NEW YORK (AP) — There are so many Hollywood stars on New York theater stages or on the way that you might want to level up your stargazing game. Why not play some bingo?
Sure, Robert Downey Jr., Daniel Dae Kim, Jim Parsons, Mia Farrow, and Katie Holmes are currently in New York, and George Clooney, Denzel Washington, Nick Jonas and Jake Gyllenhaal are on deck for spring.
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This combination of images shows the cast of HBO's "Succession," from left, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook, and Jeremy Strong. (AP Photo)
Melora Hardin, left, and Robert Downey Jr. appear during a performance of "McNeal," in New York. (Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman via AP)
Dan Butler appears on stage during a performance of the off-Broadway play “Another Shot," in New York on Oct. 13, 2024. (Joan Marcus via AP)
Gregg Mozgala, left, and Dan Butler appear on stage during a performance of the off-Broadway play “Another Shot," in New York on Oct. 13, 2024. (Joan Marcus via AP)
This combination of photos shows actors, from left, Dan Butler, David Hyde Pierce and Bebe Neuwirth. (AP Photo)
But if you really want to impress, why not connect the stars, like playing bingo with the stars of “Frasier”? Catch Bebe Neuwirth (who played chilly Lilith) now in “Cabaret” on Broadway; Dan Butler (who played Bulldog on the TV show) in the off-Broadway play “Another Shot;" and then in a few months, see David Hyde Pierce (who played Niles) in “The Pirates of Penzance.”
If a little TV stardust is enough to convince theatergoers to see Butler in the witty and deep recovery play “Another Shot” at The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre, the actor says he's game.
“I love that it would bring people there, and you would just hope that they get bitten by that thing theater can do that no other medium can do,” he says. “Hopefully, it brings you in the doors again.”
Laura Stanczyk, a veteran casting director and producer who has cast dozens of Broadway, off-Broadway and international plays and musicals, knows many shows secure a bankable star to try to stand out.
“When you have actors like Robert Downey Jr. who are finally showing up and participating in the New York theater scene, it becomes even more important to have someone who has some kind of notoriety,” she says.
She is producing the play that Butler is starring in by Spike Manton and Harry Teinowitz, in which a deadpan Butler plays a radio DJ in recovery. “It’s sort of like Bulldog goes to rehab,” jokes the actor.
Movie and TV celebrities have been part of Broadway's DNA for decades — one recent big wave was in 2010 with the arrival of Robin Williams, Chris Rock, Kiefer Sutherland, Daniel Radcliffe, Pee-wee Herman, Vanessa Redgrave, Ben Stiller and Edie Falco — but their presence this season is particularly striking.
Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler are starring in “Romeo & Juliet,” Nicole Scherzinger has “Sunset Boulevard,” Peter Gallagher and Julianna Margulies are in “Left on Tenth” and Sean Astin is playing Santa in “Elf the Musical.”
Stanczyk says it's not too surprising to see so much star wattage since many of the TV and movie stars have their roots in theater. Margulies studied stage, and that's also where Connor and Zegler got their starts. Scherzinger studied musical theater at Wright State University.
“People forget that these great actors got a lot of their start in theater,” she says. “I do think some directors gravitate towards that because they know those folks — it’s in their bones and there’s a common language.”
The reason “Frasier” Bingo is possible is because so many associated with the show are theater veterans, starting with James Burrows, the director who helped craft the “Cheers” spinoff. Burrows started in the theater and is the son of the legendary playwright and director Abe Burrows, behind “Guys and Dolls” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”
Butler — who was recently cheered on by Pierce during a visit to “Another Shot” — said “Frasier” often had a stage feel. “It sort of felt like doing a short play in front of a live audience every time we filmed,” he said.
Other TV shows — like “Law & Order,” "The Good Wife," “The Gilded Age,” ”Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" and “Only Murders in the Building” — share that stage vibe since they also have leaned into casting from the theater.
So hot is New York that the stars are even coming off-Broadway, like Adam Driver in “Hold On to Me Darling,” Marisa Tomei in “Babe,” Kenneth Branagh in “King Lear,” T.R. Knight in “The Merchant of Venice” and Christian Slater and Calista Flockhart in “Curse of the Starving Class.”
The influx of Hollywood types aren't squeezing out Broadway stars: Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster, Jonathan Groff, Patti LuPone, Megan Hilty, Jennifer Simard, Adrienne Warren and Darren Criss have all booked parts.
Louis McCartney, a rising screen star who will be bringing the play “Stranger Things: The First Shadow” from London to Broadway in spring 2025, didn't train as a stage animal, but he's mesmerized.
