Staycation Tuesday Reflections

"New Yorkers are born all over the country, and then they come to New York City and it hits them: Oh, that’s who I am." - Delia Ephron, said that.

Just noticed that yesterday's pic from Blogger app on Android was the wrong picture. I just fixed it a day late!... Yikes. Better get in the habit of double checking those kinds of posts in preview mode... Lord knows what I might publish by mistake!! Horrifying!

Yesterday was one of those great Staycation days ... Wandered around Greenwich Village... Including paying respects at the sites of the International Stud and the home of a famous puppeteer Rod Young... at 93 Perry Street. Visited a friend's new flat farther East on Perry Street... 300 square feet for $2400 a month. Oh Dear...

Wandered some more...

Stopped for a nice House Blend drip coffee at Roasting Plant table top.

 Soon after getting a Calendar of Events at The Center... Lunch at Benny's Burritos... Last time I ate there... My present waiter hadn't been born yet... Sign of age and wisdom: I ordered a mini burrito and a salad... That was more than enough...

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.” - Alice Walker, said that.

Browsed Mxyplyzyk. Sat out in the sun in a couple of Village area parks down there: Abbingdon Square and Jackson Square...

 Had a another quickie meet with a new friend in Chelsea...

Walking back down his West 18th Street I stumbled upon a Chelsea branch of one of my favorite restaurants, Westville... Was craving their rhubarb pie, but not in season yet... So had a Mixed Berry cobbler and coffee instead...



Rest in Peace, Mike Wallace. I last saw him at opening night of Inherit the Wind in 2007. For a journalist, he seemed to very much enjoy the show biz spotlight... Posing for the Paparazzi. He looked more Oprah than Morley... He was a great, great journalist though!

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher. - Socrates, said that.

Wanted posters for Wonderwoman are appearing on light poles all over Hell's Kitchen. I wonder what Wondermann thinks about this...

Caruso's Cast Party at The Town Hall

Caught a truly fabulous show last night...

Scott Siegel presents: The Best of Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at The Town Hall to benefit The Actors Fund...

Thoroughly Entertaining... Old fashioned variety show.

Featured Paulo Szot, Linda Lavin, Jane Monheit, Stephanie J. Block, Janis Siegel, David Ippolito, Lisa Lampanelli, , Liz Mikel, Marcus Monroe, Rudi Macaggi, Holly Near and John Bucchino, Laura Osnes and Frank Wildhorn, Erich Bergen, Aaron Weinstein, Terri Klausner, Andrew Nemr with his  Cats Paying Dues*, Marilyn Maye and more...

Joining the musical fun was Daniel Glass on drums and Tom Hubbard on bass.

Jim Caruso is an amazing emcee and knows how to put together a crowd pleasing show with the perfect mix of vaudeville schtick and sophistication...

And Mr Billy Stritch is forever flawless at the piano...

A generous and gracious pair of artists that I've known for many years!

Great show last night, guys!

(Photo from Broadway World)

*(Cats Paying Dues tap dancers included Kurt Csolak, Alex MacDonald, Alisa Paradowski, Stephen Sainato, Thomas Sutton, Gina Unverferth, and Maggie Venti).

Hey Odd Friend!

People were raving about Merrily We Roll Along at City Center Encores, not because it was great per se... But that, compared to the original flop, this re-working made it "work"...

You can thank digital technology for sharp hi-def Photo-shopped images and news reel type feeds to keep the audience on track to the otherwise bizarre retro-timeline... (An old fashioned slide show projection or rear screen projection in it's day would have lacked the punch...)

My favorite line from the script: "When the hell am I going to get a waiter that's just a waiter" declares a millionaire after he was on the receiving end of a pitch for a new fangled invention called a phone answering machine by a moonlighting young inventor...

"Hey Old Friend" is one of Stephen Sondheim's most easily sung ditties, and "Not a Day Goes By", one of his most lovely ballads...

But otherwise, the score lacks luster and... As my friend BMB pointed out... "the conceit that writing musicals is the highest form of artistic endeavor is, well, a little conceited".

