Seriously? OMG! WTF?

Dutch theatregoers were shocked on Sunday night when a would-be John Travolta and his Olivia Newton-John lookalike counterpart were injured as their car plunged into the orchestra pit during a performance of the musical Grease. Jim Bakkum was concussed and Bettina Holwerda may have broken her arm, the director of the Almere City Theatre Peter Swinkels told Dutch television. "Jim was driving. … She (Bettina) was able to jump off before it went over the edge, and Jim went down with the car," Swinkels told RTL Nieuws. The car landed in an empty part of the pit, and no musicians were injured. Both were taken to the hospital for treatment in Almere, 15 kilometres east of Amsterdam. The car, dubbed "Greased Lighting" during a song in the play, was made up of the chassis of a classic red-and-white convertible and the engine of a golf cart. The incident took place during a scene where the characters made famous by Travolta and Newton-John in the movie version – Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson – go to a drive-in movie in the car.

AAP (story) and RTL Neiuwes (photo)

That had to be scary. I was watching Grease, You're the One That I Want when I read this and I almost feel that show is going in the same direction as the car.. 

"Mamma Mia!" — an adaptation of the popular ABBA stage musical — is coming to the big screen with a little help from Tom Hanks. The story follows a bride-to-be — raised on a Greek island by a formerly rebellious mom who never disclosed the identity of her father — who locates three men who might be her father and invites them to her wedding. The musical features 22 ABBA songs, including "Dancing Queen," "Take a Chance on Me" and "The Winner Takes It All." Since opening in London in 1999, the show has grossed more than $1 billion with productions running around the globe. Theater veteran Phyllida Lloyd is in negotiations to make her feature directing debut on the film, which Hanks’ Playtone production company will develop for Universal Pictures. ABBA members and songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus will serve as executive producers, along with Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson.

THR

I love the play, but I don’t think it will translate well on to the big screen. Please I implore of Hollywood to stop turning every sucessful Broadway Musical into a movie.

The Off-Broadway revival of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris at the Zipper Theatre welcomes two new actors Jan. 9: former "American Idol" contestant — and recent Wedding Singer star — Constantine Maroulis and Les Misérables’ Jayne Paterson. Maroulis and Paterson join Gay Marshall and Robert Cuccioli, who opened the production. A Brooklyn native, Constantine Maroulis is a graduate of both the Boston Conservatory and the Berklee College of Music. He trained as an apprentice at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and appeared as Roger in a tour of Rent. In addition to his performances on "American Idol," he has also been seen on "Law & Order: SVU" and in several independent films. Maroulis also played a recent engagement at the Public Theater’s Joe’s Pub as well as a stint in The Wedding Singer. The Zipper Theater is located in Manhattan at 336 West 37th Street. For more information visit www.jacquesbrelreturns.com.

Playbill 

I always thought he was sexy on American Idol, but I think that pciture solidifies it!

Film and TV star Dean Cain may soon be headlining a tour of Aaron Sorkin’s military drama A Few Good Men. According to the AWA Touring Services website, the show would be presented as a "pre-Broadway tour" starring Cain, presented by Bill Kenwright and directed by David Esbjornson. No details have been confirmed. Esbjornson directed a successful West End production of the play last year; it starred Rob Lowe and John Barrowman. The tour would, according to AWA notes, offer "an epic production featuring a huge cast of over 20 actors…This is a riveting drama posing important and disturbing questions about the nature of power and the responsibility of those within that power…Dean Cain is scheduled to undertake the pivotal role of hotshot lawyer Daniel Kaffee." The original Broadway production of A Few Good Men opened at the Music Box Theatre on November 15th, 1989 to run for 497 performances. The play was directed by Don Scardino, and Sorkin ("Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," "The West Wing") received the 1989 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding American Playwright. Sorkin’s latest play is The Farnsworth Invention, which will receive a workshop production at La Jolla Playhouse from Feb. 20-March 25.

Broadway World (story) and Pick2Web (photo) 

I had no idea that Aaron Sorkin did Broadway before TV.

At the end of his very own annus horribilis, Sir Paul McCartney is about to revisit happier times. The former Beatle is planning to make a stage show inspired by his working-class childhood in Liverpool. "It is based on Paul’s classical work The Liverpool -Oratorio," explained Kate Robbins, Sir Paul’s cousin, who is working on the adaptation. "Paul will approve every note as musical director." For the 64-year-old it has been the year when divorce proceedings began between him and his second wife, Heather Mills, and when, in a legal submission, the model-turned-campaigner accused him of drunken and abusive behaviour towards her. "The project has been delayed by divorce worries," admitted Miss Robbins. Sir Paul composed The Liverpool Oratorio, his first classical work, with Carl Davis in 1991 to commemorate the city’s 150th anniversary. The story loosely follows the path of the musician’s life, with the main character, Shanty, who was born in 1942 in Liverpool, marrying his sweetheart, Mary Dee, after the death of his father. McCartney was deeply affected by the death of his mother, Mary, in October 1956, when he was 14. Shanty and Mary Dee are forced to deal with the rigours of balancing a happy marriage and their careers, in the same way as Sir Paul and his first wife Linda – reportedly, the couple spent a total of less than a week apart during their 29-year union, despite their demanding commitments. During a quarrel, Mary Dee reveals that she is pregnant and, after surviving a near-fatal accident, gives birth to their son. Linda was four months pregnant with McCartney’s first child, Mary, when they married at Marylebone Register Office in 1969. This was not the first time McCartney’s childhood had been the inspiration for his music: his 1967 song Penny Lane was named after a road in Liverpool in which both he and John Lennon were said to have played as children. McCartney’s upbringing was far from affluent. At his wedding to Heather Mills in 2002, he referred to its poverty. "Back then, I’d have had a wedding just to get the rice," he said. "My trousers were so thin, if I sat down on a penny I could find out which way up it was – heads or tails." Although theatres in the West End of London are expected to compete to stage the new musical, Sir Paul may decide to open it in his home town during Liverpool’s year as the European Capital of Culture in 2008.

Daily Telegraph 

I bet when it finally hits the stage it is going to be amazing! 

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