May 2009 Archives

On Sunday, June 7, the Broadway community gathers at Radio City Music Hall for the American Theatre Wing's 63rd annual Tony Awards. The show will be carried as a live, three-hour special on CBS, beginning at 8 P. M.

At Wednesday morning's reception for the nominees, who were announced only the day before, several interesting facts about the Awards came to light.

There's a first this season. Billy Elliot made history as the only show to nominate a trio of performers - David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish - who share the same role as a single nomination. There've been instances where more than one performer was considered jointly for a single nomination; but in those cases, they were playing different characters as in 1998's brilliant, but short-lived Side Show where Best Actress, Musical nominee Alice Ripley in Next to Normal shared a nomination with Emily Skinner, who played her Siamese twin.

The musical, with 15 nominations, has matched the record set in 2001 by The Producers, which went on to win 12 trophies - also a record. Will Billy do as well?

In what is certainly a rare occasion, God of Carnage's entire cast - Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, Marcia Gay Harden and James Gandolfini - received Tony nods in the Best Leading Actor/Actress, Play cats.

Raúl Esparza and Martha Plimpton have been nominated three times in three consecutive years: He for the revival of Speed-the-Plow this season, the revival of The Homecoming last year and the revival of Company[2007]; and she for Roundabout's revival of Pal Joey, Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia last year; and Top Girls [2008].

Jane Greenwood now holds the honor of being the most-nominated costume designer in Tony history by earning 16th nom this season for Waiting for Godot.

Angela Lansbury and Stockard Channing are racking up their sixth Tony nom. Ms. Lansbury for her exuberant portrayal of psychic Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit; Ms. Channing for her savvy, sexy Vera Simpson in Pal Joey. The record for the most noms is Julie Harris, with 10.

Jane Fonda received her first Tony nom in 1960, for a featured role in the play There Was a Little Girl;and, after a 49-year gap, she's nominated again for her portrayal of an obsessed and dying musicologist in Best Play nominee 33 Variations.

Featured Actor, Musical, nominee Marc Kudisch, who has been bruised and battered - even fairly seriously injured during the L.A. pre-Broadway run, as chauvinistic boss Franklin Hart in 9 to 5, calls his role the "best in his career."

He had nothing but high praise for his onstage colleagues. "The company is talented and smart -- and we all get along. You can read that onstage. Audiences know when things are sinking or grooving. [Nominees] Allison [Janney], Megan [Hilty], and Stephanie [Block] are these unique personalities that come together so beautifully. Their energies balance each other so well they become a three-headed monster."

He adds, "You really have to watch out when they come to life. They're on fire and they mean business! And then you have Kathy Fitzgerald [who plays very suspicious office manager Roz]. She's amazing and, next to me, the most shameless creature on the face of the planet."

Liza with a Z's arrival stirred great interest. She made the rounds, smiling, friendly, accessible, very animated and with the same exuberance she displayed in her Liza's at the Palace revue. But, within minutes, she was wilting from the heat of the lights and crowds surrounding her every move.

"Being back on Broadway with my boys [Cortes Alexander, Jim Caruso, Tiger Martina and Johnny Rodgers], and especially doing the show at the Palace, which holds so many great memories for me was such a joy. I'll be honest, day after day after day, I couldn't believe it. They [the audiences] were amazing! And some of them came back four, five and six times. Imagine that!"

Haydn Gwynne and Carole Shelley are nominated in the Featured cat for Billy Elliot. Gwynne explained that even though the show was a success in London, they never took it for granted that it would work and resonate with New York audiences. "Having made that journey, and sitting here today with 15 nominations, I have to pinch myself. The boys are amazing, each with their distinct personality." Working with the different Billys "eight shows a week is a challenge, but it also keeps you on your toes and helps to keep us fresh."

From the standpoint of producers and critics wondering if the show, with it's heavy English slang and accents, would be understood here, Gwynne says, "We all were concerned, but it hasn't been a problem. That's been a great surprise. Because of some of the strong language, I thought there're be rows about what we could and could not do. There's been no condescension or an effort to explain things. The audiences told us very quickly that it wasn't a problem, that they get it, especially on the terms of what a great human story it is."

She added that working with Featured Actor noms Gregory Jbara and Ms. Shelley, American members of the cast, has "simply been a divine pleasure. They were very comfortable and at home from the very first day."

Jbara seemed to be more excited about his three Billys being nominated as one and young David Bologna [who so beautifully plays the Billys' friend Michael] up against him in Featured. "He's on Cloud 9," beamed Jabara, "and we're on Cloud 9 for him. We're so happy. The [Tony] nominating committee went up another notch in our hearts."

Speaking of the show, he said that the message is universal "especially in today's economy. If we've opened last season, as was intended, I don't know if it would've had the same resonance." He added that the dialects have been toned "way down," that they are not nearly as authentic as they should be. "But you have have keep your audience in mind. What good is telling the story if it can't be understood?"

Jessica Hynes and Stephen Mangan, nominated in the Featured cats for the hit revival of The Norman Conquests , spoke of the chemistry of working with their cast members, Amelia Bullmore, Ben Miles, Paul Ritter and Amanda Root. "It just wouldn't have the same effect without such a strong ensemble feeling," says Mangan.

The cast has been selected by Drama Desk for an Outstanding Ensemble Performance Award, which, says Mangan notes, "as wonderful as it is for Jessica and I to be nominated for a Tony, that is something we're incredibly proud of. We've been together a year, which brings it's own rewards. You get to know your mates well, which deepens the relationship onstage."

Audiences react to various lines differently. "That helps keeps things fresh," he observes. "Doing comedy is less cathartic than doing tragedy. We're acting and playing it straight. The audience is releasing."

Reaction from the audience influences the performances. "How you approach each moment is so vital," says Hynes. "Of course, it's scripted, but If you go out and keep it real, that's where the fun comes from."

She notes that director Matthew Warchus [who'll be going up against himself since he's also nominated for God of Carnage] had a great influence on how they work together by manipulating relationships with the other actors.

"Yes," laughs Mangan, "you grow to feel something about them, even if it's contempt!"

They agree that there's a surprise at every performance because, points out Mangan, "You never know how an audience will respond. At one performance, they look at you with warmth; at another, with disdain. That switches all the way through the trilogy. They're falling in and out of love with Norman throughout. Love him, hate him. I love that."

How you perform, says Hynes, telegraphs something to the audience. "All the characters are quite contradictory, in fact. Funny thing, I don't think of Norman as the 'villain.' To me, that's Tom [played by Miles]. He's the real criminal because he's incapable of doing what he needs to do."

The trilogy, he explains, needs all the performances to work in sync "or the whole thing falls apart. You rely on each other. It's not a question of the star wandering down stage and spouting a soliloquy. Being in the round emphasizes that even more. When you're onstage, up close and personal surrounded by a sea of audience, you really need each other. The show lives and dies on all of us, not just one or two."

However, Mangan quips, "Now, if I should by some miracle win Best Featured Actor, I won't be mentioning them!" That earns him a nice jab in the arm by Hynes.

Martha Plimpton, Featured Actress, Musical, nom, said of her singing/dancing role as Gladys Bumps in Pal Joey, "Oh, where do I begin? It was terrifying and exciting - all at the same time."

Of her revival of Hair, director Diane Paulus' goal was to bring the show very high energy. "I'd never seen it onstage, but had seen the film and, of course, knew the music, so working on the show was a very pure experience. I had my inner dream of what it should feel like. I wanted to represent the 70s in a passionate and truthful way and stay away from a tie-die, urban outfitter, campy show. It was important to get to the heart of it, inside out. I tried to transmit that in every choice I made from costumes, casting, set design, every aspect of the project."

Paulus was able to discover more than has been known about Hair for decades. "Working with [co-writer/lyricist] Jim [Rado], we dug up bits of dialogue from the original Off Broadway script. I worked closely with him and Galt [MacDermont] to focus the show on what would have the most impact today." [Co-writer/lyricist Gerome Ragni passed away in 1991].

She said that no one was prepared for the effect the show would have on audiences today, not only young but also older ones. For the finale, "Let the Sunshine In," when castmembers invite audience members onstage to dance and sing, "We've had people in their 70s and 80s, Vietnam and Gulf War veterans, people on walkers and crutches, a blind person with their seeing eye dog, wheelchairs lifted onto the stage. I love that because it's not about exhibitionism but about inclusion and community, about people saying 'I have been moved.' That's very touching to all of us."

