Broadway To Vegas
SHOW REVIEWS CELEBRITY INTERVIEWS GOSSIP NEWS
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Copyright: March 31, 2002
By: Laura Deni
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WHEN THE MOTHER DOESN'T
KNOW
THE RACE OF THE FATHER
Bill O'Reilly
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Bill O'Reilly, who hosts the top rated Fox cable network show with his O'Reilly Factor, is coming
to the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas for one, sold out show April 5.
We don't know what
he intends to discuss - but
the hot topic of conversation last Monday was his interview with Rosie O'Donnell, which drew
over six million viewers.
"Would you say it is better for a child - any
child - to have a responsible heterosexual mother and father than it would be to be put in a
homosexual home?" questioned O'Reilly regarding O'Donnell's involvement in adoption services.
Rosie O'Donnell
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"When we have a birth mother who is pregnant and she doesn't know the race of the father. She
is using drugs. She is in crisis. Usually, we cannot place that baby with a heterosexual family.
Almost all of the time when we have a drug addicted child we place the child with a homosexual
family," O'Donnell explained.
Unfortunately, Rosie's answer was quickly passed over.
When O'Reilly took off his bombastic, belligerent, ratings winning
facade and conducted this dignified, sit down discussion it was intelligent and sensitive. It was
also one of O'Reilly's best interviews.
O'Donnell and O'Reilly have more in common
than probably
either of them suspect.
Sadly, the subject matter strayed away from the issues of foster care and adoptions and drifted
into gun control, and raising money for 9/11 survivors - all important topics but diverting focus
from the babies.
Headlines have since trumpeted Rosie's comments about 9/11
monetary contributions from celebrities. While serious and meaningful - the issues on the table
were
unplaceable children and the options available through foster care and adoption.
Currently three states have laws that do not permit homosexuals to
adopt children. In paradoxical
state laws, the homosexual who is denied the right to adopt a child can be the caregiver to
that same child, as a foster parent, from the day the child is born until the child turns 18.
People who become foster parents receive some financial compensation from the state because
foster children are Wards of the State. Parents who adopt children do not receive that income
because, through the adoption process, they have assumed financial support for the
child.
People need to stop titillating about O'Donnell's sex life - which for the working mother of three
probably isn't as exciting as yours - and pay attention to the doomed from birth children that are
daily propagated in this country.
There are a multitude of unwanted babies - and we are not talking cute, blonde haired,
blue eyed, well bred little darlings who will grow up graduating from Harvard.
These are babies whose race is not exactly known, born addicted to drugs, have low birth
weight, below average intelligence, with physical and mental problems. These babies are a mess
and nobody wants them.
They arrive into a tax payer supported welfare system and live in an impersonal, taxpayer
funded, institutional environment until they are kicked out because they have reached the age of
eighteen. Then they live on our streets or in our jails.
Many die young - from diseases they were born with, to being murdered in gang fights,
killed by the police while committing a crime, or by court order on death row.
Sometimes there are loving, stable, nurturing families who will serve as foster or adoptive parents
to these children.
There must be a special angel division for these people because they
are above
the flock.
These high maintenance, unwanted children can both emotionally and
financially
drain
the family.
Occasionally, nurture can overcome nature and these doomed from the start, unclaimed creatures
survive and thrive - reaffirming that all the effort of that foster or adoptive family wasn't
misplaced.
For every heterosexual family that feels it is wrong for an emotionally stable, financially able,
loving, supporting homosexual family to become adoptive parents - we have a
suggestion - you adopt one of these children.
THE MUSIC GOES ROUND AND
ROUND
This glorious CD My Favorite Things - A Richard Rodgers Celebration washes over the
listener nourishing the aural soul - from invigorating the tired to calming the tense - just put it
on - hit the replay button and let the songs engulf.
My Favorite Things - A Richard Rodgers Celebration is a celebration of the best - songs,
musicians, orchestrations, conducting, singing.
Conductor Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Orchestra celebrate the music of Broadway's
Richard Rodgers with this CD. Lockhart and the Pops pay tribute to the legacy of America's
greatest theatrical composer in 13 newly recorded selections from ten of Rodgers' greatest
musicals, including Oklahoma!, The King and I, On Your Toes, Carousel and The
Sound of Music.
Martina McBride
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Primarily an instrumental effort, Lockhart is joined by multi-platinum country superstars Martina
McBride, doing a knock-out job of performing the title track, and Collin Raye who sings the title
song from The Sound of Music.
