Media Morsels 7.22.11

• Broadway in Bryant Park
  If it's summer, it's Broadway in Bryant Park. Last week, the talented folks at Catch Me if You Can performed three songs from the show, "Jet Set," "Fly Fly Away" and (my favorite) "Goodbye." Broadwayworld.com has great photo coverage of the event, which also included performances from the casts Chicago, Newsical the Musical and Million Dollar Quartet. They also have video of Catch Me's performance. Watch and enjoy! (And here's bonus video coverage, courtesy of Playbill.com!)
  

• Summer of Love!
  Hair is back, Hippies!!! Though the Tony-winning revival of Hair closed over a year ago, a Tribe has been out on tour and has decamped at Broadway's St James theatre for the Summer of Love. The limited run began previews on July 5 (I saw it on the 6th) and they celebrated their official opening last week, on July 14. To help you celebrate, here are some Hippie yips for you:
• Photos from the gypsy robe ceremony and the curtain call.
  
  
• On Broadway.com, you can read an interview with Hair's leading man, Paris Remillard, who was a Tribe member in the revival and has been playing Claude while out on tour.
  
  
• Here's Playbill.com's signature Cue&A, filled out by current Sheila Franklin, Caren Lyn Tackett.
  
  
• Check out how Hippie Kacie Sheik (Jeanie in the 2009 revival, London and this touring company) spends a day in the Summer of Love.
  
  
• God of Carnage on Celluloid
  Dear readers, you may recall that the Tony-winning Yasmina Reza play God of Carnage is being adapted for the big screen. This week, we got a sneak peek at some production stills. The film stars Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly as parents who come together to discuss the appropriate next step after their children get in a fight. By the end of the play (and likely the movie) you're left wondering just how grown up the adults actually are. The movie is set to be released on November 18.
  
  
• History of Rap, Part Two
  

• Side by Side by Susan Blackwell
  Ms. Blackwell and her rapier wit are back, baby! In this installment of the Broadway.com series, Blackwell sits down with Hunter Bell, Heidi Blickenstaff and Jeff Bowen, her [title of show] and Now. Here. This. collaborators. These four are wicked funny - get ready to laugh!
  
  
• 2011-2012 Season Update
• Great news: Cynthia Nixon is returning to the stage. The stage veteran, perhaps best known on screen as Sex and the City's Miranda Hobbes, will return to Broadway in January in Manhattan Theatre Club's production of Wit. The limited engagement will begin previews January 5 in advance of a January 26 opening. Lynne Meadow, MTC's artistic director, will direct the play. (Meadow successfully directed last season's Collected Stories, also an MTC production.) Visit Playbill.com for more details.
  
  
• Other Desert Cities: As previously announced, this Jon Robin Baitz play, which drew both critical acclaim and sold-out audiences when it played off-Broadway this past season, will make its Broadway bow this fall. This week, dates and casting were confirmed. The play will begin previews at the Booth Theatre on October 12 and be followed by a November 3 opening. Joining ODC off-Broadway alumni Stockard Channing and Thomas Sadoski will be recent Tony nominee Judith Light and TV's Rachel Griffiths. Joe Mantello (who started as an actor, became a prolific director and went back to acting last season in the fantastic The Normal Heart) will direct the production. Visit Playbill.com for more details.
  
  
• Governor Springsteen?
  Rolling Stone is reporting that in a hypothetical match-up for the New Jersey governorship between current governor Chris Christie and Bruce Springsteen, The Boss is tied with Christie, though he does enjoy a higher favorability rating. (Well, duh - he hasn't legislated yet!) The magazine points out that although Springsteen has a history of political activism and has been an outspoken opponent of Christie, he currently has no plans to run. Luckily, as the magazine reports, in a more likely race, Christie is projected to lose to current Newark mayor, Cory Booker (a political crush of mine!)
  
  
• Dig This
• The Spring Standards are releasing their latest record, Yellow. Read my review of the great album!
  
  
• Director Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer) talks about his The Amazing Spider-Man film, for which the first trailer was released. (This Spidey stars The Social Network's Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker, the lovely Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy and President Bartlet Martin Sheen as Uncle Ben, plus In Treatment's Irrfan Kahn and theatre veteran Annie Parisse (Becky Shaw, Clybourne Park).)
  

• Watch the first trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, the final installment in Christopher Nolan's Batman films. Christian Bale and Michael Cane return and are joined by Inception alumni Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy and Marion Cotillard.