Stars

There’s so much I’m itching to talk about; I may have to post three or four times this weekend. There’s more rattling around my brain to say about “Mattress” and “Little Dog” and I took in some great student one-acts at U of R today and then watched “Sweeney Todd” on DVD. But it’s also after midnight and I’m going to turn into a pumpkin so I’ll just throw these tidbits out that I picked up last week:

From what I’ve read, Patrick Stewart is getting pretty awesome reviews in the new “MacBeth.” And I saw two or three stories last week about Daniel Radcliffe and his upcoming stint in “Equus.” There’s been some discussion on ye ole blog about how big movie star names – or sometimes semi-famous reality show names – are used to sell a production. I’m not a huge fan of the practice. The only production I have specifically gone to see because it had a “name” in it was Natalie Portman in “The Diary of Anne Frank” and frankly (yuk yuk) she was pretty mediocre.

Having said that, I AM a big fan of whatever gets people to go see live theater and whatever keeps the medium alive and growing. If that means more “American Idols” working the Great White Way, so be it, I say. I’m happy and encouraged that major stars want to do Broadway, that they still see it as a vital place to perform and stretch as an artist and possibly to keep in touch with the people. I can’t imagine that Laura Linney HAS to do Les Liaisons Dangereuses for the paycheck -- her movie career seems to be going gangbusters. So she does her some Broadway and maybe energizes herself and possibly inspires a few more people to come see a show. Seems like a win-win to me.