Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: October 23, 2022
By: Laura Deni
CLICK HERE FOR COMMENT SECTION

HA L L O W E E N - H A P P E N I N G S

SALEM WITCHES' BALL in Salem, Mass, takes place Friday, October 28, 2022, at the Hawthorne Hotel. Join Christian Day, Brian Cain, and the Witches of Salem with guests Dragon Ritual Drummers as Witches and mortals alike gather from around the globe for a night of magic, music, powerful rituals, and prizes at the world’s most magical Halloween party. Join us as in days of old when fires burned on every hilltop and Witches gathered to feast, rejoice, and cast spells for the new year.

Bewitchments of the Evening include:
Dance in the Grand Ballroom to pop, party, and goth by DJ addambombb and laser light show.
The first 100 guests to arrive receive a gift bag filled with magical swag.
See into the future with a free psychic reading in Sophia's room.
Make contact with loved ones on the other side with an authentic Salem séance.
Immerse yourself in the rhythm of the Dragon Ritual Drummers both in a ballroom performance and, later for an intimate drumming circle upstairs.
Enjoy entrancing ceremonial dance by Hadiya.
Witchdoctor Utu and the Dragon Ritual Drummers will lead rituals and magic in the old ways of Witchcraft.

At evening's pinnacle, cast a magic circle in the grand ballroom with Christian Day, Brian Cain, and the Salem Witches loved ones are honored in the spirit world.
Costume Theme and Prizes - The theme for 2022 is The Wild Hunt, First prize is $1,000.

Then on Sunday, October 30, 2022, join the Salem Witches in the Grand Ballroom of the Hawthorne when the dead are honored with a dinner observed in solemn silence. Salem Warlocks Christian Day and Brian Cain lead a banquet of sumptuous cuisine where the only sound heard is music chosen in memory of the departed. Bring photos and mementos to summon the souls of your loved ones on the other side as you partake in the most sacred of all the ceremonies of Witchcraft. The Dumb Supper is an ancient tradition where the dead attend the living for a magical night of communion.

The evening opens with a blessing where each attendee is guided through the veil between the worlds to the realms of the dead where no one living may speak. Participants place their photos and mementos on an elaborate altar, at which time they are then seated and the feast is served.

The spirits have manifested in a variety of ways. Guests have recalled a ghostly touch, the scent of perfume, whispered messages, and even physical manifestations. "This is a solemn event where respect for the dead is crucial. By remaining silent, you open your heart and mind to those who have crossed over."

In keeping with tradition, the courses of The Dumb Supper are served backwards and the placement of everything down to the silverware is reversed as a means of weaving participants into the shadowy world of spirit. You'll begin with dessert and end with dinner rolls.

Food has been offered to the dead throughout history, from prehistoric man through to the Celts, Egyptians, Romans, Japanese, Chinese, and even in the Catholic church. Dining with the dead is an ancient tradition that honors our divine ancestors regardless of culture or creed. Whether you're a Witch or simply wish to embrace your loved ones on the other side. This is a most sacred event.

The Rules for the Evening. "This is among the most sacred events that any Witch holds and we take it very seriously. Before you purchase your tickets, you must agree to abide by our rules":
Latecomers Will Not Be Admitted. This event is about honoring the dead and inviting them to visit us in spirit form. To arrive late once the ritual of blessing has already commenced is to disrespect both the dead and the living who have come to connect with them. If you do not arrive on time, you will neither be admitted nor refunded so plan accordingly. No One May Speak During The Dinner - Cell Phones Must Be Turned Off During The Dinner - No phone use or texting in the dinning room - no photos taken. Those not obeying the rules will be silently ushered to leave without refund.

HALLOWEEN PARTY AT DRACULA'S CASTLE IN TRANSYLVANIA Festive dinner with a costume contest and prizes for best costumes. After dinner explore Transylvania’s symbol, Bran Castle. The edifice owes its fame both to its unique charm and to the myth Bram Stoker created around Dracula. Documentary evidence of the castle dates back as far as 1377.

Meet the Wicked Fairies and get lost in their euphoric dance along with a glass of local red wine.

The Halloween party starts in a giant tent situated on the property of Bran Castle. Stay spooky until 4:00 a.m.

Available for free if:
You don’t have a reflection in the mirror,
You decompose when sun light strikes you,
You’re over 200 years old,
Can use your wings to fly to Transylvania,
Well, this holiday is free for you!
Come join your fellow vampires in Transylvania.
Blood treats not included :-)

HALLOWEEN WEEKEND HOCUS-FOCUS FILM FESTIVAL The Alex Theatre kicks off its new screening series "The Alex Picture Show" with a Halloween weekend Hocus-Focus Film Festival. In support of local, rising filmmakers, the festival will pair each celebrated feature - including Donnie Darko, Hellboy, The Sixth Sense, The Shining, Beetlejuice, The Omen and A Nightmare on Elm Street - with a short horror film selected by the series curators Bud Coffey, Tina Salmassi and Miles Williams from submissions by student filmmakers from the greater Los Angeles area.

Friday, October 28: Donnie Darko (2001) - In this mesmerizing, cult-classic mind-bender, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, James Duval, Maggie Gyllenhaal; directed by Richard Kelly.

Saturday, October 29: Hellboy (2004) - A supernatural action adventure based on the Dark Horse Comics from visionary writer/director Guillermo Del Toro. Starring Selma Blair and Ron Perlman.

The Sixth Sense (1999) - A supernatural horror film by celebrated writer/director M. Night Shyamalan about a damaged psychologist who struggles to cure a troubled boy who believes he sees dead people. Starring Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osmet and Toni Collette.

