Odds & Ends: Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Rights to Tony-Winning Revival of Merrily We Roll Along, RuPaul to Honor Liza Minnelli and More

Here's a quick roundup of stories you might have missed.

Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Rights to the Tony-Winning Revival of Merrily We Roll Along
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired worldwide rights to the film of the 2024 Tony Award-winning revival of Merrily We Roll Along, directed by Maria Friedman. The production of the Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical, a story of friendship and growing up told in reverse chronological order, starred Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, Lindsay Mendez, Krystal Joy Brown, Katie Rose Clarke and Reg Rogers. The film is produced by Sonia Friedman, David Babani, Patrick Catullo, F. Richard Pappas, RadicalMedia’s Jon Kamen and Dave Sirulnick.

The Audiobook for Rent and Hamilton Producer Jeffrey Seller's Memoir to Feature Broadway Stars
Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller's memoir Theater Kid will have an audiobook featuring a cast of Broadway talent. Seller will lead the audiobook recording with cameos from Broadway stars and others, including Annaleigh Ashford, Kyle Beltran, Steven Boyer, Danny Burstein, Darren Criss, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Sas Goldberg, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Lindsay Mendez, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Alex Newell, Andrew Rannells, Conrad Ricamora, Jonathan Marc Sherman and Christopher Sieber. The program also features original music composed by Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Kitt. Theater Kid will be released on May 6. 

RuPaul to Honor Liza Minnelli on the Season 17 finale of Drag Race
EGOT winner Liza Minnelli will be honored on the April 18 Season 17 finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race with an award recognizing individuals who have made a significant impact on the world of drag and fashion. Minnelli will be the third icon to be presented with the award, joining fashion designer Bob Mackie from Season 15 and Cassandra Peterson, best known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, from Season 16.

Elizabeth McGovern to Star as Ava Gardner in Ava: The Secret Conversations at New York City Center
Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey) will reprise her role as movie star Ava Gardner in the play Ava: The Secret Conversations at New York City Center. Written by McGovern, the play premiered in 2023 at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles and will run at City Center from July 30 through September 13 with an official August 7 opening. Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, the cast will also feature Aaron Costa Ganis as writer Peter Evans.

Playwright David Henry Hwang to Receive the Dramatists Guild of America's Lifetime Achievement Award
The Dramatists Guild of America will present its 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award to playwright and three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist David Henry Hwang (Yellow Face, M. Butterfly, Soft Power). "Over the last four-and-a-half decades, David's ever-increasing body of work endures as one of the great contributions to the American theatre canon”, says Samuel D. Hunter, co-chair of the awards committee. “I couldn't be more thrilled that we are celebrating David with the Guild's highest honor. His generosity, grace, humor, craft and deep intelligence has profoundly influenced entire generations of theatre artists, myself included. I'm thrilled to see what lies ahead for him."