Billy Crystal News

It's a shame Romance, Romance ends its run at the Vagabond Players on Feb. 8, just six days prior to Valentine's Day. So why not celebrate a little earlier with this quaint little musical by Barry Harman (book and lyrics) and Keith Hermann (music). Director Bill Kamberger continues his magic with not much material with enjoyable choreography by James Biernatowski and musical direction by Michael Tan (soon to tackle Sweeney Todd at the Spotlighters.)

La Jolla Playhouse welcomes back Rick Elice, co-writer of the Tony Award-winning Jersey Boys, as the playwright of Peter and the Starcatchers. Alex Timbers and Roger Rees are set to direct with choreography by Kelly Devine and music by Wayne Barker. Peter and the Starcatchers will be playing at the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre at La Jolla Playhouse February 13 -March 8, 2009. Based on the best-selling novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Peter and the Starcatchers dares to tell the real story of precisely how a desperate orphan in Victorian England became The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up. It's a tale that travels halfway round the world and straight up to the stars. It's a comedy that takes aim at social injustice. It's a romance of young heroes who risk everything for the sake of doing right. It's an expos? of extravagant villains possessed of a single-minded ferocity from which no good shall ever spring. In short, it's an awfully big adventure. La Jolla Playhouse will present Peter and the Starcatchers, a new play, as a part of its Page To Stage program, by special arrangement with Disney Theatrical Productions. Adam Green has been cast in the role of Peter. He has appeared in Off-Broadway productions such as Election Day, All This Intimacy and None of the Above. Molly will be played by Celia Keenan-Bolger who most recently appeared on Broadway in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, for which she earned a Tony Award nomination. She also appeared in Saved. Lost boy Prentiss will be played by Carson Elrod, who appeared in the La Jolla Playhouse production of Our Town. Elrod has also appeared on Broadway in Reckless and Noises Off. David Rossmer is cast as the ever - peckish lost boy Teddy. His Broadway credits include Fiddler on the Roof and Titanic. Christian Borle, who will be playing the ravenous Black Stache, received acclaim for his roles in Spamalot. He also received a 2007 Tony Award nomination for his role in the Broadway production of Legally Blonde. Andrew McGinn is set to play Slank. His New York credits include Coast of Utopia and The Invention of Love. Playing Lord Aster is John G. Preston, who recently appeared as Cameron Parker in the Off-Broadway production of Taboos. Greg Hildreth, playing the good hearted Alf, recently appeared in Dance Dance Revolution and Gentlemen of Verona. Teddy Bergman will be playing Fighting Prawn. His New York theater credits include Dance Dance Revolution and Nobody Likes the Mormons.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Joan Rivers 'made the rounds' in New York during the '50s, appearing in a few off-off Broadway plays (including one where she played a lesbian opposite an equally unknown Barbra Streisand), surviving sleazy agents, tawdry clubs, and hostile audiences. A 1965 booking on 'The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson' led to her hosting one of the first syndicated talk shows on daytime TV, 'That Show with Joan Rivers' in 1968. In the '70s Joan wrote the TV-movie The Girl Most Likely To (starring Stockard Channing) and then wrote and directed her first feature film Rabbit Test, casting Billy Crystal in the lead. In 1983 Joan became the permanent guest host on 'The Tonight Show.' Later, she headlined in Las Vegas, sold out Carnegie Hall, produced a Grammy nominated comedy album, and wrote two best-selling books. In 1989 the Tribune Corporation launched Joan in her own syndicated daytime talk show. She won an Emmy and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1994 she wrote and starred on Broadway in Sally Marr and Her Escorts, for which she received a Best Actress Tony nomination. Since then, Joan has written three more best-selling books, maintains her own jewelry line on QVC, provided fashion commentaries for E! and The TV Guide Channel, and filmed a special for Bravo. Currently, she has two new books on sale (Men Are Stupid . . . And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery and Murder at the Academy Awards). She will be a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice 2 beginning March 1st. Later this year, she will also host the new reality TV series How'd You Get So Rich? on TV Land.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Joan Rivers 'made the rounds' in New York during the '50s, appearing in a few off-off Broadway plays (including one where she played a lesbian opposite an equally unknown Barbra Streisand), surviving sleazy agents, tawdry clubs, and hostile audiences. A 1965 booking on 'The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson' led to her hosting one of the first syndicated talk shows on daytime TV, 'That Show with Joan Rivers' in 1968. In the '70s Joan wrote the TV-movie The Girl Most Likely To (starring Stockard Channing) and then wrote and directed her first feature film Rabbit Test, casting Billy Crystal in the lead. In 1983 Joan became the permanent guest host on 'The Tonight Show.' Later, she headlined in Las Vegas, sold out Carnegie Hall, produced a Grammy nominated comedy album, and wrote two best-selling books. In 1989 the Tribune Corporation launched Joan in her own syndicated daytime talk show. She won an Emmy and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1994 she wrote and starred on Broadway in Sally Marr and Her Escorts, for which she received a Best Actress Tony nomination. Since then, Joan has written three more best-selling books, maintains her own jewelry line on QVC, provided fashion commentaries for E! and The TV Guide Channel, and filmed a special for Bravo. Currently, she has two new books on sale (Men Are Stupid . . . And They Like Big Boobs: A Woman's Guide to Beauty Through Plastic Surgery and Murder at the Academy Awards). She will be a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice 2 beginning March 1st. Later this year, she will also host the new reality TV series How'd You Get So Rich? on TV Land.

