Media Morsels 3.8.13

The Newsroom at the Paley Center
The cast of The Newsroom, along with producer Alan Poul and creator and writer Aaron Sorkin, visited the Paley Center for a great discussion moderated by actual newsman Piers Morgan. It includes "origin stories" of the characters and how the actors helped shape them, and includes Sam Waterston saying of Sorkin's writing, "Aaron writes the music of American speech perfectly." I agree! The Newsroom is shooting its second season now and will return to HBO in June.


Theatre Updates: Casting News and Movie Stars Treading the Boards
  • James Franco (127 Hours, Freaks and Geeks and one-time Oscars host) is branching out into some new territory once again: on The Colbert Report, the multi-hyphenate actor told Stephen Colbert that he will star in a Broadway revival of Of Mice and Men. He'll play George. Playbill has more.

  • Playwright Adam Rapp (The Metal Children) was supposed to make his Broadway acting debut in the upcoming The Big Knife. Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts Rapp had to drop out of the production. He is being replaced by C.J. Wilson, last seen on Broadway in Glengarry Glen Ross. Visit Playbill for more. 

  • Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz had confirmed that she will make her Broadway debut. Playbill reports that while Weisz did not reveal what the project is, it was previously rumored that she will appear in the Harold Pinter play Betrayal alongside her husband Daniel Craig, and directed by Mike Nichols (Death of a Salesman).

  • Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene) will star as Juliet in Classic Stage Company's fall 2013 production of Romeo and Juliet. Additional casting and dates are to be announced. Visit Playbill for details.

  • Stage and screen veterans Blythe Danner and Sarah Jessica Parker are set to appear in the MTC off-Broadway premiere production The Commons of Pensacola, written by fellow stage and screen veteran Amanda Peet (Studio 60). The play will be part of the MTC's 2013-2014 season. Playbill has details.
Graceland: Behind the Scenes with Aaron Tveit
Watch the video below and then check out the behind the scenes photos on the show's Facebook page.


Downton Abbey Details
News about the fourth season has been revealed. The show will welcome six new cast members, including theatre veteran Julian Ovenden. However, Siobhan Finneran, who plays the nefarious O'Brien, will not be returning, reports The Hollywood Reporter (warning: season three spoilers in the article). Finneran says O'Brien was fun to play but she's had enough. Show creator Julian Fellowes says that since O'Brien is a maid, it will be easy to write her out while leaving plenty of room for her to return.

 The Last Five Years—Behind the Scenes
In the fourth peek into rehearsals for the first New York revival of Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years, we get to see Adam Kantor work through Jamie's first song, "Shiksa Goddess." Check it out and then head over to Second Stage's website to purchase tickets for the show, which, despite having only started previews on Thursday, has already extended its run.

Roundabout Announces 2013-2014 Season
Roundabout's 2013-2014 season will include works from Tom Stoppard (Arcadia) and Donald Margulies (Time Stands Still, Collected Stories). First up will be a revival of Stoppard's The Real Thing, directed by Sam Gold (Uncle Vanya, The Aliens). That will be followed by Margulies's Dinner with Friends, under the direction of Pam MacKinnon (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Clybourne Park). Though the play has been seen in New York before, this production will mark its Broadway debut. Both shows join a season that also includes an encore off-Broadway presentation (in a larger theatre, no less) of last year's hit comedy, Bad Jews. Visit the Roundabout's website for additional details.

 Jon Stewart to Take Hiatus from The Daily Show
Don't start fretting, yet. This summer, Stewart will take a 12-week hiatus from the daily fake news program to direct the feature film, Rosewater. The film is adapted from Then They Came for Me: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity and Survival, by Maziar Bahari and Aimee Molloy. Bahari, a journalist who covered Iran's 2009 presidential election, was a guest on The Daily Show and a clip from his appearance was used as propaganda against him when he was held captive, Rolling Stone and The New York Times report. For eight of those weeks, regular correspondent and writer John Oliver will sit in as host; the other four weeks make up the show's regular summer hiatus.

 New York City Ballet Screen Test
A new video series from City Ballet allows us to get to know several of the Company's dancers, from brand new Company members to seasoned principal dancers. There are eight "vlogs" in all, and each week I'll post a new one. Let's start with Robert Fairchild!


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