Two Broadway shows offered moving tributes to Prince last night at the conclusion of their shows.
The Color Purple:
Hamilton:
Prince Gets Tributes from Broadway Casts of “Hamilton,” “The Color Purple”
Flashback 2007: When Prince Played the Hamptons for $1500 a Head for Leo, Bon Jovi, the Sopranos
flashback from July 2007
Quick: What do Prince, the diminutive fireball of funk, and Lou Grant, Mary Tyler Moore’s former fictitious boss, have in common?
The answer: Neither of them likes guests to see them at their own parties.
On Saturday night in the Hamptons, after Prince performed a spectacular two-hour set at $3,000 a pop, the purple star was supposed to hold court in a private room at a club called Flirt.
He arrived ahead of most of the guests, but when he saw that there were already a few people in the private room, Prince retreated to his limo. And there he stayed, in the parking lot, while guests piled up outside the consequently locked door.
The episode recalled the time Mary threw Mr. Grant a surprise birthday party at her apartment, but Lou wouldn’t let any of the guests — all his friends — into the room.
Mary would say, “Mr. Grant, How about Murray? He’s nice. You like Murray.” Murray entered. Then Mary would say, “What about Rhoda? You’ve always liked Rhoda.” And so on.
Eventually Mr. Grant’s friends entered Mary’s apartment. But for Prince, the party never happened. He sat in the parking lot.
The guests drifted to Dune, a nearby club owned by Noah Tepperberg and Jason Strauss, who helped put on the big outdoor Prince show for 1,000 people on a field owned by the very private Ross School.
Guests were heard singing, “Someday my prince will come.” He did not.
No one ever had the chance to say to Prince: “How about Leonardo DiCaprio? He’s been nominated for the Oscar.” Or: “What about your lawyer, Londell McMillan? You like him.” Or: ”Jon Bon Jovi took a helicopter here to see you. Why don’t we let him in?” Or even: “Many of these people paid $3,000 a head to see you tonight and you didn’t even play ‘Raspberry Beret.’”
The fact that Prince is from Minneapolis and that’s where Mary and her friends lived on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” is just a coincidence, I am told.
Hamptons Get Funky, for a Price
So anyway: A promotion group called Social, along with pop-producing star Nile Rodgers and record industry vet Michael Ostin, put on the first of five swinging rock concerts and fancy dinners on Saturday night in East Hampton.
The tickets are $3,000, or $15,000 for the series of five. The other acts on their way in successive weeks are Dave Matthews, Billy Joel, James Taylor and Tom Petty.
Every weekend a different famous restaurant or chef will cater the meal. There is seating for 1,000. On Saturday, Jeffrey Zakarian of Town did a delicious meal of pan-Asian food. There were also “Pop Burgers” and jelly beans from Dylan’s Candy Corner.
The Social-ites have cleared a field behind the Ross School near the East Hampton airport and erected a state-of-the-art concert shed and catering hall. It’s sort of Tanglewood on the Go.
The setting is simple and dramatic. As long as there’s no rain, the Socials have a major hit on their hands. And even if they do, part of the seating is under a matching shed.
Enter into this all the celebs. PR funk mistress Lizzie Grubman is back, and in fine form. She herded the aforementioned Leo, Bon Jovi and dozens more through the buffet and onto the field into their seats.
We spotted Christie Brinkley with her brother and son; Kelsey and Camille Grammer; Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos; L.A. Reid and wife, Erica; Edie Falco and Aida Turturro from “The Sopranos”; Jay-Z; mega-guys Ron Burkle and Steve Bing; Anjelica Huston; Lorne Michaels; “Saturday Night Live” producer Marci Klein and so on.
And there were ironies galore. Because Prince was once a Warner Records artist, the legendary Mo Ostin arrived and sat with Courtney Ross. When Prince and Ostin were with Warners, it was owned by the Courtney’s equally legendary husband, Steve Ross. So Mo and Courtney sat together and reminisced about their golden era.
