PLAYBILL ON OPENING NIGHT: Julius Caesar: The Noblest Roman Above The Title
By Harry Haun
04 Apr 2005
The red-carpet arrivals at the theatre ran extra innings because of the overflow show of celebs. Wouldn't you know the name leading the photo tipsheet—Mariah Carey—was a no-show? And it wasn't much of a consolation prize that Beyonce swirled by like a blue tornado before anyone could ask Question One (mine was: what was it like to work with Steve Martin and Kevin Kline in the new Pink Panther due out in a few months?).
Otherwise: Willem Dafoe, Lynn Whitfield, BET owner Bob Johnson, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, rapper/DEJ JAM prexy Jay-Z, Tony winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Ron Silver, boxing promoter Butch Lewis, singer Michael Bivins, Chris Meloni, New Yorks Jets running back Curtis Martin, Katie Holmes, dancer-choreographer Debbie Allen, Nia Long, actor Chewetel Ejiofor, music executive Sylvia Rhone, Chicago's Paige Davis and "The Wire's" Jamie Hector.
Robert DeNiro, 32 years down the road from Mean Streets, slipped in the back way with his Grace Hightower, but Harvey Keitel and his Daphna ran the gauntlet out front.
On his way into the theatre, Turner Classic Movies' amiable and informed host Robert Osborne was asked if he was expecting to enjoy the evening. A notorious tease, he said, "No, I'm not. I don't know the author." Similarly, Spike Lee was asked if he'd ever be interested in directing Shakespeare. "Theatre, maybe," he replied cautiously, "but I don't know about Shakespeare." The thought didn't sit well with him. Director Lee is the main reason Julius Caesar won't be extended. Right after the run, he and Washington will start shooting Inside Man, their fourth film together (after Mo' Better Blues, Malcolm X and He Got Game) "It's something different for Denzel and me, and I'm looking forward to working with him again."
Hats off to Samuel L. Jackson in his signature beret and boxing legend Michael Spinks in an outsized black cowboy hat. (He removed it when he got into the theatre.)
Riding the red carpet like four horsemen of the apocalypse were politician Al Sharpton, televangelist T. D. Jakes, filmmaker Robert Townsend and composer Isaac Hayes.
Jessica Lange moseyed over from her Glass Menagerie matinee, escorted by her son.
On the arm of Post columnist Michael Reidel was Angelica Torn, who has been splashing about her excellent one-woman show on Sylvia Plath, Edge, which started Off-Broadway and shifted to London. "I just did it in Miami at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, and now I'm starting a university tour, beginning with Texas A&M. Then, I'm going into negotiations for the London premiere of one of my favorite plays that was on Broadway in the '80s. Can't say the title yet, but it may be on the West End in the fall."
Martha Plimpton, the daughter of Keith Carradine and Shelley Plimpton, was in attendance on special family business. "I guess the easiest way to describe it," she said, "is that Dan Sullivan is my former stepfather." In fact, she left acting the chute early, and he directed her during her formative years in several productions at Seattle Rep, where he was artistic director. She's poised right now to open April 10 in The False Servant at CSC.
Two Frankies who formerly inhabited the Belasco during the run of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune—Edie Falco and Rosie Perez—arrived separately but almost side-by-side, and Rosie renewed acquaintances with one of the theatre's usherettes.
Director Ethan McSweeney: "I'm going to direct a Lee Blessing world premiere, Body of Water, at the Guthrie Theatre with Michael Learned in the lead." Blessing just had a play open at 59E59 Theatre, Going to St. Ives, with L. Scott Caldwell and "my girlfriend, Vivienne Benesch, so we're one family fully employed by the Blessings." Count your Blessings.
Angela Bassett, a Lady Macbeth to Alec Baldwin's Macbeth at The Public, arrived with her hubby, Courtney B. Vance. She was excited that they were bound for the Guthrie to do His Girl Friday, John Guare's rewrite of The Front Page, directed by the Guthrie's artistic director, Joseph Dowling. "First rehearsal is May 31, and we open July 2."
Star Jones and groom (Al Reynolds) found their way easily to the waiting mikes and tape recorders. Other couples included actor director Tim Reid and his actress wife, Daphne Maxwell Reid. And then there were the uncouples . . .
At the beginning of the evening, a reporter noticed by the Belasco box-office Ahmad Rashad, a sportscaster who once upon a time proposed, on camera, to Phylicia and had her accept. Apparently pleased with that memory, he said, "I see your wife coming." Rashad looked startled and, unamused in the extreme, wasted no time correcting him. "Ex-wife," he said firmly. The reporter closed his little storybook and apologized: "Pardon me, while I get this foot out of my mouth." Shot back Rashad: "Both feet."
The doors of the Belasco were slow to open, forcing both Rashads—after exchanging hi's and smiles—to stand there a small eternity chatting in their respective circle of friends. The two-and-a-half-hour drama that followed must have played like a blink to them.
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Curtain call as Julius Caesar
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