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Discovering the Hudson by Ward Morehouse III
The Hudson Theatre, which opened in 1903, is much more than a beautiful facade, much more than a landmark Broadway playhouse with Tiffany glass mosaics and Roman friezes -- complete with verde-antique in Greco-Roman marble -- all of which recently and painstakingly restored by Millennium Hotels. With as much drama going on off-stage as beneath its historic proscenium arch, The Hudson has been the theater home for such titanic 20th century actors as George M. Cohan, Ethyl Barrymore, Laurence Olivier, Alfred Lunt, and Jason Robards Jr. As if that weren't enough of a resume, the storied Broadway palace has also played the big time as the studio where Jack Paar and Steve Allen did their nationally broadcasted TV shows. Elvis, Bob Hope, Sammy Davis Jr. and many others not instantly associated with Broadway have been celebrated Hudson guests too. Ward Morehouse III, whose family has been identified with theater for generations, uses the Hudson as a launching pad to write about the golden age of Broadway, live TV and beyond into the new, international age of corporate-theatre synergy.

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Broadway After Dark by Ward Morehouse III, Ward Morehouse
"Broadway After Dark is a compilation of columns, stories and never-before-published profiles by my father, Ward Morehouse, and myself. The profiles were originally intended for a book called Stars I Have Known. The columns of his are representative of those he did for the New York Sun from 1926-1950 and after for other newspapers. I started writing sporadically about show business for The Christian Science Monitor in the 1970's and continued as a reporter and theater columnist for the New York Post, Reuters, New York Sun, amNew York, and the Epoch Times. It's my hope that these columns and stories, taken together, will be a portrait, however sketchy, of some of theater for the last and current century through some of their biggest stars, including Katharine Hepburn."

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Life at the Top: Inside New York's Grand Hotels by Ward Morehouse III
Veteran Broadway columnist WARD MOREHOUSE III (formerly with the New York Post and New York Sun, whose "Broadway After Dark" appears in AM New York) has written a fascinating and entertaining new book "Life At The Top: Inside New York's Grand Hotels" (Bear Manor Media), a book that has no heroes, great history or noble purpose. It's simply a masterpiece of storytelling.

MOREHOUSE chronicles the of some of the 20th Century's literary and artistic giants, many of whom made their permanent domicile at some of New York's grandest hotel, including The Waldorf-Astoria, Chelsea, St. Regis, Algonquin, Pierre, Astor and Carlyle. He paints a unique portrait of their colorful, romantic, and sometimes tragic lives during the golden era of New York hotels and theatre, bringing the two worlds together in a work that reads like great fiction. The fast-paced volume reconfirms MOREHOUSE's status as a superb chronicler of celebrity high life during the last century as well as one of our most engaging storytellers.

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Inside The Plaza: An Intimate Portrait of the Ultimate Hotel by Ward Morehouse III
From Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald cavorting in the Pulitzer Fountain to Ivana Trump patrolling the halls to inspect the rooms, this is the Plaza Hotel as no one has ever seen it, or been permitted to see it. The Plaza is the place where the Beatles headquartered when they invaded America. It's where George M. Cohan held court during the golden era of Broadway. It's where Marilyn busted a strap on cue, where Cary Grant started out from when he traveled North By Northwest, and where Macauley Culkin stayed after staying Home Alone. From the railroad tracks in the basement to the vast luxury suites overlooking Central Park, this is the full story behind the gilded doors, the inside scoop direct from the people who have cavorted there and worked there.

Mention in "The Plaza Lives", New York Magazine (May 2, 2005)

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The Waldorf-Astoria by Ward Morehouse III
"The grand cities of the world have their grand hotels, the bed-and-breakfasts for the mighty and moneyed. Ward Morehouse III explores one of New York City's grandest in 'The Waldorf-Astoria: America's Gilded Dream' ... Morehouse writes of pleasures and scandals, of the hard facts of running a hotel and of its romance. The hotel comes off well in the hands of its appreciative Boswell and one will find 'The Waldorf-Astoria' to be a pleasant buffet"
- The New York Times
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The Caedmon School: An Anecdotal History and Appreciation by Ward Morehouse III, Gregory A. Minahan
Book Description
Set against the colorful tapestry of Manhattan's ever-changing East Side, this entertaining and insightful history traces the journey of dedicated parents and teachers as they create a school for young children. "The Caedmon School," offers an intimate glimpse into the rebirth of American Montessori education during the second half of the 20th century. The story's memorable characters are the parents, administrators, teachers and students whose heartwarming stories of hard work and achievement have helped to make a unique contribution to the educational landscape of New York City.
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If It Was Easy: A New Comedy by Stewart F. Lane, Ward Morehouse III

"Memories of the Plaza" by Ward Morehouse III, The Plaza magazine (commemorative issue)
Click here to view a PDF


The Play Is The Thing - May 27, 2009
Judy Sleed, host, with guest Ward Morehouse III
(Click image to view video)

Ward Morehouse III - The New Yorkers

(Click image to view video)

Last updated: 6:36 am
December 5, 2008
Posted: 12:57 am
December 5, 2008

AFTER this year, the Grinch grouch is bagging Citicorp's annual Christmastime toy train exhibit that goes choo-choo at the 53rd and Lex atrium. No money . . . Ward Morehouse III is behind "Mother Russia," a B'way-bound musical, which tests Dec. 19 at Carnegie's Zankel Hall. He's busy. Same night he's at National Arts Club trying out his one-man show, "Beloved Broadway" . . . Joan Collins needs money? She told someone: "I have to keep working." Oh, please. For Joan and Kate Winslet maybe we could take up a collection?

GREENWICH Village antique shop sign: "Going out of business. Everything for sale including framed photo of my mother."

Only in New York, kids, only in New York.

Broadway After Dark



2009 VILLAGE VOICE OBIE WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Off Broadway’s Highest Honor

Media Contacts: OBIES - Gail Parenteau / Parenteau Guidance

(212) 532-3934 Gail@ParenteauGuidance.com

The 54th Annual Village Voice OBIE Awards were presented on Monday, May 18, 2009 at a ceremony held at the newly landmarked Webster Hall in Manhattan. Co-hosted by former OBIE winners Martha Plimpton and Daniel Breaker, the awards were presented by Anne Hathaway, Brian d’Arcy James, Gavin Creel, John Shea, Karen Olivo, Kate Mulgrew, Marc Kudisch and Nilaja Sun.

Martha Plimpton won an OBIE in 2002 for her performance in Hobson's Choice. She charmed us as Gladys Bumps in this season’s revival of Pal Joey. Ms. Plimpton moves elegantly between the stage, television and film.

Daniel Breaker is a 2008 OBIE Award winner for his performance in Passing Strange and is appearing on Broadway now in the musical Shrek The Musical. Trained at Juilliard, Mr. Breaker is an accomplished actor, singer and dancer.

Informally structured, with no strict categories, The Village Voice OBIE Awards honor artists and productions of excellence in every aspect of theater. Unlike most theater awards, The Village Voice  OBIE Awards publish no nominations. In the conviction that creativity is not competitive, the judges may give multiple OBIEs in any category, or even invent new categories, to reward exceptional artistic merit.

As he has for the past three years, the Voice’s chief theater critic, Michael Feingold, chaired this year’s OBIE Awards committee. His fellow judges included Voice critic Alexis Soloski and six guest judges: freelance writer and Voice contributor Eric Grode; critic Andy Propst of Americantheaterweb.com, also a Voice contributor; actress-playwright Eisa Davis, an OBIE Award winner for her performance in Passing Strange and author of the recent Angela’s Mixtape; actor-playwright Ty Jones, 2003 OBIE Award winner for his performance in The Blacks; playwright-director Moises Kaufman, 2004 OBIE Award winner for his direction of I Am My Own Wife, currently represented on Broadway by 33 Variations; and playwright-director Chay Yew, 2007 OBIE Award winner for his direction of Durango.

OBIE WINNERS 2008-09

Lifetime Achievement Award

EARLE HYMAN

Best New American Play (includes a cash prize of $1000)

RUINED by Lynn Nottage (Manhattan Theater Club)

Performance

Francois Battiste, THE GOOD NEGRO (Public Theater)

Quincy Tyler Bernstine, RUINED (Manhattan Theater Club)

Kevin T. Carroll, sustained excellence of performance

Saidah Arrika Ekulona, RUINED (Manhattan Theater Club)

Jonathan Groff, PRAYER FOR MY ENEMY (Playwrights Horizons) and THE SINGING FOREST (Public Theater)

Birgit Huppuch, TELEPHONE (Foundry Theatre)

Russell Gebert Jones, RUINED (Manhattan Theater Club)

Aaron Monaghan, THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN (Atlantic Theater Co.)

Sahr Ngaujah, FELA! (37 Arts)

Lorenzo Pisoni, HUMOR ABUSE (Manhattan Theater Club)

James Sugg, CHEKHOV LIZARDBRAIN (Pig Iron Theatre Company)

John Douglas Thompson, OTHELLO (Theatre for a New Audience)

Music and Lyrics

Stephen Sondheim, ROAD SHOW (Public Theater)

Directing

David Cromer, OUR TOWN (Barrow Street Theatre)

Katie Mitchell, THE WAVES (National Theatre of Great Britain / Lincoln Center Great Performances “New Visions” Series)

Ken Rus Schmoll, TELEPHONE (Foundry Theatre)

Design

Toni-Leslie James, sustained excellence of costume design

(w/special reference to WIG OUT, Vineyard Theatre)

David Korins, sustained excellence of set design

(w/special reference to WHY TORTURE IS WRONG..., Public Theater)

Special Citations

Sarah Benson (director) and Louisa Thompson (set designer), BLASTED (Soho Rep)

David Esbjornson (director) and Christian Camargo (actor), HAMLET (Theatre for a New Audience)

The Ross Wetzsteon Award (includes a cash prize of $2000.)

HERE Arts Center

OBIE Grants ($10,000 divided equally among three theaters)

The Classical Theatre of Harlem

The Chocolate Factory

Lark Play Development Center

For more information about the Obie Awards, please visit: Obies.villagevoice.com

Thanks to our generous sponsors: Macy’s, Virgin America, Metro PCS, Le Tourment Vert, Sierra Nevada, Sea Grape Wines, Fragoli, Pal Talk.com, Harlequin Books, Likeme.net, Crumpler, Highline Studios, Webster Hall

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Broadway After Dark

VILLAGE VOICE ANNOUNCES 54th ANNUAL OBIE AWARDS CEREMONY

 

VILLAGE VOICE ANNOUNCES 54th ANNUAL OBIE AWARDS CEREMONY

MONDAY, MAY 18, 2009 AT WEBSTER HALL, NYC

CO-HOSTED BY MARTHA PLIMPTON & DANIEL BREAKER

 

Presenters:

Anne Hathaway (Twelfth Night)
Brian d’Arcy James (Shrek)
Gavin Creel (Hair)
John Shea
Karen Olivo (West Side Story)
Kate Mulgrew
Marc Kudisch (9 to 5)
Sasha Allen (Hair)

 

The Village Voice, the nation’s largest alternative weekly newspaper, announced today the 54th Annual OBIE awards will take place on Monday, May 18, 2009 at the newly landmarked Webster Hall in the East Village.

