December 2008 Archives

Here's a scenario you never expected to see: Babs and W not only together but smooching at the White House and together again later, almost side by side and alongside Vice President and Mrs. Cheney!!!, in the same auditorium smiling and polite. Strange things have been known to happen in D.C., but this may be one of the strangest and might end up being listed in sci-fi annals.

You have to wonder who swallowed the hardest. But it's good to make nice!

You can be an eyewitness to this historic event tonight on CBS when the 31th Annual John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Kennedy Center Honors are telecast as a two-hour special at 9 P.M.

Oscar/Grammy-winning director, actress, singer, writer, composer and producer Barbra Streisand is one of the six honorees saluted "for the gifts they have shared with us."

Also onhand are Academy Award-winner Morgan Freeman; two-time Grammy-winning country legend George Jones; acclaimed Tony and DD-winning choreographer Twyla Tharp; and, though I love 'em, you'll have to admit a strange, interesting, brave choice: Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame musicians Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of The Who.

Hosting this end-of-the-year crowning entertainment event, as she has done for several years, is a little old New York gal who's very much on the New York State radar these days: Caroline Kennedy.

Center chair Stephen Schwarzman said, "With their extraordinary genius and tenacity, the 2008 honorees have redefined the way we see, hear and feel the performing arts. We will be forever thankful for the great gifts they've shared with us."

Each star was saluted by celebrities and in entertainment-laden segments. Beyoncé [singing "The Way We Were" to her idol], Glenn Close, Nathan Gunn, Queen Latifah, Idina Menzel ["Don't Rain on My Parade"] and Kelli O'Hara headline the Streisand segment; Jack Black, various rock and R&B artists and members of New York's Finest and Bravest salute Towshend and Daltrey [the first to raise celebrity awareness after 9/11]; First Lady Laura Bush, country giants Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson and Randy Travis lead the jam to Jones, a longtime fav of the Bushes; Clint Eastwood, Mississippi native B.B. King, Delta blues artists and Denzel Washington salute Mississippi's Morgan; Lily Tomlin and ABT dancers pay tribute to Twarp. Eastwood and King are former KC honorees.

In attendance at the star-studded evening for their eigth and final KCHs were President and Mrs. Bush, who also hosted a reception at the White House, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and a host of capital powerbrokers.

Since their inception in 1978, the Kennedy Center Honors have defined America's perceptioin of our artistic legacy. There is no competition and no categories.

Pinter Salute

Broadway theatres will dim their marquee lights and signage tonight at 7 in tribute to the theatrical achievements of the late Harold Pinter. The acclaimed playwright passed away December 24.

Two Don't Miss TV Specials:
The Germans Are Coming, The Germans Are Coming

Cinema's Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood, broadcast on PBS stations on New Year's night from 9:30-11:30 P.M., traces the experiences of the film and stage artists who fled Germany in the wake of the Third Reich and took refuge in Hollywood. The special, produced by Film Odyssey, Thirteen and Turner Entertainment, examines the impact these artist had on American cinema.

More than 800 escaped to Hollywood between 1933 and 1939. They include such cinema legends as actors Hedy Lamarr and Peter Lorre; directors Fritz Lang, Henry Koster, Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann; composers Frederick Hollander and Franz Waxman; and cinematographer Rudy Mate. They found a warm welcome in filmland and benefited from the generosity of those who came before them, such as Marlene Dietrich and director Ernst Lubitsch.

In Hollywood, their influence ranged from the horror genre and film noir, to comedy and drama. Composers Hollander and Waxman, with their lush compositions, changed the role of music in films.

When Hitler ascended to become chancellor of Germany in 1933, one of his earliest actions was to ban Jews from working in that country's storied film industry, praised as the most creative cinema in the world. Men and women who had created landmarks in movie history found themselves unable to create or even make a living in menial jobs. It was Hollywood or Bust, literally.

Among the film excerpts in Cinema's Exiles are The Bride of Frankenstein, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Ninotchka, To Be or Not To Be, Casablanca, The Wolf Man, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, High Noon, The Big Heat and Some Like It Hot. The program also highlights film from early German cinema, such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Metropolis, The Blue Angel and M - The Murderers Among Us.

There are also archival footage of director Fritz Lang, Dietrich's Blue Angel screen test, rarely seen historical and home movie footage and photographs, as well as eyewitness accounts.

Cinema buffs can test how much they know about the influence of Europe's exiled Jewish filmmakers and also watch a preview of the special at www.pbs.org.

Just before Cinema's Exiles, PBS will broadcast the one-hour From Vienna: The New Year's Celebration 2009 with Strauss family favorites by the Vienna Philharmonic. Hosting is Julie Andrews, who has a few favorite Austrian things, including raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens and bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens. At the end of the concert, don't be surprised if everyone flies with the moon on their wings.

Swashbuckling, Poetic Cyrano

Almost a year after closing on Broadway, on January 7, PBS will broadcast in its entirety David Leveaux's stylish Broadway production of Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac in Hi Def beginning at 8 P.M. Kevin Kline, Jennifer Garner and Daniel Sunjata star in this heartbreaking and heartwarming epic bursting with swashbuckling gascons and duplicitous noblemen, fops and ruffians.

Coming Up [Early] Next Year:
Rock, Opera and Dance Merge

Parsons Dance in collaboration with the lead vocalists of the East Village Opera Company will present the world premiere of a dance/vocal production at the Joyce Theatre January 6-18.

David Parsons, EVOC lead male vocalist and co-founder Tyley Ross and the group's lead female vocalist AnnMarie Milazzo have collaborated on a storyline about a tragic love triangle [are there any other kind?] that connects 15 of EVOC's rock operatic arias with original Parsons choreography.

The program will have contemporary and aerial dance, live and recorded music, video, digital lighting and visual effects.

"This is a strong departure from David's signature themes," says David Harrison, exec director of Parsons Dance. "It represents a shift in the work of an acclaimed choreographer while expressing the breadth of his enormous creative range."

EVOC's signature works re-imagine Verdi, Puccini, Mozart and Schubert arias as popular songs colliding with electric rock and R&B sounds. The group was formed in the East Village in 2004 by Canadians Peter Kiesewalter and Tyley Ross and soon turned the heads of the music community with a series of electric genre-defying shows at Joe's Pub. A recording deal with Decca/Universal Music quickly followed.

Tickets for the January program are $19-$59; $26-$44 for Joyce members, and available at the Joyce box office, online at www.joyce.org or by calling (212) 242-0800. For information on the two programs to be performed, visit parsonsdance.org and eastvillageoperacompany.com.

Theater Honors

The 2008 Theater Hall of Fame inductions will take place January 26 at the Gershwin Theatre at 7:30. Honorees are Alan Ayckbourn, veteran producer Emanuel Azenberg, choreographer Patricia Birch, Richard Easton, Marvin Hamlisch, Nathan Lane and orchestrator Jonathan Tunick. The late Roscoe Lee Browne will be inducted posthumously.

An invitation-only supper will follow at the Friars Club. Honorary chair for the event is Dame Celia Lipton, a longtime THOF supporter. Terry Hodge Taylor produces the annual event in the theatre rotunda, where names are inscribed on the walls and there are lobby displays of costumes and memorabilia.

Inductees are selected by the American Theater Critics Association and THOF members. To be eligible, nominees must have at least five major credits and 25 years experience in Broadway theater.

The Music of the Night[life Awards]

WOW! An awards show without acceptance speeches. Now, that's a rarity; but that's the Nightlife Awards. Scott Siegel will present the 2009 edition of winning artists on January 26th at 7 P.M. at Town Hall. Winners, who are selected by media covering nightlife, perform instead of thanking an endless list of supporters. Runners up are also announced. Among the guest performers will be Larry Gatlin, Stephanie J. Block and Euan Morton. Sponsors include ASCAP, TheaterMania.com, Thoroughbred Records and Trattoria Dopo Teatro. Tickets are $25-$75 and available at the Town Hall box office, through Ticketmaster by calling (212) 307-4100 or online at www.ticketmaster.com.

Swashbuckling Silent Pioneer Celebrated

Cinema pioneer, Hollywood royalty and the early king of the swashbuckling heroes Douglas Fairbanks is fondly and elaborately given his due in Douglas Fairbanks by Jeffrey Vance with Tony Maietta and photo editor Robert Cushman [University of California Press/Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; 376 oversize pages, 237 B&W photos, Filmography, Index; SRP $45].

One of early cinema's most popular, handsome, virile and multi-talented luminaries, Fairbanks is today mostly remembered as the first husband of that other early Hollywood royalty Mary Pickford and, with her, Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith, as a co-founder of independent United Artists studio. But in his heyday as one of silent's most athletic stars, Fairbanks expanded upon Griffith elaborate style in an "everyman" way and brought amazing athletism to the fantasy costume action adventures he also produced and directed.

Highlights of his screen career include The Thief of Baghdad, Robin Hood, The Three Musketeers and The Mark of Zorro, films that are still acclaimed not only for Fairbanks' onscreen prowess but also their intricate production values [such as color tinting] and special effects [such as flying horses and carpets].

