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December 20, 2005

SHOWSTOPPING HOLIDAY GIFT SUGGESTIONS

There's never been a holiday season with so much Broadway-related product in the market place. You'll have no problem finding a theater or arts gift for that special someone - or yourself! The list is long: books - big ones, small ones - galore, DVDs, CDs, cabaret, an incredible museum exhibition and, of course, tickets for that special someone to a Broadway show.

The holiday event for theater lovers, even with critics pretty evenly divided between pro and con, will be the move to Off Broadway of Dog Sees God and In the Continuum, two hot tickets and getting hotter; and then there's the screen adaptation of The Producers, with Susan Stroman making her film directorial debut.

WHAT ARE YOU DREAMING OF?
Songsmith Sammy Cahn once said, "Somebody once said you couldn't have a holiday without Irving Berlin's permission." Mr. B, if he'd written nothing else, could have and did live pretty darn well off the royalties of his played-everywhere "White Christmas." It's a song you just can't get away from this time of year.

Which must have influenced Tony Award winning director Walter Bobbie [Chicago], bookwriters David Ives and Paul Blake and brilliant multiple Tony-nominated choreographer Randy Skinner [42nd Street, State Fair, Ain't Broadway Grand] for now there's a stage White Christmas.


And not just one, not just two but three companies of the stage adaptation of the beloved Bing Crosby/Danny Kaye film White Christmas are in sitdowns this holiday season in Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Produced by Paul Blake, Dan Markley and Sonny Everett of The Producing Office in association with Paramount Pictures, the production includes such Berlin hits as "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep," " Sisters," "How Deep Is the Ocean" and, of course, the title tune.

For more information and casts of the three companies, visit www.whitechristmasthemusical.com.


BROADWAY'S LOST TREASURES NO LONGER LOST

Anyone interested in the archives of great performances from the early Tony Awards produced by Broadway impresario Alexander Cohen [through the 1986 Tonys] will enjoy excerpts from those telecasts presented on Broadway's Lost Treasures, Volumes 1 and 2.

Now comes rare glimpes of Gwen, Chita, Zero, Julie and Jerry in what would be a much-appreciated stocking-stuffer for any devotee of theater: Volume 3, The Best of the Tony Awards [Acorn Productions; $25; 95 minutes] is in stores just in the nick of time. It goes beyond the Cohen years with the payoff being 23 rarely-seen performances, including the companies of Merrick's 42nd Street ["We're In the Money"] and Fosse.

There's also Gwen Verdon performing "Whatever Lola Wants" from Damn Yankees with Ray Walston alongside; Jerry Orbach from Promises, Promises; Zero Mostel performing "Comedy Tonight!" from A Funny ThingÖ; an eight minute tribute to Ethel Merman; a Julie Andrews medley and numbers from How Now Dow Jones, Into the Woods, Kiss Me Kate, Peter Pan, Ragtime and 1980's West Side Story.

Bonus material includes Angela Lansbury performing "Everything's Coming Up Roses" from the 1975 Gypsy revival, Jonathan Pryce from Miss Saigon and Robert Goulet from The Happy Time.


MUSIC FILLS THE AIR:
BETTE , "BETTE" AND THE LEGENDARY JULIE

The Divine Miss M is ushering in the holidays with Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook [Columbia], produced by her former accompanist Barry Manilow [he's done a good deal of the stellar arrangements and also duets with Bette on one of the 10 - yes, 10 - tracks...They didn't exactly overwork themselves, did they?].

Included Lee smashes are "Fever, " "Alright, Okay, You Win," "I'm A Woman," "Is That All There Is" and "The Folks Who Live On the Hill."

Acclaimed impersonator Tommy Femia channels screen legend Bette Davis in Elizabeth Fuller's holiday play with music, A Very Bette Christmas, at Don't Tell Mama [343 West 46th Street], through January 8.

The setting is a 1962 TV holiday special starring the divine Miss D. The fireworks begin when her Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? co-star Joan Crawford drops by and Davis begins slinging icy zingers.

Fuller got to know Davis first-hand in 1985 when the star was her house guest for a month. Wouldn't you have liked to have been a fly on the wall or a cigarette in the ashtray for that? The events of that visit became the basis for Fuller's book and show, Me & Jezebel, which played Off-Broadway, regionally and around the world.

