The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 6

1 I HI The Vancouver Sun Tuesday, September 23, 1997 Entertainment D14 Barbara Crook 605-2120 FAX 605-2521 E-mail bcrookpacpress.southam.ca rm Vancouver Television makes its debut with a few glitches and a bang Newscasts show innovation in coverage Dawn of a new TV day Vancouver's newest TV station began with 30 seconds of dead air then it was all systems go. ALEX STRACHAN Sun Television Critic are alive, VTV's on-air 'Wi promo read, bright and early the beginnings of what might yet evolve into a profound change in the way Vancouver viewers see themselveson their TV screens. While CHEK-TVs desk-bound Wake Up (moved ahead to 5:30 a.m. week-mornings to get a half-hour jump on Vancouver Breakfast) seemed anchored to the all-too-familiar Canada A. M.

formula of talking heads, Vancouver Breakfast lived up to its promise to bring a few of the city's caffeine-obsessed, multiculturally diverse faces into our living rooms. There were the obligatory self-congratulatory plugs: T-shirts reading, "I built Vancouver Television," VTV interviewers interviewing VTV employees was your favorite part of the set?" set designer Eric Ulfers was asked at one point) and congratulating themselves on a job well done. But there were also Japanese-Canadian teiko drummers; Chief Len George waxing poetic about the site's aboriginal cleansing ceremony; the B.C. Lions' cheerleaders to help hosts Aamer Haleem and Linda Freeman form a And a And a master Joseph Yip revealing his insights into the architecture of the spirit; Liliget Feast chef Dottie Watts to cook a ceremonial aboriginal breakfast and the Mariachi Pacifico mariachi band. The show featured only one politician, Premier Glen Clark, explaining how he likes his breakfast cooked (plenty of grease).

A good breakfast show is sup- posed to wake people up, not put them back to sleep. On Monday, there were times when Vancouver Breakfast was more than just a wakeup call it was like an alarm clock that just wouldn't stop ringing. Please see Breakfast, D17 Monday morning though for a second there, it was hard to tell. Like a baseball pitcher who loses a no-hitter on the first pitch of the game, the "clean day technically' that Vancouver Television honchos had wished for on their first official broadcast day went up in smoke the instant their much-hyped Vancouver Breakfast show went on the air. Shortly after a children's choir from Vancouver's Lord Nelson elementary school sang Canada to begin VTVs official life on the air, the station's president and general manager, Jon Festinger, stepped up to a microphone outside the station's shiny new broadcast centre at Burrard and Rob-son, began talking and no sound.

Nearly 30 seconds went by an eternity in TV terms before one of the dozens of minions who flit-ted in and out of camera view throughout VTVs first day of live broadcasts changed the electrical connection and Festinger was able to finish his spiel. It was an inauspicious beginning to what, as luck would have it, would turn out to be an auspicious day. By the time VTVs breakfast pro-gram was over, the assembled throng of street dancers and curious passers-by outside witnessed When Vancouver Television's first official evening newscast was over Monday, it was apparent that it has a long way to go before it challenges those on BCTV, Global and CBC-TV. But Vancouver Live at 6:00 did serve notice on the competition that a new player has entered the local television-news market. While viewers are likely to continue to turn to the newscast they are most familiar with for breaking news, it is already apparent that VTV will cover stories other stations won't.

The lead story, by former BCTV investigative reporter Denelle Balfour, suggested some residents of the Downtown East-side are deliberately injecting themselves with Hrv to qualify for improved social assistance. Other stories touched on DNA testing of prospective immigrants from South Asia, a planned expansion of Vancouver International Airport, price-gouging on Princess of Wales memorabilia in Victoria, a profile of Celtic tunesmiths the Chieftains, and self-congratulatory features on the debut of VTV and Vicki Gabereau's scoop of interviewing Joni Mitchell and Mitchell's daughter on camera together for the first time. While Live at 6:00 co-anchor Monika Deol was the focus of much media attention prior to VTVs debut, Deol and co-anchor Paul Mennier deliberately kept the focus on the news during their inaugural broadcast. For all the promises of an innovative, strikingly different newscast, there were more similarities to the competition than differences a perky weather forecast, a pronounced emphasis on fluffy entertainment-related features and obligatory chitchat about the host station's Internet Web site. In terms of substance, the jury is still out on whether VTV will be able to deliver on its promise to provide an energetic, all-encompassing alternative to what is already on the air.

