News

Harvey Sabinson, one of Broadway’s legendary press agents and a former long-time executive director of The Broadway League, died on April 18 of natural causes at his residence in Sarasota, Florida. He was 94 years old. Sabinson capped a 50-year career in the theater when he was honored with a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1995. That year he stepped down as executive director of the League of American Theatres and Producers, (now known as the Broadway League) a national trade association of theatrical producers, presenters and theatre operators. Sabinson joined the organization early in 1976, when it was known as the League of New York Theatres and Producers, as director of special projects. Prior to this appointment, he spent 30 years as a theatrical publicist, beginning shortly after his discharge from Army service during World War II, during which time he received a Purple Heart. He became executive director in 1982. In...

Neil Simon, the creator of such Pulitzer and Tony award-winning plays as The Odd Couple, Barefoot in the Park and Lost in Yonkers, has died at 91. He died last night at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City from complications from pneumonia.

Simon was a giant of popular content creation, the playwright behind works that were performed worldwide by high schools, local theater groups and Broadway, where he was dominant in the last half of the 20th century. Simon’s unparalleled career in the theater included more than thirty plays and musicals that opened on Broadway over a span of four decades.

He made his playwriting debut in 1961, with Come Blow Your Horn and concluded his Broadway run with 45 Seconds From Broadway in 2001.

“No playwright in Broadway’s long and raucous history has so dominated the boulevard as the softly astringent Simon,” wrote John Lahr in The New Yorker in 2010. “For almost half a century,...

Mary Tyler Moore battled hardships from brain tumors to diabetes throughout her marriage to Dr. Robert Levine, and he stood by her side through it all.

The legendary actress died Wednesday at the age of 80. A source told People she had been on a ventilator and had been hospitalized with pneumonia due to complications from her diabetes, and according to her longtime rep, she passed away in the company of friends and, of course, her loving husband of more than 33 years.

Moore was married twice before she met Levine, first to producer Richard Meeker and then to television executive Grant Tinker.

Legendary film and theater director, writer and producer Mike Nichols has passed away. An Oscar winner for 1967′s seminal The Graduate, he also was nominated for such films as Working Girl, Silkwood and Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? For his stage work, he amassed 10 Tony Awards including as director for such plays as Barefoot In The Park, The Odd Couple, The Prisoner Of Second Avenue and Death Of A Salesman; and as producer of Annie and The Real Thing.

“William Goldman said there were two great American film directors—Elia Kazan and Mike Nichols,” said Broadway producer Emanuel Azenberg, who co-produced Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing with Nichols, who also staged ythe play’s Tony-winning Broadway edition with Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons. “I think that’s true. He was a giant who could convince people to be better than they were.”

Nichols died suddenly late Wednesday night...

Hugh Jackman had a very special night at the Tony Awards on Sunday - his actress wife Deborra-lee Furness surprised him with the Special Tony Award for his work onstage.

The Australian actor jetted to his adopted New York City for the prizegiving during a break in the filming of Les Miserables in Europe and was left speechless when his partner strutted out onstage to honour her "special man" with one of the night's big trophies.

Furness admitted she was thrilled to have her husband back after four months of filming on location, but she joked, "There's nothing more romantic after not seeing your husband for four months than to have our first night back together on a Broadway stage with 12 million people watching."

The actor stepped up onstage and told the audience, "She's (Furness) never kept a secret her entire life. (She said), 'I'm just off to the loo (restroom),' and I was like, 'Ok, see you in a bit!'"

Jackman ended his acceptance speech by urging his "incredible" wife to share the spotlight with him and told her, "I love you with all my heart. I know how much you hate public speaking; this is probably the greatest thing you've ever done for me. Really. It means the world to me."

He wasn't the only actor paying a heartfelt tribute to his partner at the Tonys - British comedian James Corden singled out his girlfriend Julia Carey for a special mention during his Best Actor acceptance speech.

He said, "My girlfriend, Julia, gave birth to our son, like, five days before we started rehearsals and she's my baby momma and I can't wait to marry her.

"I would not be holding this if it wasn't for her. She made me say 'us' instead of 'I' and 'we' instead of 'me' and I love her."

