Kung Fu Fighting and Finger Snaps

The unlikely-named Elephant Eye Productions is planning to bring two unlikely pop culture icons to the Broadway musical stage in the future.

First up: Bruce Lee: Journey to the West, a bio musical about the martial arts superstar that will feature a score by The Full Monty's David Yazbek and a book by M. Butterfly's David Henry Hwang; Bartlett Sher, a Tony nominee this year for the acclaimed South Pacific revival, will direct.

And if that wasn't odd enough, then how about this: it's creepy, it's kooky, it's The Addams Family musical (snap, snap)! Based on the cartoon creations of humorist Charles Addams (which also inspired the classic TV series and two feature films), this one will feature music by Andrew Lippa of The Wild Party fame.

UPDATE: Readings are being held this week (August 4-8) for The Addams Family. Casting includes Nathan Lane as Gomez, Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia and (perfect casting) Kevin Chamberlin as Uncle Fester.

The Latest on DVD: The Bear Necessities

"It's time to put on make up, it's time to light the lights," which means it's time for The Muppet Show: The Complete Third Season,now on DVD for the first time.

Season three was a high point for the classic series. Not only did the season boast such guest stars as Gilda Radner, Pearl Bailey, Jean Stapleton, Alice Cooper, Loretta Lynn, Liberace, Raquel Welch, James Coco, Helen Reddy, Harry Belafonte, Lesley Ann Warren, Danny Kaye, Leslie Uggams, Sylvester Stallone, Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, Lynn Redgrave and Cheryl Ladd (whew!), but the beloved variety show also won the prestigious Peabody Award that year. None to shabby for a bunch of felt.

Click on the link above to buy from Amazon.com, and see the Latest on DVD widgets in the sidebar for more of this week's new releases.

Cinematic Crush: Harrison Ford

Crush object: Harrison Ford, actor.

- From Han Solo to Indiana Jones to Rick Deckard to Jack Ryan to Richard Kimble, he is the consummate action movie star, starring in most of the biggest blockbusters in film history.

- A string of uncredited bit parts and television roles led to his first big break as Bob Falfa in George Lucas' American Graffiti, which of course led to Han Solo in the classic, original Star Wars trilogy.

- He was cast as Indiana Jones in Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark after Tom Selleck infamously turned it down; two more adventures (Temple of Doom, The Last Crusade) down, one more to go with Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, opening this week.

- After another sci fi classic, Blade Runner, an Academy Award nomination for the crime drama Witness led to more non-genre films, including The Mosquito Coast, Working Girl, Presumed Innocent and Regarding Henry; he made a return to his action hero roots as Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, as well as The Fugitive and Air Force One.

- He has received lifetime achievement awards from the American Film Institute, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror, and was named "Box Office Star of the Century" by ShoWest.

Awards Watch: Drama Desk 2008

While most of the gold went to such original works as August: Osage County and Passing Strange, a few screen-to-stage faves took home Drama Desk Awards earlier tonight.

Rob Ashford took home another prize for his Cry-Baby choreography while Xanadu's Douglas Carter Beane won his first for Outstanding Book of a Musical. And the Hitchcock-inspired The 39 Steps nabbed two awards, for lighting design and "Unique Theatrical Experience".

Maggie and Harold ... and the boys

Although completely snubbed by the Tony Awards, the all-star, all-African American revival of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is doing just fine, having recently recouped its investment. And now, Maggie the Cat (as played here by Anika Noni Rose) is returning to the screen once more: producers are hoping to turn the production into a film adaptation, with filming planned for next year.

This would be the fourth movie version of the Southern-fried drama, following the 1958 Oscar nominated hit starring Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor and two television adaptations: a 1976 British production with Natalie Wood and Laurence Olivier and the 1985 version starring Tommy Lee Jones and Jessica Lange. It is not clear if this new Cat would be theatrically released or broadcast on television.

In more "stage-to-screen" news, Danny Glover will return to "Master Harold"…and the boys once more, this time for a film adaptation. Glover previously starred on Broadway in the Tony Award winning drama's original 1983 production and also in a 20th anniversary revival. Lonny Price, who co-starred in the former and directed the latter, will helm the movie version, which begins filming in South Africa in July.

Countdown to AFI's 10 Top 10: Western

"The Old West is not a certain place in a certain time;
it's a state of mind."
-- Tom Mix

We are halfway through our countdown to the American Film Institute's salute to their 10 Top 10, which brings us to that purely American creation (that is, until Sergio Leone got hold of it): the western. A genre filled with iconic imagery, from the lone cowboy perched atop his horse to the climatic gunfight in the middle of a dusty town, a classic oater depicts "the spirit, the struggle and the demise of the new frontier".

Topping the list of westerns previously honored by the AFI in their annual lists is High Noon. The thinly veiled allegorical look at Hollywood's reaction to McCarthyism has been included on six prior lists, followed closely (with five mentions each) by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Shane. However, a strong contender for the top spot here is The Searchers, which may only have two previous listings, but it made an impressive leap from #96 to #12 on last year's 10th anniversary revisit to the top 100 movies.

The Wild Bunch, which redefined onscreen violence as well as the western genre itself, placed three times previously, and should place high this time around as well. Other possibilities from past lists include Best Picture Oscar winners Dances With Wolves and Unforgiven (both with two listings) and single-placers ranging from comedies (Blazing Saddles, Cat Ballou) to John Wayne headliners (Stagecoach, True Grit) to some questionable "westerns" (Giant, The Last Picture Show), plus The Magnificent Seven, a remake of a Far Eastern "western", The Seven Samurai.

Ranging from 1924 (The Iron Horse) to 1996 (Lone Star), other contenders among the fifty nominees (see the comments section below for the full list) include more John Ford epics (My Darling Clementine, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon), Clint Eastwood non-spaghetti westerns (High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josey Wales) and other favorites such as How the West Was Won, The Ox-Bow Incident, Red River and even Joan Crawford's lone contribution to the genre, Johnny Guitar.

The final top ten will be revealed in a CBS three-hour television event on June 17.

Desperately Seeking Closure

Desperate Housewives will conclude its revitalized fourth season tomorrow night (which will include the addition of Queer as Folk icon Gale Harold to the cast), so to keep all the Wisteria Lane action alive over the long hot summer, here is the Madame Alexander Desperate Housewives Doll Collection.

Yes, you too can recreate all the juicy gossip and homemaker intrigue of the popular nighttime soap with 16" recreations of Lynette, Gabrielle, Edie, Susan and Bree. And although I'm sure you would want him, tragically, there is no Mike Delfino doll.

Click Here for Official ABC Merchandise and to Shop the Desperate Housewives store!