On Broadway, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, with a new book by
Peter Parnell, is an ill-conceived revision of a musical, which has
wonderful music, but a confusing plot. The new book, unfortunately, does not
enhance the show. The opening night party was at the Plaza Hotel, and many
celebrities attended like Megan Hilty, Lily Rabe, Debra Messing and
Katharine McPhee. Lysistrata Jones, book by Douglas Carter
Beane, music & lyrics by Lewis Flinn, is a musical about
cheerleaders who refuse sexual favors to their boyfriends on the basketball
team untol they win a game. The cast is enthusiastic and energetic, but the
music is loud and the plot is silly.
Off Broadway, Jay O. Sanders gives a brilliant
performance in a very bloody Titus Andronicus. The opening night
party took place on the stage of the Newman Theatre with guests like
Michael Cerveris, Raul Esparza and Carolyn McCormick.
Ambassador Sun Guoxiang, Consul-General of the
People's Republic of China, spoke at the Australian American Leadership
Conversation at the Australian Consulate. It was a rewarding evening.
The Acting Company presented a delightful benefit
staged reading of Charley's Aunt, starring Stephen Bogardus,
Santino Fontana and Kathleen McNeeny. At the reception
afterwards, I congratulated the cast and mentioned that I had many warm
memories of the play, as I had starred in it in 1948 at Bayside High School.
Susan L. Schulman held her annual holiday party
in her office with many guests like Penny Fuller, Lee Roy Reams, Kathleen
Chalfant, Karen Ziemba and John Hillner.
Co-hosts of CBS The Talk Julie Chen, Sharon
Osbourne, Sara Gilbert, Aisha Taylor and Sheryl Underwood
unveiled a TALKwich sandwich at Carnegie Deli. It's vegetarian.
The Treatment Action Group presented the 2011 Research
In Action Awards (RIAA) honoring AIDS Activism to John Benjamin Hickey,
Dr. Polly Harrison and Dr. Robert F. Siliciano at the MidTown
Loft. Weekend Today Show Co-anchor Jenna Wolfe was the hostess at
this fine event.
OK! Magazine hosted a private opening of AOA,
Tribeca's newest restaurant and sporting lounge at 35 Ave of the Americas
with cocktails by Star Vodka and a menu sample by Executive Chef Eric
Dougherty. It was a fun event.
The Sixth Annual Holiday Celebration to benefit St.
Jude Children Research Hospital is wonderful event with entertainment by
Wynton Marsalis and members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra,
celebrities like Kevin Jonas and Diggy Simmons and champagne,
hors d'oeuvres and chocolates. I even had my photograph taken with Santa
Claus.
After a big article about the club in the New York
Post, we dropped over to Rick's Cabaret for the Due Diligence Ball to meet
Eric Langan, owner of 23 clubs around the country. They are very popular
and the profits are rising.
Love, Loss, and What I Wore celebrated its
900th performance at B. Smith's Restaurant, with its new cast, Emily
Dorsch, Daisy Eagan, Sonia Manzano, Loretta Swit and Myra Lucretia
Taylor. It's always a festive occasion.
The Frick Collection held a press preview to see their
new gallery, the Portico Gallery for Decorative Arts and Sculpture with an
inaugural exhibition White Gold: Highlights from the Arnhold Collection
of Meissen Porcelain from December 13-April 29. It's a
fascinating display of magnificent teapots, vases and dishes. It is quite
impressive, and I recommend it highly. The Frick Collection is one of the
treasures of New York.
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The Film Society of Lincoln Center is presenting Spanish Cinema Now December 9-22. Torrente 4: Lethal Crisis, by Santiago Segura, 2011, Spain, is said to be the most successful series in Spanish film history. The fourth of the series follows the detective Jose Luis Torrente, played by the director, who also wrote the screenplay. It begins when he is in charge of security at a wealthy wedding and ends as he leaves jail where he was unjustly imprisoned. It is a comedy, which contains a great deal of toilet humor, much nudity and sexual activity, It is vulgar, juvenile, tasteless, and is apparently a crowd pleaser. I met the director and he is charming. Unfortunately, the film is not. Cousinhood by Daniel Sanchez Arevalo, 2011, Spain, is about a young man (Quim Gutierrez) jilted at the altar. With two cousins, he returns to his childhood town on the coast of northern Spain to recuperate. It is supposedly a guy movie, but the three protagonists are so immature and ridiculous, that they become merely irritating. Again I met the director and the leading man, and I was curious to see their film. I was disappointed.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Jewish
Museum are presenting the 21st Annual New York Jewish Film Festival
January 11-26. The first press screening was Mabul (The Flood),
by Guy Nattiv, Israel/Canada/France, 2010, a powerful film about
a boy (Yoav Rotman in a superb performance) preparing for his Bar
Mitzvah, but overwhelmed by problems caused by a dysfunctional family
life. The parents are alienated from each other and an autistic older
brother returns home from an institution which had been forced to close.
It is a bleak existence, that fortunately ends on a more hopeful note.
Welcome to Kutcher's: The Last Catskills Resort, by Caroline
Laskow and Ian Rosenberg,2012, USA, is a documentary about a
hotel that survived 100 years, but suffered the fate of all the famous
hotels in the area when vacation habits changed, After World War II it
was a paradise for Jewish families, who enjoyed sports, entertainment
and enormous amounts of kosher food. It is a nostalgic look at an era
that has disappeared. It gave birth to stand-up comedy and Freddie
Roman is seen in one of his hilarious routines. I came to America in
1947 and visited the Catskills during those years and the film brings
back warm memories.
Return, by Liza Johnson, 2012, USA, will open in February, and is wonderful film, that I recommend highly. Kelli, played splendidly by Linda Cardellini, returns to her small town in Ohio after serving in the army in Iraq. She is the mother of two girls, her husband is a plumber and she returns to her dull job in a factory. It is a story of her trying to readjust to the life she had before, after a horrible experience in a war. It is a realistic, intelligent film, enhanced by a glorious performance by Cardellini.
The Forgiveness of Blood, by Joshua Marston, 2010, USA, Albania, Denmark, Italy, is a sad view of life in a rural town in Albania, where ancient tradition rules and modern life for the young is precarious. A feud between two families result in the death one death of one member. Tradition calls for retribution, and we see the devastating effect it has on the other family. It is a powerful film, with impressive acting, especially by the children, with a teenager (Tristan Halilij) as the young man marked for retribution.
12-14-11
Carolyn
McCormick
at
the
opening
night
party
for
"Titus
Andronicus"
on
the
stage
of
the
Newman
Theatre
at
the
Public
Theatre.
425
lafayette
St.
12-13-11 |