Hollywood rules the Tonys, Piper sums up Zero, Bono & Bob play newsmen, and Liona goes back to highschool

OUR TOWN:  Mother’s Day never looked so funny. First Robin Duke, Jayne Eastwood, Kathryn Greenwood and Teresa Pavlinek return to T.O. tonight as out very favourite Women Fully Clothed, Older and Hotter, kicking off a three-night stand  at Massey

MARSHAK: playwrights' delight

Hall. Then Betty White hosts SNL tomorrow night … also tomorrow night: Funnyman Mike Wilmot wraps his current four-night stint at Yuk Yuks, and George Olliver & Gangbuster rock The Edge in Ajax … what do Bono and Bob Geldof have in common?  Everything, apparently. Which is why the two celebrity activists will edit the Globe & Mail’s special May 10 section devoted to the future of Africa — their way of drawing attention to the issue of extreme poverty in Africa ahead of the G8 and G20 meetings scheduled to be held here next month. Kenyan activist and blogger Ory Okolloh will also be part of Monday’s editorial team … and Linda Kash, Theresa Tova and Judy Marshak are among the featured artists set to interpret new works by playwrights Michael Ross Albert, Ron Fromstein, Bekky O’Neil and Darrah Teitel at In The Beginning on Monday night  at the Miles Nadal JCC. For tickets, click here.

FOOTLIGHTS: Yes, it’s official — Broadway has finally gone Hollywood. Tony nominees this year include Jude Law, Hamlet; Alfred Molina, Red; Liev Schreiber, A View from the

LAW: Tony nominee

Bridge; Christopher Walken, A Behanding in Spokane; Denzel Washington, Fences; Valerie Harper, Looped; Linda Lavin, Collected Stories; Laura Linney, Time Stands Still; Catherine Zeta-Jones, A Little Night Music; Kelsey Grammer, La Cage aux Folles; Sean Hayes, Promises, Promises; Scarlett Johansson, A View from the Bridge; and Angela Lansbury, A Little Night Music. And Broadway regular David Hyde Pierce, who shot to fame with Tony nominee Kelsey Grammer in Frasier, will receive the Isabelle Stevenson humanitarian honour. Should be interesting to see if the mix of big and small screen names will kickstart higher Nielsen ratings when the awards show is telecast from Radio City Music Hall on Sunday June 13.

NEWTON-JOHN: mind & body

HEAD OF THE CLASS: Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, Florida is one of the favourite new showbiz hideaways, attracting marquee names from all over the globe. Sparklies who have already stopped by for a tune-up this season include Anthony Hopkins, Tommy Tune, Glee guest star Olivia Newton-John and Liona Boyd, who confirms she is moving back to L.A. this summer. After six years of trying the East Coast on for size, she says she found Miami too hot, “mosquitoey” and “hurricaney”, New York “too tough and unromantic,” and Connecticut winters “too damn cold!” She’s also returning to the concert stage – Toronto fans can see her May 25 at the March of Dimes fundraising Gala at the Royal York – and In the meantime, don’t be surprised if you see her in T.O. this weekend. She’s planning to be here tomorrow for her high school reunion!

FOOTLIGHTS: Ageless legit theatre legend Viola Léger returns as Antonine Maillet’s irresistible Acadian cleaning lady in a revival of La Sagouine. Directed by John Van

LINNEY: Tony contender

Burek, Léger performs her legendary one-woman show in English May 14-29, followed by a run en français May 31-June 5, at the Berkeley St. Theatre Downstairs … Perry Perlmutar promises to “try to be extra funny for you” when he opens at Absolute Comedy next week … and among the major entries set for the Harold Green Theatre next  season: Zero Hour, with Jim Brochu as comedy icon Zero Mostel, directed by indomitable screen siren Piper Laurie. Meanwhile, the amusing and engagingly tuneful Soul Of Gershwin, a lightherarted exploration of George & Ira’s roots in klezmer music, closes tomorrow night at the Winter Garden. To snag last-minute tickets, just click here. And have a happy weekend!

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Do I hear a Valse for dance dazzler Chan Hon Goh?

 

HON GOH: Dancing the title role tonight

BALLET HIGH: Retiring principal dancer Chan Hon Goh dances Giselle tonight as the National Ballet opens at the Four Seasons Centre for the Arts. You  still have a chance to see the prima ballerina’s farewell fling, however, as she’ll dance the company premiere of Valse Triste by Peter Martins at the NBOC White Hot gala on June 18.  The gala promises an incredible performance of short works specially selected by Karen Kain executed by the National Ballet’s spectacular dancers.  Some orchestra and Ring 3 tickets ($100 each ) and Ring 4 tickets ($75) are still available, as are Ring 5.2 tickets ($20.) Ring 5.1. tickets ($50) are already sold out.

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OUR TOWN: Somebody’s doing something right. For the last three years in a row, average attendance for Canadian Opera Company shows 99.7%. Almost  

PITT: in the Moneyball

95,000 tickets were sold for 2008/09 season subscriptions with gross revenue of almost $10 million. More than 130,000 patrons attended 64 COC performances, and yes, those great seats are expensive. But did you know (I didn’t!) that 150 $20 tickets are available for every COC performance?  Almost 10,000 $20 tickets were sold this season alone … Jersey Boys, the major crowd-pleaser still wowing ‘em at the Toronto Centre For The Arts, will now play to the end of September… and Melanie Doane and the classy Art of Time Ensemble, (Andrew Burashko on piano, Phil Dwyer on reeds, Rob Pilch on guitar, George Koller on bass and Amy Laing on cello) join forces for their final Songbook III concert tonight at Harbourfront Centre’s Enwave Theatre.

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TRIPPLEHORN: Morning

NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: New audience favourite Jeanne Tripplehorn (Big Love,) so good as Jackie Kennedy in Grey Gardens, will next tackle the dark screen drama Morning, directed by her husband, Leland Orser, with Laura Linney, Kyle Chandler and Jason Ritter … Aussie ex-pat Josh Lawson has been cast as a lead in the CBS comedy pilot Waiting to Die … Demetri Martin will star opposite Brad Pitt in the big screen adaptation of Moneyball  … and Marlon Wayans has signed on to star in the film adaptation of the book The Year of Living Biblically.  Wayans will also serve as a producer on the project

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HOW SWEET IT IS: I liked the old math. I was willing to learn with the New Math. But my favourite Internet math has gotta be YOUR-AGE-BY-CHOCOLATE math. 

Some of you already know it. But for those of you who don’t.

1. Pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)

3. Add 5

4. Multiply it by 50 (we’ll wait while you get the calculator)

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759…   If you haven’t, add 1758.

 6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number

a) The first digit of this was your original number (I.e.., how many times you want to have chocolate each week).

b) The next two numbers are

YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!)

Now, how silly is that?

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