Sunday, December 21, 2025
Donate
Home Blog Page 1392

Oscars: Academy Sets New Documentary Rules That Would Have Eliminated This Year’s Winner

Roger Friedman
-
0
Oscars: Academy Sets New Documentary Rules That Would Have Eliminated This Year’s Winner

This year’s Oscar winner for Best Documentary, Ezra Edelman, has been slightly rebuked by the Academy. New rules announced today would have made it impossible for his multi part project, OJ: Made in America, from being nominated.

The Academy now says multi part films or limited series will not be eligible at all to compete for an Oscar. This is a big deal because the doc community was upset over “OJ.” For one thing, it was made for ESPN, for TV, and many felt it shouldn’t have been in the running for that reason alone.

Whoops! So sorry then to Ava Duvernay and the others who worked on single films as in past years and then got knocked out by OJ. It’s not going to happen again.

The Academy also says that prior to nominations, if you want to serve food to an Academy member in conjunction with a movie, there’d better be a screening attached to it. This is more of the campaigning rules which frankly, I think, have contributed to the low ratings of the Oscar show. After the nominations are announced, the Academy now frowns on all campaigning.

This means all parties cease, as does publicity. Next year, this means that between January 23rd and March 4th there will be silence in the press regarding the Oscars. It’s a big mistake. Without the press stoking the Oscar campaigns during those six weeks, there will be even fewer viewers for the big night. These are the Oscars– they’re supposed to be fun. It’s not a federal election.

CBS Drops People’s Choice Awards After 4 Decades, Show Moves to Low End E! Channel

Roger Friedman
-
0
CBS Drops People’s Choice Awards After 4 Decades, Show Moves to Low End E! Channel

The four decade run of the People’s Choice Awards at CBS is over. The people have apparently voted– low ratings finally sent the annual celebrity debacle into oblivion.

Yesterday, the E! Channel– popular among pets and coma patients– announced they would broadcast the January sweepstakes themselves.

The People’s Choice Awards began on CBS in 1975 when there was no social media or internet, and publicists could control the outcome of the show. Even though someone supposedly voted on the People’s Choice, the results were uniformly dismal and predictably commercial, lacking any merit.

Plus, the winners were always sitting in the front row of the show, grinning, ready with memorized speeches. Losers didn’t bother getting dressed for the night. The ‘fix’ was in.

Over time, ratings have eroded as even the most clueless viewer in Sheboygan could figure out that “Batman” was not the best movie of the year, and Tom Cruise was not the Best Actor. Someday maybe someon will write about the horse trading that brings People’s Choice winners to the forefront.

Anyway, it’s off to the E! Channel, where maybe the Kardashians can host and Caitlyn Jenner will do interviews from the red carpet. CBS would be better off showing the Critics Choice Awards in that slot. They’re real, respected, and would cut the Golden Globes off at the pass by being first.

Harry Styles’ “Sign of the Times” vs. Prince’s “Sign o’ the Times”: New Song is Pop Version Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi Commercial

Roger Friedman
-
0
Harry Styles’ “Sign of the Times” vs. Prince’s “Sign o’ the Times”: New Song is Pop Version Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi Commercial

Only because the announcement of the new Sign of the Times was linked to the anniversary of the Prince song. I make the correlation. I knew Prince, this is not Prince. This is the pop version of Kendall Jennder’s Pepsi commercial. It’s all full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. I won’t say it’s a tale told by an idiot, but what is it? Running from bullets is a sign of the times? We got to get out of here? The Animals told us that 50 years ago. At least Prince told stories that showed the sign of the times. There is no story in the Styles song. Just styles.

“Sign O’ The Times”

Oh yeah
In France a skinny man
Died of a big disease with a little name
By chance his girlfriend came across a needle
And soon she did the same
At home there are seventeen-year-old boys
And their idea of fun
Is being in a gang called The Disciples
High on crack, totin’ a machine gun

Time, time

Hurricane Annie ripped the ceiling of a church
And killed everyone inside
You turn on the telly and every other story
Is tellin’ you somebody died
Sister killed her baby ‘cuz she couldn’t afford to feed it
And we’re sending people to the moon
In September my cousin tried reefer for the very first time
Now he’s doing horse, it’s June

Times, times

It’s silly, no?
When a rocket ship explodes
And everybody still wants to fly
Some say a man ain’t happy
Unless a man truly dies
Oh why

