Media Morsels 6.25.10

• How De-Lovely!
  It's official: Sutton Foster will star as Reno Sweeney in Roundabout’s revival of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes. Performances will begin in February 2011 and the production will be directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. While there doesn’t seem to be a particular impetus for reviving Anything Goes, I think Foster as Sweeney is great casting, and I love the music from this show so I’ll be sure to get my Hiptix as soon as single tickets go on sale in the fall. (In an interview with Playbill.com, Roundabout artistic director Todd Haimes said it’s important to revive a musical like Anything Goes now, since it “goes to the heart and soul of …a truly American art form,” musical theatre. Anything Goes definitely is a traditional book musical; we’ll see how this revival shapes up in the wake of Roundabout’s clunky revival of another traditional book musical, Bye, Bye Birdie.)


• A Great Way to Get Loud
  The handsome, charming and very talented Gavin Creel just released his second album, "Quiet." Creel previously released the album "Goodtimenation," which he recorded and wrote with his writing partner, Robbie Roth. As you may know from previous posts, Creel starred in the (soon to close) Broadway revival of Hair, spreading love, peace and equality as Claude Hooper Bukowski. He’s also one of the founders of Broadway Impact, a grassroots organization aimed at mobilizing the theatre community in the fight for marriage equality. "Quiet," which is, in fact, a quiet, mellow EP (much different from the poppy "Goodtimenation,") can be purchased from iTunes or Amazon. Acoustic rock on, Gavin!


• Ban H8TE
  In San Francisco, the trial to determine the constitutionality of Prop 8 (the ugly anti-marriage equality law voted on by voters in 2008 in California, after they were bombarded with dishonest and distorted propaganda largely funded by Mormons in Utah,) came to a close last week. In Sunday’s Times, Maureen Dowd offered readers an overview of the closing arguments. It basically broke down like this: Conservative lawyer arguing to uphold the ban, lame; liberal lawyer arguing to ban the ban, awesome!


• Next Fall to Close This Summer
  Sad news for fans of good, thought-provoking theatre: Next Fall will play its final performance next weekend, on July 4. After a critically acclaimed and extended sold out run off-Broadway, the heartfelt new play began performances at Broadway’s Helen Hayes theatre in February. When it closes, it will have played 26 previews and 132 regular performances. This was a beautifully written and very well executed honest, sincere and touching play. Given its small cast and simple set, I hope it pops up at community theatres or on tour so more and more people have a chance to see it.


• I Love You, Aaron Sorkin
  These last few weeks have been great because everything that’s been going on can be summed up, one way or another, in Sorkinese: The world cup: “And because we’ve got soccer highlights, the sheer pointlessness of a zero-zero tie.” (Dan Rydell, Sports Night); The heat: “It is freezing too cold in Helsinki” (Ian McShane guesting on The West Wing) is easily translated into ‘It is burning too hot in New York City’, or we could go with “It’s fit for neither man nor beast out there!” (Dan Rydell, Sports Night); The never ending tennis match at Wimbledon: “Will you give me a call when the tennis match that wouldn’t end ends?” (Rebecca Wells, Sports Night.) So thank you, Aaron Sorkin, for being brilliant. (Speaking of the Word Cup and the brilliant writers I love, check out Matt Taibbi's latest article for Men Journal, "Why the World Cup Sucks." And speaking of Matt Taibbi being brilliant, read his response to the recent commotion over Michael Hastings's Rolling Stone piece.)


• Adam and Anthony, Back in New York
  How we gonna pay rent? By playing a concert together, of course. Original Rent-ers Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp (Roger and Mark, respectively) will play together on January 10, 2011 at New York’s Town Hall. The announcement doesn’t mention whether it’ll lean more toward a Broadway revue, their own, original music or a combination of the two. (My guess is it’ll be a combination.) I saw Adam perform in Virginia four or five years ago and it was a lot of fun, especially for a Rent-head like me. (I also had the advantage of knowing his solo music – which is good, but not great.) Tickets range from $25-60, with VIP tickets, which include access to a meet and greet with the performers, selling for $95, and will be available sometime next month.


• American Idiot in the Media
  Handsome Idiot Michael Esper was recently interviewed by YRB Magazine. In the interview, he talks about growing up in an acting family (his parents are acting teachers,) growing up a Green Day fan and making the transition from straight plays and films to a Broadway musical. And late in the week, John Gallagher, Jr., gave his first via-satellite interview to ABC. Check out what the uber-talented actor has to say about bringing Green Day's music to Broadway.