edjames

It is sad that you do not recognize the severity of your situation and do so little to help yourself.
You need to call Social Services in your city/town. There are so many benefits you could take advantage of.
You need to set up an interview. You don't need to make any commitments but listen and ask questions.
You should not purchase a walker on your own. A licensed physical therapist should help you decide what make.model is correct you your size and weight and adjust it to fit your needs.
You are probably eligible for home health care and can have someone come in on a daily basis to help you with routine tasks, such as bathing, cooking and cleaning.
(this would also provide you with daily human interaction, so you're not sitting alone pounding on the keyboard.)
They will also assist you in getting to and from a doctors office and other much needed care.
Good luck, the next step is up to you. Make that call!

It is sad that you do not recognize the severity of your situation and do so little to help yourself.
You need to call Social Services in your city/town. There are so many benefits you could take advantage of.
You need to set up an interview. You don't need to make any commitments but listen and ask questions.
You should not purchase a walker on your own. A licensed physical therapist should help you decide what make.model is correct you your size and weight and adjust it to fit your needs.
You are probably eligible for home health care and can have someone come in on a daily basis to help you with routine tasks, such as bathing, cooking and cleaning.
(this would also provide you with daily human interaction, so you're not sitting alone pounding on the keyboard.)
They will also assist you in getting to and from a doctors office and other much needed care.
Good luck, the next step is up to you. Make that call!

It is sad that you do not recognize the severity of your situation and do so little to help yourself.
You need to call Social Services in your city/town. There are so many benefits you could take advantage of.
You need to set up an interview. You don't need to make any commitments but listen and ask questions.
You should not purchase a walker on your own. A licensed physical therapist should help you decide what make.model is correct you your size and weight and adjust it to fit your needs.
You are probably eligible for home health care and can have someone come in on a daily basis to help you with routine tasks, such as bathing, cooking and cleaning.
(this would also provide you with daily human interaction, so you're not sitting alone pounding on the keyboard.)
They will also assist you in getting to and from a doctors office and other much needed care.
Good luck, the next step is up to you. Make that call!

Here is the latest news from Tim on his never ending quest for the right spot...
 
 
IMPORTANT - Major News and Updates - PLEASE READ!!
 
Ever feel like you're living in the Twilight Zone? Ya #metoo...This has been yet another wild week behind the scenes with late night meetings and conference calls from Japan (literally), with one half of the Spunk team. You'll have to ask them if it was the better half! Here is everything you need to know, Aunt Laurie style, with bullet points, overused highlights, and some bad grammar to boot.
 
- Spunk/Adonis are NO LONGER at Rocky's Saturdays
 
We're quite happy with the couple of months we put together there, but we always kind of intended for that venue to be a bridge to bigger and better things. We're very grateful to Lou and his staff who were some of the best people we've ever worked with. We all had fun, put together successful events, and it's not beyond the scope of reality that we may do an event there at some point in the future.
 
- Adonis Returns to Evolve Starting Next Weekend 10/20 For Our 9-Year Anniversary!
 
Yes, you read it right! Mark the date- Next SATURDAY 10/20 is our 9-Year Anniversary and we are reuniting with our Mother Club Evolve(221 E. 58th St) to celebrate and will be there ongoing for SATURDAYS.
 
- More News Coming Soon...
 
In an effort to not confuse anyone (more me than you), we'll leave you with this for now and MORE coming soon. The Spunk/Adonispartnership is still strong as ever and we're HARD at work behind the scenes contemplating all sorts of NEW and exciting moves. As always, I/we genuinely thank everyone for the support from NYC and beyond. This is a very crazy business in more ways than one, but like feral bitches, we always end up on TOP...
 
DON'T FORGET TO GO SUPPORT THE BOYS OF SPUNK TONIGHT @ MONSTER!!

Stage Version of ‘Network,’ Starring Bryan Cranston, Sets Broadway Opening
 

Are audiences ready to get mad as hell all over again?
 
The National Theater’s stage version of “Network,” Paddy Chayefsky’s searing film satire about
and the manipulative executives who seek to use him for their advantages, will transfer to Broadway in the fall. 
As in its London production, the Broadway play will be directed by Ivo van Hove and will star Bryan Cranston as Howard Beale, the anchorman of the fictional UBS channel, whose troubling on-air diatribes earn him the title of “mad prophet of the airwaves.”
 
“Network,” the original 1976 motion picture written by Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet, starred Peter Finch as Howard Beale; William Holden as the depleted news president Max Schumacher; and Faye Dunaway as Diana Christensen, a cynical programming executive who becomes Schumacher’s lover as well as his workplace rival.
 
At its release, “Network” earned the disdain of the TV news business for depicting the industry as an arena where furious passion and uninhibited anger could supplant sober fact. The film nonetheless became a commercial and critical success, winning Academy Awards for Chayefsky’s screenplay and the performances of Beatrice Straight, Ms. Dunaway and Finch (who died two months before the Oscars ceremony).
 
The National’s production was adapted by Lee Hall (“Billy Elliot”) from Chayefsky’s script, and opened to acclaim last November. Reviewing the play for The New York Times, Ben Brantley praised it as “a bravura exercise in torturously applied pressure,” adding that it “feels as pertinent to our time as it did to its own.”
 
Mr. Cranston, a Tony Award winner for “All the Way” and four-time Emmy Award winner for “Breaking Bad,” said in a statement that, in a “post-truth era,” the Chayefsky film “shines a spotlight on today’s society with prescient clarity.”
 
He added, “I’m thrilled to be able to continue ‘Network’ in New York where the story originated over 40 years ago. It’s remarkable to see how things have changed … and what has not.”
 
Mr. van Hove is also directing a new Broadway version of “West Side Story,” with choreography by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, that is planned to begin performances in December 2019 and open in February 2020. He won the Tony for directing his recent Broadway revival of “A View From the Bridge,” which ran in the same season as his revival of “The Crucible.”
 
