Odds and Ends: Beanie Feldstein Announces Pregnancy, Keira Knightley Heads to the West End & More

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

Beanie Baby

Broadway alum Beanie Feldstein announced news of her pregnancy on Instagram in a joint post with her wife, producer Bonnie-Chance Roberts. The couple wed in 2023, having met while working on the 2019 film How to Build a Girl. Feldstein made her Broadway debut as Minnie Fay alongside Bette Midler in the 2017 revival of Hello, Dolly and starred as Fanny Brice in the 2022 Funny Girl revival. She has appeared onscreen in Lady Bird, Booksmart and FX's miniseries Impeachment: American Crime Story. She will play Mary Flynn in Richard Linklater’s forthcoming film adaptation of Merrily We Roll Along. Mazel, Beanie!

Like No Other

Keira Knightley, Luke Thompson and Tony winner Stephen Dillane are set to star in The Lives of Others in the West End. Freshly minted Tony nominee Robert Icke (Oedipus) adapts and directs this story of a writer and an actor in West Berlin who are placed under state surveillance during the Cold War. The play is based on Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s German-language film, which was released in 2006 and won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film the following year. The Lives of Others will begin performances at London's Adelphi Theatre on October 14 with an official opening on October 29. The production is set to run through January 9, 2027.

You Gotta Have Art

Yasmina Reza's Tony-winning Art was revived on Broadway this past fall, starring Neil Patrick Harris, James Corden and Bobby Cannavale. Reza's play will now be adapted into a feature film starring Ralph Fiennes, Colin Farrell and Wagner Moura. Fernando Meirelles (City Of God, The Two Popes) is attached to direct, with Christopher Hampton adapting the French comedy about art, commerce and friendship. Complete casting will be announced at a later date.

Brady's Presidential Bid

Wayne Brady will star in the new play Ms. Blakk for President, premiering off-Broadway this October. Brady is taking on the role of Joan Jett Blakk, a Detroit drag performer who ran for president in the early '90s. Tina Landau will direct from a script she co-wrote with Tarell Alvin McCraney, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Moonlight. Widely known for his stint on the series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Brady has appeared on Broadway in Moulin Rouge! The Musical, The Wiz, Chicago, Kinky Boots and Freestyle Love Supreme. Ms. Blakk for President will begin performances at the Vineyard Theatre on October 15 with opening night set for November 1. Catch Brady as Georges in New York City Center’s Encores! staging of La Cage aux Folles alongside Billy Porter and Tonya Pinkins from Jun 17–28.

Mark Brokaw Celebrated

Director Mark Brokaw, who died on June 29, 2025, will be celebrated with a memorial at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on May 11 at 4 p.m. Douglas Carter Beane, Santino Fontana, Kenneth Lonergan, Mary-Louise Parker, Paula Vogel and Sam Pinkleton will make appearances at the event, along with other theater luminaries. Brokaw began his career off-Broadway, collaborating with the likes of Vogel, Lonergan, Wendy Wasserstein, Charles Busch, Lisa Kron and Craig Lucas. He made his Broadway directing debut in 2004, working with Parker in Lucas' Reckless at Manhattan Theatre Club. His other Broadway credits include The Constant Wife, Cry-Baby, After Miss Julie, Cinderella and Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive, having previously directed the play’s off-Broadway premiere in 1997. The memorial is open to the public.