9 to 5 First Look, Wicked the Movie & More

This and that from From Screen to Stage:

• Here's the first look at the ladies of 9 to 5 (Stephanie J. Block, Allison Janney and Megan Hilty), along with that sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot (Marc Kudisch). The Dolly Parton-penned musical will open on Broadway next spring at the Marquis Theatre.
• Universal is finally moving ahead, albeit slowly, with a movie version of the international stage smash Wicked. Marc Platt, who produced the original stage version as well as the recent action flick Wanted, is also working on a movie remake of Jesus Christ Superstar as well as the expected sequel to Wanted. No word on Wanted: The Musical yet though.
• A workshop production of the play adaptation of Jim Carroll's book The Basketball Diaries is currently underway in Manhattan. You may recall the film version starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Carroll.
• Global Broadway Productions Inc. has launched, with Broadway aimed musical versions of the book series-turned-TV favorite Little House on the Prairie and the Daphne Du Maurier novel-turned-Hitchcock classic Rebecca on their slate, as well as one called Havana, which presumably has nothing to do with the Sydney Pollack/Robert Redford movie of the same name.
• And finally: the Oscar nominated Belgian film Daens will premiere as a stage musical October 4 in Antwerp.

Cinematic Crush: Taye Diggs

Crush object: Taye Diggs, actor.

- He found instant fame as a member of the legendary original cast of the landmark rock musical Rent, wherein he played Benny. His life was changed with the show in another way, as he met his future wife, Idina Menzel; the two would later co-star in The Wild Party and Wicked. His other stage roles include Carousel, Chicago and A Soldier's Play.

- After a stint on the soap The Guiding Light, he made his film debut as the answer to How Stella Got Her Groove Back.

- More movies followed with Go, The Wood, The Best Man, House on Haunted Hill, Brown Sugar and the film versions of Chicago and Rent.

- Guest stints on Ally McBeal and The West Wing led to his own series, Kevin Hill, which won him an NAACP Image Award, but only lasted one season. He appeared as a love interest for Will in the final season of Will and Grace and starred in another short-lived series, Day Break.

- He currently stars on the Grey's Anatomy spin-off, Private Practice, which returns for a second year this fall.

Awards Watch: Drama League 2008

It may have failed to get a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical, but A Catered Affair was just fine for the Drama League. The new tuner, based on the classic Bette Davis movie The Catered Affair, was named Distinguished Production of a Musical by the group, an association of theatre professionals and patrons dedicated to "encouraging the finest in professional theatre".

Winners, which also included August: Osage County, South Pacific, Macbeth and Gypsy's Patti LuPone (named the winner of the Distinguished Performance Award out of 70 (!) nominees), were announced at a luncheon yesterday, hosted by Affair's co-star/librettist Harvey Fierstein. Broadway.com has a report from the scene, which included an unexpected marriage proposal for one Cheyenne Jackson.

Cheyenne (and his Xanadu - which just announced its first national tour) are also among the nominees for the 9th Annual Broadway.com Audience Awards. Nominations have been announced for "the only theatrical award that honors the best of the season as chosen by regular theatergoers" and voting is currently underway. Other screen-to-stage favorites among the nominees (see the comments section below for a quick look) include A Bronx Tale, A Catered Affair, Grease, Hairspray, The Little Mermaid, Monty Python's Spamalot, Rent, The Ritz, The 39 Steps, Wicked and Young Frankenstein, which leads the pack with 10 nods.

It's Showtime!

A must-see for theater fans, Show Business: The Road to Broadway takes a look at the typically not-so-typical 2003-04 Broadway season, from the promises of the fall to the thrilling opening nights to the devastating closings to the big upsets at the Tony Awards and more. Focusing on four of the most anticipated musicals of that year -- Avenue Q, Taboo, Wicked and Caroline, or Change -- the documentary offers all the behind-the-scenes drama of a life in drama.

Filled to the brim with Big Apple stage faves and legends -- Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Raúl Esparza, Harvey Fierstein, Boy George, Tony Kushner, Idina Menzel, Euan Morton, Rosie O'Donnell, Tonya Pinkins, Anika Noni Rose, Stephen Schwartz, John Tartaglia, the list goes on -- what really sets this one apart is the presence of the highly influential (and, more often then not, equally loathed) New York stage critics. Shown periodically throughout the year, this elitist cabal chimes in with their snobbish thoughts on the season, predicting gloom and doom at every turn. But what is most enlightening here is the revelation that they are not that much different then any of the rest of us; after all, we've all gathered together in similar round table bitch sessions about what we do and do not love about the theater.

The DVD includes a host of delicious bonus materials for Broadway geeks to gorge on, including the one brief appearance of the season's man of the year (noticeably absent in the main feature), The Boy from Oz himself, Hugh Jackman.

Click here to buy Show Business: The Road to Broadwayon DVD from Amazon.com.