 

The OBIES will be co-hosted by Martha Plimpton and Daniel Breaker at an invitation-only ceremony.  A list of notable presenters will be released soon.

 

Martha Plimpton won an OBIE in 2002 for her performance in Hobson's Choice. She charmed us as Gladys Bumps in this season’s revival of Pal Joey. Ms. Plimpton moves elegantly between the stage, television and film.

 

Daniel Breaker is a 2008 OBIE Award winner for his performance in the ensemble cast of Passing Strange and is appearing on Broadway now in the musical Shrek. Trained at Juilliard, Mr. Breaker is an accomplished actor, singer and dancer.

 

For the past half-century, the The Village Voice Obie Awards have honored the best of Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway. Structured with informal categories that change annually, The Village Voice Obie Awards recognize persons and productions of excellence.  Unlike most theater awards, The Village Voice Obie Awards have no nominations. In the conviction that creativity is not competitive, judges may give several Obies in each category, and may even invent new categories to reward artistic merit. 

 

The Voice’s chief theater critic, Michael Feingold, chairs the Obie Awards committee again this year. His fellow judges include Voice critic Alexis Soloski and six guest judges: Eric Grode, freelance critic and Voice contributor; critic Andy Propst, AmericanTheaterWeb.com, also a frequent Voice contributor; Eisa Davis, actress-playwright, Obie Award winner for her performance last year in Passing Strange, and author of  Angela’s Mixtape; Ty Jones, actor-playwright, 2003 Obie Award winner for his performance in The Blacks (Classical Theatre of Harlem); Moises Kaufman, playwright-director, 2004 Obie Award winner for his direction of I Am My Own Wife, and author of current Broadway hit 33 Variations ;  Chay Yew, playwright-director, 2007 Obie Award winner for his direction of Durango (Public Theater) and currently directing  Obie winner Robert O'Hara's Antebellum. Propst will also serve as secretary to the committee.

NEW ! This year, in addition to celebrating the Off-Broadway community with the Obie Awards themselves, the Village Voice is introducing Creative Block & OBIES AFTER PARTY, a huge multidisciplinary arts event that will include burlesque, digital art, performance art, dance and fiber arts from New York’s creative emerging artists and avant-garde underground. Running in tandem with the awards ceremony, Creative Block will also be held in Webster Hall’s rooms with diverse and innovative talents from across many disciplines, adding to both the fun and spirit of the Obie Awards.  Michael Musto who chronicles nightlife, society and the arts for the Village Voice where he writes the weekly column La Dolce Musto and has been named a host and spokesperson for Creative Block.

The evening will culminate with a celebratory after-party featuring the well-known DJ Randy Bettis. He has a theater background and has garnered a loyal following from his work at legendary New York City nightclubs such as  Sound Factory, and Stereo.

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III

"DIRECTOR MARTY CALLNER PREPARING TO HAND OVER EX-PRESIDENT TO HBO VIEWERS on MARCH 14"
Whether or not they gambled on the outcome of the 2008 election, producers of You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush have got a Broadway hit on their hands. Reports indicate tickets are very much in demand and sales strong for the limited engagement. In the role he nourished for years on Saturday Night Live, Will Ferrell stretches out as George W. Bush at the Cort Theatre, with a “guest” appearance by Condoleezza Rice and a few other government employees. HBO entrusted the show to award winner Marty Callner, who recently directed for the network, among other tours-de-force, Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveShow and Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger.

“My job, always, is to give the viewer the best seat in the house,” Callner reports, taking time to reflect on a vigorous career that has left its marks on pop culture, particularly with respect to a couple of upstart cable networks: HBO and MTV.

Giving new meaning to “multi-tasking,” Callner’s in the midst of no less than five projects and, he adds: “Like all the projects I’ve done, they’re all going to have a completely different look.” Celebrated in the industry for possessing a seemingly disparate combination of high energy and mellowness, Callner shines both sides of the coin – he puts what he calls an “intense” amount of time and thought into preparation (“I do so much that it’s like I’m onstage with them”) while overseeing production sets where calmness, coolness and creativity reign. “I want to grow, continuously. My work has kept evolving, and part of how that happens is that there’s always a very close

You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush starring Will Ferrell on Broadway, will be broadcast live March 14 on HBO.

“A challenge in restraint, in many ways, it’s more about the inside than the outside, Callner says. “I’ll have some fun with the Bush looks.”

“You’re Welcome, America...” is a project close to Callner’s political heart. “One of the reasons they hired me was that they considered my politics in the right place.” In the 2004 election Callner, along with Rob Reiner and Woody Harrelson, was one of ten directors given funds by MoveOn.org to direct a political spot. “I think the Bush administration is the single worst one in the history of the world, but Obama’s gonna fix it quick. He’s gonna be like Mandela and Gandhi.”

“Instead of killing it with shots I have to capture the force of what Will’s doing basically by himself on the stage - with Justin Timberlake (2008’s smash HBO special “JT: FutureSex/LoveShow”) I used 46 cameras and with Will I’ll be using maybe ten.”

A Variety review of the sold-out Broadway show mentioned that the Condoleezza Rice look-alike resembled a “hot bitch in a Whitesnake video”; whether or not the writer knew it, Callner in fact conceived of and directed groundbreaking videos for heavy metal icons Whitesnake and many other bands, including award-winning projects with Aerosmith.

Callner has braved a frigid New York winter to attend rehearsals and performances in preparation for the March 14 live broadcast. “I’m starting to know the script as well as Will does. I’m going to as many shows as possible...after I really absorb it I’ll be able to go crazy with all the things I know how to do to enhance the comedy. There’s going to be a close-up of a penis that I know is going to get a huge reaction.”

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III

"AFTERNOON TEA"
London -- I recently had afternoon tea in the Homage Patisserie of the Hilton Wadorf where stage door Johnnies, as the well-to-do and not waited for the Gaiety Girls after their show at the Gaiety Theatre next door.

Ruby Miller, one of these girls, talked this way about the dandies who waited to woo them in her autobiography, "Resplendent young men in their tails, their opera hats and cloaks lined with satin, carrying tall ebony canes with gold knobs and gardenias in their buttonholes."

Some of the girls found properly upper class and even titled husbands much to the chagrin of those who pampered and prepared them for stardom.

Gaiety manager George Edwards was quoted in London Town in 1929 as angrily complaining about one of his stars, "Bluebell," who married her way out of show business. "It's ingratitude. Sheer ingratitude! I"ve done everything for her -- taught her to pick up her aitches, clean her fingernails, had her teeth looked at, her appendix removed, her hair dyed, dressed her from her underclothes to her boots and now, when she looks like making good, she marries!"

Queen Victoria and William Waldorf Astor were the unlikely pair to bring The Waldorf Hotel into being. Now called the Hilton Waldorf, the hotel opened in 1908, two years before Tango exploded in London next door at the Gaiety Theatre.

The Queen was "not amused" by the acres of slums, gin mills and bordellos she had to ride through in her carriage on her way to Buckingham Palace and thus began one of the largest clearance projects sweep since the great fire of 1666. King Edward VII opened Aldwych and Kingsway Streets several blocks from the even then venerable Savoy Hotel, which had opened in 1889, in 1905 and the hotel, then under construction opened with a glittering champagne reception on January 28, 1908.

Astor, who had built the new wing of New York's Waldorf Hotel, appropriately called The Astoria, which were linked with the gold mirrored Peacock Alley to become The Waldorf-Astoria on the site of where The Empire State Building now stands, contributed a substantial part of the 700,000 pounds needed to pay for the new hotel. Developer and theater owner Edward Sanders was so grateful for Waldorf's help he named a the hotel after him.

The hotel "contains nearly 400 bed rooms, and a the number of bath rooms is said to be proportionately larger than in any other hotel in the world," The Times of London would proclaim on January 8, 1908. "The rooms have been so planned as to make it possible to convert many of them into suites for the use of guests using the hotel as a permanent residence. Throughout the building the style of decoration is Louis 17, which has been employed with discrimination, and the appearance of the rooms is both elegant and refined... There is a magnificent palm lounge, which is decorate in palo green and white ..."

That Palm Count Lounge, which has been a London staple for tea dancing and weddings for a 100 years, is today the scene of periodic "Tango Teas." The first appearance of the Argentine tango was in 1910 at the Gaiety Theatre and it quickly spread to The Waldorf. These teas were discontinued during World War II when in 1939 an bomb exploding nearby shattered the glass ceiling of the Palm Court.

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III

"Nashville"
Every once in a while a delightful show with remarkable performers leaps from a cabaret venue to Off-Broadway. "Daryl Glenn and Jo Lynn Burks play and sing Robert Altman's 'Nashville' " at the Metropolitan Room (with Tanya Holt and Bryan Dobson and special guest star Jay Rogers) is so good it should leap, run or anyway get Off-Broadway. It was directed and choreographed by Vince DeGeorge with musical direction and arrangements by Ms. Burks. I saw it December 20.

It was an evening, to quote Barbara and Scott Siegal ("talkin Broadway") "of inspired cabaret honoring the music (and the lore) of Robert Altman's classic film ..."

"We want to put together a 'road' version and take it on tour," Glenn told me after the show. "We're also looking at Off-Broadway and different things."

"We'd love to do a tour of all the major cities," Burks chimed in. "There are so many people out there who live country music and are familiar with the movie 'Nashville.'

"We'll also probably do it once a month here just because there are so many people who love it and say, 'when are you going to do it again?' At the moment, I'm teaching at the University of Miami so I'm living in Miami and have to fly back here. It's one of the best musical theater programs in the country."

Daryl Glenn and Jo Lynn Burks playng and singing Robert Altman's "Nashville" is one of the best cabaret evenings in the country as well

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
October 21, 2008

 

Princess Grace’s Imperial Blue Serpent Egg by Fabergé Unveiled Today with Princess Grace Foundation-USA’s Fabergé Award Winners

 

Principality of Monaco Brings Rare Bejeweled Masterwork to the U.S. for the First Time and Celebrates Princess Grace’s Legacy and Commitment to the Arts

 

October 14, 2008 (New York, NY) – Today one of Princess Grace’s most treasured possessions, the Imperial Blue Serpent Egg by Peter Carl Fabergé (created in 1887) was unveiled as a highlight of the upcoming exhibition Artistic Luxury: Fabergé, Tiffany, Lalique, premiering at the Cleveland Museum of Art.  The unveiling took place at the offices of the Consulate General of Monaco in NYC and included a video message from H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco.  Following the video message, Princess Grace Foundation-USA Chairman, Hon. John F. Lehman, along with members of the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Consul General of Monaco, unveiled the stunning Fabergé egg, which was graciously loaned by H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco.

