Barbra Streisand is about to take Europe by storm. She’s just announced four dates in Europe for June– London, Paris, Berlin, and Cologne. And more are coming. Barbra was last in Europe in June 2007. But she’s never played Berlin or Cologne. And as the dates sell out, more cities will be added. Streisand’s show should be called “All in the Family.” She’s got her son Jason Gould singing with her, as well as sister Roslyn Kind. I’m surprised James Brolin isn’t on tambourine! Anyway, Chris Botti, our favorite trumpeter, will be featured as well. Streisand appeared on the Oscars to promote this tour, another great idea from longtime manager Marty Erlichman. Ticket prices will be Barbra-high, which means La Streisand should make a nice Euro out of all this. More to come… Check her website for updates www.barbrastreisand.com
Beatles Approved: Sigourney Weaver Sends Up Her “Alien” Self in Brilliant “Vanya” on Broadway
You may recall my review of Christopher Durang’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” from Lincoln Center’s Mitzi Newhouse Theater. The play was hilarious and fun, the actors were all so marvelous, that I implored them to move it to Broadway. Last week the move occurred, with mostly great reviews (except for a totally bizarre one in the New York Times). I went last night to see it at the John Golden Theater.
I am happy to report that all the zany eccentricity has relocated intact. Sigourney Weaver and David Hyde Pierce are the stars, and they follow through with Tony -level performances. But there are several people on stage. Kristine Nielsen is from another world. She’s going to get a Tony Award for this, not just a nomination, and they should give it to her now. Billy Magnussen is a hoot as Masha’s (Sigourney’s) boytoy. Shalita Grant makes one of the best debuts ever on Broadway, fresh out of Juilliard.
Of course, this is a send up of several things. Weaver is satirizing her own career as the star of James Cameron action films. Durang, her close friend, can do this. He is also weaving in Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard, as well as Greek tragedy. Nielsen, over lunch, apparently did her Maggie Smith impersonation for Durang, and that’s become part of her character that has to been seen to be believed.
And what to say of David Hyde Pierce, who has hit home run after home run on Broadway since “Frasier” ended. This is his best work yet. A raging monologue he delivers toward the end of Act Two will be more than enough to get a Tony nomination. He will be up against Tom Hanks. That’s a real race.
The play: set in Bucks County at a bucolic family home where brother Vanya and adopted sister Sonia (DHP, Nielsen) have lived quietly while their sister Masha (Weaver) has become a famous, globe trotting movie star. Now Masha arrives with the boytoy Spike (Magnussen) ostensibly to sell the house out from under them. Grant is the sassy maid Cassandra who spouts dire prophecies while making tuna sandwiches and toning up her voodoo doll skills. There’s also an ingenue named Nina, played by the lovely Genevieve Angelson.
Durang juggles a lot– all the parody and satire, not to mention the realities of family, aging, careers, love late in life. You’re laughing so much of the time, it’s important to remember that there are some profound things being discussed. I adore Sigourney Weaver, and as Masha she can do no wrong. If you only know her from “Avatar” this is a whole other side. Masha is quite arch, outsized, and more than a handful. She really is larger than life, something the Times review didn’t get. Masha is self-absorbed with just a hint that somewhere under well maintained facade she may understand what’s going on with her hapless siblings. It’s a beautiful performance.
Weaver will have to leave “Vanya et al” sometime in June or July, I guess, to do one small movie before she shoots the “Avatar” sequels. She’s essential, and will win some awards. But I do hope the play will go on after she exits. It would be a shame to deny audiences of this much fun. And I’ll bet there are a lot of actresses– Christine Baranski and Alison Janney come to mind– who’d like a crack at playing Masha. In the meantime, fight your way in to see these people ASAP.
