Tag: NYC

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NYC: Jake Gyllenhaal Set To Star In LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS At City Center

Jake Gyllenhaal is slated to make his NYC musical debut this summer as “Seymour,” the nerdy florist in the Encores! Off-Center production of “Little Shop of Horrors” at City Center this summer.

Talk about a tough acting assignment: how you gonna make Jake Gyllenhaal “nerdy?”

Mr. Gyllenhaal will play Seymour, who tries to woo his co-worker Audrey with a carnivorous plant, in a concert production of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s long-running Off-Broadway comedy. Taran Killam, the “Saturday Night Live” star, will also make his musical debut, as the psychotic dentist and romantic rival, Orin Scrivello. (In the 1986 film version, the dentist was memorably played by Steve Martin, opposite Rick Moranis’s Seymour.)

The veteran stage actor Chuck Cooper will voice the blood-thirsty plant, and Ellen Greene will play Audrey, the ditzy love interest, as she did in the original stage production and film.

My PAGEANT buddy, Dick Scanlan, will helm the Encores! production, which will play three performances on July 1-2.

Jake starred opposite Ruth Wilson in the well-received Broadway play “Constellations” this past season.

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Billy Eichner Hits The Streets Of NYC With David Letterman

Billy Eichner and David Letterman leave the comfort of the Ed Sullivan Theater to ask New Yorkers, “What should David Letterman do next?”

My favorite thing about the whole bit is how calm New Yorkers are at seeing one of the most famous men in television. So non-plussed.

Except the last woman – her screaming is better than Billy Eichner.

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Cabaret: New York Times Disses Debbie Harry

Photo by Michael Wilhoite for Café Carlyle

Debbie Harry is currently performing a sold-out residency at the Cafe Carlyle in New York City.

Sold-out or not, Stephen Holden of the New York Times was not impressed by the 69 year old punk rock legend’s cabaret act:

Making a grand entrance in a black leather jacket and tinted sunglasses, she was every inch the platinum-haired downtown bad girl and face of the seminal, still-extant post-punk band Blondie. She resembled a tabloid American Catherine Deneuve. Instead of a band, she brought with her a one-man computer-and-synthesizer sound machine in the person of Blondie’s current keyboardist, Matt Katz-Bohen, who also played a little piano and guitar.

Those hoping that Ms. Harry would sing Blondie hits like “Rapture,” “Heart of Glass” and “Call Me” were treated to a program of songs taken mostly from her uneven solo albums, whose musical styles ranged from poppy dance numbers like her minor 1986 hit, “French Kissin’, ” to more sophisticated ballads like “Imitation of a Kiss,” which she recorded with the Jazz Passengers.

[snip]

Nothing could camouflage Ms. Harry’s vocal difficulties. She was so consistently off-pitch that the songs nearly disappeared under her struggle to sing the notes. The show was the professional equivalent of a very shaky audition.

OUT’s Greg Garry felt differently:

At 69, this NYC legend’s voice still sounds strong and clear, with a slight husky tone but still able to hit those high notes, and these shows should take full advantage of that. Hopefully this will inspire her to record an album of torch songs. Then she can be the punk rock Peggy Lee. Comparisons aside, there’s only one Debbie Harry.

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NYC: Check Out This 90 Square Foot Apartment

Everyone knows that living in NYC can be waaaaaay expensive. So, often, Manhattanites learn to live in smaller and smaller dwellings in the most efficient way they can.

Check out this apartment in the West Village which measure a mere 90 square feet.

“I really like getting rid of things,” says Mary Helen Rowell, as she stands in the middle of her minimally furnished West Village apartment. “It’s my favorite thing.” Considering that Rowell’s apartment measures all of 90 square feet, purging is more of a necessity than a hobby, but enjoying the process makes it easier to keep the tiny space neat. “If there are three things on the floor, it’s a disaster.”

Rowell found the place two years ago through a friend, who saw the listing on NYU’s student listserv. “Everyone was laughing at the tiny box that was for rent,” says Rowell. Even when she visited, the landlord seemed embarrassed to show it. But the rent was just $750 a month (now a whopping $775), and she took it on the spot.

The room is about 78 inches wide, which is smaller than a standard bed frame.

“You have to keep it in check,” says Rowell. “It always has to be neat.” There’s a delicate balance with what can fit in the apartment. “My boyfriend tried to give me a book last week, and I said, ‘No, there is no place for this.'”

(via Curbed.com)

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NYC: Two Years Probation For Gay Basher At Madison Square Garden

One of 8 men who attacked a gay couple leaving a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden in May 2013 has plead guilty to the hate crime. He will receive two years probation.

Martin Martinez was arrested in October 2013, four months after he and a group of Knicks fans came across Nick Porto and Kevin Atkins walking arm-in-arm on Eighth Avenue, according to police. The group of fans hurled homophobic slurs at the then-couple and beat them, breaking Porto’s nose and Atkins’ wrist, authorities said.

Porto, 29, said he approved of the guilty plea. “I actually his respect his honesty,” he told DNAinfo. “I think that speak volumes on whether or not he’s actually learned something.”

Martinez, who was 25 at the time of the attack, pleaded guilty to aggravated harassment in the second degree, a hate crime with a promised sentence of two years probation, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said.

The misdemeanor involves physical contact based on “belief or perception regarding such person’s race, color…or sexual orientation,” according to the penal code. Martinez’s sentencing is set for March 30.

But Porto said that Martinez was only one of eight friends who ganged up on him and his boyfriend that day.

He plans to file a civil suit against all those he said participated.

“Their identities are known,” Porto said, but could not specifically identify each individual in the video. “They got surveillance footage, they know where they sat, they know who bought those tickets, they know everything.”

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Gorgeous Time-Lapse Video Of Time Square On New Year’s Eve

Gorgeous combination of time-lapse photography and music capturing the excitement of thousands who gathered in Time Square to ring in 2015.

Production Notes:

Total Photos 36,809
Final Video: 2:21
Production Hours (10:30am to 1:30am) 14 Hours
Post Production Hours 33 Hours (Coloring/Processing 18 Hours) & (Editing 15 Hours)
Rendering/Exports (5 Hours)

(h/t JMG)

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NYC: Rachelle Rak “Sas With One S” at 54 Below

Broadway and TV’s Rachelle Rak

In her world premiere show, Sas with One S, one of my favorite performers/talents/personalities –  Rachelle Rak – shares her strength, passion, and “Sas” with you.

Rachelle (or, “The Diva Rak”) has been performing in Broadway shows for over two decades. Her credits include Cats, Fosse, Thou Shalt Not, Oklahoma!, The Look of Love, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Catch Me If You Can.

Ferociously 44 and proud of it, Rachelle has worked with some of the most talented people in show business. And this time, she’s telling the stories! From Broadway to Dance Moms to motherhood and back!

Sas with One S will include songs from Starlight Express, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Fosse, The Jack Cole Project, Rachelle’s signature song “SAS,” and so much more.

I’m telling you now, get out to 54 Below this Sunday at 9:30pm (or put January 29th at 9:30pm on your calendar) and bring your “Sas!”  Click here for ticket information.

Check out Rachelle’s music video to her fab signature song, “Sas,” followed by her showstopping performance of “I Gotcha” on Broadway in FOSSE.