DVR ALERT: Anne Hathaway Visits 'TONIGHT SHOW' 1/7

Tonight Wednesday January 7th, 2009 film star Anne Hathaway will be a guest on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight, the program airs 11:30pm (EST) on NBC.

Anne Hathaway's first major role came in the short-lived television series "Get Real" (1999). She gained widespread recognition for her roles in The Princess Diaries (2001) and its 2004 sequel as a young girl who discovers she's a member of royalty, opposite Julie Andrews and Heather Matarazzo.

Her biggest screen success so far has been The Devil Wears Prada (2006) opposite Meryl Streep, and Becoming Jane (2007), in which she played a young Jane Austen.

This past summer she appeared in the action comedy Get Smart.

Hathaway also starred this summer in a full table reading and sing-through of the musical Promises, Promises by Neil Simon, Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The show has never been revived as a first class production on Broadway since it originally opened in 1968, 40 years ago, with Jerry Orbach and Jill O'Hara. (Except for a brief run at Encores in 1997 that starred Martin Short.)

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron produced the hush hush reading. If the show moves forward, this would be Zadan and Meron's Broadway producing debut after making the hit movies of Chicago and Hairspray. 

The reading also starred Sean Hayes along with a full cast plus several background singers, and was staged by director/choreographer Rob Ashford.

Promises, Promises is a Broadway musical comedy based on the film The Apartment by Billy Wilder. The music is by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David, and book by Neil Simon. Musical numbers were staged and choreographed by Michael Bennett.

The show was originally produced on Broadway in 1968, with a cast including Jerry Orbach, Jill O'Hara and Edward Winter. It played at the Shubert Theatre, where it ran until 1972, for a total of 1,281 performances. The show had a London production at the Prince of Wales Theatre in 1969, featuring Tony Roberts and Betty Buckley.

Songs include the title tune (a hit for Dionne Warwick, released before the show's December 1968 Broadway opening), "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (also a hit for Bobbie Gentry), "Knowing When To Leave", "She Likes Basketball" and "Turkey Lurkey Time," the last a famous dance number featuring Donna McKechnie, Baayork Lee, and Margo Sappington.

Photo of Anne Hathaway by Linda Lenzi

 

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