Theater News: Les Freres, Sunday in the Park, Gypsy of the Month

-NYTW will present A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant, starting Nov. 29th. So exciting! Moxie missed it the first time around, and can't wait to see it again. Les Freres Corbusier does some amazing stuff (Heddatron knocked our socks off), and just look at that picture. [playbill]

-The London revival of Sunday in the Park With George is hoping to transfer to Broadway in fall of 2007. Producer David Babani said, "Nothing is signed, sealed and delivered yet, but we are very much in advanced discussions to make that happen." Check out the design concept:

The Pulitzer Prize-winning show is based on the pointillist masterpiece “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” by post-impressionist painter Georges Seurat... In the show, the cutting-edge technology brought Seurat’s work to life, allowing the figures in the painting to move around David Farley’s white-walled set. Bird and Farely received the Critics’ Circle’s Best Design Award for their work.

-The Gypsy of the Month Award has been given to Bernard Dotson, long-time ensemble member of Chicago. Moxie has had the pleasure of meeting Dotson several times, and he couldn't be a sweeter, more wonderful fellow. Kudos to him! [broadwayworld]

Someday Broadway Transfers: London's National Theatre Announces Season

The National Theatre has announced it's lineup for this season, making it that time again... time to play the "which National show will transfer to Broadway?" game!

In the running:
1) A revival of Happy Daysdirected by Deborah Warner and starring Fiona Shaw. Strong candidate, if predictable.
2) Nicholas Hytner's staging of The Man of Mode, George Etherege’s restoration comedy. Nick Hytner is a genius, but big boring potential.
3) Nicholas Wright’s The Reporter, featuring Ben Chaplin (hottie from The Truth About Cats & Dogs... and The Retreat from Moscow on Broadway, but to me, he'll always be the hottie from the Jeanene Garafalo movie). The play is about the suicide of BBC reporter James Mossman.
4) Revival of Attempts on Her Life, about "late 20th century obsessions [such] as pornography, ethic violence and terrorism. Could be a winner.
5) And rounding it out, we have Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, a play that was one of South Africa's first post-apartheid collaborations between white and black theater companies. John Kani and Winston Ntshona re-create the roles they originated in 1973. Sounds groundbreaking and interesting.

All of them sound pretty incredible, and make Moxie yearn for her days as a drama student in London. However, bets must be placed, and my money's on #3, the Ben Chaplin vehicle. All others, place your bets now!

Recent Broadway Transfers

Saturday's NY Times has a great article on the current batch of Off-Broadway to Broadway transfers (Grey Gardens, The Little Dog Laughed, and Spring Awakening). The article details some of the complicated nuances of making the move. Roy Gabay, producer of The Little Dog Laughed, talks about the difficulty of getting The Schubert Organization onboard, and details reason #3,011 why Moxie loves Julie White.

One morning this summer, he brought Julie White, the play’s star and critics’ darling, up to the storied Shubert offices for an appointment with Gerald Schoenfeld, the august, octogenarian Shubert chairman. Mr. Gabay sat quietly as Ms. White let fly a fusillade of weapons-grade charm, asking for a tour of the office in her sugary Texas accent.

After the pleasantries, she moved in for the kill. “Gerry, won’t you please give us a theater,” she recalled saying. “Bottom line: my mother, Sue Jane, didn’t see the show at Second Stage because I was told it was moving to Broadway. So you have to help my mama see this. Sue Jane isn’t getting any younger, you know.”

There was a long pause.

Then Mr. Schoenfeld named four theaters, asked Ms. White for her preferences and promised a decision by the end of the week.

The article also talks about the re-casting process, and how Alicia Silverstone and Alyssa Milano were both considered for the role that ultimately was given to Ari Graynor. The Times also tells us that John Stamos was "game" for the Neal Huff role, but was already booked on ER. Moxie wonders how Ari Graynor and Tom Everett Scott (not to mention Zoe Lister-Jones and Neal Huff) feel about the names of the celebs that almost played their roles being tossed around.