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Alliance will accept Tony Award in style
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Alone among those vying for Tony Awards this year, Alliance Theatre artistic director Susan Booth will go to Sunday’s event knowing she’s won. Since it’s already been announced that the Alliance is the 2007 regional theatre Tony winner, Booth has been able to concentrate on the important things this week: her acceptance speech and selecting a fabulous frock to wear.
Celebrity on Paces boutique owners Pam Somers and Janet Wilfong in Buckhead alleviated the gown guesswork by presenting Booth with a gift from their Celebrity lapel: a sleek strapless number accented with lace and an asymmetrical bow. Sue Sandalon Jewelry Design is loaning Booth some bling to wear in New York, while Rex Weston has signed on as Booth’s personal stylist for the affair.
“I’m living someone else’s life right now,” Booth concedes, laughing. “I have a stylist. Anyone who knows me can understand the deep irony of that.”
As soon as she slipped on the gown, Booth says Weston knew they had found her Tonys attire.
Recalls Booth: “He just told me, ‘Now, all we need to do is change the color of your skin.’ So now, I’ve been professionally tanned!”
To accept the prestigious award for the Alliance, Booth says she’s only too happy to play dress up.
“It’s one thing for us to tell people about what we’re doing at the Alliance, but this is like getting the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. Suddenly, it’s not just your mother bragging on you anymore.”
And Booth promises to phone us immediately on the BuzzBerry line Sunday night if she manages to meet “Glengarry Glen Ross” Tony winner Liev Schreiber.
“And I will knock down anyone who stands between me and Liev Schreiber!” she promises playfully. “He is just the most beautiful man in the world. And yes, my husband has been informed of this.”
(For an in-depth conversation with Booth and what the Tony Award win may mean for the Alliance, check out this Sunday’s Arts & Books section.)
‘GWTW’ AND ‘DREW’
“Nancy Drew” actress Emma Roberts (and the daughter of Eric and the niece of a certain Academy Award-winning former Smyrna resident) popped into the Margaret Mitchell House on her way to Hartsfield-Jackson on Tuesday. We’re told that the big screen’s latest incarnation of the teen sleuth met with the Lit Center’s “Mystery in the City” writing campers who had already gotten an advance peek at the film.
While touring Mitchell’s teeny-tiny apartment Roberts told MMH reps that the house and apartment felt like something that belonged in a Nancy Drew story. She loved the old-fashioned feel and said you “could just tell a writer lived here.”
She was also aware of the petite author’s tragic end, adding: “And the writer who lived here was killed. It’s a perfect theme for a Nancy Drew mystery.” Upon inspecting Mitchell’s antique three-quarter bed, the equally tiny actress noted that it was “just my size.”
Alas, we’re told that Emma, 16, has — gasp — never read the book or seen the movie. However, she planned to rectify that and purchased both a hardback of the hefty tome and a DVD of the film at the museum gift shop on her way out.
TALENT SEARCH
Atlanta R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo may have been the hardest working man in the local music business Tuesday. He spent the first half of his day at the final round of a talent competition where the top prize was a deal with his songwriting and production company, Compound Entertainment. The judges saw about 400 acts at the Sam Ash Music Store on Cobb Parkway between Saturday and Monday. About 200 were turned away, organizers told Buzz. (And if it says anything about the quality of the turnout, Frank Hagans of Think Big Entertainment pulled up in front of the store in a silver Rolls-Royce Phantom during the finals, to “scoop up some of this talent Ne-Yo doesn’t want” as he described it.) In the end, Ne-Yo and music power brokers Chaka Zulu, Taiye “Tai Boogie” Samuels and Ron Hurd chose 22-year-old David Brown of Marietta. And coincidentally enough, he said he had also made it to the final rounds of the tryouts for Season 4 of “American Idol.” “I’ve dedicated myself to this business,” Brown said. “So I’ve been writing songs, performing, doing whatever to make this happen. Make it to where Ne-Yo is.”
Later Tuesday night, Ne-Yo was at Center Stage headlining a near-capacity show. After R&B singer Trey Songz opened for the predominantly female crowd and a guest appearance by Ne-Yo signee Paula Campbell, the main attraction wrapped up his sweaty set with a dedication to the fans who’ve bought millions of his two CDs — the single “Because of You.”
OVERSCENE
Our fave “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” actor Ludacris lunching Wednesday on a chicken Caesar salad and a California roll at Thrive downtown. Bruce Springsteen was spotted working out Tuesday night at the Four Seasons hotel in Midtown. MTV “Real World Denver” castmate Davis Mallory and friends soaking in Kitty LeClaw’s “Drag Gone Wild!” show at Blake’s on the Park in Midtown late Tuesday.
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
Singer Tom Jones is 67. Actor Ken Osmond (Eddie Haskell on “Leave It to Beaver”) is 64. Actor Liam Neeson is 55. Record producer L.A. Reid is 51. Musician Prince is 49. Rapper Ecstacy of Whodini is 43. Guitarist Dave Navarro is 40. Guitarist-keyboardist Eric Johnson of the Shins is 30. Actor Michael Cera (“Arrested Development”) is 19.
Contributing: Sonia Murray and news services
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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