Ashford, Hayes and Chenoweth make 'Promises, Promises'

As promises go, this is so good you have to say it twice:

A revival of "Promises, Promises," starring Kristin Chenoweth (left) and Sean Hayes (right), is planned for a Broadway opening in April 2010. Point Park's Rob Ashford will direct and choreograph the musical, which is based on the Academy Award-winning movie "The Apartment."

It's a show with great pedigree: a book by Neil Simon and a score by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Songs include "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," made popular by Dionne Warwick.

Hayes, who made a splash as the man-child Jack on "Will & Grace," will make his Broadway debut as an ambitious insurance company employee who lends his apartment to company executives for romantic flings. Jack Lemmon played the role in the 1960 Billy Wilder film, which co-starred Shirley MacLaine.

Chenoweth, who seems to be everywhere these days, will tackle the MacLaine role. The Emmy winner (for "Pushing Daisies) and Tony winner (for "You're A Good Man Charlie Brown") also starred as Glinda in the original cast of "Wicked."

Lloyd Weber treated for prostate cancer

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has been diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer, a statement from his publicists said. "Andrew is now undergoing treatment and expects to be fully back at work before the end of the year," said the statement, released today.

Lloyd Webber recently announced that he would revisit the musical "Phantom of the Opera" in a new version called "Love Never Dies," to be set in Brooklyn's Coney Island amusement park. It is scheduled to open in London in March and follow on Broadway in November. Rehearsals begin next year.

Sir Andrew has won seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe and an Oscar. In 2006, he was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor. Lloyd Webber was knighted in 1992 and named to Britain's House of Lords in 1997.

Photo: Getty Images

Latest 'Star Trek' gag reel hits the Net

I admit to having seen gag reels from the original "Star Trek" series a few times, including once at a Trekkers gathering in Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. Creator Gene Roddenberry faced the adoring crowd, armed with just a microphone and a giant projection screen. After showing some video, including the gag reel, he took questions from the thousands of fans in the audience.

The gag reel, if you’ve never seen it, is a hoot, filled with sexual innuendo (Captain Kirk and Yeoman Rand finally hook up) and off-color remarks, plus a lot of doors on the Enterprise failing to open or close at the proper time.

And just as "Star Trek" has gone on to many new lives for new generations, so has the latest gag reel now making the rounds on the net.

PG TV editor Rob Owen sent over a link to a new gag reel that had been tweeted by Green Tree’s Zachary Quinto. He’s the star of NBC’s "Heroes" who also plays the young Mr. Spock in J.J. Abrams’ summer smash version of "Star Trek."

The six minutes-plus reel has a door incident or two, but mostly it’s a lot of cracking up (particularly by Quinto as the supposed-to-be stoic Spock) and goofing around. On talk shows, Quinto has said he couldn't keep a straight face around Simon Pegg's Scotty, and that's made evident in the video.

We also learn that Abrams likes to tap his director's mic for a bongo-drumb effect, and at one point gives the great direction: "While it will feel ridiculous, it will look awesome."

An apt description of this latest "Trek" reel.

"Chuck" may get a break with early return

Above: Cast of "Chuck" celebrates show's fans at Comic-Con in July.

Best news of the day -- though perhaps not for NBC:

Michael Ausiello of EW.com reports that the third season of "Chuck" might get to premiere sooner than the March date that's been bandied about thus far, and it could be as early as late October. The reason: NBC's continued ratings woes and the cancellation recent of "Southland" before new episodes aired. The Peacock network is looking for some ray of hope somewhere, and they've turned to one of my favorite shows -- a show that had been on the fence for renewal.

If "Chuck" does come back sooner rather than later, Ausiello writes, the chances of NBC ordering additional episodes beyond the 13 it initially commissioned increases. "And they increase further if it performs solidly… which for NBC, at this point, means my cat, Mr. Scooch, sits down to watch with me. (Seriously, anything above a 2 rating in the 18-49 demo should do the trick.)"

No word on whether it would return on Mondays to a pair again with the underperforming "Heroes."

Song teases new 'Phantom' set in Coney Island

The second coming of "Phantom of the Opera" will be set in . . . Coney Island?

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber announced today that a long-awaited sequel to his massively successful "Phantom" will haunt the Brooklyn amusement park not far from where I went to high school.

Cool.

The Associated Press said that Lloyd Webber didn't want to call it a sequel, though. "It's a standalone piece," he said.

"There's unfinished business," he told journalists assembled for a teaser -- a new song featuring the Phantom, played by Iranian-born Canadian Ramin Karimloo, and his love interest, Christine, played by American actress Sierra Boggess.