Elsewhere, it was a huge night for the stage musical adaptation of hit movie Once, which picked up eight of its 10 nominations, including Best Musical and Best Actor in a Musical for star Steve Kazee.

Peter & the Starcatcher was another big hit at the Tonys, claiming four awards, while Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, The Gershwin's Porgy & Bess, Newsies, and Nice Work if you Can Get It picked up two gongs apiece.

The list of winners is:

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play - Judith Light (Other Desert Cities)

Best Orchestrations - Martin Lowe (Once)

Best Choreography - Christopher Gattelli (Newsies)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical - Michael McGraw (Nice Work if You Can Get It)

Best Book of a Musical - Enda Walsh (Once)

Best Sound Design of a Play - Darron L West (Peter & the Starcatcher)

Best Sound Design of a Musical - Clive Goodwin (Once)

Best Direction of a Musical - John Tiffany (Once)

Best Direction of a Play - Mike Nichols (Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play - Christian Borle (Peter & the Starcatcher)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical - Judy Kaye (Nice Work if You Can Get It)

Best Costume Design of a Play - Paloma Young (Peter & the Starcatcher)

Best Costume Design of a Musical - Gregg Barnes (Follies)

Best Original Score - Alan Menken & Jack Feldman (Newsies)

Best Revival of a Play - Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

Best Scenic Design of a Play - Donyale Werle (Peter & the Starcatcher)

Best Scenic Design of a Musical - Bob Crowley (Once)

Best Lighting Design of a Musical - Natasha Katz (Once)

Best Play - Clybourne Park

Best Revival of a Musical - The Gershwin's Porgy & Bess

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical - Steve Kazee (Once)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play - James Corden (One Man, Two Guvnors)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play - Nina Arianda (Venus in Fur)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical - Audra McDonald (The Gershwin's Porgy & Bess)

Best Musical - Once

Lifetime Achievement Award - Emanuel Azenberg

Regional Theatre Award - The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington, D.C.

Isabelle Stevenson Award - Bernadette Peters

Special Tony Award - Hugh Jackman...

Hugh Jackman had a very special night at the Tony Awards on Sunday - his actress wife Deborra-lee Furness surprised him with the Special Tony Award for his work onstage.

The Australian actor jetted to his adopted New York City for the prizegiving during a break in the filming of Les Miserables in Europe and was left speechless when his partner strutted out onstage to honour her "special man" with one of the night's big trophies.

Furness admitted she was thrilled to have her husband back after four months of filming on location, but she joked, "There's nothing more romantic after not seeing your husband for four months than to have our first night back together on a Broadway stage with 12 million people watching."

The actor stepped up onstage and told the audience, "She's (Furness) never kept a secret her entire life. (She said), 'I'm just off to the loo (restroom),' and I was like, 'Ok, see you in a bit!'"

Jackman ended his acceptance speech by urging his "incredible" wife to share the spotlight with him and told her, "I love you with all my heart. I know how much you hate public speaking; this is probably the greatest thing you've ever done for me. Really. It means the world to me."

He wasn't the only actor paying a heartfelt tribute to his partner at the Tonys - British comedian James Corden singled out his girlfriend Julia Carey for a special mention during his Best Actor acceptance speech.

He said, "My girlfriend, Julia, gave birth to our son, like, five days before we started rehearsals and she's my baby momma and I can't wait to marry her.

"I would not be holding this if it wasn't for her. She made me say 'us' instead of 'I' and 'we' instead of 'me' and I love her."

Elsewhere, it was a huge night for the stage musical adaptation of hit movie Once, which picked up eight of its 10 nominations, including Best Musical and Best Actor in a Musical for star Steve Kazee.

Peter & the Starcatcher was another big hit at the Tonys, claiming four awards, while Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, The Gershwin's Porgy & Bess, Newsies, and Nice Work if you Can Get It picked up two gongs apiece.

