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“Spider Man” Returns to Broadway Next Week With a Face Lift

Roger Friedman
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“Spider Man” Returns to Broadway Next Week With a Face Lift

“Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” returns to Broadway next Thursday, May 12th after a three week break. It still hasn’t opened officially and won’t until June 14th. Still, the “reviews” will come on Thursday of the “new” version of Julie Taymor’s show.

What will be different? There are said to be three new songs from Bono and The Edge. Gone completely are the “dancing shoes.” Much diminished is the role of Arachne, the fabled “Spider woman” character. Also gone are the Geek chorus. The whole Act 2 battle among six other villains is completely changed, I am told.  And: “There’re more of a romance between Peter and Mary Jane,” a source tells me.

Expanded: Patrick Page’s role as the Green Goblin. Page was the standout performer from Spider Man I.

 But much of “Turn off the Dark” is the same, just rearranged. It’s still Julie Taymor”s show, with her concepts, costumes, puppets, characters. The new songs, I am told, are still at the piano stage and haven’t been fully played. So far they sound “eh,” says a backstager. And the new choreographer, Chase Brock? “He’s not very good,” my source–who is impartial–reports. The entire production is scrambling to make the new advertised dates for preview and opening, however.

Bottom line: “It’s never not going to be Julie Taymor’s show. The question,” says my source, “is whether reviewers will see it as different or just more of the same.”

“Sparkle” Remake Will Reprise Curtis Mayfield Hits

Roger Friedman
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“Sparkle” Remake Will Reprise Curtis Mayfield Hits

“Sparkle,” a great but forgotten musical film from 1976, is getting a remake. Howard Rosenman and Joel Schumacher–they wrote the script for the original–are producing it, with husband/wife team Mara Brock Akil and director Salim Akil running the show. “Sparkle,” from Sony, preceded “Dreamgirls”–it was on screen before “Dreamgirls” made it to Broadway. Now with its remake, I’m told the film include several of the original songs Curtis Mayfield wrote for the 1976 movie including the hit “Giving Him Something He Can Feel.” Aretha Franklin sang all the songs from “Sparkle” and had a hit soundtrack album. The new producers are keen on Aretha participating again. My guess is they will also want either Jennifer Hudson or Beyonce to be included as well– even though they were each featured in the “Dreamgirls” movie. Making “Sparkle” is a gamble, especially with an all black cast. “Dreamgirls” turned out to be a harder sell than anyone thought. But Rosenman and Schumacher can pull it off, believe me. And there are lots of talented actols to take the parts originated by Lonette McKee, Irene Cara, Philip Michael Thomas and Dorian Harewood–like Montego Glover, Melinda Doolittle, Anthony Mackie, and Derek Luke–and that’s just for starters!

Paul McCartney, Congrats on Engagement to Nancy Shevell

Roger Friedman
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Paul McCartney, Congrats on Engagement to Nancy Shevell

It looks like Paul McCartney popped the question to Nancy Shevell, and they’re getting married. Shevell, who was married to New Yorker Bruce Blakeman (a failed Republican candidate for different positions) and has a teenage daughter, is terrific. I’ve gotten to know her a little bit over the last couple of years. Shevell, who’s 51 but looks ten years younger, has taken her time getting to be a Beatle girlfriend. Slowly but surely she’s adapted to being with an icon, and maybe the most famous rock and roll star in the world other than Mick Jagger. Good for Paul. After his long and happy marriage to Linda Eastman, McCartney tried a second marriage to Heather Mills. We all know how ill fated that was; I’ll never forget Mills telling me she knew no Beatles song but was a big fan of Colin Hay of Men at Work. Yikes! Shevell is more like Linda in many ways: from a good family, smart, and has her own money.They also each went to college in Arizona, which is pretty unusual. Nancy sits on the board of the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority and works for her family’s trucking company. Obla Di, Obla Da, life goes on. Congrats!

Oprah Fires the Head of Her OWN Network, At Last

Roger Friedman
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Oprah Fires the Head of Her OWN Network, At Last

It’s never a nice story when someone loses their job. But Christina Norman, head Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network, probably had it coming. At MTV she was well known for never returning calls. I was a little surprised when Oprah put her in charge of OWN, but maybe she saw something no one else did. Maybe she never called Christina Norman at MTV. Anyway, Norman is out at OWN. Discovery’s Peter Ligouri is in. With the exception of Gayle King‘s show, OWN is a desert strewn with junk. Certainly after producing her own show for 25 years, Winfrey can bring more important, enlightened, and hip material to a whole cable network. Otherwise, she s just contributing more garbage to the heaps of it already existing — and coming soon thanks to the cancellation of soap operas in favor of cooking and makeover shows.

