THE PLOT RETURNSThe story’s the thing in MichaelChabon’s detective novel “TheYiddish Policemen’s Union.”

PAGE 6E

Married country stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill will hit the road together this

summer on tour, starting in Omaha in early June. That’s right. Lots of 24/7 contact.

Will they survive the summer intact? How about you have you hit the road with your

spouse or a significant other for an extended trip? Did you live to tell us about it?

Share your stories by e-mailing freeman@owh.com or sending it to Betsie

Freeman, 1314 Douglas St., Suite 700, 68102. Please include an address

and a telephone number. Deadline for submission is May 29.

TRAVELBOOKSINSIDEIN THE LOOPMillennium Park hasbecome a must-seein downtown Chicago.

PAGE 7E

TWO FOR THE ROAD

S U N D A Y , M A Y 2 0 , 2 0 0 7

Shiver me timbers, it’s a Jolly Roger invasion.Fans of pirates, whether stage or screen,should be as delirious Friday as a rum-soddenPegleg Pete. ● The same day “Peter Pan” opensat the Omaha Community Playhouse, “Pirates ofthe Caribbean: At World’s End” will fill silverscreens nationwide. ● Avast, maties! Dig forpirate treasure below.

ARRRR!

SO YOUKNOWBattle ofthe fans

Will it be the strong-voiced17-year-old or the hip, humandrum kit? “American Idol” isdown to its final two —wide-eyed phenom JordinSparks and multitalentedBlake Lewis. The two maketheir final pitch to votersTuesday with the season’slast performances. After twohours of over-the-top pomp,the votes will be revealedWednesday. Win or lose, bothof the finalists — along witheight other contestants — arecoming to Omaha on Aug. 3.

Bombardedby finales

“Idol” isn’t the only showstaging big-time seasonfinales this week. Tonight’sthe quirky night, as “TheSimpsons” and “DesperateHousewives” end. Monday isall about action, with“Heroes” and “24” wrappingup their seasons. Performerstake center stage Tuesdaywith the finale of “Dancingwith the Stars” and the lastperformances by the top twoon “American Idol.”Wednesday is dedicated totwo kinds of drama — realitywith “Idol” and scripted withthe season’s last “Lost.”

Not just a forensicfoot soldier

From cornfields to thesilver screen, MargHelgenberger has carved outquite a career. The NorthBend, Neb., native’s first jobwas detasseling corn in hot,humid fields. Her latest isswapping scenes with ValKilmer. Helgenberger — whorecently finished anotherseason on her TV show “CSI”and the movie “Mr. Brooks”with Kevin Costner — took abreak from shooting the flick“Columbus Day” with Kilmerto talk about being aHollywood starlet. Parademagazine, in today’s paper,has the story.

‘Prom’ has legionsof followers

The steamy reality Websoap “Prom Queen” is thelatest tech phenomenon withteens. The show is garneringmillions of page views and,more important, friends onMySpace. So far the site hasmore than 20,000 friends.Fans can stream the daily90-second Webisodes thatfeature 13 teens and the finalcountdown to prom. Fansfollow their favoritecharacter’s videos, blogs,comments and profiles.“Prom Queen” is broadcaston a number of popular sitessuch as YouTube. ButMySpacers get to seeepisodes first.

Cake army, getuniforms readyPull out those short skirts

and long jackets. Thecorny-cool rockers in Cake areat Harrah’s Casino StirConcert Cove on Saturday. Ifyou have a sweet tooth forsome retro rock, going thedistance to Council Bluffs isprobably worth it

UnleashingDVDs of war

The video store isn’texactly pandering to pacifiststhis week. The two biggestreleases feature a bunch ofbloodshed. Mel Gibson’s“Apocalypto” follows thenot-so-nice fall of the MayanEmpire. “Letters from IwoJima” tells the story of thefamous World War II battlefrom the Japanese point ofview.

