Issue #110: June 1, 2003

• Auzzie Hugh Jackman will be hosting this year’s Tony Awards on June 8.  Even though he hasn’t appeared before on the Great White Way, Jackman will be making his Broadway debut in the fall playing entertainer Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz.

• Speaking of the Tonys it looks like John Water’s Hairspray is the front-runner with 13 nominations.  The Twyla Tharp/Billy Joel production of Movin' Out scored 10 nominations and the revival of Nine received eight nominations with Broadway veteran Chita Rivera getting a nod for the best supporting actress along with her co-stars Mary Stuart Masterson and Jane Krakowski.

• It looks as though Barry Manilow is dabbling in the theatre world again.  Along with Bruce Sussman, Manilow has written a new musical, Harmony, which opens on October 21 at Fort Lauderdale’s Parker Playhouse.  Based on the real-life singing group the Comedian Harmonists, there are plans for the musical to head to Broadway in the winter of 2004.

• Former NYPD Blue hunk Jimmy Smits is trying his hand at theatre, starring in Nilo Cruz’s Pulitzer Prize winning Anna in the Tropics scheduled to open the Roger Berlind Theater September 17 at Princeton’s McCarter Theater.   This may be a try-out for a Broadway run.  I’ll keep you posted.

• Playwrights Terrence McNally and Israel Horovitz are teaming up again — 35 years after their first collaboration.  The two have written one-act each which is currently titled Off Season.  The show’s first fully staged production premiere's August 6 at Gloucester Stage in Massachusetts.  No mention yet for a Broadway run, but let's hope.

• As far as the numbers are concerned, Washington, D.C. has surpassed L.A. as the U.S.’ second liveliest theatre town.  The 70 professional theatres in the D.C. area produced 360 productions during the 2002 season.  In L.A.  there were but 350 productions during the same time period.

• First time Tony nominee, director Laurence Boswell (A Day in the Death of Joe Egg) is not taking any downtime.  Currently he is adapting and will be directing Beauty and the Beast (not the Disney musical!) for the Royal Shakespeare Co.'s Christmas show. 

• The editor of “On The Boards” Doreen Fawcett, was recently in the UK and has this to report on Shakespeare's Globe Theatre this season:

Theatregoers may choose among a Men's Company, a Women's Company and The Company of Men and Women to perform plays ranging from Richard II, through Richard III (in which the king is played by Kathryn Hunter) to Dido, Queen of Carthage. This last play by Christopher Marlowe is rarely staged and opens in this unique theatre on June 6.

Ticket purchasers are warned before booking to be aware the theatre was designed in 1599 and is open to the elements which in London can often mean rain. You are asked, however, not to bring umbrellas even though performances continue regardless of weather. The £5 admission to the yard gets you standing below stage level but there are plastic macs available. Originally, these lowly theatregoers were called Groundlings. You can purchase a tee shirt commemorating your visit in the shop.

Check out more at their web page http://www.shakespeares-globe.org