Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: February 18, 2024
By: Laura Deni
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SHAKESPEAREAN ROYALTY HONORED BY A REIGNING ONE

An invitation no one refused.

Queen Camilla surrounded by: back row, left-right: Dame Joanna Lumley, 77, known for Absolutely Fabulous plus The New Avengers and Sapphire & Steel - Dame Floella Benjamin, 74, actress, children's TV legend and author of the memoir Coming to England - Dame Twiggy Lawson, 74, fashion icon of the Swinging '60s who became an award-winning actress - Dame Harriet Walter, 73, known for her Shakespeare work and TV shows like Law & Order: UK and Succession - Dame Penelope Wilton, 77, has starred in Downton Abbeyl Doctor Who and After Life - Dame Maureen Lipman, 77, versatile performer who has become a favorite in Coronation Street. Front row, left-right: Dame Virginia McKenna, 92, whose 1966 film Born Free led her to become a wildlife campaigner - Dame Sian Phillips, 90, Bafta winner for I, Claudius and How Green Was My Valley - Dame Judi Dench, 89, legend of stage and screen who has an Oscar, 10 Baftas and eight Olivier Awards - Dame Vanessa Redgrave, 87, also has an Oscar plus numerous Shakespeare credits - Dame Penelope Keith, 83, the star of sitcoms like The Good Life and To The Manor Born - Dame Patricia Routledge, 94, known for sitcom Keeping Up Appearances and other comic and dramatic roles. Photo by: Chris Jackson/pool.

The most distinguished of Shakespearean actors gathered on Valentine's Day at Grosvenor House in London to mark 400 years since the first Shakespeare folio.

Guests of honor were to have been King Charles and Queen Camilla. A lifelong fan of Shakespeare, the King had to miss the event due to receiving his second treatment for that pesky cancer situation.

Looking radiant, the King's loving wife was delighted to be among so many people she actually considers to be long time friends. Wearing a green velvet Me + Em dress and white drop Alhambra Van Cleef & Arpels earrings, she was accompanied by her sister Annabel Elliot. The pair were joined by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Gabriella Windsor and her husband.

Hosted by Gyles Brandreth with the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company, in attendance were Baroness Floella Benjamin, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Penelope Keith, Dame Twiggy Lawson, Dame Joanna Lumley, Dame Virginia McKenna, Dame Sian Phillips, Dame Vanessa Redgrave, Dame Patricia Routledge, Dame Janet Suzman, Dame Harriet Walter and Dame Penelope Wilton.

Shakespearean actors in attendance included Sir Simon Russell Beale, Sir David Suchet, Jeremy Irons, Julian Glover, Brian Cox, Freddie Fox, Gary Oldman and Robert Lindsay.

Also in the Queen's party was Lady Sarah Chatto. She is the daughter of Princess Margaret and the King’s cousin who is noted for being an strong advocate of the arts. Lord Freddie Windsor and his wife, the actress Sophie Winkleman were also part of Camilla's party. Lord Frederick Windsor is the second cousin of King Charles III. Sophie extensive acting career began when she was a student at Cambridge University. Her stage career after Cambridge includes a season at the Royal Shakespeare Company, where she played Veronique in Laurence Boswell's adaptation of Beauty and the Beast and a summer in Bath with the Peter Hall Company playing a variety of roles including Archangela in Galileo's Daughter directed by Peter Hall, a new play by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Violet in George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman also directed by Peter Hall, and Charlotte in Molière's Don Juan, directed by Thea Sharrock. In 2012 she played Helena in Eric Idle's musical What About Dick at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, alongside Eddie Izzard, Russell Brand and Billy Connolly. Her numerous television roles include a recurring part in Two and a Half Men. In November 2017 Sophie was seriously injured in a head-on car crash, suffering a broken back and foot. She was a back-seat passenger in a car when another vehicle struck her car after swerving to avoid a deer. It was reported that she would not suffer long-term problems, but faced weeks of recuperation. In June 2020, it was announced that she was the new royal patron of the Children's Surgery Foundation. The following month, it was announced that she would be the newest (and first female) patron of School-Home Support.

Queen Camilla surrounded by: (left-right): Freddie Fox whose roles included singer Marilyn in the BBC's Boy George biopic Worried About The Boy, Alex Jennings known for Victoria; The Queen opposite Helen Mirren, A Very English Scandal and The Crown, Jeremy Irons a winner of an Oscar, 3 Emmys and a Tony award, Brian Cox known for leading performances on screen and stage, Tom Courtenay who received prominence in the 1960s as part of actors of the British New Wave, Peter Egan who is a noted actor and animal rights activist, Robert Lindsa who has a Tony award, two Laurence Olivier Awards and a British Academy Television Award, Martin Jarvis described as 'one of Britain's most distinguished and versatile actors', Simon Russell Beale who has been awarded a Tony Award, two BAFTA awards and three Olivier Awards, Robert Powell known for the title roles in Mahler and Jesusof Nazareth and for his portrayal of secret agent Richard Hannay in The Thirty Nine Steps, and Samuel West who can currently be seen starring in the PBS series All Creatures Great and Small. Photo by: Chris Jackson/pool

Also on the guest list were Sir Tim Rice, poet laureate Simon Armitage, Jeremy Paxman, Fiona Bruce, Melvyn Bragg, the playwright Sir David Hare and theatre impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh. Authors including Sir Michael Morpurgo and Jilly Cooper joined directors such as Tamara Harvey, the co-artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

At the Shakespeare event Brandreth offered a toast to "a King and Queen whose love for literature and the arts is so deep rooted, so real and so supportive, it’s wonderful for us and it’s wonderful for our country".

