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You've Got to Have Your Standards

Broadway star Billy Porter performs his cabaret show "The Standard."

"There are hits…and then there are standards," Broadway star and recording artist Billy Porter tells the audience from the stage at Mark's Restaurant. Affecting a silly stance, he mimics a line from hip-hop artist Kelis' 2003 hit: "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, and they're like, it's better than yours," he sings in a whiny tone, stopping abruptly. "Sure it's a hit…but probably not a standard."

Casting News -- March 31, 2009

Drew Barrymore will star in the romantic comedy Going the Distance, opposite Justin Long. The film is about a young couple dealing with the perils of a long distance relationship. (And since we're not TMZ, we won't even bother mentioning that Barrymore and Long -- who also co-starred in this year's He's Just Not That Into You -- used to date. Right?)

Ice Cube is set to star in Ride Along, an action comedy in which the former rapper will play a rogue cop who's none too pleased that his sister is engaged to a white psychiatrist. Like any loving big brother, Cube sets out to destroy the relationship by inviting his future brother-in-law on a police ride-along.

'American Idiot' Musical Coming to the Stage

A stage musical based on pop-punk/rock band Green Day's hit 2004 album American Idiot will premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California this fall, the band announced yesterday. Green Day will collaborate will Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening) to adapt their Grammy-winning album for the stage.

The show will include all 12 songs from the post-9/11 concept album, as well as several new songs from Green Day's upcoming album 21st Century Breakdown.

Two Broadway Shows, One Opening Night

The producers of the upcoming Broadway productions of 9 to 5 and Waiting for Godot are playing their own game of chicken: Both shows are scheduled to open the same day, April 30. But in the battle for audience attention that is the Broadway season, this is a no-no.

Casting News -- March 30, 2009

Matthew McConaughey is attached to star in The Lincoln Lawyer, a legal thriller that centers on low-level criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller, who finds himself representing a wealthy client with ties to a previous murder case Haller handled. The film will be based on the 2005 bestseller by Michael Connolly.

Emma Stone (Superbad, The House Bunny) will star in Easy A, a modern high school version of The Scarlet Letter. Stone plays a student whose life begins to parallel the heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, after she pretends to be the school slut (in hopes she’ll benefit from her new reputation).

STAGE Celebrates in Style

The 25th annual Southland Theatre Artists Goodwill Event (S.T.A.G.E.) came through with its promise of a super celebration with the stellar roster of entertainers (such as Lucas Grabeel, pictured here; photo by Chris Kane) who graced this year's benefit show, performing the incomporable songbook of George and Ira Gershwin classics. The event took place on March 21 and 22 at the Wlshire Theatre in Beverly Hills. Director David Galligan did his usual bangup job of staging the stylish production, along with the terrific conributions of musical directors Mary Ekler and Gerald Sternbach and choreographers Lee Martino, Dan Mojica, and Travis Payne.

Sneak Peek at 'Spider-Man' Reveals Musical's Peter Parker?

The New York Post's Michael Riedel snuck into a secret preview of Julie Taymor's upcoming Spider-Man Broadway blockbuster this week, and he's got some news that makes our spider senses tingle. Okay, bad joke -- but seriously, this is big.

According to Riedel, Reeve Carney (right) is "said to be the leading contender to play Peter Parker" in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. For all you non-comic book geeks out there, that means he'd also be wearing the tights as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Just 'Do It

"People always ask me whether the hair was real," laughs Spencer Berger. "The hair was real, my friend. The hair was extremely real."

Berger is referring his role in the comedic film Skills Like This, in which he plays the main character Max, a failed playwright who discovers he possesses an innate talent for robbery. (Naturally, hilarity ensues.)

The film’s signature image, evident in its poster, is Max’s rather astonishing head of hair, or, as reviews ranging from Variety to Salon.com are referring to it, his “Jewfro.” (The New York Times prefers to think of it as "tumbleweed"-esque.)

Why Do Musicians and Singers Feel So Entitled?

On the subway platform a pleasant looking woman (made up as if for an audition) was studying her sheet music while singing an otherwise unidentifiable show tune. Her lack of self-consciousness—some might say exhibitionism—was irritating. Her total disregard for everyone around her was infuriating. Who said we wanted to hear her? And it's not as though we could move some place else—not that we should be obliged to. The platform was packed and there was no place to go.

Of course, the same charge could be leveled against buskers, not to mention performing panhandlers. But there is a difference. They're at least attempting to entertain the public.

Membership First Marches On

   Membership First partisans and other SAG members, about 100 in all, demonstrated outside the L.A. outpost of the U.S. Justice Department yesterday, Variety reports. The group contends that AMPTP companies are violating anti-trust laws, because they create and distribute content in such a way that, in effect, lowers wages.