Broadway, a blog, a brother and a birthday

Today is Steve on Broadway's birthday!

Many of you reading this know Steve and even some of you who've never had the pleasure have heard me kvell over him and what a wonderful friend he's been to me.

There's no doubt that Steve's passion for theatre has had an impact on my life, ever since he answered an e-mail I sent him, in 2006, when I was planning my first trip to Broadway to see Kevin Spacey in "A Moon for the Misbegotten."

In the five years before we met, the total number of plays and musicals I'd seen: 1. In the five years since: nearly 150. Before bloggers brunches, before Twitter, he was someone with whom I could share my newfound enthusiasm. And without his encouragement, I wouldn't have started a blog of my own. (The name Gratuitous Violins was his inspiration.)

I'm pretty sure that when Steve answered my first e-mail, saying "I'm delighted you found me," he never expected to get caught up in all of my drama. But he is a good and generous person and a loyal friend, with an amazing capacity to welcome new people into his life.

And having Steve for a friend means you never know when there'll be a surprise just around the corner. Two years ago, he threw me the best birthday party I've ever had. He took a day that I'd been dreading and suddenly made it all seem worthwhile.

Really, there's only one word to describe Steve - he's a mensch. I feel so blessed to have him in my life and I'm so proud to be his adopted Jewish sister. As he marks a milestone today, I just want to say: Happy birthday, Steve! Love you lots!

Kevin Spacey, now a Commander of the British Empire

Congratulations to Kevin Spacey, artistic director of London's Old Vic Theatre, who was presented an honorary Commander of the British Empire today by Prince Charles for his services to drama.

"He (The Prince) was just extraordinarily generous about the work we've done at the Old Vic over these past seven seasons that I've dedicated myself to the revival of this brilliant, wonderful theatre and for all the belief that I have that arts and culture are a hugely important part of our lives."

Kevin's had his share of criticism in the beginning of his tenure and not all of the plays he's chosen have been successful. But things have begun to turn around. The theatre has won praise for its education and outreach programs and for fostering new talent.

I have to admire him for taking on the financial challenge of running a commercial theatre, opening it up to young, diverse audiences and for taking risks with productions like the revival of The Norman Conquests.

He told Britain's The Stage in 2006, "I’m here trying to build something that is bigger than me and I want to have last long, long, long after I’m gone.”

Of course I have a personal connection, too. I will be forever grateful to Kevin for a gracious note he sent me in response to a fan letter I wrote. The chance to see him on stage in A Moon for the Misbegotten was the impetus behind my first trip to Broadway.

Hopefully I'll get to see him again when he returns to New York in 2012, to play the title role in Richard III at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He's one of the few actors for whom I would gladly lift my Shakespeare moratorium.

Giving Mamet another chance

After a month off, my fall theatergoing starts this weekend. I'm heading back to the profane, cynical world of playwright David Mamet for Glengarry Glen Ross at the Gamm Theatre.

I've said before that I think Mamet has become less interested in writing a compelling narrative than in bludgeoning the audience with his views on politics or culture or the society in which we live.

My previous two Mamet outings, Speed-the-Plow and Race on Broadway, were disappointing for that reason. Neither his characters nor the situations they were in seemed wholly believable.

(Although I did love Raul Esparza's take on a desperate Hollywood producer in Speed-the-Plow.)

But I have hopes that the third time will be the charm, because I enjoyed the 1992 movie version of Glengarry Glen Ross.

It has a terrific cast including Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, Jonathan Pryce, Ed Harris, Al Pacino and of course, Kevin Spacey, delivering the line: Will you go to lunch? (With you Kevin, anytime!)



The Pulitzer-winning Glengarry Glen Ross was first produced on Broadway in 1984. I think that was a time, before Speed-the-Plow and Race, when Mamet was still interested in telling a story. His small-time Chicago real estate agents, willing to do anything to make a sale, seemed real.

Bottom line - I don't mind a playwright's view of the world onstage but diatribes bore me. You've got to tell me a story. That's why I'm sitting in the theatre. So one more chance for you, David Mamet.

The Tonys and marketing Broadway

Just about everyone else has weighed in on Hunter Foster's Facebook group "Give the Tonys Back to Broadway," so here's my 2 cents.

Like the other major awards shows, there are two sides to the Tony Awards. They're supposed to celebrate the best in terms of artistic achievement and act as a marketing tool.

The producers of the Emmys, Oscars and Grammys have it easy. You watch the ceremony and you want to see the TV show or movie or listen to the song, it's cheap and simple.

