The Off Broadway Awards at
Sardi's honored Charlotte
Moore and Estelle
Parsons. Indecent, Ernest Shackleton
Loves Me, The Emperor Jones, Sweeney Todd,
and Joe
Morton, Turn Me Loose also were
winners in their categories. The President Peter
Breger presented the awards. It is always a
delightful event.
Marvin Scott, Senior
Correspondent/Anchor PIX11 ˜Newscloseup" PIX11
WPIX-TV, had a book party for As
I Saw It at
the New York Friars Club. It was a splendid
party.
A Meet & Greet was held for Me
The People, The Trump America Musical, book
and lyrics by Nancy
Holson, producer Jim
Russek, at The Triad, 158 West 72nd St. The
four member cast performed three selections from
the show, which opens on June 29.
The Columbus Library, 742 Tenth
Avenue, presented Dancing
Lady, by Robert
Z. Leonard, USA, 1933, with three great MGM
stars, Joan
Crawford, Clark Gable and Franchot
Tone. What a delight to see a backstage
musical that has intelligent dialogue, great
acting, lots of humor and many surprises! Fred
Astaire made
his film debut. Nelson
Eddy sang
a song, and the Three
Stooges also
appeared with their silly shenanigans. In 1933,
musicals were simply wonderful.
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On Broadway, 1984, by George
Orwell, adapted by Robert
Icke and Duncan
Macmillan, at the Hudson Theater, is based on
the famous novel that Orwell wrote after World War
II, when England suffered from deprivation, food
rationing, etc. Having seen the danger of
totalitarianism during the Spanish Civil War, and
the threat of Soviet Russia after World War II, he
wrote a scathing review of what England could become
forty years later. The play has three brilliant
leading actors, Olivia
Wilde, Tom Sturridge and Reed
Birney. It is a horrifying look into the future.
Lies are used as truth, torture is prevalent,
and brain washing is persistent. Life is hell
itself. The sound design by Tom
Gibbons and
the video design by Tim
Reid are
impressive. The two lovers (Wilde and Sturridge) in
an evil world are tragic figures, and Birney, who is
sinister as a bureaucrat who tortures Sturridge in
the final, brutal scenes is compelling. You may want
to close your eyes to the final scenes, or you may
have nightmares. The opening night party took place
at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers, with delicious
food and necessary alcoholic beverages to calm one's
nerves. We congratulated the cast, and met George
Orwell's adopted son, Richard
Blair, a charming chap and a retired farmer.
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