Odds & Ends: Watch Benedict Cumberbatch Practice Shakespeare, Josh Gad Sings About Frozen's Olaf & More

Here's a quick roundup of stories you may have missed today.

Watch Benedict Cumberbatch Practice Shakespeare
Benedict Cumberbatch has been working on his Shakespeare before he headlines Hamlet in London next year. Check out the BBC drama trailer below, in which he recites the “seven ages of man” monologue from the Bard’s As You Like It. While your ears listen to the Sherlock star's dulcet tones, keep an eye out for Great White Way vets including Tony winner Judi Dench and Dustin Hoffman, along with a glimpse of the television adaptation of Wolf Hall, starring Tony winner Mark Rylance and Broadway alum Damian Lewis. Not to be confused with the Main Stem-bound Wolf Hall, of course, which Ben Miles and Nathaniel Parker will lead.



Darlene Love Ends Christmas Tradition
Broadway vet Darlene Love, who since 1986 has sung on the last episode before Christmas of The Late Show With David Letterman, will be ending the tradition when the host retires this year. Billboard reports that she won’t be performing her 1963 girl group classic "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" for another TV show.

Christopher Sieber & More Will Star in Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol
Christopher Sieber (Matilda), Don Darryl Rivera (Aladdin), Betsy Wolfe (Bullets Over Broadway) and more will star in Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol. The one-night benefit concert in aid of the Actor’s Fund will take place on December 15 at the Gerald W. Lynch Theatre at John Jay College. Based on the prime-time animated holiday special, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol features a score by Funny Girl's songwriting team, composer Jule Styne and lyricist Bob Merrill. Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a retelling of a Dickens classic!

Josh Gad Sings About Frozen's Olaf
We're not letting go of the fact that what we really want is for former Mormon star Josh Gad to return to Broadway and headline Forum. However, we'll never turn down the opportunity of watching the Tony nominee do a number. Take a look below as Gad attempts to convince Jimmy Kimmel through song that he should be his Frozen character Olaf for Halloween. Now we want to be Olaf for Halloween, even if Kimmel doesn't.