Ellis Nassour

You won't have to wait until The Secret Life of Bees opens to hear the buzz. Even though it's early in the season, there are actors on the boards - and on TV - creating nomination buzz or just buzz in general.

Business at Christopher Hampton's new version of Chekhov's The Seagull is so great that an extension beyond the scheduled 14 weeks is possible. Though the new version has some detractors, the majority feel it's quite contemporary in its accessibility.

The revival [?] marks an auspicious Broadway debut for Kristin Scott Thomas as Arkadina and Peter Sarsgaard and West Ender Mackenzie Crook as Trigorin and Konstantin. But there are three actors who really stand out: Carey Mulligan in the role of Nina, Zoe Kazan as Masha and Peter Wight as Sorin.

Standing ovations have become so passé on Broadway, but Seagull's cast would certainly be getting a lot more if audiences could get out of seats that appear to be made for a children's theatre [you have more butt and leg room in Economy!]. And if Jujamcyn Theatres keep move the Kerr's orchestra seating any further back, they'll have to install an aerial crossover for audiences to get to the restrooms -- or start selling premium-priced tickets for them.

A fortune was spent on the splendid make-over of the Ritz, but they forgot to address the restrooms in that rare theatre with no basement. Gender-specific restrooms -- Ladies on one side; Men on the other, are on landings between orchestra and balcony with no crossover from one side to the other except across the rear orchestra.

The interval is like the subways at rush hour. To make matters worse, there's a bar tucked under the right stairwell. FYI: there's a handicap restroom on the 47th Street side in the passageway of the exit doors nearest the stage; and the Infrared Listening device station.

It would be an understatement to stay that the critics weren't that wild about mini-Les Miz A Tale of Two Cities. Wags have been saying it wouldn't be around after the holidays. In a sign that Les Miz might have left town a bit too soon, things are looking promising, as audiences seem to be lapping it up. Revenue at other shows is slipping while there are hefty increases at the Hirschfeld.

A video crew has been taping "It's-the- best-musical-I've-ever-seen" testimonials outside the theatre. It may not be, but it does have its moments - several of them quite magical. More than anything, ATO2Cs' cast is game and intent on pleasing audiences. [There's also a coupon offer in the Playbill for a steep discount for returning audiences or for the friend of anyone who accesses one.]

Unquestionably, James Barbour [Jane Eyre, Beauty and the Beast, Urinetown] as Sydney Carlton, that classic forlorn martyr for love, has become Broadway's new matinee idol, mesmerizing audiences with his renditions of Jill Santoriello's "The Way It Ought to Be," "Reflection," the standout "I Can't Recall" and, the duet with Aaron Lazar, "If Dreams Came True."

Audiences get a kick out of Barbour's remark about the special effect stars that are quintuple anything in the heavens. Amazingly, his name is not billed above the title, making the musical a true ensemble piece.

Les Minski as the rotten-to-the-core Marquis St. Evremonde gets affectionately hissed at his curtain call. And though you want to wring her neck and throw a bar of soap over the barricades to her, audiences are wild about diminutive dynamo Natalie Toro as Madame Defarge. Barbour might have a little competition in the "matinee idol" competition, as Kevin Earley, in the role of Ernest Defarge, is making a few hearts flutter.

The 17-piece orchestra wedged somehow under the Hirshfeld stage is blessed with outstanding arrangements and orchestrations by pop composer Edward Kessel, so who cares if it all sounds a little too much like Claude-Michel Schönberg. Two of the hardest-working pit musicians have to be percussionists James Musto and Kory Gorssman who are really beating out da rhythms on those drums.

Have you noticed there's been a run on binoculars? Could be because a young English lad by the name of Daniel Radcliffe, the star of that megapopular book-to-screen franchise, is making his Bway debut in Equus, where he's causing traffic havoc on West 44th Street around the Broadhurst [whose treasurers report a demand for front row seats (are they premium-priced?) -- one even bigger than when Love! Valour! Compassion!played the Kerr and that other Buzz, clothing-free Nathan Lane, and cast had audiences ogling.

On West 45th, at the Schoenfeld, Katie Holmes of All My Sons; the three Billy Elliots - David Alvarez and the two with tongue-twister names, Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish - at the Imperial, where the applause is deafening; and, on West 47th Street at the Barrymore, 2005 Drama Desk-nominee [Fat Pig] and Entourage's Jeremy Piven, making his Bway debut, in the revival of Mamet's Speed-the-Plow , are giving the mounted police quite a workout.

AMS's John Lithgow strolls towering above most of us but hardly noticed through the Theatre District, especially West 46th Street's Restaurant Row, where he'll often have a bite before work. When the curtain comes down, however, it's another story. His 3rd Rock from the Sun TV fans wait in droves.

Soon, attention will shift over to the Booth as fans of the one and only Elizabeth Ashley attempt to reach out and touch her when performances of Horton Foote's Dividing the Estate begins performances.