Press representatives for the Broadway production of “Network” said in a statement that it will be presented at the Cort Theater. The limited 18-week run will begin previews on Nov. 10 with an opening night scheduled for Dec. 6. Its producers include David Binder, who next year will become artistic director for the Brooklyn Academy of Music

Arguably one of the best female singers from the UK. Blonde, blue eyed soul at its best!
 
DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
 

 
 

Arguably one of the best female singers from the UK. Blonde, blue eyed soul at its best!
 
DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
 

 
 

Opening this week (Sep 25) at the American Airlines Theater, this London import stars the wonderful actress Janet McTeer.
This is the tale of the great French actress, Sarah Bernhardt, and her gender-bending turn as Hamlet.
Bernhardt was quite the controversy in her day. A stunning beauty, she took many lovers and was prone to play roles meant for men.
That said, this production is good but failed to arouse my interest, perhaps because I saw a matinee and had been out late the night before(!). McTeer is very good, the set, especially her dressing room is sumptuously decorated, and the supporting cast very good.
We'll see what the reviewers say soon.

Another London import,The Nap is a very funny look at the world of snooker - the British version of pool. Dylan Spokes, a fast-rising young star arrives for a championship tournament only to be confronted by the authorities warning him of the repercussions of match fixing. Before he knows it, Dylan's forced into underhanded dealings with a cast of wildly colorful characters that include his ex-convict dad, saucy mum, quick-tongued manager and a renowned gangster, to boot. It's a fast-paced comedy thriller where, in an exciting twist, the tournament unfolds live on stage.
 
Worth seeing. Great cast. Funny play. Manhattan Theater Club. Opens Sep 27.

http://www.theatregold.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/the-waverly-gallery-broadway-theatregold.jpg
 
The Waverly Gallery is a play by Kenneth Lonergan. It is considered a “memory play”. The show, first produced Off-Broadway in 2000, follows a grandson watching his grandmother slowly die from Alzheimer’s disease. The play was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2001.
 
Dramatic. Compelling and extremely well-acted!
 
Much like last year's tour de force performance by Glenda Jackson, venerable Elaine May takes the stage by force in her role as Gladys. Real life Elaine and Gladys are the same age, 86. Gladys owns a small art gallery in Greenwich Village but in Act 1, she is showing signs of Alzheimers. Her family checks on her frequently, but she is becoming a handful, plagued with bouts of forgetfulness and repetitive questions/stories.
 
Gladys' grandson (Lucas Hedges) lives next door to her, and her daughter/son-in-law live on the upper West side. Her grandson bears the brunt of grandma's disease and he tries to keep and eye on her. A struggling artist (Michael Cera) arrives and Gladys provides him with the gallery space he needs to display his work, for a brief period of time, he provides a much needed distraction for Gladys.
 
Gladys finally descends into the awfulness and cruelty of Alzheimers, and the family must make some hard decisions for her care and well being.
 
For those who have gone through this disease with loved ones, it hits home, and rings true.
 
Tony to Elaine for her magnificent performance!!! Bravo!!! Great supporting cast.

NYTimes review is in:
 
Review: What’s a Woman’s Role? All of ’Em, ‘Bernhardt/Hamlet’ Argues


Is it chance or synchronicity that brings “Bernhardt/Hamlet,” a muscular comedy about a woman unbound, to Broadway at this grim transitional moment in gender politics?
 
Either way, Theresa Rebeck’s new play, which opened on Tuesday at the American Airlines Theater, is so clever it uplifts, so timely it hurts.
 
That’s a depressing thing to say about a story set in 1899 in that temple of chauvinism, the French popular theater. Janet McTeer stars as Sarah Bernhardt, then in her mid-50s and aging out of the dying courtesan roles that made her world-famous. As far as Shakespeare is concerned, she is caught in the gap between Ophelia and Gertrude.
 
So why not try Hamlet?
 

Jason Butler Harner, left, as the playwright Edmond Rostand, with Ms. McTeer.
 
Enter the men: Edmond Rostand (Jason Butler Harner), one of France’s greatest young dramatists; Alphonse Mucha (Matthew Saldivar), the Art Nouveau illustrator of Bernhardt’s gorgeous posters; and Louis (Tony Carlin), a critic so parsimonious with praise I suppose it’s only fair that he’s given no surname.
 
“A woman with power,” he says of Bernhardt, and right to her face, “is a freak.”
 
It is not just the assumption of male opportunities and prerogatives that bothers these men; to be fair, Rostand, whom Ms. Rebeck posits as Bernhardt’s lover, is actually turned on by her Hamlet boots.
 
“It is delightful to undress a man and find a woman inside,” he says, undoing her drag after rehearsal.
 
To which Bernhardt responds, with the hungry air of the often disappointed, “It is equally delightful to undress a man and find a man.”
 
Though Ms. Rebeck sees herself as a storyteller and not a polemicist, this exchange typifies her knack for jokes that score points. The gender crisis even then, “Bernhardt/Hamlet” suggests, was not about femaleness but maleness. What’s wrong with men that they can’t tolerate strong women?
 
From there it’s barely a step to an even more taboo question: What’s wrong with Shakespeare? In letting Bernhardt dissect Hamlet in rehearsal — to ask why, undressing him, she never finds a man — the play locates a marvelous side door to its subject.
 
Hamlet, after all, is all words. Beautiful ones, yes: But untethered to meaningful action, what is the value of beauty?
 
That’s precisely the box that Bernhardt — who knew from boxes because she sometimes slept in a coffin — feels trapped in by her gender. And so she hits upon the brilliantly perverse idea of having Rostand rewrite Shakespeare to eliminate the poetry.
 
Until that point, “Bernhardt/Hamlet,” a deluxe Roundabout Theater Company production, is breakneck backstage comedy, swiveling like its Lazy Susan of a set (by Beowulf Boritt) among scenes of romance, Rialto gossip, rehearsal drollery and literary exploration. (Thesis topic: How old is Hamlet?) Bernhardt makes the persuasive case that men who are youthful enough to play the role are too inexperienced and men who are experienced enough are too unyouthful. A boyish woman is the only sensible solution.
 