The Shining (1980) - A psychological thriller by one of the greatest filmmakers of all time — Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is a chilling journey into madness where a sinister presence pushes a father towards violence against his family. Set against the winter backdrop of an isolated hotel, the film showcases one of Jack Nicholson’s most memorable performances. Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. Starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall and Danny Lloyd.

Sunday, October 30: Beetlejuice (1988) - A fantastical horror comedy by visionary director Tim Burton about a desperate couple of ghosts who hire a devious “bio-exorcist” to drive out the unbearable family that has moved into their former home. Starring Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O'Hara, Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton, with an original score by Danny Elfman.

The Omen (1976) - A supernatural horror classic about Damien, the young adopted child of an ambassador. A series of mysterious, violent events surrounding Damien lead his family to conclude he is the prophesied Antichrist. Starring Gregory Peck, Lee Remick and Harvey Stephens; directed by Richard Donner.

Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) - A supernatural slasher film by writer/director Wes Craven about Freddy Krueger, a disfigured midnight mangler who preys on teenagers in their dreams — which, in turn, kills them in reality. Starring Heather Langenkamp and Robert Englund. Debuting Johnny Depp.

HISTORIC NORTH THEATRE in Danville, Virginia, which currently boasts a night time eerie purple glow, has a tradition of showing Night of the Living Dead every Halloween season. The classic 1968 film has grown an almost cult like following through the years. The movie is about a ragtag group of Pennsylvanians who barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the East Coast of the United States. The film is shown in the intimate Gallery Screening Room Theatre on Friday, October 28, 2022.

On Sunday, October 23 and Saturday, October 29 it's Wayne Alan's 2022 Halloween Magic Spooktacular. Celebrity Magician Wayne Alan presents this family friendly show that features cool Halloween magic tricks, fun comedy, and audience participation. Even the youngest members of the family can enjoy this show, as there is nothing too scary or inappropriate for young children in the performance.

THE NEW YORK VILLAGE HALLOWEEN PARADE is on Halloween, Monday, October 31, 2022. The parade theme is Freedom.

"The nation’s most wildly creative public participatory event in the greatest city in the world!"

Tens of thousands of costumed partygoers, and more than fifty musical groups.

The official after party takes place at Webster Hall.

LONDON BRIDGE EXPERIENCE AND LONDON TOMBS located within the vaults of the original 1831 bridge, The London Bridge Experience traces the 2,000-year history of one of the world's most famous bridges.Take a trip into London Bridge's history, from Roman to modern times. Guests are led by actors on a tour through moments in London's history, including Boudicca's battles with the Romans, and The Great Fire of London. Then descend into the spooky haunted tunnels of the London Tombs.

As you travel through the history of the famous bridge, you’ll encounter different characters such as Jack the Ripper and The Keeper of the Heads as part of this immersive theatrical experience.

Smell, hear and see things from the bridge’s past, as you make your way through the Bone Yard, the hall of the living dead and past the Bloody Butcher, while you look out for the ghost of Emily!

The bone-chilling scare maze in London Tombs is next - creep around the haunted catacombs as zombies and other unspeakable creatures leap at you from the darkness. The experience has been named the winner of the Top Horror Attraction in the World by The Worldwide Attractions Awards and has been the Scare Awards’ holder of the UK's Scariest Attraction for the past 11 years.

EAST LYNNE THEATER COMPANY presents Phantom, Poe, and Rocky Horror in time for Halloween.

Phantom of the Opera, the 1925 silent classic horror film, accompanied by Wayne Zimmerman on the organ on Friday, October 28, Poe by Candlelight on Saturday, October 29, and the cult-classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Rotary Park in partnership with The City of Cape May, New Jersey, Phantom and Poe are being presented at The Cape May Presbyterian Church, where the Equity theater is in residence.

In 1908, Gaston Leroux wrote about a disfigured man who terrorizes the Paris Opera House and falls in love with the young leading lady. Providing his own original musical accompaniment on the organ, is Wayne Zimmerman, who has been playing for ELTC's silent films since 2011. At varying times he's served as organist at the Lansdowne Theatre in Lansdowne, PA, the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, PA, the Brookline Theatre in Havertown, PA, and the Merlin Theatre in suburban Philadelphia.

Started in 2015, Poe by Candlelight continues to be one of the company’s most popular events. This year, stories by the master of the macabre include "The Cask of Amontillado," "Bernice," "The Masque of the Red Death," and "The Tell-Tale Heart" read by Equity professional actors Matt Baxter Luceno, Amanda Brinlee, and Gayle Stahlhuth. After the performance, the audience will be treated to Halloween tasty treats "to go."

Over nearly 50 years, The Rocky Horror Picture Show has become a cult classic at which audience members are encouraged to wear costumes, yell out lines from the movie and even bring movie-related "props" like rice, toilet paper and toast.

E-Book

Soft back Book

Broadway To Vegas is supported through advertising and donations. Priority consideration is given to interview suggestions, news, press releases, etc from paid supporters. However, no paid supporters control, alter, edit, or in any way manipulate the content of this site. Your donation is appreciated. We accept PAYPAL.

Thank you for your interest.

E-Book

Soft back Book

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

PRINT OF KING CHARLES' BALMORAL CASTLE

Balmoral Castle by then Prince Charles. Photo: Bonham's

was gaveled down at $6,500 almost 10 times its estimate of $675. The print is one of only 100 in existence and was part of Bonham's The Scottish Homes auction.

The paining, sold with a certificate of authentication, is signed in pencil by Charles, with the year marked as 2001.

The King has long been an avid painter, specializing in watercolors.

Seventy-nine of his watercolor painting were recently displayed at The Garrison Chapel in London, marking the first full exhibit of his work. It featured outdoor scenes created in Scotland, France, Africa and more.

