Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: October 16, 2022
By: Laura Deni
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THE DANGER OF MAGIC ACTS: R&B SINGER GINUWINE LATEST VICTIM

Ginuwine performing in Auxtin, Texas. Photo: Wikipedia

"Laughing may ass off," may have been posted by R&B singer Ginuwine, who celebrated his 52nd birthday yesterday, October 15, after losing consciousness in a magic stunt with Chris Angel, but there is nothing funny about magic acts which go wrong.

This debacle could have cost Ginuwine mental capacity, or even his life.

At one point it was reported that Ginuwine was "fighting for his life after a dangerous stunt went wrong during a rehearsal" for Criss Angel’s Magic with the Stars show, which begins airing on the CW channel on Saturday, October 22, 2022.

In each episode of Magic With the Stars, two celebrities train with professional magicians and compete to create a show-stopping series of magic performances. The celebrity competitors are tasked with mastering three major categories of magic, which they perform in front of a team of judges.

The first episode features Corbin Bleu and Miles Brown who defy the laws of gravity as they attempt one of Criss' most iconic illusions that took over 20 years to create.

Criss Angel performs his Mindfreak show at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, which is where Criss Angel's Magic with the Stars is taped.

A few days ago, Ginuwine reportedly became unconscious during rehearsals for an underwater stunt meant to conquer his fear of being underwater. He was holding his breath in a glass box with heavy chains on the outside. Ginuwine's appeared to suddenly lose consciousness.

In a video exclusively obtained by the Daily Mail, the Pony singer was seen being quickly pulled out of the water after being submerged in the cube for at least 10 seconds. He then gasped for air, as staff members carried him and laid him on the ground.

"Are you okay?" a staff member asked Ginuwine after the life-threatening stunt, according to multiple outlets.

He nodded in response.

Paramedics were called and documented he made a full recovery after being passed out from the risky act, according to the Daily Mail. "Ginuwine is okay, and he made a full recovery," his rep revealed in a statement.

Ginuwine insisted upon going ahead with the stunt for the show.

Others have not been so lucky and that includes Criss Angel.

In March 2017 Angel himself was rushed to Spring Valley Hospital in Las Vegas after the magician passed out during his straight jacket routine which took place ten minutes into the act. He was upside down in the straight jacke, which was spinning for about two minutes, when he was let down. Suddenly he went limp and the curtain fell - the rest of the show cancelled. Customers received full refunds. He was later released from the hospital. Angel had previously received a should injury when he performed the same stunt in New York City.

Magic can be a risky business.

Just a few of the magically departed:

William Ellsworth Robinson, who performed under the sage name Chung Kung Soo, shot himself during his famous Catching a Bullet trick in a performance on March 23, 1918.

The Gun Trick is associated the the death of at least 15 people including Madame DeLinksy.

Karr the Magician (Charles Rowen) was famed for getting out of straight jackets. In 1930 while bound in the jacket he attempted to free himself while a man drove a speeding car right at him. Karr was run over by the car.

In 2012 Janaka Basnayake was attempting to beat the world record for longest time buried alive. The ground won.

Genesta whose signature trick was the barrel escape in which he climbed into a barrel filled with water or milk and attempted to escape before he drowned. He drowned.

Jeff Rayburn Hooper, 23, was practicing a trick while in shackles and submerged into a lake in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He drowned in 6 feet of water.

Joseph W. Burrus, 32, on Halloween night in 1991, the anniversary of Houdini's death, attempted a Houdini trick and failed.

Of course, we can't forget Houdini. Born Erik Weisz, the famed magician died October 31, 1926 - Halloween. In 1915, Houdini nearly suffocated during a stunt in which he was shackled and buried under six feet of dirt. Houdini had made a career out of surviving the impossible, which only made the circumstances of his 1926 death all the more mysterious.

HarryHoudini

According to history.com: The strange series of events that led to Houdini’s demise had kicked off several weeks earlier on October 11, 1926. While being shackled into his Chinese Water Torture Cell during a performance in Albany, New York, the conjurer was struck on the leg by a piece of faulty equipment. He hobbled his way through the rest of the show, but was later found to have sustained a fractured left ankle.

Against doctors’ orders, Houdini continued his tour and traveled to Montreal, where he gave a lecture at McGill University. Just a few days later on October 22, he invited some McGill students to visit him in his dressing room at the Princess Theater. The magician’s sore ankle was still bothering him, so he plopped down on a couch while the group chatted. At some point, a student named J. Gordon Whitehead arrived and asked Houdini if it was true that he could resist hard punches to his abdomen—a claim the magician had supposedly made in public. According to witness Sam Smilovitz, when Houdini said the rumors were true, Whitehead abruptly delivered “four or five terribly forcible, deliberate, well-directed blows” to his stomach. Houdini was still reclined on the couch and had no time to prepare for the punches, which appeared to leave him in considerable pain.

Houdini brushed off the incident at the time, but that same evening, he began to complain of discomfort and stomach cramps. His condition only worsened the next day, when he boarded an overnight train to Detroit for a new run of performances. The magician developed severe abdominal pain, cold sweats and fatigue, and his temperature rose to 104 degrees. A doctor suspected appendicitis and instructed Houdini to go to a hospital, but the performer insisted on taking the stage for his opening night show at the Garrick Theater. He proceeded to struggle through his routine before collapsing immediately after the final curtain.

The show would be Houdini’s last. That same night, he was taken to a Detroit hospital and prepped for surgery. Doctors successfully removed his appendix, which was found to have ruptured several days earlier, but it had already poisoned his insides. Despite a grim prognosis, the magician clung to life until October 31, when he died with his wife Bess and his two brothers by his side.

The official cause of Houdini’s death was listed as peritonitis caused by a ruptured appendix. At the time, the magician’s doctors firmly believed that the illness was the result of the walloping J. Gordon Whitehead had given him during their backstage encounter in Montreal. Such cases of "traumatic appendicitis" are extraordinarily rare—one study found only a couple dozen instances over a nearly 20-year period—but in 1926, the diagnosis was widely accepted. Houdini’s life insurance company was even forced to pay his wife a double indemnity for an accidental death.