To most observers, the Tony nominators got their nods for Will Swenson and Gavin Creel ass backwards, with Swenson, who plays Burger and in this revival seems to dominate the production, nominated as Featured Actor, and Creel, who plays Claude, as Actor. However, that hasn't affected the way they feel about each other. "It's a mutual admiration society," says Swenson. Touching him tenderly, Creel, who must have been 11 when he co-starred in Thoroughly Modern Millie, says, "Will's my man. He's the only man for me." Swenson responded, "And that's okay, Gavin. It's fine with me."

Swenson, asked if he'd been threatened with arrest yet for accosting any audience members with various members of his body or for sitting in their laps, replied, "No, but there've been some angry people. They get over it quickly." "They can't help it," quips Creel. "His personality is overwhelming." Well, not always. "The other night," recalls Swenson, "I had this woman scream 'Don't touch me. I've got arthritis!'"

Zack Grenier, nominated as Featured Actor, Play, for his portrayal of Beethoven in 33 Variations, of star Jane Fonda, "She's such a community spirit*," observes Grenier. "Charming, disarming. She's never pulled any rank. She wants to do the very best job. She knows that when you're really searching for the truth, you do your best work. It has to have been a challenge to come back to the stage after so many years, and she's doing it with an incredible amount of bravery."

On developing his character, he explained that since 33 Variations isn't the definitive story of Beethoven, "It's not something biographical where you have to get it right. He exists in Jane's character's imagination, Keeping that in mind, [director and writer] Moises Kaufman gave me a bit of free rein.

"I've always been fascinated with Beethoven," he explained, "so it's an absolute joy to be playing him. I read of his bombastic personality; and then there was his deafness and his ability to create such works as the Ninth and the Mass. He could hear the music in his head. I became so fascinated that I absorbed all I could and dug deep down where the character and I met. Playing a genius wasn't something I could think about, because I'm not a genius. You respect that, but leave it alone and find a commonality."

Choreographer Randy Skinner, up for his third nomination for his work on White Christmas, explains, "I had a ball working with these wonderful Irving Berlin songs. His music simply makes you want to dance. My goal was to bring that joy and as much variety to the show as I could. Because of the period, I was able to do ballroom, jazz and tap. It's fun and challenging to work with the dancers in achieving the nuances of style that were a part of the 50's. That's what [director] Walter wanted from all departments - sets, costumes, vocal arrangements, orchestrations - he wanted the show to really feel and look like we were in 1954."

He added that working with Bobbie on the various regional productions of White Christmas the past five years, "and creating a show that has fast become a seasonal favorite with audiences across the country is a collaboration I truly cherish."

For a listing of the 2009 Tony Award nominations, how the nominees reacted on getting the news, video of past winners, photos, trivia, staying connected through social networds, mobile alerts and a brief history of the awards namesake Antoinette Perry, visit the ultimate Tony fan site: www.tonyawards.com.

Photos by BARRY GORDIN
Except where noted

In Depth for Last Year's Tony-winning Heights

Making it in New York City is tough. Few get the chance to live out their dreams. The cast, creative team and crew of In the Heights know this all too well. The young, diverse and relatively unknown artists dreamed of making it on Broadway, but were well aware that a musical set outside a bodega in the Latino neighborhood of Washington Heights would be a highly risky proposition.

It took eight years, but they succeeded - and beyond their wildest expectations, winning four Tony Awards along the way, including Best Musical and Best Score. The doc In the Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams, airing on PBS' Great Performances May 27, chronicles the personal stories of composer/lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda and cast members in the months leading up to opening night.

For Miranda, bringing In the Heights to life began when he was a sophomore at Wesleyan College. Having grown up as a first generation American in one of New York's toughest neighborhoods, he struggled to find his identity. Writing about the stories, sacrifices and sounds of the people in his 'hood was a way to share his experience.

"When I saw Rent, it was the first time a musical took place now," he recounted. "A light bulb went off and it was like 'You can write a musical that's about you, about your life.' If you had told me it'd take eight years, I probably would have been too scared to continue."

In addition to extended performance sequences, the program offers an intimate behind-the-scenes look. Producers from @radical.media realized the show's potential at an early reading, and began filming shortly thereafter. They were provided unprecedented access to the cast as they went through workshops, to off-Broadway and finally to Broadway to the Richard Rodgers Theatre.

Karen Olivo, Miranda's on-stage love interest, who's now starring in and Tony and DD-nominated for her portrayal of Anita in the WSS revival, describes her "dedication to performing as an addiction." Mandy Gonzalez explains that her real life experience growing up with immigrant parents mirrors the character of Nina that she plays. Seth Stewart, who portrays Graffiti Pete, has struggled to balance his love of dancing with his football career.

Broadway veteran and ACL alumna Priscilla Lopez, In the Heights "is a journey back in time."

Bill O'Donnell is WNET's Great Performances series producer. Michael Kantor [Broadway: The American Musical, Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America] is consulting producer, with David Horn as exec producer. The series is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, Vivian Milstein, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust and viewers like you.

Brenda Leigh's Back and in Command

How y'all doin'? The top brass of the LAPD have their hands full battling con artists, bomb plots, arsonists, kidnappers, predators and serial murders. So, lordy, could things get any worse for them? Why, yes, y'all: Brenda Leigh Johnson, that feisty Georgia peach that oozes with Southern charm, is on her way to a big promotion.

That's how The Complete Fourth Season of The Closer [Warner Home Video; 15 episodes, four discs; SRP $40] of TV's hot, addictive and award-winning series gets underway - available May 26. Of course, there's a cliffhanger: Will Brenda Lee and her patient, frustrated love interest Fritz finally make it to the altar or even a Justice of the Peace?

The good news is B.L. hasn't changed - she's still not all sweetness and joy. The bad news is that the worst thing is that at the end of an episode you want more. The complete fourth season provides that, seamlessly. The series has been notched up a bit. CIA-trained belle Brenda Leigh takes her gritty oneupmanship and brilliant savvy crime-solving techniques with her as she heads up the new Major Crimes Division, a sort of L&O: MCD or L.A.'s Worst vs. L.A.'s Best.

Sedgwick manages an amazing consistency of charm, quirkiness and spunk in one of TV's most off-beat and compelling characters. The role has earned her three Emmy noms [Season 1, 2, 3] and a fourth Golden Globe nom for 4. She received the 2007 GG for Best Performance, Actress, Television Series Drama. Sedgwick and the cast have been honored with SAG Awards.

Despite her offbeat personality, bad eating habits and endearing tendency to step on people's toes while managing somehow to love cats, Brenda Leigh's tough-as-nails approach, interrogation charm and boiling female intuition solves murders.

Besides Sedgwick's amazing star turn, she's got good back up from co-stars Corey Reynolds as loyal right hand Sgt. Gabriel; that scoundrel Commander Taylor played by Robert Gossett [gosh, he seems to have changed, which means he must have something up his sleeve!]; lazy but loyal Lt. Provenza, G.W. Bailey, who provides comic relief; and Michael Paul Chan, Raymond Cruz [who is front and center in an intense episode], Anthony Denison, Gina Ravera; J.K. Simmons [Juno; Oz] as Assistant Chief Will Pope [a former paramour, it turns out; which often leads to some dicey moments]; and Jon Tenney, as recovering alchoholic, FBI special agent Fritz Howard, Brenda Leigh's long-suffering fiance.

Welcome returning and much-anticipated frequent guest stars Frances Sternhagen and Barry Corbin as B.L.'s parents, seeminly the only two people who can instill fear in her and vividly stealing every scene they're in.

Arresting bonus features on the DVD set include a gag reel, deleted scenes and two featurettes [Catching a Lie and A Day in the Life of a Homicide Detective].

The fourth season package debuts just as the show's fifth season gets underway on TNT. The series is created by James Duff, who has frequently contributed extremely well-written teleplays [along with Hunt Baldwin, John Coveny, Mike Berchem, Adam Belanoff and Steven Kane]. Broadway's Scott Ellis directs Episodes 6 and 12; Kevin Bacon, who's known in an intimate way to Ms. Sedgwick, directs #7.

