Monday, April 30, 2007

Lunt and Fontanne's Last Stand

One of the many reasons I enjoy spending time with Connie, who also blogs, and her husband, Ed, who doesn't but probably should, is that I always pick up great theater tidbits from Ed, who used to be the theater critic for the Detroit News.

Sunday, as we were strolling along the pier in Piermont, N.Y., we somehow got onto the subject of theater, and Ed recounted how he caught the great Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne on one of their final tours of the provinces, when he was a student in Cleveland on a class trip. They were starring in The Visit, and Ed recalled the teacher assuring the students that when they were older, they would look grateful they had the chance to see this pair.

He certainly is, and I'm glad to have been able to share in his memories.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Another Cancellation

When Grace O'Malley's father stepped onstage at the beginning of The Pirate Queen, my heart leapt up.

"Charles Keating, you're back on Broadway," I thought to myself, only to check my Playbill and realize that it was actually Jeff McCarthy, whom I used to see on the Metro North train in the days when I lived in Tarrytown. You have to admit the resemblance is uncanny.

At the time I thought that at least I could enjoy Mr. Keating's work as the villainous Carl Hutchins on the reruns of Another World that Soap Net has been airing. But yesterday a fellow AW fan, Retta (who's also a blogger), wrote to tell me that the network had replaced it on its afternoon lineup with The O.C. or One Tree Hill or some other such show for teeny boppers who should be in school at 1 pm anyway. For whatever good it will do, we've emailed our displeasure to the powers that be.

On Soap Net's web site, they suggest checking out the few AW episodes that are available on in2tv.com, but I'm just not that excited about watching lengthy videos on the Internet. Nevertheless, I'm not sure I'll be able to resist checking out the occasional episode of Edge of Night or Texas, which I can't believe are also available. Oh, to see the wonderful Beverlee McKinsey play Iris Cory again!