Category Archives: Broadway

January 21, 2012 · 8:00 pm

Julia Roberts, Jim Parsons, Matt Bomer and Alec Baldwin Join THE NORMAL HEART Film

I was one of the lucky people to see the recent Broadway production of this wonderful, heartbreaking play….

I’m so pleased it looks like it is finally headed to the big screen and thrilled with how the cast is shaping up….

Jim Parsons was a standout in the Broadway production and I’m so glad he’s repeating his role in the film.  This is a great break for Matt Bomer, who I just love in “White Collar”.  I think he’ll be just right in this part.   I can see Julia Roberts being very, very good as well.  This will be a challenge for her, but I can see it working.  And Mark Ruffalo can do no wrong….

I’m so excited that this film is being done and apparently being done right!

From Broadway World:

Julia Roberts, Jim Parsons, Matt Bohmer and Alec Baldwin have joined Mark Ruffalo in the upcoming film adaptation of THE NORMAL HEART, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Larry Kramer will adapt his script for the movie; Ryan Murphy, best known for creating FOX’s musical show GLEE, is set to direct the film. It’s being produced by Plan B.

Ruffalo is to play Ned Weeks, while Roberts will play Emma Brookner (the role for which Ellen Barkin received a 2011 Tony Award) and Bomer will play Felix Turner (the role for which John Benjamin Hickey received his Tony). Baldwin is set to play Ben Weeks, and Parsons will reprise his Broadway role as Tommy Boatwright.

The Normal Heart played a 12-week limited engagement on Broadway from April to July 2011. The production won three 2011 Tony® Awards, including Best Revival of a Play, Best Featured Actress in a Play (Ellen Barkin) and Best Featured Actor in a Play (John Benjamin Hickey). The play has also been honored as this season’s Best Revival of a Play by the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Awards and has received Drama Desk Awards for Best Ensemble and Best Direction of a Play, along with a Special Citation from the New York Drama Critics Circle.

The story of a city in denial, The Normal Heart unfolds like a real-life political thriller — as a tight-knit group of friends refuses to let doctors, politicians and the press bury the truth of an unspoken epidemic behind a wall of silence. First produced by Joseph Papp at New York’s Public Theater, the play was a critical sensation and a seminal moment in theater history. So ahead of its time was this play that many of the core issues it addresses – including gay marriage, the healthcare system and, of course, AIDS – are just as relevant today as they were when it first premiered.

via Julia Roberts, Jim Parsons, Matt Bohmer and Alec Baldwin Join THE NORMAL HEART Film.

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November 20, 2011 · 12:19 pm

Scotty Bowers: Hustler and Confidant to the Stars Tells All

I can’t wait to get my hands on this….

I’ve heard about this guy for years and never thought he would tell his stories.  And from what I read, he’s a pretty honest and dependable guy…

Hollywood Historian William J Mann quoted him in his Katharine Hepburn bio, Kate:  The Woman Who Was Hepburn– which is great reading and well worth your time if you need something to hold you over until this comes out..(http://www.amazon.com/Kate-Woman-Who-Was-Hepburn/dp/0805076255/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1321817616&sr=8-15)

I’ve just pre-ordered a copy at Amazon.com. and can’t wait to read this when it comes out in January or February.

Here’s the link to purchase at Amazon.com:  http://www.amazon.com/Full-Service-Adventures-Hollywood-Secret/dp/0802120075

From Entertainment Weekly:

Scotty Bowers never acted in a single movie. But his story may cast a new light on old Hollywood by revealing the hidden love lives of stars like Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy, and Rita Hayworth—all of whom Bowers claims as paramours from his heyday trading sex for money.

Literary agent David Kuhn confirms exclusively to EW that Grove/Atlantic president Morgan Entrekin has bought the rights to Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars, Bowers’ memoir of his years spent as a bartender, confidante, and gigolo to a laundry list of showbiz icons. A GI who moved to Hollywood after World War II, Bowers describes how he and friends serviced actors and actresses on leave from nearby studios—using an LA gas station as their base. He says he later became an in-demand bartender who developed intimate friendships with stars like Katharine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift, and Rock Hudson, among others. Now 88 and living in L.A. with his wife of 27 years, Bowers agreed to tell his stories now that most of the celebrities he claims were friends and clients have passed away.

“The book is a window onto the shadow lives of all these people who entertained us and made popular culture, but who in many ways weren’t what they appeared to be,” says Kuhn. “Scotty helped them to fulfill the desires that they couldn’t fulfill themselves.”

Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars is set for release on Feb. 14, 2012.

via Memoirist claims he turned tricks for stars like Cary Grant and Spencer Tracy | Shelf Life | EW.com.

