Issue #12: November 25, 1998

• The Aussies are coming–again! First it was Tap Dogs, now creator Dein Perry is bringing his newest working man’s dance extravaganza Steel City to Radio City Music Hall for four performances only January 26—30. The 15 hoofers from downunder will then embark on a 40-city national tour that will include Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Chicago, Toronto and Baltimore.

• Sir Peter Hall’s current Old Vic revival of Amadeus looks to be Broadway bound. The transfer will probably open next fall at one of the Shubert theatres.

• In April look for a 50th anniversary production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman starring Brian Dennehy to open at the O’Neill Theater. Currently at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, this American classic opened to rave reviews in September

• Producer Cameron Mackintosh has mounted the third incarnation of Just So at the Goodspeed-at-Chester/Norma Terris Theater in Connecticut running through December 13. Also down the road for Mackintosh is a new musical based on the movie The Witches of Eastwick.

• A Canadian tour of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living In Paris was announced recently in Toronto. The revival of this much-loved musical by the Belgian singer/composer, Jacques Brel, will star Canadians Michael Burgess, Louise Pitre and Jeff Hyslop. The musical will premiere in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre from March 8—14, then Vancouver at the Vogue Theatre from March 18—28, with its final stop at the Winter Garden in Toronto from April 5—24. For all you Brel lovers there will be more on this exciting tour in future columns.

• Before the revival of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown arrives at the Longacre Theatre in New York on January 23, it will make stops in Wilmington, Del., Detroit and Boston.

• An update on the impending arrival of Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Oliver! to North America–the opening is now set for October 1999 at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. Earlier reports had the classic arriving in March.

• Cate Blanchett, currently wowing film goers in Elizabeth, will star in David Hare’s play Plenty, which will preview at The Albery on April 15 with the official opening on April 27.

• The revival of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods will continue at the Donmar Warehouse until February 13. Sondheim’s clever reworking of many children’s fairytales has made Into The Woods a favorite among musical theatre lovers everywhere.

• It is definitely Brel fever these days. Just on the heels of the announcement of a Canadian tour of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living In Paris, Australian musical theatre star John Waters presents Café Brel. Following his successful tribute to John Lennon a few years ago, Waters is currently packing them in at Sydney’s Seymour Theatre Centre with a salute to the Belgian born singer.