Channing Back Where She Belongs

Carol Channing, 74, is coming to town with “Hello, Dolly!” on Tuesday, and I’ll bet a lot of you are wondering:

Will this woman have to hobble around the stage with a walker?

Hah!, I say. Ha!

I’ve been collecting reviews from other cities on this 47-city tour, and the consensus is clear: Channing is a hit and so is the show. In fact, it is headed for Broadway this fall, as soon as the tour ends.

Here’s what reviewers and other observers have been saying about Channing:

Washington Post: “If you are wincing as you conjure up a wizened, enfeebled, Channing tottering down that celebrated stairway … you couldn’t be more mistaken. Channing’s performance was a revelation, one of those occasions when a star doesn’t merely live up to her legendary status, but delivers the goods anew.”

Entertainment Weekly: “A surprising, in-your-face success. After 31 years and more than 4,000 performances, her Dolly has sold out houses and generated glowing reviews from Cincinnati to San Antonio.”

Time magazine: “The show has all the snap and style one remembers from Gower Champion’s original production… . But it is Channing whom one comes to see, and she exceeds expectations.”

Variety: “The show remains part parade, part medicine show and part vaudeville - all raised to the nth level of theatrical splendor - and it remains an uncontested triumph for Channing.”

The show runs eight performances, Tuesday through Sunday, at the Spokane Opera House. Get tickets through G&B Select-a-Seat.

Exclusive or not?

The folks at KXLY-Channel 4 are frosted about the fact that KHQ-Channel 6 trumpeted its Wednesday night story about the OK Boys’ Ranch as a “Q-6 exclusive investigation.” Since KXLY was airing its story about the OK Boys’ Ranch at the exact same moment, how exclusive could it be?

Well, I’m not inclined to be totally sympathetic, for two reasons. First, maybe the story wasn’t exclusive, but the KHQ investigation might qualify since it appeared to be the result of months of work. Second, every station in town, including KXLY, regularly abuses and over-uses the “exclusive” label. Most of the time, a station has no way of telling whether a story is actually exclusive or not.

So here’s my recommendation. All three stations should dump the word “exclusive” for good.

It fails to impress anybody, anyway. It’s nothing but chest-thumping.

In defense of weathercasters

Did you see the Doug Clark column on Thursday in which some guy named Bill Hockett trashed TV weathercasters?

It seems a surprise rainstorm soaked Hockett’s fancy Mercedes convertible. Poor baby.

TV weather people make easy targets, but I thought I might actually inject some reality into this discussion:

Many weathercasters, such as KREM’s Tom Sherry, actually have extensive college training in the science of meteorology. They’ll talk your ears off about isobars and isotherms if you’ll let them.

Even the ones who would rather be covering the cop beat generally use forecasts prepared by people at the National Weather Service, who presumably know at least something about weather.

The good ones do care about getting it right, and are painfully aware that people like pilots and farmers depend on the forecasts for their lives and livelihood (although they may not be overly concerned about whether some guy’s Mercedes gets damp).

Finally, anybody over the age of about 8 should already know that weather, by its nature, is unpredictable. Sometimes, it will rain on your parade. Deal with it.

Fly-by shooting

Now that I’ve said nice things about weather-persons, I would also like to say: What is the deal with that stupid Flying-In-Motion-Through-The-Clouds thing?

Both KXLY and KREM have purchased this expensive computer graphic feature, which simulates a fly-by over the Northwest. It’s worse than useless. If it’s cloudy, you see a bunch of haze. If it’s clear, you see the ground.

All the viewer gets out of it is vertigo.

Change of Art

Maureen Davidson, executive director of the Spokane Art School, has resigned effective mid-August.

Davidson has been head of the school for four years. She is getting married this summer, and her fiance is a candidate for jobs in Eugene and San Francisco.

She is still not certain whether they will be leaving Spokane, but she said that in fairness to the Spokane Art School, she turned in her notice. We’ll be sorry to see her go.

Another lukewarm rumor

Spotlight’s Rumor Central line picked up a hot one this week, which like most rumors, turned out to be not so hot. The rumor was that Rod Stewart would be the opening act for the new Spokane Arena in September.

I called Amy Brown over at the arena, sang three bars of “Maggie May” and put the question to her.

She said that no, Rocket Rod would not be the opening act. She also expressed the hope that my sinuses would clear up soon.

At one time, Stewart was a candidate for the opening act, but the deal didn’t work out. (He is playing The Gorge, however, on Sept. 2 and 3 with Santana and Jeff Beck.)

The arena opening act still hasn’t been announced. Actually, the arena people are planning three days of opening events, aimed at different tastes, instead of just one single gala opening.

The open house

But we do know when the public will first get a glimpse of the arena.

An open house is scheduled for Sept. 10, a few days before the first events are staged. If all goes according to plan, the public can wander through the new arena for no charge. It will be an excellent way to become acquainted with the place.

Playwright winner

“Area Code 212” by James P. Mirrione was named the winning play in the Spokane Civic Theatre’s Playwrights Forum Festival.

Mirrione, from New York, is the co-founding member and playwright-in-resident for the Creative Arts Team, the professional theater education company at New York University.

The youth division winner was “Sacrifices Must Be Made” by Klara Bowman and Emily Himmelright, Spokane sixth-graders.

, DataTimes