Fans of Enterprise (and Quantum Leap) take note: Scott Bakula is back, doing something he loves - singing and dancing! If you’ve only seen Scott’s sci-fi work, you may not be aware of his prowess in the world of musical theatre.

The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego is hosting the world premiere of “Dancing in the Dark”, a new musical based on the Oscar-nominated screenplay of the 1953 film “The Band Wagon” starring Fred Astaire.

Scott stars as Tony Hunter, a washed-up film star who tries to revive his career by appearing in a Broadway show. Songs from the show include “That’s Entertainment” and the title tune. As one reviewer put it, “The energy is infectious; the numbers will have you humming all day.”

Scott’s roots in musicals are deep, going back to numerous Broadway and off-Broadway appearances, which garnered him a Tony Award nomination in 1988. In his recent role on “Boston Legal” he accompanied himself on piano as he serenaded Shirley Schmidt (Candice Bergen).

Back in May 2005, mere days after the last episode of Enterprise aired, I had the pleasure of seeing Scott and his wife, Chelsea Field, perform in the musical “I Do! I Do”. The local production was a benefit for the Hamilton High School Academy of Music, a performing-arts institution which their daughter attended. It was an amazing performance, and Scott seemed to genuinely enjoy himself - almost as much as the very enthusiastic and appreciative audience. Following the strenuous three-hour two-person show, in which the couple sang, danced and played instruments, Scott met with his fans to sign autographs and pose for pictures. Read more about it in this article: Scott Bakula Sings!

Donna Dickenson is publishing a new blog chronicling Scott’s latest theatrical adventure at beckettslady.livejournal.com. Guys: be sure to read the excerpt from the “Husband’s Handbook” on what to expect if you take a wife/girlfriend/life partner to the show.

“Dancing in the Dark” opened this week and runs through April 13. For ticket information, visit OldGlobe.org. Let’s hope this gives a certain star another opportunity to headline on the Great White Way!

Extreme six-degrees alert: Cyd Charisse, Astaire’s dancing partner in the original “Band Wagon” film, is the aunt of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Nana Visitor - a song-and-dance star in her own right!

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Star Trek Remastered

The Star Trek Remastered episode coming this weekend is “That Which Survives” - production number 69. Coming toward the end of the show’s notorious third season, the episode first aired on January 24, 1969. The story is credited to “Michael Richards” - a pseudonym used by D.C. Fontana; the teleplay was written by second-season producer John Meredyth Lucas.

Three items of note about Lucas, a prolific television writer with episodes of “Mannix”, “Logan’s Run”, “The Six Million Dollar Man” and a dozen other shows to his credit:

• When Lucas was ten years old, he was adopted by legendary director Michael Curtiz (“Casablanca”).
• He is the only person in Star Trek production history to both write and direct an episode (“Elaan of Troyius”).
• Lucas passed away in 2002; his ashes were launched into space in 2007 on the same “Memorial Flight” as James Doohan (related article).

The episode features a guest appearance by Lee Meriwether (The Time Tunnel, Batman) as the mysterious Losira, in Sulu’s words, “she’s so... so beautiful.”

Who knew that tricorders had an “automatic distress” setting? We had meet Dr. M’Benga before (in “A Private Little War”), but what about the unseen Dr. Sanchez, who performed the postmortem on the transporter operator? How many doctors were there in McCoy’s sickbay anyway?

Spock volunteers to crawl through an access tube to the matter/antimatter access chamber in an attempt to save the Enterprise from certain destruction - perhaps foreshadowing his similar sacrifice in “Star Trek II”? Of course, Scotty overrides him, insisting he go himself since, “I know every millimeter of that system.” The Enterprise gets cranked up to Warp 15.2 (!) but that’s the only fast-moving thing in this episode.

CBS Digital isn’t releasing any preview images for this episode, but I suspect we’ll see a new CGI view of the “ghost planet” and I’m hoping for an updated version of the energy field around Scotty, which he describes as feeling like “ants crawling all over my body.” Maybe they have updated the bizarre effect of Losira disappearing: something like a two-dimensional character turning sideways, then folding up vertically.

Star Trek-family birthdays this coming week:

J.G Hertzler (General Martok - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) - March 18
Connor Trinneer (Charles “Trip” Tucker - Star Trek: Enterprise) - March 19
John de Lancie (Q - TNG, DS9 and Voyager) - March 20

If you have ideas for future columns, let me know! Now that the STARTREK.COM site is no longer being updated, are there things you miss that you’d like to see here? Send your comments, questions or suggestions to mwade@roddenberry.com.

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