18 year old Daniel Radcliffe is well known by pretty much everyone in the world as the title character in the Harry Potter movie series. But he also caused controversy and critical praise for his portrayal of a mentally ill stable boy in the Tony Award-winning play, “Equus.”

The play is coming to Broadway on September 5th, and he won’t be wearing his famous spectacles, or much of anything else. The play caused controversy when it was revealed that he’d appear nude in the play, a shock to those who think of him as a star of a children’s franchise.

The play also will star Richard Griffiths, reprising his role from the London production, as the psychiatrist who treats the stable boy. Griffith is also known by Harry Potter fans as the mean muggle Uncle Vernon.

Although I haven’t seen the play, I get the idea that the nudity is appropriate given the subject matter. I also get the sense that it isn’t sexual in nature.

This could hopefully appease the fears of parents who have daughters who might dream of romance with the young star and hope he’s setting a responsible example. But if not, they’ll have to skip purchase of any Broadway tickets and stick with the more family friendly “Potter” movies.

Last Tuesday Mets ticket holders visited an opening game for the last time in the old Shea Stadium. Feelings about the event seem to be mixed—with both good and bad memories stirred up at the historic event.

On one hand, Mets fans have seen a lot of games at this ballpark. For anyone who’s a fan of the team, it’s likely a place of nostalgia. Think of all of the dates. Think of all of the children introduced to the drama of the ballpark in that venue. Think of the great players, and great games, both successful and disappointing.

But some people would like to dwell on the disappointments. Just last season it was the home of a total melt down against Philadelphia. Not a good memory. MVP, Jimmy Rollins will be back in the stadium to remind them of this bitter memory.

On top of that, it’s not a very exciting venue architecturally. Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post doesn’t mince words when he says, “It’s ugly, sterile and horribly outdated.”

In the end, what do we really hope for? A winning season of course. Maybe even a championship. I don’t know, it’s too great to hope for. But no one’s going to tell the Mets players this. They better be playing to win.

What’s the reason for Yankees manager, Joe Girardi’s strange lineup last week against th Kansas City Royals.

Hideki Matsui ws put in right field. Alex Rodriguez was pushed up to third rather than acting as the usual cleanup hitter, Jorge Posada was placed as the fourth hitter. Robinson Cano was assigned as the seventh hitter rather than the sixth. Morgan Ensberg started at first base. Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi were placed on the bench.

So what’s the reason for all of this shifting? Girardi said that he was trying to readjust things to face left-handed pitcher John Bale. He also said he wanted to rest Abreu.

Whatever his reasons, the result was broke a slump by the Yankees, scoring big and making 12 hits. It was a win that the team seemed to need, preventing a malaise that could have hurt their entire early season.

Pettite also had a great game. Peter Abraham reports:

“Pettitte went 6 2/3 innings, allowing five hits with two walks and one strikeout. Pitching on the road for the first time since admitting that he used Human Growth Hormone, Pettitte received little abuse from the small crowd of 16,143 beyond a handful of fans chanting “HGH” in the second inning.”

It’s good news for a struggling team. It might encourage us New York baseball fans to be more proactive at buying Yankee tickets.

The following events make up the list of top 5 most popular events on SelectATicket.com for the previous week.

Not a big surprise that Devils vs Rangers tickets and Red Sox vs Yankees tickets both made the list — we love our sporting rivalries! And our theater fans always turn out for Wicked and this week Cat On A Hot Tin Roof makes the cut. But we didn’t forget to bring the family out for some fun too because the circus came to town!

Wicked on Broadway

Circus Tickets

NJ Devils vs NY Rangers playoff tickets

Red Sox vs Yankees tickets

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof tickets

I never realized that the Tony Awards have such a complicated eligibility process. Some people have questioned it. But regardless of it’s fairness, it’s the most important award for theater in the U.S. So everyone in the industry is certainly pining to be recognized.

Rules are new every year. The decisions for eligibility are complicated.

This year, for example, they just announced that “The Little Mermaid” would be eligible for nomination in the Best Score category. This was in question, given that many of the songs were originally written for the movie. But since more than 50 percent was written for the play, the decision makers deemed it eligible.

The biggest criterion to consider is the required opening dates for eligibility. The management established that for the 2006-2007 year, the cut off date was May 9th, 2007.

Another criteria to consider is the actual theater. A Broadway theater is defined as one having more than 500 seats. Although the definition of Broadway theater does not take into account the location of the theater, the committee determines the list of eligible theaters, which only consists of theaters in New York City.

This Administration Committee has 24 members and determines eligibility. The Nominating Committee makes the actual nominations for the categories.

To see this year’s competitors, get your tickets for Broadway plays online and enjoy.

The Shea stadium’s final opening game was not a victory for the home team. More embarrassing than that, the Mets lost to the Phillies again. Ouch!

