Bennett gets due credit; another 'Blonde' moment

First of all ... I made a mistake last week and I need to apologize. In my zeal and excitement for the new Broadway Revival Cast Recording of "South Pacific," (which is tremendous, by the way) I gave full credit to Richard Rodgers — which is only partly true.

Rodgers himself had said he was nothing without his longtime arranger, Robert Russell Bennett, who brought to life many of Rodgers' scores, as well as the music of George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Jerome Kern, among others.

Thank you to the reader who pointed out my oversight in an e-mail. Bennett, by the way, will be receiving a posthumous Tony Award for his contributions to musical theater. He died in 1981 of liver cancer.

My apologies to Bennett, whose work will live on for many, many years.

Speaking of which, "South Pacific," in its debut week, nabbed the No. 1 spot for cast recordings and clocked in at No. 59 on the Top 200 in Billboard magazine. It even came in No. 2 in overall Internet sales.

That's pretty darned good!

Another local on TV: I just finished wasting more time than I should watching MTV's latest reality show, "The Search for Elle Woods." MTV has paired up with "Legally Blonde" again in another one of these casting shows.

I think I've been pretty clear about how I feel about casting a Broadway show this way. However, competitor Rhianna is from Logan! So we sort of have someone to root for.

Watching the auditions made one thing perfectly clear: These girls are nowhere NEAR where they should be to be starring on Broadway. Laura Bell Bundy, the current Elle, is head and shoulders above these girls.

I'd like to see a reality show where the competitors are actual aspiring actors, who've been tromping to auditions for years, have significant training under their belts and don't want to suffer through another cattle call.

That's when we would truly appreciate actors currently working on the Great White Way.

Oh, Reeg! Leading up to the June 15 Tony Awards, this week is Broadway Week on "Live With Regis and Kelly." They've scheduled performances by some of the bigger musicals —

Monday: "The Little Mermaid," (Mario Lopez guest hosts)

Tuesday: "Cry-Baby"

Wednesday: TBA

Thursday: "Xanadu"

Friday: "Grease"