 

On hand to unveil this rare jeweled masterpiece, on-view for the first time in the U.S., were two Princess Grace Foundation-USA Fabergé Theater Award winners – Arnulfo Maldonado (2008) and Alec Hammond (1995).  The Princess Grace Foundation-USA, a public charity formed after the death of Princess Grace in 1982, awards scholarships, apprenticeships and fellowships to assist emerging theater, dance and film artists. 

 

In 1995, Fabergé endowed the Princess Grace Foundation-USA with the funding to create an annual award in their name. The award was inspired by the artist Peter Carl Fabergé and the great admiration that H.S.H. Princess Grace of Monaco held for Her Fabergé egg. This special honor is awarded to only one theater artist each year who shows excellence in design.

 

This year, the Fabergé Award will be presented to Arnulfo Maldonado, graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.  He has received a fellowship for costume design to work with the Diverse City Theater in Manhattan.  Alec Hammond received his original Princess Grace Award in 1995, the inaugural Fabergé Award, for Scenic Design at the Yale School of Drama.  He is currently designing the television pilot Lie To Me and will be presented the 2008 Princess Grace Statue Award, for continuing excellence in the arts. Both designers will receive their Awards at the Princess Grace Awards Gala on October 15, 2008 in NYC.

 

 

About The Princess Grace Foundation-USA

The Princess Grace Foundation-USA (PGF-USA) is a not-for-profit, publicly-supported foundation headquartered in NYC founded more than 25 years ago by Prince Rainier III of Monaco in honor of His wife, Princess Grace [Kelly].  PGF-USA's mission is to support emerging artists in theater, dance and film through the awarding of scholarships, apprenticeships and fellowships. Since its inception, PGF-USA has awarded more than $5 million in grants to nearly 500 recipients.  The Awards further the legacy of Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, who anonymously helped emerging artists pursue their goals throughout Her lifetime. The Princess Grace Fabergé Theatre Awards were created to honor the artistry of today’s most talented scenic, costume, sound and lighting designers.  More information at www.pgfusa.org.

Hon. John F. Lehman, Chairman of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA (Rt), congratulates Alec Hammond (center), 2008 Princess Grace Awards Statue Award Winner and 1995 Fabergé Theater Award Winner and Arnulfo Maldonado (left), 2008 Fabergé Theater Award Winner at a news conference announcing the opening this week of an exhibit entitled:  Artistic Luxury: Fabergé, Tiffany, Lalique, at the Cleveland Museum of Art.  They appear at the unveiling of the Imperial Blue Serpent Egg, a rare Fabergé Egg that was owned by H.S.H. Prince Rainier III and H.S.H. Princess Grace of Monaco.  The Princess Grace Awards, a legacy of Princess Grace (Kelly), now celebrating their 26th year, identify and fund emerging artists in theater, dance and film.

PHOTO CREDIT: MATT PEYTON

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
October 9, 2008

Not Your Grandmother's Broadway
It's not your grandmother's Broadway.

Young Americans weaned on digital avatars and other web fantasies are streaming to see live shows on Broadway.

Long after "Rent" started to bring Generation Xers to Broadway in the 1990s, a half dozen musicals are reshaping Broadway's traditional theatergoer profile.

"Spring Awakening," "Avenue Q," "Legally Blond" and the upcoming "Thirteen," with its all-teenager cast, are drawing younger audiences by the thousands as never before. Of course, some Disney shows such as "The Lion King" and "The Little Mermaid." ("Legally Blond" is scheduled to close by week of October 19 but it had a successful run at the Palace Theatre.)

"Young people, including young adults, have been coming to Broadway in unprecedented numbers in recent years," says four-time Tony Award-winning Broadway producer Stewart F. Lane, one of the producers of "39 Steps" and "Legally Blond." "They're not just coming to 'Mary Poppins' and 'Little Mermaid' but to '39 Steps' and 'Thirteen.' A recent survey said the average theatergoer age is around 40-41 years old. It used to be in the high 40's and 50's."

"You have to provide entertainment on or Off-Broadway that the generations of today are interested in -- it's that simple," said producer Robert Blume, who also producers the annual Drama Desk Awards.

Pat Addiss, one of the producers of "39 Steps" and "Spring Awakening" said "we're now giving young adults more choices and they love it. Some of them might not have come to revivals of the older musicals as terrific as they are. But these new shows awaken their interest in theater and then we hope they will be interested in seeing some of the classic shows as well."

"Mama Mia" is still packing in middle age and older theatergoers, of course, who thronged to ABBA concerts in the 1970's; the revival of "South Pacific," which opened to raves reviews and has been sold out for months, draws seasoned theatergoers grateful to pay even premium prices for tickets.

But student discounts, more convenient curtain times, and most of all story lines and music and dance that might either offend, repel, or even bore older veteran theatergoers but are aimed primarily at teens and young adults, are helping support this trend. Disney shows such as "The Lion King" and "Little Mermaid" opened the door to families with children but they are more traditional than the recent wave of musicals.

... Sightings ... Paul McCarthy going into the luxury Inn of the Anasazi in Santa Fe ... Broadway producer Stewart Lane and his producer/actress wife Bonnie Comley coming out of Jean Baptiste Church on East 76th Street where their daughter, Leah, was performing in an opera ... Gloria Starr Kins, publisher of the new highly upscale Diplomatic & Society Review coming out of the Russian Tea Room ...

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
September 15, 2008

Ashford & Simpson don't talk much. But do they ever sing!
Multiplatinium Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson performing at Feinstein's at Lowes Regency through September 20 are one of the greatest songwriting and singing duos of our time. They are simply magnificent singing some of their greatest hits such as "Solid," and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" as they are doing new tunes they wrote from their upcoming musical "Invisible Life."

Ashford & Simpson met in 1964 and had their first songwriting hit two years later with the Ray Charles recording of "Let's Go Get Stoned." Their 2008 rendition of the song brought down the house at Feinstein's.

"The musical we're working on is called 'Invisible Life,' based on E.L. Harris' novel," Valerie told the packed second night audience at Feinstein's. "It's an interesting story. A young man comes to New York and he meets a woman that kind of changes his world ... It's not about love in the old days where you think of one thing and then about the next step. You have to think about a whole lot of things these days!"

Feinstein's at Lowe's Regency

UPDATED FALL 2008 SCHEDULE

MICHAEL FEINSTEIN

“The Sinatra Project”

With New York’s Finest, Swinging 17-piece Big Band

September 2 – 6

ASHFORD & SIMPSON

September 9 – 20

NIKKI BLONSKY

Nightclub Debut!

September 23 – October 4

LYNDA CARTER

October 21 – 25

CRYSTAL GAYLE & LAURA BELL BUNDY

“Kentucky Girlfriends”

October 28 – November 1

BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL

“Songs… I Wanna Sing”

November 11 – 15

GARRISON KEILLOR

“Man In Tux with Red Shoes and Piano”

Sunday Nights, December 7 – 28

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SUNDAY-MONDAY SERIES

ANNA BERGMAN

“My Heart Stood Still: The Love Songs of Richard Rodgers”

with special guest BRENT BARRETT

September 14, 15 and 21

ALEXIS HOUSTON

September 28

LA TANYA HALL

“What Love Is”

September 29

SAL MANZO

“A Recipe For Beautiful Music”

October 5 – 6

MAGICAL NIGHTS AT FEINSTEIN’S

October 12, 19, November 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30

GIANNI RUSSO

“An Evening You Can’t Refuse”

October 20

ADAM PASCAL

“Broadway State of Mind”

October 26 – 27

GEORGE S. IRVING

November 3

GIADA VALENTI

November 10

MILES PHILLIPS

November 17

BRANDON CUTRELL

“Feelin’ Frosty”

December 1

KATHRYN CROSBY

“Christmas with Bing and Kathryn Crosby”

December 15

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
September 11, 2008

HAIR Transferring to Broadway!
Broadwayafterdark.com said it first on July 10, 2008 -- that the revival of "Hair" might move to Broadway. Now the Public Theater confirms that it will. Here is the original Broadwayafterdark.com story and the Public Theater's press release announcing the move for early 2009 along with producing partner Elizabeth I. McCann.
 
Broadwayafterdark.com original story in boldface with press release to follow:
 
 
July 10, 2008

Central Park After Dark: "Hair: the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical"

Not only did James Rado, who with Gerome Ragni, write the book and lyrics to accompany Galt MacDermot's music in Hair, but he starred in the original Broadway production. Now, 40 years later, as Hair: the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical (its full title) prepares to return to New York at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park July 22 - August 31, Rado feels the time may be right for a long-running Broadway revival sometime after its sojourn in the park.

"That's how we feel -- and and I think we're going by feeling," Rado told me at a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids at Joe's Pub Monday night (July 7).  (There was a short-lived revival of the pop-rock musical in 1977.) "We're going from moment to moment -- let's see what happens.  It has to be very emotional.  It has to earn its way to Broadway again."

Michael Butler, one of the original producers of Hair, is not connected with the Public Theater's production in Central Park. Rado told me that in the past he and Butler have had their differences but "now we're OK with each other" and he, for one, would be happy if Butler became involved in helping to mount the show on Broadway again. For the upcoming run "there is some new music and new lyrics -- we'll see what 'makes the cut,' " he added.

 
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Candi Adams / Sam Neuman, (212) 539-8642

press@publictheater.org

 

 

The Public Theater

Confirms

HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical

Will Transfer To Broadway This Season

 

The Critically Acclaimed Musical

Will Play Its Final Performance

At The Delacorte Theater

On Sunday, September 14

 

September 11, 2008—The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) confirmed today that it would transfer the critically acclaimed revival of HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical to Broadway after the first of the year along with producing partner Elizabeth I. McCann. A theater and dates will be announced shortly but fans of the show can still catch the legendary rock musical at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park through Sunday, September 14. 

 

Directed by Diane Paulus with book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot, HAIR has been playing to sold-out houses since it began previews on July 22 in Central Park and has had three unprecedented extensions.  Following its world premiere at The Public Theater in 1967, HAIR moved to Broadway on April 29, 1968 where it played for 1,873 performances.

 

“The success of Hair has been thrilling, proving that this show speaks as powerfully today as it did 40 years ago,” said Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis.  “Now our job is to give it a life beyond Central Park, where we can reach as large an audience as Hair deserves. We’re moving the show indoors, but the celebratory joy of this production will remain intact.”