Broadway shows adapted for the big screen will be holiday fare. Two of the most-anticipated are John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, starring Meryl Streep as Sister Aloysius who will explain it all to us, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis; and Frost/Nixon, headlined by the original Bway stars Frank Langella and Michael Sheen and featuring Kevin Bacon, Rebecca Hall, Oliver Platt [soon to be back on Broadway in the Guys and Dolls revival] and Sam Rockwell.

In a different medium, there's buzz on one of theater's brightest stars, Rufus Sewell, Tony and DD-nominated for Best/Outstanding Actor for Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll , who told me at the Tonys how excited he was CBS CEO/prez Les Moonves greenlighted him to star in Eleventh Hour as a government scientist out to save the world from deadly experiments. Danny Cannon's sci-fi thriller had its premiere last night.

No stranger to TV, Sewell was memorable in one of his early roles, Will Ladislaw, in the BBC's acclaimed 1994 miniseries, Middlemarch, based on the George Eliot classic; and in the title role in the BBC/A&E 2004 miniseries Charles II: The Power & the Passion. He came on the scene in 1995 as matinee idol in his U.S. and Broadway debut in Brian Friel's Translations, opposite Brian Dennehy and Dana Delany.

There will be a female president of the U.S. - at least, again, on TV. No doubt about it, Cherry Jones, so West Coast now and so absent from New York stages, is President Allison Taylor on the upcoming sneak season preview of Fox's rating bonanza 24, Redemption, which stars Kiefer Sutherland and is currently in post production. Jones continues in office in 2009 when the show begins airing weekly.

Still Kicking - Those Gorgeous Gams

You might have spotted her last night at South Pacific, which she had a very special interest in seeing. That is, if you were somehow lucky enough to get a ticket. And you'll definitely be able to spot her up close and very personal this Saturday night.

Razzle dazzler Mitzi Gaynor, who's been hailed as "one of the colossal talents of our age," is in town. Something she doesn't do often enough.

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

Her most memorable film role was as Nellie Forbush in the blockbuster film adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific, directed by Joshua Logan and shot on location in Hawaii in ultra-widescreen, high depth Todd-A-O.

Tomorrow at 8 P.M., Ms. Gaynor will be live on WLIW, Channel 21, the L.I. PBS affiliate during the broadcast of Mitzi Gaynor - Razzle Dazzle! The Special Years, a one-hour-and-45-minute doc encompassing performances from her telecasts. When I spoke with her at the Regency, Ms. Gaynor noted that some of the numbers haven't been seen in over 30 years.

Dressed to kill in a sparkly black outfit designed by long-time friend and glitz designer to the stars Bob Mackie, Ms. Gaynor will be interviewed during pledge breaks and answer audience call-in questions.

The DVD release [City Lights Home Entertainment and Green Isle Productions; SRP $25], which arrives November 18, celebrates the 40th anniversary of Ms. Gaynor's first TV special and the 50th anniversary of her Golden Globe nom for South Pacific [1958], where her Emile de Becque was Rosanno Brazzi.

At last night's performance of LCT's S.P., M.G. was ecstatic. "I sang, I danced, I was in awe," she sang. "What a production and the chemistry between Kelli and Paulo. Wow! I can't say enough. Oh, and the orchestra and the orchestrations, which were the original ones used on Broadway!" She went on about the cast, especially Loretta Ables Sayre's Bloddy Mary and Danny Burstein's Luther Billis. "Well, everyone is just marvelous," she added. "What an incredible job [director] Bartlett [Shear] has done."

The feisty Ms. Gaynor, who recently turned 77, is unstoppable and "still going, going, going like that TV battery bunny." Because "I earn my living at night, it's not early to bed or early to rise." She usually sleeps til noon, "but then it's up and about." She vocalizes daily and exercises "on the accursed treadmill." She eats two meals and, amazingly, can still fit into outfits from 25 years ago - something she attributes to "being a professional dancer. That regimen stays with you. Dancers have a mindset. Our bodies are our tools."

But it hasn't always been "fun." It's not supposed to be, she laughs. "If it doesn't hurt, you're not doing it right! I've sprained my right ankle eight times, broken toes; but, thank God, I still have my own hips."

Ms. Gaynor started in light opera, "getting my first paycheck at thirteen. I was a ballet dancer and worked my way up in roles in Los Angeles and San Francisco. I've been there."

True, and though she's no stranger to regional stages for years -- not only in theater but also presenting her one-woman show, she never came to Broadway, "something I very much regret. Hollywood was my musical heaven, and then there was the money. It's not so awesome anymore; but back when I coulda and shoulda, I missed the boat."

She auditioned in 1950 for Cole Porter for the musical Out of This World . He offered her a role, but a movie intervened. "The money was the deciding factor. I had to make a living."

