Issue #48: July 15, 2000
2nd Anniversary Edition

• Zoe Wanamaker may be pushing Linda Lavin out of the double-header role in the revivals of Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound and Brighton Beach Memoirs due in early 2001. Lavin’s name was previously connected with these revivals but she has opted to sign on to reprise her role in Charles Busch’s The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife which proved to be a hit this past spring for the Manhattan Theatre Club. Look for it to open on Broadway in the fall.

• Close to 10 years and four incarnations in the making, the Charlotte Bronte-based musical Jane Eyre will open at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on December 3.

• Producing power couple Barry and Fran Weissler are currently developing a musical based on the Barbara Stanwyck/Gary Cooper 1941classic movie Ball of Fire.

• Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer is being adapted into musical material with a pre-Broadway premiere at New Haven, Connecticut’s Shubert Performing Arts Center. Previews begin February 27 with the opening on March 4. Following the two week run the production will go straight to Broadway.

• The musical Play On! which didn’t fare well at the Broadway box office a few seasons ago seems to have found a successful life on the road. Currently on tour in the U.S., the Duke Ellington themed production wraps up in Washington D.C. January 8, 200l. It heads downunder to Melbourne for a May 2001 opening.

• The revival of Tennessee William’s play Orpheus Descending continues at the Donmar Warehouse to August 12. Starring Helen Mirren and directed by Nicholas Hytner (The Madness of King George) the play has received wonderful reviews. I wonder if they are planning a Broadway run?

• This is the second anniversary of the On The Boards & In The Wings website. I hope you are enjoying the column and invite you to e-mail me with your thoughts and suggestions about items that you would like to see covered. If you have seen a production that you would like to comment on, do send me a critique and I will consider it for publication.

• The passing of Walter Matthau on July 1 was not only felt by the film community but also by the stage community. Best know for his comedic roles with his buddy Jack Lemmon, Matthau worked in more than 20 Broadway productions before moving into live television shows. His Broadway debut was in 1948 in Anne of a Thousand Days and for the next 16 years he earned Tony Awards as best actor for A Shot In the Dark (1961) and The Odd Couple (1964). In 1968 he recreated his Tony Award winning performance from The Odd Couple for the film. Asked to compare stage and film acting, he said “Theatre is pure, while movies are bits and pieces…On the stage, there are no tricks — it’s you.”