Preview performances began this Sunday, January 30, for the five-time Tony nominated production of “33 Variations” with Jane Fonda at the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre. “33 Variations,” written and directed by Moisés Kaufman, opens February 9 and continues through March 6, 2011.

Fonda, who is a two-time Academy Award-winner, was nominated for the Tony Award for her role in the 2009 Broadway run of “33 Variations.” The Tectonic Theater Project production was also nominated for a Tony, as was Zach Grenier who also reprises his role at the Ahmanson for his portrayal of Beethoven, and Derek McLane for scenic design and David Lander for lighting.

Fonda and Grenier are joined by Samantha Mathis, Don Amendolia, Susan Kellermann, Greg Keller, Grant James Varjas, Diane Walsh, Scott Barrow, Caitlin O’Connell and Yvonne Woods Slaten. Additional design credits for “33 Variations” include costumes by Janice Pytel, sound by André J. Pluess and projection design is by Jeff Sugg.

In “33 Variations,” the audience is transported back and forth from present-day New York to 19th century Austria, when a musicologist Fonda is determined to solve the musical mystery of why Beethoven Grenier spent his last years feverishly writing 33 variations of what appeared to be a mediocre waltz.

Tickets, which are priced from $20 — $80, are available by calling Center Theatre Group Audience Services at 213 972-4400, in person at the Center Theatre Group box office or on-line at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org.

 Photo Credit: Craig Schwartz

Moises Kaufman, Timothy Koch

Susan Kellermann, Jane Fonda

Caitin O'Connoll, Douglas C. Baker, Jane Fonda, Samantha Mathis, Zach Grenier

Jane Fonda, Moises Kaufman

Zach Grenier, Samantha Mathis, Jane Fonda, Moises Kaufman, Susan Kellermann

Greg Keller, Grant James Varjas, Zach Grenier

click here for complete article on Broadwayworld.com

It was fun having Oprah sitting right next to us-Samantha Mathis, Susan Kellerman and me. Gayle King and her daughter were with Oprah. Both of us were sobbing at the end and I had to pass her tissues. It’s a truly powerful and important play about the war in the Congo and what it has done/is doing to women. This is what Eve Ensler’s organization, V-Day: Until the Violence Stops, is focusing on. In fact, Eve is in east Congo now, at the hospital where Dr. Mugwege receives the raped and brutalized women and sews them up. V-Day has recently broken ground on the ‘village’ we are erecting to house 100 women. There are so many women flooding into the hospital they aren’t able to stay and completely heal, so the village will provide a safe place next to the hospital for further physical and emotional healing. They will receive therapy and learn microentreprenurial skills. Some of the actors in “Ruined” saw Eve when she testified about the Congo in Washington D.C. recently.

Phylicia Rashad’s daughter is in the play, her Broadway debut. She is brilliant-beautiful and talented (as is her mother). She can sing like a dream, too. This is a must see play! Derek McLane, who did sets for “33 Variations” and is nominated for a Tony for them also did “Ruined”-again, brilliantly

I asked Oprah to follow my tweets and she said she would. I follow her. I was the second person she interviewed for her “O” magazine. It was during that interview that I realized I had to write my memoirs. I told Oprah that last night.

Oprah and fabulous actor in “Ruined” Simon Shabantu Kashama

Back stage after “Ruined” with the cast, Samantha, Susan, Oprah, and I am there, behind somewhere.

Samatha, Susan and I had dinner after at Trattoria del Arte and closed the place down.

Don’t we look happy?

I am discombobulated today. Partly because I took a pain pill last night cause my knee hurts so bad. The pill has thrown me for a loop. Went to see “Reasons to Be Pretty” by myself this afternoon. Unfortunately Thomas Sadoski, who was nominated for a Tony, was replaced by his (very good) understudy. I was hoping to see him but I was told his wife fell and cut her head and he was with her in the emergency room. Good priorities. Still, I found the play riveting. Strange. Not easy. But riveting.

I took pictures of people taking pictures of me in front of my Times Square hotel as I waited for my friend, Lisa Birnbach to arrive and pick me up. It’s funny cause normally I go around anonymously. Then I went with Lisa to the Tony cocktail party at which Phyllis Newman was honored. The Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Care Center is one of the beneficiaries of Broadway Cares. I’ve known Phyllis from decades ago. She and Adolph Greene were close friends of my fathers. Zach Grenier (my beloved Beethoven, also a Tony nominee) was there, and Moises Kaufman, our writer/director, and Roger Friedman and Michelle Lee and Lucy Arnez and Oscar Eustis, Director of the Joe Papp Public Theatre and many other friends. It was fun and, once again, I felt embraced by this wonderful Broadway community.

After that, Lisa and I saw “The Norman Conquests: Round and Round the Garden,” the third in the trilogy. I loved it and wished I had seen all three. Scott Peacock and Alice Waters sat right behind us. Scott’s going to be at the Tonys tomorrow. A cheering section.

To end the day we had dinner with Jeff Daniels, his wife Kathleen whom I had not met before and who is smart and lovely as I would have expected and Jeff’s manager and friend, Paul Martino. We’re all looking forward to the swag tomorrow at the Tony rehearsal. It was Jeff who first told me about swag. Jeff and the others in “God of Carnage” have all re-upped for continuing the play in the fall after a 6 week break. I wasn’t sure they would but, clearly, having a good, reliable and fun job to count on till the year’s end is not to be sneezed at-not in these times.

Rehearsal is fairly early so I’m off to bed. I still dream about the play and still feel the Galapagos ship rolling under me. I’ve probably forgotten a lot of stuff from today but too bad. I’m pooped.

See you next time.