Fairbanks began his film career after a brief stop in theater, starring in his first film for Griffith in 1916. It was such a success, he was paid the then unheard of fee of $10,000 for his next round of films.

Vance has not only thoroughly researched his subject, with extensive notes on all his films, but also the era in Hollywood that Fairbanks helped create. The book is an absolute must for any cinema buff.

The book's publication coincides with Flicker Alley release of a five-disc DVD package, Douglas Fairbanks - A Modern Musketeer, which features 11 of Fairbanks' important films.

"Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider"

That song title will wring memories from fans of a certain era and especially those who fondly remember the great comic Eddie Cantor [1892-1964] and beloved wife Ida. These are the very same who will enjoy Don't Wear Silver in the Winter: Remembering My Mother [Bear Manor Media, 97 pages, 55 B&W photos and illustrations; SRP $15] by Cantor daughter Janet Cantor Gari.

In this funny, brief but often poignant memoir, Mrs. Gari lets it be known that beautiful, no nonsense Mama was just as hilarious, if not more so, than Papa. It also turns out that very proper Mama also happened to be quite the card shark. Mr. Cantor was a show biz jack of all trades: singer, songwriter, comic, author and actor onstage, in film and on radio. [He was the recipient of a special 1956 Oscar for Distinguished Service to the Film Industry.]

During the family Hollywood years, the Cantor home was open house to countless stars of the era. You'll also love the well-told stories of life with Mama, who wasn't the stay-at-home-Mom most think. The chapter titles, all songs made famous by Mr. Makin' Whoopee himself, are a delight.

For Something [Almost] Completely Different

Tired of the same ole, same ole. Don't want to be bothered having to concentrate or hum along with the music? You want something hot, cold, wet, wild? Downtown? Well, there's something Off Broadway that fills the bill: Fuerza Bruta [Brute Force, and oh is it!], another thrill entertainment from Argentina and the creators of De La Guarda. It's playing at their former "home," the Daryl Roth Theatre [20 Union Square East at 15th Street].

The very busy cast of 13 + work hard to blow you away against pounding samba beats and are quite adept in their acrobatics. Unlike DLG, it takes a while to ferociously get going. However, it's when it calms down and the pool in the sky lowers to just above your head that there's a flood of the senses and sensual overload.

The 80 + minute production is also kinky and dazzling thanks to a collaboration of tech director Alejandro Garcia, production supervisor Fabio Daquila, co-creator Diqui James and music director/composer Gaby Kerpel.

Tickets are $75 and available at the Roth box office, by calling Telecharge at (212) 239-6200 or online at www.telecharge.com. Group prices [and the facility with downstairs bar is a great party space] are available by calling (800) BROADWAY. Wear comfortable clothes and be aware that there are water spray effects. A limited quantity of $25 student rush ticketrs are available two hours prior to showtime at the box office, cash only. For more information, and special performance nights, visit www.fuerzabruta.net.

What's New on DVD

It's taken more than half a century, but the wait is over for Quo Vadis on DVD [Warner Home Video, 170 minutes, 2 discs; SRP $ 21], totally remastered and brilliantly restored [color and sound]. The 1951 MGM blockbuster is one of the most lavish and spectacular films ever. In cost and spectacle, it paved the way for The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur. It's a biblical epic with a cast of thousands, starring Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn and Peter Ustinov [in his Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe-winning role as Nero where he not only strums away but also chews up every bit of scenery built at Rome's Cinecitta Studios]. Eyes sharp now. See if you can spot Elizabeth Taylor in a "cameo" role as a slave [she'd originally been cast in a larger role]. Disc Two bonus material includes a Making Of doc.

Christopher Nolan's dark The Dark Knight is on DVD [WHV, two-disc Special Edition; 152 minutes; SRP $35] and Blu-ray, starring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne. It should become a keeper, not because it's a Batman movie, but because of co-star Heath Ledger in one of the most acclaimed, demented portrayals in years -- as the Joker. It will surely garner awards recognition. There've been no shortage of megascenestealers in the Batman; however, nothing's come close to Ledger's performance. Also starring are Michael Caine as Alfred, Aaron Eckhart as Gotham City D.A. Harvey Dent, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes [replacing Katie Holmes from Batman Returns]. TDK is much more than superhero tale because Ledger's performance is so out there that you lose focus on the Batman storyline. Nolan shot about six minutes in IMAX, and the intense clarity and depth are evident. In the Bonus department, there are docs on "bat-gadgets" and an 80 + minute Behind the Scenes doc Gotham Uncovered: The Creation of a Scene; a record-your-own commentary feature. The filmmaking is flawless, thanks to two-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer Wally Pfister [The Prestige, Batman Begins] and Oscar-nominated production designer and editor, Nathan Crowley and Lee Smith. The score's by Oscar winner and multiple nom Hans Zimmer and seven-time nom James Newton Howard, who collaborated on Batman Begins.

[For a full story on The Dark Knight with interviews with some of the creative team, visit Ellis Nassour | BroadwayStars, July 18, 2008]

The Road to Morocco - again! One of Hollywood's perfect movies, Casablanca [1942], the Oscar-winning Best Picture that no one imagined would become a classic, arrives again in an Ultimate Collector's three-disc Edition [WHV, feature 102 minutes; SRP $65] [Also available on Blu-Ray] that's filled with memorabilia and surprises. Need a passport holder anyone? How about a luggage tag? This WWII love triangle/espionage thriller, with Julius and Philip Epstein and Howard Koch's Oscar-winning screenplay, is directed by Best Director Michael Curtiz. It boasts an Oscar-nominated score by Max Steiner. The stars, of course, are nominated Humphrey Bogart [as hard-scrabble Rick, the allegedly apolitical nitery owner in unoccupied French Morocco], Ingrid Bergman and Paul Heinreid. As good as that is, the supporting cast of Oscar nominee Claude Rains [droll French police chief Captain Renault], Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre [portraying another double-dealing weasel], Dooley Wilson [piano-playing Sam] and S.Z. Sakall is among the best in Hollywood history.If you own the 2003 meticulously-restored [film stock and soundtrack] two-disc edition, you've got the goods; however, if you're C's ultimate fan [and who isn't?], there're ab fab goodies on bonus laden Discs Two and Three: 48-page photo album, 10 reproduction of one-sheet posters, archival correspondence, commentary by Roger Ebert and film historian Rudy Behlmer, docs You Must Remember This: A Tribute to Casablanca, introduced by Lauren Bacall, and Bacall on Bogart, outtakes, deleted scenes, music tracks, the pilot of the TV series adaptation, the 1995 Bugs Bunny Loony Tunes Carrotblanca, gifts mentioned above and the featurette Jack Warner: The Last Mogul, the Warner brother who ruled the Burbank studio with an iron fist.

If you're looking to enjoy some royal scandal and good, clean bawdy fun, on Saturday The Duchess [Paramount Home Video, 109 minutes; SRP $30] hits stores. The vivid costume drama stars a very game and gorgeously costumed and haired Kera Knightley as the controversial Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire [nicknamed "Empress of Fashion"], Ralph Fiennes [more subdued than ever] as her selfish husband, Dominick Cooper as her lover and a future P.M. of England and Charlotte Rampling.

Also, recently released for Indiana Jones culters is Number Four in the franchise, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull [PHV, 122 minutes; Two-disc "special edition," SRP $35], which not only brings back Harrison Ford but also reunites him eventually, eventually, eventually [yes, the film is much too long] with love interest/nemesis Karen Allen. Also starring are Cate Blanchett as you've never seen or heard her and, as a rebellious young biker [typecasting?], Shia LaBeouf, who actually provides a great deal of the fun here. This Indy has more than it's share of thrill rides, some of them a bit too reminiscent of those in earlier editions, and Ford executes the role well. It's just we had to wait much too long for it. Spielberg directs. Bonus features include Behind-the-Scenes/Making Of docs, a game and photo galleries.

Lights! Camera! Scalpel! Is there another series on TV as raw, kinky, sexually explicit and off putting [at times - oh, come on, you mean to tell me you haven't turned away more than a dozen times when that scalpel is inserted and the docs start rummaging around?] than FX's/Ryan Murphy's award-winning Nip/Tuck ? The storylines are all over the place not only in the docs' plastic surgery practice but also in their personal lives. Where else can you find Vanessa Redgrave on the floor, all drugged out with [real] daughter Joley Richardson [as in Season 3] or such a brilliant line up of guest stars? Releasing as the year ends is Nip/Tuck, Season Five, Part One [WHV; SRP $60] featuring 14 episodes from the controversial series about Hedonism and the search for perfection -- not to mention the trials, tribulations and weekly midlife crisises of Drs. McNamara and Troy. Dylan Walsh and Julian McMahon star along with Richardson, John Hensley [who should receive an award for playing so many life-changing roles on one series!], Roma Maffia and the stunning Kelly Carlson. The guest star roster includes Tia Carrere, Portia de Rossi, Phyllis Diller, Lauren Hutton, Rosie O'Donnell, Oliver Platt and John Schneider. Bonus features include a gag reel [Severed Parts], deleted Scenes and a featurette highlighting the docs resettling in Gollywood as they seek a fresh start after some tantalizing Season Four episodes. The release of the first half of the season coincides with the airing of Season Five, Part Two in January on FX.

