The fabulous Melanie Griffith (pictured above), who turned 55 last month, will guest star in the season premiere of the TV show Raising Hope, which will air October 2 on Fox. Griffith and her real-life movie star mom, the legendary Tippi Hedren, will play mother and grandmother of one of the characters. Griffith made her Broadway debut a few years ago in the musical Chicago and returned to the stage this past summer in Los Angeles to star in the new comedy No Way Around but Through, written by Scott Caan (of Hawaii Five-0 fame).

Congratulations to Subversive Theatre’s Kurt Schneiderman and wife Jenny on the birth of their third son, Wolf Maxim Gorky Schneiderman, on September 18 at eight pounds, nine ounces. They are all doing well, including older brothers Lev and Pavel. Up next for the theater company, August Wilson’s Radio Days under the direction of Victoria Perez.

They are baaaack! Loraine O’Donnell and Kerrykate Abel will reprise their Artie Award-winning performances in the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The show will play for two weeks, October 26-November 3, at the New Phoenix Theatre. Under the direction of Michael Walline, the show was one of the highlights of last year’s season.

In the vein of last year’s Ladykillers, Brazen-Faced Varlets has developed a new performance piece called Way Wicked Women, an exploration into the minds of women who are either wicked or perceived to be wicked in their actions and ways. Directed by Lara D. Haberberger, the show opens this week at Rust Belt Books, starring Kelly M. Beuth, Theresa DiMuro Wilber, Diane McNamara, Jenny Gembka, Brittany Kucala, Kerry Alsheimer and Mike Beiter.

Speaking of wicked, Idina Menzel, the original Elphaba in Broadway’s musical Wicked will embark on a concert tour this week that will take her all over the country and to the Apollo Theatre in London. Menzel is scheduled to appear at the Rochester Auditorium Theatre in Rochester on October 27.

Road Less Traveled Productions begins its Manny Fried New Play Workshop readings on Monday October 1 at 7pm with The Prodigal by Katherine Boswell, directed by Megan Callahan, starring Peter Palmisano, Marie Hasselback-Costa, Matthew Nerber, and Eric Mowery. Admission is free. This year’s series includes plays by Thomas Scrivani, Michael Votta, Darryl Schneider, Susan Fenster, Donna Hoke, and Jon Elston.

Save the date! Theatre of Youth Company will hold its annual fundraiser Toy Box Bash on Wednesday November 14 beginning at 6pm at the Marcy Casino in Delaware Park.

It took almost 50 years for Jane Fonda to come back to Broadway, which she did in 2009 with Moises Kaufman’s 33 Variations, a play that uses Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations as the link to tell the story of a mother coming to terms with her daughter and a composer coming to terms with his genius. Beth Donohue will assume the Fonda role when the MusicalFare production opens on October 31. Directed by David Oliver, the show will also star Morgan Chard, John Fredo, Adriano Gatto, Ellen Horst, Tim Newell, and Brian Riggs as Beethoven. Randall Kramer will be onstage at the piano performing those variations.

The Shaw Festival will present the musicals Guys and Dolls and The Light in the Piazza as part of its 2013 season. Also in the season, Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan, Brian Friel’s Faith Healer, Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, and Shaw’s Major Barbara and Geneva in a new adaptation by John Murrell (Waiting for the Parade).

BUA will kick its season with Tru, a one-man play by Jay Presson Allen, directed by Joyce Stilson and starring Christopher Standart as Truman Capote. The play opened on Broadway in 1989 and was unavailable for many years due to a dispute between the estates of Allen and Capote. Following Tru, BUA will present the comedy The Irish Curse, directed by Drew McCabe, starring Matthew Crehan Higgins, Jonathan Shuey, Dave Hayes, Kevin Craig, and Michael Seitz (pictured below).