SCENE & HEARD: MARTY ALLEN TO CELEBRATE THE BIG 9-5; CRIVELLO CHANNELS AL MCGUIRE; MORE PERSONNEL CHANGES AT KTNV, CH13

THE SCENE AND HEARD Comedy legend Marty Allen will be celebrating his 95th birthday with a one-night-only show Thursday March 23 with his wife Karon Kate Blackwell at the South Point Showroom. 

[Featured Photo by Jerry Metellus]

CRIVELLO LANDS ROLE AS COACHING GREAT AL MCGUIRE

Broadway star Tony Crivello, who won a Tony Award and played the phantom for six years in Las Vegas, is taking on a role near and dear to his heart.

Crivello plays legendary Marquette basketball coach Al McGuire in a play titled “McGuire.” It opens today (Jan. 20) at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater.

Crivello attended Marquette and was a cheerleader when McGuire was coaching there, before McGuire guided the school to a stunning triumphant run in the 1977 NCAA Final Four. It was McGuire’s final year as a coach and he famously wept on the bench as the clock ticked down in Marquette’s title win over North Carolina.

The feisty and charismatic McGuire grew up in New York, where he recruited many of the players who helped him make it to Basketball Hall of Fame. After leaving coaching, he was a television analyst. He worked with broadcasters Dick Enberg and Billy Packer.

Enberg wrote “McGuire,” a one-man play.

Crivello won his Tony Award for best actor in 1993 for playing Valentin in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”

On a personal note, I covered the 1977 Final Four when McGuire went out as a winner in Atlanta. I was a sportswriter with The Associated Press, based in Cincinnati. My assignment was to focus on McGuire in his final game. I talked my way into a seat right right behind him. When he broke into tears in the final seconds, l later learned I was impossible to miss in the photos. It’s on YouTube. The chubby-cheeked guy with a mound of dark hair.

KOONCE, LEVIN OUT AT KTNV-TV, CHANNEL 13

More personel changes at ABC affiliate KTNV-TV, Channel 13, on the heels of Jim Prather’s departure as vice president and general manager after 14 years.

Jim Koonce, marketing director and local programming director since 2002, and newly hired producer Ari Levin were let go in the past week.

E. W. Scripps bought the station from the Milwaukee-based Journal Broadcast Group, completing the deal in 2015.

Koonce joined KTNV in 2002 after nearly four years at KGUN-TV in Tucson.

Levin was field producer and director for The Oprah Winfrey Show for four years, executive producer of CinemaCon for six years, a director at the Tropicana Hotel for nearly five years and executive produce of ShoWest for nine years.