Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 79

JUNE 8-14, 2003 PREVIEW 31 SHOWBIZ Broadway's 'Hairspray' might have a hold on the Tonys atre, delighted with the experience. Gary Smith, executive producer of the Tonys for the eighth time, is determined to bring that exuberance to the live show. "The Broadway community has this single opportunity to show people across the country what Broadway is all about this year," Smith says from his Los Angeles office. "In the old days, we had Ed Sullivan, and the variety shows featured the latest Broadway shows. It is not quite the same thing now, so the American public is not familiar with the music of Just give Marissa Jaret Winokur, who stars as Tracy in "Hairspray," the chance and everyone will be singing the score.

Winokur, 30, convincingly plays a teen initially shunned by the popular set because she's heavy. She proves big girls can win it all when they are right and good. As she takes her final bow beaming at an audience on its feet cheering her, she seems to soak in the glory. Later, speaking from her Manhattan apartment, Winokur says she tries to savor that moment at each show. Up for best actress in a musical, Winokur admits she has been practicing her acceptance speech since she was 5.

She had some success in films and on television, but like Banderas, Rivera and Fierstein, the live theater is where her heart is. "You see these real people and you are sitting with 1,500 people and laughing at the same time and feeling things and completely taken out of your world," she says. "Your phone isn't going to ring halfway through and if it does, we are going to kill you. With TV and movies, it puts actors on such a pedestal. Theater is real." FEATURE STORY to 1960s Baltimore, dancing, integration and the love between mothers and daughters comes in with a whopping 13 Tony nods.

Like "Nine," it has co-stars Dick Latessa, who plays the dad, and Corey Reynolds, who plays a friend pitted against each other for best performance by a featured actor in a musical. It is precisely that sort of competition that turns off Chita Rivera, the grande dame of musical theater. Still in full stage makeup and holding her Maltese, Casper, in her dressing room, Rivera says, "I don't ever think about nominations. I never have It throws people into a competitive kind of thing. We are doing our craft and doing it well." Rivera, who first appeared in the 1952 national tour of "Call Me Madam," made it to Broadway three years later in "Seventh Heaven." She has been in 34 plays, 15 of those on Broadway, and has won two Tonys and received five more nominations.

She is torn over who to root for in the category of best performance by a leading actor in a musical because she adores her co-star, saying she is on "Antonio's adventure," but is close friends with Harvey Fierstein, who plays Edna Turnblad in "Hairspray." Fierstein, playing the role drag queen Divine originated in John Waters' 1988 movie "Hairspray," is nothing short of a force of nature. With his gravelly voice and a rubber suit added to make him enormous, Fierstein brilliantly sings, tap dances and milks every joke in his role of a loving mother. Though he is in drag, he is not playing her as a man pretending to be a woman, but as a woman. On Monday, when most Broadway theaters are closed, Fierstein talks about "Hairspray" from his home "in a small, fictional town in Connecticut," he says, while making the bed. "It is the hardest work I have done in my lif a ('Torch Song for which he won two Tonys) was incredibly hard because it was so emotional and so long.

This is pretty difficult because of the physicality." It may be tough work for the people on the stage, but those who paid $100 for an orchestra seat dance out of the Neil Simon The bid for second term 1 1 1 a i) ww "'vmixmfmii-immu- Josh Brolin has been trying to launch a career in quality independent films I see no reason to doubt the explanation Spelling herself gave in a public statement: She simply has moved on to other things, just like another no-show, Brian Austin Green (David), Spelling's TV hubby. Toward the end of the season, "Alias" introduced a new fe-' male character that apparently may become a romantic interest for gadget genius Marshall, and I am going nuts trying to remember where I have seen her before. Who is she? Bill Ziegler, W. Chicago, III. Amanda Foreman, who has joined "Alias" as Carrie, is probably best known for playing Megan Ro-tundi on "Felicity," a previous series from "Alias" creator J.J.

Abrams. I recently saw Scott Bairstow on "Touched by an Angel." Where might I have seen him before? John Lynch via e-mail. The 33-year-old Canadian-bom actor is no stranger to series TV, first with his 1989 role as Stuart Chandler on "All My Children." Bairstow followed that up with "Lonesome Dove: The Series," "Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years," "Significant Others." "Party of Five," "Harsh Realm," "Wolf Lake" and "Breaking News." His film credits include a role in Kevin Cost-ner's flop The Postman." Which has run the longest, "Gunsmoke," "MASH" or "The David Berglund, Rossville, III. Marshall Matt Dillon still rules. "Gunsmoke" ran for 20 seasons, from Sept.

10, 1955, to Sept. 1, 1975. "The Simpsons," which premiered on Dec. 17, 1989, will begin its 15th season next fall; "MASH" ran for "only" 11 seasons, from Sept. 17, 1972, to Sept.

19, 1983. Send questions of general interest to TV Pipeline, Zap2it, 333 Glen Glens Falls, NY 12801, or e-mail to tvpipelinetvdata.com. Only questions selected for this column will be answered. Personal replies cannot be sent. Comments or questions about Herald Review "Preview" should be directed to Associate Editor Jan Touney at or by calling 421-6973.

