After hearing about Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark’s preview night, who wouldn’t want to adapt a film to a live musical? Well it seems that producer Peter Billingsly, who played Ralphie in the 1983′s A Christmas Story is ready to bring the adaptation to the world, and pretty soon!

Not many know, but after Billingsly portrayed Ralphie, he went on to team up with Jon Favreau & Vince Vaughn and produce some of their bigger comedies such as Four Christmases, The Break Up, and Couples Retreat. It looks like Billingsly is readying the musical for this month, and even has some previews happening this week. From THR.

With previews beginning Wednesday at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre (and running Dec. 9-30), A Christmas Story: The Musical! will remain loyal to the film adaptation of Jean Shepherd’s short stories and includes an original score from Broadway composing duo Benj Paske and Justin Paul.

Though Turn Off The Dark really did fail pretty hard in it’s preview this week, this production could see a different outcome. What’s the next film to get a musical adaptation? Could we see Favreau’s Elf make it’s way to the stage next?

As if Lea Michele’s appearance on the very first episode of TBS’s Conan wasn’t enough, you’ll be getting a second dose of her on Fox tonight, as she tags along with the rest of the gang from Glee with an all new episode. We even get the triumphant return of Puck. Here’s the full synopsis of tonight’s episode.

After Finn and Sam find an unconventional way of controlling their urges, a few glee club members pick up on the strategy and start using it too. But when Coach Beiste gets wind of what they are up to, the glee club has some explaining to do.

We’ve got two brand new clips from tonight’s episode. Check them out after the jump, and be sure to catch an all new Glee at 8pm tonight on Fox.

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Next week, Fox is getting spooky, as they bring us an entire week’s worth of Halloween themed shows. New comedy Raising Hope will get it’s haunt on with a special Halloween episode on Wednesday, but before that, Glee is doing the Time Warp with a very special episode dedicated to the classic rock musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The episode revolves around the cast putting together their own performance of Rocky Horror for the school, and getting plenty of dirty looks and judging faces that most fans of the transvestite-dancing, underwear-donning, homoerotic musical have put up with for years.

It’s impossible for them to fit the entire musical into the 40 minutes or so that they have to tell the story, but we do know that the album consists of Science Fiction Double Feature, Damn it, Janet, Whatever Happened Tto Saturday Night, Sweet Transvestite, Touch a Touch a Touch a Touch Me, There’s a Light, and Time Warp, so we’ll get to see those songs during the episode.

Check out an exclusive look at the show after the jump, and be sure to catch The Rocky Horror Glee Show next Tuesday at 8pm ET/PT on Fox.

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Every once in a while, a piece of casting news comes out of left field and seems like the best possible choice for a film. That is 100% the case in this piece of news, as Borat’s Sacha Baron Cohen has signed to play Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in an upcoming untitled biopic about the band.

The script comes from writer Peter Morgan, who also brought historical dramas like Frost/Nixon and The Queen to the silver screen. Morgan is currently finishing another draft of the script, which means we will most likely see production for the film begin be the beginning of next year.

Baron Cohen, who’s most known for his Kaufman-esque stunts as Borat and Brüno, may be stepping out of his outlandish comedic role to play more of an outlandish musical character. Though the flamboyance of Mercury could be seen as a parallel to some of Cohen’s other roles, we can’t imagine this film being done in the same vain as Da Ali G Show.

Rights have been purchased for such Queen classics as Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions, Another One Bites The Dust and You’re My Best Friend. No word on whether or not Cohen will actually step in to rerecord the vocals, but knowing his method-style of acting, we can imagine he might.

The film is currently under the banner of GK Films, who will produce alongside De Niro and Jane Rosenthal’s Tribeca Productions. More news will likely break in the coming months as to the casting and plot outline for the rest of the film.

This season of Glee is promising to be a good one. Between an entire episode dedicated to Britney Spears, and another episode dedicated to the music of Rocky Horror Picture Show, we’re looking at another nonstop season from series creator Ryan Murphy.

Glee blew up last year in both TV ratings and record sales earning a record 9.77 million viewers for Fox, picking up a few awards including a Golden Globe, and an astounding 19 Emmy nominations. Their music didn’t get left in the dust, as the show’s single releases gained over 7 million downloads for some of their songs.

Now, needless to say, fans are ready for a second season, as the show kicks into it’s second year with even more musical drama and comedy. Check out a brand new behind-the-scenes featurette for the new show after the jump, and be sure to catch the premiere Tuesday, September 21st, on Fox.

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It’s like watching a bad soap opera when we report on the on-again, off-again relationship between Broadway and the upcoming Spider-Man musical titled Turn Off The Dark.

The show was originally slated for release earlier this year, and got all the way up to the point of casting Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming as Mary Jane and Green Goblin, respectively. Right after that point, the budget ran out, and the production was put on the shelf.

Then, months later, we were told that it was back on, now with a much smaller budget and a brand new, unknown cast. Now, as we get closer to the musical’s opening night on December 21st, we’re seeing more of the music and costumes (as you can see in the form of Electro to the right).

In a recent ABC News piece, Bono and The Edge, who wrote the music for the show, talked about the performance and even gave us a taste of one of the songs performed by Reeve Carney, who will be portraying Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the upcoming production.

Check out the full performance after the jump, along with a larger shot of Electro’s costume, and even a look at what Cumming would have had to wear if he stayed on as Green Goblin.