The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing have more of a challenge.

A theatre fan watching far from Broadway faces the prospect of shelling out $1,000 for a weekend in New York City. And with tourists buying 63 percent of the tickets, that's the audience the show has to reach.

(I wonder why more isn't done to promote the Tonys at theatres that present Broadway tours? And don't think about moving the broadcast from CBS to PBS. I bet some stations either won't carry it or would air it at 3 a.m. a week later.)

Before I became a regular theatergoer, one of the few times I remember watching the Tony Awards was in 2005.

I don't know what made me tune in but it may have had something to do with Spamalot being a Best Musical nominee. I'd been a big Monty Python fan as a teenager.

I watched the cast of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and they were hilarious. I remember Victoria Clark winning for Best Actress in a Musical for The Light in the Piazza and Norbert Leo Butz winning Best Actor for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Sad to say, neither name meant anything to me and nothing compelled me to start looking into tickets and hotel reservations.

That came a couple years later, when I found out Kevin Spacey, one of my favorite actors, was going to be in A Moon for the Misbegotten. I wanted to see him on Broadway more than anything. And I did - twice.

So, I could have done with less Green Day and Glee and more Marian Seldes and Kate Baldwin on the Tony broadcast. I wish more of the awards could be televised, more of my favorite theatre actors serve as presenters and a better job be done showcasing plays.

All I know is, since 2007 I've attended dozens of shows on Broadway, off Broadway and elsewhere. I'm the go-to person for friends who need some advice about visiting New York City and seeing a show. Now, some of my favorite actors are people you've never heard of unless you follow theatre.

Without the draw of Kevin Spacey, a movie star, none of that would have happened.

Believe me, the prospect of seeing a favorite actor onstage is thrilling. Sure, they have to do their part by being up to the job. But when it works, the experience can turn a very casual theatergoer into a passionate fan.

When Joe Papp fired Kevin Spacey

Yesterday I picked up a copy of Free for All, by Kenneth Turan, an oral history of Joseph Papp and New York's Public Theater. I've just started thumbing through it but so far, it looks pretty interesting.

I first heard Papp's name when I was a teenager. I remember watching a play from the New York Shakespeare Festival on TV and being enthralled by it. I'm fairly certain it was this production of Much Ado About Nothing that aired on CBS in 1972.

Last fall, I made my first visit to the Public, for Stephen Sondeim's Road Show. I'll admit that Sondheim wasn't the only draw. I also wanted to see the place where landmark musicals like Hair and A Chorus Line were nurtured.

And yes, there was one other important reason - Kevin Spacey worked there briefly, after dropping out of Juilliard. (There's a Kevin Spacey connection to everything!)

I don't think this story is in the book but I've heard Kevin tell it many times in interviews and it's a nice one.

Here's an account that appeared in the Oct. 24, 1999 issue of Parade magazine:

"I had no prospects, no agent, no money, nothing. Then I got an audition for the New York Shakespeare Festival in the Park by basically browbeating the casting office. I played a messenger with, like, six lines in Henry IV, Part One. It was my first job in New York as a professional actor, and it was pretty exciting, but after that I just couldn't get any acting work.

"I was working as a hat-check guy in a restaurant when I decided to see Joe Papp for a job." [Papp was the influential founder and director of the New York Shakespeare Festival. He gave Spacey a job as office help.]

"While working there, I got cast as the lead in an off-off Broadway play, The Robbers, and got my first New York review - in the Village Voice. It was extremely complimentary, because they compared me to both Marlon Brando and Karl Malden in the same sentence, so for weeks my friends called me 'Marlon Malden.'

"Joe Papp showed up at the play one night and fired me the next day. I was stunned, because it was paying my rent. Joe said, ‘I saw an actor last night onstage, and you've become too comfortable here.’ He did me the greatest favor in the world by literally shoving me out the door.

"Four months later, Joe was in the opening-night audience of my first Broadway play."

The play that changed my life

I've already ordered The Play that Changed My Life, a book compiled by the American Theatre Wing in which 19 playwrights talk about the works that influenced them and their careers.

If you'd like a chance at winning a copy, and a package of other theatre-related titles from Applause Publishing, the Wing is sponsoring an essay contest.

Just write, in 350 words or less, about the show that had the greatest impact on you, when you saw it in the course of your life and most importantly, why it meant so much to you.

