Entertainment Today: Showbiz News

'HAIRSPRAY' IS TONY'S TOP CONTENDER

"Hairspray" led the field Monday with 13 Tony Award nominations, including one for best musical.

The nearest runner up with 10 nominations for the 57th annual Tony Awards was "Movin' Out," a dance musical without spoken dialogue; followed by "Nine, The Musical" with eight; a revival of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey into Night" with seven; and Baz Luhrmann's production of Giacomo Puccini's opera, "La Boheme," with six.

The contenders for the Antoinette Perry Awards, chosen by 28 theater professionals and given jointly by the American Theater Wing and the League of American Theaters and Producers, were announced at a news conference at Sardi's restaurant by Melanie Grffith, who soon will star in "Chicago" on Broadway, and John Lithgow, a 2002 Tony Award winner.

The Tonys will be presented June 8 in a three-hour live telecast on CBS from Radio City Music Hall. The winners are selected by vote of more than 700 members of the theater community and theater critics.

(Thanks to UPI's Frederick M. Winship in New York.)

TIM ROBBINS TO DISCUSS 'BOB ROBERTS'

Tim Robbins will discuss his political satire "Bob Roberts" after a screening at the American Museum of the Moving Image.

The actor-filmmaker will talk about the 1992 film on May 19 as part of the Queens museum's popular Pinewood Dialogue series.

Best-known for his roles in such films as "Bull Durham," "The Player," "Shawshank Redemption" and "Dead Man Walking," which earned him an Academy Award nomination as Best Director, Robbins recently made headlines for his passionate opposition to the war in Iraq.

Robbins wrote, directed and stars in "Bob Roberts," in which he plays a right-wing, folk-singing Senate candidate who embodies the greed and self-interest of the 1980s. With its sharp views about media manipulation, corruption and the role of money in politics, the film is as timely today as it ever was. The film's relevance and the relationship among movies, television and politics are among the many issues sure to be discussed during the conversation with

Robbins.

Comments Robbins: "I'm looking forward to screening 'Bob Roberts.' I feel it continues to have a resonance today and should lead to an interesting post-screening discussion."

STARS EXPECTED FOR 'MATRIX' PREMIERE

The stars of "Matrix Reloaded" will be on hand for the film's New York premiere Tuesday night.

Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss and Jada Pinkett Smith are expected to walk the red carpet at Manhattan's famed Ziegfeld Theater before a screening of the hotly anticipated sequel to the futuristic blockbuster "The Matrix."

Also said to be attending are Gabriel Byrne, Chevy Chase, Glenn Close, Andy Dick, Rose McGowan, Danny Nucci and "Sex and the City" gals Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis.