By Andrew Gans
08 Dec 2006

Gifford describes her newest work, In Canaan's Eyes, this way: "[It's] a World War II musical, an ensemble musical. [Under the Bridge and Saving Aimee] are both star-driven musicals, and I just thought it would be so much fun to write something in the vein of Wonderful Town where everybody gets a big song. So it's four love stories simultaneously between two families in World War II. It's a rich industrial family from Chicago and a poor farming family from Ohio, and that was fun because that's the first time I've ever just written from my imagination.

"We're going to do a reading hopefully in January when Annie is done," Gifford adds. "I have it in my mind who I want to cast for it. I may not get the world's greatest names at that point because they're not star [roles], but I think what's missing, as far as I can see in opportunities for regional theatres, is more ensemble pieces where everybody gets to [shine]. Not every community has a brilliant performer who can carry a show, but every community has a bunch of people that are pretty darn good."

"After being in the spotlight for over 40 years," Gifford concludes, "I love putting a fire on and writing all day long into the night at my home here in Connecticut. That, to me, is a little piece of the promised land. But it doesn't come alive, of course, until someone else is saying your words and singing your songs."

[Tickets for Annie can be purchased by visiting the Madison Square Garden box office (Seventh Avenue at 32nd Street), by logging on to www.thegarden.com or by calling (212) 307-7171. For more information about Saving Aimee, visit the Signature Theatre's website at www.sig-online.org.]

DIVA TIDBITS
Jill O'Hara starred on Broadway in two musicals: She made her Main Stem bow in April 1968 as Agnes Nolan in George M! and then created the role of Fran Kubelik later that same year in the original Broadway production of Promises, Promises. O'Hara nabbed a Tony Award nomination for her performance, but it was to be her last Broadway role. The singing actress, however, will make an extremely rare public appearance on Dec. 10 in the holiday fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, BroadwayWorld.com on Ice. Richard Jay-Alexander, who is directing the 6:30 PM concert at Joe's Pub, said the evening's title will become perfectly clear to those attending the starry to-do, which will also boast the talents of Michael Arden, Laura Bell Bundy, Natalie Toro, Jill Eikenberry, Michael Tucker, Felicia Finley, Mary Cleere Haran, Lauren Frost, Ruben Flores, Hugh Panaro, Christine Pedi, Craig Schulman, Nikki Renee Daniels, Jason Tam, Kurt Domoney, Josh Walden, The Plaid Tidings (Bobby Randle, Scot Fedderly, Christopher Youngsman and Rodney Peck) and Simply Barbra, aka Steven Brinberg. "Broadway Beat"'s Richie Ridge will narrate the evening, which will feature songs from shows about the holidays, works from musicals that featured holiday songs and productions that opened around holiday time. Concertgoers can expect to hear O'Hara re-create her performance of Fran Kubelik when she sings Promises' "Whoever You Are" as well as Michael Arden's rendition of Joni Mitchell's "River," Hugh Panaro's "I Don't Remember Christmas" and much, much more. Also, Laila Robins — currently on Broadway in Heartbreak House — will offer a special holiday reading. For tickets to the Robert Diamond-produced benefit, with musical direction by Ben Toth, call (212) 967-7555 or visit www.joespub.com.

The 28th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, which were presented Dec. 3 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, will be broadcast on CBS-TV Dec. 26 beginning at 9 PM ET. This year's honorees included award-winning composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, conductor Zubin Mehta, country singer-songwriter Dolly Parton, singer-songwriter Smokey Robinson and film director Steven Spielberg. The Lloyd Webber tribute featured the talents of two Tony Award winners, two actresses currently enjoying the roles of their careers and acclaimed vocalist Josh Groban. Betty Buckley, who won a Tony Award for her performance as Grizabella in Lloyd Webber's Cats, joined Sarah Brightman for a rendition of the Cats anthem "Memory." Elena Roger, the Argentine actress who is currently wowing London audiences in the acclaimed West End revival of Evita, performed a song from that Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical, and Christine Ebersole, who recently opened to raves in Grey Gardens, performed "As If We Never Said Goodbye," the second-act showstopper from Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard. Singer Groban was on hand to perform another Lloyd Webber hit, The Phantom of the Opera's "Music of the Night."

Two Wicked Elphabas — Stephanie J. Block and Eden Espinosa — as well as The Light in the Piazza's Matthew Morrison and Two Gentlemen of Verona's Jonelle Allen will take part in An Evening with Andrew Lippa, Dec. 19 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, CA. The concert, which will include Lippa's songs performed by the composer and his special guests, will benefit the California Conservatory of the Arts, a non-profit training ground for aspiring artists. Tickets for An Evening with Andrew Lippa, priced $35-$100, are available by calling (949) 556-2787.

Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.