I'm guessing most of the people who enter will write about shows they saw when they were young children or in their teens or twenties. I didn't become a regular theatergoer until I was - let's just say older. But as my story proves, it's never too late to start.

Of course, anyone who's read this blog for any length of time knows about the play that changed my life: seeing A Moon for the Misbegotten on Broadway with Kevin Spacey in April 2007.

Before that, I'd gone to the theatre a handful of times over the years but it was never a habit. I didn't grow up with theatre-loving parents. My friends weren't theatergoers. And it never occurred to me that I could go alone. Plus, I thought I'd have to get all dressed up.

I'd only been to New York City a few times, never longer than overnight and always for a specific event. And I'd never been to a show on Broadway. But the draw of Kevin Spacey was impossible to resist. The problem was, where to begin? I didn't even know how to get tickets. (Yes, I was that clueless!)

Enter Steve on Broadway.

I found his blog and e-mailed him asking for help. Along with great advice, Steve gave me his friendship, the first of many wonderful theatergoing friends I've made.

He was so excited about my first trip to Broadway that my nervousness, and any thoughts I might have harbored about backing out, evaporated. What began as a pipe dream became something I could see myself doing.

And as I pored through the archives of Steve's blog, peppering him with questions about all the shows he'd seen - and it seemed like he'd seen everything, his passion for the theatre was irresistible, too.

My Broadway adventure began on April 12, 2007.

When I walked into the Brooks Atkinson Theatre and saw the set for A Moon for the Misbegotten, the same one I'd seen pictures of from the London production at the Old Vic Theatre, it was thrilling.

The orchestra section was small - more intimate than I thought it would be. I was in Row A, Seat 109 and much closer to the stage than I thought I would be. And noticing how casually my fellow theatergoers were dressed, I realized that I'd packed way too much!

The first person I saw when the play began was Eve Best as Josie Hogan, and she made an entrance I'll never forget - bursting out the front door of this little ramshackle farmhouse with incredible energy and purpose. I was mesmerized.

As for Kevin well, I was a little bit in shock. All I could think was, "It's Kevin Spacey. I can't believe it. I can't believe I'm so close." My jaw dropped in amazement, a smile crossed my face, and I'm not sure it ever completely left for 2 1/2 hours.

It was such a different experience from seeing him in a movie - much more memorable because he was right there in front of me. I saw every wrinkle and line in his face, the little strawberry-colored birthmark on the back of his neck, the way his hair curls around his ears. At one point, I swear he looked right at me.

Afterward, I stood with a small crowd at the stage door, managed to say a few words to Kevin and got his autograph. I told him it was my first time seeing a play on Broadway and that I'd made the trip just for him. He said, "welcome."

You know what, I did feel welcome in New York City. I ended up walking around Times Square for about an hour, reveling in being a part of the huge crowd, snapping pictures of theatre marquees all lit up.

And I was hooked.

Why I could never really hate Hamlet

While I was driving around doing errands today I listened to a very entertaining Downstage Center interview with playwright Paul Rudnick.

He relates, in vivid detail, the story behind his romantic comedy I Hate Hamlet, which ran at the Walter Kerr Theatre for three months in 1991. It's certainly one of the more bizarre stories of a star-crossed Broadway production that I've heard.

And while I've never seen it, you could say that I Hate Hamlet has played a very indirect role in my life.

The play got mixed reviews, including a lukewarm one from Frank Rich in The New York Times, who says that while there are some laughs and some good performances, Rudnick can't quite "recall the screwy comic style" that he's trying to achieve.

But I think the premise sounds pretty funny - a TV actor moves to New York to take on the greatest male theatrical role - Hamlet. The only problem is, he hates Hamlet and summons the ghost of John Barrymore, who once lived in his apartment, for support and guidance.

The actor Andrew Rally was played by Evan Handler, who would later be so sweet and funny as Charlotte's divorce-lawyer husband, Harry Goldenblatt, in Sex and the City. And Scottish actor Nicol Williamson portrayed the ghost of John Barrymore.

Things didn't end well between them. During a swordplay scene, Williamson stabbed Handler in the buttocks. Handler walked off the stage and left the play. He wanted to bring Williamson and the production up on charges. Incredibly, Williamson wasn't fired. It turned out to be Handler's last Broadway role thus far.

Many years later, Rudnick wrote about the history of I Hate Hamlet for The New Yorker, including this very telling section about an introductory lunch with Williamson at a midtown Manhattan restaurant:

"He beguiled everyone with tales of beautiful women, show business, and air travel. He was an incipient tyrant, an Amin or an Evita, caught at an early stage, where charm was of the essence in crafting a grateful, adoring cult. Clearly, here was Barrymore.