To revive pirate genre,a little Depp will do ya

By Bob FischbachWORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

With the plunder “Pirates of the Car-ibbean” has hauled in— $1.7billionforthefirst twomovies —and anticipationover Friday’s opening of the trilogy cap-per, “AtWorld’sEnd,” it’s hard tobe-lieve that pirates evergot the heave-ho.

Butbefore JohnnyDepp’s loopy,Os-car-nominated turnas Captain JackSparrow, the piratemovie largelyhadgone the wayof thewestern.

“There have beena few,” saidOmahafilmhistorianBruceCrawford, “butthey stayedbelow the radar.They justhaven’t registeredwith the public in thepast 10 years.The studios just gave upon them because a few didn’t do verywell.”

Examples of expensive pirate flicksthat sank, Crawford recalled, wereRo-manPolanski’s“Pirates,” starring Wal-ter Matthau (1986) andRennyHarlin’s“Cutthroat Island,” starringGeenaDa-vis andMatthewModine (1995).

Even withstarpower like Julia Rob-erts,RobinWilliams,Dustin Hoffmanand MaggieSmith, thecritics broad-sided StevenSpielberg’s take onPeterPan, titled“Hook” (1991).

“Ina lot of ways, thepirate movie islike the musical,” saidOmaha film-makerJim Fields (“PreserveMeaSeat,”“416”). “In the late ’60s and the’70s,realisticmovies put adamper onfantasy-orientedfilms. After ‘China-town,’ ‘Five Easy Pieces’ and ‘Taxi

See Pirates: Page 2

PIRATE HALL OF FAME“Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” is rated PG-13, but it should be rated Arrrrr for excessiveeye patches, peg legs and walking the plank. Here are some other pop-culture pirates who hookedaudiences in all kinds of entertainment:

Captain FeatherswordThe friendly pirate is a mate of Australianchildren’s musicians the WigglesFamous friend: Greg, the Wiggle who wearsyellowCatchphrase: “Ahoy there, me maties.”

Patchy the PirateThe host of Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBobSquarePants” sings its theme songFamous friend: SpongeBob, of courseCatchphrase: “If nautical nonsense besomething you wish, then drop on the deck andflop like a fish.”

Captain MorganA Welshman who was a privateer in the 17thcentury, but has since morphed into a piratecharacter on rum bottlesFamous friend: Coke.Catchphrase: “Got a little captain in ya?”

Long John SilverThe character from Robert Louis Stevenson’s“Treasure Island” who must have hit on hardtimes because now he’s dabbling in thefast-food industryFamous friend: Ronald McDonaldCatchphrase: “Would you like hushpuppieswith that?”

— Staff writer Dane Stickney

POPULAR PIRATESNeed more evidence that pirates are hot stuffthese days? Check this out:If you Google “pirates” on the Internet, you comeup with tens of millions of hits. Granted, many aredevoted to the Pittsburgh Pirates, but plenty aretribute sites for those seafaring scoundrels,including some exhaustive research into thesubject at the National Geographic site.Stores in the metro area are pushing all thingspirate. The very large, very neon sign atMangelsen’s near 84th Street and West CenterRoad, for example, promises everything you needfor a pirate party.A periodical — named, what else, Piratesmagazine — is published four times a year forpeople who can’t get enough of these guys.And don’t forget Talk Like a Pirate Day,celebrated on Sept. 19 each year.

Captain Morgan, aCaribbean privateer fromWales, is pushing rumthese days.

Aerial expert flies in to add ‘Pan’ magicBy Bob Fischbach

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Over hill, overdale he’s flying.To make sure we believe it, the Omaha

Community Playhouse has hired the na-tion’s top specialist in onstage flying tohelpPeterPan get airborne.

Wendy, Johnand Michael, too.A representative of Flying by Foy, Bill

Kimble, arrived at the playhouse earlyTuesday to install patented harnesses,

track and pulleys, plus cable and rope.Wednesday the flying began in earnest, asKimble started a week of teaching the ac-tors and five backstage technicians the artof making the impossible lookreal.

