Word: debutants
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Long before the first rehearsal of this Marine Corps thriller set at Guantanamo Bay, its author had exceeded the daydreams of almost any debut playwright. Not only was the show on its way to Broadway with a 20-member cast headed by erstwhile Oscar nominee Tom Hulce (Amadeus), but it had been bought for the movies by producer David Brown, whose credits include Jaws, The Sting and The Verdict. He made a deal that could bring creator Aaron Sorkin, 28, a sum well into six figures. By the time the show opened last week, however, the publicity about a wunderkind...
...credits for the fifth time. This may represent the new Hollywood record for authorial egotism. It is, in any case, three more mentions than Woody Allen requires to state his creative credentials for a truly imaginative comedy and two more than Orson Welles took for his film directorial debut, which was -- let's see, oh, yes -- Citizen Kane...
...Threepenny Opera originated as a leftist diatribe, and is even more of one in John Dexter's snarly, airless staging. Michael Feingold's translation claims to reflect more authentically the 1928 Berlin debut than the Marc Blitzstein version popularized in the '50s. It is surely less effective. For example, it freights the naive scrubwoman anger of Pirate Jenny with sophisticated detail that is out of character, and enervatingly transforms the last syllable of the second-act finale from a strident long vowel to a swallowed short one. Jocelyn Herbert's cumbersome set obstructs movement, draining energy. But emotion intensifies after...
Shutout In Debut...
...Networks, the folks who created TV's original music-video channel, has announced plans for its own kind of comedy channel. Dubbed HA! The TV Comedy Network, it is scheduled to debut next April Fools' Day. MTV's entry, ironically, will steer away from the MTV approach of its rival. Instead of short clips, it will have a more traditional mix of sitcoms, specials and other long-form programming. About half will be reruns (old series like The Dick Van Dyke Show); the other half, new fare from such creators as MTM Enterprises, which has signed on to develop series...