The cherry on the sundae was a phone call late at night from a mysterious voice inquiring, “Whatcha doin’?” It was none other than Warren Beatty who wanted to say I was on an upper path now and better off and he encouraged me to really develop my web and Internet skills. “Learn to control the Internet yourself; don’t depend on people to help you.” He added, “I had to because, otherwise, my four kids just say, ‘Get up, Dad, and let us do it!’”

We had a wonderful talk about how children change and enhance your life. When I asked Warren if he has another movie in the works, he said, “I think so, although I have the appropriate amount of anxiety.” We ended the chat with him remarking, “I just wanted to call because, as you know, you are in a class by yourself!”

Well, how long can I feel bad with so many nice reactions from so many nice guys?

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New York is picking up with some nifty Broadway musical and theater openings. But, really, the pickets who are still obsessing about Vietnam in front of the Eugene O’Neill Theater where Jane Fonda is about to open in “33 Variations” need to “get a life.” Didn’t they read Jane’s wonderful memoir where she dealt with all of that stuff in the past and said “Mea Culpa!”? She opens March 9 and I say, “Move on!”

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Received wisdom? They’ve been saying that the focus of activity in the United States has moved from Manhattan to Washington where the money and power are. Maybe.     

I see that DC will get Helen Mirren in the Royal National Theater’s new production of “Phèdre” with the “Mamma Mia!” man, Nicholas Hytner, directing. And then in October, the Sydney Theater Company will mount a revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire” at the Kennedy Center, with Liv Ullmann directing Cate Blanchett as Blanche DuBois. 

Both events now have no plans to move on to Broadway, but if there is enough heat and light, who knows?

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