Okay, torture is wrong, but Christopher Durang's farce Why Torture Is Wrong - and the People Who Love Them is sublime [for the most part]. Torture can proudly stand beside Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage [as translated by Christopher Hampton] as the other outstanding black comedy of the season.

Catch it while you can! The play closes at the Public Theatre [425 Lafayette Street, off East Eighth Street] on Sunday. Let's hope it has an extended life Off Bway. It certainly rates it. And not only for the humor that has had audiences RITA, but also for one of the standout performances of many a year by Kristine Nielsen.

The title is pure Durang bunk; and you'll have no idea who "them" is, but you'll still love 'em. These days it's not a guilty pleasure to laugh till you drop. We need it. That's what you'll do at the playwright's opus about how violence has enormously crept into our everyday lives.

The satire is fast, rampant and totally absurd in this thin story of a young woman, beautifully played by beautiful Laura Benanti, who awakes after a drunken night to find herself suddenly in a nightmare that get more and more out of control. Not only is she suddenly married to a possible and unbalanced terrorist [Amir Arison], but her ultra fanatic conservative father [Richard Poe] collects "butterflies," while her mother - portrayed in quite the memorable peformance by Nielsen, goes through life in a musical comedy haze.

Benanti may be the best "straight" person to call on for comedy. How she manages to stay in character and not break up in those intimate moments with Neilsen has to take intense concentration. Her exterior may not crack, but I'm sure, like everyone in the audience, she's having as good a time on the inside.

Though Torture is drop-dead hilarious [with tons of insider references that theatergoers will relish - and biting references to Jane Fonda's youthful "mistake," Tom Stoppard, Brian Friel, Lauren Bacall and Ann Miller's hair], the story grows much too long. So long, in fact that it begins getting tedious by the beginning of Act Two. Sadly, that act quickly starts to unravel into one with nowhere to go and isn't helped by the contrived we-have-to-end-it-now conclusion.

Drama Desk-nominated veteran director Nicholas Martin helms an exempleary cast who are immensely helped by the brilliant scenic design of David Korins.

Benanti, in a sustained non-singing role manages a fraction of a song, plays a character who hates theater. Audrie Neenan, a.k.a. the Pantie Lady, plays a spaced-out torture associate who faints at any hint of violence.

However, the creme de la creme is Nielsen, who's seemingly done just about every type role from mucho Shakespeare and O'Neill to recent Bway revivals of To Be or Not to Be and Les Liaisons Dangereuses, not to mention numerous plays Off Bway, including Die, Mommie, Die! and Durang's Betty's Summer Vacation.

Notrhing she's done, however, quite compares to her sensational comic turn as this ditsy, addled New Jersy housewife who knows a lot more than she lets on. The look of rapture on her face as the admires a flower arrangment she's just finished in her New Jersey home is one for the comedy history books. And she keeps adding entries that fill page after page. It's an insane and at the same time quite poignant performance that not only brings down the house but one that will long be talked about - and deservedly so.

Though nominated by the Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Off Bway Play with a Featured nod for Neilsen , it's embarrassing to report the egregeous oversight of the Drama Desk nominators in totally dismissing Durang's play, Martin's direction and, especially, the performances of Neilsen and Poe.

For tickets, including those to Olympia Dukakis and Jonathan Groff starring in Craig Lucas' The Singing Forest, and information on a variety of Public programs and readings, visit www.publictheater.org.

It's a Hit!

When Harry met Rudi, the sparks must have flown. And now Jon Marans' new play The Temperamentals about Harry and Rudi is getting a buzz in it's Off Bway limited engagement. Performances are sold out and there's a line for possible cancellations. To boot, critics have taken notice - as have a number of A List producers who might move it to a larger theatre.

Now at the tiny Barrow Group Studio Theatre [312 West 36th Street, third floor, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues], The Temperamentals tells of a torrid and unlikey love affair during revolutionary times as awareness for gay rights was awakening.

They say opposites attract. It sure was true of Harry and Rudi.

Harry Hay was a teacher and labor advocate. Drawing on his background in the Communist Party USA, he co-founded the Mattachine Society, the country's first enduring LGBT rights org in 1950. He was ousted in 1953, withdrew from mainstream activism until the late 70s, then following the Stonewall riots [1969], he was active in gay lib fronts and co-founded Radical Faeries.

Rudi Gernreich was an elegant Viennese refugee and dancer who went on to become a headline-making, innovative, colorful, futuristic and controversial designer to the rich and famous [topless swimsuit, thong, unisex and vinyl clothing, the sheer, stretch no-bra bra]. Fashion critics hailed him as "one of the most original, prophetic and controversial American designers" from the 50s into the 70s.

The MAN underdog production stars Thomas Jay Ryan as Hay and Michael Urie of Ugly Betty fame as Gernreich.

The title refers to the slang/code word for "homosexual" in the early 50s, According to Marans, "it was part of a created language gay men used to communicate in their underground world where danger was always an underlying presence. In spite of that, a heady intoxication hung in the air."

Marans weaves the personal and political to explore a relatively unknown chapter in gay history and explore the romance between two complex men "amid epic struggles in an underground world where danger was always present."

Characters include those who founded Mattachine, as well as other figures of the time. Tom Beckett, Matthew Schneck and Sam Breslin Wright complete the cast. Jonathan Silverstein directs. He recently helmed The Dining Room [DD nom, Outstanding Play; DD Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance] and Tea and Sympathy for Keen Company, where he's resident director.

Marans pointed out that coverage of gay rights in American history books has been "egregious - with most making gays invisible. This is a story that deserves to be told."

Though critical response to The Temperamentals has been overwhelmingly positive, he added, "What's been even more heartening - and what has separated this show from others I've written, is the close collabaration with Jonathan. Maybe it's because he went to Quaker schools which stressed family. It was all of us working, arguing together as a community for the play. That's apt for a play about a group of difficult, opinionated men working for a common cause."

Marans' award-winning Old Wicked Songs was a 1996 Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama and was included in Best Plays of 1996-97. It's been produced in over a dozen countries including in London's West End with Bob Hoskins and James Callis.

Tickets, if available, for The Temperamentals very limited engagement are $18 and might be found online at www.smarttix.com or by calling (212) 868-4444. Or join the line. For more information and performance schedule, visit www.thetemperamentals.com.

Broadway Musicals, 1944

Monday at 8 P.M. Scott Siegel and Town Hall's acclaimed Broadway By The Year series will present excerpts from the musicals of 1944 - Arlen/Harburg's Bloomer Girl, Duke/Dietz's Jackpot, Porter's Mexican Hayride and Seven Lively Arts, Bernstein/Comden and Green's On the Town, Grieg/Wright/Forrest's Song of Norway, many more [as fans of the series know].

Now in its ninth season, the series is created, written and hosted by Siegel. Lawrence Zucker is exec producer and T.H. A.D. Directing and choreographing is Jeffry Denman. He'll also perform along side headliners Kate Baldwin [Wonderful Town], Stephen DeRosa [Twentieth Century], young tap master Kendrick Jones, Shannon Lewis [Curtains], opera star Sarah Jane McMahon, William Michals [South Pacific], Melinda Sullivan [High School Musical],Tony Yazbeck [Gypsy, A Chorus Line].

Tickets are $45 and $50 and available at the Town Hall box office, through TicketMaster, (212) 307-4100, and online at www.ticketmaster.com. Broadway By the Year is supported by Bank of America and the Edythe Kenner Foundation.

Working in Theater

The American Theatre Wing presents At Work and Play: Lead Actors 2009 in the popular Working in the Theater series on CUNY- TV next week. The episode, celebrating the series' 30th Anniversary, features Jane Alexander, Bill Irwin, Angela Lansbury, Cynthia Nixon and Geoffrey Rush. ATW exed director Howard Sherman moderates.

The award-winning actors [Tonys, DDs, Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe] speak candidly about how they choose roles and whether they would consider playing smaller roles, what they feel from an audience; how they balance the thoughts of the playwright and director, how they handle it when they don't agree; and, when they go to theater, how they react as audience members.

It airs Sunday at 5 P.M.; May 15 at 9 A.M., 2 P.M. and 7:30; May 16 at 11 A.M.; and May 17 at 5 P.M. The episode will also be available for viewing/download at americantheatrewing.org beginning May 13.