Time, time

Baby make a speech, Star Wars fly
Neighbors just shine it on
But if a night falls and a bomb falls
Will anybody see the dawn

Time, times

It’s silly, no?
When a rocket blows
And everybody still wants to fly
Some say a man ain’t happy, truly
Until a man truly dies
Oh why, oh why, Sign O the Times

Times, times

Sign O the Times mess with your mind
Hurry before it’s to late
Let’s fall in love, get married, have a baby
We’ll call him Nate… if it’s a boy

Times, times

Times, times

Harry Styles “Sign of the Times”:

Just stop your crying
It’s a sign of the times
Welcome to the final show
Hope you’re wearing your best clothes
You can’t bribe the door on your way to the sky
You look pretty good down here
But you ain’t really good

[Pre-Chorus]
If we never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets?
The bullets
We never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets?
The bullets

[Chorus]
Just stop your crying
It’s a sign of the times
We gotta get away from here
We gotta get away from here
Just stop your crying
It’ll be alright
They told me that the end is near
We gotta get away from here

[Verse 2]
Just stop crying
Have the time of your life
Breaking through the atmosphere
And things are pretty good from here
Remember everything will be alright
We can meet again somewhere
Somewhere far away from here

[Pre-Chorus]
If we never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets?
The bullets
We never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets?
The bullets

[Chorus]
Just stop your crying
It’s a sign of the times
We gotta get away from here
We gotta get away from here
Just stop your crying
Baby it’ll be alright
They told me that the end is near
We gotta get away from here

[Pre-Chorus]
If we never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets?
The bullets
We never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets?
The bullets

[Bridge]
We don’t talk enough
We should open up
Before it’s all too much
Will we ever learn?
We’ve been here before
It’s just what we know

[Outro]
Stop your crying baby
It’s a sign of the times
We gotta get away
We got to get away
We got to get away
We got to get away
We got to get away
We got to, we got to
We got to, we got to
We got to, we got to

One Direction’s Harry Styles Releases “Sign of the Times,” 5 Minute Retro 70s Power Ballad

Roger Friedman
-
0
One Direction’s Harry Styles Releases “Sign of the Times,” 5 Minute Retro 70s Power Ballad

Harry Styles seem to be 70s styles. Or some kind of take on Adele’s “Hello.” Anyway, it’s a five minute power ballad, very retro, right out of 1977. Will kids like it? Will radio play it in this ADD world? (Funny since record companies go for ‘adds’ as in plays on stations.) I guess the idea was to combine Journey and Queen and see what happens. The chorus is catchy. I’ll say that. I’m sure this will go straight to the top of iTunes this morning. And does it mean anything? Ha ha. No. It’s not exactly “Masters of War” or even “American Skin.” It’s the equivalent of Kendal Jenner’s Pepsi commercial– social theme LITE.

Just stop your crying
It’s a sign of the times
We gotta get away from here
We gotta get away from here
Just stop your crying
It will be alright
They told me that the end is near
We gotta get away from here

“Going in Style” Director Zach Braff Says Experience was “Surreal. I think I might be friends with Morgan Freeman. It’s crazy.”

Paula Schwartz
-
0
“Going in Style” Director Zach Braff Says Experience was “Surreal. I think I might be friends with Morgan Freeman. It’s crazy.”

Sir Michael Caine doesn’t put on airs. At the world premiere of his new comedy, “Going in Style,” the two-time Oscar-winning actor was the first of the veteran stars of the film on the very red carpet at the SVA Theater in Chelsea where he chatted with all the journalists waiting for soundbytes.

Rounding out the cast of movie star legends are Alan Arkin and Morgan Freeman, along with Ann-Margret, who still looks as beautiful as she did in “Carnal Knowledge” some 47 years ago. (In “Going in Style” Ann-Margret plays a free-spirited, sexy woman who pursues Arkin’s character.)

The comedy is about a trio of retired steel workers and good friends who decide to rob a bank after they lose their pensions due to shady corporate restructuring. Underneath the comedy there are social issues and tensions that make the film particularly timely in 2017.

Guests from the film included Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Alan Arkin, Ann-Margret, Joey King, Christopher Lloyd, director Zach Braff and producer Donald De Line. Celebrity guests included Rhea Perlman, Candice Bergman, Joe Pantoliano, Ann-Margret’s husband Roger Smith, George Hamilton and Carol Kane.

