Javier Muñoz to Perform at This Year’s Arthur Miller Foundation Honors Benefit for Public School Arts Education

Javier Muñoz is celebrating the arts in our schools…

The 44-year-old Puerto Rican Broadway star, who performed in the Tony Award-winning musicals In The Heights and Hamilton, has joined the line-up of performers for the annual Arthur Miller Foundation Honors celebrating public school arts education.

Javier Muñoz in Hamilton

Muñoz will perform alongside his friend and castmate Mandy Gonzalez, the 42-year-old half-Mexican American Broadway star who has appeared in In The Heights, Wicked and Hamilton.

The third annual gala celebration is set to stream virtually on November 16, and will also include performances by husband-and-wife duos like Hamilton’s Leslie Odom, Jr. and WaitressNicolette Robinson; and Hamilton‘s Phillipa Soo and Bridges of Madison County‘s Steven Pasquale.

The evening will include a special appearance by Chiké Okonkwo and performances by New York City public school students impacted by the Miller program.

Additional performers and appearances to be announced at a later date.

Sasha HutchingsHamilton original cast member and Foundation Master Artist Council member, will host. She also co-produces along with Arthur Miller Foundation Executive Director Jaime Hastings. Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg are event co-chairs alongside Rebecca Miller, Sandi Farkas, Janine & Michael Smith.

The event is presented by Broadway.com and directed by Paul Wontorek. The Foundation will honor Tony Award nominee Dominique Morisseau (Ain’t Too Proud) with the Arthur Miller Foundation Legacy Award, and will recognize exceptional NYC public school theater teacher Lisanne Shaffer with the Arthur Miller Foundation Excellence in Arts Education Award.

The celebration will raise funds for the Foundation’s theater education programs.

Cooking Channel Renews Rocca’s “My Grandmother’s Ravioli” for Third Season

Get ready to spend Mo (Rocca) time in the kitchen…

The Cooking Channel has ordered another season of the 44-year-old half-Colombian comedian and journalist’s series My Grandmother’s Ravioli.

Mo Rocca

The Rocca-created and -hosted show will return for 13 more episodes in late 2014, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The series, inspired by the Sunday family dinners Rocca grew up enjoying at his grandmother’s house, follows him as he visits grandparents across North America who introduce him to their most treasured family recipes.

“Mo Rocca is a deft storyteller, and though he shouldn’t necessarily be left to his own devices in the kitchen, under the watchful eye of America’s grandparents, it makes for a delicious recipe for television,” said Cooking Channel’s general manager and senior vice president Michael Smith.

Rocca, a correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning, says viewers can expect more diverse dishes, locations and couples in the coming season. After featuring several “sweet, warm grandparents” on the series, Rocca is ready to spice up the cast. “We want cranky, crusty grandparents who will really ride me,” he quipped to THR.

So which grandparents who he most like to spend time with in the kitchen? The stoic farmer couple in the painting “American Gothic.”

“The best grandparents are the ones who probably have never seen the show and are definitely not interested in being on a reality show,” Rocca tells THR. “Usually volunteered by their kids and their grandkids, they’re people who just kind of do their own thing, spend time with their families and cook.”

Casting for season three has just begun, and grandparents can be nominated here.

With three episodes remaining in season two, the show will feature its first gay couple on January 8. The series currently airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m.

Rocca is also a panelist on NPR‘s Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me! and host of Cooking Channel’s Food(ography).