Gigi

A very pleasant production of the charming romantic musical "Gigi" is on stage at the Harlequin Dinner Theatre through Jan. 27.Directed with style and flourish by international artist Gavin Cameron-Webb, the show is distinguished by a fine ensemble cast with a notable, strong performance by baritone Bruce Evans as the rich and bored philanderer, Gaston.Although the dancing and singing chorus is sparse, the quality of the choreography by Dennis Dennehy is good.Adapted from the 1958 movie for the stage, the show, which debuted in 1973 on the West Coast before going on to New York, has retained all the charm of the Lerner and Loewe score with a few numbers added by the composers.

Let me start off this week's recap by saying, Kyle Richards knows how to throw a party. Portia's birthday party had balloon animals, cotton candy, amusement park rides, a llama and UNICORNS. Sure, they were brown unicorns, and I'm not sure that's actually a thing, but whatever, it looked like a good time.   Kyle doesn't have her friends to thank for that, though. For some reason, a group of grown women seemed determined to hash out all of their petty drama at a child's birthday party.

I confess, I've known Lerner and Loewe's "Gigi" only in its Hollywood incarnation, which has kept me at arm's length from the musical for years.You can't not like Maurice Chevalier, but the Leslie Caron-Louis Jourdan end of things is boring in my book.Still, I went to the Chesapeake Music Hall hoping the story of the young Parisian tomboy who rebels against the rules of female deportment would translate into a night of frothy fun at the theater. I'm happy to report it did.Mind you, "Gigi" will never be confused with "My Fair Lady" or "Fiddler on the Roof" as Broadway at its greatest, but it is a cute, witty bit of Gallic fluff full of fun characters and lovely songs like "The Night They Invented Champagne," "I Remember It Well" and the classic "Thank Heaven for Little Girls."

Last August, as is their custom, Loyola's Gigi Mangione and her father spent an afternoon in their backyard in Parkville, kicking the ball and talking soccer. They do it every summer - a casual bonding between a dad, who once played for the Blast, and his daughter, a former high school All-American and one of the area's brightest stars. "We practice shooting and trapping, and just chat about stuff," said Nick Mangione, 54, a midfielder whose four years with the Blast produced 53 goals and the MISL championship in 1984.

Under sunny skies, Gigi's Magic showed her heels to the field in the $60,000 Jameela Stakes to feature yesterday's opening card at Pimlico Race Course. Overlooked in the wagering at 12-to-1 odds, the daughter of Allen's Prospect zoomed in front at the start of the six-furlong event and was never threatened by five rivals, including the 1-to-2 favorite Your Out, which had beaten her in three stakes races. Timed in a rapid 1 minute, 10.33 seconds, she provided trainer Kelly John Breen with his first stakes victory by five lengths.

Eighttofasttocatch has gone from being an excitable horse to a well-mannered, explosive performer who is the morning line favorite for Saturday's Maryland Million Classic at Laurel Park. The 5-year-old gelded son of Not For Love owes that in part to the companionship of a pygmy goat named Gigi. As trainer Tim Keefe and his exercise rider Peter Brown-Whale worked on Eighttofasttocatch's on-track etiquette, Gigi worked on the Laurel Park-based horse's nervous system. She settled into the chestnut's life and lowered his heart rate, calmed his nerves and improved his level of performance.

He's Just Not That Into You ** (2 stars) Starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Aniston, Scarlett Johansson Directed by Ken Kwapis New Line Home Video $28.95 ($35.95 Blu-ray) Watching a bunch of self-pitying beautiful people is never as much fun as Hollywood makes it out to be. But at least the writers of She's Just Not That Into You manage to work in a few good lines for its photogenic cast. That, and it makes Baltimore look not only good, but hip. Essentially, HJNTIY follows nine eligible Baltimoreans as they struggle to connect, generally without much luck.

On June 9, 2003, P. GERALDINEMULFORD-FADELEY, beloved wife of Andrew B. Fadeley; devoted mother of Marjorie "GiGi" Csipo, Michael F. Mulford, Justine M. Clark and Mary S. Pedrick; dear step-mother of Rick and David Fadeley; loving sister of Justine Russell and Shannon Farrell. Also survived by 13 grandchildren. A Memorial celebration will be held at the family owned Duda-Ruck Funeral Home of Dundalk, Inc., 7922 WiseAvenue, on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

GIGI (REGINA) Bormel, a Romanian who came to the United States in 1953, organizes transportation for hundreds of Jewish Family Services clients and sees that they get to medical appointments and other errands on time.She is a volunteer coordinator of Mitzvah Mobility, a volunteer transportation program, and she spends some part of every day in the JFS offices at 5750 Park Heights Ave.Bormel received this year's Outstanding Volunteer of the Year award from JFS and says in her soft Romanian accent, ''I feel good giving, but a person should not necessarily expect something in return.

On Monday, February 6, 2006, GEORGE EDWIN GLEADALL; beloved husband of June Crofoot Gleadall; devoted father of Brett Taylor Gleadall, Gigi Gleadall Rosenblatt, Lindsey Gleadall Bohra and spouses Rina, Adam and Raju; grandfather to Dylan, Blake, Monica, Caroline, Colette, Charlotte and Harrison. The family will be receiving friends on Thursday, February 9, from 6 to 8 at Peaceful Alternatives Funeral and Cremation Center, P.A. at 2325 York Road Timonium, with a funeral service on Friday, at 1:00 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 1108 Providence Road, Towson, with interment at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens.

