‘Les Miz’ Will Return To Spokane
Holy Victor Hugo.
“Les Miserables,” the blockbuster musical, will make a return visit to the Spokane Opera House next summer, June 18-23.
Tickets are now on sale to G&B Best of Broadway subscribers only; tickets for everyone else should go on sale in September.
Isn’t this a case of deja vu all over again? Didn’t “Les Miz” already come through the Opera House twice before?
Yes, it did. But no other musical has the resiliency and staying power of “Les Miz.”
This show has sold out 16 previous performances in Spokane in 1991 and 1993; it has been seen by 41,000 people, more than any other touring show in Spokane. Yet when the Best of Broadway folks poll their audience about what they want to see, “Les Miz” is still the most-requested show.
This is the kind of show people want to see again and again. No doubt, many people attending next summer will be seeing it for the third time. In fact, some people will probably be seeing it for the seventh and eighth time. A true “Les Miz” fanatic thinks nothing of going to New York or London to see it.
What about “Phantom”?
Meanwhile, we do have to go to New York or London to see Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera.”
It still hasn’t played Spokane. The touring production of that show requires at least a three-week stay in each city, which means it can only play larger cities.
Stupid radio tricks
Listeners of KKCH-FM, 94.5, the contemporary hits station out of Coeur d’Alene, were treated to some drama on Thursday morning.
DJ Randy Young was yanked off the air after making some personal on-air attacks on general manager Bruce Deming. Young apparently said something about Deming’s, ummm, anatomy.
Rule No. 1 for keeping a job: Don’t make rude remarks about the boss’s personal attributes.
Deming went on the air at noon Thursday to explain the whole debacle to listeners. Deming said that Young had “really pushed the envelope of good taste” in the last several months, and that he had finally “just crossed the line.” Deming apologized to listeners.
Al Wetzel, formerly of KGA-AM, and Kevin James, formerly of KDRK-FM, took over the morning show on Friday.
Sounds juicy, doesn’t it?
Too bad it’s just a dumb radio publicity stunt. The truth is, the whole thing appears to have been staged. Do you think a radio station program director would actually barge in to the studio and fire someone with the mikes still on? At least he’d wait for a commercial break.
Anyway, look for Young and his partner Nick Theisen to storm back to the station sometime this week and stage some kind of phony takeover. This will just happen to coincide with a change in musical direction at the station, in which the station will add more alternative music to its Top 40 mix. Call it a wild guess.
By the way, Deming and program director Scott Shannon deny that this was all a stunt. Deming says he really is mad at Young for what he said.
But Mr. Spotlight wasn’t born yesterday. We know a stunt when we smell one. Also, we have our sources.
IMAX memories
Think back to Expo ‘74, and the IMAX movie “Man Belongs to the Earth.” Chief Dan George (“Little Big Man”) narrated it. It featured dizzying scenes of a canyon helicopter ride; shocking scenes of strip-mine devastation; and incendiary scenes of an oil-well fire.
It played the IMAX Theater at Riverfront Park for the entire length of the fair. It was made especially for Expo ‘74, and its environmental themes helped set the fair’s philosophical tone.
Well, the people at Associated Industries, a non-profit association of companies in the Spokane area, wanted to find that film and screen it in conjunction with their environmental program, which is called Green Star.
However, they discovered that all of the prints of “Man Belongs to the Earth” were lost or destroyed - except the one at the Riverfront Park IMAX. And that print was in poor shape, because it had been shown 5,000 times.
So Associated Industries presented a check for $4,800 to the Riverfront Park staff on Thursday, enough to restore the print to nearly original quality.
By October or so, the public should have a chance to see the movie, which is still surprisingly relevant and moving.
Midday news expands
Spokane now has an 11 o’clock newscast in the a.m. as well as in the p.m.
“NewsFour Daytime,” KXLY-4’s midday news show, has expanded to one hour, and now begins at 11 a.m. every weekday. The first part of the show will have news of the day; the rest of the hour will be devoted to “stories that focus on family.”
A welcome face
Bob Briley, one of the original TV news pioneers in Spokane, is back on the air.
Briley is doing special reports for KXLY-4 in July. Briley began his career as a radio broadcaster in 1947, and went to KHQ-TV in 1954. In 1988, Gov. Booth Gardner proclaimed Sept. 30 as Bob Briley Day for his service to the community.
, DataTimes