One of Broadway's newest stars Jason Danieley of The Full Monty and Candide
fame, is heard in I Have Dreamed from The King and I.
The disc also features two recording premieres - March of the Clowns from The
Nursery Ballet (1938) orchestrated by Roy Bargy, and the Paul Whiteman symphonic version
of Slaughter on Tenth Avenue from On Your Toes, orchestrated by Hans
Spialek.
Addition highlights on this deserves-to-win-a-Grammy CD include former Boston Pops conductor
John Williams' arrangement of The Surrey with the Fringe on Top from
Oklahoma! and Grammy winner Don Sebesky's arrangements of Grant Avenue
from Flower Drum Song and I Have Dreamed from The King and
I.
Completing the recording are the main title from the film version of Oklahoma!, The Carousel
Waltz from Carousel, Shall We Dance? from The King and I, the overture
from Babes in Arms, D-Day from Victory at Sea and Mountain Greenery
from The Garrick Gaieties of 1926.
Richard Rodgers
 |
This year marks the Centennial of composer Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) with
commemorations planned through the year.( See Broadway To Vegas column of December 30,
2001)
The Boston Pops, known as America's orchestra - and acknowledged as the most recorded
orchestra in the world - will present an all-Rodgers program on the PBS Program Evening at
Pops in July, as well as a Rodgers segment during the Pops' annually televised Fourth of July
special broadcast on the A&E network.
Keith Lockhart
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This year Lockhart marks his seventh anniversary as the orchestra's twentieth conductor.
My Favorite Things - A Richard Rodgers Celebration is Lockhart's eighth
release with the Boston Pops Orchestra on RCA Victor. Since 1996 he has also tallied up some
frequent flyer miles as the conductor of the Utah Symphony.
Anyone who can find fault with either Keith Lockhart or the Boston Pops has a problem.
Anything you could ever hope for in a CD from a Pops orchestra is waxed to perfection on this
release. Hopefully, every person involved in this effort is proud - they deserve the plaudits.
Don't try to analyze the motivation or methods in how they did it. Every once in awhile
perfection comes along. When that happens - just enjoy the results.
This CD will be released April 23 on the RCA Victor label. Get your order in early. A
must addition. Buy it for a friend. But it for yourself.
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RADIO AND TELEVISION SALUTES
RICHARD RODGERS
The Museum of Television & Radio both the New York and Los Angeles branches will
celebrate Richard Rodgers' centennial with a screening series.
Julie Andrews and Jon Cypher rehearse their
roles in Cinderella
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From April 5 through June 30 the Museum, which houses over 100,000 programs, will feature
rarely seen and recently discovered footage of several Rodgers TV appearances.
Highlights of
A Tribute to Richard Rodgers: The Sound of His Music include April 5-11 screenings of
Cinderella starring Julie Andrews, the only Rodgers and Hammerstein musical written
expressly for TV.
Also slated April 12-18 is the showing of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
This program took place during Carson's first year as host and the segment was a tribute to the
late composer of South Pacific and Oklahoma!, which included chats with
Rodgers and director Joshua Logan as well as performances by Diahann Carroll, Florence
Henderson and Earl
Wrightson.
Marlon Brando made his Broadway debut as Nils
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The quiz show What's My Line? in which Rodgers and Hammerstein
appeared as mystery guests is scheduled to be run as is The 1979 Tony Awards in
which Liv Ullmann and the cast of Broadway's I Remember Mama perform A Little
Bit More.
Before Rogers turned I Remember Mama into a musical he brought it to the stage as a
drama
- encouraged to read the original book by his wife.
Marlon Brando made his Broadway debut in the 1944 I Remember Mama original at the
Music Box
Theatre. He played son Nils. The cast included Mady Christians, Oscar Homolka, Frances Heflin,
and
Nancy Marquand.
The New York branch of the Museum will also hold a seminar entitled Music By Richard
Rodgers: A Discussion of His Work on April 9. The 90-minute discussion
will include a panel of Rodgers' colleagues who will discuss working with the composer. The
panel will comprise Ted Chapin, the president and executive director of The Rodgers &
Hammerstein Organization; Martin Charnin, Rodgers' collaborator for Two by Two and
I Remember Mama; Rodgers' daughter, composer Mary Rodgers; filmmaker Roger
Sherman; and Peter Stone, who worked with Rodgers on Androcles and the Lion and
Two by Two.
The April 19-25 the presentation will be Androcles and the Lion. Noel Coward, John
Cullum,
Ed Ames, Geoffrey
Holder, Norman Wisdom and Inga Swenson star in the television musical.
