Theater New York City

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani may have shuttered most of the porn joints around Times Square, but the hottest sex show in quite some time lands on Broadway on Nov. 27. "The Blue Room" comes with a much better pedigree, of course. David Hare has adapted this sophisticated sex comedy from Arthur Schnitzler's turn-of-the-century Viennese classic of lust and longing, "La Ronde." The brilliant young Sam Mendes has directed it.

A sense of place resounds through the work of many writers, and for his territory, Horton Foote, the playwright who has been called "the American Chekhov," long ago staked out the small East Texas burg where he grew up. On a map, that town is identified as Wharton, an hour or so from Houston near the Gulf Coast, but in his plays, Foote has it as Harrison, as much a character as the humans who populate his work.

Bernadette Peters arrives alone at the chrome-fancy restaurant bar, her 5-foot-2 presence announced by the familiar bouquet of ringlets atop her head. Her expectant smile brightens considerably at the sight of a friend who's showed up to surprise her. Nothing in her manner suggests she's somebody special, but here on this island and in various other outposts of the civilized world, she is just that: perhaps the theater's most gifted diva of the last quarter-century.

As she staggers across the dirt stage of "Electra" every night, a daughter wrapped in her father's immense cloak, Zoe Wanamaker carries on a legacy that reaches back 2,400 years to the hillsides of ancient Greece. But the metaphor of her own father's cloak, that of the great actor Sam Wanamaker, weighs equally heavy on her small yet sturdy shoulders.

The stage can prosper on form ("Cats," "Les Miserables"), content (Pinter, Ionesco, Shakespeare) and performance and any mixtures of the above. Yet there is nothing quite like the star turn to conquer an audience and gallop triumphantly over any lurking difficulties a production might have. Somerset Maugham's "The Circle" was first done nearly 70 years ago, in the very different world of 1921, and by now it seems the very model of the well-made play of a very different time indeed.

At the start of the 9 p.m. Tony Award telecast on Sunday, Nathan Lane noted it had been an exciting year on Broadway but he didn't really have time to tell us about it, as the show had to be off the air by 11 on the dot. In very quick succession, he landed good jokes on subjects as diverse as Julie Andrews' ruffled feathers, the proposed same-sex marriage legislation and the introduction of taped acceptance speeches for major awards into the Tony telecast.

Broadway had a record year where it counts--at the box office--and an upsurge in productions, too, according to figures released this week by the League of American Theaters and Producers. Combined figures for both Broadway and the road topped $1.24 billion, with New York shows grossing $436 million and touring companies adding another $810 million. Some 9.4 million people saw a Broadway show, up from 9 million the previous year, but still under the 10.

Everybody loves a good comeback story, and nowhere more than on Broadway. From Jordan Marsh, the down-and-out director in "42nd Street," to Cassie, the aging hoofer in "A Chorus Line," the cherished and enduring myth of drive and talent winning out against all odds is one of Broadway's longest-running themes. Now there are signs that the Great White Way--down on its luck for much of the past decade, with marquees dark and critics disdainful--may be starring in its own comeback.

Once again, the double standard toward China enforced by the Bush Administration has become blatantly apparent. President Bush has announced he plans to renew China's most-favored nation (MFN) trade status, which entitles it to sell goods to the United States at the lowest possible tariffs (Part A, May 28). Despite China's record on human rights, weapon proliferation and economic trade practices, Bush continues to take a soft stance toward China.

Despite the war, the Los Angeles "legit" box office is booming. The city's theatrical box-office gross hit a new high of $2,246,994 last week, up from the previous week's $2,220,491, according to figures compiled by the trade newspaper Daily Variety. The Los Angeles activity is in stark contrast to London and even New York, where attendance at Broadway theaters fell 20.3% last week, according to Variety.

Bernadette Peters arrives alone at the chrome-fancy restaurant bar, her 5-foot-2 presence announced by the familiar bouquet of ringlets atop her head. Her expectant smile brightens considerably at the sight of a friend who's showed up to surprise her. Nothing in her manner suggests she's somebody special, but here on this island and in various other outposts of the civilized world, she is just that: perhaps the theater's most gifted diva of the last quarter-century.

George C. Wolfe, the brilliant and voluble producer of the Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival, likes to tell friends that, in a past life, he was aboard the Titanic's doomed maiden voyage. It would be understandable for the onetime steerage passenger to be feeling "deja vu all over again," to borrow the famous phrase of Yogi Berra.

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani may have shuttered most of the porn joints around Times Square, but the hottest sex show in quite some time lands on Broadway on Nov. 27. "The Blue Room" comes with a much better pedigree, of course. David Hare has adapted this sophisticated sex comedy from Arthur Schnitzler's turn-of-the-century Viennese classic of lust and longing, "La Ronde." The brilliant young Sam Mendes has directed it.

Standing at the barre in a dance studio with her back perfectly straight, head gently tilted and slender fingers caressing air, 17-year-old Ashley Anderson already looks much like the seasoned ballerina she hopes to become. The Northridge teen will move one step closer to her dream of a career as a professional dancer when she boards a jet tonight bound for New York City.

Broadway has been churning out scripts for hit shows like "The King and I" and "The Phantom of the Opera" for more than a century. But the Great White Way, the nickname given New York's preeminent theater district, only recently penned a marketing plan that can help Big Apple theaters and traveling troupes that carry hits like "Rent" to Los Angeles fend off stiff competition from the likes of Hollywood and professional sports teams.

In Disney's new Broadway musical "The Lion King," the usurper Scar, suffering from a splitting headache, asks Zazu to sing something to cheer him up. No sooner does the feathery courtier launch into "Be our guest . . . " (from that other Disney musical five blocks away) than Scar holds up his hand: "No, no, no! Anything but that!" Good to see that the Walt Disney Co. can have a sense of humor about itself. But then, right now in the theater world, it can afford to.

Despite the war, the Los Angeles "legit" box office is booming. The city's theatrical box-office gross hit a new high of $2,246,994 last week, up from the previous week's $2,220,491, according to figures compiled by the trade newspaper Daily Variety. The Los Angeles activity is in stark contrast to London and even New York, where attendance at Broadway theaters fell 20.3% last week, according to Variety.

Mathews hit the bull's-eye in his fine analysis. Proof that "Godfather III" is a muddle is that it is set in the wrong year. Although fiction, the film purports to deal with real events such as the deaths of Pope Paul VI and John Paul I. Yet the film is set in 1979 and both popes died in 1978. (I know. I attended their funerals.

The Liberty is one of those historic 42nd Street theaters earmarked for redevelopment that no one has cared about in a very long time. Built in 1904 as a legitimate playhouse, it wound up as a hideaway for men with a taste for watching porn in Times Square. The theater has been empty for six years. It looks as though no one has cleaned it in at least that long.

Broadway had a record year where it counts--at the box office--and an upsurge in productions, too, according to figures released this week by the League of American Theaters and Producers. Combined figures for both Broadway and the road topped $1.24 billion, with New York shows grossing $436 million and touring companies adding another $810 million. Some 9.4 million people saw a Broadway show, up from 9 million the previous year, but still under the 10.