His Majesty is noted for traveling with his watercolor supplies and paints at every opportunity. He has been quoted as saying "I find it transports me into another dimension."

His father, Prince Phillip, was also an expert painter who favored oils.

THE CAMRON-STANFORD HOUSE in Oakland, California where you can explore their Ghoulish and Ghastly exhibit, on display through Sunday, November 6, 2023.

A haunting new exhibit where you can learn about the origins of some of your favorite Halloween monsters and traditions.

Did you know that some of our favorite creepy creatures, including Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Kraken were popularized during the Victorian era? What if we told you that the true crime podcasts you love today would have been just as loved in the 19th century? Explore how societal changes, including Scientific Progress, access to affordable printing, and religious exploration contributed to popularization of the gothic horror genre, and the rise of monsters- both real and fictional-- in 19th century popular culture.

Something Wicked This Way Comes…

After enjoying the exhibit in our downstairs gallery, muster your courage and venture into the Victorian period rooms for a wicked good time. Take a walk through our parlor rooms and witness the sinister scenes unfold before your eyes… if you dare.

The Haunted Garden (Halloween Party) takes place Sunday, October 30, 2022 from11:00 AM 3:00 PM.

MONSTER BASH 2022 ON THE USS HORNET MUSEUM docked at the former Alameda Naval Air Station in CA invites you to celebrate the Halloween season onboard the haunted USS Hornet for a Spooky Dance Party.

Wear your most Spooktacular costume and come boogie to the music of The Cocktail Monkeys! Featuring music from classical rock to today’s hits. When you take a break from dancing, make your way below into the Haunted Sick Bay.

The costume content has a First Place $300.00 Cash Prize - 2nd Place- $100.000 Cash Prize and 3rd Place- $100.00 Cash Prize.

Your admission fees go to support USS Hornet Education and Restoration Programs. The USS Hornet Sea, Air and Space Museum is one of many organizations across 46 states, Puerto Rico, and Panama that are part of the Smithsonian Affiliations program, all working to preserve heritages, expand knowledge and inspire learning.

FRIGHTFUL NIGHT AT HARVARD ART MUSEUM takes place Thursday, October 27. The pigment color Dragon’s Blood Red, from the museums’ famed Forbes Pigment Collection will be highlighted. Come dressed in your best macabre red and enjoy fright-themed activities for a chance to win a prize, mingle in the Calderwood Courtyard, and kick back with friends to the (eerily) smooth sounds of DJ C-Zone. Then get into the spooky season and watch the popular zombie thriller Train to Busan, set on a bullet train in South Korea, on Sunday, October 30.

TURNER PRIZE 2022 Tate Liverpool has unveiled an exhibition of work by the four artists nominated for the Turner Prize 2022: Heather Phillipson, Ingrid Pollard, Veronica Ryan and Sin Wai Kin. One of the world’s best-known prizes for the visual arts, the Turner Prize aims to promote public debate around new developments in contemporary British art.

The prize is returning to Liverpool for the first time in 15 years having helped launch the city’s year as European Capital of Culture. The winner will be announced on December 7, 2022 at an award ceremony at St George’s Hall, Liverpool.

HEATHER PHILLIPSON presents RUPTURE NO 6: biting the blowtorched peach, 2022. Reimagining her 2020 Tate Britain’s Duveen Galleries commission, Phillipson conjures what she calls ‘a maladapted ecosystem, an insistent atmosphere.’ Charged with colour, video and kinetic sculpture, and augmented with a brand-new audio composition, Phillipson proposes her space at Tate Liverpool as alive and happening in a parallel time-zone. It is, she says, ‘a whole new season’. Phillipson’s audacious and wide-ranging practice often involves collisions of wildly different materials, media and gestures in what she describes as ‘quantum thought experiments’.

INGRID POLLARD works primarily in photography, but also sculpture, film and sound to question our relationship with the natural world and interrogate ideas such as Britishness, race and sexuality. For the Turner Prize, Pollard presents Seventeen of Sixty Eight 2018, developed from decades of research into racist depictions of ‘the African’ on pub signs, ephemeral objects, within literature and in surrounding landscapes. Bow Down and Very Low – 123 2021 includes a trio of kinetic sculptures using everyday objects to reference power dynamics though their gestures, while the photo series DENY: IMAGINE: ATTACK 1991 and SILENCE 2019 look at the language of power, both emotional and physical.

VERONICA RYAN presents cast forms in clay and bronze; sewn and tea-stained fabrics; and bright neon crocheted fishing line pouches filled with a variety of seeds, fruit stones and skins to reference displacement, fragmentation and alienation. Rather than having fixed meanings, Ryan’s work is typically open to a wide variety of readings, as implied by titles such as Multiple Conversations 2019–21 or Along a Spectrum 2021. Made during a residency at Spike Island, the forms she creates take recognisable elements and materials – such as fruit, takeaway food containers, feathers, or paper – and reconfigure them, exploring ecology, history and dislocation, as well as the psychological impact of the pandemic.

SIN WAI KIN brings fantasy to life through storytelling in performance, moving image, and ephemera. Their work realises fictional narratives to describe lived realities of desire, identification, and consciousness. For the Turner Prize, Sin presents three films, including A Dream of Wholeness in Parts 2021 in which traditional Chinese philosophy and dramaturgy intersects with contemporary drag, music and poetry; In It’s Always You 2021 the artist adopts the roles of four boyband members, striving to take on the multiplicity of identities that transcend constructed binaries, while Today’s Top Stories, sees Sin playing the character of The Storyteller, posing as a news anchor who recites philosophical propositions on existence, consciousness, naming and identity.

