Nicholas Brendon has gone from slaying vampires in fictional Sunnydale, CA, to becoming Santa’s right-hand man at Macy’s.
Brendon, best known as Xander from TV’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” will star in humorist David Sedaris’ The Santaland Diaries beginning Nov. 20 at The Blank’s 2nd Stage Theatre in Hollywood.
Brendon will play David/Crumpet the Elf, recounting Sedaris’ experience working at retail giant Macy’s during the holiday season. Joe Mantello adapted Sedaris’ comic essay for the stage in the 1990s, and it’s been regional hit ever since. What began as “a simply humiliating job” turns into a one full of bitter frustrations taken out on Santa’s biggest fans and their parents.
After a six-year stint slaying vampires (in the cult-hit series, Xander technically assisted the title vampire slayer as part of the “Scooby gang”), Brendon currently has a recurring role on the hit CBS series “Criminal Minds.” He’ll also appear in the upcoming films “Holiday House” and “Sweet Lorraine.” His past work with The Blank Theatre Company includes Lobster Alice and several appearances in the Young Playwrights Festival.
The Santaland Diaries begins performances on Nov. 20 at The Blank on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. The production will run through Dec. 20. Visit www.TheBlank.com.
Academy Award-winning actress Faye Dunaway is at work shooting a film adaptation of Terrence McNally’s Tony-winning 1995 play Master Class in Detroit, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Dunaway, who starred as American-born Greek opera diva Maria Callas in the national tour of McNally’s play, is reportedly directing and starring in the film. Dunaway has owned the film rights to the stage property for over a decade. Al Pacino was at one point announced to portray Aristotle Onassis, Dunaway revealed to Playbill in 1998.
Raleigh Studios Detroit is serving as the production offices for the film, which is seeking extras through Nov. 18 in the Detroit area, according to an extras casting notice.
McNally’s play is inspired by Callas’ Juilliard master classes, which were preserved on tape. For the stage production, McNally imagined the soprano reliving her stage triumphs and personal tragedies as she interacts with young, hopeful performers.
Dunaway is known for her film roles in “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Mommie Dearest,” “Chinatown,” “Network,” “After the Fall,” “Evita Peron” and “The Country Girl.”
Gleeks unite! Fans of the FOX-TV musical series “Glee” will get some face time with their favorite stars when the cast signs copies of the new album “Glee: The Music, Vol. 1″ at the Borders Columbus Circle on Nov. 3.
To celebrate the release of the album of choral and solo covers, Borders is hosting a 5:30 PM signing that will feature cast members from the hit show. The soundtrack promises to include Queen’s “Somebody to Love,” Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” and Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
Take note fellow Gleeks: you must obtain a wristband to get your CD signed and only a limited number of these magic bracelets will be available with the purchase of the recording at Borders beginning at 9 AM on Nov. 3. There is a limit of one CD to be signed per person.
The Borders at Columbus Circle is located on the second floor of the Time Warner Center. Visit Fox.
Stage and screen star Neil Patrick Harris lends his voice (speaking and singing, that is) to the Cartoon Network's Oct. 23 episode of "Batman: The Brave & The Bold."
Titled "Mayhem of the Music Meister!," the show will feature Harris as a new villain "who is able to exert powerful mind-control through song," according to notes. (New Line Records will release the soundtrack with the theme song and the episode’s seven numbers on Oct. 24.)
Harris, who has sung on stage in Assassins, Rent and Cabaret, also brought his musicality to this year's Emmy Awards telecast as well as "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog."
Comedian Soupy Sales, best known for his many years as a slapstick comedian on television, died Oct. 22 at age 83. But he'd probably tell you that he had also died previously — on Broadway, in a sex farce called Come Live With Me. Sales' Broadway career began Jan. 26, 1967 and ended four performances later on Jan. 28 in the Lee Minoff/Stanley Price comedy. He played an American writer who takes an apartment in London, hoping to find peace and quiet so he can complete his screenplay, "Hannibal and His 600 Elephants." But, as is the way of such plays, he kept getting interrupted by girls in miniskirts. Critics clobbered both Sales and the play. New York Times critic Walter Kerr wrote, "He has a deep, deep affection for the stage floor. He spends the first act looking at it, and the second act falling on it." Sales sailed back to the world of TV and never sought the Broadway limelight again. RIP Soupy.
Following news reports that Equus and “Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe may be coming back to Broadway in a musical revival, here’s more possible evidence of that future gig: He’s bought a home in the West Village.
Could his new address be a sign that he’ll be returning to the New York stage once again? Is it a residence for the actor, or will it be an investment? As has been reported, he may star in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; he’s already set to appear in a December reading of the Frank Loesser show, directed by Tony Award winner Rob Ashford.
A report in The New York Observer indicates that his new $5.65 million dollar home on West 12th Street was built in 1847 by a sea captain for his daughter. The new crib features five bedrooms, six working fireplaces, a 39-foot backyard, and a balcony off one of the bedrooms. (Sounds like Radcliffe may have purchased his own personal Hogwarts.)
Here’s a first look at Radcliffe’s new digs, from SplashNewsOnline.
Producers of Broadway’s new revival of Ragtime offer anxious fans of the musical a peek at the show in a new behind-the-scenes video.
Creators Stephen Flaherty (music), Lynn Ahrens (lyrics) and Terrence McNally (book) speak about the show along with this staging’s director-choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge and music director James Moore. The cast is seen in rehearsal and at a photo shoot cut with direct interviews with featured players like Christiane Noll, Stephanie Umoh, Robert Petkoff, Quentin Earl Darrington, Ron Bohmer and Bobby Steggert.
Here is the three-minute video trailer for the new Broadway production:
The movie trailer for “Oy Vey My Son Is Gay,” the feature film debut of Tony award winner John Lloyd Young, has just been posted online.
Lloyd Young, who won the 2006 Tony Award for Jersey Boys, plays the title character in the new comedy, which also stars Jai Rodriguez, Lainie Kazan and Bruce Vilanch. The movie had its world premiere Aug. 29 at the Montreal World Film Festival and makes its New York debut Oct. 29.
In its seventh airing this fall television season, “Glee,” the FOX television dramedy about a high school glee club saw a very minor downtick in viewership. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Oct. 21 episode garnered 7.2 million viewers (down from last week’s 7.5 million) and a 3.2 rating in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic (down from last week’s 3.3 overnight rating).
Most shows airing Wednesday showed showed similar audience drops relative to last week, including the “Glee” lead-in, “So You Think You Can Dance.” The pair of FOX shows allowed the network to tie CBS for Wednesday’s 18-49 demo lead.
Madonna and the “Glee” gang. Sounds like an after-school special, no?
Entertainment Weekly has reported that the Queen of Pop has released her music catalog to the hit FOX television series. An all-Madonna music episode is in the works to air early next year.
Since its debut in September, the hourlong musical series about a high school glee club has built a strong audience and has taken over iTunes charts with hit singles from the show, including covers of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” and Rhianna’s “Take a Bow,” as well as musical numbers from Les Misérables and Cabaret.
A Madonna cover by the cast of “Glee” could be huge. “Glee” girl Lea Michele’s already taken on Liza Minnelli — why not Madonna next?
EW also reports that “Glee” co-creator Ryan Murphy is considering approaching “American Idol” runner up Adam Lambert to guest star on the show. Before appearing on “Idol,” Lambert appeared in the first national tour of Wicked in 2005, and as an understudy for Fiyero in the Los Angeles production in 2007.
Lambert also appeared as Joshua in The Ten Commandments at The Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles in 2004.
In 2010, “Glee” will continue to air on Wednesday nights after “American Idol.”
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