The roots of Flying by Foy go back to1940, when British actor Peter Foy flewonstage in “Where the Rainbow Ends.”Theprocess intrigued him.

A decade later, Foy came from Londonto stage the flying in a nonmusical Broad-way version of “Peter Pan.” In 1954 he re-

turned to work on the musical version thatstarred Mary Martin.

That time he created a new system,known as the interrelated pendulum.

Martin’s soaring aerial choreographythrilled audiences, and in 1957 Foy leftacting to start his company. Over theyears his innovations have included afloating pulley, for theaters with lowerceilings; and the track-on-track system,which independently controls up-down

See ‘Pan’: Page 2

Movies, Page 3EBooks, Page 6E

Travel, Pages 7E-10EPuzzles, Page 11E

Advice columns, Pages 12ECelebrations, Pages 14E-15ETelevision listings, Page 16E

5/20/07

2E M A Y 2 0 , 2 0 0 7 E . T . A . S U N D A Y W O R L D - H E R A L D

SWASHBUCKLERSPEOPLEHonors pile up for Blige

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mary J.Blige better make room on hertrophy shelf.

The R&B diva, who won threeGrammy Awards in February, willreceive the American Society ofComposers, Authors andPublishers’ Voice of Music Award,the group announced last week.

The award will be presented June 25 at ASCAP’s 20th-anniversaryRhythm & Soul Music Awards.

“Mary J. Blige is not only the ‘Queen of Hip-Hop Soul,’ but also aguiding light,” said ASCAP President Marilyn Bergman. “Through all of herstruggles, she was determined to find and maintain her own musicalvoice.”

Blige’s honors also include awards from the American Music Awards,Billboard Music Awards and MTV Video Music Awards.

Johnny Depp: “Pirates ofthe Caribbean: The Curse ofthe Black Pearl” (2003);“Pirates of the Caribbean:Dead Man’s Chest”(2006); “Pirates of theCaribbean: At World’s End”(2007)

Errol Flynn: “CaptainBlood,” 1935; “The SeaHawk,” 1940; “Against AllFlags,” 1953

Burt Lancaster: “TheCrimson Pirate (1952)”;“His Majesty O’Keefe”(1954)

Tyrone Power: “The BlackSwan” (1942); “CaptainFrom Castille” (1947)

Douglas Fairbanks: “TheThief of Baghdad” (1924);“The Black Pirate” (1926)

Pirates: Skull and crossbones back in the moviesJohansson to star in epic

CANNES, France (AP) — Scarlett Johansson, whose screen creditsinclude “Lost in Translation” and “Match Point,” will star as Mary, Queenof Scots in a historical film epic by Relativity Media.

The deal was announced last week at the Cannes Film Festival.Mary, a Roman Catholic, ruled Scotland from 1542 to 1567, but her

designs on the throne of England — ruled by her Protestant cousin, QueenElizabeth I — led to her downfall and beheading at the age of 44.

Continued from Page 1Driver,’ pirate movies just didn’tfit.”

Fields, who is in his early 40s,recalls no pirate movies from hisgrowing-up years.

But back in the 1940s and ’50s,stars like Errol Flynn and TyronePower soared to box-officeheights in swashbucklers,swooping down from the mizzen-mast to cross swords with black-guards and sweep beautifulwomenoff their feet.

Crawford’s favorite is 1952’s“The Crimson Pirate,” starringBurt Lancaster as an acrobaticpirate amid a Caribbean revolu-tion.

“It’s a masterpiece, a funromp, a real adventure,” Craw-ford enthused. “It has inspired‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ andothers more than any other film.The stunts, the brilliant score,the athletic prowess of Lancas-ter, the location photography —it’s the most fun pirate film you’lleversee.”

Movie fans Tom Doll and BettyMunch of Omaha said it’s theirfavorite, too.

“He’s like the roadrunner ofpi-rates, always causing havoc,”Doll said. “And yet he has to winthe respect and love of amaiden.”

In Doll’s favorite scene, Lan-

caster escapes in a hot-air bal-loon, throwing little bottles of ni-troglycerine at the militarygiving chase.