Sergio Franchi
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April 26-May 2 showcases The American Musical Theatre. Host Earl Wrightson
welcomes
Rodgers,
who discusses his collaboration with Stephen Sondheim on Do I Hear a Waltz? The
show's
stars,
Elizabeth Allen and Sergio Franchi perform several numbers.
On May 1, 1990, after a
courageous battle, the Italian born Franchi lost his life to cancer. When he became
an American citizen in 1972, he used to say very proudly, "Now I'm a Yankee
Franchi!" He had been a Las Vegas resident performing on a regular basis in Las
Vegas hotels, as well as venues around the world. His widow now resides in
Connecticut and is head of the Sergio Franchi Music Foundation. Since 1993 over
120 scholarships and awards have been bestowed upon vocal students.
Also part of the Rodgers tribute is ABC Stage 67: Rodgers and Hart
Today in which Rodgers and Hart collaborations are given a 60's twist with performances by
the
Supremes, Petula Clark, Count Basie, Peter Gennaro, the Mamas and the Papas and others.
May 3-9 features Person to Person in which host Edward R. Murrow interviews Rodgers
and his
wife Dorothy.
An Evening for Richard Rodgers is a production where Rodgers' friends and colleagues
pay tribute to him, including performances by Vivienne Segal, Alfred Drake, Mary Martin and
Vera Zorna.
From May 10-16 it's Max Liebman Presents: Dearest Enemy. Cyril Ritchard, Robert
Sterling and Cornelia Otis Skinner star in an adaptation of Rodgers and Hart's 1925
musical.
General Foods: Presenting Rodgers and Hammerstein is the May 17-23 selection. Yul
Brynner, Mary
Martin, Ezio Pinza, John Raitt and Jan Clayton re-create their Broadway moments in this tribute
to Rodgers and Hammerstein.
From May 24-30 it's Max Liebman Presents: A Connecticut Yankee Eddie Albert stars
in a revised version of Rodgers and Hart's 1927 Broadway hit.
May 31-June 6 Victory at Sea: Beneath the Southern Cross highlights an episode from
the 26-part documentary series, which featured music by Rodgers.
The Perry Como Show in which Como,
Rodgers and the Ray Charles Singers perform a medley of Rodgers songs will also be
screened.
Stage 2 Rodgers and Hart Revisited features Stuart Damon, Karen Morrow and Susan
Watson singing some of Rodgers and Hart's less familiar tunes.
June 7-13 focuses on Armstrong Circle Theatre: Carousel starring Robert Goulet as
Billy Bigelow in an adaptation of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.
June 14-20 showcases The Ed Sullivan Show. Barbara Cook, Diahann Carroll and Danny
Kaye are among the performers who sing Rodgers and Hammerstein tunes during these vintage
Ed Sullivan clips.
June 21-30: Rodgers and Hammerstein: The Sound of American Music has Mary Martin
as host for
this documentary, which includes interviews with the songwriting team, rare TV clips and
reminiscences from Shirley Jones, Agnes de Mille, John Raitt, Theodore Bikel and others.
SWEET CHARITY
THE 13th GLAAD MEDIA AWARDS have two celebrations - one in New York City and the other in Los Angeles. The NYC gala takes place on April Fool's Day and the Los
Angeles event is on April 13.
The west coast event will fete the icon, Shirley MacLaine, as well as Alan Ball, the producer/writer of HBO's
award-winning Six Feet Under. Gossip has Elizabeth Taylor presenting MacLaine her GLAAD
accolade.
Nathan Lane and Glenn Close will be honored during tomorrow's New York event. While
Nathan has just departed The Producers, Close is talking about returning to Broadway as
Blanche Du Bois in the Tennessee Williams masterpiece A Streetcar Named Desire. While
on the Oscar red carpet last Sunday she spoke into the microphone saying: "I've been asked to
do A Streetcar Named Desire by the National Theater in London. Then, we will bring it to
Broadway."
FULLERTON CALIFORNIA CIVIL LIGHT OPERA
celebrates its 30th anniversary with two benefit performances April
6-7
starring John Raitt, who got his start in that neck of the woods. Raitt was the original star of
Carousel and The Pajama Game.
Joining him will be Broadway's T. Eric Hart (The Scarlet Pimpernel) and Richard Kinsey
(Les Miserables). Other talent on stage will include Leslie Tinnaro, John Huntington, Christopher
Carothers, Alyson Fainbarg, Patti Diamond, Jack Ritschel, Susan Dohan, Debbi Ebert and Robert
Lauder, Jr.
