Media Morsels 11.30.12

Thanksgiving Week Wrap Up

I hope you all had a family- and food-filled Thanksgiving! Herein, I'll bring you up to date on some notable happenings and announcements from last week (scroll down to learn what happened this week):
  • Alex Timbers (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Peter and the Starcatcher) will direct a Broadway revival of The Philadelphia Story. The revival will be produced by Roundabout Theatre Company (so you can expect some starry names among the cast) at its American Airlines Theatre in fall 2013. Playbill has details.

  • Green Day, according to Rolling Stone, will release a documentary of the making of their triple album Uno! Dos! Tre!, called, appropriately, Quatro! The flick will be released in 2013 but VH1 viewers got to catch a glimpse of some highlights this Wednesday.

  • The Leap of Faith original Broadway cast recording, as previously reported, will be released digitally on December 4 and on CD on December 18. Last week, the producers announced the track listing, which is available on Playbill. Tracks include the gospel pop number "Step into the Light" and the 11 o'clock number "Jonas's Soliloquy."

  • We Kickstarted the Now. Here. This. original cast recording, and it's almost ready to be released. (Those who contributed to the Kickstarter campaign, like me, received a Thanksgiving treat: a download of the opening song, "What Are the Odds?") Playbill has the full track listing. Pre-order your copy from Sh-K-Boom.

  • Chevy Chase has left Community. The fourth and (unfortunately) final season of the show is being filmed now,  the report in Rolling Stone indicates that Chase's exit won't have an effect on production. The new season returns to NBC on February 7, 2013.

  • Speaking of fourth seasons, Downton Abbey has been picked up for a fourth season of its very own. The Hollywood Reporter has details. (The third season of the show will air in the US on PBS beginning January 6, 2013.)
NYC Ballet on 60 Minutes

Lesley Stahl sat with City Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins and members of the company (including Robert Fairchild) to talk about the the company. Highlights of the interview, which aired this past Sunday night (though portions were filmed in 2011 and throughout this year), include Martins addressing his collaboration with Sir Paul McCartney on Ocean's Kingdom and footage of Fairchild making his debut in the classic but grueling Apollo. Head over to CBS's website for web-exclusive extras (including an interview with principal dancer Wendy Whelan) and look below to watch the segment.

Speaking of NYCB, the photographer Henry Leutwyler embedded himself in the company last year (he shot their incredible promotional photos the last few years) and is releasing a collection of his exclusive photos in the book Ballet. New York magazine has a sneak peek.

And, take a look below the 60 Minutes clip as designer Valentino shows off the beautiful costumes from City Ballet's Fall Gala:





Award Season Update

  • The Hollywood Reporter once again brings us the Feinberg Forecast, in which the magazine's awards analyst, Scott Feinberg, reports on what happened during the week and what impact it has on the Oscar race. This week, he notes, among other things, that the long-awaited Les Miserables and Zero Dark Thirty (starring The Heiress's Jessica Chastain) were both screened for industry folks for the first time; these screenings, along with other films' events, were meant to stir up support and provide more opportunities for the guilds to see eligible films before the early December nomination deadline.

  • Oscar host Seth MacFarlane (Ted) recently spoke to a group of UCLA film students. As EW reports, MacFarlane spoke not only about his upcoming Oscar gig (of which the students may be a part), but also what a Family Guy movie might be like.

  • The Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced. EW has the full list, which includes nods for Moonrise Kingdom (including its scribes, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, and its director, Anderson), Silver Linings Playbook and Martin McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths.

  • In Emmy news, we learned this week that the 65th annual award ceremony will take place on September 22, 2013. Mark you calendar!


Now and then, Broadway.com asks Broadway stars what they're currently obsessing over. In this week's edition, the lovely and talented Jessie Mueller (On a Clear Day..., Mystery of Edwin Drood) talks about what she loves, including Downton Abbey, The Spring Standards and fellow songstresses Betsy Wolfe (Merrily We Roll Along, ...Drood) and Lindsay Mendez (Godspell, Dogfight). You can catch Mueller on the boards in ...Drood through March 3, 2013. (Speaking of ...Drood, the company will record a cast album on December 10, and it will be released on January 29, 2013. Visit drgrecords.com for details.)

TV Updates

  • To the delight of many fans, a sequel to the beloved TV series Boy Meets World is happening and original cast members Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel are signed on. The sequel, titled Girl Meets World, will focus on Cory (Savage) and Topanga's (Fishel) 13-year old daughter, Riley; the series will be told from her point of view. E! Online has details, and Fishel wrote about her new gig on her Tumblr.

  • The new season of Girls premieres on January 13, 2013, on HBO and here's a look at what you can expect on the show's second season:



Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy

This is a new documentary that will air on PBS on January 1, 2013, at 9:30 pm. The doc focuses on the contributions to musical theatre made by Jewish artists, charting the development of the art form. It will feature the work of and/or interviews with some of the greatest and most legendary names in American musical theatre, including Stephen Sondheim, Irving Berlin, Adolph Green and Betty Comden, the Gershwins and more. Appearing in archival performance footage will be Idina Menzel, Dick Van Dyke, Barbra Streisand and Ethel Merman, among others. Joel Grey narrates the documentary. Visit Playbill for more details, and set your DVR!

Dig This

  • The new play Ann, about the late, great Texas governor Ann Richards (played by Holland Taylor), which will run at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, has set dates for the production. Previews will begin on February 18, 2013, with opening night set for March 7. Playbill has details.

  • Arrested Development favorite Judy Greer spoke to Broadway.com about her Broadway debut in the just-opened Theresa Rebeck play, Dead Accounts, which also stars Norbert Leo Butz.

  • From the queue: Moonrise Kingdom

  • The Kennedy Center Honors will be awarded and the honorees honored this weekend. (City Ballet principal dancer Sara Mearns will be on hand to help honor honoree Natalia Makarova, whom Mearns calls "the main influence in my career.") Stay tuned for details about when the performances will air on CBS (probably late December).

  • Audra McDonald (Porgy and Bess) will host PBS's Live from Lincoln Center series. Playbill has details.

  • After the success of X-Men: First Class, director Bryan Singer now tells Deadline that the next X-Men film will be X-Men: Days of Future Past, and it will star both Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy and Sirs Ian Mckellen and Patrick Stewart

  • Rolling Stone has details about the soundtrack for Quentin Tarantino's upcoming (and much anticipated by me) film, Django Unchained. Artists on the album include John Legend, James Brown and even Tupac Shakur.

  • This is just too much fun to keep to myself. Damian Lewis, the British actor who plays American Sergeant Nicholas Brody on Homeland was on Jimmy Kimmel this week and told Kimmel about how he and his costar Mandy Patinkin (An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin) sing Sondheim showtunes on set:

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