by Marilyn Lester Christine Andreas, the award-winning Broadway and television star, is by far no stranger to the cabaret world, where she’s also made a huge impact. Andreas, who is about to score yet another award – a 2016 Bistro...
Interviews
Getting to Know Playwright Stephen Karam – Interview
by: Sandi Durell Stephen Karam has had several back to back successes and has quickly become acknowledged as a major 21st Century Playwright - - Sons of the Prophet - Pulitzer Prize 2012 finalist...
Doug LeClaire: Spreading the Short Film Gospel with Asbury Shorts
by Marilyn Lester By the early 1980s it wasn’t easy to find any kind of venue playing short films. Commercial movie houses mostly stopped showing them, TV outlets were marginal, and the internet, YouTube and Vimeo weren’t even concepts. This,...
Meet the Cast & Creatives – Fiddler on the Roof
by: Sandi Durell (Magda Katz on camera) It was an extraordinary day meeting the cast and creatives, only two weeks into rehearsals, on this 50th Anniversary celebrating the original Fiddler's 'Best Musical' Tony Award. The still amazing Sheldon Harnick, who...
Meet ‘Steve’ – the cast and creatives
by: Sandi Durell The New Group continues its successes with Mark Gerrard's debut as a playwright, the return of Cynthia Nixon directing (Rasheeda Speaking), and the several couples who have now gone down their path as part of the LGBT movement,...
Speaking with Hathaway, DeNiro, DeVine, Rannells
by: Cooper Lawrence It's no longer true that behind every great man is a great woman. According to Nancy Meyers' new film The Intern, behind every great women is a 70 year old man, gently reminding her to tuck in her shirt and maybe drink a little less....
Buster Poindexter leaves David Johansen at home for another two week residency at Cafe Carlyle
Interview by Cooper Lawrence Depending on when you caught him, David Johansen is either a proto-punk god of the 70s, thrusting the New York Dolls into legendary status, or he is the sleek, lubricious Buster Poindexter a decade later, delivering more...
Feinstein’s/54 Below Announce & Meet the Press
The formal announcement of the coming together of the inimitable Michael Feinstein and New York's popular nightclub 54 Below, was made on Thursday September 17th at the club. Michael Feinstein, Ambassador of the Great American Songbook, seeking a...
Craig Schulman: How Adoption Mended A Family’s Broken Heart
Interview by Marilyn Lester When Broadway powerhouse Craig Schulman headlines the upcoming Robin’s Nest/A Benefit for HelpUsAdopt.org it will be as one who knows whereof he speaks. In 1998 Schulman and wife Monica Robinson...
Kiki Ebsen Remembers Her Dad, Buddy, With Love
Interview by Marilyn Lester Singer-songwriter Kiki Ebsen is the youngest of Buddy Ebsen’s seven children – and the one on the end of a 20-year span of siblings that’s gone most actively into show business. It’s partially from this perspective that...
Nina Arianda,Sam Rockwell,Tom Pelphrey,Gordon Joseph Weiss Meet the Press
by: Sandi Durell Today was a photo and interview op with the stars of the upcoming Manhattan Theatre Club's "Fool For Love" where Tony Award Winner Nina Arianda (Venus in Fur, Born Yesterday), Sam Rockwell (A Behanding in Spokane, The Way...
Cooper Lawrence Talks with Meryl Streep & Rick Springfield
Cooper Lawrence, radio and television personality, a PhD and author of five books, has had a history of interviewing some of film and television's most famous. Happily, she shared her recent interview with Meryl Streep and Rick Springfield, two of the stars...
Michele Lee: Wicked’s Newest Madame Morrible
Interview by Marilyn Lester That popular axiom of real estate, “location, location, location,” may well translate to theater as “timing, timing, timing.” Certainly a matter of timing was the case for Michele Lee, who’s just assumed the role...
Scares that Care Weekend + Q&A With Piper Laurie
AUGUST 3, 2015. This past weekend, actor-turned-filmmaker Michael Lee Stever, (Super Force, Broadway; The Golden Age) and revered stage actress and Academy Award nominee Piper Laurie (The Hustler, Twin Peaks, Carrie) joined Scares That Care...
