The ups and downs of celebrity casting...

We've hit a new low: Britney Spears is in talks to replace Christina Applegate in Sweet Charity. Not only that boys and girls, but her husband, Kevin Federline, may join the show as well. A moment of silence please...

According to this article in Playbill:

Britney Spears, the international pop star who became a mother this past summer, and recent Sweet Charity audience member, may be Broadway bound.

"The Insider" has reported that the 23-year-old performer is in talks to replace Christina Applegate in the revival of Sweet Charity at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. The television gossip program also reported that Spears' husband, Kevin Federline, may join the revival of the Neil Simon-Cy Coleman-Dorothy Fields musical as well.

Spears and Federline, as well as Spears' mother, attended the Thursday, Nov. 17. performance of Sweet Charity, Playbill.com has learned. Charity would mark the Broadway debuts of both Spears and Federline.

On the other hand, I think Jonathan Pryce replacing John Lithgow in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is inspired casting (I loved him in De-Lovely).

According to this article in Playbill:

Jonathan Pryce, a Tony Award winner for Miss Saigon, will take over as the more refined of two grifters in Broadway's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the producers announced Nov. 20.

Pryce, John Lithgow's castmate in Broadway's Comedians, will assume the Lithgow-created musical role of Lawrence Jameson in the Tony Award-nominated Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Jan. 17, 2006. His partner in crime will be Norbert Leo Butz, a Tony winner for his turn as rough-hewn Freddy, who spars and competes with Lawrence. Butz recently extended his contract to July 2006. Lithgow, Tony nominated for the musical, exits the Imperial Theatre Jan. 15.

Co-stars in the Jeffrey Lane-David Yazbek show remain Sherie Rene Scott, Joanna Gleason, Gregory Jbara and Sara Gettelfinger.

Producer Marty Bell said in a statement, "Jonathan Pryce is one of the most talented and versatile leading men on stage and screen. We are thrilled to be welcoming him back to Broadway after almost 15 years. This con is a pro!"

Jonathan Pryce won the Best Actor (Musical) Tony Award for his starring role as the status-starved, capitalism-crazed schemer, the Engineer, in Miss Saigon. For his Broadway debut in Comedians (1977), he received the Tony Award and Theatre World Award.

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