Gregg Barnes News

Susan McFadden will play the leading role of Elle Woods in the West End hit Legally Blonde The Musical. McFadden, an original member of the Legally Blonde cast who as well as playing the role Serena - one of Elle's sorority sisters - has also been wowing audiences as the show's alternate Elle since October. She joins Denise Van Outen, Alex Gaumond, Siobhan Dillon, Aoife Mulholland, Carley Stenson, Simon Thomas and Peter Davison in Legally Blonde The Musical which is currently booking until 22 October 2011 at the Savoy Theatre where it has been playing to packed houses since it opened in December 2009.

Live camels, sheep, and a donkey are a poor substitute for live musicians, but The Rockettes would still be impressive dancing to the sounds of silence.

The San Diego Theatre Critics Circle has announced the nominees for the 2010 Craig Noel Awards, which will be unveiled at a ceremony in La Jolla on Jan. 10, 2011.

Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures in association with Unique Features announced today that the new Broadway musical ELF set a new box office record at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 W 45th Street) for the week ending November 28, 2010.

Sheridan Smith, Denise Van Outen, Alex Gaumond, Siobhan Dillon, Susan McFadden, Aoife Mulholland, Carley Stenson, Simon Thomas, and Peter Davison star in the West End hit Legally Blonde The Musical, which is currently booking until 22 October 2011 at the Savoy Theatre.

ELF opened on Sunday, November 14th at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 West 45th Street). ELF is the hilarious tale of Buddy, a young orphan child who mistakenly crawls into Santa's bag of gifts and is transported back to the North Pole. Buddy is raised unaware that he is actually a human, until his enormous size and poor toy-making abilities cause him to face the truth. With Santa's permission, Buddy embarks on a journey to New York City to find his birth father and discover his true identity. Faced with the harsh reality that his father is on the naughty list and his step-brother doesn't even believe in Santa, Buddy is determined to win over his new family and help New York remember the true meaning of Christmas. This modern day Christmas classic is sure to make everyone embrace their inner ELF!

DreamWorks Theatricals and Broadway Across America today announced that they have partnered to launch 'Madagascar Live,' DreamWorks Theatricals' first-ever live family touring show. The production is expected to visit over 70 cities across the United States beginning in January 2011, including a stop at Detroit's Fox Theatre from Friday, April 29 through Sunday, May 1. The brand new stage show aimed at family audiences stars the cast of popular characters from the beloved Madagascar film series, including Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe, Gloria the Hippo and members of the madcap Madagascar crew, King Julien and the crafty Penguins.

DreamWorks Theatricals and Broadway Across America today announced that they have partnered to launch 'MADAGASCAR LIVE,' DreamWorks Theatricals' first-ever live family touring show. The production is expected to visit over 70 cities across the United States beginning in January 2011. The brand new stage show aimed at family audiences stars the cast of popular characters from the beloved 'Madagascar' film series, including Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe, Gloria the Hippo and members of the madcap Madagascar crew, King Julien and the crafty Penguins.

Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures in association with Unique Features present ELF, based on the beloved 2003 New Line Cinema hit. ELF will feature songs by Tony Award nominees Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin (The Wedding Singer), with a book by Tony Award winners Thomas Meehan (The Producers, Hairspray) and Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone). ELF will be directed and choreographed by Tony nominee Casey Nicholaw (The Drowsy Chaperone, Monty Python's Spamalot).

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced back in August that Bernadette Peters will star as Sally Durant Plummer in the Kennedy Center production of Follies in the Eisenhower Theater May 7 to June 5, 2011. Additionally, BroadwayWorld.com had heard that starring alongside Peters could be Sex and the City star and Golden Globe winner Kim Cattrall as Phyllis, Danny Burstein as Buddy and John Dossett as Ben, all of whom were cast and were then in contract negotiations. We've now heard from reliable sources that neither Cattrall or Dossett were able to work out their contract deals for the production and that both sides have moved in. Now said to be in talks? First lady of the British Musical Theatre Elaine Paige and Linda Lavin, who was most recently a 2010 Tony nominee for Collected Stories. More information to come soon...

As BroadwayWorld has previously reported, Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures in association with Unique Features will present the new Broadway musical ELF, starring Sebastian Arcelus, Amy Spanger, Tony® Award winner Beth Leavel (Emily), Tony® Award nominee Mark Jacoby (Walter), Matthew Gumley (Michael), Valerie Wright (Deb), Michael McCormick (Mr. Greenway), Michael Mandell (Store Manager) and six-time Emmy® Award winner George Wendt (Santa) this season.

BroadwayWorld.com has confirmed that completing the cast of ELF the musical will be Sebastian Arcelus as Buddy and Amy Spanger as Jovie.

Although there's been no official announcement yet, while talking to the Rockland Journal News about the upcoming ELF muscial, Thomas Meehan tells the paper that 'In casting Sebastian Arcelus ('Good Vibrations') as Buddy, Meehan says director Casey Nicholaw didn't want someone who would deliver a Ferrell impersonation. 'We wanted someone who would make it their own,' he says.'

As BroadwayWorld has previously reported, Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures in association with Unique Features will present the new Broadway musical ELF, starring Tony® Award winner Beth Leavel (Emily), Tony® Award nominee Mark Jacoby (Walter), Matthew Gumley (Michael), Valerie Wright (Deb), Michael McCormick (Mr. Greenway), Michael Mandell (Store Manager) and six-time Emmy® Award winner George Wendt (Santa) this season. Full casting, including the lead roles of Buddy and Jovie, will be announced shortly.

Twitter Watch shines a BWW spotlight on ELF, the new Broadway musical opening at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on November 14, 2010. The show has just opened its Twitter account and BroadwayWorld brings you their first Tweet below.

Denise Van Outen, Siobhan Dillon and Carley Stenson are to join Sheridan Smith, who has recently extended her run as Elle Woods, Alex Gaumond, Aoife Mulholland and Peter Davison in the West End hit Legally Blonde The Musical.

Sheridan Smith is to extend her run in the West End hit Legally Blonde The Musical to 9 January 2011, in her critically acclaimed role of college sweetheart Elle Woods. Smith has been playing to packed houses at the Savoy Theatre where the show opened in December. Legally Blonde The Musical, which has recently released the original London live cast recording, is currently booking until 22 October 2011.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced Bernadette Peters will star as Sally Durant Plummer in the Kennedy Center production of Follies in the Eisenhower Theater May 7 to June 5, 2011.

BroadwayWorld brings you the highlights from a meeting of two Elle's - Laura Bell Bundy, Tony-nominated star of Broadway's LEGALLY BLONDE from 2007 to 2008, and Sheridan Smith, who has played the bubbly Elle Woods on the West End since December 2009.

The original London live cast recording of Legally Blonde The Musical starring Sheridan Smith, Duncan James, Jill Halfpenny, Peter Davison and Alex Gaumond and coordinated for First Night Records by John Craig, will be released on 16 August 2010. Recorded at the Savoy Theatre and featuring music and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin, the Legally Blonde cast album features eighteen numbers from the show including Omigod You Guys, Serious, Whipped Into Shape, Bend and Snap and So Much Better. The cast of Legally Blonde The Musical will be signing the new cast recording at Dress Circle (57-59 Monmouth Street, London WC2H 9DG) on Saturday 21 August at 12noon.