Barbra Streisand Wants to Film Lady Gaga Stripping, Neil Patrick Harris is Eyeing a Sex Change & More Lessons of the Week
2012 is almost over, but don't start looking ahead to the new year just yet. There is still a month left before 2013, and we guarantee it'll be filled with plenty of learning experiences and life lessons to be gleaned from the goings-on in the Broadway community. So what did theatergoers learn this past week? A heck of a lot, so read on!
Lady Gaga Is Barbra Streisand’s Favorite Stripper
Barbra Streisand hasn't given up hope on her long in the works Gypsy movie remake, and Babs recently revealed that she may court Lady Gaga to play Louise opposite her Mama Rose. Gaga's killer vocal chops combined with her love of meat dresses, giant hair ribbons, Kermit the Frog frocks and other outlandish outfits prove she's definitely got a gimmick already! Maybe as a thank you gift Gaga can write Streisand into the lyrics of her next pop hit. All together now: Bar-bra-ah-ah-ah!
Neil Patrick Harris Can’t Wait to Cross Dress
Tony host extraordinaire Neil Patrick Harris returned to Broadway for the Assassins reunion concert, and revealed his desire for more stage work. “I’d love to revive something dirty and raw, like Hedwig [and the Angry Inch].” The actor is known as How I Met Your Mother's resident womanizer, so it’d be refreshing to see NPH go full WTF in the outrageous glam musical. Harris could even utilize his passion for magic to play the German rocker who undergoes a sex change. Now you see a penis…now you don’t!
Danny and Sandy are Living a Very Bizarre Happily Ever After
Good news Grease fans: John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John have still got it! Bad news: “it” means “AARP member dance moves.” In the dynamic duo's incredibly odd new holiday music video "I Think You Might Like It," the Rydell High alum partake in a little Oklahoma! choreography, loiter in an airport and get behind a convertible going disgustingly under the speed limit. Sorry, Johnny and O-Newts: Greased Lightning is running less like lightning these days and more like a hot flash.
Anna Kendrick Gives Great Witch Face
Tony and Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick teamed up with everyone's favorite bubbly blonde, Kristin Chenoweth, for a fantastic duet of Wicked power ballad “For Good” at this year's Trevor Project benefit. Could a green-faced future be in the cards for the Pitch Perfect leading lady? She's already to set to anchor the upcoming Last Five Years movie, so casting her as Elphaba in the buzzed-about Wickedmovie would make perfect sense. Plus, given Kendrick's Twilight roots, it'd be nice to see her in a fantasy film that doesn't (literally) suck.
The New Spice Girls Musical is Mamma Mia! with More Cigarettes
Viva Forever! is a jukebox tuner about a single mother and her daughter, so it doesn't come as a huge surprise that the show shares hints of Mamma Mia!. Show star Sally Ann Triplett acknowledged the similairities, but insits the musical has a touch of grit to it, calling her feisty character “a bit of a drinker and smoker” who “probably knew Amy Winehouse.” Hmm...so maybe it's Mamma Mia!, but replace the Greek Isles with seedy pubs and the curtain call mega-mix with a round of Girl Power Hour.
Starcatchers Love a Good Groin Stretch
The secret to the flexibility of the stretchy cast of Peter and the Starcatcher isn’t Starstuff—it’s yoga! Before every performance of the Peter Pan prequel, the cast gathers for some meditative yoga in the mezzanine of the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. During a backstage photo shoot, Broadway.com caught a glimpse of the pre-show ritual, where the actors proved they don’t dabble in the boring, traditional poses common in mom-filled classes. Their moves are more along the lines of the Inverted Neverland, Stache-Greets-Sun and the adorable Downward-Facing Keenan-Bolger.
Stephanie J. Block’s Dog is a Douche
Broadway’s biggest diva isn't even a person! Edwin Drood star Stephanie J. Block dropped by the Broadway.com video studio to answer fans’ questions, and brought along her handful of a dog, Macaco, who sufficiently stole the spotlight from his owner. Block even referred to her mischievous pup as an “a**hole.” If Block’s testimony isn’t enough, just tune in to the video to see Macaco prove his insouciance by prancing around our couch with absolutely no regard for fine leather. Bad Macaco!
Heather Headley Won't Paint Over Whitney
Heather Headley is doing sweet justice to Whitney Houston’s song catalogue in the London production of The Bodyguard, and the Tony-winning talent assured Broadway.com that she’s not out to redefine the musical legacy of the late icon. “Do you repaint a Picasso? Do you repaint Michelangelo? You don’t,” she graciously explained on the show's opening night. Sage advice Heather, you might want to let a certain elderly aspiring artist in Spain know that.
Cheyenne Jackson Is One Headdress Short of Joining the Village People
There's a bubble gum explosion of gyrating construction workers and sexy cops in Cheyenne Jackson’s campy but admittedly fun music video for his new single “Don’t Wanna Know.” The clip is loaded with high-stepping energy and hot Broadway boys (oh hey, Nick Adams!), but maybe the Village People motif could be dialed down just a tad since, you know, it’s not 1978. Then again, after his sexy, shirtless turn in The Performers, who would argue if Cheyenne broke out a feathered headdress and some assless chaps?
Fantine and Eponine Totally Went Lesbian This One Time
Fantine and Eponine don’t exactly interact in Les Misérables. Like, ever. But that didn’t stop Anne Hathaway and Samantha Barks from a little duet action off-camera. The gals at the heart of the new movie musical used karaoke to bond on Friday nights, even tackling Rent’s lesbian vocal battle “Take Me or Leave Me” during one sassy session. No word on if they made the song a little more Les Miz appropriate by switching the lyrics to “Take me, baby, or shave my head and sell my teeth for bread money.”
