“It’s meta, it’s very funny, about a bunch of creatives trying to put on a musical about Marilyn Monroe,” said choreographer/ director/ theater legend Susan Stroman about her current Broadway musical, "Smash." “It’s really about what it takes to create something—whether it’s a musical or something in life.”
That’s the energy Stro --as she’s called-- brings to projects. And, that’s what she brought as host to this year’s Guild Hall gala at The Rainbow Room last week, now in her new role as President of the Academy of the Arts. Gracious—and relieved-- after a decade on the job, painter Eric Fishl passed the reins: “I’m pleased to be shown the door.”
This annual gala, always a love-fest, was particularly mushy about “Stro.” Guests either worked with her, or wanted to. Seth Rudetsky, Tony Yazbeck, and Debra Monk collaborated with Stro for one musical or another agreed she was super prepared—you always felt like you were in good hands; super talented, she’s the smartest person in the room. So, in tribute to her, the entertainment was through-the-proverbial-roof: Yazbeck’s tap, Monk’s sassy riff with a yellow boa (not at all like the dour sour-puss she plays in HBO’s “The Gilded Age”), topped by Rudetsky’s magnificent piano for “Rhapsody in Blue.”
In attendance: Florence Fabricant who no doubt made deft menu selections: maybe the seared beef tenderloin or slow-baked Alaskan King salmon and warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. Artists April Gornik, Toni Ross, Alice Aycock, Ross Bleckner, Julian Schnabel joined the theater crowd: producer Daryl Roth, Victor Garber, Candace Bushnell, and Peter Gallagher who starred in “Left on Tenth” earlier this year; Stro directed this rom-com theater piece based on Delia Ephron’s memoir about loss, cancer, and happy endings; Gallagher played the dreamy, supportive boyfriend.
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