The list of winners is:

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play - Judith Light (Other Desert Cities)

Best Orchestrations - Martin Lowe (Once)

Best Choreography - Christopher Gattelli (Newsies)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical - Michael McGraw (Nice Work if You Can Get It)

Best Book of a Musical - Enda Walsh (Once)

Best Sound Design of a Play - Darron L West (Peter & the Starcatcher)

Best Sound Design of a Musical - Clive Goodwin (Once)

Best Direction of a Musical - John Tiffany (Once)

Best Direction of a Play - Mike Nichols (Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play - Christian Borle (Peter & the Starcatcher)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical - Judy Kaye (Nice Work if You Can Get It)

Best Costume Design of a Play - Paloma Young (Peter & the Starcatcher)

Best Costume Design of a Musical - Gregg Barnes (Follies)

Best Original Score - Alan Menken & Jack Feldman (Newsies)

Best Revival of a Play - Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman

Best Scenic Design of a Play - Donyale Werle (Peter & the Starcatcher)

Best Scenic Design of a Musical - Bob Crowley (Once)

Best Lighting Design of a Musical - Natasha Katz (Once)

Best Play - Clybourne Park

Best Revival of a Musical - The Gershwin's Porgy & Bess

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical - Steve Kazee (Once)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play - James Corden (One Man, Two Guvnors)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play - Nina Arianda (Venus in Fur)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical - Audra McDonald (The Gershwin's Porgy & Bess)

Best Musical - Once

Lifetime Achievement Award - Emanuel Azenberg

Regional Theatre Award - The Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington, D.C.

Isabelle Stevenson Award - Bernadette Peters

Special Tony Award - Hugh Jackman...

The 2012 Tony Awards were full of surprises! With a near-sweep for the indie musical hit Once, a Tony for Smash star Christian Borle, and Alan Menken’s first Tony for Newsies, the Neil Patrick Harris-hosted affair also featured a special award for fan favorite Hugh Jackman. But the play was the thing Sunday night, with Clybourne Park taking the best play award and a variety of other entries in the medium like Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Peter and the Starcatcher honored across several categories. See the full winners list below (and don’t miss our...

Reuters ‘Once’ with Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti.

In a diverse theater season with no clear frontrunner, the Tony Award nominations announced Tuesday morning swept across the board, with nods to major star vehicles like “Death of a Salesman,” offbeat newcomers including the new musical “Once,” work by Broadway veterans such as “Nice Work If You Can Get It” and classic revivals with “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.”

As expected, “Death of a Salesman” scored big. The play with a...

Do you smell that? It’s Tony fever, and it starts right now! The theater awards season kicked off this morning when Kristin Chenoweth and Jim Parsons announced the nominations for this year’s Tony Awards, which will air on CBS on Sunday, June 10 on CBS (hosted by Neil Patrick Harris).

Among the most nominated titles this year was Once, which landed 11 nominations including nods for Best Musical and its two stars, Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti. Fan favorites Newsies and Follies got their due, and there was no dearth of big Hollywood names either, with the likes of Stockard Channing,...

The Tony Awards Administration Committee has announced this years recipient for the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. This years award will be presented to producer Emanuel Manny Azenberg. The Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre will be presented at the 2012 Tony Awards on Sunday, June 10th. The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

This June, theater producer Emanuel “Manny” Azenberg will have one more trophy to add to his collection: the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre. Organizers of the awards announced on Tuesday that Azenberg, a 78 year-old Broadway veteran, will be this year’s recipient for the distinguished honor.The news hardly came as a surprise, considering how Azenberg has influenced New York theater over the past few decades. Since 1966, when he launched his producing career with the Broadway play “The Lion in Winter,” the Bronx native has produced 65 shows, receiving 25 Tony Award nominations and winning eight awards.“When you look at the criteria for the Lifetime Achievement Tony Award, you’ll see that it reads ‘Manny Azenberg,’” said Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of The Broadway League, and Heather Hitchens, executive director of the American Theatre Wing, in a statement. “It is our absolute honor to pay tribute to.

Fred amp Adele Astaire Awards Producer Patricia Watt, The Douglas Watt Family Fund for the Performing Arts, amp art consultant Julie Keyes hosted a kickoff cocktail reception for the committees and sponsors of the 30th Fred amp Adele Astaire Awards Gala at the theater district's Remi Restaurant. Astaire Awards Associate Producer Carolyn Kendall Buchter and Alix Michel, the Co-Chairs of the 30th Anniversary Awards Gala were also on hand to welcome guests that included such theater world glitterati as 5 time Astaire Award winner Susan Stroman, producers Emanuel Azenberg, Wendy Federman and Dan Whitten, Sdc Executive Director Laura Penn, Lee Roy Reams, Bruce Michael, NYC Dance Alliance Executive Director Joe Lanteri, J. Elaine MarcosPriscilla Queen of the Desert, Kearann Giovanni Hugh Jackman Back to Broadway, Meggie Cansler Wicked, Rob Ashford How to Succeed..., actresses Sondra Lee, Sarah Bierstock, Cassandra Seidenfeld Lyster amp Jacquelin Murphy. Also lending their support for the 30th...

