Issue #76: November 1, 2001

• Kevin Bacon (Footloose) has signed to star in Heather McDonald’s An Almost Holy Picture at the American Airlines Theater in February. Picture will replace the revival of Stephen Sondheim/John Weidman’s Assassins which was postponed following the events of September 11. The Roundabout Theater Company is now looking at a spring or 2002-03 season opening for Assasins.

• I had the pleasure of seeing Dance of Death starring Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen on a recent visit to New York. It was wonderful to see Broadway theatre rebounding and to enjoy performances by two of today’s best stage actors. Visually it was a feast and spiritually uplifting. The theatre was full on a Friday and with the production located across the street from The Producers one could almost be transported to pre-11th Broadway enthusiasm.

• As previously mentioned, the touring production of The Full Monty is now on hiatus with the producers citing the events of September 11 for business fall off. Although there are differing views in the community it looks as if the road giant Clear Channel (formerly SFX and PACE Theatricals) will rework the production, trim expenses and turn it into a true "bus and truck" tour that can play one week engagements. This will ensure longevity of the tour and allow a greater financial gain for the road producer. A new and somewhat smaller company is predicted to hit the road in 2002.

• Producer Cameron Mackintosh has closed the door on the Witches of Eastwick at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Although the re-launch was well received the production never did recoup and with most shows struggling at this time it was a wise financial move to shut it down. However, there is talk of the musical being staged in Moscow in 2002 as well as in Australia, Norway, Hungary and Japan. A U.S. tour is in the works for November 2002 with Dirty Dancing’s Patrick Swayze in the role of Darryl Van Horne.

• The Australian arm of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group has ventured into China with a successful concert in Beijing showcasing Lloyd Webber’s music. Plans are in the works to stage one of his musicals there in the next 12 to 24 months. Other plans for the Asian market include the staging of The Phantom of the Opera in Korea in December and in the Philippines in 2003.

• As I mentioned in my last column, I visited New York one month after the attack on the World Trade Centre. It is difficult to articulate the feeling one has visiting a place that was once home for five years. There is a veil of sadness that cloaks the city. Every time you hear a siren your stomach ties up into knots and you watch the engine leave the station with the biggest American flag you’ve ever seen flying off the back of the truck. Every fire station is a shrine to the firefighters who were lost – just at those stations, many with 15 or 20 pictures of the brave men in the window. Surrounding the stations are messages from all over the world plastered to the brick, pails of flowers, hundreds of candles - lit day and night. Those firemen on duty are gracious but possess the haunted look of lives forever shattered. New Yorkers are resilient and defiant and what I saw made me proud to have lived among them, even for a short time.