Madonna, Kabbalah Admit Government Investigations We Reported First

Roger Friedman
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2
Madonna, Kabbalah Admit Government Investigations We Reported First

The Kabbalah Centre of Los Angeles now admits that they’re being investigated the government. The Los Angeles Times is also reporting the grand jury investigation that this column reported first and exclusively. Both the LA Times and Associated Press are each reporting the lawsuit filed by Courtney Geddes against Kabbalah–again reported here first. The Kabbalah Centre insisted when I reported the grand jury story that there were no investigations and no grand jury. Recently I spoke with one of Madonna’s close associates, who defended Kabbalah and Madonna, and insisted also that there were no investigations. Now the Kabbalah Centre says it will “cooperate” with the investigations–it’s not like they have any choice. Madonna, by the way, donated 2,626,529 to the Kabbalah Centre in 2007, another $400,000 in 2008–separate from the $3.7 million that came from her celebrity fundraiser in New York, and another $2.5 million in 2009 to their combined causes–SFK, Raising Malawi, etc–all from her Ray of Light Foundation. And that may be exclusive of the total $11 million she earmarked the aborted school in Malawi.

http://tinyurl.com/4odfrct

Arthur Laurents, 93, Gave Us “West Side Story,” “Gypsy,” “The Way We Were”

Roger Friedman
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0
Arthur Laurents, 93, Gave Us “West Side Story,” “Gypsy,” “The Way We Were”

Everyone on Broadway thought Arthur Laurents would live to be 100. But he died Thursday night at 93 from complications of pneumonia. Two years ago, when “West Side Story” was in previews, I was talking to Arthur after a show when he suddenly darted up the aisle to give an actor notes. He was pretty spry. Laurents wrote the novels “The Way We Were” and “The Turning Point,” which each became hit movies. He wrote the books for two of the greatest musicals Broadway has even seen: “West Side Story” and “Gypsy.” That he brought the latter two back to Broadway back to back at ages 89 and 91 is even a more remarkable story. His career had only blossomed in the late 1950s after he recovered from being blacklisted. Most recently he got into some kind of quandary with Barbra Streisand over a film version of “Gypsy.” Who knows what will happen now? But Arthur Laurents leaves a long legacy and lots of good Broadway gossip behind, not to mention these extraordinary works. I’m sure Broadway will dim its lights on Friday night in his honor.

Didn’t Happen: Michael Jackson, Brando, Liz Taylor Road Trip

Roger Friedman
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Didn’t Happen: Michael Jackson, Brando, Liz Taylor Road Trip

Sorry, guys. The “road trip” Michael Jackson supposedly took after the World Trade Center tragedies never happened. Various outlets are suddenly reporting that Michael gathered up Liz Taylor and Marlon Brando on September 12, 2001 and escaped from New York on a cross- country adventure.

THIS DID NOT HAPPEN.

It’s a great urban myth, and it will probably live on forever now that it’s been published on the internet. But you know, at the time, Michael and Liz Taylor weren’t so close. He’d had to give her a piece of jewelry that cost over $600,000 so she would come to his Madison Square Garden shows. Michael also paid Brando one million dollars cash so he’d come to New York and deliver the most inane speech of all time on a couch in the middle of the stage.

So what did happen? Michael and his kids, the nanny, et al immediately decamped to their second home–that of Dominic and Connie Cascio in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey. And there they stayed, a family friend confirmed for me, for two weeks. Finally, Michael and party chartered a private plane from White Plains, New York to Burbank.

What happened to Brando and Taylor? I have no idea. But there was no “On the Road” for them. Brando weighed way too much to travel that distance by car. Taylor had way too many maladies. The Jackson family, I was told in 2001, went home on a private bus.

Where do people get these stories? And why are they reprinted over and over without any fact checking?

By the way, this was two years before Michael’s arrest for child molestation and conspiracy. During the entire period from 2003 through Michael’s acquittal in 2005, Taylor never said a word in public to defend Jackson. While Macaulay Culkin, Chris Tucker, and other friends testfied for Michael and went to bat for him, Taylor remained mum.

Jackie Cooper, RIP at Age 88, Played Against Basset Hounds, Superman

Roger Friedman
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0

I always had a deep and abiding affection for Jackie Cooper, not for his early career as a child star in “Our Gang” comedies–but for two sort of terrible but great TV shows he did in the late 50s and early 60s–“The People’s Choice” and “Hennessey.” (Don’t get excited; they were in reruns when I saw them!)

