Rialto Chatter - Page 22

The gossip blogs are abuzz this morning with news that Lily Allen has decided to retire from singing. The singer has 'confirmed' that she will be taking time off from music indefinitely and will thus not be recording a follow-up album to her wildly successful 'It's Not Me, It's You' or tour any further with this current record.

According to the New York Daily News, David Mamet originally tapped comedian Chris Rock to star in his production of RACE, premiering on Broadway this fall. David Alan Grier is cast in Rock's alleged 'would-be' role.

Roger Friedman in reporting at HollywoodReporter.com in his column that 'And Kerry Washington is headed to Broadway this fall in David Mamet's 'Race' with James Spader and Richard Thomas. I've heard that rounding out this cast will be Doogie Howser, hot-as-a-pistol Neil Patrick Harris. From the Tonys to the Emmys to Broadway. And Mamet. He would never have made this much money as a doctor!'

The Clyde Fitch Report addresses today a nasty he-said-she-said between the Washington Times on the one side and the lobbyist group Americans for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts on the other.

This past Sunday's matinee performance of A STEADY RAIN 'treated' the audience to a lesson of how to deal with a noisy ticket holder who forgot what respect and decorum means when attending a theatrical production. RIALTO CHATTER received a slew of messages about the incident, but we thought this fantastic recap by Roland Teco on his Extra Criticum blog summed it all up with style and wit. We bring you an excerpt of his essay right here on BWW

The Village Voice's Michael Musto has announced on his La Daily Musto blog today that beloved stage star Angela Lansbury, though not officially announced yet, is indeed joining the upcoming A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC revival with Catherine Zeta-Jones.

The New York Times reports that Michael Lang, one of the producers of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair, said that he plans to bring a new show to the Broadway stage that will use elements from his recent memoir, 'The Road to Woodstock,' written with Holly George-Warren.

The Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye is reporting that tickets for 'Love Never Dies', the musical sequel to Phantom Of The Opera, will go on sale in the UK on October 8th.

The New York Post's Michael Riedel reports today in his 'On Broadway' column that successful progress is being made on the musical version of the film 'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,' written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar.

In his New York Post column today Friday, August 28th, Michael Riedel writes abut the new 'reboot' of the Stephen Sondheim revue 'iSONDHEIM' that the Roundabout has optioned.

Dave Itzkoff of the New York Times talks to all four members of the show's starry cast about the projects that they've been working on (or not working on) this summer during the show's hiatus. The answers range from sewing to filming... Click here to read the feature story.

The New York Daily News reports that according to Gina Gershon, who stars as Rose in the upcoming revival of BYE BYE BIRDIE, the production has said 'bye bye' to an iconic dance sequence that has been in the show since its debut in 1960.

A press announcement today confirmed the news that the upcoming revival of Stephen Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC will open in December 2009.

The New York Post's Michael Riedel reported last week in his 'On Broadway' column in the The New York Post that 'SPIDER-MAN' had 'lost the girl' as actress Evan Rachel Wood's agents considered the project 'dead' and that 'she's available for other work.'

According to Telecharge.com, GOD OF CARNAGE is now selling tickets through February 28th, 2010. No other information is listed on the extension and there has been no official annoucement as of yet.

It was brought to BroadwayWorld.com's attention on Wednesday via a shocking amount of emails to our 'Twitter Watch' inbox, that one of the more than 200 Broadway-related Tweeters that we were picking up the feed of, was a casting director, Daryl Eisenberg, who was 'tweeting' during auditions with her take on some of the performers (mentioning none by name) with live comments, both good and bad, after they'd auditioned.

Bloomberg News has a detailed article about 'SPIDER-MAN, Turn Off The Dark' that is a must read for theatre and financial buffs alike. The feature sheds a light on the budgetary and creative woes that are gripping the production as it tries to 'swing' to Broadway.

BroadwayWorld.com presents it's newest column, Twitter Watch, which will bring you only the best and most interesting reports straight from the mouths of Broadway stars, shows and more on the hot social networking service - Twitter!

The UK SUN has announced the news that 'AMY WINEHOUSE: The Musical' may be coming to a stage in the future. The star's brother Alex told the SUN that an all-singing, all-dancing production based on the singer's life would be a 'fantastic way to celebrate her chart comeback.'

The New York Post's Michael Riedel reported today in his Broadway Matinee column in the The New York Post that 'SPIDER-MAN' seems to have met his 'budgetary' match.