Last Chance to See The Producers!

Last Chance to See The Producers!

Seattle Musical Theatre's production of "The Producers" closes this weekend at Seattle's Magnuson Park. The play runs through October 4th.

We have a 7:30 performance Thursday, Oct. 1. We also show Friday and Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm.

Tickets can be purchased by calling 206-363-2809. You can also visit the SMT website. Tickets range from $30-35 for adults and $25-30 for students and seniors.

The address for Magnuson Park is 7400 Sand Point Way NE. The theater is in building 47. Directions and maps are also on the SMT website.

It is being suggested that audience members be age 17 and up. As Max says of the play-within-the-play, it's "certain to offend peoples of all races, creeds, and religions."

Of course, what he neglected to add is that it's absolutely hilarious.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Filipino Heartthrob Rescues Costar

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Filipino Heartthrob Rescues Costar

During record flooding in the Philippines, actress Christine Reyes got on a rooftop to beg for help. Her costar, film and TV actor Richard Gutierrez, heard her pleas on the news.

The heartthrob borrowed an army speedboat to go to her aid, rescuing Reyes, her mother, and her two young children.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Jennifer Garner is a Choosy Mom

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Jennifer Garner is a Choosy Mom

Jennifer Garner, star of the new movie "The Invention of Lying," has two small children, and finds that it has affected how she chooses projects.

"I really have to love a project to do it," she said, "because it's a lot of logistics with two children and a husband [Ben Affleck] who is working on a set. It's very lively at our house."

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Review of The Producers in the Seattle Times

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Review of The Producers in the Seattle Times

The Seattle Times printed a lovely review of "The Producers," in which I appear as Lick Me-Bite Me (a little old lady), as well as a number of other roles.

Showtimes are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. through October 4 with an additional Thursday show October 1 at 7:30 p.m.

The theater is in Magnuson Park at 7400 Sand Point Way in Seattle in building 47.

For tickets, call (206) 363-2809 or visit the website for details.

In particular, the review pointed out the good chemistry between Max (Andrew Parks) and Leo (Justin Beal).

It also singles out Doug Knoop as playwright Franz Liebkind and Buddy Mahoney as Roger DeBris

The author says that Kat Schroeder, as Ulla, "sizzles" in her performance of "When You've Got It, Flaunt It."

The review is highly complimentary of the "tight ensemble" and the direction. He particularly likes the "ghastly glory" of the "Springtime for Hitler" number.

The reviewer, John Hartl, particularly likes the technical touches and calls the show a "snappy production" that "can't go wrong."

There are two weeks left to catch "The Producers!"

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Jaimie Alexander Joins Cast of "Thor"

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Jaimie Alexander Joins Cast of "Thor"

Jaimie Alexander, who played Jessi XX on the show "Kyle XY," has joined the cast of the new "Thor" movie for Marvel Studios being directed by Kenneth Branaugh.

Alexander will play Sif, "a skilled Asgardian warrior who can hold her own against any man," who is Jane Foster's rival for the affections of Thor.

Jane Foster will be played by Natalie Portman.

The studio has not yet even sent scripts to the actors.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Kirsten Dunst Crashes the Party

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Kirsten Dunst Crashes the Party

Kirsten Dunst crashed a party for Oscar-winning director Jane Campion, apparently in an effort to get an audition.

The actress came to a luncheon at the Plaza Hotel's Oak Room. Reportedly she is trying to get cast in "Runaway," which is based on a series of short stories by Alice Munro.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Kristin Chenoweth Wins Emmy

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Kristin Chenoweth Wins Emmy

The 61st annual Emmys were held this Sunday. There were several repeat winners as well as many first-time winners.

One first-time winner was Kristin Chenoweth, who got the award for supporting actress in a comedy for the now-cancelled "Pushing Daisies."

Chenoweth said, "They remembered a show that got canceled that I've never been more proud to be on. I'd much rather be on that than something that lasts a long time that I don't care about."

Other winning actresses included Toni Collette for best actress in a comedy, Glenn Close for best actress in a drama, and Jessica Lange for her work on "Grey Gardens."

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Actress in a Wheelchair, Not a Wheelchair Actress

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Actress in a Wheelchair, Not a Wheelchair Actress

Tiffany Giddes has been in a wheelchair for eight years, but she's been anything but sedentary. Now she's on her way to Hollywood to become an actress in a wheelchair.

That's different than a "wheelchair actress".

Giddes explains, "I got tired of seeing people who weren't disabled play people in a wheelchair," she says. "Why not have an actress in a wheelchair who doesn't stand up and go home at the end of the day?

"I think they need someone like me, who really lives the role."

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Pay-What-You-Can Preview for The Producers

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Pay-What-You-Can Preview for The Producers

There will be a pay-what-you-can preview for "The Producers" on Thursday, September 17. Doors open at 7:30, curtain is at 8.

