Theater News

Loose Lips

Harry Hamlin gets ready to razzle-dazzle Broadway in Chicago; Joanna Gleason gets a chorus of approval; and Lynda Carter discovers the wonder of being a cabaret singer.

HAMLIN IT UP

Harry Hamlin
(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)
Harry Hamlin
(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)

No matter how big a star you are, getting cast can still be a matter of who you know. Just ask Harry Hamlin about his return to Broadway next week as Billy Flynn in Chicago. “Right after they hired my wife, Lisa Rinna to play Roxie, they asked me to play Billy. But the funny thing is they never asked if I could sing; they just took it on faith,” says Hamlin, who last appeared on the Great White Way in the Roundabout’s 1994 revival of Summer and Smoke. “I haven’t done a musical in 35 years, since I played Jud in a summer stock production of Oklahoma!, and I don’t have any formal training as a singer. But I have been going to a vocal coach for a few months, and I’ve been learning about my range. Hopefully, no one will ask for their money back.”

While the role of Billy only requires a minimum of dancing, Hamlin’s no stranger to fancy footwork. He competed on the ABC reality series Dancing With the Stars, once more following in the footsteps of Rinna. “I was one of the few people who went on the show knowing how hard it was, simply by watching Lisa every day,” he says. “One of the reasons I did it is that it intrigued me to do something I might find intimidating. I think you learn something when you push the boundaries of your comfort zone. Having done it, it doesn’t surprise me that the people who win are often Olympic athletes like Apollo Ohno; it’s an extremely grueling experience.”

Billy Flynn may not be the nicest man in the world, but he’s a saint compared to Senator Randall Bailey, the murdering, conniving character Hamlin played in this season’s finale of Law & Order. “After I finished L.A. Law, I got lots of offers to play murderers, sex offenders, and slicers-and-dicers, and I did a bunch of them,” he says. “But this was the first role like this in a long time. I happened to be in New York to do a photo shoot for Chicago and they called and asked if I wanted to do it. The set was a little tense, since no one was sure if they had a job next season. [The series has since been renewed.] But it’s always fun to play the bad guy.”

Joanna Gleason
(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)
Joanna Gleason
(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)

ON THE A TEAM
Joanna Gleason is one of the funniest women to ever grace the stage, but she’ll be strictly behind the scenes on June 18 as the director of the New York Gay Men’s Chorus concert, Take the A Train — The NYCGMC Sings Billy Strayhorn at the Nokia Theatre. “I didn’t want to be a guest vocalist, it’s a lot of work to do both,” she says. “I first did this concert last month with this the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, whom I worked with over the last 12 years. My job is to help build the night emotionally, design the movement, and create the shape of the evening. Here we’ll be bringing in some film clips and other media to illustrate Strayhorn’s life.”

The evening will have some other illustrious participants, including jazz arranger Alan Broadbent, guest vocalist Judy Blazer, and the amazing Darius de Haas, who will be the evening’s narrator and other guest singer. “He’s an expert on Strayhorn and will talk about why he feels so close to him,” she says, adding that de Haas will perform the famed Strayhorn standard “Lush Life.”

Meanwhile, Gleason is planning on a relaxing summer. “I’m writing, studying Chinese medicine, and gardening – and, of course, waiting to hear what’s next,” she says. “I would like to direct another play if the material is great. But I don’t think I’d want to direct a big musical. If I did, I would need a full-time nurse nearby and a great supply of pharmaceuticals. But you know what, I’m sure I would cast it brilliantly.”

WITH A SONG IN HER HEART

Lynda Carter
Lynda Carter

Playing Mama Morton in Chicago gave TV icon Lynda Carter a chance to once again show off her vocal chops — and the experience inspired her to create her first-ever cabaret show. Having played a very successful run last month at San Francisco’s Empire Plush Room, she’s now taking the show to L.A’s Catalina Jazz Club, June 22-24. “I remember when I was on a billboard on the Sunset Strip, for one of my albums or television specials, and it’s so exciting that I get to be on Sunset again,” she says.

