Issue #47: July 1, 2000

• Look for a new musical called The Rhythm Club to open in January.

• It looks like Kelsey Grammer’s television talent didn’t transfer to the stage. After only 13 performances at the Music Box Theater, Macbeth has closed with a loss of $1.5 million.

• Composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim is taking another run at Broadway with his 1991 musical Assassins. Following its world premiere on January 28, 1991, at Playwrights Horizons, it closed after a three-week limited run. Although it has seen life on the regional circuit, this is the first whisper of a New York revival. According to some movers in the Broadway world, talks are taking place to bring it back following a reading but no date or theatre has been mentioned.

• Disney producers are sending out a production of Aida on the road even though it is not a box office bonanza. It is to be offered on the 2000/2001 subscription series at a number of venues around the country.

• Mirvish Productions has extended the run of Mamma Mia to December 31, 2000. The West End hit is packing them in at the Royal Alexandra in Toronto.

• The Royal National Theatre is co-producing Cameron Mackintosh’ next musical—the revival of My Fair Lady starring Jonathan Pryce.

• Speaking of Cameron Mackintosh, the buzz is that the flying mechanism for his newest musical, The Witches of Eastwick, was created by a team from the famous Canadian producers of Cirque du Soleil.

• Tony Award-winner Betty Buckley is headlining at the Donmar Warehouse’s Divas at the Donmar for 12 performances only from August 21 to September 9.

• Continuing with Donmar Warehouse—Oscar winner Sam Mendes (American Beauty) is directing the world premiere of Nick Whitby’s play, To The Green Fields Beyond. Previews begin on September 14; opening night is September 25.

• Former ER star Julianna Margulies will be heading for the Broadway stage next year in Ten Unknowns with Jason Robarts. I’ll keep you posted on a theatre and opening date.

• There is an adaptation of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s Twentieth Century currently in the works. Ken Ludwig (Moon Over Buffalo, Lend Me a Tenor) is working with James MacArthur (Dano for those who remember Hawaii Five-O) Charles’ son. If this production is a success look for other MacArthur/Hecht revised productions such as The Front Page, to hit the stage.

• Nancy Marchand, who had generated well-deserved popularity playing Livia Soprano on the television hit The Sopranos, is dead. The actor had more than 50 years as a performer working on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in regional theatre. She once said… “when I’m on the stage I can embrace people and still feel safe…. Acting was something I had to do.”
  
  Her Broadway debut was in 1957 in Miss Isobel. Marchand returned to the stage after taking on what would be her defining role as Mrs. Pynchon, the formidable publisher in the long running television series Lou Grant. In the 1980s and 1990s she was seen in productions including Christopher Durang’s Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing, Ezra Pound’s Elektra and A. R. Gurney’s The Cocktail Hour.