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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All about Jian & Joan & Liz & Elizabeth & Mel & The Missus

 NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE:  Man-about-media Jian Ghomeshi is set to host the 30th (!!!) anniversary of the Dora Mavor Moore Awards on Monday, June 29, 2009 at 8pm at the Winter Garden Theatre. Ghomeshi, as if you didn’t know, hosts CBC Radio’s flagship show, Q … and speaking of Q, Liz Smith profiles Joan Collins in the layest issue of Q (aka Quest magazine) and tells an interesting story on herself.

 “In 2000,” she recalls,  “Joan appeared in the TV movie These Old Broads with Debbie Reynolds, Shirley MacLaine and (in what was little more than a cameo) Elizabeth Taylor. I’d heard, from what I considered a good source, that Joan had made unkind remarks about Elizabeth, who was in declining health, and that Elizabeth had countered back with her own wisecracks. Imagine my surprise on the day the item appeared — Joan herself called my office, weeping, sobbing, ‘Liz, I would never say such things about Elizabeth! etc.” More stunning was a call from Elizabeth! She said, darkly, ‘Liz, Joan and I are old friends.  I know she’d never say those things, and I know for sure I’d never respond, even if she did.’ Needless to say, I retracted. (This was a gentle chiding from La Liz, but still enough to freeze my blood!) ”

 

THEY COME TO PRAISE CAESAR, NOT TO BURY HIM:  Tomorrow’s Stratford Shakespeare Festival Live webcast at 6:30 pm salutes the fest’s upcoming production of Julius Caesar –  “the ultimate political thriller,” says Stratford chief Antoni Cimolino. On tomorow’s 6:30 pm webcast Director of Literary Services David Prosser interviews actors Ben Carlson (Brutus) and Jonathan Goad (Mark Antony). If you have questions you can ask them during the live webcast or send them in advance to askantoni@stratfordshakespearefestival.com.

 

HAIL TO THE QUIPSTERS: Ever since Ronald Reagan traded in his General Electric spokesman gig to run for president, movie stars are asked if they would consider running for president.

Well-heeled Republican stalwart Bob Hope admitted he’d given it some thought, but that his wife had nixed the idea.

“Dolores liked the idea of being First Lady,” he added, “but she doesn’t want to move to a smaller house.”

When Dolly Parton was asked if she would ever consider running for president, she just shook her head.

“Oh honey,” she said, “we’ve had already enough boobs in the White House!”

 

A COLONEL OF TRUTH:  He’s made more than his share of unfortunate headlines over the last few years, so I was sorry to hear that Mel Gibson‘s marriage is on the rocks. I was even sorrier to hear of  his remark that his long-suffering Anglican wife  Robyn, the mother of his daughter and six, count ’em, six sons, won’t be able to join him in paradise because she’s not a Catholic, although he admits that she is “a much better person than I am.”  Now BetOnline.com is posting odds, known as the “over/under,” on the amount of his divorce after 28 years of marriage, as Mel and Robyn divide their houses in Malibu, Fiji, Costa Rica and a South Pacific Island, plus his personal fortune, estimated at $350 million plus.

It’s always sad to see a winner play a losing streak, but regardless of what Mel may have lost, his sense of humour appears to be intact. A while ago he ‘guest-starred’ in a short film that had its late-night premiere on the Jimmy Kimmel Show. In it he played one of the most famous southern gentlemen in American history – and yes, I am indeed referring to Col. Saunders.

To watch Mel go plantation, click here.