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October 1, 2011 · 12:36 pm

The Revolutionary Costume for Today

Being a Gay man who is both a Southern boy and a W&L boy, I spend a lot of time worrying about clothes and appearances….

I try not to, but I can’t help it….

When I went to my first Gay Pride Rally/March years ago, my biggest worry was what to wear?  Especially, since I didn’t even own a t-shirt back then-and still rarely wear jeans.  Ralph Lauren seemed a bit much for the event, but I think I wore it anyway….

And we somehow ended up marching with “The Women of the Land” who were Lesbians who were into simple living in a natural environment.  They were not wearing Ralph, but they were real sweet and we got along just fine….

Anyway, here is some  advice from Little Edie from “Grey Gardens”, the musical.  This was a flawed show, but I still saw it twice in New York.  Once off-Broadway and again on Broadway.  Christine Ebersole really earned her Tony….

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September 15, 2011 · 8:44 am

NO Wire Hangers!!!! Christina Crawford To Reveal Mother Joan Crawford’s Naked Home Videos

Never have children….

Never adopt children….

Never even talk to children…..

They will get their revenge eventually….

And it’s also a really good idea to avoid making nudie movies….

From The Huffington Post:

 

Broadway, hide your wire coat hangers. Joan Crawford’s daughter, Christina Crawford, is developing a one-woman show where she not only plans to reveal new secrets about her life with Mommie Dearest, Joan Crawford, but also show never before seen home movies of the screen legend in the nude.

“I began my career as an actress and I’ve always loved the theater,” Crawford tells me. “The Play is based on two of my books, the 30th Anniversary Edition of Mommie Dearest and my third book, Survivor — both of which were best sellers. It covers a long period of time and a much more complete story.”

Additionally, Christina reveals that she has discovered Joan’s (she never refers to her as her “mother”) blue movies — naked home videos that she cannot believe the controlling star never destroyed.

“I never knew that they existed before a year ago and never saw them before a month ago,” Crawford says. “I remembered her telling me about her married lover, Charles McCabe; however I never saw photos of him, till the home movies, when they were hunting, fishing, and canoeing in The Poconos.”

Christina says the most shocking thing she discovered during her research was Joan’s quiet desperation in her later years. But she still cannot forgive her mother for the childhood she had to survive, which included being beaten by wire hangers.

“Forgiveness is a two-way street and she never took responsibility for her behavior,” Christina tells me. Which is why she has chosen to call her show that she hopes to take on the road before Broadway, “Surviving Mommie Dearest.”

via Christina Crawford To Reveal Mother Joan Crawford’s Naked Home Videos.

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September 4, 2011 · 10:57 pm

Broadway and ‘Glee’s’ Cheyenne Jackson Weds Longtime Partner

Cheyenne Jackson is one of my favorite Broadway performers.  He is not only immensely talented and gorgeous, he also does a lot of good work for AIDS and Gay causes.

I’ll always remember when Steve and I saw him and his partner walking up 8th Avenue with their dog just after we saw him in “Finian’s Rainbow”.  They looked so nice and normal.

Congratulations to Cheyenne and Monte!

From The Hollywood Reporter:

The thespian, who stars as the coach of rival singing group Vocal Adrenaline on “Glee” and is a frequent guest star on “30 Rock,” married his longtime boyfriend over the weekend.

Cheyenne Jackson married his longtime partner physicist Monte Lapka, in the Hamptons on Saturday.

“It’s official, after 11 years together, Zora’s no longer a bastard,” Jackson tweeted, referring to the couple’s dog. “Married the best man I’ve ever known.”

The actor-singer is perhaps best known for his role on Fox’s Glee, as the coach of rival singing group Vocal Adrenaline, and his frequent guest stints on NBC’s 30 Rock

via ‘Glee’s’ Cheyenne Jackson: 5 Things to Know – The Hollywood Reporter.

 

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September 4, 2011 · 6:34 pm

A Few Scenes from My Favorite Labor Day Musical…

People seem to forget “The Pajama Game” that it was a Musical about Unions vs Management.

In the movie, Doris Day represented the Union and John Raitt was management.

Shows how far we’ve come in the depiction of Unions from what it was in their 1950’s heyday…

Anyway.  Love the Movie. Saw it on Broadway a few years ago with Harry Connick, Jr and Kelli O’Hara.  Loved it on stage.

Here’s the big Labor Day Picnic scene from the movie:

And, of course, the unforgettable Carol Haney doing Bob Fosse’s choreography to  “Steam Heat” in the film.

And a little Harry Connick, Jr and Kelli O’Hara from the 2008 Broadway revival:

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August 16, 2011 · 10:40 pm

Happy Birthday, Eydie Gorme!