After a while, the pair was greeted by Edgar Bronfman Jr., the man who now owns and has summarily destroyed Warner Music. Still, it was Saturday night, and everyone was in a happy mood.
Lyor Cohen sat with his former Island/DefJam buddies and Kevin Liles on the opposite side of the shed.
Everything was in balance. Mo Ostin and his crowd — Lenny Waronker, Russ Titelman, Tommy LiPuma — left a huge legacy of artists now dispersed through the business from Jimi Hendrix and Fleetwood Mac to Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor and Neil Young.
Last year, WMG released Paris Hilton’s debut album. Their stock price hovers around $14.
Mo Ostin does not take credit for signing Prince, by the way.
“A guy in Minneapolis found him,” Mo told me. “There was a fierce competition. Columbia wanted him. Lots of people. But we convinced him we had the mechanism to make him a star.”
Ostin was also there when Prince started writing “Slave” on his face and tried to get off the label.
“That was bad,” he said, wincing.
Prince Wakes Up the ‘Sleepy Rich Folks’
About three songs into Prince’s Hamptons show Saturday night, he said something about waking up “the sleepy rich folks in the front.”
That’s when he invited the mostly white audience onto the stage and launched into a version of “Play That Funky Music, White Boy.” He let a tall young stranger grab the mike and sing his own version of the lyrics. The crowd cheered.
You can imagine what Prince thought of a crowd that would pay him $3,000 a head.
“I don’t have any hits!” he cried at one point, and tried to prove it by keeping the show as obscure as possible.
He started it with a New Orleans jazz version of “Down by the Riverside” followed by a slow blues number called “Satisfied” from his new and unreleased album.
In fact, Prince did his best to keep the audience guessing. In two hours, the only recognizable numbers were “Cream (Get on Top),” “U Got the Look,” “Controversy,” “Kiss,” “Take Me With U,” “Let’s Go Crazy,” “Purple Rain” and “I Feel 4 U.”
According to a set list, which was titled — ominously — “Jazz Set @ the Hamptons” — Prince scheduled but skipped “Nothing Compares 2 U” and “Come2Gether” (The Beatles?).
There were some long, unexplained digressions and curious jams on less well-known numbers. (The jams are wild, imaginative Hendrix-Sly Stone-James Brown exercises.)
A gifted backup singer named Shelby Johnson turns “I Feel 4 U” into her own number; another, Marva King, is equally powerful. There is also a pair of flexible dancing twins to give the show a James Brown effect. After the show, the other players referred to them as “the twins.”
Prince gets the most pleasure, it seems, not just from the funk, but from doing his best Stylistics/Russell Thompkins Jr. falsetto. Hence, “If I Was Ur Girlfriend” and a couple of other numbers brought him to the fore.
I was surprised he didn’t just sing “Betcha by Golly Wow” and get it over with. He shined on “Take Me With U,” the most cohesive pop number of the night, and made the most of getting the audience to sing for him on “Kiss.”
Is he odd? Oh yes, Prince is odd. Geniuses can be that way.
There is so much going on during his shows, it’s hard to take it all in. He has given “eclectic” new meaning. When you can do anything, and you’ve done it, there’s nowhere else to go.
A few more hits might have been nice, but why indulge an audience? Why not make them work a little bit?
During a short stretch around “Kiss,” it was worth seeing Kelly Ripa and Christie Brinkley move up to the front and get their grooves on.
Prince Is Dead, His Record Catalog Zooms to Take Over iTunes, Amazon Charts
Such a huge tragedy today with the death of Prince that I almost don’t know what to say.
First of all, his albums have overtaken the charts on iTunes and Amazon. He has the top 4 albums, plus five or six more in the top 20 at least. The music business has ground to a halt. And then: the future beckons with hundreds of unreleased songs. Hundreds. Plus live albums, etc. For someone who was 57, he was incredibly prolific. Just his recent “Piano and Microphone” tour constitutes an unreleased album.