He also presented the Queen with two matching white sweaters with a large red heart on the front, in celebration of Valentine’s Day.

"We all send His Majesty our love and respect and huge best wishes for an early recovery. Long live the King!"

The event also turned into a autograph session with all in attendance signing a gigantic get well soon card. They also joined the Queen to toast his good health: "to the King, the Queen and William Shakespeare", before turning to the Queen, saying: "You can’t drink because you’re part of the toast." proclaiming the appropriate 'All’s Well That Ends Well.' from the play of the same name, published in the First Folio in 1623, where it is listed among the comedies.

The King, who has often spoken of his love of Shakespeare and those who brings his words to the stage will no doubt be pleased to read the card which quotes Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well to say: "Tis our hope, Sir, to return / And find Your Grace in good health".

Dame Judi Dench was up next reciting one of Shakespeare's most famous love sonnets, Sonnet 116, "Let me not to the marriage of true minds", to rapturous applause, with Oldman starting his performance of a comedy poem about Hamlet by joking: "This is quite a house. Gyles said it would just be a few people, and he didn’t tell me I’d have to follow Judi Dench."

Finally, Lindsay performed the musical number "Brush up on your Shakespeare" from Cole Porter’s musical, Kiss Me Kate, resulting in sustained laughter and applause from the Queen and the audience.

The reception included English wine as guests dined on Shakespeare-themed canapes including "To beet or not to beet" blinis.

Queen Camilla so enjoed the event that she stayed more than thirty minutes after she was scheduled to leave.

CELEBRATING THE 100th ANNIVERSARY OF RHAPSODY IN BLUE

In this the centenary year of the famed musical creation performances of the seminal work are being performed all across the world.

SUNY College of Optometry presented the 100th Anniversary Performance of Rhapsody in Blue which took place on the 125th anniversary of George Gershwin's birth, in the same location as its 1924 premiere.

The piece for piano and jazz band was first performed in Aeolian Hall in the Aeolian Building in midtown Manhattan, where the SUNY College of Optometry is housed today.

Grammy-nominated jazz trumpeter Jens Lindemann lead an ensemble of musicians in the 100th anniversary concert, which also featured woks by Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, and other Jazz Age classics.

The Aeolian Building opened in 1912 as the home of the Aeolian Company, which manufactured musical instruments, most notably player pianos—self-playing pianos also known as reproducing pianos or pianolas. The Aeolian Building held a significance in Gershwin's career prior to the premiere of Rhapsody in Blue, as one of his first professional jobs was making piano rolls for the Aeolian Company's player pianos. The premiere of Rhapsody in Blue at the Aeolian Building reflects not only on the trajectory of Gershwin's career, but perhaps even on the music itself; The clarinet solo which opens the piece begins with a rising glissando and a chromatically embellished descent down the B-flat Aeolian scale. Considered a challenging piece to arrange because of the powerful sound and harmony on the marimba.

Sometimes referred to as a "jazz concerto," Rhapsody in Blue was Gershwin's first major concert work. Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman for his band, Rhapsody in Blue was an immediate success upon its premiere, and to this day remains one of Gershwin's most popular pieces, as well as one of the most iconic works of American concert music.

Although the original performance hall no longer exists, SUNY Optometry's 100th anniversary performance of Rhapsody in Blue was held in the Schwarz Theater in the same building.

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s iconic concerto fusing classical music and jazz, The George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition at the University of Michigan has published musicologist Ryan Raul Bañagale‘s landmark scholarly edition of the original 1924 jazz band version of Rhapsody in Blue, orchestrated by Ferde Grofé. The publication now makes the work’s full original musical notation – as it likely sounded when it was first premiered – available to Gershwin fans, music students, scholars, and performers.

A signal voice in the American musical imagination, the melodies of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue were first heard on February 12, 1924 in New York’s Aeolian Hall. The composer was at the keyboard and the accompanying ensemble was not a symphony orchestra, but a jazz band. The performance was the climactic argument in bandleader Paul Whiteman’s 'Experiment in Modern Music' to prove that jazz was an art form worthy of cultural respect.

The George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition project is a unique partnership between the University of Michigan, the American Music Institute of its School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and the George and Ira Gershwin families to preserve the artistic legacy of the Gershwin brothers for the nation and the world. It is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and a matching gift from individual donors, including members of the Gershwin family and Alfred and Jane Wolin.

Rhapsody In Blue the 1945 film starred Robert Alda (father of Alan Alda) as Gershwin, alongside musical icons Al Jolson, Paul Whiteman, and Oscar Levant playing themselves, in this lavish fictionalized tribute biography of composer George Gershwin. Joan Leslie, Alexis Smith, Hazel Scott, and Anne Brown also starred, while Irving Rapper directed. In one scene, pianist Oscar Levant watches from the audience while Alda, as George Gershwin, does an excellent job in appearing to play the piano. It's Levant on the soundtrack, but Alda (coached by Ray Turner, a Whiteman band alumnus turned studio pianist) was credited with doing a "better-than-average pantomime."