“We never set out for that, you know,” Caine told me when I noted the relevancy of the social issues raised in the film. “It just happened,” Caine told me on the red carpet.

The film is a reimagining of the 1979 film of the same title that starred Art Carney, Lee Strasberg and George Burns and was generally clobbered by the critics.

Said Caine, “The original movie was just some three old guys who robbed a bank, and we wanted a motivation for that. We gave them this motivation and it coincided with the situation now, so we’ve been very lucky.”

As for the undercurrent of anger that anchors the motivations, Caine, who comes from a cockney, English working class said, “I know exactly what that anger’s all about, yeah.”

Zack Braff who directed from a script by Theodore Melfi (“Hidden Figures”) told me Warner Bros. approached him to direct the film. “They wanted someone comfortable moving between comedy and drama to be the director and they asked me to do it.”

How intimidating was it to direct such a stellar cast?

“It was intimidating, but I have to say they are so friendly and cool they took the pressure off. They made it fun. And they’re ridiculous, always talking over each other. They’re real life buddies.”

In introductory remarks before the screening Braff said that when Warner Bros. approached him and said they had an amazing screenplay by Melfi and that stars Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine were already attached, his response when they asked him if he wanted to direct, was “Are you kidding?” He added, “All the reporters on the red carpet asked me what’s it been like? What’s it been like to direct these legends? I don’t know. It continues to be surreal. I think I might be friends with Morgan Freeman. It’s crazy.”

 

Photo c 2017 Showbiz411 by Paula Schwartz

 

Beatles: Complete Track Listing for 50th Anniversary Edition of “Sgt. Pepper”

Roger Friedman
-
0
Beatles: Complete Track Listing for 50th Anniversary Edition of “Sgt. Pepper”

More info…for aficionados, this looks very, very promising…

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Anniversary Edition
Tracklists

CD
(‘Sgt. Pepper’ 2017 Stereo Mix)
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. With A Little Help From My Friends
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
4. Getting Better
5. Fixing A Hole
6. She’s Leaving Home
7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!
8. Within You Without You
9. When I’m Sixty-Four
10. Lovely Rita
11. Good Morning Good Morning
12. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
13. A Day In The Life

Deluxe [2CD, digital]

CD 1: ‘Sgt. Pepper’ 2017 Stereo Mix (same as single-disc CD tracklist, above)

CD 2: Complete early takes from the sessions in the same sequence as the album, plus various versions of “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane”
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [Take 9]
2. With A Little Help From My Friends [Take 1 – False Start And Take 2 – Instrumental]
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds [Take 1]
4. Getting Better [Take 1 – Instrumental And Speech At The End]
5. Fixing A Hole [Speech And Take 3]
6. She’s Leaving Home [Take 1 – Instrumental]
7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! [Take 4]
8. Within You Without You [Take 1 – Indian Instruments]
9. When I’m Sixty-Four [Take 2]
10. Lovely Rita [Speech And Take 9]
11. Good Morning Good Morning [Take 8]
12. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) [Take 8]
13. A Day In The Life [Take 1 With Hummed Last Chord]
14. Strawberry Fields Forever [Take 7]
15. Strawberry Fields Forever [Take 26]
16. Strawberry Fields Forever [Stereo Mix – 2015]
17. Penny Lane [Take 6 – Instrumental]
18. Penny Lane [Stereo Mix – 2017]

Deluxe Vinyl [180g 2LP]

LP 1: ‘Sgt. Pepper’ 2017 Stereo Mix (same as single-disc CD tracklist, above)
SIDE 1 SIDE 2
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 1. Within You Without You
2. With A Little Help From My Friends 2. When I’m Sixty-Four
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds 3. Lovely Rita
4. Getting Better 4. Good Morning Good Morning
5. Fixing A Hole 5. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
6. She’s Leaving Home 6. A Day In The Life
7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!

