THEATRE/ MIXED NOTICES FOR LLOYD WEBBER'S "OZ": Andrew Lloyd Webber's new production of "The Wizard of Oz" has opened in London's West End, with Danielle Hope playing the lead role of Dorothy. The 18 year old won the part after being voted the winner of BBC One talent search "Over the Rainbow". Hope is joined on stage at the Palladium by Michael Crawford, making his West End return in the dual role of Professor Marvel and the Wizard. While critics have praised the show's visual aspects, they have expressed reservations about the lead performances. The Daily Mail said that "the story lacks the emotive motor of a love affair" and that the "dramatic buzz" is "not much better than you'd find at a decent pantomime. The most appealing star of Lord Lloyd Webber's latest telly-marketing musical is not veteran hoofer Michael Crawford or even Danielle Hope," he continues."It is Toto the West Highland terrier". The Guardian said the musical, adapted from the classic 1939 movie that was itself based on L Frank Baum's 1900 novel, is "quite an eyeful".Yet he goes on to claim it is "somewhat lacking in humanity" and that he "came out feeling blitzkrieged rather than charmed". Hope, he continues, "shows a natural, easy presence" but "can't hope to compete with the scenery", while Crawford seemed "slightly subdued". The Daily Telegraph said that Hope "offers a thoroughly competent rather than an inspired performance". She "sings Over the Rainbow with feeling" but "lacks the heart-catching vulnerability of the young Judy Garland". The Daily Telegraph also wondered "why Michael Crawford has bothered to come out of semi-retirement". The famous cyclone scene in the 1939 movie is achieved using a combination of live action and film effects and is "truly thrilling" according to one of the reviews.
Roundabout Theatre Company's extended Broadway production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" will be filmed in high-definition for future screenings at cinemas. Directed by and starring Brian Bedford, who plays Lady Bracknell in the Oscar Wilde comedy, the 2010-11 production earned enthusiastic reviews and was extended 17 weeks to July 3 at the American Airlines Theatre. The staging will be filmed live with multiple high-definition cameras during public performances on March 11 and 12, for limited screenings in movie theatres and performing arts centers across the US and internationally on June 2 and varying dates through June 30. The original Broadway cast of this production will participate in "The Importance of Being Earnest: Live in HD," as it will be titled for its cinema showings. According to producers, the show "Is a glorious comedy of mistaken identity, which ridicules codes of propriety and etiquette. Dashing men-about-town John Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff pursue fair ladies Gwendolen Fairfax and Cecily Cardew. Matters are complicated by the imaginary characters invented by both men to cover their on-the-sly activities, not to mention the disapproval of Gwendolen's mother, the formidable Lady Bracknell".
Harry Connick Jr. will star in Michael Mayer’s Broadway-bound reinvention of “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever,” one that puts a gender-bending twist on that classic musical by Burton Lane and Alan Jay Lerner. In the original “Clear Day,” which opened on Broadway in 1965, Barbara Harris played Daisy Gamble, who discovers with the help of the psychiatrist Dr. Mark Bruckner that she was, in a past life, Melinda Wells, a woman who lived in 18th-century Britain. Barbra Streisand and Yves Montand played the characters in a 1970 film adaptation. But in the new production from Mayer, the director of “Spring Awakening” and “American Idiot,” the story now focuses on David Gamble, a florist’s assistant who turns to a psychiatrist to help him quit smoking so he can move in with his boyfriend, Warren. When Dr. Bruckner puts him under hypnosis, he learns that David might have been Melinda Wells, a 1940s jazz singer, with whom the doctor promptly falls in love. Connick will play Dr. Bruckner in the new “Clear Day,” which will open on Broadway this fall.
2 time Tony nominee Christopher Sieber, who had been scheduled to play a brief engagement in the Broadway production of "Chicago," will instead step into the role of Georges in the Tony Award-winning revival of "La Cage aux Folles" at the Longacre Theatre, according to a show spokesperson. A starting date will be announced at a later time. The singing actor succeeds 6 time Emmy Award nominee Jeffrey Tambor ("Arrested Development," "The Larry Sanders Show"), who withdrew from the production February 24 following 12 performances. Producers said Tambor departed for health reasons. Chris Hoch, who regularly plays the role of Francis and understudies the role of Georges, has played Georges opposite Tony winner Harvey Fierstein since the February 25 performance. Sieber has been Tony nominated for roles in "Shrek" and "Spamalot".
Danish pop singer Carsten Andersson has taken his debut single, "Fun," into the Top 10 in Scandanavia. The song is produced by Zebra 1, the London-based team behind the Sugababes. Andersson also performed at last year's Eurovision contest. With the song hitting the top 10, Andersson becomes one of the few porn stars to cross over into the mainstream. In an interview, the 25 year old said: “Without my porn past, I’d be just another boy with a song out. Porn has made people take notice". Carsten Andersson started his porn career using the pseudonym Ashton Sorenson, and most recently worked with Michael Lucas. The single is now being released and promoted in other European countries.
PEOPLE/ SERENA WILLIAMS HAS EMERGENCY SURGERY: Wimbledon champion Serena Williams has undergone emergency surgery following the discovery of a blood clot on her lungs. According to a spokeswoman, Williams underwent emergency treatment for a haematoma she suffered "as a result of treatment for a more critical situation". The spokeswoman explained that Williams was discovered to have been suffering from a pulmonary embolism following her return to Los Angeles. "She had been in New York for doctor appointments for the ongoing issues with her foot Doctors are continuing to monitor her situation closely to avoid additional complications". Williams has not played competitively since winning Wimbledon in July 2010. She has been unable to compete after cutting her foot on glass in a restaurant when celebrating her Wimbledon triumph.
PEOPLE/ GALLIANO APOLOGIZES AND HEADS TO REHAB: British designer John Galliano apologized today for an alleged drunken anti-Semitic rant that got him fired from billion-dollar fashion house Christian Dior this week. "Anti-Semitism and racism have no part in our society,” he said in a statement issued through a British legal firm. “I unreservedly apologize for my behavior in causing any offence". Galliano said he was "subjected to verbal harassment and an unprovoked assault when an individual tried to hit me with a chair having taken violent exception to my look and my clothing" at a Paris cafe last week. "For these reasons I have commenced proceedings for defamation and the threats made against me". Galliano has now left France to enter rehabilitation at an undisclosed treatment center.
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