THEATERCharity SolicitationsUpset Patti LuPonePatti LuPone was expected...

THEATER

Charity Solicitations

Upset Patti LuPone

Patti LuPone was expected to return Tuesday night to “Noises Off!” after a furor erupted following a Saturday matinee at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York City that caused the star to miss the Saturday evening and Sunday matinee performances of the comedy hit.

Reached at her home in Connecticut on Monday, LuPone explained that what set off a screaming match between her and David O’Brien, the production stage manager, was the manner in which a fund-raising drive for Broadway Care/Equity Fights was handled. In the semiannual event, the casts of Broadway and off-Broadway shows deliver a speech at the curtain call and head into the audience with buckets.

“I think charity is a private thing and to ask people for money at the theater, after they’ve paid a $1 theater-restoration fee [and] a $5 ticket surcharge on top of the price of the ticket, is just too much,” said LuPone, who has given numerous charity concerts in the past. “Some of the company felt the same way and some did not. But I did not want us to appear divided, so we agreed that three people [from the cast] would remain onstage to make the petition.”

Faith Prince, one of the three selected, was unexpectedly joined by co-star Peter Gallagher, while LuPone walked into the wings. When she saw Gallagher onstage, LuPone exploded because, in her mind, Gallagher’s presence made her absence more noticeable.

Though Gallagher was unavailable for comment, the producers issued a statement: “Apologies have been made and accepted, and this issue has happily reached a resolution.”

MOVIES

Sony Agrees to Pay for Promotional Missteps

Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. has agreed to pay the state of Connecticut $325,000 for using fake reviews attributed to a Connecticut newspaper in promoting its films.

The studio also agreed to stop fabricating movie reviews and to stop using ads in which Sony employees pose as moviegoers praising films they have just seen, Atty. Gen. Richard Blumenthal said Tuesday.

The state launched an investigation last June after a reporter for Newsweek challenged the authenticity of movie blurbs in Sony print ads. The reviews, said to be from film critic “David Manning” of the Ridgefield Press, praised films including “A Knight’s Tale” and “The Animal.”

Sony, Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Artisan Entertainment later admitted using employees or actors in TV commercials purporting to feature testimonials from moviegoers.

Sony says that such tactics were limited and have since been eliminated. “While we’re pleased to have this matter resolved, Sony Pictures Entertainment acted voluntarily to tighten its advertising policy last June shortly after management learned of the David Manning incident,” Sony spokeswoman Susan Tick told The Times.

Do Long Hours Make

for Dangerous Drivers?

Three crew members from the movie “Pleasantville” have called for a government investigation into the risks of sleep deprivation in the film industry, where 16- to 20-hour workdays aren’t uncommon.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, John Lindley, Bruce McCleery and James Shelton were moved to petition the Occupational Safety & Health Administration by the 1997 death of fellow crew member Brent Hershman, who died in a car crash after a 19-hour day on “Pleasantville.” Exhaustion, they maintained, can trigger the same behind-the-wheel impairments as alcohol.

“In a country which has declared war on drunk drivers, why are we still allowing drivers to be overworked?” they asked.

POP/ROCK

Francis Sues, Seeks Control of Recordings

Vivendi Universal has been sued for $10 million by singer Connie Francis, who accused the world’s second-biggest media company of allowing five of her songs to be used in films she described as “vile” and “pornographic.”

In the suit, filed in Manhattan’s U.S. District Court, she asks for control over some 700 recordings and an order blocking Vivendi from using her music, along with money damages.

Francis, a top-selling pop singer in the late ‘50s and ‘60s whose hits included “Who’s Sorry Now?” “Lipstick on Your Collar” and “Where the Boys Are,” also accuses Vivendi and companies it has acquired of pocketing royalties owed her, unauthorized release of her music on compilation albums and taking advantage of her psychiatric woes in a “one-sided” recording contract. The complaint recounts Francis’ battle with mental illness, her addiction to drugs and her 1974 rape.

The company declined to comment.

QUICK TAKES

Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie have adopted a Cambodian baby boy. Jolie, 26, took custody of the child on Sunday in Africa, where she’s working on a film, the child’s grandfather, Jon Voight, announced Monday at a lunch for Oscar nominees.... Francis Ford Coppola is in Thailand reworking the country’s box-office hit “Suriyothai” for international release. He’ll get a “Francis Ford Coppola Presents” before the title and executive producer credit on the film, which is due to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Elaine Dutka