Gershwin died from a brain tumor at the age of 38.

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This is not your typical, totally boring textbook.

In the pages of How To Earn A Living As A Freelance Writer (the first to be lied to and the last to be paid) you'll find sex, celebrities, violence, threats, unethical editors, scummy managers and lawyers, treacherous press agents, sex discrimination; as well as a how-to for earning money by writing down words.

ART AND ABOUT

JAPANESE FRIENDSHIP DOLLS

photo credit: Miss Osaka (1927) by Hirata Goyo II Japanese, 1903–81. Collection of the Ohio History Connection, Columbus

Learn about a unique moment in US history and the fine art of Japanese doll-making through this exhibition showcasing three ichimatsu Friendship Dolls.

In the late 1920s, during a time of escalating tensions between the US and Japan, two friends—Japanese business leader Eiichi Shibusawa and American educator Sidney Gulick—developed a program for children in each country to exchange dolls as a gesture of friendship and cultural understanding.

The American children sent more than 12,000 dolls, mass-produced but carefully customized for the program down to passports and train tickets, to their Japanese counterparts, who responded with 58 ichimatsu Friendship Dolls.

Meticulously crafted by master artists, the Friendship Dolls were made to be ambassadors, each one as unique as the prefecture they represented.

Alongside the three on display are two examples of boy ichimatsu—Akita Sugi-o, made in the 1930s and now in the collection of the Detroit Children’s Museum, and Tomoki, a 2018 doll by Kokan Fujimuru commissioned for the DIA puppetry collection.

This exhibition is made possible with support from the Japanese Business Society of Detroit Foundation and the Audley M. Grossman Puppetry Fund.

On display through June 5, 2024 at the Detroit Institute o Arts Museum in Detroit, Michigan.

SARGENT AND FASHION This major exhibition dedicated to the great portrait painter John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) will reveal the artist's ground-breaking role as a stylist, fashioning the image his sitters presented to the world through sartorial choices.

Staged in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the exhibition will feature 60 paintings – including rare loans as well as works drawn from Tate and MFA’s extensive collections.

These will be shown alongside more than a dozen period dresses and accessories, many of which were worn by his sitters. Several of these garments will be reunited for the first time with Sargent’s portraits of their wearers, offering a fresh perspective on the most celebrated portraitist of his generation and the society in which he worked.

Organized by Tate Britain and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. February 22 - July 7, 2024 at Tate Britain.

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SWEET CHARITY

BROADWAY CARES charity group has come under fire for channeling $400K of donations to Gaza in a story first reported by the NY Post.. The charitable group that solicits money from the stage from Broadway patrons to assist members of the theater community struggling with health issues — has been criticized for rechannelling $400,000 to groups providing humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

The issue surfaced after Rabbi Erica Gerson filed a complaint with Attorney General Letitia James’ Charities Bureau, asserting that the group was misleading theatergoers about the purpose of the donations.

Gerson recently donated to Broadway Cares while attending the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child show with her daughter.

Afterward, Gerson said she was flabbergasted when she saw a story in Playbill, that Broadway Cares donated $400,000 for humanitarian efforts in Gaza.

Broadway Cares recently announced that it donated two $200,000 donations to Doctors for the World and the International Rescue Committee to provide humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

"I was entirely misled by both the verbal pitch at the theater and the description on the website. I am sure other theaters would feel the same if this were brought to their attention," Gerson said in the complaint sent to Attorney General Letitia James’ Office, which regulates tax-exempt charitable organizations.

“The common understanding is that these funds support theater professionals in the United States.”

In her complaint, she links to two videos of actors in the musicals Gutenberg! and Merrily We Roll Along appealing to audiences to contribute to Broadway Cares to aid ailing workers in the theater.

"The clear message that they give in the verbal pitch to the audience is that this money is supposed to help struggling people in the theater community. They say they’re helping people in the theater community in need," she emphasized.

“How can you fundraise for one cause and give it to another that’s totally unrelated? Can you fundraise for an environmental group and instead give it to the opera?”

Rabbi Erica Gerson graduated from Amherst College, magna cum laude, and received both rabbinical ordination and a Masters in Religious Education from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Rabbi Gerson, a mother to four children, and her husband, Mark, a entrepreneur and philanthropist, helped found the African Mission Healthcare Foundation in 2010 and sit on its board.

She and her husband are also the co-founders of the Rabbi Erica and Mark Gerson L’Chaim Prize, an annual $500,000 award for Outstanding Christian Medical Missionary Service. It is administered by the African Mission Healthcare Foundation.

Their November 2007 wedding, at their vacation home in Sag Harbor, N.Y., was covered by the NYTimes.

According to that wedding write-up Erica's father "was a manager of the investment banking division at Baird, Patrick & Company, an investment firm that was in New York. Her mother, a psychotherapist, retired as a social worker at Public School 199 in New York.

"Gerson,is a founder and the chairman of Gerson Lehrman Group, a New York information-services company. He graduated summa cum laude from Williams and received a law degree from Yale. His mother is the director of the college writing program at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, N.J. His father is a psychologist in Livingston, N.J."

