KNIGHTLEY NEWS
Neither injuries nor stalkers can prevent the actress from giving her all
IT’S all in the wrist!
Keira Knightley suffered an injury to her wrist this week, forcing the temporary cancellation of “Thérèse Raquin,” the play in which she’s appearing at the Roundabout’s Studio 54 theater.
But the 30-year-old star is a trouper: She was at rehearsal Thursday and adamant that she’d be back onstage that night (though I think they cut the cartwheels for the time being).
A little more unsettling was the obsessed fan who threw flowers at her during the first preview after confessing his undying love. Knightley didn’t miss a beat, barreling through her scene while the creep was booted out of the theater.
Very little seems to rattle this actress’s concentration, which is good, since this play is a tough one to pull off.
Based on Émile Zola’s 1867 novel, which he later adapted for the stage, “Thérèse Raquin” tells the story of a woman in a loveless marriage who falls for her husband’s best friend. Believe it or not, Harry Connick Jr. and director
Susan Stroman tried to make a musical out of it for Broadway in 2001. That one ended in bad reviews and a short run.
It’s a bit early in the day to say how this production will do — it doesn’t open until Oct. 29 — but I hear
Beowulf Boritt’s set is spectacular.
There’s lots of water — the husband (played here by Gabriel Ebert) is drowned on a boat trip.
I’m told the evening could use a dash more smoldering sexuality and some second-act brutality.
But so could most of Broadway shows!
Knightley’s New York debut isn’t causing much of a stir — at least not the celeb hoopla that’s being accorded to Clive
Owen, who just opened in “Old Times.” But she’s in a downer of a play, one that’s not exactly bringing in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” crowd.
I caught her in London in 2011 opposite Elisabeth
Moss in “The Children’s Hour” and was impressed.
I’m in her corner, though I hasten to add, I’m not a stalker!
THE great Hal Prince has taken many shows out of town before opening them on Broadway. But this time he’s going way out of town. His new show, “Prince of Broadway,” a look back at his life and shows, is headed next week to Tokyo.
But he’s held workshops this week in New York, and the buzz is good. Prince, 87, initially thought he’d recreate scenes from his 60-plus productions, but he told friends that since he couldn’t remember how he staged many of them the first time, he might as well stage them anew. Helping him out is
Susan Stroman. The
cast includes Ramin Karimloo (who just left “Les Misérables”), Emily Skinner
and Shuler Hensley.
It’s shooting for Broadway next season.
HAPPY birthday to my friend Herbert
Kretzmer, who turned 90 this week. He’s a newspaperman who made good — quite good.
In 1984, while he was writing a TV column for the Daily Mail in London, Kretzmer dropped producer
Cameron Mackintosh a note. Though a journalist for most of his career, Kretzmer had once written a musical version of J.M. Barrie’s play “The Admirable Crichton.” He wondered if Mackintosh might want to revive it.
Mackintosh declined, but he invited Kretzmer to lunch. As they were wrapping up, the producer asked Kretzmer what other songs he’d written. He cited the English versions of Charles
Aznavour’s “She” and “Yesterday When I Was Young.” Mackintosh staggered back. “Those are two of my favorite songs!” he exclaimed.
He asked Kretzmer to have a go at writing the English lyrics to a French musical he wanted to bring to London.
Kretzmer wrote such lines as “And the tigers come at night” and “Bring him home” for the musical, which was called “Les Misérables.”
He wasn’t an ink-stained wretch for long.