Add this to the list of why Cherry Jones is a treasure:
What was your best drunken night in the city? “Coming home on my bicycle on the opening night of Macbeth. I momentarily lost a stiletto. But I didn’t do that again. I don’t ride under the influence.” —Cherry Jones
(via new york magazine)
Actor Kal Penn, best known as Kumar, (spoiler alert!) was killed off in last night's episode of House, M.D. Why, you ask, would an actor want to give up a cushy series regular role on a massive hit tv show? Why, to go work for Barack Obama, of course! Penn told Entertainment Weekly, "I got to know the President and some of the staff during the campaign and had expressed interest in working there, so I'm going to be the associate director in the White House office of public liaison." Awesome!
Hopefully Obama won't catch too much flack in 2012 for hiring Hollywood's stoner hero.
By the way, if you haven't seen The Namesake (starring Kal Penn!), check it out. Mira Nair directed a quiet little coming-of-age story that quietly unfolds into a stunning character drama about family, love, and identity. One of those few movies I'll watch all the way through whenever it comes on cable (along with Annie Hall and Speed, if you're wondering).
Now that Rilo Kiley has stopped playing together (or so I hear), I've been wondering how I'm going to get my next Jenny Lewis fix. But I can fear no more, for the former frontlady has announced tour dates for the summer, including a June 9th appearance at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Think I'm gonna go watch Troop Beverly Hills to get psyched.
The Onion recently ran an article entitled “Oh No, Performers Coming Into Audience”. The piece was a frighteningly detailed account of a theater performance in which the cast descended “previously unseen stairs” in a “horrifying breach of the fourth wall,” bringing their singing, dancing, and cavorting right into the laps of their (captive) audience. My mind touched on this article at a recent performance of Hair, as Will Swenson’s heinie shimmied mere inches away from my mortified face. Three songs in, I was flat-out terrified he was going to drag me up onstage. But he didn't - thank god! - and once I came around to the flower children who aren't afraid to hug a stranger, the show was a total delight. Bottom line: Hair is a lot of fun, but don’t sit on the fourth row aisle unless you’re looking for a lap dance.
Conceived by two hippie actors in 1964, Hair was created as an autobiographical piece that took almost every political and social issue of the moment and fused them into a wild tribal rock musical, played fast and loose in a way that was unprecedented in the world of traditional musical theater. Concept musicals like Company, Follies, and even A Chorus Line were all borne, in a sense, of the creative freedom that Hair established when it burst onto the scene almost 50 years ago.
The big selling point of this new production of Hair is that it manages to manifest the untamed spirit of that era without appearing outdated or silly. The theater has been stripped down and decked out as a rainbow-infused hippie hideout, and the staging creates an intimate connection between the cast and audience from the get-go. Most importantly, the spirited cast shines as if ideas like peace and free love are things that they are creating right here and now. The urgency and innocence of their performances works in perfect harmony with the rich history of the piece to make Hair enchanting and irresistible.
HAIR The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is playing at the Al Hirschfeld Theater. Book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado; music by Galt MacDermot; directed by Diane Paulus; choreography by Karole Armitage. WITH: Sasha Allen (Dionne), Allison Case (Crissy), Gavin Creel (Claude), Andrew Kober (Dad/Margaret Mead), Megan Lawrence (Mother/Buddahdalirama), Caissie Levy (Sheila), Darius Nichols (Hud), Bryce Ryness (Woof), Saycon Sengbloh (Abraham Lincoln), Kacie Sheik (Jeanie), Theo Stockman (Hubert) and Will Swenson (Berger).
The Fame remake just release its first trailer, and judging by this all-singing all-dancing teaser, it's going to be Step Up meets High School Musical, which could be awesome, or could be totally mundane. All I know is, Bebe Neuwirth is in tights (above), and girlfriend on "Out Here On My Own" has got some serious pipes, so sign me up.
I'm hearing that John Cameron Mitchell is directing the Rabbit Hole film. No lie. Because when I think of Rabbit Hole, the tragedy, the grief, the dark humor and quiet introspection, what really springs to mind is Hedwig and Shortbus, the two features Mitchell has directed. I do love that Hedwig! This will be GREAT!