The evening features music from recent FCLO productions including Jekyll & Hyde, Children
of Eden and My Fair Lady as well as selections from Side Show, Seesaw, Sweet
Charity, Rocky Horror Show, Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods.
Sha Newman and Joe Fletcher direct the event.
OTHER PEOPLE'S
MONEY
The LEAGUE OF AMERICAN THEATRES AND
PRODUCERS has returned one million dollars of the two and a
half million given last fall by the city to eleven Broadway productions.
That donation
was to offset the audience shortage after
September 11.
The returned money will be used for other art related projects.
BETRAYAL
A psychological drama by Harold Pinter
Directed by Peter Hackett
Pinter's taut psychological detective story takes a hard look at a variety of betrayals sparked by an
adulterous affair. The play begins two years after the affair has ended and, in a masterstroke of
narrative, works its way backwards in time nine years. The illicit lovers are Jerry and Emma.
Robert is the highly successful writer, who is both Emma's husband and Jerry's best friend.
Through sheer mastery of language, Pinter infuses Betrayal with profound emotion and
suspense.
Set, costume and light design by Cleveland Play House Associate Artist, Pavel
Dobrusky.
The Baxter Stage of The Cleveland Playhouse Apr. 9- May 5.
FORTUNE'S FOOL Mike
Poulton's adaptation of the 19th century Turgenev comedy, starring Alan Bates and Frank Langella, opens Tuesday at the
Music Box Theater, NYC. Arthur Penn directs.
UNDERPANTS
by the
multi-talented Steve Martin opens April 4 at the Classic Stages Company, NYC. The play is an
adaptation of Carl Sternheim's comedy about a man whose wife shames him when her bloomers
fall down in public. Lee Wilkof, Cheryl Bowers, Patrick Boll, Christian Camargo, William Duell,
Byron Jennings, Kristine Nielsen are directed by Barry Edelstein.
Scott Pask in charge
of set design, Angela Wendt costumes with Elizabeth Rhodes heading up sound and Russell H. Champa
lighting director.
Performances through April 28.
CHICAGO has cast changes in the
Broadway production. Denise Van Outen, is making her American stage debut as Roxie Hart and Polly
Bergan is now Fraulein Schneider in the Tony Award winning Kander and Ebb musical. Slated to also come on
board April 19 is Jane Leeves in the role of Sally Bowles. Studio 54. NYC.
THE GRADUATE staring
Kathleen Turner as Mrs Robinson and Jason Biggs as her boy-toy Ben officially opens April 4. One of the hits of
the season. Plymouth Theatre, NYC.
THE GUYS
by Anne Nelson, starring Swoosie Kurtz and Tim Robbins opens April 2 at The Bat in NYC.
The 9/11 inspired drama is a dialogue between a fire captain who has lost most of his men in the
Sept. 11 attack and an editor who helps him write the eulogies as she struggles herself to come to
terms with the event.
Bat artistic director Jim Simpson serves as director.
Costumes are by Claudia
Brown, set and lights are by Kyle Chepulis.
The Bat is located at The Flea, NYC.
TOPDOG/UNDERGDOG about
two struggling brothers, opens at the Ambassador in NYC on April 7. Stars Jeffrey Wright and Mos Def. The
actors play two rival brothers stuck in an apartment together fighting over the past. Written by
Suzan-Lori Parks, who received a MacArthur grant
in 2000. She lives in Brooklyn and commutes to Los Angeles to run the drama program at Cal
Arts. Her last play, In the Blood, was a Pulitzer Prize nominee two years ago. She's working on
Hoops, a musical about the Harlem Globetrotters, which also is headed for Broadway.
MENOPAUSE THE MUSICAL!
an effort to find something hilarious about women and The Change - opens at Theater Four in
New York City on April 4.
Menopause The Musical!, produced by Mark
Schwartz and TOC Productions, in association with Brent Peek, is a musical parody that chronicles the
meeting of four women at a lingerie sale in Bloomingdale's fighting over a black lace bra, with
nothing in common but memory loss, hot flashes, night sweats, chocolate binges, wrinkles, plastic
surgery, hormones, not enough sex, too much sex, and much more.
Twenty-eight parodied lyrics of 60s and 70s tunes such as I Heard It Through the Grapevine,
You'll No Longer See 39 to that disco favorite Stayin' Awake, Stayin' Awake
documents the baby boomer mantra, "It's not The Silent Passage anymore!"