PS This show is Beatles approved: the producers got the rights to George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” and the Beatles’ master recording. I won’t give it away. But it’s a rarity for the group ever to approve such a thing. And it’s a lovely value added in an already great night.
read also
http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/01/03/sigourney-weaver-vanya-comedy-looking-at-broadway-run
Jay Leno Can’t Stop Himself: Another Jab at NBC in Tuesday’s Monologue
Jay Leno can’t stop himself. He’s mad at NBC over the replacement story, he’s mad at them over Bob Greenblatt asking him to back off telling jokes about NBC’s ratings. On Monday night it was the St. Patrick’s joke about NBC execs being snakes.
On Tuesday, Leno continued:”Did you hear about this? A 28-year-old woman from Serbia has a rare brain condition where she sees everything upside down,” Leno said, setting up the joke. “The good news? She’s now been given a job at the White House as President Obama’s economic adviser.” There’s a pause. Are we safe? No. Leno continued: “Isn’t that crazy? It’s unbelievable. She sees everything upside down. In fact, she thinks NBC is at the top of the ratings.”
Johnny Carson made jokes about Fred Silverman and NBC all the time, especially during the lowliest time when the Peacock network had “Supertrain” and “Me and the Chimp.” But times have changed, we are in the Twilight of the Gods here. Greenblatt is feeling pressure from Comcast. Leno knows how to rankle him. It’s going to be a long week.
Bon Jovi Comes in at Number 1, With David Bowie a Strong Number 2
I told you: Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Tico Torres and David Bryan finished at number 1 on the charts this week with “What About Now.” These endlessly hard working good guys sold 100,415 copies of their album of new material some 30 years after they first got started. Amazing. Of course, they’re not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But who freakin’ cares? Meanwhile, David Bowie’s superb “The Next Day” came in at a strong number 2-Â 83,118 copies. It’s Bowie’s first album in 10 years and had better be nominated for Best Album next year. I can’t stop listening to “Where Are We Now” and “I’d Rather Be High.”
Rod Stewart New Album Preview Here– He’s Rocking Again With New Songs
Rod Stewart has written and produced a whole new album of rock songs. “Time”comes out on May 7th. The preview of songs is below. You know. Rod joins David Bowie, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix in what’s turning out to be a revival year of the great rock leaders. Elton John is almost finished with his album. Sting is working on something, so is Paul McCartney. The Stones are touring. Did we ever think 70 year-olds– and dead vets– would come save us from the unrelenting crap on the radio? Thanks to all of them. Plus Boz Scaggs has a new album out, so does Eric Burdon. I can’t stop listening to Van Morrison’s “Born to Sing No Plan B” collection. Not that there isn’t great new music from Miguel, Emeli Sande, Frank Ocean, etc. But it warms the heart to real music again from our old pals. Rod’s first single, “She Makes Me Happy” is on iTunes today and it’s great. PS The album has a bonus track cover of Libby Titus’s classic “Love Has No Pride” and a song called “Sexual Religion.” “Time” sounds like a HIT.
Michael Jackson’s Kids: Biologically No, But In Every Other Way
TMZ is all excited today about some papers that were filed in the Michael Jackson wrongful death suit. The papers say the Jacksons want to exclude discussion of the paternity of Michael Jackson’s kids. Listen: I wrote about this on May 31, 2005– during the child molestation trial one of Jackson’s attorneys, Robert Sanger, said to Judge Rodney Melville:Â “The circumstances that relate to the birth of the children wouldn’t be admitted for the truth of the matter. Only his love of the children.”
We made a big deal at the time out of my scoop– that Prince and Paris were carried by Debbie Rowe after she’d used a sperm bank. Later, Michael did use his DNA and chose a surrogate for Blanket. Prince and Paris are not stupid kids. and they know they don’t look anything like the Jacksons. I’m sure this has all been explained to them.
But they are Michael Jackson’s kids, no matter whose DNA they are carrying. He raised them. And crazy as we thought he was — with the masks and keeping them out of the public— those kids have turned out to be extremely bright, well behaved, sophisticated, literate, and considerate. Last year they saved their grandmother from the greedy clutches of relatives. They were heroes.