It’s hard to think that Prince, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston are all gone. Not to mention just this last year– Natalie Cole, David Bowie, Glenn Frey, Allen Toussaint, and so on.
I had many encounters with Prince, who I thought was a genius (who didn’t?) but who, let’s face it, was kooky. I spoke with famed publicist Susan Blond this afternoon. We recalled waiting for him once for hours–just hours–to come do an interview. Everything with Prince was in the middle of the night. In 2002, he played the World Nightclub in Times Square (now the hard rock) at 2am. It was insane. A two hour show with Alicia Keys and Doug E. Fresh among the cast.
In 1999, Clive Davis lured Prince out of exile to do a really good album called “Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic.” There was a private showcase late in the afternoon in November– and a really huge storm was coming, so the whole town had cleared out. Finally Prince put on as usual a ferocious show. Then he sat and talked to us wearing a hooded orange robe that made him seem like Barbra Streisand playing a monk. He whispered, too, and wore sunglasses. It was koo koo for Cocoa puffs, but we loved him.
He always said hello to me, was always polite, intense. He came to Clive Davis dinners, Rhythm and Blues Foundation dinners, Songwriters Hall of Fame. At one of Clive’s dinners he sat next to me wearing a big earring full of silver stars. He was tiny, and slight. Frankly he never looked built to last. When you locked eyes with him, he seemed like a deer in headlights.
Prince was unswervingly loyal to musicians. Mavis Staples, Chaka Khan, Larry Graham were just a few. He sort of knew he’d based a lot of his career on Sly Stone, and on Jimi Hendrix. But he also added big dollops of Philly soul, of Todd Rundgren, Hall & Oates, Gamble & Huff. Remember– he covered “Betcha By Golly Wow” by the Stylistics. Elvis Costello, a soul aficionado, covered Prince’s “Pop Life.” The Bangles and Sinead O’Connor literally owe their careers to him. Chaka’s cover of “I Feel for You” gave her a whole new career. Lately, Judith Hill was his student. There will be so many dedications and appreciations of him from musicians.
There was the “Slave” thing, where he saw that he’d never get his master recordings back from Warner Bros. And the company was in disarray. So he changed his name to the “glyph” sign. At New York magazine, we had to ask the art department to put the glyth into our system when we wrote about “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.” He gave Stax Records’ Al Bell, a legend, the single “Most Beautiful Girl” as an indie release, and it was his biggest hit in years. That really stuck it to Warner Bros. He re-recorded his hits to make them his own again, and drove Warner Music crazy for a long time.
A genius, a pioneer, maybe someone who was too good to actually live among us for too long. He was one of the few performers who was a legend from the beginning. RIP. Heartbreaking.
Everyone has a favorite Prince song. Here’s one of mine:
War Continues at “Kelly and Michael”: Show Returns with Scripted Opening, Avoiding Elephant on the Set
“Live with Kelly and Michael” opened this morning with the most boring opening chat in history. Scripted heavily and ripped from today’s other headlines, the opening was like a laundry list of things no one cares about. It was just a way to talk around the elephant in the room while the elephant was using its trunk to upend the furniture.
What a mess: Kelly Ripa has now been on the show since 2001– that’s fifteen years. And no one at ABC respected her enough to consult her on Michael Strahan moving to “GMA.” Same for executive producer Michael Gelman. They were left in the dark, and feel– with good reason– that they were ambushed.
“GMA” cannot expand to three hours, by the way. The 9am hour on ABC is syndicated and doesn’t belong to the network. It makes too much money for everyone– and that includes ABC, which owns Disney, which is the syndicator. So bringing Strahan to “GMA” is not a gambit to expand their show.
This is a lot like when Joan Rivers left Johnny Carson for Fox without telling him first, in 1986. Johnny never spoke to Joan again. Kelly might never speak to Michael again, except that by next week they’re both supposed to be on stage together again.
