GRACE NOTES - Thursday, March 10, 2011

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Today’s highlights:

* Cactus Flower, starring Maxwell Caulfield, opens Off Broadway at Westside Theatre Upstairs.

* Flare Path, starring Sienna Miller, opens at London's Theatre Royal, Haymarket.

* Roundabout's Anything Goes begins previews at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.

* Blood Brothers, starring Andrea McArdle and her daughter, begins previews at Florida’s Theatre Zone.

* Zazou reading, starring Liliane Montevecchi and Robert Cuccioli, at 2 PM at MTC Studios. RSVP: jmeyr@earthlink.net

* Broadway Goes to the Dogs, benefit for Friends of Animals Rescue, at 9 PM at the Triad. (see article below)

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Video: In response to the increase in the numbers of student suicides stemming from anti-gay bullying, Center Theatre Group is releasing a video for the It Gets Better Project. CTG staff members, including Artistic Director Michael Ritchie and Managing Director Charles Dillingham, share personal stories from childhood in a message of support for lesbian, gay,bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth: http://bit.ly/h2PrmK

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Kansas City Rep has announced casting for John Kander and Fred Ebb's Cabaret, to run March 18 - April 10. Eric Rosen will direct the production, which will have music direction by Anthony T. Edwards and choreography by Richard J. Hinds.

The company will feature Claybourne Elder (Clifford Bradshaw), Kara Lindsay (Sally Bowles), Hollis Resnik (Fräulein Schneider), Brian Sills (Master of Ceremonies), KC Comeaux (Bobby/Kit Kat Klub Boy/Ensemble), Jerry Jay Cranford (Max/ Kit Kat Klub Boy/Ensemble), Jenny Florkowski (Kit Kat Klub Girl/Ensemble), Charles Fugate (Ernst Ludwig), Colleen Grate (Kit Kat Klub Girl/Ensemble), Gary Neal Johnson (Herr Schultz), Bryan LaFave (Victor/ Kit Kat Klub Boy/Ensemble), Mandy Morris (Kit Kat Klub Girl/Ensemble), Kym Chambers Otto (Kit Kat Klub Girl/Ensemble), Vanessa Severo (Fräulein Kost/Ensemble), and Emily Shackelford (Kit Kat Klub Girl/Ensemble).

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Second Stage has announced plans to stage All New People, a world-premiere comedy by "Scrubs" actor Zach Braff, this summer Off-Broadway. Previews will begin June 28. Peter DuBois will direct. The production will officially open in mid-July. Casting TBA.

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Video: Highlights from Ghetto Klown: http://bit.ly/goYg20

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Christopher Seiber will debut in La Cage earlier than the March 15 date reported earlier. He will now begin performances March 11.

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The 26th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards, honoring outstanding achievement in Off-Broadway theatre, will be presented May 1. Nominations for the annual awards will be announced March 31. A cocktail reception honoring this year's nominees will be held April 11.

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Lisa Howard, who made her Broadway debut in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, will celebrate the release of her new CD with a concert at Birdland April 11 at 7 PM.

Howard’s new CD, “Songs of Innocence and Experience: The Music of William Finn,” will be available on the Sh-K-Boom label beginning April 12 on iTunes, Amazon.com and in stores.

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Judith Light, who is currently appearing in Lombardi at Circle in the Square Theatre, has been cast in the ABC pilot "Other People's Kids." Light will play the free-spirited, over-involved ex-mother-in-law of Michelle (Bonnie Somerville), who is juggling two kids, an ex-husband, her ex-in-laws, and a new romance with younger man Adam (Jesse Bradford), who has had no previous family responsibilities.

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Sarah Ruhl's adaptation of Three Sisters, which debuted at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park in 2009, will be part of the 2011-2012 season at Yale Rep.

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Video: Robin Williams, Moises Kaufman, Rajiv Joseph talk up Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo: http://bit.ly/gFkCtD

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Tony Award winners James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave, who head the cast of the critically acclaimed Broadway revival of Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Driving Miss Daisy, will likely repeat their performances for London audiences.

Variety reports that producers Jed Bernstein and Adam Zotovich hope to bring the revival, including its two stars, to London this fall. The London engagement would precede Jones' return to Broadway in 2012 in the revival of Gore Vidal's The Best Man.

