Tony winning Best Play “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” must say goodbye to its star. Sigourney Weaver will exit the play next month. But the original end date has been extended until August 25th, so past Tony winner Julie White will step in to play Masha. Weaver has to get ready to make two “Avatar” sequels for James Cameron, and has stayed well beyond the time she ever anticipated. If you can, see her before she goes. She’s terrific as self absorbed Masha. When “Vanya” does eventually wrap up its Broadway run it will move to the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, probably in January…
…A big surprise winner last night was Courtney B. Vance. He plays Hap Hairston in “Lucky Guy,” and is a lucky guy because he’s married to Angela Bassett. I remember when Vance debuted on Broadway years ago in “Fences” with James Earl Jones. Since then he’s been a regular on TV, but always came back to theater. Bassett was thrilled for him last night, and she is really a knockout in person. What’s she up to? Bassett is heading to New Orleans, she tells me, to play a voodoo witch doctor in “American Horror Story” on F/X, with Jessica Lange…
…Judith Light is now a back to back Tony winner. She won last year for “Other Desert Cities” and last night for “The Assembled Parties.” Each was for Featured Actress. The year before “ODC” she was nominated for lead in “Lombardi.” This is quite a career change from “Who’s the Boss?” her hit TV series of long ago, and her famous run on “One Life to Live” in the late 1970s. But she’s turned out to be Broadway’s secret weapon. This review changed her life several years ago: http://tinyurl.com/mw9kshx