“The overhead shots from theballoon arespectacular,” hesaid.

Munch said Lancaster was a“blond, smiling, muscular, agilehunk!”

Another on Crawford’s radaris 1958’s “The Buccaneer,” thelast movie produced by Cecil B.DeMille. Directed by AnthonyQuinn, it’s set during the War of1812 and stars Yul Brynner asJean Lafitte and Charlton Hestonas AndrewJackson.

He also likes “His MajestyO’Keefe,” again starring Lancas-ter; “The Sea Hawk,” with Flynn;“The Princess and the Pirate,” a

comedy starring Bob Hope andWalter Brennan; and “Pirates ofBlood River,” with ChristopherLee.

Fields’ favorite hearkens backto 1926 in the silent era: “TheBlack Pirate,” starring DouglasFairbanks.

“He laid the groundwork forthat genre that Flynn and othersbuilt upon,” Fields said. “Plus ithas an incredible sword fight,maybe thebest puton film.”

For Bill Blizek, former editorof the Journal of Religion andFilm and a philosophy professorat the University of Nebraska atOmaha, it’s Deppall the way.

“Off the top of my head, I can’teven think of pirate movies,” Bli-zek said. “But I love Johnny Deppand ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’

It’s that great character he devel-oped.”

Blizek said movies are oftencharacter-driven. Once audi-ences find a character they like— “especially characters flawedlike us” — they keep going back-formore.

“And Sparrow is about asflawed as they get,” he said with alaugh.

The best pirate movies, Blizeksaid, were so many decades ago,most people rarely get to seethem.

“The swashbuckler is fun,” hesaid. “It might be interesting todo a movie about real pirates.What real pirates do these days iskidnap people, kill them, taketheir boat. That’s not a fun movieexperience.”

And it’s all about fun.“The reason they’ve come

back now is that sense of adven-ture,” Fields said. “Depp’s odd-ballportrayal helps immensely.”

Fields said Kevin Kline’s per-formance in ‘The Pirates of Pen-zance’ (1983), as a pirate playedpurely for laughs, opened thedoor forDepp.

Audience tastes havecome fullcircle,Crawfordsaid.

“People needed that escapistfare, with the Depression andWorld War II. . . . And the time isright for itagainnow.”

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s EndPlot: Lovers Elizabeth and Will unite with undead Capt. Barbossa torescue Capt. Jack, last seen being dragged into the sea by Davy Jones’monster. Meanwhile, nine pirate lords join forces against the East IndiaTrading Company’s cold-eyed Lord Beckett for control of the seas.Stars: Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, BillNighy, Tom HollanderDirector: Gore VerbinskiRating: PG-13 for intense action, violence, disturbing imagesRunning time: Two hours, 47 minutesTheaters: Q-Cinema 9, 20 Grand, Village Pointe Cinema, Great Escape16, Cinema Center, Oak View 24, Star Cinema, Twin Creek Cinema

Madonnatune to aidcharity

NEW YORK (AP) — Madonna,one of the headliners at thissummer’s “Live Earth” concerts,has released a new digital song forthe musical event.

The global concert series, takingplace July 7, is designed to raiseawareness about climate issues.“Hey You,” which Madonnaproduced with Pharrell Williams,doesn’t specifically talk about earthissues, but the ballad’s lyrics referto loving and saving each other.

Madonna is scheduled toperform the song during the showat Wembley Stadium in London,one of the sites for the worldwideshows.

“Hey You” is available onMSN.com. The first milliondownloads are free, and Microsoftis pledging to donate 25 cents perdownload to the Alliance for ClimateProtection.

‘Godfather of Soul’wowed conductor

NEW YORK (AP) — When conductor Michael Tilson Thomaswas a music student, he practically broke into a cold sweat thefirst time he heard James Brown on the radio.

“I was so struck by it that I actually had to pull to the side ofthe road, because I thought, ‘I can’t concentrate on my driving andlisten to this,’ ” the San Francisco Symphony music directorrecalls in a coming segment of “The MTT Files,” a series of radioshows he hosts.

