Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: September 18, 2016
By: Laura Deni
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I'M GETTING MY ACT TOGETHER AND TAKING IT ON THE ROAD PAVED THE WAY FOR OTHERS

Considered one of the most enduring and empowering Off-Broadway musicals of all time, I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It On The Road, with a book and lyrics by Gretchen Cryer and music by Nancy Ford, opened June 14, 1978 at the Public Theater and later moved to the Circle in the Square for a total of 1,165 performances, and subsequently spawned productions from Chicago, to the West End and Germany. Recently, a successful production was staged in London.

Cryer and Ford met in a music class at DePauw University. The two forged a friendship that eventually led to a number of professional collaborations. While much attention has recently been paid to acknowledge that female songwriting teams have conquered Broadway, Ford and Cryer - both women - unfortunately have been basically shoved under the composing rug.

I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It On The Road not only had some groundbreaking musical combinations and head-on confronted convoluted feelings the general public held about the feminist movement, Cryer and Ford broke the musical testosterone ceiling.

Cryer also made history by being the only woman to have ever penned the book, lyrics and star in a major hit musical.

Finally, a cast recording of the original off-Broadway, New York Shakespeare Festival production has been releases by Masterworks Broadway.

The year is 1978, the place, Greenwich Village. On the afternoon of her thirty-ninth birthday, Heather Jones (played by Gretchen Cryer) has recently undergone a bitter divorce and is rehearsing for opening night of her new cabaret act.

Innovative for its day with the integration of rock and musical theater type compositions, it's part pop-rock and all heart. The story follows the fictional cabaret singer as she evolves her traditional act of romantic pop tunes to a bold new act full of personal emancipating and feminist pieces. As she performs the new show, song by song, Heather fights to achieve an artistic metamorphosis while her dominating manager, Joe, tries to keep her act in the past.

The production has been around for over 40 years, so there is no point in discussing musical construction, arrangements or singing styles which were totally appropriate for the production. Debuting at a time of the heated yin-yang of social change, the show was both lauded and panned - because it caused the patron to think and challenged a mindset. There were press performances where nobody liked it - except the paying public.

The CD captures the music - sometimes thin and frothy Smile and Old Friend; other times demanding and statement making Miss America. and Strong Woman Numbers. Enjoying this CD is more than a trip down memory lane, it's also a look at today.

The booklet contains a story synopsis, and anecdotes about Joe Papp. It's a short CD, about 31 minutes which is worth listening to many times over.

Cast: Joe played by Joel Fabiani. Heather is Gretchen Cryer Alice is Margot Rose. Cheryl is played by Betty Aberlin and Jake is played by Don Scardino.

Musically backed by The Liberated Man's Band whose members are:

Scott Berry piano, Synthesizer - Nancy Ford additional keyboards - Don Scardino and Lee Grayson, guitars - Bob George drums - Dean Swenson bass, banjo.

Orchestrations created by the band with the composer. Orchestrations for Strong Woman Number by Elliot Weiss. Female background vocals: Margot Rose, Betty Aberlin, Gretchen Cryer, Male backup vocals: Don Scardino, James Mellon, Scott Berry, Lee Grayson Bob George, Dean Swenson.

Produced for Records by Edward Kleban. Associate Album Producer Craig Zadan. Reissue Executive Album Producer Bill Meade. A New York Shakespeare Festival Production Engineer and mixed at by Frank Laico at Columbia Recording Studio B New York City. Recordist: Ted Brosnan. Mastered for compact disc by Debra Parkinson, Sony Music Studios, New York City.

Oh, yes, Gretchen Cryer is mother to actor Jon Cryer and to daughters Robin, who has appeared with her in cabaret shows, and Shelley, who is a theatrical make-up artist.










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ART AND ABOUT

TRY OUT THE GOLD TOILET

Fully functional 18-carat gold toilet available for use by tourists. Photo: Guggenheim’s chief photographer, David Heald

get your bum on board. Billed as an interactive exhibit, it's not so much hands-on as tush down.

Those experiencing nature's call may relieve themselves in an 18-carat solid gold toilet at New York City's Guggenheim Museum.

Miltan, Italy artist and sculptor Maurizio Cattelan, 55, a truck driver's son, created the fully functional gold camode, which he has titled America.

The classy dump bucket has been installed in one of the Guggenheim's public bathrooms on the museum’s fourth floor replacing one of the Guggenheim's porcelain toilets in a one-person, unisex, restroom. While there isn't an attendant to hand you a towel, hoping for a tip, a guard is posted nearby in the hall.

Cattelan intends visitors to use the toilet just as they would any other restroom facility in the building.

Cattelan is often described as the art world’s resident prankster and provocateur; this installation is the first artwork he has produced since his 2011–12 Guggenheim retrospective, Maurizio Cattelan: All, which initiated the artist’s self-imposed exile.

