Copious Notes

The Opera House's new look

Go into many towns in the United States and you can find old theaters that were once the hub of activity sadly showing their age with paint peeling, curtains falling and creaky old seats breaking as an era slips into oblivion. That is not the case with Lexington’s 122-year-old Opera House. Even last year, visiting artists such as the Broadway seasoned cast and crew from 12 Angry Men were singing the theater’s praises.

If they could see it now.

Over the summer, the Lexington Opera House underwent a $2 million renovation, updating the seats, soundsystem, dressing rooms and many other accomodations. Patrons get their first look tonight as the UK Opera Theatre opens its production of La Boheme. But Tuesday afternoon, photographer David Perry and I got an advance tour with Opera House General Manager Luanne Franklin. Above, you can see a slide show from our visit.

Click here for a larger version of the slide show.

Click here for the whole story on the renovation.

Click here for more on La Boheme.

And click here for the Opera House’s upcoming schedule from LexGo.

Review: '1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die' by Tom Moon

This is a book for those of us who have the Beatles next to Beethoven on our CD shelves, maybe with Sidney Bechet and Beck in between.

Tom Moon made his name as a pop music critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Rolling Stone, NPR and other outlets. But his new book, 1,000 ­Recordings to Hear Before You Die, reveals the mind of a pure music fan who likes anything, as long as it’s good.

That’s a profile a lot of music fans like to have. But most of us have some holes in our passion, often “I hate country” or “that rap crap.”

With Moon, it is hard to find any holes.

Modern classical music?

There’s Steve Reich’s ­Music for 18 Musicians, along with discs of Elliott Carter, Charles Ives and others.

Bluegrass?

He’s got yer Bill ­Monroe, along with yer Flatt & Scruggs and deeper cuts.

Jazz?

Moon (photo, right, from Workman Publishing) was in Maynard Ferguson’s big band, and he touches all the greats, and many you haven’t heard of.

Maybe the most ­impressive thing about Moon’s selections is his command of a wide swath of world music, pulling in favorites from around the globe.

But what really makes the book indispensable is the writing. Moon is a critic at the top of his game, ­intricately exploring what makes these greats great.

Natasha's next stage

Ryan Case and Shayne Brakefield on the new stage at Natasha's Cafe, where they will present The Mystery of Irma Vep, Oct. 5-17. Photo by Rich Copley.

Folks who turn out to see Balagula Theatre's production of The Mystery of Irma Vep will also see the debut of the new stage at Natasha's.

For years, the cafe has built an audience for its theater offerings usually performing on a stage the size of a modest walk-in closet. It definitely has its charm.

But, according to Balagula theater director Ryan Case, cafe owners Gene and Natasha Williams decided the audience had grown to the point it was time to expand the seating and the stage.

So, Natasha's boutique has moved up to the corner to Main Street and Esplanade as Props Lifestyle Gallery. In the boutique's space is a stage in the back corner of the additional space that was once the boutique, and seating will fill the floor in front of it. A bar will move in where the small stage used to be.

Case says Vep, a two man, myriad-character play could not have been produced on the old stage. He did not know what will follow Vep playwise, though Natasha's has regular schedule of music in addition the theater.

Laura Bell Bundy on 'Legally Blonde -- The Musical' closing

With the annoucement that Legally Blonde -- The Musical is closing Oct. 19, we asked Lexington's Laura Bell Bundy, the original Elle Woods on Broadway, for her thoughts. This was her reply:

"It is a bit sad because it is such a great show and makes so many people happy!

"We made a family at Legally Blonde and we spent a significant part of our lives creating the show and keeping the show (and each other) alive.

"But, we had a good run, we broke ground for Broadway and made people who were never interested in theater before interested!  I think our producers were very bold in putting our show on MTV, and I know from the responses I have gotten and still get) from fans that it really meant something to them and made life better or more inspiring in some way.  That is what it is about!  I feel so proud to be a part of this show and this group of people!  My life was truly blessed and changed.  We, Legally Blonder's,  will always be in each others lives so I am not worried about that.  It's just sad to think that I won't be able to go to the Palace Theater to see them all at once! 

"I stopped by last night and even though people were a bit melancholy I think everyone is very proud of the show and of each other.  They are going to go out with such a BANG!  That is just the spirit of this group! The reality is, there are very few shows that last this long on Broadway!  And even fewer shows that actually ever make it...   Everyone should feel very fortunate and proud.  And, I think we all do."

Laura left the show in July and now resides in Nashville where she is working on her recording career, and a zillion other things.

Review: 'Rent Filmed Live on Broadway'

I should tell you: Frankfort's Will Chase as Roger connects with Renée Elise Goldsberry as Mimi in Rent Filmed Live on Broadway. Below: Adam Kantor as Mark sings for the cameras. Bottom: Tracie Thoms as Joanne and Kantor in The Tango Maureen. Copyrighted photos by Casey Stoufer for Sony Pictures.

This is how Rent should be seen on film.

In 2005, the Rent movie came out with great anticipation, and, to a lot of viewers like me, great disappointment. Chris Columbus' film did have great moments. La Vie Boheme and Jesse L. Martin's reprise of I'll Cover You stand out to me as iconic movie musical scenes.

But the movie picked apart the flow of Jonathan Larson's creation, making it more of a standard issue movie musical than the rock opera that it was, and the film as a whole felt hollow. It left a lot of us telling people who wondered why we are so enraptured with this show, "You have to see the stage version."

Well, the Broadway production is closed now, but this weekend, you can see Rent Filmed Live on Broadway at movie theaters around the country. The film was made during some of Rent's final Broadway performances, earlier this month. As a bonus for we Central Kentuckians, Frankfort native Will Chase plays Roger, the rocker struggling to connect with others while he faces the inevitability of AIDS.

Chase's interpretation is different from the Broadway Cast Recording and film Roger, Adam Pascal. He's a bit more subtle, with less of an angry edge. But the internal struggle is clear, and we can hear why Chase has become a go-to-guy for Broadway rock musicals.

He has a strong counterpart in Renee Elise Goldsberry as Mimi, who enters with a gorgeous, full voice in Light my Candle, and never flags.

For the uninitiated, Rent is a Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical about residents of the Alphabet City neighborhood in New York in the early 1990s. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La Boheme, and these Bohemians struggle with poverty, AIDS and personal travails while trying to pursue their artistic ambitions. Adding to Rent's legend was lyricist and composer Jonathan Larson's tragic death from an aortic aneurysm hours after the final dress rehearsal for Rent's Off-Broadway opening.

All of the film cast is strong, and embodies the energy that made this show go for 12 years on Broadway. Rentheads will have no problem locking in on the story, while people more oriented to the movies may have to work a little bit to wrap their heads around some of the representational theater that takes place. 

Director Michael Warren and his camera crew did seem to have a little trouble capturing some of the full-stage ensemble numbers, particularly the title tune and the Christmas Bells that leads into Over the Moon. But Moon is one of the pieces that is captured exquisitely -- even got some in the crowd mooing on Thursday night at Fayette Mall -- in addition to Tango Maureen; One Song Glory, where we see how beautifully stage director Michael Greif isolated Roger on stage; Contact, filmed to accentuate its ghostly wildness; Will I? and Without You.

