By Andrew Gans
10 Oct 2003

IN OTHER DIVA NEWS OF THE WEEK October 14 will be an especially exciting day for Barbra Streisand fans. Not only will Streisand's latest recording — "The Movie Album" — hit stores that Tuesday, but the award-winning actress-singer-director will also guest on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," where she will sing the Charlie Chaplin composition "Smile." . . . Tony Award winner Sutton Foster will vacation from Thoroughly Modern Millie Nov. 17-23. Her official website also reports that the young singer-actress is contracted with the Tony-winning musical through Jan. 11, 2004, although it is a tentative last performance that is subject to change. . . . Another Tony winner, Christine Ebersole, has joined the roster of artists taking part in this season's American Songbook series, which is devoted to the popular American song. Ebersole replaces the previously announced Carolee Carmello and Gregg Edelman, the husband-and wife duo who were scheduled for the Oct. 17 concert. (Edelman was recently cast in the Broadway revival of Wonderful Town, and Carmello, of course, continues her Broadway run in Urinetown). During her evening of song, Ebersole will be accompanied on piano by 2003 Tony Award-winning Hairspray composer Marc Shaiman. His partner, another Hairspray Tony winner — Scott Wittman — will direct the evening. Tickets for the Oct. 17 concert are priced at $45 for the 8 PM concert and $30 for the 10 PM show; call (212) 721 6500 for reservations. The American Songbook concerts are held in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, 165 West 65th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam in the Rose Building, tenth floor. . . . Following an acclaimed eight-week run of A. R. Gurney's Love Letters with a rotating cast of actors, The Storefront will present an encore performance of the two-character play Oct. 27. Cabaret veteran Mary Cleere Haran and theatre-film critic Rex Reed will take on the roles of, respectively, Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III in the play, which traces the lifelong correspondence between the two friends. Showtime at the Duplex Cabaret Theatre is 7 PM. Tickets for Love Letters are priced at $18 plus a two-drink minimum; call (212) 255-5438 for reservations. The Duplex Cabaret Theatre is located at 61 Christopher Street. . . . Academy Award winner Catherine Zeta Jones, Tony Award winners Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell and recent Chess star Josh Groban will take part in the third of three benefit concerts to inaugurate the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Oct. 25 evening, entitled "Gala: Soundstage L.A.," will feature the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Esa-Pekka Salonen and John Williams as conductors. In addition to the aforementioned Zeta-Jones, McDonald, Mitchell and Groban, the concert will boast special guests Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. Selections from the Oct. 25 concert — as well as tunes from the Oct. 23 and 24 evenings of classical pieces — will be part of a "Great Performances" special at the end of the month. "The Los Angeles Philharmonic Inaugurates Walt Disney Concert Hall" will air on PBS stations around the country on Oct. 29. WNET/Thirteen in the metropolitan area will broadcast the special Oct. 29 at 8 PM with an encore presentation Nov. 2 at 1 PM; check local listings. Designed by Frank Gehry, the new Walt Disney Concert Hall is the new home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The Hall is located at 111 S. Grand Avenue in Los Angeles, CA. For tickets, call (323) 850-2000. For more information, visit www.musiccenter.org. . . . Liza Minnelli, Maureen McGovern, Judy Collins, Lainie Kazan, Karen Mason, Carol Woods, Sal Viviano, J. Mark McVey and Jim Caruso are all scheduled to interpret the works of Kander and Ebb at the annual "Reach for Tomorrow" benefit for the Lauri Strauss Leukemia Foundation. The 90-piece New York Pops Orchestra — under the direction of Skitch Henderson — will also be part of the Nov 3. Carnegie Hall evening, which is being produced by Barry Levitt. Tickets to the Nov. 3 concert are priced $15-$90 and are available by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800. . . . Rhapsody in Seth star Seth Rudetsky — who was also the recent musical director and artistic producer of the Actors' Fund benefit Chess concert — will host the 2003 SHINE Awards. The Oct. 18 event at L.A.'s The House of Blues will also feature a host of celebrity presenters as well as a performance by Lorna Luft, who is currently enjoying a success with her one woman show, Songs My Mother Taught Me. As of press time, presenters will include Kelsey Grammer, Mariska Hargitay, Craig T. Nelson, Sara Rue, Ming-Na, Alex Kingston, Ernie Hudson, Enrique Murciano, Hattie Winston, Justina Machado, Shelley Morrison, Bret Harrison, Lynsey Bartilson, Megyn Price, Roger Aaron Brown, Jill Jones, Chico Benymon, Thea Gill, Robert David Hall, Sharon Case, John Hensley, Harris Allan, Chad Allen, Sandro Finoglio and Carla Ortiz. Produced and directed by Ben Rimalower, the SHINE Awards (Sexual Health IN Entertainment), honor "positive portrayals of sexual health issues on television." Special awards will be bestowed upon Viacom Chairman and CEO Sumner M. Redstone and "Law & Order: SVU" Executive Producer Neal Bear. Tickets — which begin at $150 — are available by calling The Media Project at (818) 762-9668. . . . And, finally, Timeless Divas, the series that salutes performers over 40 in the worlds of cabaret, theatre and songwriting, continues with two concerts hosted by Broadway veterans. Leslie Uggams, who is currently starring in the Tony-winning musical Thoroughly Modern Millie, will host the Oct. 26 concert at the Engelman Recital Hall at the Baruch Performing Arts Center. Those scheduled to perform at the 7:30 event include Ann Duquesnay, Annie Hughes, Terri Klausner, Amanda McBroom, Heather Mac Rae, Karen Saunders, Neva Small, Mary Stout and Deborah Tranelli. The Engelman Recital Hall is located at 55 Lexington Avenue at 25th Street. Recent Man of La Mancha star Marin Mazzie will host the Dec. 7 evening, also scheduled for 7:30 PM. Those scheduled to sing at the York Theatre Company at St. Peter's (Lexington Avenue at 54th Street) include Julie Budd, Angela LaGreca, Sally Mayes, Rebecca Spencer and KT Sullivan. Tickets for the concerts are priced at $50 each, which includes a pre-performance cocktail party at 6:30 PM. Call (212) 615-6966 for reservations; visit www.durellproductions.com/sharell for more information.