In these scenes, Ms. McTeer, best known on Broadway for playing Nora Helmer and Mary Stuart, turns her tragic intensity inside out. Trying on emotions as if they were samples at a perfume counter, she flits through moods both pungent and evanescent. Dudgeon quickly melts to delight and narcissism to apology. She hardly needs Rostand, Louis or Mucha to define her; she is author, critic and self-portraitist in one.
 
But it’s also worth noting that in Mr. Harner, excellent as Rostand, the play supplies her with a worthy backboard and erotic partner.
 
That’s rare enough in plays about strong women. Rarer yet, as Bernhardt locates the heart of Hamlet Ms. McTeer the comedian becomes a riveting Shakespearean, exploring new pathways through scenes with the ghost and with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Suddenly you want to see Bernhardt — or Ms. McTeer — as everyone in the canon.
 
But in the second act, after the big decision, the play loses some of its internal logic. Not because it departs from history; Bernhardt did commission and eventually triumph in an adaptation of “Hamlet,” if not by Rostand. And Ms. Rebeck’s confidence as a storyteller in any case moots the historical infidelities that mar so many period pieces. Her tale has its own inevitability and that is enough.
 
Instead, the problem with the second half of the play is that it fritters its focus on a new set of concerns, including Rostand’s wife, Rosamond (Ito Aghayere); his new play “Cyrano de Bergerac” (which actually had its premiere in 1897); and Bernhardt’s adult son, Maurice (Nick Westrate). Ms. Rebeck writes about all of these with her usual verve, and her analysis of “Cyrano” is devastating. It’s just that we cannot now invest ourselves in developments that seem to lead away from, instead of toward, the character we care most about.
 
But with great effort Ms. Rebeck does eventually bend this all back to Bernhardt. (She has devised one of the most thrilling endings I’ve
seen in years.) And perhaps the time away was useful to the extent that we now see the character less in the context of her own personal quest and more in the context of the play’s central question: “Is the female self exposed the same as the male self exposed?”
 
We still don’t know the answer to that, but if we’re going to find out, the stage is a good place to start. And the exceptional thing about Ms. Rebeck’s no-excuses attack on the matter is that she models this as a question in which men, too, must be vividly involved.
 
In that sense, “Bernhardt/Hamlet,” directed with wit and verve by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, is a deep-inside love letter to the theater as a kind of laboratory in which experiments in both art and equality are possible. Among all her supposed fans and supporters, it is only Bernhardt’s company of actors, led by the old-school Constant Coqueline (Dylan Baker, great), who fully support her gender daring. Even the ingénue (Brittany Bradford) quite happily experiments with full-on Hamlet-Ophelia frottage.
 
That’s more than a wicked valentine: It’s a vision.
 
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/25/theater/bernhardt-hamlet-review.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Ftheater&action=click&contentCollection=theater&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

I can't have oatmeal now because of my diabetes.

Oh but you can have oatmeal for breakfast! I am a diabetic and I eat lower carb oatmeal.
Better Oats brand made by Post Cereals has 100 calories, 18 carbs per serving and 1g sugar. (available in stores, like Target, and amazon.com )
Proti Diet has 90 calories, 6 carbs per serving, and 0 sugar. (Available online at https://protifoods.com or amazon.com)
Also, when making oatmeal you should add protein to your mix, so when making instant oatmeal, add 1/4 cup of egg beaters or egg whites to the mix, and 2-3 tablespoons of natural, unprocessed peanut butter (go to Whole Foods and grind your own peanut butter!) to your mix.
 
Your eating habits are atrocious for a diabetic. You need the services of a registered diabetes nutritionist who will help you meal plan. Stop ordering Burger King and for God's sake, stop drinking diet soda, or adding "sugar-free" mixes to your water! The labels on these products are misleading and the chemicals used to make them, along with the artificial sweeteners will cause your blood sugars to spike. Start counting carbs, calories and add more fresh vegetables to your diet.

Currently running in Chicago and coming to Broadway next spring...
 
 
Early Tony buzz for Broadway-bound ‘Tootsie’ musical
By Michael Riedel
September 13, 2018 | 7:07pm
 

Dustin Hoffman starred in the 1982 movie "Tootsie."Everett Collection
With only a couple of previews in Chicago under its corset, “Tootsie” is shaping up to be a hit.
 
Buzz was building during rehearsals for Santino Fontana, as the main character, and it exploded after the first performance Tuesday night at the Cadillac Palace Theatre.
 
“I just saw next year’s Tony-winning performance for Best Actor in a Musical,” a high-powered Broadway executive texted when the curtain came down.
 
Fontana plays the Dustin Hoffman role of Michael Dorsey, an actor so fussy and demanding, nobody will cast him. He transforms himself into Dorothy Michaels and becomes a star — and a better person.
 
The stage version retains “the bones” of the 1982 movie, a production source says, “but has been completely rethought for the stage.”
 
The big change is the setting. The movie took place in the world of soap operas. The musical’s creators — composer David Yazbek, writer Robert Horn and director Scott Ellis — have set their story on Broadway, where Dorothy becomes a musical-comedy sensation of Bette Midler-like fame.
 
While the film had Dorothy’s rise chronicled via magazine covers, accompanied by the lyrics “Go, Tootsie, go!,” the musical shows her name appearing on one Broadway marquee after another.
 
Michael’s love interest, Julie (Lilli Cooper, late of “SpongeBob SquarePants”), still throws a martini in Michael’s face, but the musical has eliminated her father (played by Charles Durning in the movie), who unwittingly falls in love with Dorothy. In the stage adaptation, her admirer is now the male lead in the show within the show.
 
Dorothy’s director in the musical is modeled on Dabney Coleman’s sexist soap director. As played by Reg Rogers, the character is still arrogant but, in these #MeToo times, no longer a predator.
 
Michael McGrath has a memorable turn as Michael’s long-suffering agent, but the restaurant they meet in has been switched from the Russian Tea Room to something resembling Joe Allen.
 
Gone altogether is the most famous line in the film: “How do you feel about Cleveland?”
 
