Today's birthdays include: William Christopher and Jerry Orbach.

On Stage and Off: A Revival of 'Capeman'?
The question is: Will Edgar Dobie, who produced Capeman on Broadway, add this to his schedule of Mamma Mia, Riverdance and Tom Sawyer? Mmmmm.... maybe not.

How Were the Reviews?: Neil Simon's Dinner Party on B'way

Theatre.com Welcomes Forrest Mallard's "Production Notes" Column
Proving once again that he is the journalist most in-touch with what his readers want, Robert Viagas hires Forrest Mallard to write for Theatre.com. This is great news for everyone as Forrest joins Theatre.com as their #2 columnist. Forrest was quite prolific on his first day with the following three entries:

Get Thee to the Broadway Chatterbox!

Rusty Magee... Doing Fine

Everyone Wants To Be SALLY

Biltmore Theatre Apparently OK in Building Collapse

Bill Does Beckett by Peter Filichia

NY Times Takes Another Hard Look at Shakespeare Festival

Rocky Horror Show Starts Bway Previews at Circle in the Square, Oct. 20

Visa Backs Distribution of 12,000 Cassettes of ATW Seminars by Wing

Equity Hearing Scheduled for Williams Over Non-Union Sound of Music, Oct. 20

Hot Potato: Laurents' New Play Will Open Oct. 22, After All

Zazou, with Eartha Kitt, Eyes Broadway for Fall 2001

SAG/AFTRA Resume Talks with Advertising Interests in New York City, Oct. 19
Rumor has the parties close to an agreement...

Carolee Carmello by Adam Feldman
This is good news on two fronts: Carolee contributes so much to Broadway, on and off stage, and Adam Feldman, who is known as "Warmly Adam" around the internet, has great insight into theatre. A good score for Broadway.com to have him writing for them.

Sweeney Signing

Email received:

Yesterday, at the press conference for the launch of New York Philharmonic's "Sweeney Todd" CD, Zarin Mehta announced that he would like to commission Stephen Sondheim to compose a piece for the Philharmonic. Whether it was in jest or just a publicity stunt, Sondheim looked shocked, but delighted, and the crowd went wild.

Email received:

..Just called my commercial agent and they seemed to be pretty up and anticipating an end to the SAG/AFTRA Strike by Monday.. Good news for all..

Email received:

It's AN ALMOST HOLY PICTURE, not PERSON -- and it's true.

Blind item:

A star-studded radio play version of a Christmas classic is in the works for a reading this season -- with hopes of a home at the ultimate '70s hangout next year when some Nazi musical closes.

On Nov 2, Saigon celebrates its 4000th show and Cameron wants you to be there for a special 7PM performance. Saigon is the sixth show to reach this 4K mark in Broadway history. (Can you name the other five?) For more information about Saigon and this special show, see the Saigon website at www.miss-saigon.com.

(The other shows with 4000+ performances are: Cats, A Chorus Line, Oh Calcutta!, The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables.)

Entertainment Weekly is doing a story on Seussical and its website. Probably will hit next week. It is true that you get main stream press when you have the backing of a Hollywood studio behind a Broadway show.

Is there yet another theatre-news website on the horizon? Can this small niche market support all of them?

Today's birthdays include: John Lithgow and Jennifer Holliday. Wouldn't you love to see them in a show together?

Gwen Verdon, Actress and Dancer, Dies at 75

Public Theater's Uptown 'Party' Leaves a Hangover. The commercial failure of "The Wild Party" has raised broad questions both about the Joseph Papp Public Theater and about Broadway's capacity to handle unorthodox fare. An examination of the musical's short, troubled life highlights those issues.
Just imagine Scott Rudin's hindsight in which he pulled out of Kiss Me Kate and threw full support behind The Public's Wild Party...

Remembering Bock and Harnick by Peter Filichia

How Were the Reviews?: Napoleon in London

Julie Andrews Stars Again on Broadway -- But Just for a Moment
For a second there, I thought this headline said that she sang "This is the Moment"... which would have made this story a whole different thing!

Julie Harris Joins Seattle Talent in Showtunes! Theatre Co. Benefit

The Niagaras Bring New Rock Musical, Wrong Way UP, to NYC, Oct. 19

Agents, Managers, Casting Directors Perform Labors of Love 2000, Oct. 30 in NYC
I wonder if they did a mailing...

