Gypsy will be back on the Broadway stage in 2008 staring Tony Award Winner Pattie LuPone.

According to a casting notice, the revival of the musical will open at a theatre TBA on March 27, 2008 with rehearsals beginning at the end of January.

Gypsy ran a limited engagement this past summer at City Center in the Encores! Summer Stars series that also started Pattie LuPone and has now found its way back to the Broadway stage.

Arthur Laurents, Gypsy co-creator, will direct the Broadway production. It has been noted that the entire cast of the Encores! Production has been offered the chance to repeat their roles on Broadway, but only LuPone has currently been cast.

Gypsy features a score by Jule Styne (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrpics) and a book by Arthur Laurents. Ethel Merman created the role of Rose in the original production of Gypsy which closed on Broadway in May 1959 after 702 performances.

Broadway is back in business today as the 19-day stagehand strike comes to an end and actors, musicians, producers and of course stagehands return to work. A spokeswoman for the League of American Theaters and Producers said all the shows that had been idled by the walkout would have performances this evening (November 29).

New opening dates for shows that had been schedule to open during the strike have been announced. Most will be in previews until the official opening. The Farnsworth Invention will open Monday December 3, The Seafarer is schedule to open Thursday December 6, Is He Dead will be opening Sunday December 9 and a new opening date for The Little Mermaid had not been determined at this time. In addition to these openings August: Osage County is set to open on Tuesday December 4.

It was announced at 10:30 on Wednesday night to the cheering stagehands, almost 100 had gathered outside the law offices where the negotiations had taken place. Around 10:45PM the executive director of the League, Charlotte St. Martin, officially announced that “Performances begin tomorrow night”. In a later statement she said “The contract is a good compromise that serves our industry.”

This was the first strike in the stagehands union history, which goes back 121 years. It affected 27 shows on Broadway as well as one Duran Duran concert, which ended up moving to another location.

According to the city comptroller’s office the strike reportedly coast the city $2 million a day, which would mean a lose of almost $40 million over the course of the 19 day strike.

A resolution could not have come at a better time. After losing serious revenue last week with the Thanksgiving holiday, which usually brings in droves of people to New York, it is clear no one wanted this to continue on into the busy Christmas holiday season.

Laura Linney will be making her return to the Broadway stage in the upcoming revival of Christopher Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the American Airlines Theatre tentatively schedule to run April 11-June 29 2008.

Linney has also been seen on the stage in Sight Unseen, The Crucible and Uncle Vanya. Her film career includes movies such as “Mystic River”, “You can Count on Me”, “Love Actually”, “Breach”, “Kinsey”, and “The Truman Show”.

On Sunday November 25 there will be a free run-through of the upcoming revival of the Broadway show The Homecoming will take place at the New World Stage located on 340 West 50^th Street. The show is free but they will be accepting donations at the conclusion of the performance for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

The production of Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming is schedule to open on December 13 at the Cort Theater. The show will be directed by Daniel Sullivan and has a cast that includes Ian McShane, Eve Best, Raul Esparza, Michael McKean, James Frain, and Gareth Saxe.

The Homecoming is set in North London at a family gathering. Teddy (James Frain) has brought his wife, Ruth (Eve Best) home to meet her in-laws. The Homecoming won the Tony Award for Best Play during its premiere in 1967.

As the strike presses on in NYC shutting down 27 Broadway productions one show decided to do something about it.

According to NY1, Supreme Court judge Helen E. Freedman granted an injunction filed by the producers of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas that will allow the musical to reopen at the St. James Theatre.

Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which has been closed since November 10 along with 26 other Broadway productions, will reopen just in time for the busy holiday weekend on November 23.

According to David Waggett, the general manager for Grinch, the picket lines have moved from the St. James Theatre and the stagehands union has agreed to work this show. After making this major stride they still needed to gain approval from Jujamcyn Theaters which was not granted. That is when they decided to go to court to get the injunction that would require Jujamcyn to reopen its doors. James Sanna, the producer of the show filed the injunction on November 20 and the ruling to reopen the theater was announced today, November 21.

This should bring joy and happiness to many people this holiday season. Unlike most of the shows that are affected by the strike Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas is running for a limited engagement which concludes its run on January 6, 2008.

For a list of Broadway shows affected by the current strike click here.

On Saturday November 17^th the League of American Theatres and Producers and the Stagehand’s union, Local One, met for negotiations at the Westin Hotel on West 43^rd Street.

The meeting started around 10:00AM and went until after 11:00PM. This was the first time the two groups met since November 8. Currently 27 shows are affected by the strike with only 8 Broadway shows running.

The mood of the strikers was very somber on Saturday after the death of Frank J. Lavaia. Lavaia was a 57 year old stagehand who worked at the Minskoff Theater and died on Friday after suffering a heart attack on the picket line. Picketers wore black armbands made by the wardrobe union and a memorial was held in front of the Minskoff on Saturday.

Since last Saturday, Broadway was been dark for the most part due to the stagehand unions strike. The union has been working without a contract since the end of July. This coming weekend though The League of American Theatres and Producers and Local One will be returning to the negotiating table.

In a statement released today, November 14^th, by the League and Local One states that “Talks have been scheduled between Local One and The League of American Theaters and Producers beginning this weekend, at an undisclosed place and time. No interviews or comments from either organization will be issued until further notice.”

Hopefully these talks will help the negotiating process more forward. The strike has already severely affected the 27 Broadway shows that are currently dark because of the strike. Both Wicked and Jersey Boys were down nearly half-a-million dollars each. Less popular shows have suffered even bigger hits.  

As the Broadway stagehands strike continues Mayor Michael Bloomberg and senior members of his administration have been reaching out privately to the stagehands and the producers, in hopes of getting them to negotiate and even offering the use of his mansion and a mediator.

Although the producers would be happy to accept the mayor’s offer of support, a spokesman for the League of American Theaters and Producers has said, the Union had turned down the mayor’s offers.

The mayor has publicly reiterated his position on this issue and feels that the two sides are private organizations and that the most the city could do is to provide an opportunity for them to get together.

The two sides have not met for more talks since they ended discussions on Thursday. Yesterday it was announced that all shows tonight as well as the matinees tomorrow would we cancelled.

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