Three years later, Ms. Gaynor worked with Gwen Verdon, who became a life-long friend, in the film The I Don't Care Girl [1953], with some very intricate choreography by Jack Cole.

She and Verdon were cast in a tour of Jolly Anna, a reworking of that exquisite Fain/Harburg/Saidy flop Flahooley. "There were plans to bring it to Broadway, but I was under contract to [20th Century-]Fox and I went into another movie, then another and became a movie star."

Ms. Gaynor's film highlights include There's No Business Like Show Business [1954], opposite Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Marilyn Monroe, Dan Dailey and, as a hoofer turned priest, Johnnie Ray; Anything Goes [1956], co-starring Crosby and O'Connor; opposite Sinatra in The Joker Is Wild [1957]; and, directed by George Cukor, Les Girls [1957], with Gene Kelly, Kay Kendall, and Taina Elg. [In addition to the film, she did a touring company of Anything Goes.]

Mitzi Gaynor - Razzle Dazzle! ... features numbers choreographed by some of film, TV and theater's most influential choreographers, including Cole, Peter Gennaro and Danny Daniels. Highlights include interviews with SP star Kelli O'Hara, Mackie, Kristin Chenoweth, Carl Reiner and dancers she worked with.

Tenor on the Rise

You can rent opera glasses at the Metropolitan Opera [they do not call them binoculars], but during the engagement of the Strauss one-act Salome, starring acclaimed, golden-voiced Finnish soprano Karita Mattila, slinkily-costumed in silk, twitching, writhing and shedding her seven veils, you need to get there early. It's only for an instant, but that split-second well-lit flash of Mattila flesh has audience eyes popping.

Tomorrow's matinee of the sumptuous Santo Loquasto-designed production, adapted from Oscar Wilde's play [running in rep at the Met through October 16] will be transmitted live in theatres worldwide tomorrow as part of The Met: Live in HD series. The Metropolitan Opera Radio on SIRIUS Channel 78 will broadcast the performance of October 16.

Seemingly, Salome isn't everyone's cup of tea. In the production's Met debut four years ago, there were boos, but they were drowned out by the bravos. Even with this season's revival, it's obvious not everyone came because of a love of opera.

Directed by Germany's Jürgen Flimm and conducted by Patrick Summers [music director, Houston Grand Opera], Salome, also stars one of opera's fastest-rising tenors, Chicago-based Canadian Joseph Kaiser as Narraboth.

Kaiser, just turned 31, was a 2005 Met National Council finalist. He appeared as Tamino in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, repeating the role in Kenneth Branagh's 2006 loved/hated $20-million English-language Magic Flute film.

"I didn't even mean to audition!" Kaiser says over lunch in the Met commissary. He caught the director's attention at the 2005 Chicago's Lyric Opera dress of Beethoven's Fidelio "during my few minutes onstage as the First Prisoner. Kenneth dropped in to hear René Pape, whom he was considering for Sarastro. I auditioned, that led to screen tests and seven weeks later there I was in an opera movie."

Though neither parent was a professional musician, they instilled in him and his three siblings a love of music. At age 10, he began to take it seriously. "I didn't get involved in heavy technical work early on, but there was lots of music appreciation."

Initially a baritone, Kaiser committed himself to learning the ropes. His acting ability and warm sound garnered critical praise, "but I was getting very little work." Several judges at Canada's 2002 Jeunesses Musicales vocal competition nudged the frustrated singer to switch voice parts.

He was accepted into Chicago's Lyric Opera's Young Artists Program, the Ryan Opera, and settled into the Windy City with his wife and children. "It was a great because they gave me so many opportunities." He did his first professional role at 19 in Madama Butterfly, as the registrar, "a small, small part."

At the Met, he's playing his second major role in a year. On the fast track, 6' 2" Kaiser made his Met debut opposite Anna Netrebko in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette.

"I'm so happy to be in this place - the Met - at this time. New York is a phenomenal city to perform in. Theatergoers here -- no, entertainmentgoers, are so discerning. They hold things to an incredibly high level. They've seen it all and demand a lot when they lay down their money. New York is the entertainment capital of the country; so when you receive positive feedback for your work, it resonates far beyond."

Salome is his sole Met opera this season, "but I'm now part of the family. I wouldn't complain in the least to be asked to work here for the year." His present schedule is taking him to Salzburg, Munich, Montreal and Los Angeles. It's so diverse, and I'm getting play in various houses in front of different audiences. I'm also getting the experience of working for different administrations."

A positive thing about the Met is getting to work with different directors, conductors and colleagues, "but Munich audiences are different from Chicago audiences, which are different from L.A. and New York. Some can be more conservative; and some houses may have a more conservative board of directors while others might have very avant garde productions."

A major difference when performing is Europe, generally, is less rehearsal time. "In some repertory houses, you may only get three and, before you know it, you're out there."

