I was going to wait until the weekend to do my big update, but seeing as I had an hour to kill, I thought I’d jump ahead.

As many of you may already know, Idina will be appearing in a limited run of Romantic Poetry: The Musicale at Vassar College’s Martel Theatre in Poughkeepsie, NY from July 19 to July 29, 2007 (following the benefit performance of the show next week.) Vassar’s Official Site includes the following description of the show:

John Patrick Shanley, writer and director of Doubt, and Dreamgirls composer Henry Krieger bring you a mad musical New York champagne evening of six inter-related plays in two acts, the subject of which is the lyrical expression of amour.

I’ve received some info regarding Idina’s role(s) in the show — She will appear in 2 of the 6 plays mentioned, portraying Lilly in one, and Connie in the other. Tickets can be purchased here.

In other extremely belated news, Warner Brothers Records has released 2 new dance re-mix records, featuring various versions of the “Defying Gravity” single on iTunes. Both CDs consist of 5 tracks – the Defying Gravity EP (the yellow cover), contains shortened mixes of the extended dance tracks that are on the Defying Gravity (DJ Version) EP (the red cover.) The CDs cost $4.95/ea. to purchase.

Last of the news: For those of you interested, Jennifer Houlton, director of the independent film Water featuring Idina, has uploaded another short clip from the film to video site, YouTube. To view the video, click here.

Last night, Idina and Taye attended the Entertainment Weekly Upfront Party in New York, and I’ve managed to gather a few photos from the arrivals. Included is 1 HQ image (for now) and 8 MQ images. To view the album, click here or on the thumbnails below.

As promised, I’ve also added a small handful of HQ images from the Poiret Costume Institute Gala last week (9 to be exact.) I have a few more smaller images to add, but I thought I’d get these up for you right away so you wouldn’t have to wait any longer. To view the album, click here or on the thumbnails below.

I’ll try to update more this weekend when everything settles down with my schedule. Thanks to everyone for the well-wishes on my finals & apartment moving! I appreciate it so much and everything is going smoothly.

Hey boys and girls – I’m so sorry that I haven’t gotten to the updates that I promised you yet. I’m just writing now to assure you that I didn’t disappear. My finals for classes are starting this week, and I just moved into a new apartment, so life is crazy. But I will update with those images and belated news when I get re-settled. Please be patient until I return – thanks everyone! ♥

Idina is set to appear onstage in a one-night-only benefit concert, Romantic Poetry: The Musicale, with music by Henry Krieger and book/lyrics by John Patrick Shanley. The show will take place Monday, May 21st at 7:00pm at The Lucille Lortel Theatre, and will feature a slew of Broadway stars.

“Shanley and Krieger join forces to topple the musical theater form with Romantic Poetry, a soaring love song to impossible romance. In the words of the creators, ‘You will laugh, you will cry, you will shake your head. You will embrace your fellow audience members, and gasp: ‘Thank God we were here!’ You will make friends for life. The show will improve marriages, turn casual dates into torrid assignations, and reduce cynics to autograph hounds! Be there or face years of loneliness!,’” state press materials.

Ticket prices will vary, and are tax deductible. (source)

Sounds like it’ll be a pretty interesting show! I hope some of you have the opportunity to check it out.

Gallery: I have a lot more pictures to add from the Costume Institute Gala (HQs as well!), but I can’t get them up until later tonight. So hopefully by tomorrow, there will be a bunch of new pictures to enjoy.

Idina and Taye attended the “Poiret: King of Fashion” Costume Institute Gala tonight, looking as fashionable as ever. I’m collecting more images (hopefully some high quality shots) for the Gallery, but for now, I’ve added what I could find! Keep checking back for more – I’ll add them once I get them.

Also, thanks to Brittany R. for making a generous donation to the site!

I’m sure you’ve all taken the opportunity to listen to the new remixed version of “Defying Gravity” on the new Idina.com — Now, it’s available for download on U.S. iTunes for $0.99! You can find the single by doing a search for “Defying Gravity”, and it should appear listed as “Defying Gravity – Single”. There’s also new promotional art (same photo as the new site) that you receive when you download the tune.

“Defying Gravity” Promotional Single

I don’t know if international iTunes sites have the single available yet – but if you live outside the U.S. and use a different iTunes Store, please do a search and make a comment in this post to let others know if it’s there for them. Thanks so much, everyone!

Edit: Thanks to Mads — If you are outside the U.S., there is a tab in the iTunes store that will allow you to change to the U.S. version (thereby accessing the songs available in America.) Payments are likely in U.S. Dollars ($), so that could prove difficult for people dealing with other currencies. It is an option, however.