Bits and Pieces for 02.28.2010

This one is all about the ladies!  Hope you had a great week!

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

• CD's for a Desert Island...or a Blizzard
• The Olympian on Broadway
• The Change in Gay Theatre
• Back in Time: The Who's Tommy
• Updates: Come Fly Away and Love Never Dies
• Broadway Theatres: Part 4

See the very end of this blog for the answers to the second "6 Degrees of Broadway" game.

CATHERINE AND ANGELA

The producers of the hit revival of A Little Night Music announced this week that tickets will be on sale through August 29.  They also announced that both Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury would be leaving the show on June 20th.  Are they putting a feeler out there like the Bye Bye Birdie folks did when they anounced a big extension?  Are they hoping for an outcry from the public so as to get  the girls to extend?  And what about the Tonys?  With both likely contenders and winners, will this change their departure?  I guess time, and ticket sales, will tell.  If I were you, I wouldn't put off seeing this show much longer.  It could be years before we ever see a pairing like this one again.

PATTI AND LAURA (AND SHERIE)

Patti LuPone made the theatre news three times this week!  Once for announcing on her website that she wants fans to name her memoir.  Personally, I don't care what they call it, I just want the book!  It has to be one juicy read!  Sunset Boulevard?  Gypsy/Sweeney/Evita triumphs?  The Baker's Wife? 

Then came news that La LuPone has signed to co-star with Gypsy co-star and fellow Tony-winner Laura Benanti for a new TV pilot/series called Open Books.  In the CBS comedy, Benanti will play a boutque publishing house book editor, while LuPone will play her "tough cookie" mother.  What a stretch!  But seriously, how perfect!  They have amazing chemistry; let's hope it translates from stage to small screen.  It would be nice to have some Broadway divas back on TV full-time.  Not since Murder, She Wrote...

Don't despair theatre fans!  Ms. LuPone has also been cast in the final workshop of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, a new musical from David Yazbek and Jeffrey Lane, which is slated to be next season's first new musical.  Also in the workshop are Jessica Biel, Tom Hewitt and Sherie Renee Scott, who was last on Broadway in Yazbek and Lane's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

BERNADETTE

Speaking of Broadway divas, Bernadette Peters announced that she will be playing a mom with two kids - one who worships her (not a gay son, as you might expect) and one who can't be rid of her fast enough.  The film, called Coming Up Roses, has Peters playing a former Broadway diva, now struggling with 2nd national tours!  The Goodbye Girl II?

LUCY THE SLUT

Speaking of Broadway divas (ok, now she's off-Broadway) Lucy the Slut made headlines in Colorado Springs, Colorado, when pictures of her pink fuzzy cleavage were removed from bus stops.  Seems the tour will be in town for a few days, and ads will now feature the rest of the cast.  They do know Rod is gay, right?  Lucy had plenty to say in an issued statement, but I don't feel comfortable putting any of it on here...LOL

BROADWAY BY THE NUMBERS

• In the race to get snow-bound tourists, lots of shows offered significant discounts to their Friday, February 26th performances.  Looks like Memphis pulled a Wal-Mart and under bid them all with tickets for just $26.50.  A real bargain for a great show.  Why haven't you gone yet???
• Memphis  finally will release its cast recording nationwide on the Rhino Record label on March 30.  Better get to the Shubert and see the show AND snatch up what will now be a collector's item: the labeless "Special Edition."
• Fred Applegate will be Dindon in the La Cage aux Folles revival.
• 60: The number of days until April 29, the cut-off for 2010 Tony Award eligibility.
• 65: The number of days until May 4, the day that 2010 Tony Award nominations are announced.
• 104: The number of days until June 13, the night of the Tony Awards telecast.
• 105: The number of days until All That Chat runs amok with Tony Awards bitching.

Happy Birthday last week to:

• 2/21: Christine Ebersole
• 2/22: Lea Salonga
• 2/23: Sophie Hayden
• 2/24: the late Joan Diener
• 2/25: Sally Jessy Raphael
• 2/26: Priscilla Lopez
• 2/27: Debra Monk

6 DEGREES OF BROADWAY: THE WICKED EDITION ANSWERS!

1.  Wicked to A Chorus Line (original production)
Wicked is choreographed by Wayne Cilento, who was an original cast member of the original production of A Chorus Line.

2.  Wicked to Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
Wicked is directed by Joe Mantello, who was in the original cast of Angels in America: Millennium Approches.

3.  Wicked to The Elephant Man (original production)
Carole Shelley was in the original casts of both Wicked and The Elephant Man.  She won a Tony for the latter show.

4.  Wicked to Bob Fosse
Wicked's score is written by Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the score for Pippin, which was directed and coreographed by Bib Fosse.

5.  Wicked to Sweet Smell of Success
Wicked starred Norbert Leo Butz, who co-starred in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with John Lithgow, who starred in Sweet Smell of Success

6.  Andy Pellick to Alli Mauzey
Andy Pellick was an original cast member of Tarzan along with Chester Gregory II, who starred in Cry-Baby with Alli Mauzey.  (Yes, Alli was in Wicked, but she was a replacement, not in the original company.)

7.  The Gershwin Theatre to The Phantom of the Opera
Home to Wicked, The Gershwin Theatre was also home to the 1994 revival of Show Boat, which was directed by Harold Prince who also directed The Phantom of the Opera.  (He also directed Sweeney Todd, which played the Uris Theatre, which was renamed The Gershwin Theatre.)

8.  Kristofer Cusick to Megan Mullally
Kristofer Cusick is an original cast member of Wicked and Saturday Night Fever, which also featured Paul Castree, who co-starred in the 90's revival of Grease! with Megan Mullally.

9.  Kristin Chenoweth to Gavin Creel
Wicked's Kristin Chenoweth was in The Apple Tree with Marc Kudisch, who was in the original cast of Thoroughly Modern Millie with Gavin Creel.

10.  Idina Menzel to Jenny Powers
Wicked's Idina Menzel was in the original cast of RENT with Gilles Chaisson, whi was in The Scarlet Pimpernel with Sutton Foster, who was in Little Women with Jenny Powers.

I'm sure there were many other ways to do these!  Find a shorter way?  Send it in!  Ideas for more puzzles?  Send those in, too!  Look for more "6 Degrees" in April.  A new crossword puzzle starts later this week.


Comments?  Leave one here or email me at jkstheatrescene@yahoo.com.
Jeff