Before Houdini died, he and his wife agreed that if Houdini found it possible to communicate after death, he would communicate the message "Rosabelle believe", a secret code which they agreed to use. Rosabelle was their favorite song. Bess held yearly séances on Halloween for ten years after Houdini's death. She did claim to have contact through Arthur Ford in 1929 when Ford conveyed the secret code, but Bess later said the incident had been faked. The code seems to have been such that it could be broken by Ford or his associates using existing clues. Evidence to this effect was discovered by Ford's biographer after he died in 1971. In 1936, after a last unsuccessful séance on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel, she put out the candle that she had kept burning beside a photograph of Houdini since his death. In 1943, Bess said that "ten years is long enough to wait for any man."

The tradition of holding a séance for Houdini continues, held by magicians throughout the world.

In the 1920s, Houdini turned his energies toward debunking psychics and mediums, a pursuit that was in line with the debunkings by stage magicians since the late nineteenth century.

Houdini's training in magic allowed him to expose frauds who had successfully fooled many scientists and academics. He was a member of a Scientific American committee that offered a cash prize to any medium who could successfully demonstrate supernatural abilities. None were able to do so, and the prize was never collected. As his fame as a "medium-buster" grew, Houdini took to attending séances in disguise, accompanied by a reporter and a police officer. Houdini's exposure of phony mediums has inspired other magicians to follow suit, including The Amazing Randi, Dorothy Dietrich, Dick Brookz and the Las Vegas based Penn & Teller.

THE SIXTH ARTS & ECONOMIC PROSPERITY STUDY

The sixth Arts & Economic Prosperity Study is currently taking place. Americans for the Arts has launched the national study of the economic impact of the nonprofit arts and culture industry. Building on its 25-year legacy, the highly regarded Arts & Economic Prosperity series is once again documenting in unprecedented scope and detail the economic power that the arts and culture wield in 395 participating communities representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia - communities ranging in geography (Alaska to Florida to Maine to Hawaii), population (1,400 to 4.7 million), and population density (rural to large urban).

Clark County, Nevada and the City of Las Vegas are participating, assembling a comprehensive list of eligible nonprofit arts and culture organizations in Southern Nevada. It is due November 1. The information gathered will allow the Americans for the Arts to conduct an economic impact survey of those organizations from January through April 2023.

The survey will collect information about each organization's revenues, expenditures, physical (in-person) attendance, virtual attendance, staff size, and volunteers.

In addition, the survey will include diversity and inclusion questions intended to recognize organizations that primarily serve a community of color and organizations that have a chief executive who identifies as a person of color.

This study is conducted approximately every five years to gauge the economic impact (on employment, government revenue, and household income) of spending by nonprofit arts and culture organizations and the event-related spending by their audiences. Previous studies were published in 1994, 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017. Due to the unique nature of the realities of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the AEP6 study was postponed for 16 months.

In 2017, the previous study, AEP5, documented that the nonprofit arts and culture industry generated $166.3 billion in economic activity (spending by organizations plus the event-related spending by their audiences) which supported 4.6 million jobs and generated $27.5 billion in government revenue. The AEP series demonstrates that an investment in the arts provides both cultural and economic benefits.

Nonprofit arts and culture organizations are businesses. They employ people locally, purchase goods and services from within the community, are members of their Chambers of Commerce, and attract tourists to their regions.

The arts drive commerce to local businesses. The arts, unlike most industries, leverage significant amounts of event-related spending by their audiences. In 2017, arts attendees spent $31.47 per person, per event, beyond the cost of admission on items such as meals, parking, and lodging—vital income for local businesses.

Arts travelers are ideal tourists. They stay longer and spend more to seek out authentic cultural experiences. One-third of attendees travel from outside the county in which the activity takes place and spend an average of $48 per person. 69% say they traveled specifically to attend the activity.

Small investments. Big returns. In 2017, the combined $5 billion in direct arts funding by local, state, and federal governments yielded $27.5 billion in government revenue.

During October 2022, local and state research partners continue to collect audience-intercept surveys from attendees to in-person arts and culture events taking place in their community. This process will continue through April 2023. As of September 9, 2022 Americans for the Arts had received a total of 27,705 completed audience surveys.

The traditional paper version of the survey has been translated into 23 languages.

The survey is also available electronically via customized QR codes - in English and Spanish.

Americans for the Arts is committed to addressing equity and inclusion as a critical component of the methodology, organizational participation, and collection of data for AEP6 by centering and representing BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, Native American) identifying communities—a segment of the nonprofit arts and culture sector that has been underrepresented in past studies.

AEP6 is making a significant expansion beyond its previous iterations by centering equity and inclusion across the study. This change is more than simply responding to a priority. It is transforming the study—a full shake-out of the methodology to reduce systemic bias in survey design, data collection, and analysis; establishing a new local, state, and national partnership model; community engagement and communications strategies; and the creation of new narratives based on the study results.

For the first time, AEP6 will establish a benchmark of arts and culture organizations that primarily serve communities of color, and the audiences that attend their events. It will also identify organizations that have a chief executive who identifies as BIPOC or ALAANA. Researchers will use the data to calculate the economic impact of the BIPOC and ALAANA arts sector.

In related news: Americas for the Arts will present the National Arts Awards on Monday, October 17 at Guastavino's in New York City. The first National Arts Awards to take place since 2019, the ceremony is held as part of National Arts and Humanities Month and celebrates the landmark contribution and lasting legacies of artists, philanthropists, policymakers, civic leaders, and organizations to the cultural fabric of the nation. This year’s National Arts Awards honorees and presenters are:

JOY HARJO
Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Dr. Elizabeth Alexander

FOR FREEDOMS (co-founders Wyatt Gallery, Eric Gottesman, Hank Willis Thomas, and Michelle Woo)
Marina Kellen French Outstanding Contributions to the Arts Award, presented by Jesse Williams

ROBERT E. SMITH
Philanthropy in the Arts Award, presented by Jon Batiste

THE GORDON PARKS FOUNDATION
Arts Education Award, presented by LaToya Ruby Frazier

DARREN CRISS
Ted Arison Young Artist Award, presented by Lea Salonga

The National Arts Awards is chaired by Sarah Arison in her first year as Chair. Co-chairs of the event are the Herb Alpert Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, David and Susan Goode, Marina Kellen French, Agnes Gund, Jeff and Justine Koons, Kara Moore, Rick Rosenthal, Nancy Stephens, and Jamie Rosenthal Wolf.

The evening’s musical performances will be directed by Jake Goldbas and feature alumni of YoungArts, an organization chaired by Arison that awards teenage artists of excellence. Artist José Parlá will create an immersive visual environment for the ceremony.