The last two, from Larson's music and lyrics to Warren's camera work, really help illustrate the big themes and personal stories that helped Rent pave the way for Broadway to address topics that were once taboo and make people see themselves and their friends in this New York story. That's the theme we also see in Seasons of Love, Rent's signature song that takes those huge topics of love, seasons and a year and breaks them down into 525,600 minutes. The final rendition of Seasons in this film also features the original Broadway cast of Rent.

Hopefully a DVD of Rent Filmed Live on Broadway is coming. If asked, "what is it about Rent?," the best answer still is to tell people to try to see it live. But this film is a solid document of this piece of musical theater history.

~ In addition to Will Chase, read more about Kentuckians in the national spotlight in Lu-Ann's Kentucky News Review.

'Constant Star' a timely history lesson

Lisa Clark (front, center) is one of five actors who play Ida B. Wells and other characters in Actors Guild of Lexington's production of Constant Star. Behind her are (L-R) Sylvia Howard, Mia Harris, Cathy Rawlings and LaNora Faye Long. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.

She stands in the middle of the stage, with four interrogators around her. The accusations fly:

Getting married was a distraction.

Having children showed a lack of commitment to the cause.

How can she be a wife and mother and still be a powerful agent of change?

A mother belongs at home.

No, those are not scenes from the first play about  Sarah Palin play to hit the stage.

This scene actually takes place about 1900 in Constant Star, Tazewell Thompson’s spiritual musical about journalist and activist Ida B. Wells that opened last weekend at Actors Guild of Lexington. It draws more than a few knowing laughs and deep breaths as we contemplate how things have and have not changed.

On the change side, Constant Star reminds us that less than a century ago, black people were routinely murdered in community spectacles. Now, we could be on the verge of electing a black man as president of the United States or a wife and mother of five as vice president.

On the other hand, the show reminds us that many of the issues faced by women and African-Americans are still alive and well in the 21st century.

George Zack slide show

We visited the Lexington Philharmonic's rehearsal Monday night to talk to music director George Zack and some of the orchestra's musicians about his final concert at 7 p.m. Sept. 12 at the Singletary Center for the Arts Concert Hall. Here's what we brought back.

To see a larger version of the slide show, click here.

The curtain rises on the 2008-09 arts season in Lexington

Cathy Rawlings plays journalist and activist Ida B. Wells and other characters in Actors Guild of Lexington's production of Taezwell Thompson's Constant Star. Photo by Rich Copley.

The 2008-09 arts season gets started this weekend with a rush of activity, including a milestone in Lexington arts history Friday night: George Zack's final concert conducting the Lexington Philharmonic as its music director. We have thoughts and some stats about Zack's 36-years with the orchestra here and at LexGo.

Two big plays open tonight:

~ Actors Guild of Lexington presents Tazewell Thompson's Constant Star, and the author will visit Saturday.

~ Studio Players bows with the British door-slamming comedy Don't Dress for Dinner.

Sunday, the University of Kentucky Art Museum opens its new exhibit, Masterworks by Kentucky Painters, 1819-1935.

And also Sunday, we publish our annual Fall Arts Guide. Get out your planners.

A 'Rent' closing reader

 The closing night cast of the Broadway musical Rent included Frankfort's Will Chase as Roger, Michael McElroy as Tom Collins, Eden Espinosa as Maureen, and Rodney Hicks as Benny. Copyrighted photo by Casey Stouffer for Sony Pictures' Releasing.

Rent's grand finale appears to have created one of those wish-you-were-there moments you can really only get from live performance.

The groundbreaking Broadway production closed Sunday night after 12 years and 5,124 performances at the Nederlander Theatre.

Of course, 525,600 minutes is what Rentheads truly care about, the time being the measure of a year and the show the story of struggling artists in New York's East Village battling AIDS, addiction, poverty, society and some fading dreams of glory. 

Most shows close quietly with a notice and a last bow in front of the dwindling audience that prompted the end of the run. But Rent became a cultural icon, and by numerous accounts closed in front of an adoring audience that got to see original cast members join the current performers for a rendition of the hit Seasons of Love.

~ The Associated Press reported that last night's performance was dedicated to Jonathan Larson, the creator of Rent who died right after the final dress rehearsal, just like the first show. Reflecting on Larson, producer Allan S. Gordon told the AP, "I don't miss what he didn't write. I feel bad that he isn't here to enjoy what he did."

~ Broadwayworld.com covered the dedication of a bench at the real Life Cafe to Larson.

~ Over the Weekend, The New York Times' Anthony Tommasini reflected on his historic interview with Larson, just hours before he died.

~ Sara Krulwich, the Times' photographer with Tommasini on that assignment, recalls her journey with Rent, including telling the cast that Larson had posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Both of their pieces remind me of the value of arts journalism and beat reporting as the first draft of history.

The closing cast included Frankfort's own Will Chase as Roger, and though Rent has closed on Broadway, we will get to the see the show. The final cast was filmed, and the it will be shown in movie theaters Sept. 24, 25, 27 and 28. The Lexington Theatres will be Regal Hamburg Pavilion and Fayette Mall Cinemas.

These shows must go on

Gil Thurman as Burl Sanders and Evan Sullivan as the Rev. Mervin Oglethorpe in Smoke on the Mountain. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo. Below: Ed Desiato in the 1950s.

Two hit plays from this summer are getting second runs on alternate stages.

■ Ed Desiato’s performance as John Barrymore packed Natasha’s Bistro in June. At 8 p.m. Aug. 21, he’ll give another performance of Barrymore at The Kentucky Theatre’s State Theatre. The show, by William Luce, portrays the stage and screen icon reminiscing at the end of his career. Tickets are $15 adults, $12 students and seniors. Call (859) 231-7924.

■ Smoke on the Mountain, the debut production of the Lexington Stage Company, played to sold-out crowds for most of its July run at Studio Players’ Carriage House Theatre. The gospel musical set in a rural North Carolina Church in the 1930s moves to Danville for four performances at Centre College’s Norton Center for the Arts. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Oct. 3, 3 and 8 p.m. Oct. 4 and 3 p.m. Oct. 5. Tickets are $30 each and available by calling 1-877-448-7469 or visiting the Norton Center website.

Norton Center 2008-09 lineup features Tony Bennett, NY Phil

Joshua Bell will perform Jan. 26 at the Norton Center. Photo by Chris Lee.

The Norton Center for the Arts at Centre College in Danville is coming off its most successful season ever and appears poised to top itself in 2008-09.

Season subscribers will soon receive a brochure with a lineup topped by legendary standards singer Tony Bennett; pop music legend Little Richard; the New York Philharmonic Orchestra with Lorin Maazel at the podium; the Kentucky premiere of The Drowsy Chaperone, the 2006 Tony Award winning hit; and arguably the hottest violinist in the world, Joshua Bell.

