TV/ BILLIE MAE RICHARDS DIES AT 88: Billie Mae Richards, a Canadian actress best known for voicing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in the enduring animated 1964 television special of the same name, has died. She was 88. Richards, who had suffered strokes, died last Friday at her home in Burlington, Canada, west of Toronto. Like most of the cast, Richards was a veteran of Canadian radio when the producers traveled north to assemble the voices for the program based on the 1949 song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Her trademark, being able to speak like a young boy, was well-established when she took the part of Rudolph, the misfit reindeer who saves Christmas in the stop-motion animation production. She was credited as "Billy Richards," which further obscured her gender. "Kids won't believe it when my grandchildren tell them that their grandmother is really Rudolph," Richard said in an interview, but she said she could prove it by summoning the voice on the spot. She went on to act in more than 25 film and television projects, including Care Bears movies and animated TV shows. Richards said on National Public Radio in 2004: "What better legacy can you leave than a show that everybody loves?" She is survived by her family.
(SK COMMENT: "Rudolph" is a beloved Xmas classic and one that many of us enjoy watching every year, regardless of age).
TV/ TLC SETS PALIN PREMIERE: TLC has set a November premiere date for "Sarah Palin's Alaska," an unscripted series from the former Alaska governor and "Survivor" producer Mark Burnett. The cable network has announced that "Sarah Palin's Alaska" will launch on Sunday, November 14 in the 9:00pm hour. TLC won the rights to "Sarah Palin's Alaska" after an underwhelming spring bidding war that saw the choice come down to the Discovery family and A&E after the major networks and a variety of cable outlets passed. According to TLC: "Mark Burnett Productions has captured the Palin family, showing off their beloved state. From salmon fishing in Bristol Bay to hiking along one of our country’s most majestic glaciers. And along with Alaska’s great wilderness, the Palins encounter Alaska’s fascinating residents, both human and animal." (SK COMMENT: Rightfully so, TLC has received alot of negative press on its decision to air the series. I myself may tune in to see just how the Palin propaganda machine works).
"Priscilla Queen of the Desert The Musical" will play the Palace Theatre on Broadway starting February 28, 2011, producers announced yesterday. "West Side Story" will exit the famed venue in early January. "Priscilla's" opening night will be March 20. Written by Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott, and directed by Simon Phillips, the musical inspired by the film of the same name will make its pre-Broadway, North American debut this fall when it begins performances at The Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto for a 12-week engagement beginning October 12, officially opening October 26. The show is already popular in London and Australia. Olivier Award nominee Tony Sheldon ("Bernadette"), Tony Award nominee Will Swenson ("Tick"/"Mitzi") and Nick Adams ("Adam"/"Felicia") star as "the trio of friends on a heart-warming, uplifting adventure who hop aboard a battered old bus searching for love and friendship in the middle of the Australian outback and end up finding more than they could ever have dreamed," according to production notes.
A choked-up Stephen Sondheim stood on a dais under the new marquee of Broadway's newly named Stephen Sondheim Theatre last night and thanked those who made the honor of the naming possible. "I cry easy," the 80-year-old Pulitzer Prize winner said, holding back tears. A crowd watched as the Tony Award-winning composer-lyricist flipped a switch that illuminated a white-light sign representing his signature on the marquee of the former Henry Miller's Theatre. "I'm deeply embarrassed, I'm thrilled but deeply embarrassed…partly because I've always hated my last name," Sondheim said at the beginning of his brief remarks. "It just doesn't
sing. It's not 'Belasco' and it's not 'Rodgers' and it's not 'Simon' and it's not 'Wilson.'" The 1st tenant of the Sondheim Theatre is the non-Roundabout attraction, "The Pee-wee Herman Show," beginning performances October 26.
THEATRE/ "WEST SIDE STORY" TO CLOSE IN JANUARY: The Tony Award-nominated revival of "West Side Story," which opened at the Palace Theatre March 19, 2009, will play its final performance January 2, 2011, having played 27 preview and 748 regular performances. Though it recouped its $14 million investment, the production has struggled in recent months at the box office; it filled only about 50% of the seats last week at the Palace, one of the larger houses on Broadway. The production was directed by its librettist, Tony winner Arthur Laurents. A national touring production will launch in Detroit September 30. "West Side Story" has music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Laurents. The staging retains the original choreography of late director Jerome Robbins, who conceived the project by using "Romeo and Juliet" as inspiration. The Bernstein and Sondheim score features such classics of the American musical theatre as "Something's Coming," "Tonight," "America," "I Feel Pretty" and "Somewhere."
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