This is a great opportunity to see the show on a budget and a good chance for us to see where the laughs are going to be. There will be plenty!

The address for Magnuson Park is 7400 Sand Point Way NE. The theater is in building 47. Directions and maps are also on the SMT website.

Then, we open on Friday!

Hope to see you there!

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Helen Hunt to Experience "Parenthood?"

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Helen Hunt to Experience "Parenthood?"

NBC reportedly has approached Helen Hunt to star in their new series "Parenthood," based on the 1989 movie of the same name.

They are looking to have her fill the role originally to have been played by Maura Tierney, who had to pull out of the series due to a health emergency.

If Hunt were to take the role, it would be her first television series since she starred in "Mad About You," which ran on the same network until 1997.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

The Producers are Coming!

Gina Wilhelm Actress - The Producers are Coming!

Seattle Musical Theatre's production of "The Producers" opens Friday, September 18th, at Seattle's Magnuson Park. The play runs through October 4th.

We show Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm. We also have a 7:30 performance on Thursday, Oct. 1.

Tickets can be purchased by calling 206-363-2809. You can also visit the SMT website. Tickets range from $30-35 for adults and $25-30 for students and seniors.

The address for Magnuson Park is 7400 Sand Point Way NE. The theater is in building 47. Directions and maps are also on the SMT website.

The website also has a "study guide" for the play.

"The Producers" is Mel Brooks's musical based on his 1968 movie of the same name starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder.

The Broadway play starred Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick and won a record-breaking 12 Tony awards.

It is being suggested that audience members be age 17 and up. As Max says of the play-within-the-play, it's "certain to offend peoples of all races, creeds, and religions."

Of course, what he neglected to add is that it's absolutely hilarious.

I play various characters, including a "First Nighter," the follies girl with the bratwurst costume, and Lick Me-Bite Me (one of the little old ladies).

I'm particularly excited, as I really love the 1968 movie and the Broadway production, and I actually get to be a dancer in this play. It's a lot of fun.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Tina Fey Wins Best Guest Actress

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Tina Fey Wins Best Guest Actress

Tina Fey received a best guest actress in a comedy Emmy for her imitation of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live."

The award was given as part of the Creative Arts Primetime Emmys, which were presented September 12.

At the same ceremony, Ellen Burstyn was given the prize for best guest actress on a drama for her work on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

Burstyn had received five nominations, but this was her first win.

These awards precede the main ceremony, which will be held next Sunday, September 20, and will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris.

Fey has an opportunity to win more Emmys at that ceremony, where she is nominated for best actress in a comedy for her starring role in "30 Rock."

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Rutina Wesley, More Than Just a Best Friend

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Rutina Wesley, More Than Just a Best Friend

Rutina Wesley plays bartender Tara Thornton on the HBO series "True Blood." She feels the multifaceted role makes her a bit of a cultural pioneer.

With the part, she has moved beyond the "Black Best Friend" with which so many African American actresses find themselves stuck.

In fact, the character of Tara is white in the "Sookie Stackhouse" books on which the show is based.

Wesley hopes that the TV series is a stepping stone not only for herself, but for other struggling black actresses.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Jennifer Aniston Sings!

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Jennifer Aniston Sings!

Jennifer Aniston is set to play a member of a country music group from the '40s made up of prison inmates in the new movie "The Goree Girls."

"I can carry a tune," Aniston says. "It won't be bad." She also explains that they women formed the group to get paroled and weren't musicians.

The movie is set to begin production in January.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Acting Workshops with Lonette McKee

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Acting Workshops with Lonette McKee

Lonette McKee is a Tony-nominated actress who has been in such films as "Cotton Club" and "Jungle Fever."

Now she's teaching the Actors Workshop & Workshop 4 Kids in Oak Park, MI. Her students include a nurse, lawyer, a father and daughter.

She also has a student who takes the bus twice a week from a homeless shelter to study with the acclaimed actress.

She also intends to offer the Lonette McKee Actors Workshop in association with the Michigan Academy of the Arts.

Her aim is to make her students able to be self-sufficient actors.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Stephanie Courtney, Progressive's 'Flo'

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Stephanie Courtney, Progressive's 'Flo'

The internet is full of people expressing their love for Stephanie Courtney, the 39-year-old actress who plays Flo in the Progressive Insurance campaign.

The veteran character actress finds the internet crushes "hilarious." She's generally only recognized by the public if she's "gussied up for an audition."

She is more often recognized by her voice.

She does a lot of work with the Groundlings troupe in LA. She says she has gotten some larger audiences at the Groundlings shows because of the exposure from the advertisements.

Courtney is surprised by the attention. "I don't think Flo puts out any sort of vibes at all, but God bless America if they think she's cute."