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This is not your typical, totally boring textbook.

In the pages of How To Earn A Living As A Freelance Writer (the first to be lied to and the last to be paid) you'll find sex, celebrities, violence, threats, unethical editors, scummy managers and lawyers, treacherous press agents, sex discrimination; as well as a how-to for earning money by writing down words.

ART AND ABOUT

THROWING SOUP AT VAN GOGH'S 84M SUNFLOWER PAINTING in London resulted in two climate activists, Anna Holland 20, and Phoebe Plummer, 21, being arrested and charged with criminal damage and aggravated trespass after they threw two opened cans of tomato soup at the famous artwork, then glued themselves to the wall.

A statement from the National Gallery said:
"At just after 11am this morning (October 14, 2022) two people entered Room 43 of the National Gallery.
"The pair appeared to glue themselves to the wall adjacent to Van Gogh's Sunflowers (1888). They also threw a red substance - what appears to be tomato soup - over the painting.
"The room was cleared of visitors and police were called. Officers are now on the scene.
"There is some minor damage to the frame but the painting is unharmed," thanks to the painting being hung behind glass.
The Met Police said specialist officers unglued the protestors who were wearing Just Stop Oil T-shirts, from the wall and transported them to a central London police station where they were charged.

I LOVE LUCY CELEBRATES 72 YEARS premiered on the CBS television network on October 15, 1951, and quickly became a cultural phenomenon – and one of the most popular television shows of all time. The series revolutionized television with its groundbreaking production techniques and influenced TV comedy for generations to come.

At the National Comedy Center – which is the realization of Lucille Ball’s vision for her hometown of Jamestown, New York, to become the destination for the celebration of comedy – visitors can put themselves into classic I Love Lucy scenes in our green screen experience, including the iconic chocolate factory scene, which was named the funniest scene in TV history in 2013.

The National Comedy Museum boasts Lucille Ball’s blue polka dot dress on display, and there’s much more Lucy and Desi in many of our immersive exhibits. Explore Lucy and Desi’s careers and legacies even further, and take photos on the I Love Lucy set re-creations, at the Lucy Desi Museum just three blocks away.

LIFE MAGAZINE AND THE POWER OF PHOTOGRAPHY At its height, Life magazine, which was published weekly from 1936 to 1972, reached a quarter of the US population.

With its visually revolutionary photo essays, Life fundamentally shaped how its readers experienced and remembered some of the most defining moments of the 20th century - from the moon landing to white supremacist violence of the 1960s and the Holocaust.

Now on view, Life Magazine and the Power of Photography offers a critical look at how these famous photo stories came into being. Far from simply nostalgic and laudatory, the exhibition takes you behind the scenes of the decisions made throughout the editorial process - often by historically overlooked women - and explores the magazine’s impact, which can still be felt today.

This exhibition takes a closer look at the creation and impact of the carefully selected images found in the pages of Life - and the precisely crafted narratives told through these pictures - in order to reveal how the magazine shaped conversations about war, race, technology, national identity, and more in the 20th-century United States. The photographs on view capture some of the defining moments - celebratory and traumatic alike - of the last century, from the Birmingham civil rights demonstrations to the historic Apollo 11 moon landing. Far from simply nostalgic and laudatory, the exhibition critically reconsiders Life’s complex, and sometimes contradictory, approach to such stories through works by photographers from different backgrounds and perspectives who captured difficult images of ethnic discrimination and racialized violence, from the Holocaust to white supremacist terror of the 1960s.

The exhibition brings together more than 180 objects, including vintage photographs, contact sheets, assignment outlines, internal memos, and layout experiments.

Particular attention is given to the women staff members of Life, whose roles remained forgotten or overshadowed by the traditional emphasis on men at the magazine. Most photographs on view are original working press prints - made to be used in the magazine’s production - and represent the wide range of photographers who worked for Life, such as Margaret Bourke-White, Larry Burrows, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Frank Dandridge, Gordon Parks, and W. Eugene Smith.

Interspersed throughout the exhibition, three immersive contemporary “moments” feature works by artists active today who interrogate news media through their practice. A multimedia installation by Alfredo Jaar, screen prints by Alexandra Bell, and a new commission by Julia Wachtel frame larger conversations for visitors about implicit biases and systemic racism in contemporary media.

Life Magazine and the Power of Photography is co-organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Princeton University Art Museum.

On display through January 16, 2023 at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA.

SAINTS, SINNERS, LOVERS AND FOOLS Experience 300 years of Flemish artworks, many making their US debut, in Saints, Sinners, Lovers, and Fools, which opened October 16 at the Denver Art Museum in Colorado.

Many have never been on view to the public before even in Belgium.

Saints, Sinners, Lovers, and Fools: 300 Years of Flemish Masterworks is a unique presentation of medieval, Renaissance, and baroque paintings, sculptures, and other objects from the Southern Netherlands. Masterpieces on display include works by, among many others, Hans Memling, Jan Gossaert, Jan and Catharina van Hemessen, Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens, and Anthony van Dyck. They showcase the beauty, chaos, and glory of the rapidly changing world from the 15th to 17th century.

The exhibit offers a look into the specific subjects and styles adopted by artists in the Southern Netherlands between the 15th and 17th centuries, providing important connections to the society and culture of the time. These works depict a rapidly-changing world through unique styles, subjects, and techniques, offering insight into the past and the chance to create parallels to our world today. Saints, Sinners, Lovers, and Fools is a collaboration with The Phoebus Foundation and introduces U.S. audiences to the Belgium-based foundation's comprehensive 15th- to 17th century Flemish art collection for the first time. On display through January 22, 2023.

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SWEET CHARITY

I PUT A SPELL ON YOU: ALIVE AT SONY HALL Benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Sunday, October 23, at Sony Hall in NYC.

Come Little Children
Grab Your Broom, Vacuum or Mop
the Sanderson Sisters are Back

Dress up and get spooky for Broadway’s biggest Halloween event of the year! Put a Spell on You, the annual sold-out Halloween concert-meets-party, returns.

In the search to find beauty, youth and immortality, the bewitching and beloved Sanderson Sisters return from the dead and gather their most famous friends to help them lure the children of New York. The show is followed by a blowout dance party. Embrace the evening by joining us in your favorite Halloween garb and enter our costume contest to win prizes.