Femia is a five-time MAC Award-winner for Outstanding Impersonation. He received a sixth MAC for Outstanding Musical Comedy Duo for Judy Garland & Liza Minnelli Live!, which co-starred Christine Pedi [of Forbidden Broadway fame] as Liza.

Admission: $20 cover and two-drink minimum. For reservations, call (212) 757-0788.

You just can't keep her down. The aptly-named "Queen of Cabaret," Julie Wilson, acclaimed as one of the greatest cabaret performers of all time, is putting her glorious smoky baritone to good use singing stage musical standards at Helen's, 169 Eighth Avenue [between 18th and 19th Streets] through December 21st.

Wilson began her career in saloons and famed nightclubs; among them, New York's famed Copacaban and Hollywood's legendary Mocambo. Onstage, she's starred in such musicals as Legs Diamond, Panama Hattie, Kiss Me, Kate, South Pacific, Bells Are Ringing, The Pajama Game, Kismet, Show Boat, Jimmy, Silk Stockings, Follies, Company and A Little Night Music.

Admission: $25 cover and $15 food/drink minimum. For reservations, call (212) 206-0609.



LITERARY STOCKING STUFFERS

If Broadway's triumphant musical hits are exhilarating, the backstage tales of Broadway failures are more in the vein of tantalizing. In Second Act Trouble: Behind the Scenes at Broadway's Big Musical Bombs [Applause Books; $28 oversized soft cover; 378 pages; Index; 100 color and B&W photos and illustrations], Steven Suskin [Show Tunes, among numerous other books] takes you into the closed door santums of rehearsals, out-of-town tryouts, the late-night production meetings and, after the openings, the recriminatory gripe fests.

Suskin has compiled and annotated long-forgotten, first-person accounts of 25 Broadway musicals that stubbornly went awry. Among the contributors are Patricia Bosworth, Mel Gussow, Lehman Engel [one of the most innovative and respected music directors and producers], William Gibson and John Gruen.

It seems, you can't have a blockbuster failure without Broadway's biggest talents. Caught in the stranglehold of tryout turmoil are Richard Rodgers, Jule Styne, Jerry Herman, Cy Coleman, Charles Strouse, John Kander, Mel Brooks, and even Edward Albee.

Some of the affected stars: Liza, Bernadette, Debbie, even Julie and Mary Tyler. The troubled shows featured include Mack and Mabel; Breakfast at Tiffany's; The Act; Dude; Golden Boy; Hellzapoppin'; Nick and Nora; Seesaw; Kelly; and How Now, Dow Jones.

JOHN SIMON ON THEATER: Also noteworthy from Applause: John Simon On Theatre: Criticism 1974-2003 [$33; 840 pages], with provocative reviews and critical insights from America's most controversial and you-love-him/you-love-him-not critic.

This joins two other volumes: John Simon On Film: Criticism 1982-2001 and John Simon On Music: Criticism 1979-2005.

U.K. HIRSCHFELD:
Highly recommended for all the obvious reasons is Hirschfeld's Brtitish Aisles [$40; 220 pages; oversized soft high quality art] featuring such fabled luminaries of the West End as Olivier, Gieldud, Coward, Richardson and Guiness with running commentary by Julie Andrews, Cameron Mackintosh, Michael Blakemore, Tony Walton, Lynn Redgrave, Peter Shaffer, Julie Christie, Mel Gussow, Sheridan Morley and, among many others, Al Hirschfeld himself.

THE BROADWAY SEASON:

Avid theater fans will want Playbill's entry into the yearbook franchise, The Playbill Broadway Yearbook: June 1, 2004-May 31, 2005 [$30, hard; 400 pages; detailed Index; thousands of photos] by Robert Viagas, which takes you onstage and behind-the-scenes in the form of a high school or college yearbook, packed with exhaustive photos and memorabilia - including Playbill covers and title pages - from the entire season. Bonus: the inaugural edition includes chapters on every show running during the season, not just the new shows.

MOVIE STAR TALES:


For a screen idol who kept thinking he was falling head over heels in love with beautiful women, Tab Hunter sure slept with a lot of men along the way; and he doesn't mind telling you who they are in his almost-tell-all Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making Of A Movie Star [Algonquin Books; $25; 378 pages; Index; photo], told with Eddie Muller. He's pretty honest and forthcoming to a point and is certainly critical of his shortcomings. In fact, it turns out he was a better actor in his personal life than he was onscreen.

