Line Cinema is producing a modern version of the musical Damn Yankees with Jim Carrey and Jake Gyllenhaa attach to star. Carrey will play the devil and Gyllenhaa to play Boyd. It’s their first musical.
“Damn Yankees” won seven Tony Awards when it bowed on Broadway in 1955. The story follows Joe Boyd, a happily married middle-aged man whose devotion to a hapless pro baseball team prompts him to make a Faustian bargain with the devil to help the team. He’s transformed into slugger Joe Hardy, in exchange for Boyd’s soul. Boyd can break the deal, but the deadline occurs during the World Series. Adding to the plot, the devil engages Lola, a gorgeous lost soul, to seduce the slugger and seal his fate.
Damn Yankees classic tunes include “You Gotta Have Heart” and “Whatever Lola Wants.”
Damn Yankees was produced by Warner Bros in 1958. The film was directed by Abbott and Stanley Donen, with Ray Walston and Gwen Verdon re-creating their stage performances, and Tab Hunter playing the slugger.
The Oscars proved last night that Hugh Jackman can sing, dance and handle spontaneity like a true professional of Broadway Theater. He kept pace with the award show moving rapidly and smoothly with a few technical glitches, which were not his fault.
My favorite parts of the telecast were the actor awards presentations where former recipients introduced the nominees and presented the awards. I thought, Shirley Maclaine’s presentation to Anne Hathaway stood out among the other almost equally worthwhile presenters.
Best moments of the telecast:
My favorite winner and most deserving was Kate Winslet for Best Actress in The Reader. Penelope Cruz is a talented and inspiring woman who lovingly accepted the award for Best Supporting Actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. And I loved Danny Boyle’s impersonation of Tigger as he accepted his Oscar for Best Director for Slumdog Millionaire.
It can’t go without mention of Ben Stiller’s parody on Joaquin Phoenix recent escapades in the media and talk shows.
Variety shares some of the back stage moments here, which is worth a quick visit to get a feel for the overall celebration of film at the Oscars.
Philip Seymour Hoffman is set to make his directorial debut Off-Broadway play “Jack Goes Boating,” which he’ll also take a starring role.
Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) is set to co-star opposite Hoffman, while John Ortiz and Daphne Rubin-Vega are set to reprise their roles from the stage production.
The play is a rather unconventional romantic comedy about four flawed but likeable lower-middle-class New Yorkers finding out how to stay afloat in the deep water of day-to-day living with cooking classes, swimming lessons and illegal drugs — a story of date panic, marital meltdown, betrayal, and the prevailing grace of the human spirit.
Unleash your inner “Dancing Queen” just in time for the New Year! The record-breaking Mamma Mia! The Movie has hit the DVD shelves and Screenhead is co-sponsoring a giveaway, which includes a first and second prize.
Mamma Mia! is such a fun film to watch and sing along with the ABBA songs. My favorite is toward the end of the movie where Meryl Streep sings “The Winner Takes It All.” The whole set up is an actor’s dream – she sings with the Mediterranean Sea behind her on a cliff – astounding award winning scene. You got to see it to appreciate it. Streep is magnificent.
Here’s some more info on the DVD features:
- Join in the fun with the sing-along bonus feature! On-screen lyrics for
22 musical numbers
- Includes all-new musical number, “The Name of the Game”
- Deleted scenes and Outtakes
- Featurettes that give an in-depth look at the making of Mamma Mia! The Movie.
- 2-Disc Special Edition available for a Limited Time Only with digital copy
Check out the Mamma Mia! Conga Line website for more information and fun stuff here.
The giveaway prizes: First Prize: Mamma Mia! DVD and Poster and Second Prize: Mama Mia! DVD
Post your name and Screenhead will pick the winner Friday January, 9, 2009.
Screenhead got their hands on this coupon code for the Mamma Mia! DVD which will let people get $3 off starting December 26th — chick here on or after the December 26th to redeem the coupon.
Daniel Radcliffe has definitely matured as an actor from the early Harry Potter films, which sparks my interest even more to see him in the last installments of J.K. Rowling’s series.
Mitzi Gaynor Razzle Dazzle highlights Gaynor’s classic performances and new interviews with Gaynor, world renowned Emmy winning costume designer Bob Mackie, Tony-winner Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked,Pushing Daisies), director/choreographer Tony Charmoli, dancers Alton Ruff and Randy Doney (who performed with Mitzi on the road and in her TV specials), Nine-time Emmy Award winning comedy legend Carl Reiner, best-selling author and critic Rex Reed, and Tony nominee Kelli O’Hara, currently starring on Broadway as “Nellie Forbush” in the 2008 Tony Award winning version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific, the role made famous by Mitzi Gaynor in the 1958 film version.
Just watching the clips and interviews of Gaynor you become part of her fabulous career as a top entertainer. The DVD has bonus features. The best feature is her story about being on the Ed Sullivan Show with The Beatles. She’s so full of life and energy, you can see how much she loved the business.
You’ll see some familiar faces like William Shatner, George Hamilton and Jerry Orbach.
Whoever wins this DVD is one lucky person. Post your name and Screenhead will draw the winner Sunday, November 30, 2008.
With Broadway original musical “Mamma Mia!” becoming a movie that grosses $558.8 million worldwide, more than any other movie musical, it is no wonder that Universal Pictures decided to tune up another stage musical transformation. They have acquired the rights to Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “In the Heights” into a feature.
Lin-Manuel Miranda must be one happy fellow. He created the musical, wrote the lyrics and music and has played the starring role through its Off Broadway and Broadway runs. It looks like Miranda will reprise his role in the film.
Quiara Alegria Hudes, who wrote the book for the show, will write the screen adaptation.
According to Variety, the musical takes place over three days in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights, where a bodega (Spanish for grocery store) owner (Manuel) inherits his late grandmother’s lottery winnings and plans to shutter his store and retire on a beach in the Dominican Republic. Trying to say farewell to the characters that live on the block, he realizes that his neighbors are his real family, and he’s torn about leaving.
I am not much into the music industry, except for my daughters collection of Disney CDs (Broadway show tunes and movie soundtracks), so when I heard that Disney is launching a new record label named after Walt Disney’s own personal train in his backyard, Carolwood, it sparked my interest. Open up www.carolwood.com. Lyric Street is owned by Disney based in Nashville and is a country music label — the font of their label says it all.
Lyric Street is doing quite well, in the black, which says a lot considering the music business these days. It looks like Lyric Street and Carolwood are joining forces, which we should be hearing about around Thanksgiving.
If you want more information about the venture go to Jim Hill’s site. He tells it all.
The Women now has a blogging site where you can get the latest information on the movie with scheduled interview dates with all the stars. You even can post your thoughts about the movie and subject matter. The movie opens September 12th.
The blogging site even offers a view of the poster from the original 1939 movie, which I’ve posted here.
