Brett Debritz’s archive

Want a job at Pope Benedict’s Vatican? Best brush up on your Latin then. The new pope, formerly German Cardinal Ratzinger, has decreed that Polish is out and the language of the original Romans is in.

At last some really important news. Ben Affleck has reportedly “popped the question” to Jennifer Garner. Incase you don’t know, they are both Hollywood actors and he was once engaged to another person called Jennifer. According to Agence France-Presse, “the couple’s 25-month-old relationship became Hollywood’s most scrutinised and feted celebrity union since Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton ignited the tabloid pages in the 1960s”. Now that makes me kind of ashamed for not caring.

It’s good to see someone at South Bank Parklands has a sense of humour. The popular South Brisbane picnic spot is now dotted with signs announcing, among other things, “Alien Abduction Point”, “Triffid Breeding Ground” and, on the rainforest walkway, the rather worrying “Danger: Walkway May Collapse Any Time”. I’m not sure what their insurance company would make of that one.

The unsung heroes of the arts world, the group-bookers, have gone ape over Saturday Night Fever, the musical launched tonight at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Who are the group bookers? They’re the people who get parties of theatre lovers together and book lots and lots of seats. The Fever shindig attracted more than 600 of them, and that could translate into many thousands of ticket sales, guaranteeing the musical a big start to its Brisbane season, which opens on July 29. General ticket sales are available via QTix from Tuesday, April 26.

The Brisbane Cabaret Festival was launched today at the Powerhouse. Board member and entertainer Alison St Ledger promised excellent variety at the festival, which will kick off with a performance by Rhonda Burchmore and run from May 19-21. The entertainment today included an hilarious act from Paul Hankinson (pictured), who sang passionately about the absence of pianos in Fortitude Valley venues. “My piano’s like Emily Dickinson,” he sang, accompanied on guitar and violin. “She’s amazing but she stays at home.”

According to the charmingly named Cheboygan Tribune, Keith Carradine will play George W. Bush in the US production of British playwright David Hare’s Stuff Happens. The controversial play – which also features British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and America’s Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and Condaleezza Rice as characters – is about the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The title comes from a comment made by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld when asked about looting in Baghdad. He went on to say, “free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things”.

It’s officially Black Sabbath in the United Kingdom tonight as the last episode of The Osbournes screens. In the United States, Dr Phil McGraw will be counselling the family as their MTV series bites the dust. I’m not sure what’s happening in Australia – a barbecue, perhaps? Whether Ozzy Osbourne realizes what’s going on remains a matter for conjecture. The BBC’s story is here.

This is a picture of Rosie the cat, posted here for three reasons:
1) To test new photo-posting software I have acquired (thank you Hello and Picasa);
2) Because she is rather cute;
3) Readers of this blog will be seeing more of her in the future.

Singer-songwriter John Fred Gourrier has died at the age of 63. His group, John Fred and His Playboy Band, had a late-1960s US hit with a Beatles parody titled Judy in Disguise (with Glasses). For more on who’s no longer who, visit my Celebrity Deaths archive.

Original ideas seem few and far between in the world of musical theatre. Or maybe it’s just that nobody’s willing to take the risk on a new concept when there are plenty of films just crying out to be adapted to the stage. Whatever the reason, a Broadway version of the Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore flm The Wedding Singer is set to open next year. (The BBC story about it is here.) The creators no doubt hope it will follow in the footsteps of this season’s hit, Spamalot, based on the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and the huge smash, The Producers, based on Mel Brooks’s 1968 film of the same name.