"After many hours, as the group departed, Nicol slung a long arm over my shoulders and said, 'Dear fellow, I know you’ve heard tattle, but don’t believe a word. I’m in top, fighting form. And I haven’t touched a drop in over a year.'

"I chose to believe it, despite a quick backward glance at the table, which held a brandy snifter, a wine bottle, and a beer mug, all of which had been recently emptied into Nicol."

Now, you're wondering how this relates to me.

I Hate Hamlet did garner a Tony nomination, for Adam Arkin for Best Featured Actor in a Play. But the award that year went to Kevin Spacey, for Lost in Yonkers.

Who knows, if I Hate Hamlet had been better received, maybe Arkin would have won. Maybe Kevin Spacey wouldn't have gone on to movies and get his two Oscars and make his Bobby Darin biopic Beyond the Sea, which so captured my attention and changed my life for good.

But he did win and as Shakespeare said, all's well that ends well.

Happy anniversary, Playbill!

Congratulations to Playbill, which celebrates its 125th anniversary today.

Yes, of course I have all of mine, from every Broadway show I've attended. And all my tickets, too. Okay, that's only been since 2007, so it's not a remarkable number, but it's a start!

When I see one discarded on the floor of the theatre at the end of a performance, it makes me a little sad. Why wouldn't you want to take your Playbill home?

Some are covered with signatures I got at the stage door. One got a little wet from the rain but most are in pretty good shape, sitting in brown paper shopping bags from Whole Foods. (Yes, I know I need to get binders.)

And I wish shows would keep their color covers longer. I've written before that the black and white cover for the 9 to 5 Playbill looked a little washed out.

I've never attended a Broadway opening night but I do have two opening night Playbills, gifts from the sweetest SOB I know. One is from the first Broadway show I ever attended, A Moon for the Misbegotten, signed by Kevin Spacey and Eve Best, autographed to me personally!

I try not to obsess too much but I have badgered an usher once or twice when I was handed a Playbill that I considered slightly imperfect. I kept asking for new ones at Hairspray until someone finally pointed out that the smudge on the cover was Tracy Turnblad's nose.

Sorry! Maybe I'm a little obsessed.

Happy Birthday Kevin Spacey!

Today is a very special day at Gratuitous Violins headquarters. Fifty years ago on this day, in South Orange, N.J., a baby boy was born named Kevin Matthew Fowler.

Within a few years he moved with his family to Southern California, where he grew up and where a guidance counselor would one day suggest that he direct some of his boundless energy toward the drama club.

On a school trip to the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles to see Juno and the Paycock, he met his idol, Jack Lemmon, who told him that if he wanted to be an actor, he should go to New York to study.

Eventually, he made his way there, spending two years at Juilliard, appearing in Shakespeare in the Park and working at the Public Theater until Joseph Papp saw him in an off-off-Broadway play and recognized his talent. He promptly fired him and told him to go be an actor.

Shortly thereafter, in August 1982, he made his Broadway debut at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in a revival of Ibsen's Ghosts, playing Liv Ullmann's son. And he picked up a new name - Kevin Spacey.

He would go on to win the Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Play for portraying Uncle Louie in Lost in Yonkers and two Oscars, for roles as a small-time con man in The Usual Suspects and a suburban father in the midst of a midlife crisis in American Beauty.

But the Kevin Spacey role that had the biggest impact on me was his portrayal of singer Bobby Darin in the biopic Beyond the Sea. As I've written before, I fell in love with the movie and with Kevin's singing and did something I don't normally do - I sent him a fan letter in care of The Old Vic Theatre, where he's been artistic director since 2004.

And he was gracious enough to send me a reply from London:

I can't tell you how thrilled I was to get that note in November 2005. It truly lifted my spirits at a difficult time.

The more I read about Kevin and his work at The Old Vic, the more of a theatre fan I became. My determination to see him on Broadway in A Moon for the Misbegotten set me on a path I could never have imagined.

Without Kevin Spacey I wouldn't have my trips to Broadway, my blog and most of all, so many new and dear friends in my life to treasure. Kevin, I hope your friends make this day as wonderful and unforgettable as my friends made my birthday in May.

Playbill has a great birthday interview with Kevin, where he talks about his films and stage career. I love this quote: "In my opinion, the best actors in films are the ones who came out of theatre. You cannot go wrong by learning your craft as a theatre artist."

