponed for nine days, it will now open on January 28th. It was originally scheduled to open on the 19th. Richard
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Vic. The news was reported by UK theatre website WhatsOnStage.com. Whatsonstage.com was told by an Old Vic spokesperson that 'It's a world premiere and we wanted to give this new work a bit more development time.'

Self-proclaimed 'Queen of All Media' Perez Hilton makes his publishing debut with 'RED CARPET SUICIDE' he took a few moments out of his book party to chat up the book and Broadway with BWW TV Guest Correspondent Nick Adams.

While Barbra Streisand was at the top of the list of celebrity artists asked to appear at the Obama Inaugration Celebration, her art is sadly keeping her away from the starry and historic event. Liz Smith reports in today's New York Post that thought she was requested, her recording sessions for her upcoming new album will notallow her to attend, but, reveals Smith, she and Diana Krall will watch the ceremonies from a recording studio in LA, where they're working 'feverishly' on the new project. Streisand says she is happy that she was able to perform her LA fund-raiser for the president-to-be, and while she won't be in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, 'he knows her heart is there along with 300 million other Americans'.

London's National Theatre announced Wednesday, Jan. 14th, that it will transmit live performances to movie theaters around the world in a quest to widen its audience and test the public appeal for watching stage productions onscreen. The first of four planned simulcasts will be the June 25th performance of Jean Racine's tragedy 'Phedre' starring Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren and mega hit 'Mamma Mia' film star Dominic Cooper. The National's artistic director Nicholas Hytner said Mirren, who won a best actress Oscar for 'The Queen,' was 'tremendously excited' by the idea.

The Really Useful Group, the international musical entertainment company founded in 1977 by composer and producer Andrew Lloyd Webber, has begun preliminary discussions with a number of the world's leading video game publishers as it looks to take its portfolio of world-famous brands into the interactive entertainment sphere. Douglas Glen, Head of Digital Strategy for The Really Useful Group says: 'With the video gaming audience having moved from its male-dominated roots towards a more family-oriented demographic, now is the perfect time for us to take some of the best-known names in musical entertainment in a more interactive direction. Our aim is to find a partner who will work across our entire catalogue to deliver high-quality games on a variety of hardware platforms.'

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning Six Degrees of Separation, by John Guare (The House of Blue Leaves, Landscape of the Body), directed by Trip Cullman, to run in the Old Globe Theatre January 10 - February 15 (press opening: Thursday, January 15 at 8pm). Broadway veteran Karen Ziemba, who will play 'Ouisa,' won the Tony for the musical Contact and was nominated for her work in Steel Pier, Never Gonna Dance and Curtains!.