Where does a crazy Melrose Place character go after she dies? Apparently, the Windy City by way of the Great White Way. According to reports, Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, 25, isn’t taking a break after getting axed from the prime-time soap. Instead, she’s set to play Roxie Hart in the Broadway production of Chicago, starting in December for six weeks, Gossip Cop reports. It’s not an unfamiliar role. Simpson-Wentz played the role in the London run of the musical. It would, however, be her Broadway debut.

HMMM … altho I remember hearing positive reports from folks who saw Ashlee’s Chicago stint in London back in ‘06-’07, I dunno how I feel about this rumored stint on Broadway. It makes sense that she would want to return to the stage now that she’s been fired from TV. At long last, folks on this side of the pond will be able to see if Ashlee’s got the acting chops to perform on the Broadway stage. Considering the dire economic straits that Broadway productions have been facing in recent months, it’s a risky move to pin one’s hopes on the acting/singing prowess of Ashlee Simpson. Are any of y’all excited to see Ashlee Simpson in Chicago?

[Source]

Sienna Miller received a guarded welcome to Broadway Thursday night, as critics measured her performance in the drama After Miss Julie, an update – to 1945 – of August Strindberg’s 1888 play about sex and class. “In a theater season that has felt like a boys’ club of male movie idols from abroad (Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman in A Steady Rain, Jude Law in Hamlet), wouldn’t it be gratifying if one fearless woman – with fewer stage credentials than the guys but almost as much tabloid exposure – walked away with the laurels?” writes Ben Brantley of The New York Times. Adding to the anticipation of what he thought about her acting, he opines: “She has always struck me as a game, gutsy kind of gal, as intrepid in choosing film roles (Factory Girl, Interview) as in courting (and wrestling with) the fame that now accompanies her like an unwanted bodyguard.” But, ultimately, Brantley’s praise is limited to Miller’s “good diction, good posture and great legs. Commendable as these attributes are, they are of limited use in portraying a tautly wound, death-courting neurotic who is eaten alive by her own demons.” Slightly more approving is Michael Kuchwara, who for the Associated Press also notes that Miller “looks sensational: blonde hair done up in a quintessential 1940s ‘do, her trim figure wrapped in a pert floral print dress that shows off her great legs. The very model of a seducer awaiting to commence seduction … And there is a relentless quality to Sienna Miller’s performance, not terribly subtle or vulnerable, but compelling in its obsessiveness.” The infamously testy John Simon, of Bloomberg News, found much to like in her “persuasive performance,” however – finding Miller, 27, “convincing enough in the title role, managing superciliousness and condescension, lust and humiliation, with unassailable proficiency.” Reaction to Miller’s Broadway debut – she costars in the Roundabout Theatre Company production with Jonny Lee Miller, who was once married to Angelina Jolie – qualified as major news in her native England, where the Daily Mail tracked the reviews, as well as the fact that her former fiancé, Law, and even a former boyfriend, Craig, are also on Broadway right now.

You know what … good legs are a good thing to have in showbiz. Now, I’ve not seen the play myself so I can’t speak to its merits or pitfalls but I really loved Sienna in this Summer’s blockbuster action film G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and found her performance in that film completely engaging, wholly interesting and yes, her legs looked amazing. In all seriousness, Sienna wasn’t savaged by the NY theater critics and I would take that as a win. I think congratulations are in order … after all, the reviews could’ve been a helluva lot worse.

[Photo credit: Wireimage, Splash News; Source]

“Hairspray” helmer Adam Shankman is signing on to direct and choreograph the screen version of the Broadway musical “Rock of Ages” for New Line Cinema. The film will begin production by next summer and be released by Warner Bros. in 2011. The musical’s creator, Chris D’Arienzo, scripted the movie adaptation. Carl Levin, Matt Weaver, Scott Prisand, Tobey Maguire and Jennifer Gibgot will produce. Janet Billig and Hillary Weaver are executive producers. “I had the best time of my life making ‘Hairspray’ and badly wanted another musical, and when I watched ‘Rock of Ages,’ I was struck by the fact that not only had much of the audience seen it more than once, every guy in the audience knew the words to the songs,” Shankman told Daily Variety. “What an extraordinary opportunity to open the genre to an audience that otherwise wouldn’t go see a musical.” The tuner tells of two people who meet at the Sunset Strip club Rock of Ages, fall in love and try to stay together amid’80s rock anthems made popular by Journey, Twisted Sister, Joan Jett, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar and other groups. New Line is clearing music rights to the tunes. Since its move to Broadway, “Rock of Ages” fills most of its 1,000 seats at Brooks Atkinson Theater, helped by five Tony nominations. The show will begin a worldwide rollout over the next several years. Shankman said he hopes to shoot the picture in its proper setting, which means lensing in Los Angeles. Shankman said, “I’m thinking big, and absolutely am going to attempt to cast with movie stars. Now that musicals are working again, actors are much more open to it.”

