| Issue #96: October 1, 2002
- The Roundabout Theater’s upcoming revival of August
Strindberg’s Miss Julie now has Rachel
Weisz in the lead role. Originally Natasha
Richardson was slated for the role but bowed out to
pursue her film career. Philip Seymour Hoffman
is still on deck to play Jean when the production opens in 2003.
- The artistic director with London’s Royal Exchange
is in talks with the Broadway producers of the upcoming revival
of The Miracle Worker. Rumors fly that Hilary
Swank is being talked to about playing the title role
of teacher Anne Sullivan.
- It looks like the majority of Broadway shows will be moving
curtain time up for Tuesday’s beginning in January. The
program “Tuesdays at 7” is an effort to push ticket
sales for Tuesdays which is traditionally the hardest night
of the week to sell. A survey conducted by a number of prominent
producers indicated this is what the public wants. Families
can attend a show and be home by 10:00PM on a school night.
I’ll keep you posted on the success or failure of the
initiative.
- It looks like Paul Newman will be returning
to Broadway sooner than we thought. The revival of Thornton
Wilder’s classic play Our Town will
begin previews on November 22 at the Booth Theater and run through
until January 26. Promises to be a sell out for old blue eyes!
- Film star Robert Redford appears to have
passed his love of stage down to his daughter Amy.
The pretty 31 year old is currently strutting the boards in
Toronto at Canadian Stage’s Berkeley Street Theatre in
Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things.
A grad from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, Amy
will continue in the limited run which closes on November 2.
- The Royal Shakespeare Co. hits the states with Salman
Rushdie’s adaptation of his novel Midnight’s
Children debuting at the University of Michigan at Ann
Arbor on March 12 then heads to Harlem’s Apollo Theater
for two weeks beginning March 20.
- Well if this is the first time you’ve been back to the
site in a while you’ll notice the splashy new look. Our
web guy, Bob Daniel (www.rgdaniel.com),
has been putting in long hours to kick the site up a notch or
two and have it a bit more interactive. Visit OTB
Talk
where you can post questions, comments and just pass on relevant
theatre information that other enthusiasts would be interested
in. I will be checking in on the link and posting my own comments
as well as giving you up to the minute dish on the theatre scene,
so be sure to drop by, often, and let us know what you think.
- Another legendary actress has passed away – Kim
Hunter, whose acting career spanned more than 60 years,
died of a heart attack at the age of 79 on September 11. Ms
Hunter won an Oscar and two Emmy nominations. She stormed
to Broadway origininating the role of Stella in the 1947 debut
of A Streetcar Named Desire. It was at the Pasadena
Playhouse, in a production of Arsenic and Old Lace,
that she was spotted and signed to a contract by a talent scout
employed by producer David O Sleznick —
that paved the way for her most famous role. It for the role
of Stella she won her Oscar in the classic Elia Kazan
film. Film buffs may also remember her as Dr. Zira in the original
Planet of the Apes, which starred Charlton Heston
and Roddy McDowell. Her career spanned stage,
film and television and as with many of her generation of actors,
she and her talent will be sadly missed.
|
