Dead wrong hoaxes

Earlier this year it was Tom Cruise, then Miley Cyrus. And now this week, it's Larry Gelbart, two-time Oscar nominee and co-creator of the Emmy-winning TV series "M*A*S*H" and sitcom vet Paul Reiser. Not Reiser! Nooooooooo!

Who are these morbid Internet vandals with nothing better to do than hack into Wikipedia and kill off our Hollywood celebs? One such death wisher wrote the following:

"On December 27th, 2008, Reiser was discovered dead in the Squallahassee River where he reportedly enjoyed fly fishing. No foul play was suspected."

Former Emmy-nominated "Mad About You" star Reiser is not, in fact, dead (we don't know if he's a fly fisher).

And a couple days ago, a blog called alt.obituaries said Gelbart was "gravely ill" and had suffered "a massive stroke," freaking out his old friends Woody Allen and Alan Alda when they heard the "news."

It's not the first time two-time Tony-winner Gelbart has been prematurely bumped off, he told the L.A. Times, citing a radio report from a few years back. Turns out, Gelbart is very much alive and nearing his 81st birthday. And he had the best line of the day in response to his demise:

"Does that mean I can stop exercising?"

Oscar gets Sexiest Man Alive

It's all starting to make sense now. That Oscar producer Bill Condon was cagey the other night during a spontaneous holiday party grilling by your resident Gold Rusher and some other reporter types didn't surprise any of us.

All we wanted to know was the name of the Oscar host. Come on, any of you would've done the same thing!

But now, a few things he'd said while invoking that confounding old "off the record" saw are now clicking in our brains. And by the way, since word is now out that it's Sexiest Man Alive Hugh Jackman who's hosting the Feb. 22 telecast, we feel like we've been freed from keeping our mouths shut (boy, that was a painful three days!).

Condon had said it was important to have someone as host who was thrilled all to pieces to do the job, not a celebrity who had to be arm-twisted into it. No matter how many comedian names we tossed out, he acted like we were way off base. Turns out, we were.

He did let on that the person had already been approached, and had accepted, when we interrupted his attempt at sharing some Christmas cheer at a cocktail gathering on Tuesday. So, everyone realized it was just a matter of time for the announcement.

Now that it's come, and now that "Australia" and "Wolverine" star and overall smokin' hot Jackman is the confirmed host, what can we all expect? A smooth and polished performer -- he did win an Emmy for hosting the Tonys -- who won't be insulting Hollywood's royalty from the stage. You know how they hate that!

We have to say we think this is an innocuous choice, not likely to offend anyone. But will it energize? Will it make anyone want to watch who isn't otherwise predisposed? Like Meryl Streep in her Golden Globe-nominated turn, we have doubts.

 

Kick, ball change

Talk about incongruous -- looks like a guy who's worked his way up the food chain at the New York Times from clerk to reporter to Broadway beat writer will be going to war.

But Campbell Robertson had something important to do before shipping out, according to the New York Observer and its interview with the Times' Baghdad bureau chief Jim Glanz:

"We were out last night and he was picking my brain on Iraq. He said that people have been asking him when he's going to Iraq. And he said he'll go once the Tonys are over!"

If that's not the strangest quote you read today, please let us know.

We're not sure if this means there's a radical change in how the Times intends to cover the war (could this be a new use for all those laid-off movie reviewers?) or if it's a testament to this guy's hutzpah. Both?

Robertson didn't speak to the Observer about his new assignment, but he did a few years back talk about how he'd risen quickly at the paper by following his gut:

"I just ignored what everybody was saying for so long. It might have been wildly inadvisable."

The guy's got moxie and probably just as much chance as many journalists to give us some stuff from the war that we actually want to read. Keep your head down, pal, and you may never have to cover another musical song-and-dance extravaganza again.

Broadway, version 2.0

Much attention has been showered this year of the new voices on Broadway that have brought in before-unseen crowds -- African Americans, Latinos, people under 75! -- and breathed financial and creative life into the medium. Some 12 million tickets sold for about $1 billion in revenues. Definitely not chump change.

The Tonys rewarded those risk-takers generously last night, while still reserving the biggest pile of trophies for a revival of a much-lauded classic, "South Pacific" (seven awards).

Lin-Manuel Miranda, speaking after he won best score for contemporary Latin-flavored "In the Heights," showed the duality:

"I'd like to bring popular music and theater music back together. They used to be good friends a long time ago."

As did Stew, creator of "Passing Strange," which won him a best book Tony for its rock-driven score:

"It wasn't my intention to write something new. It was my intention to put music on the stage that people are actually listening to."

The TV coverage of the awards -- heavy on the song-and-dance because, hey, it's network on a Sunday night -- featured a flying Whoopi (pictured), showing that those guys over at the TV Land Awards aren't the only ones who can work without a net.