Kaiser explains there's a vast difference performing in a house with 20 productions in a season versus one with four or eight. "The house that does less isn't going to do a lot of risky operas. In larger houses, you can explore and challenge yourself because if a production doesn't work, there are nineteen others."

Stars, Stars, Stars at the Broadway Cabaret Fest

An incredible roster of marquee names will be on hand next weekend -- Friday and Saturday, October 17 and 18 at 8 P.M.; and Sunday, October 19 at 3 P.M., for Town Hall's Fourth Annual Broadway Broadway Cabaret Festival, hosted by Scott Siegel [Broadway by the Year]. It will be a music lover's paradise, not only with who's hot but also favs from season's past.

Opening night's program, A Tribute to Lerner & Lowe, will headline, among others, Ron Bohmer, Jim Caruso, Robert Cuccioli, Jeffry Denman, Alexander Gemignani, Julia Murney, Daniel Reichard and guest star Marni Nixon, [Sound of Music, and the singing voice double of many stars, including Audrey Hepburn in the film adaptation of My Fair Lady]. Denham, soon to open on Broadway in Irving Berlin's White Christmas will also direct and choreograph.

Colm Wilkinson, the world's original Jean Valjean of Les Miz fame, returns for the first time in years to the New York stage for one day more next Saturday in Broadway & Beyond. He plans a program ranging from Rodgers and Hammerstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber to pop standards by Ray Charles, Leonard Cohen, Muddy Waters and John Lennon. Wilkinson will be backed by a nine-piece orchestra, with Steve Hunter music directing.

"Colm Wilkinson is arguably the greatest singer to have appeared on Broadway in the last quarter century," states Siegel. "It's quite a coup for us to get him. Town Hall is proud to 'Bring Him Home' to Broadway."

The Broadway Cabaret Festival concludes October 19th at 3 PM with Broadway Originals! and stars from four decades of Broadway performing songs they originated or brought back to life in a revival.

Though there'll be enough marquee names to fill a theatrical Who's Who, it's good Town Hall doesn't have a marquee because there'd be no way to fit them. You get more star power for the buck here than at any other entertainment venue.

Among the scheduled 20 [I know!] artists are Michael Arden [Times They Are a-Changin']; Lucie Arnaz [They're Playing Our Song], D'Jamin Bartlett [A Little Night Music], Joan Copeland [Pal Joey], Gary Beach [B&B, The Producers], Chuck Cooper [Caroline or Change, The Life], Cuccioli [J&H], Cheryl Freeman [Tommy], Stephen Mo Hanan [Cats], Jerry Lanning [Mame], Alli Mauzey [Cry-Baby], Karen Morrow [I Had a Ball], Pam Myers [Company], Alice Ripley [Side Show, Rocky Horror Show] and Bobby Steggert [110 in the Shade].

In Siegel's opinion, Festival audiences never get enough and at press time he was adding more, more, more. I know!

"This is always an emotionally satisfying program," notes Siegel. "The combination of history, great music and stars of yesterday and today never fails to create an unforgettable concert. As is the case with many of these stars, I've been trying to get them for years."

If you are notice a perennial fav missing in the BCF roster, not to worry. Marc Kudisch is in Los Angeles for Center Theatre Group in Dolly Parton's 9 to 5, co-starring Stephanie Block, Megan Hilty and Allison Janney. Kudisch plays "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical, bigot" Franklin Hart. He says he'll be back in town in time for Town Hall's November Unplugged concert.

Tickets for a three-show package for the Broadway Cabaret Festival are $150, with individual tickets at $55. They are available at the Town Hall box office and through TicketMaster by calling (212) 307-4100 or online at www.TicketMaster.com.

Save the Date

One of the most anticipated dance events annually is Career Transition for Dancers' tribute to dancers in all fields. The 23rd anniversary show, On Broadway!, A Glittering Salute To The American Musical, presented by Rolex, is Monday, October 27 at 7 P.M. at City Center with Angela Lansbury hosting. Tommy Tune will receive the Rolex Dance Award. Among participating companies will be the American Ballet Theatre. There'll also be a film montage of Broadway musical choreography. The gala continues with a post performance supper dance in the Hilton New York's grand ballroom. Honorary chairs include Cynthia Gregory, Jane Powell, Ann Reinking and Chita Rivera. Show tickets, at $45 - $130, are available at the City Center box office and through CityTix, (212) 581-1212.

Upcoming at the Metropolitan Museum is a don't miss exhibition, The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions, 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.

Posted by Ellis Nassour at 12:00 AM | Permalink

"Cinema," Federico Fellini once stated, "is an old whore . . . who knows how to give many kinds of pleasure." Francis Ford Coppola opined, "You want to make the greatest film in the world, but when you get into it, you just want to get it done, let it be passable and not embarrassing." And this from Stanley Kubrick, "The very meaninglessness of life forces man to create his own meaning. If it can be written or thought, it can be filmed."

