Jonathan will be performing in Public Theater’s Pirates of Penzance Gala event on June 10.

Montego Glover, Jonathan Groff, Norm Lewis and Anika Noni Rose have joined the Public Theater’s June 10 gala performance of The Pirates of Penzance at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

As first reported by Playbill.com, Tony and Academy Award winner Kevin Kline (Cyrano, On the Twentieth Century, “A Fish Called Wanda”) will reprise his performance as the Pirate King – a role he originated in the 1980 Shakespeare in the Park production.

The evening will also feature Tony Award winner Glenn Close (Sunset Boulevard, Death and the Maiden) as Ruth, Eric Idle (Spamalot) as the Sergeant and Tony winner Martin Short (Little Me, The Goodbye Girl) as Major-General Stanley.

Newly added are Tony winner Rose (Caroline, or Change, “Dreamgirls”) as Mabel, Tony nominee Glover (Memphis) as Kate, Tony nominee Groff (Spring Awakening) as Frederick and Tony nominee Lewis (Porgy and Bess) as Samuel.

Also featured will be Sarah Bolt, Darius Nichols, Eliseo Roman, Martín Solá, Matthew Stocke and Frank Vlastnik in the ensemble.

The one-night-only production will be directed by Tony Award winner Ted Sperling (The Light in the Piazza, See What I Wanna See), with musical staging by original choreographer Graciela Daniele. James Moore will musical direct.

The 1980 production of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta was adapted by William Elliot and choreographed by Daniele. It was first staged at the Delacorte by Wilford Leach in August 1980 prior to transferring to a Tony Award-winning Broadway run in December.

Meryl Streep and Sir Howard Stringer will host the evening that will pay tribute to late Academy Award-winning writer Nora Ephron (“When Harry Met Sally,” “Sleepless in Seattle”), who died June 26, 2012. Ephron’s new play Lucky Guy opened on Broadway April 1.

The Public Theater will plant a flowering cherry tree in Central Park across from the Delacorte Theater in honor of Ephron. Stringer, Arielle Tepper Madover and Renée Beaumont will serve as gala co-chairs for the event.

The Public’s Shakespeare in the Park season features The Comedy of Errors, starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Hamish Linklater (May 28-June 30); and the new musical adaptation of Love’s Labour’s Lost, directed and written by Alex Timbers with songs by Michael Friedman (July 23-Aug. 18).

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Jonathan’s upcoming movie, C.O.G. has been selected to open 31st OUTFEST Los Angeles LGBT Film Festival happening on July 11.

Outfest – the Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization promoting equality by creating, sharing, and protecting LGBT stories on the screen – announced today that Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s “C.O.G.,” the first film adaptation of David Sedaris’s work, has been selected as the Opening Night Gala of the 31st Outfest Los Angeles LGBT Film Festival on Thursday, July 11. “C.O.G.” is written and directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez, based on the short story by David Sedaris, and stars Jonathan Groff, Denis O’Hare, Corey Stoll, Dean Stockwell, Casey Wilson and Troian Bellisario.

Outfest will also present its 17th annual Achievement Award to writer/director Kimberly Peirce (“Boys Don’t Cry,” “Stop-Loss,” “Carrie”). The Achievement Award is Outfest’s highest honor and is presented in recognition of a body of work that has made a significant contribution to LGBT film and media. The Achievement Award will be presented to Peirce prior to the Opening Night Gala screening of “C.O.G.” on Thursday, July 11 at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.

“One of Outfest’s principal goals has been to celebrate the many voices of LGBT storytelling on film, and we couldn’t be more excited to honor Kimberly Peirce’s extraordinary filmmaking career while also heralding writer-director Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s stunning sophomore feature capturing David Serdaris’ hilarious tone. The mix promises to make this our most memorable Opening Night,” commented Kirsten Schaffer, Outfest Executive Director.

Outfest has previously given this award to John Waters, Jane Lynch, Bill Condon, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, Don Roos, Donna Deitch, Kenneth Anger, Gregg Araki, Todd Haynes, Jane Anderson, Christine Vachon, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, Gus Van Sant, Ian McKellen, John Schlesinger, and Strand Releasing.

The nation’s leading LGBT film festival, and the oldest film festival in the city of Los Angeles, will be held July 11 – 21, 2013.

The complete lineup for Outfest Los Angeles 2013 will be announced at the beginning of June.