Making for quite the glamorous evening in the Big Apple, the stars gathered together at Radio City Music Hall for the 2010 Tony Awards on Sunday night (June 13).

With Sean Hayes acting as the evening's host, big names such as Katie Holmes, Daniel Radcliffe, Beyonce and Jay-z, and Lea Michele all turned up for the annual Broadway event.

During the course of the evening, big winners included the lovely Scarlett Johansson as Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her work in "A View From a Bridge," as well as Denzel Washington as Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for his stage duties in "Fences".

Also taking home trophies were Catherine Zeta Jones as Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for "A Little Night Music," along with "Red," which received the best play prize and five other trophies.

The complete list of...

One has to hand it to the Tony nominators: They didn't follow conventional wisdom nor did they particularly pay heed to commercial considerations.

Indeed, some of the biggest noms went to shows that are either long gone ("Ragtime," "Finian's Rainbow," "In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play," "Time Stands Still") or lagging at the boxoffice ("Fela!" "Memphis," "Next Fall," "Million Dollar Quartet").

The biggest surprises Tuesday were the omissions.

"The Addams Family," the most successful new musical of the season, was thoroughly dissed, failing to get noms for best musical, for its stars Nathan Lane or Bebe Neuwirth, or even for its production design. And though it did get one for original score, that's not exactly a coup in a season in which only one other musical, "Memphis," even had one. The category had to be embarrassingly filled out with the forgettable music from "Enron" and Branford Marsalis' incidental music for "Fences.

New York – Star wattage will burn bright at the 2010 Tony Awards with Denzel Washington, Jude Law, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Kelsey Grammer among those receiving nominations Tuesday.Washington and Law were each cited for best actor performances in "Fences" and "Hamlet," respectively. Zeta-Jones was nominated for best performance by a leading actress in a musical, "A Little Night Music," and Grammer was nominated for lead actor in a musical, "La Cage aux Folles.""Fela!" — nominated for best musical — and "La Cage aux Folles," nominated for the best musical revival, each received 11 nominations, followed by "Fences" with 10 nods.Nominated for best play were "In the Next Room (or the vibrator play)" by Sarah Ruhl; "Next Fall," by Geoffrey Nauffts; "Red," by John Logan, and "Time Stands Still," by Donald Margulies.Best musical nominations went to Green Day's "American Idiot"; "Memphis"; "Million Dollar Quartet," and "Fela!"The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford,...

New York – The abrupt closing Sunday of Neil Simon's "Brighton Beach Memoirs" after only nine performances has cast a brief, uneasy shadow over Broadway's fall season, ironically one of the busiest in years.And the revival's collapse has had a ripple effect, forcing the cancellation of a second Simon production, "Broadway Bound," which was to have opened at the same theater (the Nederlander) in December and then run in repertory with "Brighton Beach.""A lot of nice people on stage and off will be out of work and a lot of good partners and investors will have lost a great deal of money," producers Emanuel Azenberg and Ira Pittelman said in a statement. "They all deserve better. It makes us sad."Yet its failure — the shortest run ever for a Simon play on Broadway — stands in contrast to the healthy box-office activity of several star-driven productions such as "A Steady Rain,...

Producers Emanuel Azenberg and Ira Pittelman are pleased to announce casting for The Neil Simon Plays - new productions of two of Neil Simon's most beloved and successful works, Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound. David Cromer (currently represented in New York with the critically acclaimed production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town) directs The Neil Simon Plays, which will be performed in repertory at a theatre to be announced.

The New York Times is reporting that Laurie Metcalf, who won three Emmys on ABC's "Roseanne" and most recently appeared on Broadway in David Mamet's "November," has signed on to star as the matriarch Kate Jerome in the upcoming Broadway revivals of Neil Simon's autobiographical plays "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and "Broadway Bound," the producer Emanuel Azenberg announced Wednesday.