OOB Company Nada Given Oct. 26 Court Date to Decide Fate

A Little Brains--A Little Talent by Ken Mandelbaum

A Class Act Delays Opening

Stranger Opening [photos]

Look for Ron Bohmer as a guest star on an upcoming episode of Law & Order, Special Victim's Unit.

Anthony Rapp's new CD is available through Sh-K-Boom.
Isn't it great the way the labels with their own website are selling CDs for other performers. I wonder where that idea started... :-) (Actually, I've never had an original idea in my life. I stole that idea from someone else!)

Followup to yesterday's Eddie Bauer/Disney event, anyone wishing to attend the event should R.S.V.P. to Ernestine Sclafani at 212.704.4591 or Sharron Johnson 212.704.4472.

New York Philharmonic's Sweeney Todd recording was released yesterday at a signing at Lincoln Center's Tower Records. Fans of Sondheim, Sweeney and the Philharmonic who ordered their copies in advance and were charged months ago are grumbling because their copies will not be shipped for another month, while the CDs hit the street, at least in limited distribution today. All will work out in the end, but this is not the best public relations for the Philharmonic.

I was going to mention this yesterday, but forgot. It seems as though Forrest's Production Notes may land at Theatre.com in the near future. At that point we can look for small updates four times a week. That would be a great thing!

Broadway Legend Gwen Verdon Dead at 75 [2PM]

Verdon's Final Bow [2:30PM]

AP: Broadway Dancer Gwen Verdon Dies [3PM]

Broadway Musical Legend Gwen Verdon Is Dead at 75 [4PM]

I am not sure if this is related to the above story, but Playbill Online is down behind the front splash page. This message is on the front page:

"PLAYBILL ON-LINE IS CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE. "

Playbill seems to be back up. [6:30PM]

Today's birthdays include: Wendy Wasserstein and Erin Moran.

Toil and Trouble at the Joseph Papp Public Theater

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Local director called to testify in Arizona case
The interesting tidbit in this article is that Burke Moses is reportedly taking over for Stokes in Kate. I don't think this has been mentioned elsewhere... [Thanks Andy!]

Baltimore Sun: A 'Club' gearing up to take on Broadway

Fynsworth news: The new record label by Bruce Kimmel is rumored to be recording the new "Godspell"...

Hasselhoff from last night, pics to come...

Eddie McGee: From Big Brother to Broadway? Meeting with William Morris, shooting Hollywood Squares and a movie in Canada. Is the great white way far behind? Nope. I hear April 2001.

Eddie Bauer, Disney and BC/EFA: To launch of eddiebauerkids.com, on Tuesday, October 24 at 9:30 a.m. at the Lunt-Fontanne, Eddie Bauer is partnering with Disney Theatricals to present a fun-filled breakfast/ fashion show featuring performances by child actors from the hit Broadway musicals, Beauty & The Beast and The Lion King. Broadway's 'Belle,' Andrea McArdle, will host the event and is also scheduled to perform. Eddiebauerkids.com will make a donation to Broadway Cares/Equity Fight AIDS.

Speaking of launches, I took an inside look at Seussical's website earlier this week. It is scheduled to launch today, but it is not live just yet. Check it out. Unfortunately, it is very heavy on graphics and if you are not on a high speed line, it may be a trying experience.

SFX "Broadway Series" Will Be Focus of Equity Informational Picket in Pittsburgh, Nov. 21

Equity Council to Determine Production Contract Ratification Mechanisms on Nov. 13

Philly’s Barrymore Awards Fall in Love w/ Stoppard

Nada's Fate Uncertain Following Successful Benefit

Barre and Stroman Among Choreography Callaway Nominees; SDCF To Announce Winner Oct. 30

Margo Jefferson to Assume NY Times Sunday Slot; Canby Memorial Likely for Late November

SCENE AND HEARD A Grand Night for Singing by Randy Gener

New Jekyll & Hyde TV Ads with David Hasselhoff a Hit with "Baywatch" Fans and German Media

NY Times Takes a Hard Look at Shakespeare Festival
I am glad to see Robert Viagas' continued efforts to make the Theatre.com news division better each week. Theatre.com has always worked in the best interests of their readers by pointing out articles from other sources. It is encouraging to see it.

The Broadway Musical's 50 Most Dynamic Second Act Openings by Peter Filichia

ICM Creates Web Unit

Craig Lucas

The Yankees. The Mets. And Broadway. It's a great time to live in NYC, as I have mentioned a few times in the recent past.