Another set of celebrities are coming to Broadway next fall…. Nicole Kidman and James Franco. They will be in Tennesse William’s play ” Sweet Bird of Youth”.  David Cromer will be directing it.

Before heading to Broadway, the two actors will be heading to the Oscars February 27th. Kidman has a Best Actress nomination for her role as Becca in “Rabbit Hole”. Fracno has a Best Actor Nomination for his role as Aron Ralston.

-Jennifer Hillman

Christopher Tierney, the stunt double of “Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark” spoke with CBS 2 Reporter Dana Tyler last night about not suing the show. He just wants to get better to play this role of a lifetime for the little fans in the audience. 

Tierney fell 30 ft last month and broke four ribs and got a hairline skull fracture, a bruise lung and internal bleeding. 

Meanwhile Natalie Mendoza, the actress who plays Archane, one villian in “Spiderman” has left the show. Mendoza suffered a concussion Nov. 28.

-Jennifer Hillman

“Spiderman: Turn off the Dark” suffered another injury during a preview showing on Dec. 20th. 

Actor Christopher Tierney suffered several broken ribs and bleeding after a stunt went fatally wrong. Tierney fell 30 feet. He is still in serious, but stable condition.

This is not the first accident for this broadway play: a concussion was suffered by actress Natalie Mendoza and two other actors broke both their hands and feet in previous performances and practices.

The New York State Department of Labor is now stepping in to examine the safety equipment. This is the second inspection from the Department of Labor. They also went to the Foxwoods Theatre Nov. 26 to approve all 27 flying sequences. I guess they should have checked out the safety equipment while they were at it.

Actor’s Equity Association has just released a statement this morning stating how the safety of the actor’s should be the number one priority of the show: “Actor’s Equity Association is working with management and the Department of Labor to ensure that the performances will not resume until back-up safety measures are in place.”

The musical is scheduled to official open Feb. 7, 2011. How much you wanna bet it’s still in previews then?

-Jennifer Hillman

One of my favorite broadway shows “In the Heights” has decided to close its production in the first week of the new year.  They will have had over 1,200 performances. You still have time to purchase tickets as the last show is January 9th.

Lin Manuel Miranda, the creator and the original star to the role as Usnvai delivers a special Christmas treat to the remaining audiences. He will return Dec. 25 to finish out the show. 

“In the Heights” won four Tony Awards in 2009 including Best Musical. 

photocredit: applause-tickets.com

-Jennifer Hillman

The long awaited Broadway musical “American Idiot” debuted on Wednesday, April 12th. “American Idiot” is based off of the popular band Green Day’s most famous hit songs. USA today gave the musical 3 1/2 stars out of 4.  Other critics weren’t as enamored with it. See what cast members and Green Day have to say about it here and if it’s worth a trip into the city.

-Hannah Stahl

(Photo Credit: http://greendaymind.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/tony-and-john.jpg)

Attention Rescue Me fans! Kelly McPhee (the cougar with a bit of an attitude and one of Tommy Gavin’s love interests) will be returning to the show in the 7^th season.  McPhee is played by actress Maura Tierney—a really talented and under noticed actress. Maura is best known for her role on ER as Dr. Abby Lockhart, a smart and funny doctor who probably had one of the most complicated and traumatic lives out of any television character.

Like many Hofstra students, Maura loves New York City. Even though she spends a lot of time in Los Angeles filming various television and movie roles, she’s said in numerous magazine articles that she considers NYC her real home.

Sadly, this winter Maura was diagnosed with breast cancer. Butttt she has finished treatment and has started acting again! Go Maura. Maura is currently appearing in the Wooster Group’s play North Atlantic in NYC. If you’re interested in seeing the play, it runs until the 25th and is at the Barshnikov Arts Center in Manhattan. Visit the website for more info.

See Maura on Rescue Me

-Caroline Dawson

Kate Whoriskey’s revival of William Gibson’s “The Miracle Worker,” starring Abigail Breslin as Helen Keller and Alison Pill as Annie Sullivan, opened Wednesday night to less than stellar reviews. Ticket sales have not picked up.

Today, producer David Rosenthal released this statement:

“While we are very proud to have received such positive reviews, and overwhelmingly unanimous praise for our leading ladies Abigail Breslin and Alison Pill, the box office has not ignited as we had hoped. But we will continue in good faith with a call to arms for anyone who has been waiting to see it to act now. I’ve never seen families and young children react to a play the way we’ve witnessed at Circle in the Square. It is our hope that momentum will build so we may continue to share this powerful story of the resilience of the human spirit with a new generation of theatergoers. If we don’t witness a significant increase in the box office over the weekend we will need to take a close look at our ability to keep the production open.”

We enjoyed this production, especially Breslin, who has no dialogue, just a series of tantrums, wails, screams and kicks, despite not being staged very effectively (it’s in-the-round, and a good portion of the audience gets to see the back of the actors’ heads).

- David Gordon

First publicity shots of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom 2: Love Never Dies” have been released. Pictured are Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom and Sierra Boggess as Christine Daae. Photo credit: PA Photos/Landov.

Billy Crudup will star in the Vineyard Theatre’s production of Adam Rapp’s new play “Metal Children.”

Michael Riedel in the NY Post is reporting that the next property Disney Theatricals is interested in bring to the stage is Dumbo. His article can be found here.

- David Gordon