In the former, Cooper had a basset hound named Cleo who talked to the audience. Her ears went up when she heard something exciting. In the latter, Abby Dalton was his love interest. She was my first TV crush, I think. Of course, Jackie Cooper went on to do lots of great stuff. He was an an accomplished TV director. He starred in four “Superman” movies with Chris Reeve as Perry White, the crusty editor of the Daily Planet. Cooper has dozens of TV credits as an actor, including a memorable turn on “St. Elsewhere.” He did it all, with grace and talent. Jackie Cooper died on Wednesday at age 88. RIP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tKgbiog5q4

Cleo comes in just at 6:00.

 

Jodie Foster Didn’t Like Being Directed by Dennis Hopper

Roger Friedman
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We learned a lot about Jodie Foster last night at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s screening of “The Beaver.” She didn’t like being directed by the late Dennis Hopper, for one. Indeed, “Catchfire,” (1990) which Hopper directed Foster in the year before “The Silence of the Lambs” earned her an Oscar, was so bad that Hopper took his name off the final cut. He used “Alan Smithee” instead, the pseudonym directors use when they want to hide their bad or changed work. “Catchfire” runs 3 hours long in its origignal version, is also known on video as “Backtrack.” and was, naturally, a huge flop now forgotten.

During the Q&A with Richard Pena following the screening of “The Beaver,” Foster let it slip about this experience. “I worked with an actor-director who was a major pain,” Foster said. “It was very difficult for me. Very difficult.” At a dinner following the screening at The Atlantic restaurant on West 65th St., Foster confirmed the director was Hopper after our table mate, Scott Foundas of Film Comment, did a quick check on the IMDB. Other guests at the dinner included Foster’s “Lambs” director Jonathan Demme and famed writer-director Robert Benton, as well as Regis and Joy Philbin, Stone Phillips, and Gayle King.

Mel Gibson in “The Beaver”: Dark, Depressing, Hopeless

Roger Friedman
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5

Let’s forget about Mel Gibson the person for a minute: Oksana, anti-Semitism, the personal church, the crazy father. Well. wait, remember the crazy father. In “The Beaver,” directed by Jodie Foster, the only person on the planet who defends Gibson’s last few horrible years, Mel plays a suicidal father of two. This is not a comedy.

Mel’s Walter Black is determined to kill or hurt himself with no regard for his family. When his wife finally kicks him out, Walter discovers a hand puppet beaver in a trash bin, puts it on his left hand, and start speaking through it in a Cockney accent. For no reason. Walter can now only communicate through the Beaver. At some point he even goes on the “Today” show with Matt Lauer wearing the puppet and speaking this way. “The Beaver” is a downer that goes dangerously too far down to ever come up. Mel Gibson seems more like the actual man we’ve seen in tabloids than the old Three Stooges Mel of “Lethal Weapon.”

Walter is desperate, and Mel conveys that pretty accurately. He’s strung out on depression. Instead of seeking help or drugs, he depends on the Beaver. His wife goes along with this, to some extent. When she realizes the fullness of his mental incapacity, it’s too late. There is self-mutilation. If you didn’t like “127 Hours,” then won’t be digging this. But in “The Beaver,” the violence also marks the jumping of the shark, when this barely coherent film finally tips over.

Gibson strongly delivers the depression. Foster directs herself as a clueless, sort of pinched wife who’s had enough already and doesn’t know what to do next. Who’s good? Anton Yelchin as their teen son, and Jennifer Lawrence as his girlfriend. They’re so attractive and well spoken that they’re a relief from the tedium of Walter’s story. The look of the film–kind of flat, no depth– doesn’t help. Who is “The Beaver” for? Is this Mel’s way of seeking absolution? The subplot is that his son (Yelchin) hates him and Walter hated his own father (who may have committed suicide). Remember Mel’s horrible real father, Hutton Gibson, the Holocaust denier? There’s a lot of resonance there from fiction to reality.

On a personal note, I don’t care if Mel Gibson is good or bad in a movie anymore. I don’t want to see him or hear about him. He’s a bad guy who’s said and done rotten things. Why reward him with money at the box office? Is his performance in “The Beaver” such a big deal? Not really. It’s no daring to act depressed. For Jodie Foster, “The Beaver” shows that, as with her 20 year old “Little Man Tate,” she has an eye. I just wish it fell on more important things.

PS The actual Beaver puppet is one of the ugliest stuffed animals you’ve ever seen.

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