The Turner Prize was established in 1984 and is awarded each year to a British artist for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work. The Turner Prize award is Ł55,000 with Ł25,000 going to the winner and Ł10,000 each for the other shortlisted artists.

The members of the Turner Prize 2022 jury are Irene Aristizábal, Head of Curatorial and Public Practice, BALTIC; Christine Eyene, Research Fellow, School of Arts and Media, UCLan; Robert Leckie, Director, Spike Island; and Anthony Spira, Director, MK Gallery.

The Turner Prize 2022 is curated by Sarah James, Senior Curator, Tate Liverpool, and Matthew Watts, Assistant Curator, Tate Liverpool.

Next year the Turner Prize 2023 will be hosted by Towner Eastbourne as the centrepiece of the gallery’s centenary program from September 28, 2023 to January 14, 2024.

E-Book

Soft back Book

SWEET CHARITY

MILK CRATE THEATRE in Alexandria, Australia is thrilled to be a finalist in the Mental Health Matters Awards for their 2021 production, Tiny Universe and to be nominated for a Sydney Metro Business Award for Outstanding Community Organization.

They also point out that "the Australia Council is advocating for arts and culture to be at the centre of government approaches to tackling the nation's mental health crisis."

They also offer "a big thank you to the Macquarie Group Foundation who supplied us with a gorgeous venue (and matched funding!) at our fundraising dinner last week. The foundation has a strong focus on increasing social and economic mobility and they have been generous supporters of Milk Crate over the years."

SPREADING THE WORD

PRINCE HARRY made a surprise appearance at the - by invitation only - Masters of Scale Summit at the Presido Theatre in San Francisco last Wednesday. He spoke openly about his own mental health struggles, and finally going to therapy, asserting that in his "other job" - that would be that royal one in England - he never heard the word "therapy" or "coaching." He credited his wife with inspiring him to seek help. He divulged that now "I have a coach; I wish I had two."

In the room were a "carefully curat(ed) audience for Summit to ensure the 800 leaders in the seats are as distinguished and diverse as those on stage" - including Doron Weber, vice president of the Alfred P. Sloam Foundation.

Harry hadn't been listed on the program. Those who were listed as speakers are a mind boggling assortment of powerful individuals including: Tyra Banks, Bill Gates, Ron Howard, Arianna Huffington, Tyler Perry, Her Royal Highness Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Ambassador to the United States from Saudi Arabia, the first female envoy in the country's history.

Other notable speakers included: Dara Khosrowshahi of Uber, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Angela Abrendts of Apple-Burberry's, Ken Frazier of Merck, Patrick Collison of Stripes, film producer Kiri Hart, Ted Sarandos of Netflix, Brian Chesky of Airbnb, Shellye Archambeau of Metricstreams, Tope Awotona of Calendly, JoeBen Bavirt of Joby Aviation, Greg Brockman of Open AI, Harden Brown up Upwork, Shou Chew of Tiktok, Lindsey Collins of Pixar, Hannah Cross of Numinun, Artist Derek DelGaudio, Francis deSouza of Illumina, author Keith Ferrazzi, Dylan Field of Figma, Kathryn Finney of Genius Guild, Rohan Gunatillake of Meditative Story, Scott Harrison of Charity Water, film producer Kiri Hart, David Horanik of The Lobby, Aurora James of The Fifteen Percent Pledge, Sallie Krawcheck of Ellevest, James Manyika of Google-Alphabet, spiritual guide Gracia Maria Mendizabai, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Alexi Robichaux of Betterup, Reid Robison of Numinus, Flow state/high performance expert Mike Rosenfeld, Linda Rottenberg of Endeavor, Ted Sarandos of Netflix, Eric Schmidt of Google, Blake Scholl of Boom Supersonic, demographer Jennifer Sciubba, Dharmesh Shah of Hubspot, Domee Shi of Pixar, clinical psychologist and best selling author Dr. Shefali Tsabary, Padmasree Warrior of Fable, Kristin Windbigler of Western Folklife Center and architect Bjarke Ingles.

The organization touts their "5-star-rated Masters of Scale Courses app helps business leaders cultivate entrepreneurial mindsets with short-form audio courses."

TO LIFE - AGAIN! FIDDLER ON THE ROOF IN YIDDISH RETURNS Miracle of miracles! National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s beloved Off-Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish is back this November in a seven-week return engagement at New World Stages, directed by Academy Award and Tony winner Joel Grey and starring Steven Skybell, who reprises his role as Tevye, a funny and honest milkman navigating family and faith in the little Russian shtetl of Anatevka.

On Sunday, October 30 the evening will feature Joel Grey discussing the genesis of the production, Steven Skybell on preparing for a role in a language you don’t know, Mlotek on the resurgence of Yiddish interest – and cast members performing Fiddler’s signature songs. Don’t miss the buzzy, Drama Desk Award-winning production of one of the greatest musicals ever written, presented in Yiddish with English and Russian supertitles. Laugh, cry, and feel the love at this powerful and universal testament to the strength and resilience of the Jewish community. 92NY in New York City.

ANNA MAY WONG an American actress, considered the first Chinese-American movie star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese-American actress to gain international recognition. has become the first Asian American to be featured on US currency.

Her birth name was Wong Liu Tsong, and her family gave her the English name Anna May.

The U.S. Mint will issues a quarter-dollar coin engraved with the image of Wong, who worked in Hollywood during a time of open racism and stereotyping. The coin featuring a close up profile of Wong with her signature bangs and long fingernails, her head resting on her hand, surrounded by the bright lights of a marquee sign, will begin circulating on Tuesday as part of the American Women Quarters Program, the U.S. Mint said in a statement.

