Updated 'World Goes 'Round' Opens in Philly. The Prince Music Theater's "newly re-imagined" production of The World Goes 'Round, the revue of songs by Broadway's John Kander and Fred Ebb, opens Sept. 26 after previews from Sept. 20 in Philadelphia.

General Ticket Sales Begin for Broadway's 'Pal Joey'. Following a period of exclusive advance sales to American Express cardholders, the box office for the new Broadway production of Pal Joey opens to the general public Sept. 26.

Sci-Fi Comedy 'Boom' Will Feature Deeker, Gilbert, Marshall in DC. Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's Boom, the science fiction fantasy comedy about sex, fish, extinction and the end of the world, will begin Nov. 3 in Washington, DC, in a production by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company.

Girl With a Pearl Earring' Opens in London. David Joss Buckley's new play Girl with a Pearl Earring, starring Adrian Dunbar as Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, opens at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket Sept. 29 following previews from Sept. 24.

Director Jerry Zaks Plugs Into 'Nerds' Musical. The Broadway-bound musical Nerds, about computer giants Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and their colleagues, is getting a Tony Award-winning download in 2008-09: Jerry Zaks is now the director.

Dead Man's Cell Phone' Rings at SCR in Southern California Premiere. South Coast Repertory's Southern California premiere of Dead Man's Cell Phone, Sarah Ruhl's quirky, fantastical new play about a woman who answers - yes! - a dead man's cell phone, and is drawn into his web of relationships, opens Sept. 26 after previews from Sept. 21.

Apple Tree Founder Boevers Will Get Special Jeff Award in Chicago. Eileen Boevers, founder and recently retired executive artistic director of Apple Tree Theatre in Highland Park, IL, will receive a Special Jeff Award at this year's Chicago Jeff Awards ceremony Oct. 20.

More Magic to Do: 'Tempest', with Patinkin as Prospero, Gets Extra Week. Classic Stage Company's new production of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, starring Tony Award winner Mandy Patinkin, has been extended one week to Oct. 19 due to strong ticket sales and solid reviews.

Mimi Kennedy Is 'Lady With All the Answers' in Pasadena. Mimi Kennedy, best known for playing Dharma's hippie mom Abby on TV's "Dharma & Greg," will star as advice columnist Ann Landers in David Rambo's The Lady With All the Answers at Pasadena Playhouse.

Michael D. Mitchell, Fulton Theatre Artistic Director, Has Died. Michael D. Mitchell, artistic director of the Fulton Theatre, the resident Equity company operating at the historic Fulton Opera House in Lancaster, PA, died Sept. 22 at his Lancaster home after a battle with cancer, his friends and colleagues said. He was 68.

A New Generation Tackles 'Speed-the-Plow' for Broadway. Neil Pepe, Elisabeth Moss and Raul Esparza look at David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow through fresh lenses.

Philly's Arden Gives Voice to 'Gee's Bend'. Casting has been announced for the Arden Theatre Company's Philadelphia premiere of Gee's Bend, the popular regional play about the lives and work of Southern African-American quilters, to run at Arden's Arcadia stage Oct. 9-Dec. 7.

O'Neill Playwrights Conference Welcomes Scripts. The submission period for the 2009 National Playwrights Conference of The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT, begins Sept. 15, running to Oct. 17.

Signature's "Black Box" 'Les Miz' Will Put Audience in Middle of the Action; Cast Announced. In the Signature Theatre's new 2008-09 production of the smash musical Les Mis rables, Javert, Jean Valjean, Fantine and the rest of the 19th-century French "miserable ones" will be as you've never seen them before - up close and personal.

What's That Smell' Will Linger an Extra Week. Tickets are growing scarce for David Pittu's well-reviewed "comedy with vocal selections," What's That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling, a portrait of a self-absorbed musical theatre nobody with an ego the size of Oklahoma - but no apparent talent.

Three Changes', Nicky Silver's Family Comedy, Opens in NYC. The world premiere of Nicky Silver's dark comedy Three Changes, about a wayward brother upsetting an Upper West Side couple, played by Dylan McDermott and Maura Tierney, opens Sept. 16 after previews from Aug. 22 at Off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons.

To Be or Not To Be', About Troupers in a Time of Terror, Begins Broadway Run. Ernst Lubitsch's 1942 film comedy about Polish theatre troupers outsmarting the Nazis finds its way onto the Broadway stage Sept. 16 in To Be or Not To Be, an adaptation by Nick Whitby at Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

13, A New Musical' Comes of Age on Broadway. Stars of tomorrow will dawn today - Sept. 16 - at Broadway's Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, where the first preview of the new high school-set musical 13, with songs by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown, appears. Jeremy Sams directs.

Charles Busch Comedy 'The Third Story' Premieres at La Jolla Playhouse. Charles Busch stars in the world premiere of his new comic drama inspired by the movies, The Third Story, directed by Carl Andress, Sept. 16-Oct. 19 at La Jolla Playhouse in California.

Managing Director Libman Will Exit La Jolla Playhouse. Steven Libman, managing director of La Jolla Playhouse, is stepping down to pursue an expanding consulting practice, the theatre's board chair Ralph Bryan announced Sept. 16.