I Put a Spell on You was created by and stars Jay Armstrong Johnson. The annual show is a spoof of and tribute to the beloved cult classic movie Hocus Pocus. Expect larger-than-life performances and choreography, over-the-top costumes and makeup, unmatched production value and a healthy dose of Broadway magic.

Johnson returns as Winifred Sanderson with Allison Robinson and Amanda Williams Ware as sisters Sarah and Mary.

The production is written by Johnson and directed by Ahmad Simmons, who will also be lead choreographer for the show. The music director is Will Van Dyke. The creative team includes costume design and art direction by DW, multimedia produced by Catriona Rubenis-Stevens, technical direction by Mido Francios, makeup led by Alcone Company’s Kyle Krueger and set decoration by Michael Lee Scott, with more incredible artists joining every day.

Every ticket purchased will help those across the country affected by HIV/AIDS, COVID-19 and other critical illnesses receive healthy meals, lifesaving medication, emergency financial assistance, housing, counseling and more.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is the major supporter of the social service programs at the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund), including the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative and the Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts. Broadway Cares also awards annual grants to more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., providing lifesaving medication, healthy meals, counseling and emergency assistance.

THE LATIN GRAMMY CULTURAL FOUNDATION the philanthropic arm of The Latin Recording Academy, has appointed Raquel “Rocky” Egusquiza as Executive Director of the organization, effective immediately.

Prior to the joining the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation, Egusquiza served as the Executive Director of the Miami Marlins Foundation as well as the Marlins’ Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Egusquiza earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Miami and an Associate of Arts degree from Miami-Dade College. She has received continuing education certificates from Harvard Business School and the University of California at Los Angeles.

SPREADING THE WORD

SECRETS OF THE DEAD: ARCHAEOLOGY AT ALTHORP is a remarkable documentary. Discover one of the most significant British archaeological finds of the century in the Althrop estate, hosted by Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, brother to the late Diana, The Princess of Wales.

Fascinating show. The extensive dig, which utilized the latest in air and ground surveillance equipment, located the appropriate areas allowing the archeologists to uncover relics going back 5,000 (five thousand) years! PBS tends to repeat programs. Be on the look out for it.

THE REPAIR SHOP a popular British television show based around people who bring in items for restoration. The show has an upcoming segment starring King Charles in which he brings in a 300-year-old Bracket clock to be restored. The clock is from the collection at The Prince's Foundation's Dumfries House headquarters.

The monarch has also sent a piece of Wemyss Ware crockery made for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee to be restored by popular TV show's experts. Filmed while he was still Prince of Wales, the episode is designed to showcase heritage craft skills and the importance of training the next generation.

The program also filmed students on The Prince’s Foundation’s Building Craft Program, a training initiative that teaches traditional skills such as blacksmithing, stonemasonry and wood carving.

It will also show the collection of 18th-century furniture and decorative arts housed at Dumfries House. As the Duke of Wales he was directly responsible for saving prized Thomas Chippendale furniture, even obtaining a court order in the middle of the night, forcing moving vans who were on the highway, transporting the furniture to auction, to turn around, returning the Chippendale furniture to Dumfries.

The King gives show host Jay Blades a tour of Dumfries House for an episode to be broadcast on Wednesday, October 26 on BBC One. It was filmed between autumn 2021 and March 2022. Hopefully, this program will be picked up by PBS in America.

THE SON: ADVANCE SCREENING AND CONVERSATION WITH HUGH JACKMAN AND WRITER-DIRECTOR FLORIAN ZELLER takes place Sunday, October 23 both in person at 92Y in New York City and on line. NOTE: Online tickets are for the talk only and do not include the screening.

Moderator Annette Insdorf will interview Tony Award winner Hugh Jackman and Florian Zeller after a preview screening of The Son, a highly anticipated drama that co-stars Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby and Zen McGrath. In The Son , he plays Peter, whose hectic life with his infant and new partner Beth (Kirby) is upended when his ex-wife Kate (Dern) appears with their troubled teenage son (McGrath). The screenplay was adapted by Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller from the 2018 play by Zeller, whose theatrical work has been staged in more than 45 countries. His directorial debut was The Father (2020), winner of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins (who appears in The Son).

92NY SCHOOL OF MUSIC’S CABARET CONVERSATIONS takes place Monday, October 24, 2022 in New York City.

This event features Mark Nadler, the recipient of eight awards from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets, three Backstage Bistros, two New York Nightlife Awards and two Broadway World Awards. Additionally, he was awarded two Bay Area Outer Critics’ Circle Awards. He has been a soloist with major orchestras, playing everywhere from Carnegie Hall to Philadelphia’s 14,000 seat amphitheater at The Mann Center. His most recent off-Broadway show, I’m a Stranger Here Myself, was honored with a New York Nightlife Award, a Drama Desk nomination and a nomination for Australia’s highest performing arts honor, the Helpmann Award.

The discussion will be led by award-winning cabaret historian and performer Michael Kirk Lane.

THE NEW YORK POPS will open their milestone 40th season with a performance highlighting the members of the orchestra, The Music of Star Wars on Friday, October 21, 2022. The concert is a comprehensive, brand-new program that includes music from all nine films in the epic Skywalker Saga as well as the two anthology films, Rogue One and Solo: A Star Wars Story, presented in chronological order. This includes the New York premiere of John Williams' Rise of Skywalker suite.

Plus, you can celebrate by wearing your favorite Star Wars attire and cosplay! Stop by the photo booth in the Weill Café before the performance or during intermission for a picture. You can also pick up free Star Wars–inspired buttons exclusive to this event.

Performances take place at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

LANG LANG performs breathtaking re-imaginings of Disney classics. Monday, October 24, 2022 at Royal Albert Hall in London.

SIX THE MUSICAL on stage in London has welcomed new wives. The newest wives of Henry VIII are Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky as Catherine of Aragon, Baylie Carson as Anne Boleyn and Koko Basigara as Katherine Howard with Monique Ashe-Palmer as Alternate Aragon/Cleves and Leah Vassell as Alternate Seymour/Parr.

On Tuesday, October 18th they will join current cast Claudia Kariuki as Jane Seymour, Dionne Ward-Anderson as Anna of Cleves and Roxanne Couch as Catherine Parr. Also, Danielle Rose (Alternate Boleyn/Howard) and Super Swings Rachel Rawlinson and Esme Rothero who continue their roles. Six The Musical at the Vaudeville Theatre has also extended its run to October 29, 2023.

