Issue #131: June 1, 2004

• Lock up your daughters - Dracula is in the house!!! Dracula, the Musical starts previews on July 18 with stars Melissa Errico and Tom Hewitt.  Opening night is at the Belasco Theater on August 16.

• It's official; Natasha Richardson will give her rendition of Blanche in the Broadway revival of A Streetcar Named Desire.  The Roundabout Theater Co. is set to open at Studio 54 in March.

• If you blinked you probably missed seeing Nancy Lemenager in the fleeting production of Never Gonna Dance.  Never mind, you can catch her in the lead female role in the Tony winning Movin' Out at the Richard Rodgers Theater where she took over for a pregnant Elizabeth Parkinson.

• San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater kicks off their 2004-05 season at the Geary Theater with the only North American engagement of The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets."  Directed by Robert Wilson the piece also has legendary composer Tom Waits and author William Burroughs on board.  Originally produced in 1991 in German, this musical theater collaboration's international cast includes everyone's favourite 1960's bad girl, Marianne Faithfull.  Previews begin August 26.

• The Toronto engagement of The Producers did not perform as well at the box office as it did on the stage.  Mirvish Productions announced a September 5 closing of the Mel Brooks Tony winning musical after playing just nine months.  However, don't be surprised to see this production pop up somewhere else in Canada - simply speculation of course.

• The lights on Broadway and on King Street in Toronto were dimmed on Tuesday, May 18 in honour of the passing of Tony Randall.  Television audiences remember him everywhere as the fastidious Felix Unger of the hit 70's sit-com The Odd Couple however, theatre lovers both in the U.S and Canada remember him for so much more.  In 1991 Randall founded the non-profit National Actors Theater with $1million of his own money.  As artistic director it was his quest to bring classic theater back to Broadway.  The first season the company produced a revival of Arthur Miller's The Crucible starring Martin Sheen and Michael York.  Although not always critically acclaimed he persevered with productions of Night Must Fall, The Gin Game and The Sunshine Boys in subsequent seasons.  His inspiration to found NAT came in the 80s when he worked with Canadian theater legend John Neville at Halifax's Neptune Theatre.  Neville was the artistic director at that time where the classics were a staple.  Randall died at the age of 84 from complications of a long illness.  The theatre world has lost another loyal and passionate supporter.