Spice Girls Musical Now In the Works

Mamma Mia! producer Judy Craymer will soon be seeing if she can do for The Spice Girls what she did for ABBA. Craymer has worked out an agreement with American Idol creator Simon Fuller and The Spice Girls themselves that is to result in the creation of a brand new musical based on the song catalog and the personalities of the five-woman "girl power" pop band The Spice Girls. No creative team has yet been announced, but the show's tentative title is Viva Forever. The Spice Girls' biggest hit was the single "Wannabe," and they also had a hit film called Spice World. Although the quintet will be involved in the development of Viva Forever, they will not actually be in the musical.

New TV Show To Be About Broadway Musicals

Variety has just reported that playwright and television writer Theresa Rebeck (Mauritius on Broadway, The Understudy Off-Broadway, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent on TV) will script the pilot for a new Showtime TV series about all the drama surrounding the creation of a new Broadway musical. The idea is that each season of the show will cover the development and creation of a fictional Broadway musical, culminating in a final episode where we see the musical in its entirety. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray) will write the songs for the series. Depending upon the success of the TV show, it is possible that the musical created in the show will even be developed for a live production on Broadway.

Antonio Banderas To Be Zorba on Broadway

The New York Post is reporting that Antonio Banderas is going to be playing the title role in a forthcoming Broadway production of the John Kander & Fred Ebb musical Zorba, to be directed by Gary Griffin (The Color Purple) and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys). Banderas made a splash in his Broadway debut, playing the role of Guido in the recent Broadway revival of Nine, and theater fans have anxiously been awaiting his return to the New York stage ever since.

Spiderman Officially Announces Postponement

Amidst all of the Spider-drama of late last year, the producers of the forthcoming musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark failed to actually confirm that the show would not start performances on February 25, 2010, as originally announced. Most people inferred that it wouldn't be opening that soon, given all of the Spiderman musical's financial trouble, but ticketholders were left to wonder whether or not they'd actually get to use their Spider-Man tickets at all. Finally today the producers of the big-budgeted Broadway show formally announced that Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will not be opening in February, and that people who already purchased tickets can get a refund through Ticketmaster now if they so choose. However, the Spiderman production team does plan on announcing an actual opening date (most likely to be some time late this year) shortly, so ticket-holders also have the option of waiting until the revised performance schedule is announced, at which point they can simply exchange their current Spider-Man tickets for a suitable date.

Norbert Leo Butz To Star In Enron on Broadway

It has officially been announced that Norbert Leo Butz will play lead villain (i.e. corporate executive) Jeffrey Skilling in the forthcoming Broadway production of Lucy Prebble's Enron, which is hot off a run at London's Royal Court Theatre. Tony Award winner Butz has been seen on Broadway in numerous shows, including Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Is He Dead?, Thou Shalt Not, Rent, and recently as a replacement for Jeremy Piven in David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow.

Present Laughter Begins Today On Broadway

The new Roundabout Theatre Company production of the classic Noel Coward play Present Laughter begins performances today at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway. Broadway veteran Victor Garber (Alias and Eli Stone on TV, Titanic on film, and most recently on Broadway in Yasmina Reza's Art) stars in the comedy as a vainglorious actor whose life is made quite chaotic by the sudden arrival of troublesome theater folk and equally troublesome women. Also starring in the production, which is directed by Nicholas Martin (The 39 Steps, Mauritius), is Tony Award winner Harriet Harris (Thoroughly Modern Millie) and Brooks Ashmanskas (Fame Becomes Me). A limited run production, Present Laughter is scheduled to play on Broadway through March 21.