The new musical will be called "Love Never Dies." It is due to open in London in March and then staged in New York beginning in November 2010.

The musical picks up a decade after the original's conclusion, and has the Phantom trading his customary hideout beneath the Paris opera house for Coney Island.

It kind of makes me laugh because Woody Allen also used Coney Island as a setting --  in "Annie Hall," his family lived under the monster roller coaster called the Cyclone. And the submerged Wonder Wheel signalled the end of the world in Steven Spielberg's "A.I."

Lloyd Weber said he wanted to set the piece at Coney Island because, at its turn-of-the-century heyday, it was "the eighth wonder of the world."

"Think of Vegas and then triple it," he said.

Here's what else AP had to say:

Lloyd Webber said he wanted to produce another musical because the original's ending, which sees Christine leave the brooding Phantom for his rival, Raoul, was unsatisfactory.

He sketched out an outline of the plot, saying the Phantom made his way to Coney Island after losing Christine. The Phantom rises from one of the attractions at a freak show to control the entire complex, without ever losing his love for Christine.

Other characters from the original also reprise their roles.

The original hit musical, a longtime fixture on the London and New York stages, featured elaborate staging and songs such as "The Music of the Night," and "All I Ask of You."

"Love Never Dies" had a difficult birth. Lloyd Webber abandoned a previous attempt at a sequel more than decade ago, saying the story wasn't right. Frederick Forsyth, who Lloyd Webber said helped him with the idea, eventually published a novel, "The Phantom of Manhattan," in 1999.

Director Jack O'Brien acknowledged that tampering with such a wildly popular music and theater franchise was dangerous.

"No one's going to thank us for doing this," he said. "We're playing around with people's memories."

But he defended the sequel, saying the years of back-and-forth made it a more solid work.

Arts critic Norman LaBrecht said Lloyd Webber was taking a risk by putting on such a massive show in the middle of a recession.

"This is a very difficult time to go putting something on in the West End," he said.

A success would be another coup for the musical megastar, whose hits include "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Evita." Lloyd Webber's entertainment empire has made him one of Britain's richest men, with an estimated wealth of 750 million pounds ($1.2 billion), according to The Sunday Times of London Rich List.

So could there ever be a sequel to the sequel?

Karimloo, who plays the Phantom, said he wasn't against the idea.

"Maybe somewhere warm," he said, joking that the Phantom "seems like an L.A. kind of guy."

Lloyd Webber was less enthusiastic.

"There isn't going to a sequel set in Tahiti," he said. "I don't see how the story could possibly continue."

Reports: Injuries force DeLay to depart 'DWTS'

The stress (fractures) got to former House Republican Whip Tom DeLay, who is reported to be leaving "Dancing With the Stars."

According to E! Entertainment and People, the 62-year-old DeLay will announce his departure from season 9 of the ABC reality competition on the results show at 9 tonight.

Stress fractures in both of DeLay's feet had recently turned serious enough for the show's producers and medical staff to advise him not to perform in Monday night's show. DeLay danced the samba with a sparkly elephant on the back of his jacket anyway.

DeLay is pictured during the Sept. 21 show.

Monday mea culpa for Letterman

Someone must have told David Letterman that his confession without an apology left a lot of people -- including, apparently, his wife -- unmoved by his situation.

The Associated Press reported that today, days after telling of a plot to blackmail him because of "terrible" and "creepy things" he had done, including having sex with the show's staffers, the CBS late-night host apologized to his wife, saying she had been “horribly hurt by my behavior.”

Letterman vowed to repair his relationship with his wife, Regina Lasko, the AP story said, quoting an early transcript of the program released by CBS. (The network must be listening to marketing gurus who have been saying this could be a ratings coup.)

“Let me tell you folks, I got my work cut out for me,” Letterman was quoted.

Monday’s show was the first taped by Letterman since Thursday, when he disclosed that he had had sexual relationships with women who worked for him, and that he had been the victim of an alleged $2 million blackmail threat. An earlier story said that a diary by a staffer was among the evidence in the case.

Letterman also apologized to his staff. 

Mr. Hyde sightings in the City

City Theatre invites us to "join the search for the nefarious Mr. Hyde."

The theater has begun a promotion that begins not with a potion, but by texting "JEKYLL" to 79649. You'll then receive text-message clues that will take you on a hunt through the South Side to discover Mr. Hyde's location.  

The hunt for Mr. Hyde offers participants a chance to win a stay at the Morning Glory Inn, dinner for two, tickets, discounts to City's upcoming production of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and "and more cool prizes." The drawing will take place Oct. 31. More info at citytheatrecompany.org.