Broadway Bombshell Megan Hilty is Pregnant!
Megan Hilty View Comments Congrats (and happy birthday!) to Megan Hilty! The Broadway bombshell told Us Weekly that she’s expecting her first child with hubby Brian Gallagher, leaking the news on March 29, her 33rd birthday.Hilty married Gallagher on November 2 at the chapel of The Venetian hotel and casino in Las Vegas, telling the world with an adorable photo on Twitter.Both mommy and daddy of the baby-to-be are Broadway veterans. Hilty starred as Glinda in Wicked and Doralee in 9 to 5, before crossing into TV land on Smash and Sean Saves the World. Gallagher made his Broadway debut last season as Lord Savage in Jekyll and Hyde.They’re a totally adorable couple and we wish them well!
Star Files
Love Letters Scenic design will be by John Lee Beatty, with costume design by Jane Greenwood and lighting design by Peter Kaczorowski. Dennehy and Farrow will appear in the production September 13 through October 10. Burnett will then step in for Farrow and play opposite Dennehy October 11 through November 7. Alda and Bergen will take over November 8 through December 5. Keach and Rigg will play December 6 through January 9, 2015. Huston and Sheen will then play January 10, 2015 through February 15. Love Letters is a funny and emotional portrait about the powerful connection of love. Two friends, rebellious Melissa Gardner and straight-arrow Andrew Makepeace Ladd III have exchanged notes, cards and letters with each other for over 50 years. From second grade, through summer vacations, to college, and well into adulthood, they have spent a lifetime discussing their hopes and ambitions, dreams and disappointments, and victories and defeats. But long after the letters are done, the real question remains: Have they made the right choices or is the love of their life only a letter away? Alda received Tony nods for Glengarry Glen Ross, Jake’s Women and The Apple Tree and an Oscar nomination for The Aviator. He has won six Emmys for his television work, five of which were for M*A*S*H. Bergen’s Broadway credits include Hurlyburly and The Best Man. She received an Oscar nomination for Starting Over and won five Emmys for her work on Murphy Brown. Burnett received Tony nods for Once Upon a Mattress and Moon Over Buffalo. She is perhaps best known for her work on the Emmy-winning The Carol Burnett Show. Dennehy won Tonys for his work on Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Death of a Salesman. He picked up Emmy nominations for his performances in The Burden of Proof, Murder in the Heartland, To Catch a Killer and Killing in a Small Town. Farrow’s Broadway credits include Romantic Comedy and has appeared in more than 40 films including Rosemary’s Baby. Huston won the Oscar for her performance in Prizzi’s Honor and her other film credits include The Witches, The Grifters and The Royal Tenebaums. Keach received a Tony nod for Indians. Other Broadway credits include Other Desert Cities and The Kentucky Cycle. Rigg won the Tony for Medea and an Emmy for Rebecca. Additional screen credits include Game of Thrones, The Avengers and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Sheen received a Tony nod for The Subject was Roses. Other Broadway credits include Death of a Salesman. His screen credits include Apocalypse Now, Badlands and The West Wing and an Emmy winning turn in Murphy Brown. Related Shows
Love Letters originally opened off-Broadway in March 1989, starring Kathleen Turner and John Rubinstein. The play changed its cast every week and other notable names that appeared in that incarnation included Victor Garber, Julie Harris, Christopher Reeve and Christopher Walken. The show transferred to Broadway in October of that year, with Lynn Redgrave, John Clark, Stockard Channing and more appearing in the production. View Comments Talk about star power. As previously speculated, A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters will be revived on Broadway. Directed by Gregory Mosher, the production will officially open on September 18 at the Nederlander Theatre, starring Tony winner Brian Dennehy and Mia Farrow. The pair will be followed by casts of stars in strictly limited engagements that include Emmy winner Alan Alda, Emmy winner Candice Bergen, Emmy winner Carol Burnett, Oscar winner Anjelica Huston, Stacy Keach, Tony and Emmy winner Diana Rigg and Emmy winner Martin Sheen. Show Closed This production ended its run on Dec. 14, 2014