A national tour, which is aiming for a launch in fall 2012, is also in the works. Jones and Redgrave are not expected to be part of the U.S. tour, although the producers plan to cast name actors for all three roles.

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Brian d'Arcy James has joined the cast of "Smash," an NBC pilot about the creation of a Broadway musical. James will play the husband of Julia, the musical's lyricist, who will be played by Emmy Award winner Debra Messing.

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Upcoming concerts with the Boston Pops:

Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops will kick off the 2011 Spring Pops Season May 11, with a gala Opening Night tribute to the music of Judy Garland featuring Jekyll and Hyde's Linda Eder.

Hooray for Hollywood and a Tribute to Audrey Hepburn will be presented May 25-26 and 28.

On May 31 and June 1, Michael Feinstein will join Lockhart and the Boston Pops for Michael Feinstein and the American Songbook. Feinstein will offer tunes from the Frank Sinatra Songbook.

Broadway and the American Songbook, which will be offered June 16-17, features Stephanie J. Block and Julia Murney.

On June 23-24 concertgoers can enjoy Keith Lockhart Celebrates American Icons, which will explore the musical legacies of Richard Rodgers and George Gershwin. Canadian soprano Kathleen Brett and actor/vocalist Ron Raines will be featured.

At Tanglewood, conductor John Williams will lead a concert featuring James Taylor on July 1. This concert features Morgan Freeman as a guest narrator and special guest Gil Shaham on violin.

Also at Tanglewood, Lockhart will conduct the Pops in A Tribute to Cole Porter July 17, with Broadway vocalists Kelli O’Hara and Jason Danieley. O’Hara and Danieley rejoin the Pops Aug. 6 at the Bethel Woods Performing Arts Center in Bethel Woods, NY, and on Aug. 7 on the Town Green in Hyannis for additional performances of the Cole Porter set.

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Video: In rehearsal with Encores! Where’s Charley: http://bit.ly/fd1Sqb

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Tony Award-nominated songwriter David Yazbek, last represented on Broadway with Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, will discuss his work and share some of his music April 11 at the 92YTribeca. The 7:30 PM performance and chat is presented as part of the "Lyrics & Lyricists Downtown" series. Jack O'Brien, who collaborated with Yazbek on The Full Monty and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, will moderate the evening.

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The national tour of La Cage aux Folles will play Chicago's Bank of America Theatre Dec. 20- Jan. 1, 2012. Casting TBA. (312) 977-1710

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Complete casting has been announced for L.A. Theatre Works' presentation of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, to perform at the Skirball Cultural Center March 16-20. Eric Simonson will direct the performances.

Stacy Keach (Willy Loman) and Jane Kaczmarek (Linda Loman) star, along with Steven Culp (Biff Loman) and John Sloan (Happy Loman), along with Maureen Flannigan, Jason Henning, Sam McMurray, Kathryn Meisle, Tim Monsion, Kate Steele, and Kenneth Williams.

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Michael Imperioli, Anthony Rapp, and Scott Shepherd will be among the participants in Selected Shorts' 40th Anniversary Celebration of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, to be held at Symphony Space on Wednesday, March 16 at 7 PM. Benicio del Toro has withdrawn due to a change in his schedule.

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Akiko Aizawa, J.Ed Araiza, Leon Ingulsrud, Ellen Lauren, Tom Nelis, Barney O'Hanlon, Makela Spielman, Samuel Stricklen, and Stephen Duff Webber will star in the New York premiere of Charles Mee's Under Construction, to be presented by SITI Company at Dance Theater Workshop, April 21-May 7. Anne Bogart will direct.

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Video: Preview of Paper Mill’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: http://bit.ly/gD6Ngv

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Erin Davie, Ann Harada, Kendrick Jones, Burke Moses, and Wesley Taylor will star in The John W. Engeman Theater at Northport's Broadway Tribute, the next special event in the theater's ongoing Broadway Concert Series, to be held on Saturday, April 2 at 8 PM. The performers will recreate some of their most memorable career highlights, display their versatility and share amusing behind-the-scenes anecdotes. Eugene Gwozdz will be the concert's musical director.