Coincidentally, today also marks the final Broadway performance of The Norman Conquests, winner of the Tony for Best Revival of a Play and a transfer from The Old Vic. I was lucky enough to see the trilogy a week ago and it was an incredible experience.

Here are Kevin and cast member Jessica Hynes talking about the production:

In the Playbill for The Norman Conquests, Kevin writes about The Old Vic's education and outreach efforts designed to bring theatre to a wider audience and nurture young talent. It's an effort he's expanded to New York.

As he notes, "Theatre needs dedicated champions in order to flourish and grow." Well, Kevin Spacey has certainly been a dedicated champion. And for this talented actor, a man whose gesture of kindness meant so much to me, I hope that I can be one, too.

So happy birthday, Kevin - and come back to Broadway soon!

Spacey and Hepburn

Trinity Repertory Company raised more than $300,000 at a gala in Newport Saturday, where Kevin Spacey received the Pell Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts.

Kevin spoke about the vital role the arts play both in the economy and education. Apparently, he also did a hilarious impression of Bill Clinton.

Speaking of impressions, before I became a fan of Kevin's I had no idea he was so skilled at doing them.

Check out his appearance on Inside the Actors Studio, where he does, among others, Jimmy Stewart, Katharine Hepburn, Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, and his mentor, Jack Lemmon. You can find it here. (I'd include it with this post but it seems to start playing automatically.)

Welcome, Kevin Spacey

Breaking news via Twitter: Kevin Spacey has wrapped up work in Toronto on the movie Casino Jack and is on his way to Rhode Island - or maybe he's even here already!

When I met Kevin at the stage door after A Moon for the Misbegotten and told him he'd gotten me to come to my very first Broadway show he replied, "Well, welcome." I'm happy to extend a welcome in return to an actor who is talented, dedicated and so gracious to his fans.

Tomorrow night, the Oscar winner, Tony winner and artistic director of London's Old Vic Theatre will receive the 2009 Pell Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts.

The gala event will be held at Pelican Ledge, in Newport, home of the late Rhode Island Sen. Claiborne Pell, and hosted by his widow, Nuala.

Pell sponsored the landmark legislation that established the National Endowments for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1965, and chaired the Senate Education and Arts subcommittee.

Proceeds from the event benefit Providence's Trinity Repertory Company.

And Trinity Rep's artistic director, Curt Columbus, says Kevin "is a natural choice to receive this award because of his commitment to the live theater, the medium of film, and good works around the globe."

Kevin has been a great champion of the performing arts, especially theatre. He's done so much to encourage young people to get involved, both as participants and audience members, through the Old Vic New Voices program and his production company, Trigger Street.

According to the invitation on Trinity Rep's Web site, dress is casual elegance - a description that fits Mr. Spacey to a T.

Shortsighted move by the Tonys

So I guess President and Mrs. Obama will have to watch online Sunday evening if they want to find out whether Joe Turner's Come and Gone takes home the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.

That's one of the categories shunted from primetime on CBS to the nontelevised segment of the show. It joins an ever-expanding list, including choreography, costume design, set design and best book of a musical.

And for what? So they can make room for performances from touring productions of Legally Blonde and Jersey Boys?!

Frankly, I think it's shameful and shortsighted for Broadway that plays can't be better represented on the telecast.

The Tonys should be about showcasing what's best on Broadway this season - that includes plays and musicals. It's especially sad this year - when so many of the best-reviewed shows are revivals of plays, including several I'll be seeing over the next few days.

Since my first Broadway show was a play, starring Kevin Spacey, I was thrilled to read this quote in Michael Riedel's New York Post column. You tell 'em, Kevin!

Kevin Spacey, the head of the Old Vic, lead producer of The Norman Conquests, which is up for Best Revival, has this to say:

"This is boneheaded, outrageous, infuriating and insulting not just to everyone who has worked so hard on these productions, but to the entire theater community.

"It is another example of the systematic chipping away, for financial gain, of what the Tonys are supposed to be about.

"Plays make up something like 43 or 44 percent of the box office on Broadway -- and they would make up even more if more people heard about them from the Tony Awards."

According to Riedel, CBS honcho Les Moonves wants the show to be more about singing and dancing. If that's true, couldn't the American Theatre Wing at least have made room for the winner of the Best Choreography prize to accept his or her award onstage in primetime?

Who should host the Tonys?