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I have added the latest two twitpics Lea tweeted of her and Jon to the gallery.

Lea & Jonathan Online has now been updated with latest Lea and Jon news! Check them out.Tweet

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Jonathan hung out with Lea today in New York and got to see Kinky Boots with her and Blake! Lea tweeted:

Time to celebrate!!!! “@DeadlineTV: Michael Lannan & Andrew Haigh’s Gay Friends Dramedy Gets Series Order At HBO http://dlvr.it/3Mw12r ”

Got to see #kinkyboots tonight with @blakedan and J Groff! It was AMAZING!

It was also a Spring Awakening Reunion day as well!

Reunited and it feels so good!!!! #SAforever pic.twitter.com/GCt1jZW2Se

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Jonathan’s upcoming HBO pilot has just been picked up from HBO!

HBO has picked up to series the Michael Lannan dramedy pilot executive produced by Andrew Haigh, Sarah Condon and David Marshall Grant. The network has given an eight-episode order to the untitled project, which revolves around three friends in San Francisco (Frankie J. Alvarez, Murray Bartlett, Jonathan Groff), who explore the fun and sometimes overwhelming options available to a new generation of gay men. Haigh directed the pilot written by Lannan based on feature script Lorimer. (Lannan also did a short film by that name, but the HBO pilot stems from his original script.) Lannan serves as co-exec producer. Production is expected to start in the fall in San Francisco for a 2014 premiere. The pickup of the untitled San Francisco project comes as HBO’s latest comedy series, Family Tree, opened to soft numbers on Sunday. HBO also has new comedy Hello Ladies coming up and recently renewed Veep and Girls.

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BroadwayWorld.com has learned that Ryan Murphy’s upcoming HBO adaptation of THE NORMAL HEART on HBO will begin filming in June of 2013 in New York City.

The cast officially includes Mark Ruffalo as Ned Weeks, Julia Roberts as Dr. Emma Brookner, Matt Bomer as Felix Turner, Jim Parsons as Tommy Boatwright, Taylor Kitsch as Bruce Niles, Joe Mantello as Mickey Marcus, Jonathan Groff as Craig, Bruce Niles’ first lover. No actor has yet been announced for Ben Weeks, but we’re told that an offer is out. Casting is underway for other parts as well.

Executive produced by Murphy, Jason Blum (the “Paranormal Activity” series, “The Reader”), Dede Gardner (“The Tree of Life,” “Eat Pray Love”) and Dante di Loreto (“Glee,” HBO’s “Temple Grandin”), THE NORMAL HEART tells the story of the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 1980s, taking an unflinching look at the nation’s sexual politics as gay activists and their allies in the medical Community fought to expose the truth about the burgeoning epidemic to a city in denial.

In 1981, writer Larry Kramer hosted a gathering of six gay men and their friends to discuss the “gay cancer,” and to talk about fundraising for research. This informal meeting in Kramer’s home would lead to the formation of Gay Men’s Health Crisis, one of the first advocacy groups for HIV prevention and care.

Kramer’s play debuted at New York’s Public Theatre in 1985 and was revived in Los Angeles and London and off-Broadway. The 2011 Broadway revival garnered five Tony nominations, winning for Best Revival, Best Featured Actor and Best Featured Actress.

Besides SPRING AWAKENING and GLEE, Groff also appeared in the Shakespeare in the Park productions of HAIR and THE BACCHAE, the off-Broadway plays THE SINGING FOREST and A PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY. Other credits include GLEE, Ang Lee’s TAKING WOODSTOCK, and most recently, in the Starz series BOSS, alongside Kelsey Grammer.

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Jonathan will be starring in The Normal Heart.

Glee‘s Jonathan Groff and Joe Mantello have been cast in The Normal Heart, HBO‘s original movie adaptation of the Tony-winning Larry Kramer play, which is being written by Kramer and directed by Ryan Murphy. They join Julia Roberts, Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons and Taylor Kitsch in the pic, which tells the story of the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 1980s. Production is slated to begin later this year in New York for a 2014 debut.

Groff, repped by WME, already has a gig with HBO, having been cast as a lead in the premium network’s Michael Lannen pilot, which revolves around three thirtysomething friends living in San Francisco who grapple with the complexities of the modern gay experience. In Normal Heart he will play Craig, the first lover of Bruce Niles (Kitsch), an early victim of HIV-AIDS. Mantello will play Mickey Marcus, an instrumental member of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

Murphy executive produces with Jason Blum, Dede Gardner and Dante Di Loreto.