 

The current cast for HAIR features Ato Blankson-Wood (Tribe), Steel Burkhardt (Tribe), Jackie Burns (Black Boys Trio/Tribe), Allison Case (Crissy), Lauren Elder (Tribe), Christopher J. Hanke (Claude), Allison Guinn (Tribe), Anthony Hollock (Tribe), Kaitlin Kiyan (Tribe), Andrew Kober (Father/Margaret Mead),  Megan Lawrence (Mother), Nicole Lewis (White Boys Trio / Tribe), Caren Lyn Manuel (Sheila), Patina Renea Miller (Dionne), John Moauro (Tribe), Darius Nichols (Hud), Brandon Pearson (Tribe), Megan Reinking (Black Boys Trio / Tribe), Paris Remillard (Tribe), Bryce Ryness (Woof), Saycon Sengbloh (White Boys Trio / Tribe), Maya Sharpe (Tribe), Kacie Sheik (Jeanie), Theo Stockman (Tribe), Will Swenson (Berger), and Tommar Wilson (Tribe). 

 

HAIR features scenic design by Scott Pask, costume design by Michael McDonald, lighting design by Michael Chybowski, sound design by Acme Sound Partners, and choreography by Karole Armitage.

 

Free tickets to Shakespeare in the Park are only distributed at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park or via a new virtual line opportunity at www.publictheater.org.  The Public Theater is not distributing tickets downtown at 425 Lafayette Street due to ongoing construction on the exterior of the building.

 

To increase accessibility to Park shows, The Public Theater has launched a virtual line initiative this summer.  While the majority of the tickets are still given out at the line in Central Park, a limited number of tickets are available each show day online.  The virtual line allows people who are registered at The Public Theater website to log-on the day of a show (starting at midnight) to submit a request for up to two tickets.  At 1 PM, they  log-on to the theater website again to see if they have received tickets for that evening’s performance.  The tickets are held at the box office and a valid photo ID is required.  The selection process is completely random and is not determined by what time of day a person submits a request for tickets.

 

Summer Supporter tickets for HAIR are available for a tax-deductible donation of $165. These reserved seats are only available for a limited time to ensure that the highest number of free seats will be available to distribute to the general public on the day of the show.  Summer Supporter tickets help to underwrite production expenses.  Supporter tickets are available at the Public Theater Box Office at 425 Lafayette Street; online at publictheater.org; or by calling (212) 967-7555. 

 

DIANE PAULUS (Director) is the creator and director of The Donkey Show, which ran for six years off-Broadway and toured internationally. Her theater credits include Turandot: Rumble for the Ring (Bay Street Theatre); The Golden Mickeys (Disney Creative Entertainment); Best of Both Worlds (Music-Theatre Group and The Women’s Project); The Karaoke Show (Jordan Roth Productions); the Obie Award-winning Pulitzer Prize finalist Running Man; Swimming With Watermelons (Project 400); Brutal Imagination; the Obie-winning Eli’s Comin. Opera credits include Le Nozze Di Figaro, Turn of the Screw, Cosi Fan Tutte, Il Ritorno D’ulisse In Patria, L’Incoronazione di Poppea, and Orfeo (all Chicago Opera Theater; Orfeo was also presented at BAM). Recipient: Peter Ivers Visiting Artist Fellowship (Harvard); Directing Fellowship (the Drama League).

 

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Performances of HAIR are Tuesday through Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are FREE and available on the day of the performance (two per person) at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park beginning at 1:00 p.m. or via a new virtual line opportunity at www.publictheater.org beginning at 12 AM the day of the show you want to attend.  The closest entrances to the Delacorte are at 81st Street and Central Park West or 79th Street and Fifth Avenue.

 

For additional information about Shakespeare in the Park, call (212) 539-8750 or visit The Public Theater website at www.publictheater.org

 

 

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THE PUBLIC THEATER was founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 as the Shakespeare Workshop and is now one of the nation’s preeminent cultural institutions, producing new plays, musicals, productions of Shakespeare, and other classics at its headquarters on Lafayette Street and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.  The Public’s mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day on stage and through its extensive outreach and education programs. Each year, over 250,000 people attend Public Theater-related productions and events at six downtown stages, including Joe’s Pub, and Shakespeare in the Park. The Public has won 40 Tony Awards, 145 Obies, 39 Drama Desk Awards, 24 Lucille Lortel Awards and 4 Pulitzer Prizes.

 

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The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust provides leadership support for

The Public’s year-round activities.

 

Bank of America is the Lead Sponsor of Shakespeare in the Park.

 

Time Warner is the Supporting Sponsor of The Public’s 2007-2008 Season.

 

Pepsi is the official beverage sponsor of The Public Theater.

 

Additional generous support for the 2008 season of Shakespeare in the Park is provided by Theory and Anheuser-Busch, Inc.

 

Bumble and bumble is the official Hair Care Products provider of The Public Theater.

 

Astor Wines is the official wine sponsor of Hair – part of 2008 season of Shakespeare in the Park.

 

Major support for The Public Theater is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, The Booth Ferris Foundation, The Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Susan Stein Shiva Foundation, The George T. Delacorte Fund at the New York Community Trust—Fund for Performances at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, and by Warren Spector and Margaret Whitton.

 

Additional generous support is provided by Debra and Leon Black, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Laura Pels Foundation, The Starr Foundation, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Titan Worldwide, and The New York Times.

 

Public support is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; and the National Endowment for the Arts, an independent federal agency.

 

Cultural Partners include WNYC and the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce.

 

GJ Haerer is the official printer, and Continental Airlines is the official airline of

The Public Theater.

 

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Sam Neuman

Press Manager

425 Lafayette Street

New York, NY 10003

212-539-8642 tel

sneuman@publictheater.org





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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
August 6, 2008

2008 EMMY Nominee and PRINCESS GRACE AWARDS – Cary Grant Film Scholarship recipient VICTORIA GAMBURG is a filmmaker of substance

 Just four years after winning a Cary Grant Film Award from the Princess Grace Foundation-USA, a graduate film scholarship to San Francisco Sate University, Victoria Gamburg has been nominated for an Emmy!

 The Russian born filmmaker has made San Francisco her home as well as Brooklyn and she has distinguished herself in various genres of narrative and thought-provoking  documentary projects and garnered numerous film and festival awards for excellence.

 Broadway After Dark spoke with Ms. Gamburg and congratulated her on the news that she’s been nominated for an Emmy Award for  "Moscow's Sex and the City," the documentary she produced and directed last year for PBS's FRONTLINE/World.  She is competing in the esteemed News and Documentary Emmy category called "New Approaches to Documentary in Arts, Lifestyle, and Culture."

Winners will be announced in Lincoln Center on September 22.

Victoria said, “It was interesting for me to live in Moscow for the duration of the shooting. I hadn't spent that much time in Moscow since the early '90s, and I was amazed by the changes. Last time I lived in Moscow, tanks were rolling down Leninski Prospect, and there were snipers in the streets. It is a totally different world today.

In “Moscow’s Sex and the City,” the Russian actresses are subject to the same kinds of media attention as their American counterparts. They are always in the tabloids and the fashion magazines; they're huge stars in Russia, and people want to know every detail of their personal lives.

Ms. Gamburg explains, “One of the girls, Zhana, invited me to her birthday party, and there was a paparazzi photographer there; the photos ended up in a magazine the next week. Despite their fame, the actresses were accessible, especially Zhana. I spent a lot of time with her and found her unaffected by fame.”

We asked Victoria how her recognition from the Princess Grace Awards encouraged her to pursue innovated and vibrant filmmaking, and she replied, "The recognition and generous grant that came with my Cary Grant Film Scholarship made all the difference. I was able to complete my film, which later went on to garner awards at international film festivals. Those of us who choose to pursue a career in the arts know that we face a journey filled with risk and uncertainty. Having an ally like the PGF-USA reminds me that there are friends along the way who help keep you on the path."

Regardless of the outcome on September 22nd, Victoria Gamburg is already a winner and always will be.

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
July 29, 2008

Handbags at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York

Broadway After Dark caught up with some celebrities at the Italian Cultural Institue of New York during a lovely cultural presentation sponsored by the House of Biasia handbag designers.  Following opening remarks by the Italian Cultural Institute of New York director Dr. Renato Miracco, Massimo Cavalli and Martina Rini from the company dolp-dove in Italy who curated the video presentation and coffee-table book of international photographers made a presentation of the anthropological study of the role, utilization and significance of the handbag in various cultures around the world. Represented in the exhibit are Italy, Colombia, Tehran, Namibia and Tokyo.

Following a lovely catered reception, we caught up with some luminaries and asked them about their own handbags.

Concert Piano virtuoso and world renown beauty Lola Astanova visited the Italian Cultural Institute of New York under the direction of Renato Miracco for a presentation, “What the Bag Tells” sponsored by the house of handbag designers Biasia of Milano.   photo credit: VITO CATALANO

We asked Lola a few questions:

What is your relationship with your handbag?   

Handbag to me is a continuation of all things that make me feel comfortable and safe. It is also a reflection of what my mood is like on any given day.  I tend to love huge bags and people often ask "what is in there, can openers?"  

What 3 things do you always have with you in your handbag?   

In my bag I always have:  mirror, voice recorder (never know when a tune pops in your head) and water of course.

If the Biasia handbag was a song, what would it be? 

Mamma mia!

Supermodel and television personality Roshumba Williams shows the Biasia handbag from the Diva collection at an event held at The Italian Cultural Institute of New York. photo credit: VITO CATALANO

What 3 items you will always find in Roshumba’s purse.

Airborne. Blackberry. Lip gloss

What do you love about the Biasia handbags?

Biasia handbags are fashionable and functional

Roshumba, you wrote the book, “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Being a Model,” so what advice would you give a young model about handbags.

I tell new models make sure you carry a bag that is clean, neat and fashionable yet large enough to hold the modeling necessities: high heels, water, model portfolio and a change of clothes.

(L) Cara Buono,  from The Sopranos and Sherri Saum from the great show FX's "Rescue Me" at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York under the direction of Dr. Renato Miracco at the Biasia handbag event.

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
July 13, 2008

A Princess Grace Awards winner DONNA LYNNE CHAMPLIN will perform "Finishing the Hat" on August 11, 2008 at the Laurie Beechman Theater...with a little help from her friend, STEPHEN SONDHEIM
Broadway After Dark had a chance to catch up with the ever-inventive vocal virtuoso and actress Donna Lynne Champlin just a few weeks before the opening of her show, "Finishing the Hat" and asked her a few questions about the show and how her summer was going:

So, how did you come up with the catchy title for your show "Finishing the Hat" and what does it mean?
Donna Lynne Champlin: Calling the show FINISHING THE HAT came about because the first time I did this show it was part of the BROADWAY SPOTLIGHT series at ARS NOVA- and it was originally called "Songs and Stories". At that performance, we had put about 15 stories into the hat and only got through half of them. The evening was such a surprising success that by the time I had gotten down into the dressing room the producer of the ARS NOVA was there and the first thing he said was, "You've got to come back! You've got to come back to FINISH THE HAT!"

