Kick-start Christmas with the Rockettes

People and Places

People & Places

November 22, 2007

Get in the holiday spirit with the 75th anniversary production of the Christmas Spectacular at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

Much of the first half is a showcase for the jackhammer taps of the Rockettes, in such numbers as "The Twelve Days of Christmas." They also execute their annual stage-long collapse as a line of wooden soldiers.

Happy endings are the rule this year, including for the traditional finale, "The Living Nativity," with the procession of animals and the birth in Bethlehem. The audience leaves to a round of "Joy to the World."

The Christmas Spectacular runs through Dec. 30.

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Mr. Lucky

Three times are a charm for crime writer Dennis Lehane.

First Clint Eastwood made a film classic out of Lehane's Mystic River, with Sean Penn's Oscar-winning performance. Then Ben Affleck made his highly acclaimed directorial debut last month with Gone Baby Gone. Within days came word that Martin Scorsese would direct the author's 2003 novel Shutter Island next year, with Leonardo DiCaprio in final talks to star.

So what's Lehane's explanation? Pure luck. "I am just the luckiest guy on the planet," says Lehane, 41. "Because I'm Irish, I keep looking at the sky, waiting for it to fall."

More for Gore

Former Vice President Al Gore, who has already bagged an Oscar for his eco-documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, is being recognized by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a special Emmy Founders Award for Current TV, the cable network he co-founded with Joel Hyatt.

The channel features what Gore calls "vanguard journalism," such as a report by correspondent Kaj Larsen who demonstrated what "waterboarding" was like by undergoing the technique himself.

"The recognition by our peers in the TV community is extremely important," Gore said.

Stay-at-home dad

Scottish actor James McAvoy, 28, is considering quitting acting to become a full-time house-husband, reports Irish television channel RTE Entertainment on its Web site.

He will take a break from making films to spend more time with his wife and co-star from the hit TV series Shameless, Anne-Marie Duff.

McAvoy, 28, who played Dr. Nicholas Garrigan in The Last King of Scotland, said: "I have been in employment for a long time, so I am taking a bit of a break."

[From wire reports