"The fifth coin in our American Women Quarters Program honors Anna May Wong, a courageous advocate who championed for increased representation and more multi-dimensional roles for Asian American actors," Mint Director Ventris Gibson said.

"Along with the hard work, determination and skill Anna May Wong brought to the profession of acting, I think it was her face and expressive gestures that really captivated movie audiences, so I included these elements," said Mint designer Emily Damstra, who helped create the coin.

Wong was born in 1905 in Los Angeles as Wong Liu Tsong. She was cast in her first role as an extra in the film The Red Lantern in 1919 at age 14 and her first leading role in 1922 was in the The Toll of the Sea. She went on to appear in more than 60 films including one of the first movies made in Technicolor. She became the first Asian American lead actor in a U.S. television show for her role in The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong in 1951.

Dubbed Hollywood's first Asian American movie star, Wong championed the need for more representation and less stereotypical roles for Asian Americans on screen. Wong, who died in 1961, struggled to land roles in Hollywood in the early 20th century, a time of "yellowface," when white people wore makeup and clothes to take on Asian roles, and anti-miscegenation laws, which criminalized interracial relationships.

The roles she did land were laced with racial stereotypes and she was underpaid, earning $6,000 for her top billed role in Daughter of the Dragon compared to Warner Oland's $12,000, who only appeared in the first 23 minutes of the film. For Shanghai Express, Wong earned $6,000 while Marlene Dietrich made $78,166.

Passed up for leading roles, forcing her to go to Europe to act in films, and to London and New York to perform in theater, appearing as Minn Lee in the melodrama On The Spot from October 29, 1930 - March 21, 1931.

The American Women quarters program is a series of quarters featuring notable women in U.S. history, commemorating the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The United States Mint is issuing five designs each year from 2022 to 2025 for 20 total designs.

The Anna May Wong coin weighs 5,670 grams with a thickness of 1.77mm.

The reverse said depicts a portrait of George Washington, originally composed and sculpted by Laura Gardin Fraser to mark George Washington’s 200th birthday. A recommended design for the 1932 quarter, then-Treasury Secretary Mellon ultimately selected the familiar John Flanagan design.

Coin selections for 2023 include:

Bessie Coleman – first African American and first Native American woman pilot
Edith Kanaka?ole – indigenous Hawaiian composer, custodian of native culture and traditions
Eleanor Roosevelt – first lady, author, and civil liberties advocate
Jovita Idar – Mexican-American journalist, activist, teacher, and suffragist
Maria Tallchief – America’s first prima ballerina

JOHNNY MATHIS brings his The Voice of Romance Tour to the State Theatre of New Jersey in New Brunswick on Saturday, October 29, 2022. Opening for Mathis is special guest, Gary Mule Deer. Best-known for his supremely popular hits like Chances Are; It's Not For Me To Say, and Misty, Johnny Mathis has recorded close to 80 albums, six Christmas albums, and has sold millions of records worldwide. During his extensive career he has had three songs inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, achieved 50 Hits on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary Chart, and ranks as the all-time #6 album artist in the history of Billboard’s pop album charts. He has received five Grammy nominations, and in 2003 was given the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. His 1958 album Johnny’s Greatest Hits started the music industry tradition of Greatest Hits albums, which is noted in Guinness Book Of World Records for a nearly 10-year run on the Billboard Top Albums Chart.

RANDY RAINBOW starring in his The Pink Glasses Tour. Featuring live accompaniment by some of Broadway’s finest musicians, plus personal stories, an audience Q&A, and brand new original songs written by Rainbow. Wednesday, October 26 and Thursday, October 27, at The Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield, CT.

IAMA THEATRE COMPANY based in Los Angeles, has selected six Los Angeles-based playwrights to participate in this year's Emerging Playwrights Lab, an artistic home and writing community that fosters playwrights of varied backgrounds, vocations and skill levels.

Over the course of a one-year residency, early-career and emerging writers Amanda L. Andrei, Xavier Clark, Peter Pasco, Jasmine Sharma, Mak Shealy and Thomas DanĂ­el Valls will meet on a monthly basis to share and develop a full-length play in a peer-guided format led by program director Nicholas Pilapil. In addition, members of the Lab will be given dramaturgical support from the artistic and literary staff at IAMA, as well as a ticket to each of IAMA's mainstage productions. The Lab will culminate in the summer of 2023 with readings of the newly developed plays.

The 2022-23 season marks the fourth year of the program, known in prior years as the Under 30 Lab. IAMA has announced the world premiere of The Bottoming Process, written by Pilapil ť as the final offering of its 15th anniversary ť season in Spring 2023.

IN THE COURTS

KEVIN SPACEY was found not liable for battery in a lawsuit, filed in September 2020, which accused Spacey of assault and battery. Actor Anthony Rapp alleged that Spacey placed him on a bed and climbed on top of him in a sexual manner at a party held at Spacey’s Manhattan residence in 1986, when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was 26. The lawsuit sought $40 million in damages.

A jury composed of six women and five men deliberated for about an hour and concluded that Rapp did not prove that Spacey "touched a sexual or intimate part" of him.


The judge had previously dismissed Rapp's claim of sexual assault before the trial started and dismissed the intentional inflection of emotional distress claim after Rapp's attorney's rested their case, leaving the jury to decide only the battery claim.

Under New York law, battery is touching another person, without their consent, in a way that a reasonable person would find offensive. Spacey was represented by attorney Jennifer Keller.

CLEVELAND MUNICIPAL JUDGE PINKEY SUZNNNE CARR was removed from office after she was accused of "presiding in a manner befitting a game show host". After reading the charges, we are certain that all game show hosts would be offended at the comparison.