The new work makes available to the public an extravagant luxury product seemingly intended for the 1 percent. Its participatory nature, in which viewers are invited to make use of the fixture individually and privately, allows for an experience of unprecedented intimacy with an artwork. Cattelan’s toilet offers a wink to the excesses of the art market, but also evokes the American dream of opportunity for all, its utility ultimately reminding us of the inescapable physical realities of our shared humanity.

As an art historical gesture, America references Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain (1917), a urinal presented as sculptural readymade. Created nearly a century after Duchamp’s seminal work, Cattelan’s installation may be understood as countering the artistic transgression of Fountain by restoring the function of their shared subject. America also alludes to Piero Manzoni’s examination of creative labor and value in the series Artist’s Shit (1961), in which Manzoni allegedly canned his own excrement and sold each container at a price equal to its weight in gold.

America is organized by Nancy Spector, Former Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Brooklyn Museum and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation).

PROUST'S MUSE, THE COUNTESS GREFFULHE

Photograph by Otto, the Countess Greffulhe in a ball gown, circa 1887. © Otto/Galliera/Roger-Viollet.

features extraordinary fashions from the legendary wardrobe of Élisabeth de Caraman-Chimay, the Countess Greffulhe (1860–1952). A famous beauty celebrated for her “aristocratic and artistic elegance,” the countess was a fashion icon comparable to Daphne Guinness today.

Proust’s Muse is based on La Mode retrouvée: Les robes trésors de la comtesse Greffulhe, an exhibition organized in Paris by Olivier Saillard, director of the Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris, which is the repository of the countess’s wardrobe. Dr. Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at FIT, has organized the exhibition in New York in collaboration with Saillard. She also contributed an essay, The Aristocrat as a Work of Art, to the French catalog.

“The Countess Greffulhe believed in the artistic significance of fashion,” says Steele. “And although she patronized the greatest couturiers of her time, her style was very much her own. Today, when fashion is increasingly regarded as an art form, her attitude is especially relevant.” When Marcel Proust wrote his novel In Search of Lost Time (À la recherche du temps perdu), the Countess Greffulhe inspired his immortal character, Oriane, the Duchess de Guermantes, of whom he wrote, “Each of her dresses seemed like…the projection of a particular aspect of her soul.”

On display will be the countess’s famous “Lily Dress” (circa 1896), attributed to the House of Worth and photographed by Paul Nadar. Both the design of the dress and the staging of the photograph owed much to the countess’s ideas. The dress’s princess line, for example, was atypical for the time, but was very flattering to her tall, slender figure. The motif of lilies refers to a verse in her honor, composed by the dandy-poet Robert de Montesquiou, who served as the main inspiration for another of Proust’s characters, the Baron de Charlus.

In her correspondence with Montesquiou, Élisabeth Greffulhe confessed, “I don’t think there is any pleasure in the world comparable to that of a woman who feels she is being looked at by everybody, and has joy and energy transmitted to her.” Her fascination with photography, also documented in the exhibition, was related to her desire to fix the image of beauty.

House of Worth, tea gown, blue cut velvet on a green satin ground, Valenciennes lace, circa 1897. © Stéphane Piera/Galliera/Roger-Viollet.

Another highlight of the exhibition is an exotic emerald green and blue robe d’intérieur (1897), which epitomizes the countess’s audacious style. She loved to wear green, which complemented her auburn hair.

A pioneering fund-raiser, the countess was a major supporter of the Ballets Russes, and in the years prior to the First World War her fashions also gravitated toward avant-garde Orientalist styles.

When Proust describes the exotic Fortuny gowns of his fictional Duchess de Guermantes, evoking “that Venice loaded with the gorgeous East,” he was clearly inspired by the Countess Greffulhe.

During the 1930s, an era of great female designers, she favored sophisticated evening dresses by couturières such as Louiseboulanger, Nina Ricci, and Jeanne Lanvin. (The Countess Greffulhe also raised funds to support the great female scientist Marie Curie.)

Special Exhibitions Gallery September 23, 2016 – January 7, 2017 Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City.

THE GEORGE WELLES APOLLO SOCIETY has donated a portrait bust of a Flavian matron depicting a member of Ancient Roman nobility to the Toledo Museum of Art’s collection.

The sophisticated Ancient Roman woman is framed by carefully chiseled corkscrew curls, a standard hairstyle of the time, and her cheeks are stained with a faint yellow, a sign the bust was most likely part of a memorial to the deceased. (Dabbing palm oil on the cheeks of these funerary sculptures was one of the rituals of Ancient Romans.) It is on display in the Museum’s Classic Court.

