Remembering Johnny Mercer

Oscar-winning director/producer/composer/music enthusiastic Clint Eastwood is paying tribute to legendary composer Johnny Mercer on the centenary of his birth (November 18, 2009) with the release of Bruce Ricker's Turner Classic Movies' "Johnny Mercer: The Dream's On Me" on DVD [Warner Home Video, two discs; SRP $30]. The disc is produced in association with the BBC and commissioned by the Johnny Mercer Foundation.

Look to the Rainbow

Director/choreographer Warren Carlyle of Finian's Rainbow and associate producers/casting directors Nikole Vallins and Jay Binder found their pot of gold at the end of their rainbow: Their sensational cast.

Terri White Finds a Home in Finian's Rainbow

 The new Broadway Finian's Rainbow has a story that goes from heart-breaking to heart-warming.

When Terri White, as Dottie, Rainbow Valley's strong-willed and seemingly only woman of a certain age, delivers "Necessity" and turns it into a late Act-One showstopper, she knows of what she sings. The daughter of black vaudevillians, she's been singing and dancing since age eight. She enjoyed early success making her Broadway debut in Barnum opposite Jim Dale and Glenn Close.

Set Designer Allen Moyer Goes After Miss Julie

When it comes to things like authenticity, Allen Moyer is not your typical set designer. He's represented this season on Broadway with Roundabout's After Miss Julie, where he has literally recreated the massive kitchen of a heralded English estate for the Patrick Marber play which is set in 1945. To the extent possible, everything had to be to the manor born: the real thing or as real as the budget would allow.

Chita Rivera, Nowadays

"Nowadays," says Chita Rivera after the upbeat overture and her rousing signature opener, "I Won't Dance," in her Birdland concert, "when I look around, I'm beginning to wonder – with the revival of Bye, Bye, Birdie, seeing giant posters of Velma from Chicago with her legs spread, and these buses going by with West Side Story on them, if I'm not supposed to be somewhere at 8 P.M.!"

Shade-y Dealings with David Merrick

When N. Richard Nash's The Rainmaker was adapted for the musical stage into 110 in the Shade, producer David Merrick, then dubbed the "King of Broadway" because of his numerous hits, had final say.

"Out of the blue," recalled lyricist Tom Jones, "the phone rang. It was Mr. Merrick, who told us how much he loved The Fantasticks. We hadn't done anything on Broadway but he felt, since we were from Texas, that we'd be ideal for 110."

Tim Blake Nelson: Playwright, Too

Tim Blake Nelson is a jack of all things theatrical (maybe except dancing). In addition to his fame in numerous stage and film roles, he's a playwright. His acclaimed 1997 film, "Eye of God," a Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize winner, comes to Theater Row's Kirk in a new stage adaptation on October 2, 2009 (opening, October 7), presented by Theatre East.

Broadway's Newest Re-Addition: The Henry Miller's Theater

Bye Bye Birdie's back and, thanks to the Roundabout, plays in Broadway's first new theater in more than a decade. The facade of The Henry Miller's Theater, opened in 1918, was saved by Bank of America, whose 55-story One Bryant Park (spanning 42nd to 43rd Streets on Sixth Avenue) towers above, and who are partners with the Durst Organization and the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC).

Burning the Floor in New York

New York Times critic Charles Isherwood termed Burn the Floor, the ballroom dancing spectacular now at the Longacre, "every bit as flashy and tacky as you would expect." WOW! Those two qualities, both of which are so alien to Broadway!, are perhaps what's making the Aussie production such a hit. That, and the fact that thanks to smash TV shows such as "Dancing with the Stars," the world seems dance crazy.

Debbie Reynolds: Up Close and Personal

 Start spreading the news: the legendary Debbie Reynolds has returned to New York for her first professional appearance in over 25 years -- performing her celebrated nightclub act at the Café Carlyle, June 2-27,2009, in which she'll do some of her famous impressions, pay tribute to her idol Judy Garland, and recall stories from her celebrated career.

