Orville Mendoza News

Due to scheduling conflicts, Wayne Brady has withdrawn from the eagerly anticipated La Jolla Playhouse revival of The Wiz; Rashad Naylor has replaced him as Scarecrow

Variety reports the casting for the upcoming La Jolla production of The Wiz, directed by Des McAnuff. The show will feature Wayne Brady (Scarecrow), David Alan Grier (the Wizard), Nikki M. James, (Dorothy), Tituss Burgess (the Lion) and Michael Benjamin Washington (Tin Man).

In March and April, composers (such as Jeff Blumenkrantz and Paul Scott Goodman) will join writers and performers for the 2006 Music Theatre Marathon

On November 6th, playwright Christopher Durang went on for Michael Rupert in Adrift in Macao when the latter was taken out by sickness

Michael Rupert will star in the new Christopher Durang musical Adrift in Macao, which will run in Philadelphia from October 19th through November 20th

The Mint Theater will present the National Asian American Theater Company's production of Chekhov's Ivanov from August 2nd to September 5th

Members of the Broadway community, including some of those on the release, picked up their copies of the new Hair studio CD, and so did we!

PS Classics will record the cast album of the new Broadway production of PACIFIC OVERTURES on February 1, and anticipates a May release. The production, presented by Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) in association with Gorgeous Entertainment (Kumiko Yoshii & Michael Wolk, Producers), began performances at Studio 54 on November 12, 2004, and plays through January 30, 2005.