The gentleman seated to my left had seen the original production... He said the beginning of the original show showed the main characters as 1957 high school kids and that then the audience, at least, had a chance to "like em" and "identify with" them.... But going backwards like this, from the end of their bitter show biz careers.... They were all too unlikeable from the get go...

So, this guy pointed out that the audience isn't engaged because we don't care for these guys.... He also seemed to recall there was a different opening number "The Hills of Tomorrow".... But that it was obviously cut from this production...

All said and done? I'm glad I went. It was like a textbook viewing of an era and a peek into Sondheim's world, circa 1981...

Many of Sondheim's works became butterflies... But this one? Even with the improvements, remains more of an odd moth that flutters sideways and never makes it fully into the spotlight.

Notes: Brilliant cast featured Colin Donnell, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Elizabeth Stanley, Betsy Wolfe and Adam Grupper. Merrily We Roll Along, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth, directed by James Lapine, with excellent music direction by Rob Berman and clever musical staging by Dan Knechtges. Merrily was extended for a two-week run and played for 15 performances, February 8-19, 2012, 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.

Carol Channing: Happy 92nd Birthday

Carol Channing performs for Her Majesty The Queen at the 1979 Royal Variety Performance, held at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London.

Miss Channing is 92 today!

Carol Channing: Larger than Life documentary film opens in theaters this week...

Julie Halston is Back on Broadway

It's official!

Julie Halston will join the cast of Anything Goes on January 13, 2012.

Ms. Halston will play matron Evangeline Harcourt in the hit Broadway revival starring Sutton Foster.

Her most recent stints on the boards included Olive and the Bitter Herbs, and The Divine Sister.

Anything Goes will play through April 29, 2012, on Broadway at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre (124 West 43rd Street). It was originally scheduled to run through July 31, 2011.

Home page is AnythingGoesOnBroadway.com

Hand to God

Update: See Comments for latest news in December 28, 2011 New York Times on possible revivals...

Brilliant piece of theater going on at Hell's Kitchen's Ensemble Studio Theater for one more week.

"Hand to God" by Robert Askins is more than a send up of Christian values, but a darkly comedic examination of dysfunctional family relationships and their after-life.

Steven Boyer gives a biting tour de force as Jason and his sock puppet Tyrone... (at right)

The entire cast is completely brilliant in this top notch production well directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel.

Clever set design by Rebecca Lord-Surratt makes optimal use of the unusual theater layout. Puppet

Designer Marte Johanne Ekhougen has developed a bedeveling sock puppet style with teeth.

The E.S.T. teaser?: Christian Puppet Ministries are a great way to teach children about the Bible. Each child gets a puppet, and each puppet gets his own personality. But children can be fooled by Satan’s tricks. For even within the sanctuary of the Christian Puppet Ministry, the devil lurks. The people of Cypress, Texas were good Christians. Until one day at Puppet Ministry, a boy named Jason, and his puppet Tyrone, let the devil in. This is their story.

Jason / Tyrone – Steven Boyer
Margery – Geneva Carr
Timothy – Bobby Moreno
Jessica – Megan Hill
Pastor Greg – Scott Sowers

I'm paraphrasing the script, I think: "A man has only one voice. And all the rest is just noise."

See this play!

When You're On the Net, On the Net You Will Stay

Web Site Story

This won a Webby Award for Best Writing and Comedy: Individual Short or Episode

TKTS Android App

Just to inform that there is now a free Smartphone App for TKTS: the half price Broadway and Off-Broadway ticket service by TDF (Theatre Development Fund)...

Look for it in your respective Smartphone's Applications Store...

Some people should look in their Android Market...

Others in iPhone's famed App Store...

And for the berry people: it's available for the Blackberry, too!

Follies, Again!

Saw it for a second time the other day...

It's fabulous!

Olive and the Bitter Herbs

Caught Charles Busch's latest work last night...

Olive and the Bitter Herbs... at Primary Stages.

Busch's light comedy hits the comic palette as a tasty little rugelach more than a full bodied babka... Bearing that in mind, you will enjoy this sweet treat!

Julie Halston takes the cake as gentile caretaker Wendy...