The show includes an interview of Brown by Thomas in April2006, eight months before the “Godfather of Soul” died at 73.

“From the first day I heard James Brown’s music, I waitedanxiously for each new song he would release. He became a heroof mine,” Thomas, 62, tells the audience.

Brown’s song “Cold Sweat” in particular made a big impact.“This music completely knocked me out. I wanted to share it

with all my classical music colleagues,” Thomas says.“And it turned out all the hipper ones already knew the music.

We were all amazed by the level of energy, the attacks, theprecision, the syncopation, the wonderful empty spaces, theamazing singing, and the way you could use your ears to go downinside the music and explore all the amazing levels.”

‘Pan’: Company helps get actors off the groundContinued from Page 1andside-to-sidemovements.

Foy’s firm also was hired whenSandy Duncan and Cathy Rigbystarred in popular Broadway re-vivalsof “PeterPan.”

Susan Baer Collins, who is di-recting the musical at the play-house, saw Duncan on Broadwayin 1979. Collins said the memory,especially of Duncan’s flying, isindelible.

“We all have that piece of usthat dreams we can fly,” Collinssaid. “We want to do as much aswe can to make this dramatic, tohave Peter do some good zoom-ingaround.”

Christina Rohling, the actressplaying Peter Pan, has been exer-cising to build up strength in hercorefor fiveflying scenes.

“She has to keep her backarched so it always looks like sheis powering the moves,” Collinssaid.

That isn’t easy, hanging by awire that’s between your shoul-der blades. Rohling said she hadheard flying would be painful,but at a Wednesday night re-hearsal she found it “not as bad asI thought.” The hard part, earlyon, was frustration as shelearned to keep from spinning,facing front at all times.

“If I take off with one foot leav-ing the ground before the other,I’m out of luck,” she said. “Touch-ing the wall also causes me tospin, so I try not to touch. It’s notscary, unless the wall’s comingup really fast.”

Playhouse carpenters EthanHinton and Ryan Yorty, who manthe ropes that control Rohling’sflight, were literally learning theropes — timing, how hard to pull,controlling landings onto the bedor the mantelpiece. Besides coor-dination, it’s a physically de-manding job.

For the young actors playingthe Darling children, the discom-fort of wearing harnesses wasclearlyworth the payoff.

“It’s like you’re free,” said Car-oline Iliff, 14, who plays Wendy.“It’s exhilarating, a little bitscary at first.”

Cole Edick, 12, who plays John,agreed.

“My stomach is kinda turnedupside down, and I feel like I’mgoing to flip over. It made me

nervous at first, but as I’m get-ting more used to it, it’s becom-ing morefun.”

Jonathan Peterson, who man-ages Flying by Foy’s main officein Las Vegas, said his firm workswith dozens of “Peter Pan” castseach year. Last year — the 100thanniversary of the first PeterPan book — saw even more pro-ductions than usual.

Flying by Foy also has flownactors in “The Lion King,” “An-gels in America,”“Spamalot”andother Broadway shows. Its cli-ents have included country starGarth Brooks and the BackstreetBoys for concert tours, plus LasVegas revues, Royal Caribbeancruise shows, ballet, opera, tele-visionand commercial shoots.

From Jack Benny to Barbra

Streisand, Johnny Carson to Di-ana Ross, Foy has flown them all.At the Crystal Cathedral’sChristmas and Easter pageantsin Garden Grove, Calif., angelsfly courtesy of Foy.

Though Peter Foy died abouttwo years ago, his widow stillruns the firm, and his son-in-lawcontinues to hand down the tech-niques toFoy specialists.

Peterson said what happensbackstage is aschoreographed aswhathappensonstage.

“The person controlling thetraveling must be in coordinationwith the person lifting,” he said.“It’s all a timing thing, working intandem with the actor so Peterlooks like he’s flying.”