Well, since that's a very famous Sondheim song title we thought that was hilarious- so I emailed Steve Sondheim and asked him for permission to use that as my show title and he gave us his blessing. Ironically, I never sing FINISHING THE HAT in the show. So it was a happy accident and the result of a funny moment after the first show.

Tell us about the show/performance – what songs will you be doing, running time, do you and Tom Kitt interact?
Someone described it to me as "Kathy Griffin with show tunes" which seemed kinda fun. I'm not nearly as 'blue' as Griffin but our story telling styles are very similar. The concept is that I have a bunch of stories on index cards and with every story I've incorporated a song. Every show there's a new story, and each show is different because I go out into the audience and let them pick the cards. We've had some people who've come to every single Finishing The Hat we've done in NYC- about 8 or 9 now.

What will you be doing next?
Well, I'm closing my run in a production of MAME this weekend at the Pittsburgh CLO theater where I'm playing "Agnes Gooch" (there are reviews up on my website at www.donnalynnechamplin.com) And since I've been really blessed to have worked non stop since last August- I'm taking a few weeks to spend time with my family. I'll do FINISHING THE HAT and I have a few other possible job opportunities for the fall, but I haven't made a decision yet as to which project I'll be doing. But I'm sure it will be fun, whatever it is.

Have you seen anything on Broadway or Off- that you adore this summer?
Thanks to PRINCESS GRACE, I got a great ticket to see AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (which was directed by Princess Grace Awards winner Anna Shapiro) and absolutely loved it. In fact it inspired me to start writing my own play, which I'll hopefully have plenty of time to work on when I am at home with my family for the rest of July. I highly recommend AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY...it's brilliantly written, directed and acted. It was truly one of the most satisfying evenings at the theatre I've had in years.

In her most recent Broadway appearance, Champlin, a winner of a 2007 Village Voice OBIE Award for performance, played "Pirelli" (and the accordion, flute and piano) in John Doyle's groundbreaking Broadway revival of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd where critics characterized her performance both "hilarious" and "superb."

Champlin just finished her run as "Marcy" in the new Off-Broadway musical Marcy in the Galaxy at the Transport Group, which earned her rave reviews, in particular the NY Post's entitled "Leading Lady in Galaxy has Star Quality". More: www.donnalynnechamplin.com

watch the video: www.myspace.com/finishingthehatdlc

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
July 10, 2008

Central Park After Dark: "Hair: the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical"

Not only did James Rado, who with Gerome Ragni, write the book and lyrics to accompany Galt MacDermot's music in Hair, but he starred in the original Broadway production. Now, 40 years later, as Hair: the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical (its full title) prepares to return to New York at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park July 22 - August 31, Rado feels the time may be right for a long-running Broadway revival sometime after its sojourn in the park.

"That's how we feel -- and and I think we're going by feeling," Rado told me at a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids at Joe's Pub Monday night (July 7).  (There was a short-lived revival of the pop-rock musical in 1977.) "We're going from moment to moment -- let's see what happens.  It has to be very emotional.  It has to earn its way to Broadway again."

Michael Butler, one of the original producers of Hair, is not connected with the Public Theater's production in Central Park. Rado told me that in the past he and Butler have had their differences but "now we're OK with each other" and he, for one, would be happy if Butler became involved in helping to mount the show on Broadway again. For the upcoming run "there is some new music and new lyrics -- we'll see what 'makes the cut,' " he added.

The cast of Hair, according to a Public Theater press release, features Ato Blankson-Wood (Tribe), Steel Burkhardt (Tribe), Jackie Burns (Black Boys Trio/Tribe), Allison Case (Crissy), Lauren Elder (Tribe), Jonathan Groff (Claude), Allison Guinn (Tribe), Anthony Hollock (Tribe), Kaitlin Kiyan (Tribe), Andrew Kober (Father/Margaret Mead),  Megan Lawrence (Mother), Nicole Lewis (White Boys Trio / Tribe), Caryn Lyn Manuel (Sheila), Patina Renea Miller (Dionne), John Moauro (Tribe), Darius Nichols (Hud), Brandon Pearson (Tribe), Megan Reinking (Black Boys Trio / Tribe), Paris Remillard (Tribe), Bryce Ryness (Woof), Saycon Sengbloh (White Boys Trio / Tribe), Maya Sharpe (Tribe), Kacie Sheik (Jeanie), Theo Stockman (Tribe), Will Swenson (Berger), and Tommar Wilson (Tribe).

Meanwhile, "Hair: Let the Sun Shine In," a documentary film by Pola Rapaport and Wolfgang Held, will be shown at New York's prestigious National Arts Club on Monday, July 28th, at 8pm.

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
June 22, 2008

"Show Boat"
"Show Boat," one of the greatest musicals in the history of the American Theatre, docked briefly but magnificently at Carnegie Hall the other night in yet another timeless tribute to the genius of the composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II.

With songs like "Why Do I Love You," "Only Make Believe" and "Ol Man River," the remarkable cast of the Carnegie Hall's presentation, including Celena Shafer as Magnolia Hawkes, Carolee Carmello as Julie LaVerne and Nathan Gunn as Ravenal, had a lot of the vitality of Hal Prince's remarkable revival some 14 years ago on Broadway. The musical's journey began on Broadway back in 1927.

Sometimes dismissed for the sentimentality of its story based on Edna Ferber's classic novel of the same name there were more than a few tears flowing in the ornate hall when Ravenal, who has lost everything but his charm to the ravages of gambling and self-loathing, reunites with his beautiful grown daughter, Kim.

Hal Prince should consider reviving it on Broadway once again as only he can do it.

CREDIT for following "Show Boat" photos: Chris Lee







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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
June 9, 2008

Brooke Shields, Tommy Tune -- and Hal Prince
TV, film and stage star Brooke Shields would "absolutely" consider starring in a drama in one of the next shows she does on Broadway, she told me at the Fred & Adele Astaire Awards recognizing excellence in dance on both stage and film held June 2 at the Grand Ballroom, Manhattan Center Studios (311 West 34th Street).
 
"That's for sure," Shields, who starred in a revival of "Grease" on Broadway, said about doing a drama, explaining that it could either be a revival or original play. "As far as doing another musical it would have to be an original."
 
Nine-time Tony Award winner Tommy Tune, who was honored with the first Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award at the Fred & Adel Astaire Awards, told me he was working on a new musical which he hoped to do "in a year or so."
 
I talked briefly director/producer Hal Prince, who is one of the if not the, greatest Broadway and West End directors in the last 40 years. who attended the gala.  A few days later I sent him my book, "Discovering the Hudson," about Broadway's landmark Hudson Theatre. In a letter thanking me he said it "will make perfect summer reading."  He also sent me a a signed copy of the book that is a must reading for anyone working on a new musical called "Creating the 'New Musical': Harold Prince in Berlin."
 
In the book Foster Hirsch, the author of Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King and 15 other books on film and theater, asks Prince, "Do you ever listen to critics? Have you ever followed a suggestion from a critic?
 
Prince replied, that "I usually pay more attention to some strange lady coming up in the aisle in front of me or sitting behind me in theatres where one of my shows is running. I've listened to critics far less, because the lady isn't self-concious, she's there criticizing ..."

In his press release, veteran Broadway press agent Peter Cromarty, wrote that:
Highlights of the evening will include this year’s Award honorees Spencer Liff - Best Male Dancer on Broadway for his dancing in Cry Baby;  Karen Olivo - Best Female Dancer on Broadway for her dancing in In The Heights; Rob Ashford - Best Choreography on Broadway for his work in Cry Baby and Dave Scott, Hi –Hat & Jamal Sims - Best Choreography in Film for their work in the film Step up 2: The Streeets  as well as Brooke Shields presenting nine-time Tony Award & two-time Astaire Award-winner Tommy Tune with the first Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award.  Directed by Broadway veteran Lee Roy Reams, the evening will also feature former Fred Astaire dancing partners and movie legends Jane Powell and Arlene Dahl. In addition, pop/ rock, singer/songwriter Sylvia Tosun and acclaimed songstress Anna Berman will raise the roof with their vocal selections. The gala  evening benefits The Auditory Oral School of New York, a non profit organization which specializes in teaching deaf and hard of hearing children to listen, talk, think and socialize. Honorary Chairs for the gala evening are Fred Astaire’s daughter Ava Astaire McKenzie & her husband artist Richard McKenzie.

Produced by Jennifer Dumas, Executive Producer for the Auditory Oral School of New York and Patricia Watt, the gala evening (6:30PM) will begin with cocktails and a seated dinner followed by performances and the Awards presentation. For information, contact Jennifer Dumas, Executive Producer, at 212-655-9377 or jd@auditoryoral.org                                           

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
June 4, 2008

Maude Maggart in London
London -- London has everything in the way the way of entertainment that any tourist or native could possibly crave. The musical "Dirty Dancing," now also a hit at Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre, started here as did "Mary Poppins" at the New Amsterdam on Broadway. A West End version of Noel Coward's classic film "Brief Encounter," which is coming to Broadway, is a big hit. But I was surprised to get a marvelous mini lecture on composers from the hauntingly beautiful American cabaret star Maude Maggart who was singing at the Jermyn Street Theatre, a half block from Piccadilly Circus, the Times Square of London. Her show, "Good Girl, Bad Girl," was even better than when I saw it at the Oak Room of The Algonquin.

"I realize that the songs I love from the American popular songbook category fall into two categories in terms of the ones women sing of either good girl or bad girl songs," she told the packed audience that included American cabaret star Jeff Harnar, who also sang briefly with Maude that night.

"Good girl songs are the ones where the woman or girl is totally content with her situation. If she has a husband she is very happy to be married to him. If she has a boyfriend she is very happy to dream about the rest of her life consisting only of him and their love and their children. And the same old view and holding the same old hand for the rest of her life. And that's wonderful!

"And then there's another perspective which is anything other than the good girl perspective ... the girl who wants a little bit more or is curious about something more ... I don't (personally) believe that there is something such as a good girl or something as a bad girl. Because to be human is to lie somewhere in the middle. The first song you heard tonight was 'How Could Red Riding Hood Have Been So Very Good?' And that was written in 1926 ... and then it was banned on radio when radio came around because it was too suggestive."

Later, at the opening night party for Maude, Jeff Harnar (who recently starred at New York's fabulous Metropolitan Room) told me that he was talking to a number of London hotels about using one of their rooms for a venue for American singers. He said he was trying "to find out who the (London) audience is and where they are -- and to reeducate them as to what cabaret is because we know that they are here."

