Results tagged “westsidestory”

At 91, Arthur Laurents seems endowed with better acuity, instincts and vitality than most Americans one-fourth his age. At least, that's the impression one draws from his mostly exhilarating revival of West Side Story, which Laurents has brought back to Broadway somewhere in between reviving an award-winning of production of Gypsy and skiing in St. Moritz. The West Side Story that opened Thursday night at the gigantic old Palace Theater is traditional where it matters—faithfully recreating Jerome Robbins's transporting choreography—and unorthodox where it doesn't; some scenes, for example, are performed almost entirely in Spanish without supertitles.

Will Ferrell stopped by The Late Show with David Letterman last night and was a memorable talk show guest as always. Ferrell said that he has been "bitten by the Broadway bug" during his run of You're Welcome, America... and doesn't plan to stop there. Up next for the comedian is the new production of West Side Story (where he'll play "Gary") and he gave the Late Show audience a little preview of the performance.

A look at some noteworthy television this week:

Red Alligator, by Soupflowers.

DISCUSSION: What is the future of alternative journalism? Find out tonight as experts Elizabeth Spiers, Jeff Koyen, Bob Cox and Roxanne Cooper tell you all about what they foresee. If you don't know who those people are, then you probably don't care about the future of alt media anyway.

THEATER: A revival of John Patrick Shanley’s Women of Manhattan closes tonight. The play - described by the Moonstruck scribe as an “Upper West Side Story” - focuses on three female Manhattanites who lament the fact that, while their careers are flourishing, their emotional lives are a wreck. "Rhonda can't dispose of her ex-lover's shoes, Billie can't escape the honeymoon phase of a three-year marriage, and Judy can't seem to find an attractive man who isn't gay." You’ll laugh/cry. - John Del Signore

- And finally, we were going to link to a cute Times fluff piece on where the umbrellas that suddenly appear on the street come from because it leads with a rare actually kinda sweet West Side Story reference ("Umbrella. Say it fast, as one peddler did in Times Square – umbrella-umbrella-umbrella – and there's music playing. Say it soft, as another peddler did at Herald Square - ummm-brell-laa - and it's almost like praying. Umbrella. Umbrella. Will we ever stop saying, Umbrella?") but the article is apparently a "Times Select" article. So to hell with that.

Yesterday afternoon, Judge Jed Rakoff ruled that the city had to allow Marc Ecko's graffiti party to go on tomorrow, because revoking the permit was unconstitutional. Gothamist is amazed - and pleased - that the people managed to win this one, because the Bloomberg adminstration seemed to be on a roll with clamping down on the fun things in life, like smoking, being noisy, protesting in the park. We hope that some of the artists participating in tomorrow's event will wear shirts with Judge Rakoff's face on it - here's part of his ruling explaining why the city's argument was silly:

"By the same token, presumably, a street performance of 'Hamlet' would be tantamount to encouraging revenge murder... As for a street performance of 'Oedipus Rex,' don't even think about it... The denial of the permit on the stated grounds that the demonstration will 'incite' others to actually paint graffiti on subway cars is a flagrant violation of the First Amendment and cannot stand."

Will copies of Hamlet and Oedipus Rex, not to mention West Side Story which Rakoff mentioned last week, now be zooming up the Amazon charts? Gothamist can only hope! While the city is considering whether or not to appeal (Bloomberg hates losing...just hates it!), Ecko et al. are still planning on tomorrow's party on West 22nd Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues, which starts at noon. Ecko told reporters he was "just excited" and added, "We knew this was worth fighting for, and clearly the mayor must have been misinformed." Heh!

U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff will hear Marc Ecko's lawsuit against the city today at 3PM. Ecko sued NYC last week because his permit for a party where graffiti artists would decorate fake subway cars (we're talking facades of subway cars) was revoked over concerns that the party would encourage graffiti. Newsday has an interesting excahnge from Friday's court hearing:

Paula van Meter, a city attorney, argued in court that painting subway replicas is not protected speech because it "necessarily simulates a criminal act."

Continue reading "Court To Decide on Graffiti Party"

There’s been much debate about Old World vs. New World wines - which wines are better, the role of tradition, the opportunity for scientific advancements – Gothamist could go on forever, but we will not. To us it’s not a choice and either style can be fabulous based on what we are looking for at any moment in time. What interests us is the back story, the untold story of how the two worlds came together to save wine as we know it today (insert overture to “West Side Story” here).

Are you tired out from the onslaught of summer theatre festivals? Still got enough to juice for a closing song and dance number?

David Hinckley in the NY Daily News complains that the American Film Institute list of the 100 Top Movie Songs is no fun because it's actually not a bad list. Gothamist would almost agree, except for the lack of songs from South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut. We feel that Come What May from Moulin Rouge (who sings that? who cares?) is just an addition to please the public (that way you can get Nicole Kidman on the show), but let's be honest here: No one is humming "I will love you until my daying day," but they are singing, "Kyle's Mom is a Big Fat Bitch" or "What Would Brian Boitano Do" or "Unclef*cker" or "Blame Canada." So, lists like this are still very crack-like because they are addictive, but they can be very bad too.

We had a lot of fun with our first official week doling out advice, and hope you did, too. If you're just tuning in, here's what you missed this week:

I am so glad finally to have someone to ask about this! A couple of years ago, when the new 2/3 trains started running, I noticed a peculiar phenomenon: when their brakes release, the trio of squeaks that sounds forms the opening notes of "Somewhere" from "West Side Story" (you'll hear it if you sing "There's a place..."). I'm certain that I'm not imagining this, because when I was standing on a subway platform on the Upper West Side a friend made the same observation. Has anyone else noticed this? Is it an intentional homage on the part of the MTA?