“Her face is intact, which is exceptional,” said Adam Levine, associate director and lead curator for this year’s Apollo selection process. “We don’t know who she was, but she was obviously a woman of some means to have this bust made.”

The Georgia Welles Apollo Society, formerly known as the Apollo Society, is a group of donors who pool their funds annually to purchase a work of art for the Museum.

1920s JAZZ AGE FASHION AND PHOTOGRAPHS presents a glittering display of haute couture and ready-to-wear fashion from 1919 to 1929.

Women’s clothing in the 1920s reflected dizzying social change on an unprecedented scale. From Paris and London to New York and Hollywood, the decade following the Great War offered the modern woman a completely new style of dressing. With over 150 garments, this stunning selection of sportswear, printed day dresses, fringed flapper dresses, beaded evening wear, velvet capes, and silk pajamas reveals the glamour, excess, frivolity and modernity of the decade.

Colorful illustrations by Gordon Conway from the Illustrated London News Archive at Mary Evans and photographs by Abbe, Beaton, Man Ray, and Baron de Meyer highlight the role of photographs and magazines in promoting the 1920s look.

Opens Friday, September 23, 2016 at Fashion and Textile Museum in London.

SWEET CHARITY

MUSICIANS AND FRIENDS OF THEODORE BIKEL will gather Tuesday, September 27 for Remembering Theo, a memorial concert in New York at Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College is New York City.

Presented by Partners for Progressive Israel. Funds raised will go to the organization’s Theodore Bikel Fund for Peace and Social Justice.

Actor, vocalist and activist Theodore Bikel died July 21, 2015 at age 91 in Los Angeles. The evening of remembrance will feature musical performances by many of Bikel’s friends and treasured colleagues including David Broza, Peter Yarrow, Frank London, Lorin Sklamberg, Debra Straus, Jeff Warschauer, Zalmen Mlotik, Grammy winner Hazzan Mike Stein, Hankus Netsky, Daniel Khan and the Fiddler on The Roof Alumni Ensemble which includes Tevy's daughters who performed with Theo: Tamra Hayden, Sue Cella, Eileen Tepper, Vanessa Lemonides, John Preece, Michael Iannucci, Nick Rafaello, Jonathan Hadley.

Musical directors of the evening are Hankus Netsky and Matthew Lazar.

Speakers will include Sheldon Harnick, Theo's widow Aimee Ginsburg Bikel and Rabbi Amichai Lau Lavie.

Theodore Bikel was an Oscar-and Tony-nominated actor and folk singer who played Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof in over 2000 performances and originated the role of Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music on Broadway. He was also an accomplished film and TV actor and a long-time president of Actors Equity Association. In 1959, he co-founded the Newport Folk Festival, where he frequently appeared with the likes of Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary and Joan Baez.

A long-time activist for peace and human rights in the Middle East, Bikel was Chair, from 2005 until his death, of Partners for Progressive Israel that introduces Americans to Israeli groups and organizations which are successfully working to bring Israel to a progressive, socially responsible path. The organization is presenting this memorial evening as a benefit for its Theodore Bikel Fund for Peace and Social Justice.

That Fund was established in his memory in 2015 to affirm Bikel's legacy by wedding the arts and social activism. It offers scholarships to young intern-activists who volunteer to work in Israeli nonprofits advancing Civil and Human Rights, Social and Environmental Justice, and Women's and LGBTQ Rights. The interns then use their creative talents to generate written, film and educational materials to advance these causes.

BACK TO SCHOOL BENEFIT for MoMA PS1's annual exhibition fund.

Get schooled as MoMA PS1 returns to its origins as a public school with a one-night-only event organized by artist Ryan McNamara. Across MoMA PS1's entirely empty galleries, artists will assume the roles of moony art teachers, intimidating PE coaches, goths, jocks, and cheerleaders - but their activities will be anything but typical.

Roam the hallways to enjoy participatory performance works, an open bar, and nostalgic childhood snacks, culminating with an epic dance party in the gymnasium. Featuring performances, lectures, installations, and other activations by Morgan Bassichis, Claire Bishop, Nikki Columbus, FlucT, Jessica Mitrani, Sam Roeck, Justin Strauss, and more.

Friday, September 23, 2016. Class is in Session three hour event following by a two hour Pep Rally. Dress Code: Come As You Were - explained as "jock, nerd, prep, cheerleader, goth, stoner, mean girl, punk, emo, teacher's pet, weirdo, band geek."

BERNADETTE PETERS multiple Tony Award-winning Broadway icon will perform at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis’s 50th Anniversary Gala on Saturday, September 24, at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel.

