Answer: Some of them don't! Matthew Broderick's difficulty remembering lines during performances of Kenneth Lonergan's new play The Starry Messenger has, ahem, prompted a long article in the Times on the history and ethics of learning lines. The takeaway is that some actors, including the great Angela Lansbury, use earpieces to stay on cue. more ›

When the stagehands’ strike ended late Wednesday night, the general consensus was that not all Broadway productions would be able to pull it together in time for Thursday night re-openings. But as it turned out, all 27 strike-darkened shows were up and running last night, despite the challenges that larger productions faced after 19 dormant days. Chicago, for instance, had two stars joining the cast – Vincent Pastore and Aida Turturro of “The Sopranos” –... more ›

On Wednesday night Tim Burton gave the Film Society of Lincoln Center a 17-minute taste of Sweeney Todd, his film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s macabre musical. The 1979 Broadway hit was inspired by Victorian folklore about a crazed London barber who slits his customers’ throats and, in some versions of the story, colludes with his lover to bake the corpses into meat pies – which become wildly successful! (Ah, the culinary possibilities before rogue... more ›

During the summers, city shelters see a spike in unwanted pets, and this year is no different. NYC's Animal Care & Control is "taking in 85 cats and kittens a day - up from about 50 a day just a few months ago," according to the Daily News. Animal Care & Control is worried they will have to start euthanizing adoptable cats and dogs, because they are, as director Richard Gentiles says, "being inundated." From the News:

Unlike the ASPCA, Humane Society and other shelters, Animal Care and Control cannot turn away any animal brought into its three shelters or left on the street. more ›

THEATER: A revival of Patrick Hamilton’s thriller Gaslight has just begun at Irish Rep; some may remember the award-winning 1944 film version starring Ingrid Bergman and Angela Lansbury. The chilling study in domestic domination to the max concerns a diabolical husband who, not satisfied in exploiting his wife’s savings to buy their house, plots her murder. But while he’s out the police inspector comes in to warn the poor bride that her husband is suspected of another “black-hearted murder” committed fifteen years ago... in the very same house! - John Del Signore more ›

If you detected a frisson of fabulous excitement scorching the air this morning, it’s because the 61st annual Tony award nominations were announced! (For those who may not fathom the awesome significance of the Tonys, the awards are the Broadway theater world equivalent of the Oscars and named for Antoinette Perry, an actress, director, producer and who passed away prior to the first award show in 1947.) more ›

ART: As a "happy anniversary" to The Velvet Underground and Nico (40 years!), John McWhinnie honors the rock legends (and the release of that album) with a collection of rare memorabilia and art(rock)ifacts. Come by to check out film stills by Warhol, "never before published or publicly shown photographs of the band by Adam Ritchie, Paul Morrisey and Doug Yule," and original lyrics by Lou Reed. More info here. more ›

This is pretty awesome: NYC saved $11 million in various fees because it used the online lawsuit-settling site Cybersettle to handle various cases. NY1 explains: "Lawyers for each side type in proposed settlement figures in three rounds over 30 to 60 days. Each side's numbers are kept secret until Cybersettle sees a match." Has anyone used it? City Comptroller William Thompson (who some suspect may run for Mayor in 2009) noted that more than half of the 1,199 cases put on Cybersettle were successfully settled. More fun legal factoids: 9,000 of the 24,000 lawsuits and claims filed against the city "involve sidewalk, school, roadway, city property, traffic sign and light, motor vehicle, recreation and personal injury cases." Gothamist smells another Law & Order spinoff! more ›

Yesterday, people from TV, film, and Broadway, as well as the public, gathered to pay tribute to the dearly missed Jerry Orbach. The attendees included Angela Lansbury, Al Pacino, Benjamin Bratt, Chris Noth, Jill Hennessy, Jane Alexander, Karen Ziemba, and Dick Wolf, plus many regular New Yorkers who cherished Orbach's contribution as an actor. Former Mayor David Dinkins was there, and Mayor Bloomberg spoke to the crowd, saying, "Briscoe exuded the life of the city in all its moxie...Jerry came to personify New York in both body and soul." NBC President Jeff Zucker and L&O producer Dick Wolf presented Orbach's widow Elaine with a $1 million check for Sloane Kettering's Cancer research fund as well. more ›

If they make a TV movie about this, Angela Lansbury would play the granny juror, and it would turn out she was right all along or something. more ›

The privacy�s on the door more ›