Definitive Definitive Merman Gypsy

The Styne/Sondheim score of Gypsy, hailed as one of if not the greatest American musicalters, has thriled the world for 50 years. It features timeless Broadway standards including "Everything's Coming Up Roses," "Let Me Entertain You," "Some People," "If Momma Was Married," "Together Wherever We Go," and the climactic "Rose's Turn." Written for the legendary Ethel Merman, her portrayal of Momma Rose as the ultimate stage mother is considered to be the performance of her lifetime.

The show was nominated for eight 1959 Tonys, including Musical and Actress, [and nods to co-stars Jack Klugman and Sandra Church] but lost out to The Sound of Music and Mary Martin.

Grammy-winning producer Thomas Z. Shepard, who produced the 1995 remastered reissue, and producer Didier Deutsch have opened the Columbia Records vaults, vigilantly guarded over for years by the legendary producer Goddard Lieberson and come up the essential, collector's CD of Gypsy: A Musical Fable's original cast album [Masterworks Broadway; SRP, $12].

The recording, expanded to 63 minutes, has been remastered yet again, is attractively-packaged in a "green" tri-fold with large production shots. It has a bounty of bonus tracks and a booklet with more photographs [including some from the recording session (actors dressed so formally then!)], cast, creative team and notes by critic/author Martin Gottfried [Broadway Musicals, Sondheim], Shepard and those by George Dale reprinted form the original LP.

Included are numerous short passages restored for the '99 reissue. In addition, there's the Merm singing alternate lyrics to "Some People" and a medley of "Mr. Goldstone" and "Little Lamb" with piano accompaniment; the music publisher's demo of "Who Needs Him?", "Momma's Talking Soft," which was a duet for June and Louise; and "Nice She Ain't" - all cut before the opening. There's also Styne discussing the score in a 1990 conversation with Michael Feinstein; and Gypsy Rose Lee, in 1959, recalling burlesque.

Merman/Momma Rose seems indestructable in one of theater's greatest extended songs and intense solo production numbers, "Rose's Turn," but it's interesting how that sequence came about.

According to Gottfried's very entertaining notes, Sondheim thought of a "vocal ballet" for Merman - a sort of potpourri of Rose's life, after director/choreographer Jerome Robbins cut a ballet sequence [quite the rage in musicals of that time]. He went home, worked until dawn, starting "Rose's Turn" with a vamp from the middle of "Some People."

Gottfried writes, "It was one of his favorite musical moments in the show, sung to:
'Get yourself some new orchestrations
New routines and red velvet curtains."
The nervousness of that vamp, he thought, would communicate exactly what was making Rose fall apart at the end of 'Rose's Turn,' and using that rhythmic motif, he replaced his original lines with Momma Rose's:
'Why did I do it? What did it get me?
Scrapbooks full of me in the background.'
Then he patched in 'I had a dream,' from the verse of 'Everything's Coming Up Roses,' making a reference to the dreams that were an ongoing theme in [Arthur] Laurents' script.

He knew that the songs could not be sung the way they'd been sung earlier in the show. Now they had to demonstrate a sort of mental breakdown and that demanded a distorted quality.

Notes Gottfried, "'My idea," said Sondheim, "was to take the tunes, abut them against each other and distort them so that, while they were recognizable to the audience from the lyric thrust, at the same time they would seem like new material."

As the number developed over the next few days, he elaborated on this theme, re-arranging "Some People"'s meter and harmonies "so that its driven but optimistic quality became soured, almost demented.
'Some people got it, and make it pay,
Some people can't even give it away.'"

Finally, "Rose's Turn" was fitted with bump-and-grind accompaniments and orchestrated by Sid Ramin and Robert Ginzler. Although it's made up of snatches from various songs, it came to seem like a completely new piece. As every avid theater fan knows, "Rose's Turn" packs unprecedented theatrical power as the ultimate 11:00 number should.

Interestingly, "Little Lamb" almost didn't make it into the musical. Like most choreographers, it's noted, Robbins didn't like slow songs. Styne went to bat for Sondheim, who was especially fond of the tune and convinced Robbins to keep it.

Streisand Live Collection

Streisand's back, and with quite a package: a three DVD set shot during her April 2006 concerts: Streisand: The Concerts [Live Nation/Hip-O/Universal Music; SRP $35], a sort combo Babs Streisand Story and an all access pass to two of her concerts in their entirety: Anaheim in 1994 and Ft. Lauderdale in 2006. There's never seen behind-the-scenes footage and a ton of bonus features, including interviews.

There are 17 songs never-before released on DVD and tunes which Streisand performs for the first time either in the studio or live. Guests are multi-Platinum recording artists, Il Divo.

Highlights: "The Way We Were," "Come Rain or Come Shine," "Cryin' Time" with Ray Charles, "Don't Rain On My Parade," "Funny Girl," "(Have I Stayed) Too Long At The Fair?", "Happy Days Are Here Again," "The Music that Makes Me Dance," "My Man," "On a Clear Day," of course, "People" and, with Il Divo, "Evergreen," "The Music of the Night," "My Way" and "Somewhere."

Disc 3, Putting It Together: The Making of the Broadway Album, has vintage performance footage from the '60s and '70s never before seen on DVD. Additional features include video performances from Streisand's Emmy-winning TV specials My Name Is Barbra , Color Me Barbra, The Belle of 14th Street, A Happening In Central Park and the classic Barbra Streisand...and Other Musical Instruments.

Streisand remains is the music industry's #1 best-selling female artist with 50 Gold, 30 Platinum and 13 Multi-Platinum albums. Check out excerpts from the set with the teaser video at http://vimeo.com/3959654.

Remembering an Operatic Legend

The DVD and Blu-ray The Tribute to Pavarotti [Decca/Filmways; SRP $25, $30] is your front row seat to join HRH Princess Haya of Jordan as she and Nicoletta Mantovani Pavarotti at Petra, a World Heritage Site, as Andrea Bocelli, Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, Angela Gheorghiu, flutist Andrea Griminelli, Jovanotti, Cynthia Lawrence, Sherrill Milnes, Laura Pausini, Sting and Zucchero pay tribute to the late, celebrated tenor.

Bocelli's voice resonates around the natural amphitheatre with a spine tingling performance of "E Lucevan Le Stelle" from Tosca. The quartet of Bocelli, Gheorghiu, Lawrence and Milnes perform selections from La Boheme . Sting does two of his own songs as well as "La Ci Darem" from Don Giovanni with Gheorghiu.

To download an excerpt from The Tribute to Pavarotti, visit: http://www.filmwaysdigital.com/uploads/file_Pavarotti.php. Proceeds from the DVD sales will support UNHCR projects. To donate or learn more, visit: https://donate.thepavarottitribute.com.

New to DVD

Oscar nom Brad Pitt grows in statue in a very adult and juvenile role that's the role of a lifetime. He more than acquits himself in the acting department in a very dicy role that could have misfired. He plays a man, deserted at birth, who's born backwards in time in David Fincher's epic movie of romance, the search for happiness, adventure and redemption, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button [Paramount Home Video; available as a one- disc DVD or two-discs, widescreen, 165 mins; SRP $30 DVD, $40 double or Blu-ray]. The movie was nom'd for 13 Academy and four Golden Globe Awards.

Cate Blanchett, also an Oscar nom, as the great but elusive love of his life, is dazzling and never looked more beautiful or sexy.

Oscar nom Taraji P. Henson steals every scene she's in as Queenie, Benjamin's foster mother. Julia Ormond and Oscar winner Tilda Swinton co-star. The sweeping original screenplay is by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord. Playing a very imporant role in the film are cinematographer Claudio Miranda, the New Orlenas and world-wide locales and the Oscar-winning make-up, visual effects and art direction designers.

Bonus material galore varies on discs, but includes a visit to the scoring stage with composer Alexandre Desplat, interviews with Pitt and Blanchett, behind-the-scenes footage of their on-screen transformations, visual effects and speical effects doc.

For a temporary escape from their drab lives and inattentive husbands, two proper Englishwomen rent a magnificent villa on the Italian Riviera and find romance, hope and renewal in the Italian countryside with Enchanted April [Miramax/Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment; 95 mins.; SRP $30] arriving on DVD in celebration of the life of Miranda Richardson.

