Entertainment Today: Showbiz News

BRYAN ADAMS SAYS HE WAS SHOT AT IN LONDON

Canadian pop singer Bryan Adams says someone took a shot at him as he rode a motorbike through London.

The rocker best-known for his 1980s songs "Heaven" and "Summer of '69" told a British radio interviewer the incident happened in the Old Street section of east London.

"It's like the Bronx out there," he quipped and added: "It was a bit weird. I had a friend on the bike with me and we were coming through London and I felt a jolt on my back. Later on, I found out that I'd been shot with an air-rifle -- it was the weirdest thing. I had a hole in the back of my jacket."

Adams then warned the public "there is someone up around Old Street with a rifle so stay clear of there."

The singer said he doubted anyone was trying to hit him specifically, since his jacket and helmet concealed his identity. "We had our helmets on, somebody goofing off I guess," he said.

Although shaken up, Adams was not injured in the incident.

STEWART, McKELLEN GET LESSON IN CHESS

Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen might know everything there is to know about acting, but when it comes to chess they're, well, pathetic.

That's not my cruel assessment; it's Stewart's.

Recalling how "X2: X-Men United" director Bryan Singer gave him the direction: "You're going to play chess. Just make some moves," Stewart said he whispered, "I don't know how to play."

"Then Sir Ian said he didn't know how to play either and I saw Bryan roll his eyes like, 'I can't believe I employed two actors, neither of whom can play chess,'" Stewart said.

"And then he said, 'Get someone, get someone on the set because we just need to believe they are making the right moves,'" he explained. "Only in Hollywood could this happen. We arrive on the set and, yeah, there's a guy there to instruct us in chess moves -— the Canadian grand master! Here to teach these two actors how to play chess! And I said, 'You are so over-qualified for this job, it's embarrassing!' And he said, 'I've never been on a movie set.' He wouldn't leave. He stayed all day and watched. So, no, we don't play chess. I know. It's pathetic!"

"X2: X-Men United" opens Friday.

'HAIRSPRAY' NABS 14 DRAMA DESK NOMS

The smash hit musical "Hairspray" earned 14 Drama Desk Award nominations Thursday, tying the record for the most nominations ever.

The only other shows to earn so many nods were "The Producers," "The Secret Garden" and "Ragtime."

The Michel Legrand musical "Amour" received nine nominations followed by "Baz Luhrmann's La Boheme," "A Man of No Importance" and "Take Me Out," each with seven.

Also faring well were the Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp musical "Movin' Out," which garnered six nominations and "Avenue Q," "Long Day's Journey into Night" and "Nine," which received five nominations each.

Sisters Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave each received nominations -- Lynn as Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for "Talking Heads" and Vanessa as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play for "Long Day's Journey Into Night."

"Nine" star Chita Rivera will host the 48th Annual Drama Desk Awards on May 18. She earned a nomination as Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, along with her co-stars Jane Krakowski and Mary Stuart Masterson.

Among those who garnered double nominations are: Philip Seymour Hoffman for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for "Long Day's Journey into Night" and Outstanding Director of a Play for "Our Lady of 121st Street," Sam Mendes for Outstanding Director of a Play for "Twelfth Night" and "Uncle Vanya," and Joe Mantello as Outstanding Director of a Play for "Take Me Out" and Outstanding Director of a Musical for "A Man of No Importance."

DRAMA DESK NOMINATIONS 2002-2003

Outstanding Play:

Buicks (Julian Sheppard)

Our Lady of 121st Street (Stephen Adly Guirgis)

Peter and Vandy (Jay DiPietro)

Take Me Out (Richard Greenberg)

Talking Heads (Alan Bennett)

Yellowman (Dael Orlandersmith)

Outstanding Musical:

Amour

Avenue Q

Hairspray

A Man of No Importance

Movin' Out

Zanna, Don't!

Outstanding Revival of a Play:

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

Dinner at Eight

Long Day's Journey Into Night

Medea

Twelfth Night (Donmar Warehouse/BAM)

Uncle Vanya (Donmar Warehouse/BAM)

Outstanding Revival of a Musical:

Gypsy

La Boheme

Man of La Mancha

Nine

Outstanding Actor in a Play:

Simon Russell Beale (Uncle Vanya)

Norbert Leo Butz (Buicks)

Jim Dale (Comedians)

Brian Dennehy (Long Day's Journey Into Night)

Eddie Izzard (A Day in the Death of Joe Egg)

Daniel Sunjata (Take Me Out)

Outstanding Actress in a Play:

Jayne Atkinson (Enchanted April)

Marylouise Burke (Kimberly Akimbo)

Clare Higgins (Vincent in Brixton)

Dael Orlandersmith (Yellowman)

Vanessa Redgrave (Long Day's Journey Into Night)

Fiona Shaw (Medea)

Outstanding Actor in a Musical:

Antonio Banderas (Nine)

Harvey Fierstein (Hairspray)

Malcolm Gets (Amour)

Brian Stokes Mitchell (Man of La Mancha)

Jason Petty (Hank Williams: Lost Highway)

John Selya (Movin' Out)

Outstanding Actress in a Musical:

Stephanie D'Abruzzo (Avenue Q)

Ann Duquesnay (Cookin' at the Cookery)

Wei Huang (La Boheme)

Elizabeth Parkinson (Movin' Out)

Bernadette Peters (Gypsy)

Marissa Jaret Winokur (Hairspray)

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play:

Simon Russell Beale (Twelfth Night)

Walter Bobbie (Polish Joke)

Philip Seymour Hoffman (Long Day's Journey Into Night)

T.R. Knight (Scattergood)

Denis O'Hare (Take Me Out)

Frederick Weller (Take Me Out)

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play:

Christine Ebersole (Talking Heads)

Jan Maxwell (My Old Lady)

Helen McCrory (Uncle Vanya)

Nancy Opel (Polish Joke)

Lynn Redgrave (Talking Heads)

Jeanine Serralles (Hold Please)

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical:

John Dossett (Gypsy)

Christopher Fitzgerald (Amour)

Charles Keating (A Man of No Importance)

Dick Latessa (Hairspray)

Steven Pasquale (A Man of No Importance)

Corey Reynolds (Hairspray)

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical:

Kerry Butler (Hairspray)

Jane Krakowski (Nine)

Mary Stuart Masterson (Nine)

Sally Mayes (Urban Cowboy)

Chita Rivera (Nine)

Debra Walton (Cookin' at the Cookery)

Outstanding Director of a Play:

Robert Falls (Long Day's Journey Into Night)

Philip Seymour Hoffman (Our Lady of 121st Street)

Joe Mantello (Take Me Out)

Sam Mendes (Twelfth Night)

Sam Mendes (Uncle Vanya)

Deborah Warner (Medea)

Outstanding Director of a Musical:

James Lapine (Amour)

David Leveaux (Nine)

Baz Luhrmann (La Boheme)

Joe Mantello (A Man of No Importance)

Jack O'Brien (Hairspray)

Twyla Tharp (Movin' Out)