Results tagged “Alan Alda”

The World Science Festival is coming to New York, and starting tomorrow we'll become the hub of all things scientific. The NY Times pondered the idea of the city as a national science center earlier this week, saying "there’s plenty of science getting done here — it just gets overshadowed by everything else."

THEATER: The Ledge is a multi-media solo show based on a 1959 short story by Lawrence Sargent Hall. The production uses video projection as the only source of stage lighting to tell the haunting tale of a fisherman who becomes stranded with his son and nephew on a small reef off the New England coast in winter. When his wife ultimately finds his frozen body, he is compelled by her eyes to relive his last hours holding the boys above the icy waters. Martin Denton praised the Dixon Place workshop production of The Ledge as “a theatrical experience of rare power and beauty: an exploration of our humanity that has the profound capacity to move and uplift its audience.” - John Del Signore

EVENT: The avant-gourmands from Radiohole (who have been blogging about their adventures in Vermont) will be giving “private-dingy palm readings and psychic-portraits featuring Peek-a-Boo Technology” at the grand opening party for Three Legged Dog. The company’s new home, which is at the World Trade Center site, was recently heralded by the Times as a sign of “hope” for the other stalled projects at Ground Zero. The party is free and boasts performances by League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots, Aldo Perez and other hopefuls. - John Del Signore

After last year's mess of an awards show and this year's joke of nominations (where is love for Lauren Graham, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences?), we were going to swear off this year's Emmys. But then we realized Conan O'Brien was hosting, so we must watch and liveblog. And there's the hope of a good Steve Carrell bit, not to mention awkward reaction shots of Candy and Tori Spelling during the Aaron Spelling tribute.

Last night Gothamist attended the 4th annual benefit for the Academy of American Poets at Alice Tully Hall and was reminded that reciting poetry aloud is really a wonderful thing. As the kick-off to National Poetry Month in April, a panel of celebrity readers including William Wegman, Mike Wallace, Dianne Weist, Alan Alda and Meryl Streep read a few examples each from a variety of American poets. Great poets like William Carlos Williams, Sylvia Plath, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes and Kenneth Koch were represented in the mix, with a highlight for the night coming from musician Wynton Marsalis's lyrical reading of Sterling A. Brown's "Ma Rainey -- a poem he punctuated by breaking into song a cappella during one portion.

Good lord. It's not even five minutes into the Emmys and Gothamist (and friends Aaron Dobbs of out of focus and a Gothamist contributor, and Margaret Lyons, formerly of Chicagoist) is very very frightened. There is no reason why Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas should force Doris Roberts to dance with them. Doris needs to get the AARP to fight the fight with her. Welcome to Gothamist's attempt to liveblog the Emmys, until the show drains every single molecule of life from us, which we believe will happen in the 10PM hour.

The rarified air around tippy-top Broadway shows is abuzz this week with anticipation of the Tony Awards. Clicking through the official website, Gothamist couldn’t help but snort at some of the pomposity going on for a ceremony that no one outside theater could care less about, but it’s probably to be expected. With celebrity presenters ranging from Julia Stiles and Allison Janney to James Earl Jones and Alan Alda, the Tonys have to keep up appearances and satisfy the big Hollywood tastes these folks have developed. This is particularly obvious in the huge number of gifts presenters receive, as Playbill reports; the goodies aren’t quite Oscar-caliber, but there are several nice bits of bling (Gothamist’s eye lingered on the Swarovski crystal-studded earphones) but apparently the award organizers want to help these poor deprived folks get total makeovers, with gift certificates for Lasik and teeth bleaching as well as “Life Coaching” sessions and language-learning software. Because, you know, now that these people are at the top of their game, they really need some extra assistance. Sheesh.

Duncan Watts, Columbia Professor