Chelsea Handler listed at #33 on Forbes Most Powerful Women of 2010

Chelsea Handler listed at #33 on Forbes Most Powerful Women of 2010!

Handler, 35, heads up the only late-night show for which half the staffers are women, and is the second woman in television history to host a late-night talk show.

Thanks to the popularity of her three New York Times bestsellers based on her raunchy adventures, she recently got her own book imprint.

Her production company, Borderline Amazing Productions, produces Chelsea Lately, and she's currently shooting a pilot about her staff's post-work antics.

Handler comes to Tampa TOMORROW, Saturday, Oct. 23rd at 8 p.m. (SOLD OUT) and 11 p.m. for her Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang Tour at the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts. For tickets click HERE.

To read more about Chelsea Handler read these articles:
Chelsea Handler bringing her national tour to town
Chelsea Handler dishes about sex, comedy, hating Russians and not "dating" 50 Cent

The New York Times' Tony Award picks

See them in all their glory right here.

Seems a little bit of contention over whether In The Heights or Passing Strange wins Best Musical and whether either of those shows *should* win.

There's also a lot of love out there for Macbeth (including a nomination for Captain Picard as the brutal, mustachioed Scotsman), August: Osage County, The Seafarer, Boeing-Boeing, Gypsy and South Pacific.

See any of the shows this year? Agree? Disagree?

Discuss ...

-dj

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Still no deal with Broadway negotiations

Just the financial impact alone:

The (New York) city comptroller’s office has said that the strike, which began Nov. 10, costs the city $2 million a day, but officials from the League of American Theaters and Producers place the cost much higher. Last year, Broadway pulled in around $42 million in grosses over Thanksgiving week and the week before.

Check out the full story here.

Caetano Veloso

Check out this review of his concert at the Nokia Theater that appeared in today's New York Times.

He plays Tampa on Friday!

Spike Lee set to direct Stalag 17

Film director Spike Lee is set for his theatrical debut with a revival of Stalag 17 (a 1950s play-come-film that earned William Holden a 1953 Oscar). Even more fascinating, the play will be produced by Michael Abbot, who produced the original production as a 21-year old.

The NYTimes story notes Lee met with Public Theater director George C. Wolfe to get some pointers, and Clive Owens' name has been tossed around for the casting mix.

Fun fact: many believe that the TV show Hogan's Heroes looted the premise of Stalag 17 for their show. HH took place at a Stalag 13 and featured a daffy and incompetent Sgt. Schultz, Stalag 17 featured a Sgt. Schultz also - who was in league with a spy planted among the prisoners.

Ayckbourne back in the Big Apple

Sir Alan Ayckbourne, considered to be England's "comic poet of middle-class life" has a revival that opened this weekend Off Broadway. Or is it eight plays? Actually, I guess it's really 16.

The play is called Intimate Exchanges, and it's actually 8 shorts with two alternate endings each. Ayckbourne also directs (Fun Fact: Harold Pinter claims that Ayckbourne directed the defining production of his The Birthday Party) Fans of Coast of Utopia have already gotten a warm-up for spending that much time in the theater.

For those of you who can't hack the travel right now, TBPAC is still hosting an Ayckbourne play through June 24. Woman in Mind, as presented by Jobsite Theater. The show has drawn exceedingly good reviews and full house after full house. As with Intimate Exchanges, the play also deals with an English suburb, the roles people create for themselves or are forced into and the comedy often found in moment to moment human interaction.

(Disclosure: I am also the producing artistic director for Jobsite and the director of Woman in Mind.)

NYTimes Tony Picks

Check out this graph of where the Tony Awards would go if the NYT theater critics picked the winners.

The risky business of Broadway

Producing and investing in a Broadway show is always a risky proposition. Even when a show does gang-busters there's no guarantee that anyone will profit. After all of the expenses are taken care of, perhaps everyone just breaks even. But as the 2006-2007 touring Broadway seasons wrap up around the county, New York's Broadway shows closed their season this past Sunday with a sunny financial outlook. Bloomberg.com reports that the 06-07 NYC Broadway season realized a 8.9% revenue increase from last season to $939 million and attendance increased 2.6% to 12.3 million folks.

There are quite a few factors that could have contributed to this pretty substantial increase but it all starts with a fantastic product. Of the 35 shows that opened this season, 25 have received at least one Tony nomination (the Tonys are June 10... make sure you watch). From "Grey Gardens" and "Spring Awakening" to the family-friendly "Mary Poppins" and revival of "A Chorus Line" there is truly something for everyone. Heck there are also 16 dramatic plays in the mix for you non-musical folks.

Adding to the revenue increase were a bunch of block busters including "Jersey Boys", "The Color Purple", "The Lion King", "Wicked" and now "Mary Poppins" whose last week box-office weekly grossing total broke the $1 million mark for the first time!

But as I mention at the beginning of this blog, producing and investing is often a risky situation. Unfortunately a few shows didn't perform to expectations and ultimately cost producers and investors around $60 million. Two of those unfortunately shows were Twyla Tharp/Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A Changin' " and "High Fidelity." I'll be honest, I don't like Bob Dylan but I was really interested in seeing "Times" since I loved "Movin' Out" (Twyla Tharp also did that one). Sadly that opportunity has come and gone.

Gil's triumphant tour

We wrote recently about Brazilian Gilberto Gil's upcoming appearance in Austin at the South by Southwest festival. Now, he's ready to take on New York City, before he comes to Tampa and the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center on March 31.

From all appearances, it should be a relatively easy takeover.

Sunday's New York Times gave him a rave preview of his scheduled concert at Radio City Music Hall.

"At various moments in his career, Gilberto Gil put forth some of the last century's great pop records. ... Happily, his latest record to be released here, "Gil Luminoso," can be listed among those. ... Underneath his records has always been this: a brilliant small-scale singer-songwriter with guitar. Do your best to see Mr. Gil. ... He seldom plays here ... and few performers are better at radiating genenosity."

Gil also spent some time recently with National Public Radio.

Check it out, here.

Now I'm really looking forward to his concert here. MichaelK/TBPAC