LP 2: Complete early takes from the sessions in the same sequence as the album
SIDE 3
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [Take 9 And Speech]
2. With A Little Help From My Friends [Take 1 – False Start And Take 2 – Instrumental]
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds [Take 1]
4. Getting Better [Take 1 – Instrumental And Speech At The End]
5. Fixing A Hole [Speech And Take 3]
6. She’s Leaving Home [Take 1 – Instrumental]
7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! [Take 4]

SIDE 4
1. Within You Without You [Take 1 – Indian Instruments]
2. When I’m Sixty-Four [Take 2]
3. Lovely Rita [Speech And Take 9]
4. Good Morning Good Morning [Take 8]
5. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) [Take 8]
6. A Day In The Life [Take 1 With Hummed Last Chord]

Super Deluxe [4CD/DVD/Blu-ray boxed set]

CD 1: ‘Sgt. Pepper’ 2017 Stereo Mix (same as single-disc CD tracklist, above)

CD 2: Complete early takes from the sessions, sequenced in chronological order of their first recording dates
1. Strawberry Fields Forever [Take 1]
2. Strawberry Fields Forever [Take 4]
3. Strawberry Fields Forever [Take 7]
4. Strawberry Fields Forever [Take 26]
5. Strawberry Fields Forever [Stereo Mix – 2015]
6. When I’m Sixty-Four [Take 2]
7. Penny Lane [Take 6 – Instrumental]
8. Penny Lane [Vocal Overdubs And Speech]
9. Penny Lane [Stereo Mix – 2017]
10. A Day In The Life [Take 1]
11. A Day In The Life [Take 2]
12. A Day In The Life [Orchestra Overdub]
13. A Day In The Life (Hummed Last Chord) [Takes 8, 9, 10 and 11]
14. A Day In The Life (The Last Chord)
15. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [Take 1 – Instrumental]
16. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [Take 9 And Speech]
17. Good Morning Good Morning [Take 1 – Instrumental, Breakdown]
18. Good Morning Good Morning [Take 8]

CD 3: Complete early takes from the sessions, sequenced in chronological order of their first recording dates
1. Fixing A Hole [Take 1]
2. Fixing A Hole [Speech And Take 3]
3. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! [Speech From Before Take 1; Take 4 And Speech At End]
4. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! [Take 7]
5. Lovely Rita [Speech And Take 9]
6. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds [Take 1 And Speech At The End]
7. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds [Speech, False Start And Take 5]
8. Getting Better [Take 1 – Instrumental And Speech At The End]
9. Getting Better [Take 12]
10. Within You Without You [Take 1 – Indian Instruments Only]
11. Within You Without You [George Coaching The Musicians]
12. She’s Leaving Home [Take 1 – Instrumental]
13. She’s Leaving Home [Take 6 – Instrumental]
14. With A Little Help From My Friends [Take 1 – False Start And Take 2 – Instrumental]
15. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) [Speech And Take 8]

CD 4: ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and bonus tracks in Mono
(Tracks 1-13: 2017 Direct Transfer of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Original Mono Mix)
14. Strawberry Fields Forever [Original Mono Mix]
15. Penny Lane [Original Mono Mix]
16. A Day In The Life [Unreleased First Mono Mix]
17. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds [Unreleased Mono Mix – No. 11]
18. She’s Leaving Home [Unreleased First Mono Mix]
19. Penny Lane [Capitol Records U.S. Promo Single – Mono Mix]

DISCS 5 & 6 (Blu-ray & DVD)
Audio Features (both discs):
– New 5.1 Surround Audio mixes of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ album and “Penny Lane,” plus 2015 5.1 Surround mix of “Strawberry Fields Forever” (Blu-ray: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, Dolby True HD 5.1 / DVD: DTS Dolby Digital 5.1)
– High Resolution Audio versions of 2017 ‘Sgt. Pepper’ stereo mix and 2017 “Penny Lane” stereo mix, plus 2015 “Strawberry Fields Forever” hi res stereo mix (Blu-ray: LPCM Stereo 96KHz/24bit / DVD: LPCM Stereo)
Video Features (both discs):
– The Making of Sgt. Pepper [restored 1992 documentary film, previously unreleased]
– Promotional Films: “A Day In The Life;” “Strawberry Fields Forever;” “Penny Lane” [4K restored]

Don Rickles Dead at 90; Comedy Legend Who Insulted All Was Beloved and Revered

Roger Friedman
-
0
Don Rickles Dead at 90; Comedy Legend Who Insulted All Was Beloved and Revered

Don Rickles is dead at 90. The king of comedy, with a long legacy that dated back to Ed Sullivan and the Catskills and more, was beloved. He insulted everyone and everyone loved it. I met him many times, and I’m laughing just thinking about him. Condolences to his family and friends–among them Bob Newhart, who was his BFF. Don we are going to miss you!

