"Writing is for me simply recording the story which is currently playing in my head," Gregory Maguire once commented in Something about the Author (SATA). Nevertheless, he added, "sometimes I take a long time getting up the nerve to look in on it."...

The latest R&B singer to test his vocal cords in the long-running musical revival of "Chicago" will be Brian McKnight.The Grammy-nominated singer will join the New York cast Oct. 8 as that scamp of a lawyer, Billy Flynn. McKnight is scheduled to appear in the...

WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST-SELLERSFICTION1. "Playing for Pizza" by John Grisham (Doubleday)2. "The Choice" by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central Publishing)3. "Dark of the Moon" by John Sandford (Putnam Adult)4. "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead Hardcover)5. "You've Been Warned" by James Patterson, Howard Roughan...

City Center, that Moorish palace of entertainment on West 55th Street, is known for its "Encores!" series, concert versions of vintage American musicals. Three are presented each year during the second half of the Broadway theater season.Now the series is branching out with "Encores! Summer...

By George, he's got it.Jefferson Mays will portray Henry Higgins in a revival of George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion," arriving on Broadway in October. No word yet on who will play Eliza Doolittle, the Cockney flower girl Higgins transforms into a lady. "My Fair Lady," the...