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
May 9, 2008

Village Voice OBIES
Leave it to the Village Voice OBIES to save the people from television's so-called arbiters of morality. The elite, downtown, uncensored theater event, now in it's 53rd year will be webcast for the first time ever on www.villagevoice.com/obies on Monday, May 19th at 8pm via iClips.net

The announcement that and a live performance of the songs "We Just Had Sex" and "Amsterdam" by the cast of the hot hit rock musical Passing Strange would be seen worldwide online was not the only exciting news!

Passing Strange, which transferred to Broadway after an acclaimed run at the Public Theater, had planned to perform "We Just Had Sex" on a Tony's pre-telecast show set to air on affiliates between late May and June, but CBS' standards and practices ruled that the song is inappropriate for telecast, according to a report by Variety.

A WCBS spokesman said in a statement that executives at the TV station felt "the lyrics in the song offered by the musical's producers are inappropriate for broadcast television, especially for a 7 PM audience, when children are watching."

Marisa Tomei, Neil Patrick Harris, Bradley Whitford, S. Epatha Merkerson, Julie White, Priscilla Lopez, Eilzabeth Marvel and Bill Camp and Obie chairman Michael Feingold will be part of the irreverent, uncensored Obie festivities.

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
May 6, 2008

Celebrating Michael Feinstein: Composer
Michael Feinstein, in my view the premiere interpreter of American popular song alive today, will celebrate the 50 year collaboration of the Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe winning lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman with a new show at Feinstein's, the club he founded from Thursday, May 8 to Saturday, May 17. Bergman will be a special guest vocalist and Feinstein will perform Bergman standards like "The Windmills of Your Mind," and "How Do You Keep The Music Playing."

I caught up with the hugely talented, peripatetic Feinstein on the second night of Maude Maggert's fabulous stint at the Oak Room of the Alqonquin Hotel where he talked in part about another aspect of his fabulous career, a new musical he has written which is scheduled to open in London next December.

"The musical I wrote is going to be performed in London next December," he told me in the interview. "It's now called 'The Gold Room,' and it's in the works ... the producer has paid the option money! I did just the music. The lyrics are by Warner Brown. Right now it's all systems go unless something happens which it could. Right now they are talking about doing it at the Chocolate Factory where the famous revival of 'Into the Woods' started. A whole bunch of things that came to the West End have started at the Chocolate Factory."

Our chat turned to Irving Berlin because Maude did some songs of his. "It's funny because I was just listening to a Frank Sinatra radio show on which Berlin was a guest, talking about his beginnings," Michael said. "It's so fascinating the journey that he (Berlin) took) -- and where he ended up. It would be a wonderful film biography if they could tell the truth. What happened to him psychologically ... In some ways he was the personification of the American dream ... But he also had jealousy of other song writers. How could Irving Berlin be jealous of anybody? But Barton Lane talked about the opening night of 'Finian's Rainbow,' where during intermission Berlin bumped into him and he couldn't bring himself to give him a compliment. He had everything in the world and yet there was a part of him that would become envious ..."

Michael also noted that Berlin remembered his early years of songwriting, when he was struggling to make it, "with rose-colored glasses." In fact, my father, the late columnist and critic Ward Morehouse, accompanied Berlin on a tour of the neighborhood on Manhattan's Lower East Side where Berlin once worked as a singing waiter. He fondly recalled he much slept better in those years than he did after he became one of the most successful song writers in Broadway and popular song history.

All shows of Michael Feinstein "Celebrating 50 Years of Alan and Marilyn Bergman" take place at the Regency Hotel (540 Park Avenue at 61st Street).

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Just In (April 10, 2008): Nomination for the
Theatre Museum's Award for Excellence in Theatre History Preservation
"For many years, Ward Morehouse III has been a chronicler of New York Theater History. In his many capacities in the theater as a reporter, theater critic, promoter, book author, lecturer, advisor, observer and even an audience member, Mr. Morehouse, a second generation theater-historian has educated and preserved theatrical history through his writing. I think he would be very deserving of the Theater Museum's Award for excellence in the Theater History Preservation category."

Information on his most recent book appear below:

"Delightful book" - Stephen Silverman, People.com

"No one is more qualified to write a history of Broadway's landmark Hudson Theatre than Ward Morehouse III, a member of a family identified with the New York theater for generations and a theater columnist and historian in his own right. The story of how the Hudson has survived for more than a century of ups and downs as home to great plays and players, to big bands and radio dramas, rock and cabaret stars, is fascinatingly told and a very good read indeed. It burnishes Morehouse's reputation as a researcher and witty, anecdotal writer earned by several books on New York's grand hotels."
- Frederick M. Winship, United Press International cultural critic-at-large

"Ward Morehouse III, like his well-known father before him, is a natural storyteller, with countless stories to tell. His good-natured affection for New York--its characters, its cultures, its history-makers and its history--shines through his prose. He knows this city well,. and likes to share what he knows. For a couple of decades I've enjoyed his newspaper writings. And a new book from him is always welcome!"
- Chip Defaa, author of "Blue Rhythms" and "Voices of the Jazz Age"

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
April 13, 2008

Ward Morehouse III appearance on "The New Yorkers"



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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
March 25, 2008

A Rock Star Play is Born...
Playwright Kara Manning received the thunderous kind of cheering usually afforded to a rock star earlier this week as a packed audience cheered on a reading of her play, "Mind The Gap." The reading was hosted at New Dramatists in honor of Ms. Manning's Princess Grace Award winning play that landed her a playwriting residency with the respected center dedicated to playwrights.

Princess Grace Foundation-USA Executive Director Toby E. Boshak and New Dramatists Artistic Director Todd London and Artistic Development Director Emily Morse proudly watched the reading of Manning's beautifully written drama set in America and the UK about a heartbreaking and fragile family who confront their divergences, passions and regrets. The script is also rich in subtext about pop music business and modern literature references that are offered with an accuracy and believability that are lacking in many contemporary plays. Ms. Manning's gifted use of humor perfectly sets apart the tragedy in a way that inspires genuine unforced laughter.

Actors Matthew Rauch, Creighton James, Reed Birney, Nalini Sharma and Kristin Griffith brought the characters to life with direction by Hal Brooks and stage directions narrated by New Dramatist Carolyn Sesbeau.

Among the invited guests were friends and family, colleagues from the Princess Grace Foundation-USA staff and radio legend Vin Scelsa.

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
March 11, 2008

Princess Grace Award Winning Director Offers Brecht for Free at Village Voice Obie Award Winning Mabou Mines
Alice Reagan, the incredibly gifted director who received a Princess Grace Theater Apprenticeship Award in 2006, (Fabergé Theater Award) is helming a very limited Performance Lab 115 workshop of  Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht at the Obie Award winning Mabou Mines Mines ToRoNaDa space, 150 First Avenue (corner of 9th Street), 2nd Floor. All tickets for the March 23, March 24 & March 25th at  7:30pm performances are complimentary and may be reserved by contacting 212-473-1991 or e-mail info@pl115.org

Ms. Reagan explains, "We are doing a 'physicalized translation' meaning: the actors generated the ideas and heart of each scene in English, German, and through improvisational and composition work, while the translator, Ramona Thomasius, worked in the room with them.  Rather than a traditional format of the translation coming first, in our production, the ensemble work led."

This Caucasian Chalk Circle interrogates the possibility of human goodness in times of war, and makes us consider our own choices concerning the welfare of our communities and our planet. Inspired by a recent National Geographic article concerning technological waste dumped on the Third World, the play is set in a landscape rife with analog cast-offs of a digital age.

"Upon this mountain of a civilization's detritus, we watch as Grushe and Azdak struggle between moral choice and mere survival," concludes Alice Reagan.

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
March 8, 2008

Joan Marlowe Rahe, Broadway Actress and Innovative Theatrical Publisher, Dies at 88
Joan Marlowe Rahe, a former actress and for half a century, co-publisher, with the late Betty Blake, of the Theatre Information Bulletin, died Thursday, March 6, in a New Cannan, CT nursing home. She was 88 years old. She was a resident of Darien, CT and the Thousand Islands in Ontario, Canada.

Born on January 7, 1920 in Ithaca, New York where her father was city editor of the Ithaca Journal, and her mother was in early silent films known as "Cliffhangers." Rahe helped pioneer independent news reporting about the production of plays and musicals on and Off-Broadway, in regional theater and summer stock, She graduated from Ithaca High School at 16 before going to Stephens College to study acting with the legendary Maude Adams. Adams had toured America in the title role of J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan" for years.

After studying at Cornell University she left there to pursue a professional acting career in regional theater and New York. On Broadway she appeared in "Mr. and Mrs. North" from Jan. 12, 1941 to May 21, 1941, and acted in many other plays in summer stock and regional theater. She married drama critic and columnist Ward Morehouse, then with the old New York Sun, in 1941. The marriage ended in divorce eight years later. She was on the staff of Newsweek Magazine before starting to co-publish and edit the Theatre Information Bulletin in 1944. She took over that publication from the late Sam Zolotow, who for many years was a theater columnist for the New York Times. In 1964, she and Ms. Blake purchased Theatre Critics' Reviews, a compendium of theater reviews from newspapers and magazines dating back to 1940. She and Blake sold this publication to Playbill 30 years later before the Internet permitted widespread access to reviews and other newspaper stories. She was co-author of the book "The Keys to Broadway," published in 1951 and Broadway ­ Inside the Last Decade, 1954. She served as President of the Outer Critics' Circle and New Drama Forum, an offshoot of the Drama Desk organization of reporters and columnists.

A longtime fixture at opening nights and at theater haunts like Sardi's and the "21" Club, syndicated columnist and radio personality Jack O'Brien once said that she "was far more glamorous than most of stars on stage."

In 1952, she married Roderic Warren Rahe, a former World War II U.S. Navy officer and chemist and the couple had two children, Roderic Warren Rahe, Jr., a former legislative director for the late Connecticut Congressman Stewart B. McKinney and currently an IBM Public Sector Managing Consultant, and the late Christopher Williams Rahe, a tennis pro. She leaves her husband, Roderic Warren Rahe of Darien, CT, Roderic Warren Rahe, Jr., and by her first marriage, Ward Morehouse III, author and theater columnist. She also leaves four grandchildren, William Ward Morehouse, Madeline Rose Rahe, Christopher Peter Rahe and Samuel Cole Rahe.

A memorial service will be held on March 15 at 2:00 PM at the Noroton Presbyterian Church in Darien, CT. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to Stephens College, 1200 East Broadway, Columbia, MO 65215.

Joan Marlowe Rahe dies at 88, Variety, March 11, 2008

Joan Marlowe, 88, Published Theater Bulletin, (PDF version w/photo),The New York Sun, March 11, 2008

Joan Marlowe, Publisher of Theatre Information Bulletin, Dies at 88, Playbill News, March 11, 2008

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
March 4, 2008

Ayo Janeen Jackson won a Princess Grace Award in dance in 2004, a fellowship to work and travel the world with the great Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company.
Under the nurturing auspices of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA, celebrating its 25th year of honoring emerging artist in dance, film and theater, Ms. Jackson received an additional Special Project Grant in 2005.

