Judge allows reopening of Broadway’s ‘Grinch’

Judge allows reopening
of Broadway’s ‘Grinch’

NEW YORK — All the Whos down in Whoville will have holiday work this year after a Manhattan judge ordered the Broadway production of “Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas!” to reopen despite the ongoing stagehands strike. The ruling Wednesday from state Supreme Court Justice Helen Freedman came a day after she heard arguments from producers of the show and owners of the theater housing the $6 million production. Producers, citing a special contract between the show and Jujamcyn Theaters, wanted the show to go on. Jujamcyn owners said the lockout was legal and a tactical decision by the theater owners in handling the strike. An attorney for the owners said his clients had no assurance that the stagehands would not walk out again if the show resumed at the St. James Theater, which is owned by Jujamcyn. The continued closing of “The Grinch,” however, was the result of a management lockout rather than the strike, with the theater owners refusing to let the musical perform even though the stagehands union said it would work.

Masterpiece found
in trash sells for $1M

NEW YORK — An abstract masterpiece by a Mexican artist that was found in the trash by a woman who knew little about modern art has been sold for more than $1 million. The painting “Tres Personajes” by Rufino Tamayo was discovered in 2003 by Elizabeth Gibson, who spotted it on her morning walk on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. She said she took it home because “even though I didn’t understand it, I knew it had power.” The brightly colored abstract work was purchased for $1,049,000 by an unidentified private American collector bidding by phone at Sotheby’s Latin American Art sale Tuesday night. Gibson spent four years trying to find out about the painting, finally discovering on the “Antiques Roadshow” Web site that it had been featured on the popular PBS program and described as a missing masterpiece stolen in 1989. Gibson has received a $15,000 reward for turning in “Tres Personajes” and also will get a percentage of the sale price. Painted in 1970, “Tres Personajes” was purchased by a Houston collector for $55,000 as a gift for his wife at a Sotheby’s auction in 1977. Ten years later, as the couple was moving to a new home, it was stolen from storage. The husband has since died, and the widow, who wished to remain anonymous, decided to sell it.

Today’s birthdays

Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas is 63. Actor Steve Landesberg is 62. Singer Bruce Hornsby is 53. Actor Maxwell Caulfield is 48. TV personality Robin Roberts (“Good Morning America”) is 47. Rock singer-musician Ken Block (Sister Hazel) is 41. Rapper Kurupt (Tha Dogg Pound) is 35. Actor Page Kennedy is 31. Actress Kelly Brook is 28. Actor Lucas Grabeel is 23. Actress-singer Miley Cyrus (TV: “Hannah Montana”) is 15.