Times Have Changed: Barbra Streisand Introduced by Ice Cube–Once Accused of Anti Semitism– at Museum of Tolerance Dinner

Leah Sydney
-
0
Times Have Changed: Barbra Streisand Introduced by Ice Cube–Once Accused of Anti Semitism– at Museum of Tolerance Dinner

Times have changed and everyone’s learned a lot. That was certainly the message last night in Hollywood at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s dinner for the Museum of Tolerance. Of all people, Ice Cube aka O’Shea Jackson, introduced Barbra Streisand before she toasted Ron Meyer. When the rapper was first starting out, he was accused of anti-Semitism for lyrics that didn’t go over very well. (We won’t repeat them here.) Some people in Hollywood, whose initials are MG, might learn something from this.

Streisand had a lot of great things to say last night about our pal, Ron Meyer, when she honored by the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. The now overall chief of Universal Pictures is everyone in Hollywood’s favorite person– no kidding– and as Barbra says in her toast, everyone in town calls him “Ronnie.” He’s the town mensch, you know. “He’s the king mensch,” Streisand confirmed.

Streisand cited a book she and Meyer like called “The Four Agreements.” She said, riffing: “I think we all know what Ron thinks about assumptions.” She paused and said to someone in the audience: “Do you? It’s [they’re] the Mother of all F*** Ups.”

Barbra also mentioned in her speech that she and husband Jim Brolin spend a lot of time with Meyer and his wife, “playing gin and watching three movies in one night.”

Streisand also blasted Donald Trump:  “Current events are a reminder of how far we have to go.  Hate crimes are high, we are living under an administration that deliberately omitted Jews from the Holocaust Day, he wants to ban people from a specific religion he wants to deport, deportation, what a horrible word, and he praises dictators and criticizes the press.  He uses the bully pulpit to simply bully. Words coded and calibrated to incite the beast in people and not the best.  Now more than ever we must heed the warning signs of the past to echo in the discourse of the present.  History has shown us the horror of quiet whispers, we must be shouting from the rooftops, “never again.”

Also at the event: Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Rabbi Marvin Heir, Michael Douglas, Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg, Norman Lear, producer Irwin Winkler, and producer/director Brett Ratner.

Meyer told the crowd that his parents escaped Nazi Germany and settled in a modest house in West LA.  “I was raised with tolerance and respect for others. “  He then told a story about how he was betrayed by a longtime childhood friend who turned to be a member of the American Nazi party. “When it comes to tolerance, where do we draw the line?  Tolerance can be taken too far. How do we recognize the good from the bad and what do we do about it?  We should embrace tolerance but can’t turn the other cheek.  We cannot surrender to bullies. “

Number 1 on Amazon: Beatles $150 “Sgt. Pepper” Anniversary Box, Not Due Until May 26th

Roger Friedman
-
0
Number 1 on Amazon: Beatles $150 “Sgt. Pepper” Anniversary Box, Not Due Until May 26th

The number 1 album on Amazon this morning? Why, it’s a box set that will sell for $149.98 and won’t be released until May 26th.

It’s the Beatles’ 50th anniversary edition of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” A 6 CD, two LP package with lots of trimmings, the box was sort of backwardly announced yesterday after this site and a couple of music sites published its leaked promo video from You Tube.

With very little promotion, the package zoomed to the top of Amazon’s album chart.

The vinyl only 2 LP version, which sells for $38.98, is number 12 on Amazon.

Luckily some of us have the original 1967 album, and subsequent vinyl reprints through 1987 when the first CD was issued. There was also a second CD version, which came out sometime in the 90s. (Maybe someone can help on this– email me showbiz411@gmail.com.)

There’s also the boxed set version from 2009 and the mono box version.

The new package will feature the first remixed, remastered version from Giles Martin, which will match the incredible sound of the Beatles “1” reissue from two years ago.

What’s unclear if all this stuff will be good to go for streaming and downloading on May 26th. That would kind of defeat the purpose of the box, I’d think. But who knows, now that streaming is taking over the world.

