‘Angels in America’ to hit off-Broadway

September 6, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

NEW YORK — “Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes” will fly again in New York — off-Broadway.

The mammoth, two-part drama by Tony Kushner will be presented by the Signature Theatre Company during its 2010-11 season as part of a yearlong celebration of the playwright.

Artistic director James Houghton says the play’s two parts, “Millennium Approaches” and “Perestroika” will be performed in rep.

No casting was announced, but the play, a tale of AIDS in the Age of Reagan, will be directed by Michael Greif, who also directed “Rent” and “Next to Normal.”

Musical features four singing icons

NEW YORK — Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley — together again.

The four music icons are characters in “Million Dollar Quartet,” a new musical heading to Broadway next spring. No opening date or casting was announced by its lead producer, Relevant Theatricals.

The show was inspired by a celebrated 1956 Memphis recording session featuring the singers. Among the songs featured in the show are “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Sixteen Tons,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “I Walk the Line” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.”

“Million Dollar Quartet” has been a hit in Chicago, playing there since October 2008.

Today’s birthdays

Comedian JoAnne Worley is 72. Country singer David Allan Coe is 70. Singer-bassist Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) is 66. Actress Swoosie Kurtz is 65. Comedian-actress Jane Curtin is 62. Country singer Buddy Miller is 57. Actor-comedian Jeff Foxworthy is 51. Actor-comedian Michael Winslow (“Police Academy”) is 51. Country singer Mark Chesnutt is 46. Actress Rosie Perez is 45. Singer Macy Gray is 42. Singer CeCe Peniston is 40. Singer Dolores O’Riordan (The Cranberries) is 38. Actress Anika Noni Rose (“Dreamgirls”) is 37. Singer Nina Persson (The Cardigans) is 35. Actress Naomie Harris (“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”) is 33. Rapper Noreaga is 32. Rapper Foxy Brown is 31.