Fame or Famine

People are missing the point.

photo used with permission: FinalPixxx/Newscom
There’s a lot of buzz out there about a recent photo shoot that Julianne Moore did with Annie Liebovitz. The subject was Disney’s The Little Mermaid, and the copper-haired beauty was perched on a rock complete with a large rubber tail. Ms. Liebovitz has been doing a series of portraits like this, with people like Jessica Biels as Pocahontas. “It is about bringing great stories to life,” Leibovitz has been quoted as saying. “Working with great actors – these are stories that they know. It’s embedded in them. And when they …read more

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It always bugs me, as a professional dance instructor, when people walk up to me and say they can’t dance. In my opinion, dance is nothing but intentional movement; the level of intent and the focus determine the skill of the dance. This is why watching an 80 year old Merce Cunningham is more interesting than watching an 18 year old novice dancer – Merce has spent his life learning to move.
What about Mario Lopez?
Oh, that quote? It’s what he said about himself in response to a question about his singing and dancing in the role of Zach in A …read more

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Now, this is an unusual use of a Broadway role: apparently Katie Holmes wants to accept a role on the Great White Way and move to Manhattan – not unusual for an acting couple, but she is claiming it’s the start of a trial separation from her husband Tom Cruise.
It puts an interesting spin on professionalism vs. family and supporting the spouse’s career, don’t you think?
Image details: ”Essence Black Women In Hollywood” Luncheon – Arrivals served by picapp.com

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“I’ve made it a mission of mine to not apologize for these things anymore. I think I’ve been around long enough that I don’t want to hide or suppress my different backgrounds. These are all the different facets of the way I am…“- Idina Menzel
She made her first splash in RENT. She went on to immortalize the character of Elphaba in Wicked. Not content with the lot of a Broadway star, she then took to the screen, and not only in screen versions of the characters she developed – no, …read more

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This post is just for my friend Karl: After a triumphant Broadway run, Jennifer Garner is currently working with Kevin Kline on a TV version of their 10-week smash hit Cyrano de Bergerac.
While sceptics may roll their eyes at the idea of Edmund Rostand’s classic story of swashbuckling hearts being put on the boob tube, there is some hope: the play adaptation was penned by Anthony Burgess, who among other things penned a little thing called A Clockwork Orange.
No word on when it’ll be done, but just the chance to see these people in such classic roles is going to …read more

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Don’t get your hopes up, as I did. It was just a backstage benefit/tribute honoring Disney Studio executive Robert Iger and star Annette Bening. The focus was entirely on them that night at the Geffen Playhouse in Chicago.
Still, there is something very poignant and wonderful about Julie Andrews (who chaired the event) and Dick Van Dyke being in the same theatre. All the moreso when Van Dyke chooses to get up on the stage and reprise Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious with Ashley Brown and Sierra Boggess, stars of the current Disney Broadway shows Mary Poppins and The Little Mermaid.
Apparently he even kept a …read more

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The guy just keeps on bein’ an inspiration.
While people always talk about Dirty Dancing and Ghost, I remember first seeing Patrick Swayze in Red Dawn. Later I saw him in Steel Dawn, and to my teen eyes that kind of tough grace really imprinted deeply (ok, him and Gene Kelly).
Later I learned that he had worked his way through knee problems to continue dancing, and with my own cartilage deterioration I found again that watching his elegant movement kept me feeling like it was possible to continue to pursue my own dance dreams – and I ended up with …read more

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I was very interested to read this account of a fundraiser done by the stars of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice to raise money for crew members affected by the writer’s strike. I never realized how much talent was on the casts of both shows, and it made me a little sad:

Sara Ramirez, (Dr. Callie Torres), won the 2005 Tony for her role as ‘The Lady of the Lake’ in Monty Python’s “Spamalot.”
T.R. Knight (George O’Malley) started in musical theatre did a song from Stephen Sondheim’s Follies
Chandra Wilson, (Dr. Miranda Bailey) a former Broadway star, sang “God Bless the Child.”
Loretta …read more

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In looking over my various Google Alerts, I was pleased to see yet another celebrity apparently heading to Broadway: Sarah Jessica Parker, of Sex & the City fame, was slated to appear in the U.S. version of Boeing Boeing, a comedy about three airline attendants who get engaged to the same man.
Currently playing in London, it’s supposed to open in the Longacre Theatre in NYC. Parker has been quoted as saying, “…this will be a fantastic new challenge.” But it may be more of a challenge than she thinks: according to ContactMusic, representatives from the show have vehemently denied her …read more

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Actually, they are five people, stars that you’ve seen on stage and screen but who are coming instead to Broadway to show that they’re not just pretty faces in edited footage – they have the chops to get on a stage and command your attention.

Stephen Rea in Sam Shepard’s “Kicking a Dead Horse,” a one-man, one-act, one-horse play opening at the Public Theatre on July 14.
John Turturro, who you may have seen most recently in “the Bronx is Burning“, will be tackling a Beckett play, “Endgame”, April 25th. While he’s known for a lot of roles and directing triumphs, my …read more

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