It would be wise to keep those deliverances in mind when film festivals announce their selections. Certainly that has been the case to date in the 46th New York Film Festival, and will continue to be so in this the Festival's last week - [officially] through October 12.

As always, the NYFF has an international slate of productions, but this year it hasn't been too heavy on standout American films. You could just call the Fest A Tribute to the Cannes Film Festival, since there are five major prize winners showing here. Many of the movies come to be presented in search of distribution and IFC has been very aggressive, scoring bragging rights to five of the 28 main slate offerings.

Some entries have been short; a couple extremely long. Since this will be a hot week, don't be disappointed. Get thee to the box office. With construction ongoing at Alice Tully Hall, screenings are at the Ziegfeld Theatre, the Walter Reade and Avery Fisher Hall.

Last week's Opening Night pic was France's Entre les Murs/The Class [to be released by Sony Pictures Classics], winner of the Golden Palm, Cannes top prize. Directed by Laurent Cantet, it follows a teacher through an explosive year in an unconventional public school as he battles to teach and challenge a rowdy [to say the least] class. It was an unusual opening choice since it's half scripted, half improvised and features a cast of multi-ethnic unknowns.

Sunday's closing attraction [AF] is Darren Aronofsky's "raw and raucous" The Wrestler [Fox Searchlight Pictures] with the much-heralded return of bad boy Mickey Rourke. Written by Robert D. Siegel, Rourke returns to lead actor status with a blistering performance as a once-popular tumbler now on the skids and rethinking his life after a heart surgery. He attempts to reconnect with his long-left-behind daughter as pursues a relationship with a stripper, played by - surprise! - Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei in, perhaps, the most revealing role of her career.

At the media press conference, Tomei gave the impression going au natural isn't second nature to her; but there's been no shortage of it. Surely, you haven't forgotten her romps in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead nor her unveiling in the mind-boggling, jaw-dropping 2003 Broadway staged reading of Salome, directed in your face by Estelle Parsons and starring Al Pacino as a banana-eating Herod.

Asked if she learned anything from the strippers, Tomei boasted, "They learned a few moves from me." They certainly are, shall we politely say, in-your-face moves. If I heard correctly, she wears prosthetic nipples.

There was a much-anticipated American entry: Clint Eastwood's Changeling [Universal Pictures], starring Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich, with the director doing a rare discussion. Running almost two-and-a-half hours and a very factual rendering of true incidents in 1928 Los Angeles concerning a slandered mother's search for her son against corrupt police and a skeptical public; Malkovich co-stars an activist minister.

The NYFF welcomed back Steven Soderbergh, who came with his much-too-long [nearly four-and-a-half-hours] doc-style, bio pic Che [IFC], in Spanish, co-produced by Spain, France and the U.S. It stars Benicio del Toro, who won Best Actor at this year's Cannes, as the iconic Argentine revolutionary out not only to change Cuba but the world.

After the media screening, reviewers were divided. One noted that it is so focused on Che's goals that it's emotionally uninvolving. Another found it fascinating because it shows how a revolution grows from grass roots guerrilla warfare to full-blown coup. And Che certainly does that -- day by day, setback and step forward by setback and step forward, bullet by bullet. In the final two hours, set a decade later when Che, disguised, slips into Bolivia to attempt a coup, the pace picks up with several spectacularly executed scenes and begins to grab you.

One of the last U.S. entries is Antonio Campos's Afterschool [today, at 6; Wednesday, 9], the story of a tribute for two prep school students who overdosed.

Of interest to cinema buffs are four more Cannes prizewinners: Italy's Matteo Garrone's Gomorrah, Grand Prize; U.K.'s Steve McQueen's Hunger, Camera d'Or; and upcoming this week, Sergey Dvortsevoy's Tulpan , Un Certain Regard Prize [Saturday, 6], financed by five countries including his native Russia; and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Tokyo Sonata , Jury/Un Certain Regard Prize [Saturday, 9:15].

Gomorrah, a violent depiction of the modern-day Neapolitan mafia, based on Roberto Saviano's 2006 book, and its devastating effects on one city. It was filmed in actual locations, starring actor/director Toni Servillo and, as bravado-spewing young Tony Montana wannabe punks, theater actors Marco Macor and Ciro Petrone. Amazingly, it was shot with the "family"'s blessings. Garrone said that in Italy the cinema is so powerful mobsters actually welcomed having their story told.

Hunger [IFC] marks the feature film debut of controversial black British political visual artist McQueen in an uncompromising look at the 1974 hunger strike led by IRA prisoner Bobby Sands.

This will be one of the year's most celebrated films, in line with last year's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, a.k.a. My Left Eye. Like that film, audiences will either love or hate it. There's little dialogue and the proceedings require great patience. If you go to the movies to be entertained, this isn't your cup of tea. Much talk surrounds two sequences with the camera stationary: shooting two actors talking for what seems like an eternity [it was!]; and a later scene of a custodian sweeping a deluge of puddles of a certain liquid escaping from under cell doors right into the audience's faces. The only missing is Gene Kelly singing in the rain of urine.