But the musical has some fresh zingers from Horn, who’s written for some funny TV series, “Designing Women” among them.
 
“It’s a real book musical,” says a source, adding: “The wit and romance from the movie are in place.”
 
“Tootsie” opens Sept. 30 in Chicago. Previews begin March 29 in New York at the Marquis Theatre.
 
Santino Fontana

Sorry to hear about your condition. You need help and its gonna be up to you to find it. There have to be services available to you in your area. I don't know what part of the country/state or town you live in but at least here in NYC Adult Protective Services provides a variety of services for the elderly and disabled. Check with organizations such as churches or non-profits that might assist you. You might be able to get someone to assist you once or twice a week with those tasks you cannot perform. SAGE, a wonderful organization for gay seniors now has locations throughout the county. Even if they are not close by to you, it might be worth it to give them a call, speak to a rep and get some idea of what you can do in your area. We wish we could help...

Sorry to hear about your condition. You need help and its gonna be up to you to find it. There have to be services available to you in your area. I don't know what part of the country/state or town you live in but at least here in NYC Adult Protective Services provides a variety of services for the elderly and disabled. Check with organizations such as churches or non-profits that might assist you. You might be able to get someone to assist you once or twice a week with those tasks you cannot perform. SAGE, a wonderful organization for gay seniors now has locations throughout the county. Even if they are not close by to you, it might be worth it to give them a call, speak to a rep and get some idea of what you can do in your area. We wish we could help...

Sorry to hear about your condition. You need help and its gonna be up to you to find it. There have to be services available to you in your area. I don't know what part of the country/state or town you live in but at least here in NYC Adult Protective Services provides a variety of services for the elderly and disabled. Check with organizations such as churches or non-profits that might assist you. You might be able to get someone to assist you once or twice a week with those tasks you cannot perform. SAGE, a wonderful organization for gay seniors now has locations throughout the county. Even if they are not close by to you, it might be worth it to give them a call, speak to a rep and get some idea of what you can do in your area. We wish we could help...

I said they removed the videos, not the booths. Again, it's been awhile, probably a year or so, but they were showing non-porn in the video booths. No doubt NYC did a crackdown.
The purpose of the booths is still obvious. Older guys hanging out looking for a hookup. I've visited my fair share of porno places over the years, here in NYC and other locations. have you ever visited a place that wasn't seedy and needed a good cleaning, not to mention disinfecting?
 
You would have to visit Les Hommes and do a survey on why customers still frequent the place. We eagerly await the results!

NYPost columnist Michael Riedel writes in today's column:
 
How these late theater greats changed Broadway forever
By Michael Riedel. August 23, 2018 | 7:27pm
 

Brian Murray, Barbara Harris and Craig ZadanGetty Images; Everett Collection
 
Not to drop a name, but I was at a dinner party once with Robert De Niro (thump!) who said the actress he admired most was Barbara Harris.
 
De Niro was a student at the Actors Studio in New York in the 1960s where Harris, then on the verge of Broadway stardom, was a member. She rehearsed scenes and monologues in front of De Niro and other aspiring young actors, who were awed by her style and technique.
 
Harris died this week at 83 from lung cancer, after acclaimed performances in Broadway’s “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever” and films including “Nashville,” “Family Plot” and “The Seduction of Joe Tynan.”
 
She could have been a big star, says her “On a Clear Day” co-star John Cullum, but she never pushed for it.
 
Louis Jourdan (who was replaced by John Cullum) and Barbara Harris during tryouts for “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.”
 
“She was so fast and so talented,” he says. “She could have been tops in her field, but I don’t think she thought acting was the most important thing you could do with your life.”
 
She’d drop out of sight after a show closed and friends would be surprised to see her working at an art gallery in the Village or, in one instance, behind the perfume counter at Bloomingdale’s.
 
She was eccentric, onstage and off.
 
“You never knew what she was going to do,” Cullum says. “She loved to improvise. If I had a line — ‘Why are you smiling?’ — she’d frown. It was charming, but it was difficult. She’d be floating all over the place, and the audience loved it.” And there was always an edge to her performance.
 
“She was always on the verge of something,” he says. “She never went bananas, but there was something lurking there, something a little dark.”
 
Offstage, Harris would sometimes dress like a bag lady and duck out of the theater before VIPs could come backstage to meet her.
 
She had little interest in promoting herself, or her show.
 
When “Clear Day” began to wilt at the box office, the press agent lined up a Time magazine profile of her. A Time story, back in the ’60s, always sold tickets.
 
But at the last minute, Harris refused to do the interview.
 
“I never knew why,” Cullum says. “She just didn’t want to do it. It didn’t matter to her … And the show closed.”
 
One of Edward Albee’s favorite actors was Brian Murray, who died this week at 80.
 
“You never have to worry about your play when you have an actor like Brian in it,” Albee once told me. “He doesn’t get things wrong.”
 
Murray, who was born in South Africa, appeared on Broadway in “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” “The Little Foxes” and an acclaimed revival of “The Crucible.”
 
He had remarkable stage chemistry with another of Albee’s favorite actors, Marian Seldes. They turned in memorable performances in Albee’s 2001 play “The Play About the Baby.”
 
“It was my extraordinary luck at a very advanced age to work with Marian,” Murray once said. “She was a leading lady, and I really have to use both those words actively. She was leading. And if ever there was one, a lady.”
 
Murray loved to tell the story of how Seldes caught an early preview of a production of “Tartuffe” that he directed.
 
“It was dreadful,” he said. “I was hanging my head and she came up to me and said, ‘Darling, it’s got to get better!’”
 
Craig Zadan, the movie, theater and TV producer, also died this week — at 69, from complications following shoulder surgery.
 
He produced the revival of “Promises, Promises” starring Kristin Chenoweth, as well as 2002’s movie musical of “Chicago” and the live TV broadcasts of “Hairspray” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
 
Many Broadway fans have his book “Sondheim & Co.” in their libraries. Zadan, who as a young man was close to Stephen Sondheim, wrote it in the 1970s and ’80s.
 