Here’s the complete lineup, in chronological order. All performances are at 8 p.m., unless otherwise noted:

Sept. 20: Little Richard.
Sept. 30: Olga Kern, pianist.
Oct. 3-5: Smoke on the Mountain, Bluegrass gospel musical, 8 p.m. Oct. 3, 4; 3 p.m. Oct. 4, 5.
Oct. 12: Spanish Brass, 3 p.m.
Oct. 14: Altar Boyz, off-Broadway musical.
Oct. 21: Cirque d’Or, Chinese acrobats.
Oct. 24: The Beach Boys, 8:30 p.m.
Nov. 12: Soweto Gospel Choir.
Nov. 18: Al Green.
Dec. 4: The King’s Singers.
Dec. 11: Movin’ Out, Broadway musical.
Jan. 12: 100 Years of Broadway, musical revue with Broadway veterans.
Jan. 13: Giselle by the State Ballet of Russia.
Jan. 16: Tony Bennett.
Jan. 26: Joshua Bell, violin.
Feb. 10: Drumline Live, African-American band show.
Feb. 17: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Broadway musical.
Feb. 19: Red Priest, irreverent early music group.
Feb. 26: Kodo, Japanese percussion ensemble.
Feb. 28: Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso, oratorio presented with visiting and local musicans.
March 1: Tempesta di Mare, early music ensemble.
March 5: New York Philharmonic with Lorin Maazel, conductor.
March 11: St. Petersburg Male Choir.
March 12: Moscow Cats Theatre, acrobatic cat show.
March 15: Orion String Quartet, 3 p.m.
April 11: The Drowsy Chaperone, Broadway musical.
April 15: Annie, Broadway musical.
April 23: Garrison Keillor.
April 27: Ain’t Misbehavin’, Broadway musical.
May 30-31: Chamber Music Festival of the Bluegrass, presented at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill.

The performances are sold in a variety of season ticket packages costing $966 to $177, depending on performances. Single tickets already are available for some shows. Single tickets for others will go on sale later, depending on availability. Call 1-877-448-7469 or visit the Norton Center's website for information and tickets.

SummerFest 2008 among the best in the Arboretum

Tapping Sullivan Canaday White (center, with the script and yardstick) to direct Lord of the Flies was one of the choices that made SummerFest 2008 a success. Copyrighted LexGo photo by Pablo Alcala.

SummerFest is the new event that feels like its been around for years.

That’s because it is the immediate successor to the Lexington Shakespeare Festival, and since there was not a radical change of form, the event is inevitably compared to previous Shakespeare festivals, just like you’d compare the entrees at a restaurant that is simply under new management.

Did the new chefs spice things up, deliver something more pleasing to the palate? Or are we left wishing the old guard was still in place?

This summer is one of the most overall satisfying servings offered up in the Arboretum over the past decade.

There weren’t any highs as dizzying as 2004’s Jesus Christ Superstar, but there also wasn’t anything as low as 1998’s Two Gentlemen of Verona. It was a very even affair, marked by its directors.

Directors will often tell you that 90 percent of the job is directing, and maybe 90 percent of artistic directing is selecting directors, and playing to their strengths.

That may be the biggest reason this year’s SummerFest was so satisfying.

Laura Bell Bundy looks back at 'Blonde' forward to her next projects

Laura Bell Bundy in a photo shot for her CD, Longing for a Place Already Gone. Photo by Larissa Underwood.

Actress Laura Bell Bundy was sitting with five women and all of them wanted her job, playing Elle Woods in the Broadway production of Legally Blonde: The Musical.

For most of the chat, which was shown on MTV’s reality series Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods, Bundy was the sage Broadway veteran. But then she got reflective about what the experience of playing the perky SoCal sorority girl almost every day for 11/2 years has meant to her.

“I became more true to myself,” the Lexington native said. “I get emotional thinking about it. ... It’s been the best experience of my life because I grew as a human being, because of my character, because of my connection to her and my openness.

“And the fact that I got to express emotion and not hold things in was good therapy for me, and I grew as I was finding her.”

At the time of that conversation, which took place in March but wasn’t televised until earlier this month, Bundy was still several months away from leaving the show. But it was already clear that walking away from her breakout role — one that earned her a Tony Award nomination and made her a marquee name on Broadway — was not going to be easy.

But she needed to do it.

“I’m leaving at the right time,” Bundy said in an interview the week before her final performance, last Sunday. “I’m leaving when the show is still fun for me. I’m still learning, I’m still growing, I’m still making new choices.

“But I’ve been in this show a long time — longer than your health would have you be in a show like this. My body is tired, my voice is tired. I need to go on some serious R&R.”

On July 20, Bundy took her final bow, had a really good cry and then went to a post-show party with current and former cast members to share memories and farewells. Then it was off to an all-night diner with family for a bacon cheeseburger that gave her indigestion, she said. But no worries. She didn’t have to be concerned with going on the next day, or even later in the week.

Bundy is getting to work on other aspects of her career she wants to explore.

But first, only eight days after her last bow as Elle, she is coming back home to Lexington and bringing Legally Blonde co-star Paul Canaan, who was one of the judges on the MTV show. Together they’ll present their Take It From the Top musical theater workshop on Monday and Tuesday at Bundy’s alma mater, Lexington Catholic High School.

'Legally Blonde's' Paul Canaan on the reality show and the workshops

Paul Canaan was a cast member in the ensemble of Legally Blonde -- The Musical and served as a judge on Legally Blonde The Musical -- The Search for Elle Woods. He and Blonde star Laura Bell Bundy bring their Take It From the Top worshop to Lexington July 28 and 29. Photo by Jason Gillman.

Participants in the Take It From the Top workshops July 28 and 29 might be longing to have instructor Paul Canaan watch them and declare, “That’s a hiiit!”

In the eight weeks Canaan was a judge on the MTV reality series Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods, he developed the affirmation into a personal trademark.
Like Legally Blonde’s star, Lexington native Laura Bell Bundy, Canaan has wrapped up his gig in the ensemble of the hit Broadway musical. Working on the show, Bundy and Canaan formed a strong friendship that has turned into a professional partnership with Take It From the Top, classes they have already presented in New York and will present around the country.

“My passion is teaching,” Canaan says, enjoying a day off at Legally Blonde director Jerry Mitchell’s beach house on New York’s Fire Island. “With arts education being cut in the schools, it was important to us to look at new ways to reach kids.”

Bundy says Canaan “is such a fantastic teacher, and he’s great with kids. He can see potential in a kid and pull that out. He helps people feel comfortable.”

That was also one of his roles on the reality series, which tapped South Carolinian Bailey Hanks to succeed Bundy as Elle Woods.

“Ultimately Jerry Mitchell had the say,” Canaan says of the show’s finale, which was taped in March though it aired on MTV on Monday, two nights before Hanks debuted in the role. “We said, ‘We’re not going to find another Laura Bell Bundy, so let’s find an Elle,’ and Bailey is Elle, completely. With her spirit and spunk, she’s innately an Elle Woods.”

Review: SummerFest's 'Hair'

Adam Fister, as Claude, leads a performance of Manchester, England, in SummerFest's production of Hair. Below: Cameron Perry was one of two Transylvania University students who excels in this show. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo.

Check out photographer Brad Luttrell's audio slide show about Hair director Mike Thomas.

Mike Thomas knows it is not enough to just put on the hits. It would be an easy thing to do with his last two assignments in the Arboretum: the Lexington Shakespeare festival's 2004 production of Jesus Christ Superstar and this year's SummerFest production of Hair.