DONALD O'CONNOR WAS ALSO A SONGWRITER

Top of sheet music cover. Photo: Laura Deni

Everyone remembers dancer, singer and actor Donald O'Connor for his legendary movie roles especially with Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds in Singin' in the Rain, or in There's No Business Like Show Business which featured Irving Berlin's music, and also starred Marilyn Monroe, Ethel Merman, Mitzi Gaynor and Johnnie Ray.

Or, those Francis the Talking Mule movies.

Later in his career he regularly appeared in Las Vegas.

He co-starred with Chita Rivera in the Broadway production of Bring Back Birdie, which was a less impressive sequel to the original Bye Bye Birdie. His next Broadway effort as Cap'n Andy in the 1983 revival of Showboat proved to be a hit.

Yet, few know that O'Connor was a published songwriter.

I can't find any reference to that fact in any of his biographies.

Yet, he was.

I have the sheet music.

I have some old sheet music, some even going back to before my time. In trying to clean and polish a chest of drawers I came across I Waited A Little Too Long with words and music by Sidney Miller and Donald O'Connor. Lou Halmy is credited with the arrangement. It's a sweet song about a man regretting losing a woman he loved. Instructions indicate it should be sung "slowly and with feeling."

The copyright is listed as 1952. O'Connor's first marriage ended in divorce in 1953. That union has been described as "a rather turbulent relationship."

Co-writer Miller, who died in 2004, was a prolific director and actor. Miller first paired with O'Connor for comedy sketches on the early 1950s television variety show Colgate Comedy Hour, and nearly two decades later produced The Donald O'Connor Show.

I Waited a Little Too Long was published by the Bishop Music Co. Sale Selling Agents. Music Dealers Service, Inc. 426 West 55th Street. New York, New York. The sheet music sold for 40 cents.

The A.S.C.A.P. seal is located on the inside cover.

Just thought it was an interesting sidelight about a star everyone thought they knew so well.

SPREADING THE WORD

KICKOFF CEILI Join the Irish Rep Theatre as Matthew Broderick cuts the ribbon to celebrate the Irish Rep's first season back home in Chelsea.

September 24, 12:00 – 4:00pm with the ribbon cutting at 1pm at 132 West 22nd Street, NYC.

Free for the whole family.

This party is too big for walls to contain - so - an outdoor stage will feature Irish bands and step dancers from, while indoors poetry readings, performances, workshops, and a magic show for the little ones will take place on the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage and in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre. There will be face painting for the kids, dance classes and even a chance for you to perform on the Irish Rep stage.

THE LATIN RECORDING ACADEMY'S 2016 LATIN GRAMMY ACOUSTIC SESSIONS will feature headline performances by five-time Latin Grammy winners Jesse & Joy, two-time Latin Grammy-winning duo Sin Bandera, and Latin pop trailblazer Gloria Trevi. An exclusive by invitation-only concert series, Latin Grammy Acoustic Sessions give guests an up-close-and-personal experience with some of today's most talented Latin musicians.

Nominations for the 17th Annual Latin Grammy Awards will be announced the morning of Wednesday, September 21. Later that evening, Sin Bandera and opening artist, Mexican singer and actor Carlos Rivera, will formally launch the 2016 Acoustic Sessions series in Los Angeles. Keeping the excitement going, Trevi will take the Acoustic Sessions stage in Dallas on October 12 and Jesse & Joy along with opening act, Colombian singer/songwriter Manuel Medrano, will close out the series on October 25.

The Latin Grammy Acoustic Sessions are part of the Road To The Latin Grammy, which culminates with The Biggest Night in Latin Music. The 17th Annual Latin Grammy Awards will broadcast live from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on November 17 on Univision.

AN EVENING OF MUSIC WITH LAURIE ANDERSON AND PHILIP GLASS will entail a unique musical collaboration between two giants of the avant-garde of the past 50 years. Thus far, this show has taken place only twice before: in Italy, and at the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN.

Anderson is one of America's most renowned and daring creative pioneers. Her work, which encompasses music, visual art, poetry, film, and photography has challenged and delighted audiences around the world for more than 30 years. She is best known for her multimedia presentations and musical recordings.

There has been nothing "minimalist" about Philip Glass' output. In the past 25 years, Glass has composed more than twenty operas, large and small; eight symphonies; two piano concertos and concertos for violin, piano, timpani, and saxophone quartet and orchestra; soundtracks to films ranging from new scores for the stylized classics of Jean Cocteau to Errol Morris's documentary about former defense secretary Robert McNamara; string quartets; and a growing body of work for solo piano and organ. He has collaborated with Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Yo-Yo Ma, and Doris Lessing, among many others.

Ticket holders are invited to attend a pre-show conversation with Glass and Jonathan Rose, a visionary in urban development and renewal, who champions the role of cities in addressing the environmental, economic, and social challenges of the twenty-first century. Glass and Rose will discuss Rose's new book A Well Tempered City. The evening is presented by Philip Glass Days and Nights Festival. Friday, September 23, 2016 at the Sunset Center in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA.