While there have been many other books about Sondheim since then — two by the great man himself — for my money, Zadan’s is still the best. Sondheim gave him many hours of interviews and spoke candidly about his musicals “Company,” “Follies,” “A Little Night Music” and “Merrily We Roll Along.”
 
“Sondheim & Co.” has good gossip but is never malicious. It’s clear Sondheim trusted Zadan, and the composer’s assessments of his shows are lively and sharp.
Sondheim & Co.” in their libraries. Zadan, who as a young man was close to Stephen Sondheim, wrote it in the 1970s and ’80s.
 
While there have been many other books about Sondheim since then — two by the great man himself — for my money, Zadan’s is still the best. Sondheim gave him many hours of interviews and spoke candidly about his musicals “Company,” “Follies,” “A Little Night Music” and “Merrily We Roll Along.”
 
“Sondheim & Co.” has good gossip but is never malicious. It’s clear Sondheim trusted Zadan, and the composer’s assessments of his shows are lively and sharp.
 
It’s a book well worth re-reading, or catching anew.

NYPost columnist Michael Riedel writes in today's column:
 
How these late theater greats changed Broadway forever
By Michael Riedel. August 23, 2018 | 7:27pm
 

Brian Murray, Barbara Harris and Craig ZadanGetty Images; Everett Collection
 
Not to drop a name, but I was at a dinner party once with Robert De Niro (thump!) who said the actress he admired most was Barbara Harris.
 
De Niro was a student at the Actors Studio in New York in the 1960s where Harris, then on the verge of Broadway stardom, was a member. She rehearsed scenes and monologues in front of De Niro and other aspiring young actors, who were awed by her style and technique.
 
Harris died this week at 83 from lung cancer, after acclaimed performances in Broadway’s “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever” and films including “Nashville,” “Family Plot” and “The Seduction of Joe Tynan.”
 
She could have been a big star, says her “On a Clear Day” co-star John Cullum, but she never pushed for it.
 
Louis Jourdan (who was replaced by John Cullum) and Barbara Harris during tryouts for “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.”
 
“She was so fast and so talented,” he says. “She could have been tops in her field, but I don’t think she thought acting was the most important thing you could do with your life.”
 
She’d drop out of sight after a show closed and friends would be surprised to see her working at an art gallery in the Village or, in one instance, behind the perfume counter at Bloomingdale’s.
 
She was eccentric, onstage and off.
 
“You never knew what she was going to do,” Cullum says. “She loved to improvise. If I had a line — ‘Why are you smiling?’ — she’d frown. It was charming, but it was difficult. She’d be floating all over the place, and the audience loved it.” And there was always an edge to her performance.
 
“She was always on the verge of something,” he says. “She never went bananas, but there was something lurking there, something a little dark.”
 
Offstage, Harris would sometimes dress like a bag lady and duck out of the theater before VIPs could come backstage to meet her.
 
She had little interest in promoting herself, or her show.
 
When “Clear Day” began to wilt at the box office, the press agent lined up a Time magazine profile of her. A Time story, back in the ’60s, always sold tickets.
 
But at the last minute, Harris refused to do the interview.
 
“I never knew why,” Cullum says. “She just didn’t want to do it. It didn’t matter to her … And the show closed.”
 
One of Edward Albee’s favorite actors was Brian Murray, who died this week at 80.
 
“You never have to worry about your play when you have an actor like Brian in it,” Albee once told me. “He doesn’t get things wrong.”
 
Murray, who was born in South Africa, appeared on Broadway in “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” “The Little Foxes” and an acclaimed revival of “The Crucible.”
 
He had remarkable stage chemistry with another of Albee’s favorite actors, Marian Seldes. They turned in memorable performances in Albee’s 2001 play “The Play About the Baby.”
 
“It was my extraordinary luck at a very advanced age to work with Marian,” Murray once said. “She was a leading lady, and I really have to use both those words actively. She was leading. And if ever there was one, a lady.”
 
Murray loved to tell the story of how Seldes caught an early preview of a production of “Tartuffe” that he directed.
 
“It was dreadful,” he said. “I was hanging my head and she came up to me and said, ‘Darling, it’s got to get better!’”
 
Craig Zadan, the movie, theater and TV producer, also died this week — at 69, from complications following shoulder surgery.
 
He produced the revival of “Promises, Promises” starring Kristin Chenoweth, as well as 2002’s movie musical of “Chicago” and the live TV broadcasts of “Hairspray” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
 
Many Broadway fans have his book “Sondheim & Co.” in their libraries. Zadan, who as a young man was close to Stephen Sondheim, wrote it in the 1970s and ’80s.
 
While there have been many other books about Sondheim since then — two by the great man himself — for my money, Zadan’s is still the best. Sondheim gave him many hours of interviews and spoke candidly about his musicals “Company,” “Follies,” “A Little Night Music” and “Merrily We Roll Along.”
 
“Sondheim & Co.” has good gossip but is never malicious. It’s clear Sondheim trusted Zadan, and the composer’s assessments of his shows are lively and sharp.
Sondheim & Co.” in their libraries. Zadan, who as a young man was close to Stephen Sondheim, wrote it in the 1970s and ’80s.
 
While there have been many other books about Sondheim since then — two by the great man himself — for my money, Zadan’s is still the best. Sondheim gave him many hours of interviews and spoke candidly about his musicals “Company,” “Follies,” “A Little Night Music” and “Merrily We Roll Along.”
 
“Sondheim & Co.” has good gossip but is never malicious. It’s clear Sondheim trusted Zadan, and the composer’s assessments of his shows are lively and sharp.
 
It’s a book well worth re-reading, or catching anew.

One or the greats of Broadway. A short career. She left the business in search of a less public life.
A talented stage and screen actress. May she rest in peace....
 
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/obituaries/barbara-harris-dies.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Ftheater&action=click&contentCollection=theater&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=sectionfront
 
 
Barbara Harris, Stage, Screen and Improv Actress, Dies at 83


 

Aug. 21, 2018

Barbara Harris, who was a founding member of the Second City improvisational theater and went on to win a Tony Award for her lead role in the musical “The Apple Tree” and to appear in films like “A Thousand Clowns” and “Nashville,” died on Tuesday in hospice care in Scottsdale, Ariz. She was 83.
 
