Disney Channel star Dove Cameron (“Liv and Maddie,” “Descendants”) will play the Alicia Silverstone role of Cher in the new musical adaptation of “Clueless,” which will receive its premiere later this fall in an Off-Broadway production produced by the New Group. The 22-year-old previously played Amber in NBC’s live television version of “Hairspray Live!” “Clueless” will be directed by Kristin Hanggi (“Rock of Ages”). The musical, written by Amy Heckerling (who directed the original film), contains “a score that re-imagines ’90s hits into ingenious parodies and yearning monologues.”
Corbin Bleu joins ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ cast
Corbin Bleu (who is best-remembered as Zac Efron’s pal in the “High School Musical” trilogy) will join Kelli O’Hara and Will Chase in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s spring Broadway revival of the Cole Porter-meets-Shakespeare musical comedy classic “Kiss Me, Kate.” Last year, Bleu appeared in the Roundabout’s production of “Holiday Inn,” which also played Studio 54. The Roundabout also revealed that Amanda Green (“Hands on a Hardbody”) will contribute unspecified additional material for the revival. “Kiss Me, Kate” was last revived on Broadway in 1999 with Brian Stokes Mitchell and the recently passed Marin Mazzie.
Kathleen Turner to make cameo at the Met
Kathleen Turner will take on the non-singing role of the Duchess of Krakenthorp in Donizetti’s “La Fille du Regiment” when the Metropolitan Opera revives the French comic opera from Feb. 7 to March 2. In 2008, the role was played by the late theater luminary Marian Seldes. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has also played the role with the Washington National Opera.
‘Bandstand’ returning to movie theaters
Although the musical “Bandstand” fizzled out on Broadway, it appears to have succeeded on the silver screen. A filmed version of the Broadway production (which played movie theaters in June) will receive encore screenings on Nov. 15 and 19 in honor of Veterans Day. In “Bandstand,” a group of psychologically wounded World War II veterans come together to form a jazz band. It has an original score that evokes the swing band style of the 1940s and direction and choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler (“Hamilton”).
York to present three rare Lerner flops
Off-Broadway’s York Theatre Company will bring back its annual Musicals in Mufti series (in which rarely seen musicals receive limited-run, no-frills, street-clothes productions) starting in January with revivals of three flop musicals written by lyricist Alan Jay Lerner (who is best-known for “My Fair Lady” and “Camelot”): “Carmelina” (which has essentially the same plot as “Mamma Mia!” and has received two prior Mufti productions), “Lolita, My Love” (based on Nabokov’s “Lolita”) and “Dance a Little Closer” (based on Robert E. Sherwood’s “Idiot’s Delight”). Currently, the York is presenting the new musical romance “Midnight at the Never Get.”
Spotted …
Woody Harrelson at “Lifespan of a Fact” … Rosie O’Donnell at “Head Over Heels” … Clay Aiken at “Torch Song.”
