Odds & Ends: Bombshell Set for Early Arrival, Hollywood Sings for Krieger & Reale & More

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

Bombshell Set for Early Arrival
Has the date been changed to allow some exciting cast members to star in the show…?! The previously reported one-night-only performance of Bombshell, the fictional Marilyn Monroe musical from the NBC drama Smash, will now take place on June 8 somewhere in the Big Apple. The concert, in aid of The Actors Fund, had been set to take place on June 15. We’re crossing all fingers and toes that this switcheroo means that we’ll be seeing Katharine McPhee, Megan Hilty, Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Jeremy Jordan, Anjelica Huston, Andy Mientus AND Jack Davenport bringing the drama, the laughter and the tears just like pearls at the event. (Oh please, as if you don't know all the words too!)

Hollywood Sings for Krieger & Reale
Dreamgirls and Side Show composer Henry Krieger and A Year With Frog and Toad lyricist Willie Reale are contributing songs to the new movie Hail, Caesar!, a 1950s Hollywood send-up written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. According to a photo he posted on Facebook this week, Krieger was recording a song in the studio with one of the film's stars, Channing Tatum, which brings our fantasy of the Hollywood hunk reprising his Magic Mike role in the upcoming musical one step closer to reality. Hail, Caesar also counts Tony Award winners Frances McDormand, Scarlett Johansson and Ralph Fiennes among its starry cast and is expected in theaters on February 5, 2016.

Broadway-Bound Airline Highway Extends
The Broadway-bound Airline Highway has extended its run at Steppenwolf in Chicago. Penned by Lisa D’Amour and directed by two-time Tony winner Joe Mantello, the production will now continue for five additional performances through February 14. No word yet on casting for the Great White Way incarnation, but the show will begin performances at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on April 1, so we're expecting an announcement shortly after it completes its Windy City run.

The Great White Way Heads to the Beach
Broadway stars Julia Murney, Ashley Brown, Michael James Scott and Josh Young will appear in a special one-night-only benefit production of Songs for a New World as part of Broadway By The Beach in Florida. Directed by Daniel Goldstein and written by Jason Robert Brown, the show will take place at the Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront on January 23. Anyone going who wouldn't mind squeezing us into their suitcase? It’s freezing in New York!

Betty Buckley Hits the Road for Ghostlight
Tony winner Betty Buckley has taken her acclaimed Joe's Pub show on the road in support of her new CD with Grammy winner (and childhood friend!) T-Bone Burnett, Ghostlight. The icon will play the new Wallis Annenberg Theater in L.A. on January 24, the Colony Theater in Miami on February 27 and 28, Scullers Jazz Club in Boston on March 13 and 14 and the McDavid Studio in Fort Worth on March 28. For a taste of her terrific new set, check out the video below of Buckley delivering a gorgeous "Body and Soul" at Joe's Pub.