Charna Halpern, a friend and a founder of the Chicago improv theater iO, said the cause was metastatic lung cancer.
 
Ms. Harris was part of a revolution in improvisation in Chicago — first with the Compass Players, whose members also included Mike Nichols, Elaine May and Ed Asner, and then with the Second City, which Paul Sills, her husband at the time, helped start in 1959.
 
She was the first performer seen onstage at the Second City’s opening night, singing “Everybody’s in the Know” while framed by a spotlight.
 
“It all began with Barbara Harris,” the Second City said on its website on Tuesday.
 
When a revue called “From the Second City” opened on Broadway in 1961, Ms. Harris was lauded by Howard Taubman of The New York Times for her “unusual and varied talents.” He cited a “hugely diverting encounter” in a sketch in which she played an introverted girl and Alan Arkin played a guitar-playing beatnik spouting nonsensical lingo.
 
Ms. Harris shifted easily between comedy and drama, from kooky to serious, on both screen and stage. But she was a reluctant star who disliked fame, chose films she thought would fail and preferred not to be recognized for her work.
 
“I’m much more interested in what’s behind acting, which is the inquiry into the human condition,” she told the newspaper Phoenix New Times in 2002 after she had retired to teach acting. “Everyone gets acting mixed up with the desire to be famous, but some of us really just stumbled into the fame part, while we were really just interested in the process of acting.”
 
For a while, though, she was a famous actress. In 1965,
, the psychically gifted young woman with a past life, in the Alan Jay Lerner-Burton Lane Broadway musical “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.” 
After earning a Tony nomination for that role, she won the Tony in 1967 for her performance in “The Apple Tree,” three stories that were set to music by Jerry Bock, with lyrics by Sheldon Harnick.
 
In the first piece, Ms. Harris played Eve to Alan Alda’s Adam.
 
“She is Eve to the toenails,” Walter Kerr wrote in The Times, “Eve to the single ringlets that spill down over her shoulders, Eve to the baby-bright eyes that are so enchantingly startled as they look into a reflecting pool. A man couldn’t make do without this Eve, it turns out.”
 
Ms. Harris never acted on Broadway again, but by the late 1960s her film career was in full swing. She received an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in “Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?” (1971), starring Dustin Hoffman, and Golden Globe nominations for her roles in Robert Altman’s “Nashville” (1975), Alfred Hitchcock’s “Family Plot” (1976) and Gary Nelson’s “Freaky Friday” (1976), in which she and Jodie Foster, as mother and daughter, traded bodies.
 
In his review of “Nashville,” which was directed largely as an improvisation, Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times praised Ms. Harris’s portrayal of a runaway wife who sings to a frightened crowd after a shooting. The film’s closing minutes, he wrote, “with Barbara Harris finding herself, to her astonishment, onstage and singing ‘It Don’t Worry Me,’ are unforgettable and heartbreaking.”
 
Barbara Densmoor Harris was born on July 25, 1935, in Evanston, Ill. Her father, Oscar, held various jobs, including tree surgeon and restaurant owner. Her mother, Natalie (Densmoor) Harris, taught piano, played organ and made costumes.
 
“I wanted to be a dancer,” Ms. Harris told The Times in 1965, “but I stopped dancing in high school.”
 
After high school, she began performing at the Playwrights Theater Clubin Chicago, the precursor to the Compass Players. Mr. Sills was also a founder of the Playwrights troupe, and the performers included Mr. Asner and Zohra Lampert. Ms. Harris’s marriage to Mr. Sills, which was brief, ended in divorce.
 
No immediate family members survive.
 
After the 1970s, Ms. Harris acted less frequently; in her final film, “Grosse Pointe Blank” (1997), she played the mother of a hit man (John Cusack).
 
“I don’t miss it,” she told Phoenix New Times. “I think the only thing that drew me to acting in the first place was the group of people I was working with: Ed Asner, Paul Sills, Mike Nichols, Elaine May. And all I really wanted to do back then was rehearsal.
 
“I was in it for the process,” she continued, “and I really resented having to go out and do a performance for an audience because the process stopped; it had to freeze and be the same every night.”

Saw this production last night and enjoyed seeing Armie and Josh on stage. The production is rather puzzling, especially when I walked into the theater and was "accosted" by a woman, Kate Bernstein, billed as Person In Charge I, dressed in a circus ringmaster costume who proceeded to annoy the hell out of me. Yes, she's part of the show. The music, a high energy and loud mix of what can only be described as a zoomba exercise class mix of rap, was distracting and annoying. Not a good way to start a show, fo me. fortunately, Ms. Bornstein had a pocketful of ear plugs!
Ms. Bornstein is joined by Ty Defoe, member of the Oneida and Ojibwe Indian Nations, and opening the show, and blessedly ending the music, they proceed to have an inane conversation.
At long last when the show begins we are treated to an interesting tale of the interaction of three siblings and their father at Christmastime. (It was about 90 degrees outside last night, so Christmas was a stretch.)
The boys act much as they have their whole life. Teasing and testing each others limits despite the fact that they've all reached middle age. The acting was good, and I have to admit I find Armie Hammer quite appealing.
Alas, the show does not end on a happy note.
All that said, I enjoyed the show, but could have done without all the extra production nonsense.
Ends September 9th.

OK, now that the awards have been handed out, we can take a look at what's coming up in the fall season.
Upcoming:
 
HEAD OVER HEELS
• Theatre: Hudson Theatre
• First Preview: June 23, 2016
• Opening: July 26, 2018
• Director: Michael Mayer
• Original book by Jeff Whitty. Adapted by James MacGruder. Music by the Go-Go’s
• New musical based on Philip Sidney’s Arcadia, showcasing the music of the '80s band the Go-Go’s.
• Co-produced by Gwyneth Paltrow and Donovan Leitch. Had its debut at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in summer 2017. The musical will play San Francisco's the Curran April 24–May 20, 2018.
 
