Scandalous: The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson

Written by Doug Strassler on . Posted in Arts & Film, Theater

Photo by Chris Bennion. Carolee Carmello gets the star treatment she deserves in an underwhelming new musical Life stories are a tricky business. Every individual weathers enough ups and downs to have their own experience merit the telling – but that doesn’t mean that all lives translate to cogent dramatic arcs. Aimee Semple McPherson, however, one of the more
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R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet” Headed to Broadway

Written by NYPress on . Posted in Arts & Film, Music, Theater

I have to be honest and say — while admittedly a bit out of the pop culture loop at times — I lost track of R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet” about six years ago. Apparently, what “Rolling Stone” calls the singer’s “epic opus” has not fizzled out alongside my interest. On the contrary, it’s
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The Economy’s Hurting, Storms are Raging, Contemporary Art is Doing Better Than Ever?

Written by NYPress on . Posted in Arts & Film, Museums

Photo Courtesy of Fotopedia By Alissa Fleck The New York Times recently published an article asking “What Is Going on With Contemporary Art?” The newspaper reported last week Christie’s auction house “sold 67 works… for $412.2 million, the highest total ever achieved in the [contemporary art] field.” The priciest piece was Andy Warhol’s 1962 “Statue of Liberty” for $43.76
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Adults Acting Out: A Murky ‘Mother’ Leaves Many Unanswered Questions

Written by Doug Strassler on . Posted in Arts & Film, Theater

Photo by Monique Carboni There is a difference between complicated and convoluted, though it can be tricky to adhere more toward the former than the trappings of the latter. One merely involves the involvement of multiple entities occurring beneath the surface at the same time, some of which having a direct effect on others. The other throws these variables
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Dance Hall Daze: Great Cast Helps Revive Edwin Drood

Written by Doug Strassler on . Posted in Arts & Film, Theater

Photo by Joan Marcus. Sandwiched in-between he monolith musicals that stormed their way from the West End to Broadway throughout the 1980s (Evita, Cats, Les Miserables, etc.) was a different kind of British import, one that was, in fact, given new life by an American. The Mystery of Edwin Drood, a 1985 Public Theater production, was musicalized and adapted
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Site of the Times: Lee Camp’s Moment of Clarity

Written by Doug Strassler on . Posted in Books, NY Press Exclusive

leecamp1 Comedian’s new book sheds humorous insight on the state of the world Comedian Lee Camp has finally released a book version of Moment of Clarity, his clever web series of political rants. Published in both paperback and e-book formats, Clarity anthologizes 90 of the smart humorists best position pieces and adds in twenty never-before-seen photos
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City Arts: In Search of Lost Jazz

Written by Our Town Downtown on . Posted in Our Town Downtown, Theater

SearchLostJazz600 ‘Cotton Club Parade’ brings back musical history  By Valerie Gladstone Cotton Club Parade opens with the robust Jazz at Lincoln Center All Stars, directed by Daryl Waters, swinging into “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love,” “I’ve Got the World on a String” and “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,” offering a tantalizing
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City Arts: The Pageantry of Rhetoric

Written by Armond White on . Posted in Arts & Film, Film, Our Town Downtown

PageantryRhetoric600 How Spielberg’s ‘Lincoln’ parlays the ‘great man’ notions of history “You begin your second term with semi-divine status,” the 16th president of the United States is told in Steven Spielberg’s film Lincoln. The evidence of that status is in the film’s mythifying visual style that presents Abraham Lincoln as an icon—silhouetted, spectral, sculptural. The people around
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Getting Down to Business With Henry Winkler

Written by NY Press on . Posted in Arts & Film, Our Town, Our Town Downtown, Theater, West Side Spirit

In his latest Broadway role, “The Fonz” plays a porn star (no, really) with a heart of gold By Rachel Sokol When one hears the name “Henry Winkler,” what often comes to mind is a leather jacket, a thumbs-up, an “aye!” and a best friend named Richie Cunningham. But Henry Winkler, porn star? Well …
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