Cirque du Soleil has a new exciting acrobatic spectacle Zarkana at Radio City Music Hall until October 8. The lavish production features acrobats, jugglers, trapeze artists and clowns. It is great fun for the entire family. The opening night attracted many stars like Kathleen Turner, Ralph Maggio and Real Housewives of New York Sonja Morgan and Jill Zarin. The party at Roseland was great, a perfect way to end the evening.
Off Broadway, La Magdalene is a ninety minute interesting musical play, inspired by the Gospels of Mary and Thomas, which do not appear in the Christian Bible. According to the Gnostic texts, Mary was not a prostitute, but was one of Jesus' disciples. The Greenwich Village Follies is an entertaining musical revue, in which four performers tell the history of Greenwich Village in eighty minutes. Manipulation, by Victoria E. Calderon, stars Saundra Santiago and Marina Squerciati, and a great opening night party took place at Sardi's with guests like Nicole Miller, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Mary Jordan. I will see it on Saturday. Silence! The Musical is a parody of the film The Silence of the Lambs, starring the excellent Brent Barrett, with inventive direction and choreography by Christopher Gattelli. Fans of the film will enjoy the show.
Measure for Measure in Central Park is a fine production, with an outstanding cast headed by Danai Gurira and Lorenzo Pisoni.
Adam Gwon and Michelle Elliott received the 21st Kleban Awards at ASCAP at a lovely reception, followed by a performance of their lyrics and libretto. Andre Bishop, Sheldon Harnick, Richard Maltby, Jr and Rita Gardner were among the guests to applaud them.
The Prospect Theater's Company's 2011 Annual Gala at Battery Gardens was a delightful affair. Karen Ziemba, Jose Llana and Daniel Jenkins were among the performers of Make Our Garden Grow, hosted by Evan Pappas.
06-29-11 (L-R) Nicole Miller. cast member Saundra Santiago. playwright Victoria E. Calderon at the opening night party for "Manipulation" at Sardi's 234 West 44th St.
Tuesday night 06-28-11
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I attended a press conference for Olive and the Bitter Herbs, which opens on August 16th. The playwright is Charles Busch, one of my favorites, and it stars his muse Julie Halston. I will be there opening night.
Another press conference at the Park Avenue Armory was for a preview of the Scarlet & Gray Stage, a marvelous replica of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-on-Avon. We were given a tour after Artistic Director Michael Boyd and others addressed the invited journalists. The company will present five plays from July 6-August 14, and they will be a joy to see. It will be one of the highlights of the Lincoln Center Festival.
I managed to arrive at the post-show reception for Broadway Sings Tori: a Benefit for RAINN, The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network at New World Stages, and photograph Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Stephanie Gibson and Katie Thompson, who had also performed that night at the Kleban Awards.
Charlotte Lichtblau is a magnificent painter and an exhibition of her works can be seen at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, 145 West 46th St, from June 13-July 31. I attended the opening night reception.
The new Copacabana, 268 West 47th St, had a preview reception, and we enjoyed watching the sexy Copa dancers, meeting six former Copa dancers, from 1995 onwards, and tasting delicious Spanish food with exotic cocktails. It is splendid addition to Midtown.
To celebrate The Year of the Rabbit and see the fine art of Patrick McMullan and David Foox, we went to a reception at the newly renovated Sanctuary Hotel. It was great fun.
Third Star, by Hattie Dalton, is one of six indie UK films in From Britain with Love June 11-July 9, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Four friends go on a trip to a beautiful bay in Wales, because it is the wish of one of them, who is dying of cancer. They have a couple of adventures on the way, philosophize about the meaning of life and reveal some of their frustrations. It's a male bonding film, with four attractive stars.
Everyone should buy Lush Life: Portraits from the Bar, by Jill DeGroff . On page 64, I am featured. Jill is a wonderful artist, and she has a sketch of me at the bar in the Rainbow Room, with a quote about the ten years I spent there photographing the famous people, It brings back glorious memories. Please see www.saloonartist.com .
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