Burn The Floor Burns Up Broadway

Burn the Floor's first performance on Broadway tonight signals the beginning of the 2009-2010 Broadway season. It is the first entry in what is looking to be an exciting year on Broadway. Burn the Floor is the steamy dance sensation that has been touring the globe and now lands at the Longacre Theatre for a limited engagement. The production will have its official Broadway opening on August 2, with a closing date set for October 18. Fans of TV's Dancing with the Stars should get their tickets right away, because two popular dancers from that show, Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff, will be in Burn the Floor for a limited time. The regular cast of the production also features some Stars dancers, as well as dancers from So You Think You Can Dance and numerous championship Latin and Ballroom dancers from around the world. Accompanying these talented movers and shakers will be onstage vocalists and an onstage band playing live music.

Broadway's Original Tracy Turnblad To Be TV Host

Marissa Jaret Winokur, who memorably played Tracy Turnblad in the original Broadway company of Hairspray, will host her own TV talk show soon. Winokur has just signed a contract with Sony Pictures Television for a talk show, which is scheduled to start production in the fall of 2009. No other details about the show are currently available, but hopefully Broadway baby Winokur will -- like that other famous Broadway supporter, Rosie O'Donnell -- feature lots of Broadway musicals on her show. Marissa Jaret Winokur, who nabbed a Tony Award for her role in Hairspray, is currently appearing on TV in the popular ABC reality show Dancing With the Stars.