FOOD TALK SERIES featuring Chef Geoffrey Zakarian in conversation with Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka. You'll have an inside look into their career highlights, upcoming projects and personal milestones - and, of course, their favorite eats and drinks. Monday, September 26, at the 92Y in New York City.

WORKS & PROCESS AT THE GUGGENHEIM presents a discussion with the creators and excerpts of Steppenwolf Theatre Company's The Fundamentals by Erika Sheffer prior to the play's world premiere on November 10.

A Steppenwolf commission, The Fundamentals explores America's corporate culture through its main character, Millie, a resourceful young mother and housekeeper at a New York luxury hotel. When an opportunity in management gives her the chance to leave her blue-collar life behind, she is faced with how much, and who, she is willing to sacrifice. Cast members will perform excerpts from the play, and playwright Erika Sheffer and director and Steppenwolf ensemble member Yasen Peyankov will illuminate a behind-the-scenes look at the play's production in a discussion moderated by Julian Sheppard.

Participants include: Alana Arenas as Millie, Audrey Francis as Eliza, Caroline Neff as Stellan, Armando Riesco as Lorenzo, Alan Wilder as Abe, director Yasen Peyankov, and playwright Erika Sheffer.

Monday, September 26, at the Peter B. Lewis Theater in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City.

SEPTEMBER 20 is National Rum Punch Day and September 22 is National Ice Cream Cone Day.

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

TEENAGE RAPPERS YOUNG T AND BUGSEY have signed a major record deal with Sony/UK. The two Nottingham, England based grime duo were part of a youth and music empowerment program set up in 2013 by Prince Harry.

Bugsey (Doyin Julius) and his partner Young T have an enormous social media following.

SAD Love Productions has announced that current series of the Great British Bake Off will be the last seen on the BBC after year long contract negotiations failed to reach an agreement.

A spokesman elaborated that the stumbling block issues were both money and the development of the brand.

Bake Off was the most-watched program of 2015 on the BBC, with 13.4 million people tuning in to see Nadiya Hussain win the last series.

In American the show airs on PBS. Broadway To Vegas feels it is the best baking contest ever televised. Due to the charm and attitude of the contestants the program would be impossible to duplicate in America.

The show is even a favorite of Prince William who last week visited Battersea’s Caius House Youth Centre, one of the largest youth centers in London. He took part in a cupcake-decorating lesson. He compared his decorating skills to bakers on the Great British Bake Off, even shouting out to the show host: "Mary Berry, eat your heart out!"



THE NATIONAL MEDALS OF ARTS will be presented by President Barack Obama in an East Room ceremony at the White House on September 22.

Receiving the high honor will be:

Mel Brooks for a lifetime of making the world laugh. As a writer, director, actor, and musician, he pioneered the art of musical comedy, and his hilarious, thought-provoking work on film and in theater have earned him the rare distinction of winning Oscar, Emmy, Tony, and Grammy awards. (New York NY)

Sandra Cisneros for enriching the American narrative. Through her novels, short stories, and poetry, she explores issues of race, class, and gender through the lives of ordinary people straddling multiple cultures. As an educator, she has deepened our understanding of American identity. (San Antonio, TX)

Eugene O’Neill Theater Center for its unwavering support of American theater. For over 50 years, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center has nurtured award-winning playwrights, directors, and actors, enriched the craft of stage production, and delighted audiences with exceptional programs. (Waterford, CT)

Morgan Freeman for his outstanding work as an actor, director, and narrator. His iconic stage and screen performances have brought to life characters from the whole spectrum of the human experience, moving audiences around the world, and influencing countless young artists. (Charleston, MS)

Philip Glass for his groundbreaking contributions to music and composition. One of the most prolific, inventive, and influential artists of our time, he has expanded musical possibility with his operas, symphonies, film scores, and wide-ranging collaborations. (New York, NY)

Berry Gordy for helping to create a trailblazing new sound in American music. As a record producer and songwriter, he helped build Motown, launching the music careers of countless legendary artists. His unique sound helped shape our Nation’s story. (Los Angeles, CA)

Santiago Jiménez, Jr. for expanding the horizon of American music. He has helped spread traditionalconjunto music, blending the sounds and cultures of south Texas and Mexico. His lively melodies performed on the two-button accordion have captivated audiences around the world. (San Antonio, TX)

Moises Kaufman for his powerful contributions to American theater. His work sensitively probes questions of culture and sexuality. His award-winning Tectonic Theater Project continues to move audiences with its bold portrayals of contemporary social issues. (New York, NY)

