The ladies on The View are giving us a sneak preview of tomorrow’s Halloween episode where they each dress up as one of our late former Presidents. Now, I’m not a huge fan of The View in general but I gotta say that I’m quite impressed with their Halloween ingenuity this year. Here is a group shot of Whoopi Goldberg as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joy Behar as Theodore Roosevelt, Sherri Shepard as Abraham Lincoln (on the $0.01 coin), Elisabeth Hasselbeck as Ronald Reagan and Barbara Walters as George Washington:

While they all look pretty awesome as these Presidents, I have to say that the winner overall has to be Sherri Shepard’s Lincoln penny costume. Brills! Props also go out to Barbara Walters for being the only Viewstress to not only dress up as one of our most beloved Presidents but also one of her classmates as well. Hahahaha … I love these costumes … very cool and very timely. Well done, ladies!

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Whoopi Goldberg laced up her rollerskates, slipped on her legwarmers and joined the Broadway cast of Xanadu this week to begin a 6-week limited engagement with the musical as the evil Muse sister Calliope. Here is a pic of Whoopi taking her first bows this past Tuesday night (with regular castmember Andre Ward) at the Helen Hayes theater, a screencap of the musical’s official website announcement of her short tenure with the show and a report from Broadway World on her stint with the show:

Whoopi Goldberg joined the cast of the hit Broadway musical “Xanadu” on Tuesday, July 29th for a special six week engagement through Sunday, September 7th. Ms. Goldberg is playing the role of Caliope. Jackie Hoffman, who created the role, will be releasing her new cd “Jackie Hoffman Live from Joe’s Pub” and will return to the production on September 9th. In a statement, Ms. Goldberg said “What better way to stick my toe back on to the Broadway stage than to join the amazing cast of “Xanadu”. It’s such a fun show and is definitely my sensibility, as written by the divine Douglas Carter Beane. For me, it’s going to be unbelievable”. Producer Ahrens wholeheartedly agrees by saying “On behalf of the entire “Xanadu” family, we are overwhelmed and appreciative that Whoopi has chosen to return to her turf of Broadway with our musical. We are thrilled!”

Hello! I *am* thrilled! I am really hoping to get to see the show (for the third time, mind you) with Whoopi in it during my super short stopover in NYC at the end of this weekend … I’m flying back to LA on Tuesday so I think Sunday is my only chance to see it. In any event, if any of y’all are considering seeing the show — go now! What better way to see this really fun show than with Whoopi Goldberg playing one of the funniest characters. Get your tickets now, she’s only there until September 7th!

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While I was happily celebrating the LA Lakers victory over the Boston Celtics last night, I was mourning the shaft that was given to two of my fave Broadway shows at last night’s 62nd annual Tony Awards, which were held live at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. While I was very impressed with the production value of the show (especially the bits that involved host Whoopi Goldberg, who was brills all night long) and the live cast performances (some more than others … loved Xanadu, was a tiny bit let down by both The Little Mermaid and Rent), I was just really bummed that neither Xanadu (my Best Musical) nor Macbeth (my Best Play) got any love at all from the stogy old Tony voters. Boo. Here are a few pics from the Tony Awards red carpet:

Everyone looked amazing on the red carpet … I love that Xanadu’s Cheyenne Jackson had to show up on the red carpet in a tux and then had to strip it off to don his shorty jean shorts for the live performance and then had to get all dolled up in his tux again — and he wasn’t even nominated for an award! That’s dedication, y’all. I cannot stress enough how fun and inventive both Xanadu and Macbeth are as Broadway productions … and I’m convinced that is why neither show took home any awards. Tony voters seem to love being mired in the past (South Pacific), bucking the new and innovative and choosing instead to stick with the traditional, tired yet true (the same thing happened last year when Legally Blonde got the shaft).

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