Both have practically become reverse jukebox musicals, kicking so many songs onto the Top 40 that a performance is something of a hit parade. But within and between those songs are stories, and like that 2004 Superstar, Thomas' Hair is fabulous because the production doesn't forget that.

Telling a story is a tougher job with this show, which has a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music Galt MacDermot. Hair's plot of Claude, a young man who struggles with where he fits in 1968 America, isn't strong and frequently disappears in songs about sex, drugs, race and war. It has to be tempting here, 40 years after the show's Broadway debut, to just make this, ”let's look at the hippies.“

There is a lot to look at in the SummerFest production with David Steinmetz's simple graffiti-inspired set and Susan Wigglesworth's thrift-store chic costumes. They give the actors a natural environment to play in.

And play they do, with Peggy Stamps' exuberant choreography and support from the Johnson Brothers Band, whose accompaniment sounds authentic while avoiding some of the dated sounds of the Broadway cast recording and movie soundtrack.

Thomas and his fellow directors have a unified vision to respect this era, not make fun of it or get too nostalgic. So we get a show that truly contemplates its subject, its insights and excesses, successes and failures, which is actually what Hair does.

BlondeTV: Bailey's a hit!

 Bailey simply sold it.

I don't know if that's what put her over the top in the final episode of Legally Blonde The Musical -- The Search for Elle Woods. They didn't show the judge's deliberation, so we really didn't hear what Legally Blonde director Jerry Mitchell was thinking. But even this Autumn Hurlbert fan has to admit that in the portions of the audition they showed us, Autumn sang beautifully, but Bailey Hanks (Photo, right, by Justin Borucki for MTV) turned into Elle Woods -- her version of Elle.

Maybe the key was in the one question they showed Mitchell ask Autumn: How do you feel about being a sorority girl?

It's a question that seemed to indicate he was having trouble buying Autumn in the role. Meanwhile, as Bailey performed, the judges were saying things like, "I believe it," and she seemed to channel her excitement through her performances, particularly Omigod You Guys.

So, Wednesday night, the Anderson, S.C. girl -- keeping Elle Woods in the South, y'all -- will take the stage of the Palace Theatre in New York City to succeed Laura Bell Bundy as Elle Woods. Another key comment Mitchell made was, "Neither of you are really there yet."

Has Bailey gotten there in the months since she actually won this contest? That's question critics will probably start attempting to answer later this week.

One thing that was nice was a reality show finale with a lot to do. So often, we are subjected to finales with tons of filler before we hear the handful of words everyone tuned in for. But since the judges had the last word, and it was all on tape, we got the last competition and then the announcement.

A bravo to MTV for a much better show and series than expected.

UPDATE: Playbill reports that all of the final four have been cast in Legally Blonde. Autumn is Bailey's understudy and will be in the ensemble; Lauren Zakrin is going to understudy the Elle on the first national tour, starring Becky Gulsvig, and Rhiannon Hansen is going to play Margot, Elle's best friend, on tour. I love that casting on Rhiannon. That role should work for her. Gotta say, I could also see Autumn as a Vivienne, Elle's chief nemesis, if she wanted to do that swing thing.

Check back later this week for our exit interview with Laura Bell Bundy, who will be in town early next week for her Take it From the Top workshop at Lexington Catholic along with her Blonde co-star and Search for Elle Woods judge Paul Canaan 

For more on Bailey, USA today has a  good story about her.

Derek Keeling in 'Grease' after all

Speaking of Broadway-casting reality shows and Kentucky, University of Kentucky graduate Derek Keeling is going to make his Broadway debut in Grease as Danny Zuko after all. 

Keeling and Ashley Spencer will go on as Danny and Sandy Tuesday night, succeeding Max Crumm and Laura Osnes, who won the roles on the NBC reality competition series, Grease: You're the One That I Want, in the winter of 2007. Osnes and Crumm debuted in the Broadway revival of Grease last summer. Spencer was the runner up to Osnes. Keeling finished third behind Crumm and Texan Austin Miller. The winners were decided solely by audience votes.

Since the show, Keeling has been involved in a number of projects, including a musical version of A Tale of Two Cities that debuted in Sarasota last fall and opens on Broadway at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre Aug. 19. Aaron Lazar will play Charles Darnay, the role Keeling had in Sarasota.

Keeling's hometown paper, The Charleston Daily Mail in West Virginia, reports a healthy contingent of family and friends are heading to New York for Keeling's debut. His biography on the Grease website mentions his UK degree. Keeling and Spencer will be sharing the stage with American Idol winner Taylor Hicks, who is playing Teen Angel.

Above: Spencer and Keeling as Sandy and Danny. Photo courtesy of Barlow-Hartman Public Relations.

Handicapping the 'Legally Blonde' finale

Laura Bell Bundy took her final bow as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde -- The Musical on Broadway last night. Tonight at 10 -- really closer to 11 -- her successor will be named on MTV and Wednesday night, the winner will make her Broadway debut.

It's not quite that breathless. The winner was actually selected before Legally Blonde The Musical -- The Search for Elle Woods even started. In an interview with Laura last week, we said we were going to refrain from asking her who it was, because we wanted to be surprised, and she made some quip about being sued for $5 million if she told anyone, anyway.

But how much of a surprise will it be? Well, here in Laura's home town, we have a habit of handicapping these sorts of things like horse races. So, here's one reporter's take on the final three:

Bailey Hanks, 15-1

For her: She really looks the part and has shown some spark through the auditions, particularly in dancing, where it seems she would excel in numbers like What You Want and Bend and Snap. She also had exceptional good bad luck -- that's not a misprint -- last week when she was given the wrong hat for What You Want audition but made it work for her. That showed some real stage smarts at handling things when they go wrong, and with eight shows a week, things do go wrong. Just ask Laura.

Against her: She is young, 20, and very green. I believe she said that this was her first time in New York. Her excellence has mostly been in execution too, and the judges have voiced reservations about her ability to connect with some of the emotional depth of her character -- yes, you naysayers, there is emotional depth to Elle. While they like her, the judges and Mitchell may conclude Florence, S.C. to Elle Woods on Broadway is too much of a vertical leap.

Rhiannon Hansen, 50-1

For her: She has the most unique character of anyone in the competition, and may connect with the humor of Elle Woods the best.

Against her: Character is probably what has pulled her through. But there is no part of the triple threat she excels at. In last week's audition, she left serious questions about her stamina to handle a role that requires tremendous stamina. She's also demonstrated some real emotional fragility, which can be devastating in a world like Broadway. When we left the show last week, the judges still had one person to eliminate before the finals in front of director Jerry Mitchell, and it is hard to imagine the scenario in which Rhiannon gets through.

Autumn Hurlbert, 5-1

For her: She has the best voice and acting chops of the remaining competitors, and in areas where she's weak, she has shown an ability to learn. At 27, she's also the oldest of the remaining competitors and, though she's given us a few head-clasping moments, has the most maturity. That maturity also puts her in the best place to handle what will probably be a tough position, being the Broadway lead selected on a reality show.

Against her: Five-to-one are not mortal-lock odds, and there are some questions about Autumn. Is she right for the part? It's easy to see her on Broadway, but not necessarily as Elle Woods. While she's got the singing and acting, Autumn's dancing has been her weak point, and it's a big part of the role. So, if Mitchell is willing to gamble, he may pass on this safe pick.

