Will lightning strike twice for Mel Brooks, who hopes to enliven his stage adaptation of Young Frankenstein with the same spark that made The Producers a money making machine? His new monstrosity is already selling advance tickets for a Broadway run in October – a top ticket price of $450 sets a new record for excess – but last week Young Frankenstein came staggering out of the lab for an out-of-town rampage in Seattle. The......

MUSIC: Not long ago we saw the movie Once, and absolutely loved it. Busker meets girl, deep connection through music...you get the idea. Now the two main characters are touring and singing the songs from the soundtrack. The male lead was of course the singer of The Frames, Glen Hansard, and his female counterpoint is Marketa Irglova. Tonight they take the stage at Gramercy, so it's your chance to see them off the big screen......

Casting for the stage production of Young Frankenstein has Cloris Leachman fans up in arms. Leachman originated the role of Frau Blucher in Mel Brooks' classic film and has just been let go from the Broadway production, which will hit the St. James Theater stage this Fall. According to the New York Post, "the producers were so intent on having Cloris reprise her role as the hilariously sinister Frau Blucher that they flew her to......

Michael Riedel has double-the-entendre fun with his rumor-laced news that the London revival of Equus – yes, that Equus starring the Harry Potter kid naked as a jaybird – is going to Broadway! According to Riedel’s sources, “one problem, though, is the length.” Wait for it... Wait for it... “Of the play, people, the play!” But producers seem cocksure, despite a couple small problems regarding young Daniel Radcliffe: “Where he comes up short (at least......

+ Delays are plaguing Philip Johnson’s Urban Glass House. + The Central Park Conservancy is going global. + Paris’ Phare Tower recalls Grand Central Terminal’s machine-age fascination, reports New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff. + A map that's “one of the most beautiful, important and accurate plans of New York,” according to IN Phelps Stokes, who designed the University Settlement House at Eldridge and Rivington and Columbia’s St. Paul's Chapel. + An architect who......

There is nothing like a good "how I got served with a lawsuit" paper story (except, maybe, a big ice cream cone, which would be perfect for a glorious day like today). A few years ago, Staten Island resident Anna Maydanik was injured while riding in Jason Cieri's car in Virginia, but couldn't sue him since he lives in New Jersey and there was no jurisdiction over him. So Maydanik's lawyer did the next best......

Gothamist was a bit underwhelmed by this year's Golden Globe nominees, and we were thinking of not liveblogging. But, gosh darn it as we watched the E! preshow and saw the starlets sparkle their way down the red carpet, we realize it was hopeless, so here we are. Let it be known that: - Keira Knightley looks gorgeous in her white Valentino - and there's something surprisingly youthful about the dress, even though there's that......

No don't worry. Gothamist doesn't plan to subject you to yet another film Top 10 list. If you want a good ... uhm ... "overview" of this year's Top 10 lists, you might want to check-out The Reeler's Top 10 Top 10 lists. (Nos. 10-6 appeared yesterday. The top five went up this morning.) If you're looking for something more traditional, you should probably look at The Village Voice's Take 7 film critics poll. Meanwhile,......

By way of reader Jeff who spotted this at a G subway station: Someone defaced a poster for the movie version of The Producers. But it wasn't the usual crude remark or drawing. It actually necessitated a knowledge of the theater. Written on Uma Thurman's Ulla dress is "William Ivey Long is the most overrated costume designer in Broadway history." Google "William Ivey Long" and you get this Internet Broadway Database entry with a......

- Hmm, the 8PM update from the NY Times says that MTA-Transit Workers Union negotiations have stalled, "increasing the possibility of a strike" - insert the !!!!!!!! And then there's the But a third option in addition to a strike or a settlement has also emerged: several union officials hinted that they might delay a strike until Monday, rather than start one on a Friday, the day before the weekend begins.Insert more !!!!!! Plus the......

The obvious 800-pound, 2000-pound or even 20-ton gorilla in the room is King Kong. It's all about the great ape this weekend, and rightly so. Gothamist caught a screening of Peter Jackson's epic on opening day and it is a sight to behold -- perfect popcorn fodder with some of the most amazing effects and action sequences you've ever seen. (Specifically, the royal rumble between Kong and three T-Rex's is potentially one of the great......

