The luck of Warren Leight may strike again. A couple season's ago, the playwright's Side Man, praised but temporarily without a home, was given a slot at the Roundabout Theatre Company when the nonprofit's planned production, a Burt Bacharach-Hal David revue called What the World Needs Now, fell through.

Now, Leight's latest, Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine, may sneak into New York this spring, taking the Manhattan Theatre Club slot currently held by David Lindsay-Abaire's Wonder of the World. The latter comedy may be pushed back in the MTC roster to fit the television schedule of "Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker, who is in talks to appear in the production. To accommodate Parker, MTC is mulling bumping the play to dates in summer 2001, when Parker is available (her program reportedly shoots between March and June 29).

Leight confirmed to the New York Post that he is in talks with MTC. An MTC spokesperson at Boneau/Bryan-Brown told PBOL (Feb. 2) that discussions were being held but that Leight was "talking to other people, too. Nothing's signed." Pretty much everything depends on actress Parker's schedule. If she can't do Wonder in May, Glimmer could fill the gap.

*

Filmdom's Jonathan Silverman is Jordan Shine and "The West Wing"'s John Spencer is Martin Glimmer in Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine, Leight's jazz-themed follow up to Side Man, which opened Jan. 25 at the Mark Taper Forum. Silverman has starred in many movies, notably the screen version of Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "Stealing Home," "Weekend at Bernie's," and a television movie of Simon's "Broadway Bound." He was the star of the short-lived sitcom, "The Single Guy."

Spencer is perhaps at the peak of his career as one of the stars of the popular series, "The West Wing." Prior to that show, he was featured on "L.A. Law." On the stage, he has been seen in Good as New at MCC Theatre and Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

David Schwimmer, who created the role of Jordan Shine in Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, was once rumored to be returning to the Silverman role for the play's West Coast debut at the Mark Taper Forum. Schwimmer is best known for playing Ross Geller on "Friends." His recent foray into movies has included "Six Days Seven Nights" and "The Pallbearer."

When Spencer announced his involvement with Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine at the Taper on Fox News June 5, 2000, he added that the show would move to New York City in the summer of 2001. Evan Yionoulis directs.

Returning to the world of jazz after his 1999 Tony Award-winning play Side Man, Leight's Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine is the story of Martin and Danny Glimmer, twin brothers torn apart by the music and hard-living lifestyles that once made them close. The brothers Glimmer formed Eddie Shine's trumpet section in the big band jazz days of the '50s but, at Danny's wife's insistence, he turned his back on music and thus initiates a 40-year estrangement with his brother. Things finally lighten up, a generation later, with a romance between Shine's son and Danny's daughter.

Also in the cast are recent Yale graduate Alexa Fischer (Delia) and Nicolas Surovy (Danny). Surovy's TV appearances include guest spots on "Star Trek: Voyager," "Law & Order," "Simon and Simon" and "The X-Files."

Mark Taper Forum is located at 135 N. Grand Ave. For tickets and information call (213) 628-2772 or visit www.TaperAhmanson.com.

— Robert Simonson
David Lefkowitz, Christine Ehren and Kenneth Jones