Here's wishing you all a very happy, healthy, prosperous new year!

Theatergoers were really dreaming of a white Christmas. That holiday spirit made Irving Berlin's White Christmas the highest grossing show on Broadway for nine performances the week ending December 14th..

The musical stage adaptation, based on the classic film about two G.I. buddies now in showbiz helping save their general's inn by putting on a show [and falling in love], plays through January 4.

Featuring a cast of 33, Tony Award nom Stephen Bogardus [Love! Valour! Compassion!], Kerry O'Malley [Into the Woods], Jeffry Denman [The Producers] and Meredith Patterson [42nd Street] co-star. Susan Mansur provides the comic relief and steals every bit of scenery not nailed down. Tony/DD winner Walter Bobbie [Chicago] directs, with choreography by Tony/DD nom Randy Skinner [42nd Street].

Songs include "Let Yourself Go," "Sisters," "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing," "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy," "Count Your Blessings," "Blue Skies," "I Love a Piano," "Love, You Didn't Do Right By Me," "How Deep Is the Ocean," "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" and, of course, the title tune, for which the entire audience joins in.

Holiday Stocking Stuffers: Theater Tickets
Shrek the Musical

Dreamworks Theatricals has brought to the stage a rollicking musical adaptation of its box office champ franchise Shrek with book and lyrics by 2007 Pulitizer Prize winner and Tony nominated David Lindsay-Abaire [Rabitt Hole] and music by Jeanine Tesori [Thoroughly Modern Millie, Caroline, or Change].

You can spend millions on sets and costumes [and they did], but if you don't get it right in the casting department it can all go down the rabitt hole, so to speak, in a matter of reviews. Dreamworks and Avenue Q director Jason Moore got it right.

Shrek the Musical stars Tony and DD nom Brian d'Arcy James in a two-hour extreme make-up makeover, Tony and DD winner Sutton Foster as the expectant Princess Fiona, Tony nom Christopher Sieber [Spamalot] cut down in size to play Lord Farquaad, a role that'll forever be his legacy and Tony and DD nom Daniel Breaker [Passing Strange] as Donkey.

For a great family entertainment [even with the Mel Brooks-like fart jokes], the show is much too long and is a bit lacking imusically, but Lindsay-Abaire's book and clever lyrics more than make up for those short[and long]comings in this sort of prequel to the original movie. In telling the story of the swamp-dwelling outcast ogre who sets out to right what he feels has been wronged - and gets more than he bargained for, there are enough insider jokes and one-liners for four shows.

All those disgruntled fairytale characters are fun, but as their scenes run on a bit too long focus is taken away from the main event. That said, there are two standouts: Haven Burton as as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Gingy with soul; and Forbidden Broadway vet Jennifer Simard as the Wicked Witch.

It takes a while to get to Foster's showstopper, "Morning Person" at the top of Act Two, but once there, she's unstoppable. Then, following that, is the wisecracking Fiona/Shrek showstoppind duet "I Think I Got You Beat" [or "Anything You Endured, I Endured Better"!].

But, but, but not to be outdone are those rascal stage thieves Sieber and Breaker. How incredible it is to have to notorious scenestealers competing for the prize. Who would have predicated such a hilarious performance from Braker after his Passing Strange turn? And who wouldn't have expected anything but high crimes and misdemeanors from Sieber, who even at half his size reaches towering heights. These are two great comedy performances for the record books, and surely will be rewarded at awards time.

Disney's New York Magic Kingdom:
New Leads for Mary Poppins

With three Disney musicals, New York could almost pass for a magic kingdom. We even have an electrical parade every night - just stand in Times Square where the neon is ablaze.

Mary Poppins, with its timeless, Oscar-winning score by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman and in spite of its one flaw [muchhhhh toooooo long], is in its third year on Broadway. It has just welcomed newcomers: Olivier Award-nominee Scarlett Strallen, Mary on the West End; and, as Bert, Adam Fiorentino, who at 17 made his theatrical debut in Australia in Saturday Night Fever.

"I loved the film," relates Strallen, "and grew to love the P.L. Travers stories while I was preparing to play Mary. London was a thrilling experience, but now I'm having the most wonderful time experiencing American audiences. Being on Broadway is a dream come true.

"The role of Mary is completely magical," she continues. "She's the world's most famous nanny. Every girl knows her. I can't believe how lucky I am! I can think of nothing that compares to flying out over the audience show after show!"

Fiorentino is no less enthused. "It's great to be making my Broadway debut playing such an iconic role," he says, still with a bit of trepidation in his voice. "Growing up, I wore out the tape from rewinding it so many times. For an actor, Broadway is sort of the Mount Everest. I can't tell you what an incredible high I get just walking down Broadway to work everyday.

"Mary Poppins is an incredible show to be doing," he adds. "Bert's like your favorite uncle. I get to do it all: sing, dance and act - even tap upside down on the ceiling! That's not something you do everyday!"

Both are gratified with audience response. "It's so rewarding to witness the faces of theatergoers of all ages light up with wonderment right in front of me," states Strallen. "That feeling is priceless."

The MP Broadway cast includes Tony and DD nom Rebecca Luker as Mrs. Banks, Daniel Jenkins as Mr. Banks, Jane Carr as Mrs. Brill and the ab fab Ruth Gottschall as the very strict Miss Andrew.

DD nom Ashley Brown and DD winner and Tony nom Gavin Lee, the original Broadway stars, will reprise their roles in MP North American tour, beginning in March.

More Disney

The Tony-winning The Lion King continues to reign as one of the most popular shows on Broadway and around the world. It's in its 11th year in New York. While Sierra Boggess and Sean Palmer still headline The Little Mermaid with Norm Lewis [King Triton], Eddie Korbich [Scuttle] and Jonathan Freeman [Grimsby], there are new cast members: Rogelio Douglas, Jr. [Sebastian], Robert Creighton [Chef Louis] and Heidi Blickenstaff, fresh from [title of show] as Ursula.

What's Cooking?

Rainbow 'round My Shoulder, Barbara Cook's 14th album for DRG Records [SRP $18], that's what. She accompanied by musical director/arranger Lee Musiker and trio. Grammy winner Hugh Fordin, DRG prez, produced the 15 tracks/17 songs.

Cook segues from Jolson/Rose [title tune] to the Gershwins ["He Loves and She Loves"], Rodgers/Hart ["Where or When"], Bernstein/Comden and Green ["Lucky to Be Me"], Bucchino ["If I Ever Say I'm Over You"'], Kahn/Livingston ["I'm Through with Love"], Chaplin/John Turner/Geoffrey Parsons ["Smile"], Allen ["Harbour"], Lane/Harbugh ["Old Devil Moon"], Weill/Anderson ["Lost in the Stars"] and Charles ["Hallelujah, I Love Him So"].

Some Things Comin'

The post holiday season looks bright!

Cyrano on PBS

Almost a year after closing on Broadway, on Wednesday, January 7, PBS will broadcast David Leveaux's stylish Broadway production of Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac in Hi Def beginning at 8 P.M. Kevin Kline, Jennifer Garner and Daniel Sunjata star in this heartbreaking and heartwarming epic bursting with swashbuckling gascons and duplicitous noblemen, fops and ruffians..

Allergo

The first complete recording of Rodgers & Hammerstein's 1947 Broadway musical Allergo be released by Sony Masterworks Broadway on February 3.

Among the artists from the worlds of Broadway and opera for this studio recording are Laura Benanti, Judith Blazer, Maureen Brennan, Ashley Brown, Danny Burstein, Norbert Leo Butz, Liz Callaway, Harvey Evans, Nathan Gunn, Judy Kuhn, Audra McDonald; Marni Nixon, Kurt Peterson and Patrick Wilson.

Produced by David Lai, Bruce Pomahac and Ted Chapin, Larry Blank conducts a 50-piece orchestra, featuring Robert Russell Bennett's original orchestrations.

Allergo follows the life journey, both literal and moral, of a country doctor. It was Rodgers & Hammerstein's fourth musical. Somewhat controversial, it ran for a season and earned some rave reviews, but was less than a blockbuster hit.

The show challenged audiences with its unusual storytelling style and groundbreaking approach to musical staging. There were Agnes de Mille's extended ballet sequences. Fragments of song were used as passing thoughts; and melodies flitting by in one scene didn't take hold until the next. It broke new ground, but divided critics.

"I've long wanted to capture the score in a way that explains how the musical tapestry was conceived and get it as close as possible to the way the composers intended," R&H prez Chapin explains. "It has innovative qualities in the use of songs in dramatic ways and that it's almost all sung through. The stellar group we assembled is icing on the cake."

