Darlene Love famously appeared on Broadway in the musical Hairspray by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.  Another Shaiman/Wittman show is poised to take Broadway by storm.  On March 11, 2025, the stage version of Smash will finally hit the Great White Way.  The musical, based on the short-lived 2012 NBC series of the same name, has been in the making since the show wrapped.  Rather than mount the Marilyn Monroe musical Bombshell (which is what the series was about), Smash will be a mélange of that show and the series drama.  The announcement was made last week on Marc Shaiman’s birthday – so happy bday, Marc.  And congrats!!!

Elsewhere on Broadway, Jim Parsons just opened in a revival of Our Town, alongside the estimable talents of (among other people), Miss Katie Holmes.  During an interview, he was asked about the possibility of returning to the role of Sheldon Cooper.  “As we sit here now, no, but also I would never say never to anything, because life just changes so much.  You know, one of the things is that it was so special as what it was as what it is.  And they call it lightning in a bottle for a reason, and you can be certain it wouldn’t be that.  And so why would we be doing it?”  Perhaps one reason he’s not so enthusiastic is he hasn’t been away from the character for very long.  Sure, The Big Bang Theory wrapped in 2019, but he was executive producer and narrator on the sitcom’s prequel, Young Sheldon, which just ended.  An unexpected twist was ending that series by showing Sheldon and wife Amy (Mayim Bialik) in the future.  “It just felt like a perfect little coda on the end of that entire beautiful experience.”

There might be similar reasons to revisit the character coming up.  For instance, his onscreen brother and sister-in-law just kicked off their own series – George and Mandy’s First Marriage.  And that may not be the only spinoff.  There is talk for Kevin Sussman (manager of the comic book store), Lauren Lapkus (his girlfriend) and Brian Posehn (geologist) to have their own spinoff at HBO, or Max, or whatever they’re calling it these days.

Buzz is surrounding a return to the small screen of White Collar.  The show’s creator Jeff Eastin revealed that a follow-up series, White Collar Renaissance, is in the works.  He’s written the pilot script, titled Masquerade and, reportedly, Matt Bomer, Tim DeKay and Tiffani Thiessen are all onboard for this reboot.  Stay tuned.