STRAIGHT WHITE MEN
• Theatre: Helen Hayes
• First Preview: June 29, 2018
• Opening: July 23, 2018
• Written by Young Jean Lee
• Director: Anna D. Shapiro
• It’s Christmas Eve, and Ed has gathered his three adult sons to celebrate with matching pajamas, trash-talking, and Chinese takeout. But when a question they can’t answer interrupts their holiday cheer, they are forced to confront their own identities.
 
GETTIN’ THE BAND BACK TOGETHER
• Theatre: Belasco Theatre
• First Preview: July 19, 2018
• Opening: August 13, 2018
• Music and Lyrics by Mark Allen, book by Ken Davenport and Grundleshotz
• Director: John Rando
• New musical about an investment banker who loses his job and decides to restart his life by reorganizing his high school rock band.
 
PRETTY WOMAN
• Theatre: Nederlander Theatre
• First Preview: July 20, 2018
• Opening: August 16, 2018
• Written by Garry Marshall (book), Bryan Adam and Jim Vallance (score)
• Director and choreographer: Jerry Mitchell
• A musical adaptation of the hugely successful film starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Pretty Woman will play an out-of-town tryout in Chicago in spring 2018.
 
BERNHARDT/HAMLET
• Theatre: American Airlines Theatre
• First Preview: September 1, 2018
• Opening: September 25, 2018
• Written by Theresa Rebeck
• Director: Moritz von Stuelpnagel
• Rebeck’s new play is set against the lavish, late-19th-century production of Hamlet starring Sarah Bernhardt in her make-or-break role. Janet McTeer, last seen on Broadway in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, will bring the legendary leading lady to life.
 
THE NAP
• Theatre: Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
• First Preview: September 4, 2018
• Opening: September 27, 2018
• Written by Richard Bean
• Director: Daniel Sullivan
• Dylan Spokes, a fast-rising young star arrives for a championship tournament only to be confronted by the authorities warning him of the repercussions of match fixing. Before he knows it, Dylan’s forced into underhanded dealings with a cast of wildly colorful characters that include his ex-convict dad, saucy mum, quick-tongued manager and a renowned gangster, to boot.
 
THE WAVERLY GALLERY
• Theatre: John Golden Theatre
• First Preview: September 25, 2018
• Opening: October 25, 2018
• Written by: Kenneth Lonergan
• Director: Lila Neugebauer
• A feisty Greenwich Village art dealer must give up her beloved gallery due to her advancing years. As time rearranges her world, she must rely more then ever on her family’s love, loyalty, and devotion.
 
THE FERRYMAN
• Theatre: Bernard B. Jacobs
• First Preview: October 2, 2018
• Opening: October 21, 2018
• Written by: Jez Butterworth
• Director: Sam Mendes
• The Ferryman is set in rural Northern Ireland in 1981. The Carney farmhouse is a hive of activity with preparations for the annual harvest. A day of hard work on the land and a traditional night of feasting and celebrations lie ahead. But this year they will be interrupted by a visitor.
 
KING KONG
• Theatre: Broadway Theatre
• First Preview: October 5, 2018
• Opening: November 8, 2018
• Written by Jack Thorne (book), Marius de Vries and Eddie Perfect (score)
• Director and choreographer: Drew McOnie
• A musical adaptation of Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace’s novella.
• King Kong had its world premiere at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne, Australia.
 
TORCH SONG
• Theatre: The Hayes
• First Preview: October 9, 2018
• Opening: November 1, 2018
• Written by Harvey Feinstein
• Director: Moises Kaufman
• The acclaimed 2017 Off-Broadway revival will transfer with its cast intact.
 
THE PROM
• Theatre: Cort Theatre
• First Preview: October 21, 2018
• Opening: November 15, 2018
• Written by Bob Martin (book), Chad Beguelin (lyrics), Matthew Sklar (music)
• Director: Casey Nicholaw
• Cast: Beth Leavel, Brooks Ashmanskas, Christopher Sieber
• An original musical about a gay couple who want to attend their high school prom.
• Had a premiere production at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta in August 2016. Producers are Dori Berinstein and Bill Damaschke.
 
THE CHER SHOW
• Theatre: Neil Simon
• First Preview: November 1, 2018
• Opening: December 3, 2018
• Book by Rick Elice. Music by various composers.
• The musical traces the career of pop star Cher
• The Cher Show will premiere at Chicago’s Oriental Theatre June 12–July 15, 2018.
 
CHOIR BOY
• Theatre: Samuel J. Friedman
• Previews begin: December 27, 2018
• Opening: January 22, 2019
• Written by Tarell Alvin McCraney
• Director: Trip Cullman
• For half a century, the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys has been dedicated to the education of strong, ethical black men. One talented student has been waiting for years to take his rightful place as the leader of the legendary gospel choir. But can he make his way through the hallowed halls of this institution if he sings in his own key?
 
TRUE WEST
• Theatre: American Airlines
• First Preview: December 27, 2018
• Opening: January 24, 2019
• Written by Sam Shepard
• Director: James Macdonald
• Revival. Ethan Hawke stars opposite Paul Dano in Shepard's classic play about two brothers.
 
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
• Theatre: Shubert
• First Preview: November 1, 2018
• Opening: December 13, 2018
• Written by Aaron Sorkin
• Director: Bartlett Sher
• Cast: Jeff Daniels, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Will Pullen, Gideon Glick, Latanya Richardson Jackson, Stark Sands, Frederick Weller, Erin Wilhelmi, Dakin Matthews, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Stephen Mckinley Henderson, Phyllis Somerville, Liv Rooth
• Based on Harper Lee's novel of the same title.

OK, now that the awards have been handed out, we can take a look at what's coming up in the fall season.
Upcoming:
 
HEAD OVER HEELS
• Theatre: Hudson Theatre
• First Preview: June 23, 2016
• Opening: July 26, 2018
• Director: Michael Mayer
• Original book by Jeff Whitty. Adapted by James MacGruder. Music by the Go-Go’s
• New musical based on Philip Sidney’s Arcadia, showcasing the music of the '80s band the Go-Go’s.
• Co-produced by Gwyneth Paltrow and Donovan Leitch. Had its debut at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in summer 2017. The musical will play San Francisco's the Curran April 24–May 20, 2018.
 