Yay!! This is very exciting news! Rock of Ages is my new fave musical and I can’t wait to see it make the transition to the big screen. While I wish the Broadway actors currently cast in the show would be allowed to reprise their roles in the film (particularly Kerry Butler and Tom Lenk), I’m pretty certain that bigger name actors will be sought out instead (much like when Hairspray the Musical made the transition from the stage to the screen). Nonetheless, I have no doubt that Adam Shankman will make a fantastic film out of this amazing show … I can’t wait!!

[Source]

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is heading to Broadway for his first musical. The 20-year-old actor has been announced as the lead for How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Radcliffe is already used to the pressures of nightly Broadway and West End appearances, having wowed critics in Equus last year. He will play the plum part of J. Pierrepont Finch, a window cleaner who rises to the top of a huge company while, of course, wooing and winning a girl along the way. Robert Morse created the role on Broadway and in the 1967 screen adaptation. The original production, running for a healthy 1,417 performances, won the top Tony for best musical in 1962 as well as six more, including awards for lead Morse and supporting player Charles Nelson Reilly. And the 1995 saw Matthew Broderick win the lead actor Tony. Radcliffe is currently filming the final instalments of the Harry Potter movies, Deathly Hallows, which will be released in two parts.

This is FANTASTIC news!! I suspect that this is but the beginning of a long and storied carrer on the stage. I was lucky enough to see Radcliffe in Equus and was stunned by his performance. I have no doubt that he will be just as superb in this new role in How to Succeed. I have been nothing but impressed with every acting performance I’ve seen from the lad and I have been wondering what his future career in acting holds for him. I suspect he will make a great name for himself on the musical theater stage. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he gave up films altogether and stuck with plays and musicals. Time will tell what other projects DanRad will take on but I, for one, am very excited about the prospect of seeing Daniel Radcliffe on the Broadway stage again.

[Source]

To be, or not to be … a hit on Broadway? That is the question Wednesday morning as the reviews come in for Jude Law’s turn as Hamlet in the much-anticipated Broadway turn for the production, which originated in London to acclaim and opened at New York’s Broadhurst Theatre Tuesday night. Reaction is decidedly mixed. “If Hamlet talks about his mind, you can bet that Mr. Law will point to his forehead; when he mentions the heavens, his arm shoots straight up; and when the guy says his gorge rises, rest assured that he clutches at his stomach. If every actor were like Mr. Law, signed performances for the hard of hearing would be unnecessary,” snipes Ben Brantley of The New York Times. “If anything, Law starts out too overwrought, moaning and gnawing through the great soliloquies as if they were causing him intestinal distress,” Time Out New York’s David Cote notes. Others put in much kinder terms. “His Hamlet is no brooding philosopher/prince; he’s an angry young man, a bundle of nerves forever threatening to explode,” raves USA Today’s Elysa Gardner , who considers Law’s soliloquies “both muscular and exquisitely lyrical.” The traditionally acerbic John Simon of Bloomberg News, however, found nothing poetic about Law’s “flashy, frequently jocular and unsubtle” performance in a play “aimed at neophyte audiences lured to the play not only by the star but with the added promise of a thriller liberally sprinkled with yocks.” Time Out New York, which generally lauded Law, was one of many that had a bone to pick with the supporting cast, finding Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Ophelia ho-hum, and Geraldine James and Ian Drysdale’s Gertrude and Claudius an example of actors taking the phrase “the banality of evil” too literally. Then thank God Jude’s pretty, all critics agreed. Noted The New York Times: “Mr. Law’s undeniable charisma and gender-crossing sex appeal may captivate Broadway theatergoers who wouldn’t normally attend productions of Shakespeare.”

