After three consecutive years as the producers of the Oscars, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan have decided not to return for a fourth. Now the search is on for who will oversee next year’s telecast.

The choice was theirs, sources close to the pair confirm, ending a three-year deal with ABC and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The two, who’ve produced films such as Chicago and The Bucket List, in addition to TV projects such as the live NBC productions of Peter Pan and The Sound of Music, were credited with bringing new playfulness to the ceremony and trimmed back some of the pageantry to make room for more music and entertainment amid the envelope-opening.

More →

It was a fictional musical in a failed television show. But now, at least for one starry night, it is coming to life.

“Bombshell,” the play-within-a-play whose development propelled the much-loathed but also loved-by-many NBC series “Smash,” will be produced before a live audience to raise money for charity in a staged concert in June.

The event is the latest, and largest, effort by fans of the television series – or at least admirers of its component parts – to breathe new life into material created for the show, much of which was written and performed by respected Broadway artists.

More →

NBC’s entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt has just revealed that the network’s next live musical broadcast will be either 1957’s THE MUSIC MAN or an updated version of 1978’s THE WIZ. The network has reportedly optioned the rights to both musicals and is currently considering casting options for THE MUSIC MAN.

BroadwayWorld.com has exclusively learned that one of the two shows will be their 2015 musical, and the other will air in 2016. Both will be produced again by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron along with Bob Greenblatt and NBC. NBC made television and ratings history in 2013 with a live broadcast of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical THE SOUND OF MUSIC and followed up with last year’s PETER PAN LIVE airing in November.

More →

NBC’s broadcast of “Peter Pan Live” Thursday drew a huge social-media following — well above the Peacock’s “Sound of Music” broadcast last year and topping other recent TV events.

According to Nielsen, 5.3 million people saw at least one of the 475,000 tweets about Thursday’s “Peter Pan Live” on NBC. More than 147,000 unique authors sent tweets, which were seen a total of 106.9 million times.

That’s compared with AMC’s “The Walking Dead” Nov. 30 midseason finale — which garnered 37.4 million Twitter impressions — and NBC’s “Sound of Music” in 2013, for which 68.7 million tweets were viewed.

More →

Sound of Music and upcoming Peter Pan producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron have signed a three-year development and production deal with Broadway powerhouse The Shubert Organization, they all announced today. Here’s the release:

 BROADWAY’S SHUBERT ORGANIZATION ANNOUNCES A DEVELOPMENT/PRODUCTION AGREEMENT WITH PRODUCERS CRAIG ZADAN & NEIL MERON

NEW YORK (October 23, 2014) — The Shubert Organization has signed a three-year development/production deal with producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, it was announced today by Shubert Chairman, Philip J. Smith, and Shubert President, Robert E. Wankel.

Under the agreement, Shubert will partner with Zadan and Meron in the development/production of original plays and musicals, as well as revivals.

More →

Neil Patrick Harris has been selected to host the 87th annual Oscars. The news just broke on Twitter (see it below) via Neil Meron, who is back to co-produce for a third consecutive year with Craig Zadan. The Academy Awards will air live on ABC on Sunday, February 22, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

More →

ABC has closed a deal for Men In Shorts, a single-camera comedy inspired by the life of professional soccer player Robbie Rogers, who became the first openly gay man to compete in a top North American professional sports league. The project hails from writer Claudia Lonow and producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, whose Storyline Entertainment, along with Universal Television, optioned Rogers’ story rights for a comedy series in July.

More →

“He might be the first tap-dancing Hook you’ve ever seen,” NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt said in announcing Christopher Walken’s casting in Peter Pan Live at TCA in July. No sign of that in this photo tweeted by exec producer Neil Meron today, but the Oscar-winning actor certainly has his game face on. NBC will air the revered musical live on December 4, starring Allison Williams as the boy who refuses to grow up. The cast also includes Kelli O’Hara, Christian Borle, Taylor Louderman and Alanna Saunders. Craig Zadan also exec produces.

MORE for larger image:

More →

NBC has put in development a multi-camera comedy inspired by the book Eat, Sleep, Poop: A Common Sense Guide To Your Baby’s First Year by Beverly Hills pediatrician Dr. Scott W. Cohen, which he penned during his first year as a father.

More →

Five-time Tony nominee Kelli O’Hara has joined the cast of NBC’s Peter Pan Live!She will play Mrs. Darling, wife of George Darling (Christian Borle) and mother of the Darling kids, opposite Allison Williams’ Peter Pan and Christopher Walken’s Captain Hook. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are executive producing the live special, NBC’s follow-up to its hugely successful live staging of The Sound Of Music, which the duo also produced. Peter Pan Live! is slated to air December 4.

More →

Here is the first photo from NBC’s upcoming staging of Peter Pan Live! featuringAllison Williams in costume (and a wig) as the title character. The image was revealed today on NBC’s Today, which interviewed the actress in the audition studio. In the special, airing on Dec. 4, Williams plays Peter Pan and Christopher Walken stars as Captain Hook. Christian Borle co-stars, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan executive produce.

Source

More →

Girls co-star Allison Williams has been cast as the title character in NBC’s December 4 live staging of Peter Pan Live!. Williams, who has sung on her HBO show and in various other projects, is a classically trained singer whose online singing videos have logged millions of views.

More →