When I was a kid, I watched all the awards shows ... except the Tonys. Even when I was involved in theater as a teenager I wasn't a follower of Broadway. And I lived an hour away from Manhattan. But today's youths may be more interested in tuning in to the 2008 Tony Awards, because everyone's favorite boy wizard is among the presenters. Daniel Radcliffe will likely be there solely to promote his Broadway debut this fall, in Equus, but that shouldn't deter fans of the Harry Potter films, the latest of which, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, also opens in the fall. Despite the significance of Radcliffe's role in Equus (remember those sexy photos?), Radcliffe will presumably be dressed fully and sharply.

Other presenters include Laura Linney, Alec Baldwin, Marisa Tomei and Radcliffe's costar in both the Equus and the Harry Potter films, Richard Griffiths. This year's Tonys are also of interest to movie fans for its nominees, which include movies-turned-musicals Cry-Baby (4 nominations), Xanadu (4 nominations), The Little Mermaid (2 nominations) and Young Frankenstein (3 nominations), as well as the comic adaption of The 39 Steps (6 nominations), based on the John Buchan book that Alfred Hitchcock and others turned into hit films (with a fourth version reportedly in the works).

The Tony Awards will be held at Radio City Music Hall, and broadcast live on CBS, June 15.

It's official! Harry Potter, otherwise known as Daniel Radcliffe, is heading to Broadway. Back in September of last year, I posted about the Brit's plans to reprise his starring role in Equus on Broadway, dropping trou for a whole new set of fans. Now Yahoo has confirmed it.

The young actor will make his Broadway debut on September 5 of this year, in previews for a limited, 22-week run that will stretch from September 25 to February 8 of 2009. Yes, folks, that means he'll be in New York City as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince hits theaters. I'm thinking that the chances for a big premiere in the Big Apple are pretty darned good -- and just think -- if you book tickets for the play around November 2, you can have a double Radcliffe whammy!

Thea Sharrock is directing the play, which is based on the true story of a troubled young man who blinds horses with a metal hoof pick. Richard Griffiths (who plays Uncle Vernon in the Potter franchise) will also reprise his role as the psychiatrist who treats Radcliffe's troubled lead. Now the question becomes: Will Daniel's nudity and smoking create an uproar here as well? He is now 18, so that should stop some of the skin qualms, but the Big Apple certainly isn't the most smoke-friendly city these days.

Not that I have anything against Trey Parker and Matt Stone, but their Team America: World Police flick was a disaster, in my opinion. While I'm a huge fan of South Park, I could not, for the life of me, get past the first fifteen minutes of Team America without changing the channel. And I really wanted to love it -- had heard such good things about it -- but simply couldn't discover the proper vibe within myself to enjoy the puppets ... and the guns ... and the puppet sex.

Needless to say, newbie Edward McHenry will soon give us his take on the puppet gimmick with Jackboots on Whitehall, except he'll be using action figures to accompany some top notch voice talent. Comedy spoof will tell of a fictional scenario in which the Germans win the Battle of Britain during World War II, only to be defeated by the Scots ... and Ewan McGregor. That's right, McGregor has signed on to voice a "heroic Scottish farmhand who leads the resistance against the invaders and wins the girl." Joining McGregor in this latest round of casting is Richard Griffiths; he'll be playing the Luftwaffe leader Hermann Goering.

Also on the list of Brits playing Germans are Alan Cumming as Hitler, Tom Wilkinson as Hitler's propaganda minister Goebbels and Richard O'Brien as Holocaust-header Himmler. Rosamund Pike will play the object of McGregor's affection, while Richard E. Grant and Sanjeev Bhaskar have also snagged roles. Writer-director McHenry jumps from his popular short film, Baptism of Fire, to helming a feature film with an assortment of pretty big names. How did he do it? Not sure, but I'm positive the script (which won the Swipe Films Screenplay Scholarship) had something to do with it.

I've never seen Baptism of Fire, but apparently it utilizes a lot of the same techniques found in Jackboots. Brits as Germans, action figures instead of puppets and an unknown writer-director -- what do you make of this?

There once was a history, a History of Boys to be precise. They ran onto a London stage in the Spring of 2004. Eager theatre-goers bought tickets, and sold-out performances led the boys to a national tour that soon became an international one. They performed in a few key cities around the globe, from Sydney to Broadway, regaling the world with life in a grammar school in the 80's. The success of their story now comes together in a film to hit all the lonely, history-boy-free places the tour missed.

The basic premise: It is the 1980's, and a group of schoolboys are preparing for entrance exams. They are taught by three teachers, two of which are rivals. One, Hector, is a romantically-minded teacher played by Harry Potter's own Uncle Vernon, Richard Griffiths. His rival is Irwin, a sensible teacher played by Stephen Campbell Moore, who you might remember from Bright Young Things. The trio is rounded out by Mrs. Lintott, a deadpan teacher who gripes about the plights of women in history, and is played by Frances de la Tour, another Potter alum. Top that off with some twenty-something men playing schoolboys, and what's not to love?

Yahoo has an interesting article about the film, which covers some of the theatre-to-cinema basics. It can be tricky work, adapting a play to the screen, especially one that has won so many awards. The film is directed by Nicholas Hytner, the guy who directed, in order -- The Madness of King George, The Crucible, The Object of My Affection, and Center Stage. Hell, with this track record, anything is possible. The film is out this week, so the wait is nil.