Issue #160: November 1, 2005.

• If you’re a Seinfeld fan you might want to take in the revival of Sweet Charity…you can catch Wayne Knight in the lively musical currently playing at the Al Hirschfeld Theater.

• Next April will be when the new Elton John/Bernie Taupin musical Lestat takes to the boards.  Based on novelist Anne Rice’s  famous vampire…. the curtain is set to rise on April 13 at the Palace Theater….those wanting an early taste…previews begin March 11.

• Eugene O’Neill’s A Touch of the Poet starring Gabriel Byrne opens in December at Studio 54.

• Old Vic artistic director Kevin Spacey is now in his second season with the theatre company.  He recently won over the often stinging London critics with his recent production of Shakespeare’s Richard II with the Evening Standard hailing “You would need a heart of stone not to be stirred by Kevin Spacey, oozing pomp and circumstance”….a far cry from the damning reviews of last season.

• Mega musical authors Claude-Michel Shonberg and Alain Boublil (Les Miserables, Miss Saigon) have joined forces with director/producer duo John McColgan and Moya Doherty (Riverdance) to bring the Irish tale The Pirate Queen to the stage.  The story is based on the historical 16th century figure Grace O’Malley…. you’ll find her father will be played by Dublin born Colm Wilkinson (Les Miserables) when it opens next season.

• It looks like folk legend Bob Dylan will have his turn at a Broadway musical.  On the heels of her Tony Award-winning partnership with Billy Joel on Movin’ Out, choreographer extraordinaire Twyla Tharp plans to stage The Times They Are A-Changin which is scheduled to premiere at the Old Globe in San Diego in the spring…before it makes it’s way to Broadway.

• Mary Tyler Moore’s best friend Valerie Harper is slated to star in the one-woman Broadway hit Golda’s Balcony.   It hits the road and lands in Toronto at the Elgin Theatre beginning May 23.

• Film star Ed Harris returns to his theatre roots when he headlines Neil LaBute’s production of Wrecks when it opens on November 23 at Everyman Palace Theatre in Cork, Ireland.