Kartheiser to play Billy Wilder Off-Broadway
Vincent Kartheiser, best known as Pete Campbell on “Mad Men,” will portray the legendary film director Billy Wilder in “Billy & Ray,” a new play about Wilder and writer Raymond Chandler as they were working on the noir classic “Double Indemnity.” With direction by TV and film icon Garry Marshall, it will play the Vineyard Theatre on Union Square starting in October.
Cast finalized for ‘Allegro’ at Classic Stage
The cast for the upcoming Off-Broadway revival of the rarely-seen, experimental Rodgers & Hamerstein musical “Allegro” will include Malcolm Gets (“Caroline in the City”), Elizabeth A. Davis (“Once”) and Claybourne Elder (“Bonnie & Clyde”). John Doyle,who shot to prominence with his actor-musician revivals of Sondheim musicals, will direct.
New season at Stratford announced
Canada’s Stratford Festival, which has won acclaim this summer from theater critics across the country for its diverse programming, ranging from the musical comedy “Crazy for You” to “King Lear,” has unveiled its 2015 season, which will include two Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals (“The Sound of Music” and “Carousel”), plenty of Shakespeare (“Hamlet,” “The Taming of the Shrew,” “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” “Pericles”) and other titles like “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “Oedipus Rex.”
‘Hedwig’ box office takes huge drop after Harris exits
As expected, the weekly box office grosses for “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” took a nosedive last week, with the show taking in $648,738 during Andrew Rannells’ first week playing Hedwig, compared to $1,139,903 the week before, when Neil Patrick Harris was still playing the transgender rock star. All things considered, the current gross is still pretty good, especially since there are only seven performances a week, as opposed to the norm of eight, and the theater was still filled to almost 90% capacity.
Shelley to join ‘A Gentleman’s Guide’
Carole Shelley, who originated the role of Madame Morrible in “Wicked,” and won a Tony for “The Elephant Man” back in 1979, will join the cast of the Tony-winning musical “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” on Oct. 28.
Spotted: ?Lena Dunham and Zosia Mamet at “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”; ? Jodie Foster at “Wayra.”
