Monday, January 26, 2009

Broadway: the new cool thing?



Christopher Guest, the writer/director of cult favorite mockumentaries, “This is Spinal Tap” and “Best in Show,” may be taking one of his most beloved big screen creations to the stage—even as he quits making movies all together.


Jane Lynch, who has appeared in Guest’s last three films, told MTV News: “I know Chris might take ‘Waiting for Guffman’ to Broadway.”


If true — and we certainly hope like crazy it is — this seems to be the first inside word that an adaptation is in the works. “Guffman” follows a community theater group as they prepare to put on a hilariously bad musical and wait for a mythical Broadway producer to show up on opening night.


The comedy seems like it’d make for a natural transition to the New York stage and would follow in a long line of movies that debuted—each with varying levels of success—on Broadway, such as “The Producers, “Legally Blonde,” and “The Wedding Singer.”


“I would love to be in [‘Guffman’],” says Lynch, “But I wasn’t in the movie, so I don’t know that I’ll be invited to be.”


The idea of “Guffman” coming to Broadway seems even more imperative given another bomb Lynch dropped on us: Guest might be done making movies.


“I haven’t heard any rumblings,” says Lynch. “Parker Posey and I have put our heads together and decided we think it might be over.”


Could it be true? Since “Guffman” appeared in 1996, Guest has come out with a new movie every three or four years. Since his last, the somewhat disappointing “For Your Consideration” hit theaters in 2006, audiences might expect a new flick this year or next. But as Lynch indicates, there’s been no official or rumored news about an upcoming film. One can only hope that Guest—like Corky St. Clair, the hard-working musical director he played so hysterically in “Guffman”—is grinding away somewhere on a fresh project.


Whatever the status of Guest’s plans, Jane Lynch certainly has enough on her plate for now. She’s expanded from the Guest movies with memorable turns as the oversexed electronics store boss in “The 40 Year-Old Virgin” and a kooky community service leader in last year’s “Role Models.” She’s in Sundance to promote the Amy Poehler comedy “Spring Breakdown,” in which she plays a poofy-haired, shotgun-toting US Senator whose daughter insists on spending her college vacation in boozy South Padre Island.




Fun Fact: Jane Lynch is one of the funniest ladies alive.

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