Come Fall, Allegro will have company. Masterworks Broadway will release a 50th Anniversary special edition of the original Broadway cast recording of The Sound of Music..

Paree, New York with Love

On Saturday, January 31 at 3 P.M. and Sunday, February 1 at 3 P.M., the Museum of the City of New York [1220 Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street] will present a cabaret production to draw attention to the love affair between Paris and New York. Paris/New York: Deux Amours, written and directed by Michael Montel, will feature selections from the Gershwins' An American in Paris , Porter's Can-Can, Yeston's Nine "Folies Bergères" number and songs from Josephine Baker's La Revue Négre.

It's inspired by the current exhibition Paris/New York: Design Fashion Culture 1925-1940 featuring the designs of Gilbert Rohde and featuring the 1925 avant-garde film L'Inhumaine. Among the stars to appear: Nancy Anderson and Gregg Edelman. Lawrence Yurman will music direct.

Admissions is $20, $15 for museum members. To reserve, go to www.mcny.org and click on Public Programs.

Looking for a Good Holiday Read?

Frank Sinatra carved out one of the biggest careers in show biz history, yet his screen legacy has often been overshadowed by his achievements as recording artist. Tom Santopietro [Considering Doris Day, The Importance of Being Barbara] remedies that in Sinatra in Hollywood [Thomas Dunne Books, 530 pages including Filmography, Index, B&W photos; SRP $30].

He examines two crucial questions: Was Sinatra a good actor? and Did Sinatra take his film career seriously? Answers: "He was a great actor," says the author, "who, when given the right material, proved himself an artist capable of elucidating the human condition with a depth and range every bit the equal of his work in the recording studio. Contrary to popular opinion, he cared big time about his film work. He also had a sense of humor about some of the roles. He was the first to joke about cringe-worthy films like Double Dynamite."

Santopietro writes vividly about Ole Blue Eyes' 60-year career [over 60 films] and its cost on his personal life. Drawing on the observations of contemporaries and Sinatra's self-criticism, he constructs the history of Sinatra's films, including the musicals [The Kissing Bandit, Anchors Aweigh, On The Town, Pal Joey] and dramas [The Man with the Golden Arm, Von Ryan's Express, The Pride and the Passion), his "Rat Pack" films [Ocean's Eleven and Robin and the 7 Hoods rank as the best], as well as ground-breaking roles in The Manchurian Candidate, and his Oscar-winning triumph in From Here to Eternity.

Best Picture Winners on DVD

If there's a movie buff on your holiday gift list [and it could be you!], treat them to the 14-DVD Columbia Pictures Best Picture Collection [Sony Home Entertainment; 15 + hours; SRP $136], which spans six decades of The Little Studio That Could's Best Picture Oscar wins [1934-1982].

The films, which netted 64 Oscars, are It Happened One Night, You Can't Take It With You, All the King's Men, From Here to Eternity, On the Waterfront, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, A Man for All Seasons, "Oliver!, Kramer vs. Kramer and Gandhi.

The collection showcases the directorial work of Sir Richard Attenborough, Robert Benton, Frank Capra, Elia Kazan, Sir David Lean, Carol Reed, Robert Rossen and Fred Zinnemann. Among the stars: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Broderick Crawford, Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra, Donna Reed, Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden, William Holden, Alec Guiness, Sessue Hayakawa, Peter O'Toole, Paul Scofield, Ron Moody, Oliver Reed,
Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep and Ben Kingsley.

The package, designed as a family album, includes synopsis, posters, phtoos and info on each film. There are eight hours + of special features from the Columbia archives. These include Making Of/Behind the Scenes featurettes, docs, commentaries and interviews with Attenborough, Kazan, Lean, Zinnemann, Kingsley and O'Toole - even Steven Spielberg - plus such archival components as ads and premiere footage. The Oliver! disc is filled with surprises: sing-alongs to eight songs, games, quizes, dance instructions and featurettes.

What's Hot

Meryl Streep, in yet another amazing performance - mesmerizingly beautiful, youthful and doing things expected of Ringling Bros. acrobats and Olympic gymnasts, headlined a star-laden cast to bring the music of ABBA and the glories of Greece to the screen in the film adaptation of Mamma Mia! [Universal Pictures], the stage musical [a 2002 Best Musical Tony nominee] that's become a phenomenon the world over.

Now, after breaking box office records, it's scoring again with the release of Mamma Mia!on DVD and Blu-ray in a two-disc Special Edition [Universal Home Entertainment; SRP $35]. Not to be outdone, BroadwayDecca has issued a "deluxe" soundtrack CD package with bonus Behind the Scenes DVD [SRP $25].

Besides her agile ability to leap and do splits, Streep had been keeping another secret. She can still sing! For someone's who last major singing role was 31 years ago in the Brecht-Weill musical, Happy End, for which she received a DD nom, she acquits herself quite well.

As she tramped, stamped and flung herself through Mamma Mia!, all I could think of was why hasn't she come back to Broadway in a musical? She's a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker and, undoubtedly, there've been countless offers. We got a taste of her stage vocalizing last summer in the Public Theater's production of Mother Courage and Her Children.

It's a big year for the much-honored* star. She's pulling no punches [and scaring the hell out of young students] in the screen adaptation of Doubt.

[* Two Oscars out of 14 nominations, more than any actor; six Golden Globes out of 21 noms; a Tony nom; two Emmys; two SAGs; four Grammy noms; a BAFTA; and recognition from the Cannes Film Fest]

In MM!, Streep rocks - and often against great odds [ignoring the material and just having a great time]. Like Streisand, she's not your typical Hollywood beauty, but Haris Zambarloukos' camera embraces Streep lovingly. There are moments when she lets her all-over-the-place hair down and is downright sexy.

The movie is not all-Streep. There's strong backing from Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgrd [the prime suspects in the Who's the Daddy contest], Christine Baranski [channeling her drunken Maryann Thorpe from the TV series Cybill], the irrepressible Julie Walters, Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper.

MM! does hit some false notes: the ABBA uptempo songs, while quite infectious, sound so alike that they get monotonous; the choreography, by Anthony Van Laast [from the stage musical's WE and Bway prods], is on a par with that of an Oscar telecast or something at an Olympics opening. All in all, it's an odd package but it works and is lively fun.

Disc Two is fully-loaded with bonuses: a sing-along capability, deleted scenes and outtakes, Making Of/Behind the Scenes docs, the "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" music video and a new number, "The Name of the Game."

[For a full story on Mamma Mia! the movie and also the Broadway production, visit Ellis Nassour | BroadwayStars, July 18, 2008]

And how about some DVD 3D

There is finally the release of Oscar winner Robert Zemeckis' motion capture animated feature The Polar Express on DVD as originally presented in 3D [WHV, 100 minutes; includes four sets of viewing glasses and 2D disc; SPR, $21]. The holiday film, a fav among train buffs, is based on Chris Van Allsburg Caldecott Medal-winning children's book. In a manner of speaking, it stars two-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks. My wish would be that it was also in IMAX! Though the 3D is only moderately effective, if you don't have the 2D DVD release, this can be fun. Just don't expect big screen/theatre-qualitry 3D. What's impressive in the Sony Imaging 3D is the depth of field [something folks have forgotten about 3D - it wasn't all arrows and spears being thrown at the camera].

The holidays are upon us. Are you dreamin' of a slushy and/or white Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year? Better watch out. You may get your wish. So much to do and so little time to do it in. But there are plenty of arts-related ideal gifts for stocking stuffers.

Here's wishing you a joyous Hanukkah, merry and blessed Christmas, happy Kwanzaa and an ab fab New Year filled with peace, happiness, good health and prosperity!

Hard (Rockette) Candy Christmas

This weekend, there will be 11 shows for the two casts of Rockettes, who are the primary star, along with Santa, of the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular,
directed and choreographed by former Broadway gypsy [and one-time assistant to Bob Fosse] Linda Haberman.

In addition, there'll be four shows on Monday and Tuesday and three on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day; so there's not a lot of time for the two casts of precision dancers - 72 in all - to spend at home with family and friends.

"This is especially true on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day," says Amy York, a Rockette since 1997, "but we know this going in. It's a great job in a, well, spectacular show. The Christmas Spectacular has something for everyone: gorgeous girls in dazzling costumes doing astounding high kicks and military precision routines, Santa flying across Manhattan, 3-D and all sorts of special effects."

The Rockettes are more front and center than ever before, dominating more than three quarters of the program. In addition to their famed rag doll number, the tour-de-force "12 Days of Christmas" and the classic "March of the Wooden Soldiers," they perform two new numbers: a double-decker bus ride that rocks and rolls you through a montage of Manhattan's scenic wonders to a fireworks finale in Times Square; and "Let Christmas Shine," the finale where a tree grows 20 feel high right before your eyes decorated with 36 live Rockette diamond ornaments.

Since its inception, the holiday show has been seen by 65 million. If you've experienced it the before, there's reason to see it again. In many ways, the show is bigger and grander than ever - re-touched, re-tuned and re-imagined with more than half of the 90-minute show all new. Many of the special effects are projected on the world's largest flying indoor LED screen [90 feet wide, 40 feet high].