More winners here and more backstage chatter, fun facts and Great White Way historical perspective than you can shake a stick at from Tom O'Neil here.

Hump day happs

Tidbits for today:

As if "The View" weren't already a promotionpalooza (catch Whoopi's Favorite Stuff the other day?), the Daytime Emmys are likely to get a barrage of exposure over the next several weeks because Sherri Shepherd will be hosting for the first time. She's joining soap hunk Cameron Mathison (pictured) as MC on the show that'll be broadcast June 20 on ABC. The hosts of "The View" are perennial also-rans in the talk show category, having lost 10 times.

Since Whoopi's hosting the Tonys this year, that show also has taken up a big bunch of air time on the morning chatfest. "Project Runway's" Christian even stopped by yesterday to trot out some possible frocks for Whoopi to wear for the Broadway honors. We got distracted and don't know if she eventually picked out the sleek black number or the one with the fierce feathery shoulder pouf. Anyone?

CineVegas is luring some heavyweight award winners to its film fest this year with the strangely-named Half-Life Awards. Maybe that means that Anjelica Huston, Don Cheadle, Viggo Mortensen and a handful of others have half their lives left to make great movies? More about this year's lineup here.

The Shaggy defense is starting to wear thin at the R. Kelly trial in Chicago.

 

Such great Heights

Fear not, those of you who believe that Hollywood is the center of the entertainment universe, even if said entertainment takes place 3,000 miles away on a stage somewhere near 42nd Street and 8th Avenue.

"Xanadu," a spoof of the parody-ready disco-era movie musical of the same name, was nominated for a Tony this morning, as was "Cry-Baby," the John Waters creation that lives on and on (but without Johnny Depp). "South Pacific" and "Gypsy," both committed to celluloid over the years with Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning results, racked up some nominations for their live theater incarnations, as did some familiar faces from the big screen (Laurence Fishburne, Patrick Stewart).

How's that office lotto coming?

"In the Heights," a musical about Latinos in upper Manhattan (hey, that hood wasn't nearly so lyrical when we camped out there in grad school), took the most nods with 13. Look here for more behind-the-scenes, including who got skunked, at today's announcement in New York, and here for a full list of nominees.

The Tonys, backed by the American Theatre Wing, will air Sunday, June 15 on CBS. Whoopi's hosting!

 

Thespian chic

Everybody in the pool!

As you spend this May Gray morning in Los Angeles charting potential Tony nominees for your completely disinterested cubicle mates, we want you to know we're here for you. Now turn down that "Cats" soundtrack and get back to work.

Nods for theater's top awards come out tomorrow, and maybe there's still hope for that office derby if you point out that it's been more than three whole months since there's been an Oscar-(down)sized awards show.

If that doesn't help, how about this: there are a number of Hollywood movie connections to this year's crop of potential honorees. Never mind that some started out in the theater in the first place, then bounced to movies and back again. Or vice versa. Or something like that.

We've already waxed on about "Xanadu," not to be confused with an award-winning film, but there's also "Grease," "South Pacific," "Gypsy," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," and a $20 million musical version of "Young Frankenstein" (pictured) in the potential running for awards. Some theater-watcher predictions here.

Have to say, though, that we'd held out some hope that Nathan Lane would host next month's airing of the Great White Way awards, never tiring of the spit-take we're sure he'd work into that role somehow. It's always funny, right?

It'll be Whoopi Goldberg, herself a Tony winner. Apparently she's not soured on the whole awards show gig, even after being dissed by one of those tribute reels at this year's Oscars that "forgot" she hosted four times.

Check back tomorrow for the nominations and our rendition of "Puttin' on the Ritz."

 

Rock skate

Who says god-awful movies can't have a second -- much more successful -- life in some other medium?

Case in point: "Xanadu," a giant disco craptacular to the tune of Electric Light Orchestra (with mimes!) that starred Olivia Newton-John and post-"Warriors" Michael Beck has gone on to become a Broadway show worthy of Tony Award consideration.

Says Variety:

Ancient Greek mythology turned out to be much more fun on roller skates.

And how!

We'd already noticed a resurgence of interest in the 1980 Razzie-winning bomb, with back-to-back-to-back references in a few short days around Academy Awards time. We don't want to jinx anything, but we're really thinking remake now, since there seems to be an increasing ping-pong effect between the Great White Way and Hollywood.

The upcoming theater honors have other movies on the brain, too, says Variety, with "Cry-Baby" (featuring some creative re-teaming from the hit "Hairspray" -- the play, not the movie, or the remake of the movie) getting its foot in the Tony door without even opening yet. Now that's good awards buzz.