Odds & Ends: Idina Menzel & Frozen Make Billboard Shortlist, Roger Rees Needs to Call Ghostbusters & More
Here's a quick roundup of stories you may have missed today.
Idina Menzel & Frozen Make Billboard Awards Shortlist
Finalists for the 2015 Billboard Music Awards have been announced and unsurprisingly those frozen fractals are still spiraling all around! “Let It Go,” sung by Broadway superstar Idina Menzel, made the shortlist for Top Streaming Song (Video) and Frozen received a Top Soundtrack nod. The ceremony airs live on ABC on May 17 from Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena, so there's conceivably enough time for the Tony winner to stop by before she kicks off her world tour in South Korea on May 30...
Roger Rees Needs to Call Ghostbusters
The Lyceum Theatre, currently playing host to the Chita Rivera-led The Visit, apparently has a ghost—and co-star Roger Rees is convinced that it’s none other than the legendary Bob Fosse. The Tony winner exclusively told Broadway.com: “At the Wednesday night show, I heard a faint voice in the air say, ‘The greatest women on stage are differently beautiful—they're completely truthful and at the same time, not quite real. They're better than real. That's Chita. Better than real.’ I recognized the voice. Fosse!” Rees should know—he was cast by Fosse in the cult film Star ’80. Time to call the Ghostbusters in?
Cherry Jones & More Channel Stephen King
Two-time Tony winner Cherry Jones and Broadway alum Chris Cooper will star alongside the previously announced stage and screen star James Franco in 11/22/63. According to Variety, the Hulu original nine-episode event series, from JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot and Stephen King’s novel about J.F.K.’s assassination, will be helmed by Kevin Macdonald. Franco will take on the role of Jake Epping, a teacher who travels back in time to try and stop the tragedy; Jones will play Lee Harvey Oswald’s mother and Cooper a pal and mentor to Epping.
B'way Vet Bob Gaynor 'Fighting For his Life'
Bob Gaynor, who made his Broadway debut in Aida and has since been seen on the Main Stem in Taboo, Sweet Charity, Catch Me If You Can and Leap of Faith, is currently in ICU at a hospital in N.J., "fighting for his life." Catherine Porter, who co-starred with Gaynor in a 2012 Alliance Theatre staging of Next to Normal, has established a fundraising page to help his fight here. We at Broadway.com wish him all the best and a speedy recovery.
Brynn O'Malley & More Win Big at Helen Hayes Awards
Shifting gears, the Helen Hayes Awards, which recognize excellence in theater in the Washington, D.C. area, took place on April 6 and we love the below picture posted by Brynn O’Malley of all the Lead Actress in a Musical nominees. Honeymoon in Vegas alum O’Malley ended up winning for Sunday in the Park with George but they are all winners to us! In total, the revival garnered four trophies including Outstanding Musical, a category it shared with Side Show, which picked up three. In the non-musical categories, the world premiere of Colossal dominated, winning four, including the prestigious Outstanding New Play or Musical Award.