What's fascinating is how everything goes wrong, scandal-wise when he gets his wish and is released from his Warner Bros. contract. The studio publicity machine couldn't protect him any longer. Lessons he definitely learned are: Carefully Select Your Neighbors and Be Especially Nice To Them.

..............................................Tab Hunter onstage with Tallulah Bankhead in Milk Train>

A fact that's not too well known is that theater saved Hunter from fading faster than a shooting star and total destitution. For years he starred in any regional or stock house that would have him - becoming, according to some press of that time, a decent stage actor.

That experience [even if it didn't prepare him in the ways of a stage diva] came in handy when he made his Broadway debut as Christopher, the gigolo, in 1964 opposite Tallulah Bankhead in Tennessee Williams' reworked The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, which also starred Ruth Ford and Marian Seldes. It was directed by Tony Richardson, who, shall we say, found he got more than he bargained for.

Hunter writes that TW's take on his character was that "he was the Angel of Death," serving God by helping souls make their crossing. He notes that it was a part he could relate to, "having spent my whole life hiding my own sense of reality."

His take on TW being wrapped in a world all his own, Tallu's excesses and absolute refusal to give anything resembling a performance and Ford's blatant upstaging and the cat fights between the gals are alone worth the read.

Though she'd spent time in Hollywood, perhaps, Ms. Seldes didn't spend a lot of time at movies starring teen idols. When Hunter came aboard the project, she didn't have a clue as "to how famous he was." He did know who she was and found great comfort in her presence, calling her "one of the finest, most generous actresses I've ever worked with...Marian's patience was endless, even touching, considering how difficult Tallulah could be."

Hunter says that she was valiant in trying "to hold us all together, while Tallulah's insecurities [not to mention her boozing] threatened to blow us all apart."

His description of Ms. Seldes running lines with Bankhead as she sat on the "throne" in the Ladies Room and how, finally having it up to "here" with Bankhead's incessant jabbering, he screamed, 'Why the f%#& don't you shut up?' are hilarious recollections not often found in other parts of the book.

Hunter was mobbed at the stage door, which didn't go over too well with Tallu. Sadly, the revival ran four performances. Even sadder, it marked the end of what was once an illustrious career. No one wanted to work with her after that fiasco. [She died four years later at age 68.]

At the end of King Kong, impresario Carl Denham is famed for saying it was beauty that killed the beast. In Hunter's case, his stunning good looks led to lots of doors opening, free rides and temptation, but, in the end, may have been his downfall. After his initial fame he seemed always to get caught up in catch 22s.


HE'S BACK FROM CENTURIES AND CENTURIES AGO


If the cold's got you and you're heading South, stop in Ft. Lauderdale where the Museum of Art has been selected as the only museum in the Southeast to host Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs. It's just opened there, marvelously mounted on two floors, following a five-month L.A. stay [and will be on display through April].

This is the first time since The Treasures of Tutankhamun, the popular exhibition that toured here, with a major stop at the Met [from 1976 to 1979] that the fabled items associated with the burial chamber of Egypt's boy king and many of those associated with him have traveled here. This exhibition is even larger than before with more information on his death [thanks to 21st Century technology]; however, the solid gold funeral mask and several expected pieces are not included in the loan.

Entry is booked for specific times, but crowds are large, so arrive early. The Museum of Art/Fort Lauderdale is located at One East Las Olas Boulevard. For available dates, entry times, ticketing, audio tours and general information, call (954) 525-5500, or visit http://www.moafl.org/.
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Posted by Ellis Nassour at 11:00 PM |

December 19, 2005

JOHN CULLUM: VETERAN STAR OF MUSICALS IN NON-MUSICAL ROLE IN THE OTHER SIDE

There may have been some problems along the way to opening [see below], but director Blanka Zizka had the good fortune to have two exemplary and award-winning pros, John Cullum and Rosemary Harris, to lead the three-person cast of Manhattan Theatre Club, Stage I's The Other Side - by Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman, best know for 1992's raw and divisive Death and the Maiden.

Set against a backdrop of two waring countries who find the wherewithal to declare peace, Column and Harris play government bureaucrats in what appears to be the epicenter of bombing raids whose task is to account for war dead. They have another mission, as they are still searching for their son, who ran away 20 years earlier.


