| MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE
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By DAVID LEFKOWITZ
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Published May 16 2008 |
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| Alan Alda |
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Science seems to be the siren call for actor Alan Alda. He played a surgeon on M*A*S*H* and then hosted PBS-TV's Scientific American Frontiers for nearly a decade, saying about that program, Whenever I think of how much pleasure I have interviewing scientists, I remember that they're having the real fun in actually being able to do the science." Alda also starred on Broadway as the beloved eccentric physicist Richard Feynman in the 2001 solo, QED. Now the 72-year-old actor has found an even more famous scientist to explore: Albert Einstein. Alda's penned Dear Albert, an epistolary solo play based on the writings of the great theorist (and on letters of his wives and friends to him). Alda won't star in the show's June 1 world premiere, but Tony winner and Without a Trace TV star Anthony LaPaglia will. The solo, to be staged by Broadway veteran Daniel Sullivan, will play one night only at Columbia University's Miller Theater, as part of The World Science Festival. In a statement, Alda called Einstein's correspondence fascinating: This was the voice of Albert at his most intimate and passionate as he was courting his first wife, his second wife and a number of other women. At the same time, he was just as passionate about courting the cosmos. And the cosmos often came out ahead."
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