“A Celebration of Maurice Sendak” will be presented Sept. 15 at the 92nd Street Y as part of the East Side venue’s Reading Series. Among those scheduled to be part of Sendak’s 80th birthday celebration are Tony Kushner, Meryl Streep, James Gandolfini, Dave Eggers, Spike Jonze, Linda Emond, Catherine Keener, Anika Noni Rose and Stephen Greenblatt. Show time is 8 PM. Maurice Sendak is the author and/or illustrator of more than 90 books, including “Where the Wild Things Are,” “Higglety Pigglety Pop!” and “In the Night Kitchen.” He has also collaborated on several operas and ballets; in fact, he and Tony winner Kushner joined forces in 2006 for a one-act operatic adaptation of Sendak’s “Brundibar.”

While there’s still no official word on wheter Meryl will star in Nancy Meyer’s upcoming untitled comedy or not, another cast member has been added to the project. Alec Baldwin is in talks to join Meryl Streep in Nancy Meyers’s romantic comedy. Baldwin will play one of two men vying for the affections of Streep’s character. The Universal movie, which Meyers has written and will direct, is to begin production next February.

According to Variety, Meryl Streep is in advanced negotiations to play the female lead in the untitled romantic comedy that Nancy Meyers will direct for Universal. Meyers is producing with Scott Rudin. Production begins in February. Streep will play the female in a romantic triangle with two men. The director, who made “Something’s Gotta Give” and “The Holiday” for Columbia Pictures, made the deal to bring her next picture to Universal earlier this year. Streep is currently voicing a lead role in “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” the stop-motion animation adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel at 20th Century Fox.

Mamma Mia!, The Golden Compass and St Trinian’s lead the field for the National Movie Awards, picking up four nominations each. Mamma Mia! cohorts Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth are up for Best Male for their roles in the Abba musical film. Meryl Streep, Angelina Jolie and Sarah Jessica Parker are also in the running for the award. The winners, voted for by the public, will be unveiled in London on September 08 at London’s Royal Festival Hall and in a live ceremony screened on ITV1. You can vote for Meryl by submitting your vote here.

Jennifer Aniston, Scarlett Johansson and Charlize Theron are among the A-listers who signed on for the Stand Up To Cancer telethon in September. American Idol David Cook, Christina Applegate, Meryl Streep and Sally Field also will appear on the Sept. 5 broadcast, which will be simultaneously aired on ABC, CBS and NBC to raise money for cancer research and treatment. Dozens of other celebrities and sports figures will also be appearing on the program, according to Stand Up To Cancer.

In spite of stiff competition from the newest Batman film, the film version of Mamma Mia! enjoyed a strong opening weekend at the box office, taking in a solid $27.6 million. Although that total didn’t approach The Dark Knight’s record-breaking $155.4 million, it narrowly beat the opening total of last year’s feature film transfer of Hairspray. Universal Studios’ decision to release Mamma Mia! as a counter-programming move to the dark sequel to Batman Begins paid off. Together, the two films created the biggest opening weekend ever in terms of total grosses, according to Variety. Overseas, where Mamma Mia! opened a week ahead of its U.S. premiere, the movie grossed $26.8 million in its second week for an impressive total of $72.6 million.

Article courtesy this source: Abba welcomed a bevy of Hollywood stars to Stockholm on Friday for the première of Mamma Mia! -The movie. Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad Reuss made a rare public appearance together with their former Abba partners, Björn Ulveaus and Benny Andersson, on the night of the première of “Mamma Mia!” – a musical based on the disco sound of the Swedish group, Abba. The film’s star Meryl Streep was the big attraction of the afternoon and she was in a party mood, dancing a jig with Agnetha and Annefrid on the red carpet. She had told the press earlier in the day that singing and dancing in a musical was a childhood dream. “When I was in school I was in several musicals where I sang and danced. It was like coming home to something I love.”

According to this source, Meryl Streep, who stars as Donna in the Abba musical Mamma Mia, will attend the Australian premiere in Melbourne next week. Mamma Mia also features Colin Firth as Harry Bright. Firth will also be at the premiere. The Mamma Mia movie is based on the musical with songs by Abba. On soundtrack, 17 Abba songs have been re-recorded for the movie, with Meryl Streep herself singing ‘Mamma Mia’ and ‘The Winner Takes It All’ as well as ‘S.O.S.’ and ‘When All Is Said And Done’ as a duet with Pierce Brosnan, who stars in the movie as Sam Carmichael.

Universal Pictures said Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth are to appear at the upcoming London premiere of their movie musical “Mamma Mia!”. Based on the hit stage musical and featuring hits from the ABBA song catalog, the film version of “Mamma Mia!” is to open in the United States July 18. The world premiere of the wedding-themed movie is scheduled June 30 at London’s Odeon Leicester Square theater. Also slated to attend the event are supporting players Stellan Skarsgard, Julie Walters, Dominic Cooper, Amanda Seyfried and Christine Baranski, the movie studio said.

Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Glenn Close are among the actors who will help the Public Theater honor Tony-nominated scenic designer David Rockwell at the 2008 Summer Gala on June 17. A host of artists will attend the evening in Rockwell’s honor, including Streep, Baldwin and Close as well as Cynthia Nixon, Sam Rockwell, Kathleen Turner, Neil Patrick Harris, Jane Krakowski, Julianna Margulies, Nora Ephron and S. Epatha Merkerson. Additional names will be added in the coming weeks. The 2008 Summer Gala commences at 5:30 PM with a buffet dinner in Central Park, followed by the 8 PM opening-night performance of the Shakespeare in the Park Hamlet – starring Michael Stuhlbarg and Sam Waterston – and will conclude with a cast party at Belvedere Castle overlooking Turtle Pond and the Delacorte. More details can be found here.