The American Bar Association Journal reported that in an October 18, 2022 opinion, The Ohio Supreme Court indefinitely suspended Carr and immediately removed her from judicial office without pay after a hearing panel concluded that she "ruled her courtroom in a reckless and cavalier manner" and "conducted business in a manner befitting a game show host."

Carr has been a Cleveland municipal court judge since January 2012. Before that, she was an assistant prosecuting attorney for Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

Among numerous serious legal infractions were some rather unusual complaints:

When Carr finally discontinued her no-notice hearings, she spelled out the B-word when giving this explanation in open court: "You notice I’m no longer the bill collector for the clerk’s office. I’m not your b- - - -. See, you get it? Collect your own money. There you go, player, mm-hmm. Collect your own money, player, mm-hmm. I’m not your b- - - -. Run tell that, mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. How you like them apples? Suckas."

According to the Ohio Supreme Court, Carr "presided over her courtroom from a bench covered with an array of dolls, cups, novelty items and junk that her own counsel found to resemble a flea market."

In addition, Carr sometimes "presided over her courtroom wearing workout attire, including tank tops, T-shirts (some bearing images or slogans), above-the-knee spandex shorts and sneakers," the state supreme court said.

During one set of proceedings in open court, Carr talked to defendants and staff members about a TV series called P-Valley that is set in a Mississippi strip club. She routinely referred to one of her bailiffs as 'Ms. Puddin' and announced that her P-Valley name would be 'Passion.' She also joked on multiple occasions that she would be amenable to some sort of bribe in exchange for lenience.

This story was first reported by Court News Ohio, the Legal Profession Blog, Law360, the Columbus Dispatch and Cleveland.com

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

BETTING ON BROADWAY Caesars Entertainment - the groups that owns Caesars Palace - wants to open a casino in Broadway's theater district resulting in polarizing the Broadway community. Those opposed call the comparability of Broadway musicals trying to counterpoint the sound of slot machines - off putting and causing overwhelming congestion.

Those who like the idea point out that casino reward points could be used to purchase tickets to Broadway shows.

The casino proposal would incorporate a stage for The Lion King much the same way Las Vegas casinos have showrooms.

The project could result in the largest casino in the world.

Caesars Palace Times Square would be located at 1515 Broadway— which is currently home to a 54-story office building, Caesars and SL Green Realty Corp., announced in a joint statement detailing their proposal.

"Caesars is thrilled to partner with SL Green in connection with a five-star project that will meet and exceed New Yorkers' expectations for world-class entertainment, immediately enhancing New York City's tourism engine and elevating this one-of-a-kind global destination to new heights," said Tom Reeg, CEO of Caesars.

"As one of the largest mobile sports books in New York, Caesars is passionate about New York itself. Caesars is also deeply invested in New York-based restaurant groups, chefs, and entertainers from across the Empire State."

In support: Actors’ Equity Association

Opposed: The Broadway League, which represents owners and producers of theater in New York.

A Manhattan casino is expected to bring in over $1 billion in annual revenue.

In 2014 New York state legislators legalized casinos, but stipulated such facilities couldn’t open in the New York City metropolitan area until 2023 or later.

THE NYC WOMEN'S FUND FOR MEDIA, MUSIC AND THEATRE is a groundbreaking initiative by MOME, in partnership with the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) to address the underrepresentation of female and female-identifying artists in film, television, music, digital, and theatre.

The application period for the fourth round of grants closes November 1, 2022.

E-Book

Soft back Book

QUEEN CAMILLA PRESENTS THE BOOKER PRIZE

Shehan Karunatilaka

to Shehan Karunatilaka, 47, for his novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida published by the independent press Sort Of Books. It's a dark comic murder mystery set in Colombo in 1990 during the Sri Lanken civil war.

This was the first in person Booker Prize ceremony since the pandemic.

Looking positively stunning in a black lace cocktail dress by Fiona Clare which was pared with a black clutch bag and Van Cleef diamond drop earrings. She was accompanied by her sister Annabelle Elliott, in a smart black trouser suit, to the ceremony at the Roundhouse.

Pop star Dua Lipa, 27, delivered a keynote speech on her love of literature. Queen Camilla also spoke with Natascha McElhone, who stars in The Crown playing Penny Knatchbull, the Countess Mountbatten of Burma, in a controversial depiction over her role as Prince Philip's purported 'secret lover'.

The Booker Prize is awarded every year to the best novel written in English.

The short listed authors were:
Percival Everett for The Trees.
Glory by BoViolet Bulawayo
Treacle Walker by Garner
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout

THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP (TCG) has announced the recipients of RECOGNIZE grants as part of the THRIVE! Uplifting Theatres of Color program. With $1,635,000 in support from Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF), TCG is working in partnership with an Advisory Circle of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) to provide unrestricted funds for Black theatres, Indigenous theatres and Theatres of Color (BITOC) based in the U.S. (including Tribal Nations and U.S. Territories). In this inaugural round of the program, The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation has joined as a supporting partner for theatres in Western states.

Twenty-two theatres are receiving RECOGNIZE grants and will participate in the REBUILD cohort: AlterTheater; Bindlestiff Studio; Breaking Wave Theatre Company; Eagle Project; East West Players; Golden Thread Productions; Hattiloo Theatre; Ikidowin Acting Ensemble; Junebug Productions; KC Melting Pot Theatre Productions; Last Call; Lower Depth Theatre; National Black Theatre; Native Voices at the Autry; New Native Theatre; Pangea World Theater; Penumbra; Safe Harbors NYC; San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (SFBATCO); Silk Road Rising; Su Teatro and Teatro Vista.