With book and lyrics by Jeanie Linders and directed by Kathleen Lindsey, Menopause The
musical! has musical direction and arrangements by Corinne Aquilina, choreography by Patty
Bender, set design by Jesse Poleshuck, costume design by Martha Bromelmeier, lighting design by
Michael Gilliam, and sound design by Johanna Doty.
The cast includes Joy Lynn Matthews, Mary Jo McConnell, Carolann Page and Joyce A. Presutti,
who play a power professional, an aging soap opera star, an Iowa housewife, and a
lost-in-the-sixties hippie.
THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS starring Ann-Margret and Gary Sandy open up shop at the Aladdin Hotel,
Las Vegas on April 2.
BORN YESTERDAY directed by
Suzi Regan. When Harry Brock blows into the nation's capital, he expects the politicians of
Washington D.C. to bow to his beck, bellows and commands. Harry's bluster helped him reach the
top of his corporate junkyard empire, but he'll need the help of a few crooked pals to increase his
mountain of wealth.
Although his drunken lawyer and bumbling cousin are quick to conspire with the scheme, Harry's
feisty, beautiful bombshell, Miss Billie Dawn, is not too keen to the shenanigans. Their on-going
battle of the sexes, of brawn and bravado versus beauty and brains, take center stage in this
classic comedy.
Guy Sanville and Michelle Mountain portray Harry Brock and Billie Dawn, the same roles
which were made famous on film by Broderick Crawford and Judy Holiday. The production will
also feature Joey Albright, Rhonda English, Randall Godwin, Terry Heck, Tobin Hissong,
Tom Mahard and Phil Powers.
Special Student Matinees will take place April 17 and May 8. Reduced ticket price of $10,
chaperones free of charge. Talk-back follows with actors and director. Student study guides
provided prior to performance. Jeff Daniels' Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea MI. April 4th -
June 15th.
OBSERVE THE SONS OF ULSTER MARCHING
TOWARDS
THE
SOMME
Scott Wolf
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written by Frank McGuinness, directed by Nicholas Martin stars Scott Wolf and Justin
Theroux.
In this drama on life, death, and comrades-in-arms, an outfit of World War I soldiers - all
Protestant Nationalists from the province of Ulster - discover the value of friendship and the meaning of
duty. Whether engaging in barrack banter, falling in love, or searching for answers, the young men form
common bonds of understanding. Causes and loyalty change meaning as the action progresses.
The undaunted idealism of youth and the reckless actions they give way to is followed by the
revelation of truth in the face of mounting combat.
Performances began March 30 continuing thru May 5 at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston.
WHO'S WHERE
MICHAEL FEINSTEIN AND ANN
HAMPTON
CALLAWAY with the Big Kahuna and thee Copa Cat Pack will
delight the crowds April 6 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts in Cerritos,
CA. and April 7 at the University of Nevada Performing Arts Center, Las
Vegas.
PAUL McCARTNEY center stage
April 5-6 in Las Vegas at the MGM-Grand Garden Arena.
ARLO GUTHRIE performing April 6
Roanoak Island Festival Park in Manteo, N.C.
BARRY MANILOW begins a three
night engagement on Thursday at the Aronoff Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
LINDA EDER can be enjoyed Friday
and Saturday at the Myerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas.
PLACIDO DOMINGO stars in a new
production of Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's Sly, an opera inspired by Shakespeare's The Taming of the
Shrew. The tenor's wife, Marta Domingo will make her Metropolitan Opera debut, directing her
husband. She has been an operatic director for over ten years and in 1999, she directed tenor Jose Carreras
in Sly, when the production was first performed in Washington. April 1 Metropolitan
Opera, NYC.
BARBARA COOK in concert:
April 3 at Symphony Hall in Boston, MA.
BILL MAHER will perform April 5-6
at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas.
ARSENIO HALL telling stories April 6
at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
BERNADETTE PETERS entertaining
April 5-6 at the Orange County Perf. Arts Center in Costa Mesa, CA.
CHICAGO entertains Tuesday at the
United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas. On Thursday and Friday the group is at the Horseshoe Casino in
Bossier City, LA and on Saturday they are in the spotlight at Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi.
PIFFLE AND
PROFUNDITIES
Four chocolate covered marshmallow Easter eggs have 210 calories and 7 grams of fat
Next Column: April 7, 2002
Copyright: March 31, 2002. All Rights Reserved. Reviews, Interviews, Commentary,
Photographs or Graphics from any Broadway To Vegas (TM) columns may not be published, broadcast,
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utilized as leads, or used in any manner without permission,
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