The Buzz On Maggie Tv Tome

The Radio City Rockettes will kick the Sugar Plum Fairy out of the Wang Theatre for the 2004 holiday season and beyond, forcing the financially limping Boston Ballet to leap into action to find a new home for "Nutcracker."

Sources say the organizers of the Big Apple's high-steppin' holiday spectacular have inked an eight-year deal with the Wang to produce the show in Boston starting in 2004. Which has board members of the Hub's nonprofit theater seeing green!

" `The Nutcracker' has been a drain for some time," one board member told the Track. "And people are tired of it. Attendance has been falling like a rock year after year."

But while the 3,200-seat Wang Theatre has found a way to boost its share of the holiday gelt, the ballet, which depends on its Christmas cash cow to bankroll its other productions, is left with coal in its stocking!

This season, the world-renowned dance company was hit with a $3.5 million budget cut, forcing the ballet to lay off staff and trim back its schedule of performances from 106 to 86. The loss of "Nutcracker" revenue is a potentially deadly blow.

Spokesgal Tiffany Kehayoglou said yesterday that executive director Valerie Wilder, who was in the throes of negotiating next year's dates for "The Nutcracker" with the Wang, got word of the eviction Tuesday night.

Kehayoglou said the administration "definitely" wants the holiday production to remain in Boston. "We're looking everywhere and leaving no stone unturned," she said.

But those familiar with Boston stages say it won't be easy. The newly refurbished Cutler Majestic Theatre is too small for the huge "Nutcracker" production. Ditto for the Shubert Theatre, which is also booked by the Wang. The Copley Theatre would be an option with its 1,500 seats, but the stage is too puny for Clara & Company.

And as for the soon-to-open Opera House, a venue controlled by money-hungry Clear Channel, Those In the Know say the corporate entertainment giant isn't likely to allow a nonprofit to monopolize its theater for two months at a reduced rent.

The Wang, however, hasn't closed its doors on the ballet permanently.

"The Boston Ballet has been, and continues to be, a valued resident company in our theater, as we hope and expect them to be for many years into the future," said a statement released on behalf of the board by publicist Kathy Rochefort.

However, the canned statement made no mention of the Rockettes, who will kick their way down Boylston Street at the official announcement, we're told.

The board would only say it's "pursuing other options for next winter."

File Under: Last Dance?

Paging pops

Casting cheeses from ABC Family's "My Life as a Sitcom" will be in town this weekend scouting for funny fiftysomething men to play Joe Mozian's dad during the second season of the show.

Apparently, Mozian "fired" his real family after Season One and is now traveling the country looking for new rels. Jealous???

Joe's peeps are on a hunt for a wife in Vegas, a mother-in-law in Nashville and children in Cleveland. And here in Boston, the producers are ready to pounce on a wisecrackin' Archie Bunker type who can pull off playing Mozian's fishmonger dad.

"It's all about having a vibrant personality," said casting gal Susan Johnston. "It has nothing to do with if you look like Joe or talk like Joe."

The "Sitcom" peeps will be parked at Nine Zero on Tremont Street tomorrow and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

And, as always, do tell them the Track sent cha.

Celebrity Tracking

Song-and-dance man Ben Vereen kicking up his heels at the Schwartz Center dinner at The Westin . . . Rocker Peter Wolf, New England Patriots poohbah Jonathan Kraft and WCVB anchor Liz Brunner celebrating Davio's first anniversary in its Park Square digs with 600 of Steve DiFillippo's nearest and dearest . . . A bewildered Natalie Jacobson trying to find the end of the looooong security line at Terminal B in Logan Airport . . . Cameras from the Travel Channel rolling at the Wauwinet on Nantucket for the "Great Hotels and Best Island Resorts" show . . . Former Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan keyboardist Al Kooper performing an original tune, "Musical Fortress: The Lee Berk Song," to rousing applause at the Sheraton Boston to honor retiring Berklee School of Music prez Lee Berk . . . Author - and Newsweek scribe - Anna Quindlen addressing the Ad Club at a luncheon co-sponsored by her maggie at the Westin Copley Place . . . Olives kitchen king Todd English judging South Beach Diet recipes on the nationally syndicated "Extra" (he's the TV tabloid show's chef correspondent, don'tcha know) . . . Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon making a pitch for peace - between Red Sox fans and Grady Little! - at a private lunch reception for 80 hosted by legal eagle Bob Popeo at Mintz Levin's One Financial Center offices . . .

