On The Boards and In The Wings 2002

Issue #97: October 15, 2002

I was sad to read that my favourite show – and one that I worked on for two years – will be closing. Producer Cameron Mackintosh has decided to pull the plug on Les Miserables after a 16-year run – 6,612 performances. It holds the record for the second longest running Broadway show, next to Mackintosh’s other property Cats. The final curtain for Les Miz at the Imperial Theater will be on its anniversary, March 15, 2003. Share your favourite memories of Les Miz – visit the OTB Talk Green Room.

If you’re in the New York area on October 21 check out Shall We Dance: A Dance Tribute to Richard Rodgers at City Center. Hosted by Bebe Neuwirth, this annual event, now in its eighth year, benefits the Career Transition for Dancers. This organization prepares professional dancers for new careers when dance is no longer an option. If you’re a lover of dance and a fan of Richard Rogers then it’s a must see.

Another long-running production will be closing up shop in the new year. David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize winning Proof will close on January 5, 2003 after 918 performances. No doubt the piece will have a life beyond Broadway. There are productions currently running and set to be mounted around North America.

And The Sopranos just keep on coming! Joining her hit television series colleagues on the boards is Lorraine Bracco alias Dr. Melfi. Bracco replaces Kathleen Turner in The Graduate on November 17 at the Plymouth Theatre. A favourite babe of the male population, Bracco will be dropping her laundry just like her predecessor, which promises to cause a spike in ticket sales. Other Sopranos alum currently on Broadway are Edie Falco in Frankie And Johnny In The Clair De Lune and Jamie-Lynn Sigler in Beauty And The Beast.

Producer David Brown is looking to produce Charlotte Chandler’s adaptation of her bio of Billy Wilder’s Nobody’s Perfect for Broadway. No opening date or theatre mentioned just yet.

Hartford Stage is the place to be for the world-premiere of Alfred Uhry’s Edgardo Mine opening October 17 and running through to November 17. The play is based on the real-life abduction of a 6-year old Jewish boy, Edgardo Mortara by the Catholic Church in the 1850’s after a family servant secretly baptized the child. Starring Brian Murray who most recently was on Broadway in the revival of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Other works by Uhry include Driving Miss Daisy and The Last Night of Ballyhoo!

Don’t forget to visit the OTB Talk page and share your reviews of recent theatre outings or ask a question or two and we’ll see if we can find the answer.

If you are a fan of the television series Sex In The City you’ll know the character Mr. Big played by Chris Noth. Well before his television career on Law and Order and Sex …, Noth, a graduate of Yale drama School, studied with Sanford Meisner and appeared in over 25 productions including the title role of a production of Hamlet directed by Zoe Caldwell.