Ralph Lemon for his contribution to dance and the visual arts. As a self-proclaimed conceptualist, he uses dance as a source of physical communication, and his complex works withstand examination from all angles, revealing intimate truths about human nature and offering broader insights into the American experience. (Brooklyn, NY)

Audra McDonald for lighting up Broadway as one of its brightest stars. An unforgettable performer, she has won six Tony awards. In musicals, concerts, operas, and the recording studio, her rich, soulful voice continues to take her audiences to new heights. (Croton-on-Hudson/New York, NY)

Luis Valdez for bringing Chicano culture to American drama. As a playwright, actor, writer, and director, he illuminates the human spirit in the face of social injustice through award-winning stage, film, and television productions. (San Juan Bautista, CA)

Jack Whitten for remaking the American canvas. As an abstract artist, he uses “casting,” acrylic paints, and compounds to create new surfaces and textures, challenging our perceptions of shape and color. His powerful works of art put the American story in a new light. (New York, NY)

The National Medal of Arts is the highest award given to artists and arts patrons by the United States government. The medals are awarded by the President of the United States to individuals or groups who “...are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States.”

WICKED celebrates its 10th anniversary performance on September 27 at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London.

Being welcomed back from Broadway is Rachel Tucker as Elphaba. She'll star alongside Suzie Mathers as Glinda, Surrounding them will be Anita Dobson as Madame Morrible, and celebrated alumni, including the return of original cast member Martin Ball as Doctor Dillamond.

The full company who assumed their roles on September 5 are: Oliver Savile (Fiyero), Mark Curry (The Wizard), Katie Rowley Jones (Nessarose), Idriss Kargbo (Boq), Alice Fearn (Standby for Elphaba), Carina Gillespie (Standby for Glinda), James Darch, Kerry Enright, Freya Field, Joseph Fletcher, Fraser Fraser, David Gale, Sergio Giacomelli, Alexandra Grierson, Olivia Kate Holding, Aaron Jenkins, Claudia Kariuki, Will Lucas, Chanel Mian, Billy Mitchell, Scott Monello, Ella Nonini, Rosa O’Reilly, Julienne Schembri, Joe Sleight, Jessamy Stoddart, Paulo Teixeira, Joe Toland, Hannah Toy, Russell Walker, Sasha Wareham and Helen Woolf.

JESSICA SPRINGSTEEN the 14-year-old daughter of Bruce Springsteen who is a superstar equestrian. Jessica won $330,000 at the annual horse show HITS Saugerties $1 Million Grand Prix.

Riding Cynar Va. it was her first “five-star Grand Prix win. She’s an ambassador for Polo Ralph Lauren and was an alternate on the US riding squad at the 2012 London Olympics.



THE LITTLE FOXES by Lillian Hellman.

Directed by Kyle Donnelly.

There are people who eat and there are those who get eaten. First in line to be served is Regina Giddens, clawing her way to wealth with her equally calculating brothers. When their plan to control the local cotton mill is thwarted, they'll turn to ever more devious schemes, even as it further divides their family. Lillian Hellman's classic tale of greed, betrayal and all the sordid ties that bind takes sibling rivalry to unimaginable heights and reveals how far a ruthless family can bend the rules before they break each other.

Starring two time Emmy Award winner Marg Helgenberger, Gregory Linington, Tony Award nominee Isabel Keating, Edward Gero, Jack Willis, David Emerson Toney, Stanton Nash, Megan Graves, Kim James Bey and James Whalen star.

Te creatives include: Mikiko Suzuki Set Designer - Jess Goldstein Costume Designer - Nancy Schertler Lighting Designer - Ryan Rumery Original Composition and Sound Designer - Anne Nesmith Wig Designer and Mary Coy Dialect Coach.

Part of the Lillian Hellman Festival. Begins September 23 on the Kreeger Stage at Arena Theatre in Washington, DC.

AFTERPLAY by Brian Friel.

Directed by Joe Dowling.

Afterplay is a meeting of two of the world’s greatest dramatists at the helm of legendary director Joe Dowling. Brian Friel revisits the lives of two of Chekhov’s enduring characters- Sonya, Uncle Vanya’s dutiful niece, and Andrey, the downtrodden intellectual brother of The Three Sisters.

They meet by chance in a late night cafe in 1920s Moscow. The concert violinist and determined estate owner cannot escape their origins and the circumstances furnished by their creator are still determining their lives. Part of Andrey remains a boy, while Sonya is wrestling with a difficult estate and is still deeply and hopelessly in love with the local doctor as she was all those years ago. Twenty years after their original plays and in their middle age they find a comfortable anticipation in their encounter. There is promise in their meeting, until their stories unfold and the glow of their fantasies makes way for reality.

With Irish stars Dermot Crowley & Dearbhla Molloy, this beautifully and tenderly written play significantly adds to the Chekhov canon.