John Cullum in The Other Side and, on the other side, Rosemary Harris>

Their characters, Atam and Levana, couldn't be more different. He's crusty and a bit-illtempered [and, as in real life, doesn't cotton to a lot of nonsense]; matched point by point in the opposite direction by her sweetness and charm.
Dorfman plays the Kafka card when peace finally comes in the form of a military guard [Gene Farber], who exacts a price on the couple when he divides their home [which leads to some humorous moments] and decides they will be repatriated separately to their respective countries. Mother soon comes to think of the Guard as her long-lost son and the only skirmishes aren't on the battlefield.

As an actor, famous for his roles in Broadway musicals, not to mention acting and directing on the big and small screen, Cullum has had a varied career and the unique ability to move smoothly from one medium to the other. At a time when actors his age might be resting on their laurels - and Tony Award nominations and wins, he's Off Broadway working in a non-profit because he likes keeping on his toes.
.............................. ...... ............... ...........
Since Cullum has been on both sides of the footlights, it's natural to ask if it's difficult to be directed when you've directed? "Not at all," he states. "In fact, it makes me more empathic with them. I have more sympathy because I understand what they're going through. I don't think of myself as a good director because I want actors to be exactly what I want them to be."

John Cullum, after graduation from the University of Tennessee, became a standout tennis player, winning the 1951 Southeastern Conference doubles championship with Bill Davis. As a young actor, performing in his home town, he met dancer/choreographer, now writer, Emily Frankel "and that was the end of that or, rather, the beginning." They married and have a son, actor JD Cullum.

His stage debut was in 1960 as Sir Dinadan [and understudy to Arthur and Mordred] in Camelot, starring Richard Burton and Julie Andrews. Other highlights: the 1964 Burton Hamlet, playing Laertes, directed by John Gielgud; his Tony nomination for his portrayal of psychiatrist Mark Bruckner in Lerner and Lane's On A Clear Day You Can See Forever [1965] opposite Barbara Harris; replacing Richard Kiley [1967, for over a year] in Man of La Mancha; as a replacement in the Edward Rutledge role in 1969's Tony-winning 1776, a part he recreated onscreen.

He received a Best Actor/Musical Tony and Drama Desk Award as Civil War farmer Charlie Anderson in Shenandoah [1975]; and a Best Actor/Musical Tony for Coleman/Green and Comden's On the Twentieth Century [1978], in which he played egomaniacal Broadway impresario Oscar Jaffee opposite Madeline Kahn and Imogene Coca, featuring Kevin Kline and directed by Hal Prince.

Cullum was handpicked by Burton to star opposite him and Elizabeth Taylor in 1983's Private Lives revival. His expertise at tennis came in handy for the eight-month run of the 1985 comedy, Doubles.

In 1986, he starred with the formidable George C. Scott in the two-hander The Boys In Autumn. Later, he appeared as Captain Andy in Prince's Show Boat revival; and received a 2002 Tony-nomination for his portrayal of Urinetown's mayor. He was most recently seen Off Broadway as the controversial Bernard Cardinal Law, formerly of the Boston Archdiocese, in Sin.

John Cullum in 1964's Burton Hamlet with Hume Cronyn; On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (1966); with Clear Day co-star Barbara Harris; after joining 1776 (1969), to play Edward Rutledge, opposite Howard DeSilva's Ben Franklin

He's had his share of talented, famous and temperamental co-stars - female and male. But Cullum, known as an all-around good-guy, is, as one colleague described him, "the calm in rough seas."

There have been trying times, and The Other Side had more than it's share. It was the gunfight at the O.K. Corral as director Zizka [she's co-artistic director of Philadelphia's acclaimed Wilma Theater] and playwright squabbled over drastic cuts to the script. The opening was delayed a week, until last Tuesday, as approximately an hour was trimmed, which cut the running time in half.

Cullum has seen "more than my share" of backstage intrigue and backstabbing. Three of the most famous incidents involved Harris in Clear Day, Kahn in Twentieth Century and, most recently, Mary Tyler Moore in MTC's Rose's Dilemma.

You try your damndest to stay away from such conflicts but, he says, "sometimes you get drawn in whether you want to or not. You can't win. Barbara and Madeline were very unusual, but very multi-talented ladies. I loved them both." That's not to say that they weren't difficult? "Sometimes," he replies softly. "Barbara was difficult in the sense that she was moody. I don't know if that was based on arrogance or lack of confidence. She had a background totally different than most Broadway people, so stage discipline was missing.

