The fabulous Mitzi Gaynor recently made an appearance on New York City’s public television station to promote the release of the documentary Mitzi Gaynor—Razzle Dazzle! The Special Years. Available on November 18th, the DVD presents sequences from the many television specials in which Gaynor starred in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This year marks the 40th anniversary of her first televised special (Mitzi, NBC, 1968) and the 50th anniversary of the movie South Pacific, in which she played the role of Nellie Forbush, which was originally created on Broadway by Mary Martin. By the way, the current Broadway revival of South Pacific is going very strong and plans are underway for a fall 2009 tour.

Mitzi Gaynor

Jersey Boys, the musical about Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons, just celebrated its third very successful year on Broadway. The national touring production is now playing at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, where it was initially scheduled to run through October 5, but after several extensions, will now play through February 1, 2009. A new Canadian cast will step into the production in mid-December so that the national tour can continue in Denver on December 11. The tour, which stars Niagara University alum Denise Payne, will be in Rochester February 25-March 15.

Now also playing in Toronto at the Canon Theatre through November 30, the national tour of A Chorus Line, which stars UB alum Bethany Moore as Judy. Moore played the ingénue in Musicalfare’s production of Urinetown in 2006. The tour of A Chorus Line will play Shea’s Buffalo May 5-10.

The Flea Theater in New York City will present new works by two Buffalonians in its 2008-09 season. A.R. Gurney’s A Light Lunch, “a post Bush cautionary tale about the price paid for legacy,” will open in December. The contemporary opera Kaspar Hauser, with music by Elizabeth Swados, will open in February. The Flea has been home to Gurney’s recent, mostly political plays, including Mrs. Farnsworth and Screen Play.

Alleyway Theatre will present the 26th annual production of A Christmas Carol, December 11-21, starring John Smeathers, Syndi Starr, Katy Clancy, Christopher S. Parada, Joyce Stilson, and Neal Radice as Charles Dickens. Another Dickensian offering returning this year is Mike Randall in his one man play Charles Dickens Presents: A Christmas Carol, which comes to MusicalFare for a December 19-21 run.

This Wonderful Life, a one-man show by Steve Murray based on the movie classic It’s a Wonderful Life, will be presented by Niagara University Theatre on December 8 and 9 at the Leary Theatre. Neil A. Casey will play the narrator and all of the characters of Bedford Falls. Casey performed the show last year at Boston’s Lyric Stage Company. The Kavinoky Theatre will present a live radio play version of It’s a Wonderful Life, December 10-14. For a more traditional version, there’s the Ghostlight Theater production, which runs December 4--20.

Yma Sumac

Mary Kate O’Connell will play Florence Foster Jenkins, once again, in Souvenir, a play by Stephen Temperley which tells the story of the famous coloratura soprano who was incapable of producing two consecutive notes in tune. Produced by BUA, the show opens January 8 and will also star Gregory Gjurich. O’Connell portrayed Foster Jenkins in last year’s Glorious! at the Kavinoky.

The Road Less Traveled New Play readings series continues with Cockeyed Today by Donna Hoke Kahwaty on Monday, November 17 at 7:30pm, at the company’s theater located at the Market Arcade Film & Arts Centre. The reading will be directed by David Rzeszutek, and stars Kara McKenney, Bethany Sparacio, Jennifer Linch, Daniel Morris, and Clint Byrne. Admission is free.

Legendary Peruvian-born singer Yma Sumac died in Los Angeles on November 1. She was reportedly 86 years old. Her fabulous voice and five-octave range is captured in many recordings, but seeing her perform live was an incredible and unique experience. In addition to numerous recordings, films, and concert appearances (including Carnegie Hall), she appeared on Broadway in 1951 in the musical Flahooley (also starring Barbara Cook and the Baird Marionettes) as an exotic princess who takes Aladdin’s lamp to an American toy factory to have it repaired. In 1990 she played Heidi in a production of Follies in California.