To all of those who are receiving Emmy Awards as we are launching this edition, we offer our
joyous congratulation.
To all of you who are wearing borrowed jewelry - don't lose any of it - as has happened and don't
forget to return it. It's embarrassing when security guards storm your hotel room - as happened
to one actress recently.
HBO will stage a party for all of their shows -The Sopranos - at Spago's in Beverly
Hills.
TENNESSEE PERFORMING ARTS
CELEBRATES AND TANDY CRONYN FOLLOWS IN HER PARENTS'
FOOTSTEPS
The Tennessee Performing Arts Center is celebrating it's 20th birthday with a month long lineup
of specials. The Tennessee Performing Arts Center, headed by TPAC's president Steven J. Griel,
has a right to be in a festive mood. When the place was being built many felt it would never
survive - that Nashville would support sports but never the arts. The dedication, hard work and
excellent productions have given the center a reputation that is admired.
Les Miserables makes their sixth Nashville
appearance
TPAC has put together an ambitious lineup of arts events throughout the month. The cornerstone
of the celebration is Fest de Ville Nashville, a weekend arts festival on Sept 22-24 which will
include both indoor and outdoor events in the TPAC theaters, on Deaderick Street and on War
Memorial Plaza.
The celebration also includes the Mark Morris Dance Group and the sixth Nashville
engagement of Les Miserables, the touring Broadway musical, on Sept 26-Oct 1.
And throughout the month, TPAC's resident groups will be offering special programs, some of
which the arts center has specially commissioned or supplemented with extra funding.
These include the Tennessee Repertory Theatre's production of Wit - Sept 20-Oct 7 - Margaret
Edson's 1999 Pulitzer Prize winning play starring Tandy Cronyn, the daughter of Jessica Tandy
and Hume Cronyn. Tandy's previous acting experiences have included Getting Out, The
Story Lady (1991), Twisted (1986) The Guardian, and Age Old Friends.
On Sept 22 The Nashville Opera's Opera Goes Hollywood in a cabaret evening of opera arias;
the Nashville Ballet's new production of Peter and the Wolf on Sept 23-24, with choreography by
artistic director Paul Vasterling and costume and set designs by Tennessee artist Norris Hall; and
Circle Players 42nd Street.
There is special excitement about Peter and the Wolf, which TPAC commissioned, because of
Hall, who is well-known for his whimsical animal characters and other colorful images -
vaguely reminiscent of Warner Bros. cartoons - featured on everything from Tennessee license
plates to murals.
With four principal singers, a chorus of 10 and the Nashville Chamber Orchestra in the pit, Opera
Goes Hollywood will attempt to please longtime opera fans as well as serve as an introduction to
opera for less experienced listeners.
Artistic director John Hoomes chose to focus on excerpts from two works, Mozart's The
Marriage of Figaro and Lehar's The Merry Widow, both of which have been used extensively in
films. Figaro played heavily in two recent films - Trading Places starring Eddie Murphy
and The
Shawshank Redemption starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins.
MUFARO'S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS
MAKE BIG MONEY FOR TOURING COMPANY
"Touring is the biggest thing we do now - it grosses half a million dollars a year, far more than
we earn on our mainstage - yet we hope to double that in the future." So declared James Larson,
artistic director of the Omaha Theater Company for Young People
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters an African cultural play, is hitting the road with the
Omaha Theater Company for Young People under the tour direction of Michael Wilhelm.
This tour will hit 27 cities reaching 80,000 viewers.
It's a stage adaptation by company playwright Karen Abbott of the familiar story by John
Steptoe, a charming Cinderella-like fable about an African village leader whose two daughters are
sent to the territorial king to be judged as possible royal wives. One is spoiled, lazy, dishonest
and headstrong, and the other is demure and kindly. The girls have to travel through a rite of
passage arranged by the king to test their character.
Kenny Glenn, portrays the dual role of village leader and father. Stephanie Anderson directs.
Costumes by Sherri Geerdes. The road company will have a cast of four: Glenn; Quiana
Smith as Manyara, the spoiled daughter; Donna Davenport as Nyasha, the kindly daughter; and
Michael Pasqualone, Los Angeles-based actor, as Chinouyazue, the narrator of the fable. It is a
full-dress production, with all the tech support of a home production. In fact, Wilhelm is serving
as technical director on the tour, who stresses that the shows are not watered down.
The touring company will leave Omaha Sept. 18 and return the day before Thanksgiving. Its
longest stays - three days each - will be in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Fayetteville, Ark. Where
they will do six performances, playing to a total of 12,000 people there.
SWEET CHARITY
BLOOMER GIRL Cotton Blossom
Musicals and Theatre@St. Clement's Church presents Bloomer Girl, Harold Arlen and Yip
Harburg's classic 1944 musical hit. The show will run through September 24th.
Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays. Tickets for the show are $25, which includes
a $5 contribution to the Theatre @ St. Clement's capital campaign. Thursdays are
"Pay-What-You-Wish" nights, with all proceeds going to Seven Works, a neighborhood
not-for-profit charity in Hell's Kitchen/Clinton.
Penned shortly after Harburg and Arlen's smashing success The Wizard of Oz,
Bloomer Girl originally starred Celeste Holm and ran for 654 performances on
Broadway.
Set during the Civil War, the musical focuses on Dolly Bloomer, the publisher of The Lily, an
early feminist and abolitionist publication, and Dolly's fictitious niece, Evelina, whose father is a
prominent hoopskirts manufacturer. The action centers on Dolly and Evelina's attempts to
eradicate the wearing of hoopskirts in favor of the much less confining and inhibiting bloomers.
The show also depicts the women's efforts to help an escaped slave to freedom via the
underground railroad.
The charming and eclectic score includes "The Eagle and Me" - which Stephen Sondheim recently
included in his list of Songs I Wish I Had Written, as well as the lyrical Right As the
Rain, and the spirited It Was Good Enough For Grandma (But It Ain't Good Enough For
Us) Agnes DeMille choreographed the original production, including the controversial "Civil
War Ballet," and her work provides the inspiration for this production.
Directed by Alisa Roost, Bloomer Girl will be fully staged with musical direction by Myra
Vassian and choreography by Julia Baumgarten, Heidi Flanagan and Amy Shure. The show also
boasts period costumes by James E. Crochet, lighting by Alan Keen, and settings by Ron Meyers.
The stellar cast of 25 has collectively performed on Broadway and in national tours of Cats,
Showboat, and Riverdance to name just a few. The company includes Maryellen Conroy,*
Meghan Maguire, Amy McAlexander, David McMullin,* Greg Mills,* Les Minski,* PJ Nelson,*
Tonianne Robinson,* Amy Shure,* Raphael Darrell Sligh, Frank Stellato,* Geoff Sullivan,* and
Lee Winston* (* denotes performers appearing courtesy of Actor's Equity Association)
Generous support of the Harburg Foundation and the Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Foundation
has helped make this production of Bloomer Girl possible. This production of
Bloomer Gir is an equity approved benefit, and all proceeds will go to Seven Works.
Serving the economically disadvantaged of the Hell's Kitchen/Clinton neighborhood, Seven Work
offers a variety of programs. These include numerous educational opportunities (such as
after-school and summer programs for children, and ESL programs for adults), a food pantry, a
free vet clinic for the animals of homeless and needy people, and employment opportunities for
adults with limited abilities.
CATS GARAGE SALE Sept. 16, 10
AM-6 PM, the Winter Garden auctioning off Cats props, costumes and other
memorabilia. The tire will be up for grabs, as will Railway Cat train pieces and various window
cards. The $10 admission and all proceeds will go to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights
AIDS.
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HEWES DESIGN AWARDS
2000
Tomorrow at a luncheon at the Mariott Marquis Hotel in New York City, the Hewes Design
Awards will be presented. 45 designers have been nominated for outstanding artistry in 24
production presented during the 1999-2000 New York theatre season. The Hewes Design
Awards were originally called the Maharams and later known as the American Theatre
WingDesign Awards.