ROALD DAHL’S MATILDA THE MUSICAL (SOUNDTRACK FROM THE NETFLIX FILM) inspired by the Tony and Olivier Award-winning musical, will be released by Sony Music Masterworks digitally on Friday, November 18 and in CD format Friday, December 9. The soundtrack features Grammy and Tony Award-nominated songs from the original West End production written by Tim Minchin and performed throughout the film, as well as an original score by composer Christopher Nightingale.

JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT The sensational brand-new production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical that originated at the legendary London Palladium will make its North American premiere at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, Canada December 11, 2022 to January 22, 2023.

This lavish new production, cited as the "definitive one for this generation," comes with all its technicolor bells and whistles and with its two star performers— West End and Broadway star Linzi Hateley, and a thrilling new discovery, Jac Yarrow, chosen by Lloyd Webber himself to play the titular role.

YURIKO, A CELEBRATION OF LIFE paying tribute to the trailblazing dancer, choreographer and performing artist Yuriko Kikuchi, in a free event on Thursday, October 27 at 92Y in New York City, Yuriko, an influential force at the Martha Graham Dance Company for more than 50 years – including creating the Martha Graham Ensemble in 1983, now Graham 2 – headlined her first solo choreographic concert on the Kaufmann Concert Hall stage at the 92nd Street Y in 1949, where her company later returned to perform almost every year between 1964 and 1971. She made Broadway history by originating the role of Eliza in Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I and broke barriers not only performing the role on stage and in a major motion picture, but as director for a long-running revival of the musical. Yuriko passed on March 8, 2022 at the age of 102.

Yuriko, A Celebration of Life includes historic performance footage from her time with Martha Graham Dance Company; childhood and family photos including her time in internment camps; personal stories from collaborators, students and artists she inspired; and performances from Martha Graham dancers.

Speakers in Order of Appearance: George Taylor, Emiko Tokunaga, Lawrence Kikuchi, Janet Eilber, Miki Orihara, Ken Topping, Rika Okamoto, Marianne Handy Hraibi, Ted Chapin, Baayork Lee, Yasuko Tokunaga, Susan Kikuchi, and Cassey Kikuchi Kivnick.

JULIE HALSTON winner of the Isabelle Stevenson Award will bring her new solo show Declassified! to Birdland Jazz Club in New York City on October 17, 2022.

THE ALABAMA SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL Season Insights: Meet the Season 51 Artists takes place Wednesday, October 19 - live and on line.

Join Artistic Director Rick Dildine and Executive Director Todd Schmidt for a live preview of ASF’s Season 51! Special guests will include directors, designers, cast members from the slate of six shows: It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Show followed by Jubilee, a musical tribute to the world-renowned Fisk University Jubilee Singers. Dive into Shakespeare's last play, The Tempest. Celebrate American music history with Million Dollar Quartet and then round out the summer with Clyde's and one of Broadway's most celebrated musicals, Cabaret.

ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE'S 38th MARATHON OF ONE-ACT PLAYS which will be fully comprised of work from artists who identify as Black, Indigenous & People of Color (BIPOC).

This year's selection of eleven plays was curated by Co-Artistic Directors Mike Lew and Colette Robert. Ten plays will be presented across two different series from Sunday October 16 through Sunday November 13. An eleventh play, Yan Tután, will be streamed October 23 to November 13 in collaboration with Perseverance Theatre in Alaska.

Ensemble Studio Theatre is located in New York City.

ETHEREAL HORROR FEST the spooky festivities in Austin, Texas will include a line up of 50 films over three nights and two venues. Dripping Springs Distilling will be sponsoring the cocktails once again and Top Taco will be serving from their food truck at the opening night party on Friday October 21st.

This year will feature the Den of Geek/Ethereal party bus VIP room where filmmakers can relax and take in the spooky ambiance between blocks. The bus will then double as transportation once events wrap up at the Tiger Den to take everyone safely onto the next venue.

To add to all the fun, Pint Size Pooches will be hosting their annual Halloween Costume at The Tiger Den during the festival. PSP is a group for owners of dogs 15 lbs and under who focus on small dog socialization by meeting up at different venues around Austin, TX and allowing the little ones to play off-leash whenever possible.

Ethereal Horror Fest will introduce feature films at this year's live event in Austin TX. The official selection features include A Place Among the Dead by first time director Juliet Landau who also stars in this genre bending film.

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

ELON MUSK LAUNCHES PERFUME LINE called Burnt Hair. Over 10,000 bottles of the men's cologne, priced at $100 a bottle, were snapped up in a few hours. The proceeds will go towards funding Musk's Twitter purchase.

Musk announced the scent and described it as "the essence of repugnant desire".

It sounds as though men can achieve the same effect by not using deodorant. (only don't)

DAVID GEFFEN HALL is a concert hall in New York City's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and is the home of the New York Philharmonic. They play great music only dreadful acoustics made it difficult to decipher, much less appreciate, the sound.

Up stepped mogul David Geffen.

Money can solve a lot of problems.

The redone David Geffen Hall is an earful to enjoy.

According to Lincoln Center the $500 Million renovation was "completed two years early, the new David Geffen Hall represents a statement of faith in New York and its artistic community, while delivering jobs and economic development at a crucial time for the city. The renovation supports $600 million in ongoing economic development and 6,000 jobs, with 42% participation from minority and women-owned businesses and 51% of the workforce derived from underrepresented communities.

Yeah, but how does it sound?

Under the leadership of acoustician Paul Scarborough changes include:

The inside is virtually brand new, designed by Diamond Schmitt. Tod Williams and Billie Tsien are responsible for the lobby, staircases, and public areas. Principal architect is Gary McCluskie.

A set of absorptive curtains line the side walls near the ceiling.

A floating staircase with bronze handrails switchbacks around a partition wall covered in iridescent square tiles - gold on one side, silver on the other. The interior is made up of honey-colored wood — the side panels on the walls are milled to look like sound waves. One long wall is upholstered in a floral pattern which matches the auditorium seats.

The stage has moved 25 feet forward, with seats 30 percent closer to the stage. Balconies curve and dip and the first tier balcony now envelops the stage.

The stage itself is flexible. Twenty elevators allow sections to move up and down and create various risers for the orchestra.

There is free Wi-Fi, comfortable furniture and public bathrooms that remain open all day.

