Issue #135: August 1, 2004

• A revival of Craig Lucas' Reckless will see the return of Michael O'Keefe to the Broadway stage on October 14.  O'Keefe was last seen in 1981 when he made his debut in Mass Appeal. 

• Las Vegas seems to becoming the poor man's Broadway - or wait maybe you have to be wealthy???   Whatever! Following the announcement of Avenue Q's Tony win for best musical, the recent Mamma Mia! run, and the current Saturday Night Fever at the Sahara Hotel, it was just a matter of time before the masked man settled in.  Look for a 90-minute permanent theatrical production of The Phantom of the Opera to open in the spring of 2006 at the space previously occupied by the Guggenheim Las Vegas museum in the Venetian hotel-casino.  The producers have committed to spending $35-million (U.S.) to mount the show and an additional $25-million (U.S.) to make the structural changes necessary to house it.

• Well, we now know why Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall couldn't do the HBO movie of the week based on the television series.  Cattrall will be busy rehearsing for her London debut in Whose Life Is It Anyway under the direction of Sir Peter Hall.  This updated version of Brian Clark's 1978 drama about a sculptor, paralyzed in a car accident who seeks the right to die, is on the slate for 2005.  The 16-week run begins previews on January 7 with the opening scheduled for January 25 at the Duke of York Theatre.

• No shortage of actors in the Waterston clan.  Father Sam Waterston is best known for his television role in Law and Order. This summer his daughter Elizabeth joined him on stage in Much Ado About Nothing at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.  Waterston's oldest son James just landed a role in the HBO series Six Feet Under and his sister Katherine has been seen in the NBC series Deadline.  The youngest of the clan, Graham, is studying film at New York University - completing the theatre/television family.

• Best known as one of Canada's greatest Shakespeareans, Frances Hyland died on Sunday July 12 at the age of 77.  At 23 Hyland found herself on the London stage in The Winter's Tale with Sir John Gielgud and Vivien Leigh in 1950.   Her first role on the London stage was Stella in A Street Car Named Desire.  With her training from RADA, Hyland found herself in numerous plays from A Woman of No Importance to her last London appearance in The Dark Is Light Enough.  In 1954 Hyland made her way to the Stratford Shakespearean Festival in Ontario at the request of Tyrone Guthrie and stayed for almost 35 years.  Her career included numerous television and film roles over the years but it is for her stage work in Canadian theatre that Hyland will be remembered most.