Okay, it probably doesn't matter all that much who hosts the Tony Awards, which air at 8 p.m. June 7 on CBS. I figure if people are interested in the theatre and in Broadway, they'll watch the show. If they're not, they won't, regardless of who's hosting.

But hey, it's Tony season and the Los Angeles Times blog Culture Monster is engaging in a little fun speculation about who should host. I haven't seen many of the nominated performances this year, so I figure I need something to speculate about.

Some of the names on their wish list are clearly meant to be funny: hunky Cheyenne Jackson, hirsute Jack Black. (He did star in Prop. 8 - The Musical!) The fishy Jeremy Piven. Also, Will Ferrell, Nathan Lane, Jane Fonda and Michelle Obama.

And apparently the New York Post's Michael Riedel is pitching Dolly Parton. (He also has a funny column today on actors supposedly campaigning for the Tony. Really? I'm shocked, shocked.

I'd like to see the cute and talented Neil Patrick Harris. Or, someone in the comments suggested Daniel Radcliffe, to make up for his being snubbed in the Best Actor in a Play category for Equus. And what about Kevin Spacey? The Old Vic Theatre, where Kevin is artistic director, originally produced The Norman Conquests. He'd be great.

I guess former Tony and Oscar host Hugh Jackman is probably busy. Too bad. I wonder if anyone has ever hosted more than one major awards show in the same year?

Following Kevin Spacey's every tweet

Kevin Spacey was in Boston and I missed him. Darn it! If only I'd known that he was Twittering, or Tweeting, on Twitter. I could have followed his Twits, or his Tweets. (In a respectful, non-stalkerish way, of course.)

At first I wasn't sure whether it was the real Kevin Spacey or the fake Kevin Spacey, because I know that does happen.

Apparently, some celebrities use ghostwriters for their 140-character messages. There's a great comment from NBA star Shaquille O'Neal, who does his own Twittering. He told The New York Times: "It’s so few characters. If you need a ghostwriter for that, I feel sorry for you.”

I think it really is Kevin, or at least someone who works for him. There are lots of Tweets about the Broadway revival of Alan Ayckbourn's trilogy The Norman Conquests, which began previews this week at Circle in the Square. It's a transfer from The Old Vic Theatre in London, where Kevin is the artistic director.

He also mentions that he saw Two Men of Florence at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston. He really was there. I have proof! I found a photo on the Huntington's blog. Nice to know that he's getting out and seeing some shows.

(That's Kevin, looking dashing in his leather jacket and cap, with the cast, playwright Richard Goodwin and Goodwin's wife, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.)

It was kind of hard to follow the messages at first, because I guess other people - "followers" - can leave comments on your Twitter stream. But eventually I figured out which ones were from Kevin:

"Old Vic production of trilogy NORMAN CONQUESTS starts perf at Circle in Square on 50th in NYC. Wonderful, dir by Matt Warchus. Go. Go. Go!"

"Saw Two Men of Florence by R Goodwin in Boston at Huntington. Great. Go only 3 more perf. Ed Hall directs fabulous."

"Got up on stage last night at The Box sang 'Just a Gigolo' for Philip Green and wife who opened TopShop/NYC. Simon Cowell asked for encore!"

"I can assure everyone who is wondering if this is really me that it is. No ghosts here. Put up photos to prove. Lets just believe. Okay?"

Okay, I believe!

Kevin Spacey on picking the best seats

Apparently, people are always asking artistic director Kevin Spacey for advice on the best seats at The Old Vic Theatre. He doesn't really give an answer but he does look great in this ad for American Airlines.

A new award for Kevin's shelf

This is my week for Trinity Rep news.

Oscar winner, Tony winner, artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre in London and Gratuitous Violins favorite Kevin Spacey will accept the 2009 Pell Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts on June 20 in Newport.

Tickets are $500 and $1,000, so I won't be attending. But since I've already met Kevin and gotten his autograph, I'm not too disappointed. I figure he'll be so busy with the big donors that evening, he won't have much time for small talk anyway.

The event is a major fundraiser for Trinity Rep and artistic director Curt Columbus says Kevin "is a natural choice to receive this award because of his commitment to the live theater, the medium of film, and good works around the globe. He is a great director, actor, artistic director, and humanitarian."

This is definitely a well-deserved honor. Kevin has talked often about his love for the theatre, like in this interview:

“You get to come in every day and experiment and then you get a chance to get up every night and work on a different part of your game. I just happen to love the thrill of that - the high-wire act of it and the ritual of it. I love the ritual of coming into the theatre every night and working with the same people, creating a family, because everyone’s up for it.”