We'll be watching tonight.

'Hair': No nude scene, but . . .

Click the play button to see photographer Brad Luttrell's audio slide show about SummerFest's Hair. Click here to see a larger version, and here to read about director Mike Thomas' return to the Arboretum.

The announcement that Hair would be one of the SummerFest shows this year provoked a question: Will people be getting naked on The Arboretum stage?

In many productions, the first act of Hair ends with the men burning their draft cards and the cast stripping down as they sing Where Do I Go? Many fans of the show think the nude scene is crucial for Hair, an iconic rock musical that grew out of the 1960s counterculture.

But director Mike Thomas says that nowhere in the script is the nudity mandated. Festival directors took that into consideration when they decided that there will be no nude scene in The Arboretum when Hair runs July 23 to 27.

The optional nude scene, however, is hardly the only R-rated element in Hair, and those other parts are non-negotiable. Thomas says Hair’s creators and rights administrators “want the script to be done as it’s supposed to be done.” So audiences who come out to The Arboretum will hear a colorful array of profanity, sexually suggestive material, including the song Sodomy, blunt discussion of race issues and an extensive portrayal of drug use.

“Caution,” Thomas says. “Is it sexually suggestive? Yes. Does it have adult language and content? Yes. I wouldn’t bring children. Beware.”

So why is SummerFest, which has theater-education programs for elementary and high schoolers and has tried to position itself as a family event, presenting a show that even the director says is not suitable for all ages?

“For our purposes, artistically, that is what it was and what it still is,” Trish Clark, executive director of the Kentucky Classical Theatre Conservatory, says of the decision to present Hair. “Why hide that fact from our children? It’s not like the children don’t know. They’re hearing, seeing and witnessing all of that.”

BlondeTV 7: Where's Frankenstein?

On last night's Legally Blonde the Musical -- The Search for Elle Woods, the final four competitors got a little cheerleading training. In this photo from August 2006, Laura Bell Bundy took a tumble into the world of cheerleading with Robert Eskridge at Town & Village School of Dance in Paris, Ky., in preparation for originating the role of Elle Woods on Broadway. Copyrighted Herald-Leader photo by Matt Goins.

At the end of last night's audition on Legally Blonde The Musical -- The Search for a more reasonable title, judge and writer Heather Hach said, "I completely want to do a Frankenstein and combine the comedy of Rhiannon, Bailey’s professionalism and star quality, the freshness of Lauren and Autumn’s voice."

Well, that sort of takes us back to our original misgiving about this reality TV as Broadway audition thing: They've ended up with a field where no one is a complete picture of Elle Woods, so there's going to be some settling to do to fill this role.

Yes, this blog is a bit of Autumn rooting section, but she is not the dancer Bailey is, doesn't have the charisma of Rhiannon and lacks Lauren's youthfulness.

Ultimately, the judges decided Lauren was a bit too youthful and sent her on home before the show ended. The other shoe will drop next week when another finalist is sent packing at the beginning of the episode before the last audition. The final show down will be in the Palace Theatre in front of director Jerry Mitchell, who has the last call.

It's hard to imagine Rhiannon will make it, because she wound up very winded in the audition with What You Want last night, and her vocals were a horror show. That would create a Bailey-Autumn finale and they're not two really friendly competitors. Bailey was relishing Autumn's tribulations with tap dancing last night, and Autumn doesn't believe any of the final four have earned their shot at Broadway the way she has.

I'm going to stick with my Autumn prediction, maybe not quite as confidently as last week. A key to me was when Bernie Telsey talked to Autumn about her dancing and said, "when it’s in your body, you're Elle, 100 percent." Autumn's been straight up about not being a great auditioner. But it is much easier to believe that she can get that character in her body in the few weeks between the end of the competition and her first performance, which is actually next Wednesday, than it is to believe Bailey could develop the depth or Rhiannon could develop the vocal chops and  to play Elle. All that said, I can't help thinking Autumn may be a better Elphaba or Millie.

And you know, the Southern pride side of us may like to see the role already played by Louisianan Reese Witherspoon and Kentuckian Laura Bell Bundy go to South Carolinian Bailey. We'll see, next week.

BlondeTV 6: 'Just let me be legally blonde.'

It was an up and down night for Natalie on Legally Blonde The Musical -- The Search for Elle Woods. She won the first competition, a photo shoot in which the idea of standing on a bunch of law books apparently put her over the top. But ultimately she was sent packing because the judges just couldn't see her as Elle Woods.

This episode, in which the contestants got their hair styled blonde to put them all on equal footing in the looks department, was the big redemption for Autumn. After a horrible week in which she bombed in the dance audition, got sick on stage -- reportedly from eating bad yogurt, not nerves -- and wound up in the casting office for the second straight week, she needed a big night to reclaim her front-runner status. And she made a big move with a vocal audition that, from what we were shown, was miles ahead of the competition in maturity, confidence and interpretation.

Autumn was buoyed by a coaching session with Seth Rudetsky, in which he talked to her about having a tough time in auditions and advised: “Say, ‘I’m doing an amazing-few-minutes show.’ It’s not about getting to the next level. It’s about, ‘I’m getting a few minutes to perform on stage.’”

She also seemed to get a lot out of the final five's audience with the current Elle Woods, Lexington's Laura Bell Bundy. Autumn asked Laura what she took from the role, creating a very authentic moment from the Tony nominee who choked up answering:

"Spirit is the word – inspired. I became more true to myself . . . I get emotional thinking about it . . . it’s been the best experience of my life, because I grew as a human being, because of my character, because of my connection to her and my openness. And the fact that I got to express emotion and not hold things in was good therapy for me and I grew as I was finding her.”

It was neat to see Laura still retains a lot of the same emotions she had about this part and this show nearly two years ago, when she was just grasping the reality that she would originate the role of Elle Woods on Broadway. Though she's now been playing the part for well over a year, last night gave you the impression it must be tough for her to walk away.

Autumn seemed to appreciate that, which felt somewhat appropriate, because she definitely walked away from last night's show as an heir apparent.

Now, we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. Afterall, two weeks ago, Emma seemed to right her ship, and then she was sent packing last week. But this week was different. Autumn's only rival was 18-year-old Lauren, and while the judges liked her, they seemed to feel she probably needed a few more years of work.

Bailey and Rhiannon came up a few steps behind her. Last night, they were auditioning with the title song at the moment Elle feels like she's lost everything she thought she'd achieved. Autumn grasped the complexities of that in a difficult and emotional song. If they can get the dances in Autumn's legs, at this point, it's hard to not see her as the next Elle Woods on Broadway.

Above: Laura Bell Bundy in the first promotional photo for Legally Blonde -- The Musical. Photo courtesy of Barlow Hartman.

As always, check out Seth's breakdown of last night's show.

BlondeTV 5: That's TRIPLE threat

Vocal coach Seth Rudetsky breaks down this week's episode.

Last week on Leagally Blonde The Musical -- The Search for Elle Woods, we saw Emma, the competitor who came to the competition with Reese Witherspoon looks and Broadway in her veins, finally rally and live up to her promise.