The Gersons say the deep love for their faith compels them to give away millions of dollars of their personal wealth each year to fulfill their Jewish obligation to love the stranger, according to a 2021 interview with the CBN.

Mark Gerson and fellow Yale Law School graduate Thomas Lehrman founded the Gerson Lehrman Group in 1998. Gerson Lehrman group, otherwise known as GLG, is a peer to peer business learning company. GLG is a knowledge brokerage and primary research firm with a stated membership-based platform of more than 600,000 independent consultants. Gerson also co-founded Thuzio, a professional booking marketplace, with former NFL player Tiki Barber, and Create, a venture studio.

"The Bible tells us to love the stranger over and over again, three dozen times, because loving the stranger is not something that comes naturally, it's not something that comes easily," continued their CBN interview.

"When we learned some 20 years ago about the work of Christian missionary doctors in Africa and how they are sacrificing everything in order to serve the poor by bringing healthcare for those who would otherwise not have it, we said, 'this is what it means to love the stranger.'"

in 2021 the couple pledged a record $18 million to support the work of African Mission Healthcare, which Mark co-founded.

African Mission Healthcare says that gift from the Gersons was the "largest private gift ever" to Christian medical missions.

"A single gift of this magnitude is virtually unheard of in African clinical medicine," Dr. Jon Fielder, African Mission Healthcare's (AMH) chief executive, said in a statement. "This tremendous generosity will enable care for hundreds of thousands of people who would otherwise be without."

The Gersons are joined in their generosity by the United Bank of Switzerland (UBS), which agreed to add $2 million to the Gerson's gift for a total commitment of $20 million — through the UBS Optimus Foundation.

The funds will also go towards training the next generation of African medical professionals. "It will enable training for thousands of healthcare professionals who will collectively provide care to millions of patients in the generation to come," Dr. Fielder, who co-founded AMH with Mark Gerson, said in a statement. "It will sponsor thousands of life-changing surgeries, adding tens of thousands of years of life to mothers who currently lack access to quality healthcare."

Since its founding in 2010, African Healthcare Mission says it has invested more than $30 million in training, equipping and providing clinical care at 47 Christian mission hospitals across 16 countries in Africa.

"These investments have supported direct care for more than 670,000 patients and will enable more than 9.8 million future patient visits," said an AMH statement. "Additionally, more than 3,000 medical professionals have been trained and 19,000 surgical and corrective procedures have been sponsored."

Gerson often refers to the Christian medical missionaries who serve on the continent as 'sacred people' who perform their sacrificial services in the name of their Christian faith.

Gerson told CBN News that his family firmly believes the Bible verse in Malachi 3:10 , that when you help the stranger, God will pour out His blessings.

"God says, 'test me' and I believe it's the only test that God uses in the Bible," Gerson said. He says, test me, give to charity and you will enjoy blessings yourself. And it is so true. No one has ever made a donation to serve the African poor by supporting Christian missionary physicians and regretted it," Gerson insisted.

In her complaint Rabbi Gerson is objecting to misleading potential donors as to how the money will be spent.

The mission statement on Broadway Cares website said donations are supposed to help provide direct support to individuals in the entertainment industry impacted by health issues, such as HIV/AIDS and more recently COVID-19.

In addition the statement also informs that the group can "support efforts by the entertainment industry in other charitable or educational endeavors, in each case as approved by the Board of Trustees."

Broadway Cares executive director Tom Viola told Playbill that "Broadway Cares is responding with action and compassion, providing food, water, fuel, quality health care, essential medicines, and supplies to all caught in the tragedy of this conflict and so many families facing catastrophe."

Since 1988 Broadway Cares has raised more than $300 million for essential services for people with HIV/AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States. According to the organization, this spring, Broadway Cares’ National Grants Program will award additional grants to AIDS service organizations, health clinics, and advocacy organizations and to theatre and entertainment industry social service agencies. This summer, grants will be awarded to social service organizations whose work includes direct services, emergency financial assistance, harm reduction programs, and quality of life services. In 2023, $17.2 million was awarded to more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations around the country as well as the expansive social services of the Entertainment Community Fund."

SPREADING THE WORD

PRINCE WILLIAM WILL ATTEND THE BAFTA AWARDS which take place tonight, February 18, 2024 at Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in London.

William has been President of BAFTA since 2010, a role he succeeded from Lord Attenborough – the only non-royal president of BAFTA to date. Before that, Princess Anne held the role from 1972 to 2000, while Prince Philip was the first President of BAFTA from 1959 to 1965.

Doctor Who star David Tennant will host the ceremony.

Performers include Sophie Ellis Bexter, who will sing her Saltburn hit "Murder on the Dancefloor" while Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham is set to do a theatrical cover.

Presenters include: David Beckham, Idris Elba, Deepika Padukone, Cate Blanchett, Dua Lipa, Hugh Grant, Lily Collins, Emma Corrin, Taylor Russel, and Indira Varma.

Among the nominated: Robert Downey Jr, Christopher Nolan, Margot Robbie, Andrew Haigh, Bradley Cooper, Justine Triet, Alexander Payne, Jonathan Glazer, Fantasia Barrino, Emma Stone, Carey Mulligan, Sandra Huller,and Vivian Oprah Paul Giamatti, Bradley Cooper, Teo Yoo, Barry Keoghan, Colman Domingo, and Cillian Murphy.

