UPDATED JUNE 18TH, 2007,
JULY 12th, 2007 & MAY 13, 2008
The "culturally with-it"
Evelyn Gibbons emailed me this morning and told me of a local resident who was profiled in Sunday's
Citizens' Voice for his nomination for Best Play at the
2007 Tony Awards. His name is
Douglas Carter Beane, and he has lived in both the
Wilkes-Barre and
Tunkhannock areas of
Pennsylvania.
According to the article "
Tony Nominee Recalls Summers at Lake Carey," (published in the
Sunday Voice on Sunday, June 10th, 2007, page A5),
Douglas Carter Beane was born spent part of his childhood in
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and at a summer cottage on
Lake Carey in
Wyoming County.
However, in another interview, this one with
Oasis Magazine,
Beane confirms he
was actually born in
Wilkes-Barre--in
General Hospital, to be precise.
Beane was nominated for a
2007 Tony Award for Best Play for
The Little Dog Laughed, starring
Tom Everett Scott (
That Thing You Do!, Dead Man On Campus) and
Julie White (who won a
Best Actress Tony Award for her role).
The Little Dog Laughed tells the story of an up-and-coming Hollywood actor whose budding homosexuality potentially threatens his career. The play ran for 122 performances at
Broadway's Colt Theatre in
New York City.
Beane also wrote the screenplay for the 1995 comedy
To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar; the film starred
Patrick Swayze,
Wesley Snipes and
John Leguizamo as three transvestives whose car breaks down in a small town on their way to a drag queen beauty contest in Los Angeles.
Beane's most recent work was writing the book for
Broadway's upcoming musical
Xanadu, based on the 1980 film starring
Olivia Newton-John as a muse who inspires an aspiring artist to create a rollerdisco. In previews now (in fact, I have a ticket for this upcoming Sunday's preview),
Xanadu on Broadway is scheduled to officially open June 26th, 2007 at the
Helen Hayes Theatre in New York City. To watch a short video of rehearsals for the show, featuring
Douglas Carter Beane,
click here.
Beane also serves as
Writer/Artistic Director of the
Drama Dept., a non-profit theater collective of actors, writers, directors, designers and stage managers--its rouster of members includes
Sarah Jessica Parker,
Peter Gallagher and
Patricia Clarkson.
Douglas Carter Beane was also profiled in this past Sunday's
Times-Tribune. The article titled,
"Playwright With Local Ties Nominated for Tony Award," can be read online by
clicking here.
To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar is available to borrow on both DVD and VHS from
libraries throughout the
Lackawanna County Library System. To place a hold on the DVD,
click here; to reserve the VHS,
click here.
Much thanks to Evelyn Gibbons for this reference. www.XanaduOnBroadway.com
UPDATED 6/18/07 I attended a preview of
Xanadu yesterday afternoon in New York City - and it was FANTASTIC!!!! If you're familiar with the 1980 film version of
Xanadu, you'll be happily surprised that
Beane only kept the songs and characters, and wrote a funny-as-heck musical comedy in place of the original film script. In addition, the
Helen Hayes Theatre is a smaller Broadway theater, so every seat has a GREAT view of the stage. In additon, the theatre also offers a limited number of ON-STAGE SEATING available at the box office.
Unfortunately
Douglas Carter Beane wasn't in attendence at Sunday's show, but I
did have the pleasure of meeting cast members
Kerry Butler (who played Kira, originated in the film version by
Olivia Newton-John),
Mary Testa (who plays a new character not in the original film, a muse named Melpomene) and the wonderful
Jackie Hoffman (who plays another new Muse character, Calliope)--Hoffman was kind enough to pose for a picture with me and even humorously jibed me with a
"YOU IDIOT!!!!" when a shaking-and-nervous me had a problem accessing the camera on my cellphone (
click here to see it). I told all three actors that I hope
Xanadu will be a HUGE hit.
SOME XANANEWS: The
official opening date for
Xanadu has been
changed from from June 26th, 2007 to July 10th, 2007 due to an foot injury by lead actor
James Carpinello - he has been replaced by
Cheyenne Jackson.
Douglas Carter Beane was profiled in yesterday's
New York Times in an article titled "
Returning to Broadway on Celestial Roller Skates." The full article can be read online by
clicking here. In addition, he also narrates the article in a
slideshow of photos from
Xanadu exclusively on the
New York Times website. You can access the slideshow by
clicking here. In addition,
to view another rehearsal video for Xanadu, click here.
In summary---if you happen to be in NYC, have 90 minutes (with no intermission) to kill, and want to have a really great time - not to mention see a really fun piece of theatre by an alumni of this area, check out
Xanadu on Broadway!
UPDATED May 13th, 2008: Congratulations to Douglas for earning a Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a Musical for Xanadu. For more info, click here.
Also, to see the infamous "You Idiot!" photo of me and Jackie Hoffman described above, it's posted on the offical Xanadu photo blog. Click here to see it (I look like a deer crossed in the headlights, but Jackie looks awesome!).
It was just announced that Xanadu, the hit Broadway musical with a book written by Wilkes-Barre native Douglas Carter Beane, will play its final performance on Sunday, September 28th; it was originally set to close two weeks later on Sunday, October 12th.