VVt 4 1 9 'Mister Sterling' loses By TAYLOR MICHAELS Zap2it "Mister Sterling" became a surprise favorite of mine. What happened to it? Phyllis Esposito via e-mail. NBC ordered only a handful of episodes of Josh Brolin's political drama to test the waters for a possible slot next fall. Sadly, while "Sterling" performed more strongly than "Providence" had in that time period, it apparently wasn't strong enough to please the network, which passed on renewing the show. The general consensus is that the fall slot that might otherwise have gone to "Mister Sterling" went instead to the surprise renewal of "Ed," a show that really seemed to be wrapping things up with its season finale in April.

At least loyal viewers of that show will get to enjoy a season of Ed and Carol (Tom Cavanagh, Julie Bowen) together at last. Does Lauren Lane (C.C. Babcock) sing the title song on "The Susan Franck, Rapid City, S.D. I'm not sure where that odd but incredibly widespread misconception originated, but no: Ann Hampton Callaway wrote "The Nanny Named Fran" and sings it over the opening credits with her sister, Liz Callaway. Where was "The Wonder Years" filmed and what are some of its main cast members doing these days? Pat Topeka, Kan.

"The Wonder Years" was filmed in and around the greater Los Angeles area. Star Fred Savage (Kevin) recently gave a creepy guest performance as a serial rapist on "Law Order: Special Victims Unit." Danica McKellar has a recurring role as Elsie Snuffin, Will Bailey's stepsister, on "The West Wing." You may have caught Alley Mills (Norma) on hand for her magical TV daughter's wedding in the series finale of "Sabrina the Teenage Witch." A frequent TV guest star, Dan Lauria (Jack) played Carol's dad on a couple of episodes of "Ed" and co-stars in the upcoming movie comedy "Jesus, Mary and Joey." Jason Hervey (Wayne) works mainly as a producer these days, while Josh Saviano (Paul) has left show business. What was the real reason Tori Spelling did not appear on the "Beverly Hills, 90210" reunion special? Julianna in Auburn, Calif. Many are savoring those tasty rumors that Spelling quit the special in a snit after her father, "90210" executive producer Aaron Spelling, invited Shannen Doherty to participate, but that just doesn't ring true with her reputation. However talented you think she is (or isn't), Tori Spelling is not known for being either petty or stupid and given the fact that she By JACQUELINE CUTLER Zap2it Behind the stage of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre is a star's dressing room, full of genteel calm and sprays of white delphinium.

Here, Antonio Banderas listens to CDs of Spanish classical guitar, and a picture of Jesus shares wall space with a cutout of a bunny made by his daughter, Stella. It is a place for warming up before performances and unwinding after. Though Banderas is spent after a matinee of "Nine the Musical," he becomes energized, eyes sparkling, as he talks about the theater. "It's a magical world," he says, breaking into a smile. "Basically, Broadway is different than theater in any other country in the world.

All the theaters are together and sometimes it comes to me where we are, right before the curtain goes up, there are a tremendous number of actors about to do what I do." Banderas does it so well that he has been nominated for a Tony Award for his starring role as Guide Contini, an Italian director plagued by a lack of ideas and a string of failed relationships. Women adore him, and 16 spend the show draping themselves around him. Three of them Jane Krakowski, Mary Stuart Masterson and Chita Rivera, who play his mistress, his wife and his producer, respectively are nominated for best performance by a featured actress in a musical. To see who wins, tune in to the 57th Annual Tony Awards, airing live at 7 p.m. Sunday, June 8, on CBS, for from Radio City Music Hall.

Hugh Jackman is the host, and Billy Joel will open the show. In this wildly diverse theater season, which has shows ranging from the opera "La Boheme" to "Russell Sims' Def Poetry Jam" up for awards, the only trend seems to be a celebration of the 1960s. "Movin' Out" is a dance choreographed by Twyla Tharp and set to Billy Joel's music about coming of age in the 1960s. "Nine" is a revival of a musical, based on the 1963 semiauto-biographical film "8 12" by Fed-erico Fellini. Banderas avoids watching tapes of the late Raul Julia's 1982 interpretation of Contini, saying he intuitively understands the character.

"He has a tremendous capacity to love," he says. "That's how he looks at life. He genuinely loves the women." In addition to playing a sought-after Mediterranean lover, which may not be a tremendous stretch for Banderas, he proves that he can sing, dance and engage an audience without needing multiple takes. Such all-encompassing talent also shines in a very different musical, "Hairspray." This ode TmAlTl7lOSjSlHOVYf OB.iTBMTOKE.Ni MfO I) NL ClOlOlB JS CI SARA THAT YRS HAL WAIT ARAB HXUjI ROBERHOY "jNAilEA I IAN, zp" toryHmore JtTh I ISlTlRl I ICITI SON WIKOFF Solution Tom Brokaw DAWSON WIKOFF Funeral Homes Decatur Mt Zion ATER-WIKOFF Funeral Homes Macon Blue Mound 429-4421 -'ATER-W1KOFF UNERAL HOMES a It's not your standard funeral home. it's tftf standard in funeral homes.

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