BCTV has the region's most-watched evening newscast over Global and CBC. There was little evidence Monday that VTV will make any difference in that pecking order any time soon. AlexStrachan GLENN BAGLOVancouver Sun THIS IS IT: Floor director Jimmy Walsh rehearses opening to VTV's first newscast, just seconds before the noon show. Nothing but bright eyes for TV's wakeup call the giant spodight like insects to a night light. The station was going on the air live at 6 a.m., and anyone who couldn't get caught up in the carnival atmosphere of cheerleaders, street performers and musicians was either dead or a newspaper reporter.

First up was Vancouver Breakfast, a two-hour talkmusicnews show hosted by the Prince of Perk, Aamer Haleen, with equally enthusiastic co-hosts Linda MARKE ANDREWS and MICHAEL SCOTT Vancouver Sun No one in his right mind should feel perky at 5:30 a.m. Yet Monday morning at the Vancouver Television studios, you could cut the perkiness with a knife. Hundreds of performers, employees, network officials and onlookers descended on the half-finished VTV studios at Robson and Burrard, drawn to Freeman and Ted Schredd. Prior to going on air, the assorted guests tried to make themselves comfortable on the conceptual set styrofoam and bean-bag chairs in the shape of strawberries, hash browns and eggs. The floor director instructed everyone in the street-level studio: "When the host comes down, show a little enthusiasm." They did, even though it was still an hour before sunrise.

Please see Cheers, D17 Livent's musical Ragtime to start 1 6-week Vancouver run May 1 0 "Owl- -Jf; JOHN ARMSTRONG Vancouver Sun agtime is coming to Vancouver next spring for a 16-week run, Livent Inc. -chair Garth Drabinsky announced to see a Livent show. Drabinsky said that a return booking of Riverdance will follow Ragtime's run at the Ford Centre. He added that show might be followed by the one-actor show Barrymore, starring Christopher Plummer as the legendary and doomed actor John Barrymore a role for which Plummer won this year's Tony award for best actor. Ragtime was adapted under the supervision of author Doctorow, with book by Terence Mc-Nally Masterclass, Love! Valour! Compassion!) and score by Lynn Ahrens (lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (music.) The show is directed by two-time Tony winner Frank Galati of Chicago's acclaimed Step-penwolf Theatre, with choreography by Gra-ciela Daniele.

The sets are designed by Eugene Lee, costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting design by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, all multiple Tony-winners. Group sale tickets (20 or more) for Ragtime are on sale now by calling 844-2808. Single tickets will go on sale Nov. 17 through the Ford Centre Box office, all TicketMaster outlets or 280-2222. Ticket prices will be announced at a later date.

from workshop to stage by Livent, which now has six theatres open or under renovation in Canada and the U.S. Drabinsky said he wanted to bring Ragtime to Vancouver close to its New York opening date (in late December at the new 42nd Street Ford Centre) as an indication of the priority he accords this city. After its Vancouver performances, Ragtime will open the company's Chicago Ford Centre. The show's 16-week Vancouver run is shorter than that for any of the previous livent productions at the Ford centre. Both Show Boat and Sunset Boulevard opened to full houses, but ticket sales tailed off early in their lengthy residencies.

"Vancouver has a varied taste for theatre and our bookings will reflect that," Drabinsky said, adding he didn't want people "to think they'll go next week, or in two weeks, or six months" Monday. The 10-million production a hit in Toronto with a second well-received production now running in Los Angeles is set to open May 10 at the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts. The theatre adaptation of the E. Doctorow novel of the same name follows the lives of three disparate families in pre-First World War America. Among the characters who make an appearance are former U.S.

president Theodore Roosevelt, industrialist Henry Ford, magician Harry Houdini, financier J.P. Morgan and architect Stanford White. The show is the first created and shepherded ON ITS WAY: Ragtime, based on the novel by E.L Doctorow, comes to the Ford Centre for the Performing Arts in May. ft y'-jsT In case of audit, please keep receipt. 31,970 (pSAAB Includes: alarm system, remote keyless entry, dual airbags, power heated mirrors, heated front 'Starting SPP of a fease 1997 Saab 900 is inducting freight and pre-det'vrry inspection.

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