Seriously? OMG! WTF?

"MOTHER Courage and Her Children," the new Shakespeare in the Park show with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline, has opened at the Delacorte in Central Park, and theatergoers may need courage to sit through it. Tuesday night’s first preview of the weighty 1941 Bertolt Brecht play clocked in at a mind-numbing 3 1/2 hours, and nearly 100 people had left the 1,892-seat house by the end, one audience member told us. "Meryl is brilliant, but the play itself is boring, tortuous – it needs judicious cutting," our spy said. "A number of people left after 20 minutes. Many didn’t return after intermission and then, three hours in, during a long song by Kevin Kline, they were pouring out. Many were older, so they might want to retitle it ‘Flight of the Elderly.’ " Public Theater flack Arlene Kriv at first insisted to Page Six that not a single person had walked out of the play, which has a new translation by Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner and is directed by George Wolfe. She later conceded there may have been a few defections, but said the play will not be cut: "The show is what it is – a long show."

Page Six (story) and AP (photo) 

A by-invitation-only reading of the new musical Xanadu — based on the 1980 film of the same name — will be held in Manhattan Aug. 3. Tony Award winner Jane Krakowski will play Kira, the role created on screen by Olivia Newton-John.Christopher Ashley is directing the reading of Xanadu, which utilizes songs from the movie’s soundtrack; Eric Stern is musical director. Douglas Carter Beane, whose acclaimed play The Little Dog Laughed is headed to Broadway in the fall, has penned the book for the new musical.Playwright Beane previously told Playbill.com that Xanadu "uses the movie as a springboard for a musical comedy about creativity and mortality." In Xanadu, Kira (Krakowski) is a muse sent to earth. There are eight other muses who arrive, says Beane, "[ready] to create havoc in early eighties America." "From the last reading," Beane now says, "I have been pushing it more into the wonderful worlds of Greek mythology and the early eighties. All of the eighties political figures have been cut."

Playbill  (Thanks Dlisted) 

Harry Potter eyeglasses and robes for his London stage debut next year. The 17-year-old actor, who plays the bespectacled schoolboy wizard in the Hollywood adaptations of J.K. Rowling’s novels, will star as a troubled stableboy in Peter Shaffer’s "Equus."The play delves into the psyche of a boy named Alan Strang who blinds six horses with a metal spike. The production is scheduled to open next March in the West End theater district, said spokesman Peter Thompson."It is an extraordinary play, and he’s very much looking forward to the role," Radcliffe’s spokeswoman, Vanessa Davies, said Friday. "He is maturing as an actor and beginning to take on new and challenging roles."In one scene the actor playing Strang is required to simulate sexual ecstasy while riding a horse naked. But Davies said nudity was not the focus of the play.

AP 

Not since Eve Plumb played a hooker has a goody-two-shoes actor tried so hard to get rid of their nice image. 

Chainsaws (and horror fans) will be buzzing as a new musical comedy, based on the Sam Raimi cult film classics, hits New York for an unlimited Off-Broadway run this fall.
Jenkay LLC, Jeffrey Latimer Entertainment and Just For Laughs Live present the "killer musical" which begins Oct. 2 at the New World Stages and opens Nov. 1.
"Evil Dead: The Musical unearths the old familiar story," reveals a press release, "boy and friends take a weekend getaway at abandoned cabin, boy expects to get lucky, boy unleashes ancient evil spirit, friends turn into Candarian Demons, boy fights until dawn to survive."
Christopher Bond and Tony Award winner Hinton Battle ("Dreamgirls," "Idlewild") direct the work which features a book and lyrics by George Reinblatt, music by Frank Cipolla, Bond, Melissa Morris and Reinblatt with music supervision by Cipolla.
The cast — charged with songs like "All the Men in my Life Keep Getting Killed by Candarian Demons," "Look Who’s Evil Now" and "Do the Necronomicon" — includes Jennifer Byrne, Jenna Coker, Renee Klapmeyer, Amy Shute, Tom Walker, Brandon Wardell, Ryan Williams and Darryl Winslow.
The "tale of lust, love and dismemberment" began its life in workshop engagements, which "played to capacity and beyond" at Toronto’s Transac Club before the work moved to Montreal’s Cabaret du Plateau to play as part of the 2004 Just For Laughs Festival.
"Turning it into a musical was the next logical step," explains co-creator and director Bond about the Raimi-made story (which includes 1981’s "Evil Dead," 1987’s "Evil Dead II" and 1992’s "Army of Darkness"). "With each installment, the trilogy delves further and further into farce and camp."

Playbill 

Holy Broadway, BATMAN! The Caped Crusader is set to be the subject of a new JIM STEINMAN stage musical. Composer Steinman, the man behind rock anthems by MEAT LOAF and BONNIE TYLER, among others, has been toying with the idea of creating BATMAN, THE MUSICAL for years – and now it looks as if his plan will be realised. The BAT OUT OF HELL hitmaker shelved the Batman musical idea, which he hoped to create with quirky film-maker TIM BURTON, two years ago (04) to allow both to concentrate on other projects. But now Steinman has put the venture high on his priority list after letting fans hear two news songs he has written for the musical. The first, NOT ALLOWED TO LOVE, is a dark duet penned for Batman and CATWOMAN, and the second WHERE DOES HE GET THOSE TOYS? – a tune for Batman villain THE JOKER and sung by Steinman himself – was debuted on Steinman’s website over the weekend (15/16JUL06). There are no official details as to when Steinman’s Batman musical will hit the stage, or if Burton is still attached to the project.

Contact Music

I love Jim Steinman and man if this gets made it will be amazing! 

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