Still, Carter admits she had some misgivings about the whole enterprise at first. “It’s a lot of work to put a show like this together, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to work that hard,” she says. “And I wasn’t sure there would be people in the seats. It was kind of a high-wire act. But what I discovered through all this self-doubt, which I think would be normal for anyone, is that I really loved doing it. The last time I sang these songs was many years ago with a big orchestra, and now it’s even better because I’m putting all my experience behind the choices of music and the interpretation of the songs.”

Carter’s act consists of an eclectic repertoire that ranges from “Blues in the Night” to “God Bless the Child” to “Secret of Life;” but it doesn’t include any of the songs she wrote for her album Portrait 30 years ago. “I didn’t really consider doing those songs, even though I know everyone wants me to sing ‘Toto’ (her hit from Portrait),” she notes. “I went with my first choices, the songs I kept going back to again and again.” She plans to record this new show shortly, but Carter stresses that all this newfound interest in music doesn’t mean she’s turning her back on acting. “I actually think the roles I’m being offered are getting more interesting because of my age,” she says. “But I won’t do anything long-term until my daughter is out of high school in two years. Then, maybe I would do another series. I know I didn’t appreciate how hard it was to get a hit like Wonder Woman. I was pretty lucky to get that part. And yes, I still like her.”

Julianna Margulies
(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)
Julianna Margulies
(© Joseph Marzullo/Retna)

THE STARS AT NIGHT
Anna Camp, Andrew Long, and Thom Sesma are among the actors set to participate in the 10th Annual Perry-Mansfield New Works Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, June 15-17. On June 17, Tony Award winner Judy Kaye will star in a special concert, He Said, She Said at Albany’s Riverfront Park. Gerry McIntyre will direct two special performances of the musical Once on this Island at Playwrights Horizons on June 18 to benefit After the Storm, which helps revitalize the lives of children in New Orleans; that same night, Tonya Pinkins, Leslie Kritzer, and Kate Clinton will perform at Garden Party 24, a benefit for New York’s GLBT Center at Pier 54.

Moving forward, Natascia Diaz will present Dance With Me, a concert devoted to the music of Michael Pemberton at the Zipper on June 22. Marni Nixon will join The Stonewall Chorale for A Time for Us on June 23 at Symphony Space. The following day, June 24, Stephanie J. Block (who gets her own caricature at Sardi’s on June 14) and former Miss America Kate Shindle will be among the emcees for Dancing at the Crossroads, a free dance concert in Times Square. Malcolm Gets, Gilbert Gottfried, John Glover, Tim Gunn, and Christopher Sieber will be on hand to honor Nathan Lane at the Trevor Project’s Harmony, Heart & Humor Gala on June 25 at the Hudson Theatre. Elaine Joyce, the former Broadway and game show star and the current Mrs. Neil Simon, will make her nightclub debut at Don’t Tell Mama with Second Time Around, June 25-28. Nancy Anderson, Donna Lynne Champlin, and Xanthe Elbrick will be among the guests at Jamie deRoy & friends at the Metropolitan Room on June 28. Taye Diggs will perform with his dance company, dre.dance at their gala performance at the Joyce Soho on July 1.

Meanwhile, the stars have been out and about this month: Whoopi Goldberg, Bruce Vilanch,Harris Yulin, and Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara attended a special gala performance of Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell on June 5. Norbert Leo Butz and Michelle Federer, Veanne Cox, John Benjamin Hickey, Julianna Margulies, Andrew McCarthy, and Terrence McNally came out for the June 7 opening of Neil LaBute‘s compelling In a Dark Dark House at the Lucille Lortel; George S. Irving joined the applause at the June 8 performance of the Irish Rep’s hit production of Gaslight; and Tyne Daly, Phyllis Newman, Celeste Holm, Michael Feinstein, and Judge Judy were cheering Florence Henderson during her sensational cabaret show All the Lives of Me at Joe’s Pub on June 11.