Behar starred on Broadway in the variety special Comedy Tonight and has also appeared on stage in The Food Chain and The Vagina Monologues. She won a Daytime Emmy award for her work on The View in 2009, along with co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Sherri Shepherd and Barbara Walters. Comedian Joy Behar officially opens in her new solo show off-Broadway on November 23. The world premiere of Me, My Mouth and I will play a limited engagement at the Cherry Lane Theater through December 21. Me, My Mouth and I Show Closed This production ended its run on Dec. 21, 2014 Related Shows Me, My Mouth and I follows Behar’s Brooklyn childhood to her stand-up work and sitcom appearances, along with her 16 years as co-host on The View. View Comments
Family, ambition and greed! Christopher B. Latro’s The Happy Family is heading off-Broadway. Directed by Anna Bamberger and featuring Kailey Prior, Eric Gravez, Sabina Petra and James Feuer, the dark comedy will play a limited engagement April 2 through May 9. Opening night is scheduled for April 8 at Theatre Row. View Comments Scenic design will be by Lauren Mills, with lighting by Jamie Roderick, sound and original music by Sam Godin and costumes by Michael Alan Stein. The Happy Family Related Shows In The Happy Family, Cornelia and William weather a seemingly frustrated, tired marriage. Her mother and step-father’s relationship eerily mirror her own – especially with regard to feelings about the family business, an underground quasi–Ponzi scheme involving high art. When Dennis and Elizabeth, a sexually progressive, happy couple, are introduced, layers of dysfunction, deceit and disease seep in, with permanently damaging results. Show Closed This production ended its run on April 25, 2015
Q: You two share a dressing room—who’s the messy one?KATE: I am. If we’re doing The Odd Couple, I’m the odd.HEIDI: I’m very organized. I run the Type A, stick-up-my-butt side of the dressing room. But it’s not like she’s Pig Pen.KATE: It’s just a little free and easy on my side.HEIDI: We have the yin and the yang.Q: What do you typically do when you’re offstage?KATE: Talk trash.HEIDI: She’s Internet shopping.KATE: I’m totally Internet shopping, and she’s trying to stop me because I asked her to.HEIDI: It’s just a little intervention.Q: What’s it like to be two female forces in a male-dominated cast?KATE: With great power comes great responsibility. Although, honestly, we’re kind of boyish if you look at the boys we’ve got.HEIDI: We’re lucky that our cast is a really likable group. No duds.KATE: Just a bunch of nuggets. We have to share a bathroom with them, though.HEIDI: The St. James has a lot of really wonderful things…KATE: …but there isn’t a girls’ bathroom. We need a Kickstarter: Bathroom for Bea! Peehole for Portia! Something Rotten! View Comments Q: Heidi, you just got married. Kate, you’re engaged. Do you bond over wedding stuff? HEIDI: What’s funny about us is we’re not bride-y girls at all. I think we bonded over that.KATE: Yes!HEIDI: I planned my wedding in six days and did it in my backyard the day after opening with like 20 people in attendance.KATE: And I brought a penis candy necklace to the theater and was like, “Here’s your bachelorette party!”HEIDI: You’re looking at my entire bachelorette party right here. She’s the only one who cared to humiliate me appropriately.KATE: It was just a candy necklace.HEIDI: It was amazing. Everyone needs a candy penis necklace.Q: Will you be getting Kate a candy penis necklace for her wedding?KATE: I hope so!HEIDI: Duh. Q: Besides the bathroom thing, what’s it like to be with the guys?KATE: They are running a tight ship for us.HEIDI: The pressure’s on that d’Arcy James fellow.KATE: They have to Cariani the weight. Seriously, they do all the work. I have the best cocktail role on Broadway.Q: What’s a cocktail role?HEIDI: Tell her!KATE: Pop on stage for a second, go back to your room and have a cocktail.Q: Speaking of cocktails—and since we made you look like lushes in these photos—what’s your go-to drink?KATE: Dirty martini. Vodka. Like a man.HEIDI: I drink like a girl. I’m a wino. I like a crisp New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Recently, I’ve been getting into bourbon, which is more appropriate to my character. But I’m mostly a wino.KATE: I like vodka. Lots and lots of vodka. I would like some right now.Q: Who’s the bigger Shakespeare buff?HEIDI: Have you ever done one?KATE: No!HEIDI: I studied Shakespeare in college and I did A Midsummer Night’s Dream in summer stock once. I played Helena.KATE: Of course you did.HEIDI: For a