People: Danza hits the street to drum up audience
When you’re standing around in Times Square trying to decide which Broadway show to see, don’t be surprised if you get a visit from Tony Danza.
The “Taxi” and “Who’s the Boss?” star isn’t exactly shy about sharing the news that he’s starring in the new Broadway musical “Honeymoon in Vegas” and nudging folks to his theater.
“I just walk up,” Danza says. “I just convince people. I say, ‘Listen what are you going to do? You come to New York and you see a Disney thing? C’mon! What, are you crazy?’ ”
Rob McClure, Danza’s co-star, has seen the Danza Effect firsthand. He’s been with the former boxer when he tries to turn TV fans into stage ones.
“He just sees a bunch of people standing around deciding what show to see, so of course, he’s going to go, ‘Let me tell you what show to see: The one I’m most excited about.’ It’s really not from a selling point of view. It’s from a pride point of view.”
“Honeymoon in Vegas,” adapted from a 1992 movie starring James Caan, Nicolas Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker, has music by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown and tells the story of a reluctant groom whose bride-to-be is courted by a Vegas wiseguy, played by Danza.
Messi, Williams promote education
Soccer great Lionel Messi and tennis star Serena Williams are promoting a new campaign to help some of the 58 million children who are out of school get an education.
Both are goodwill ambassadors for the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF which launched the campaign Friday night with the FC Barcelona Foundation, which was set up by Messi’s team, and Reach Out To Asia which is part of the Qatar Foundation and promotes education.
The “1 in 11” campaign – named for the one in 11 primary school-age children who are not in school – initially aims to help over 500,000 marginalized youngsters in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nepal, with a goal of expanding to more countries.
Jeremy Hartley, a UNICEF spokesman, said the campaign hopes to raise between $12 million and $15 million to kick-start the project at an art auction at Sotheby’s in London on Feb. 12 featuring donated works by 17 artists including Britain’s Damien Hirst, Americans Jeff Koons and Richard Serra, and Japan’s Takashi Murakami.
Messi said in a statement that he is supporting the campaign “because I believe every child has the right to fulfill their potential, realize their dreams.” Williams said in a statement that the goal must be to get the number of youngers not going to school “down to zero.”
The birthday bunch
Singer Glenn Yarbrough is 85. The Amazing Kreskin is 80. Country singer William Lee Golden (The Oak Ridge Boys) is 76. Actress Kirstie Alley is 64. Country singer Ricky Van Shelton is 63. Actor Andrew Lawrence is 27.