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We all know the effect that Fox’s Glee has had on the nation. It’s brought the high school drama, soap opera, musical, and hour-long comedy together once a week, all while providing the world with a popular soundtrack every few episodes. It seems that Fox realizes what the have in Glee as they have picked up the show for an unprecedented two more seasons.

Before even finishing its first season, the genre-defying, award-winning, underdog comedy GLEE has been picked up through its third season, it was announced today by Peter Rice, Chairman, Entertainment, Fox Networks Group; and Kevin Reilly, President, Entertainment, Fox Broadcasting Company.

“In just one year, GLEE has transcended the television landscape and emerged as a global pop culture phenomenon,” said Rice. “We are incredibly proud to have talent like Ryan Murphy and the GLEE cast in our FOX family, and we can’t wait to see where Ryan takes the show in Seasons Two and Three.”

This news comes as no shock to anyone who has seen Glee take over the lives of so many people, in both the TV and DVD world, as well as iTunes and CD. In the US alone, the first two Glee albums reached nearly 7 million downloads and their most recent album, The Power of Madonna, debuted at number 1, helping them surpass the power group U2 with the most Billboard charting songs of the past 10 years.

In tonight’s episode, entitled “Theatricality”, the gang delves into the world of Lady GaGa, and find out what it takes to become a true star, in every sense of the word. Catch the episode on Fox at 9PM ET/PT.

Yesterday, we brought you an interview with hall of fame fanboy Joss Whedon, in which he discussed tonight’s episode of Glee, entitled “Dream On,” which he directed. Not only do fans of Whedon get the master of all things geek behind the camera, but he also brought along his pal from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog, Neil Patrick Harris.

It’s not secret that Harris has a background in musical theater, having worked on the Broadway production of RENT!, and of course doing the acclaimed, web-based musical with Whedon. He’s even reprising his role as a bad guy in this week’s episode, when he plays Will’s (Matthew Morrison) old high school nemesis, Bryan Ryan.

In unbridled anticipation for tonight’s episode, we’ve brought you a brand new clip, and you even get a piece of Harris singing a classic Monkees hit “Daydream Believer.”

Check out the clip after the jump, and be sure to catch the “Dream On” episode of Glee tonight at 9/8C on Fox.

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Since its return in April, Glee has taken a different approach by having an overall theme throughout each song in an episode. One week was saying “hello”, while another week talked about “home.” That theme carries on with this week’s episode entitled “Dream On.”

Not only does the title insinuate that we’ll get some possibly great songs, but fan favorite Joss Whedon is stepping in to direct, and he’s bringing Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog‘s  Neil Patrick Harris in to play Mr. Schuester’s (Matthew Morrison) arch nemesis.

Whedon is apparently a closet Gleek, and couldn’t wait to take on this opportunity. This can only mean he’ll be stepping up his game and bringing us other Gleeks a truly memorable episode.

Check out his interview with Whedon after the jump in which he talks about his work on the episode, holding in his geekdom for the show while working on set, and working with NPH again. Catch Whedon’s “Dream On” episode of Glee tomorrow (Tuesday) at 9/8C on Fox.

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Fringe fans everywhere are counting down the time before tonight’s episode, as it marks a special one. The episode, titled “Brown Betty” takes a turn for the bizarre (no surprise) as Walter tells a tale of the gang in the form of a noir musical.

For those worried that this is just a throw away episode, we can assure you that the story will progress, just with a bit of flavor in the form of a classic crime noir and a few musical numbers.

We brought you two teasers for tonight’s episode, but today we’re bringing you something a little more special, as Special Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick) sings the blues in a brand new clip from tonight’s episode. We’re told that only Reddick and Anna Torv (Olivia) will be getting musical numbers, so this is your chance to see half of the songs in tonight’s episode.

Check out the clip after the jump, and be sure to catch the “Brown Betty” musical episode of Fringe tonight on Fox at 9PM ET/PT.

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This week, things are getting a bit weird on Fringe, which is an understatement if you’re a regular viewer of the show. This week, things get turned around as we’re told a story of our favorite Fringe characters in the style of a classic crime noir–with a musical twist. From Fox:

While Walter (John Noble) deals with some very upsetting news, he tells Olivia’s niece, Ella, a fairy tale in which the entire gang gets caught up in a mysterious new adventure that includes musical performances by Olivia (Anna Torv) and Agent Broyles (Lance Reddick).

So in order to set itself apart from previous musical episodes of supernatural dramas, this one in particular will take place in a 1940′s noir film. A nice touch. Check out two different sneak previews of Thursday night’s episode, entitled “Brown Betty” after the jump, and be sure to catch the episode on Fox at 9/8C.

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Back in 2002, Rob Marshall took the Broadway film Chicago and turned it into a big-budget Hollywood musical with names like Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere. A few years later, Marshall tried to capture lightning in a bottle again by adapting Maury Yeston’s Nine.

The film was a major critical success, getting nominated for four Academy Awards and five Golden Globes. Rob Marshall had done it once again, with the help of his immense crew and the blessing, as well as the guiding hand of the show’s original creator, Maury Yeston.

We were lucky enough to speak with Yeston about his work on both the original Nine and it’s silver-screen adaptation, as well as possible film work in the future, and an interesting credit on his first published piece of music.

Check out the interview after the jump, and be sure to pick up Marshall’s Nine on DVD and Blu-Ray everywhere today.

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