On Broadway, the touring company of Hair is at the St. James Theatre with a a lively and energetic cast, and it is very welcome during the hot days of summer. A wonderful opening night party was held at the Sky Room Times Square and former cast member Will Swenson attended with his beautiful girlfriend Audra McDonald.
The two stars of Tryst, Andrea Maulella and Mark Shanahan give superb performances at the Irish Repertory Theatre. This is what theatre should be every night.
Broadway Winners! The Award-winning music of Broadway, is the first of the 5th Annual Summer Festival, at The Town Hall, created, written and hosted by Scott Siegel. Top stars like Tom Wopat, Larry Gatlin, Alex Gemignani, Eddie Korbich and Stephanie Umoh performed. It was an excellent show.
At the Lincoln Center Festival, I saw minimalist A Magic Flute, by Mozart, adapted by Peter Brook, with seven singers, two actors, and one piano. The singers were quite good, especially Virgile Frannais as Papageno, and the production was charming. Brook is a very clever director.
General Manager and Artistic Director George Steel announced the 2011-12 season of the New York City Opera at the Guggenheim Museum. Among the operas given in various spaces in Brooklyn and Manhattan will be La Traviata and Prima Donna at BAM, Cosi fan tutte at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, and Orpheus at El Teatro at El Museo del Barrio.
The Sleeping Beauty at ABT is a sumptuous production with costumes by Willa Kim and scenery by Tony Walton. It is a family pleasing spectacle. Paloma Herrera and Corey Stearns were the leads, and did not disappoint. It was a wonderful night to close a magnificent season of glorious ballets.
Kate Baldwin and Sheldon Harnick received thunderous applause in the cabaret performance at Feinstein's at the Regency to launch their CD She Loves Him: Kate Baldwin Live at Feinstein's with Special Guest Sheldon Harnick. Sheldon's wife Margery, Elisa Stein and Kate's husband Graham Rowat toasted them afterwards at a champagne reception.
Broadway Barks Lucky 13th Annual Adopt-a-thon took place in Shubert Alley, but I photographed the Broadway stars with dogs at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre. Among the many stars were Joel Grey, Kerry Butler and Aaron Tveit.
Kristoffer Diaz The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Diety received the 2011 New York Times Playwright Award at The TimesCenter. Joy Franz, Rory O'Malley and Desmin Borges attend the reception and presentation.
I attended at party for NewFest July 21-28. It is New York's premier LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Film Festival, and met filmmakers Elisabeth Sperling, Trish Dalton, Kim Reed, James Belzer and Bryce Renninger. I will try to see some of the films.
07-14-11 Cast members (L-R) Jen Sese. Cailan Rose. Emily Afton at the opening night party for "Hair" at the Sky Room Times Square. 330 West 40th St. Wednesday night 07-13-11
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Gregory Murphy has written his first novel Incognito, and a splendid launch party took place at the magnificent apartment of Henry Buhl, with Gregory's wife Ludovica Villar-Hauser as hostess.
Film Society of Lincoln Center presented UCLA Festival of Preservation July 15-18 and I had the chance to enjoy three films. Sleep, My Love, by Douglas Sirk, 1948, features three of my favorite stars, Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche and Robert Cummings. The first two I had met and photographed. It was a pleasure to see them in this film where Ameche tries to get rid of his wife Caudette, for another woman, only to be thwarted by Cummings. It is good old fashioned entertainment. I then watched Cry Danger, by Robert Parrish, 1951, starring a tremendous cast headed by Dick Powell and beautiful Rhonda Fleming. Powell is tough ex-convict trying to get even with the gang of crooks who framed him. It is an exciting film, but more important the dialogue is a joy to listen to. Those were the good old days for intelligent, well made films. Finally, I saw Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, by Robert Altman, 1982, with an old friend of mine Sandy Dennis, Cher, Karen Black and Kathy Bates, all of whom I had photographed many times. I saw it first as a play on Broadway, and Altman turned it into a fine, well acted film. The highlight, however, was the Q & A with his widow Kathryn Altman, and three members of the production team. At the reception, afterwards, Kathryn and I reminisced about our nights at Elaine's, included a photo of Robert reading a review of one of his films in the New York Post, which appeared in the paper two days later. Also at the reception was one of my favorite opera singers, Jessye Norman, who introduced to Carol Friedman, a famous jazz artist portrait photographer. It was the end of a perfect day. Three wonderful films and the pleasure of the company of three charming ladies.
Tabloid, by Errol Morris, is a fascinating documentary about an American Beauty Queen Joyce McKinney, who obsessed with a Mormon, followed him to London, and kidnapped him in 1977. It was a huge scandal, and two British tabloids investigated her and kept her on the front pages for a long time. The film features McKinney explaining what she did, and comments by the reporter of one paper and a photographer from the other. Other talking heads appear, but the story is absorbing, especially when showing the influence of two newspapers, and the length they will go to create a story. Thirty-four years later, it has not changed.
A Little Help, by Michael J. Weithorn, is a film about a dental hygienist (Jenna Fischer), whose life changes radically when her husband dies suddenly. It is a penetrating view of suburban life on Long Island, and the relationship between parents and children. Fischer gives an outstanding performance in a very serous and intelligent film.
At the Film Society at Lincoln Center, another film of a youngster with a broken family, living an aimless life in Great Britain, features an astonishing performance by Kyle Ward as a fourteen year old father. There are some sweet and many sad moments, but the young actor is the main reason to see A Boy Called Dad, by Brian Percival, the third film I saw of six indie UK films in From Britain with Love June 11-July 9.
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