Comedian wasn’t idle in Spokane
SPOKANE GETS a few pages of ink in Eric Idle’s new book, “The Greedy Bastard Diary – A Comic Tour of America” (HarperCollins, $23.95). It’s an account of his comedy tour which came through Spokane in December 2003. He loved The Met and the Davenport Hotel, as we reported earlier.
Yet we may not have mentioned the amount of, umm, fun he had in Spokane with his various fans during a lobby autograph session.
He mentions a “rather attractive lady in a pith helmet who looks like Meryl Streep and who clings warmly to me for about five minutes while her son’s camera constantly malfunctions.
“While she embraces me and the minutes pass, I breathe a silent thank-you to the god of technology,” writes Idle.
Then there was the young lady who requests that he autograph her “very fine bosom.”
“She has delightful skin, and although I rush the job, after 15 minutes I am done,” he writes.
Idle was a key member of the Monty Python comedy troupe and is the author of “Spamalot,” a musical version of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” which is shaping up to be Broadway’s newest smash.
From ‘Melrose’ to CdA
The Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre has cast an actor that you might recognize from TV: Rob Estes.
Estes played Glenn Gallagher on “Days of Our Lives” in the 1980s, Sgt. Chris Lorenzo on “Silk Stalkings” from 1991 to 1995, Kyle McBride on “Melrose Place” from 1996 to 1999, and John Hemming on “Providence” in 2000.
He’ll be in Coeur d’Alene this summer to play the Beast in “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast,” Aug. 6-20.
This will be his second straight summer on Idaho stages.
He appeared at the Idaho Repertory Theatre in Moscow last summer.
“Beauty and the Beast” will have an extra-long run, to accommodate what the theater hopes to be large family demand.
The other shows in this professional summer-stock theater’s 2005 season will be “Some Enchanted Evening” (a Rodgers and Hammerstein revue), “Guys and Dolls” and “Footloose.”
Call (800) 4-CDATIX for season ticket info.
From KXLY to Columbus
Patrick Preston, reporter for KXLY-4, is moving on to WBNS-TV in Columbus, Ohio.
Preston covers government and politics for KXLY and spent a month in Kuwait and Iraq as an embedded reporter.
He’ll be a reporter at the CBS affiliate in Ohio’s capital city. His last day at KXLY will be April 1.
Cheyenne in the Big Apple
Cheyenne Jackson, Newport and Spokane’s contribution to Broadway, has been getting some good ink lately.
Jackson stars in the new all-Elvis show, “All Shook Up,” which is in previews on Broadway.
He was profiled in Sunday’s New York Times a week ago as part of a package titled “One to Watch.”
Jackson was quoted as saying, “If I do Broadway for the rest of my life, I’ll be happy.”
He also was described as “a strapping 6-foot-3 with piercing blue eyes and a keenly muscled body.”
If you want to see Jackson for yourself, tune into NBC’s “Today” show on Friday.
The cast of “All Shook Up,” which presumably will include its lead actor, is scheduled to make an appearance.
“All Shook Up” has had good box office results so far.
The next big date is March 24, when the run will officially begin, and when the New York reviews come out.