An immense screen, 50 feet long, projects concerts taking place. A ring of speakers mounted in the ceiling semi-confines the music to an invisible cylinder of sound. Those who want to listen can step inside; those outside the magic circle can carry on their own conversations.

The result? Each instrument sounds like it is suppose to sound.

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THE LATIN RECORDING ACADEMY has announced its 2022 Leading Ladies of Entertainment honorees — an initiative created six years ago to honor and recognize professional and socially-conscious women within the arts and Latin entertainment fields who have made significant contributions and inspired the next generation of female leaders.

After two years of virtual celebrations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event returns live, with a private presentation and luncheon in Las Vegas on Tuesday, November 15, as part of the marquee events for Latin Grammy Week.

This year’s honorees are:

Kany García, singer/songwriter and six-time Latin Grammy winner
Rocío Guerrero, Global Head of Latin Music for Amazon Music
Rosa Lagarrigue CEO of RLM, an artist management company
Janina Rosado, pianist, arranger, musical director, Juan Luis Guerra’s co-producer, and nine-time Latin Grammy winner.

VITAL THEATRE COMPANY in Lancaster, PA has announced that Randall Frizado, has been named as General Manager of Vital Theatre Lancaster.

Randall is the creator of The Imagination Station, a production which travels to schools using musical theatre to teach children life lessons.

Vital Theatre Company produces entertaining and educational theatre with professional adult actors performing for children and their families. The company, founded in New York City in 1999, commissions and produces three to five musicals for children each season. Camps and classes are also available. Awards include the Off-Broadway Alliance Award for Best Family Musical. Vital Theatre Company has presented over 100 original productions. Hundreds of thousands of children and their families served. The company is now producing in Lancaster, PA.



EISENHOWER: THIS PIECE OF GROUND Written by: Richard Hellesen.

Directed and Produced by: Peter Ellenstein.

A new play starring Tony-Winner John Rubinstein in a one-person play about Dwight D. Eisenhower, President, War Hero, Philosopher. His leadership rebuilding Europe and waging peace in the Cold War offers unique and informative perspectives on the troubles facing America and the world today.

The creatives arre: Set Design: Pierre Vuilleumier and Alicia Maccarone - Costume Design: Doug Spesert - Lighting Design: Esquire Jauchem Projection Design: Joe Huppert - Technical Supervisor: Malcolm Wilson - Publicity: Sandra Kuker and Phil Sokoloff.

Previews: October 22, 23 & 27. Opens on October 28 with performances through November 20, 2022 at Theatre West in Hollywood, CA.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST adapted by Carolyn Burns.

Directed by Simon Phillips.

Frantic and fun, inventive and intriguing, Alfred Hitchcock’s trailblazing thriller North by Northwest is boldly re-imagined for the stage.

Suave Madison Avenue advertising executive Roger O. Thornhill’s uneventful life is turned upside down when a case of mistaken identity turns him into a framed fugitive thrust into a world of spies, manhunts, mystery and romance.

In this spectacular blockbuster of a production, the twists, turns and tensions of Hitchcock’s masterpiece come to life on stage, complete with car chases, plane crashes and the famous final cliff-hanger on Mount Rushmore. "One of our most internationally successful theatre directors Simon Phillips returns home with a production he created at Melbourne Theatre Company and now restages with a large cast of New Zealand actors."

Featuring: Ryan O'Kane, Antonia Prebble, Mustaq Missouri, Haanz Fa'avae-Jackson, Jonathan Martin, Michèle Hine, Andrew Grainger, Roy Snow, Wesley Dowdell, Nicola Kawana, Mel Odedra, and Alvin Maharaj.

Understudies: Jessie Lawrence, Daniel Watterson, and Andrew Laing.

The creatives are: Jessica Burns Associate Director - Matthew Kereama Assistant & Resident Director - Simon Phillips Co Set Designer- Nick Schlieper Co Set Designer & Lighting Designer - Ian McDonald Composer - Esther Marie Hayes Costume Designer - Amanda Carr Associate Costume Designer.

By special arrangement with Warner Bros Theatre Ventures. Originally produced by Kay & McLean Productions in association with the Melbourne Theatre Company.

October 25 through November 19, 2022 at ASB Waterfront Theatre Auckland Theatre Company, Auckland, NZ.

OMAR by librettist Rhiannon Giddens and composer Michael Abels. Omar is inspired by Dr. Ala Alryyes's translation of Omar Ibn Said's autobiography in his book A Muslim American Slave: The Life of Omar Ibn Said.

Conducted by Kazem Abdullah.

Directed by Kaneza Schaal.

In 1807, a 37-year-old scholar living in West Africa was captured and forced aboard a slave ship bound for Charleston, South Carolina. Omar Ibn Said's life and Muslim faith are remembered and retold in this inspirational West Coast premiere inspired by his remarkable 1831 autobiography (the only known surviving American slave narrative written in Arabic).

Set in the shifting darkness of memory and imagination, Omar follows his compelling journey from a peaceful life in his homeland to enslavement in a violent, foreign world. Lost in the wilderness of his thoughts and his stolen life, he's haunted by memories of his family and the people he encounters along the way. Through it all, he somehow remains true to himself and his faith, against all odds. The luminous score - composed by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels - incorporates distinctive West African traditions with traditional opera instrumentation.

Tenor Jamez McCorkle makes his company debut in the title role, with bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch in a double role as two very different slave masters. Norman Garrett makes his company debut as Omar's brother, with Barry Banks as the auctioneer and Jacqueline Echols as Julie, an enslaved woman who gives Omar the key to a better life.

The creatives are: production design by Christopher Myers. Scenery by Amy Rubin. Costumes by April M. Hickman and Micheline Russell-Brown. Lighting by Lucrecia Briceno. Projections by Joshua Higgason.

Sung in English with English subtitles.

Omar is co-produced by Spoleto Festival USA and Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and co-commissioned by LA Opera, Spoleto Festival USA, Carolina Performing Arts, Boston Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago.

L.A. opera presents Omar October 22 – November 13 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles.

SOLAR BONES the stage version of Mike McCormack’s award-winning novel.

Directed by Lynne Parker.

Marcus Conway has come home to his kitchen in Louisburgh Co. Mayo. Everything seems normal, yet he is haunted by the feeling that nothing is quite right. Poring obsessively over the details of his relationships, his world, and his work as an engineer brings him closer to an understanding of how the things and people he loves have come together, and how they have and must inevitably come apart.

