‘Celebrity Autobiography’ to play Broadway
The long-running Off-Broadway comedy series “Celebrity Autobiography” (in which actors read passages from gossipy celebrity autobiographies) will play four Monday night performances at Broadway’s Marquis Theatre beginning Nov. 26. Actors taking part in select performances will include Lewis Black, Susan Lucci, Cecily Strong and Mario Cantone.
June Squibb turns Joe into Josie in ‘Waitress’
Eighty-nine-year-old actress June Squibb (who received an Academy Award nomination for the 2013 film “Nebraska”) will join the Broadway cast of “Waitress” for a short run beginning Nov. 19 as Josie (formerly Joe). The role is currently being played by Al Roker. Squibb made her Broadway debut in the original 1959 Broadway production of “Gypsy” as the stripper Electra.
‘Bat Out of Hell’ calls off national tour
Immediately following last week’s announcement that the Meat Loaf musical “Bat Out of Hell” would play City Center this summer, its yearlong national tour suddenly shut down following its stop in Toronto. At present, the production insists that the tour has only been postponed and that the City Center engagement will still go forward. Many cast members expressed outrage on social media over the turn of events. Cast member Bradley Dean wrote on Facebook that he had turned down a role in “King Kong” for “Bat Out of Hell.” “It defies belief that people can play so recklessly with peoples’ lives, but I guess that is the world in which we find ourselves, devoid of empathy or compassion and run by utter fools,” Dean wrote.
White House chef to prepare food for ‘Network’
William “Bill” Yosses, a former White House Executive pastry chef, will curate an onstage culinary experience (to be known as “Foodwork”) for select audience members in the upcoming Broadway production of “Network,” including a four-course meal and cocktails throughout the show. Onstage seating is currently selling for $399 apiece. Yosses recently served as the “official pie maker” of the Off-Broadway revival of “Sweeney Todd,” which served up a working pie-shop environment. “Network” is based on the 1976 film of the same name about a network news anchor undergoing a mental breakdown.
‘Beetlejuice’ reviewed out-of-town in D.C.
The Broadway-bound musical adaptation of the Tim Burton film comedy “Beetlejuice” (which just opened its out-of-town tryout run in Washington, D.C.) received a decidedly unenthusiastic review from Washington Post theater critic Peter Marks this week, who called it “overcaffeinated, overstuffed and virtually charmless.” Using similar language, Paul Harris of Variety called it “a frenetically paced and woefully overcooked endeavor that’s excessive in virtually every respect.” “Beetlejuice” is scheduled to open at the Winter Garden Theatre in the spring. It has direction by Alex Timbers (“Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson”) and songs by Eddie Perfect (“King Kong”).
Spotted . . .
Russell Crowe at “The Ferryman” . . . Bryan Cranston and Huma Abedin at “American Son” . . . Matthew Broderick, Neil Patrick Harris and Anna Wintour at “Torch Song” . . . Dove Cameron at “Come From Away” . . . Samantha Bee at “The Prom.”
