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In the news
Compiled from Times wires In New York theater ...NEWMAN RETURNS: Paul Newman is returning to Broadway after nearly 40 years. The star of such films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, The Color of Money and most recently Road to Perdition, will appear in a revival of Our Town, playing the stage manager in Thornton Wilder's classic play, set in the little New Hampshire town of Grover's Corners. The production opens Dec. 4 at the Booth Theatre and will run through Jan. 26, said Bill Evans, a spokesman for the show. The 77-year-old Academy Award-winning actor last starred on Broadway in the 1964 comedy Baby Want a Kiss. * * * ARTIST HONORED: The Martin Beck Theater on W 45th Street in New York will be renamed for legendary illustrator Al Hirschfeld, in tribute to his running 76-year chronicle of the life of Broadway and its greatest performers. Rocco Landesman, the president of Jujamcyn Theaters, which owns the Martin Beck, said that the theater would officially become the Al Hirschfeld on June 21, 2003, the artist's 100th birthday. "I'm startled; it's incredible," Hirschfeld said Wednesday. "I'm touched." Hirschfeld is the first artist to have a theater named after him and one of the few people not directly involved in acting or producing ever so honored. Crichton robbed at his homeAuthor Michael Crichton was robbed at gunpoint and tied up by two men who ransacked his Santa Monica, Calif., home, but he wasn't harmed, his publicist said. The author of Jurassic Park and creator of the television series ER was robbed early Monday morning. Police wouldn't confirm Crichton was the victim but said the crime was committed at a home believed to be owned by him. "An incident did occur, but everybody is fine, and that's all I can say because a kid is involved," publicist Joseph Marich told the Santa Monica Daily Press. Crichton, 59, has a daughter in her early teens. Police said some items were taken from the house, but the value was not immediately determined. Music industry asking fans to stop online piracyThe music industry is launching a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to combat Internet music piracy by appealing directly to fans to stop stealing. The print and television ads started Thursday and enlisted nearly 90 recording artists and songwriters -- including such superstars as Eminem, Madonna, the Dixie Chicks, Luciano Pavarotti and Brian Wilson -- who say illicit Internet downloads threaten the livelihood of everyone in the industry, from artists to record store clerks. The recording industry blames illegal downloading for a second straight year of declining CD sales. It estimates that more than 2.6-billion songs are distributed each month across unlicensed file-swapping services such as Kazaa, Morpheus and Gnutella. Greenspan receives honorU.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday and said he would cherish the honor. Greenspan, who has steered the U.S. economy through four presidencies, was given the honor in recognition of his contribution to global economic stability. The 76-year-old economist, accompanied by his wife, NBC-TV correspondent Andrea Mitchell, at the queen's Balmoral estate in the Scottish Highlands, said, "I am deeply appreciative of this honor, which I shall always cherish." Others Americans who have received honorary knighthoods include former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former presidents George Bush and Ronald Reagan and entertainer Bob Hope.
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From the wire |
