Burgess returning to Broadway in ‘Moulin Rouge!’
Tituss Burgess is set to return to Broadway for the first time in over a decade (he last appeared in a short-lived 2009 revival of “Guys and Dolls”), taking over as the ostentatious club owner Harold Zidler in “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” from Oct. 10 to Dec. 17. Danny Burstein originated the role of Zidler and won a Tony Award for his performance. Burgess made his Broadway debut in 2005 in the flop Beach Boys jukebox musical “Good Vibrations” and subsequently appeared in a far more successful jukebox musical (“Jersey Boys”) and one of Disney’s most misconceived stage adaptations (“The Little Mermaid”).
Ghee takes temporary leave from ‘Some Like It Hot’
Harrison Ghee, who became the first non-binary actor to win a Tony Award for his gender-bending performance in “Some Like It Hot,” will be out of the show for six weeks in order to undergo surgery, during which time the role of Jerry/Daphne will be played by DeMarius R. Copes. “I’m OK. I will be OK. I am so at peace and grateful for this moment of restoration, of healing to come,” Ghee wrote on social media.
‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ to be made available to schools
Before the pandemic, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” (which was divided into two back-to-back parts at that point) was starting to struggle at the box office. However, when it returned to Broadway in a 2021 in a refashioned single installment, its grosses picked up considerably. Looking ahead, the show’s producers have announced that the amateur rights to the play will be made available to high school and secondary schools beginning next year. A school edition of the script with a shorter running time will be developed by the show’s original creative team. I think it is safe to assume that “Harry Potter” will soon be dominating the annual published list of the top plays being performed by schools in the United States.
Flop musical ‘Glory Days’ to receive one-night concert
In 2008, “Glory Days,” a small, well-meaning musical about the reunion of four high school friends, crashed and burned in its Broadway debut, closing immediately after its opening night performance. In spite of a successful regional premiere in Washington, D.C., “Glory Days” had no commercial prospects and bringing to Broadway was extremely misguided. On Feb. 12, Off-Broadway’s Keen Company will present a one-night-only benefit concert of the musical, which has since received additional productions thanks to a cast album.
Hilty and Simard to lead ‘Death Becomes Her’ musical
The musical adaptation of “Death Becomes Her,” the 1992 film comedy directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn as two women fighting over the same man who resort to a potion that promises physical immortality, will premiere next year in Chicago with Megan Hilty (“Smash”) and Jennifer Simard (“Company”) in the lead roles. The musical will have direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli (“Newsies”) and songs by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey.