The ceremony will stream in the U.S. and other international territories on BritBox while in the U.K. it will be shown on the BBC and iPlayer.

SIR ERNEST SHACKLETON TRIBUTE was officially unveiled at Westminster Abbey on February 15, 2024 by Anne, The Princess Royal in honor of the 150th anniversary of Shackleton's birth.

Princess Anne also attended the James Caird Society's Evensong, Dedication Service and Reception in honor of Shackleton.

The heroic Antarctic explorer was memorialized by a 154kg stone which was carefully inched into place on the wall of Westminster Abbey by five hefty men.

His memorial stone is alongside the names of Sir Francis Drake, Sir Francis Chichester and Captain James Cook. Wags quip that their nook in the south cloister will become known as Explorers’ Corner.
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922) was a polar explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic, and one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

Shackleton's trans-Antarctic expedition went dangerously awry. As World War I was beginning in 1914, the British explorer Shackleton set out to traverse Antarctica. The plan was for Shackleton to take 27 men on two ships, the Endurance and the Aurora, that would arrive at different locations on the continent to explore two routes by which to sledge across the ice. But in January 1915, the Endurance became trapped in ice off the coast of Antarctica.

In 2017 Shackleton's adventures spawned an off-Broadway musical Ernest Shackleton Loves Me by GrooveLily band members Valerie Vigoda and Brendan Milburn and Tony Award-winning book writer Joe Di Pietro, followed by a cast recording. See Broadway To Vegas column of February 11, 2018

OSSIE DAVIS' PURLIE VICTORIOUS: A NON-CONFEDERATE ROMP THROUGH THE COTTON PATCH the marvelous production which closed on Broadway February 4 at the Music Box theatre was recorded and will be broadcast on the The PBS series Great Performances on for May 24, 2024. The revival film will be available to stream via PBS.org and the PBS app as well.

The PBS filming of Purlie Victorious is a production of The WNET Group, and is produced by Leslie Odom, Jr., Mitch Owgang, and Stephanie Dawson. Great Performances executive producer David Horn directed for television. Bill O'Donnell is Great Performances' series producer.

The film captures the revival's full original cast, including Odom, Jr. as Purlie, Kara Young as Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins, Heather Alicia Simms as Missy Judson, Billy Eugene Jones as Gitlow Judson, Noah Robbins as Charlie Cotchipee, Vanessa Bell Calloway as Idella Landy, Jay O. Sanders as Ol' Cap'n Cotchipee, Bill Timoney as The Sheriff, and Noah Pyzik as The Deputy.

The production features scenic design by Derek McLane, costume design by Emilio Sosa, lighting design by Adam Honoré, sound design by Peter Fitzgerald, hair and wig and makeup design by J. Jared Janas, and original music by Guy Davis. Directed by Tony winner Kenny Leon, the production officially opened September 27, 2023, and closed February 4, following 23 previews and 151 regular performances.

L.A. THEATRE WORKS tours re-imagined production of Herbert Sigüenza’s A Weekend with Pablo Picasso, written and performed by Herbert Sigüenza, to venues in New Jersey, Central California and Southern California this February and March.

Venues include the Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center in Livermore, CA (Wednesday, February 21); Gallo Center for the Performing Arts in Modesto, CA (Sunday, February 25); Monmouth University Center for the Arts in West Long Branch, NJ (Saturday, March 2, 2024 ); The Broad Stage in Santa Monica, CA (Friday, March 15 and Saturday, March 16) and the Irvine Barclay Theatre in Irvine, CA (Sunday, March 17 ).

Directed by L.A. Theatre Works senior producer Anna Lyse Erikson in the company’s signature, hybrid radio-theater style, A Weekend with Pablo Picasso invites the audience into the seminal artist’s private studio for an intimate and revealing weekend as he prepares to deliver six new works to a buyer on Monday morning.

"For this production, we’ve brought in video designers Victoria Petrovich and Omar Ramos, sound designer Mark Holden, and Foley artist Ellis Greer to create an entirely new production performed in L.A. Theatre Works’ unique style," says Erikson. "Ellis, who has been seen and heard in many L.A. Theatre Works audio theater productions, will perform Foley in a larger-than-life way to create the world of Picasso’s studio, and she’ll also perform some of the smaller roles in the story."

Picasso was the first rock-star artist — a ferocious pacifist, obsessive art maker, flamboyantly opinionated philosopher and self-proclaimed clown — who relished his passionate views about love, death, war, beauty, eternity and creativity. L.A. Theatre Works previously released a state-of-the-art audio theater recording of Sigüenza’s play, which creates a joyful and mesmerizing portrait of the maestro.

Best known for his acting work with performance troupe Culture Clash, Sigüenza is currently the playwright-in-residence for San Diego Repertory Theatre, where A Weekend with Pablo Picasso was developed.

The L.A. Theatre Works national touring program brings audiences at venues across the country the experience of a "live-in-performance" radio drama. Since 2005, L.A. Theatre Works has visited over 300 civic, performing arts and university venues. In 2011, L.A. Theatre Works toured China with Top Secret, playing to sold out houses of Chinese professionals and students; in 2013 the production was invited back to perform at Beijing’s prestigious National Centre for the Performing Arts as well as the Tianjin Grand Theater and major venues in Hangzhou, Suzhou, Chongqing and Fuling.