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Screen Media And Focus World Acquire have acquired rights to Jonathan’s latest movie, C.O.G.

Kyle Patrick Alvarez wrote and directed C.O.G., based on the David Sedaris autobiographical short story about a man who decides to immerse himself in the real world and goes off the grid following his graduation from Yale to work at an apple farm. He fails to fit in amongst the locals and migrant workers and begins a journey that will take him deep into unfamiliar, awkward, and frequently hilarious territory. Jonathan Groff (Glee) stars alongside Corey Stoll, Denis O’Hare, Casey Wilson, Troian Bellisario, and Dean Stockwell. Cookie Carosella, Stephen Nemeth of Rhino Films and Alvarez are producers. Screen Media and Focus Features’ alt-distribution label Focus World plan a release in theaters and digital platforms this year. The companies also joined forces last month to buy the Kristen Bell-starrer The Lifeguard, which also is set to be released this year. The deal was closed for Screen Media by president Suzanne Blech and Director of Marketing and Acquisitions Seth Needle; for Focus by EVP Strategic Planning, Business Affairs and Acquisitions Avy Eschenasy and Director, Alternative Content & Distribution Kent Sanderson; and for the filmmakers by Preferred Content’s Kevin Iwashina and Zac Bright, the UTA Independent Film Group, and Lawrence Kopeikin and Gregg Gellman of Morris Yorn.

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Jonathan will be taking part in the Break Thru Summer Intensive this year on August 12-17.

Jeremy Jordan, one of the stars of NBC’s hit show “Smash”, will be a guest at this year’s Broadway Break Thru Summer Intensive in Holland from June 24-29.

But he’s not the only big name coming to West Michigan.

Jonathan Groff, star of FOX’s “Glee,” also will make an appearance when the weeklong seminar comes to Grand Rapids August 12-17.

Jordan recently performed the lead role in “Newsies” on Broadway in a cast that included Grand Rapids native Laurie Veldheer.

Groff was nominated for a Tony Award in 2007 for his role in “Spring Awakening,” before moving to television work on “Glee” and “One Life to Live.” This year, Groff will voice a Disney character in a major film and star in a comedy pilot for HBO.

This is the fourth year for Broadway Break Thru, now held in five cities: Grand Rapids, Holland, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago. In 2012, students had the opportunity to learn from another “Smash” star, Megan Hilty.

Aspiring performers of stage, film, and television can take part in the weeklong camp, which features classes on acting, dancing, voice, filmmaking and more, to hone their skills, learn from accomplished professionals and network with others in the industry.
Jonathan Groff.png Jonathan Groff Courtesy Photo

The Holland camp culminates on Saturday, June 29, with a live performance from the participants’ “mini-musicals” and a student-run film festival, which features the films created throughout the week.

Broadway Break Thru is the creation of David Petro who has worked as both an actor and casting director for Broadway productions as well as in TV casting for Nickelodeon’s “Storyforia,” “The Beatkinz,” and NBC’s “You’re The One That I Want,” a “Grease” reality talent show.

“Our motto is, ‘Life is an audition. Are you ready?’” Petro said.

“My goal in creating this was to ensure that every student left with every possible life tool that they could use in these professions. Students will be offered sit-downs with agents and casting directors so they can get their questions answered and learn how to present themselves during those types of interviews.”

Actors’ traits of self-expression and confidence carry over into other fields.

“Whether it’s for an audition for a role in our industry or a job interview in another field, we aim to make sure every student who attends leaves with usable skills,” Petro said.

Students also leave with a professional headshot, resume and an edited audition piece. The camp’s fee $495 until May 15; $595 for late registration.

Jordan and Groff will attend the camp for one full day to conduct a master class and a Q&A session, Petro said.

Throughout the day there will be opportunities for students to receive direct coaching from each of the stars, along with times set aside for pictures and autographs.

One hundred tickets are sold to each event and all experience levels are welcome. Petro said the Holland class is nearly sold out and Grand Rapids is about half full.

Registration is open to ages 8-25. Classes meet daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m at West Ottawa Performing Arts Center, 1024 136th Ave., in Holland and at the Ellington Academy of Arts and Technology, 600 Burton St. SE in Grand Rapids. Register at broadwaybreakthru.com.

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