hot second in college, I thought I’d be a classical actress and make a life in Ashland, Oregon at the Shakespeare Festival. Then I was like, “Are you kidding?! My bread is buttered in musical theater. I’m a belter, I was made for this town!” Broadway vets Kate Reinders and (new Broadway.com vlogger) Heidi Blickenstaff rarely share the stage in the musical comedy Something Rotten!, but that didn’t stop them from becoming fast friends. As dressing roommates and the only two featured actresses in a cast dominated by funny guys, these women do more than hold their own. “We’re the neck that turns the head,” Reinders says about their supporting roles in this over-the-top Elizabethan yarn about creating the first musical. Broadway.com hung out (and got pretend-wasted) with the pair at citizenM’s sunny, swanky bar in Times Square. Bottoms up!Q: What was your first impression of each other?KATE: I wanted her to like me because I thought she was cool.HEIDI: A lot of times when you start something new, especially one that’s filled with so many fancy people, you can see people be a little on guard at first. From the second I met her, she was her authentic self, which is wildly open, generous, bubbly and fun. She’s never strayed from that.KATE: That’s because I’m not fancy.HEIDI: That’s true. You’re not fancy.Q: Did you Google each other before you met?HEIDI: I did.KATE: I didn’t Google you. I’m sorry.HEIDI: Kate is one half of Tastiskank with Sarah Litzinger. Do yourself a favor and Google their Matthew McConaughey song. Related Shows See Kate Reinders and Heidi Blickenstaff in Something Rotten! at the St. James Theatre Show Closed This production ended its run on Jan. 1, 2017
A ‘swonderful pair are kicking off their dance shoes and plopping down on the Broadway.com couch. An American in Paris Tony nominees Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope are paying a visit to Broadway.com to answer your questions about headlining the romantic musical sensation. Which of their three million dance numbers is the most fun to perform? How do you successfully fold a pocket square? What’s the best song to sing for a shower audition? Here’s your chance to ask! Submit your questions below, then stay tuned as the two interview each other in their Ask a Star video feature.<a data-cke-saved-href="https://broadway.wufoo.com/forms/z157bc6u07uoect/" href="https://broadway.wufoo.com/forms/z157bc6u07uoect/">Fill out my Wufoo form!</a> Robert Fairchild Show Closed This production ended its run on Oct. 9, 2016 Star Files Related Shows View Comments An American in Paris
View Comments Tom Hollander in ‘Travesties'(Photo: Johan Persson) The rumors were true and the acclaimed London revival of Tom Stoppard’s Tony-winning play Travesties will transfer to the West End. Next stop Broadway? Led by Tom Hollander, the production will move from the buzzy Menier Chocolate Factory (where the Tony-winning revival of The Color Purple originated) to the Apollo Theatre. The limited engagement is set to run February 3, 2017 through April 29 and will officially open on February 15. Directed by Patrick Marber, the production is running at the Menier through November 19.Hollander’s extensive theater resume includes The Judas Kiss on Broadway, along with A Flea in Her Ear, The Threepenny Opera, Tartuffe and The School for Scandal. Screen credits include Doctor Thorne, The Night Manager, Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation, The Riot Club, Muppets Most Wanted, The Invisible Woman, Valkyrie, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, A Good Year, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Pride & Prejudice, Enigma, Maybe Baby, Ambassadors and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.Stoppard’s dazzling comedy of art, love and revolution features James Joyce, Tristan Tzara and Lenin as remembered—and misremembered—by Henry Carr (Hollander), a minor British diplomat in Zurich 1917. When Gwendolen and Cecily wander in from The Importance of Being Earnest, Henry’s mind wanders too. He knows he was Algernon in a production in Zurich. But who was the other one?Along with Hollander the cast includes Clare Foster as Cecily, Freddie Fox as Tristan Tzara, Forbes Masson as Lenin, Peter McDonald as James Joyce, Amy Morgan as Gwendolen and Sarah Quist as Nadya.Travesties opened at the West End’s Aldwych Theatre in 1974, directed by Peter Wood, and played on Broadway the following year, winning the Tony for Best Play. It has never been revived on the Great White Way. 
