CASTING UPDATE: Readings & Picnics

It's been a quiet few weeks on the Great White Way for all things not REBECCA, but here are some of the recent casting updates of note!!

- PICNIC, opening in January at the American Airlines Theatre, will star Reed Birney as Howard Bevans, Maggie Grace as Madge Owens, Elizabeth Marvel as Rosemary Sydney, Sebastian Stan as Hal Carter, Mare Winningham as Flo Owens, Ellen Burstyn as Helen Potts, Madeleine Martin as Millie Owens, Ben Rappaport as Alan Seymour, Cassie Beck as Christine Schoenwalde, Maddie Corman as Irma Kronkite and Chris Perfetti as Bomber.

- A reading of the new musical SOAP DISH, will star Kristin Chenoweth, Jane Krakowski, Cristin Milioti, John Stamos, Anne L. Nathan, Michael Park, Miriam Shor and Daniel Torres. The musical has no timetable for any future productions.

- The PRINCE OF BROADWAY, based on the career of Hal Prince, held a presentation in NYC starring Sierra Boggess, LaChanze, Josh Girsetti, Emily Skinner, and more. I hope this does well and gets a production in NY soon!

REVIEW: Broadway's ONCE

This weekend I saw ONCE at the Jacobs Theatre starring Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti. All I can say is I am falling slowly for this amazing piece of theatre. This show was unlike anything I have ever seen and I loved it for that reason.

Firstly, the audience was allowed onstage to enjoy drinks and watch a pre-show jam session by the cast, which was awesome and showed how talented they all were before the show even started. Then, I loved the idea that the cast was also the orchestra. It made the show have a very intimate, real feel to it.

Next. The music. The music was gorgeous and a great mix of folk, pop, and rock, and not at all something you would expect of a hit Broadway musical. This only added to the different feel of the show. The standouts were of course "Falling Slowly" and anything Milioti sang.

The book of the show was as good if not better than any book of a musical I have ever seen. It was witty, smart, and endearing all at the same time. Milioti really hit the jokes perfectly and made for a hilarious and loveable character that you wanted to see succeed.

While Kazee was great by all accounts, in my opinion Milioti really was the standout. Her voice was haunting every time she sang and she nailed the Czech accent and the jokes that the book provided for her with perfect comedic timing. Kazee was great and his voice was amazing, but was definitely outshone by Milioti. If she doesn't win the best actress Tony, she will have been ROBBED.

I highly recommend seeing this show. Run. Do not walk. Do not pass go. You will fall for it as much as I did.