The Tonys are trying to seem not so … well, tony
Broadway’s Tony Awards show is trying to broaden its appeal. The list of presenters for this year’s Tonys, to be broadcast Sunday night on CBS, includes some familiar faces who have tenuous ties to the theater but might help draw a new audience.
Among the biggest names are Nicole Kidman, who appeared on Broadway in “The Blue Room”; P. Diddy, who goes by his real name, Sean Combs, in a revival of “A Raisin in the Sun”; and Billy Joel, whose songs are featured in the dance musical “Movin’ Out.”
Those with more minimal ties include LL Cool J, Jimmy Fallon and Scarlett Johansson.
Among the theater veterans who will present awards are Nathan Lane, Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, Joel Grey and John Lithgow.
Then there are those who have done theater but have made bigger names for themselves in movies and TV, including Patrick Stewart, Sarah Jessica Parker, Phylicia Rashad, Taye Diggs, Sigourney Weaver, Helen Mirren, Ethan Hawke, Anne Heche, Laura Linney and Martin Short.
Two pop singers, Tony Bennett and Mary J. Blige, will offer musical salutes to Broadway during the three-hour telecast, which will be hosted by nominee Hugh Jackman (“The Boy From Oz”).
In baby land, Julia hits the jackpot
Oscar-winning actress Julia Roberts is pregnant with twins, according to magazine reports.
People magazine reported that Roberts’ spokeswoman said the 36-year-old “Pretty Woman” star was due to give birth to twins early next year. Star magazine, citing unidentified sources, said the twins were a boy and a girl.
Twins run in Roberts’ family, People said, with her great-grandmother and a pair of cousins born as twins.
Gwyneth to taste some forbidden fruit
Gwyneth Paltrow will star in a new biopic of actress Marlene Dietrich, her first film project since the birth of her daughter, Apple, last month.
The movie will explore Dietrich’s movie career and her private life, which involved affairs with both men and women, Variety reports.
The German actress, who started out as a cabaret singer and found fame in the 1930 film “The Blue Angel,” went on to star in Hollywood movies such as “The Devil is a Woman” and “Destry Rides Again.”
We’ll bet their bank accounts still stay separate
Johnny Depp is reportedly set to star with his wife, Vanessa Paradis, in the new film “The Gypsy’s Curse.” Depp will play the gypsy and Paradis a dangerous temptress in the small-budget mystery.
The news comes as a surprise, as Depp had said just a few months ago that he was unlikely ever to work with his less-famous wife. “I like keeping things separate,” he said. “She does her work, I do mine.”
Like they say, all’s well that ends well
“Baby Jessica,” who held the attention of the nation as a toddler when she fell into an abandoned well 17 years ago, is now a high school graduate.
Crews struggled for 58 hours to rescue Jessica McClure from an 8-inch-wide pipe in October 1987. Now 18, McClure joined more than 100 other seniors at Greenwood High School near Midland in receiving their diplomas Friday night.
“We’re just trying to get back to having a normal life,” said her mother, Cissy Porter.
The birthday bunch
Actor Milo O’Shea is 79. Actor Stacy Keach is 63. Drummer Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones) is 63. Composer Marvin Hamlisch is 60. Actor Jerry Mathers (“Leave It to Beaver”) is 56. Actor Dennis Haysbert (“24”) is 50. Comedian Dana Carvey is 49. Rapper B-Real (Cypress Hill) is 34. Actress Paula Cale (“Providence”) is 34. Comedian Wayne Brady is 32. Actress Nikki Cox is 26. Drummer Fabrizio Moretti (The Strokes) is 24.