The Set List

Claymates Not Familiar With The Air Speed Velocity Of An Unladen Swallow Or Why That Is Funny

Remember when it appeared that old "American Idol" stars wouldn't die, they'd just go to Broadway? The producers of "Spamalot" are having a far different experience than "The Color Purple" people. Claymates are not grabbing their coconuts and clomping their way to Camelot in droves. Perhaps the knights who say "nee" have prevented their crossing into Manhattan. It shouldn't matter, should it? Who would have thought Diana DeGarmo, Josh Strickland, Frenchie Davis and Tamyra Gray would be bigger draws on the Rialto? There is no truth that Aiken ventured to a Times Square penthouse, looked out over Broadway, was told someday this will all be yours and responded "What? The curtains?" Pure rumor, you silly English bed-wetting types.

Mel Brooks' Crew Heads Into Studio

The cast of "Young Frankenstein," which opens Thursday on Broadway, will head into the studio on Monday to record with producer Doug Besterman.
Decca will release the original cast recording on Dec. 26.
Cast includes Roger Bart, Megan Mullally, Sutton Foster, Shuler Hensley and Andrea Martin.

Betty Buckley's Bop Down Broadway In the Summer Of Love

Forty years ago, before anyone was thrilled/appalled by "Cats," a 19-year-old Betty Buckley
went into a Ft. Worth, Texas, studio with, of all people, T Bone Burnett as her engineer. The album, recorded two years before she made her Broadway debut in "1776," was never released.
Sony BMG’s Playbill Records has signed Buckley and will make her debut recording - the one she made four decades ago - available starting Oct. 16. Album, which features “Bye, Bye Birdie’s” “One Boy,” “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” “Call Me” and the divine “Where is Love?” from "Oliver," will be pressed on limited-edition vinyl LPs and offered at Playbill's website.
A new Buckley recording, “Quintessence,” will feature the singer with a quintet led by pianist Kenny Werner. Among the tunes are “Amelia,” “I've Grown Accustomed to His Face,” “Cry Me a River,’ “No One Is Alone” and “So Many Stars.”
Buckley, whose first released album was 1993's "Children Will Listen," made her  will make her debut at New York’s Town Hall on Oct. 20.