Idina Menzel Is a Tease, Les Miz Says Au Revoir Taylor Swift, Bonjour Samantha Barks & Other Lessons of the Week

What a week it’s been on Broadway.  Highs and lows, ups and downs, all that jazz. There was one close call, a lot of super exciting casting news and, in our humble opinion, one kind of awesome show idea. Read on below to see what we learned in one eventful week on Broadway.

Idina Fans Are Gonna Be Over the Moon
Idina Menzel sure knows how to get Broadway buzzing. In a statement promoting her upcoming PBS special, the Tony winner hinted at a possible return to the Rialto, but zipped her lips on the details. What could it be? “A brand new, original show that I’m not allowed to talk about, but really excites me.”  Really excites you, Idina? It's been almost seven years since you left Wicked; your fans are lining up already.

Hair Got Jackie Burns a Husband (To Be)
Wicked star Jackie Burns would like to thank someone very special for finding her a fiancé: her Hair costume designer. Burns’ hippie duds showed off her rockin’ abs, and one night she caught the eye of Broadway dancer John Selya. He asked a mutual friend, also a Hair cast member, if Burns had a boyfriend. She didn’t and, after googling him, she agreed to go on a date and the rest is history. It’s also probably the only time someone wearing clothes was the most memorable part of Hair.

Do NOT Mess with Scott Rudin 
Talk about Broadway drama! After Clybourne Park playwright Bruce Norris, who is also an actor, bailed on a role in Scott Rudin’s upcoming HBO series The Corrections at the last minute, the powerful producer scrapped plans for the Pulitzer Prize-winning play to come to the Great White Way. Rudin sang Norris’ praises, but says he is “unwilling to support or de facto condone this behavior.” The Clybourne crisis was averted when Jujamcyn president Jordan Roth swooped in to rescue the show. Now let the Tony battle for Best Play begin!

The Help Musical Could Totally Work
We always love a good dream casting session at Broadway.com, but we really had some fun after readers voted The Help as the Oscar-nominated movie they most like to see as a Broadway musical. Come on, great roles for stars like Audra McDonald, Patti LuPone, Laura Benanti and Aaron Tveit all in one show? Amazing! Celia Keenan-Bolger, who we cast as Skeeter, even tweeted about how much she loved the idea. Now someone just needs to write it. No big deal, right?

Ramin Karimloo Wants to Go Straight
With starring roles in The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies and Les Miserables, Ramin Karimloo has it made as a musical leading man, but he’s ready for something new. A play, and not just any play. “I’d like to play Stanley Kowalski [in A Streetcar Named Desire],” he told Broadway.com. “That’s something I feel I’m ready for.” He’s clearly got the pipes for all that yelling, but we'll need to see him in an undershirt before we make any decisions.

Want to Get to Broadway? Start with The Disney Channel
What are they putting in the water over at Disney HQ? With That’s So Raven’s Raven-Symoné aiming to make her Broadway debut in Sister Act, that makes four (!) former Disney stars on the New York stage. In addition to Raven there is JONAS L.A. alum Nick Jonas (How to Succeed), Hannah Montana’s Anna Maria Perez de Tagle (Godspell) and Phil of the Future’s Raviv Ullman off-Broadway in Russian Transport. With that track record, it seems like seeing Selena Gomez as Elphaba is just a matter of time.

Weeds' Justin Kirk Couldn't Roll a Joint
He spent seven seasons playing Mary-Louise Parker’s stoner brother-in-law on Showtime hit Weeds, but it wasn’t until landing in Broadway’s Other Desert Cities that Justin Kirk actually learned the tricks of the trade. “Believe it or not, I didn’t know how to roll a joint or cigarette,” Kirk told Broadway.com, “So I had to train.” Spill it, Justin. Did you get a little help from Stockard Channing? Judith Light? How about Stacy Keach? We’ll never tell.

Betty Buckley Has a Twitter Account, and She's Not Afraid to Use It
When an American Idol judge  called a contestant “too Broadway” yet again, Tony winner Betty Buckley headed to Twitter to smack him down. “I am sick and tired of Randy Jackson bashing what they think is Broadway singing,” Buckley wrote. “This constant diss of Broadway is just so ignorant and stupid that I literally cannot comprehend the producers allowing such mendacity in his remarks! Beyond idiotic!” For her pains, Buckley earned a response from producer Nigel Lythgoe and a promise to speak with Jackson. Score one for team Buckley!

Constantine Maroulis' Hairstyle Pays Off
Rock of Ages alum Constantine Maroulis and his luxurious locks have scored another starring role on Broadway. Maroulis will be playing the title role(s) in Jekyll & Hyde and hair is the key to nailing “Confrontation,” that tricky number where an actor splits down the middle to play both characters at once. How can you tell which half is which as he whips back and forth? The Jekyll-half has short hair (good) and the Hyde-half has long hair (evil). As for who gets top billing, we’ll leave that up to the agents to sort out.

Stage Cred Trumps Star Power in Latest Les Miz Casting
In a pinch-me moment for actress Samantha Barks, producer Cameron Mackintosh publicly announced that she will play Eponine in the upcoming Les Miserables movie musical. Barks nabbed the role over Grammy-winning country star Taylor Swift, who made Broadway freak out when she was reportedly offered the role. Swift is an A-lister, but Barks has played the role in London and has experience on her side. Watch out though, Samantha: Swift is famous for writing not-so-subtle songs about her enemies and, to quote her, "There is nothing I do better than revenge." Yikes.