This is Your Night! Russ Weatherford (Video I & II)
by Marilyn Lester The “This Is Your Night” series, hosted by Metropolitan Room Managing Partner, Bernie Furshpan, profiles an honoree who has “contributed in some significant way to the NYC Entertainment Industry.” With a packed house, and...
Ballet to Broadway: Christopher Wheeldon with Rita Moreno
An illuminating and entertaining intergenerational look at two dance legends. By Joel Benjamin Illuminating doesn’t begin to describe the meeting of two charismatic dance/theater artists on the stage of the Upper West...
Classical Theatre of Harlem: 15 Years Old and Going Strong
Interview by: Paulanne Simmons In 2009 when Ty Jones became artistic director and a member of the board at the Classical Theatre of Harlem, the organization was in financial distress and had lost the confidence of many supporters....
Billy Magnussen Put His Prince on “Into the Woods”
By Brian Scott Lipton In less than a decade, Billy Magnussen has emerged as one of the most exciting young actors of his generation, excelling both on the stage (including his Tony-nominated turn as the frequently...
Sneak Peek: Airline Highway
by: Brian Scott Lipton A group of outsiders gather in the parking lot of a now-closed seedy New Orleans hotel to give a “living funeral” to the woman they revere. That’s the plot of Lisa D’Amour’s “Airline Highway,” which arrives on April 1 at...
Sneak Peek: Paint Your Wagon
by: Brian Scott Lipton There’s gold in the hills of New York City Center! Well, to be precise, there will be scores of good-looking gold miners on the New York City Center stage – in the personage of such actors as Keith Carradine, Justin Guarini,...
Sneak Peak: Wolf Hall
by: Brian Scott Lipton Deceit. Betrayal. Intrigue. Death. These are just a few of the heart-pounding activities that take place throughout “Wolf Hall,” the two-part play...
Sutton Foster Marches Towards New Milestones
By Brian Scott Lipton March is a month of milestones for two-time Tony Award winner Sutton Foster (“Thoroughly Modern Millie,” “Anything Goes.”). On March 18, the eternally gamine singer-dancer turns 40. On March 31, her new...
Sneak Peek: An American in Paris Previews March 13
by: Brian Scott Lipton Ooh la la! The first-ever stage adaptation of the beloved MGM musical “An American in Paris” is getting ready to hit our shores (after a debut last year in Paris), with previews beginning at Broadway’s Palace Theatre on March 13 in...
Lani Hall Talks Emotional – Memoirs
By: Sandi Durell As I was thinking about how cold it was here (3 deg.), the phone rings and it’s Lani Hall (Mrs. Herb Alpert) calling from Malibu, Ca. where, she says, the weather is just . . . well just, just! More...
Thoughts on Ervin Drake – The Man, The Music, Life and Loves
by: Sandi Durell January 18th, marked the day that songwriter Ervin Drake (1919-2015) was put to rest after passing away on January 15th. The rains came down in what seemed like endless torrents all day,...
6 Questions for Jaygee Macapugay ‘Here Lies Love’
Interview by Sherry Amatenstein It’s not a job for the faint of heart to take on the lead role in Here Lies Loves, the dazzling ‘poperetta’ by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim that offers the audience an aerobic experience along with a unique and...
Andrew Lippa, Kristin Chenoweth “I Am Harvey Milk” – Interviews
by: Sandi Durell & Magda Katz "I Am Harvey Milk" - an oratorio written by Tony and Grammy Award Nominee Andrew Lippa in which he and Kristin Chenoweth appeared for a one-night only concert at Avery Fisher Hall, featured Noah Marlowe and the...
Sneak Peek: Meet the Cast of The Country House
by: Brian Scott Lipton Strange things can happen when family and friends converge in the country, as we’ve seen in such great works as Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” and Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s “A Little Night Music.” Now, Pulitzer...
6 Questions for Stephen Adly Guirgis-Playwright
By Sherry Amatenstein From the opening moments of a telephone interview, playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis has the ability to make a stranger - a reporter! - feel like a trusted friend to whom he can spill his secrets, vulnerabilities...
Looking Back at Elaine Stritch ‘Singin’ Sondheim’-Cafe Carlyle (video)
by: Sandi Durell I'm happy to have found this review and interview I had with Elaine at the Cafe Carlyle and to share it with you! (Sept. 14, 2011) How can an 86 year old veteran actress keep coming up with new surprises? Seems to be unique to this sleek...
