Show r The Herald Joumai Logan Utah Tuesday March 19 2002— SHERMANS LAGOON aDDflO mm NsnooAROL rtSmkM&aL mm canwh mm mtmnTr- roan C3r EiMwOepoffills 1 ‘a NEW YORK (AP)— Goodbye to Broad- way's original Max Bialystock and Leo BIpom After nearly a year's run Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick left "The Producers” on Sunday turning over die starring roles in Broadway’s biggest hit in years to English actor Henry Goodman and television star Steven Weber The Mel Brooks musical baaed on his 1968 film about two rapscallion Broadway producers who bilk investors out of their money by putting on a musical about Adolf Hitler won’t nave to worry about sagging ticket sales The show which won a record 12 Tony Awards last June is pretty miich sold out for months to come The enthusiastic crowd at Sunday’s matinee which included Broderick's wife Sarah Jessica Parker began standing and cheering even before the final curtain came down After a teary Lane and Broderick took their bows Brooks and directDrchoreographer Susan Stroman came on stage and presented their stars with bouquets of ted roses “We wanted to thank you for making us laugh for an entire year” Stroman said as she wished them well “on your new adventures” “But when you are done with those film and TV folks" she added “you need to come CATHY - BEETLE BAILEY back” Brooks yelled out “Ditto” Hie two actors didn’t speak' Lane collected a Tbny for his portrayal of Bialystock the role originated in the movie by Zero Mostel and Broderick wasBloom the hapless accountant played by Gene Wilder in the film Both roles ate difficult demanding parts particularly Lane’s which in the second act required him to recapitulate the entire plot in musical number that usually one show the stopped During his run Lane was plagued by a polyp on his left vocal cord forcing turn to scale back his schedule to six performances a week The original supporting cast members including Tbny winners Gary Beach and Cady HAGAR THE HORRIBLE r five-minu- Huffmiui are staying in the show Both Goodman who starred in the London revival of “Chicago” and Weber best known from the TV show “Wings”: have contracts They start Tuesday Lane and Broderick considered remaining in the musical yet eventually decided against it Still they have left the door open to return to “The Producers” either in New York or another production The New York Times reported nine-mon- th Sunday It wiU still be here Not since “Cats” in 1982 and IS years later 'The Lira King” in 1997 has a show proven to be such an audience favorite — and such a difficult ticket to snare The day after the musical opened in April 2001 to rave reviews the producers of “The Producers” raised tickets prices to $100 It didn't deter would-b- e tickets buyers who queued daily for cancellations and returns And in October the producers formed a company called Broadway Inner Circle to sell several rows of premium orchestra seats for $480 each in the hopes of outwitting scalpers The juice hike pushied weekly grosses past $12 million and helped the $10 million musi- - ' cal pay back its production costs in les than year rare for a big musical Lane and Broderick will not be idle for long Lane will try his luck again on television ' with a new CBS series called “Life of the i Party” His last TV effort a comedy called “Encore! Encore!" set in the California wine country lasted only a few weeks on NBC in 1998 despite the valiant efforts of Lane and a cast that included such theater veterans as Joan Plowright uid Glenne Headly Broderick also will segue into television He will star for ABC in a TV version of “The Music Man” playing another charlatan of sorts Professor Harold Hill reportedly opposite Kristin Chenoweth as Marian the librarian te Ice Age’ melts competition PEANUTS LOS ANGELES AP) — “Ice Age” froze out the competition at movie theaters as the animated film about prehistoric pals debuted with a whopping $479 million a record for a movie opening in March e Opening in second jlace was the adaptation “Resident Evil” with $182 million while the Robert De Murphy buddy comedy “Showtime” premiered at No 3 with $134 million according to studio estimates Sunday Powered by “Ice Age” the overall weekend box office soared to levels normally seen only in the busy summer or holiday seasons The top 12 movies grossed $1242 million up 71 percent from the same weekend a yearago and up nearly 30 percent from a week ago “It’s summer in March” said Paul Der-tracker president of Relations debut ever for “Ice Age” had die thud-bean animated film behind “Monsters Inc” at $626 million and “Toy Story 2” at $574 million Last year's top animated film “Shrek” grossed $424 million in it first weekend and went on to gross $2677 million