Morning Report - News from Nov. 2, 1999

STAGE

Ally Goes Legit: “Ally McBeal” star Calista Flockhart takes the stage of the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills Nov. 27 to Dec. 19 in “Bash,” a collection of three one-acts by Neil LaBute (“Your Friends and Neighbors,” “In the Company of Men”). To accommodate Flockhart’s shooting schedule, “Bash” will be performed weekends only (3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 3 and 7 p.m. Sundays). Co-produced by Stephen Pevner and Canon Theatricals, the production reunites this summer’s original off-Broadway cast--Flockhart, Paul Rudd and Ron Eldard--and will be restaged by Joe Mantello. In “A Gaggle of Saints,” Flockhart portrays a Mormon who becomes involved in a gay-bashing incident; in “Medea Redux,” she plays a woman recounting an ill-fated affair with her junior high school teacher. For tickets to “Bash,” priced at $60 to $75, call (310) 859-2830.

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Critics Bop Bocelli: Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli has won legions of fans with his operatic singing in concert, but when he got a chance to actually perform in a U.S. opera, the critics weren’t so taken. Bocelli’s debut Friday in Jules Massenet’s “Werther,” at the Michigan Opera Theater in Detroit, was a dud. “The basic color of Mr. Bocelli’s voice is warm and pleasant,” the New York Times wrote, “but he lacks the technique to support and project his sound. His sustained notes wobble. His soft high notes are painfully weak. Inadequate breath control often forces him to clip off notes prematurely at the end of phrases.” The Detroit Free Press: “At his best, he produces a modest-sized, sweet voice with a slight but alluring burr that suits itself well to Massenet’s fluent lyricism. . . . Yet too often Bocelli’s voice, without benefit of amplification, lacked presence, disappearing inside the orchestra or the house.” The Detroit News: “The outcome . . . was exactly what one might have expected of an untrained voice: brave and not without a certain charm, but essentially inadequate to the task and ultimately boring.” USA Today: “When he holds his high, pretty pianissimos [soft notes] so long as to disfigure the music, one wonders whether this tenor truly has the soul of an artist.”

Menuhin Memorial: A memorial concert for the late Yehudi Menuhin will be held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on the 70th anniversary of his debut performance there. The violinist, who died in March at 82, had planned to perform at the hall on the Nov. 6 anniversary. The memorial concert will include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, in which Menuhin had planned to play. It will be conducted by his friend Mstislav Rostropovich and will feature a quartet of his favorite singers: Teresa Seidl, Liliana Bizineche, Algis Janutas and Benno Schollom. Proceeds from the concert will go to the Menuhin Memorial Trust.

MOVIES

AFI Winners: “Not of This World” received the Grand Jury Award Friday at the closing ceremony of the American Film Institute’s Los Angeles International Film Festival. The prizes for New Directions and best new director were given to “Bobby G. Can’t Swim” and its director, John Luke Montias. Kipp Marcus, screenwriter of “Snow Days,” won the prize for best new writer. “Mifune” took home the European film prize.

QUICK TAKES

NBC has canceled the freshman comedy-drama “Cold Feet.” Reruns of “Law & Order” will fill the program’s 10 p.m. Friday time slot at least through November and probably the remainder of the year. The stopgap measure means “Law & Order” will be airing Wednesdays and Fridays while its spinoff, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” continues playing Mondays. . . . The WB network has apologized for allowing a four-letter expletive to go out over the air during the WB Radio Music Awards last week. The off-the-cuff comments were made by shock jock Erich “Mancow” Muller. . . . Country music legend Johnny Cash has recovered from a bout with pneumonia and has returned home from a two-week stay in a Nashville hospital.