In the News: Ana Villafañe, Alex Brightman, and Rory O'Malley Book TV Pilots, Irish Rep Plans Digital Summer Season, More | Playbill

Film & TV News In the News: Ana Villafañe, Alex Brightman, and Rory O'Malley Book TV Pilots, Irish Rep Plans Digital Summer Season, More Plus, a Daniel Fish-conceived concert of Loesser's The Most Happy Fella music will play Bard SummerScape, with Mary Testa, Tina Fabrique, and more
Ana Villafañe, Alex Brightman, and Rory O'Malley

Read on for more theatre news you may have missed in today's headlines.

Alex Brightman and Rory O'Malley Sign On to Demi Lovato Pilot
Tony nominees Alex Brightman (Beetlejuice, School of Rock) and Rory O'Malley (The Book of Mormon, Hamilton) are among the series regulars announced for the NBC pilot Hungry, Deadline reports. The series is executive produced by and stars singer-songwriter-actor Demi Lovato. Anna Akana, Ashley D. Kelley, and Jay Klaitz have also joined the series about a group of friends who belong to a food-issues support group. Suzanne Martin will pen the script and executive produce, along with producers Hazy Mills (Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner), SB Projects, and Universal Television.

Ana Villafañe Gets Summoned for Night Court
Meanwhile, On Your Feet!'s Ana Villafañe has joined the cast for the pilot of NBC's new half-hour comedy Night Court, Deadline reports. The series is a follow-up to the '80s sitcom and centers on the daughter of Judge Harry Stone, following in her father's footsteps as the judge in a Manhattan arraignment court. Villafañe will play Monica, the court’s Type A assistant district attorney. Melissa Rauch (Big Bang Theory) executive produces and stars in the series as Abby Stone, with Tony winner John Larroquette (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) from the original series reprising his Emmy-winning role as prosecutor Dan Fielding.

Mary Testa and Tina Fabrique in Most Happy in Concert
Bard SummerScape will present Most Happy in Concert for live, in-person audiences August 5–7 at Bard College's Montgomery Place campus on the Hudson River. The event, a concert of Frank Loesser’s songs from The Most Happy Fella, is conceived by director Daniel Fish and arrangers Daniel Kluger and Nathan Koci, collaborators on the Bard SummerScape production and Tony-winning revival of Oklahoma!. Mikaela Bennett, Tina Fabrique, Jules Latimer, Erin Markey, and April Matthis, as well as Oklahoma! cast members Mallory Portnoy and Tony nominiee Mary Testa, will star in the outdoor event. For ticketing, click here.

A Digital Summer Season From Irish Rep
Irish Repertory Theatre will present a three-show season of streaming productions this summer. The digital season will open with the North American premiere of Anne O’Riordan and Jamie Beamish tragic-comic play Ghosting, directed for streaming by Beamish. It will stream June 22–July 4. The Cordelia Dream by Marina Carr is also making its North American premiere, streaming July 27–August 8, and starring Stephen Brennan and Danielle Ryan. The production, a response to Shakespeare's King Lear, was filmed at The New Theatre in Dublin, under the direction of Joe O'Byrne. The final presentation will be an abridged and adapted for screen performance of Chip Deffaa's George M. Cohan Tonight!, streaming August 17–29. It stars Jon Peterson, recreating his role from Irish Rep's 2006 premiere of the play. For more information on these titles, visit IrishRep.org.

A New Pippin Will Play Charing Cross Theatre
London's Charing Cross Theatre will be home to a new production of Stephen Schwartz's Pippin, running June 30–August 14. Steven Dexter directs the re-imagining, staging it in the round with an ensemble cast of only eight members. Dexter has set the action in 1967—the Summer of Love—with the story of Pippin being told by a band of traveling hippies. Adam Blanshay Productions, Edward Johnson and Steven M. Levy produce. Cast and creative time will be announced at a later date. Ticket are available now here.

 
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