LOL! As much as I loved the show myself, I have to agree with the NY Times critic … I had forgotten that, indeed, Jude mimics physically the words that come out of his mouth … I mean, I’m sure he’s going for emphasis but he does do it for most of the show. In all honesty, I do feel that many of the reviewers who have negative things to say might be speaking from a place where they would be hard pressed to bestow positivity no matter how good an actor like Jude Law is. While I agree that there is some merit to some of the negative reviews, I don’t feel that all of the criticism is very fair. After the jump, check out a few photos of Jude taking his curtain call bows last night at the completion of his official Broadway debut performance and see which celebs made their way to the Broadhurst Theater for opening night …

And here are some of the folks who came out to see the show:

I love that Ed Westwick and Natalie Portman came out for the opening … it does make it seem like the Times critic’s assertion — that Law’s presence in the play will bring out a younger audience — is actually true. I say, so what? If Jude Law’s Hamlet gets more young people into Shakespeare then I say, Yay!! I loved the performance … I urge all Shakespeare fans to see this production. It’s fantastic … you be the judge.

[Photo credit: Wireimage; Source]

An all-star, Tony Award winning creative team has been assembled to create Bring It On: The Musical, an original musical set in the world of competitive cheerleading. The award-winning creative team for Bring It On: The Musical includes an array of talented and innovative individuals drawn from the top ranks of the Broadway Theatre World. Andy Blankenbuehler (Tony Award-winning choreographer for In The Heights) will direct and choreograph. Jeff Whitty (Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Avenue Q) will write the book. Bring It On: The Musical will feature music by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Tony Award winner for In the Heights) and Tom Kitt (Tony Award winner for Next to Normal), and lyrics by Amanda Green (High Fidelity). Tony Award winner Alex Lacamoire (In The Heights, Wicked) will serve as orchestrator, arranger and music supervisor. “The explosive world of cheerleading heightens so naturally to the stage. I can’t imagine a more perfect team to bring this musical to life on stage,” says Andy Blankenbuehler. “Jeff Whitty has come up with an enticing, original book, and Lin-Manuel Miranda and Tom Kitt, two of Broadway’s most talented composers, are joining their amazing creative forces to write the score. With Amanda Green collaborating on lyrics and musical supervision by Alex Lacamoire, this team is a director and choreographer’s dream.” The writers of Bring It On: The Musical have conceived an original new musical that will feature all new and original characters. Bring It On: The Musical will be produced by Universal Pictures Stage Productions along with Charlie Lyons and Armyan Bernstein of Beacon Communications. Day-to-day production will be overseen by Kristin Caskey and Mike Isaacson. General Management will be under the direction of Nina Essman and Nancy Nagel Gibbs of 321 Theatrical Management. “For all of us at Universal, being a part of the Bring It On world has given us great personal and professional satisfaction, and now to work with these great artists on creating this new musical is an even more exciting challenge,” says Glenn Ross of Universal Pictures Stage Productions. The Producers of Bring It On: The Musical anticipate a developmental regional production in early 2011, with a national tour to follow.

HMMM … on the one hand, I can see how this show might be as awesome as Legally Blonde: The Musical … on the other hand, I can see how it might turn out to be a complete disaster. Funny enough, I *just* watched Bring It On yesterday afternoon on cable and was reminded how fun the movie really is:

The possibilities are ENDLESS for making a great show based on competitive cheerleading … I mean, the marketing alone would be a dream. If done well, with great songs and great choreography, this could be a really fun show. The movie is just as frivolously fun as Legally Blonde is, I can see how it might work. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. OH and for those of you who have not seen the movie, you should check it out … it’s really a cute movie (tho, I’d advise you stay away from the straight-to-DVD sequels that have been released since the original film was in theaters). Goooo Toros!!

[Source]

It was so cool seeing Tom’s name in the Playbill … seeing him on stage was just fantastic. He kills as Franz and I cannot recommend enough that all y’all should see this show NOW! The show was fantastic the last time I saw it, it’s even better now. After the jump, check out some of the photos that I was able to take with some of the castmembers on the show stage after the show was finished last night …

Yes, I naughtily managed to snap a cameraphone pic of Tom’s first Broadway curtain call … but I couldn’t help it, you only make your Broadway debut once in a lifetime :) It was so great getting to see Kerry again … and meeting the rest of the cast was so much fun, they were all so nice. Rock of Ages is deffo my fave Broadway musical right now. The cast as it is now is MUST SEE, MUST SEE! Even if you’ve seen the show before, see it again … Kerry and Tom make the show even better!

Buffy fanatics may notice that Danny Strong is also featured in one of the photos above … he came out to support his fellow Buffyverse alum Tom Lenk last night. As you can imagine, it was a thrill meeting him as well.

Last night was just so damn fun … I wish I should share it will all y’all. But I promise, if you see this show you’ll know what I’m talking about. SEE THE SHOW!!!

