My readers who came of age in the ‘90s were probably far more taken with Jonathan Taylor Thomas, the fetching, polite tyke on Home Improvement – a show with as many troubled souls as it had cast members.  While his onscreen brothers had their skirmishes with the law, JTT eschewed public scrutiny and somewhat disappeared at the height of his popularity…until last week.  In the wee small hours of Monday, September 21^st, JTT had an encounter with the police when a car he was in stopped in the middle of a Westlake Village intersection.  Although JTT was simply a passenger, police suspected something was awry.  They said he “appeared intoxicated, continually exited the vehicle and approached the deputies, distracting them from their investigation”.  When they tried to clear him from the scene, he allegedly “kicked a deputy in the stomach”.  He was arrested (although it was later characterized as “detained”).  The driver was arrested for driving under the influence.

In a curious bit of theatre news, a revival of Damn Yankees will open on Broadway this spring.  Taking on the pivotal roles of Mr. Applegate and Lola will be, naturally, Neil Patrick Harris and Julianne Hough.  I believe dinner service starts promptly at 4:30PM.

In some actually exciting theatrical news, Patti LuPone is returning to the stage…in a solo show.  But that isn’t the exciting part.  The play is Full Gallop, and it will be staged off-Broadway.   The show was originally done by Mary Louise Wilson back in 1995 and was described thusly: “When she is unceremoniously fired as editor-in-chief of Vogue, Diana Vreeland must reinvent herself, and her industry, yet again.”  It’s been said that Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly was more Vreeland than Wintour.  Sounds like Patti to a “T”.  You can judge for yourself when the show opens on January 17^th at City Center Stage II.  It’s currently slated for a 12-week run.