Rialto Chatter - Page 5

BroadwayWorld.com has confirmed online reports that the 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 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.

Now, Disney Theatrical Productions has confirmed that Aladdin, a new musical based on the Academy Award winning animated film, will play its pre-Broadway engagement at Toronto's Ed Mirvish Theatre(formerly the Canon) November 13, 2013 to January 12, 2014 and will open at Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre in 2014. The show will feature music by Alan Menken; lyrics by the late Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Beguelin with a book by Beguelin. Casey Nicholaw will direct and choreograph.

Today. Michael Riedel adds to the story noting that Tony-winning set designer Bob Crowley has been added to the team to create a completely new physical production for the run.

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.

Denzel Washington, who was last seen on Broadway in Fences, winning a 2010 Tony Award, has been telling the press in interviews that he was headed back to the stage in 2014. Now, Michael Riedel of the New York Post reports today that the show will be A RAISIN IN THE SUN, directed by Kenny Leon and produced by Scott Rudin. Washington will play Walter Lee Younger in the show, which is hoping to hit the stage in the Spring of 2013.

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.

Now, a cable network insider tells us exclusively that the film will instead be an HBO television production, with a budget in the neighborhood of $15 million dollars. There is no word yet on a timeline for the project, or if the announced starry cast are staying aboard the project.

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.

According to The Washington Post, Molly Smith, artistic director of Arena Stage has signed on to direct a production of Eric Coble's THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN on Broadway in the Spring of 2013, a production that'll mark Broadway debuts for both. Lead producer Larry Kaye has said that signed on to star will be Estelle Parsons and Stephen Spinella.

Roger Friedman of Showbiz411.com reports this morning that Focus Features is now at work on turning the film MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY into a new Broadway musical.