Arlene Francis News

Today we are talking to a celebrated comedienne and actress known for her decades-spanning career on screens and stages large and small - from making her Broadway debut in the original Jerome Robbins production of GYPSY on Broadway in 1960 to her many musical roles throughout the 60s to her countless game show and variety show appearances following that all the way to creating an unforgettable character in MOONSTRUCK in the 1980s, as well as her subsequent oft-Neil Simon stage work; now, playing Tina Fey's sweet and daffy mom on NBC's 30 ROCK and, most recently, appearing in Nora & Celia Ephron's LOVE, LOSS AND WHAT I WORE and the Playwright's Horizons premiere production of THE BIG MEAL in the new millennium - the one of a kind Anita Gillette. Analyzing her nearly sixty-year career and sharing candid stories of her brushes with some of Broadway and Hollywood's brightest talents - Jule Styne to Ethel Merman to Irving Berlin to Burt Lancaster and beyond - Gillette paints a vivid portrait of the tail end of the Golden Age of Broadway and the heady game show days of TV in the 1960s and 70s to her lauded stage work with Neil Simon and many of the great comedy and musical writers in the years since. Additionally, Gillette and I discuss her current essaying of the role of Mae Peterson in the new Regal Music Theatre production of Charles Strouse and Lee Adams's BYE BYE BIRDIE in Massachusetts as she looks towards opening night tomorrow and relates her joy in participating in a production that has some behind-the-scenes help by her loving granddaughter (while another attends their summer camp). Plus, Gillette's observations on sharing a soundstage with Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, Elaine Stritch and Buck Henry for a recent 30 ROCK shoot, reflections on her fondest and most celebrated comedy roles, hilarious memories of appearing in some short-running flops (JIMMY, SKYSKRAPER) as well as in some big hits (GYPSY), her upcoming series of master classes titled "Life In The Business", her return to Birdland with her concert show, AFTER ALL, her role in an upcoming Ed Burns film and maybe even a role in a new Alexander Payne film - all of that, all about attending the Diamond Jubilee celebration in the United Kingdom and much, much more!

With Marilyn Maye wrapping up her Jerry Herman tribute at Feinstein's, let's take a look back at both of them in the 1960s.

On Sunday, November 22nd, Tony Award winner and Broadway star Andrea Martin will be live in the National Arts Centre Theatre in Ottawa to read aloud Mordecai Richler's classic children's story, 'Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang' for one special afternoon. The reading, abridged by David S. Craig and presented in association with TD Canadian Children's Book Week, is part of the NAC English Theatre's Family 3 series. An exciting event for families, as parents will take pleasure as they watch their children enthralled with Ms. Martin exciting reading as young Jacob is brought to life.

On Sunday, November 22nd, Tony Award winner and Broadway star Andrea Martin will be live in the National Arts Centre Theatre in Ottawa to read aloud Mordecai Richler's classic children's story, 'Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang' for one special afternoon. The reading, abridged by David S. Craig and presented in association with TD Canadian Children's Book Week, is part of the NAC English Theatre's Family 3 series. An exciting event for families, as parents will take pleasure as they watch their children enthralled with Ms. Martin exciting reading as young Jacob is brought to life.

Turner Classic Movies will be airing the 1948 film version of Arthur Miller's play All My Sons today, August 20th 2008 at 11:45 am. Check your local listing for showtimes and channel information. The airing is to celebrate the life and work of Edward G. Robinson who starred in the film as Joe Keller.

Legendary designers John Conklin and Robert Fletcher are among the recipients of the 2008 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards. For his achievements as both a costume and set designer, John Conklin will receive the TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards' special Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatrical Design. Acclaimed costume designer Robert Fletcher, who also produced, performed and designed sets, will receive the 2008 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony on Friday, March 28, at the Hudson Theatre in New York City.

Michael Abbott, a long-time television, film, and theatre producer who produced the first New York production of Stalag 17 in 1951, died of cancer on Thursday January 24, 2008 at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan. He was 81.

Bruce F. Winston remembers his 'musical theatre mentor' Harold Rome, the composer/lyricist of Call Me Mister, Fanny, I Can Get It for You Wholesale and more