Following on from the recent casting of Vanessa Hudgens as Mimi, details of the rest of the “Rent” cast have been announced.

Next To Normal star Aaron Tveit will be taking on the role of Roger, and Spring Awakenings Skylar Astin will play Mark. Cold Case star Tracie Thomas will be reprising the role of Joanne, which she previously played in the movie version of Rent as well as at the end of it’s Broadway run. Wayne Brady, who has worked alongside Neil as Barney’s brother James on How I Met Your Mother, will be playing Collins.

Collins Pennie (Benny), Telly Leung (Angel) and Gwen Stewart round out the currently announced cast.

“So far, I’m thrilled with the cast. With this gang, I’m hoping to provide an eclectic mix of experienced RENT performers, amazing new talent, and recognizable faces in unexpected roles. Of paramount importance to me, though, is honoring the piece as a whole – the music, the vibe, the creator – so that those who have never experienced RENT will be able to appreciate it alongside die hard fans. We’ll only have one week of rehearsal, which I like to call ‘madness’, but as of now my hopes are very high.” – Neil Patrick Harris

Individual tickets are available from Tuesday, May 2nd at HollywoodBowl.com, in person at the Hollywood Bowl box office, or by calling 323-850-2000. Rent will run from August 6-8 at the Hollywood Bowl, directed by Neil Patrick Harris, with musical direction by Tim Weil and choreography by Jamal Sims.

In other news, magician Lance Burton was a guest on this week’s Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and Craig left it to Neil to introduce him, as only Neil can. You can watch the video here!

Posted by: Rach at 10:32 am | · Filed under: Theatre | Comment
Tags: Directing, Hollywood Bowl, Rent, Tickets, TV: Craig Ferguson |

Neil talks with Entertainment Weekly about his guest judging stint on American Idol. He reveals as part of the interview that he, Josh and Jason have just completed a photoshoot for an upcoming issue of Playboy. It’s to coincide with the launch of the show, so it’s quite possibly the October issue, due out in late Sept.

In addition to his appearance on next Friday (Sept 4th)’s Letterman, Neil will also be checking in with Craig Ferguson on Septmeber 8th.

As mentioned on our Twitter, Neil is on the cover of this month’s issue of Genii magazine. You can order the issue on their website.

Finally, Neil is supporting the Get Schooled campaign. “Get Schooled is a national platform that connects, inspires and mobilizes people – from policymakers and corporate leaders to communities and kids – to find effective solutions to the problems facing our education system. It provides resources and information, community outreach and creative programming that engage a range of audiences around America’s education crisis.” You can check out his video message here. He is also once again supporting the What Book Got You Hooked? campaign. Now through September 30, readers everywhere are invited to share the first book that made reading fun for them and then help get more kids hooked by voting for the state to receive 50,000 new books for low-income youth.

Posted by: Rach at 6:52 pm | · Filed under: Interviews | Comment
Tags: Charity, Interviews: Online, Interviews: Print, Magazines, Magic, Photoshoot, TV: American Idol, TV: Craig Ferguson, TV: Letterman |

Sorry for the delay in posting the big news – myself and Hilary have both been on holiday this week, and unfortunately our vacations overlapped! I’m sure most of you will have heard already, but you can now pre-order Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blogon Amazon.com.

It’s listed at $14.99 and is due for release on December 19th, though Joss Whedon is “hoping Amazon is just playing it safe and we can beat that date”, so get those pre-orders in quick! There’s currently no word on an international release or whether this will be region free, so more on that as and when we know it. Extras are due to include “Commentary! The Musical” as well as a regular spoken commentary, making-of’s, Evil League of Evil application videos and more. At the time of writing, after under two days of pre-orders, it’s at #71 in Amazon’s DVD sales rank.

Onto other things, AOL have done a “15 questions” with Neil here, you can watch Neil’s interview from Tuesday’s Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson here, and he’ll reportedly be presenting an award at Spike TV’s Video Game Awards on December 14th. Finally, Murder, She Wrote: The Complete Ninth Season is now available for pre-order (released Feb 17th next year). Neil guest starred in episode 9, Lone Witness.

Posted by: Rach at 10:24 pm | · Filed under: Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog | Comment
Tags: Awards & Nominations, Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Interviews: Online, Interviews: TV, Merchandise, Public Appearances, TV Appearances, TV: Craig Ferguson, Video Update |

Neil will be appearing on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson tomorrow night, alongside Betty White and Julia Fordham. It airs at 12.35am (which is technically Wednesday morning rather than tomorrow night) on CBS. He’ll be promoting the World Magic Awards, which he hosted last month and air on MyNetworkTV on Wednesday at 8pm.

Posted by: Rach at 8:54 pm | · Filed under: Interviews | Comment
Tags: Awards & Nominations, Interviews: TV, TV Appearances, TV: Craig Ferguson, World Magic Awards |

Neil’s appearance on Monday night’s Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is available to watch on our YouTube channel. It’s a fun (though short!) interview, in which they talk about vampires, psychics, football and road accidents! A few other videos recently added include a snippet from Stand Up To Cancer, and a couple of interviews (here and here) from the opening of the CBS Scene Bar Restaurant, and perhaps most importantly of all, this HIMYM promo (sadly only ten seconds long).

I’ve heard tell there’s another season four promo airing on CBS that was spotted during the HIMYM rerun on Monday night, so if anybody manages to record that or finds it online, please point us in the right direction!

Neil will be appearing on the Ellen DeGeneres Show next Friday, September 19.

Finally, check out this piece on the CBS Scene opening, and Neil’s attendance at the Patriots game on Monday from boston.com.

Posted by: Rach at 4:59 pm | · Filed under: TV Appearances | Comment
Tags: Interviews: Online, Interviews: TV, Public Appearances, Stand Up To Cancer, TV: Craig Ferguson, TV: Ellen, TV: HIMYM, Video Update |

Don’t forget, Neil will be on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson tonight. The show airs on CBS at 12:35AM ET/PT.

Neil was present at a couple of events over the weekend and the gallery has been updated with photos – he was present at the ABC/CBS/NBC Stand Up 2 Cancer telethon on Friday night, and then on Saturday night he attended the opening of CBS Scene, the new Bar Restaurant at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass, and he stuck around for the Patriots-Chiefs game yesterday.

Posted by: Rach at 10:48 am | · Filed under: TV Appearances | Comment
Tags: Charity, Interviews: TV, Public Appearances, Stand Up To Cancer, TV Appearances, TV: Craig Ferguson |

According to the TiVo listings, Neil will be appearing on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Monday 8th September. The show airs at 12.35am on CBS (so listings may show Tuesday 9th as it’s after midnight, don’t tune in a day late!).

Also, we’ve updated our YouTube Channel with the full video of Neil’s Letterman appearance from Wednesday night, so check it out here!

Posted by: Jaina at 8:52 am | · Filed under: TV Appearances | Comment
Tags: Interviews: TV, TV Appearances, TV: Craig Ferguson, Video Update |