Much love goes out to Leslie and Jim for taking such great care of us last night … they made it possible for us to get backstage for photos and I love them dearly for it.

Tonight, a bunch of us are getting together to celebrate David’s birthday day which is actually tomorrow but it’ll be party-time tonight ;) Feel free to send along your Birthday Lurve to him on Twitter @davidhauslaib !!!

Right off the bat, I loved the sparse staging of the show. The props are kept to a minimum and the set is one big, high-walled room in castle Elsinore … the starkness of the space with the effective use of light really made for an excellent setting for the play. Jude Law’s Hamlet was very emo … right down to the emo sweater he wore. The costuming was modern but the tone of the setting still had an old feeling to it. Jude really loses himself in the moody role of Hamlet … he paces around in mad fashion, pulling at his hair at odd times … wringing his hands in a minorly insane way — he really puts on a great performance. For much of the 2 1/2 hour play, the audience was held in rapt silence … the play is really very engrossing. There are many great scenes in Hamlet but in this production, I really enjoyed the burial of Ophelia scene … the one with the famous line, Alas poor Yorick, I knew him Horatio. There is also an effective use of falling snow in the To be, or not to be scene that really captures the sad spirit of this tragic play. I am so happy I got to see this production of the play, it’s really not to be missed. Fans of Shakespeare should deffo see this production … I loved it!!

I have to give a shout-out to Pink reader Barrie who I met before the show last night … it was my pleasure meeting you :)

After the performance was finished, I met up with my good friend Tom Lenk for a late-night supper at Sardi’s. As I mentioned previously, Tom will be joining the Broadway cast of Rock of Ages this week and we met up to catch up and talk about how crazy his life has been for the past two weeks. Dinner was superb and it was really great seeing him look so well. He is so ready for his Broadway debut, I cannot WAIT to see him!! David and I will be attending Friday night’s performance of Rock of Ages — which will be the first for new castmembers Tom Lenk (as Franz) and Kerry Butler (as Sherrie). I LOOOOOOVE Kerry Butler, she was the lead in Xanadu and she will make an excellent lead for RoA. Sooooo excited for Friday!!

This afternoon, David and I are meeting up with our dear friends Sashie and Will so that we can meet their newborn baby boy Jasper. Of all the fun things I’ve scheduled for this NYC trip, meeting little Jasper is by far my fave. I hope to have pics to share soon!!

Golden, indeed: Heavyweights from the stage and TV gathered at Broadway’s Majestic Theatre Monday to pay tribute to the late Beatrice Arthur, mixing tears with loud laughs – and ribald recollections that would have been bleeped had the 2½ hour ceremony been broadcast on TV. Instead, speaking live before a near-capacity house, Rue McClanahan told of the time her Golden Girls costar opened in her own 2002 one-woman Broadway show and graciously invited McClanahan and her husband, Morrow Wilson, to the opening-night performance and party afterwards. Admitting Arthur – who died of cancer in April, at 86 – often wasn’t at her best when she was drinking, McClanahan said an intoxicated Bea told Wilson when he introduced himself to her, “Rue, I love.” But when McClanahan quoted Arthur’s description of another costar on Golden Girls (”Betty’s a cunt”), an audible gasp ricocheted through the crowd – before it erupted into the longest and heartiest laugh of the afternoon. “I am sure that’s because laughter lingers, and no one made me laugh like Bea Arthur,” said Arthur’s Maude producer, TV titan Norman Lear. “I have spent most of my life in the company of extraordinary laugh-makers, performers and writers, killers of the art, but Bea Arthur had me laughing in nooks and crannies of my body, places I didn’t even know existed.” A rep from PETA, extolling Arthur’s love of animals, affectionately remembered her emotional reaction to being told she would receive the organization’s lifetime achievement award – from no less than Alec Baldwin. After shedding a few tears, Arthur blurted out, “God, I want to fuck him” – a recollection that even had the afternoon’s dignified host, Angela Lansbury, in stitches. “She really taught me and every other woman my age how to be a feminist at a time when that was a dirty word,” said Rosie O’Donnell, whose introduction to Arthur came when O’Donnell assaulted the veteran TV star in an off Broadway theater and sang the entire title song to Maude, after which Arthur embraced her. “Without her,” said O’Donnell, “I think there would not be as many funny women on television today.” Arthur’s grown sons Matt and Daniel Saks painted a portrait of a warm and loving mother, while TV daughter Adrienne Barbeau recalled Arthur as generous enough to hand over punchlines to her Maude costars, yet brash enough not to keep her personal opinions to herself. Telling of the time she and Arthur both attended a small theater production in West Los Angeles, Barbeau said that at intermission Arthur announced in her booming baritone that the show they were witnessing was “the worst piece of shit I’ve ever seen,” but that she couldn’t leave the theater “because everyone in it is a friend of mine.”