“It’s sort of this back and forth where you give yourself up,” he says. “You give your soul every single night. And I think that’s beautiful.”
If “Frasier” Bingo isn't your speed, there's always “Succession” Bingo: Jeremy Strong was on Broadway in a revival of “An Enemy of the People,” Kieran Culkin will be in a revival of “Glengarry Glen Ross” and Sarah Snook gets the stage all to herself as she plays all 26 parts in an adaptation of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” this spring. Or play a long game: With Clooney and Margulies, you can start on “ER” Bingo.
Stanczyk thinks Hollywood interest in the stage may be driven by the stars attempting to push themselves professionally and to capture that unique buzz that life theater can give.
“Every night you're in the theater that thing that happens hasn’t happened before. It’s a unique exchange of energy,” she says. “There’s nothing else like it in the world.”
This combination of images shows the cast of HBO's "Succession," from left, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook, and Jeremy Strong. (AP Photo)
Melora Hardin, left, and Robert Downey Jr. appear during a performance of "McNeal," in New York. (Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman via AP)
Dan Butler appears on stage during a performance of the off-Broadway play “Another Shot," in New York on Oct. 13, 2024. (Joan Marcus via AP)
Gregg Mozgala, left, and Dan Butler appear on stage during a performance of the off-Broadway play “Another Shot," in New York on Oct. 13, 2024. (Joan Marcus via AP)
This combination of photos shows actors, from left, Dan Butler, David Hyde Pierce and Bebe Neuwirth. (AP Photo)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel said early Saturday it had completed its strikes targeting Iran.
The Israeli military issued a statement saying its planes “have safely returned home.”
Its aircraft “struck missile manufacturing facilities used to produce the missiles that Iran fired at the state of Israel over the last year,” the military said. “These missiles posed a direct and immediate threat to the citizens of the state of Israel.”
It added that it also “struck surface-to-air missile arrays and additional Iranian aerial capabilities, that were intended to restrict Israel’s aerial freedom of operation in Iran.”
It offered no damage assessment. Iran has not acknowledged any damage to its military facilities.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel pounded Iran with a series of airstrikes early Saturday, saying it was targeting military sites in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired upon Israel earlier this month. Explosions could be heard in the Iranian capital, Tehran, though there was no immediate information on damage or casualties.
The attack risks pushing the archenemies closer to all-out war at a time of spiraling violence across the Middle East, where militant groups backed by Iran — including Hamas in Gaza, and Hezbollah in Lebanon – are already at war with Israel. It also marked the first time Israel's military has openly attacked Iran, which hasn't faced a sustained barrage of fire from a foreign enemy since its 1980s war with Iraq.
Israel said Saturday it had launched “precise strikes on military targets” and, according to two Israeli officials, it was not targeting nuclear or oil facilities. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the ongoing operation with the media.
“The regime in Iran and its proxies in the region have been relentlessly attacking Israel since Oct. 7 ... including direct attacks from Iranian soil,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a prerecorded video statement early Saturday. “Like every other sovereign country in the world, the State of Israel has the right and the duty to respond.”
Initially, nuclear facilities and oil installations all had been seen as possible targets for Israel’s response to Iran’s Oct. 1 attack, but in mid-October the Biden administration believed it had won assurances from Israel that it would not hit such targets, which would be a more severe escalation.
Iran’s state-run media acknowledged blasts that could be heard in Tehran and said some of the sounds came from air defense systems around the city.
But beyond a brief reference, Iranian state television offered no other details and even began showing what it described as live footage of men loading trucks at a vegetable market in Tehran in an apparent attempt to downplay the assault.
A Tehran resident told The Associated Press that at least seven explosions could be heard in the first wave of attacks, which rattled the surrounding area. The resident spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
As explosions sounded, people in Tehran could see what appeared to be tracer fire light up the sky. Other footage showed what appeared to be surface-to-air missiles being launched.
Iran closed the country’s airspace early Saturday, and flight-tracking data analyzed by AP showed commercial airlines had broadly left the skies over Iran, and across Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
The White House said President Joe Biden had been briefed and would continue to receive updates.
In Syria, the state news agency SANA, citing an unnamed military official, reported missile fire targeting military sites in the country’s central and southern region. It said that Syria’s air defenses had shot some of the missiles down. There was no immediate information on casualties.
Iran fired a wave of missiles and drones at Israel last April after two Iranian generals were killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike in Syria on an Iranian diplomatic post. The missiles and drones caused minimum damage, and Israel — under pressure from Western countries to show restraint — responded with a limited strike it didn't openly claim.
