TV Castings: Will Chase Joins Smash, Raul Esparza Boards Gifted Man, Judy Greer To Do 2.5 Men, FearNets Holliston Adds 2

Broadway actor Will Chase has joined NBC’s upcoming Broadway-themed drama Smash as a recurring. On the show, which chronicles the mounting of a Broadway musical and stars Debra Messing as the musical’s lyricist, he will play Steven, who has a history with Messing’s character. Chase, repped by Gersh and AC Management, has appeared in such Broadway productions as Billy Elliot, High Fidelity and Rent. On TV, he recurred on Rescue Me. Another veteran Broadway actor, Raul Esparza, will do an arc on another new series, CBS’ medical drama A Gifted Man, about a neurosurgeon (Patrick Wilson) whose dead wife (Jennifer Ehle), the former head of a free clinic, starts appearing to him. Esparza will play Ehles boyfriend, who is on the board of the clinic. Esparza, repped by ICM and Elin Flack Management, recently starred in Arcadia on Broadway. Judy Greer has been tapped for an arc on CBS’ revamped Two and a Half Men, playing new lead Ashton Kutcher’s soon-to-be-ex wife. This is the second time Greer plays a love interest on the show. She once played a squeeze of the former lead character, Charlie Sheen’s Charlie Harper. FearNet’s first original series, Holliston, is adding some heavy metal royalty to its cast. Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider and GWAR lead singer Oderus Urungus have joined stars Adam Green and Joe Lynch on the offbeat multicamera buddy comedy series created by Green. Described as The Big Bang Theory meets Evil Dead II, the show is set in the town of Holliston, Mass., and follows the lives of Adam (Green) and Joe (Lynch), two friends chasing the dream of becoming successful horror movie filmmakers while struggling to make ends meet in their post-college jobs at a Boston cable access station where they also host a late-night movie program calledThe Movie Crypt. Snider will play Adam and Joes boss, who also happens to be a longtime member of a Van Halen tribute band. While he still dreams of being a rock star, he also takes the cable job very seriously and has delusions of grandeur of how hes part of Hollywood. Urungus will play himself and is Adams imaginary friend who happens to live in a closet and gives him advice that is extremely misguided and offensive. The six-episode series is slated to begin production in September.