It is still so very sad to realize that Bea Arthur is gone from this world. Her comic genius was such a gift, I think it is safe to say that many of us still miss her dearly. There has been so much death this year, so many wonderful people lost, but I still feel the pain of Arthur’s passing away. She was many things to many people but she will always be Dorothy Zbornak to me … that is the way she will stay in my heart forever. It’s wonderful to hear that her family, friends and colleagues had a wonderful time memorializing her on Broadway last night … I have no doubt she was eating up every second of last night’s raunchy affair.

[Source]

I have my first rehearsal for Rock of Ages today! So excited! Moved into my new place on Saturday, I can’t believe I live in NYC now!

Tom had to keep this news tight-lipped (not even his friends knew about this) and was not, apparently, able to talk about this new gig until today … as Entertainment Weekly claims the scoopage on his move to Broadway:

Tom Lenk, who starred as Andrew on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, will make his Broadway debut as Franz in the Tony-nominated musical Rock of Ages on Sept. 14. Lenk originated the supporting role, the son of a German developer who wants to demolish the Sunset Strip (including LA’s favorite rock club), in Los Angeles and Las Vegas productions. He phoned EW to give us the scoop and the often hilarious backstory. A UCLA theater grad with formal voice training, Lenk went to college with Rock of Ages‘ Tony-nominated director Kristin Hanggi. They’ve worked together before — on a production of Ann E. Wrecksick, an Annie spoof about bulimic orphans, in the basement of a Mexican restaurant in Silver Lake, Calif. the summer after his first season on Buffy. She knew he was also friends with Rock of Ages writer Chris D’Arienzo, and phoned Lenk to tell him that D’Arienzo had a role that might suit him. “In Ann E. Wrecksick, I had done a character of a German fashion designer. I’d also been doing this sketch for years about a German character who’s obsessed with Star Trek and Melrose Place, based on my time having been invited to appear as a random Buffy person at a Star Trek convention in Germany and a friend’s Hungarian husband who was obsessed with Melrose Place,” he says. “So they knew I did this German thing, and it happened to be perfect for the show.” Franz’s big moment, the song “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” comes when he starts a relationship with Regina, who works in the Mayor’s office and protests his and his father’s plans. “I’m a little nervous. The way I performed it in LA and Vegas is not nearly as exhaustive as the version that’s happening now on stage. I would stand and sing, and then do some dancing. But now it’s dancing while I’m singing, so I have two weeks to become Beyoncé,” he says … He begins rehearsals today, but he won’t actually get to perform with the actors he’ll share the stage with until the afternoon before his evening debut. “Which makes me want to have a complete heart attack/throw up,” he admits. “I know I should be prepared for this. I do have a theater degree. I do theater all the time [at LA's Upright Cabaret]. I did a tour of Grease in Germany like 10 years ago, but I was an understudy for Doody and Eugene and I never went on. So I never got my big put-in rehearsal.” Clarification: He could have gone on once as Doody, but he’d booked a German Audi commercial that was coincidentally shooting in Austria on that same evening. During that commercial audition, Lenk, who speaks passable German and will use a thick accent in Rock of Ages, was asked if he skied. He lied and said yes. “I get to the set, and I’d missed something in the translation — it was ski-jumping. They let me freak out for awhile until they revealed that I had a stunt double,” he says. “I only booked the commercial because ski jumpers are like jockeys, they have to be tiny and lightweight. They already had the costume, and they needed somebody to fit it. I was too big even. It was crazy. I missed my big show, Grease das Musical, which is fine.”

This is ABSOLUTELY amazing news. Tom is one of my good friends and I couldn’t be more happy, more proud of him. I’ve seen his live performances a few times and I’m telling you, Broadway is in for a treat. I understand that Tom’s first performance with Rock of Ages is on September 14 and, as luck would have it, I will be in NYC that whole week. You can bet your buns I’m gonna be there. Altho I got to see the show earlier this year, I can’t wait to see it again … and with Tom Lenk in a featured role? All I can say is, Woot!!!!! Much, much love and congrats goes out to Tom on this amazing news today … I’m sure he’ll be working his ass off for the next couple of weeks … and I can’t wait to see the fruits of his labor.

[Source]