[NEWS]--'Passions' Apes 'Chicago' with Musical Number

Date: 26 Jun 2003 07:08:36 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.tv.passions
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'Passions' Apes 'Chicago' with Musical Number
Mon, Jun 23, 2003 03:18 PM PDT
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - "Chicago" may have had Renee Zellweger, Catherine
Zeta-Jones and all that jazz, but it didn't have a monkey.
For that, viewers will have to turn to NBC's soap opera "Passions" on Friday
(June 27). The out-there daytime drama will feature its first musical number in
the episode -- one that's based on the "cell-block" tango sequence from the
Broadway show and Oscar-winning film.
"I couldn't have been happier with how it came out," executive producer Lisa de
Cazotte says, "and I think the audience will enjoy seeing a whole different
side of our talented cast."
The musical number is called "I Ain't Sorry," and it vocalizes Mrs. Wallace's
(Kathleen Noone) fear that she, her daughter Beth (Kelli McCarty) and Beth's
friend Charlie (Jordan Baker) are prison-bound for kidnapping heiress Sheridan
Crane (McKenzie Westmore). The three kidnappers sing and dance, backed by a
group of six Broadway dancers and BamBam the orangutan, who plays Mrs.
Wallace's companion, Precious.
The musical number required a change in the soap's usual episode-a-day taping
schedule. The performers rehearsed for 10 days prior to taping the sequence and
went through a full dress rehearsal the day before.