Alongside Entre les Murs, France is well-represented this year with four films and eight co-productions. Upcoming: Un Conte de Noel/A Christmas Tale [IFC, Friday, 6; and Saturday, 11:15 A.M.; both at Z], starring the still-stunning Catherine Deneuve facing a life-threatening illness in Arnaud Desplechin's two-and-a-half hour plus story of a dysfunctional family [a French one, for a change!] gathering for the holidays. Jean-Paul Roussillon, Mathieu Amalric, Anne Consigny and Chiara Mastroianni [Deneuve's daughter].

The salute to Japanese director Nagisa Oshima [through October 14], "one of the essential figures of modern cinema," continues. Among his works scheduled this week are Diary of a Shinjuku Thief [1968, Wednesday, 7 P.M.], Max Mon Amour [1986, Friday, 9], Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, starring David Bowie, [1983, Saturday, 9], Taboo [1999, October 13, 2 and 8:45], Kyoto, My Mother's Place [1991] screening with 100 Years of Japanese Cinema [October 13, 4] and Empire of Passion [1978, October 13, 6:30].

In addition to HBO's Films Dialogues, director panels and the avant-garde film showcase, the Fest will be giving screenings to 17 short films.

Career paths and families are at the center of Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Tokyo Sonata[Japan/Denmark; Regent Releasing; Saturday, 9:15], where a family struggles to stay together after the father loses his job; and Parlez Moi de la Pluie/Let It Rain [October 12, 11:15 A.M.; Z], Agnès Jaoui's story of aspiring filmmakers following a female politician.

Tonight, at 6 and 8:30 P.M. [WR], the Festival tradition of presenting restored classics continues with a remastered 35mm print of Josef von Sternberg's 1928 silent classic The Last Command, starring Emil Jannings [Blue Angel opposite Marlene] and William "Thin Man" Powell. Jannings, as a once-decorated Russian general relives the Revolution as a Hollywood extra, won the first Best Actor Oscar. The film is accompanied by a new score by the three-member Alloy Orchestra [which also composed the score for the restored Metropolis].

This Friday, Martin Scorsese will introduce a restored Technicolor print [courtesy of George Eastman House] of 1951's Pandora and the Flying Dutchman at 6:15 [WR]. Directed and adapted by Albert Lewin, with a celebrated production design by Clive Donner with some assist from Man Ray and magnificently shot on the Spanish coast by renowned cinematographer Jack Cardiff.

It stars a very seductive Ava Gardner and James Mason, Nigel Patrick, Juan Montalvo and Marius Goring. Cardiff went on to directing. Lewin, all but forgotten today, was a Brooklynite who had a brief stint as film critic before heading West where he became assistant to Irving Thalberg. He produced such highbrow fare as The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Moon and Sixpence. But later he was regulated to writing for such TV fare as My Favorite Martian and Diff'rent Strokes.

Among the sponsors of the 46th New York Film Festival are Chopard, The New York Times and Sardinia Region Tourism.

Tickets for screenings are on sale at Avery Fisher and the Ziegfeld and online at filmlinc.com. For a full listing of the week's attractions, information on the numerous NYFF events and showtimes, visit the web site.

Remastered, Restored Sleeping Beauty

"Do fairy tales ever get old?" asked Whoopi. "It seems they are always new and I look forward to watching them today the same way I did as a kid when we'd sit around the TV and watch those great animated cartoons and Peter Pan during the holidays."

Now, of course, you don't have to wait until the holiday. Just order the DVD and pop the corn, melt the butter, lay out the candies, crush the ice, fill your glasses all the way to the top with it and pour in about an ounce of soda and you can have a movie theatre experience right at home!

And now comes a classic, totally reimagined. In celebration of Tuesday's DVD and Blu-ray release of Sleeping Beauty: 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition [2 discs; SRP $30, B-r, $35], from the Disney Studio vaults for a limited time, the studio held a star-studded premiere in six of the theatres of the Chelsea Cineplex.

Among those attending the "premiere" and gala post party in the recently-restored and storied Plaza Hotel grand ballroom were Vanessa Williams and daughter Sasha Gabriella; Elisabeth Hasselbeck with Grace Elisabeth and Taylor Thomas; Shrek star Brian d'Arcy, wife Jennifer and daughter Grace; Xanadu's Kerry Butler; All My Children's Cameron Mathison, wife Vanessa and children Lucas and Leila; Michael Gaston [Body of Lies, W], Terry Serpico [Righteous Kill, TV's Army Wives], and, among others, costumed Disney characters from the film - not to mention hundreds of lasses in elaborate princess outfits looking for love's first kiss.

