Baz Luhrmann News

Variety reports that actor Joel Edgerton has officially signed on to join the cast of Kathryn Bigelow's currently untitled Osama Bin Laden movie. It had been rumored that Edgerton, best known as the star of 'The Warrior', was interested in the project, but according to the report negotiations have only now been made official.

As BroadwayWorld reported Tuesday evening, Taylor Swift (Eponine) and Amanda Seyfried (Cosette) are the latest additions to the all-star cast of the upcoming Les Miserables movie musical adaptation, joining the previously set Hugh Jackman (ean Valjean), Russell Crowe (Javert), Sacha Baron Cohen (Thernardier), Eddie Redmayne (Marius), Aaron Tveit (Enjolras), Anne Hathaway (Fantine) and Helena Bonham Carter (Madame Thenardier). Jackman recently spoke to New York Magazine about his upcoming stint in the famous role, revealing how getting this opportunity feels like the apex of his professional career.

Hugh Jackman will return to Broadway during the 2013/2014 season starring as America's greatest showman in HOUDINI, an original musical. Making his Broadway debut as librettist, Academy Award and six-time Emmy Award winner Aaron Sorkin will collaborate with three-time Academy Award and four-time Grammy Award winner Stephen Schwartz. Directed by three-time Tony Award winner Jack O'Brien, HOUDINI is presented by film and theatre producer Scott Sanders and David Rockwell. Mr. Rockwell will also design the sets for HOUDINI. Additional HOUDINI casting, creative team and design team to be announced at a later date.

In an interview with the January 1st Los Angeles Times, Elton John spoke about his plans for an upcoming biopic that he currently has in the works. When asked in the recent interview about which actor John has in mind to take on the starring role, the singer replied, 'I don't know. I've got a wish list of people. No. 1 on my wish list is Justin Timberlake, because he played me before in a David LaChapelle video of 'Rocket Man' and was superb.'

Tony Award-winner Hugh Jackman will close the successful BACK ON BROADWAY limited engagement today.

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).

New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT), which has supported the advancement of women in the entertainment industry for more than 30 years, will present their 31th annual Muse Awards at a gala luncheon to be held Wednesday, December 7th at the New York Hilton.

Tony Award-winner Hugh Jackman is currently starring in Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway, playing through January 1 2012 at The Broadhurst Theatre (235 West 44th Street). Accompanied by an 18-piece orchestra, Hugh Jackman performs a personal selection of his favorite musical numbers that reflect on the stage and film star's remarkable life and career, from The Boy from Oz to Hollywood. Jackman recently visited ANDERSON, where he was introduced to Cooper's stage manger, who also happens to resemble the Aussie. Click below to watch the video!

Noted thespian and master theatre and film director Kenneth Branagh has found himself at a career peak in 2011, excelling in both entertainment arenas with his striking, visionary blockbuster THOR being one of the year's biggest hits as well as his simply incredible portrayal of Laurence Olivier in the new film MY WEEK WITH MARILYN generating considerable Oscar buzz. Sharing his cordial and candid insights on a number of topics ranging from his beginnings in Shakespeare to his directing and acting in a string of Shakespearean stage plays and films - his iconic films of HENRY V and HAMLET among them - Branagh also illustrates his impressions of fellow acting titans such as Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sir John Gielgud, Ralph Fiennes, Dame Judi Dench, Simon Callow and many more. Plus, he shares his deep affection for the most famous musical theatre Shakespeare adaptation of all time - the classic WEST SIDE STORY; based on ROMEO & JULIET - as well as his love of the work of Stephen Sondheim as a composer/lyricist in his own right. Plus, news on his desire to do Broadway in the future, as well as all about Branagh's new lead role in the Belfast-to-West End transfer of THE PAINKILLER - and much, much more!

The Kansas City Irish Center and Lyric Opera of Kansas City today announced a collaborative benefit concert to support both organizations.

Lincoln Center Theater's free-to-the-public Platform Series, a forum for public discussion between Lincoln Center Theater artists and interested theatergoers, continues its 14th season on Thursday, November 10, at 6:00pm with a pre-performance talk with J.T. Rogers and Bartlett Sher, the Playwright and Director of LCT's new production of Blood and Gifts currently in previews at the Mitzi E. Newhouse.

