Issue #118: October 15, 2003

• Funny man Eric Idle of Monty Python fame is planning to try his hand at a new musical based on the Python movie Monty Python And The Holy Grail.  Look for legendary director Mike Nichols to steer Spamalot to the Broadway stage in 2005.  "Think The Producers only with sword fighting," says Idle.  I wonder if Robert Goulet will make a cameo appearance? Can't wait!!!

• Designing Women alum Delta Burke recently made her Broadway debut in the Tony award-winning musical Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Marquis Theater.  Not just a pretty face with TV and film credits, Burke studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. 

• Successful television writer Del Shores returns to his first love, the stage with The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife.  A writer/producer for Queer as Folk and Dharma & Greg, Shore will make his Off Broadway debut with Housewife in 2004.

• It looks like Jenna Elfman will have to put her Broadway dreams on hold.  Apparently she was ready to take Jane Krakowski's role in Nine as planned. Now Sara Gettelfinger (Jane's understudy) is on full time along with new cast additions Ertha Kitt and John Stamos.

• Riverdance, the Irish dance extravaganza is currently on an eleven-performance tour in Beijing and Shanghai.  The producers are checking out the interest in their production to make way for a full-scale 12-city tour spanning 15 weeks next year.

• Isn't it wonderful how a tourist can take in a professional theatre event in England without going anywhere near London's West End?  There are several theatre companies touring that country and opportunities abound for a night of good theatre even in seaside towns.
  
  On her recent trip to visit a cousin, my mother spent a Monday night before flying home watching a stellar performance by the ChapterhouseTheatre Company's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Beck Theatre, Hayes, Middlesex. Last minute seats were near enough to the stage for them to hear every word and to chuckle at the antics in this favourite Shakespeare play.
  
  Part of a national tour that included Hamlet as well as Dream, the company travels this fall to places such as Folkestone, Swindon, Torquay and Margate and this refreshingly lively group end their tour on November 29 at Brighton.
  
  If you are planning to be in Britain, a useful web site might be www.chapterhouse.org