NEW YORK (AP) – Comedian Jackie Mason will be joining Mark Hamill, Polly Bergen, Ellen Burstyn and Farrah Fawcett on the Broadway unemployment line.
Mason’s latest show, “Laughing Room Only,” closes Nov. 30 after a mere 14-performance run. The production opened Nov. 19 to negative reviews.
“Laughing Room Only” was a first for Mason, a musical revue which featured Mason’s standup comedy interspersed with songs and sketches, most of them performed by five other actors. Mason has been a Broadway perennial since 1986 when his first one-man show, “The World According to Me,” became a big hit.
“Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks,” Richard Alfieri’s comedy starring Hamill and Bergen, ended its engagement Sunday after playing only 30 performances. Burstyn’s one-woman effort, “Oldest Confederate Widow Tells All,” folded on its opening night, Nov. 17, while Fawcett’s play, “Bobbi Boland,” didn’t even make it that far. It collapsed during previews, two weeks before its scheduled Nov. 24 opening.
Macy seeking movie action role
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Actor William H. Macy is known for his spineless characters but there’s another role he’s dying to play: action hero.
Asked if he wants to star in a big-ticket action film, the 53-year-old is quick to respond.
“Yeah. Desperately,” Macy said. “For the money, for the security of a franchise like that. And I love big action-adventure movies. They’re way cool.”
His new movie, “The Cooler,” finds Macy as a Vegas loser so down on his luck he’s hired to rub shoulders with hot gamblers to cool off their winning streaks. The film co-stars Alec Baldwin.
Macy’s other credits include “Seabiscuit,” “Magnolia” and “Fargo.”
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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – An estimated 50,000 people lined up to watch this year’s Christmas parade, mostly to catch a glimpse of American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken. The Raleigh native served as the parade’s grand marshal.
“This is so very exciting,” Aiken said. “I am so glad I could be here.”
Fans greeted Aiken Saturday with cheers and screams as he waved to the crowd from the back of a red convertible Mustang he shared with his mother and 14-year-old brother.
The crooner finished second this year in television’s “American Idol” singing competition. Since then, he has released a No. 1 album. He performed his single “Invisible” while winning the fan-favorite award at last Sunday’s American Music Awards.
Rachel Dunn said she drove down Friday from New Jersey for the parade, saying she didn’t want to miss Aiken.
“There’s just something about his voice and his personality that is so unique and so different and refreshing,” she said.
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AVON, Conn. (AP) – More than 100 paintings, doodles, caricatures and drawings by slain Beatle John Lennon were on display for a three-day show, wrapping up on Sunday.
Lennon’s artwork explores the joys of fatherhood, sex, aging and life.
“It’s an intimate look at John’s love for life,” organizer Larry Schwartz said. “It’s music for the eyes.”
The display, titled “Come Together,” included children’s illustrations such as cartoonish animals that Lennon drew for his son, Sean. Also on display were handwritten lyrics and framed words to songs such as “Imagine,” which is listed at $2,350, and “Grow Old With Me,” with an asking price of $2,900.
And there was erotica involving Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono in an exhibit first displayed in London in 1970 that was shut by police for its racy content.
Jeff Gaudiosi, 31, was among more than 3,000 estimated visitors to the show. He said he has a Lennon drawing in his den that is “definitely a conversation piece.”
“It’s more unique than the typical T-shirts and posters,” he said.
AP-ES-11-23-03 1258EST
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