Factor in elements audiences have come to love, such as hundreds of razzle-dazzle costumes for the cast of 140, songs and carols, ice skaters, Santa in person and the living Nativity and it's a cold, cold heart that can't get into the holiday spirit.

There are blasts of confetti and tons of special effects and you won't have to dream of a white Christmas. It's guaranteed at the Christmas Spectacular. Snow falls - inside - all the way to the balconies.

"The purpose of this new edition is all about celebrating the legacy of the Rockettes and the talented dancers that we are," states York. "It really brings the group into the 21st Century."

York, a Texas native, has done the Christmas Spectacular in several of the tour cities but says, "There's no place like audiences in New York and the Music Hall. Doing the show at the Music Hall is quite different than doing it on the road. Stepping out on that great stage and looking into the vast auditorium filled with people is pure magic."

She says it's an honor to be a part of the Music Hall and Rockette tradition, a sentiment she explains is shared by all of her dancing colleagues. This is a much sought after gig and it's quite telling that of the two troupes this season, there are only six new dancers.

"There's a saying," points out York, "that once a Rockette, always a Rockette!"

There's a group of dancers for the morning and afternoon and another group for evening and night.

Even with five weeks of rehearsals, from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. with just one day off, prior to the opening and frequent notes from dance captains Michelle Hammar and Karen Keeler, York admits that occasionally a dancer will miss a step. "It happens, but you just have to brush it off and keep on going to the next step. We're professional dancers thoroughly rehearsed to work in unison, so it's not something that happens on a regular basis."

When it does happen, could it be from doing back to back shows? Exhaustion has to enter into the picture; but, says York, "no matter how tired you might be, no sooner than you step into those sparkly costumes and set foof onstage the adrenaline really pumps."

With all the extra shows as Christmas draws closer, "getting shopping done is not as difficult as one might think," York notes, "mostly thanks to your laptop and all the online shopping opportunities."

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, there will be some cheer when the women aren't onstage. "We try to bring the holidays backstage," points out York. "It's festive. We have decorations, a tree and we get together and play Secret Santa. On Christmas Day, in the large rehearsal hall, we have a dinner to which we can bring our families. That's very special and makes a huge difference even if you do have to work."

York has appeared as a featured dancer in regional productions. She has a classical background, having studied at Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet School and with the Joffery's summer intensive program in San Antonio. She graduated in 1998 from Southern Methodist University with a BFA in Dance Performance.

Speaking of the Rockettes and the Christmas Spectacular, did you know you can experience the acclaimed holiday show year-round? All you need is a roarin' fireplace, real or artifical snow falling outside your windows and The Radio City Christmas Spectacular: The Rockettes DVD [Time-Life, 80 + minutes; SRP $30].

The package contains 12 high-kick and precision dance performances, a behind-the-scenes bonus disc, plus a commemorative ornament.

For much more Christmas Spectacular-related and Music Hall gift ideas, visit www.radiocitychristmas.com.

Catch While Catch Can

Even if you've seen the acclaimed Tony and DD-winning revival of Sondheim/Styne's Gypsy, starring the much acclaimed Patti Lupone, Laura Benanti and Boyd Gaines, you might consider an incredible holiday treat of going one last time before the production closes on Sunday, January 11.

And no matter how many times you've seen Steven Sater/Duncan Sheik's Tony and DD-winning Spring Awakening, there's a good reason to experience it one last time before it closes on Sunday, January 18.

We're also losing two long-running champs:

The 2003 Tony and DD Best/Outstanding Musical Hairspray, where Harvey Firestein has returned to his Tony and DD-winning role as Edna, until the final curtain on January 4, with his original Tony and DD-winning co-star Marissa Jaret Winokur. On the boards with them are Karen Mason as Velma Von Tussle and Charlotte Crossly as Motormouth Maybelle.

It's unthinkable to imagine Broadway won't be [lovingly, laughingly] skewered anymore Gerald Alessandrini's and Forbidden Broadway, playing in numerous editions almost non-stop in West Side/East Side/West Side clubs/theatres since 1982. The show spoofs the best and worst, brightest and dimmest on the boards, It found favor with hundreds of thousands from around the world even with the Tony Awards, which presented it a special 2006 Tony. Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab, the current edition, scheduled to close no doubt with a big bang on March 1, stars Christina Bianco, James Donegan, Gina Kreiezmar, Michael "Let Me Show You My Body" West, Kristen Mengelkoch and music director David Campbell.

Let's talk Gypsy:

LuPone is very generous in her praise of bookwriter and production director Arthur Laurents. "I didn't do this alone," she says of her shattering performance as Mama Rose. "I brought Patti LuPone, but it's Arthur who's responsible for what Patti is doing. It has been one of the most satisfying and incredible journeys of my career working with Arthur. Did I say he is amazing? This has long been his dream project and he really wanted to bring something new to it. Throughout the entire process he was very focused. Whatever I've accomplished, I owe it all to Arthur."

The stirring tribute LuPone was making on the Tonys to Gypsy original star Ethel Merman was, sadly, all but drowned out by the Okay-that's-it-you've-said-enough-now-get-off music; but she says she had very large shoes to fill. Growing up in L.I., listening to the original cast album, she remembers being blown away by The Merm, but guess who she fell in love with? Dainty June and the Cow. She loved "Cow Song" and sang it "endlessly."

"It never entered my mind to want to play Rose," LuPone says. "I didn't have eyes set on playing June. It was Mazeppa! I liked the way she played the trumpet."

But Lupone did go on to play Louise - at 13 in a Northport school production. "I was stripping in front of my teachers," she recalls in the revival cast album liner notes. "There I was pulling the panels off my costume staring straight at my science teacher, thinking 'How do you like them eggrolls, Mr. Goldstone?'"

After the Ravina concerts in Illinois and the sold-out City Center Encores!, when it seemed possible Gyspy could be moved to Broadway, LuPone remembers Laurents telling her, "I want this Gypsy to be different from all the other productions. I want to cast it with actors." And so he did.

The result is "a company unparalleled in my theatrical experience," says LuPone. "I'm so proud to work with this finest and most dedicated group. We are blessed with the best company. It's just been the best, the happiest that I've ever been. I look forward to going to work. Everybody likes each other, and in a musical, no less!"

She says Benanti and Gaines are "two of the most unbelievable actors I've ever worked with. They make it possible for them to go out there and dare to do what I have to do and really break it open during those final moments."

Some things in the production, such as the sexy dance with Herbie and that wonderful dip he sweeps her into that lands them on the floor were quite accidental. "We were dancing and someone yelled drop her. Boyd had a bad back and was in some pain and he did what he was told. We cracked up laughing and it stayed in."

Of the CD release of excerpts from her 1980 midnight concerts, Patti LuPone at Les Mouches [Ghostlight Records], LuPone says that, except for our youth, "nothing ever seems lost forever."

LuPone was starring in Evita, the toast of Broadway and on her way to winning the Tony and DD for Best/Outstanding Actress, Musical. But every Saturday night at midnight, for 27 weeks, she was onstage at Les Mouches performing solo in a tour de force concert.

The Evita experience was "heaven, everyone who was anyone came backstage. Lana Turner, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Jane Fonda, so many others. I was hobnobbing with the royalty of Broadway and show business, people I idolized. And then the concerts. Les Mouches became the place to go on Saturday nights. Everyone came - Sondheim, Jodie Foster, Warhol, you name it. Suddenly, this little concert became the hottest ticket in town."

LuPone says the Les Mouches was expensive: cover, two-drink minimum, dinner, "but the place was packed, four deep. It became the thing to do not once but again and again."

The concert disc feature songs from Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Fats Waller, Broadway and such classics as "Come Rain or Come Shine" and "Meadowlark."

"I crack up listening," says LuPone, "because I can't believe those tempos. That David Lewis [music director, who also conceived the show]! It was like we were on speed. Those shows were pure, unadulterated joy. I remember one night getting so excited I slide right off the piano!


Let's talk Spring Awakening:

No matter how much you loved the original cast [Jonathan Groff, John Gallagher Jr. and Lea Michelle], there's good reason to return. The production remains in shipshape condition, and new cast members Hunter Parrish [TV's Weeds] as Melchoir, Gerard Canonico [Gavroche, Les Miz revival] as Moritz and the stunning Alexandra Socha in her Bway debut as Wendla are more than mere replacements. They bring a wonderful spontaneity, tenderness and humor to the roles.

It's also a last time to reexperience the multi-layered performances of Christine Estabrook as Mama and all the adult women. It's a performance to remember and Estabrook etches it deeply. Then there's large, hulking Glenn Fleshler, who could give Mickey Rourke a run for his money in The Wrestler. His wonderfully intimidating presence works well for Papa and makes the the adult men even more powerful. He packs a wallop.