Actually, wait, no, this makes Absolutely No Sense. Someone, please explain? Because I thought April Fool's Day was tomorrow, not today.
Shooting starts June 1st, Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart will star.
"Bono mentioned that they first got the idea to do a musical from Andrew Lloyd Webber, and name-dropped Rodgers and Hammerstein in their opening remarks."
That's from Modern Fabulosity, who attended a recent presentation of the Spiderman Musical. Bono and The Edge previewed eight songs, and Julie Taymor presented video demos of sets, costumes, and the web-spinning technology that will allow Spidey to fly over the audience. If all this isn't exciting enough, a new villain has been created who will join the Green Goblin, Lizard, Kraven, and Swarm in a mass effort to take down Spiderman - the new baddy's name is Swiss Miss, and she's described as being "dressed in immaculate white dominatrix gear and multiple knives". Um, yes please!
Supreme Gossip Goddess Nikki Finke says today's a big decision day for this possible merger. According to her sources, enthusiasm from Endeavor has been wavering as they weigh the pros against the cons. WMA has been "obstinate" about who would remain employed at the new agency, and everybody knows that Ari Emanuel doesn't play well with obstinate - especially when the bullheaded WMA chiefs are generally regarded as failed leaders. I'm hearing that the new company would still be called William Morris, but Ari would be running the show, which makes sense - Ari might not be warm and cuddly, but everyone agrees that he runs a very tight ship.
In addition to Nikki's comprehensive diary of the whispering gallery that Endeavor has become, her comments section provides a whole additional canvassing of opinions on the potential merger. One comment in particular was so noteworthy, Nikki twittered it last night. It's titled, "Dear W.M.A., I Quit!" It's an entertaining read, check it out.
...I wish. It's more like this, with slightly more, um, economical pieces.
(via the sartorialist)
Speaks for itself:
Could Portia and Ellen be America's Sweethearts? This cockeyed optimist thinks so!
Rumor has it that Laurie Metcalf will be seen on Broadway in the upcoming revivals of Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound. Not only does this casting tidbit make perfect sense, it actually makes me a bit excited to see yet another production of Brighton Beach, a play that is typically the NyQuil of theater.
Feed him Pork Brains in Milk Gravy! Or you could opt for serving up a nice cold McNuggetini, the mysteriously named Secret Treasure Loaf, or any of the other delicious treats found on This is why you're fat.
Here is another chillingly outstanding performance from Natasha Richardson. I never got to see her in this role, but I remember listening the cast recording until I knew every lyric, every cymbal crash, and every snarl that Alan Cumming has now made his personal trademark. Every time I heard the songs, the raw emotion in her performance came through with a crystalline kind of clarity and sharpness that defined her as an actress. It's always sad to lose a member of the strange and wonderful entertainment community, but as it was with Heath Ledger, I think Natasha Richardson's death has hit everyone especially hard not only because it was so unexpected, but because these actors gave performances that felt so uncannily open, intimate, and vulnerable. Just so sad. Watch the video.
Above is a photo I snapped on the subway this morning, an little artistic addition to a poster for Neil LaBute's play reasons to be pretty, currently in previews at the Lyceum. According to this morning's Michael Reidel, the play may be going under the knife, with "people involved" thinking it might be better off at 90 minutes than in its current two-act form. I enjoyed the play downtown at MCC, but I wondered if a leaner meaner edit of the play could more effectively convey LaBute's tenaciously unflinching examination of America's obsession with attractiveness. If they can make it work in 90 minutes, odds are it will be one hell of a ride.
In honor of the long-overdue Broadway revival that opened last night, Vanity Fair did an amazing, moderately strange photo shoot recreating scenes from the iconic 1961 film version of West Side Story. The jets, sharks, and their ladies are played by a smorgasbord of hot young things, and Jennifer Lopez plays Anita. Once you get over J.Lo's va-va-voom factor, see if you can spot Robert Pattinson, Brittany Snow, Ashley Tisdale, and other cute, moderately out-of-place teen stars.
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