The event was presided over by Princess Aurora herself, renowned international opera singer Mary Costa, hand-picked by Walt Disney to be the lead voice of the 1959 widescreen animated classic.

Personally supervised by Disney [his last], Sleeping Beauty became the studio's most stunning animated feature. The feature is set to magnificent Oscar-nominated orchestrations of Tchaikovsky's timeless ballet melodies.

For the new DVD and Blu-Ray editions, Sleeping Beauty's sight and sound has been meticulously restored through state-of-the-art digital technology, Not only has the original dazzling Technicolor been restored, but Dolby Digital 5.1 has been added.

As Gordon Ho, Disney Home Entertainment exec VP, marketing, creative content and business development, said in his welcome, "Sleeping Beauty has been restored and remastered beyond its original brilliance, in the way Walt Disney envisioned it. The colors are more vivid, the backgrounds appear richer and you see elements and characters that you never saw before."

Ms. Costa, former Metropolitan Opera star [debut, 1964, La Traviata] and longtime roving Disney ambassador, says, "It's quite spectacular, as if it was made yesterday. You hear the highs and lows and all the inbetweens like never before. The master technicians have given a fresh, new life to this classic."

Mr. Disney personally selected Ms. Costa, in her 20s at the time, "and encouraged and guided my performance through the seven years of production," she noted. "When he was casting, he went about choosing his singers with a lot of care. He told me he wanted the film to be a gift of love to children everywhere."

Ms. Costa's career has spanned four decades singing on radio, records, TV, film, command performances at the White House and in nearly 50 major operatic roles.

Bill Shirley, a singer, movie singing voice double and ice skater who'd been performing since the 40s, voiced Phillip. "He was a real sweet guy," says Ms. Costa. "Bill came in and just knocked us out with his voice. We all fell in love with him."

For the 1964 film adaptation of My Fair Lady, George Cukor choose Shirley for the singing voice of Freddy Eynsford-Hill played by Jeremy Brett, who for years kept claiming he did his own singing and Shirley merely sweetened the high notes.

Eleanor Audley provided one of the most memorable meanies in moviedom, modeled on Snow White's wicked queen and the model for 101 Dalmatians Cruella De Vil. Veteran comedienne, TV and film star Verna Felton [the voice of Cinderella's fairy godmother and Alice ...'s Queen of Hearts] was a natural choice to voice Flora; with Barbara Luddy giving life to Merryweather and Barbara Jo Allen voicing Fauna.

Sleeping Beauty: 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition contains a galaxy of bonuses, including a making-of doc, games, photo gallery; music video and sing-along program.

From Brazil to Birdland with Love

Krazy Love, that is. Sensational blonde bombshell Luba Mason, who rocked Broadway as Hedy La Rue opposite Matthew Broderick in How to Succeed... and a Chicago Velma, arrives at Birdland after sold-out engagements in Chicago tomorrow night for two shows [8:30 and 11]. "And," she says, bursting with enthusiasm,"there's a new rhythm in my soul."

In between the above Broadway shows, Mason wowed audiences as J&H's first replacement for Linda Eder with her power renditions of "Someone Like You" and "A New Life."

No stranger to Latin music, due to a very particular family connection and her featured spot on Broadway opposite Marc Anthony and Ruben Blades in Paul Simon's short-lived Capeman, Mason has been flying south of the border a lot over the last two years to capture the unique composer talents of Sao Paulo native and Prince keyboardist Renato Neto. The singer says she's been "totally reenergized and the results are quite exhilarating."

Their collaboration, with Mason writing spirited, and deeply emotional lyrics, is the Krazy Love...A Cool Brazilian Mood, Mason's new CD, which she will be previewing prior to official release [in February] at Birdland. The statuesque, sultry Mason, who gives new definition to "belter," will be accompanied by her band Kava, featuring Dario Eskenazi, piano; Sandro Albert, guitar; John Benitez, bass; Dende, percussion; Adriano Santos, drums; and Rodrigo Urasai on flute and sax.

"The seed for Krazy Love," informs Mason, "took place ten years ago when I met Ruben Blades, now my husband, and was introduced to Brazilian music. I fell madly under its spell - the melodies, the rhythm."

So, a decade later: Krazy Love. Why so long? "The time was right. The music represents where I am in my life - more mature, more sophisticated in my musical tastes and, for the first time, ready to write my material. It's been a musical evolution."

Not only did Mason write the lyrics for eight of the 10 tracks, she also composed the music. "I performed as a classical pianist from age five to twelve. Music came first, then singing and acting. Every project I pursue, I want to set a higher level. Writing was the next challenge. I knew I could do it. It was just a matter of gaining the confidence and support of my partner in the project, Renato."

Mason says while she's been learning about Latin culture from Blades, not only a Grammy-winning hitmaker and actor but also Panama's Minister of Tourism, Neto was "the key. He's from Brazil and has the music in his soul. His musicianship and knowledge is amazing. I'm so blessed to have found Renato. He complimented my writing and guided me to creating a work of art."