The film, which received three Oscar noms, including Supporting Actress for Joan Plowright. Her droll but hilarious portrayal almost walks off with the picture. Josie Lawrence [Eastenders] and Miranda Richardson [Harry Potter, Goblet of Fire] head a stellar ensemble that includes Polly Walker, Alfred Molina and the always-watchable Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent [ Iris]. It received two GGs, [Richardson, Plowwright] and was nominated for Picture, Comedy or Musical.

Beautifully photographed, Enchanted April is like taking a trip to a sunny Italian paradise. In the bonus material is feature commentary with director Mike Newell.
friendships and reminds the women of ways to live and love that have long eluded them.

Enchanted April clips:

Picnic:
http://www.totaleclips.com/player/Splash.aspx?custid=907&clipid=e50179&playerid=69&affiliateid=-1

Renting the Castle:
http://www.totaleclips.com/player/Splash.aspx?custid=907&clipid=e50174&playerid=69&affiliateid=-1

The Castle in Wisteria:
http://www.totaleclips.com/player/Splash.aspx?custid=907&clipid=e50172&playerid=69&affiliateid=-1

More Remastered Cast Albums

Masterworks Broadway continues to explore the history of its Broadway and Off-Broadway catalog with the digital CD release of seven long unavailable cast recordings and songs written for the original Off Bway production of Hair.

The CDs [$14-$17] include Styne/Hilliard's short-lived Hazel Flagg, starring two beloved Broadway "gals" of the 50s, Helen Gallagher and Benay Venuta; Bill and Patti Jacob's Jimmy starring Frank Gorshin as legendary New York mayor Jimmy Walker and co-starring a Bway fav and a cabaret legend: Anita Gillette and Julie Wilson; Leonard Sillman's immensely popular cabaret revues New Faces of 1952 and New Faces of '56; and the hit 1976 revival of The Threepenny Opera starring Raul Julia, Caroline Kava, Elizabeth Wilson and Ellen Greene.

The reissue producer is cast album vet Didier Deutsch, who, among other things, discovered six never-released tracks from New Faces, '56 , which feature Jane Connell [original Three Penny, Drat! the Cat, Mame, Dear World, many more] song 'n dance legend Tiger Haynes [Finian's Rainbow, Fade Out, Fade In, Pajama Game, The Wiz], Inga Swenson and Virginia Martin [original Hedy La Rue in How to Succeed..., Little Me]. '52 features Eartha Kitt, Alice Ghostley, Robert Clary and Paul Lynde.

Hazel Flagg was the 1953 adaptation of the screwball comedy film Nothing Sacred. Though not a success, it has a charming score that includes the estimable "How Do You Speak to an Angel?," "I Feel Like I'm Gonna Live Forever" and "Ev'ry Street's a Boulevard (in Old New York)." Gallager is a two-time Tony winner. The cast included veteran movie character actor Thomas Mitchell.

DisinHairited, also in the release, is a wild compendium of songs written for the Off-Broadway staging of Hair, and either cut from or, in a few instances, added to the Broadway production.

The CDs, with original cover art, liner notes and some bonus tracks, are available through ArkivMusic.com.

They're Back!

To help celebrate the return of Pet Rocks, a major craze during the 70's, stunning Tony and DD nom Megan Hilty [9 to 5], suave Henry Hodges [Mary Poppins, Macbeth and 13], radio jock Johnny Rocks, Kate Monster and Trekkie Monster from Avenue Q and other celebs will take part in Saturday's Noon Pet Rock Scavenger Hunt at the Central Park Zoo. Twelve Pet Rock characters will be introduced to famlies and collectors.

Timing is everything in theater. And at Friday's cocktail reception for the 54th Annual Drama Desk Awards nominees the timing couldn't be better for 9 to 5: the movie co-stars Dolly Parton, in a luminous black and white outfit and making her Broadway debut as composer of 9 to 5: the musical; and Jane Fonda, back on Broadway after a longgggggg absence in 33 Variations, carrying her precious dog Tulia.

After a few rounds of show biz paparazzi shouting "Over here, Ms. Fonda!", "Jane, over here!", "Hey, Janie, baby!" [I know!] and just as she was about to brave the media and DD members, the irrepressible Dolly arrived, sneaked up behind JF and grabbed her. As pandemonium and the papps broke loose, they shared an animated embrace.

A most excuberant Dolly, accompanied by two fairly friendly bodyguards, exclaimed, "Howdy, y'all! My goodness, the Drama Desk Awards. We don't have anything like this in Pigeon Forge!" She greeted some old friends and, along with other nominees, autographed the Drama Desk jacket that will be auctioned for charity.

Jane's dog Tulia didn't seem the mind the crowds making a big fuss over her while Jane doodled for the prized Drama Desk Art*Kives collection of drawings by the nominees.

The Drama Desk Awards are Sunday, May 17, hosted by Tony and DD winner Harvey Fierstein, in the F.H. La Guardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center at 9 P.M.

Presenters on tap include Stockard Channing, Jim Dale, Jason Danieley, André De Shields, John Cullum, Jane Fonda, John Lithgow, Marin Mazzie, Parker Posey,Tom Wopat and the cast of title of show - Jeff Bowen, Hunter Bell, Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff.

Among the nominees from all crafts in attendance were James Barbour, Reed Birney, Stephanie J. Block, Walter Bobbie, Daniel Breaker, Brian d'Arcy James, Jeremy Davidson, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Raúl Esparza, Hunter Foster, Sutton Foster, Peter Friedman, Josh Grisetti, Demond Green, Haydn Gwynne, Marcia Gay Harden, Megan Hilty, Bill Irwin, Gregory Jbara, Marc Kudisch, Allison Janney, Michael Laurence, Janet McTeer, Joe Mantello, Jan Maxwell and Karen Murphy.

Also attending were Sahr Ngaujah, Lynn Nottage, Nancy Opel, Martha Plimton, Geoffrey Rush, Bryce Ryness, Pablo Schreiber, Jeremy Shamos, Christopher Sieber, Randy Skinner, Joseph Stein, Will Swenson and cast members of The Norman Conquests - Amelia Bullmore, Stephen Mangan, Ben Miles, Paul Ritter and Amanda Root, who along with co-star Jessica Hynes, will receive a DD Outstanding Ensemble Performance Award.

Amazingly, the DD nominators saw hundreds of Broadway, Off and Off Broadway shows this season, which in spite of the economic downturn turned into a championship season of excellent work from excellent performers, known and unknown.

Many at the reception spoke of the challenge nominators faced this season with so many heavyweight actors giving superb performances. There was a lot of chat between gulps of wine and the downing of hors d'oeuvres about those actors from such shows as God of Carnage, Hair, TFANA's Hamlet, Mary Stuart, 33 Variations andWaiting for Godot who must have weighed down the nominators' weighted ballots leaving them [such leading co-stars as Christian Camargo, Gavin Creel, James Gandolfini, Zach Grenier, Nathan Lane and Harriet Walter] in the starting gate.

This was the year the busy nominators chose to expand the Outstanding Actor, Play cat from six to seven. In retrospect, it would have been a good year to expand the Actress, Play cat.

Speaking of timing, it was a very nice moment when sister and brother nominees, Sutton Foster for Shrek and Hunter Foster for Happiness, ran into each other. This is a sort of milestone for the DD noms, as it's rare, if ever, for a sister and brother to be nom'd the same season.

The very outgoing Geoffrey Rush said, "Ah, it's great playing the king, but getting a Drama Desk nomination is even better!"

Allison Janney spoke of her amazement and excitement of being DD-nominated in her Broadway debut in 1996 when she played opposite Frank Langella in Present Laughter, winning a DD the following season for her poignant portrayal as Beatrice opposite Anthony LaPaglia in Roundabout's revival of Arthur Miller's View from the Bridge. She said it's incredible to be back onstage in front of live audiences.

There was a bit of a buzz about LCT's revival of August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone being overlooked in the Outstanding Revival cat; and, it might be added, the lack of recognition for Chad L. Coleman's blistering performance, in his Broadway debut; and Jeremy Holland's impressive comic-relief turn in his Broadway debut.

