Oh, Mamma Mia!

This week's From Screen to Stage kicks off with two of the biggest mothers to hit Broadway:

- Yes, that is the first look at Meryl Streep in the upcoming movie version of Mamma Mia! As for the other "mamma" pictured? It is none other then Michael Ball as Edna Turnblad in the long-awaited London production of Hairspray.

Speaking of Hairspray, the tuner just celebrated its fifth anniversary on the Great White Way, and current Corny Collins Lance Bass will host the annual "Broadway on Broadway" concert in Times Square.

- After Variety chipped in with its two-cents, the sharks (namely, the New York Post) started circling Disney's The Little Mermaid.

- Elsewhere on the road to New York, Young Frankenstein gets some love from the Seattle Gay News prior to closing its pre-Broadway run.

- In tour news, Chicago ends its long trek as The Wedding Singer begins theirs; and legendary movie muse Marni Nixon joins My Fair Lady.

- Broadway.com shines the spotlight on three recent hits: Legally Blonde, The Lion King and Monty Python's Spamalot.

- Can't make it to New York to see Cheyenne Jackson and Kerry Butler in Xanadu? BroadwayWorld.com has an exclusive video preview just for you.

- Start that clock: Dolly Parton herself says the 9 to 5 musical will hit Broadway in 2009.

- Harvey Fierstein talks all about his Catered Affair.

- Everyone's favorite 70's sitcom neighbor Valerie Harper stars in the movie adaptation of Golda's Balcony.

- All About My Mother premieres in London, while the American musical Chaplin finds new life elsewhere in England. Plus: is it rumor or real -- a Harry Potter musical to fly onto the West End?

- In the works: stage musical versions of The Three Musketeers, Mask (the Cher movie, not the Jim Carrey one), To Kill a Mockingbird and The Grapes of Wrath, which is actually an opera.

- And finally: The latest incarnation of Forbidden Broadway (the twenty-fifth!), subtitled Rude Awakening, is now up and running, complete with spoofs of Grey Gardens, Mary Poppins, Legally Blonde and (easy target) Grease: You're The One That We Want.

Links via USAToday.com, MichaelBall.co.uk, Playbill.com, Variety.com, NYPost.com, SGN.org, Broadway.com, BroadwayWorld.com, SundayMirror.co.uk and Imdb.com.

Women We Love: Dolly Parton

Although primarily known for her incredible recording career, we love Dolly Parton for her movies too.

Dolly made her film debut in the beloved office comedy 9 to 5. The role of Doralee was likely tailored for the screen novice, but who cares. She is delightfully sassy in it, and her Oscar-nominated title track is a recurring theme song for anyone who has ever punched a time clock.

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas followed, and despite her miscasting, Dolly charmed us again. And who could ever forget her heartbreaking rendition of her own "I Will Always Love You", years before Whitney Houston and The Bodyguard ruined it for everyone. After Burt Reynolds in Whorehouse, Dolly teamed with Sylvester Stallone in Rhinestone and ... well, the less said about that the better.

Dolly next joined the sterling ensemble cast of Steel Magnolias, thereby increasing the film's gay fave-ness tenfold. Her role in that film also led to her memorable guest appearance in one of the best episodes of Designing Women - just try to watch it without bawling your head off.

After Straight Talk (another misguided romantic comedy with ... James Woods?), Dolly has mostly stayed away from movies. That is, until she gave us the gift that was her brilliant, gospel-inspired anthem "Travelin' Thru", featured in the movie Transamerica. The song netted here her second Oscar nomination.

Returning full-circle to her first film success, Dolly is currently working on the score for the Broadway-bound stage musical version of 9 to 5.

Link via Imdb.com.

He Got Annie

In last week's "From Screen to Stage", Seth Rudetsky interviewed Andrea McArdle on the Rosie Cruise. Well, it turns out McArdle wasn't just aboard for the seafood buffet.

In part two of Seth's story, he relates how his childhood dream of being an orphan in Annie was realized, with McArdle reprising her most famous role (at age 43, no less). Naturally, Miss O'Donnell herself got into the act as Miss Hannigan (that's her with McArdle - in the red dress, mind you - above).

And what about Seth, who spent hours listening to the "Red Album" as a child? He played Tessie, the "ohmygoodness" girl. (More pics available at Broadway.com.)

In other Broadway via Hollywood news:
- The Dolly Parton-scored 9 to 5 should punch the clock sometime in the 2008-09 season.

- A stage version of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, the classic movie that starred Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy and Sidney Poitier, is also being readied for that time.

- Dallas star Linda Gray returns to Texas (onstage, at least) in a stage adaptation of Terms of Endearment that will tour the United Kingdom.

- The movie version of Nine gets a screenwriter and some possible leading ladies. Rumor has it that Judi Dench, Anne Hathaway, Katie Holmes and Chicagoans Renee Zellwegger and Catherine Zeta-Jones are all in the running.

- Speaking of Chicago, real-life marrieds and Dancing With the Stars alumni Harry "Making Love" Hamlin and Lisa "Melrose Place" Rinna have extended their run as Billy Flynn and Roxie Hart.

- The Producers, no longer on Broadway but still in Vegas (for now), heads to Atlantic City.

- When in California, visit Universal Studios Hollywood ... especially for their "Wicked Wednesdays".

- The Kiss of the Spider-Woman musical returns to New York.

- Special mention must be made of a milestone achievement for my favorite Off-Broadway musical, Altar Boyz.

- Mash-ups are fun: Carrie White meets Harry Potter in Carrie Potter and the Half-Blood Prom.

- In other oddities: Hannibal the Cannibal sings in Silence!, the musical version of The Silence of the Lambs. Seriously.

In stars on stage news: Ian McKellan takes on King Lear, Kathleen Turner returns to the stage - to direct Crimes of the Heart, and Queer as Folk's Randy Harrison is Billy Bibbit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

- And finally, read all about gay goddess Tallulah Bankhead's onstage mishaps at Playbill.com.

Links via RFamilyVacations.com, Playbill.com, Broadway.com, BroadwayWorld.com and Variety.com.