Scheduled for airing on Showtime in the spring, Neil Simon's "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" had its world premiere at the Nortel Networks Palm Springs International Film Festival in January. The film screened in a 35mm print Saturday at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. A crowd-pleaser no matter how big the crowd is, "Laughter" is delightfully salty from beginning to end, but younger audiences will be hard to woo.

Set in 1954-55 New York, the movie is a "Front Page"-paced comedy about a group of pioneer TV writers and their famous boss.

Based on his experiences working as a writer on Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows", screenwriter Simon expands and fleshes out his 1993 play in key areas for this Paramount/Showtime production. Richard Benjamin deftly -- if unspectacularly -- calls the shots in another visit to the milieu he had much success with in his 1982 directorial debut, "My Favorite Year".

"Laughter" is surprisingly nimble about shifting emotional moods. The more serious moments -- dealing with the characters' personal and professional problems or the ongoing witch hunt of Sen. Joseph McCarthy -- are welcome respites from the otherwise frantic pace.

Nathan Lane reprises the role of supertalented TV star Max Prince, a role he first performed on Broadway. Lane is unstoppable as the charismatic lead funnyman, who in some ways is drowning and in other ways is surfing through the turbulent waves of change. The entire cast is wonderfully in the spirit, and the production values effortlessly evoke the period. Yet the project is far more than a nostalgic rerun of more hilarious times.

Popping pills, drinking like a fish and smoking big cigars, Prince is the dynamic but frazzled star of a hit weekly show on NBC that reflects his personality and the jokers he employs. While much of the action takes place in the writers' room on the titular 23rd story -- all of the play was set there -- the movie shows us Prince at home, Prince out in public with the writers, Prince at the graveyard with his older brother Harry Richard Portnow), Prince meeting with pompous network executives and so on.

Lest one thinks times have changed, Prince and his crew are fighting for the right to air the "urbane" show they want, without pressure from the network, but business is business. Prince goes on the warpath when the message comes down that ordinary American viewers aren't interested in satires of foreign movies and other inspired routines the show has tried in the past. The story more or less follows the decline of the show, including the intrusion of a network spy/censor, along with Prince's deteriorating physical and mental health. But we spend a good portion of the movie with the writers, who worriedly pass the time by verbally sparring or trying to help the proud, mercurial Prince behind his back.

The real writers Simon worked with included Mel Brooks, Larry Belbart and Mel Tolkin. The film's supporting cast of seven scribes has nary a weak link.

Always late and a wildly imaginative hypochondriac, Ira (Saul Rubinek) is the head writer, whom the others love to hate and bait. The rest of Prince's gag team is Russian emigre Val (Mark Linn-Baker, who also played the role on Broadway), lone female Carol (Peri Gilpin), newcomer Lucas (Mackenzie Astin), bemused Milt (Dan Castellaneta) and aggressive needlers Kenny (Victor Garber) and Brian (Zach Grenier).

Frank Proctor as real-life columnist Walter Winchell, Sherry Miller as Prince's wife and Colin Fox as network head Cal Weeb are nicely given their moments to play off Lane's dominating presence. Indeed, starting with Lane's generous and often superbly executed comedic and dramatic performance in a crowd, "Laughter" is classic material preserved for the ages.

LAUGHTER ON THE 23RD FLOOR

Showtime Networks and Paramount Television

Director: Richard Benjamin

Screenwriter: Neil Simon

Producer: Jeffrey Lampert

Executive producers: Emanuel Azenberg, Neil Simon

Director of photography: Danny Nowak

Production designer: Franco De Cotiis

Editor: Jacqueline Cambas

Costume designer: Tamara Winston

Music: Joseph Vitarelli

Color/stereo

Cast:

Max Prince: Nathan Lane

Val: Mark Linn-Baker

Kenny: Victor Garber

Ira: Saul Rubinek

Carol: Peri Gilpin

Milt: Dan Castellaneta

Harry: Richard Portnow

Brian: Zach Grenier

Lucas: Mackenzie Astin

Walter Winchell: Frank Proctor

Faye: Sherry Miller

Cal Weeb: Colin Fox

Running time --102 minutes

No MPAA Rating...