Today, she has created a work of dance that is resonating via the internet. It's  called "Yes You Can ­ Dance" and is her homage to the power of positivity. Commenting on Bill T. Jones, Ms. Jackson said, "He challenges each of us to define ourselves, find our voice, and defend it like it is consecrated." We believe she has accomplished that charge with this work.

Check out "Yes You Can ­ Dance" on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2Bfjze-ymQ.

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
February 24, 2008

Baby Jane Dexter Celebrates Official Launch of New CD "You're Following Me!" Returns to Metropolitan Room for 4 Saturdays in March
Rex Reed calls this "the very best act of her career!" and it's captured live on CD. Baby Jane Dexter's celebrates the launch of "You're Following Me!" --which enjoyed a sold-out holiday engagement at The Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, in December -- on four consecutive Saturdays, March 8, 15, 22, 29, all at 7:30pm. Ross Patterson is the music director. The cover charge of this exclusive encore engagement of "You're Following Me!" is $25.

Dipping into a savory soup of styles -- pop, jazz, R&B and the great American songbook -- Baby Jane indulges us with an eclectic musical program that includes songs by Rogers and Hammerstein, Arlen, Bricusse, Johnny Mercer, Ray Noble, Leiber and Stoller, Leon Russell, Lennon & McCartney, and more. The icing on the cake are her highly personal and irreverent ruminations on the highs and lows of some of the world's most popular (and some would say over-rated) addictions.

Baby Jane rockin' three-piece combo includes Ian Herman (piano), David Sill iman, Tim Horner (alternating on drums) and Boots Maleson and Saadi Zain (alternating on bass).

Reviewing "You're Following Me!" in February Stephen Holden wrote, "vocally, Ms. Dexter has the power of a mighty gospel singer with the will to move heaven and earth." Now it's time for you to move heaven and earth, and clear your schedule to experience this.

The Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, is New York's most talked-about new intimate concert venue. For reservations call 212/206-0440. For more information visit www.metropolitanroom.com.

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
February 16, 2008

1954 Academy Award Winner Grace Kelly Begets 2008 Awards Winners Via The Princess Grace Awards
Twenty-five years ago, the Princess Grace Foundation -- USA was formed to continue work that the late Academy Award winning actress Grace Kelly and Serene Highness the Princess of Monaco did during Her lifetime - assist emerging artists in theater, dance and film.

Some recent Princess Grace Awards film recipients have gone on to distinguish themselves and the Princess Grace Awards a lot more. In 2001, Jon M. Chu received the Princess Grace Cary Grant Film award, an undergraduate scholarship to the University of Southern California that helped finance his thesis film. The Palo Alto native is directing the Disney feature film release, Step Up 2 The Streets, opening theatrically this month.

Filmaker Ham Tran received a Princess Grace Graduate Film Scholarship. He was pursuing an MFA at the UCLA Graduate School of Film and Television. His poignant film, Journey From the Fall, received more than a dozen grand jury and excellence awards at film festivals worldwide.

Jon M. Chu
Ham Tran
Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
Cary Fukunaga

Director/writer Andrew Okpeaha MacLean and his Director of Photography Cary Fukunaga, both recipients of the John H. Johnson Princess Grace Film Award, received funding for graduate film studies at New York University in 2004 and 2005 respectively and were honored at this year's 2008 Sundance Film Festival with the Jury Prize - Short Filmmaking for the film SIKUMI (On the Ice).

* * *

Former Pierre Hotel resident pianist/singer Kathleen Landis has been playing in the Waldorf's newly renovated Peacock Alley for the past two weeks. Miss Landis, who is known for a widely diverse epertoire, decided mid-way through her dinner-music set to do a jazz classic by pianist Bill Evans,"Waltz for Debby." Near the end of Evans' life, he recorded a duet album with Tony Bennett featuring the song. "It's not exactly a tune that you'd hear someone whistle -- it's long and winding but lovely," said Ms. Lanids, who launched into it thinking no one passing by the lobby of the great hotel would recognize it. She was wrong. Suddenly, a man with his entourage in tow stopped right in front of her. She looked up to see a great smiling face with his thumbs up -- there was Mr. Bennett, fresh from his performance in the Waldorf's grand ballroom. They came into Peacock Alley to dine and listen. Miss Landis continued playing for those hours, all the great songs over many decades that Bennett has put his indelible mark on. Choosing the right songs has been a speciality of Bennett's and for Landis, playing them at exactly the right moment.
(Disclosure: Kathleen Landis is a client of Ward Morehouse III)

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The rarest of Italian porcelains, ceramics, wax, terra cotta and plaster pieces, which once graced the palaces and premiere estates of Europe, can now be viewed in an exhibit at The Italian Cultural Institute of New York. The exhibit, entitled "Richard-Ginori 1737 - 1937," is curated by Renato Miracco, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute, Olivia Rucellai from Museo di Doccia and Roberto Giovanelli, the Museo di Doccia's President. Architect Antonio P. Saracino, whom critics called a trendsetter for 2007, created the exhibition's design.

These extraordinarily rare pieces were produced over the last 300 years by Richard-Ginori, Italy's leading creator of porcelains and one of the oldest manufacturers of such ceramics in Europe. These rare Florentine objects have never before left Italy, only recently making a first ever appearance in the United States, beginning the inaugural leg of a U.S. tour this past December in Washington D.C.

"For hundreds of years Italy's ceramics and porcelains have set the standard for style, design and culture among the aristocratic classes throughout Europe," explained Dr. Miracco, the exhibit's curator. He added, "Now we hope that by sharing these truly exceptional and rare pieces, we can open a new window on the past to a younger generation by sharing the pleasures and influence of these extraordinary designs."

The exhibit is vast, some 160 pieces, and diverse, featuring cultural and functional objects such as teapots, vases, ice-cream holders, lamps, candlesticks, figurines and even soap dishes dating from the 18th Century to the 1937 designs of Gio Ponti. The pieces, which will be on display in New York from February 20 through March 18, then move on to Boston, Chicago and several other cities in the United States.

The Richard-Ginori company was founded by Marchese Carlo Ginori in 1735. It produced pieces of rare beauty for their design elements and craftsmanship. These hand painted pieces benefited from the wealth of student painters in Italy who found steady work finishing these pieces, noted for the expression of Italian artistry, landscape and culture.

The exhibit is free of charge and open to the public weekdays, Monday to Friday, from 10am to 4pm and on Saturday March 15 and Sunday March 16 from 11am to 5pm. The Institute is located at 686 Park Avenue between 68th and 69th Streets. For information call 212-879-4242 ext 330 or online at www.iicnewyork.esteri.it/IIC_Newyork

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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
February 6, 2008

It's 82 years since my father, Ward Morehouse, started writing his "Broadway After Dark" column for the old New York Sun. He continued it for The World-Telegram & Sun, Newshouse Newspapers and North American Newspaper Alliance. Although I used "On and Off-Broadway" for my theater column in The New York Post, I used "Broadway After Dark" when I was a columnist with the new New York Sun, amNewYork and Epoch Times. This is the first Broadway After Dark column for the website BroadwayAfterDark.com

Filmmaker Sidney Lumet was given a special "Pipe Night" by The Players Club, one of the club's highest honors, on Sunday, February 27, 2008. Lumet, who directed such film classics as "Twelve Angry Men" and "Dog Day Afternoon," was a Broadway actor for many years before moving into film and TV. He made his Broadway debut in Sidney Kingsley's melodrama "Dead End," playing one of the "Dead End" kids. "By then (1935) I was 11!" Lumet told me, beaming at the memory of his Broadway debut. He had already appeared in Yiddish Theatre productions on Manhattan's Second Avenue.

Looking back over his career, "It's really very easy," he told a black tie audience at The Players. "If you hang around just being a mench -- that's all you have to do ... And you put the faith in the work itself -- not necessarily the results, as you know, with the number of flops I've had!

"What's important to me is the process. So it is wonderful that the process all my life has been so joyful. And now as I reach my late 40's (he's 83) ... It was a terrific evening and I'm touched by it and I thank you."

* * *

I recently sat down and talked to Douglas Durst, who runs the Durst Organization which has done as much as any organization, including Disney, to revitalize Times Square. The Durst Organization's building at 42nd Street and Avenue of the Americas is in the final stages of construction. It will also house the new Henry Miller Theatre, the facade of which is being restored.

"We're probably making a deal with The Roundabout Theatre," Durst told me. "We should finish, give it to them in the summer of 2008. If you'd like, when it's a little warmer, I'll take you through it ... it's going to be 1,000 seats. Originally, the architect designed it for 975 seats. We talked to the Shubert Organization about running it but they really wanted to make us their partner in the productions and we didn't want to do that."

Durst lamented that the land on which sits the old Woodstock Hotel -- which has been around since the 1920's and where my father lived when he was doing re-writes and attending rehearsals for his play "Gentlemen of the Press," which opened at the Henry Miller in 1928 -- could not be put to better use. The hotel, next to Town Hall on 43rd Street where Scott Siegel produces the "Nightlife Awards," is now used to house senior citizens.

"It's landmarked so it (the hotel) is going to stay just what it is for a long time," Durst said. "It's a real shame. There's no reason for senior citizens to be living there. It has tremendous value. The city could sell it and get three times as much senior citizens housing in Queens or some other place."