Side Tracks

TGIF:

** Academy Award winner Chris Cooper, TV comedians Denis Leary and Lenny Clarke and Her Highness Princess Inaara the Begum Aga Khan head up the list of celebs expected at tomorrow's swish Storybook Ball. The Dr. Seuss-inspired event under the tents at the corner of Beacon and Charles streets will benefit the Mass. General Hospital for Children.

** Need a Kennedy fix? Author Thomas Maier, who just published "The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings," will sign copies of his new historical tome tonight at 7 at the Harvard Coop in Cambridge. And tomorrow, Kennedyphiles will find him in Hyannis at 2 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble at the Cape Cod Mall.

Theodore Bale and Terry Byrne contributed to today's column. Drop dimes to the Track at trackgals@bostonherald.com or call 617-619- 6488.

Adams sisters Made Up a winnah

Caption: Actress Brooke Adams, left, and her sister, Boston screenwriter Lynne Adams, picked up the 2003 Image Award from Women In Film/New England in Cambridge the other night. The two were honored for their work on the made-in-Boston flick `Made Up' (Lynne wrote the screenplay), which was directed by Brooke's hubby, Emmy Award-winning `Monk' star Tony Shaloub. HERALD PHOTO BY GEORGE WEINSTEIN

Doomsday for Ben's Girlfriends

Did Disney catch Ben Affleck's pre-wedding jitters? Because the Mouse House abruptly pulled the plug on the Cambridge homey's matrimonial comedy "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" late Monday - reportedly because they lost faith in their leading man!

The flick was to star Affleck as a bachelor who goes to his younger brother's wedding, where he is visited by the ghosts of his past girlfriends. Betty Thomas of "28 Days" and "Private Parts" was set to direct and, according to the Hollywood Reporter, several big names were close to being cast.

Word is, the studio got cold feet after Ben made a couple of high- profile bombs - notably last summer's "Gigli."

And the buzz around Tinseltown is that Affleck's high-profile romance with Jennifer Lopez hasn't helped his career - even though it hasn't hurt hers. J. Lo has two projects in the pipeline, "Monster- In-Law" with Jane Fonda and "Tick Tock," but Ben, who has two flicks in the can - "Pay Check" with Uma Thurman and "Surviving Christmas" with James Gandolfini - hasn't signed on to star in anything else.

Affleck also reportedly could get axed from the Jack Ryan franchise. The actor replaced Harrison Ford in the Ryan role for the film adaptation of Tom Clancy's "The Sum of All Fears." But according to recent reports, Paramount executives are also put off by "Gigli" and may recast the role for future sequels. Ben's spokesguy didn't return our calls.

Of course, all this unemployment leaves Affleck more free time to hang around Georgia, grow weird beards, shoot off his new guns, hit the casinos and be a general nuisance. Maybe he'd better reschedule the wedding - stat. J. Lo may have to support him!

Caption: CURSED: Ben Affleck, seen here in Harvard Square, appears to be on a losing streak in Tinseltown. HERALD PHOTO BY BILL SILVIA

Lady of Spain

Perhaps Ben Affleck should take a cue from his ex, Gwyneth Paltrow. When the going gets tough in Tinseltown, she high-tails it to Spain!

Paltrow tells In Style maggie she makes frequent forays to her second home in Toledo, Spain, because "it's the farthest from Hollywood you can get."

The Oscar winner kicks back with her "second family," who first took her in as a 15-year-old exchange student in 1987. She plans to build a house on land they gave her adjacent to their ranch.

Gwynnie said her Spanish retreat has helped her deal with the pain of losing her dad, Bruce Paltrow, to cancer last year. "He knew me like the back of his hand," she said. "We had total honesty, such a pure, beautiful relationship. I had nothing unresolved, no `I wish I would have said this.' I know how rare that is."

Paltrow shot two movies, "Sylvia Plath" and "World of Tomorrow," back-to-back after her father's death, an experience that left her "literally ready to collapse under the weight of the sadness," she said. The issue hits newsstands today. PHOTO BY RUVEN AFANADOR/IN STYLE

Copyright 2003
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

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