They are one half Debbie, and one half Michael. And the combination worked. Anything else is meaningless now. Just read Paris’s Twitter feed. She never ceases to impress. And she’s funny. Prince is already working. They comport themselves beautifully. So let’s concede that they are Michael’s children, and that he did a much better job than anyone could have predicted.
My column from May 31, 2005:
When the defense rested in Michael Jackson‘s child molestation case on Friday, a very important issue that had been raised was lost. Defense attorney Robert Sanger as much as conceded that the pop star’s children may not be his own.
Just before playing a taped police interview with Jackson’s then 13-year-old accuser, both sides debated several motions in front of Judge Rodney Melville.
One of them involved what is known in court as the “Outtakes Tape.” This is the video that Jackson’s cameraman Hamid Moslehi made of Martin Bashir as he was filming his documentary, “Living With Michael Jackson.”
During breaks in the Bashir filming, Moslehi let the cameras roll. With his guard down, Jackson discussed his children and his plastic surgery with Moslehi.
In each case, courtroom observers got to hear Jackson tell Bashir that not only were his children born of his own DNA, but that he had slept with Debbie Rowe to conceive the two oldest, Prince and Paris. He said for the third child, known as Blanket, he had used a surrogate whose egg had been fertilized with his own sperm.
As we told you in our April 27 column, our sources have confirmed a tabloid story that Jackson’s children are not his biologically. But in court, this suddenly became critical, as the prosecution and defense argued about allowing the “outtake” statements to be entered as evidence.
That was when Sanger, quite startlingly, uttered these words on the record: “The circumstances that relate to the birth of the children wouldn’t be admitted for the truth of the matter. Only his love of the children.”
In a veiled threat, District Attorney Tom Sneddon told the judge that if statements made by Jackson from the “outtakes” were allowed in, he would call “experts” during the rebuttal stage of the trial.
He didn’t specify, but certainly Sanger and anyone who was paying attention knew that Sneddon might show that Jackson had lied not only about his paternity, but also about his cosmetic surgeries, of which he says he has only had two.
There was, however, little question what Sanger meant about “the births of the children.” If the circumstances as Jackson had described them could not be held out as true, then there could be only one other explanation: They were false.
Bobbie Smith of the Spinners, Sang “I’ll Be Around” and “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love”
Bobbie Smith, one of the lead singers of The Spinners, died on March 16th. He was the absolutely sterling lead vocalist on the magnificent records — and dare I say major hits– “I’ll Be Around” and “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love”– as well many others. They were originally The Detroit Spinners, and were signed to Motown from 1964 to 1971. But The Detroit Spinners never really enjoyed the careers of The Temptations, Miracles, or Four Tops. It was only in 1970 that they finally had a smash hit with “It’s A Shame,” written and produced by Stevie Wonder with Syreeta Wright.
Fellow Detroiter Aretha Franklin recommended they move to Atlantic in 1972, and that’s when The Spinners exploded with hit after hit from “I’ll Be Around” and “Could It Be” to “Rubberband Man,” “Games People Play,” “Mighty Love,” and “One of A Kind (Love Affair).” Some of the those leads were sung by Phillippe Wynne, who died in 1984. But Smith is on most of them, changing off with Wynne. Smith’s voice is that reedy, sharp tenor with which those Spinners songs, as well “Then Came You” with Dionne Warwick, are associated.
The Spinners were somehow never in sync with their surroundings. They were on Motown, but didn’t really fit in. When they moved to Atlantic, their sound really came from the Philly Soul movement of Gamble and Huff, Thom Bell, etc. But in the end they were as big as any of their peers. Bobbie Smith was a major reason that they recorded music which will last forever. Justin Timberlake is imitating that sound now. But Bobbie Smith and The Spinners were the real, real thing.
In these videos, check out Bobbie- he’s in the center, no beard (that’s Phillippe), and watch him execute those leads. Beautiful.
