The great Dick Van Dyke (pictured above) was on hand at the Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards held at the end of January to present Julie Andrews with the Life Achievement Award. Andrews and Van Dyke co-starred in the classic movie Mary Poppins, which is now a (very long) Broadway musical. Van Dyke (who turned 81 last December) made a guest appearance on Broadway a year ago in January in Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life to celebrate Chita’s birthday. Both Rivera and Van Dyke starred in the Broadway hit Bye, Bye, Birdie back in 1960. Van Dyke’s return to Broadway in 1980 was not as successful; the revival of The Music Man, in which he starred as Harold Hill, closed after 21 performances.

Vincent O’Neill will direct Beckett’s Endgame for Torn Space, opening March 9 at the Adam Mickiewicz Dramatic Circle on Fillmore Avenue. The production will star Carl Kowalkowski, David Oliver, John Joy and Katie White. Later in the season, Torn Space will present David Rabe’s Hurlyburly directed by Chris Standart, starring Bobby Petrarca, Andy Moss and Michael Votta. Besides being a great play, Hurlyburly, which opened on Broadway in 1984, is also remembered by trivia fans as being one of two plays in which Cynthia Nixon was appearing at the same time. The other was The Real Thing.

Buffalo State alum Paul C. Vogt, of MADtv fame, is now starring on Broadway as Edna Turnblad in the musical Hairspray. Vogt played the part in the Las Vegas production, taking over for Harvey Feirstein. The Broadway production now also stars Darlene Love as Motormouth Maybelle; the part will be played by Queen Latifah in the movie version.

Sarah Bay-Cheng, assistant professor in UB’s Departments of Theatre and Dance and Media Study, makes her UB directorial debut with the upcoming production of Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill: A Musical Voyage. The musical revue follows the life and music of Kurt Weill from his early collaboration with Bertolt Brecht to his American career on the Broadway stage. The show opens February 21. Nancy Townsend serves as music director.

Speaking of Weill, a new musical, Lovemusik, is heading to Broadway in the spring. The show features Weill’s songs, with a book by Alfred Uhry, directed by none other than Harold Prince. Michael Cerveris will portray Weill and the fabulous Donna Murphy will portray Lotte Lenya. The production will also star Buffalo’s own John Scherer, who has worked with Prince before on the musical Three. Uhry is the author of Driving Miss Daisy and the musical Parade.

Fortunato Pezzimenti will direct the acclaimed play The Exonerated for UB’s Department of Theatre and Dance, opening March 1 at the Black Box Theatre at the Center for the Arts. Playwrights Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen wrote the play using material from their personal interviews with more than 40 exonerated death row inmates and courts transcripts of their trials. Blank will attend opening night and answer questions after the performance. Also, on March 2, the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy will offer a Symposium on the Death Penalty.

Coming up next for Theatre of Youth, the sci-fi thriller The Giver, adapted from the Newbery Award-winning book by Lois Lowry, who also penned Number the Stars. Lowry will be attending the performance on April 1 at 2pm and have a talkback with the audience afterwards. Lowry will also present a keynote lecture at 10am on Sunday, April 1.

Phobie Davis and Tim White will join MusicalFare regulars John Fredo, Kathy Weese, Norm Sham and Doug Weyand in the world premiere musical revue A Rainbow Journey: The Harold Arlen Story. Conceived by Anthony Violanti and written by Heather Violanti, the show is part of MusicalFare’s Jack Cullen New Musicals Series. Randy Kramer directs.

Michael York plays King Arthur in the national tour of a revised version of Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot, with additional material provided by Lerner’s son, Michael Lerner. According to director Glenn Casale (who directed Cathy Rigby in Peter Pan), the show has been streamlined and is less redundant. By the way, Shea’s will announce its 2007-08 Broadway season on March 13.

Matthew LaChiusa will direct the upcoming New Phoenix Theatre production of Embody by Lauren Gunderson. The show, which opens March 1, stars Robert Tucker as Leonardo DaVinci, Kara Gabrille McKenney, Michael Votta, Chris Standart and John F. Kennedy.

A staged reading of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues to benefit Haven House and Crisis Services Advocate Program will be held on Friday at 7:30 at the Unitarian Universalist Church. The play was recently part of a controversy in Jacksonville, Florida where a billboard advertising a production had to change the name to “The Hoohaa Monologues” after a complaint from a passing driver. The original title was restored two days later. The organizers insisted that the original title be displayed because they had rights to the play only if they refused any censorship.