This week, we saw her go home.

It was a somewhat stunning turn of fortune because, despite battling bronchitis, she seemed to turn in a good dance audition with the lightning fast "shake your junk" sequence from Positive.

But three other competitors turned in great auditions, and this week really emphasized the point that all three elements of the triple threat are essential to make it on Broadway. That's why we had two of the most talented actors and singers, Emma and Autumn, standing in the casting office: They were not that great on their toes -- or in four-inch stiletto heels, as the case was.

Natalie, Bailey and Lauren were the standouts with Rhiannon doing just well enough to avoid a private audience with the judges.

In the course of the show, Emma allowed that she had not taken a dance class in five years, and that is probably the key to why she didn't make the final five. For all her self-awareness, for her maturity and for her savvy, it's kind of strange that she did not prepare better prior to the competition for the dance auditions that were sure to come.

So yes, in her bitter closing comments, Emma is right: Bailey, 20; Lauren, 19; and Rhiannon, 19, are "children," under-aged for the role. But they and 24-year-old Natalie kicked her butt on the dance floor. And yes, she was sick. But we're at a juncture in this competition where one bad day alone will not kill you if the judges think you have a shot. So sending home Emma, who looked like a front runner out of the gate, was a statement that she was not working for them. And while it is understandable that she's frustrated, she bears a great deal of responsibility for her early departure because she neglected one of the three pillars of the triple threat.

Program notes: That "vote for the worst" challenge was a provocative little device that went nowhere. If you didn't see it, the competitors were told late night, in the midst of prepping for their demanding audition, to pick the worst actor, singer, dancer, etc. Autumn took charge, turning it into a best list, but we never heard about it again. Reality TV.

A fun note of Broadway reality was that the Legally Blonde set is full of stairs and tracks for set pieces that, "eat stiletto heels," according associate choreographer Denis Jones. We also learned that Laura Bell Bundy dances in higher heels than the four-inch "Pepto-Bismol" numbers the competitors wore last night.

EW's New classics: Up for debate (of course)

John Travolta in Pulp Fiction. Is it really the No. 1 classic movie of the lat 25 years?

Last weekend, the editors of Entertainment Weekly dropped their annual summer double issue and gave  us a good two weeks of debating material.

Is Pulp Fiction really the best film of the last 25 years?

Does Amy Winehouse's year-old debut already deserve Top 10 classic status?

Public Enemy doesn't make the Top 50?

Yes, it's another set of lists. We say that with no derision, because hey, we're going to give you some lists on Sunday. Lists are fun, because they are always a matter of opinion, which means most everyone who reads one will have some modicum of disagreement with it.

EW's new lists are pretty ambitious: The New Classics is 1,000 of the best movies, TV shows, albums, books and other stuff over the past 25 years. My favorite list was actually the final one: Tech, where they named the, "top 25 innovations that changed entertainment."

Even there though, I'd argue against ranking the iPod at No. 4, below the DVD player, Napster and TiVo. Yes, the DVD is a cool advance in home video, but it still was just another method of delivering the videos in some tangible form. The iPod introduced the concept of owning a whole album without leaving your home, or even just picking and choosing the songs you want; singles, but you choose what's a single. It's the most radical change in the distribution of recorded music since the beginning of recorded music. How do you top that?

See, arguing it is almost inescapable.

Pulp Fiction, for me, was a good place to start. I've always considered it a bit overrated, over romanticized. Good movie, snappy dialog and engaging story structure, but not quite all that.

But if you want to argue towering influence, then its No. 1 seems a bit more legit. How many Pulp wannabes have we seen since 1994? Interestingly, Forrest Gump, the movie that beat Pulp Fiction for the Oscar for best picture, isn't even on EW's Top 100. (It's worth noting that EW has always been in love with Pulp.)

There are some nice picks on the movie list, such as Blue Velvet at No. 4, acknowledging the off-kilter brilliance of David Lynch, and giving Merchant Ivory's A Room with a View a nod at No. 24. The Helena Bonham Carter starmaker ushered in the chick-flick-as-literary-costume-drama era we're still in today.

 The music list had several nice visionary choices, such as Madonna's self-titled 1983 album at No. 5, OutKast's Stankonia at No. 12, and R.E.M.'s Life's Rich Pageant at No. 32. All were great albums, and all set the stage for the artists' subsequent chart toppers -- Like a Virgin, Speakerboxx/The Love Below and Document, respectively. But then, somehow, Nirvana's Nevermind is left off in favor of MTV Unplugged. ?!

See, debating is sooooo easy. And fun.

I will also give EW props for trying to limit the number of entries from any one artist to one or two. I seem to remember years ago when Rolling Stone dropped a list of the best rock albums ever, and half the Top 10 was by The Beatles. But then, that list also gave this young rock fan a lot of listening to go do.

And this list from Entertainment Weekly seems to come at a perfect time, right before the laziest days of summer. I'd write more, but I've got some watching and listening to do.

P.S.: A very cool thing about the Top 50 stage list is that four of the shows -- Angels in America (No. 1), Elaine Stritch at Liberty (17), Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk (24) and Topdog/Underdog (49) were all directed by Frankfort's own George C. Wolf. People, we don't revere this guy enough.

Summer classic: 'The Wizard of Oz'

Idina Menzel as Elphaba and Kristen Chenoweth as Glinda perform Defying Gravity, the green witch's anthem from Wicked, at the 2004 Tony Awards.

For 64 years, we knew how to take The Wizard of Oz's Wicked Witch of the West: She was the green-skinned meanie who wanted to kill sweet Dorothy, and her little dog, too. She commanded the  Flying Monkeys and an iconic cackle. And she looked remarkably like mean old Elmira Gulch, who tried to take little Toto away from Dorothy, before the Kansas girl rode her tornado to Oz.

We hated the Wicked Witch of the West, and a remarkable performance by Margaret Hamilton only enhanced our loathing (ding).

What was that -- "loa-thing, pure and un-adulterated loa-thing."

It's that contempt anthem from Wicked, the hit Broadway musical that turned the whole Wizard of Oz story on its head.

Was the green witch actually wicked? Or was she merely suppressed by a conformist regime led by the Wizard himself? Were she and Glinda actually good friends whose bond was strained by the "good" witch's inability to break away from the establishment? Were they in fact in cahoots to stage the Wizard's banishment from Oz so Glinda could take over and Elphaba could escape with her true love, Fiyero, aka The Scarecrow?

Kinda casts a whole new light on the whole "Wicked" witch deal, eh?

Well, whether you adhere to the original story in L. Frank Baum's novel or the new take, based on Gregory Maguire's 1996 novel, there's no denying the 1939 film of The Wizard of Oz is a bona fide classic and well-worth seeing on a big screen. The transformation from black-and-white Kansas to color Oz is particularly stunning shown floor to ceiling, as it will be at 1:30 and 7:15 p.m. Wednesday at the Kentucky Theatre. The Wizard is this week's entry in the Kentucky's Summer Classics series. Admission is $3.

Blonde TV: Cassies battle for the bottom

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Cassie O. from Toledo singing So Much Better. The judges liked her voice, but her acting . . . not so much.

"Mean what you say," actor Paul Canaan told Cassie O., who replied with a clueless, "OK."

