Odds & Ends: John Lithgow Tapped for The Audience-Based Netflix Series, Helene Yorke Returns to Masters of Sex & More

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

Heléne Yorke is Back for More Sex
Bullets Over Broadway standout Heléne Yorke will return to Masters of Sex for the Showtime series’ third season, reports Deadline. Yorke appeared frequently in the initial season, but took some time off for season two to sing about hot dogs in the Woody Allen tuner. In the TV drama, Yorke plays Jane Martin, a hospital worker who is recruited for a sex study, which leads to a romance with the study’s filmmaker Lester.

Lithgow Bows Down to The Crown; The Audience Hits Big Screen
John Lithgow may take on the British Bulldog on screen. According to The Daily Mail, the Tony winner and Oscar winner is in talks to play former Prime Minister Winston Churchill in The Crown, the upcoming Netflix miniseries based on Peter Morgan’s The Audience. The political drama is scheduled to begin filming this summer. Need more regal theatrics on screen before then? National Theatre Live will present encore screenings of The Audience, filmed in the West End in 2013 starring current Broadway headliner and Tony nominee Helen Mirren, around the world beginning on June 25. Check their website for screening locations!

Duck Season Ends Early
Duck Commander Musical, the Las Vegas attraction based on A&E’s reality show Duck Dynasty that yes—actually exists—will close on May 17. The show opened officially at Rio’s Crown Theater on April 15. A musical about a notoriously controversial family closes prematurely? Who’da thunk? Still, according to the Las Vegas Sun, sit-down productions in other cities and a national tour are not out of the question.

Chita Rivera Receives Lifetime Achievement Award
The Visit headliner Chita Rivera will be honored with the John Willis Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre at the 71st annual Theatre World Awards. Rivera earned her tenth Tony nomination on April 28 for her star turn in the Kander and Ebb musical. The ceremony celebrates 12 performers who made their Broadway or off-Broadway debuts in the past season. The full list of winners will be announced on May 5.

New Artistic Director Tapped for the Globe
Emma Rice will assume the role of artistic director at Sheakespeare’s Globe in the U.K. beginning in April 2016, taking over for Dominic Dromgoole. Rice currently services as the joint artistic director of Kneehigh, where she has helmed productions, including The Red Shoes, The Wooden Frock, The Bacchae and A Matter of Life and Death.