Starring Stanley Townsend.

Dublin, Ireland debut on the Abbey stage from October 20-29, 2022.

WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE SEA by Jeff Augustin.

Directed by Princess Grace Award winner Joshua Kahan Brody.

A timely story of a son's quest to connect with his father. Lyrical story-telling and live folk songs from The Bengsons weave a tale of searching and longing, family and legacy. A Haitian immigrant travels from Miami to California on a once-in-a-lifetime road trip. Years later, his son makes the same journey in reverse. Along the way, blurring the lines of time, these two finally discover common ground and make a connection that has eluded them for decades.

The New York premiere production will feature Billy Eugene Jones and Chris Myers.

The production’s creative team includes Arnulfo Maldonado (scenic design), Dominique Fawn Hill (costume design), Stacey Derosier (lighting design), Ben Truppin-Brown (sound design), Sarah Lunnie (dramaturgy), Steph Paul (movement), and Roxana Khan (production stage manager).

Where the Mountain Meets the Sea was commissioned by and premiered in the 2020 Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville.

In previews ahead of a Wednesday, November 2, 2022 opening night at New York City Center – Stage I.

THE MOUSETRAP by Agatha Christie.

Directed by Jackson Gay.

Check in for a most memorable stay at Monkswell Manor…

It’s a freezing night in 1952 and a motley group of strangers find themselves suddenly trapped in an inn. As the snow falls, the body count rises — and the suspect list only seems to grow, as clues and possible motives are revealed at every turn. With intrigue, mystery, murder, and a dash of humor, this snowy getaway unfolds into a dangerous game of cat and mouse.

The cast includes:Brendan Dalton as Detective Sergeant Trotter - Yvette Ganier as Mrs. Boyle - Christopher Geary as Christopher Wren - Sam Morales as Mollie Ralston - Jason O’Connell as Mr. Paravicini - Giles Ralston Tobias Segal as Giles Ralston - Ali Skamangas as Miss Casewell - Greg Stuhr as Major Metcalf.

The creatives include: Scenic Design Riw Rakkulchon - Costume Design Fabian Fidel Aguilar - Lighting Design Krista Smith - Original Music & Sound Design Broken Chord - Wig & Hair Design Carissa Thorlakson - Vocal & Dialect Coach Thom Jones - Fight Director Ted Hewlett - Casting Alaine AldafferProduction - Stage Manager Avery Trunko - Assistant Stage Manager Noam Lautman.

Performances through November 6, 2022 at Hartford Stage in Hartford, CT.

CHUSHINGURA - 47 RONIN adapted and directed by Ako Dachs.

Based on one of the most enduring stories in Japan. Portraying real events that took place in 1702-1703 during Japan’s Shogun-led Edo period, this sprawling story of honor, betrayal, clan loyalty, sacrifice, justice, and revenge has been told and retold in hundreds of ways in Japanese books, plays, movies, television dramas, and animated series. This new stage adaptation will be performed mainly in Japanese with some English and supertitle translations throughout.

Cast includes Ako, Yoshi Amao, Saori Goda, Tatsuo Ichikawa, Rina Maejima, Jun Suenaga, Yasu Suzuki, Hiroko Yonekura, and Minami Yoshimura.
The creative team also includes Joshua Dachs (Scenic Design), Fumi Tanakada (Sound Design), Aaron Bowersox (Lighting Design), Kyo Kasumi (Tate Fight Director), and Kanako Morita (Stage Manager).

Beginning Performances on October 18. Opening night October 23, 2022 at @ A.R.T./New York Mezzanine Theater, New York City.

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This is not your typical, totally boring textbook.

In the pages of How To Earn A Living As A Freelance Writer (the first to be lied to and the last to be paid) you'll find sex, celebrities, violence, threats, unethical editors, scummy managers and lawyers, treacherous press agents, sex discrimination; as well as a how-to for earning money by writing down words.

FINAL OVATION

JAMES SEAGRAVE former reporter for the Las Vegas Review journal turned hotel publicist died September 28, 2022. He was 83.

Honest, hard working and personable, Jim was an excellent writer and an honorable publicity director in an industry where being honorable doesn't always take priority.

His first Las Vegas hotel publicity gig was at the Aladdin Hotel followed by the Flamingo Hotel where he remained until 1972, working on such stories as the discovery of a safe belonging to Bugsy Siegel and a bobcat who somehow found its way into the hotel.

Jim continued his career in hotel publicity and advertising at the Thunderbird and then at Caesars Palace. He then returned to journalism as a columnist, specializing in television and radio coverage, first at The Valley Times, then at the Review-Journal.

Jim's career continued to the Frontier, where he later became a hotel vice president and was involved in publicizing the hotel's showroom stars, Siegfried and Roy. In 1988, Jim began his longest tenure in publicity with Boyd Gaming. He went to work at the Stardust Hotel as Vice President of Advertising and Marketing. There he was involved in everything from annual parties celebrating longtime Las Vegans to the long-running Lido de Paris and Las Vegas legend Wayne Newton in the showroom. When the Stardust closed in 2006, Jim moved over to The Orleans until he retired in 2013.

Jim was preceded in death by his brother Father Tom Seagrave. He is survived by the love of his life, Janet Plowman Seagrave, (also an excellent reporter) who was totally devoted to him both in sickness and in health. They were married for 44 years. He is also survived by their adored daughters Elizabeth Nunan, her husband John, their daughter Alice James and son John Dudley of Pleasant Hill, CA; Jillian Head, her husband Carey, and their daughters Charley Jane and Eva Louise Kathryn, also of Pleasant Hill, CA. Other survivors include a sister and brother. Services were private.

EILEEN RYAN an American actress who was the widow of actor and director Leo Penn, and the mother of actors Sean Penn, Chris Penn, (who passed away in January 2006 at the age of 40) and singer Michael Penn died in Malibu, California on October 9, 2022 a week shy of her 95th birthday.

On Broadway, Ryan portrayed Evie in Sing Till Tomorrow (1953) and Lorraine in Comes a Day (1958).

She was known for her roles in Little House on the Prairie and The Twilight Zone.

Ryan appeared with her sons Sean and Chris in the 1986 film At Close Range, portraying the brothers' grandmother. She also makes an appearance in The Crossing Guard, which Sean directed.