Dan Butler, David Garrison were perfect as a longtime spicy gay couple... and Richard Masur, as bachelor Senior, was perfectly soothing as a farfalle comfort dish...

Olive, played by Marcia Jean Kurtz was our half-sour pickle of the night served center stage of this New York comedy reminiscent of early Neil Simon's slice of life works, with added Busch driven fanciful plot stretches and outrageous surprises, of course...

Audience at 59 E 59 seemed to thoroughly enjoy the show, and especially the references to American Jewish culture...

Theater-goers especially reacted to the delicious work of Ms Halston. On her final scene exit, Halston got the most hearty hand of the night and the most fulfilling laughs...

This well sold run proves there is clearly a mainstream audience for new Busch works.

Follies: It's Like I'm Losing My Mind...

I saw the new revival of Follies on Broadway yesterday...

Oh... My ... God...!

The whole production is chilling and magical...

Bernadette Peters is absolutely brilliant...

You can't keep your eyes off her... She's sooo fragile and plays this part to the hilt...

She is spellbinding...

I wept through most of the damned thing... Soooo moving...

Stephen Sondheim's brilliant(-most) score is given top treatment here. Never upstaged or lost for a minute...

When I first heard of this show in 1975 or so and listened to the original cast recording, I was a high school kid myself... Now that I'm actually older than some of the characters played on the stage... And had my own show business career in my own youth, it's compelling...

I sat in the front row... So I saw every sequin and feather on every fabulous costume, and every well acted bead of sweat on every brow...

Poignant to the bone...

You MUST see this... They say it's a limited run... But what a waste to not be able to get Tony's for SO many in this cast and production because it closes too early in the season to be remembered...!

Also: Read this lovely interview of Bernadette Peters by Jesse Green in New York Magazine...

(Bottom image by Pari Dukovic for New York Magazine.)

The Carol Channing Documentary

I'll be seeing several of the screenings at this year's NewFest: New York's premier LGBT film festival...

And, I completely loved this bio-pic documentary GEM... (And I don't mean rhinestones)... Carol Channing: Larger Than Life...

Often funny. Always touching. Highly entertaining...

There's plenty here for the Broadway historian including antique footage and priceless recollections from composers, producers, colleagues, and friends from Lend an Ear to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, through the whole Hello, Dolly! phenomenon and more...

The footage of our almost 90 year old Broadway legend strolling through Shubert Alley while sharing her recollections was already worth the price of admission (and/or the price of the someday released DVD. Collectors will note!)... And that's just the beginning of the film...

Press Release: "The story of legendary performer Carol Channing's life is as colorful as the lipstick on her big, bright smile. In CAROL CHANNING: LARGER THAN LIFE, director Dori Berinstein (ShowBusiness, Gotta Dance), with co-writer Adam Zucker, captures the magic and vivacity of the 90-year-old icon – both onstage and off... past and present. The film is both an intimate love story and a rarefied journey inside Broadway's most glamorous era. It is, above all, a look at an inspiring, incomparable and always entertaining American legend."

Her entire career and 90 year life seem to fly by in a blink... An extremely well-lashed and wide-eyed blink at that...

Here's the complete cast list for Carol Channing: Larger than Life at IMDb.

Here's a link to the Trailer for Carol Channing: Larger Than Life

Pictured at right is a shot of  Miss Channing with her treasured original Dolly head dress that she pulled out of her closet for the documentary...

God bless her... At 90... She's still glowin', she's still crowin', she's still goin' strong...

Summer Sunday in the City

Home now at 9:30pm... And putting a reverse order tweet post together... Then to Zzzzz

Dinner party was divine and all. But not really my thing...

6:25PM Headed to a 6.30pm Vegan Dinner Party in Hell's Kitchen on C train...

Woo Woo Watermelon! $1 watermelon cups @ Chelsea Street Fair at closing time... I had two... Many other food bargains being yelled out also!

6:15PM Stumbled upon a Street Fair at 8th Ave 14th and up. Just breaking down now...

Celebrity Sighting: Sandra Bernhard on the street at W 14th and 8th Ave in Greenwich Village/ Chelsea NYC

At the LGBT Center to see the Photography Show including the portrait works by Daniel Yoffee. Now in The Center Garden reading and tweeting.

