Bon Giorno, Italia!

Given the rich indigenous theatrical tradition in Naples, it might come as a surprise that there is also a vibrant atmosphere of innovation, with two active experimental companies.

Elton John Sings Out and Speaks Out

Sir Elton John, pop star extraordinaire, in town for the premiere of his new musical Aida, written with Sir Tim Rice, was doing all he could to promote the show. "It's one of the things I'm proudest of in my life," he said.

Cherry Jones - A Retrospective

Having just won her second Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Best Actress (after numerous nominations, it will come as no surprise to hear that Cherry Jones soars in John Patrick Shanley's blistering, 2005 Pulitizer Prize, Tony and Drama Desk-winning Doubt...A Parable.

She wouldn't necessarily agree with this assessment, but where many people, even a sizeable share of New York theatergoers, used to ask "Cherry Jones?", now they don't.

Thurgood in Westport

There has been a palpable air of excitement in Fairfield County from the moment it was announced that James Earl Jones would appear at the Westport Country Playhouse in a new one-man play about Thurgood Marshall, the late great Supreme Court Justice. Mr. Jones, a two-time Tony and Outer Critics winner for The Great White Hope and Fences, winner of an Emmy and a Golden Globe, and recipient of a prestigious Kennedy Honor, is an actor of true gravitas; the man he is portraying is a man of distinction. It is would seem to be a perfect pairing.

Shade Back in the Spotlight

When The Fantasticks was on its way to becoming a solid Off-Broadway hit, composers Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt were dangled a carrot of another kind: Broadway.

N. Richard Nash wanted to do a musical adaptation of his romantic comedy, The Rainmaker, about a lonely farm girl reaching spinsterhood and yearning for love -- which had been a 1952 TV special, a 1954 Broadway play starring Geraldine Page and Darren McGavin, and a 1956 film with Katharine Hepburn and Burt Lancaster.

Long Wharf & George Street Get in Sync with Allan Knee

They say that timing in life is everything. For playwright Allan Knee, timing not only plays an important part in his new play, Syncopation, but in the good fortune that brought his play to the stage of not one but two major regional theaters back to back. As part of a growing trend of theaters collaborating with each other, the George Street Playhouse (New Brunswick, NJ) in association with Long Wharf Theater (New Haven, CT) co-produced Syncopation, in its just-completed world-premiere run at Long Wharf. Syncopation opens at the George Street Playhouse Jan.

Dream On: Henry Krieger on Life after Dreamgirls

Dreamgirls is the quintessential show about black singing groups in the Motown era, but the composer, Henry Krieger, is white and Jewish. He doesn't apologize for that:

"You know, the Middle East and Israel are right next to Africa," he jokes. "As a Jewish boy in Ossining and Harrison and White Plains, New York, I grew up listening to Aretha and the Drifters and other black singers. Lots of white people were buying Motown records. We're from the same tribe. African-Americans who sang spirituals like `Let My People Go' were singing about the Jewish experience."

Michael Kunze: The Sondheim and Lloyd Webber of Europe

For someone who became a lawyer and wasn't the least bit interested in music or writing for theater, Michael Kunze made one of the most remarkable and successful turnarounds in the history of show business writing. Now, after countless European hits, he finally makes his Broadway debut with Dance of the Vampires, based on the Roman Polanski film spoof, "The Fearless Vampire Killers..., for which he originally wrote book and lyrics with composer Jim Steinman for the acclaimed premiere production in Vienna in 1997.

Things are more than a bit different here.

Have Yourself a Very Barbra Christmas

Over the course of her career, Barbra Streisand has made some very odd choices of songs to record, from "Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?" to "Guava Jelly." That said, the diva's first Christmas album -- released some 40 years ago -- still ranks as the strangest item in her discography. Sure, she sounds at home in such secular numbers as Mel Torme's "The Christmas Song," and her custom-tailored version of "Jingle Bells" is lots of fun.