THE LATIN RECORDING ACADEMY has announced that Mexican muralist Quetzal Fuerte has been selected as the official artist of the 23rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards.

Approaching this year’s official Latin Grammy artwork with a fresh lens, Quetzal’s mural for The Latin Academy reflects his distinct signature style while merging a unique perspective showcasing the energy of Latin music through the use of colors. The mural is on display in Morelia, Mexico and a sister piece will soon be created at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles in November, in an effort to provide access to art and local enthusiasm for the upcoming Latin Grammys. Quetzal’s work will be featured prominently on collateral materials and as an exclusive NFT before and during the 23rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards.



BECKY NURSE OF SALEM by Sarah Ruhl.

Directed by Rebecca Taichman.

A dark comedy about a modern-day descendant of accused Salem witch Rebecca Nurse. Our 21st century Becky (Deirdre O’Connell) gives tours in the Salem Witch Museum, and is about to lose her job for going off-script (and off-color) with a visiting student group. (Is it her fault her boss doesn’t believe her when she says the actual trials took place in the spot now occupied by the Dunkin’ Donuts and not the Walgreens? Why won’t anyone listen to her?) Looking for love and redemption through spells, pills, and a bartender named Bob, Becky turns to a bit of witchcraft to set things right and have her voice heard. Featuring (in alphabetical order): Tina Benko, Candy Buckley, Alicia Crowder, Deirdre O'Connell, Thomas Jay Ryan, Julian Sanchez, Bernard White.

Previews begin Thursday, October 27, 2022 in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, New York City.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN a visceral stage adaptation by Jack Thorne of the best-selling Swedish novel and film by John Ajvide Lindqvist.

Directed by Alexander Berlage.

This modern-day horror story will have you on the edge of your seat! This one's for the vampire love story fanatics. Oskar is a lonely, bullied teenager who lives with his mother in a bleak apartment building on the edge of town. Eli just moved in next door – she doesn’t go to school and never leaves her flat. They quickly become unlikely friends, but when a series of grisly unexplained murders plague the neighbouhood, their friendship is tested beyond all imaginable limits.

The cast: Oskar: Will McDonald - Eli: Sebrina Thornton-Walker - Hakan: Stephen Anderton - Micke: Callan Colley - Jonny: Eddie Orton - Halmberg & others: Josh Price - Mum & others: Monica Sayers - Kurt & others: Matthew Whittet - Swing: Hayley Edwards - Swing: Marcus Rivera.

The creatives include: Set & Costume Designer: Isabel Hudson - Lighting Designer: Trent Suidgeest - Composer: James Peter Brown - Sound Designer & Video Designer: Daniel Herten - Associate Director: Cassie Hamilton - Stage Manager: Ella Griffin - Assistant Stage Manager: Abby Gallaway - Costume Supervisor: Bethany Hewitt - Voice and Dialect Coach: Linda Nicholls-Gidley - Fight Director & Special Effects Coordinator (Blood): Tim Dashwood - Intimacy Coordinator: Bayley Turner - Head Electricians: Jasmine Rizk and Corey Potter - Production Electrician: Lucia Haddad - Access, Equity & Inclusion Consultant: Dino Dimitriadis & Cessalee Stovall - Stage Management Swing: Daniel Cottier - Casual Assistant Stage Mananger: Nathan Sandy - Sound Design Secondment: Jessica Pizzinga - Directors Lab participants: Imbi, Daley Rangi and Steven Ljubovic.

Presented by the Darlinghurst Theatre. On at the Eternity Playhouse until November 20, 2022.

THE WRECKERS by composer, conductor, author, and suffragist Dame Ethyl Smyth.

Conducted by Patrick Summers.

Directed by Louisa Muller.

Chorus director Richard Bado.

Dame Ethel Smyth’s epic 1906 opera The Wreckers gets its first-ever full-scale production from a major American opera company. This must-see new production stars Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke as the resolute Thirza whose husband, the preacher Pascoe, declares to the coastal community that shipwrecks along their shore are meant to be pillaged—and meant to be premeditated by leaving the lighthouse dark. But Thirza’s heart and conscience are not with her husband or with his dangerous methods. Someone among them is secretly warning the ships of danger, and the villagers search for the traitor while Thirza embraces her convictions, no matter the cost. Acclaimed HGO Studio alumni Reginald Smith, Jr. and Norman Reinhardt sing the roles of Pascoe and Mark, the fisherman in love with the married Thirza. Radiant soprano and HGO Studio alumna Mané Galoyan performs the role of Mark’s unhappy ex, Avis.

With Daniel Belcher as Lawrence, Paul Groves as Tallan, Luke Sutliff as Harvey and Sun-Ly Pierce as Jack.

The creative team includes: Christopher Oram Set and Costumes Designer - Marcus Doshi Lighting Designer - Adam Noble Intimacy / Fight Director.

The Wreckers made its world premiere in 1906. Smyth was a musical polymath, a phenomenally gifted person in an era in which women were barely allowed to make music, much less create it. She not only broke the glass ceiling on composers, but she also ignited the slow progress of female composers across musical history, to our current world in which female composers and conductors are now what they should have been on along: composers and conductors.

More than a century after its premiere, The Wreckers is finally getting its first staging from a major American opera company. Join us at the Wortham for HGO’s new production of Smyth’s lost masterpiece.

