| Issue #32: October 15, 1999
- Although Ted Dykstra is best known as half of 2
Pianos, 4 Hands, his current project takes him to New York
for a six-week workshop. If successful, Dorian, a new
musical based on Oscar Wilde’s story The Picture
of Dorian Gray, will open on the West Coast in the fall
of 2000 with a Broadway opening to follow.
- The Roundabout Theatre is currently previewing the revival
of N. Richard Nash’s 1954 drama The Rainmaker
at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. Taking a break from feature
films is Cheers alum Woody Harrelson in the starring
role. The official opening will be Nov. 11—we’ll
see then if he can make it rain or get washed up.
- Houston’s Theater Under the Stars will be offering the
20th anniversary production of Evita (July 11–23)
and Buddy (August 8–20) as part of its summer season
2000 at Wortham’s Brown Theater.
- The current Best of Broadway series at the Curran Theater
in San Francisco has 60s “downtown” star Petula
Clark in Sunset Boulevard through to Nov. 7,
then Joely Fisher does her Cabaret thing from
Nov. 17 to Dec. 26.
- The West End’s latest hit Mumma Mia! is definitely
headed to Toronto. Producers Ed and David Mirvish announced
on Tuesday, October 12 that the ABBA musical would
land at The Royal Alexandra Theatre in May 2000 as part of their
upcoming subscription season.
- The Americans won big this year at the Vivian Ellis Prize
which is London’s annual new musical festival. Gerard
Kenny and Drey Sheppard’s Beach Radio won
the top honours on Sept. 21 at London’s Palladium. The
panel of five judges also awarded the duo awards for book writer
and lyricist. No immediate plans in place to stage its debut—however
look for the musical to be nurtured at one of the leading English
regional theaters.
- A $5 million production of the new musical Happy Days,
which has toured the UK circuit, will head to Oz to play at
Sydney’s Superdome. No date has been set.
- Stage Kids, an organization that was established in
1986 to create, promote and produce quality educational theatre
productions for young audiences can now be found on the World
Wide Web. Their mandate is to develop an original musical annually,
based on current and topical issues, incorporated into an educational
and entertaining musical theatre production. Now schools and
community theatres can purchase the Musical Theatre Performance
Kits by visiting their website at www.stagekids.com.
|
