Odds & Ends: Grease: Live's Parade May Be Rained On, Gabriel Ebert Set for The Interestings & More

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

Grease: Live's Parade May Be Rained On
It’s not long now until Aaron Tveit, Julianne Hough, Vanessa Hudgens and a slew of talented names show us how they were all born to hand jive in Grease: Live. The Fox telecast will air on January 31 and as we’ve all been hearing about for some time now, director Thomas Kail and his team are set to push the boundaries with various scenes shot outside. Unfortunately, the L.A. weather forecast isn’t co-operating—there’s currently a 100 percent chance of rain. "We're going live rain or shine and we're excited to do so," executive producer Marc Platt told The Hollywood Reporter. “That’s what makes live TV exciting—the unknown! So we're going for it." Tune in this Sunday at 7PM to see “Greased Lightning” in maybe more ways than one?!

Gabriel Ebert Set for The Interestings
Congratulations to Broadway fave Gabriel Ebert! The Tony winner, who has just finished up a Main Stem run opposite Keira Knightley in Thérèse Raquin, will lead the screen adaptation of Meg Wolitzer’s novel The Interestings. Deadline reports that Ebert is set to appear as Dennis in the Amazon pilot for the series, which follows six teenagers who meet at an arts summer camp the summer that Nixon resigns. Helmed by Mike Newell, the show will be written by Lyn Greene and Richard Levine.

Tony Kushner Tapped for Denzel Washington's Fences
Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner has been enlisted to work on the screenplay for the upcoming film adaptation of August Wilson’s Fences. The previously reported project from Denzel Washington, who will reprise his Tony-winning role in the HBO venture, is additionally set to star Viola Davis, who also won a Tony for her work in the 2010 production. Deadline writes that the team hopes to begin filming soon for a release date before the end of this year.

Donmar Warehouse Taps Harry Potter Alum
Switcheroo at London’s Donmar Warehouse. Sian Thomas (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) will replace Francesca Annis in the role of Mrs. Fox in the previously announced production of Welcome Home, Captain Fox! Annis has to withdraw from the production for personal reasons; the show will begin previews on February 18.

Joshua Jackson is Ready to Be a Doctor
Joshua Jackson has just begun previews in Smart People and on January 29 he stopped by Live! With Kelly and Michael to chat about making his off-Broadway debut. The Affair favorite revealed that he's "nervous in all the great ways," before going on to display just why he's ready to be a doctor! Check out the video below; the production is playing at Second Stage Theatre’s Tony Kiser Theatre.


P.S. Friday fun fact: the inspiration for horror movie Scream? According to the L.A. Times, it was Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods!