The Tony Award broadcast usually amounts to a night of boring Broadway boosterism which most Americans happily ignore to watch basketball, but last night viewers actually got a few seconds of drama to go with all the backslapping, as Poison lead singer Bret Michaels got into an exciting accident with a piece of scenery. The "Rock of Love" star was on hand to perform a song with the cast of hair band jukebox musical Rock of Ages; but as you can see from the last few seconds of this video clip, that bit of cross-promotional synergy nearly cost him his life. more ›

The 2009 Tony Award nominees were announced this morning, and competition for a nod was particularly intense this year because the 2008-09 theater season saw the highest number of new Broadway plays, musicals, and revivals in 25 years—and an unusually large percentage of them weren't just flashy drivel. Take for example, reasons to be pretty, Neil LaBute's stirring relationship-wreckage play: the Broadway production nabbed three desperately-needed Tony nominations—including Best Play and one for Gothamist crush Marin Ireland—but the show is hanging by a thread at the Lyceum Theatre, filling just 30% of the house last week. more ›

Forty of New York's "star chefs" anonymously shared their secrets in a survey for Time Out NY, dishing on a wide range of topics, from ingredients in their kitchens they'd never admit to using ("Chopped meat from SYSCO") to the dumbest Health Department rules ("The gloves thing. I use them all the time, but a fuckload of people don’t know how to use them correctly or change them enough. I’ve seen people do some fucked-up things with gloves on—wipe their ass, grab their goodies, touch raw chicken and then go back to cooking/salad-tossing with the same gloves on.") But enough talk of salad-tossing, let's get to the sex! 50% of these chefs insist they've "nailed a hostess," and 69% (ha?) of those claim the "nailing" occurred on the bar. But at least one chef was unamused: "First of all, this question presumes the person completing the survey is a man, and second, it insinuates that the hostess is some kind of bimbette that can be pounded. (I don’t see you asking if you’ve ever blown a busboy in the dish room.)" more ›

It's not easy maintaining a healthy relationship when you're fully immersed in the not-so-healthy restaurant and bar industry. So Time Out NY has come to the rescue this week, highlighting personal ads from local chefs, bartenders and club owners who are on the prowl. Anita Lo (pictured), chef and co-owner of Bar Q, is attracted "to pretty girls" and wants "someone who eats everything." Alex Day, a bartender at fussy cocktail lounge Death & Company, gets points for being totally upfront about his twee attire: "I wear a tie and vest or suspenders six nights a week—you can’t work in this part of the industry without being a little bit of a dandy." And Matthew Roff, who co-owns Southpaw and Public Assembly, likes "girls who know how to fucking drive." Go get 'em, fast drivin', big eatin', Wes Anderson fans! more ›

Ever wish you could have the best of all the boroughs? TONY takes a look at their ideal neighborhood, with features culled from various areas in the city. The urban utopia looks a little something like this: the affordability of Inwood, the architecture of lower Manhattan, the design of the West Village, the shopping of Williamsburg, the food of Hell’s Kitchen, the bar scene of the East Village, the arts community of the LES, the diversity of Jackson Heights, the parks of Egbertville, S.I., the street culture of Coney Island, and the eco-friendliness of Park Slope. The mag also has some fun with stereotyping neighborhoods--Park Slope is still the city's baby capital, the UWS still has money, and the Staten Island dudes still enjoy their Jäger bombs. more ›

The 62nd Annual Tony Awards were presented last night at Radio City Musical Hall; the biggest winners were a musical first staged in 1949 and a Pulitzer Prize winning pot boiler from Chicago. The acclaimed Lincoln Center revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific won the most awards, besting Sunday in the Park with George and Gypsy for best revival of a musical and nabbing six other Tonys. And the overrated Hollywood-bound melodrama August: Osage County won five awards, including best play, surprising no one. more ›

The Tony Awards are happening Sunday night, people! Who’s excited? Pretty much nobody, right? No surprise there, especially considering that a phenomenal show like Passing Strange has been playing to half-full houses. But what’s really ridiculous is that even the people who are tasked with voting for the Tony winners can’t be bothered to sit through these shows! more ›

Fellow vendors and loyal customers are rallying to the defense of Antonios Dragonas, the 50-year-old pushcart food vendor who may soon be put out of business. For the past 25 years, Vendy runner-up Antonios Dragonas, has been serving his famous lamb shish kebab from the corner of Madison Avenue and East 62nd Street, but now the Department of Health is refusing to renew his license and permit. more ›

It says a lot about Harvey Fierstein's distinctiveness that it's almost impossible to even say the name 'Harvey' without thinking of that endearingly gravelly voice. Whether you know him as Homer Simpson's assistant Karl, Robin Williams's brother in Mrs. Doubtfire, or Hairspray's Edna Turnblad, the Brooklyn-born actor's uninhibited, self-assured persona is thoroughly his own. Now the four-time Tony winner is back on Broadway with A Catered Affair, the musical adaptation of the 1956 film about a blue collar Bronx couple and their increasingly elaborate plans for their daughter's wedding. Fierstein wrote the book and plays the family's closeted uncle with a poignant mix of humor and regret. The show also stars Tom Wopat and Faith Price, who yesterday received a Tony nomination for her performance. more ›

Police have rounded up 38 people accused of running a credit card fraud ring out of Queens for almost a decade. Officials say hackers in China and Ukraine have been breaking into the databases of major U.S. department stores, and then sending the credit card information of thousands of shoppers to the ringleader, Kwok Chow, 36, a Flushing resident known as “Tony.” more ›

The mice at The Mermaid Inn’s East Village location picked a mischievous moment to scurry out into the dining room a few nights ago – as luck would have it a writer for Time Out New York was there waiting for a table! The immodest mice must have been looking for their 15 minutes of fame, because they timed their appearance perfectly with TONY staffer Jordana Rothman’s emergence from the bathroom. more ›