Ballet is all part of 'Plan' for 'The Rock'

A recovered Dwayne ``The Rock" Johnson got things started yesterday on his new film ``The Game Plan," shooting ballet scenes at Emerson College's Cutler Majestic Theatre with a few dozen young dancers from the area. Joining The Rock filming yesterday were Madison Pettis, who plays his daughter, and the lovely Roselyn Sanchez, familiar to audiences from her work on the CBS show ``Without a Trace." Production for the Disney flick about a bachelor pro quarterback (Johnson) who finds out he has a 7-year-old daughter from a previous relationship was halted earlier this summer when Johnson injured his Achilles' tendon while practicing football scenes in Malden. But crews were out in force in the Theater District -- normally quiet on a Sunday morning -- with trailers and equipment taking up the parking lots at Stuart and Tremont Streets, and down by the Wang YMCA of Chinatown. Dropping by during a break in filming at the Majestic yesterday was Emerson vice president David Ellis, who like The Rock is a grad of the University of Miami. With The Rock now recovered from surgery enough to be on a set and fresh off promoting his other football feature , ``Gridiron Gang," the cast and crew gathered Friday night to play a little pool at the nightclub Felt to kick things off. (Johnson's ``Gridiron Gang," which opened at No. 1 at the box office last week, was No. 3 this week -- behind ``Jackass Number Two" and ``Fearless.") Johnson made a quick appearance, but was joined at the gathering by Pettis, Sanchez, New Hampshire native Gordon Clapp, Boston's Brian White, and Jamal Duff, Hayes MacArthur, and Morris Chestnut. (Costar Kyra Sedgwick was in town briefly for readings and costume fittings, but won't return for filming until early October.) The evening was a ``raucous affair," we're told, presided over by the film's director, Andy Fickman, and the producing duo of Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray, whose other football film, ``Invincible," starring Mark Wahlberg, was a summer hit. Filming is expected to continue through mid-December. And construction is underway on some 10 sets for scenes to be shot at the Cabot, Cabot & Forbes property near the new Westwood T stop, which is also serving as production headquarters for the movie. Other locations include Gillette Stadium and Holy Cross' stadium in Worcester, Framingham Civic Center, and several locations in Boston, including a couple more days in the Theater District.

Wolf prowls with Wood and Jagger

Seems Peter Wolf was just waiting on a friend the other night while recording some new tunes at Paul Kolderie's Camp Street Studio in Cambridge. We're told the former J. Geils front man was paid a visit by his pal Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones and chef Michael Schlow, who brought along a fine feast for the band. Afterward, Wood, a buddy of Wolf's from way back, picked up a guitar and jammed on Jim Reeves's ``He'll Have to Go" as well as Charley Pride's classic ``Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone." (The impromptu session was not recorded, we're told.) The party then moved to Sonsie, where the not-so-mod squad met up with Mick Jagger for just a bit more debauchery. . . . The Rack near Faneuil Hall hosted a lunch for 200 union members the other day for Sean O'Brien, the new president of Teamsters Local 25, that included well wishes from Teamsters prez James Hoffa, who flew in from Chicago just for the event.

White provides feast for fest

Since it involved lobster rolls and Boston, it was not a surprise to see chef Jasper White backstage at the Phantom Gourmet Food Festival Saturday morning to watch the world's reigning competitive eater, Takeru Kobayashi, keep his title by consuming 41 White's Summer Shack lobster rolls in 10 minutes. (Kobayashi beat a team of four Bostonians -- amateur eaters, all -- that collectively ate 25.) White helped Chef Brian Flagg carry in multiple trays of rolls for the Major League Eating event, which was held inside Avalon, and then waited in anticipation with longtime employee Toni Silva, who represented the restaurant by wearing a bright red lobster suit and black, high-heeled go-go boots. Opting to inject a little potential mischief into the serious eating event, White whispered to sexy-lobster Silva that he should run on stage and pretend to steal a roll.

Famed TV mom Meredith Baxter was at the National Women's Show this weekend at Boston's World Trade Center, hawking her skin care line that raises money for breast cancer research. . . .

A cast of celeb chefs, including White, Lydia Shire, Frank McClelland, Chris Schlesinger, Bob Kinkead, Steve Johnson, and Patrick Barnes as well as butcher John Dewar gathered Saturday for the wedding of chef Jimmy Burke and Joanie Wilson. Burke, who now owns Riva in Scituate, formerly owned Tuscan Grill and Iguana Cantina. Congressman Bill Delahunt performed the service at the Scituate Harbor Yacht Club. . . . Bruins center Marc Savard, who the B's acquired from Atlanta over the summer, bought a condo in Charlestown for $1.02 million.

Meredith Goldstein of the Globe staff contributed. Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.