Making a huge impression on attendees were the humbly gracious cast members of The Norman Conquests, so thrilled to be receiving the DD Outstanding Ensemble recognition. They didn't want to leave. Stephen Mangan and Ben Miles spoke of how wonderful audiences have been here. Often the cast takes four and five bows because of audience response. it's amazing that the audience can find time to applaud and stand en masse becuase they are laughing so hard at Sir Alan's comedies.

Swenson, calm for a change instead of doing sommersaults and making out with audience members, and Ryness spoke of the excuberant audiences who eagerly join the cast onstage for Hair's joyous "Let the Sun Shin In" finale. Amazingly, it was noted, many older audience members go up - regaling cast members of their anti-war protests or service and shattering experiences in Vietnam and other conflicts.

Such is the whipped-up fervor that on occasion those on crutches or walkers make it up the stairs to the stage slowly and wheelchair bound audience members are lifted up. Even after Nadia Digiallonardo's incredible orchestra has stopped playing, many find it difficult to leave the stage. The show is brand new and already some said they have seen it more than five times! [At $112-$122 a pop for orchestra seats! I know!] [They must not have invested in the market!].

A topic that was never addressed is the potential discomfort resulting from where Swenson must hide his body mike battery pack [hopefully, for the sound person, it's encased in a condom] [ever wonder what the budget for latex gloves is?].

The reception was held at New York Restaurant Group's Il Bastardo restaurant on Seventh Avenue, between 21st and 22nd Streets.

InViolet Repertory Theatre will host a pre-show ticketholders reception in the Concert Hall lobby during red carpet arrivals.

A private reception for nominees, complete with red carept arrivals, will take place at Rouge Tomate on East 60th Street, which will also fete nonimees and winners to a post rshow reception. Gray Line New York Sightseeing will provide transportation roundtrip from Rouge Tomate to the Concert Hall.

For the seventh year, TheaterMania.com will carry the Awards live via webcast. .

Tickets for the 54th annual Drama Desk Awards are $225 [premium gold, which includes the Rouge Tomate private pre- and post-receptons, $850] and may be purchased through TheaterMania.com, or by calling (212) 352-3101.

Among the sponsors of this year's Awards are the Smart Family Foundation/David S. Stone, Esq., Richard Kandel, Ted Snowdon and TheaterMania.com/Gretchen Shugart.

William Wolf is Drama Desk president. Robert R. Blume is exec producer with Blume Media Group Ltd as the producing company. Lauren Class Schneider will produce with Jeff Kalpak returning as director.

For a complete list of 2009 Drama Desk nominees, go to www.dramadeskawards.com.

Photographs by Barry Gordin
except where noted
Home Page shot of Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda: Les Schecter

Zach Grenier, who gives one of the most powerful performances of the season as Beethoven in Moisés Kaufman's 33 Variations [unless extended, playing through May 24], worked steadily Off Broadway beginning in 1987 in Talk Radio. He made his Bway debut in 1989's Mastergate.

Though born in New Jersey, "Like Beethoven, who lived in 73 different dwellings, I was a restless soul." Funny how the number 18 has played a role in his life. "I had 18 homes by the time I was 18." He met wife Lynn in acting school and when they moved to New York in the early 80s, "a miracle happened. We found a dream place in Brooklyn and really hunkered down." They stayed put 18 years before Grenier became restless again. "Lynn was an Army brat and was used to moving."

During 18 years, off and on, West Coast/East Coast, Grenier worked steadily in TV and film and major regionals. He was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for his performance as Yvan in the Chicago production of Yasmina Reza's Art. He's be, as he puts it "that guy" in countless TV guest starring roles and prominent featured roles in film.

Most recently, he had recurring roles on 24, Touching Evil, Law & Order and, most impressively in Deadwood as Andy Cramed [rhymes with framed], who brought the plague to the city, later becoming the town's quasi preacher after the death of Reverend H. W. Smith [portrayed brilliantly by Ray McKinnon].

Back in town in 2006, he was cast by Dan Sullivan as Dick Cheney in the Public's acclaimed production of Stuff Happens [whose cast won the Drama Desk Outstanding Ensemble Performance Award].

"The thing I love about getting to a certain place in my career," he states, "is that you have the opportunity to work with the most incredible talent. You're always being inspired by the people around you. The learning never stops. Every moment is a curiosity!

"Stuff Happens was such a great experience," he continues, "I wanted to come back and do theater. We returned on faith that things would work out. Then another miracle happened. We moved back in July and two weeks later I started working, cast by Doug Hughes as the sinster Cromwell opposite Frank Langella in the recent revival of Robert Bolt's Man for All Seasons."

Then came the opportunity to play one of the most daunting characters of his career, the maddingly obsessed Beethoven in the regional premiere of 33 Variations at D.C.'s acclaimed Arena Stage, where it received the 2008 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award. He repeated the role last year at the LaJolla Playhouse. And now he's back on Broadway "and playing opposite Jane Fonda!"

"I've always been fascinated with Beethoven" Grenier relates, "so it's an absolute joy to be playing him. I read of his bombastic personality; and then there was his deafness and his ability to create such works as the Ninth and the Mass. He could hear the music in his head. I became so fascinated that I absorbed all I could."

An actor acts, but his is such a masterful manic performance that it had to emerge from someplace very dark or very special.

"When you're creating a character," he says, "you want to dig deep down where you and the character meet. Playing a genius wasn't something I could think about, because I'm not a genius. You respect that, but leave it alone and find a commonality. As I began to understand who Beethoven was, I found we shared a passion for humanity, a love of nature and that we shared a desire to do something important. Of course, I also had great guidance from Moisés, who really got to know Beethoven profoundly."

He explained that since 33 Variations isn't the definitive story of Beethoven, it's not like something biographical where you have to get it right. "He exists in Jane's character's imagination," he explains, "so, keeping that in mind, you have a bit of free rein. There's a wonderfuly freeing aspect in creating such a role."

He says it was "sort of like woodcarving. You keep widdling. You don't want to leave it alone, although at some point you need to. Then you do a little more, and it doesn't work; and you keep widdling until you get it right."

The story of Dr. Katherine Brandt's obsession with Beethoven's obsession with Diabelli's composition, since it's not based on a book, is a strange one to simply pull out of a hat.

"But that's what happened," states Grenier. "Moisés was in Tower Records, rummaging through the classical titles. A clerk asked him if he'd ever heard Beethoven's 'Diabelli Variations.' He hadn't and the clerk told him the story. He said he knew that was going to be his next play."

He traveled to Bonn and did the research that Jane Fonda as Dr. Brandt does in the play. As seen in Derek McLane's arresting set design, in spite of looting after the composer's death, volumes of Beethoven's work survived.

Sadly, as Grenier points out, Anton Schindler [played by Erik Steele], who worked as an assistant to Beethoven, burned most of the books of his conversation notes with the composer and wrote his own version [Beethoven, As I Knew Him], which was far from factual.

Except for a time when he was the great improviser going from parlor room to parlor room playing piano, Beethove never enjoyed great wealth. As he began going deaf, he moved from performing to composing.

Because his "Diabelli Variations" are a form of improvisation, Grenier believes, "It's one reason he became obsessed with them."

Curtain call bows don't often lie, and at 33 Variations you get the impression that Fonda isn't one of those movie star divas who's remote or keeps her dressing room closed.

"Jane's such a community spirit*," observes Grenier. "Charming, disarming. She's never pulled any rank. She wants to do the very best job. She knows that when you're really searching for the truth, you do your best work. It has to have been a challenge to come back to the stage after so many years, and she's doing it with an incredible amount of bravery."

[* 33 Variations was the leading fundraiser in the recent BC/Equity Fights AIDS drive party due to Fonda posing with audience members for $400 a picture. All total, generous audiences helped Broadway shows raise in excess of $3-million.]

Fonda, a two-time Oscar winner and an Emmy winner, returns to Broadway for the first since portraying Madeline Arnold in the celebrated 1963 revival of O'Neill's Strange Interlude, which she doesn't mention in her Playbill bio. She was Tony-nominated in her 1960 Bway debut, the short-lived There Was a Little Girl by Daniel Taradash and directed by Josh Logan.

Grenier informs that Fonda looks years younger than 71. "Believe me, it's not makeup! That's Jane. She's taken amazing care of herself."

