Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on Woodward Ave. and Cornelia St. in Queens, a burn victim on West 52nd St. in Manhattan, and a carjacking on 141st St. and Riverside Drive in Manhattan. Chaka Khan joins the cast of the Broadway musical The Color Purple. I feel for you, ticket holders. Tomorrow is your last chance to register for voting in New York's February 5th primary. Using handheld computers to identify......

There was a bit of drama Friday at the Broadway theater where The Color Purple performs, just not onstage. The lobby of the theater was mobbed by disgruntled ticket holders demanding refunds when ex-American Idol Fantasia, who stars as Celie, failed to turn up for work. Lobby spies for Post columnist Michael Riedel witnessed an 8-year-old girl “sobbing uncontrollably when she heard Fantasia was not going to be in the show.” But it seems there......

As mentioned last week, Oprah is gearing up for her New York invasion in September..the first in ten years! Some new info has come out about what she has planned for her big shows -- though there are no shocking details. First of all, Letterman will be a guest. The two have fueded in the past, but Oprah will welcome the late night host with open arms when she's on his home turf. People reports......

Yesterday tickets went on sale for the two Oprah Winfrey show tapings next month (September 10th and 11th) at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden. The internet went into overload immediately, shutting down the ticket websites. WABC reported: "Due to the amount of interest in these tickets, some people are experiencing difficulties logging on to the ticket site as of 9:00 a.m. Friday." Of course this means that Craigslist is now filled with some......

Although the mass media informs us that our nation was monolithically united around last night's final Sopranos episode, we believe a small pocket of dissenters were tuned into CBS, where the 61st Annual Tony Awards were broadcast over the span of three hours. We know from The Playgoer’s pithy live-blogging that there were big musical numbers by each of the nominated musicals, a (“thankfully”) drunk Eddie Izzard and an appearance by American Idol sensation Fantasia......

Broadway's big night celebrated two hit shows, both with word "Boys" in the title. "Jersey Boys," the musical about singing group, The Four Seasons, won Best Musical and two actors won Best Actor (John Lloyd Young) and Best Featured Actor (Christian Hoff), and "The History Boys," a play about British education, won Best Play, Best Direction and Best Actor (Richard Griffiths). The speeches were all very heartfelt, touching and classy - Frances de la......

The American Theater Wing announced the 2006 Tony award nominees, and there are a lot of notables: - The Drowsy Chaperone stormed the gate with 13 nominations, including Best Musical, four acting nominations and a ton of others... - The Color Purple followed with the most nominations (11), including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Original Score, Best Leading Actress and three Best Featured acting awards. However, in spite of the Oprah factor, we give......

- Derek Jeter, the product of an interracial marriage, gets hate mail for his interracial dating habits - Weehawken Street has the most do-no-urinate signs per square foot in all of the city - Will outdoor showers be the new black of luxury apartments? Not if Gothamist can help it - John Gotti Jr. is free on $7 million bond; Curtis Sliwa watches and waits - Big Pussy pleads guilty to assaulting his girlfriend while......

Two very disparate shows are looking for funding. Playbill reports that regular joes are being sought out for investments in Steve Sells Out, which is being funded by visitors to conceiver-performer Steve Luber's website. Luber had the great idea to use the internet to help fund his project, and invites anyone and everyone to donate. Depending on the amount you contribute (which can be as little as 5 bucks), you can even have a creative......