| Broadway ticket availability
Keith Anderson will play Doc to S. Epatha Merkerson's Lola in the Manhattan Theatre club revival of William Inge's "Come Back, Little Sheba," opening Jan. 24 at the Biltmore Theatre. In "Sheba," Lola, a blowzy, lonely Midwest housewife, is trapped in an unhappy marriage to Doc, a recovering alcoholic teetering on a relapse. When a pretty young woman, played by Zoe Kazan, rents a room in their home, the relationship between wife and husband is dramatically affected. Also in the cast are Lyle Kanouse, Brian J. Smith, Brenda Wehle and Matthew J. Williamson. Merkerson is best known for her many seasons on TV's "Law & Order." Anderson, an ensemble member of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, has appeared on Broadway in the 1989 revival of "Orphesus Descending," the 1999 revival of "Death of a Salesman" and the musical "Brooklyn." For tickets to "Come Back, Little Sheba," call Telecharge, 212-239-6200, or go online at http://www.telecharge.com.
Move is a sign of hope for Detroit
In downtown Detroit on Monday afternoon, workers, residents and civic leaders cheered the news that Quicken Loans/Rock Financial would move 4,000 employees downtown in the next few years. "Any type of business that moves downtown is going to help retailers ... and attract other retailers," said Luciano Gonzalez, the owner of Salad Creations, which opened six months ago on Woodward near Campus Martius. The restaurant benefits from being near Compuware and Ernst & Young and is doing well, he said. .
Proposed theater to seat 1,960
In a preview for an information-packed City Council meeting in December, city staff teamed with members of the arts community last week to present the latest vision for a regional performing arts theater. The incarnation shown Thursday hadn't changed much since earlier versions. It would have 1,960 seats, making it the largest such venue in the Tri-Valley and much of the East Bay. Backers hope to bring Broadway acts that would interest the 750,000 residents of the surrounding area. "You'll be able to go see 'The Little Mermaid' on stage and be home in 10 minutes," said Len Alexander, executive director of the Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center, which partnered with the city to build the new 500-seat Bankhead Theatre. A similar arrangement would be used to finance the larger theater.
3rd day of dark theaters on Broadway
Striking stagehands and theater producers traded accusations but not much else as the work stoppage that has shut down more than two dozen Broadway shows entered its third day Monday. James J. Claffey Jr., president of Local One, fired the first salvo Sunday, declaring that the stagehands would remain off the job until producers started acting "honorably" at the negotiating table. Speaking at a somber news conference, Claffey said the League of Theatres and Producers needs to make a "constructive" adjustment to its counter offers. "We want respect at the table," he said. "If there's no respect, they will not see Local One at the table. The lack of respect is something we are not going to deal with." Shot back Charlotte St. Martin, the league's executive director: Local One "left the negotiating table and abruptly went on the picket line." She said the union "refused to budge on nearly every issue, protecting wasteful, costly and indefensible rules that are embedded like dead weights in contracts so obscure and old that no one truly remembers how, when or why they were introduced.
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