Set Design: John Lee Beatty Costume Design: Fabio Toblini Lighting Design: Michael Gottlieb Sound Design: M. Florian Staab Production Stage Manager: Jeff Davolt.

September 22 – November 6, 2016 in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre on NY Irish Rep in New York City.

THAT GOLDEN GIRLS SHOW! - A PUPPET PARODY created by Jonathan Rockefeller.

Set in that sassy Miami house in 1985, That Golden Girls Show! is a brand new show that parodies classic Golden Girls moments - with puppets. An evening of cheesecake, laughter, jazzercise, shoulder pads, sex, and the elegant art of the quick-witted put down.

From Sophia's get-rich-quick schemes, to Rose's tales from St Olaf, Blanche's insatiable hunt for men and the Fountain of Youth, to Dorothy's daily struggle to make sense of her life, manage her roommates all the while fending off a certain, pesky ex-husband, once and for all. Devoted fans will fondly remember our four girls from Miami, and for the first-timers, this will be a joyful introduction to the brilliance of that television series.

Cast includes: Arlee Chadwick as Rose, Cat Greenfield as Blanche, Weston Chandler Long as Dorothy and Emmanuelle Zeesman as Sophia.

Puppets created by Joel Gennari.

Begins Performances September 19 through December 11, 2016 at at Union Square’s DR2 Theatre, New York City.

THE FANTASTICKS book and lyrics by Tom Jones. Music by Tom Schmidt.

Directed by Seema Sueko.

Choreography by Kitty McNamee.

The Fantasticks opened on May 3, 1960, and played off-Broadway for 17,162 performances before closing on January 13, 2002, making it the longest running musical in history. Winner of a Tony Honor for Excellence in Theatre, The Fantasticks is a lyrical and romantic musical that tells an allegorical love story about a boy, a girl, two fathers and a wall. This beloved musical has been seen in over 67 countries and performed in locations ranging from The Peking Opera to The White House.

Starring Philip Anthony-Rodriguez, Regi Davis, Conor Guzman, Ashley Park, Alyse Rockett, Amir Talai, Gedde Watanabe and Hal Linden as Henry.

Production Stage Manager - Lurie Pfeffer. Music Director - David O. Scenic Designer - David F. Weiner. Costume Designer - Shirley Pierson. Lighting Designer - Josh Epstein. Sound Designer - Joe Huppert. Propmaster - Marissa Bergman. Community Organizer - Victor Vazquez. Fight Choreographer - Tim Weske.

Through October 2 at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, CA.

BIOGRAPHY by S. N. Behrman.

Directed by ELTC’s artistic director Gayle Stahlhuth.

Richard Kurt asks internationally known portrait painter Marion Froude to write her autobiography for his magazine. At first she laughs off the idea, but it’s Manhattan in 1932, during the Depression, and she can use the money. The prospect dismays a former flame, Leander Nolan from Tennessee who is running for United States Senate. Much has happened to both Marion and Leander since they last saw each other fifteen years earlier. Behrman, a playwright, screenwriter, and contributor to “The New Yorker,” based the fascinating character of Marion on real-life painter and free-thinker, Neysa McMein.

Playing the roles of Marion and Leander are Erika Amato and Tom Byrn. Mike Newman plays Kurt. Others in the cast are R. Scott Williams, Veronique Hurley, Mark Edward Lang, John Cameron Weber and Gayle Stahlhuth.

Biography runs from September 21 through October 15 at East Lynne Theater Company in West Cape May, NJ. On October 13, $5 from every ticket sold will go to Gilda’s Club in South Jersey.

WHO'S WHERE

ADELE who is reported by the London press to stop touring for 10 years to raise her son and is purportedly considering a long term Las Vegas contract - which is now called a residency - is currently on tour. She appears at Madison Square Garden in New York City for shows on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, next Sunday, September 25 closing out the gig on September 26. In addition to Adele's vocal clout, her eating preferences resonant. At last week's Wednesday's concert at TD Garden she told the audience she loved Blackbird Doughnuts' Boston crème filled Bismarck, resulting in the store being inundated with Adele fans who wanted the tasty treat.

MELISSA ERRICO star of upcoming Finian's Rainbow at Irish Repertory Theatre in New York City, returns to Feinstein's/54 Below in The Big Apple with her new show about the absurdities and ins and outs of marriage and motherhood. September 20th - 24th.

THREE DOG NIGHT perform Wednesday, September 21, at the Sunset cultural Center in Carmel, CA.

VINCE GILL on stage Monday, September 19, at the American Music Theatre in Lancaster, PA. On Thursday he begins a two night stand at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, MS. Saturday's gig is at the Gold Strike Casino in Robinsonville, MS.