These annual awards - now in their 36th year and renamed last year for co-founder Henry Hewes
- honor Of Broadway and off-off Broadway as well as Broadway designers for designs originating
in the U.S. winners receive honoraria and citations. Those nominated and the winners
are:
SCENIC DESIGN
John Lee Beatty Proof
Michael Brown The
Price
Bob Crowley Aida
David Gallo Jitney, The Wild
Party (MTC) WINNER
David Jenkins James Joyce's
The Dead
Thomas Lynch Contact, The
Music Man
Neil Patel Lydie
Breeze
Robert Brill The Laramie
Project
Myung Hee Cho Gertrude and
Alice
Richard Foreman Bad Boy
Nietzsche
Edward T. Gianfrancesco The
Big Bang
Eugene Lee A Moon for the
Misbegotten
Rob Odorisio An Empty Place
on the Cafe du Grand Boeuf
Robin Wagner Kiss Me Kate,
The Wild Party
COSTUME DESIGN
Gabriel Berry Lydie
Breeze
Bob Crowley Aida
William Ivey Long Contact,
The Music Man, Swing WINNER
Martin Pakledinaz Kiss Me
Kate, The Wild Party(MTC)
Jane Greenwood James Joyce's
The Dead
Susan Hilferty Dirty Blonde,
Jitney
Basil du Maurier (aka Boyd Graham) the Big Bang
LIGHTING DESIGN
Pat Collins A Moon for the
Misbegotten
Peter Kaczorowski Contact,
Kiss Me Kate, The Music Man WINNER
Kenneth Posner Swing, The
Wild Party(MTC)
Mimi Jordan Sherin Gertrude
and Alice
Nataska Katz Aida
David Lander Dirty Blonde
Rui Rita Dinner with
Friends
Jennifer Tipton James Joyce's
The Dead
NOTEWORTHY UNUSUAL
EFFECTS
Diller+Scofidio, design & video concept, Christopher Kondek video designer, Dan Dobson
sound, Jennifer Tipton lighting, dbox/James Gibbs & Fric Schuldenfrei computer animation,
Peter Norman video co-designer/video system designer for JET
LAG
Boyd Graham, Edward T Gianfrancesco, Basil du Maurier, Jennie Marino, theLipbalm
Penthouse backer's audition environment for THE BIG
BANG
Molly Hughes set, Jane Con lighting, Laurie Olinder projection & costumes, J. Hagenbuckle,
sound, for HYPATIA or THE DIVINE ALGEBRA
William Ivey Long, tap-shoe bedroom slippers, for SWING
Steve O'Hearn sets, puppets, costumes, for SWUONK WINNER
Gregory Meeh special effects for VOICES IN THE
DARK
Dan Moses Schreier sound for DIRTY BLONDE
CURTAIN DOWN
THE VISIT the John Kander-Fred
Ebb musical based on Friederich Duranmatt's famous play about a rich woman who seeks
revenge on a man she once loved - scheduled to open on Broadway this spring - has been
postponed at least until next season. Producer Barry Brown was unable to find a star to
replace Angela Lansbury, who dropped out of the show over the summer after her husband
became ill. That prompted a principal backer to cut her $4 million investment to $1 million.
Producers are looking at mounting a cheaper version in London. Diana Rigg's name is being
bandied about as the possible star.
STEVE LAWRENCE AND EYDIE GORME closed the Caesars Palace showroom in Las Vegas with style, class, a video
retrospective of the stars who played the famous showroom and Steve's keen sense of
humor - he brought down the house explaining to Steve Wynn that it was going to take more than
his imploding of so many hotels to get rid of Paul Anka.
CATS
closes tonight after 8 years, 7,485 performances, seven Tonys - including best
musical - and the
distinction of having been seen by more than 10 million people,
grossing more than $388 million.
Tonight's final howl is a by invitation-only show followed by a Jellicle Ball party for 1,500
people at Pier Sixty. A Grucci fireworks display will cap the evening.
The second-to-last
performance, September 9, was a benefit for the Actors' Fund, while yesterday's matinee had
an
audience filled with alumni from the show's past 18 years. Over 1,000 actors, stagehands and
crew have taken part in the show.
Cats opened October 7, 1982, and, on June 19, 1997, passed
A Chorus Line as the longest-running Broadway show of all time. The show's original cast
recording won a Grammy and sold more than 2 million copies.
Around the world, more than 50
million people have seen Cats - to the tune of $2.5 billion - in such countries as
Iceland, Korea,
Belgium, Spain and Hong Kong. The still-running London production, which opened May 11,
1981 at the New London Theatre, is the country's longest-running musical.
Several costumes,
set pieces, and the original conductor's score will go into the Smithsonian Institution.
MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM
VENUS
will translate from a1992 best-selling book with sales of 14 million, to a Las Vegas theatrical
production. According to the author, John Gray, who was in Las Vegas touting the project - this
is a musical comedy. "All the messages of my book are there, but cleverly disguised as pure
entertainment."
The production begins previews Sept. 18 at the Flamingo Hotel, officially opening in the 750-seat
showroom on September 28.
The production includes a 10-member cast featuring Janien Masse and Mark W. Smith, who
starred in the now shuttered Notre Dame de Paris. She was Esmeralda and he was
Phoebus. Men Are From Mars features 28 songs written by Rita Abrams.
On September 13 Gray gives his "Practical Miracles for Mars & Venus" lecture at the Hilton Hotel,
in Parsippany, NJ.
MISS SAIGON
which closes on
Broadway December 31 moves to Chicago, as part of their 2001 season. It will be an entirely new
production of the famous pop-musical treatment of Madam Butterfly,Expect a longer
than normal run at the Chicago's Mariott.
FAME Husby Performing
Arts Center, Washington Pavilion of Arts and Sciences, Sioux Falls, S.D. September 22-23 Tickets:
$24.25, $37.75 and $47.75.
LILY TOMLIN in The Search
for signs of Intelligent Life In The Universe written and directed by Jane Wagner now thru
October 7 at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. Production then moves to New York.