"I don't feel the intensity of what this needs," writer Heather Hach added.

That the Cassie from Toledo seemed oblivious to a craft called acting during and following her wooden audition  made her the obvious first victim in Legally Blonde The Musical -- The Search for Elle Woods, the MTV reality show searching for the actor to replace Laura Bell Bundy in the leading role in the Broadway hit.

Last week, we said that none of these 10 girls appeared to be anywhere close to being ready to star on Broadway, and nothing that happened tonight changed that. 

Tonight was acting night -- which alone says this show has gone farther than Grease: You're the One that I Want, which spent next-to-no time looking at acting, in testing at the whole performer.

Legally Blonde -- The Musical associate director Paul Bruni showed up to conduct an acting workshop in which Bailey from South Carolina excelled at, among other things, losing her Southern accent. It probably caused some snickers on the coasts, but checking a strong accent is a real issue for actors from regions such as the Southeast.

Bailey and current BFF Lindsay won quality time with LB actress Nikki Snelson, who plays aerobics instructor Brooke Wyndham. They got to rehearse a scene with Nikki, where Elle and Brooke bond over their Delta Nu-ness, which turned out to be everyone's audition scene with Snelson.

The judges decided to throw the hopefuls a curve, having Snelson drop a line to see how they reacted. Most actors  that we were shown at least paused.  Some struggled with it. Some struggled with other things. Rhiannon -- parents big Fleetwood Mac fans? -- was shown flubbing a few lines, but she had the right spirit. Autumn had the best save of the ladies we were shown, turning the initial flustered moment into part of the scene.

But Cassie O. had to be saved by Snelson, just part of the affirmation that in a group of actors who don't belong there, she really wasn't ready for Broadway. 

Exaggeration watch: This show is already showing a knack for gross exaggerations, such as repeatedly calling Blonde director Jerry Mitchell, "legendary director," several times last week. We love Jerry. But Blonde is his first show directing, and no one becomes a legend on one show.

This week, host Haylie Duff informed us that these would be rigorous auditions like  "no one on Broadway has experienced." Maybe not on TV. But having interviewed numerous Broadway actors over the years, I've heard plenty of horror stories about extrapolated, grueling, soul-destroying auditions, and as Canaan pointed out, if you don't make the cut, you usually aren't told why. 

Box Office: Variety reports Blonde saw an increase in ticket sales after the reality show debuted.

Lexington Children's Theatre's 70th Season

Vivian Snipes (above), photographed in 2004 in front of Lexington Children's Theatre, and her husband Larry (below), have both penned new scripts that will premier at LCT next season.

World premieres and pirates highlight Lexington Children’s Theatre’s 2008-09 season, its 70th year in business.

The holiday season will put Larry and ­Vivian Snipes, the theater’s producing director and associate artistic director, respectively, in the spotlight with new scripts.

Larry Snipes has penned a script from Laura ­Numeroff’s If You Take a Mouse to the Movies, scheduled to run Nov. 29 to Dec. 27 at the Lexington Opera House. Vivian Snipes’ adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen will play at LCT Dec. 14 to 20.

Feb. 15 to 21, LCT makes a contribution to the Lincoln bicentennial with the world premiere of ­Keeping Mr. Lincoln, which the theater commissioned from playwright Sandra Fenichel Asher.

Children’s Theatre will end its season with the musical How I Became a Pirate from May 3 to 10.

The rest of the season includes some classics and contemporary favorites.

■ The season opens Sept. 28 to Oct. 5 with Eric Coble’s ­adaptation of Lois Lowry’s Newberry Award-winning novel The Giver.

■ The Headless ­Horseman rides in for a Halloween run of The ­Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Oct. 26 to Nov. 2.

■ The Russian folktale Katerina the Clever plays one weekend, Nov. 8 and 9.

■ Jack and the Wonderbeans returns Jan. 25 to Feb. 1.

■ The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 takes a Flint, Mich., family to one of the most volatile times and places in American history on March 15 to 22.

For season subscription information, call (859) 254-4546 or visit the theater's website. Individual show tickets will go on sale Sept. 1.

Video: Grand Night for Singing

A Grand Night for Singing opens this weekend at the Singletary Center for the Arts. In our story for today's paper, we talked about the talented "brain trust" that puts Grand Night together from scratch, every year. To compliment that, photographer and producer Emily Spence and I went out to talk to some of the singers about the tunes they get to share and the town and gown camaraderie of Grand Night.

BlondeTV: So much better than expected

Haylie Duff, far right, and assistant choreographer Dennis Jones, to the left of Duff, brief the contestants in Legally Blonde The Musical -- The Search for Elle Woods. Copyrighted photo courtesy of MTV.

We will confess our misgivings up front: It is reality TV, which we have no faith in for substance, and MTV, which completely ceased being relevant to me after the third season of The Real World. Add to that, we saw this before in NBC's dreadful Grease: You're the One That I Want, which tapped the stars of the Grease revival currently running on Broadway.

So, I was not expecting much from Legally Blonde The Musical -- The Search for Elle Woods, which debuted on Monday night on MTV and will run for seven more weeks.

But if the show can stay on the level of its premier, you can shut me up like Professor Callahan.

The object here is to find a successor to Lexington native Laura Bell Bundy as Elle Woods in the Broadway production of Legally Blonde -- The Musical.

One of the best signs this show has a chance to be good comes in the first segment when Legally Blonde director Jerry Mitchell tells the hopefuls, "Casting the next Elle Woods will be my decision."

With those words, we know this will not turn into a popularity contest where the winner will be determined by whoever has the fan base that can text the quickest. It will be a professional Broadway director, plus veteran casting director Bernard Telsey, Legally Blonde book writer Heather Hach and actor Paul Canaan, who tells the hopefuls, "I wanted to be Elle Woods, but there was a height issue . . . "

By then, we also know that the show isn't going to waste our time with preliminaries. No lingering in the hinterlands to see what crazy, delusional people show up at the open calls. We start with the ladies who got to come to New York, and quicklywe are down to a final 15 who have to be whittled to a final 10 in 45 minutes. So we see a lot of dancing and trying to sing the Act I finale, So Much Better, in which the final note is held for 16 bars. We really do get a sense of how tough being in a Broadway show is.

When Emma, a hopeful who claims Broadway is in her blood because her parents met working on the original Grease, asks associate choreographer Dennis Jones if he could demonstrate a move slower, he says, "I am."

Emma provides the most drama of the night, walking in touting her Broadway bloodline  but apparently not bringing her A game to the audition. But she makes it, and the show also starts to develop some characters, like Bailey, a 20-year-old Southern Belle from Anderson, S.C., who seems destined to become the show's bumpkin, and Lauren, already becoming the meanie.

There is a classic moment in Lauren's singing audition, where she brags, "I'm not here for my 15 minutes of fame making friends with the other girls."

Hach responds, "But Elle Woods would take it to the top, but she'd also make friends with the other girls."

Lauren starts backing up immediately, "All the other girls here are really nice . . . "

Yes, judging by the preview, there will be some drama, some tears, some backstabbing, and you want a little of that on reality TV.