Other Spring Awakening news:

Joe's Pub Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight series will host the last Spring Awakening Christmas concert of the '08 season, featuring the show's current cast and special guest original cast member Lilli Cooper, December 29 at 11:30 P.M. S.A. vocal arranger Ann Marie Milazzo has done new arrangements to some old chestnuts. Jodie Moore will be music directing.

Tickets are $25 and available at www.joespub.com. Proceeds benefit SafePlace, a nationwide org providing access for supportive resources for young people in crisis. For more information, visit www.nationalsafeplace.org/aboutus.

The Singin' Barbour of 44th Street

Vocal power house James Barbour, who recently rocked audience as Sydney Carton in A Tale of Two Cites at 45th Street and Eighth Avenue, is doing some holiday rocking up the street and around the corner, at Sardi's to be specific.

He premieres his Holiday Concert series with special guest stars tomorrow at 8:30 P.M. upstairs at the famed Theatre District eatery. There'll be 11 concerts - Tuesday, Friday and Saturdays at 8:30 and matinees at 3 P.M. Sunday and Wednesdays - of traditional Christmas songs, inspirational tunes and carols through January 4.

Various Broadway friends - names all being kept hush-hush - will be appearing along side Barbour during the Sardi series. Jeremy Roberts is music director. [But we can reveal a couple, if you promise to keep it secret: December 20, Brandi Burkhardt [ATOTC]; December 23, Natalie Toro; and December 26, Jodi Graham].

Tickets are $25-$60 [premium seating], plus $25 minimum, and are available by calling (212) 868-4444 or on line at www.SmartTix.com.

Puccini Celebration

In honor of the 150th Anniversary of Puccini's birth, Mayor Bloomberg will declare December 22nd Puccini Day in New York. That night, at 8 P.M. at Lincoln Center's Rose Hall in the Time-Warner Building, the Dicapo Opera Theatre will present an all-Puccini program with arias and fully-costumed scenes from all of the composer's operas.

Selections will include the opening of Act Two of Edgar, both the Brescia and La Scala versions of Madama Butterfly, Le Villi and his last opera Turandot.

Renata Scotto and Dicapo's general director Michael Capasso will host the concert. Members of the Opera Orchestra of New York and the Dicapo Opera Theatre Chorus will be led by Eve Queler and guest conductors Francisco Bonnin, Victor De Renzi, and Pacien Mazzagatti. Singers include Italy's leading Puccini specialists soprano Daniela Dessi and tenor Fabio Armiliato as well as numerous artists, such as Aprile Millo, Francisco Casanova, Olga Makarina and Anthony Laciura as well as members of Dicapo's Resident Artists Program.

Tickets are $65, $50 for subscribers and $100 for VIP seating, which includes a post-performance reception. They're available by calling (212) 288-9438 X. 10.

Co-founded in 1981 by Capasso and Diane Martindale, Dicapo Opera has long been known as New York's third opera company. After the Met and City Opera, it's the only non-profit opera company in the city presenting an entire season of opera productions, musical theatre and concerts in its 204-seat, state-of-the-art opera house complete with supertitles at St. Jean Baptiste Church at 186 East 76th Street at Lexington Avenue.

The next performance in the popular Opera for Kids series will be Tobias Picker's Fantastic Mr. Fox, Saturday and Sunday at 11 A.M. at the Dicapo Opera Theatre at St. Jean Baptiste. It's based on Roald Dahl's children's book about the Fox family's revenge against the evil farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for children. Order as above.

Kennedy Center Honors Televised

On December 8, the 31th Annual John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presented honors to six performing arts icons "for the gifts they have shared with us" in a star-studded evening attended by President and Mrs. Bush and a host of capital powerbrokers.

The 2008 honorees are Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman; two-time Grammy-winning country singer George Jones; Oscar/Grammy-winning director, actress, singer, writer, composer and producer Barbra Streisand; acclaimed Tony and DD-winning choreographer Twyla Tharp; and, though I love 'em, you'll have to admit a strange, interesting, brave choice: Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame musicians Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of The Who. Each star is saluted by celebrities and entertainment-laden segments.

A much-edited Honors will be broadcast on CBS as a two-hour prime-time special on December 30 at 9 P.M.

Sondheim Treasure Trove

Musical theater buffs rejoice! Releasing on the 30th is a comprehensive treasure trove of the works of Stephen Sondheim, The Story So Far, a comprehensive four-CD, four and a half hour + set [SonyBMG/Legacy Records; SRP $55]. It features 81 tracks with selections from Sondheim's 15 Broadway shows, film scores, TV specials, incidental music and demo recordings from his private collection [songs cut from shows or written for aborted stage and film projects].

Sondheim served as exec producer with A&R head Steve Berkowitz as producer. The set was prepared by veteran producers Didier C. Deutsch and Darcy M. Proper.



"Show buffs love nothing more than demos, out-of-print and private recordings," says Sondheim, "particularly cut songs - especially when sung by the composer. This has all of the above and more. I'm listed as co-producer, but the work and choices were Didier and Darcy's. They have packaged these buried and not-so-buried nuggets with care and lavish elegance."

Of particular interest, the box set includes 28 previously-unreleased tracks and such rarities as songs from Evening Primrose, the 1966 television musical starring Anthony Perkins and Charmain Carr, and demos from Saturday Night, the 1955 musical that would have marked Sondheim's Bway debut had it reached a NY stage. It remained on the shelf until a 1997 London production. In 1998, it finally received a professional recording, which was followed in 2000 by a production at Second Stage.

Other unreleased tracks in the set include demos of songs from Do I Hear a Waltz?; discarded tunes from Company, Follies, A Little Night Music and Pacific Overtures; and songs for an intended 1992 TV production of Into the Woods.

Artists in the set Julie Andrews, Carol Burnett, Len Cariou, Barbara Cook, Victor Garber Dean Jones, Glynis Johns, Nathan Lane, Angela Lansbury, Madonna, Merman, Minnelli, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Zero Mostel and Donna Murphy.

The profusely illustrated booklet features an introduction by Harold Prince, notes by Mark Horowitz, Library of Congress senior music specialist, as well as Sondheim's personal reflections.

Behind-the-Scenes Tell All, Lavishly Illustrated

There's no finer gift for theater fans than a book you'll want to go on reading forever, the expanded edition of How Does The Show Go On?, An Introduction to the Theater by Disney Theatricals president Thomas Schumacher and Jeff Kurt [Disney Editions; 120 pages; SRP $25]. One reason you'll want to go on reading forever is to discover all the book's fun surprises. The book has been updated to include The Little Mermaid and High School Musical.

HDTSGO gives readers the opportunity to meet the casts and behind-the-scene workers and explore the inner workings of theater and theatre buildings. It's a complete and interactive guide to what goes on behind the curtain.

Schumacher stated, "I wanted to create the kind of book about the theater that I would have enjoyed when I was a kid." Another goal was to craft an indispensable guide "for young theater lovers to show the countless career opportunities that do not involve being on stage."

Readers meet everyone from the playwright, choreographer and stage manager to the set designer, composer, director and actors, even the usher. Considering the gorgeous color illustrations, production and at-work photos and all its fun elements, the book is amazingly bargain-priced. It is filled with artifacts you can pull out and hold in your hand.

How Does The Show Go On? includes a mock ticket to The Lion King, costume designer's sketchbook with swatches, Playbill, two excerpts from a Tarzan rehearsal script, theater-speak glossary, a page on how to put on a play, sections on Front of House and Back of House and hundreds of color photos from mini to oversize [with a stunning Lion King endpaper and a mid-section quadruple trunk fold-out of a scene from Lion King and Mary Poppins].

Schumacher has launched a Gift-A-Book pilot program to provide drama teachers and students throughout New York public schools with gift copies of HDTSGO. "This book exists because of the great inspiration of my childhood teachers," he explains. "When I heard from people that they were buying multiple copies to give as gifts, I thought it would be great to offer that concept to anyone who wanted to gift a book to a public school."

Individuals interested in gifting a copy of How Does The Show Go On? to a City public school can go to www.howdoestheshowgoon.com for instructions.

Still Kicking - Those Gorgeous Gams

Before there was Dancing with the Stars, there was Mitzi Gaynor - the original TV star dancer, winning a decade of huge ratings starting in 1968 with her Emmy-winning variety specials. Her triple threat talent - singer, dancer, comedienne - made her a film, TV, concert tour, nitery and stage star.

Now, you can treasure some of those jaw-dropping Bob Mackie costumes, production numbers, eye-popping special effects and M.G. energy that could have sent a rocket to the moon. Just released is Mitzi Gaynor - Razzle Dazzle! The Special Years, a one-hour-and-45-minute DVD encompassing performances from the NBC colorcasts. Ms. Gaynor note some of the numbers haven't been seen in over 30 years.



The DVD features clips from South Pacific, numerous excerpts from the TV specials' production numbers and interviews with Ms. Gaynor, choreographer Tony Charmoli, Mackie, Kelli O'Hara, Kristin Chenoweth, Carl Reiner, Rex Reed and dancers Alton Ruff and Randy Doney, whom she worked with.

