2 replies to this topic

[4 Ur Eyez Only]

*It looks like Roger is starting up his Acting Career again!! Which is Cool!

Roger Moore News:

http://www.playbill....icle/78315.html

Roger Moore Is Play What I Wrote's First Mystery Guest
By Robert Simonson
07 Mar 2003


Roger Moore, filmdom's James Bond, was the first secret celebrity guest star in Broadway's The Play What I Wrote.

The Play What I Wrote, a quirky London theatrical sensation, began its American premiere at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre March 7.

Kenneth Branagh directs the work of Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben, featuring actors McColl and Foley and Toby Jones on stage. The 2002 Olivier Award winning play "revolves around Hamish, who no longer wants to be part of his comedy double act with Sean," according to production notes. "Instead, he wants to see the play he has written, A Tight Squeeze for the Scarlet Pimple, properly mounted on the Broadway stage. But before this can happen, he needs a major star to play the supporting role to his lead role."

Moore starred in several movies as Agent 007, including "Live and Let Die," "The Spy That Loved Me" and "Moonraker." He was also star of the television series "The Saint."

In the West End, those making special appearances as themselves included Ralph Fiennes, Ian McKellen, Roger Moore, Jerry Hall, Sting and Ewan McGregor, among others. The identity of the nightly guest will be a tightly guarded secret.

The New York premiere is presented by The Orpheum Circuit (David Pugh, Joan Cullman, Mike Nichols, Hamilton South, Charles Whitehead, Stuart Thompson). The show is billed as a Nichols & Pugh production.

Producers offered tickets for the first five previews at the prices of, respectively, $1, $2, $3, $4 and $5. Tickets went on sale March 3 at the Lyceum box office, with film and stage actor-director Kenneth Branagh ("Hamlet") on hand to serve tea to those seeking a bargain; the special tix quickly sold out. Regular ticket prices range $45-$80.

The original London mounting was an homage to the famed-in-Britain-but-mostly-unknown-in-the-U.S. comedy team of Ernie Wise and Eric Morecambe.

Sean Foley and Hamish McColl's other productions include Bewilderness and the comedy Do You Come Here Often?, which won the 1999 Olivier Award for Best Entertainment and was nommed for a Drama Desk Award when it played Off-Broadway (where the duo made their New York stage debut).

Irving Davies, who recently passed away, created the original choreography, performed to original songs by Gary Yershon. Designing the show are Alice Power (sets, costumes) and Tim Mitchell (lighting).

The Lyceum is at 149 W. 45th Street. For ticket information, all (212) 239-6200.

[4 Ur Eyez Only]

Here is a funny Article of this Play.. after the fact Roger STILL has the One-Liner Timing

...." Each star gets two three-hour sessions to help write and rehearse the script.

But not everything's scripted.

.....The other week when Roger Moore was on, someone in the audience shouted, "I love you, Roger!"

To which the former James Bond replied, "What on earth are you doing here, Mother?" ....



Nobody does it better!!!

Here is the full article:


http://www.nypost.co...nment/71262.htm

March 20, 2003 -- HE'S battled evil in "Schindler's List," "Star Wars" and "The Crucible" - but Liam Neeson has never seemed braver than last week on Broadway.
In a hoop skirt and blond wig, the brawny star sang and shuffled about in a jig before heading off to the guillotine in "The Play What I Wrote."

He's not the only big star to lose his head in the comedy - audiences never know who may appear as the Mystery Guest Star in Act II.

Roger Moore and Nathan Lane have already turned up at Broadway's Lyceum Theater, where the play opens March 30.

In London, Sting, Kylie Minogue, Twiggy, Minnie Driver and three dozen others made a mockery of themselves in the play, about a comedy team whose straight man yearns to write a serious play for a big star.

It's clearly not about the money - guests are paid just $1,000 per show.

"If you're going to do something in the theater, you have to plan it a year in advance," Neeson told The Post.

"For this [show], you rehearse Tuesday and you go on Wednesday and do as many performances as you can give.

"It's as simple and as terrifying as that."

Liam Neeson - or "Leslie Nielsen," as he was called in the show - did four shows last week and says he'd love to do another.

But he's still far from topping Ralph Fiennes, the reigning champ, who did 24 shows including London's opening night.

And you never know who'll turn up next. So far, Neeson's wife, Natasha Richardson, has seen the play, as have Edie Falco, Al Pacino, Kevin Bacon and Stanley Tucci. If the past is an indication, they may follow suit.

But before Fiennes, there were no stars on the horizon.

"When we started making phone calls trying to explain to an agent what we wanted, we'd be greeted by silence on the other end," said Dafydd Rogers, the show's executive producer.

With days to go before opening night and not a guest star in sight, Kenneth Branagh, the show's director, asked his friend Fiennes to appear as a favor.

Fiennes went on, the audience went wild - and the phones started ringing.

"Once [the mystery guests] saw we'd look after them and they'd have a good time, they loved it," says "What I Wrote" star Hamish McColl, whom Nathan Lane kept calling "Amish" ("I loved you in 'Witness' ").

Each star gets two three-hour sessions to help write and rehearse the script.

But not everything's scripted.

The other week when Roger Moore was on, someone in the audience shouted, "I love you, Roger!"

To which the former James Bond replied, "What on earth are you doing here, Mother?"

Who's on next? The show's staff isn't telling.

But Neeson is urging several actor pals to follow in his white-stockinged footsteps.

"You go on, and they make fun of you," he says.

"It's very healthy for the ego."

[marktmurphy]

This is very strange- this show -right down to the title- is about Morcambe and Wise. How does it play to a US audience? Indeed, the whole celebs appearing thing was because M&W used to have big stars on their telly shows who would then act in a play Ernie Wise had 'wrote'. I thought thats was what had drawn all the stars to the West End production - but obviously they've played down this aspect on Broadway. Its so strange..