After an especially poignant and affection sequence that ends the play, Grenier takes his bow arm-in-arm with Fonda, undoubtedly her appreciation of the performance he gives.

Grenier says that one of the best moments in the play for him is his duet with award-winning pianist Diane Walsh at the top of Act Two. But after playing so intensely for two and a half hours, it can't be easy to just suddenly segue to normality. "There's a certain afterglow in both Jane's and my performances that takes a while to lose, especially since this is a play that opens people's hearts. We have very attentive audiences and the response is really grafifying."

Dolly Parton as Mentor

Since Dolly Parton, whose musical version of the film hit 9 to 5 opened last night, never shies away from stating that her style influence growing up in the Tennessee hills was a flamboyant woman "sort of considered the town tramp," you have to wonder how many young girls grew up wanting to imulate the look she made famous: piles and piles and piles of blond tresses, those famed "melons" [as she refers to them], cinched waist and painted nails.

But two New York women, natives of Africa, who have never met state that Parton was not only their role model but the role model of countless young girls growing up in the continent's villages and towns.

One of the women is well-known to theatergoers, Drama Desk-winning and Tony-nominated South African actress/singer Tsidii Le Loka, who brilliantly created the role of Rafiki in the Broadway company of the Tony-winning and DD-nominated musical The Lion King. The other is marketing/public relations consultant and event producer Ndeye Anta Niang, who is from Senegal.

"I grew up listening to everything from South African popular music to all things American," say Le Loka. "Then there was Kenny Rodgers and Dolly Parton. I had an endless crush on Kenny! Rodgers. I especially identified with Dolly, who like me, was built like a well-rounded bubble of effervescence. I even imagined there must be a connection to her voice and her additional beauty assets."

Le Loka explains that was so unlike present day when African women grow up with the same negative messages young women grow up with here. "It was a different world," she says, "with much to treasure. All this juxtaposed in the realities of my world laden with the violence and ugliness of apartheid."

The woman who took care of Le Loka and her siblings loved Dolly Parton. "She didn't speak much English, and I was learning it at school. She would ask me to sing Dolly's songs for her. I was inspired to start playing the guitar to sing her songs. 'It's Too Late' and 'Don't Let Me Cross Over' were my favorites. Did I hear any other music? Oh, yes, but you will hear a peak of Dolly on occasion, since her beautiful music influenced me so. Of course, as I grew, I found my own voice."

Niang's mother is a fashion designer, so she was very much into clothes from an early age. "Hearing Dolly and seeing her on TV, the movie 9 to 5 and pictures in magazines really pushed by fashion sensibilities," laughs Niang. "In my teens, I was very much into European designs. Everyone thought Dolly was very sexy and suddenly I wanted to emulate her. I didn't want to do traditional dress and cover myself up. I wanted to be a coquette."

She found she wasn't the only girl. "A lot had to do with the WOW-factor. Here was this woman in America who was in her 40s and looking hot and sexy. We also looked at Joan Collins, who was even older and looked great, as a role model."

Niang and friends were never too worried about their very stern elders thinking they were a bit tacky in their Dolly mode. "If some one individual would dress like that, they might be called that behavior trampy, but because it was influenced by Western culture everyone just thought you were making a fashion statement. We just wanted to dress up the way we desired. Dolly was our heroine! Even today at her age and looking as good as she does, the boys and girls admire Dolly as their dreamgirl."

Le Loka is now developing a tribute concert, To the Rising Sun, celebrating the music of "three magnificent and inspiring legends" who also had great influences on her: innovative African song stylist Miriam Makeba, controversial blues artist Nina Simone and legendary folk star Odetta. For more on Niang, visit www.antavenues.com

Martha Graham Troupe Returns

The arts in NYC owe veteran impresario Paul Szilard a great debt of thanks. Even with the worlwide economy in bad shape, he continues to invest into bringing major dance companies to the City. In association with ATTRACT Productions of Greece, he will present America's oldest and most celebrated contemporary dance company, Martha Graham, at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at NYU [566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South], May 12 - 16. The company will perform two programs of Graham classics.

On May 14 at the annual fundraising gala, Szilard will be honored. As a leading dancer, Szilard performed throughout the world. As impresario, he's presented such companies as Alvin Ailey for over 37 years, NYC Ballet, ABT and numerous international companies. He produced the first Japanese tour of WSS with an American cast, rehearsed by Jerome Robbins - the first English language Broadway show to appear there. His autobiography, Under My Wings: My Life as an Impresario, was published in 2002.

The Graham Program A is a full-length, recently reconstructed Clytemnestra, a landmark work not seen in its entirety in decades [5/12; 15; 16 eve], believed to be Graham's finest dance-drama built on Greek mythology and the tragedies. Performing the lead will be celebrated Graham dancer Fang-yi Sheu.

Program B [5/13; 16 mat] is a diverse Graham repertory: Sketches from Chronicle, Errand into the Maze; Maple Leaf Rag and Lamentation Variations with choreography by Aszure Barton, Larry Keigwin and Richard Move. The program is conceived by M.G. A.D. Janet Eilber.

Regular tickets are $35 - $65 and available at the Skirball box office, by calling (212) 352-3101 and online at www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu, where you will find showtimes and information on tkts for the gala.

Happy birthday, André!

Even among the wide-ranging, singularly American talents of the past 60 years, André Previn stands out as a celebrated film composer, incomparable jazz pianist and respected conductor/composer of serious music. André Previn: An 80th Birthday CelebrationC [Sony Masterworks; SRP $14] celebrates his lifetime of achievement with a showcase of the composer and performer at his most varied and inspired.

Previn's musical personality -- lightly playful, keenly smart, elegantly precise -- is everywhere apparent. There are jazz renditions of Ray Henderson's "Bye Bye Blackbird," Gershwin's "A Foggy Day," and Weill's "Mack the Knife" and "Bilbao Song." Previn's film scores are represented by the haunting theme from The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and his hip, smoky theme from The Subterraneans, a1960 beatnik film. He conducts Vaughan Williams's The Wasps: Overture and, for the first time on CD, his own Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra with renowned guitarist John Williams. Also included is "Vocalise" with soprano Sylvia McNair and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Previn, born in Berlin, began his career orchestrating film scores at MGM as a teenager. Shortly after winning his fourth Oscar for scoring My Fair Lady, he shifted energies from film and jazz to a successful career as a classical conductor. He held music director posts with the London and Pittsburgh Symphonies and the L.A. and Oslo Philharmonics. He has won four Oscars, 10 Grammys, was a 1998 Kennedy Center Honoree and was bestowed with an honorary knighthood from QEII in 1996.

More

Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's Next to Normal original Broadway cast album has been released [Ghostlight Records, two discs with illustrated booklet, synopsis and lyrics; SRP $22]. The stars are Alice Ripley, J. Robert Spencer, Aaron Tveit and Jennifer Damiano. The director is Michael Grief [Rent]. There are 37 tracks, featuring 35 songs. The musical is a poignant and provocative contemporary tale examing a suburban household coping with crisis. In the Off Bway run, Ripley and the score received DD noms.

Just out is the soundtrack to the hot, hot and sumptuous film adaptation of Noel Coward's Easy Virtue [Decca] with 17 vintage Coward, Porter and classic Tin Pan Alley gems and new music by Marius de Vries and, among others, Billy Ocean. Coward wrote the play, a sex-revenge-secrets driven potboiler, in his 20s. Though not as well known as some others, it was a success and made by Hitchcock into a silent. The new film, making it's U.S. debut in the Tribecca Film Festival, is complimented by beautiful English locales and stately mansions. Starring are Jessica Biel, Colin Firth, Kristin Scott Thomas [quite juicy as the vengeful Mrs. Whittaker, who can't bring herself to accept the crass American car racer her son marries], Ben Barnes and, as the quite dubious butler, Kris Marshall, who embraces the role with gusto.

New to DVD

A sleeper film that almost didn't find theatrical distribution, Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire charged through the finish line not only as a box office block office, building originally on feel-good audience word-of-mouth, and all the way to the Oscars, winning Best Picture and Best Director against some heavy hitters.