"She was very improvisational," he continues. "I never knew what she was going to do from performance to performance. That said, if you walked on a stage with Barbara Harris, you were lucky if anyone even noticed you were there. She had this incredible radiance and was magic onstage."

In rehearsals, Cullum got the distinct impression that Harris wasn't that fond of him. "She was very cool, but she was very reserved in general and nervous. At first, I didn't give it a lot of thought. But, eventually, we got along. And, oh, could she be charming!"

He was also miserable, he explains, because director Robert Lewis and composer Alan Jay Lerner "squashed me into a role that I really didn't get to contribute very much to. They had me speak in a Viennese accent, bouffed up my hair and put me into these really chic outfits to make me look like a six-foot Alan Jay Lerner. So I was uncomfortable in that role for a long time. If they'd turned me loose a little, I could have done a lot better."

Kahn, explains Cullum, was eccentric. "She was tiny in stature but had the sort of presence that could take over a stage" On why she left Twentieth Century almost as soon as it opened: "That could have been avoided. The show didn't work out of town and there were a bunch of nervous people. Things didn't started to gel until four days before we opened. Barbara was having problems with the keys Cy [Coleman] wanted her to sing in and he wouldn't listen to her. Often, when things don't work, everyone but the person who should be blamed gets blamed."

Among the many "so-called crisises" theater folk have tried to embroil him was in MTC's production of Neil Simon's Rose's Dilemma. Simon reportedly personally and publicly came down on Moore and, indignant of the way he spoke to her, she bolted.

"Everything was all confused and terrible," reports Cullum, "and they tried to turn me against Mary, when it had nothing to do with her. What happened was unfortunate and never should have occurred. When this happens, I get upset with producers, directors and playwrights."


Cullum has also worked with his share of scene-stealers, but none better than Imogene Coca in Twentieth Century. "She had the most incredible comic instincts," he says, "and energy to burn. You just didn't get in her way!"

He explains that Tammy Grimes wasn't so easy to work with - at first. "She was difficult and headstrong. When we did Clear Day in California, she was looking for every way she could do it differently than Barbara. Unfortunately, she took out her frustrations on me a lot of times. But we got that straightened out! I tend to do that. I'm not a ëprima donna.' I think I'm pretty reasonable in the professionalism I expect from others."

Offstage, Cullum made his film debut in 1963's All the Way Home, based on Tad Mosel's play. There have been numerous TV and theatrical films, two daytime soaps and three TV series. But the small screen standout and what made Cullum's a household name to the masses was his five-year stint in CBS' Northern Exposure as barkeep Holling [1993 Emmy Nomination - Best Supporting Actor in a Drama]. He later appeared for a season on NBC's E.R.

The step from Broadway to TV stardom was something that happened so casually it took Cullum unawares. "For some reason," he recalls, "I got called in to do a tape audition - maybe it was because of Shenandoah. I was brought out to L.A. to audition with some big guns, one of whom was a western star. They seemed to be looking for a burly, athletic guy. I did my thing, going for the wry humor in the script, and didn't think much about it.

"A couple of days later," he goes on to say, "the phone rang and my agent said they wanted him to do it. "And," laughs Cullum, "they had no idea who I was. They never knew I'd done anything on Broadway. Around the third episode, there was a bit where the radio station played songs from Broadway. One album they selected was On A Clear DayÖ I realized that if they played the title song, they'd be hearing me. Who I was came as quite a revelation."

Cullum wasn't too stunned when the show became a hit, "because the characters were fun and the show had a very fresh approach. It was not easy going. We worked long hours, six days a week, which was rough in itself since we weren't on studio soundstages but shooting in a former warehouse in Washington. It developed in an interesting way, because before you knew it, the writers were writing directly off those of us playing the roles."
Working with Taylor and Burton was an experience, he says, "that would take days, weeks, months" to recount. Needless to say, it was one acting job he will never forget.

Cullum is celebrating more than 45 years in New York theater. Ms. Harris has been on New York stages going on 54 years. And, though their paths have crossed many times, The Other Side is their first time to work together.

"It's been worth the wait," he beams. "It's an honor to be sharing the stage with one of the great ladies of theater, who's as beautiful inside as outside."

[Production photos: JOAN MARCUS]
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Posted by Ellis Nassour at 10:00 PM |