Stars on unspoken word at ‘Macbeth’
The most commonly held taboo in the arts is uttering the word “Macbeth” inside a theater. Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga don’t buy it.
Shakespeare’s tragedy was said to be cursed before its first performance more than 500 years ago. Since then, the superstition forbids the show’s title to ever be spoken inside a theater. Instead it’s referred to as “the Scottish play.”
Before taking the stage Thursday for opening night of the Broadway revival, Craig and Negga were more brazen, preferring not to buy into the superstition that some tragedy will occur if someone utters its name.
“Individually, I don’t know we’re that powerful,” said Craig, who plays the Scottish anti-hero. “I have my own superstitions about all sorts of things, but not particularly about this.”
“We say it all the time,” said his co-star Negga, who plays Lady Macbeth. Like Craig, she admits to being superstitious, just not about saying the name of the play inside the theater.
While they hold a looser attitude when it comes to the curse, Maria Dizzia, who plays one of the witches, wondered if they were truly left unscathed.
“We said ‘Macbeth,’ and then we all got COVID,” Dizzia said. “The show closed for, you know, 10 days, which we felt was like a kind of curse that was put on the play.”
Director Sam Gold also expressed second thoughts. “I’m not a superstitious person, but this process will teach me to be one the next time. I definitely said the word ‘Macbeth’ a lot and everyone definitely got COVID.”
Dafoe to receive honorary doctorate: Actor Willem
Dafoe is set to receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. University officials announced Friday that Dafoe will receive the doctorate of arts on May 22 when he’s also slated to speak at the school’s two graduation ceremonies.
Dafoe attended UW-Milwaukee in 1973 and 1974 before leaving to become part of Theatre X, an independent experimental theater company. Dafoe, who has appeared in more than 100 films, said in a statement issued by UW-Milwaukee that his time at the university was “a very formative and positive experience.”
Grey to revisit Kellerman’s in ‘Dirty Dancing’ sequel:
Not only will Jennifer Grey return for the “Dirty Dancing” sequel, first announced by Lionsgate in 2020, but the film will take place where her character Baby and Johnny’s (Patrick Swayze) summer romance
took center stage in the original.
“Jennifer Grey returns to Kellerman’s in the next chapter,” a voiceover said Thursday at Lionsgate’s Cinemacon presentation as clips from the 1987 romantic classic played, Entertainment Weekly reports.
Grey, 62, will also serve as executive producer of the sequel, but it’s unclear if she’ll reprise her role as Frances “Baby” Houseman. Swayze died in 2009.
Additional information about the upcoming film has not yet been released. May 2 birthdays: Singer Engelbert Humperdinck is 86. Singer Larry Gatlin is 74. Singer Lou Gramm is 72. Actor Christine Baranski is 70. Singer Angela Bofill is 68. Actor Brian Tochi is 63. Journalist Mika Brzezinski is 55. Actor Dwayne Johnson is
50. Actor Ellie Kemper is
42. Actor Gaius Charles is 39.