Sunday, October 19, 2008

Lawyers and Secretaries, Drag Queens and Piragua Guys

A weekend round up of all things from screen to stage:

- Legally Blonde: The Musical will do its last "bend and snap" today on Broadway. I guess the Great White Way will be a little less pink from now on. Don't feel bad for the recently christened Elle Woods, Bailey Hanks, though: she already has her next gig lined up, as another blonde over-achiever, Sharpay Evans, in Disney's High School Musical at Paper Mill Playhouse.

- Speaking Legally, here are the latest episodes of the hi-lar-ious spoof from the In the Heights guys, Legally Brown: The Search for the Next Piragua Guy, starring 9 to 5er Allison Janney, Hairspray hottie Matthew Morrison and Xanadude Cheyenne Jackson (and don't tell me you wouldn't act just like Robin "I was in Camp" De Jesús if you were in the same situation).

- And speaking of Cheyenne (Mr. Jackson if you're nasty), EW.com floats an intriguing casting possibility for him: Patrick Bateman in American Psycho: The Musical. Alas, that may not be a possibility, as Jackson has been tapped to board The Band Wagon, penned by his Xanadu librettist Douglas Carter Beane. The stage version of the classic Fred Astaire/Cyd Charisse tuner was known as Dancing in the Dark when it played earlier this year in San Diego, but it has since been reconceived with Jackson replacing Scott Bakula in the Astaire role.

- Getting back to the ladies, Dolly Parton's 9 to 5: The Musical wraps up its LA try out tonight, and it seems that Janney, Megan Hilty and Stephanie J. Block will be punching the Broadway time clock a little later then originally planned: previews at the Marquis Theatre will now begin on April 7, with the official opening now set for April 30. Perhaps they need more time to iron out some of the kinks that Chris mentioned in his review. In the meantime, Hilty will return as Glinda in the Los Angeles production of Wicked October 31 and stay with the show until it closes there January 11.

- Plans are afoot to turn last year's sleeper hit Once into a Broadway bound stage musical. The original songs by the fim's stars Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová (including the Academy Award winning "Falling Slowly") will be featured.

- And finally, starting tomorrow, the lovely Les Cagelles will be kicking up their well-shaved heels once more in the London revival of La Cage aux Folles.

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