Along the way, Slumdog became the year's critical darling. Now the story of a boy from the Mumbai slums who discovers love, freedom and fortune, has been released on DVD and Blu-ray with Digital Copy [Fox Searchlight/Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment; widescreen; two hours; SRP $30, $40].

Amazingly shot on locations with virtual unknowns to Western markets and on a slim budget of $10-million, it has been praised for its gaudy, gorgeous rush of colors, sounds and emotion, and additional Oscars were won for Original Score - A. R. Rahman [who wrote the score for the Andrew Lloyd Webber production, Bombay Dreams], Original Song - A. R. Rahman and Sampooran Singh Gulzar, "Jai Ho" and Best Adapted Screenplay - Simon Beaufoy. The film also won four Golden Globes, including Picture - Drama and Director.

While being hailed and accoladed here, the movie that Boyle describes as "a story of love lost and love found" was being slammed in Mumbai and across India as being insulting to slum-dwellers [who don't get doused with chocolate and peanut butter when they take the "dive in" as in one of the film's most disgusting, most hilarious and, for the actors, most delicious scenes].

S.M. is based on Vikas Swarup's novel Q and A and tracks the life of Jamal Malik, who lives a sprawling slum. After losing his mother, Jamal [played as a teen by the talented and photogenic Dev Patel] and his brother Salim [Madhur Mittal] do what's necessary to survive. Jamal's travels are filled with memorable encounters, good and bad. Along the way he meets orphan Latika [stunning Freida Pinto]. They become separated and he becomes romantically determined to reunite with her. One way is to get national exposure by appearing on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? On the program, categories pop up that mirror his past experiences and he breezes through, but, since it's thought he can't be that intelligent, is accused of cheating. There are incidents of child slavery and mutilation but in the end, love triumphantly conquers all -- and Jamal gets the big ruppee prize.

The DVD features deleted scenes galore [it appears the uncut film could have been a TV miniseries]; music tracks by M.I.A., including the Grammy-nominated song for Record of the Year. "Paper Planes"; commentary by the director, Patel, adapter Simon Beaufoy and producer Christian Colson; and a Making of featurette.

Have you been looking to take home a family film that's also one of the best recent romantic comedies? And one that's watchable over and over, and has all sorts of fun extras? Look no further than the DVD and Blu-ray release of the blockbuster smash Marley & Me [20th Century Fox Home Entertainment; widescreen; 110 minutes; SRP $30, two-disc $35, three-disc $40].

Starring are Oscar-nominee Owen Wilson and Emmy-winner Jennifer Aniston [in roles so very tailor-made for them] as newlyweds seguing through the hardknock life and, through the years overcoming obstacles to learn important life lessons from their adorable dog who grows quickly into a very naughty, highstrung, neurotic, boisterous and uncontrollable 100-pound steamroller. In that major co-starring role, without any screen credit, are a series of variously-aged and excellently-trained canine actors as the loyal yellow Labrador named Marley. Featured are Eric Dane [Grey's Anatomy], GG-winner Kathleen Turner and Oscar-winner Alan Arkin. Based on John Grogan's best-selling novel, David Frankel [The Devil Wears Prada] directs.

The single and "Bad Boy" two-disc Special Edition DVD comes fully-loaded with digital copy, deleted scenes, gag reel, featurettes and much more. The three-disc Blu-ray [call it "Worst Boy"] is a treasure trove with all of the above, Finding Marley featurette, single-disc DVD, digital copy, dog training and special offers.

Also just released is the screen adaptation of Doubt [Miramax Films/Buena Vista Home Entertainment; 103 minutes; widescreen; $30, Blu-ray $35] - which garnered five Oscar noms - Actress for Meryl Streep, Supporting Actor for Philip Seymour Hoffman, Supporting Actress for Amy Adams and Viola Davis and Adapted Screenplay for playwright John Patrick Shanley, who also directed.

Doubt delivers a balance of drama, intrigue and, interestingly, humor. Streep's steely performance isn't the least bit subtle, but rather chilling and unflinching. Shanley defines his story as the quest for truth amid the forces of change, which lead to devastating consequences and blind justice in an age defined by moral conviction.

Fans of the Broadway play will notice one huge difference. In the theater, one of the most interesting aspects of the work was that because of the writing and performances of Cherry Jones and Brían F. O'Byrne audience were fiercely split, often 50/50, over Father Flynn's guilt; however, in the film, because of the portrayals by Streep and Hoffman, Flynn's guilt is much more obvious.

Bonus features include an intimate discussion with Shanley about Doubt's history and the process of adapting it for the screen. Joining him are are Streep and
Sister Margaret McEntee, a consultant on the film and Shanley's former teacher. He and Streep also discuss interviews he did before shooting with nuns, discussing their lives.
There's also a conversation with Hoffman, Adams and Davis.

An Oscar winner for his 1987 screenplay for Norman Jewison's Moonstruck, and the screenwriter behind a variety of films, Doubt was John Patrick Shanley's second film as a director, following his 1990 directorial debut with the underappreciated, now cult Joe Versus the Volcano. After Joe, producer Scott Rudin suggested he should do another film. Shanley didn't want to. During his protracted hiatus, Shanley contracted advanced glaucoma - going blind in one eye, then the other. After a series of operations, he says his sight fully restored.

When Rudin approached him to adapt his play Doubt, which had won a host of awards including the Pulitzer Prize, a Tony and DD, Shanley, now 58, jumped at the chance. "I made this a decision when I was 35 that I'd write about personal matters until I'm 40, then I'd turn outward and write about society more. And that's what I did."

However, re: the adaptation, as does Sister Aloysius, he had his doubts. "I knew it was my fate, but knew it was going to be very hard; and I didn't know how to do it. I was like, 'I'm going to try and do a film where they talk a lot and you like it.' It was the most difficult screenplay I ever wrote. I solved that problem one page at a time - with a lot of devices, a lot of tricks. They couldn't simply be camera moves, but things that happened between the participants and the physical environment they were inhabiting, that lent the story forward movement and motivated camera movement."

For the stage, he explained that there was a lot of things he made himself do because of the economics of theater. "With the film, I could include and celebrate those things."

When the film was announced, Shanley says, "Everyone asked me the same question: 'Are you going to show the kid?' I said, 'You have to.' A lot of people thought that wasn't going to work."

His interest in telling this story was personal. "I went to Catholic school in the Bronx in 1964, a time during which you felt you were in this working class enclave and the world was an unchanging place. Values were shared by everyone, and you felt nothing would ever change. Yet, there was this rumble, this gigantic noise heading your way. All the things that seemed so permanent were being swept away.

"I found myself living in an era of very entrenched positions," he continues. "True discourse had fallen by the wayside. Anybody that expressed doubt about something was perceived to be weak. I thought doubt was a hallmark of wisdom and that dogma was the shutting down of the frame. I wanted to write about those issues - a time of change, when valuable things are going to be lost and valuable things are going to be found."

On his creation of Sister Aloysius, he states, "She's a submarine commander on a broken down old submarine - lightbulbs going out, the wind blowing in - trying to keep the future out. And she's right. There are reasons to not want the future along. It's not always good to move on. There were things lost in terms of classical education."

He said that Meryl Streep signed on "straight away. The great thing about working with somebody like Meryl or Phil [Seymour Hoffman] is that when you work with really good people, your job is easier! People asked if I was intimidated by Meryl. I wasn't particularly. We hit it off, spoke the same language. If it was about me proving myself to Meryl, that would be uncomfortable. But we were about telling a story. She was very collaborative, very present, and very open to direction. I didn't excessively intrude on what she was doing, because her choices were by and large incredibly good. After a take and say, 'Want something else?' And I'd say, 'Give me something else.' If I felt there was something else, I'd push her until we got that. It was a very good collaboration."

EST honors Shanley

Ensemble Studio Theatre will honor Tony, Academy Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright John Patrick Shanley at its 2009 anniversary benefit on May 4. Shanley, a longtime EST member, will receive the Distinguished Member Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to theater. Artists who've worked with the playwright/director will take part in the award presentation.

The benefit is at the recently restored, ornate, neo-Renaissance Prince George Ballroom at the World Monuments Fund Gallery [15 East 27th Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues]. Tickets for the 6 P.M. event, including cocktails, hors d'ouevres and silent auction, are $300. To purchase, call (212) 247-4982 X.115.