Issue #44: May 1, 2000
Special Double Issue—next issue June 1

• The New York Theater Workshop production of Dirty Blonde moves into the Helen Hayes Theatre on May 1. The Claudia Shear play about Mae West will then make the eligibility deadline for the Tony nominations.

• The musical Thunder Knockin’ on the Door will open at the Off Broadway Minetta Lane Theatre when the current production of Fuddy Meers closes. Thunder .. a musical about two dueling blues guitarists, has already made the rounds to the Arena Stage, The Guthrie, the Old Globe and the Stamford Center for the Arts.

• John Hurt will tread the Broadway boards when he repeats his London solo performance of Beckett’s 1958 play Krapp’s Last Tape in the fall. Along with this stage performance, Hurt’s Krapp will be filmed by Canadian director Atom Egoyan as part of a series of 19 Beckett plays. The film project should be completed by the end of June with the television rights currently being negotiated in the U.S. by the PBS station WNET.

• Donna Hanover, wife of New York mayor Rudolph (Rudy) Giuliani will join the cast of the off-Broadway hit The Vagina Monologues from May 30 to June 11. What is interesting is that playwright Eve Ensler is a friend and political supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rudy’s opponent in the U.S. Senate race. I wonder how lively the dinner conversation is at Gracie Mansion these days.

• Following in the footsteps of the London production, producer Cameron Mackintosh has announced the closing of Miss Saigon. The last performance will take place on December 31 after almost 10 years and 4,063 performances. Have no fear though — you can still catch the musical as the touring company continues to criss-cross North America.

• The Goodspeed Opera House’s second stage, Goodspeed-at-Chester/The Norma Terris Theater in Chester, Conn. will be the sight of a revised version of Jerry Herman’s musical Dear World. A disappointment when it premiered in 1969 on Broadway, the Goodspeed will present the reworked piece November 16 to December 10.

• The summer season for The Berkshire Theater Festival’s Unicorn Theater will host three new works. The world premiere of Katharine Houghton’s Best Kept Secret, a Dangerous Liaison in the Cold War begins on June 16. Other world premieres include Richard Chamberlain in Gary Socol’s The Shadow of Greatness and the musical Say Yes! with music by Wally Harper and book and lyrics by Sherman Yellen. Two other plays on the bill at the Stockbridge, Mass., festival include Bruce Graham’s Coyote on a Fence and The Einstein Project by Paul D’Andrea and Jon Klein.

• The British premiere of the Frances Hodgson Burnett’s children’s classic The Secret Garden will open in November at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Startford-upon-Avon. The musical adaptation opened on Broadway in 1991, however this production promises to be extensively reworked.

• Australian producers are staging a comeback following a tough few years that saw the closing of producer Cameron Mackintosh’s plush office in Sydney last year. Among them is Tony Award-winner John Frost ready to make his West End debut with his Broadway hit revival of The King and I. Opening at London’s Palladium Theatre on May 3 the role of Anna is played by musical superstar Elaine Paige and the King is Jason Scott Lee. Next on Frost’s plate is the world premiere of the $4 million Tim Rice’s Musical Spectacular set to open this month in Sydney. On stage will be Auzzie stars Anthony Warlow, Kate Cebrano and INXS members Tim and Andrew Farriss singing songs from Jesus Christ Superstar, The Lion King, Aida and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In April 2001 look for Frost to open a $2million revival of Man of La Mancha starring Warlow. Things a hopping downunder — more to come in future columns.

• The 45th Annual Village Voice Obie Awards take place on Monday, May 15 at Webster Hall in Manhattan. This year’s salute to excellence in Off and Off-Off-Broadway theatre is hosted by Patrick Stewart and Claudia Shear. Presenters will include television’s Sport’s Night star Felicity Huffman and Fargo’s William H. Macy.

• Last year’s Pulitzer Prize winner for drama, Margaret Edson plans to continue teaching in Atlanta even though her masterpiece Wit ran for two seasons off-Broadway and is currently in London with an opening in Toronto planned for February. The 39 year-old kindergarten teacher doesn’t consider herself a playwright even after the awards and reviews the touching tale of a woman’s struggle with ovarian cancer has received. Let’s hope she reconsiders and puts pen to paper again in the not too distant future.

• With Broadway becoming more and more corporate the passing on April 25 of producer David Merrick brings to an end a very colourful chapter in Broadway history. In poor health since a 1983 stroke the theatre legend died in his sleep in London at the age of 88. For over six decades, Merrick, winner of six Tony awards, produced some of the greatest musicals and plays in Broadway history. From Gypsy, Hello, Dolly!, and 42^nd Street to Look Back in Anger, Becket, Cactus Flower and Travesties the controversial showman always believed any publicity is good publicity. Merrick was responsible for bringing British theatre to Broadway, which we continue to enjoy. Among the imports he introduced to North Americans were Oliver!, playwrights John Osbourne, Tom Stoppard, Shelagh Delaney, Joe Orton and Brian Friel. When thinking of Broadway’s heyday it is David Merrick’s name that comes to mind.