In 1957 she married Leo Penn, an actor and active union member, who was blacklisted from the late 1940s to the late 1950s. The couple remained together for over 40 years, until Leo's death in 1998.

DAME ANGELA LANSBURY 5-time Tony Award winner who starred on stage, film and television, died October 11, 2022, five days before her birthday. She was 96.

Her career, one of the longest in the entertainment industry, spanned over 80 years.

Early in her career — onscreen and then on Broadway — Angela Lansbury revealed herself as an artist of immense range and power. But it was on television in the 1980s and 1990s that Lansbury, nearing 60, became a household name as detective Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote. She also excelled as the world’s most evil mother in the film The Manchurian Candidate and onstage in the Stephen Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd.

In April 1957, she debuted on Broadway at the Henry Miller Theatre in Hotel Paradiso, a French burlesque set in Paris. A Taste of Honey at the Lyceum Theatre followed. Her first appearance in a theatrical musical was Anyone Can Whistle, at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway in April 1964.

In 1966, Lansbury took on the title role of Mame Dennis in the musical Mame. which opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway in May 1966. The role resulted in Lansbury receiving her first Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical.

Lansbury followed the success of Mame with a performance as Countess Aurelia, the 75-year-old Parisian eccentric in Dear World, a musical adaptation of Jean Giraudoux's The Madwoman of Chaillot. The show opened at Broadway's Mark Hellinger Theatre in February 1969. She was awarded her second Tony Award on the basis of it.

In 1972, Lansbury returned to London's West End to perform in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Edward Albee's All Over at the Aldwych Theatre.

That was followed by her playing Rose in the musical Gypsy. Following the London run, in 1974 Gypsy went on a US tour. In Chicago Lansbury was awarded the Sarah Siddons Award for her performance. The show eventually reached Broadway, and earned Lansbury her third Tony Award.
Hamlet, at the Old Vic. Her next theatrical appearance was in two one-act plays by Edward Albee, Counting the Ways and Listening, performed side by side at the Hartford Stage Company in Connecticut. This was followed by another revival tour of Gypsy.

In April 1978, Lansbury appeared in 24 performances of a revival of The King and I at Broadway's Uris Theatre; Lansbury played the role of Mrs Anna, replacing Constance Towers, who was on a short break.

In March 1979, Lansbury first appeared as Nellie Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Opening at the Uris Theatre on Broadway, she starred alongside Len Cariou as Sweeney Todd, the murderous barber in 19th century London. It earned Lansbury her fourth Tony Award. She returned to the role in October 1980 for a ten-month tour of six U.S. cities, with George Hearn playing the title character; In 1982, she took on the role of an upper middle class housewife who champions workers' rights in A Little Family Business, a farce set in Baltimore in which her son Anthony also starred. It debuted at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre before heading on to Broadway's Martin Beck Theatre.

That year, Lansbury was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

The following year she appeared in a Mame revival at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre.

Lansbury returned to Broadway after a 23-year absence in Deuce, a play by Terrence McNally at the Music Box Theatre in May 2007. Lansbury received a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actress in a Play for her role.

In March 2009 she returned to Broadway for a revival of Blithe Spirit at the Shubert Theatre, in the role of Madame Arcati. This appearance earned her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play; this was her fifth Tony Award, tying her with the previous record holder for the number of Tony Awards, Julie Harris. From December 2009 to June 2010, Lansbury then starred as Madame Armfeldt alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones in the first Broadway revival of A Little Night Music, held at the Walter Kerr Theatre. The role earned her a seventh Tony Award nomination, while in May 2010, she was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from Manhattan School of Music.

From April to July 2012, Lansbury starred as women's rights advocate Sue-Ellen Gamadge in the Broadway revival of Gore Vidal'sThe Best Man at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. From February to June 2013, Lansbury starred alongside James Earl Jones in an Australian tour of Driving Miss Daisy. From March to June 2014, Lansbury reprised her performance as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End, her first London stage appearance in nearly 40 years. From December 2014 to March 2015, she joined the North American tour of Blithe Spirit.

In April 2015, aged 89, she received her first Olivier Award as Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Arcati, and in November 2015 was awarded the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre.

On November 18, 2019, Lansbury made her final return to Broadway portraying Lady Bracknell in a one-night benefit staging of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest for Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre. Lansbury received an Honorary Academy Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the BAFTA, a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award and five additional Tony Awards, six Golden Globes, and an Olivier Award. She also was nominated for numerous other industry awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress on three occasions, and various Primetime Emmy Awards on 18 occasions, and a Grammy Award. In 2014, Lansbury was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. She was the subject of three biographies

She is survived by her step-son, David, and children Deidre Angela Shaw and Anthony Pullen Shaw and their families.

ROBBIE COLTRANE OBE who gained fame in the role of Rubeus Hagrid in the popular Harry Potter film series died at a hospital in Larbert, Scotland on October 14, 2022. He was 72.

Born Anthony Robert McMillan he took the name Coltrane in honor of jazz saxophonist John Coltrane.

Considered one of Britain's most popular comedians who was head of debating society at school and won prizes for his art.

He started his career appearing alongside Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, and Emma Thompson in the sketch series Alfresco (1983–1984). In 1987, he starred in the BBC miniseries Tutti Frutti alongside Thompson, for which he received his first British Academy Television Award for Best Actor nomination. Coltrane then gained national prominence starring as criminal psychologist Dr. Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald in the ITV television series Cracker (1993–2006), a role which saw him receive the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in three consecutive years (1994 to 1996). In 2006, Coltrane came eleventh in ITV's poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars, voted by the public. In 2016 he starred in the four-part Channel 4 series National Treasure alongside Julie Walters, a role for which he received a British Academy Television Award nomination.

He appeared on stage in the first theatre production of John Byrne's The Slab Boys, at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh (1978).

He was appointed an OBE in the 2006 New Year Honours by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to drama. In 1990, Coltrane received the Evening Standard British Film Award – Peter Sellers Award for Comedy. In 2011, he was honored for his "outstanding contribution" to film at the British Academy Scotland Awards.

He is survived by son Spencer and daughter Alice.

Next Column: October 23, 2022
Copyright: October 16, 2022 All Rights Reserved. Reviews, Interviews, Commentary, Photographs or Graphics from any Broadway To Vegas (TM) columns may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, utilized as leads, or used in any manner without permission, compensation and/or credit.
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