Conor McPherson Returns to Broadway

McPherson Back to Blow Your Mind: Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer, a fantastic play about an Irishman playing cards for his soul, to open on Broadway in November after last year’s run at the National Theatre in London. As with all National shows, Bob Boyett produces in New York. [Playbill]

Xanadu Not Cursed at All: Not one bit! But, um, the opening of the Broadway musical based on the 1980 film is delayed indefinitely after the show’s leading man, James Carpinello, is injured in a roller-skating accident. [Playbill]

Signature Plans Out Four More Years: Signature Theater, which each season showcases the work of a single playwright, announces its subjects for the next four seasons: Charles Mee, the Negro Ensemble Company, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Tony Kushner. Mee immediately cranks up the ol’ playwriting factory to generate some new work; Parks wrote three plays already this morning; Kushner will revise everything he ever wrote and prepare a new one-act by 2016. [Variety]

Slaughterhouse Onstage: Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five will be adapted for the stage by Eric Simonson. Godlight Theater Company will present the show in New York in September. [NYT]

Larroquette Joins the Firm: John Larroquette is cast on new season of Boston Legal as an attorney who transfers from the New York office. We’re thrilled Larroquette is working, but why couldn’t it be on a show we actually give a damn about? [Variety]

Writer Swap!: Writing staffs for CSI and Two and a Half Men are considering a stunt in which each would write the other’s show. Show producers Chuck Lorre (Men) and Carol Mendelsohn (CSI) discussed the idea on a plane and are moving forward to make it happen. CSI written by sitcom writers would include more jokes, and Two and a Half Men written by CSI’s staff would kill off Jon Cryer. [Variety]

Vieira Scores Rowling: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows author J.K. Rowling will sit down for an exclusive post-publication interview with Meredith Vieira on NBC’s Today show. The interview will run on Today for two days, plus an hour on Dateline. We will watch every minute of it. [PW]

Goyer Goes Invisible: David Goyer will write and direct an updated Invisible Man for Universal, placing the nephew of the original see-through guy in World War II Britain. Live fast, die young, leave an invisible corpse! [Variety]

Marvel Plans Avengers Pic: Zak Penn will write script for superhero-team movie. Will Spider-Man and Hawkeye be in the Avengers? What about Ant-Man? Whatever happens, you’ll be strong-armed into seeing it sometime around summer 2012. [HR]

Samberg, Blue Men, Sonnenfeld on Space Chimps: Yes, they are making an animated movie called Space Chimps. Andy Samberg, Jeff Daniels, Stanley Tucci, and Kristin Chenoweth will voice roles; Dave Stewart and the Blue Man Group will write music; Barry Sonnenfeld will produce. This is how the sausage gets made, people. [HR]