4:30PM Grabbed an Iced Coffee at Everyman Espresso in the CSC Lobby before heading outside to meet the cast including talented Frank De Julio.

MUST SEE! I highly recommend "Unnatural Acts" @ CSC. STRONG cast. EXCELLENT Direction by Tony Speciale http://classicstage.org @classicstage

Here's the Daily News review for Unnatural Acts.

Intermission now at "Unnatural Acts" at Classic Stage Co. Very good play. Well acted. Highly recommended...

1:30pm Amici on E 12th/3rd was good food. Good service. "Make your own pasta" looks intriguing for a future visit... 88 3rd Ave 212.979.9686

Picked up my "will call" ticket at Classic Stage Co for a matinee today. Now for a 'shroom slice at 3rd/12th before the show.

1:15pm Definitely too hot in NYC. Left Millenium Hotel after visiting a military friend on leave from Afghanistan,

12Noon Doesn't feel too hot outside right now, but one can sense it'll definitely be a scorcher later...

10AM Stiles Market: Fresh cherries $3 lb... Blueberries $3 pint (I'll freeze some)... 3 ears of corn for $1. Cantaloupe $2 ea (not large tho)...

8:30AM Lenny's breakfast: Egg whites on whole wheat toasted roll, fruit salad, iced coffee and The New York Times.

Broadway Barks 13

Went to Broadway Barks 13 yesterday in Shubert Alley hosted by founders Mary Tyler Moore and Bernadette Peters...

More photos on my Flickr page of Bobby Cannavale, Sutton Foster, Joel Grey, John Larroquette, Mary Tyler Moore, Bernadette Peters, Reeve Carney of Spiderman and Andrew Rannells.

Beautiful day for it...

I fell in love with three little pooches. I hope they get adopted before I decide to do it...

Not sure I'm ready for the lifestyle changes required... But it is tempting, I gotta admit...

Tony Awards: Not Just for Gays Anymore

Finally got around to watching last week's Tony's on the DVR...

The opening number, "Not Just for Gays Anymore" was brilliant. Neil Patrick Harris was a terrific host!

I don't understand why Spiderman was included in this broadcast. It hadn't even opened yet... And the choice was death defyingly dull and landed with a thud...

Frances McDormand? What was she wearing? Peasant not chic! A denim jacket? Really? And what was wrong with her arm as she left the stage?...

Whoopi Goldberg looked ridiculous, IMHO...

Sutton Foster had a perfect acceptance speech... The ideal balance of authenticity and sincere emotion... Mark Rylance's was the most authentically peculiar. And Norbert Leo Butz's reeked of gratitude, in an all good way...

I loved the NPH and Hugh Jackman "Any Show You Can Host I Can Host Better!" number. Loved seeing the two original Tony winning "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" leads (Robert Morse and Matthew Broderick) kicking-off that revival's production number...

The Book of Mormon's choice number was actually a solo... Interesting. But it worked... (Might also be the only number they could get away with broadcasting prime time?)

Completely despised the Company number... Those contrived celebrity cast things are just plain annoying...

Loved the performances of Sutton Foster and Norbert Leo Butz... Proving that "Anything Goes" when you "Don't Break the Rules"...

Got a kick outta the Martha Wash with the Priscilla cast number... The whole evening was raining men, indeed...

And Chris Rock had the best line of the night when he aligned the opening of the envelope for best musical to "taking a hooker to dinner"....

TGIF: You're the Top!

Sutton Foster and Colin Donnell in the current Broadway production of Anything Goes.

Stiller and Meara

Enjoyed watching Theater Talk this week, as usual. It's always fun seeing friend's names roll by in the credits... Diana Lekus is a big time TV producer apparently. I didn't know this til I spotted her name on a crawl. Then she confessed...

So the guests this week were Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara Stiller and Meara... It was a two-parter, largely because there was too much to talk about with the great careers of these two...

Lots and lots of fun on their website:

stillerandmeara.com...

Episode 16: The Homeless @ Yahoo! Video