Tom Hanks Charms Audience On Film and Off in “A Hologram for the King”
Tom Hanks is so charming, you know, he cannot go wrong. On stage Wednesday night for a Q&A at the Tribeca Film Festival screening of “A Hologram for the King,” he had the audience in the palm of his hand. Luckily, “Hologram” is the kind of movie where that Hanks persona also plays a big part– the people in the theater wanted to hear how the movie was made.
Hanks, director Tom Tykwer, and actors Alexander Black and Sarita Choudhury talked about how difficult the film was to shoot, from sand and thunder storms in Morocco to finding a place (it turned out to be the Dead Sea in Egypt) for an amazing underwater sequence. While the other three were describing the logistical difficulties, Hanks was wide eyed with enthusiasm.
“Come on,” he said in his sort of nasal California good guy voice, “it was an ad venture.”
Hanks plays Alan Clay, an American businessman sent by his company to sell a hologram technology to the King of Saudi Arabia. His marriage is over, his finances are a mess, and health is questionable. He gets a Westernized driver (Black, in his first movie ever, very impressive) and a lover (Choudhury, brainy and gorgeous). The key to “Hologram” is the detail work, the nuance, excellent editing and cinematography, and the humor.
You knew this was an important film for Tribeca because the big shots came– Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro– plus lots of celebs from writer Gay Talese to Ann Curry, Carolina Rhea, rock manager Jane Rose, Trevor Noah, Ashleigh Banfield, Amy Heckerling, and Tom Skerritt– making a rare NY appearance– who plays Tom’s dad in the film.
You also knew it was a big deal because Roadside Attractions (which I often criticize) put their best feet forward with a swanky dinner at White restaurant in Tribeca. I sat with Talese, RA’s erudite Howard Cohen, director J.C. Chandor, and filmmaker Robin Leacock. There was a lot off the record gossip. Cohen did talk about a big slate of upcoming good movies including Kenny Lonergan’s “Manchester by the Sea.”
As for “Hologram,” it’s a fish out of water story, told smoothly and with a lot of grace and humor. Don’t take Tom Hanks for granted– he’s a comfort to see on the screen because he’s so accomplished. But he’s always doing something new. His Alan in his wheelhouse, but a character you root for all the way.
The story, by the way, is based on Dave Eggers’ popular book. As Hanks noted, Eggers doesn’t have many film adaptations. The author, who’s a very serious spent a lot of time on set. Twyker noted, “He laughed a lot.” That’s a good sign.
It’s War! Kelly Ripa Won’t Be Back Until Tuesday, Strahan’s Announcement Has Caused a Big Problem
Kelly Ripa won’t be on “Live with Kelly and Michael” tomorrow morning. Or Friday. Or Monday.
Ouch!
She is angry. After Strahan said this morning that he’d be out tomorrow, there must have been quite a scuffle backstage. Now, Strahan is on the show, and Ripa isn’t. Yikes. There will be guest hosts for the next three shows. (Friday’s show is pre-taped tomorrow, anyway.)
Will Ripa ever return? And will she and Strahan ever share a stage again?
The whole thing is weird. “Live” is huge in the ratings. You’d think ABC-Disney wouldn’t want to mess with that. And what is it that Strahan actually does for “Good Morning America”? He’s not a journalist. They have permanent hosts in George Stephanopolous and Robin Roberts. And it’s not like ABC is going to build out into the 9am hour. They can’t — that ‘s when Live airs in syndication.
So chaos reigns. And now NBC and the Today show can really use this mess to their advantage. Now would be a funny time to move Kathie Lee Gifford up into the 9am hour for some spots– just to screw with ABC!
Robert Klein Doc “Still Can’t Stop His Leg” Most Enjoyable Tribeca Film So Far
Former USA Today film critic Marshall Fine has been working on his Robert Klein doc for a long time. Last night “Robert Klein Still Can’t Stop His Leg” screened at the Tribeca Film Festival. It’s the most enjoyable film I’ve seen so far at the fest.
Fine did just fine (sorry) mixing archival footage, new material, and interviews with Klein’s many comedy disciples. They include Jerry Seinfeld, who lavishes praise on Klein, as well as Billy Crystal, Jay Leno, and others. Klein himself was a disciple of Rodney Dangerfield, of whom he does a hell of an impersonation.