She describes the character as a highly exaggerated version of herself with a bit of her mother thrown in.

Gina Wilhelm Actress thinks this is great; one of her favorite characters was based strongly on Gina's mother.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Mixed Martial Artist To Work with Soderbergh

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Mixed Martial Artist To Work with Soderbergh

Although Steven Soderbergh's latest movie "The Informant" still has a week before it opens nationwide, he's already busy on his next project.

He'll be directing "Knockout," a spy thriller that marks the feature film debut of Gina Carano, a mixed martial arts circuit fighter

Soderbergh discovered the fighter on the MMA circuit. The movie is said to be in the James Bond style.

It tells the story of a tough girl from the wrong side of the tracks who has a special set of sills, using them in a more focused, constructive environment.

Carano is tough, but very pretty. However, there are dangers associated with casting a newcomer in a lead role, so Soderbergh plans to surround her with better-known actors.

The script is by Lem Dobbs, who has collaborated with Soderbergh in the past. Shooting is set to begin in January with locations in the US, Turkey, and Ireland.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Julie Bowen, Modern Woman

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Julie Bowen, Modern Woman

Julie Bowen, formerly of "Boston Legal" and the winsome Carol Vessey on "Ed," is about to star in the promising-looking new sitcom "Modern Family."

The new ABC show focuses on three couples and their families. In the show, as in her real life, Bowen's character has three children.

Bowen says that she read the script and very much wanted to do the program. However, at the time auditions were being held, she was pregnant with twins, which is very different from the character.

In order to get the role, she had to do the audition and then beg and plead. Finally, they agreed to shoot around her belly.

Bowen went to Brown University and graduated with a BA in Renaissance studies. Her parents felt she should get a truly liberal liberal arts education.

However, they refused to pay for postgraduate studies in acting, so she wound up having to wait tables in order to take acting classes.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Renee Zellweger's One and Only

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Renee Zellweger's One and Only

Renee Zellweger is starring in "My One and Only," which opened in theaters on Friday.

The movie tells the fictionalized story of George Hamilton at age 15 traveling across country with his brother and his mother, who is played by Zellweger.

She tells Newsday that the modestly budgeted movie was able to get the Oscar winner because of the quality of the script and the time was right in her life.

She said she also thought it seemed like a movie she'd like to see herself.

"The character is so much fun, and it felt right for last summer. I thought, 'I wanna go and be this lady this summer and discover what her experiences might be like.'"

She also revealed that she didn't initially understand her iconic line from "Jerry Maguire," "You had me at 'hello.'" Cameron Crowe had her do several different takes of the line.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Mitzi Gaynor Returns to Kauai

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Mitzi Gaynor Returns to Kauai

Mitzi Gaynor, who celebrated her 78th birthday on September 4th, is going to return to Kauai, HI, for the first time since filming "South Pacific" there in 1957.

Gaynor played Nellie Forbush in the film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein play.

She's scheduled to make two stops on the island. Her first will be at the St. Regis Princeville Resort when it reopens.

The resort is at the location where Rossano Brazzi, as Emile De Becque, sang "Some Enchanted Evening" in the film.

Her second appearance will be at the Kauai Marriott Resort & Beach Club for "An Evening with Mitzi Gaynor."

At the event, she will reflect on her career and the filming of the movie musical.

Gaynor says that Kauai was "undoubtedly the most beautiful setting" where she had ever worked.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Cate Blanchett Injured on Stage

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Cate Blanchett Injured on Stage

Cate Blanchett was injured during a preview performance of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" on September 2nd in Sydney, Australia.

Blanchett, who plays Blanche DeBois in the production, was struck in the back of the head by a prop radio that slipped out of costar Joel Edgerton's hand.

Edgerton was supposed to throw the radio out the window, but he lost control of it.

Blanchett reportedly fell after being hit, but, like a true professional, continued the scene.

She later left the stage, and the rest of the production was cancelled.

A spokesperson for the Sydney Theatre Company, which is putting on the production, said that Blanchett is "fine."

"She is fine this morning and we anticipate at this stage that the show will go ahead tonight." The show will open on Saturday.

Blanchett is co-artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company along with her husband, playwright Andrew Upton.

She has also appeared on the STC stage in "The War of the Roses" playing Lady Ann and Richard II.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Lena Headey Takes the Throne

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Lena Headey Takes the Throne

The final open role in the new HBO pilot "Game of Thrones" has finally been filled by Lena Headey.

Headey was most recently seen playing the title character in "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" on Fox.

On "Thones," she'll play Cersei Lannister. The pilot is an adaptation of a fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R. R. Martin. It begins shooting in Northern Ireland in October.

Although the pilot hasn't even begun filming yet and there's no guarantee the series would be picked up, fans are already excited.

Gina Wilhelm Actress