There`s just not enough Tommy Tune to go around. A successful revival of
”Bye Bye Birdie” starring Tune and Ann Reinking has been on tour since May, and every theater on the road circuit is eager to get in on a good thing. But when The Washington Post ran an ad on June 16 announcing ”Birdie”
at the Kennedy Center in Washington for unspecified dates in December and January, things got a little out of hand.
Tune`s contract with ”Birdie” ends on Dec. 29, says his agent, Sam Cohn. Tune is under contract to begin rehearsals for his starring role in the Broadway musical ”Busker Alley” on Jan. 6. That means he can`t be in Washington, or anywhere else, with ”Birdie,” and folks at the Kennedy Center are not pleased.
A company member close to the negotiations, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, says: ”The Kennedy Center had a handshake deal with the tour`s producers, Barry and Fran Weissler, who told them to go ahead and advertise
`Birdie` starring Tommy Tune in its subscription series, because there is still a question about whether the money will come through for `Busker Alley.` ”If it doesn`t and the show has to be delayed, the Kennedy Center is still hoping Tommy will come. No one wants the subscribers to be
disappointed.”
Fran Weissler says: ”We had a miscommunication with the Kennedy Center. They meant well and we meant well. We`ve been told that by Aug. 1 we`ll know if `Busker Alley` will happen on time or not, and if something comes up where it gets delayed, Tommy probably will stay.”
”We have to assume that `Busker Alley` will come together, so we don`t want to mislead the subscribers,” Cohn says.
What about announcements that Tune will direct a London company of his
”Grand Hotel” at the Shaftesbury Theater in September?
”He can`t, really,” Cohn says. ”What we`ll endeavor to do is see if he can get there for a few days. But the production will still happen, with the people he works with.”
– Penn and Teller are back, as of July 30 at the John Houseman Theater, after closing recently at Broadway`s Eugene O`Neill Theater.
The new show will be similar to the one that closed (the fire-eating Ford model Carol Perkins included) except that it is no longer called ”The Refrigerator Tour,” since the refrigerator that was dropped on the duo to open the show doesn`t fit at the much smaller Houseman.
The new show is called ”Penn and Teller: Rot in Hell,” a charming title taken from a review by Stewart Klein on New York TV station WNYW that said about them: ”If there`s any justice they should rot in hell. Until then, see them.”
Penn Jillette says he is well adjusted to the move, since it`s easier to fill 287 seats than 1,100. ”After our successful Broadway tryout,” he says, ”I think we`re ready now for off-Broadway. Keep your fingers crossed.”
– It would seem that New Yorkers just can`t get enough Shakespeare-especial ly when it`s free. Recently on the day after the mostly favorable reviews came out for the New York Shakespeare Festival`s ”Othello,” starring Raul Julia and Christopher Walken, 487 people were waiting in line outside the Delacorte Theater in Central Park by 10 a.m.
Bob Riordan, the house manager, says the first person had arrived at 5:10 a.m. By noon there were 1,500, he says, and people were turned away.
The reward for all this perseverance? Rain, and lots of it. Riordan says the show went on for 20 minutes during a steady downpour, and Kathryn Meisle, who plays Desdemona, made her entrance holding a New York Shakespeare Festival umbrella.
This cracked up audience and actors alike, and Riordan says Julia fought even more valiantly than the rest to keep a straight face. Umbrella aside, his own dark makeup was streaking in the rain.
The show stopped for 51 minutes, according to the stage manager`s log; no one left. When it resumed, all the actors tried to speak a little more quickly, since the park officially closes at midnight when the police go off duty. They made it by 12:05. The police stayed. ”Othello” is scheduled to run through Sunday.
– After a season full of one-woman shows (among them Julie Harris in
”Lucifer`s Child” and Tracey Ullman in ”The Big Love,”) now it`s the men`s turn. Last week, at the Ballroom, Terry Sweeney opened in ”The Former First Lady Strikes Back,” which is to run through Sunday.
The new show brings back Sweeney`s favorite character from his ”Saturday Night Live” days, Nancy Reagan. And Sweeney has added a news conference each night to address all sorts of questions prompted by Kitty Kelley`s best-selling unauthorized biography.
Some of the highbrow dialogue:
Q-If you joined the Peace Corps, in what country would you serve?
A-What`s the Peace Corps?
Q-Has Barbara Bush continued your ”Just Say No” campaign?
A-Not to cookies and doughnuts, she hasn`t.
Meanwhile, playwright and actor Kevin Kling was to start his one-man show, ”Home and Away,” about growing up in Minnesota, which is to run at the Second Stage through Aug. 10. Robyn Goodman, the theater`s co-artistic director, says Kling is ”like Garrison Keillor on acid.”