the No 2 all- time animated film behind “The Lira King” Playing in 3316 theaters “Ice Age” averaged an impressive $14430 a cinema The previous best Match debut was for “Liar Liar” in 1997 wife $31A million That nutnbei: is more in line with what distributor 20th Century Fox expected to take in with “Ice Age” over opening weekend “Obviously it exceeded our expectations” said Tom Rothman Fox studio chairman “‘It’s abig number and the key to that is simple: We got everybody The moviie got adults and young teens as well as families” While parents with smaller children accounted for most of the crowds 30 percent of “Ice rs video-gam- Niro-Edd- ie MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM box-offi- ce st FOXTROT scan UMIM PMKevwMNr VIMSMUKINOaab-SlUdtM- NSOiriMItaMTsF tCMookVewac 3VST AS MET audiences were Age” movie-goewith a lot of teen-ag- e boys said Bruce Snyder head of distribution for Fox “Normally those teens are a little too old a little too hip for an animated film but this one looked clever to them It didn’t seem childish” Snyder said Set during a deep freeze 20000 years ago “Ice Age” features a woolly mammoth voiced ' by Ray Romano a sloth (John Leguizamo) and d a tiger (Denis Leary) who form an unlikely band returning a human baby to its' tribe Fox is the latest studio to enter the computer- - ' animated cartoon market jriraeered by Disney and partner Pixar (“Monsters Itic” the “Toy Story” movies) and DreamWorks and partner Pacific Data Images (“Shrek” “Antz”) Fox bought digital animation house Blue Sky two years ago about the time the studio was shutcell ting down its traditional sci-- fi cartoon ‘Titan after its operations AE” bombed “Fox learned the hard way on that coming in at the tail rad of die wave” Rothman said “Here we think we’re at the front rad of the comjwter-animatiwave” Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters according to Exhibitor Relations Co Inc l “Ice Age” $479 million Z “Readent Evil” $182 million 3 “Showtime" $154 million 4 “The Time Machine” $109 million 5 “We Were Soldiers” $88 million 6 “All About the Benjamins” $49 million ' 7 ”40 Days and 40 Nights” $46 million 8 “John Q” $37 million: 9 “A Beautiful Mind" $34 million 10 “Return to Never Land" $23 million non-fami- ly saber-toothe- - ani-matr- on pen-and-i- nk ra : : - Names in the news Reeve haS hopb SHeDAISrs REAL UFE ADVENTURES Osborn to divorce CLOSE TO HOME V NASHVILLE Tenn(AP) Kristyn Osborn of the country group SHeDAISY has filed for divorce her attorney said Osborn part of die SHeDAISy trio with her sisters Kelsi and Kassidy Osborn seeks to end her near- - ":f RVonty atupid question V you're aaung u Vi a Mart pereon v f! ’i 9- - ‘l f ' 'V i rits f -' - " '-- a i 4 : rh v‘ f:j f is : I - ‘v - ' '!'t ' "f ''vS:' ' I': co-writ- es v - t - v V1 J w- t :V- t - “ntyristet”S'-- - : - yy’-y LOS ANGELES (AP) Director Steveri Spielberg the spindly alien gave E-star of “ET The Extra-Terestrial” a facelift for the movie’s 20di anniversary rerelease ' Spielberg had more thkn 140 shots reworked and iq some cases filmed again for die iipdfkted version of his classic set to nationwide on Friday ptrarier Special effects artists digi- manipulated ET to make die alien appear more : ' lifelike r il Even die movie’s signature shot of theboy Elliot riding -hjs flying bicycle in front of a fuUmoorCwasreshotto reduce a figurine used iii die f original with actual child £ “What worked in 1982 S doesn’t quite hold up” salid S Bill George who supervised dte updated special effects for Industrial Light & Magic J r- hii-grosri- tobeprepared7hesaidinan interview at a weekend fundraising event for the Christo- ng t'i pher Reeve ‘i Since the fall from a horse thri injured his spinril coni ' ( Reeve has become an advo- cate cd increased funding for a cure for paralysis He also has V driven himselL riding a bike 10 miles a day time times a ' week wtule using electrical stimulation to move his legs : T will be a cure It is very important for me to stay in me best possible craditioit : 4 ‘ETafacelift Christopher Reeve may not be walking on his 50th birthday iri September as he once promised but he isn't giving up hope t When he’s not working on V his second book Reeve is lobbying to lift restrictions on Mem cell research that hq ' believes could lead to a cure exercisto his paralysis and Singer-songwriter Because of the personal nature of tins matter she asks that you respect her privacy ' during this time” Piriecmo v ' v said The couple was married in Magna Utah in 1994 They have no chikhra SHeDAISY’shits include “Littie Goodbyes” and “This Woman Needs” ' much of Osboni die marie rtf dw group which takes its name from an American Indian word meaning Spielberg gives VAIL Cblo (AP) — i u : |