And he'll be in esteemed company. Previous honorees have included Jason Robards, Arthur Miller, Beverly Sills, Stephen Sondheim, Toni Morrison, Robert Redford, Maurice Sendak, Jane Alexander, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Chita Rivera and Olympia Dukakis.

Never Mind - The Musical

Okay, there isn't really a musical called Never Mind although maybe there should be - a compilation of all of those tuners that were announced but never got off the ground. Or if they did, it was with a cast far different from what we imagined.

For example, now I find out that Kevin Spacey isn't going to take part in a London workshop of A Star is Born that I wrote about last week.

The story in Britain's Daily Mail has dueling versions of what happened. A representative says Spacey never was involved. But the director, Jonathan Butterell, insists that he had been engaged to play the part of washed-up actor Norman Maine.

Instead of a reading at the Old Vic Theatre in the spring, there'll be one in New York City, with a different leading man. Warner Bros. is continuing to develop the show for Broadway but the Daily Mail says don't expect anything anytime soon.

This whole episode brings up another point. It's kind of tough to keep track of all of these proposed new musicals - who's in, who's out, what's still on, what's off. At least once a week someone announces that they're working on a musical version of something.

Sometimes we hear back, like a report this week by the New York Post's Michael Riedel about the good buzz emanating from an invitation-only reading of The Addams Family. Other times, there's the announcement and then - nothing. What's going on with Get Shorty and is Hugh Jackman really practicing his magic tricks for Houdini? I'd like to know, please.

A new star is born

I get home from work a few hours ago after a long day and I'm doing my usual check of my favorite theatre-related sites and what do I see - some totally unexpected Kevin Spacey news at Broadway World!

According to Michael Riedel's column in today's New York Post, Kevin will play Norman Maine, a washed-up matinee idol, in a workshop next month in London of A Star Is Born. Riedel says Hugh Jackman passed on the role. If all goes well, the musical could open in the fall at the Old Vic Theatre, where Kevin is artistic director.

In doing a little Internet research, I found that my fellow blogger Chris, at Everything I Know I Learned from Musicals, wrote about the project in May, when Jackman was still attached to it. (Thanks, Chris. I can always count on you!) And luckily, Hugh is still attached to the Houdini musical.

I'm not that familiar with A Star is Born. I don't think I've ever seen the 1954 version, with Judy Garland and James Mason. I'm pretty sure I saw the 1976 remake, with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, a long time ago.

I guess this role wouldn't involve any singing, which is disappointing. I first became a fan of Kevin's after seeing him in the Bobby Darin biopic Beyond the Sea. And in my pre-iPod days, I pretty much wore out a tape I made of the soundtrack. (Yeah, I only have a tape player in my car.)

Still, I can see Kevin in this part. And the best thing about A Star is Born: the young singer his character launches to stardom is named Esther! Hmmm, maybe it's time to get my passport renewed.

The great magical quotient

I bought myself a shiny, silvery 120GB iPod Classic to replace the 20GB model whose hard drive expired. It wasn't easy. I felt like Tom Hanks in The Money Pit. I had to upgrade my operating system so the iPod would run on my PowerBook, and I had to buy a new case to protect the screen.

But it's up and running, with plenty of room for my show tunes and theatre-related podcasts. Now, while I'm waiting for Downstage Center to resume, I can download all of the Working in the Theatre podcasts from the American Theatre Wing and watch them while I walk on the treadmill.

Of course, I have to start with the May 2007 program on leading men, which included Kevin Spacey, who was on Broadway in A Moon for the Misbegotten at the time.

Kevin was the person who first sparked my interest in the theatre. I became a fan around the time he became artistic director of London's Old Vic Theatre, and he was so passionate whenever he talked about being on the stage.

Here's some of what he had to say:

"People come into a theatre and it's the most artificial surrounding you can imagine. There's big curtains, there's exit signs, there's chairs, there's programs. And yet somehow, if the elements have come together right, 20 minutes into a play that entire group of a thousand people or less go to a world that you're asking them to go to and they believe in that world.

And that collective experience, where a thousand strangers come into a building and believe, is what to me is the great magical quotient of when great theatre, great performances, happen. It's almost like a breath. We feel the audience."