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

PLAZA HOTEL PENTHOUSE FOR SALE overlooking Central Park, The Plaza is New York City’s iconic luxury hotel, ranked by many experts as the most famous hotel in the world. Designed by "master of the skyscraper" Henry Janeway Hardenburg, the French Renaissance-inspired chateau-style building was constructed in 1907 for a then-astronomical price tag of $12.5 million. Numerous materials were imported from Europe, including history’s single-largest order of gold-encrusted crystal chandeliers.

For over 100 years, it has hosted foreign monarchs, titans of industry, and Hollywood royalty, and was declared a National Historic Monument in 1986. In 1988, The Plaza was purchased for $407.5 million by Donald Trump, who said, “it isn’t just a building, it's the ultimate work of art.” Now one of NY’s most popular film locations, it was first featured in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest and has appeared in dozens of notable movies from Funny Girl to Crocodile Dundee and Home Alone. At the top of the famous hotel are double penthouses, now offered for sale at $70 million.

The 6,316-square-foot main residence is a triplex with its own elevator, four bedrooms, and four-and-a-half baths. A sumptuous terrace with spectacular Central Park and New York skyline views connects the apartment to its twin, a 3,974-square-foot duplex with three bedrooms and three baths set up as a guest house. Floor-to-ceiling windows provide lots of natural light, while the angled ceilings of the top-floor location offer a unique aesthetic. Premium materials, including marble and hardwood, make for an atmosphere of utmost luxury.

The main residence’s primary suite includes double dressing rooms and spa baths, while the second residence’s suite features a white marble surround wood-burning fireplace, elegant sitting room, and spectacular five-fixture marble bath. The main residence offers numerous rooms for entertaining, including a formal living room anchored by a stunning marble bar, an eat-in kitchen lit by a skylight, a formal dining room, and a media room with a glass fireplace. The second residence is entered through a grand double foyer and offers an elegant great room, a loggia with sliding doors opening onto the terrace, a spacious kitchen, and a magnificent curved staircase connecting the levels. The homes offer access to The Plaza’s classy amenities, including the Palm Court, Champagne Bar, Guerlain Spa, and the Plaza fitness center, accessed via the famous lobby with its marble walls and crystal chandeliers.

The listing is held by Nikki Field, Mara Flash Blum and Sara Marrache of Sotheby’s International Realty.

LES MOONVES the disgraced former president and CEO of CBS has paid a fine of $11,250 fine to the city of Los Angeles,after it was found that Moonves induced the now-retired LAPD Captain Cory Palka to interfere in the sexual assault probe against him, according to legal documents from the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission.

Moonves resigned from CBS in 2018 after 12 women accused the executive of sexual misconduct in a pair of New Yorker articles published by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow. Palka had previously worked as a private security guard for Moonves at the Grammy Awards from 2008 to 2014. Palka then further violated confidentiality laws and law enforcement ethics by sending Moonves a copy of police report, according to the Ethics Commission settlement report made public on February 16.

Moonves admits that he "violated City law by aiding and abetting the disclosure and misuse of confidential information and by inducing a City official to misuse his position to attempt to create a private advantage for Moonves," according to the commission’s order.

According to Variety: The commission’s settlement order notes that the fine for such activity is usually $5,000 per count but the higher levy was reached because of "aggravating circumstance: (1) the violations in this case are extremely serious; and (2) the violations were deliberate." At the same time, Moonves "cooperated with staff and saved Ethics Commission resources by entering into a stipulated settlement before the preparation of a probable cause report; and (2) Moonves has no prior enforcement history with the Ethics Commission."

The Hollwood Reporter printed that "Palka helped quash a sexual assault probe against the former CBS head."

Palka’s tipoff to Moonves was disclosed in 2022 as part of the New York state Attorney General’s probe into the cascading allegations around Moonves and whether CBS Corp. violated Securities and Exchange Commission rules by not disclosing the damaging information to shareholders sooner. Moonves and CBS reached a $30 million settlement in the New York case.

According to the LA Times Palka, who once ran the department’s busy Hollywood station, retired from the LAPD in early 2021 after 34 years at the rank of commander. After his activity came to light, the LAPD launched an internal investigation into his conduct. The status of that probe is unclear. In February 2023, the Los Angeles Times reported that Mack Jenkins, head of the criminal division for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, was assisting the LAPD in its investigation.

Reports indicate that on several occasions Palka pledged total loyalty to Moonves.

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GASLIGHT a modern adaptation of the 1940’s suspenseful thriller by Patrick Hamilton. It has been adapted by respected Canadian writer / performers Patty Jamieson and Johnna Wright and world premiered at the internationally renowned Shaw Festival in Canada in 2022.

Directed by Queensland Theatre’s Artistic Director Lee Lewis.

The new psychological thriller is a liberating adaption of the classic play that brought us the term "gaslighting", Gaslight is a gripping, re-imagined thriller of daring and doubt. Will the "gaslighting" have its intended dire effect, or will our heroine find the strength to save herself?

Geraldine Hakewill is our heroine Bella. Toby Schmitz plays her husband Jack. Kate Fitzpatrick plays Elizabeth and joins Courtney Cavallaro who plays Nancy.