But like Project Runway at its best, The Search for Elle seems to be aiming to present the process of the craft. The main whining in the first episode is about exhaustion. Bundy, who looks a couple of decades more mature than any of these girls when she meets them at the end of the premier, says, "If you are tired right now, that is nothing."

That does bring us back to the overall misgiving about this process, this premise. Dismissing the final contestant cut, Telsey says, "We can't cast based on potential."

But at this juncture, isn't that basically what this show is doing? None of these actors appear to have much professional seasoning in the premier. So really, they are looking for someone who's right for the part and has the potential to be able to go from this pressure cooker to centerstage at the Palace Theatre in a few months.

That's asking a lot.

But fortunately, watching MTV's Blonde talent search doesn't appear to be asking for too much.

'Blonde' reality show unlikely to find another Bundy

Laura Bell Bundy takes a bow on the opening night of Legally Blonde -- The Musical, April 29, 2007. Before she bows out, we'll see her a few times on the MTV reality/competition show that will name her replacement. Copyrighted Herald-Leader photo by Aaron Lee Fineman. Below: A moment from Legally Blonde The Musicial: The Search for Elle Woods. Copyrighted photo courtesy of MTV.

The argument against a reality show to find Laura Bell Bundy's replacement as the lead in the Broadway production of Legally Blonde -- The Musical is Laura Bell Bundy.

This isn't argument Bundy is making. She has said nothing against Legally Blonde The Musical -- The Search for Elle Woods, the MTV show that premiers tonight with 10 aspiring starlets competing to inherit Elle's hot pink wardrobe. In fact, she's promoting the show, will appear in several episodes and help train the winner for her big debut.

But you cannot deny that this show is a purely commercial move designed to keep Blonde in the spotlight after its Tony Award-nominated star exits. Yes, there is always that chance that The Search will turn up some diamond in the rough, a previously unknown talent with the skills, magnetism and stamina to fill Bundy's pink high heels.

But that's doubtful, because Bundy didn't walk into the show straight out of Lexington Catholic High School, and that's not how most of Broadway's leading lights got to center stage. Bundy first turned heads when she was 10, taking an Obie Award nominated star turn in Ruthless! The Musical. She had roles in movies such as Jumanji and guest turns on Home Improvement that you can still see on Nickelodeon. If she'd been born 10 years later, in an entertainment landscape like today's that offers more opportunities to child stars, she could have been a Miley Cyrus or Ashley Tisdale. But she actually went to high school here, then went back to New York and walked onto a plum role in a hit daytime drama, followed by a Broadway debut in a Tony Award-winning musical. When we talked to her directors and colleagues on Blonde, almost all referred to the years of work she put in leading up to this show as being of paramount importance to her landing and succeeding in the part.

She paid her dues, but even more importantly, she gained valuable experience that prepared her for a colossally demanding role that is plausibly billed as being as big as Gypsy's Mama Rose. Granted, Blonde does not have Gypsy's literary cachet. But as Elle, Bundy is dancing, singing, acting a range from humor to heartache and basically executing every play in the triple threat book with only a few minutes off stage.

It is a role you work up to, not one you walk into off the street.

Broadway already tried this once, when the revival of Grease held a reality show audition for the leading roles of Danny and Sandy. Likable Max Crumm and Laura Osnes won via viewer votes over a few folks who had more seasoning, and the opening night reviews were not kind. Normally, these roles have gone to veterans who worked their ways up through the ranks or were filled with a little stunt casting. Actually, Grease is resorting to that now, with American Idol champ Taylor Hicks joining the cast for the summer.

Broadway is a business -- big business. And with so many lights on Times Square producers need to do something to make theirs shine brighter. Maybe being the show with the girl from MTV will help Blonde, now well into its second year. But it's not a move that shows a tremendous amount of respect for Bundy, her supporting players or hundreds of other actors who have put in their time on auditions, rejections and bit parts to get roles like this. And in many ways, it will put the eventual winner of the contest in precarious position she'll need Elle-like determination to overcome.

Starting tonight, we'll find out if anyone fits that bill.

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Lyndy is 'Dancing with the Stars'

Lexington-native Lyndy Franklin and her fellow castmates from A Chorus Line will be on Dancing with the Stars at 9 tonight (May 6) on ABC. Franklin made her Broadway debut in the hit revival of A Chorus Line in 2006 and is now the company's dance captain. Along for the ride was company manager and fellow Lexingtonian Adam J. Miller. Miller and Franklin went to the Sayre School together.

Copyrighted Herald-Leader photo by Aaron Lee Fineman.

Review: The Music Man

Iowa has been good for Paragon Music Theatre.

Four years ago, the company went there for its debut production, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s State Fair. It was a stunningly good production for Paragon, especially considering it was its first show.

This spring, the company is back in the Hawkeye State for Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man.

Since March 2004, Paragon has staged numerous excellent shows, so now we have expectations.
In many respects, Music Man lives up to those, particularly in providing strong leads and a solid orchestra. In every respect, you have to admire the effort.

There are moments, particularly the first act showstoppers Ya Got Trouble and Seventy-Six Trombones, where the stage floods with around 50 performers.

Photo, above: Jessie Rose Pennington plays Marian the librarian in Paragon Music Theatre's production of The Music Man. LexGo photo by David Perry.

Artsy TV (video included)

The cast of the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Company, which originated at Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park. Photo by Joe Sinnott, courtesy of Thirteen/WNET.

I had the best of intentions of screening the Great Performances film of the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Company, which airs at 9 tonight on PBS. But, to paraphrase one of my favorite Lyle Lovett tunes, "He wasn't good, but he had good intentions."

SO, life happened, and I haven't gotten to it. But the word is this is a first rate film of a first rate performance, featuring Raul Esparza in a production that has the singers playing their own instruments. If this is a Sondheim you've missed, then you must be in front of the tube tonight (It does repeat at 1 a.m. and airs again at 3 a.m. Friday and Monday, for night owls and those of you with video recorders). Years ago, back in the Dick Pardy era, a touring production rolled through the Opera House. Pardy told me one of his great frustrations was that shows needed a movie version to help sell them, and Company was a hard sell because there was no film of it. But it was a gem, and I'm really glad he badgered me to make sure I saw it. I can already hear the opening in my head -- "Bobby . . . Bobby . . . "

This version originated at Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park, and the Cincy Enquirer's Jackie Demaline gave the Great Performances version a rave, writing:

"This Company revival was spellbinding in its original staging at Playhouse. It remained wonderful in its Broadway transfer, although adapting from a thrust to a proscenium noticeably flattened the staging. For television, 10 cameras have gone a long way to restoring the magic as friends swirl around an emotionally isolated Bobby."

Click here for Jackie's complete review.

Also, read about ABC's film version of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, starring Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald.

Speaking of great arts television, if you missed the 60 Minutes profile of Gustavo Dudamel, check this out:

 

CBS is the only major network that still devotes quality time to covering performing arts, primarily on 60 Minutes and Sunday Morning, and Bob Simon's piece on the conducting prodigy is a prime example. It conveys the excitement swirling around the 26-year-old conductor who took New York by storm in the fall and will be taking over the Los Angeles Philharmonic. I don't normally sit in front of my computer for 12-minute video clips, but this is well worth it (there is a commercial before the segment, but it wraps up quickly).