Random Happenings - September 2013

NYC ranked world's favorite city. Woman swims 100 miles from Cuba to Florida and man speed drives around Manhattan in 24 minutes. Patrick Stewart at 73 weds 35 year old Brooklyn jazz singer and a gay proposal takes place on stage after Cinderella performance  NYC opera needs $7M to finish season. New York Democrats say NO to Weiner and Spitzer. Buyer & Cellar says that they are the fastest off-Broadway show to recoup in recent history.  Neil LaBute pilot Harmony House picked up by NBC. The Fantastiks has its 20,000th performance. Hardest acting pregnant actress Kelli O'Hara has baby girl. Crazy delusional gunman shoots up DC navy yard and takes 12 lives and extremists attack Kenya mall and take over 50 lives. Venus is Fur becomes most performed play of the season. Bloomberg brags about NYC's clean air.

Backyard Tour: Donuts and Terror

 

I am not sure what rock I have been living under but I just heard about Terror Behind the Walls earlier this year. For those clueless like me, it is an immersive haunted experience in a real life prison, which is just a few blocks from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 

NEAT, HUH?

Francofolies: A Tribute to Edith Piaf

Outside the Beacon Theatre

Besides the dishes on my favorite brasserie or bistro menu, I don't speak a lick of French. That didn't deter me though from joining French expatriates and Francophiles for the filmed concert tribute to Edith Piaf (1915 - 1963) last week at the Beacon Theatre. 

Enchanted by the petite chanteuse, especially after the 2007 biopic La Vie en Rose, I had to see the show, even though I was not familiar with the lineup of French artists. I did however know the small lineup of Anglo/American artists...Harry Connick Jr....Duffy...and boy do I know Angelique Kidjo. 

Hey You...Thespian...I Really Like You...Part I

Amazing NYC Stage Thespians

The ambitious and simultaneous mounting of five Lucy Thurber's plays in four NYC theaters has been the subject of several articles recently. Of all The Hill Town Plays, Scarcity has received the most favorable reviews. Curious about the playwright and the effort, I headed over to the Cherry Lane earlier this week. Ritualistically, I snuggled in my seat, took in the set and then opened the program. Imagine my joy when I read that actress Deirdre O'Connell was a part of the cast. I knew then that even if the play didn't quite resonate with me, I was going to witness a stellar performance. And stellar it was!  

To celebrate these actors, who can consistently make any performance worthwhile, here is a new series...NYC stage thespians I really (really) like...

Zite Broadway Treats

Treats from news aggregation app Zite (Broadway):  

Greg in Hollywood: Showtune Sunday: Diana Ross does Broadway

StupidDope - Ariana Grande & Jimmy Fallon Remix Rap Songs into Broadway Musicals

Quote From Chad Beguelin's "Harbor"

Lottie Adams in Chad Beguelin's Harbor:

I need to be still. I want to be still.

Boricua and EGOT Winner Rita Moreno Says Show Business is a Tough Business...

Aaah, the things you stumble upon at 3AM in the morning when you can't sleep, and there is an iPad sitting on the nightstand next to your bed. Not sure how I landed on this WSJ interview with boricua actress Rita Moreno (born December 11, 1931) but bleary-eyed, I watched the interview. And then I couldn't help myself and I also watched Ms. Moreno's appearance on The Muppet Show. 

Rita Moreno (now an octogenarian) is a part of that elite group of entertainers, who have taken home an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (EGOT). 

• Emmy - The Muppet Show and The Rockford Files
• Grammy - The Electric Company Album
• Oscar - West Side Story
• Tony - The Ritz

Random Happenings - August 2013

Yankee's Alex Rodriguez suspended for 211 games after Biogenesis of America investigation. Chelsea nightclub Splash closes.Whitey Bulger found guilty of murder and racketeering.The Book of Mormon celebrates 1000 performance. Remember the 2003 blackout, well, it has been 10 years; remember the March on Washington, well...50 years. Egad, owners of Broadway cabaret 54 Below say they need $600K to survive. First family gets a new dog Sunny, and Gus the 27 year old Central Park Central Park polar bear passes. Yawn, "another" Beatles tribute Let It Be says it's closing early. NYC has it largest gun bust. Broadway's Richard Rodgers theater gets a facelift just in time for interracial Romeo and Juliet. Yosemite burns. First family takes A Trip to Bountiful. But what will they do about Syria.