Billy Crystal News

ABC Entertainment has just released a video previewing the 84th Academy Awards. Comedian Billy Crystal, who will be hosting the awards ceremony, stars in the two-minute video in which he speaks about his love for the awards show and movies in general. 'I think the thing that's special about the Oscars is it's the granddaddy of all the shows,' Crystal says.

Two-time GRAMMY® winner LL COOL J is set to host the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards (www.grammy.com), marking the first time in seven years that the music industry's premier event will have an official host.

Oscar.com, the official online home of the 84th Academy Awards(r), is launching its award-winning Oscar Digital Experience today with a first look at Billy Crystal's return to Oscar's stage.

The Improv 'Up Yours' contest is an Internet based search for the next great comedian and Las Vegas based comedian Don Barnhart is the winner for the month of December.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for the "hysterically funny" (New York Post) new musical The Toxic Avenger.

As reported on EWOnline.com, 'Hunger Games' star Jennifer Lawrence will join Tom Sherak, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to announce the nominations for the upcoming Academy Awards.

A short trailer for the 2012 Oscars has been released. The video, entitled 'Off the Grid' stars Oscar host Billy Crystal and features cameo appearances by Megan Fox, Robin Williams, William Fichtner, Josh Duhamel and Vinnie Jones.

Crystal will host for the ninth time this year. The 84th Academy Awards will be broadcast live by ABC on Feb. 26 from the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood. Brett Ratner and Don Mischer will produce the show. See a trailer below!

La Jolla Playhouse has announced the cast and creative team for its production of American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose, written by Richard Montoya (Zorro in Hell) for Culture Clash, developed by Culture Clash and Jo Bonney (The Seven, Adoration of the Old Woman), directed by Jo Bonney. A co-production with Center Theatre Group and originally commissioned and produced by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose will run January 27 - February 26, 2012 in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

The full Broadway cast has been announced for The Stratford Shakespeare Festival's hit production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, directed by the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's Artistic Director Des McAnuff which will open March 22, 2012 (previews begin March 1) at the Neil Simon Theatre (250 West 52nd Street).

The producers of the international hit comedy My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish & I'm in Therapy! by Steve Solomon, currently running at Toronto's Bathurst St. Theatre, have announced that the show has been extended once again due to popular demand through to February 26, 2012.

Part of the Arts and Ideas series of performances, lectures and conversations, The Friend Center for the Arts at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco (JCCSF) presents a wide array of Performing Arts programming from January through June of 2012. Highlights include performances by the Martha Graham Dance Company, the West Coast premiere of Up From the Stacks and the musical, The Man that Got Away.

Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway broke The Broadhurst Theatre box office record for the sixth time last week with a gross of $1,545,550. The show had most recently broken the Broadhurst's record the week ending December 4 with a gross of $1,520,929.

Earlier this week, La Jolla Playhouse announced a casting update for its current presentation of the acclaimed Stratford Shakespeare Festival production of Jesus Christ Superstar, lyrics by Tim Rice, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, directed by Playhouse Director Emeritus and Stratford Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Des McAnuff. Beginning Wednesday, December 7, Broadway veteran Tom Hewitt (Playhouse's Zhivago and Dracula: The Musical) will perform the role of Pontius Pilate for a limited engagement at the Playhouse. Whether Hewitt will remain in the production through the Broadway transfer remains unknown, but Stratford Shakespeare Festival has released the following statement:

La Jolla Playhouse announced a casting update for its current presentation of the acclaimed Stratford Shakespeare Festival production of Jesus Christ Superstar, lyrics by Tim Rice, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, directed by Playhouse Director Emeritus and Stratford Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Des McAnuff. Beginning Wednesday, December 7, Broadway veteran Tom Hewitt (Playhouse's Zhivago and Dracula: The Musical) will perform the role of Pontius Pilate for a limited engagement at the Playhouse.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announces the cast and creative team for the "hysterically funny" (New York Post) new musical The Toxic Avenger.

Alley Theatre Artistic Director Gregory Boyd announced the cast and creative team for their production of The Toxic Avenger. In a new production, which features several new songs and revised book by the Tony Award-winning creative team of Memphis, Bon Jovi founding member and keyboardist David Bryan and Joe DiPietro, Tony-nominated Constantine Maroulis takes center stage as the righteous superhero in the title role. John Rando (Tony Winner for Urinetown) returns to the Alley to reinvent his hilarious 2009 Off-Broadway staging of The Toxic Avenger following his smashing Alley productions of The Man Who Came to Dinner, Mrs. Mannerly and Be My Baby.

Welcome to the first edition of our new WEEKLY GROSSES ANALYSIS, part of our new Industry Insights section that will feature insider industry information, commentary and insights! Read on for all the weekly grosses statistics for the movers and shakers from the latest grosses, 12/4/2011.