The title and title tune came easy, states Mason. "The subject matter is love and Brazilian music is a lot about love, bursting with the joy of life and the exotic movement of the rhythms. Some of the songs are my experiences or simply made up! I'll never tell."

Mason's Krazy Love preview is presented by Birdland perennial Jim Caruso's Cast Party [Monday open mike nights] and TheaterMania.com as part of Broadway at Birdland, the Nightlife Award-winning concert series.

Tickets are $25 general admission, and $40 orchestra plus two drink/food minimum. To reserve, call (212) 581-3080 or go online at www.birdlandjazz.com.

It's Back and Happening!

The Public Theater announced that single tickets will go on sale Sunday, October 12 for Road Show, a new musical featuring music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by John Weidman, and direction and scenic design by John Doyle. Michael Cerveris and Alexander Gemignani headline the cast of 17.

Previews begin October 28, with an opening set for November 18. The musical is scheduled to run through December 28.

The name Road Show is not the only thing new. Doyle is now at the helm and, with Weidman, has made "transformative changes." One change is Sondheim's writing new lyrics to the former title tune. Doyle will contribute scenic design, with orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick and musical direction by Mary-Mitchell Campbell.

Road Show spans 40 years from the Alaskan Gold Rush to the Florida real estate boom in the '30s and is the story of brothers Wilson and Addison Mizer whose quest for the American dream turns into a life-changing test of morality and judgment.

For the world premiere, under the title Bounce, at Chicago's Goodman, Hal Prince directed Richard Kind, Howard McGillin, Michele Pawk and movie musicals legend Jane Powell. The show then played the Kennedy Center. Under that title, there was a cast recording on Nonesuch.

Single tickets become available at midnight on October 12; at 10 A.M online at www.publictheater.org or by phone, (212) 967-7555; and at 1 P.M. at the Public box office.

Don't Tell Mama But Devlin's Back in Town

West Coast dynamo singer Devlin returns to town, and none too soon, with a new show, The Places You Find Love, at Don't Tell Mama at 7 P.M. on October 13 and 15 and a special happy hour show on October 18 at 5 P.M. She's not arriving empty-handed. The DTM engagement marks the release of her first CD, Devlin, Live In New York.

A critic noted that whether singing torch or brassy jazz, Devlin soars "outta the park" and has audiences "eating notes from the palm of her hand."

For Mama's, Devlin is planning to run a fearless gamut of songs from Berlin, Carmichael and Mercer, Cahn and Heindorf and the Gershwins to k.d. lang, Annie Lennox and James Taylor.

West Coast, East Coast, Devlin, a redhead with sparkling green eyes, has been making her mark in notable cabarets, such as last October at the Metropolitan Room; and acting, winning San Diego's Playbill.com Best Actress award for her Frankie in Frankie and Johnny in the Claire De Lune.

The 15 tracks on the CD [SRP $15], recorded live at the Metro, are eccletic, with songs by Berlin, John Bucchino, Craig Carnelia, Cass Eliot [with a medley tribute to the Mamas and Pappas], Amanda McBroom, Laura Nyro and Lalo Schifrin. The arrangements and musical direction are by Rick Jensen.

Admission for Devlin and The Places You Find Love is $15 with a two-drink minimum [but includes debut CD]. For reservations, call (212) 757-0788.

Save the Date...Order Tickets Now

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, October 17, 18 [at 8 P.M.] and 19 [at 3 P.M.] for Town Hall's Fourth Annual Broadway Broadway Cabaret Festival, hosted by Scott Siegel [Broadway by the Year], The respective programs are A Tribute to Lerner & Lowe and a rare concert appearance by Colm Wilkinson [Les Miz, POTO]; and the always eagerly anticipated Broadway Originals!, which brings back to the stage stars, such as Lucie Arnaz [They're Playing Our Song], Stephen Mo Hanan [Cats], Karen Morrow [I Had a Ball] and Pam Myers [Company], singing songs from musicals they were in. Tickets for a three-show package are $150, with individual tickets at $55. They are available at the Town Hall box office.

One of the most anticipated dance events annually is Career Transition for Dancers' tribute to dancers in all fields. The 23rd anniversary show, On Broadway!, A Glittering Salute To The American Musical, presented by Rolex, is Monday, October 27 at 7 P.M. at City Center with Angela Lansbury hosting. Tommy Tune will receive the Rolex Dance Award. Among participating companies will be the American Ballet Theatre. There'll also be a film montage of Broadway musical choreography. The event continues with a supper dance in the Hilton New York's grand ballroom. Honorary chairs include Cynthia Gregory, Jane Powell, Ann Reinking and Chita Rivera. Show tickets, at $45 - $130, are available at the City Center box office and through CityTix, (212) 581-1212.

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