Sideshow
By SHARON FINK, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 5, 2003
IF IT LOOKS LIKE A TURKEY AND SOUNDS LIKE A TURKEY, IT STILL MIGHT NOT BE A TURKEY: After about a month, critics have finally been allowed to assess Melanie Griffith's Broadway debut, as Roxie Hart in Chicago.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are wishing that reviewers were being as kind to them.
The consensus among New York City's major daily papers and the Associated Press is that Griffith can't sing or dance, two usually key talents for a musical, but she sure is cute. And sweet. And vulnerable. And glamorous. And has star power.
The New York Times thinks she's "sensational." Even her worst assessment, from veteran Clive Barnes of the Post, has a benign quality to it. Among other things, he said that Griffith is the worst of the dozen or so Roxies he has seen in his lifetime, "but after all, someone had to be."
IT'S STILL BETTER THAN AN HOUR OF "FOR LOVE OR MONEY": The early buzz at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the arts event at which "off the wall" is a mild description of the offerings, is about a play with no props. Which doesn't matter because it doesn't have any actors, either.
It should go without saying that the play therefore doesn't really have a plot.
A British theater company is inviting people to pay about $5 to appear early in the morning at a four-star hotel and take a seat in a 142-seat theater.
And sit.
That's it.
If you sit for an hour, the management refunds half your ticket price.
"It's the play Samuel Beckett always tried to write," Julian Caddy, the theater company's publicity-seeking venue manager, tells Reuters.
AIN'T THAT AMERICA: The latest country music ode to drinking, It's Five O'Clock Somewhere by Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett, made it to No. 1 on the country singles chart in what Billboard calls a relatively fast eight weeks. Only four country songs have reached No. 1 in fewer than 10 weeks since the start of last year, the magazine says, and Five O'Clock is the only one that doesn't have a patriotic or political theme.
OPRAH'S PAINT-SWATCH CLUB: She has conquered recipe books and inner lifestyle maintenance. Now it looks like Oprah Winfrey is positioning herself to totally fill the void if Martha Stewart's outer-lifestyle advice is legally forced to become too specialized. Her magazine will publish a 48-page home-design supplement with its October issue, and it plans two supplements next year, magazine spokeswoman Elizabeth Dye tells the Associated Press.
Entertainment headlines
Calendar
ESPN nabs Ch. 28's Crawford for new show
For love and money
Sideshow
In the newsLeno next up for 'Queer Eye' makeover
