Issue #240: May 1, 2010

• Now Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) will make his musical theatre debut when he steps on stage the revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying sometime early next year.  He was received with open arms by the Broadway critics when he starred in the 2008 revival of Equus.

• Kelsey Grammer has made a triumphant return to Broadway in the latest revival of La Cage Aux Folles. 

• The touring production of Wicked returns to Toronto’s Canon Theatre on October 20 for a limited run.

• Another recent classic returns to Toronto….Lion King is scheduled to open on April 19, 2011 for a five week run.

We recently lost a number of high profile actors who at one time or another were on the Broadway stage.

• June Havoc, known during her childhood as Baby June, was the daughter of “Mamma Rose” and sister to striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee….the source of the Broadway classic, Gypsy.  Havoc became star material on Broadway when she originated the role of Gladys Bumps in Pal Joey in 1940.  Other notable productions she was in That Ryan Girl (1945), Sadie Thompson (1944) and a revival of Dinner at Eight (1966).  Her final Broadway role was when she took over the role of Miss Hannigan in the original production of Annie.  Havoc died in March at the age of 97.

• Even though his TV roles will be most memorable, the smooth voiced John Forsythe began his career on stage.  During the war he was in Moss Hart’s production Winged Victory.  As a founding member of the Actors Studio he studied his craft, which led to a role in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, which segued him replacing Henry Fonda in Mister Roberts.  Before heading to Hollywood where he would become a household name on shows like Dynasty and Charlie’s Angels, Forsythe appeared in Teahouse of the August Moon, which won the Pulitzer Prize.  Forsythe died at the end of March at the age of 92.

• The name Dixie Carter tends to congers up visions of a Southern belle.  Carter, best known for her television role in Designing Women, which ran from 1980 to 1990, discovered the world of Broadway in the 70s when she made her debut in Sextet and in the 1976 revival of Pal Joey.  In 1997 she replaced Zoe Caldwell in Terence McNally’s brilliant play Master Class.  At the time of her death at 70 in early April her husband, Hal Holbrook, another stage legend, was at her side.

• The name James Mitchell may not ring a bell, except of course if you’re an All My Children fan.  Mitchell played the stately Palmer Cortland.  However in his youth he was a leading dancer who collaborated with the legendary Agnes De Mille.  His partnership with De Mille began when he was cast in the Broadway production of Bloomer Girl along side Celeste Holm.  He was also in the original Broadway productions of Brigadoon and Paint Your Wagon, both choreographed by De Mille.  He also teamed with De Mille for the movie version of Oklahoma! which he danced the ballet sequence.  Mitchell died in January at the age of 89.