In Case You Missed It: "Harry Potter, "Clueless" and a David Bowie Musical Are Coming to the Stage! | Playbill

News In Case You Missed It: "Harry Potter, "Clueless" and a David Bowie Musical Are Coming to the Stage! The actor who played Harry Potter—Daniel Radcliffe—has appeared on stage now several times. Now, Harry Potter himself will take the stage.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the world premiere of a play by Jack Thorne based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Thorne and director John Tiffany, will take place at the West End's Palace Theatre in the summer of 2016.

What will the play be about? Well, they’re not saying. Rowling would reveal nothing about the plot, commenting "I don't want to spoil what I know will be a real treat for fans." (Funny, I can’t remember the last time that a short plot summary ever spoiled a play for anyone.) She did say, however, "To answer one inevitable (and reasonable!) question - why isn't Cursed Child a new novel? I am confident that when audiences see the play they will agree that it was the only proper medium for the story." Well, that’s clear as mud. Thanks, J.K.!

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The play was first announced in December 2013, after the author said she had "received countless approaches" over the years "about turning Harry Potter into a theatrical production." The show will be produced by Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender, and British singer Imogen Heap will provide the music.

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A Clueless musical. "As if." Well, actually, no. It’s really happening. The week, the writer-director of the 1995 film comedy "Clueless" confirmed that a musical version of the story is being developed for Broadway.

In an interview with Variety, Amy Heckerling said, displaying charming incredulity as to the ways of the theatre, "I’ve written what they call 'the book,' and it’s a jukebox musical." The film had a best-selling soundtrack album of such hits, though the story did not specify whether those songs or others would be used in the Broadway version.

Heckerling did not offer a production timetable or mention dates, producers or a theatre, but cautioned that in the process of getting a musical on its feet, "everything goes so slowly.” This is true.

"Clueless" was loosely based on Jane Austen's 1815 novel "Emma," about a young woman who meddles in her friends' romances, with sometimes disastrous effects. The film made stars of Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd and Brittany Murphy, among others.

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Jimmy Carter

Camp David, a new drama about President Jimmy Carter’s Nobel Prize-winning efforts to bring the leaders of Israel and Egypt to sign a peace agreement after years of war, is being prepared for Broadway in the 2016-17 season.

Molly Smith will direct the production, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, screenwriter and journalist Lawrence Wright, whose book "Thirteen Days in September" covered the same events. Wright won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11."

Camp David had its world premiere at Washington D.C.’s Arena Stage in 2014. No word on the casting, but the D.C. cast included Richard Thomas as Carter, Ron Rifkin as Begin, Egyptian film star Khaled Nabawy as Sadat and Hallie Foote as Carter’s first lady, Rosalynn.

Camp David will play a pre-Broadway engagement at The Old Globe in San Diego May 13-June 19, 2016. It will be produced on Broadway by Steve Traxler and Gerald Rafshoon.

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If you looking to cast the title role in a stage adaptation of The Man Who Fell to Earth, you could do worse than to sift through past stars of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Michael C. Hall, star of TV's "Dexter" and a recent Hedwig on Broadway, has been chosen to star in this fall's world premiere of Lazarus by music legend David Bowie and playwright Enda Walsh of Once fame.

Previews begin Nov. 18 at New York Theatre Workshop, with Dec. 7 planned as opening night. The Off-Broadway production is inspired by Walter Tevis' best-selling 1963 novel "The Man Who Fell to Earth," and will be directed by Ivo Van Hove.

Lazarus centers on the character of Thomas Jerome Newton, portrayed by Bowie in the 1976 screen adaptation directed by Nicolas Roeg. "The Man Who Fell To Earth" tells the story of human-looking alien who comes to Earth seeking a way to bring water back to his home planet that is slowly dying from an epic and disastrous drought.

The NYTW production will feature songs specially composed by Bowie as well as new arrangements of previously recorded songs.

 
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