The standbys are Maddison Burridge, Julian Curtis, and Barbara Lowing.

"In the original play, a police inspector solves the mystery. Our version started with a "What if" – what if there is no inspector? If no one comes to rescue her, can Bella rescue herself?" said Patty Jamieson of their feminist adaptation, according to the website.

"Gaslight still remains true to the classic genre though. There’s a hero and a villain, a spark of danger and moral injustice, and a breadcrumb trail of clues for the audience to follow. This is one of those rare, exciting refreshments of a classic thriller, with an added twist that means new suspense and new satisfaction," added co-creator Johnna Wright.

Bella Manningham is a young wife who seemingly has it all – a nice home and a comfortable upper-middle class life. Her housekeepers, Elizabeth and Nancy, attend to her and help run the household. Her husband, Jack, appears attentive and loving. So why is Bella on edge? As we learn more about the Manningham household, it becomes clear that something is amiss.

Despite his doting appearance, Jack is hiding something – he keeps disappearing in the evenings …and after he leaves, Bella hears strange sounds in the house. The gas lights dim for no apparent reason. Is Bella losing her grip on reality? Or is something more sinister afoot?

A much-used word in modern society, 'gaslighting' — psychologically manipulating people into questioning their own sanity — draws its origins from the play, in which the household’s gas lights flicker and dim on the evenings when Bella is alone, causing her to question her own sanity.

The original playwright of Gaslight was also no stranger to difficult circumstances. Born in Sussex, England in 1904, Patrick Hamilton’s parents were writers. However, due to his father’s alcoholism and financial mismanagement, his family spent much of his youth in boarding houses.

Gaslight – also known as Angel Street when it transferred to Broadway – was written during a particularly dark period in Hamilton’s life. Six years prior to its writing, Hamilton was hit by a drunk driver and dragged through the streets of London which left him with multiple disfiguring injuries. Two years later, his mother committed suicide. He suffered from depression and began drinking to deal with the symptoms of his illness. He died from cirrhosis of the liver and kidney failure in 1962, at the age of 58.

Despite all of this, two of Hamilton’s plays became extraordinarily successful. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 thriller Rope was based on Hamilton’s namesake play. The 1944 film of Gaslight starred a young Angela Lansbury and Ingrid Bergman who won an Academy Award for her performance. Angel Street was also a massive hit on Broadway and remains one of the longest-running non-musicals in Broadway history with 1,295 total performances.

Gaslight opens its Australian tour in Brisbane's Queensland Theatre from February 20 - March 3, 2024 and then tours to Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre, Canberra Theatre Centre, Regal Theatre in Perth, Newcastle’s Civic Centre, Riverside Theatre in Parramatta and Roslyn Packer Theatre in Sydney, Australia.

MARILYN, MOM & ME Written and Directed by Luke Yankee.

Attempting to better understand his complicated relationship with his mother, playwright Luke Yankee, son of award-winning actress Eileen Heckart, delves into her friendship with Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe. Eileen Heckart, the no-nonsense Broadway actress, and Marilyn Monroe, the glamorous Hollywood legend, developed an enduring bond during the filming of Bus Stop — perhaps the most important film of Monroe’s career. Forty-five years later, Yankee tries to unravel his mother’s relationship with Monroe in order to better understand his own path with this highly critical, yet loving woman. If Luke can get his mom to open up about Monroe, maybe it will make her a more sympathetic mother — or at least help him to connect with her on another level.

"In 1956, when Marilyn was cast as the lead in the film Bus Stop, she was the biggest star in the world," says Yankee. "She had taken the previous year off to study with Lee Strasberg and had become the poster child for 'method' acting, where an actor has to experience every moment truthfully. My mother was cast as her best friend in the movie, and, as a part of her newly discovered style of acting, Marilyn was determined to make my mother her best friend — both on screen and off. Reluctantly, Eileen went along with it for the sake of the film and found herself emotionally entrenched in Marilyn’s life."

"My mother loved to talk about her career… except when it came to Marilyn," he continues. "Whenever she would do so, she would get very quiet and change the subject. If pressed, she would burst into tears. No one else she worked with had this effect on her."

Road Theatre and Rogue Machine company member Laura Gardner stars as Heckart, alongside Alisha Soper, who previously played Monroe on two Ryan Murphy series, American Horror Story and Feud: Bette and Joan. Noah Wagner portrays Bus Stop director Joshua Logan, Arthur Miller and Laurence Olivier, and Jacquelin Lorraine Schofield, winner of Ovation and NAACP Theater awards for The Color Purple at Celebration Theatre, takes on the roles of Rosetta LeNoire and Ella Fitzgerald. Emmy winner Brian Rohan plays Luke.

The creative team for Marilyn, Mom & Me includes set designer Dan Volonte, lighting designer Donna Ruzika, costume designer Kim DeShazo, sound designer Dave Mickey and prop designer Patty Briles. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA and Richie Ferris, CSA. The production stage manager is Don Hill.

Performances take place through March 3 at International City Theatre (ICT’s) home in the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center in Long Beach, CA.

BONNIE & CLYDE Book by Ivan Menchell. Lyrics by Don Black. Music by Frank Wildhorn.

Directed and choreographed by Gerry McIntyre.