The specials weren't tape before a live audience. Jack Bean and the choreographers would put together a new show every year, tour six to eight months, then come back to L.A., where they'd rehearse for three weeks and put the show on tape with the very best canned applause I've ever heard. The show is presented in such a way you think it's live. However, with all the various camera shots, including Busby Berkley overhead kaleidoscope shots and the numerous costume quick changes, it would have been impossible.

Mackie's stunning and flamboyant spangled and sequined costumes, in many cases as skimpy as the law would allow at the time, are also stars of the specials. Many of them appear to show more of Ms. Gaynor than censors would tolerate, but shrewd Mackie used a nude-colored material.

The eight production numbers in the bonus material are vastly entertaining. They include "Pretty" (1968), choreographed by Peter Gennaro and runs 2:55; the Brazilian flavored "Let Go," with a lot of frug thrown in (1969), choreographed by Danny Daniels, running 4:41; "Limehouse Blues" (1973), choreographed by Bob Sidney, with Ms. Gaynor costumed in, perhaps, Mackie's most elaborate and wildly amusing costume, a sort of Princess-Turandot-as-glittering-Vegas-showgirl; and the absolute piece de resistance, the Late Show Movie Parody comedy sketch (1968) with Ms. Gaynor reimagined as Rosalind Russell, Doris Day and Rita Hayworth.

Most amazing, in the very energetic choreorgraphy, Ms. Gaynor never has a hair out of place, loses a wig, earring or eyelash and can sing as well as dance.

One disappointment is that there's not enough of the bravura dance number from 1975's Mitzi Gaynor & 100 Guys, where she and her dancers are joined in an elaborately-Charmoli-choreographed number by 100 leading men working in TV [Ed Asner, Tom Bosley, Mike Connors, Andy Griffin, Monty Hall, Ted Knight, Michael Landon, Gavin MacLeod, Peter Marshall, Greg Morris and, among others, William Shatner].

Ms. Gaynor says if it wasn't for her most memorable film role, Nellie Forbush, in the film adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific, directed by Joshua Logan [who directed the Broadway original], she "probably wouldn't be remembered today. It was an incredible experience. We shot on location in Hawaii. It was photographed in widescreen, high depth Todd-A-O. Those songs! The movie didn't end up being the blockbuster [20th Century] Fox hoped, but it did well, especially overseas. And today people still stop me and say how much they loved my Nellie."

What Becomes a Legend Most?


Memories of a feisty movie diva surfaced with the U.S. Postal Services issue of a Bette Davis first-class stamp on the 100th anniversary of her birth. Davis is 14th star to be honored in the Legends of Hollywood Series. A 10-time Academy Award nominee, Davis won twice, for her roles in Dangerous [1935] and Jezebel [1938]. She shares the record for most consecutive nominations [with Greer Garson]: five years in a row: 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942 and 1943.

In a bow to too much political correctness, Davis' ever-present cigarette has been airbrushed out of her hand.

Davis was the first female honored with the American Film Institute's lifetime achievement award. On AFI' s 100 Years of The Greatest Heroes and Villains list, her Regina Giddens in The Little Foxes [1941] ranks #43 and Baby Jane Hudson in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? comes in at #44. She is #2 on AFI's Greatest Screen Legends actress list.

Regarding the years-long feud between Davis and rival Joan Crawford, it wasn't easy to get B.D. to speak of J.C., but when she did she was quite blunt - once stating that "I wouldn't p--s on her if she was on fire." Another time, she recalled that "the best time I ever had with Joan Crawford was when I pushed her down the stairs in Baby Jane?"

But when Crawford died in 1977, I had occasion to be working with Davis at her home in Weston, CT. She was literally in her cups -- drinking Bell's Scotch out of a tea cup. She made sympathetic comments about J.C.'s long-fight with cancer and that, indeed, she had been a screen legend. At one point, she retorted, "I always felt her greatest performance was Crawford being Crawford." When reporters asked her of her opinion of J.C., however, the old bitterness returned and she told one, "My mother told me never to speak badly of the dead. She's dead....Good."

Davis claimed to have given the Academy Award the nickname "Oscar," stating that the statue's "bum" reminded her of her first husband Harmon Oscar Nelson.

She was a perfectioness who went to war against Warner for putting her "in so much drivel." Her reputation for being difficult is legendary. She stated, "I've been known as difficult for fifty years. And it's always because I want to make it the best film I can."

On Davis' tombstone at Forest Lawn, it's inscribed "She did it the hard way." She did.

A Must-See Exhibition

Time is running out to see an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum that will, undoubtedly, never be repeated. The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions is a spectacular tribute to the retiring, longest-serving director Philippe de Montebellow, who has guided the Met in the acquisition of over 250 masterpieces during his tenure. It opens October 24 and runs through February 1.

"Quiet please, there's a lady on stage.
She may not be the latest rage,
But she's singing and she means it;
And she deserves a little silence..."

[Carole Bayer-Sager/Peter Allen]

Well, she didn't get it!

The audience response was near pandemonium. After Liza with a Z took six bows, including ones with her pianist Billy Stritch, music director Michael Berkowitz and the 12-piece orchestra, she reluctantly left the stage, completely drained and wet from perspiration, wrapped in Stritch's arms.

"...Quiet please, there's a woman up there
And she's been honest through her songs
Long before your consciousness was raised.
Doesn't that deserve a little praise..."

Absolutely.

No one in Minnelli's physical condition could sustain a two hour and 20 minute show; but she did.

No one who's just done the Ironman triathlon, ridden the final stage of the Tour de France, has a cold and seems to be in a state of terminal asthma could sing, dance, tell jokes and mesmerize an audience into a frenzy of standing ovations throughout the two hours and 20 minutes. Minnelli did.

Among those arriving on the red carpet to pay homage were Sandra Bernhard, Mario Cantone, Alan Cumming, Arlene Dahl and husband Marc Rosen, Vincent D'Onofrio, Christine Ebersole, Harvey Evans, Amanda Green, Julie Halston, Cheyenne Jackson, Palace Theatre co-owner and producer Stewart Lane and wife Bonnie Comley, Linda Lavin, Gavin Lee, Michele Lee, Shirley Maclaine, Karen Mason, Mary Louise Parker, Elaine Stritch, Tommy Tune and Tamara Tunie.

Even 20 minutes into the show, no one would have been surprised if Minnelli fainted and was administered oxygen. It didn't happen. If there was an ambulance standing by, it was soon sent back to whence it came.

The opening night audience of Liza's at the Palace experienced the stuff of a survivor, a legend. The concert, with its many ups and lots of downs, will certainly be talked about - will end up being written about - for years.

Minnelli not only razzle-dazzled but also rang them bells.

Her performance could be described as nothing less than a miracle. Her energy level never seemed waver, even though she was rarely off stage [and when she was, it was for only a matter of moments]. She stayed afloat in the midst of a stamina-challenging production numbers choreographed by her long-time collaborator Ron Lewis, who also directed and co-conceived the concert [which benefited from additional and special material from David Zippel].

Lewis has been a staple on the Las Vegas scene for decades and last choreographed Liza in her Tony Award-winning performance in The Act. He's helped make some of show business' greatest stars and legends look good.

The show was brilliantly conceived - embraced by many signature songs, personal stories, anecdotes and heartfelt reminiscences of who she is and whose daughter she is.

Produced by John Scher/Metropolitan Talent, Liza's at the Palace, will play through December 28.

Minnelli and pianist/co-arranger Stritch are almost synonymous. He seems to know what she's thinking before she thinks it. Then there were "Liza's boys": dancer/singers Cortes Alexander, Jim Caruso, Tiger Martina and Johnny Rodgers.

Kudos are also due lighting designer Matt Berman, long-time Minnelli conductor/drummer Michael Berkowitz and the ab fab orchestra.

Musical numbers were arranged and orchestrated by Ralph Burns, Ned Ginsburg, Marvin Hamlisch, Sonny Kompanek, Don Sebesky, Artie Schroeck, Stritch and Torrie Zito.

In a display of Minnelli's well-known sense of generosity, she not only applauded the orchestra members but brought them all down for bows.

The costumes were designed by Minnelli's long-time friend, the late Halston. The first act's sequined white pants suit and second act's sequined flapper dress and red pants suit were dazzlers - thanks in part to her being more svelte than ever.

Minnelli's performance was a sort of train wreck at the gates of heaven. It was not always the best of everything; but put all together, there was, indeed, a star onstage.

No one came expecting the Liza Minnelli of 20 years ago or even 10 years ago. Indeed, her famous vibrato is all but gone. But if they came to see an amazing champion of the art of selling a song with a helluva belt -- and an artist, who [at times] against all odds, worked her butt off to work her way once again into the hearts of dedicated fans, they got what they paid for. Actually, more.

The fact that Minnelli has lost a bit [oh, heck, just come out and say it: a lot] of her vocal range didn't seem to matter. Some of those high notes were screeches and more than wobbly. She was often seemingly nervous, speaking in short blasts of unfinished sentences. But if anyone wondered what the definitions of "determination" and "legend" are, they saw it live and in person.

