Issue #69: June 15, 2001
Summer Edition - next issue July 15

• As expected, June 3 was not the Tony Awards but Mel Brooks’ Night on Broadway. With a record 12 Tony Awards (breaking Hello Dolly’s record of 10 in 1964), The Producers is the toast of Broadway. Theatregoers everywhere are chomping at the bit to see the phenomenon either in New York or on the road. Plans are in the works for a tour, details at a later date.

• Other news on The Producers front, it looks like Canadian comedian Martin Short will fill in for Matthew Broderick when he takes a six week leave in the fall to shoot a movie. With his proven stage experience and box office draw, maybe this is an opportunity for Short to get familiar with the role. It will give him an opportunity to strut his stuff for the producers and possibly land the role after Broderick leaves or heads the cast of the touring company. All speculation at this point.

• Broadway veteran Polly Bergen returned to Broadway after a 43-year absence with a Tony award nomination for her role in Follies. She performed a number from the revival on the awards telecast.

• I attended the opening night of The Full Monty in Toronto, kicking off the national tour. Although it received mixed reviews from two of the four daily newspapers, I thought the production was entertaining and the talent convincing. It looks like this company will stay in Toronto until September then it will head to Chicago when the tour hits the road.

• Matthew Bourne brings his latest London production, The Car Man to North America for a national tour kicking off at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles from September 12 through to October 28. Bourne is best known for his recent avante guard production of Swan Lake. Other cities on the tour include St. Paul, Berkley, Seattle, Chicago, Toronto and Boston.

• Other productions set for the Ahmanson Theatre’s upcoming season include Disney’s Aida from November 11 to January 6, with music and lyrics by Elton John and Tim Rice. Also a revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods from February 4 to March 24. A fourth production yet to be announced, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife will end the season from July 17 to September 1.

• Stage and film star Kenneth Branagh will be returning to what he loves best — Shakespeare. He will play Richard III from March 13 to April 6, 2002 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. This is his first stage appearance since he played Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Co. in 1992.

• A wave of sadness and fond memories swept over me when I heard of the passing of Anthony Quinn. Truly a man larger than life, I had the pleasure of working with him in Toronto in March 1985 when he was on tour with Zorba. Even then at 70, his charisma and magnetism filled any room he walked into. Yes, he was often accused of being a womanizer but when in his presence the attraction to him was undeniable. He will be remembered for more than 130 movie roles including Zorba the Greek, Viva Zapata!, Lust for Life and Lawrence of Arabia. My memories will be of the fit (he bicycled or swam every day while on the Zorba tour) passionate theatre actor who dazzled this young publicist. He died at 86 on June 3.