Show Me Christmas!

It probably has something to do with theater people really wanting to help bring audiences out of the doldrums engendered by the still-faltering economy, but there seem to be way more Christmas-themed shows scheduled this year than ever before. Aside from the usual extravaganzas, such as "The Radio City Christmas Spectacular," the New York City Ballet production of The Nutrcracker, and the return to Broadway of White Christmas, there are plenty of smaller-scale shows that promise loads of holiday cheer. Here are a few that are bound to make you merry.

Just a Song at Twilight

I was about two or three when I first realized that my mother was deaf.

It was when the doorbell rang and she didn't respond. I ran to her, yelling, "The door, the door!"
There were many other cries like that as I grew older: "The phone, the phone!" "The egg lady's outside, asking for you." "Aunt Mag called and wants to know when you want to meet tomorrow." And so on.

A View of A View

Prior to attending Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge at the Cort, I had seen the first two Broadway revivals of the play, and I directed a community theater production on Staten Island in 1988. So I guess I went into the current View thinking I knew pretty much all there was to know about the play, and -- human nature being what it is -- I had certain expectations regarding this production, based on the personnel involved. As it turned out, my experience taught or re-taught me a lot about this work in particular and theater in general:

A Season of Star Power

Though all the season's headliners haven't been announced, look at the star power coming in: Two-time Tony and three-time Drama Desk-winner John Lithgow, making his frequent transition from screen to stage roles, this season co-starring at Second Stage in Douglas Carter Beane's Mr. and Mrs. Fitch; Two-time Oscar-winner Denzel Washington, returning five years after his Brutus in Julius Caesar, in the Fences revival; and Kelsey Grammer is back after 10 years and roles in Shakespeare classics for a total change of pace as Georges in the La Cage revival.

Mart Crowley Revists The Boys in the Band

 In 1967, when "starving" writer Mart Crowley, "on the brink of destitution" but sitting in the lap of luxury, finished his play The Boys in the Band, he says he intended it to be controversial. But, having distanced himself from gay politics, he didn't set out to be a rights activist. "I probably didn't even know what that meant," he laughs.

Leslie Uggams and the American Songbook

Last Saturday, in the American Songbook series, Tony and Emmy winner, Golden Globe nom, and hometown gal Leslie Uggams gave her first New York concert in 18 years. It was flawless and, as far as the timbre of her voice, as if time had stopped. Where had that voice been? Well, here and there.

Somewhere That's Breen

Patrick Breen has appeared in the original Broadway productions of Brighton Beach Memoirs and Big River, in such top-rank Off-Broadway fare as Fuddy Meers and The Substance of Fire, and in films ranging from "Galaxy Quest" to "Men in Black" to (wait for it!) "Ishtar." Now he's starring in the Broadway transfer of Geoffrey Nauffts' lauded play, Next Fall, as Adam, an out gay man and an atheist in love with Luke (Patrick Heusinger), a devout Christian who considers his own homosexuality a sin.

Dame Edna's Back - and Michael Feinstein's Got Her

There is nothing like a dame, goes that familiar refrain from Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific, and there's nothing like Dame Edna Everage. And there's nothing like an evening of soothing Michael Feinstein. So, put them together and what do you have? All About Me, the new revue which opened last night at the Henry's Miller's.

What's it about? "It's really all about me!" claims Dame Edna emphatically. Says Feinstein, always a gentleman and much less emphatically, "It's really all about me."

Yank! A WWII Love Story to Soldier On

 It's your last chance to catch one of the stand-out gay-themed productions in this season of numerous gay-themed shows, Joseph and David Zellnik's Yank! A WWII Love Story, Lortel nominated for Outstanding Musical - at the York Theater Company's Saint Peter's home. (Lexington and East 54th Street). It's been one of the company's biggest box office bonanzas but finally must close on Sunday.

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