LEVERAGE Finale: Going Out in Style

It's fitting that Leverage, the TNT series about elite con artists and thieves scamming the rich, powerful and immoral, went out on a big con, with a finale that was fun, scary and tricky from beginning to end.

"The Long Goodbye Job" opened with Nate Ford, the group mastermind, played by Timothy Hutton, looking beat up and laid low. We're told that three of his cohorts (i.e., thief extraordinaire Parker, played by Beth Riesgraf, computer guy Hardison, played by Aldis Hodge, and the enforcer, Eliot, played by Christian Kane) were killed in a botched job, while Nate was caught and is now being interrogated by a woman named Ellen Casey. Is she a hospital administrator, trying to ascertain his mental state? A cop? Or some sort of FBI, CIA or Interpol agent?

Going backwards, we see parts of the scheme to break into a place called High Point Tower, supposedly to get into the computer system there to secure information about a new drug that could cure the deadly childhood disease that took Nate's son. Along with that, we're shown Sophie, the actress in the group, played by Gina Bellman, putting on a terrible Lady Macbeth in a theater connected by underground tunnels to High Point Tower, while the others in the group encounter major problems with the heist, especially on the way out. In the end, after a fall down an elevator shaft, two different hails of bullets and a high speed chase, we're led to believe that Parker, Hardison and Eliot are all dead.

But, of course, appearances have always been deceptive on Leverage. Everything so far has been subterfuge, including the ultimate goal, which was nothing medical, but instead something called the Black Book that provides access to a huge list of evil bankers. And getting to the Black Book brings a Trojan Horse, in the form of perennial foe Sterling, played by Mark Sheppard.

"The Long Goodbye Job" was clever, deceptive, and maybe a little manipulative, what with showing us a heartbreaking scene with the fatally wounded trio expiring in the back of van... And the rewind, where we got to see what really went down, was a whole lot of fun, paying off all the twists and turns and giving us a lot of Sterling, who has always been a good foil for Hutton's Nate. That's about as perfect an ending as you could hope for with Leverage, sending Nate and Sophie (whatever her real name is -- we never did find out, although we thought it was Laura for a second or two) off into a sort of sunset, with Parker taking over the lead spot, backed up by Hardison and Eliot, on a new venture called Leverage: International, with a whole lot of worthy new marks offered by the Black Book.

Would I watch Leverage: International? Yes, I would. I have no reason to think there will be a Leverage: International, but maybe a TV movie or two would be nice. Come on! I need a pack of con artists on my TV screen!

Kennedy Center Honors -- Including David Letterman and Dustin Hoffman --Tonight on CBS

The Kennedy Center Honors, which will be broadcast tonight on CBS, may be the nation's biggest lifetime achievement awards for distinguished careers in the performing arts. Honors have been given out annually since 1978, with my favorite, Fred Astaire, part of the very first class of celebrated artists.

Who picks the honorees? It's the Board of Trustees for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, with input from previous winners and a committee composed of "national artists." Honorees from the past represent a Who's Who of American entertainment, with everyone from George Abbott to Stevie Wonder, from Marian Anderson to Tennessee Williams, from Roy Acuff to Oprah Winfrey, included.

The 2012 recipients are blues musician Buddy Guy, actor Dustin Hoffman, TV's David Letterman, Russian ballerina Natalia Makarova, and John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, who are the members of rock band Led Zeppelin. They were celebrated earlier in December with a gala at the Kennedy Center Opera House and the presentation of medallions by President Obama and the First Lady. The Honors Gala performances were recorded and will be broadcast tonight on CBS stations. Locally, they're scheduled for 8 pm on Peoria's WMBD.

Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein describes the honorees: "With their extraordinary talent, creativity and tenacity, the seven 2012 Kennedy Center Honorees have contributed significantly to the cultural life of our nation and the world. Buddy Guy is a titan of the blues and has been a tremendous influence on virtually everyone who has picked up an electric guitar in the last half century; Dustin Hoffman's unyielding commitment to the wide variety of roles he plays has made him one of the most versatile and iconoclastic actors of this or any other generation; David Letterman is one of the most influential personalities in the history of television, entertaining an entire generation of late-night viewers with his unconventional wit and charm; Natalia Makarova's profound artistry has ignited the stages of the world's greatest ballet companies and continues to pass the torch to the next generation of dancers; and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant transformed the sound of rock and roll with their lyricism and innovative song structures, infusing blues into the sound of rock and roll and laying the foundation for countless rock bands."