Jay Leno Calls NBC Execs “Snakes” in Monologue: War Over Retirement Is Getting Hotter
Don’t believe these new stories about Jay Leno v. NBC being about criticism of his network jokes. Last night Leno called NBC executives “Snakes” in his monologue (see video). And it wasn’t because NBC chief Robert Greenblatt recently emailed Leno about jokes criticizing the network’s lousy ratings. This is ALL about NBC putting out the word recently that it wants to retire Leno at the end of the 2014 season and replace him with the younger Jimmy Fallon. Leno is an ace game player and knows exactly what he’s doing. When the Fallon story became absolutely HUGE ten days ago, he did not respond right away on his show.
Instead, he started taking pot shots at the network. The New York Times reported that Greenblatt sent Leno an email asking him to knock it off. Of course, that story was leaked.
And now this: “You know the legend of St. Patrick, right? St Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. Then they came into the United States and became NBC executives.” Leno vs. NBC is going to go one for a year and change now. Get ready.
Charlie Sheen Comeback Movie Made $35K, Then Disappeared
Here’s if not a first, something unusual. The ticket sales for Roman Coppola’s film, “A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III” were so bad–actually almost non-existent, that its distributor only reported results once. The film, intended to show that star Charlie Sheen still had drawing power and fans after his personal crash in 2011, was sent to theaters. But no one came.
After the first week on February 8th, fledgling studio A24 Pictures reported earnings of $12,000. The second week, initially there were no reports. This column inquired, and was told that by February 17th, the movie had made $35,000. That was the last anyone heard from “Charles Swan III” or Charlie Sheen.
Since then, A24 has released “Ginger and Rosa,” a good little film, to poor results. But they may have a real success with Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers,” which got great reviews and broke indie art house records last weekend in New York and L.A. It will go into more cities this weekend, and features a knockout performance by James Franco.
But “Charles Swan” is gone. Bill Murray, Patricia Arquette, and Jason Schwartzman–the director’s cousin– are all in it. So is Sheen, who could probably absorb the whole loss and not miss it. But millions have been squandered. And it’s pretty clear that Sheen does not have an automatic audience pining to see him on the big screen.
The film, by the way, was entirely unwatchable. Just in case you wondered.
Broadway: Tom Hanks Play Beats Musical “Spider Man” at Box Office
Broadway: yes, perennials “The Lion King,” “Book of Mormon,” and “Wicked” were the top three highest grossers last week on the Great White Way. But number 4? It wasn’t “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark.” The flying side effects machine took 5th place. It lost, by $30,000, to a regular play– “Lucky Guy” with Tom Hanks, written by the late Nora Ephron. “Lucky Guy” is bursting at the seams with standing room only tickets. Celebrities can’t even get in. The Broadhurst is filled to capacity and then some. “Lucky Guy” took in $1.294 million last week, compared to $1.264 for “Spider Man.” Consider that “Spider Man’ has 748 more seats to sell as well at the Foxwoods Theater. And none of the “Lucky Guy” cast flies. They do soar, however.
This is a fruitful new season on Broadway. Not only is “Lucky Guy” a hit but so are Cyndi Lauper’s “Kinky Boots,” and “Hands on a Hard Body” with Keith Carradine. “Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike” with Sigourney Weaver (which cannot be missed) is picking up nicely. Newcomers “Cinderella” and “Motown” each did well over $1 million last week. “Phantom of the Opera,” unaccountably, is selling tickets to someone. Last season’s Tony winner for Best Musical, “Once” is also over a million a week. Next week a new cast comes in. And audiences are very taken with “Ann” at Lincoln Center, starring Holland Taylor.
Just a note about Holland Taylor. When I was backstage at “Lucky Guy” on Friday night I asked Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari what they thought about their old “Bosom Buddies” boss being on Broadway at the same time. What were the chances 30 years later that they’d all be on track for Tony Awards? I wish I had had a camera for their answer. They responded like 22 year olds, with huge smiles and shouted, “Isn’t it amazing????” I don’t think they could have been happier. So funny. So nice.