Klein is credited by Seinfeld, et al for inventing observational humor. Much is also made of Klein’s classic comedy album “Child of the 50s.” Maybe the best pay off comes toward the end, with Don Rickles as the insults fly but also so does the respect.
It was then that I realized what Fine and Klein did so well here was make an excellent companion piece to the very good Joan Rivers doc of a few years ago, “A Piece of Work.” Since Alan King died rather young, and abruptly, and nothing’s been done on Stiller and Meara, there is very little documentary record of the great Jewish comics who launched from the Ed Sullivan show era. Fine’s film serves as not just a personal look at Klein, but as something larger. It’s a real piece of history.
But it’s also very funny. Klein is incredibly endearing and corny, while at the same time maintaining an edge. That’s why he made 40 appearances on Letterman. I hope The Weinstein Company can give “Still Can’t Stop His Leg” a good release in major markets before VOD or Netflix. Like a Robert Klein show, the film is intimate and hilarious.
PS Klein recalled during the Q&A of Rivers that while they shot a love scene once for a bad movie, she also managed to sell him three bracelets. Bah-dum!
Craig Ferguson Intolerant of Donald Trump at Hollywood Tolerance Dinner: “You’re a d—“
Former CBS Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson does not like Donald Trump. At Monday night’s Simon Weisenthal Center dinner at the Beverly Hilton, emcee Ferguson got right to the point:
“Tonight we put politics aside. Except let’s all agree that Trump is a maniac. Really what is going on? Do you think he experiences self-doubt? Like, ever? It’s a human condition! Does he ever wake up like four o’clock in the morning and think, like, “Maybe I’m a dick? Does he ever think that? If all the Republicans are calling you a dick, and all the Democrats are calling you a dick and people all over the world are coming together and calling you a dick like it’s “Calling You a Dick Live Aid,” or something,” Craig continued by singing, “You are a dick, you are a dick,” anyway I digress.”
The night honored Lionsgate’s CEO Jon Feltheimer. The dinner raises funds for both the famed Simon Wiesenthal Center and its noted sister organization, the Museum of Tolerance located in Los Angeles.But there is little tolerance left for Trump, ironically.
Ferguson first pointed out the powerhouse crowd, which included SWC trustees Ron Meyer, Les Moonves, Ted Sarandos, and Jeffrey Katzenberg that “I’ve done this event many times. You do know that I’m not Jewish, yes? I’m not going to get circumcised again, I’m too old for that.” Craig went on to roast his pal Jon a bit, “Jon spends his days watching grumpy cat videos.”
Feltheimer told the crowd that “I’m proud to be part on an industry that has put pressure again on states that are trying to pass intolerant laws,” (referring to North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi etc, that are passing discriminatory laws.)
The dinner is also one of the most heartfelt events in jaded Hollywood. Medals of Valor were given to the Parisian Iman Hassen Chalghoumi, who condemns Islamic extremism, the Priest Norbert J. Hofmann, who is the secretary of the Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, and posthumously to Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal, who saved hundreds of Jews by arranging their safe passage to America.
Ron Meyer called his friend of over 40 years, Rabbi Marvin Hier, “a fearless crusader who challenges all of us to be better. He’s strong and committed and one of the bravest men I know.” The event broke the record of most money raised, north of 2 million dollars. As Rabbi Hier said, “ The Museums of Tolerance should be a required visit for all of our presidential candidates.”
Kevin Spacey Says “Elvis & Nixon” Is His “Revenge Film” for Not Getting Ron Howard’s “Frost/Nixon”
In “Elvis & Nixon,” the King of Rock (Michael Shannon) requests a visit with the President of the United States (Kevin Spacey), and the result is a sort of screwball comedy. Directed by Liza Johnson about one of the weirder moments of American political history, the movie is based on a true story in which the King leaves Nashville for the White House to persuade Nixon to deputize him as a federal agent at large for the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous drugs, a post which didn’t exist. After much Marx brothers behind the scenes goings on, Elvis got his request and the iconic photograph of Nixon giving the medal to Elvis and shaking his hand is the inspiration of the film.