Not only did the Mets hope for redemptions from last year’s total collapse at the Phillies hands. This marked the ninth straight loss to the Phillies for this franchise. Of this streak, David Wright is quoted in the Daily News as saying:

“It’s not significant whatsoever. We’re talking about a different team. We’re talking about a new year. It’s unfortunate what happened last year, but that’s past us. As far as I’m concerned, we’re 0-1 against the Phillies this year, we’re 0-2 against the Braves and we need to do a better job.”

The Mets do need to do a better job, as the final score of 5-2 denotes.

Perhaps the evening is epitomized by Carlos Delgado’s throw to second base in an attempt for a possible double play hit Chase Utley in the back, flying off into the outfield. This error allowed two runs to score for Phillies.

With the new stadium being built, one has to ask, “Is Shea Stadium doomed to relive past disappointments?” Maybe we need to just wait to buy tickets for the Mets when the new stadium is built.  Maybe then we can hope for a championship. The season is still young, but the talented but under performing Mets need to get with the program.

How’s this for bad news for people buying Yankee tickets: A strained left quadriceps for Derek Jeter Monday night against Tampa Bay. It could take him out for several games.

His response quoted in the New York Times is: “I felt something, and I didn’t want to be stupid.” We’re glad the shortstop team captain isn’t stupid. But it’s never good news when being smart requires the star player to not play.

There is no word on whether he’ll be put on the disabled list, which has happened 4 times previously. An evaluation will be made at some point in the next week. Let’s hope that the optimism works.

There aren’t a lot of other shortstop replacements available for the Yankees. Giambi has a sore left groin; Shelly Duncan is on a two-game suspension.

The injury was a major negative point to a successful win by the Yanks. Mussina, who I reported recently played very mediocre against the Blue Jays, was redeemed by a great outing against Tampa Bay. He only allowed on run and two hits in six innings.

So when all is said and done, I’m glad that Mussina found his mojo, but you can’t help but be discouraged by the news of Jeter’s injury. Hopefully it’s only a couple of games, and it won’t require any placement on an injured list. And hopefully he’ll be back strong.

I’m not really sure how they’re going to make this good, but I guess “Brigadoon” is returning to Broadway in a big revival. My lack of enthusiasm is born of the fact that I couldn’t get more than about 45 minutes through the old movie based on the original play.

The play’s music was written by the great song writing team, Lerner and Lowe. It was directed by Robert Lewis and choreographed by Agnes de Mille. It was a big hit on Broadway and was adapted to the screen in 1954, starring Gene Kelly.

The story tells about two Americans on vacation in Scotland who stumble upon the magical village, which comes to life every 100 years.

The new play will be directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner, Rob Ashford. He won a Tony for his choreography for “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” He was also nominated for “The Wedding Singer,” and “Curtains.” He also choreographed the recent production of “Cry Baby.”

It also brings the talent of Tony Award-winner, John Guare. Famous for his Tony Award winning book for the musical “Two Gentleman of Verona.” He’s also been nominated for “The House of Blue Leaves,” “Six Degrees of Separation,” and “Four Baboons Adoring the Sun.”

So with all that talent, maybe the re-imagining will bring new life to a classic that has clearly aged. When it opens we’ll have to check for tickets online to see for ourselves how it fares.

Last week’s most popular events were again dominated by the beginning of the Major League Baseball season. No surprise as this is the final scheduled season for both Yankee and Shea Stadiums in the New York area so fans are lining up to get their last glimpse of the home buildings they’ve all grown up with.

The top events were as follows:

New York Yankees Tickets vs Tampa Bay

New York Mets Tickets vs Philadelphia

Kenny Chesney Tickets

Steely Dan Tickets

Tickets to The Lion King on Broadway 

One times while managing a retail store I had a sales representative for our company come in and brag about how great he had been a few years previously in the same role. He went on and on about how he beat all of these sales records.

And then he failed to deliver. He turned out to be mediocre at best. Maybe he had broken all of those records in past years, but he certainly wasn’t at the top of his game anymore. More than anything, I realized how he had set our expectations at a level that would be very hard to achieve.

The same goes for Johan Santana. I have no doubt that compared with other paychecks in the League, he’s well deserving of his $137.5 million contract. But what that does is set an extremely high standard. It tells everyone in the franchise and everyone who’s buying Mets tickets that he’s going to be amazing in every game. Talk about pressure.

Speaking of the these expectations, Shaun Powell of Newsday.com says:

“Yes, they want shutouts, strikeouts, maybe a no-hitter if you please, and plenty of good stuff, all the luxuries you’d expect from a two-time Cy Young winner who has the impossible task of making that $137.5 million seem like a bargain. And they want it now, like today, in his second start . . . ”

When all was said and done, Santana asked for it by driving for the contract. I hope he earns it.