While theatres remain dark, revisit some of your favorites with Inside the Theatre, and get a closer look at the details you might miss before the show.

This week's column discusses Kay Swift's long-lost 1930 musical Fine and Dandy and the first-time-on-CD transfer of the hit 1944 operetta Song of Norway.

This week's column discusses Kay Swift's long-lost 1930 musical Fine and Dandy and the first-time-on-CD transfer of the hit 1944 operetta Song of Norway.

Hello, diva lovers. I'd like to dedicate today's column to one of the most gifted comedic actresses of her time, Madeline Kahn, who lost her battle with ovarian cancer last week. Kahn, who received a Tony Award for her riotous portrayal of Dr. Gorgeous Teitelbaum in Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosensweig, was equally at home on the stage or on screen, earning Tony nominations for her work in In the Boom Boom Room, On the Twentieth Century and Born Yesterday while meriting Academy Award nominations for such screen roles as "Blazing Saddles" and "Paper Moon." Though difficult to choose from her eclectic array of characters, I think my favorite Kahn performance was in the aforementioned "Paper Moon" as the good-bone-structured Trixie Delight, opposite the father-and-daughter team of Ryan and Tatum O'Neill. The operatically-trained performer had the ability to make you laugh with a simple inflection of the voice, and she could also move you in both song and the spoken word. This unique, multi-talented actress will be much missed. In lieu of flowers, Kahn's family asks that donations be made to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (One Penn Plaza, Suite 1610, New York, NY 10001).

Hello, diva lovers. I'd like to dedicate today's column to one of the most gifted comedic actresses of her time, Madeline Kahn, who lost her battle with ovarian cancer last week. Kahn, who received a Tony Award for her riotous portrayal of Dr. Gorgeous Teitelbaum in Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosensweig, was equally at home on the stage or on screen, earning Tony nominations for her work in In the Boom Boom Room, On the Twentieth Century and Born Yesterday while meriting Academy Award nominations for such screen roles as "Blazing Saddles" and "Paper Moon." Though difficult to choose from her eclectic array of characters, I think my favorite Kahn performance was in the aforementioned "Paper Moon" as the good-bone-structured Trixie Delight, opposite the father-and-daughter team of Ryan and Tatum O'Neill. The operatically-trained performer had the ability to make you laugh with a simple inflection of the voice, and she could also move you in both song and the spoken word. This unique, multi-talented actress will be much missed. In lieu of flowers, Kahn's family asks that donations be made to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (One Penn Plaza, Suite 1610, New York, NY 10001).

Its home in Westport, Connecticut, may dormant at the moment, but that's not stopping White Barn Theatre from having a 57th season.

We listen to the 1958 West End cast album of Where's Charley?, Nancy Walker's 1952 exploration of Ira Gershwin and a 1987 Styne songbook from jazz singer Maxine Sullivan.

We listen to the 1958 West End cast album of Where's Charley?, Nancy Walker's 1952 exploration of Ira Gershwin and a 1987 Styne songbook from jazz singer Maxine Sullivan.

Native Australian cabaret singer David Campbell plays the lead in one of Stephen Sondheim's earliest works, the musical Saturday Night, which gets its New York premiere at NY's Second Stage, more than four decades after it was written. Previews start Jan. 20, 2000, for a Feb. 14, 2000 opening and a run through March 26, 2000.

Native Australian cabaret singer David Campbell plays the lead in one of Stephen Sondheim's earliest works, the musical Saturday Night, which gets its New York premiere at NY's Second Stage, more than four decades after it was written. Previews start Jan. 20, 2000, for a Feb. 14, 2000 opening and a run through March 26, 2000.

Native Australian cabaret singer David Campbell plays the lead in one of Stephen Sondheim's earliest works, the musical Saturday Night, which gets its New York premiere at NY's Second Stage, more than four decades after it was written. Previews start Jan. 20, 2000 for a Feb. 14, 2000 opening and a run through March 26, 2000.

Playbill.com correspondent Ben Rimalower offers a collection of the essential recordings by Tony Award-winning actress Betty Buckley.

Once you get past the framing device of a ghostly guide (Jonathan Pryce) bringing Cole Porter to an empty theater for a “This Is Your Life”-style stroll down memory lane, “De-Lovely” is a fairly straightforward biopic.

Once you get past the framing device of a ghostly guide (Jonathan Pryce) bringing Cole Porter to an empty theater for a ?This Is Your Life?-style stroll down memory lane, ?De-Lovely? is a fairly straightforward biopic.

Christmas comes bit once a year, and this is your last chance to buy compact discs in the twentieth century; so here are my favorite Broadway CDs released in 1999. Faithful readers of this column will no doubt have already bought (or decided not to buy) some of them.

Christmas comes bit once a year, and this is your last chance to buy compact discs in the twentieth century; so here are my favorite Broadway CDs released in 1999. Faithful readers of this column will no doubt have already bought (or decided not to buy) some of them.

Tony Award-nominated Hair director Diane Paulus talks about how she and her 21st-century collaborators are re-thinking the 1935 George Gershwin-DuBose Heyward folk opera Porgy and Bess.

Tony Award-nominated Hair director Diane Paulus talks about how she and her 21st-century collaborators are re-thinking the 1935 George Gershwin-DuBose Heyward folk opera Porgy and Bess.

London's Hampstead Theatre will offer a new production of Terry Johnson's Hysteria, directed by the author and starring Antony Sher, as well as the world premiere of actor-turned-playwright Simon Paisley Day's Raving starring Tamzin Outhwaite.