The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival Monday evening.
Have they shown the film to any of the Nixon family or to Priscilla, I asked Kevin Spacey?
Spacey replied, dryly, “We’ve invited them all to a screening together in a tent but they haven’t said yes. We’re hoping.”
Spacey said of getting the role that, “Weirdly I had a kind of previous experience in attempting to play Richard Nixon when I tested for “Frost/Nixon,” which I will just point out is a movie I did not get.” He added, “So this is my revenge film.”
Shannon is an interesting choice for Elvis even if there is no physical resemblance he gets into the essence of the rock legend, mainly by watching Elvis films and documentaries. “I watched ‘That’s the Way It Is: Elvis on Tour.’ I watched press conferences, much like this one, particularly one he did in Houston, which pre-dates the events in this movie by a few months. I also had a great gift from Gary Schilling that Alex (Pettyfer) plays in the movie in the 45-minute interview that Elvis had recorded for Elvis on Tour, which they didn’t wind up using in the movie at all, so it’s an interview that not many people have heard. As all these people here will attest I listened to it constantly.”
Shannon is currently on Broadway in “Long Day’s Journey into Night.” He’s also in another Tribeca film– he does outstanding work in Bart Freundlich’s “Wolves.” Plus, never forget, he’s the seemingly dead General Zod in “Batman vs. Superman.”
I asked what surprised him the most about Elvis?
“His spiritual side, just how he was an intelligent person, and I don’t think people, I don’t that think they associate that with him as much as they should. He was a big reader. He was a big fan of cinema. I think the thing that I ultimately I walk away with is as much as success Elvis had, he was also very frustrated because I think that was an aspect of himself that he never got to show to the world.”
As for the karate moves and swiveling hips, “I Just watched him, just watched as much as I possibly could. The clothes helped, the costumes helped a lot.” And then to get away from the scrum of journalists, Shannon had one of the more original exit lines, “I am about to urinate on myself.”
Photo c2016 Showbiz411 by Paula Schwartz
Oscar Winner Susan Sarandon on “The Meddler”: “I learned that I could carry a movie again”
On the red carpet of the New York premiere of “The Meddler” at the Tribeca Film Festival Tuesday evening, I asked Susan Sarandon what she learned about herself making the film?
“That’s a good question,” she told me, surrounded by a scrum of photographers and journos with audio recorders in her face. “I learned that I could carry a movie again cause I hadn’t had to really be in every single scene for a few years and that was really fun. And I realized that I had a lot more stamina than I would have thought.”
It’s been a while since Sarandon had a starring role on the big screen and it’s clear why the camera loves her, which is a good thing since she’s in nearly every frame in the appropriately titled “The Meddler,” by first-time director Lorene Scafaria, who also wrote the screenplay.
Sarandon plays Marnie Minervini, a fireball, who moves from New Jersey to L.A. after her husband’s death to be close to her daughter, Lori (Rose Byrne). Lori’s a television screenwriter who’s beginning to feel smothered by her mom and also depressed after her boyfriend (Jason Ritter) dumps her for a younger woman (Megalyn Echikunwoke).
Oscar winner J.K. Simmons as Marnie’s love interest – the kind of part he rarely gets to play – is a plus. Also appearing in the film, Cecily Strong from “SNL” and Tony nominee Billy Magnussen of Broadway’s “Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike.”
Sarandon, in a black smoking jacket cut low and showing off cleavage, looked great even with one foot in a walking boot. A tall reporter nearly lunged at her to get a quote, and introduced himself as a journalist from Colombia, adding that he was from the region where she incurred her foot injury.
“I fell at the bottom of the mountain,” she said. Then she reassured him. “It wasn’t your fault.”
Photo c2016 Showbiz411 by Paula Schwartz