They're expected to push that first preview date back some, and Taymor will likely ask that the first rehersals be postponed until the New Year, so that all the technological wizardry of, you know, web-slinging around a theater can be worked out. The weekly operating cost of the show has been projected to hover somewhere between $700,000 and $1 million, which basically means the show would need to run, sold out, for like a year before it made any profit. While we wait on the results of this mysterious meeting, let me just say that I'm all for stage spectacles, but certain things were just not meant to be plays.

Though the plays haven't been cast yet, Daniel Sullivan will direct Merchant and Michael Greif will helm Winter's Tale. Sullivan directed Twelfth Night last summer and Manhattan Theatre Club's recent Broadway production of Accent on Youth, while Greif's most recent work at Shakespeare in the Park was Romeo & Juliet in 2007 and he directed the current Broadway production of Next to Normal. Previews of the two Shakespeare plays begin previews on alternating nights June 9 2010 and continue through August 1. Casting the part of Shylock should be interesting.

After Patrick Healy's piece in the Times two weeks ago explaining that a few star-studded plays were skewing the numbers in an otherwise lukewarm, musical-driven Broadway season, most have concluded that the absence of significant star power is what precipitated Brighton Beach's demise. All of which basically confirms the sad fact that, much like blockbuster movies, Broadway relies more on spectacle and celebrities than critics and public opinion for its (financial) success.

(photo credit: Janna Giacoppo)

In the case of The Miracle Worker, the production company behind the Broadway show wanted a star from the get-go, and there was never a question of casting a deaf or blind actor in the part of Keller, who cannot hear or see. Lead producer David Richenthal explained the predictable financial reasons to ArtsBeat:

It’s simply naïve to think that in this day and age, you’ll be able to sell tickets to a play revival solely on the potential of the production to be a great show or on the potential for an unknown actress to give a breakthrough performance. I would consider it financially irresponsible to approach a major revival without making a serious effort to get a star.

The production, which opens on March 3, 2010, marks the 50th anniversary of the play's Broadway debut, for which it won a Tony. This production may also boast the youngest pair of stars of any Broadway show ever, with Breslin sharing the bill with Allison Pill, who'll be 24 when the show opens. Pill appeared most recently in the original production of Neil LaBute's reasons to be pretty at MTC in 2008 and was nominated for a Tony for her performance in The Lieutenant of Inishmore back in 2006.

Today, Playgoer posted a letter from Otway with an update on the space's situation. Theatre 80 will continue to serve as a performance space on a temporary rental basis, and they

are installing high definition projection with a 12 by 28 foot retractable screen, set far back on the stage, so that the sight lines and image will be a great improvement from my father’s day. We will have film on occasion, though our primary focus will be live theater.

Johansson, who'll be 25 when the show opens, will be making her Broadway debut, while Schreiber earned a Tony for his last stage role in the 2005 revival of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross. The only film version of Bridge is Sidney Lumet's elusive and inexplicably French-language Vu du pont (1962).

The executive claims that all the major players—that would be Bono and the Edge, who wrote the music and lyrics, and Julie Taymor, who wrote and will direct—are now looking for producers to help finance what's expected to be one of the most expensive shows in Broadway history. Meanwhile, still no word on the cast, which was to include Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming before they were all released from their contracts due to the departure of principle producer David Garfinkle. If you've got a few extra million lying around and want to give Spidey a hand you should, I dunno, call Bono or something.

Already, the adaptation has plenty of theater-world power behind it, including lyrics and music by David Yazbek, a book by Jeffrey Lane, and Bartlett Sher (of the current South Pacific and upcoming Bruce Lee: Journey to the West) set to direct. Assuming this adaptation is a resounding success—which, clearly, how could it not be?—I wonder what Almodovar movie they'll turn into a musical next. How about Matador? (Culture Monster)

Mendes has some powerful theater folk helping out on the project, including music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, the duo behind Hairspray, and a book by David Greig, the Scottish playwright. Michael Ball will be playing Willy Wonka, though Charlie, Violet and the Oompa-Loompas have yet to be cast. Obviously, the tickets to this show will have to be golden.

According to Variety, Adam Shankman—who directed the recent Hairspray musical adaptation—has signed on to choreograph and direct the new movie, which will come out in 2011. Hopefully the transition from 60s doo-wop to 80s rock won't be too tough for Shankman. No casting announcements have been made yet, but obviously someone should be giving Jack Black a call at some point. (Culture Monster)

TV vet Jimmy Smits (Dexter, The West Wing, NYPD Blue, L.A. Law) will take the part of Alan currently being portrayed by Jeff Daniels; Annie Potts, whome you may remember as the Ghostbusters' secretary, inherits the role of Annette, currently performed by Hope Davis; Christine Lahti, who you may remember best from Chicago Hope, takes over from Marcia Gay Harden's Tony-winning performance as Veronica; and Scotsman Ken Stott will play Michael, currently being portrayed by James Gandolfini.

After begging comedian Don Rickles for some help to little avail, Stamos spotted Full House co-star Bob Saget in the audience, whom he brought up on stage for some impromptu stand-up, spoken into the microphone mounted on Stamos' forehead. Said Saget: “I’m really glad your crotch isn't miked.” Clearly, they should hire Saget and add this routine to the show, since they'll have to live down this exceptional bit of improv for the rest of the musical's run.

Redgrave has been treated for cancer in the past, though the exact nature of this current illness, for which she's being treated at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, is unknown. True to her reputation as a strong-willed and dedicated performer, though, she apparently insisted that the show go on.