The same five backstage vol-unteers will run the ropes for allthe playhouse’s performances. Apainting above the mantel is ac-tually a screen,so thefive canseeonstage movement from theirbackstage perches. Two will con-trol Peter Pan, while the childrengetonecontrollereach.

While Foy coordinates thingsin the air, head pirate Kevin Bar-ratt is fight choreographer on theground. Collins said the sword-play is frighteningly good, sinceboth Rohling and Bill Hutson,who plays Captain Hook, camewithfencing experience.

“I’ve got fabulous pirates andgreat leads,” Collins said. “Ev-erybody wanted to be on thebandwagon of this story. Itmeans so much to them. We allhave memories tied to PeterPan.”

Flying by FoyFounder: British actor Peter Foy, 1957Specialty: Making people appear to fly in live showsInventions: The interrelated pendulum, the floating pulley, thetrack-on-track system, the multipoint balance harness, self-containedtruss systems, radio-controlled flying systemClients: Paula Abdul, Lucille Ball, David Bowie, Carol Burnett, SeanConnery, Sally Field, Holly Hunter, Michael Jordan, Gene Kelly, DavidLetterman, Jerry Lewis, Conan O’BrienClaim to fame: Technical assistance on more than 3,000 productions of“Peter Pan”

Peter PanWhere: Omaha Community Playhouse, 6915 Cass St.When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.Sundays, through June 24.Tickets: $36 adults, $22 students Information: 553-0800

— Compiled from World-Herald wire reports

T H E A S S O C I A T E D P R E S S

James Brown, left, is interviewed by an admiring Michael TilsonThomas, conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, in April 2006.

PUZZLE SOLUTIONS

Ex-pound pups fetch stardomNEW YORK (AP) — In a dress-

ing room on the ninth floor of thePalace Theater are, arguably,some of the most pampered per-formers on Broadway.

They bark demands and con-stantly want their egos stroked.Ask anyone— they’re beasts.

“Ignore them until they calmdown,” William Berloni said asthe elevator doors opened andfive dogs made a noisy, tail-wagging beeline for avisitor.

Berloni is the ultimate stagemother to Chloe, Zizi, Chico, BooBoo and Teddie — two bulldogsand three Chihuahuas trained forthe musical “LegallyBlonde.”

One dog from each breed isneeded for each performance,and that usually means Chico andChloe, the top dogs. The rest ofthepack areunderstudies.

The musical, based on the 2001film, tells the story of a bubblyblonde who finds her innerstrength at HarvardLaw School.

At one point, Chico the Chihua-hua — who plays the lead charac-ter’s pup, Bruiser — yelps on cuewith supporting actress Anna-

leigh Ashford, the two appearingtohave aconversation.

The dog later elicits cheerswhen he scoots across the stage

to popinto ahandbag.

For her part, Chloe — 47pounds of glorious wrinkles —causes similar audience squeals

when she ambles on stage to playwith a squeaky toy.

“When an animal comes out,we know that they’re not acting.. . . So there’s a sense of danger inhaving an animal on stage,” saidBerloni, their trainer. “I think it’sthe ultimatespecial effect.”

The dogs seem to bask in theadulation. On opening night, thetwo lead pooches joined their hu-man castmates on the red carpet;Chico, 21⁄2, wore a tiny tux andChloe, 3,was inpink tulle.

It’s a far cry from where theanimals started: caged in animalshelters before being rescued byBerloni, 50, now in his 30th yearas an animal trainer.

Chico, who was severelyabused, was found in a shelter inNewark, N.J. The 6-pound puphad been left outside to fend forhimself for more than ayear.

“When I met him, he was notafraid of anything because hesurvived the experience,” Ber-loni said. “I thought ‘That’s thewill we need to have a Chihuahuarun out on stage in front of 1,700people.’ ”

Broadway audiences roll over and beg formore of the mutts in “Legally Blonde.”

T H E A S S O C I A T E D P R E S S

Chico takes center stage with his “Legally Blonde” Chihuahua under-studies, Teddie, left, and Boo Boo, at the Palace Theater in New York.