All stories by Roger Friedman on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Exclusive: Sarah Jessica Parker Looking at Off Broadway Return This Fall by Roger Friedman

EXCLUSIVE It’s been a long time since Sarah Jessica Parker has been on stage. But the “Sex and the City” star is getting ready to shed Carrie Bradshaw, from what I hear, an…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 11:43AM[SHARE]
Monday, March 4, 2013

"Cinderella" Gets Sassy in Her Broadway Debut, But the Songs Still Soar by Roger Friedman

Maybe you’ve seen the ads for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella.” They are everywhere, without fail. That’s because putting this show on Broadway is a first…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 12:32AM[SHARE]
Saturday, March 2, 2013

Tom Hanks First Broadway Preview Gets Thumbs Up" So Does Nora Ephron Play by Roger Friedman

It’s not a review, just overheard– last night’s first preview of Nora Ephron‘s “Lucky Guy” is said to have been a total success. Tom Hanks plays late New …

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 11:20AM[SHARE]
Friday, January 18, 2013

Scarlett Johansson Returns to Broadway in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" by Roger Friedman

Believe it or not, Scarlett Johansson already has a Tony Award– for her work as a featured actress in Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge.” That was in 2010. Now …

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 12:34AM[SHARE]
Monday, January 7, 2013

"ER" Star Maura Tierney, Courtney B. Vance Joining Tom Hanks in Broadway Debut by Roger Friedman

“Lucky Guy,” the play by Nora Ephron starring Tom Hanks, has gotten two big cast members– Maura Tierney from “ER” and the great Courtney B. Vance. Hanks plays t…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 02:22PM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 3, 2013

Sigourney Weaver "Vanya" Comedy Looking at Broadway Run by Roger Friedman

Broadway is a little short on original plays this season, so I am happy to pass on the news that Christopher Durang’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” may be moving th…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 11:49PM[SHARE]
Friday, December 28, 2012

"Dead Accounts" Cutting Its Broadway Run Short by Roger Friedman

This time it’s no fun to be right. But I told you two weeks ago that “Dead Accounts,” the play with Katie Holmes as a featured player, was not going to make it. Yesterday p…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 10:10AM[SHARE]
Thursday, November 29, 2012

Katie Holmes Finally Gets to Kiss a Guy On Stage by Roger Friedman

Freedom from her past constraints means Katie Holmes gets to kiss a guy for real on stage in “Dead Accounts.” The guy she kisses is Josh Hamilton, and you can tell she has a good…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 12:38AM[SHARE]
Sunday, November 25, 2012

First Review: "Les Miserables" Comes to Movies with Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway | Showbiz411 by Roger Friedman

Cheers and a standing ovation this afternoon at the first screening of the film version of "Les Miserables." Tom Hooper, Oscar winner for The King's Speech, has made a thrilling, sensational…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 10:20AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, November 20, 2012

"Scandalous," Musical Backed by Amway Family and Christian Right, Barely Holding On by Roger Friedman

“Scandalous,” the musical co-written and labored over by Kathie Lee Gifford for a dozen years, is barely holding on. Despite bravura performances by Carolee Carmello and Roz Ryan…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 01:35PM[SHARE]
Monday, November 19, 2012

"The Lion King" Growls to Its 15 Year on Broadway by Roger Friedman

Number 1 on Broadway this week: “The Lion King.” Number 1 five years ago: “The Lion King.” Ten years ago: “The Lion King.” 15 Years ago; yup. “The L…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 01:15AM[SHARE]
Thursday, November 15, 2012

Kathie Lee Gifford Debuts Her Broadway Musical "Scandalous" by Roger Friedman

Kathie Lee Gifford worked for 12 years on “Scandalous,” her Broadway musical about feminist evangelist pill popper and trailblazer Aimee Semple McPherson. Joy Philbin was telling…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 04:30PM[SHARE]
Friday, November 2, 2012

Broadway: Actors from "The Heiress" Scare Us by Roger Friedman

Broadway: the show must go on, and it did last night when “The Heiress” opened on Broadway with up and coming movie star Jessica Chastain, veteran actor and former Oscar nominee …

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 10:44AM[SHARE]
Friday, October 26, 2012

Katie Holmes On Her New Broadway Role: "I Finally Get to Yell!" by Roger Friedman

Katie Holmes made a public appearance last night for the new Broadway play in which she will shortly open, called “Dead Accounts.” Katie, playwright Theresa Rebeck and director J…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 12:35AM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 25, 2012

Motown Musical Will Be Fun, But Not Factual by Roger Friedman

“Motown: The Musical” is wending its way toward us inexorably. A couple of weeks ago the producers of the show invited group theater bookers and advertisers to come see a little …

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 11:06AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Anne Hathaway's Wedding Secret: "Book of Mormon" Star Played Rabbi by Roger Friedman

