Rialto Chatter - Page 5

According to Clyde Fitch Report, Close reportedly turned down the highly sought-after role of 'Helen Sinclair' in the upcoming stage adaptation of Woody Allen's BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, starring Zach Braff. As previously announced, Allen turned down stage legends Patti LuPone and Bernadette Peters, both of who reportedly auditioned, and is now leaning towards casting Marin Mazzie, who took on the role in the recent readings of the production.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Roundabout Theatre Company today hosts a private reading for a potential new production of Stephen Sondheim's Company, which might include some gender reversals in the casting of SOME of the show's iconic characters. Also, contrary to published reports, Nathan Lane is not currently attached to the workshop. We have confirmed that featured amongst the cast are Bobby Steggert, Michael Urie, and Alan Cumming. The New York Times is now reporting that Tony-winning director John Tiffany is directing and 2008 Tony nominee Daniel Evans is playing 'Bobby', who will be gay in this version of the show.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Roundabout Theatre Company has been hosting private readings for a potential new production of Stephen Sondheim's Company, which might include some gender reversals in the casting of SOME of the show's iconic characters. Also, contrary to published reports, Nathan Lane is not currently attached to the workshop. We have confirmed that featured amongst the cast are Bobby Steggart, Michael Urie, and Alan Cumming. The New York Times is now reporting that Tony-winning director John Tiffany is directing and 2008 Tony nominee Daniel Evans is playing 'Bobby', who will be gay in this version of the show.

The 2013 Tony Awards are just four days away and still more names are being added to the list of those who will be honored this year. Michael Riedel writes in today's New York Post that Mayor Bloomberg will accept a special honor on Sunday night.

The 2013 Tony Awards are just over a week away, and according to the New York Post's Michael Riedel, plans are at last being finalized for the much-anticipated opening number. He writes: 'This year, no single show will kick off the telecast. Every Broadway show - and I mean every show - will be part of the opening.'

Jesse Eisenberg and Vanessa Redgrave currently star in the world premiere of Eisenberg's The Revisionist, directed by Kip Fagan, which began its limited run on February 6 at the Cherry Lane Theatre, 38 Commerce Street. Now according to the New York Times, the show wil extend yet again, now closing on April 27. Plus, the show is looking into a possible Broadway transfer for the 2013-14 season.

According to the Daily Mail, Renee Zellweger is set to appear in a West End stage version of the movie The Hustler. She would play 'Fast Eddie' Felson's girlfriend. No further casting has been announced.

As previously reported, Stephen Sondheim and David Ives have teamed up on a new musical, which is currently in early phases of composition. According to the Village Voice, the show, titled All Together Now, is based on 'a small moment' from Ives' All in the Timing and that it will go backwards in time, similar to Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Allong. There is no word yet on which part of All in the Timing (which is a series of one-act plays) the show will be based.

According to reports, actress Jane Lynch of GLEE may be heading to Broadway for a major musical this summer.

According to BroadwayGirlNYC, SUPER FLY, the musical based on the 1972 film directed by Gordon Parks, is coming to Broadway in late 2013. The Mottola Group and The Dodgers Developmental Lab held a developmental workshop for the show last Spring. Bill T. Jones, who also helmed the workshop, will direct and choreograph, as Tommy Mottola just announced on the Howard Stern Show.

BroadwayWorld previously reported that the Lincoln Center Theater production of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, a new play by Christopher Durang, directed by Nicholas Martin might be heading to Broadway in the near future. Now, rumors are cirulating that it might be heading for the Golden Theatre in March 2013.

We're told that Tiffany Graves, recently seen as alternate leading lady in Sweet Charity and long-standing Velma in Chicago, will be playing Marlene Dietrich in the Curve's new production of Piaf.

We hear that Hadley Fraser, most recently seen as Javert in Les Miserables, is turning his hand to directing, and, what's more, will be at the helm of a revival of Three Sides, originally presented at the National Theatre, later this year.

As BroadwayWorld reported yesterday, MARY POPPINS will close on Broadway on March 3, 2013 to make way for renovations at the New Amsterdam Theater, followed by its next tenant 'A musical adaptation of the company's 1992 animated film 'Aladdin,' according to two Broadway theater executives. Now according to The Wrap, the show will arrive in spring 2014.

BWW has learned that Wayne Brady and Krystal Joy Brown will lead an upcoming January 8, reading of Eliza- a contemporary version of Pygmalion. The project, which features a book, music and lyrics by Madison Jones, will be directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, and produced by Suzanne de Passe.

According to rumors, Douglas Hodge, who is set to star as Willy Wonka at the Theatre Royal Drury, may also be appearing as Cyrano de Bergerac on the West End.

Though rumors have been circulating for some time that Pamela Anderson is headed to the Great White Way, the actress confirmed yesterday that she still plans to make an appearance on Broadway: 'I'm gonna end up in musical theater. I'm gonna be on Broadway,' she said after her elimination from DANCING WITH THE STARS.

A new casting notice has gone out for both an upcoming fall developmental lab of the Broadway-bound HANDS ON A HARDBODY, as well as the upcoming Broadway production, which aims to begin rehearsals in January of 2013. This fits with the previously announced news that the La Jolla Playhouse production would be heading to Broadway this coming season.

According to a casting notice on Backstage, Shooting High Productions is casting an AGVA-sanctioned workshop/showcase of the Broadway-bound production of SUGAR BABIES, starring Tony Award winners Michael Mcgrath and Beth Leavel.

Is the Public's Shakespeare in the Park production of INTO THE WOODS headed for 45th Street? The New York Post's Michael Riedel says today that the show is raising money and looking toward the Hirschfeld Theatre, which currently houses a limited return run of FELA!; the Fela Kuti-inspired musical closes August 4 and no other show is lined up as of yet.