According to Dr. Leah Broad, music historian at Oxford University, who is currently writing a book on four female composers, including Dame Ethel Smyth: "When Ethel Smyth died in 1944, she was remembered as being "magnificent: a militant, unself-conscious original in the great tradition of the eccentric nineteenth-century Englishwoman." One of her friends observed that "everyone has his own Ethel Smyth story, and they are mostly true." The composer was just as famous for her outlandish dress (tweeds, always), outspoken political views (conservative), and dynasty of sheepdogs (all called Pan) as she was for her six operas, 11 books, and three honorary doctorates in music.

"In both Britain and the United States she was known as the composer of the suffrage anthem “The March of the Women,” which was sung everywhere by women’s rights campaigners, from private homes to the steps outside the Capitol. This song was central to one of the most enduring Ethel Smyth stories: during her two-year involvement in the suffrage campaign, she was jailed alongside her friend, movement leader Emmeline Pankhurst, and when a colleague went to visit, he found Smyth leading her fellow inmates in a rousing rendition of the March, conducting from her cell window with a toothbrush. When Smyth was born in 1858, composition was considered a man’s domain. Women were accepted as interpreters, but many believed it not only improbable but biologically impossible for a woman to become a great composer. The female mind was simply thought incapable of mastering the kind of abstract reasoning needed to create complex musical forms.

Smyth was the first woman to have an opera performed at both the Metropolitan Opera in New York and Covent Garden in London, the first woman to be awarded a DBE for services to music, and the first woman to conduct her own orchestral compositions at the Proms in London.

She herself felt that The Wreckers (1904) was "the work by which I stand or fall," and its first reviewers declared it "a composition of great power." It was an opera nearly 20 years in the making.

"The man who provided the opera’s text was the writer and philosopher Henry Brewster, with whom Smyth was in a long-standing partnership. Their relationship had not been an easy one—it began as a spectacularly messy love triangle after Smyth fell in love with both Henry and his wife, Julia. Despite Henry’s pleading and protestations, Julia refused to countenance an open marriage, sparking years of pain and debate as her husband tried to negotiate the three-way relationship that he wanted. Eventually Henry did leave Julia for Smyth, and by the time they collaborated on The Wreckers they had been openly but discreetly co-existing for years as romantic partners," according to Broad.

An original Houston Grand Opera production. English translation by Amanda Holden. October 28 - November 11, 2022 at the Brown Theater in Houston, Texas.

E-Book

Soft back Book

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

DEAN "DIZ" LAIRD Navy legend and movie stunt pilot, died last August 10, 2022 in Walnut Creek, California at the age of 101.

He was most famous for the fact that he was the only Navy Ace from WW2 who shot down both German and Japanese aircraft.

He flew 175 combat missions and served on 12 aircraft carriers. He was qualified in 100 different aircraft.

Laird won first place at the 1949 National Air Races flying an F2H Banshee – an early jet – from the USS Midway in the Atlantic to Cleveland, Ohio, clocking 549 mph, the fastest air speed recorded at the time.

He celebrated his 90th birthday by parachuting out of a plane for the first time.

He was also the lead stunt pilot - flying 160 hours worth of stunts - for the 20th Century Fox blockbuster movie Tora! Tora! Tora! He also helped choreograph the reenactment of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

A recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Congressional Gold Medal, Diz is survived by his sister Sara Laird; son Mike (Clare); daughter Andrea (Scott); grandchildren Chris, Greg, Daniel, Sherryn, Jon, Michele, Eric, and Dean, as well as 13 great grandchildren. Diz was preceded in death in 2014 by Lorraine, his wife of 71 years, and his daughter Diane in 2008.

JOANNA SIMON Emmy award winning renowned mezzo-soprano and sister of Carly and Lucy Simon died from thyroid cancer in a Manhattan hospital on Wednesday, October 19, 2022, a day before her sister Lucy died. She was 85.

She made her professional debut in 1962 as Cherubino in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro at New York City Opera. The same year, she won the Marian Anderson Award, an annual prize given to a promising young singer.

She was the first to sing the role of Pantasilea, a courtesan in 16th-century Italy, in Bomarzo, by the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera, when it made its debut in 1967 at the Opera Society of Washington (today the Washington National Opera). That performance won her worldwide acclaim, and she reprised it in New York and Buenos Aires.

The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour on PBS as a cultural correspondent. She won an Emmy Award in 1991 for a documentary on creativity and manic depression.

She married Gerald Walker, a novelist and editor at The New York Times Magazine, in 1976. He died in 2004. She dated Walter Cronkite until his death in 2009.

In addition to her sister Carly, she is survived by her stepson, David Walker, and a step-grandson. Her brother, Peter, a photojournalist, died in 2018.

LUCY SIMON Tony nominated and Grammy winning composer and sister of Carly and Joanna Simon died October 20, 2022 at her home in Piedmont, New York, after an extended battle with breast cancer. She was 82.

Only the third woman to compose a Broadway musical. She recorded and performed as a singer and songwriter, and was known for the musicals The Secret Garden and Doctor Zhivago. In 1963, Simon began performing with her sister Carly Simon as the Simon Sisters.

She received a Tony nomination in 1991 for best original score, for the musical The Secret Garden.

Lucy went to nursing school and married David Levine, a psychiatrist, whom she met through singer-songwriter Judy Collins.

After taking a break from music to raise their two children, she recorded two solo albums for RCA, Lucy Simon (1975) and Stolen Time (1977). Ms. Simon and her husband also produced two Grammy-winning children’s albums, In Harmony (1980) and In Harmony 2 (1981), featuring contributions from artists including Carly Simon and her then-husband James Taylor.

In addition to her sister Carly, survivors include her husband; her children, Julie Simon and James Levine; and four grandchildren.

Next Column: October 30, 2022
Copyright: October 23, 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.
Link to Main Page

---

Laura Deni

For the snail mail address, please E-mail your request.