Thursday, April 3, 2025
My first reaction to Good Morning America anchor Lara Spencer's insensitive remarks about young Prince George taking ballet lessons was primal outrage. Ballet is one of my "things" - despite the entitlement and snobbery I still encounter because, well, someone from a suburban working class home doesn't belong. That she and her GMA audience think ballet is laughable is something else. Mocking a six-year-old's participation in an activity combining physical fitness and aesthetics or anything else is alarming. Is it okay for girls to rightly emulate the world champion U.S. Women's Soccer team but boys can't aspire performing The Nutcracker Prince?
Features
A STRANGE LOOP Raises the Bar for Queer Black Representation and Sets a New Standard for Musicals Today
I first encountered A Strange Loop in 2015 at the Musical Theatre Factory when it was still located in a gay porn video warehouse above (the original) Drama Bookstore just around the corner of Port Authority. It was a mixed bag evening with various composers and lyricists trying out their works on performers, both eager to be heard amongst an audience of supportive peers instead of cruel critics. The song, which is the second-to-last 13 o’clock number for A Strange Loop now called “The Memory Song,” featured lyrics sung in rapid speed with mournful wailing by Larry Owens (the unconventional
NOTHING HERE IS REAL – Interview with Gary Ferrar
For a single night each month, you can join Gary Ferrar, one of New York’s most sought-after entertainers, for a mind-bending evening of magic and mentalism. You gather around an antique pool table in an underground parlor to become part of an intimate experience that will leave you questioning what, if anything, is actually real. Mentalist and magician Gary Ferrar’s world premiere of NOTHING HERE IS REAL, directed by Harrison Kramer, has begun its residency and open-ended run at The Cocktail Lounge Below Tom Valenti’s Oxbow Tavern (240 Columbus Ave. at West 71 St.). Performances take place every last Tuesday
A Positive Russian Influence: Ballet
As the Romanovs's bewilderingly indifference to the political and socioeconomic upheavals leading to the Russian Revolution worsened, ballet at home and abroad flourished. French-born Marius Petipa (1818–1910) was Chief Choreographer of Saint Petersburg's Mariinsky Theater where he set the premieres of Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker among others. Artists dissatisfied with his autocratic yet groundbreaking vision joined impresario Serge Diaghilev in his Paris-based Ballets Russes. The two aesthetics share a legacy of brilliant choreographers (Ballets Russes had Michael Fokine, Nijinsky, his sister Bronislava, Leonid Massine and George Balanchine) and enduring influence. New York had pleasing reminders of this lofty dance heritage when American Ballet Theatre opened their
Remembrance: New York City Opera and The Museum of Jewish Heritage
Apologies for the delayed review of New York City Opera's world premiere of Ted Rosenthal's Dear Erich. The sold-out performances were January 9-13, 2019 at the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene at The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Before finally reporting on Rosenthal's loving tribute to his father and the grandmother he never met, I wanted to visit the Museum. An opportunity presented itself with the exhibit Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away, on view now through January 3, 2020. Displayed are 700 artifacts and materials on loan from over 20 institutions and private collections, including the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. The Museum'
Spring Weekend Soundbites
With over 7.5 million daffodils planted by 100 000 volunteers in NYC and 194,000 tulips in Central Park - spring is definitely in the air. To celebrate the arrival of this burst of color from these European blooms the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation and BBLA festoon the Upper East side with a weekend of FREE stage readings, a full production, after parties and talk backs at The Bohemian National Hall. Playwrights from The Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania are profiled from 9-12 May 2019 at this theatrically intensive long weekend. Here are a few soundbites from some of the
THE DAY I BECAME BLACK: Interview with Bill Posley
THE DAY I BECAME BLACK is currently running at The SoHo Playhouse to great acclaim and is created, written and performed by Bill Posley (CBS’s “The Neighborhood,” Netflix’s “Glow”) and directed by Bente Engelstoft (“The Ellen DeGeneres Show”). The production blurb: "Bill Posley grew up biracial, happily identifying as both black and white. But at 10 years old he learns the world does in fact judge a book by its color, and even though he’s half white he’s labeled 100% black. Does a young comedian have to get rid of his whiteness to be the color people expect him to be?" I
Interview with: Marc Stuart Weitz -NY Indie Theatre Film Festival (NYITFF)
The NY Indie Theatre Film Festival (NYITFF) opens its 2019 edition on February 8 at 7pm and is produced by the award-winning New Ohio Theatre (154 Christopher St.), in Manhattan’s West Village, and runs through February 11. The festival showcases over 30 short films, excerpts of features, and web series episodes made by theatre artists defying labels and branching out into recorded content. Marc Stuart Weitz, New Ohio Theatre’s Producing Director, generously shared his vision for the festival and what audiences can expect from this years line-up... What was the impetus for creating this festival produced by The New Ohio Theatre three
Yulia Yakushova: Theater Poster Design Competition Judge
Two Cents Agency recently announced it's theater poster design competition. It's open to all theater graphic designers, illustrators and theater creatives and welcomes international applications and carries a $250 cash prize for the winner. For more info on the submission process go to: https://www.twocentsagency.com/competition/ The three esteemed judges include theater sound composer and designer, Fitz Patton; actress, writer and director Jo Galloway; and designer/experiential - Yulia Yakushova. I chatted with Yulia about her design background and what she is looking for from an unforgettable theater poster design. How did you get into the design industry? I originally started as an editorial illustrator back in
Dancing When Everyone’s Looking: Two Dance Celebrations
With Nutcrackers, Rockettes and Viennese waltzers, Thanksgiving to New Year's is the solitary time of the year when the general public shows an interest in dance. Before the holiday rush there were two dance celebrations - one marking an anniversary and the other a look into the beginnings of extraordinary career - with varying success. Balanchine: The City Center Years Starting on Halloween and ending on November 4, 2018, New York City Center jointly commemorated their 75th Anniversary and the prolific 15 years (1948-1963) George Balanchine and New York City Ballet were there. In 1943, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia created the New