Michael John LaChiusa: What Makes Him Tick

Michael John LaChiusa is the first songwriter of our era to have two of his shows debut on Broadway in the same season. His Marie Christine opened in December 1999, and his The Wild Party in April. This hadn't happened since Rodgers & Hart had two openings during the 1929-1930 season. (For theater buffs: they were Heads Up! in November 1929 and Simple Simon in February 1930.)

Nancy LaMott: Still Here

When singer Nancy LaMott died at age 44 on December 13, 1995, music lovers lamented the loss of an excellent performer in her prime. A smaller circle of people realized there was an even greater tragedy, knowing that LaMott had just recently overcome a long bout with another crippling disease that made her success as a performer even more remarkable.

The Life of Larson

Jonathan Larson is mostly remembered for his untimely death and for his creation, Rent. But the posthumous Off-Broadway premiere and theáRCA recording of his earlier show, tick...tick...Boom! prompts a look at his life rather than his death, and a look at his earlier compositions.

What (Theater) Happens in Vegas

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas is the slogan used by the fast-growing Nevada city. It implies sin and secrecy as it brings ever-increasing numbers of visitors. This report will violate the town slogan and tell what actually happens in Vegas. To East Coast Americans, some of it is surprising.

Arthur Laurents: An Open Book

A whirlwind life of sex and celebrities, carousing and creativity, fame and failures, protests and parlor games from Shubert Alley to Tinseltown: It could be anybody, right? But it specifically marks the colorful and sometimes contentious life of award-winning playwright/screen writer/director/musical theater collaborator/autobiographer Arthur Laurents that will be given the spotlight at a gala benefit: "Broadway at George Street" - for the George Street Playhouse on Monday January 29, 2001.

Linda Lavin: In the Moment

Overheard the other day backstage at the Music Box Theater, where the "new" The Diary of Anne Frank is playing: Someone to Natalie Portman, the young film star ("Everyone Says I Love You," "Beautiful Girls") who's making her Broadway debut as Anne: "Those two hours onstage are quite intense, don't you ever get out of it (character)?"
Portman: "Whenever I get out of it, I just look at Linda, because she's always in the moment."

A Mesmerizing South African Voice: Tsidii Le Loka

There are no elephants, rhinos, lions, wildebeests and gazelles sauntering down the aisles and across the stage, but, at the Gershwin Theater, in Riverdance on Broadway, surrounded by all manner of Irish musicians and extraordinary singers and dancers from around the world, there's the sizzling Tsidii Le Loka.

Through the Carol Darkly, with Ming Cho Lee

At one point in one's life, one should do a A Christmas Carol, says eminent set designer Ming Cho Lee. Evidently Lee has arrived at this precise point in his long and distinguished career. Lee's artistic vision - one that has brought him accolades for almost half a century - will frame McCarter Theater's brand new production of Charles Dickens' classic story, celebrating the 20th year that the perennial favorite has been presented in Princeton. Performances continue at McCarter to Thursday, December 24.

An Off-Broadway Legend Who Opened Doors: Rosetta LeNoire

Veteran actress of stage and screen Rosetta LeNoire, founder of Off-Broadway's AMAS Musical Theater, says of her "other role": "I produce musicals because music is one avenue where no one seems to have discriminatory attitudes." Of course, anyone familiar wiht Rosie, as she's known by legions of friends and peers, knows that she does more than produce. She imbues her company with her amazing, giving spirit and loving attitude.

The Wait is Over: Les Miz's 10th Anniversary Cast is Announced

This week, in the midst of the surprising announcement of the March closing of Sunset Boulevard and the "scandal" involving that audience member and Rum Tum Tugger of Cats, speculation ended on another headline-causing maneuver. Producer Cameron Mackintosh and director John Caird (who co-directed with Trevor Nunn) released the cast lineup for the 10th Anniversary company of Les Miserables.

Lyrics, Lyricists & Levine

When you hear the name "92nd Street Y," you know which Y is being talked about.  It's distinct among the thousands of other YM and YWCA's and YM and YWHA's around the world.  Music theater lovers know immediately that 92nd Street Y means the Jewish Y on Manhattan's Upper East Side.  The main reason for this prominence?  Its series, Lyrics & Lyricists, started by Maurice Levine in 1970 and hosted by him until his death in 1997.

The Golden Age of Mystery Fiction Comes to Chicago Theater

Over the last twenty years, Chicago's Lifeline Theater has essayed mysteries by Raymond Chandler (The Little Sister, 1993) and Donald Westlake (Trust Me On This, 2002), in addition to such seemingly impossible, page-to-stage transformations as Jules Verne's Around The World In Eighty Days, Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, and, between 1996 and 2001, all three books of The Lord Of The Rings.

Theater on the Left Coast

Move over, New York! Watch out, Chicago! There's more afoot in LaLaLand than movies, movies, movies. The hills, the valley, downtown, Beverly Hills, Burbank, Pasadena, Santa Monica and especially NoHo are alive with the sound of cachinging at the boxoffice. Live theater is alive, well and thriving in Los Angeles.

Ada Lynn: The Grand Dame of Dallas Theater

Ada Lynn reigns supreme as the Grande Dame of Dallas theater. Currently appearing at Theater Three as Frieda Tuchman in The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, the meddlesome, farbissina mother from Hell, she has an impeccable sense of timing, and each line she delivers is a zinger that connects solidly. Ada began her acting career at age seven in her native Chicago by winning a talent contest leading to a Hollywood screen test. She appeared in two Shirley Temple movies and was a member of Our Gang. Said Ada: "I was a has-been at nine."

An Average Night With a Fight

AN AVERAGE NIGHT WITH A FIGHT: Ned Mochel reports from the West Coast

Lypsinka is Back...As Lana Turner!

Lypsinka is, briefly, back in New York, and beginning January 27, 2000, for two weekends (six performances only), she revives her spoof of a classic Lana Turner four-hankie in Imitation of Imitation of Life at Westbeth Theater Center (151 Bank Street, between Washington and West Streets).

The Return Of Lypsinka

Watch out RuPaul! He's back and Crawford's got him! That's Lypsinka, not Clark Gable, who marks his theatrical return -- after a four-year absence -- as none other than screen goddess Joan Crawford in a semi-musical adaptation of the movie soap, "Harriet Craig." Southern belle drag diva Varla Jean Merman co-stars with an ensemble of four that includes Jay Rogers, late of When Pigs Fly. The engagement runs through September 12 at Mother.

No Laughing Matter

George W. Bush ou le Triste Cow-Boy de Dieu ("George W. Bush, or God's Sad Cowboy") an improvised satire by director Attilio Maggiuli, is back on stage at his Comedie italienne in Paris: No thanks to two unknown thugs who beat him into unconsciousness Sunday morning, May 4, 2003, four days after the opening. Thanks, however, to moral support as well as the appearance and promise of protection by such artists as Ariane Mnouchkine and Jean-Jacques Beineix, Maggilui reversed his decision to shelve the production.

Long Island Native Makes Her New York Directing Debut

Unless you pay very close attention to what you've watched these past 30 years, perhaps the name Nancy Malone won't ring a bell. And even those who do pay very close attention, when faced with her lengthy resume, will marvel at her accomplishments.

Andrea Marcovicci Finds Kurt Weill In America

Nearly everybody knows that Kurt Weill's last name is pronounced vial -- nearly everyone except Weill himself.  He pronounced it with a W -- after he came to America, that is. In 1935 he decided never again to speak German.  He put aside the Deutsche where w's are pronounced as v's, and he told people his name was wile.  Similarly, he abandoned the German music hall idiom that made him famous and started composing in a Broadway style.

The Flickering Phantom

Will the film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera, which opened in New York on December 22, 2004 capture and enthrall you? Will it have you wishing you were there again, drive you to the point of no return or to hum the music of the night? It depends on what you're looking for, and how big a fan of the stage production you are.

Marsha Mason, True Adventurer

Marsha Mason has taken a brief "vacation" from her recurring role as Sherry, John Mahoney's brassy girlfriend on NBC's hit "Frasier," to return to what she loves best: live theater. What she loves best, that is, when she's not farming sun-drenched acres in New Mexico or bravely racing souped up NASCAR doozies. With all the Oscar madness, Mason, a four time Academy Award nominee (not to mention two Emmy nominations), is highly qualified to speak of being in close-but-no-cigar situations.

