Passions - NEWS ROOM

Coming off of an Emmy win for Best Original Song, this seems like an appropriate time for Passions to return to playing on its musical side. In upcoming weeks, the show promises do to hit Broadway musical Wicked what it once did to Chicago. Sitcom veteran Georgia Engel, best known for roles on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Everybody Loves Raymond, will be arriving on the set to play Esmeralda, Tabitha's old schoolmate and one time rival in wickedness. Now Esmeralda has gone over to the good side and become the most powerful good witch in the world. How will little Endora feel when she is confronted with this new role model after Tabitha takes her on a trip to the good witch school? We'll see...

In other casting news, another former sitcom star will be turning up in Harmony in the coming week. Danny Woodburn, who famously played Kramer's little person acting buddy and soap opera stand-in, Mickey Abbott, on Seinfeld will take on the role of the Demon Elf after Kay unleashes him on the town to cause havoc. Demon possessions everywhere and enough mischief to scare Tabitha away. It's oddly appropriate. I've always thought of Passions as the soap version of Seinfeld. The plots are outlandish and yet nothing really happens but a stream of pop culture references. Combined with continual parody, a sardonic, sometimes downright mean, sense of humor and a delight in subverting all of the assumptions of their genre as a strange group of people manage to learn absolutely nothing from their actions.

And finally, what everyone has been waiting for: Pretty Crane will show up in Harmony at the end of July. The mysterious, possibly disfigured, possibly emotionally tortured, possibly mentally ill, possibly who-knows-what-else heiress will arrive just in time to either save or ruin Fancy's sashay down death row to marry Luis. Whoever has brought her back (Ivy? Alistair? Sheridan? or none of them) she is sure to cause trouble. The part will be played by Melinda Sward, who previously appeared on B&B and JAG