Leave it to the stars of the Great White Way to come up with a clever digital podcast during these trying times we all face amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Enter Broadway’s podcast soap,  As the Curtain Rises, which premiered on October 22nd and is posting new episodes.

Photo: JPI

On December 3rd, the latest installment dropped featuring former Ugly Betty star Michael Urie who is featured in the cast in the role of Bobby.

Here is the premise of the show: After the ‘Broadway Disher’ (Lesli Margherita) leaks news of a top secret, in-the-works, new mega musical, the Broadway community goes off-the-charts batty. Top-of-their-game Broadway Producers Cheryl Philips (Lillias White) and Steve Jones (James Monroe Iglehart), arch enemies, pounce. Who will get the rights? Will way-out-of-their-comfort-zone creators Kaye (Ashley Park) and Bobby (Michael Urie) manage to deliver a draft of the show before their marriage implodes? Will Director/Choreographer Zoey Taylor (Ariana DeBose) send the show’s budget into a free fall with her wildly ambitious vision?  Will Broadway Diva Emma-Olivia (Sarah Stiles) get a Schmackery’s cookie (with Sprinkles) named in her honor? Will newbie Agent Maxwell Fernsby (George Salazar) step into his new big shoes? And will Science Consultant Andrew Barth Feldman (Andrew Barth Feldman) protect the integrity and authenticity of the in-the-works mega musical, before he needs to leave this top secret show to star in a new Broadway musical?

As The Curtain Rises proudly supports The Actor’s Fund, the Broadway Podcast Network Frontline Initiative, and is a sponsored project of IFP (www.ifp.org).

Check out previous episodes of the podcast here.

You can watch Urie do his thing in the role of Bobby in this teaser released on social media below.

Then let us know, what do you think of the concept of the Broadway spoof on soaps? Comment below.

Watch @michaelurie in a sneak peek of the Broadway-themed soap opera As the Curtain Rises: https://t.co/WcTjk1NrDf pic.twitter.com/moVu1ueom4

— Playbill (@playbill) December 3, 2020

In a major reshuffling of the executive infrastructure at Disney/ABC, several lay-offs were handed-down including to longtime ABC executive Vicki Dummer who most recently was Head of Current Series Programming, ABC Entertainment,

In her position, Dummer oversaw the creative aspects from the network level for General Hospital.  Vicki had been with the company for over 24 years and was a noted longtime fan of the show in interviews she had given during her tenure.

Courtesy/ABC

Back in September of 2018, William Burton was given the position of SVP and Head Of Daytime, Sports and Syndicated Development/Production for ABC Entertainment.  He had been in charge of the the business operations for General Hospital at a network level, while Dummer continued to handle the creative.  However today, Burton was also let-go.

The exits come as ABC and Hulu have consolidated original content under Craig Erwich, and 20th Television and Touchstone TV under Karey Burke.

The layoffs are believed to have effected 12 staff members mostly at the executive level.

Deadline broke the news and then updated their story later today.

Just who and what department in the new structuring will take over General Hospital remains to be seen.  We will keep you posted once any additional news or announcements are made.

So, what do you think of the exits of Vicki Dummer and William Burton? Comment below.

What we all knew first, everyone in Hollywood and all of America is becoming to realize;  that Tom Pelphrey (Ex-Jonathan, Guiding Light, Mick, As the World Turns) is just a naturally-gifted actor able to tap into such deep emotional depths in every part he plays that make him a stand-out in every project he is in.

Now, this two-time Daytime Emmy winner, who is coming off a critically-acclaimed run in season 3 of Nerflix’s Ozark, can be seen in one of the talked about potential Oscar contenders, the film, Mank.

In the David Fincher film, Pelphrey plays Joseph Mankiewicz the brother to Gary Oldman’s Herman “Mank” Mankiewicz, and in a new interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Tom realizes the enormity of one of the key and most famous words in cinema history that he gets to say during Joseph’s reaction to Mank’s script for Citizen Kane … “rosebud”.

Pelphrey shared on the revelation that his line in the film is part of a huge historic fabric of cinema history: ““Oh my god. I didn’t even think about that. Wow. When you work on something like this, you really try to do your job to the best of your ability, and you really just focus on the task at hand.”

He added, Y”ou don’t really stop and consider the whole big thing- at least I didn’t. But you don’t want to get too swept up in that or get intimidated. You want to just come in, focus on your work and put your head down. And yeah, now is the time to sit back and say, ‘I got to say Rosebud on-screen with Gary Oldman, in a David Fincher film.’ Pretty cool.”

Mank, is now available in select theatres and streams beginning on December 4th on Netflic.

So, excited to see Tom in Mank? Comment below.  But first, check out this trailer from the film,

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— Mank (@MankFilm) October 21, 2020