EXCLUSIVE Anne Hathaway’s recent wedding to Adam Shulman got a lot of write-ups in various tabloids. The wedding took place in the woods on sacred Indian ground near Big Sur on the ver…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 01:14AM[SHARE]
Monday, October 22, 2012

Trudie Styler, Joe Morton Make Death Row Stories Come Alive Off Broadway by Roger Friedman

There are several stories that intertwine through “The Exonerated,” a play reading that took root ten years ago at the Culture Project on Bleecker Street. Now the people and thei…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 01:21AM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 11, 2012

Tom Hanks Officially Starring in Broadway Play by Nora Ephron by Roger Friedman

I feel like deja vu all over again. I’ve written this before, but today they sent out the official release about Tom Hanks in the play “Lucky Guy.” This was Nora EphronR…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 01:27PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Little Steven Reuniting the Original Rascals For Theatrical Show by Roger Friedman

Little Steven van Zandt is doing the impossible! He’s reuniting the Rascals, the original Rascals, for a theatrical show. “Once Upon A Dream” will happen December 13, 14, a…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 12:44PM[SHARE]
Monday, October 1, 2012

Exclusive: "Miss Pettigrew" is Coming to Broadway as a Musical by Roger Friedman

Exclusive: throw another film title into the Broadway mix. I’m told that Focus Features is dabbling in its first Broadway musical. They’re turning “Miss Pettigrew Lives for…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 11:44PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, September 26, 2012

"Rebecca," A Musical No One Should Have to Hear by Roger Friedman

Great story in the New York Times: Broadway producer Ben Sprecher is still looking for $4.5 million to put his musical, “Rebecca,” on Broadway. It turns out his major backer disa…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 11:56PM[SHARE]
Friday, September 21, 2012

Helen Mirren Will Play Queen Elizabeth Again"This Time on Stage by Roger Friedman

Helen Mirren won the Oscar for playing Queen Elizabeth in “The Queen,” written by Peter Morgan. Now Baz Bamigboye reports from London in today’s Daily Mail that Mirren and …

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 10:00AM[SHARE]
Saturday, September 15, 2012

Broadway: "Chaplin" Needs a Chaplain by Roger Friedman

You’d think after every bad thing this country did to Charlie Chaplin we could leave him alone. Apparently not. A version of his life story, poorly and inadequately told, is now on Bro…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 09:46AM[SHARE]
Monday, August 20, 2012

Nominations for Casting Director Awards Announced by Roger Friedman

Casting directors don’t get Oscars, Tonys, or Emmys. So they have their own awards–called Artios. They’re given out on October 29th. COMPLETE LIST OF NOMINEES FOLLOWS 2012 …

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 05:49PM[SHARE]
Friday, August 17, 2012

"The Master" Sneak-Screens in Chicago, Wins Rave Reviews by Roger Friedman

Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” screened in Chicago on Thursday night for a large,paying audience. Tickets were $10 for a film charity, and The Weinstein Company says t…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 10:45PM[SHARE]
Friday, August 3, 2012

Musical "Diner" with Sheryl Crow Music Downsizing for 2013 Tony Run by Roger Friedman

“Diner,” the musical version of Barry Levinson’s classic 1983 movie, is downsizing. Producers announced that the show, with music by Sheryl Crowe, is cancelling its fall ru…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 04:51PM[SHARE]
Thursday, August 2, 2012

Dusty Springfield Getting the New York Musical Treatment this Fall by Roger Friedman

The late wonderful, astounding Dusty Springfield is finally coming to near-Broadway. Writer-performer-producer Kirsten Holly Smith will play her in a show at New World Stages this fall calle…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 03:22PM[SHARE]
Thursday, July 19, 2012

Katie Holmes Already Has a Broadway Play Lined Up by Roger Friedman

Katie Holmes has not let one minute pass since her quickie divorce. She’s already lined up a Broadway play. Jack O’Brien is set to direct her in “Dead Accounts,” a ne…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 07:48PM[SHARE]
Thursday, July 12, 2012

Stephen King-John Mellencamp Musical " Panned Already"Persists to NYC by Roger Friedman

Did you know that Stephen King and John Mellencamp teamed up for a musical recently? It’s called “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County,” and it opened last spring in Atlanta t…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 10:04AM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 28, 2012

Cyndi Lauper's Broadway Musical Gets "American Idiot" Star by Roger Friedman

Cyndi Lauper’s Broadway musical–the movie “Kinky Boots” on stage–has gotten a cast. Stark Sands, of “American Idiot,” will co-star with Billy Porter…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 12:43PM[SHARE]

Exclusive: Sigourney Weaver Doing Durang Play This Fall Before "Avatar" Sequels by Roger Friedman

Exclusive: Add Sigourney Weaver’s name to the list of movie stars heading to off or or on Broadway shortly (Alec Baldwin and Jake Gyllenhaal have been in recent announcements). I sort …

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 10:11AM[SHARE]