REMINDERS

Betty Buckley in Concert:

Oct. 18 at the Rialto Center for the Performing Arts in Atlanta, GA
Oct. 28-Nov. 8 at Feinstein's at the Regency in New York, NY
Nov. 22 at the Dominican University in River Forest, IL

Liz Callaway in Concert:

Oct. 11 with the Binghamton Philharmonic Pops in Binghamton, NY
Oct. 12 with Jason Graae in Coral Gables, FL
Nov. 8 with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra in Hartford, CT
Nov. 10 in The Three Leading Ladies of Broadway in Washington, DC
Dec. 13 in Arlington, VA
Jan. 17, 2004 in Asheville, NC
Jan. 31 in Sibling Revelry in Boston, MA
Feb. 8 in Sibling Revelry in Riverfront, IL
Feb. 14 with Jason Graae in Palm Springs, CA
Feb. 26-28 with Jason Graae in West Palm Beach, FL
April 24-25 with Jason Graae in San Rafael, CA
May 1 in Sibling Revelry in Orono, ME
May 8 in Sibling Revelry in Purchase, NY

Barbara Cook in Concert:

Nov. 22 at Carnegie Hall in New York, NY

Patti LuPone in Concert:

Oct. 25 at Symphony Hall in Boston, MA (“Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda”)
Nov. 7-9 with the Houston Symphony ("Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda")
Jan. 23, 2004 at the Eissey Campus Theatre in Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Jan. 24, 2004 at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL
Feb. 27-29, 2004 at the Myerhoff Hall in Baltimore, MD
March 12, 2004 at the New Jersey PAC in Newark, NJ
March 13 at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ

Karen Mason in Concert:

Oct. 18 at the Emelin Theater in NY
Nov. 15 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ

Christiane Noll in Concert

Oct. 11 Chattanooga, TN with Don Pippin
Dec. 31 Des Moines, IA with Des Moines Symphony & Brad Little

Well, that’s all for now. Happy diva-watching!