Q: I heard that "The Producers" had recently opened in Berlin. Do you have any information as to how well it has done?
A. Staged at the venerable Admiralspalast Theater, where Hitler himself attended plays during World War II, "The Producers" is in its sixth week, earning strong reviews and a steady box office. Opening night on May 17 ended with a standing ovation and no small relief among the financial backers who brought the Nazi spoof to Germany for the first time.
This was hardly a slam-dunk. In the week leading up to the opening, even the newspaper Berliner Morgenpost had to ask, "Should we be allowed to laugh at Hitler?"
The play had only become available because of a shortened run in Vienna, Austria, which had booked for a year. A lagging gate led to its close after just 10 months, giving Falk Walter, a maverick who owns the Admiralspalast, the chance to bring the play to town for the contract's remaining two months.
"There was nothing at all that I thought wouldn't work about it, " Walter told the Los Angeles Times. "Aesthetically, the costumes, the staging, the rhythm, the music, the dialogue, the jokes, its depth —- everything seemed to me to work brilliantly as a whole, as a way of reducing Hitler to the ridiculous figure he was."
Berliners seem to agree. The musical was recently extended another four weeks into mid-August.
Q. Since Jay Leno retired from "The Tonight Show, " what is he doing now?
A. Jay Leno, who ended his 17-year run on "The Tonight Show" May 29, will return to NBC in the fall with a prime-time show broadcast every night at 10 ET. NBC recently announced that Leno's new show will begin Sept. 14. Conan O'Brien, Leno's replacement, will continue doing "The Tonight Show" at 11:35 p.m.
Leno will break new ground for network television in hosting the same show in prime time five nights a week. Such shows with hosts like Oprah Winfrey have been a staple of daytime television for years.
The new show, to be broadcast from Leno's longtime studio in Burbank, Calif., will not be a variety show. It is expected to continue many of the features of Leno's "Tonight Show," including his opening monologue.
While Leno is expected to draw a salary of more than $30 million a year, producing his show will cost much less than different drama series each night in the same time slot.
According to a Los Angeles Times article, the cost of producing Leno's new show will be less than $2 million per week, while NBC paid Warner Brothers Television nearly twice that per episode of "E.R."
Q: Whatever happened with the pirates in the Indian Ocean?
A: Since the April 12 rescue of Maersk Alabama Capt. Richard Phillips, patrols have reduced piracy incidents in the Indian Ocean around the Horn of Africa. However, pirates recently hijacked a cargo ship in territorial waters off Oman, showing that they had extended their area of operations to the oil-rich Persian Gulf, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Meanwhile, Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, the surviving Maersk Alabama pirate, pleaded not guilty in May at an arraignment in New York City, where he will be tried, according to The New York Times. Muse was one of four men who captured Phillips, rescued in a Navy SEAL operation in which three pirates were killed.
Phillips, who returned to his home of Underhill, Va., April 17, testified in May before a Senate subcommittee investigating piracy. Reuters reported that Columbia Pictures acquired rights to his story.
In other piracy news, Kenya on June 11 charged 17 Somali men with piracy, a day after the U.S. Navy handed them over, according to an AP report.
Q: At what age is one considered too old to be an organ donor?
A: Numerous organ donation agencies give the same answer: There is no upper limit on the age at which someone may make an organ donation. They say the only criterion is the condition of the organ. For instance, the Telegraph in London reported that an 81-year-old woman gave a kidney to her son in a life-saving transplant.
Do you have a question about the news? We'll try to get an answer. Call 404-222-2002 or e-mail Louis Mayeux at l.mayeux(at)comcast.net (include your name and city). Sorry, individual responses are not possible.