SWEENEY TODD:THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET
STREET called The Original Serial Killer. Performances begin
September 20 for this production by C.G. Bond, which will be directed by Marc Geller. The cast
includes: Edwin Sean Patterson as Sweeney Todd, Zoey O'Toole as Mrs. Lovett and David
Paterson, J.M. McDonough, Charlie Romanelli, Ellen Lindsay, Tom Kulesa, Mary Beth Twisdale,
Mike Murphy and Gabe Hernandez as the rest of the colorful characters that inhabit the demon
barber's 19th century London home. The lighting design is by Frank DenDanteIII. Gloria Maddox
Theatre, NYC.
BETRAYAL by Harold Pinter has
cast Juliette Binoche, Liev Shrieber and John Slattery. David Leveaux directs. Productions opens
at the Roundabout, NYC.
SEUSSICAL still set for a Nov
9th opening at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, NYC got mutilated by the Boston critics.
SING ALONG SOUND OF MUSIC it's the highest grossing film musical of all time and approaching its 35th
anniversary, the production has been reinvented as a campy sing-along. The audience
participatation version - think The Rocky Horror Show has crossed the pond after playing
to delirious crowds at the Prince Charles Cinema in London.
You're encouraged to attend in
costume and interact - in this instance - at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City. The basic
premise is simple: During such Rodgers and Hammerstein standards as Sixteen Going on
Seventeen; So Long, Farewell and Climb Ev'ry Mountain, moviegoers sing along
to the
lyrics, which appear on the screen as subtitles - your parents did that when Mitch Miller was
on
television - Sing Along with Mitch.
In this case, you're not in the privacy of your own home but
out in public where the entire audience is having a ball. In addition to singing along,
audience
members hold up queue cards and yell out instructions to the actors.
In London, when Julie
Andrews' fellow nuns ask, "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" the crowd holds up
postcards printed with question marks. When Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer)
first kisses Maria, they let throw confetti and let loose with the pull of party poppers.
Nuns' habits and lederhosen are popular choices.
WHO'S WHERE
DARYL HANNAH
DARYL HANNAH
makes her professional stage debut in The Seven Year Itch despite having
"this big thing
with stage fright."
The actress, who once was the significant other in the late JFK, Jr.'s life, will
play the role Marilyn Monroe played in the hit 1955 film. Of course, Monroe is said to have
had a relationship with JFK, Sr.
The production opens October 9 at London's Queen's Theater.
BRITNEY SPEARS N.O.
Superdome, LA September 20.
CHRISTINA AGUILERA plus
Destiny's Child, UNO Lakefront Arena, LA September 27.
CHICK COREA
performs
Thursday-Saturday at the Blue Note inside the Aladdin Hotel, Las Vegas. The nine-time Grammy
winner gets to Vegas early so he can check out the Blue Man Group at the Luxor Hotel.
Son Thaddeus has been a drummer with the unusual aggregation for the past five years. This will
be the first time Chick has had an opportunity to see him son in this production. The Old Man in
is for a culture shock.
OAK RIDGE BOYS will be
appearing for two concerts at the Grand Palace in Branson, Missouri on September 18.
CHARLOTTE CHURCH the
14-year-old Welsh vocalist, appears tonight with The Nashville Symphony in Nashville.
CLEO LAINE September 12-23 at Feinstein's
in New York City.
ANA GASTEYER, MERCEDES RUEHL & BROOKE SHIEDS
starring in The Vagina Monologues thru September 24. Westside
Theatre, NYC.
PATTI LUPONE with her
Matters of the Heart has 19 performances October 15-December 17 at Lincoln Center Theater,
NYC.
JERRY LEWIS who closes his first
engagement of his new contract this evening at the Orleans Hotel, Las Vegas, just bought his
wife, Sam, a horse.
THIS AND THAT
CLINT HOLMES recovering from
a torn knee cap he received when he did just one too many high-energy, sexy moves during his
performance at Harrah's Hotel, Las Vegas.
CINE VEGAS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL will be held at the Paris Hotel, Las Vegas Nov. 28-Dec.2 showing the best
of eight film festivals including London, Sundance and Toronto. Over 60 film will be screened.
TIARAS TURNING HEADS
Prince Albert of Monaco has been doing the charity circuit in New York. Tomorrow Sarah
Ferguson, the Duchess of York, co-hosts the Regis Talk Show and Crown Prince Philippe and
Princess Mathilde of Belgium went into the D'Agostino supermarket at 23rd and 8th Ave to offer
samplings of the Belgian products that will be sold at 24 D'Agostineo stores.
Mention BROADWAY TO VEGAS for Special Consideration
Call (800) 942-9027
Next Column: September 17, 2000
Copyright: September 10, 2000. All Rights Reserved.
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