With the closing of The Cutting Room, legendary comedian JOAN RIVERS brings her her live stand-up act to The Lower East Side. Beginning February 3rd, Rivers presents an evening of her newest and most outrageous riffs on Hollywood, pop culture, celebrities, and award show fashions at The Slipper Room, 167 Orchard Street (on the corner of Orchard and Stanton Streets, one block below Houston -- accessible from the F&V trains at 2nd Avenue). Rivers performs live every Tuesday at 7:30pm from February 3 - 24. Tickets are $30 with a portion of the proceeds going to Joan Rivers' favorite charities: God's Love We Deliver and Guide Dogs for the Blind. For reservations call 212-352-3101 or visit www.SpinCycleNYC.com. Doors open one hour before showtime, with food and a full bar available.

Billy Crystal visits The Late Show with David Letterman tonight, Monday January 12th at 11:30pm (EST).

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival 2009 season ? a playbill reflecting the Festival's commitment to producing the works of William Shakespeare and his contemporaries, along with other classical theatre repertoire and the work of living playwrights is now offering tickets to the public.

Join author/star Jake Ehrenreich and four singer musicians on a musical journey of Jake's life from Brooklyn to the Catskills to Rock 'N Roll to Broadway in the hugely popular and critically acclaimed A Jew Grows in Brooklyn

Dancing with the Stars host Samantha Harris told People when that her ideal Dancing with the Stars contestant would be the one and only Hugh Jackman. 'He's a song and dance man. He's a Broadway guy. He's got charisma and you know he can move' she told the entertainment magazine.

Variety is reporting that Hugh Jackman has removed himself from discussions to star with Catherine Zeta-Jones in 'CLEO,' a 3-D live action musical which Steven Soderbergh will direct as his next project. There had been buzz for the last number of weeks regarding Jackman joining the film.

The producers of ROCK OF AGES announced yesterday that after an extremely successful off Broadway run and the sale of the film rights to New Line Cinema, the new, smash hit musical will transfer to Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 256 W. 47th Street, and open on Tuesday, April 7, 2009. Previews begin on Friday, March 20, 2009. Variety is reporting that they might be offering in-seating cocktail service to allow the party feel of the show to truly come alive uptown.

The producers of ROCK OF AGES announced today that after an extremely successful off Broadway run and the sale of the film rights to New Line Cinema, the new, smash hit musical will transfer to Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 256 W. 47th Street, and open on Tuesday, April 7, 2009. Previews begin on Friday, March 20, 2009.

Producer Howard Panter for Ambassador Theatre Group and co-producers Tulchin/Bartner/Jenkins, Bill Kenwright, Northwater Entertainment, Darren Bagert, and Tom Gregory announced the complete cast and design team for the new Broadway production of the greatest musical comedy GUYS AND DOLLS. The first joint Broadway project by two-time Tony Award winning director Des McAnuff and choreographer Sergio Trujillo since their collaboration on the Tony Award winning musical Jersey Boys, GUYS AND DOLLS will begin previews on February 3, 2009 at Broadway's newly refurbished Nederlander Theatre (208 West 41st Street). Opening Night is March 1, 2009.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has confirmed that Hugh Jackman will host the 81st annual Academy Awards.The Academy said Friday that the 40-year-old Australian actor, recently named People magazine's 'Sexiest Man Alive,' will host the Oscars.

On a unusually cloudy day in Southern California, Chris and Shane made their way down I-5 to the La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, CA for the West Coast premiere of XANADU, the musical. The Upright Boys caught up with Broadway alums Elizabeth Stanley and Max von Essen as they prepared to step into the roles of Kira and Sonny.

Producer Howard Panter for Ambassador Theatre Group and co-producers Tulchin/Bartner/Jenkins, Bill Kenwright, Darren Bagert, and Tom Gregory announced today that Craig Bierko (Tony Award nominee for The Music Man; Scary Movie 4) will star as 'Sky Masterson' and Kate Jennings Grant (Proof) will also star as 'Sarah Brown' in the new Broadway production of the greatest musical comedy GUYS AND DOLLS.

It's XanaDU Year's Eve! La Jolla Playhouse hosts a special New Year's Eve event to celebrate the run of its musical comedy Xanadu and the beginning of a new year on December 31, 2008. Roll into 2009 with this performance and dance party from 9:00pm to 1:00am in the Mandell Weiss Theatre and the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre at La Jolla Playhouse.

Rehearsals began last week for XANADU at La Jolla Playhouse in anticipation of its West Coast debut on November 23, 2008 directed by Artistic Director Christopher Ashley. Xanadu's cast joins the creative team of the surprise hit Broadway musical at the Playhouse before embarking on a national tour. Xanadu will have its first performance November 11, 2008 and run through December 31 in the Mandell Weiss Theatre.

La Jolla Playhouse is pleased to announce the Performance Outreach Program (POP) Tour 2009, Miss Electricity, written by Kathryn Walat and directed by Melissa Kievman.

TV Land has green lit the new non-scripted original series, 'How'd You Get So Rich?,' produced by Mark Burnett and featuring Joan Rivers.