On Broadway, Bonnie & Clyde, music by Frank Wildhorn, has Laura Osnes and Jeremy Jordan playing the two celebrated criminals, who were shot dead in 1934. They and the rest of the cast are quite good, and the music is easy on the ears. The set is inventive, with projections of the Great Depression on a wooden three paneled background and newspaper headlines and photographs of the the ill-fated pair. The party at the Edison Ballroom was filled with celebrities like Neil Simon, Tommy Tune and Chelsy Wright.
Off Broadway, Iron Curtain is a musical about two American songwriters kidnapped to Soviet Russia to write a musical for them. The cast is lively and the music is pleasant. The book is silly.
Angel Reapers, a dance/theater/music piece with text by Alfred Uhry and direction and choreography by Martha Clarke, is an imaginative production about the Shaker community. It is fascinating and features nudity. The opening night party in the lounge of the Joyce Theater attracted Alan Rickman, Estelle Parsons and Rob Ashford.
Tea at Five, by Matthew Lombardo, was staged reading benefitting The Ali Forney Center, starring a terrific Charles Busch as Katharine Hepburn. It's a delightful play, in which Katharine reminisces about her life, loves and career. A VIP reception followed at Veranda with guests Julie Halston and Hunter Ryan Herdlicka.
Former Atlanta Hawks Anthony "Spud" Webb is the coach for the Rick's Cabaret/New York City team. I attended the press conference at Rick's Cabaret on West 33rd St, because I just became a basketball fan. The team is gorgeous and I enjoyed watching their every move.
Mark H. Dold and Martin Rayner, the stars of Freud's Last Session unveiled Freud's Last Sundae at Tasti D-Lite at 15888 Broadway. It is delicious.
The 2011 Partners for Democracy Award Dinner of the America-Israel Friendship League at the Plaza New York was attended by its President Harley Lippman, former mayor Ed Koch and Ron Prosor, Israel Ambassador to the UN. It was a joyous occasion.
The after-party for the one night Actors Fund Benefit of the concert version of The Visit took place at my favorite John's Pizzeria on West 44th St. Chita Rivera, John Cullum, Terrence McNally, John Kander and members of the cast were there, and the President of John's Pizzeria Lisa Castellotti, who also attended the performance.
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Roger Friedman organized a marvelous Elaine Kaufman: A Celebration of her Life and her Legacy at Merkin Hall. Many of the regulars from Elaine's were there to reminisce in memory of the great lady. Dick Cavett was the host. Lucie Arnaz and Michele Lee performed and many speakers, incuding William Bratton, Carol Higgins Clark, Father Peter Colapietro (he even sang), Rikki Klieman, James Lipton, Liz Smith, Elaine Stritch and Gay Talese, shared their wonderful memories. It was a splendid event.
The opening night of the 6th Romanian Film Festival opened with a screening of Morgen at the Walter Reade Theater. A reception followed and I met many of the directors and actors from the films, including Marian Crisan, Pavel Cuzuioc and Ana Popescu. Delicious Romanian food was served. The festival of superb films continues until December 6. Don't miss them
Storytelling in Japanese Art from November 19-May 6 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a magnificent exhibition of illustrated tales from the 12th to the 19th century, covering a wide variety of subjects, such as romance of court ladies, heroic warriors in wartime, Buddhist and Shinto religion, monks, ghosts and animals. They are mainly handscrolls, screens and hanging scrolls, and the illustrations are beautiful. It is an exhibition not to be missed. At the same press preview, we saw the Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Creche, the Lisbon's Hebrew Bible: Medieval Jewish Art in Context, Art in Renaissance Venice, 1400-1515, Victorian Electrotypes: Old Treasures, New Technology and Faberge from the Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation Collection. They are fascinating exhibitions and all worth a visit.
The Jewish Museum had a press preview for An Artist Remembers: Hannukkah Lamps Selected by Maurice Sendak, a lovely exhibition of thirty-three lamps created in different styles from eleven countries in the 18th to the 20th centuries. There are also two Sendak illustrations. The exhibition opens December 2 through January 29.
Addiction Incorporated, by Charles Evans Jr. will be screened at Film Forum from December 14-27. This is documentary that should not be missed. It tells the tale of addiction from nicotine in cigarettes, and how a scientist Victor DeNoble, experimenting with rats for a tobacco company, showed the devastating effect on people's health. It is an indictment of the tobacco industry, which finally has been forced to admit the harmful effects of smoking. Today DeNoble spends his time educating children around the country about the evil of nicotine. It is a worthy
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Anthony
"Spud"
Webb
and
The
Rick's
Cabaret/New
York
City
Basketball
Team
at a
press
conference
at
Rick's
Cabaret.
50
West
33rd
St.
Tuesday
afternoon
11-29-11 |