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Jim Caruso's Cast Party, which Time Out/New York calls a "vital pulse point of the musical-theater bloodstream," is the best deal in town to see both big stars and emerging talent often in the same night. Hosted by Jim Caruso, who makes an art of being charming seemingly so effortlessly, hosts Cast Party every Monday night at Birdland, 315 West 44th Street just west of 8th Avenue. (There's a $10 per person cover charge and a $10 food/drink minimum.) On a recent Monday I was there, Tony Bennett enjoyed the show and warmly greeted some of the singers including Jenna Esposito who with a partner has done a show dedicated to Bennett and her idol, the late Rosemary Clooney. Jenna Esposito will be singing and signing CDs tonight (Feb. 6, 2008) at 6pm at the Lincoln Center Barnes & Noble (63rd & B'way), NYC.
(Disclosure: Jenna Esposito is a client of Ward Morehouse III)

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This summer MAE WEST will get an extra special birthday gift: a spotlight. Director Louis Lopardi is getting ready to announce a casting call for the next MAE WEST. Can anyone fill the shoes of the Brooklyn bombshell? In preparation for a July production of the serious-minded comedy "COURTING MAE WEST" by LindaAnn Loschiavo, Lopardi will workshop the play next month in New York City.
  • "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets" (based on true events when Mae West was arrested and jailed for trying to stage two gay plays on Broadway) will be presented at The Algonquin Theatre during July 2008 as part of The Annual Fresh Fruit Festival.
  • According to Artistic Director Carol Polcovar, The Annual Fresh Fruit Festival encompasses theater, performance, poetry, comedy, spoken word, music, dance, visual arts and some talents that defy categorization. Artists come from around the city, nation and, indeed, the world.
  • A 95-minute play set during the Prohibition Era, "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets" will be directed by Louis Lopardi, who has also worked with The Annual Fresh Fruit Festival as their very capable Production Manager and Technical Director.
  • The Algonquin Theatre (at 123 East 24th Street, NYC 10010) houses two air-conditioned performance spaces: the 99-seat "Kaufman" and the 40-seat "Parker." The Kaufman features a proscenium stage that is 21 feet wide and 23 feet deep.
  • The larger playhouse is named in honor of George S. Kaufman [16 November 1889 - 2 June 1961], an American playwright, theatre director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. The petite playing space honors another Algonquin Round Table member: author Dorothy Parker [22 August 1893 - 7 June 1967]. Both writers attended performances of Mae West's plays during the 1920s and critiqued them.
  • Come up and see Mae every day online: http://MaeWest.blogspot.com/
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Broadway After Dark

By Ward Morehouse III
Special to The Epoch Times


Georgia Engel (Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images)

I went back stage Thursday night to see old friend Georgia Engel , who played "Georgette" in the original "Mary Tyler Moore" TV series. Ms. Engel is playing Mrs. Tottendale in the new Broadway musical "The Drowsy Chaperone," which recieved mixed reivews but is a real audience pleasing show. Co-starring Sutton Foster, Troy Britton Johnson, Bob Martin and Edward Hibbert , The Drowsy Chaperone is a throw back to the zany Broadway musicals of yesteryear. But the evening's most interesting performance was turned in by comedian Bob Martin , who plays a kind of master-of-ceremonies in the show. The winner of five Canadian Comedy Awards, Mr. Martin is funny and winning enough to be a replacement for David Letterman or Jay Leno should one ever be needed.

* * *

Lorraine Bracco , the psychiatrist on TV's "The Sopranos," will assume a different role May 11 at the Rainbow Room. She will present Pamela Liebman , CEO/president of The Corcoran Group, with the 2006 Humanitarian Award from After-School All-Stars of New York. TV's Liz Clayman will be the master of ceremonies. Auctioneer will be Pam's friend, ex-Giants' star Howard Cross. (After-School All-Stars of New York provides after-school programs and summer camps for at-risk children.)

Lorraine Bracco (Vince Bucci/Getty Images)

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When former New York Times cultural editor Arthur Gelb was honored recently with a dinner at New York's National Arts Club, Times columnist and former chief drama critic Frank Rich was there to applaud his old boss. "My favorite Arthur story which really began my career (at the Times) in earnest ... The first really big Broadway show I had to cover was David Merrick's production of the musical 42nd Street. The show had had a lot of publicity and a lot of postponements ... I went to the show and the curtain call started and I ran out to cover it on deadline of a hour (and a half). And as I'm leaving the theater, a guy says to me, 'Gower Champion, who directed the show, has died ... Arthur came back with me to the Times office on 43rd Street and as we walked in every phone in the newsroom of the times was ringing .. Arthur stopped the presses to run a picture to run a picture of Merrick announcing Gower Champion's death from the stage of the theater. But since Merrick was such a prankster, Arthur showed me how he very carefully worded the caption to say, 'David Merrick said Gower Champion had died.' "

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With Broadway favorite Brooke Shields in the news these days with her having another baby, her fans have been trying unsuccessfully to get a copy of Brooke when she was a cover story in Outlaw Biker magazine in September 1987. It features her going on a motocycle at some 95 MPH with a 420 lb. man. Casey Exton, the magazine's publisher, says he has been offered up to $2500 for the issue. He only has one and he's not selling it.

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Ray Negron , who is well known in sports and entertainment circles as he's an aide to Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, has written a book, Boy of Steel, which Regan Books is going to publish in August. It is about a six-year-old cancer patient and his valiant effort to survive. However, the disease killed him. Country-western superstar Tim McGraw has ordered 1000 copies of the book in advance for the Tug McGraw Foundation. Tim's father, Tug McGraw, is the ex-Mets' pitching star who popularized the phrase "You gotta believe." He died of cancer.

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Olympia Dukakis (Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

Broadway fans of actress Olympia Dukakis will be interested in knowing that she will be a special guest at the gala of the Hellenic Times Scholarship Fund May 13 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel. She is a long-time friend of philanthropist John Catsimatidis, the Gristede's and oil king and his lovely wife, Margo, who are event's co-chairs.

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The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), the largest marijuana reform organization in the U.S., will throw a celebrity fundraising bash at the landmark venue, Capitale, one of Manhattan's preeminent event venues, Monday, June 12, 2006. The party will celebrate the recent medical marijuana victory in Rhode Island and raise funds to continue MPP's campaigns, including lobbying Congress to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest and a landmark ballot initiative drive in Nevada. This very important social evening will include a special musical performance from Blue Note recording artists and National touring act Medeski Martin & Wood. Among the many notable guests will be TV host Montel Williams, who was MPP's 2005 Public Face of Reform Award recipient, and U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), who will accept MPP's Legislative Leadership Award. Rep. Hinchey is the lead sponsor of an amendment aimed at stopping the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration from arresting medical marijuana patients in states with laws allowing medical use of marijuana. The House of Representatives is expected to debate the Hinchey amendment before the end of June.

The event's host committee includes Susan Sarandon; Tim Robbins; Mary-Louise Parker; Montel Williams; U.S. Representatives George Miller, Sam Farr, John Conyers, Jr., Barney Frank, Pete Stark, and Barbara Lee; the Hon. Richard N. Gottfried; the Hon. Deborah J. Glick; the Hon. John W. Lavelle; Richard Brookhiser of the National Review; Steven Blush and Carlo McCormick of Paper magazine; and artist Alex Grey. Confirmed to attend are John Conyers, Sam Farr, Barney Frank, Barbara Lee, Pete Stark, Hon. Deborah J. Glick and Hon. John W. Lavelle among others.

With over 20,000 members and 100,000 email subscribers nationwide, MPP is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. Tickets for the awards dinner are available through www.mpp.org

Here I would like to suggest a unique entertainment - a charity basketball game played by two great teams. True, it is not Broadway, however, can be no less enjoyable for the entire family and unlike Broadway, it is only a one-time happening. You can enjoy it and still go see a Broadway show. On Sunday, May 21st, at 3:30 pm at Columbia University, the Dodge Fitness Center (West 119th Street and Broadway) the Fire Department of New York will tip-off Israel's famed basketball legends. Former NCAA Basketball Coach Mike Jarvis and famed Sports Commentator Spencer Ross championed this charity game, along with the America-Israel Friendship League, the Consulate General of Israel in New York, Jewish Community Relations Council, NYC Sports Commission and the New York Board of Rabbis.

Audax Theatre Group will present the premiere of Daniel Roberts' dark comedy The Gold Standard. Previews begin June 1st at the Irish Arts Center (553 West 51st Street) in Manhattan. The play is about two college friends, one a businessman and the other the businressman's idol, an eccentric Korean poet who fall in love with the same woman. In the cast are Allie Carey; Jordan Charney (a regular on TV's "Law and Order"), Sabine Singh; Yasu Suzuki and Daniel Talbot. It's directed by Alex Lipard.

Broadway After Dark - And Beyond by Ward Morehouse

Jason Fuchs Tackles Broadway
Recently returning from the Cannes Film Festival after the success of his film "Pitch," Columbia student, Jason Fuchs, will be performing in "Speech and Debate" at the Roundabout Underground Theater. He is set to go into production late next year on the romantic comedy "The Last First Time" ...

A Serious Hamptons Weekend with Ward
While at The Parrish Art Museum gala in Southampton, columnist Ward Morehouse III talks with  Stewart Lane and his wife, Bonnie Comley...

Happenings With The Musically Inspired
One legendary soul singer offers her support and an Afro-Cuban-Jazz performer offers his craft for us to look to the music world for inspiration--so reports columnist Ward Morehouse III...

New York International Fringe Festival
August is the New York International Fringe Festival's month. So as these dog days of summer kick in, you can hide away in downtown's grittiest venues seeing some of the most cutting-edge dramatic works around--or so says columnist Ward Morehouse III...

Whoopi Wows Them at Spalding Gray's "Stories Left to Tell" and more!
Whoopi Goldberg melds her signature style with the late Spalding Gray's lyric memoirs in "Stories Left to Tell" and three Princess Grace Awards alums grace the stage of the Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production of "Romeo and Juliet." Ward Morehouse III looks at the triumphs of literature and theater...

What Tony Wrought: Tony Winners and Broadway Losers
Tony fever touches different shows in different ways—smash hits like "Spring Awakening" is poised for possible "Rent" status, while even winning Best Revival didn't keep "Journey's End" open. Ward Morehouse III chats with Christine Ebersole, David Hyde Pierce and others on how the 2007 Tonys have changed their lives—and their shows ...

As Tony Awards Approach, a Look at Broadway Past
With the Tony Award nominations having just been announced—based on 35 shows that opened in the 2006-2007 season—I thought I'd travel back in time to the Broadway of the 1920s, which would see nearly 300 productions open in a single season...

Looking at Broadway's Future with Tony Producer Gerald Schoenfeld
Timessquare.com blogger Ward Morehouse III caught up with Shubert Organzation Chairman Gerald R. Schoenfeld after the 2007 Tony nominations were announced—which Schoenfeld is also co-producing. Schoenfeld talks about the gem that is Broadway and the hurdles that face it...

Broadway Abroad and Back Again with Morehouse
A smash music goes international and comes back home to New York, a support group hears a delicious jazz treat and one of the first ladies of cabaret cuts an album: Ward Morehouse III reports on the upcoming and interesting in the world of theater...

Broadway After Dark: Ward Morehouse III
Our distinguished theater blogger Ward Morehouse III wraps up and unveils this winter/spring's fabulous cultural goings on from Elizabeth Swados to the Super Bowl ...

Our Social Diarist Makes the World of Theater his Beat
Writer and social diarist Ward Morehouse III chronicles the goings-on of the theater crowd after dark, and dishes the dirt on everyone from Neil Simon to Sandra Bullock to Buzz Aldrin...

Broadway After Dark
Writer and social diarist Ward Morehouse III chronicles the goings-on of the theater crowd after dark, and dishes on some of the hottest Broadway and off-Broadway hits such as "Title of Show" and "The Drowsy Chaperone"...

More With Morehouse
Playwright Neil Simon once told me he lost millions of dollars selling the TV rights to "The Odd Couple" for much too little. But Simon, the most successful writer in the history of the Broadway theater, is making up for lost opportunity and money with the blockbuster success of the revival of "The Old Couple" and that of "Barefoot in the Park," which originally opened back in 1963....