Let’s leave Rick Perry alone for  few minutes and talk about someone truly important;  Eydie Gorme is 80 today…

She’s such a part of the 20th Century Music scene, I couldn’t let this milestone go unnoticed.  She’s one of the last of the great Broadway belters.  I somehow think you could hear Eydie even without the microphone, no matter how big the house…

She also has one of the longest musical partnerships- and marriages- in Show Business with her husband, Steve Lawrence.

They are so “Vegas in the ’60’s” you can’t help but love them.  They are iconic 20th Century entertainment figures.

I bet Rick Perry even listened to her back when he was a cheerleader at Texas A&M….

Happy Birthday, Eydie.  I hope you have many more!

Here she is in 1966:

And a little Steve AND Eydie:

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August 14, 2011 · 12:33 pm

Tim Pawlenty: Mr Cellophane Withdraws

Tim Pawlenty has dropped  out of the GOP presidential primary race.

My question is:  Will anyone notice?

Seems like no one but the press paid him any attention anyway.  He had to be the most bland character in the race.

He was easy to overlook.  Easy to forget about.

He was Mr. Cellophane…

Of course, we could carry the “Chicago” analogy farther.  Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann fighting it out as Velma and Roxie.  Mitt Romney as Billy Flynn.  Newt Gingrich as Mama Morton…

Anyway…

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August 14, 2011 · 11:21 am

Wall Street Crashes, London Burns

As always, fascinating thoughts from Frank Rich…

And I saw the McQueen show at the Metropolitan Museum in New York in June  and I was amazed at the crowds.  People waited hours to get in.  I’m a member of the Met so I skipped the lines and that’s the only reason I saw it.  I don’t do lines of more than a reasonable duration…It was fascinating and totally theatrical, but I could not understand why so many people were fascinated.

Now I know.  It was a sign of the end approaching…

And, I always knew “The Phantom of the Opera” would lead to the downfall of civilization…

Frank Rich in New York Magazine (Emphasis is mine) :

I think I’m moving from anger to dread, too. We pay attention to the market because it feels like a sport (scored in clear-cut numbers) and because one way or the other we know we will be affected by it, whether we own shares or not. I am completely unprescient about the market — though no less so than, say, S&P, Geithner, Bernanke, Greenspan, and all the others who failed to see the last crash and/or this one coming — but last Thursday, the morning just before the big drop began, I had a premonition. (And I am not by and large superstitious.) I was catching up (at the last minute) with the McQueen extravaganza at the Met. That same morning the Times had a front-page story about the rebound in luxury retailing. Once I entered the McQueen show, I was struck by how the installation, with its smoke and mirrors and S&M touches, looked like a cross between Phantom of the Opera**  and the orgy scene in Eyes Wide Shut** . Whatever else the McQueen show was about, it’s about decadence — and about luxury goods beyond the reach of 99.9 percent of the throngs gawking at them. Something about the discrepancy between the opulence and the masses thronging barricades to get in gave me a premonition that a crash was on its way. Maybe it’s because I associate the crash of 1987 with the opening of Phantom on Broadway in early 1988. Conspicuous over-the-top decadence in America always seems to lead to a bad end.

via Wall Street Crashes, London Burns: Frank Rich and Adam Moss Discuss Downgrades, Riots, and the Portents of McQueen — Daily Intel.

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August 11, 2011 · 3:57 pm

Here’s Why People Hate Gwyneth Paltrow…

“Elle Decor” magazine asked her for a list of things she could not live without….

Here it is:

1. De Gournay Hand-Painted Wallpaper
I indulged with one wall in my London living room covered in a gorgeous pattern.

2. Seasonal Flowers
I like single-variety arrangements—peonies, hydrangeas, and white lilies—casually arranged.

3. Darren Almond’s Photography
His arresting, large-scale artwork brings a sense of majesty to a room.

4. Charles Edwards Star Lanterns
I hung three of these at different levels in the stair hall so that we could pass them on our way up to bed at night.

5. Antonio Lupi Baia Tub
It’s in the middle of my bedroom—perfect for a relaxing wind-down and for bathing the kids.

6. Juxtaposed: Religion Shelf
Built-in slots hold holy books—including the Qur’an, Bible, and Tao Te Ching—all at the same level (which is how I like to think about religion).

7. Clothbound Penguin Classics
These gorgeous editions make the books so tempting to pick up, again and again. The ultimate cure for sore muscles.

8. YUBZ Retro Handset
A handset cuts down on cellphone radiation. I use this one for my BlackBerry calls.

 

Here’s the link to the full story if you can take more of this:  http://www.elledecor.com/celebrity-homes/articles/shortlist-gwyneth-paltrow

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