Intriguing names coming to Broadway this season

Kristin Scott-Thomas is one of my favorite actors. She first came to my attention 14 or so years ago in the film "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and most recently I marveled again at her talents in the French film "Tell No One." Earlier this year she the Laurence Olivier award, considered the most prestigious award in British theater, for her peformance in Anton Chekov's "The Seagull." She will be bringing that performance to Broadway beginning Oct. 1, co-starring with another one of my favorite actors, Peter Sarsgaard, who first came to my attention in 1999 in "Boys Don't Cry" and who should have been nominated for an Oscar for his performance in "Shattered Glass."

The pairing of Scott-Thomas and Sarsgaard is to me the most attractive offering of the new Broadway season, but these two actors are not the only ones noted mostly for film work coming to Broadway this year. Katie Holmes will be making her Broadway debut, co-starring with John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest and Patrick Wilson in Arthur Miller's "All My Sons." Daniel Radcliffe will be exposing both his acting chops and his naked body in "Equus" (he received positive reviews for this performance in London).

Free theater tickets

The City of Dallas, through its office of Cultural Affairs, is participating in a nationwide move to attract more patrons to live theater performances and it is doing it in the best way possible -- by handing out free theater tickets.

Beginning at noon, Wednesday, Oct. 1, you can go to this Web site, and reserve free tickets to any one of 26 Dallas area theaters. Three thousand tickets will be given away on a first-come, first-served basis. Once you have reserved your tickets, you can pick them up at the will-call window of the theater on the night of the performance. The tickets will be for performances between Oct. 16 and Nov. 10. Here are the theaters participating:
African American Repertory Theater
Charles W. Eisemann Center
The Company of Rowlett Performers
Contemporary Theatre of Dallas
Dallas Children's Theater
Dallas Hub Theater
Dallas Theater Center
Echo Theatre
Garland Civic Theatre
ICT MainStage
Jubilee Theatre
Lyric Stage
MBS Productions
One Thirty Productions
Pocket Sandwich Theatre
Repertory Company Theatre
Shakespeare Dallas
Teatro Dallas
TeCo Theatrical Productions
The Black Academy of Arts and Letters
The MET Theatre
Theatre Britain
Theatre Three
Uptown Players
WaterTower Theatre
WingSpan Theatre Company

A usual suspect becomes a king

The current short-run of Lerner & Lowe's musical "Camelot" at New York's Lincoln Center sounds like a hoot with Gabriel Byrne as King Arthur, heading a cast that also features Stacy Keach as Merlyn, Christopher Lloyd as Pellinore and Fran Drescher as Morgan le Fey. Unfortunately, all this silliness ends tomorrow night.

A shout-out for Sharon

Like many, I suppose, I first noticed S. Epatha Merkerson (the S. stands for Sharon) on the television program "Law and Order." But it wasn't in her role as Lt. Anita Van Buren, a part she has played for 16 years now, that caught my eye. In the show's very first season, in an episode called "Mushrooms," she played a cleaning woman whose 11-month-old child is accidentally shot. It was a memorable performance, one that obviously has stuck with me to this day.

Others have recognized her work as well. She was nominated for a Tony for her performance in August Wilson's Pulitzer-Prize winning "The Piano Lesson" and a couple of years ago she won a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild award and an Emmy for the television production "Lackawanna Blues."

Still, it made me feel good this morning to read in the New York Times Ben Brantley's review of Ms. Merkerson's performance in "Come Back Little Sheba," a performance, Brantley writes, that "stops the heart." You can read the review for yourself here, although you might have to register with the New York Times if you haven't done so already. Don't worry, however; registration is free.