Adventure and romance await in the larger-than-life true tale of one of history’s most notorious couples. During the height of the Great Depression, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow captured the nation’s imagination with their infamous rise from small-town West Texas nobodies to American legends. Bonnie & Clyde is a celebration of quintessential American musical genres: blues, gospel, and rock & roll. An electrifying story of fame, a life of crime, and love.

February 23—March 9, 2024 Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City, Utah.

THE FOLKS AT HOME by R. Eric Thomas.

In this contemporary riff on 70s family sitcoms, you're invited over to the Baltimore row house of Roger and Brandon. They are doing the best they can to live the American dream: love, house, jobs. Except Roger’s been laid off, their mortgage is late…and there might be a ghost in the attic. And that was before both sets of parents decided to move in! A heartwarming portrait of modern life.

Tracy Michelle Arnold as Maureen Littlefield; Sean Blake as Vernon Harrison; Olivia D. Dawson as Pamela Harrison; Keith Illidge as Roger Harrison; Claire Wilcher as Alice/ Brittany Littlefield; Garrett Young as Brandon Littlefield.

The creatives are: Linda Buchanan Scenic Designer; Yao Chen Costumer Designer; Jared Gooding Lighting Designer; Sharath Patel Sound Designer; Derek A. Graham Composer; Richard J Roberts; Dramaturg; Erin Robson-Smith Stage Manager. Casting by Claire Simon.

Onstage at the Indiana Repertory Theatre in Indianapolis, IN February 20 - March 16, 2024.

THE HOT WING KING 2021 Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy by Katori Hall.

Directed by Christopher D. Betts.

Secret recipe? Check. Cooking crew? Check. Emergency situation? Uh oh.

With only days to go until Memphis’s annual "Hot Wang Festival," things are heating up in Cordell’s kitchen. He and his crew are prepping to take home the crown when his boyfriend’s nephew shows up at the front door… Over the course of one weekend, the fate of the competition — and their relationships — is called into question. Will the crew make it to the festival? Will they make it at all?

The Hot Wing King skillfully navigates nuanced portrayals of Black Queer relationships, giving language to experiences that are usually felt rather than expressed. It’s an invitation for audiences to immerse themselves in the richness of Black love. Love that is not stereotypical or conflict-averse but brave and rooted in emotional safety. As a society founded on narratives of Black suffering, this play prompts a crucial question: What does Black love truly look like on stage?

The Cast: Bjorn Dupaty plays "Cordell the leader of the "New Wing Order," in pursuit of the Hot Wang Kang title, and partner to Dwayne. Israel Erron Ford plays Isom: the newest member of Cordell and Dwayne's friend group — fabulous and can work a whisk or two in the kitchen. Marcus Gladney Jr. plays Everett "EJ": Dwayne's nephew and TJ's son; sixteen, eager, and a sharp match to Isom's humor. Postell Pringle plays Big Charles: an old friend from the barber shop, stoic, and the glue of the New Wing Order. Calvin M. Thompson plays Dwayne: uncle to EJ, partner to Cordell, and the glue of the New Wing Order. Alphonso Walker Jr. plays TJ: EJ's father. Dealer working towards a heart of gold.

The Creative Team: Scenic Designer Emmie Finckel, Lighting Designer Adam Honoré, Casting Alaine Alldaffer, Costume Designer Jahise LeBouef, Sound Designer Kathy Ruvuna, Production Stage Manager Bernita Robinson, Assistant Stage Manager Mackayla Beckles.

Performances February 29 - March 24, 2024 at Hartford Stage in Hartford, CT.

FATHERLAND conceived by Stephen Sachs from official court transcripts, case evidence, and public statements.

Directed by Stephen Sachs.

Starring Ron Bottitta, Patrick Keleher, Anna Khaja, Larry Poindexter.

A 19-year-old son faces the hardest day in his life when he testifies in federal court against his father after informing on him to the FBI. The Fountain Theatre presents the world premiere of Fatherland, a new work of verbatim theater conceived and directed by Fountain artistic director Stephen Sachs.

The first defendant to stand trial for the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, Guy Reffitt was found guilty on five criminal counts and sentenced to 7¼ years in prison — based in part on emotional testimony by his son. Fast-moving, powerful, and theatrical, Fatherland erupts verbatim from official court transcripts, case evidence, and public statements.

"This play is not a political diatribe," says Sachs. "It's the true personal story of a father and a son and the dangerous propaganda that drove them apart. Every word of it is true. It’s a shout of warning in this election year."

The creative team includes scenic designer Joel Daavid; lighting designer Alison Brummer; sound designer Stewart Blackwood; costume designer Danyele Thomas; properties designer Jenine MacDonald; and graphics designer David Mellen. The production stage manager is Sati Thyme. Barbara Herman is executive producer; Dr Robert G Meadow and Carrie Menkel Meadow are producers; Simon Levy and James Bennett produce for the Fountain Theatre.

Performances take place February 25 through March 30, with Pay-What-You-Want previews beginning February 22 at The Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles.

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This is not your typical, totally boring textbook.

In the pages of How To Earn A Living As A Freelance Writer (the first to be lied to and the last to be paid) you'll find sex, celebrities, violence, threats, unethical editors, scummy managers and lawyers, treacherous press agents, sex discrimination; as well as a how-to for earning money by writing down words.

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Laura Deni

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