There are $11 movie tickets at some chains around town, but for one week, the Ziegfeld will be charging $12.50, a whopping $1.75 more than usual, when it premieres The Producers. Yes, $12.50. Is this because The Producers the Broadway musical started the trend of charging serious dough for theater tickets? And they are thinking that fans of the Broadway show will rush to see it the first week? Lame! Some exhibitors claim that with......

Gothamist readily admits to getting a major kick out of Michael Reidel's Wednesday and Friday theater beat columns in the Post. We love that directors punch this guy out when they dis their shows and that he seems to love to stir up controversy. He also seems to have a good feel for the mechanics of Broadway, so we took notice at his column yesterday when he declared that the upcoming Mike Nichols-directed prodcution of......

New York City has announced a new incentive program for producers to shoot their films and TV shows in NYC with panache: Announcing that the second film version of The Producers, based on the Broadway musical (which was based on the film), would be shot at the new Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Some of the big features of the Empire State Film Production Credit Program:- A Tax Credit (5% refundable tax......

Tomorrow brings a few exciting but very different activities to partake in: First, there is Broadway on Broadway, a live free outdoor concert in Times Square, hosted by Wayne Brady (soon to be seen in Chicago) and Christy Carlson Romano (Beauty and the Beast), to celebrate the musicals and plays the Great White Way has to offer. Some of the participating shows: Avenue Q, Brooklyn, The Musical (who knew?), Chicago, Golda�s Balcony (which means the......

Police officers will be flooding the subways in and out of uniform, as the NYPD gears up for the Republican National Convention that's just 10 days away. The Daily News has an exclusive about the plans:Hundreds of detectives in the NYPD's elite specialized units are being ordered to put aside cases and ride the rails as extra security as early as this weekend, the Daily News has learned. Narcotics, vice, gang and organized crime investigators......

I want to see a Broadway play and know I can get tickets for half off at the TKTS booth in Times Square. What time do they open and when do I have to get there? I'm usually very busy and can't wait in line for five hours Glen, The Bronx Run by the Theatre Development Fund since 1973, the TKTS booth in Times Squre is a veritable Broadway institution. Check out the official TKTS......

He sold disco jewelry, managed a reggae band, lived across the hall from Larry David and this weekend, as the rest of us boarded busses bound for sea and sand, he celebrated his 500th bus tour. Who is this man you ask? Gothamist answers, the real Kramer of course (aka Kenny Kramer, Larry David's muse for Seinfeld's Kramer)! You remember that show Seinfeld, right? And Cosmo Kramer? And the episode where he started a bus......

The Tony Awards are tonight, and if you're like Gothamist, you're going to watch the shows because you secretly know more than you should, given how few musicals and plays you actually saw last year, about all the nominees because you just have too much time your hands (we love Audra McDonald, but if she gets her fourth Tony tonight, we're officially calling the Tonys the "Emmys"). That and Wolverine shimmying around in sequins. Yes,......

Help! from out of town are coming to visit for the weekend and they want to see a Broadway show. How can we score cheap tickets at the last minute? There are basically two ways to get cheap tickets. First, we all know about the TKTS booths. There's one in Times Square and one in South Street Seaport. Depending on what time of day you want to see a show, you go stand in line......

Inimitably elegant photo blogger, rion, tells us that Gothamist's favorite crank, Larry David, has been hanging out in Midtown West, with the likes of Mel Brooks. Then she mentioned a poster of The Producers with Larry David and David Schwimmer on it. As the wheels started to turn, we thought, "Hmm, this smells like an episode of Curb!" Of course, rion was ready for our barrage of questions and directed us to this link that......

This past weekend, the Times looked at how Broadway theater ticket prices range wildly, from the top tier $75-85 range to $40 with discount, and then even $20 for rush tickets. While some shows , like Long Day's Journey Into Night offer seats in the $100 range, the granddaddy of setting premium pricing, The Producers, has been going discount. Stalwart discounter TKTS is being joined by theaters's own discounting programs like Hiptix at the Roundabout......