Craig Zadan News

The producers of the 50th Anniversary production of the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical comedy HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING announced today that Emmy, Golden Globe and Grammy Award-winning star of screen, television and stage, Beau Bridges, will return to Broadway for the first time in 38 years in his first musical as J. B. Biggley, beginning Tuesday, January 3, 2012, for 6 months through Sunday, July 1, 2012. Mr. Bridges will co-star with Darren Criss (January 3, 2012 - January 22, 2012) and Nick Jonas (January 24, 2012 - July 1, 2012). Beau Bridges will replace 2011 Tony Award and Drama Desk Award winner John Larroquette, who will play his final performance along with co-star Daniel Radcliffe on Sunday, January 1, 2012. Tickets for Mr. Bridges' engagement in HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING are now on sale.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) has announced the winners of the NYMF 2011 Awards for Excellence. Awards will be presented at the Eight Season Awards Gala taking place on Sunday, November 6th at The Hudson Theatre (145 W. 44th Street) beginning at 6:00pm. As previously announced, producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan will also be honored for their work in bringing musical theatre to a worldwide, pop-culture audience.

With one of the most refreshingly unique career trajectories in recent show business history, the quirky late-80s/early-90s film star known for her outlandish John Waters comedies - HAIRSPRAY, CRY-BABY and SERIAL MOM included - parlayed her big screen success to a decade-long running eponymous talk-show in the 90s and early 00s that is still talked about to this day - look no further than Nicki Minaj's verse on the remix of Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me" for proof - and, now, with news of the 2012 syndicated return of a new iteration of her show, a new memoir, as well as her current compelling casting on the new season of DANCING WITH THE STARS, Ricki Lake has clearly reached a new career high. Imparting her contagious energy and enthusiasm and amply displaying why she is the foremost queen of gab, Lake generously shares her thoughts on a range of topics - Broadway, Hollywood, GLEE, Sondheim, BOOK OF MORMON and much more included - and reveals details about her many upcoming projects and passion, as well as her ongoing star turn on TV's hottest reality competition, DANCING WITH THE STARS. While in rehearsal on Friday night, talking to me from the backstage costume fitting for DANCING/STARS - tutu included - and on the road back to her LA home - before attending Chaz Bono's party later that evening - Lake and I cover it all and she shows why she has been a TV fixture in millions of homes for twenty years and most likely will continue to be so for the next twenty or more - if we are lucky, that is. Plus, she also happens to be a big BroadwayWorld fan, to boot! Who could ask for anything more?

A special benefit performance of HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING on Thursday, October 6th raised $15,000 for THE TREVOR PROJECT. The performance featured a post-show talkback with star Daniel Radcliffe. A portion of every ticket sold for the October 6 performance was donated to THE TREVOR PROJECT, as well as all proceeds from a post-show auction featuring autographed HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING merchandise.

Paramount's 'Footloose' topped the domestic box office on Friday night, grossing around $5.6 million according to Variety.

NBC's upcoming anticipated show SMASH will be premiering on February 6, 2012 on Mondays at 10/9 C. The show will star Debra Messing, Anjelica Huston, Katherine McPhee, Brian d'Arch James and Megan Hilty. Watch Katherine McPhee speak about the upcoming show!

NBC's upcoming anticipated show SMASH will be premiering on February 6, 2012 on Mondays at 10/9 C. The show will star Debra Messing, Anjelica Huston, Katherine McPhee, Brian d'Arch James and Megan Hilty.

'Dancing With the Stars' pro and upcoming star of the highly anticipated remake of FOOTLOOSE, Julianne Hough, will be appearing on 'Good Morning America' this Thursday, October 13th, to discuss the upcoming movie.

FOOTLOOSE stars Julianne Hough (who plays Ariel Moore) and Kenny Wormald (Ren McCormack) talk about their first experiences performing and how they expressed their creative talents in the new film!

According to Deadline.com, a remake of the 1989 movie 'Steel Magnolias' which was based on the 1987 play, is currently in the works. Lifetime is currently working with Broadway director Kenny Leon and producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron to recreate the classic film with an all-black cast.

'Dancing With the Stars' pro and upcoming star of the highly anticipated remake of FOOTLOOSE, Julianne Hough, will be appearing on 'Good Morning America' this Thursday, October 13th, to discuss the upcoming movie.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) announced today that producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, will be honored for their work in bringing musical theatre to a worldwide, pop-culture audience at the Eighth Annual Season Awards Gala taking place on Sunday, November 6th at The Hudson Theatre (145 W. 44th Street) beginning at 6:00pm. Neil and Craig are currently represented on Broadway with How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying are currently producing the new NBC television drama 'SMASH' about the behind-the-scenes creation of a Broadway musical. 'SMASH' premieres on NBC on February 6th.

The new film Footloose will be expanded into a 'full-blown movie musical' from the earlier film with songs. In addition to starring a young Kevin Bacon as Ren, Footloose also starred Lori Singer as Ariel. It was originally written by Dean Pitchford. A Broadway musical version of Footloose was previously staged in 1998. The remake will be released in theatres on October 14.

According to published reports, Nick Jonas, who will soon return to Broadway in HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, has joined the long list of theatre stars who will guest star on NBC's upcoming SMASH series.

The producers of the 50th Anniversary production of the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical comedy HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING announced today that they will be teaming up with THE TREVOR PROJECT for a special benefit performance tonight at 7pm. A portion of every ticket sold for the October 6 performance will go directly to THE TREVOR PROJECT. The evening will also feature a post-show talkback with Daniel Radcliffe and the cast, as well as a post-show auction featuring autographed HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING merchandise, with all proceeds from the auction going to THE TREVOR PROJECT. Tickets for this one-night only event are available by visiting Telecharge.

Wesley Taylor (Rock of Ages, The Addams Family, Tales of the City) is rumored to play a recurring role in the Broadway-centric NBC mid-season replacement, SMASH, exec. produced by Steven Spielberg, according to a post on Facebook. Also rumored to play a recurring role is Savannah Wise (Ragtime, Rock of Ages). According to varied sources, Taylor and Wise are rumored to play dancers in the chorus who become friends with Katharine McPhee's character.

The soundtrack to the highly anticipated NBC drama series SMASH on Columbia Records will include an original song by SMASH leading lady and American Idol alum Katharine McPhee titled, 'Let Me Be Your Star'. The duet features SMASH co-star Megan Hilty.

Tonight's the night! Just in time for the season finale of DROP DEAD DIVA on Lifetime at 9 PM, we have an exclusive, extensive conversation with the show's stupendous star, Brooke Elliott, in which we talk all about the first three seasons of the hit Lifetime dramedy as well as what we can expect from tonight's highly-anticipated finale and the just-announced fourth season of the show coming in 2012, in addition to casting a look back at her favorite moments so far, backstage stories and guest star dish. Plus, Brooke shares reminiscences of her time starring in the Broadway production of TABOO and working with Rosie O'Donnell and Raul Esparza on it and some of her aspirations for the future as well as much, much more!

Lifetime has renewed its hit scripted series Drop Dead Diva for a fourth season, to premiere in 2012, with a 13 episode order. The announcement was made today by Nancy Dubuc, President and General Manager of Lifetime Networks.

According to the New York Times, Michael Riedel Joins SMASH series as himself.