More Broadway Closings

Spamalot won't be the only Broadway musical to close on January 18. It has just been announced that Spring Awakening will also take its final Broadway bow that day. Hairspray, too, will shut its doors at the beginning of the year, closing on January 4. Seeing such significant Broadway shows - all Tony-winning musicals, all having enjoyed a lot of box office success - go down all at once is dispiriting. It's not a very good sign for the health of Broadway. That said, the truth is that all of these shows have had less than impressive ticket sales for awhile now, so it isn't a huge surprise. To get discount tickets to these shows while they're still on Broadway, click here.

Danity Kane's Aubrey O'Day On Broadway

Singer Aubrey O'Day, a member of the all-girl pop/R&B group Danity Kane, is coming to Broadway on July 18. She will be taking on the part of Amber Von Tussle in the hit Broadway musical Hairspray. O'Day, who will be assuming the role when Ashley Spencer leaves Hairspray to join the Broadway company of Grease, is expected to stay through August 31.

Broadway's Tracy Turnblad To Be TV Host

Marissa Jaret Winokur, who memorably played Tracy Turnblad in the original Broadway company of Hairspray, will host her own TV talk show soon. Winokur has just signed a contract with Sony Pictures Television for a talk show, which is scheduled to start production in the fall of 2009. No other details about the show are currently available, but hopefully Broadway baby Winokur will -- like that other famous Broadway supporter, Rosie O'Donnell -- feature lots of Broadway musicals on her show. Marissa Jaret Winokur, who nabbed a Tony Award for her role in Hairspray, is currently appearing on TV in the popular ABC reality show Dancing With the Stars.

Sweeney Gets 3 Oscar Noms; Hairspray Shut Out

This year's Broadway-musical-to-movie transfers didn't fare too well with the Academy Awards nominating committee, which announced its picks this morning. Sweeney Todd, Tim Burton's cinematic take on the 1979 Broadway musical, didn't get a Best Picture nomination, but star Johnny Depp did receive a nod for Best Actor. Sweeney was also recognized for its Art Direction and Costume Design. Surprisingly, the Hairspray film -- which was a critical and box office smash this summer -- didn't take away any Oscar nominations at all.

Broadway-To-Screen Musicals Nab Globe Noms

To look at the list of Golden Globe nominations this year, you'd almost think it was the old days again, when big screen musicals were common. After a long dry spell, when the category title "Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy" seemed like a relic of the Golden Age, the film version of Chicago changed everything. Although subsequent Broadway-to-Hollywood transfers like Phantom and Rent weren't very successful, last year's Dreamgirls did much better with both critics and audiences.

This year, things are looking even brighter. Hairspray (which is still playing on Broadway) was a big, fat summer hit, and the dark slasher musical Sweeney Todd is looking like it will do bloody good box office this Christmas. Both films snagged Golden Globe noms in the aforementioned category, and a third musical also made the cut -- Across the Universe, director Julie Taymor's (The Lion King) film musical that utilizes Beatles songs to tell its story. A couple other musical films that weren't honored still had stars that were recognized (Amy Adams in Enchanted, John C. Reilly in Walk Hard), and both Sweeney and Hairspray's stars got acting nominations (Johnny Depp and Helen Bonham Carter, Nikki Blonsky).