Minnelli was luminous, wise-cracking, self-depreciating, funny, strutting with pizzazz from Stage Right to Stage Left, upstage, downstage - devouring the audience and, in return, basking in their lavish outpouring of love and support.

There was a particularly iconic moment as Minnelli took bows following her powerhouse rendition of the Act One finale, "Cabaret," when she stepped to the very lip of the stage and tiptoed on her heels. With her eyes closed, she threw her head back. For a moment, she basked in and absorbed the adulation as if she was on an exotic beach in the noonday sun.

Even with limited range, Minnelli sang out like Louise. She didn't have the charts changed to lower the keys, and she really gave it her all. Sadly, she was often done in by the over-the-top amplification of not only the orchestra but also her vocals, which in addition to her sustained deep breathing, made it hard to understand some lyrics, especially in less familiar songs.

Trouper that she is, she even razzed on herself about her breathlessness. "Remember how I used to sit down in the second act?" cracked Minnelli, as she reached off stage and hauled on a director's chair, "Now, I sit down in the first act."

"...So put your hands together and help her along.
All that's left of the singer's--
All that's left of the song.
Stand for the ovation
And give her one last celebration..."

There's evidently a lot left of the singer; and there's no doubting that the songs still work. The thunderous ovations --cheering, loud, sustained ones, made it obvious Minnelli's one of the world's best-loved entertainers. This was more than a celebration. It was like a canonization.

The three-time Tony [Flora, the Red Menace, 1965; The Act, 1978; and a 1974 Best Personal Achievement, for her Winter Garden engagement], Oscar [Cabaret, 1972; a nomination for 1969's The Sterile Cuckoo], Emmy winner [Liza with a Z] and Grammy "Legend" is a born comedienne, something a new generation of fans discovered with her acclaimed turn as Lucille 2 on the Emmy-winning sit-com Arrested Development.

The opening was a bit weak, "Teach Me Tonight" [Gene DePaul; Sammy Cahn], soon followed by the autobiographical "I Would Never Leave You," written by Stritch, Rodgers and Brian Lane Green; and what appeared to be a poignant 60s take on personal choice by Charles Aznavour, "What Makes a Man a Man?" However, even in these quiet moments, most of the lyrics were lost.

But Minnelli was shoveling the coal and building steam. The pace picked up with the uptempo "If You Hadn't, But You Did?" [Jule Styne; Comden and Green, from the 1951 revue Two on the Aisle] and, after a breather to discuss how she came to play Roxie for five weeks replacing Gwen Verdon in the original Chicago opposite Chita Rivera, she rose to the occasion on the Kander and Ebb classics, "My Own Best Friend" [she expressed stunned surprise at it being left out of the movie adaptation] and "Maybe This Time," the first song she says was written especially for her by the duo.*

[* Actually, it was written for K&E's great friend and supporter Kaye Ballard, who was all set to record it, when... Giving the song to Minnelli created a huge rift in the B&K&E friendship.]

Act One was racing to a close when Minnelli in a moment of déjà vu delivered a beautifully written intro by Kander, Stritch and Zippel to Roger Edens' nostalgic "Until You've Played the Palace (You Haven't Played the Top)."

"...For years I had it preached to me,
And drummed into my head,
Until you play the Palace,
You might as well be dead
...So, it became the Hall of Fame,
The Mecca of the trade.
When you had played the Palace,
You knew that you were made.
So, I hope you understand my wondrous thrill,
'Cause vaudeville's back at the Palace,
And Liza's on the bill."

A medley long associated with Mom Judy followed. The songs were "Shine on Harvest Moon," "Some of These Days" and "I Don't Care." Minnelli added a classic made famous by Fanny Brice in the Ziegfeld Follies, "My Man."

Act One ended with a K&E Minnelli gem and Act Two began with another one, "And the World Goes 'Round."

There were more poignant moments in Act Two with Minnelli's loving tribute to one of her mom's best friends and her very own godmother, a woman who was very important in Minnelli's life, the late effervescent, gregarious and indefatigable Kay Thompson.

Though a top music director, vocal coach and arranger on MGM musicals, that aspect of Thompson's career and the fact that she was a dynamic entertainer is all but forgotten. Minnelli took steps to remedy that by recreating a segment with her singing/dancing ensemble [portraying the young Williams Brothers, fronted at the time by Andy Williams] of Thompson's tumultuously-received 40s Hollywood club act, for which she did all the arrangements.

Many who remember Thompson assumed she was English, but she was a down-to-earth St. Louie gal who became a Hollywood sophisticate. One of her rare appearances in front of the camera was in Funny Face; another was opposite Minnelli in Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon. As an author, she wrote one of the world's most popular children's books, Eloise at the Plaza.

The songs in this sequence included Thompson's "Jubilee Time"; "Basin Street Blues"; "Clap Yo' Hands" by George and Ira Gershwin; George Gershwin's tribute to the Minnelli's little girl, "Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)," with lyrics by Ira and Gus Kahn; Thompson's rousing "I Love a Violin"; and a song Thompson introduced to Garland, the Jolson megahit "Mammy" [Walter Donaldson, Sam Lewis and Joe Young].

Needless to say, the Palace erupted into wild rapture when Minnelli closed with K&E's anthem to the Big Apple, "New York, New York," which she introduced in the film of the same name.

"...Quiet please, there's a person up there...
Give her your respect if nothing else...
Conductor, turn the final page
And when it's over we can all go home
But she lives on - on the stage alone."

With just Billy Stritch on piano, Liza Minnelli closed with a warmly rendered "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," memorably sung by her mom in Meet Me in Saint Louis.

All in all, vocally-challenged and not, Minnelli delivered a concert of songs sung from the heart and soul. The audience not only reciprocated with respect but also applause and genuine love. And they didn't want to go home.

Finally, after several more bows, the curtain was drawn. And Liza Minnelli goes round and round, amazingly living on to thrill, excite, exalt another audience.

Remembrance of Things Past

It seems everyone in the business knows Harvey and that Harvey knows everyone in the business.

Harvey Evans is one of the most loved and delightful artists in show biz. When spotted at Liza's at the Palace, it was impossible not to notice how moved he was by Minnelli's concert - especially at the end when he was in tears.

"I couldn't help it," he said. "Liza did it to me. I was so moved by 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,' which Judy had sung. And now Liza did as her farewell gift to the audience. My life flashed before my eyes. I feel so privileged to have known and worked with them."

Evans, a spry 68 come January, has appeared onstage, in film and on TV regularly since the 1950s. He can still sing, cut a rug and kick up his heels as he recently
did for choreographer John "Chi Chi" O'Connell in the large dance ensemble for Disney's Enchanted.

He made his Broadway debut in 1957 under his real name, Harvey Hohnecker, opposite none other than Gwen Verdon in New Girl in Town. He proceeded to dance in classic musical after classic musical, including West Side Story, again opposite Verdon in Redhead, as a Tulsa in the original Gypsy, as a Barnaby opposite Channing in Hello, Dolly!, with Lansbury in Anyone Can Whistle, opposite Joel Grey in George M and as Bobby in the Boy Friend revival.

Evans won acclaim as Young Buddy in the original Follies and followed that as Jim Dale's Barnum standby.

Numerous roles in Sunset Boulevard, The Scarlet Pimpernel and the 2005 Oklahoma! revival followed.

He's done so many benefits, regional and tour productions that he's probably lost count.
On film and TV, he appeared in adaptations of The Pajama Game, Dames at Sea and Applause. And he's still working!

The stories he can tell! The memories he has! Everyone is always telling Evans, "You should write a book," and maybe he will.

And he worked with Judy Garland in her 1963 CBS TV variety series. "I appeared in Mary Poppins, which was choreographed by Mark Breaux and DeeDee Wood, and they were the Garland choreographers. That's how I got hired.

"Judy was amazingly generous," says Evans, "and wonderful to all of us in the ensemble.
There were 12 of us, six guys, six gals. And that's how I met Liza. She was there as often as possible to see Mama and I got to appear with her in the Christmas show."

It was on that broadcast that Minnelli stopped the show, bringing down the house doing "Steam Heat" with Tracy Everitt.

"Liza met Tracy while we were in West Side Story," says Evans. "He was Snowboy. They dated for a while."

But it was the month before that etched a memory he can never forget.

John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Garland was a Kennedy friend and so distraught she didn't know if she could do that week's show. In the end, she did and by paying tribute with a stirring rendition of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" that still ranks as one of the most brilliant and emotion moments in TV.

"Liza and I were in the audience," recalls Evans, "It was such an electrifying moment that everyone was in tears. Liza was holding my hand. When Judy finished, everyone jumped up at once."

That kind of response to Minnelli by the opening night audience so affected Evans that he was very slow to get up from his seat. As he walked slowly up the aisle, head bowed, he was wiping away the tears.

"What Liza managed to do was just mindboggling," he says. "My God, what a champion! It was not only a triumph for her but for all of show business."

-- Ellis Nassour