Eighttofasttocatch has gone from being an excitable horse to a well-mannered, explosive performer who is the morning line favorite for Saturday's Maryland Million Classic at Laurel Park. The 5-year-old gelded son of Not For Love owes that in part to the companionship of a pygmy goat named Gigi. As trainer Tim Keefe and his exercise rider Peter Brown-Whale worked on Eighttofasttocatch's on-track etiquette, Gigi worked on the Laurel Park-based horse's nervous system. She settled into the chestnut's life and lowered his heart rate, calmed his nerves and improved his level of performance.

He's Just Not That Into You ** (2 stars) Starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Aniston, Scarlett Johansson Directed by Ken Kwapis New Line Home Video $28.95 ($35.95 Blu-ray) Watching a bunch of self-pitying beautiful people is never as much fun as Hollywood makes it out to be. But at least the writers of She's Just Not That Into You manage to work in a few good lines for its photogenic cast. That, and it makes Baltimore look not only good, but hip. Essentially, HJNTIY follows nine eligible Baltimoreans as they struggle to connect, generally without much luck.

Soccer has long been an international sensation, although it has never reached the top rung of interest in the United States. And the grand Harrods department store in London is also an international success, although in this country it has more good reputation than actual status. Now, Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed and America's TV titan George Schlatter will collaborate with Hollywood producer Conroy Kanter and Soccerex (the NBA of the soccer sports universe) to dream up a reality series about a bunch of hunky guys in shorts kicking a ball, and each other, hither and yon. The idea has come into being because of all the publicity surrounding David Beckham's huge deal to come play soccer in America.

I KNOW you're missing The So- pranos and you'd rather be home in bed in your jammies!" Oprah said at the Waldorf. Well, when New Yorkers put on black tie/big gowns to trek out on a Sunday, the mainstay speech by the evening's honoree has to be damned good! Fortunately, Oprah Winfrey paid off, giving it her all when the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity gave her its award. Although it was 10 minutes after 11 p.m. when the program finally offered up the divine Oprah, she was worth the wait.

On Monday, February 6, 2006, GEORGE EDWIN GLEADALL; beloved husband of June Crofoot Gleadall; devoted father of Brett Taylor Gleadall, Gigi Gleadall Rosenblatt, Lindsey Gleadall Bohra and spouses Rina, Adam and Raju; grandfather to Dylan, Blake, Monica, Caroline, Colette, Charlotte and Harrison. The family will be receiving friends on Thursday, February 9, from 6 to 8 at Peaceful Alternatives Funeral and Cremation Center, P.A. at 2325 York Road Timonium, with a funeral service on Friday, at 1:00 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 1108 Providence Road, Towson, with interment at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens.

In case you're wondering what restaurant themes - other than steakhouses - seem to be hot around Baltimore these days, barbecue would have to be included in the top five. You've got the fairly new Ray Lewis eatery in Canton, plans by former Blue Agave owner Michael Marx to open barbecue joints in Timonium and Locust Point, and now the new Mr. Chelsea's Bar-B-Q in Owings Mills. The guy behind the smoker is Keith Henze, the owner of Garrison Catering, whose major business is providing lunch programs for private schools and colleges.

"Rilke, Gigi, And . . . Dear Kurt" is an almost serenely quiet, delicately choreographed multimedia piece about one of the most brutally gruesome periods in recent history -- the Holocaust.Created by a Holocaust survivor, Gigi McKendric, and loosely based on her experiences as a child, the 70-minute work has a tendency to be overly simplistic. The good guys -- a Jewish family, a pair of dancers, a violinist and two characters described in the program as "Nations" -- wear white face; the sole bad guy, a Nazi, wears black boots, a black body stocking and black makeup.

Title: "Lovers"Author: Judith KrantzPublisher: CrownLength, price: 470 pages, $23 This tome continues the saga started with "Scruples." It is mostly the story of Gigi Orsini, stepdaughter of "Scruples" protagonist Billy Winthrop. Gigi, who was 16 in "Scruples Two," is now in her 20s and starting a job with a small advertising agency."Lovers" is set in 1983, the go-go time of leveraged buyouts, junk bonds, Trump Tower and conspicuous consumption. The characters are the richest of the rich, and we get a peek into lives most of us will never come close to. This, and the sex scenes, are the attractions of the Krantz brand of trashy novel.

On April 12, 2005 GERALDINE "GIGI" MAY ZIEGLER; wife of the late Henry Delbert Ziegler, Sr. and the late Claggett Dorsey Snyder; loving mother of Carole Beal and husband Joe, Henry "Del" Delbert Ziegler and companion Jean Daft; sister of Robert K. Degenhard and the late Carroll T. Degenhard; dear friend Terence Power. Also survived be three grandsons Timothy and his wife Dolores Beal, Charles and his wife Kelley Beal and Jermey and his wife Susan; five great grandchildren. Family will receive friends at the STERLING-ASHTON-SCHWAB FUNERAL HOME, INC., 736 Edmondson Ave. (1/2 mi. W. of Beltway Exit 14)

The British were "befuddled," reports Baltimorean Carolyn Spedden. "Why is an American woman so interested in this?" she was asked by everyone from radio interviewers to London cabbies. "This" refers to Quest: The Legend of the Green Knight, Spedden's adaptation of the 14th-century narrative poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. A multimedia extravaganza that was performed in a 780-seat heated tent and featured 11 actors, five acrobats and three horseback riders, Quest ended its two-and-a-half-week premiere run in London's Clapham Common on Jan. 3. Marylanders familiar with Spedden's career will find the interest in her far less surprising.