Pioneer, innovator and the voice of an entire new musical theatre generation coming in the dawning of the age of GLEE, Tony Award recipient and Grammy-winning composer, lyricist and performer Lin-Manuel Miranda has merged the worlds of the two most significant of original American art forms - musicals and rap - in such a striking and surprisingly inventive way with his hit musical IN THE HEIGHTS - currently touring the country - and is setting out to do the same with his fresh collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-winning NEXT TO NORMAL composer Tom Kitt on their new musical BRING IT ON!, currently in previews out of town in Los Angeles as it eyes New York. In addition to discussing the development of IN THE HEIGHTS and BRING IT ON! in detail, Miranda and I also outline his experience working alongside the two modern-day masters of the musical theatre - Stephen Sondheim and the recently deceased Arthur Laurents - on the Spanish translation and new lyrics for the recent bilingual revival of WEST SIDE STORY - in addition to his forthcoming ALEXANDER HAMILTON project, which Miranda recently performed a medley from for President Obama himself at the White House Poetry Jam. As if all of that were not enough, we also delve into his thought process as he sets out to take on one of Sondheim's most challenging roles in all of musical theatre - that of Charley Kringas in MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG at Encores!, under the direction of James Lapine. Plus, news on his new feature film THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN, as well as recollections of his fondest Broadway shows, scores, cast albums, movie musicals and general musical and theatrical inspirations - and his favorite Shakespeare plays, too - as well as much, much more!

The Huffington Post snapped a shot of actress Isla Fisher, in full costume, on the set for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatbsy today. Fisher plays Myrtle, mistress to Joel Edgerton's Tom Buchanan.

Today we continue our special series consisting of five entries total, each of which highlight a different facet of the rich and wonderful world of William Shakespeare and all with a particular emphasis on the controversial new feature film that explores the time, place, politics and goings-on of the Elizabethan era and focuses on the possibility that the true author of the esteemed plays we now know may very well have been someone else entirely - Edward de Vere - and how the question of the canon's true creation then comes into play - ANONYMOUS. "All the world's a stage," after all, so it should come as no surprise that acts of lust, bloodshed and betrayal would exist in the actual life - or even the supposed one - of the man who created the most bloody and thought-provoking tragedies in the history of literature - whoever he may have actually been. Perhaps some brief analysis of the finest leading players, most memorable lines and moments, as well as an exploration of other notable acts of grand betrayal in Shakespeare's plays will aid us on the journey to understanding the thesis of ANONYMOUS and bring us into a closer relationship with the individual who penned the greatest plays in the English language. Since we have now analyzed the top ten male and female Shakespearean performers of the last few decades, today we are going to take a look at some of the most famous lines from Shakespeare's plays and some of the best audiovisual examples of them given full weight in their dramatic context - ROMEO & JULIET, AS YOU LIKE IT, RICHARD III included - with leading players as iconic as Marlon Brando, Kevin Kline, Sir Ian McKellen, Kenneth Branagh and Leonardo Dicaprio!

It's Official! Tony Award-winner Hugh Jackman will return to the New York stage next month in Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway, playing October 25 2011 to January 1 2012 at The Broadhurst Theatre (235 West 44th Street). The official opening night has been set for November 10.

Today we begin a special series consisting of five entries total, each of which will highlight a different facet of the rich and wonderful world of William Shakespeare and all with a particular emphasis on the controversial new feature film that explores the time, place, politics and goings-on of the Elizabethan era and focuses on the possibility that the true author of the esteemed plays we now know may very well have been someone else entirely - Edward de Vere - and how the question of the canon's true creation then comes into play - ANONYMOUS. "All the world's a stage," after all, so it should come as no surprise that acts of lust, bloodshed and betrayal would exist in the actual life - or even the supposed one - of the man who created the most bloody and thought-provoking tragedies in the history of literature - whoever he may have actually been. Perhaps some brief analysis of the finest leading players, most memorable lines and moments, as well as an exploration of other notable acts of grand betrayal in Shakespeare's plays will aid us on the journey to understanding the thesis of ANONYMOUS and bring us into a closer relationship with the individual who penned the greatest plays in the English language. Kicking off the five days of Top 5s, here is a look at the best leading men to have done Shakespeare onstage and onscreen this century and last - featuring Kenneth Branagh, Ian McKellen, Al Pacino, James Earl Jones, and, the ANONYMOUS narrator (and a confirmed Oxfordian himself), Sir Derek Jacobi!

In a major events coup for Victoria, the Minister for Tourism and Major Events Louise Asher today joined Global Creatures at auditions for King Kong, to announce that the world premiere and only Australian season will take place at Melbourne's Regent Theatre in early 2013.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. announced today that it will release Baz Luhrmann's Leonardo DiCaprio starrer The Great Gatsby on Dec. 25, 2012 , the same day DiCaprio's Django Unchained is set to open.

Sonnet Repertory Theatre presents their Tenth Annual Benefit and Cabaret on Monday, November 14, bringing together a diverse and talented group of performers and composers at Joe's Pub to honor award-winning director and teacher, Gerald Freedman.

Sonnet Repertory Theatre presents their Tenth Annual Benefit and Cabaret on Monday, November 14, bringing together a diverse and talented group of performers and composers at Joe's Pub to honor award-winning director and teacher, Gerald Freedman.