Scheduled for airing on Showtime in the spring, Neil Simon's "Laughter on the 23rd Floor" had its world premiere at the Nortel Networks Palm Springs International Film Festival in January. The film screened in a 35mm print Saturday at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. A crowd-pleaser no matter how big the crowd is, "Laughter" is delightfully salty from beginning to end, but younger audiences will be hard to woo.

Set in 1954-55 New York, the movie is a "Front Page"-paced comedy about a group of pioneer TV writers and their famous boss.

Based on his experiences working as a writer on Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows", screenwriter Simon expands and fleshes out his 1993 play in key areas for this Paramount/Showtime production. Richard Benjamin deftly -- if unspectacularly -- calls the shots in another visit to the milieu he had much success with in his 1982 directorial debut, "My Favorite Year".

"Laughter" is surprisingly nimble about shifting emotional moods. The more serious moments -- dealing with the characters' personal and professional problems or the ongoing witch hunt of Sen. Joseph McCarthy -- are welcome respites from the otherwise frantic pace.

Nathan Lane reprises the role of supertalented TV star Max Prince, a role he first performed on Broadway. Lane is unstoppable as the charismatic lead funnyman, who in some ways is drowning and in other ways is surfing through the turbulent waves of change. The entire cast is wonderfully in the spirit, and the production values effortlessly evoke the period. Yet the project is far more than a nostalgic rerun of more hilarious times.

Popping pills, drinking like a fish and smoking big cigars, Prince is the dynamic but frazzled star of a hit weekly show on NBC that reflects his personality and the jokers he employs. While much of the action takes place in the writers' room on the titular 23rd story -- all of the play was set there -- the movie shows us Prince at home, Prince out in public with the writers, Prince at the graveyard with his older brother Harry Richard Portnow), Prince meeting with pompous network executives and so on.

Lest one thinks times have changed, Prince and his crew are fighting for the right to air the "urbane" show they want, without pressure from the network, but business is business. Prince goes on the warpath when the message comes down that ordinary American viewers aren't interested in satires of foreign movies and other inspired routines the show has tried in the past. The story more or less follows the decline of the show, including the intrusion of a network spy/censor, along with Prince's deteriorating physical and mental health. But we spend a good portion of the movie with the writers, who worriedly pass the time by verbally sparring or trying to help the proud, mercurial Prince behind his back.

The real writers Simon worked with included Mel Brooks, Larry Belbart and Mel Tolkin. The film's supporting cast of seven scribes has nary a weak link.

Always late and a wildly imaginative hypochondriac, Ira (Saul Rubinek) is the head writer, whom the others love to hate and bait. The rest of Prince's gag team is Russian emigre Val (Mark Linn-Baker, who also played the role on Broadway), lone female Carol (Peri Gilpin), newcomer Lucas (Mackenzie Astin), bemused Milt (Dan Castellaneta) and aggressive needlers Kenny (Victor Garber) and Brian (Zach Grenier).

Frank Proctor as real-life columnist Walter Winchell, Sherry Miller as Prince's wife and Colin Fox as network head Cal Weeb are nicely given their moments to play off Lane's dominating presence. Indeed, starting with Lane's generous and often superbly executed comedic and dramatic performance in a crowd, "Laughter" is classic material preserved for the ages.

LAUGHTER ON THE 23RD FLOOR

Showtime Networks and Paramount Television

Director: Richard Benjamin

Screenwriter: Neil Simon

Producer: Jeffrey Lampert

Executive producers: Emanuel Azenberg, Neil Simon

Director of photography: Danny Nowak

Production designer: Franco De Cotiis

Editor: Jacqueline Cambas

Costume designer: Tamara Winston

Music: Joseph Vitarelli

Color/stereo

Cast:

Max Prince: Nathan Lane

Val: Mark Linn-Baker

Kenny: Victor Garber

Ira: Saul Rubinek

Carol: Peri Gilpin

Milt: Dan Castellaneta

Harry: Richard Portnow

Brian: Zach Grenier

Lucas: Mackenzie Astin

Walter Winchell: Frank Proctor

Faye: Sherry Miller

Cal Weeb: Colin Fox

Running time --102 minutes

No MPAA Rating...