Still, if you want to hear this music properly, an iPhone or iTouch won’t do the trick. Get an Astell and Kern player. Get really good heaphones from Grado, Master and Dynamic, AKG, Sennheiser, etc. Get a really great CD player, like from Creek Audio, and top notch speakers. Apple earbuds aren’t going to cut it! See if Dick Sequerra still sells his Met 7.7’s. That’s how you want to hear Billy Shears!

Theater: Kevin Kline Angles for His First Tony Award Since 1981, Campus Violence Highlighted in “Church and State”

Roger Friedman
-
0
Theater: Kevin Kline Angles for His First Tony Award Since 1981, Campus Violence Highlighted in “Church and State”

Is it possible Kevin Kline hasn’t been on Broadway in a decade? And that his Tony Awards were in 1978 and 1981?

Since then he’s appeared on stage a lot, but you know, he won an Oscar for “A Fish Called Wanda” and he’s made lots and lots of movies.

But he’s on track to win the Tony for tonight’s revival of “Present Laughter,” a terrific production that is just as enjoyable as it can be.

Kline heads a great cast that includes Kate Burton, Kristine Nielsen, Cobie Smulders, Reg Rogers, and Peter Francis James. They are all superb, especially Nielsen, who I can say without question I “stalk”– she is one of a kind. Smulders slinks, Rogers is manic as ever, Burton is wise and funny–they are a solid team directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel.

But it’s all about Kevin Kline as Garry, the British stage star whom Coward fashioned this farce around in 1939. It just shows you about Coward. Like a lot of material in that time– 1938-39– the talk of sex is very modern. It’s clear everyone’s sleeping around. Affairs are more common than not. And Garry Essendine, who’s a big star, is obviously shagging one woman fan after another.

Garry’s got a smart-cracking wife (the great Kate Burton) from whom he’s estranged, but they’re still pals, and she knows he cats around. She’s got her own life. He’s got the Girl Friday, Monica (Nielsen) who also cleans up after his messes. But then there’s the wife of the best friend (Smulders) who’s already got a lover but wants Garry, and the 24 year old ingenue who throws herself at him (Tedra Millan, in an impressive Broadway debut).

Garry’s London townhouse is the setting — and a what a set by David Zinn! Everyone is rich, and they are all just hanging around idly getting into trouble. It sort of reminds you of the movie in
“The Purple Rose of Cairo.” The patter is so deft, that unless you noticed no TV or cell phones, it could easily be a swish London home in 2017.

Where Kline could just make Garry a buffoon is where you see him work his magic. Between his physical agility and linguistic dexterity– Kline is fast, and smart– Garry is hilariously self-aware of his own foibles. Whenever he answers the door he stops to check himself in the mirror, but not a lot– just enough–so we get it. And as Garry says, which Kline delivers sublimely, “I’m always acting!”

Kline’s return to Broadway brought out a nice crowd for opening night. Tina Fey and her husband, Jeff, sat on the aisle in front of Graydon Carter and his wife, Anna. Former Police Chief Bill Bratton came with his journalist wife Rikki Kleiman. I ran into the great Michael Stuhlbarg. Kline’s actress wife Phoebe Cates was there with their grown kids. Playwright Paula Vogel was in the house as well as Brian Dennehy and Cobie Smulders’ husband, former SNL player Taran Killam.

The producers threw a big party for Kline afterwards at the Gotham on 36th St. that included a pianist playing a white baby grand on a pedestal in the center of the round room. It was so classy. The lighting was very Cole Porter, too. Garry Essendine would have loved it. But I guess Kevin didn’t, Kline made a five minute appearance, then skipped out with his family. A big round table with a placard that read “Kline” sat empty all night. What can you do?

…MEANWHILE Off Broadway “Church and State,” an exceptional new play by Jason Odell Williams, is doing brisk business and getting raves. Every Wednesday at New World Stages (50th St. and Eighth Avenue) they have a talk back with the cast and special guests about gun violence. Last night the talk back was with the people who run the Virginia Tech Victims Family Outreach Foundation including my brother, Paul Friedman, the Executive Director, who is passionate about this cause, and founder Joe Samaha, who lost his daughter Reema in the Virginia Tech shooting. The play– which is funny and sad– provoked a lot of discussion about campus safety. For more info on the organization click here. This is important stuff.

 

1...1,3911,3921,393...2,324Page 1,392 of 2,324

Hollywood to the Hudson

Company

Trending

Categories

© Showbiz411.com