STRAIGHT WHITE MEN
• Theatre: Helen Hayes
• First Preview: June 29, 2018
• Opening: July 23, 2018
• Written by Young Jean Lee
• Director: Anna D. Shapiro
• It’s Christmas Eve, and Ed has gathered his three adult sons to celebrate with matching pajamas, trash-talking, and Chinese takeout. But when a question they can’t answer interrupts their holiday cheer, they are forced to confront their own identities.
 
GETTIN’ THE BAND BACK TOGETHER
• Theatre: Belasco Theatre
• First Preview: July 19, 2018
• Opening: August 13, 2018
• Music and Lyrics by Mark Allen, book by Ken Davenport and Grundleshotz
• Director: John Rando
• New musical about an investment banker who loses his job and decides to restart his life by reorganizing his high school rock band.
 
PRETTY WOMAN
• Theatre: Nederlander Theatre
• First Preview: July 20, 2018
• Opening: August 16, 2018
• Written by Garry Marshall (book), Bryan Adam and Jim Vallance (score)
• Director and choreographer: Jerry Mitchell
• A musical adaptation of the hugely successful film starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Pretty Woman will play an out-of-town tryout in Chicago in spring 2018.
 
BERNHARDT/HAMLET
• Theatre: American Airlines Theatre
• First Preview: September 1, 2018
• Opening: September 25, 2018
• Written by Theresa Rebeck
• Director: Moritz von Stuelpnagel
• Rebeck’s new play is set against the lavish, late-19th-century production of Hamlet starring Sarah Bernhardt in her make-or-break role. Janet McTeer, last seen on Broadway in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, will bring the legendary leading lady to life.
 
THE NAP
• Theatre: Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
• First Preview: September 4, 2018
• Opening: September 27, 2018
• Written by Richard Bean
• Director: Daniel Sullivan
• Dylan Spokes, a fast-rising young star arrives for a championship tournament only to be confronted by the authorities warning him of the repercussions of match fixing. Before he knows it, Dylan’s forced into underhanded dealings with a cast of wildly colorful characters that include his ex-convict dad, saucy mum, quick-tongued manager and a renowned gangster, to boot.
 
THE WAVERLY GALLERY
• Theatre: John Golden Theatre
• First Preview: September 25, 2018
• Opening: October 25, 2018
• Written by: Kenneth Lonergan
• Director: Lila Neugebauer
• A feisty Greenwich Village art dealer must give up her beloved gallery due to her advancing years. As time rearranges her world, she must rely more then ever on her family’s love, loyalty, and devotion.
 
THE FERRYMAN
• Theatre: Bernard B. Jacobs
• First Preview: October 2, 2018
• Opening: October 21, 2018
• Written by: Jez Butterworth
• Director: Sam Mendes
• The Ferryman is set in rural Northern Ireland in 1981. The Carney farmhouse is a hive of activity with preparations for the annual harvest. A day of hard work on the land and a traditional night of feasting and celebrations lie ahead. But this year they will be interrupted by a visitor.
 
KING KONG
• Theatre: Broadway Theatre
• First Preview: October 5, 2018
• Opening: November 8, 2018
• Written by Jack Thorne (book), Marius de Vries and Eddie Perfect (score)
• Director and choreographer: Drew McOnie
• A musical adaptation of Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace’s novella.
• King Kong had its world premiere at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne, Australia.
 
TORCH SONG
• Theatre: The Hayes
• First Preview: October 9, 2018
• Opening: November 1, 2018
• Written by Harvey Feinstein
• Director: Moises Kaufman
• The acclaimed 2017 Off-Broadway revival will transfer with its cast intact.
 
THE PROM
• Theatre: Cort Theatre
• First Preview: October 21, 2018
• Opening: November 15, 2018
• Written by Bob Martin (book), Chad Beguelin (lyrics), Matthew Sklar (music)
• Director: Casey Nicholaw
• Cast: Beth Leavel, Brooks Ashmanskas, Christopher Sieber
• An original musical about a gay couple who want to attend their high school prom.
• Had a premiere production at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta in August 2016. Producers are Dori Berinstein and Bill Damaschke.
 
THE CHER SHOW
• Theatre: Neil Simon
• First Preview: November 1, 2018
• Opening: December 3, 2018
• Book by Rick Elice. Music by various composers.
• The musical traces the career of pop star Cher
• The Cher Show will premiere at Chicago’s Oriental Theatre June 12–July 15, 2018.
 
CHOIR BOY
• Theatre: Samuel J. Friedman
• Previews begin: December 27, 2018
• Opening: January 22, 2019
• Written by Tarell Alvin McCraney
• Director: Trip Cullman
• For half a century, the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys has been dedicated to the education of strong, ethical black men. One talented student has been waiting for years to take his rightful place as the leader of the legendary gospel choir. But can he make his way through the hallowed halls of this institution if he sings in his own key?
 
TRUE WEST
• Theatre: American Airlines
• First Preview: December 27, 2018
• Opening: January 24, 2019
• Written by Sam Shepard
• Director: James Macdonald
• Revival. Ethan Hawke stars opposite Paul Dano in Shepard's classic play about two brothers.
 
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
• Theatre: Shubert
• First Preview: November 1, 2018
• Opening: December 13, 2018
• Written by Aaron Sorkin
• Director: Bartlett Sher
• Cast: Jeff Daniels, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Will Pullen, Gideon Glick, Latanya Richardson Jackson, Stark Sands, Frederick Weller, Erin Wilhelmi, Dakin Matthews, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Stephen Mckinley Henderson, Phyllis Somerville, Liv Rooth
• Based on Harper Lee's novel of the same title.

Ib a word "No." Classic Stage has a set schedule and little room to extend current productions.

My thoughts and prayers for Aretha at this time. One of the all time greats.