But after Iran’s early October missile strike, Israel promised a tougher response. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately said Iran had “made a big mistake.”
A forceful Israeli strike on Iran risks further entangling the U.S., which maintains a large troop presence in the Persian Gulf and has helped Israel defend itself against attacks by Iran and its proxies.
Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on the evening of Oct. 1, sending Israelis scrambling into bomb shelters but causing only minimal damage and a few injuries. Iran said the barrage was retaliation for attacks in recent months that killed leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iranian military.
Before Iran’s October attack, Israel had landed a series of devastating blows against Hezbollah, which has been firing rockets into Israel near-daily for over a year — ever since the deadly Hamas attack against Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
Dozens were killed and thousands wounded in September when pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded in two days of attacks attributed to Israel. A massive Israel airstrike the following week outside Beirut killed Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.
Israel then ratcheted up the pressure on Hezbollah by launching a ground invasion into southern Lebanon. More than a million Lebanese people have been displaced, and the death toll has risen sharply as airstrikes continue to hit in and around Beirut.
Israel has said it will continue to strike Hezbollah until it is safe for Israeli citizens displaced from their homes near the Lebanon border to return. Hezbollah has vowed to keep firing rockets into Israel until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.
When Hamas and other militants attacked Israel last Oct. 7, they killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took some 250 hostages into Gaza. In response, Israel launched a devastating air and ground offensive against Hamas, and Netanyahu has vowed to keep it up until all of the hostages are freed. Some 100 remain and roughly a third are believed to be dead.
More than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to local health officials who don’t delineate between civilians and combatants but say more than half of the dead are women and children.
Israel's strikes on Iran Saturday happened just as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was arriving back in the U.S. after a tour of the Middle East where he and other U.S. officials had warned Israel to respond in a way that would not further escalate the conflict in the region.
Two U.S. officials said the U.S. was notified by Israel in advance of the strikes. They said there was no U.S. involvement in the operation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing operation.
Israel and Iran have been bitter foes since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Israel considers Iran to be its greatest threat, citing its leaders’ calls for Israel’s destruction, their support for anti-Israel militant groups and the country’s nuclear program.
Israel and Iran have been locked in a yearslong shadow war. A suspected Israeli assassination campaign has killed top Iranian nuclear scientists. Iranian nuclear installations have been hacked or sabotaged, all in mysterious attacks blamed on Israel.
Meanwhile, Iran has been blamed for a series of attacks on shipping in the Middle East in recent years, which later grew into the attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on shipping through the Red Sea corridor.
Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the shadow war has increasingly moved into the light.
Associated Press writers Amir Vahdat in Tehran, Iran; Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel; Abby Sewell in Beirut; and Lolita C. Baldor, Farnoush Amiri and Zeke Miller in Washington, contributed to this report.
A view of Tehran capital of Iran is seen, early Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A view of Tehran capital of Iran is seen, early Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A view of Tehran capital of Iran is seen, early Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A view of Tehran capital of Iran is seen, early Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
In this image taken from video released by the Israel Defense Forces early Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari announces that the IDF is conducting strikes on military targets in Iran. (Israel Defense Forces via AP)
Palestinians sift through the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)
Palestinians check a body bag of a relative killed in Israeli airstrikes, in a morgue in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)
Family members unzips a body bag of children killed by by Israeli airstrikes in the morgue in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - A Palestinian kisses a relative killed in Israeli airstrikes, in a morgue in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)
Palestinians check a building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)
Palestinians sift through the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - A Palestinian kisses a relative killed in Israeli airstrikes, in a morgue in the city of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)
People observe a mosque destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in the city of Khan Younis, sothern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo)
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi meets with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in London, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Pool photo via AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in London Britain, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Pool photo via AP)
A journalist carries the flack jacket, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
People observe the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A Druze man walks by the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A flack jacket and other items left inside a destroyed car, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
An injured cameraman flashes victory sign as he moved by the Lebanese Red Cross to a hospital after he injured at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
An injured cameraman is moved by the Lebanese Red Cross to a hospital, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A destroyed journalists car is seen at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
People observe the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A policeman checks a destroyed journalists' car, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A journalist observes the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Journalists' items on the ground next to a destroyed vehicle, at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Destroyed vehicles used by journalists at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A destroyed journalists' car at the site where an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing journalists, killing three media staffers from two different news agencies according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, in Hasbaya village, southeast Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on Mansouri village, as it seen from the southern city of Tyre, south Lebanon, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
