Mulgrew Joins Tribute to Hepburn

Tuesday night in New York, Broadway dimmed its lights at 8:00 p.m. to honor stage and screen legend Katharine Hepburn, who died on Sunday at age 96. Off Broadway, up on 76th Street, the tribute was especially poignant at the Tuesday night performance of "Tea at Five," the one-woman show starring Kate Mulgrew as the late starlet who was on everyone's mind. According to Reuters, a number of theatre-goers made a point of attending Mulgrew's show to remember the illustrious icon. "My daughters and I have always loved Katharine Hepburn," one said. "We felt this was special, especially tonight." Mulgrew was expected to ask the audience to join her in a moment of silence after her curtain-call. More can be found at this NYTimes.com page.

In an Economist.com obituary of Hepburn, Mulgrew is quoted as saying that today's stars are ordinary "and they're terribly pleased to be ordinary. But in Hepburn's day stars were extraordinary, or nothing at all."

In related news, "Tea at Five" could eventually be served on TV. Daily Variety columnist Army Archerd, in the midst of personal reminisces about Hepburn in the trade paper this week, mentioned seeing a tape of Mulgrew's performance from New York. He went on to reveal that the show's playwright Matthew Lombardo has been in Los Angeles talking to producers about turning his "Tea" script into a television mini-series. Peter Bogdanovich is mentioned as a possible director. Archerd was not specific whether Mulgrew would automatically be part of this project ... but who could be better? The column can be viewed at this Variety.com link with a subscription, but the story is covered in this Playbill.com article.

Mulgrew closes her New York run of "Tea" on July 13, and then will move the show to Florida before embarking on a national tour (related story).

Montgomery Does Stand-up

Now that he's finished a successful run of the very dramatic stage play "Dutchman," Anthony Montgomery is taking a crack at live comedy. He will perform his new stand-up act titled "From Midwest to Wild West" at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles on Friday, July 18, at 9:00 p.m. (doors open at 8:00). This is a one-night-only performance in the club's Main Room. Tickets are $15.00 and can be purchased by calling The Comedy Store at (323) 656-6225 (there may be an additional fee for phone orders). More information can be found at www.comedystore.com and at AnthonyMontgomery.com.

At a recent STARTREK.COM chat, Montgomery talked about doing his various stage projects even while commencing Season 3 of Enterprise as "Travis Mayweather." "Because ('Dutchman') is as heavy as it is ... I figured let's go ahead and offset the weight of that and just have fun doing a standup comedy show," he said about the July 18 gig.

From "Hugh" to "Fantome" to ... "Sophia"??

Jonathan del Arco has played some very individualistic roles, but he's really stretching his acting muscles now. The thespian has been cast in the transgendered role of "Sophia Lopez" in the upcoming drama series Nip/Tuck for the FX network, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show is set in the world of plastic surgery, and "Sophia" is a recurring character who is undergoing a sex-change procedure. The story is part of the Reporter's "Casting Call" column on this page. Del Arco was the rogue Borg "Hugh" in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "I, Borg" and "Descent, Part II," and the musically inclined "Fantome" in Star Trek: Voyager's "The Void."

Weekend Blockbusters

As if you needed any encouragement, be sure to patronize your local movie theater this Independence Day to see Kristanna Loken kicking some Austrian butt in "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines." Loken, who was "Malia" in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Favorite Son," is the menacing new Terminatrix called "T-X." Also appearing in "T3" is Earl Boen as "Dr. Peter Silberman" — Boen was the voice of "Nagilum" in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Where Silence Has Lease."

Something else you should check out this weekend is Dreamworks' animated reinvention of "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas." Why? It was written John Logan, the same scribe behind "Star Trek Nemesis," and it's gotten some very good reviews.

There's also a Trek connection in the weekend's other big opener, "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde." Diane Warren, composer of the Enterprise theme "Where My Heart Will Take Me," wrote the end-title theme for the Reese Witherspoon film, called "We Can." The song is directly inspired by the storyline of the movie. "I'm an animal-rights fanatic, so when I heard [the film] was about animal rights, I had to do it," Warren said in The Hollywood Reporter. The song is performed by frequent collaborator LeAnn Rimes. The full THR story can be found at this link. Warren will be featured in the upcoming August/September issue of Star Trek Communicator magazine.

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