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Julianne Moore will play politician and reality TV star Sarah Palin in the HBO movie Game Change. The film, by Jay Roach, is about the 2008 presidential election, and has been adapted from the behind-the-scenes book written by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann.

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Casting has been announced for Laguna Playhouse's production of Noël Coward's Private Lives that runs March 15 - April 10. Directed by Andrew Barnicle, the cast features Julie Granata as Amanda, Joseph Fuqua as Elyot, Winslow Corbett as Sybil, and Matthew Floyd Miller as Victor.

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John Tartaglia, creator, producer and writer of the Drama Desk Award nominated Off-Broadway musical hit John Tartaglia’s ImaginOcean, and a star in the upcoming Hollywood stage production of The Temperamentals, has announced a new session of his Master Class Intensive in theatre and children's television style puppetry. A world renowned puppeteer, Tartaglia has offered this course in New York -- most recently in 2010 -- and for the first time is now bringing it to emerging puppeteers in the Los Angeles area March 18-20. Puppetry students of all levels are welcomed.

Topics to be covered include: fundamentals, one-on-one training, group scene work, musical performances, special guests, and viewings of puppetry classics. For more information and to register, click here.

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Kathy Griffin discusses her debut on Broadway: http://bit.ly/dW2OQ6

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Kimberly Faye Greenberg replaces Farah Alvin in One Night With Fanny Brice, a new musical play written, arranged, and directed by Chip Deffaa. The show will make its Off-Broadway debut beginning March 16 at St. Luke’s Theatre, 308 West 46th St. Opening night is set for Sunday, April at 7 PM. Greenberg originated the role in earlier productions.

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Burbank’s Colony Theatre presents All Night Strut March 30-May 1, with an opening set for April 2. Directed and choreographed by Murphy Cross and Paul Kreppel, the cast features Michael Dotson, Jayme Lake, Scotch Ellis Loring and Jennifer Shelton.

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Videos: Backstage look at the "Grey's Anatomy" musical episode: http://bit.ly/fxyDsh and Sara Ramirez recording a song for the episode: http://bit.ly/icpuTE

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Santa Barbara’s Ensemble Theatre will continue its critically-acclaimed 2010-11 season with a fresh new production of the revered and courageous play Ghosts, by Henrik Ibsen. Executive Artistic Director Jonathan Fox will direct. Starring Maureen Silliman, Gregory North, Wyatt Fenner and Michael Rothhaar, Ghosts begins performances on March 31 and plays through April 24. Opening night is Saturday, April 2.

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Danny Burstein answers readers' questions: http://bit.ly/heo8Ps

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Broadway Goes to the Dogs, a one-night-only cabaret concert to benefit Friends of Animal Rescue, will be held March 10 at 9 PM at the Triad Theatre in Manhattan. Brandon Cutrell hosts the evening with musical direction by Joshua Stephen Kartes.

The concert features the talents of Nellie McKay, Hunter Ryan Herdlicka, Derek St. Pierre, Michele Mais, Stephen Wallem, Kevin Meaney, Annie Golden, Leslie Henstock, Clinton Roane, Sarah Rice, Daisy Hobbs, Gabrielle Stravelli, Jamison Stern, Michelle Dowdy and Felicia Finley.

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The new musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will now open in summer 2011 instead of its scheduled March 15 opening, according to a statement released by the show's producers. No announcement was made regarding cancelling future perrformances or taking a hiatus.

In addition, the show's director and co-creator, Julie Taymor, is giving up day-to-day supervision of the musical, but will still be involved with the production. Philip William McKinley is coming in to implement new staging. The musical's book -- which Taymor co-wrote with Glen Berger -- will also be revamped by playwright and comic book author Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.

The show's composer and lyricist, Bono and The Edge of the band U2, are also adding additional songs to the show. Veteran musical consultant Paul Bogaev and sound designer Peter Hylenski recently joined the creative team.

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Bryan Batt and Patricia Clarkson will offer two benefit performances of A.R. Gurney's Love Letters at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre in New Orleans on Friday, March 18 at 8 PM and Sunday, March 20 at 3 PM.

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