Media Morsels 12.2.11

• Casting News: Starry, Broadway Edition
• Andrew Garfield (The Social Network), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Ides of March) and Linda Emond (iHo) will star in the upcoming, limited engagement revival of the Aurthur Miller classic, Death of a Salesman. Previews will begin at the Barrymore Theatre on February 13 followed by a March 15 opening. The show will run for 16 weeks. Visit Playbill.com for ticket information.
  
  
• Jim Parsons (The Normal Heart) and Jessica Hecht will star in Roundabout's revival of Harvey (which really makes me miss Wilfred!) The show will play at a renovated Studio 54; previews begin May 18 in anticipation of a June 14 opening. Playbill.com has more information.
  
  
• Eric McCormack joins an already starry cast of Gore Vidal's The Best Man. McCormack joins Candice Bergen, Angela Lansbury (A Little Night Music), James Earl Jones and Michael McKean (Welcome Home, Dean Charbonneau). The impressive cast does not have a home, but previews are scheduled to begin March 6 followed by an April 1 opening. Visit Playbill.com for more details.
  
  
• Justin Kirk will take over the role of Trip Wyeth in Other Dessert Cities after current star Thomas Sadoski leaves to film Aaron Sorkin's new HBO show, The Newsroom. Kirk was great off-Broadway in The Understudy but is perhaps best known for playing Uncle Andy on Weeds.
  
  
• Not quite as starry to theatre neophytes but good news nonetheless: Cassie Levy will reprise her role as Molly when Ghost plays Broadway this spring. Levy, a Hair alumna, originated the role when the show premiered in the West End.
  
  
• Grammy Nominations Announced
  Dear readers, I cried a little bit when I saw all the Foo Fighters and Butch Vig love in the Grammy nominations. In total, Wasting Light, the Foos and company garnered eight nominations, including a nod for Album of the Year!!!!!!!! Interestingly, Vig earned a nomination for Producer of the Year; what's interesting is that he's the only nominee to have just one album to his credit this year. I think that speaks volumes about the power and greatness of Wasting Light. Other nominations you might find interesting:
  
  
• Best Musical Theater Album: Anything Goes, The Book of Mormon and How to Succeed...
  
  
• Best Spoken Word Album: nominees include Tina Fey (Bossypants) and Betty White (If You Ask Me...)
  
  
Visit grammy.com/nominees for the full list of nominated artists, and tune into CBS on February 12, when winners will be announced.


• (Movie) Award Season Update
  It's December and that means that the award shows are coming! Goldderby.com has a list of their Oscarologists' (read: critics) rankings of the Best Picture race. A majority list The Artist, a silent film, as the front runner, with Moneyball, War Horse (a film version based on the same book as the Tony-winning stage version) and The Descendants also in contention. What, no The Muppets love?!? (Over at The Wrap, Steven Pond answers 10 burning Oscar questions.)
  
  In other award season news, SAG and Golden Globe nominations come out in two weeks, on December 14 and 15, respectively. Check back here for full coverage of the nominations.
  
  
• Playbill Vault
  Playbill.com, the comprehensive theatre website (which is the source for many of the morsels I bring you every week) launched Playbill Vault this week. Basically an IMDB for theatre (though there is already an ibdb.com), this database has archives from every season and includes lots of info about your favorite shows. I like the homepage, which tells you what happened on this day in theatre history. Visit playbillvault.com to start browsing the archives!
  
  
• Dig This
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt (50/50) spoke with The New York Times about his online artists' collective, hitRecord. Are you RECording?
  
  
• The "duh!" item of the week: The Book of Mormon has recouped its initial Broadway capitalization. With a $39 million advance, and nine Tonys, it's no surprise. Still, "ma ha nei bu, Eebowai!"
  
  
• Famed film critic Roger Ebert talks about where he likes to sit at the movies.
  
  
• American Idiot is headed across the pond. The cast of the American tour will makes stops in the UK and Ireland beginning in October 2012.
  
  
• Broadway vet and current Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson is named one of Barbara Walters's 10 Most Fascinating People. Ferguson is joined by his co-star Eric Stonestreet. Yankees great Derek Jeter also made the list!
  
  
• A treat to start your weekend off right: Bob Seger and Bruce Springsteen rocking "Old Time Rock and Roll" at the Garden: