The Seafarer which is running at Broadways Booth Theatre will close March 30 after playing 19 previews and 113 regular performances.

The show starred Ciaran Hinds, Conleth Hill, David Morse, Jim Norton, and Sean Mahon. The Seafarer is set in Dublin, Ireland on Christmas Eve, Sharkey (Morse) had just returned home to look after his irritable brother (Norton) who’s recently gone blind. Friends Ivan (Hill) and Nicky (Mahon) are holed up at the house with them, hoping to play cards, but the arrival of a stranger (Hinds) from the distant past raises the stakes higher.

The staged concert version of Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man schedule to run April

22-27 at Hartford’s Bushnell Center will star Shirley Jones and her son Patrick Cassidy.

Cassidy will play Harold Hill and Joes will play Mrs. Paroo (she also played Marian in the film version of The Music Man).

Shirley Jones made her Broadway debut in South Pacific and later starred in films such as Carousel and Oklahoma!. She is also best known for her role in the sitcom The Partridge Family. 

The Broadway production of the Clifford Odets drama The Country Girl will begin previews at the

Bernard

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Theatre on April 3, 2008 and has an opening night set for April 27.

The cast of the revival will stars Morgan Freeman, Frances McDormand, and Peter Gallagher. Also just announced to join the cast is Remy Auberjonois, Anna Camp, Lucas Caleb Rooney, and Chip Zien.

The play is about a down-on-his luck alcoholic actor, played by Freeman, and his unhappy wife, played by McDormand, whose fortunes look to change when he is offered a role by a hot-shot director played by Gallagher.

The creative team for the production will include Albert Wolsky on costume design, Natasha Katz doing the lighting design, and Tim Hatley doing the scenic design.

The full cast has been announced for the 2008 revival of the Broadway musical Gypsy which will be directed by Tony Award winner and author of the musical Arthur Laurents. The production is schedule to open for previews on March 3^rd with an official opening on March 27^th at the St. James Theatre.

The show stars Patti LuPone as Mama Rose, Laura Benanti as Louise, and Boyd Gaines as Herbie. The rest of the cast includes Bill Bateman, Jim Bracchitta, Marilyn Caskey, Alison Fraser, Sami Gayle, Leigh Ann Larkin, Lenora Nemetz, Bill Raymond, Brian Reddy, Tony Yazbeck and Emma Rowley.

After more then 10 years on Broadway the hit musical Rent will be closing on June 1, 2008. When the show closes it will have played 5,012 regular performances making it the 7^th longest show in Broadway history.

Rent originally opened up at the New York Theatre Workshop in the winter of 1996 and is loosely based on the opera La Boheme. The show was written by Jonathan Larson who passed away suddenly before the show opened. Rent won the Pulitzer Prize, and the Tony and Drama Desk Award for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Score as well as numerous other honors.

Seven of the current cast members of the hit musical Legally Blonde have all extended their contracts through June 2008. This includes Laura Bell Bundy, Richard H. Blake, Christian Borle, Orfeh, Michael Rupert, Nikki Snelson and Kate Shindle.

Legally Blonde officially opened on Broadway on April 29^th and is based on the popular 2001 movie of the same name about a ditzy sorority girl who decides to go to Harvard Law School in order to win back her great love who is looking for a more serious girl to marry.

Shrek the Musical is heading for the Broadway stage in November of this year but before it makes the journey east Shrek will be playing an exclusive world premiere engagement at the 5^th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, August 14-September 21. The production of Shrek which will be directed by Jason Moore and choreographed by Josh Prince is based on the William Steig’s book Shrek! as well as the DreamWorks movie by the same name that was released in 2001. The cast has not been announced at this time.

The show’s music will be by Jeanine Testori and book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire. The sets and costumes will be done by Tim Hatley and lighting by Hugh Vanstone.

On January 31^st there will be a show at Carnegie Hall to benefit the Writers Guild East Strike Fund. The benefit will begin at 8pm and Tony Award winner Patti LuPone will guest star at the event, An Evening of Music and Comedy with Family Guy’s Alex Borstein and Seth McFarlane. There will also be a guest appearance by Janeane Garafolo and the show has been said to be intended for mature audiences.

Tickets are available through www.carnegiehall.org

The full cast has been announced for the Las Vegas production of the hit musical Jersey Boys. The Tony Award-winning musical will begin previews at the new Palazzo Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas on April 4^th and will have its official opening May 3^rd.

The show will be directed by Des McAnuff and choreographed by Sergie Trujillo. The lead roles will be played by Erich Bergen as Bob Gaudio, Jeremy Kushnier as Tommy DeVito, Rick Faugno as Frankie Valli, and Jeff Leibow as Nick Massi. The rest of the cast will include Colin Trahan, Lauren Tartaglia, Michael James Scott, John Altieri, Ken Krugmanm, Mike Backes, Natalie Bradshaw, Joseph Leo Bwarie, Joyce Chittick, Graham Fenton, Julia Krohn, Jason Martinez, Kristofer McNeeley and Jonathan Gerard Rodriguez.

The Palazzo Hotel will be connected to the Venetian and the Sands Expo and Convention Center.

Wicked will have a new leading man! David Burnham will be taking on the role of Fiyero in the hit Broadway musical Wicked on January 8. The role was played by Sebastian Arcelus who recently left to play Bob Gaudio in Jersey Boys. In the interim Derrick Williams will be playing the role.

Burnham’s stage credits include The Light in the Piazza, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstore and On the 20^th Century.

The current cast of Wicked also stars Stephanie J. Block, Annaleigh Ashford, Carole Shelly, Lenny Wolpe, Cristy Candler, Logan Lipton and Steve Skybell.