BEN FOLDS entertains Tuesday, September 20, at The Space at Westbury in Westbury, NY. On Wednesday he's on stage at Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ. Thursday finds him at the College Street Music Hall in New Haven, CT. Friday's stop is at the Calvin Theater in Northhampton, MA. On Saturday he stars at the Flynn Center in Burlington, VT.

THE OAK RIDGE BOYS, WYONNA AND THE BIG NOISE opens a three nighter at the Oak Ridge Boys Theatre in Branson, MO. On Friday they perform at Shawnee Bluff Vineyard in Lake Ozark, MO.

KELLI O'HARA in a solo concert at the Venetian Room at The Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, CA on September 23.

BRIAN WILSON singing hits Monday, September 19, at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte, NC. Tuesday show is at the Music Center in North Bethesda, MD. Wednesday's stop is at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ. On Friday he tour stops at the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, PA. On Saturday he's on stage at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.

PAULA POUNDSTONE telling funny stories Thursday, September 22, at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, NY.

FINAL OVATION

JACK HOFSISS Tony award winning stage and screen director died Wednesday, September 14, 2016 at his home in Manhattan. He was 65.

He won the Tony on 1979 for helming The Elephant Man. He had taken the production from off-Broadway at St. Peter’s Church to the Booth Theatre on Broadway, where it ran for more than 900 performances. At age 28 he became the youngest man at the time to win the Tony for best direction.

Hofsiss also directed several TV films, including a 1982 adaptation of The Elephant Man, a version of Cat of a Hot Tin Roof starring Jessica Lange, and The Oldest Living Graduate with Henry Fonda.

Hofsiss’ career became more challenging when on July 20, 1985, he dived into the shallow end of a Fire Island swimming pool, hit his head on the bottom and fractured three vertebrae, resulting in paralysis up to his mid-chest, losing the use of his arms and legs. He spent eight months at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine and used a wheelchair.

Making the difference between surviving or not came in the job offer from Josephine Abady, artistic director of the Berkshire Theater Festival, who offer him a job directing All the Way Home while he was still hospitalized. The best medicine ever prescribed.

His physical limitations causes him to reassess how he physically directed. “Not being able to jump up and get in the middle of things forced me to be more articulate. Now I have an assistant who jumps up and shoves people around instead of me,” he told The Washington Post in 1977.

His first job after the accident would be directing Philip Barry’s Paris Bound. The first day of rehearsal I told them, 'Treat me with your usual awe and respect that you give directors,'” he said, laughing.

Hofsiss was a 1971 graduate of Georgetown University. He came to New York in 1971.After a directing stint at the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C., he parlayed a job in the casting department at the New York Shakespeare Festival into several directing assignments, including work at the Public Theater, the New York City Opera and the television soap opera Another World. He also directed The Best of Families, a 1977 television mini-series.

He made his movie-directing debut in 1982 with I’m Dancing As Fast As I Can, which starred Jill Clayburgh. After the accident he would direct on Broadway with The Shadow Box in 1994 starring Estelle Parsons and Mercedes Ruehl, and such off-Broadway shows as Surviving Grace in 2002, James Joyce’s The Dead in 1999 and Confessions of a Mormon Boy in 2006.

Hofsiss taught directing and acting at the HB Studio and at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

He is survived by three sisters; Christine, Patricia Panagos, known as Tricia, and Judy Andariese.

EDWARD ALBEE a two time Tony Award and three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright died September 16, 2016 at his home in Montauk, Long Island. He was 88.

He was known for works such as The Zoo Story (1958), The Sandbox (1959), and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962).

He was awarded the Pulizer Prize for plays A Delicate Balance, Seascape and Three Tall Women.

He won the Tony award for Best Play for the initial Broadway run of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which starred Arthur Hill and Uta Hagen. The run lasted from 1962 to 1964.

In 2002 he won the Tony Award for Best Play for The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?

In 1996 he received the National Medal of Arts. In 1985, Albee was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. He received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2005.

Albee was the President of the Edward F. Albee Foundation, Inc., which maintains the William Flanagan Memorial Creative Persons Center, a writers and artists colony in Montauk, New York.

Neil Portnow President/CEO of The Recording Academy issued the following statement: "Edward Albee was a playwright who defined the art form for a generation of American writers with works that masterfully examined the modern condition. His Broadway debut, Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, won him a Grammy, a Tony, and the hearts of audiences around the world. His commitment to the arts and artistic community was unrivaled. He will be sorely missed. Our deepest condolences go out to his family, friends, students, and literary colleagues."

Albee's longtime partner, Jonathan Thomas, a sculptor, died on May 2, 2005, from bladder cancer.

Next Column: September 25, 2016
Copyright: September 18, 2016 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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Laura Deni

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