“Wait For It,” Usher from $149.00 “Helpless,” Ashanti Related Shows “It’s Quiet Uptown,” Kelly Clarkson “Satisfied,” Sia “Dear Theodosia,” Regina Spektor (Photo: Getty Images) The weekend may be over, but The Hamilton Mixtape is sure to keep those party vibes going! Lin-Manuel Miranda’s highly anticipated follow-up album dropped on December 2, and fans were eager to hear Alicia Keys’ takes on Eliza, Jimmy Fallon’s spin on King George, John Legend’s George Washington and more. We asked Hamil-fans to rank the tracks that had them hitting the repeat button upon the Mixtape’s release, and it appears they were excited to listen to cut songs from Hamilton. Perhaps there will be more on Volume 2! While we start a countdown for that project, take a look at (and a listen to) your top 10!
“Wrote My Way Out,” Nas Hamilton “My Shot,” Busta Rhymes View Comments “Burn,” Andra Day “Immigrants (We Get the Job Done),” K’naan “Congratulations,” Dessa
So far, this year’s peach crop is — “excuse the expression – the pits,” said Mark Collier, a University of Georgia county extension agent in Peach County. “What we’re picking now is about a half a crop.”Farther south in Brooks County, Johnny Whiddon agrees. “It’s not looking good down here, either,” said Whiddon, also an extension agent. “Not now, and not later this season.” Brooks County is second only to Peach County in Georgia peach production. Collier said farmers in Peach County, in central Georgia, have a later-season crop to look forward to. Early-season peaches, those coming in now, were hit hard by a March freeze. But the later peaches, those due to ripen in mid-June and later, escaped damage. Georgia peach lovers are getting all they want, Collier said, even with the small early-season crop. “Our growers and packers have peaches for local sales,” he said. “They just don’t have enough to ship up the eastern U.S. coast as usual.” Whiddon said even the mid- and late-season peaches aren’t looking good in Brooks County. Two events damaged peaches and trees this year: the March freeze and a hailstorm in late April. The freeze damaged the early peaches that had already set buds, he said. Then hail damaged or knocked off the young peaches that were due to ripen in June. By May 23, Georgia farmers had shipped only 1.6 million pounds of peaches, said Bill Mizelle, an economist with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “Last year by May 23, we’d shipped more than 12.5 million pounds,” Mizelle said. “And though prices to farmers are about double this year over last, I’m sure they’d rather have a full peach crop with lower prices than the current situation.” Collier said wholesale prices are a little high, “but you expect that when supplies are short. But again, in central Georgia, that’s temporary. And shoppers should notice little change in grocery store prices.” Mizelle said Georgia peach farmers have been on a roller coaster in the past few years. A harsh freeze wiped out the ’96 crop. Then farmers got a good crop in ’97. Now they’re facing an odd crop this year. “It seems we go from boom to bust,” he said. “Last year was about as close to ‘normal’ as we get, so it’s a good comparison year.” The Georgia Agricultural Statistics Service reports as of May 25, 51 percent of the peach crop is “poor or very poor.” Collier said that’s a matter of quantity, not quality. “What we have may be a little small in some cases because of the lack of rain, although the fruit I’ve seen are sized quite well. And if drought makes peaches smaller, it makes them sweeter, too,” he said. Smaller peaches contain proportionally more sugar, he explained. “There’s more water to dilute the sugar in larger fruit.”
Want the best garden, lawn or landscape you can have? You can’t do it without good soil samples. On “The Georgia Gardener” Aug. 19, host Walter Reeves gives some timely pointers on taking and using soil samples in your gardening. “The Georgia Gardener” is designed specifically for Georgia gardeners. It airs on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. and is rebroadcast on Saturdays at 10 a.m. on GPTV. Reeves will also show how to preserve herbs so you can take those great tastes from your backyard through the winter. Then he’ll talk about what’s hot with rot — how hot is your compost pile?
The show is a production of the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and PFC Holding Company.