| Issue #161: November 15, 2005.
- It looks like Alec Baldwin will be taking a break from
his divorce/custody battle proceedings with Kim Bassinger when
he stars in the Roundabout’s production of Entertaining Mr.
Sloane opening on March 16.
- The Royal Court Theatre will be celebrating its 50th anniversary
next year in grand style. Two of Britain’s greatest
living playwrights Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard will
headline two of the season’s offerings. Harold
Pinter will be on stage starring in a production of Samuel
Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape. Stoppard plans
to write a new play Rock’n’Roll based on
the recent history of his native Czechoslovakia from the Prague
Spring of 1968 to the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Other highlights
to the celebration include Tanika Gupta’s Sugar
Mummies; a revival of Caryl Churchill’s Cloud
Nine; and a production of Anton Chekhov’s The
Seagull.
- 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.
- The film adaptation of the Broadway musical Rent opens
in theatres later this month with Rosario Dawson in
the coveted role of Mimi Marquez. No stranger to the
stage and screen the 26-year-old gets a chance to combine
her love of theatre and rock music into the role of the exotic
dancer. I’m looking forward to seeing the film
and one of the Broadway’s original cast member Jesse
L. Martin (Law and Order) up on the big screen.
- Often found as a supporting actor, Canadian Lloyd Bochner was
also cast as the romantic lead in a career that spanned more
than 50 years in theatre, television and film. He died of
cancer at the age of 81 on Saturday, Oct. 29. Growing
up in Toronto, Mr. Bochner always dreamed of being
on stage, taking drama lessons at 10 and making his radio
debut on CBC at age 11. The second World War intervened
when he joined the navy and served on destroyers. Following
the war he attended the University of Toronto where he spent
most of his time on the Hart House stage with other distinguished
Canadian alumnae including Don Harron, Barbara
Hamilton, Kate Reid and William Hutt. With
television still in its infancy in the early 50’s, Bochner thought
he’d try his luck in New York and landed a recurring
role in the drama One Man’s Family. Bochner returned
to Canada just in time to be one of the first actors recruited
for the new Shakespeare Theatre Festival in Stratford, Ontario,
now a world renowned festival. In 1955 he played in The
Merchant of Venice along with fellow Canadian actors Lorne
Greene and William Shatner. He returned
to the states when he was offered a starring role opposite Rod
Taylor in the mystery series Hong Kong. After
that he never looked back and in the 80s was on the prime
time hit Dynasty for two seasons. Although most
of his professional life was lived in the U.S., Mr. Bochner was
a proud Canadian and returned often for pleasure and for
a role from time to time.
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