Gifts for theatre lovers

Okay, Jan at Broadway & Me is my inspiration for this. She wrote about 12 terrific gifts - one for each day of Christmas - that you can get for the theatre lover on your shopping list. So I tried to come up with my own list of 8 presents, one for each night of Chanukah, which begins Dec. 21. But really, the items on both of our lists would be great to give and receive for any holiday. I took most of the prices from Amazon, just to give you some idea of the cost involved.

1.) Broadway: The American Musical. If I could pick just one gift, it would be this 6-hour documentary tracing the history of musical theatre that aired on PBS in 2004. I watched it before making my first trip to Broadway, and it got me even more excited. I even bought the companion 5-cd box set. Plus, there are hours of extra interviews on the dvds that didn't make it into the documentary. Since it's been out for a few years, I'm assuming most people reading this already have a copy. But there are new musical theatre fans being born every minute and they'll be needing one of their very own. Cost: dvd, 59.99; cd box set, $53.99.

2.) A Raisin in the Sun. 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the original Broadway production of Lorraine Hansberry's play about the struggles and aspirations of an African-American family. A copy of the play would make a nice gift, along with a dvd of the recent Broadway revival starring Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad and Audra MacDonald that was filmed for television. Several theatre companies (and probably more) are putting on A Raisin in the Sun during its anniversary year. So if you live near one of them, consider buying a pair of tickets for that special someone. Cost: book, $6.95; dvd, $15.49.

3.) Carols for a Cure, Vol. 10. Whenever I'm at a show and there's an appeal for donations to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, I always drop some money in the fundraising bucket. While I've never bought anything at their online store, this year is different. I have my eye on the 10th anniversary Carols for a Cure CD. Every year, the casts of Broadway and off-Broadway shows record holiday songs, and this year's two-disc set includes classic tracks from past volumes. I can't wait to hear the cast of Hairspray sing "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel!" Cost: $20.

4.) Broadway Nights and The Q Guide to Broadway. These books by Seth Rudetsky are quick, very fun reads. I bought Broadway Nights, his novel, in the spring. It's about the life and loves of a pit musician who gets his big break when he's hired to be the musical director for a new show. So you get a bird's-eye view of how a Broadway musical comes together. I picked up the Q Guide during my trip to New York last month. It's filled with useful information, like the Top 10 Broadway CDs you must have, and the difference between an understudy, a standby and a swing. There's also some (discreet) backstage gossip. Cost: Broadway Nights, $10.85; The Q Guide to Broadway, $11.86.

5.) Long Day's Journey Into Night What makes the short-lived 1986 Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's classic play different from all others? It's got Kevin Spacey as the ne'e-do-well, alcoholic Jamie Tyrone, of course! And Jack Lemmon, Bethel Leslie and Peter Gallagher, too. I love watching Spacey and Lemmon engage in some brutal verbal sparring as father and son. As a bonus, there are two audio interviews - one with Spacey and a second with director Jonathan Miller. Spacey's interview is great - he talks about getting started in the business, how Jack Lemmon became a mentor and the slightly devious method he used to get an audition for Long Day's Journey. Aspiring actors, take note! Cost: $22.99.

6. Home: A memoir of my early years. Julie Andrews' memoir is an an exquisitely written, wonderfully detailed look at her youth in wartime England and her career on stage in London and New York in the late 1950s and early 1960s. My favorite parts are about her experiences on Broadway, where she starred in three shows in quick succession - The Boy Friend, My Fair Lady and Camelot. The book concludes with Andrews heading to Hollywood for the filming of Mary Poppins. I hope she's working on a sequel. Cost: $17.79.

7. 13. Tickets to a Broadway musical about a Jewish teenager who moves from New York City to Indiana and wonders whether the cool kids will come to his bar mitzvah - the perfect Chanukah (or Christmas) gift. I really enjoyed this sweet, funny, exuberant show about not simply going along with the crowd just because its the popular thing to do. It's got a catchy rock 'n' roll score by Jason Robert Brown, and a very energetic and appealing all-teenage cast. While 13 is closing Jan. 4, there's still time to see it over the holidays. You can also get the cast recording and the book based on the musical (which I haven't read yet.) Cost: book, $11.67; cd, $13.99

8. Broadway magnet. I have all my ticket stubs and Playbills, I love the Broadway posters and the souvenir programs and the coffee table books. And there's nothing better than eating your cereal and milk in the morning while gazing up at a refrigerator covered with magnets from your favorite Broadway shows. (Don't ask how many I have. Too many.) The Playbill store has a great selection of magnets and other merchandise for the theatre lover on your holiday shopping list. Cost (magnets): $4 and up