You can find information about the Kennedy Center Honors in general here, see the list of past honorees here, and watch video highlighting previous Honors shows here.

More Casting News: TIME STANDS STILL at Heartland

Heartland Theatre and director Sandi Zielinski have announced casting for their February production of Donald Margulies' Time Stands Still, a Tony nominee for Best Play in 2010.

Cristen Susong will lead the cast as Sarah, a photojournalist injured while taking pictures in a Mideast hot spot. She has come home to New York to try to patch herself together, physically and emotionally, while grappling with the realities of everyday life. Now that she is in less danger, she has more time to reflect on who she is and what she wants. Her longtime boyfriend, James, who will be played for Heartland by David Krostal, is also a journalist and he, too, made his living reporting on strife and violence in other lands. But he is ready to kick back and relax, while Sarah isn't. Margulies' script raises issues of personal responsibility -- Is reporting enough? How can witnesses not intercede, even if they are carrying cameras? -- as well as what makes life worthwhile and what makes life for a woman worthwhile, contrasting Sarah's life of work and adrenaline against the more traditional world of marriage and motherhood.

Susong was last at Heartland in The End of the Tour, the dysfunctional family drama from Joel Drake Johnson, while Krostal played the fantasy husband in Woman in Mind and half the town of Tuna, Texas, in A Tuna Christmas.

Also in Time Stands Still will be Harold Chapman as Sarah's editor Richard, and Colleen Longo as Mandy, Richard's much-younger romantic interest. Chapman's name is new to me, but Longo's is familiar from her recent terrific work in These Shining Lives at Heartland as well as her days at ISU, where she was a lovely Rosemary in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Heartland Theatre's production of Time Stands Still opens with a special Pay What You Can preview on February 14 and continues through March 3, 2013.

THE PIANO LESSON (with Double Dirden Power) Extended Off-Broadway

August Wilson's The Piano Lesson has been playing to great reviews at New York's Signature Theatre, with a cast that includes Brandon J. Dirden and Jason Dirden as Boy Willie and Lymon. Both Dirdens earned MFAs in acting from the University of Illinois, and Brandon Dirden is married to Crystal A. Dickinson, another U of I theatre alum who recently starred on Broadway in Clybourne Park. You can read a quick interview with the three of them here.

And The Piano Lesson with its double Dirden power has been such a success for Signature that they are extending the run to January 13.

This production is directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, an actor and playwright who was in the original cast of Jelly's Last Jam and the Broadway production of Wilson's Seven Guitars, for which he won a Tony Award. He also played Captain Montgomery on TV's Castle for three seasons.

Critic Charles Isherwood wrote in The New York Times that this revival "brings a timely reminder of how consoling, how restorative, how emotionally sustaining great theater can be." Isherwood continued, "As portrayed with heat-generating intensity by Mr. Dirden, Boy Willie seems filled to bursting with ambition, excitement, heedless hope." and he called Jason Dirden "wonderfully funny and touching" as Lymon.

Broadway.com has some very nice production photos of this Piano Lesson, showing off both Dirdens and the rest of the cast, while the Signature Theatre site offers Joan Marcus's official photos and video teasers, as well.

LEVERAGE Gets the Ax from TNT

We're just a few days away from the end of Leverage. TNT has announced that its series about a team of clever tricksters and thieves conning rich bad guys for the cause of good will finish up its run on Christmas Day.

I have a weakness for grifter/con artist/thief shows, what with It Takes a Thief, Mission Impossible, Remington Steele, Hustle and White Collar, which is pretty much a remake of It Takes a Thief without the groovy 60s wardrobe, on my TV watching resume. TNT's Leverage has fit nicely in that company, with Timothy Hutton as a brooding ex-insurance investigator now heading up a gang of experts who know how to extract money from marks, including Sophie, an actress who specializes in fake identities, Hardison, a computer wiz, Parker, a second-story girl, and Eliot, who serves as the team's muscle. As their cards have been played, they've been termed The Grifter, The Hacker, The Thief and The Hitter, with Hutton's Nate Ford as The Mastermind.

