Farnsworth is 'Clumsy,' 'Shallow'

(NEWSER) - John Forsythe, a versatile actor who gained lasting fame as Blake Carrington on the pioneering prime-time soap Dynasty and as the voice of the mysterious Charlie on Charlie's Angels, died yesterday in California. He was 92. Best known at the time as the affable star of Bachelor Father, Forsythe played a villainous judge in the 1979 Al Pacino vehicle And Justice for All, demonstrating he had the chops to channel the scheming Blake Carrington. More»

Vaudevillian gained fame as Gypsy Rose Lee's younger sister

(NEWSER) - June Havoc, the film and theater actress who gained fame as a child vaudeville star and the younger sister of Gypsy Rose Lee, died yesterday. The inspiration for the "Baby June" character in the Broadway musical and movie Gypsy, Havoc was believed to be 97. To accommodate local child labor laws while on the road performing, her mother, the archetypal stage mother Rose Thompson Hovick, had five birth certificates for her, the New York Times reports. More»

Show your appreciation by keeping your butt in the seat: Ben Brantley

(NEWSER) - At one time, a standing ovation may have meant something—but lately, you can hardly go to a Broadway show without being forced to join in one. Almost every show "ends with people jumping to their feet and beating their flippers together like captive sea lions when the zookeeper arrives with a bucket of fish," writes Ben Brantley in the New York Times . But offering that kind of appreciation every time is "like having sex with someone on the first date, whether you like the person or not, because you think it’s expected." More»

'Carrie' to open off-Broadway tomorrow

(AP) - When the musical Carrie had a sudden early death on Broadway in 1988, few were as unhappy as three men who worked hard to give it life. Lawrence D. Cohen, Michael Gore, and Dean Pitchford, who wrote the script, music, and lyrics, clearly were not happy with the final product, which closed after five regular performances, lost $8 million, and became the most expensive flop in Broadway history at the time. Despite offers to produce the show elsewhere, the trio refused—until now, 24 years later. More»

Julie Taymor says she's not being fairly compensated

(NEWSER) - More drama behind the curtains for Broadway’s Spider-Man: Former director Julie Taymor is suing the show’s producers over what she says is a lack of compensation for her creative work. “The producers' actions have left her no choice but to resort to legal recourse to protect her rights,” her attorney says. Taymor was fired following much-publicized trouble onstage and off, but she's the only director eligible for a Tony for the show. More»