theatrical tidbits

* The Rent DVD will hit stores February 21, 2006!

* Wicked Tony Award winner and recent Rent film star Idina Menzel will star in an upcoming Disney movie musical entitled Enchanted, featuring a score by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz.

* Robin Givens and "Dancing with the Stars" John O'Hurley joined Broadway's cast of Chicago (as Roxie and Billy, respectively) on Jan. 16.

* On January 9, 2006, The Phantom of the Opera surpassed Cats as the longest running musical on Broadway. Following the show's regular bows, the company disappeared and the ballerinas gathered in a circle to reveal from their group a solo female dancer in white spandex. Offering several signature stretches from Gillian Lynne's "Cats" choreography, the dancer inched her way toward Howard McGillin (the Phantom), and took his hand. With that gesture, a metaphoric torch was passed: from one Lynne-choreographed show to the next, from one Cameron Mackintosh-produced show to the next, from one Lloyd-Webber-composed show to the next, from one longest running to the next.