And every week through their five seasons, they've found some big, powerful baddie taking advantage of a little guy, and then pulled an elaborate scam to right those wrongs and settle a score. That has sent them from the top of a mountain to the depths of a coal mine, inside chess and cheerleading competitions as well as baseball and hockey games, and up close and personal with paintings, diamonds, gold and every other kind of treasure available.

Last week, in an episode called "The Toy Job," they took down an evil toy magnate planning to unleash dangerous stuffed doggies on unsuspecting kids at Christmas. Gregg Henry played the big bad toy boss, while Jonathan Frakes of Star Trek fame directed and popped up behind Hutton in a now-you-see-it-now-you-don't cameo.

Sometimes their schemes have been outrageous, sometimes a little too incredible, but they've always been fun to watch, with clever plots and the feel-good message that justice will out, that greed and arrogance will lose.

When Leverage pulls out one last con in the series finale called "The Long Goodbye Job" on Christmas Day, it will find be hard to see the end of the con. But, like It Takes a Thief and Remington Steele, Leverage will live on on DVD.

Catching Up With Casting News: LEND ME A TENOR at Community Players

Community Players and director Cris Embree have completed casting for their January production of Ken Ludwig's opera-inspired farce Lend Me a Tenor.

Leading the cast will be Tom Smith as Max, the assistant at the Cleveland Opera Company who is desperately trying to keep star tenor Tito Merelli in shape to perform Verdi's Otello that night. International sensation Merelli, who will be played by Players' veteran Brian Artman, is being pursued by everyone from the bellhop to Max's girlfriend, adding romantic and over-the-top operatic complications to his already crazy life.

Hannah Kerns has been cast as Maggie, the perfect girlfriend except for that crush on Merelli, while Joe Strupek will take on Maggie's dad, Saunders, the opera company GM, who also happens to be Max's boss.

Also in the cast will be Opal Virtue, often the Players' costume designer, who will play Maria, Merelli's feisty wife who is convinced he's cheating on her; Wendi Fleming as Diana, a beautiful soprano with designs on Tito; Reena Artman as Julia, a weathy patron of the opera; and Thom Rakestraw as the wily bellhop.

Lend Me a Tenor is a fast-paced farce with all kinds of action, as everybody tries to get to Merelli, Merelli tries to take a nap, his wife pitches a fit, everybody misunderstands each other, and poor Max just keeps trying to keep it all afloat. Because we're talking Ken Ludwig, you can also expect the mirror game, where two people who are dressed exactly alike face off with comic results.

Community Players' production of Lend Me a Tenor begins with a preview on January 24, 2013, with performances continuing through February 3. For ticket information, click here. To read more about the play, its history and its characters, you can check out this piece.

Downton Abbey Tidbits (and a Gingerbread Abbey!)

Are you ready for the return of Downton Abbey on January 6th? Lots of good stuff afoot in Season 3, with Bates in jail, convicted of murdering his horrible first wife; Anna hanging tough, determined to get him out; Lady Mary and Matthew making it official; Edith still looking for love; the Earl in financial trouble; and Cora's American mother landing on their doorstep to further complicate matters (and clash with the formidable Dowager Countess).

Shirley MacLaine will be on hand to play Martha, Cora's mum, going up against Dame Maggie Smith as Violet, the Dowager Countess who is at the ready with a withering glance or a cutting remark.

You can see a video preview of Season 3 from Masterpiece here or watch a scene (showing the clash referred to above) from the first episode here. Or, if you're more in the mood to relive the past, you can watch Season 2 episodes online.

The Colbert Report offered a really unusual way to ramp up to Season 3 with a mashup between Downton (and its cast) and Breaking Bad. "Breaking Abbey" is definitely worth your time. Soon Downton will be kicking it with mad bitches and benjamins... (That last should be a hint that there are bad words in the video. Forewarned and all that.)

Also in preparation for the new season (and for the special Christmas episode in Britain, the one we won't see till May) a baker has made a gingerbread version of the Abbey itself. It's pretty odd. And cool. But also odd. Watch Downtown Abbey, the Gingerbread Version, here. You can compare the gingerbread one to the real one pictured in "Breaking Abbey."