A-Mayes-Zing: Sally Mayes

Who says actors don't say nice things about producers?
A case in point would be Sally Mayes, a 2003 Drama Desk Award nominee as Featured Actress in a Musical, singing the praises of lead producer Chase Mishkin and associate producers Barbara and Peter Fodor [they are not the travel writers] for their efforts to keep the much-lambasted musical, Urban Cowboy, open against any odds of ever turning a profit.

Another Kind of Food Fight: Edward Hall's Rose Rage

Shakespeare's three-part Henry VI is a chronicle of ambition, intrigue and bloodshed. But Edward Hall, director of the production — subtitled Rose Rage — at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, chose for his conceptual metaphor a slaughterhouse.

A Theater Lesson with Arthur Miller in Paris

Heralding the Paris premiere of Arthur Miller's Le dessaroi de M. Peters (known in English as Mr. Peters' Connections), an interview with the author, director and star of the play drew an overflow crowd to multi-story, multi-media purveyor FNAC, rue Saint-Lazare, as October began. Miller seemed joyful not only because of the "attention being paid" to his appearance, but because he hadn't been able to get to France to witness the great success The Crucible had in its McCarthy era debut there. "I couldn't leave the U.S.A. at the time."

Liza, The Life, And The Legacy

Liza Minnelli didn't dodge the question Sunday night in the Tony Awards press room. When she visited on the arms of Michael Nouri in her rather unusual Halston gown, she was asked if she had plans to return to Broadway again soon? "Sooner than you think," she said, "but I'm sworn to secrecy."

Move Over, Weird Al

While many 88 year-old women are living through their grandchildren and great-grandchildren and kvetching about their bursitis and arthritis, Lu Mitchell is far too busy rehearsing with her band, Catch-23, for one of the 75-plus gigs she does each year at such diverse venues as Pocket Sandwich Theater, Uncle Calvin's Coffee House, Musikfest in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Fiddler's Green Festival in Ireland, or the Temple Emanu-El Couples Club. She also performed recently at Richland College and will be the keynote performer in August at Eastfield College's Senior Fest.

Reggie Montgomery Has His Day

I really wanted to be an actor, says Reggie Montgomery who is currently directing Suzzanne Douglas in Lady Day at the Emerson Bar and Grill,at the George Street Playhouse (October 2000). But, Montgomery also could have gone down a different entertainment route. He was the first African-American to be trained and hired as a clown for Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus. Learning to be funny and making people laugh was not a bad first step, although an unusual one, for a young black man back in 1970 with his hopes pinned on a very different kind of theatrical career.

Donna Diva or Donna Divine? The Living Legend, Donna Murphy

New York, New York, it's a wonderful town! are not exactly the words wide-eyed sisters Ruth and Eileen were thinking after misadventures, fresh off the bus, from Ohio in the classic New York musical, Wonderful Town. They arrived with dreams of making it, respectively, as a writer and actress and living happily ever after.

Always Working: Brian Murray, Journeyman

Brian Murray is that rare artist who's always working, whether on Broadway or Off, whether acting or directing. He's currently stealing the show as dasha landlord and Professor Serebryankov in Roundabout Theater's revival of Uncle Vanya, also starring Derek Jacobi, Laura Linney, Roger Rees and the Tony-nominated Amy Ryan. And, once more, he's nominated (Drama Desk, Featured Actor, Play); then, not. Surprise permeated the air at last week's Tony Award nominations when Murray's name, incredulously, wasn't announced (nor Jacobi's).

Empowerment at the National Black Theater Festival

Dorothy Dandridge reached the dizzying zenith of her film career in 1954 when she earned an Academy Award nomination starring in "Carmen Jones." She was young, achingly lovely, and gifted with an extraordinary singing voice. Yet in the waning days of Jim Crow, opportunities to sustain her Hollywood career were pitifully few. She passed up the featured supporting role in The King and I, a big mistake. Two more starring roles in the next 11 years, a sputtering cabaret career, and a failed marriage followed.

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