Gossip Central

Wynton Marsalis Swings at Guild Hall

“Let’s swing,” exclaimed Wynton Marsalis from the rear of the Guild Hall stage, leading into a stellar night of sublime sound featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra. Of course, this was Wynton’s triumph—a recognition of jazz as American classical music and the final stop in a U. S. and Canada tour. The 90-minute set focused on original work by these tuxedo-clad composer/musicians and included classics: Sonny Rollins’ “Freedom Suite,” and trombonist Vincent Gardner’s vocals on “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby.”

Introducing his players as they soloed on trumpet, piano, or sax, showcasing their compositions, he kept the stories to a minimum, such as a Clifford Brown tribute featuring his own trumpet from concerts in Spain’s Basque region. “They speak their own language,” he informed the packed crowd in his New Orleans drawl, “they have great food.”

He likened another composition to a Romare Bearden’s depiction of Harlem as seen from writer Albert Murray’s apartment on 137^th street. Later on, at the garden reception, Wynton Marsalis told me how he was at Murray’s place all the time when he arrived in New York. He knew the books such as The Omni-Americans. I told him how Stompin’ the Blues was instrumental (pun intended) at a time when, a journalist and writer on Jack Kerouac, I needed to know how jazz works. Nodding, he said, “It makes my time to know someone remembers him.”

Carrie Coon: The Guilty Pleasures of The Gilded Age

Not to judge her too harshly, Bertha Russell as played to perfection by Carrie Coon, is a piece of work. Machinations galore do not make this doyenne of new money a bad person, just one you fear, and one you hope will succeed. That is the triumph of Season 3 of “The Gilded Age:” a guilty pleasure to be savored, week to week on HBO, or binge watched. This is after all a drama of early twentieth century America, with change and upward mobility built into the ethos.

Season 1 was a bonanza for theater actors newly available during the Covid theater shutdown. Audra McDonald, Donna Murphy, Nathan Lane, Michael Cerveris, Celia Keenan-Bolger—top, top TONY winners and Broadway draws in the mix for juicy roles in this series. Kelli O’Hara as Aurora Fane is particularly wonderful in Season 3, in a role marking transitional status for divorcees—one instance of society moving forward in this time. It was a new “dawn” indeed.

To say more would require spoiler alerts—and no one wants to miss the fun of who will be paired with whom in twisty plots that one-up the demure marriages in any Jane Austen novel. Agnes Van Rhijn and Ada Forte nee Brook, characters played by Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon vie for power upstairs, as Jack (Ben Ahlers) from downstairs cashes in on his clock invention, becoming master of his own house.

Jack Kerouac: A Vision of an Alt-America Screens at the Tribeca Film Festival

Midcentury author Jack Kerouac is the least dead of dead writers. When he died in 1969 at the age of 47, he left behind unpublished manuscripts and an untoward legacy as the so-called “King of the Beats.” His most famous novel On the Road, a road trip, a bromance, a linguistic tour de force, went far to change the ethos of American culture—finding new readers in each era. A triumph at the recent Tribeca Film Festival, director Ebs Burnough’s smart documentary KEROUAC’S ROAD: THE BEAT OF A NATION, locates Kerouac’s pervasive vibe and influence. As he did in a smart documentary about Truman Capote, Burnough turns his lens to the writing.

KEROUAC’S ROAD is not an indie biopic, but an illuminating study of how Kerouac’s writing changed America. Voiced by Michael Imperioli, Kerouac’s words speak to democracy and what it meant to him from a working-class French-Canadian family in Lowell, Massachusetts where his mother labored in a red brick shoe factory. His father was a printer before that industry grew from linotypes to massive corporate presses shutting out mom-and-pop businesses. Kerouac was not looking for the American Dream. He was looking for America.

Each generation appreciates this quest. Influenced by jazz, by fast-talking Neal Cassady, prototype for the book’s hero, On the Road speaks to an individual’s coming-of-age, a spiritual journey, as other Kerouac classics: The Dharma Bums, Big Sur, Mexico City Blues, and more limn that immigrant hunger to experience America’s promise.

Natalie Merchant, Joyce Johnson, Ann Charters, David Amram, all interviewed in the film wrest Kerouac from the limitations of the “beat” label. But Burnough’s vision includes the “road” of several travelers on this journey. What is its meaning today? A woman who, like Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, wants to connect with “the father we never found.” Or the interracial couple in a van, eluding the concept of staying put. That’s an alt-America.

Parker Posey at the Gotham Television Awards: A Legend’s Last Retort

The Gotham Awards in the fall celebrated excellence in film just as the awards season was heating up. Television awards used to be included in the program. Now, the small screen is having a moment with a ceremony all its own.

“Let’s keep the arts alive.” The sublimely arch Parker Posey could not have said it better this week at the second annual Gotham Television Awards at Cipriani Wall Street, adding a serious note to the accolades recognizing television’s craft and vital contribution to culture.

The “Legend Tribute” to Parker Posey is apt, bringing on the need to parse that word. “White Lotus” co-stars Sam Rockwell and Leslie Bibb presented the award—as guests dined on filet mignon and Cipriani’s signature layered cake, food fit for kings, and the ultrarich. Posey’s character in the latest “White Lotus” iteration in Thailand wants nothing to do with poverty, she deadpans to her husband who is about to face white collar jail time as the family, including the hot young actor Sam Nivola, makes its way back to civilization from the island paradise where Nivola’s character almost dies from a plant-infused smoothie.

The Palladino’s, that’s Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, the masterminds behind “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and their current “Etoile,” think of their hit series as covering the parent bases: “Mrs. Maisel,” Amy Sherman’s homage to her father, a professional comedian; “Etoile” to her mother, a dancer. “Etoile” takes place in the ballet world, shifting locations between New York and Paris, with rivalling dancers; and equally competing sex partners.

Mrs. Maisel’s Rachel Brosnahan and Luke Kirby—Lenny Bruce in Mrs. Maisel-- cheered the Palladinos on. Kirby also stars in “Etoile.” Sherman-Palladino’s fast paced language was particularly difficult for the French actors, Lou de Laage told me at a recent publicity event in Grand Central Station involving a live ballerina pirouetting in a music box. Fingers crossed for a second season of this series illuminating dance’s most fine art.

Remembering Ira Cohen: At the Cosmic Hotel on the Bowery

Ever asking the question, “What is this mystery, this you and I,” Ira Cohen was a giant frump with a full fuzzy beard, a shaman, a guru, a poet/ photographer/ filmmaker. Long a fixture of downtown New York, he was beloved by many. At the Bowery Poetry Club, he was celebrated by surrealist art impresario Timothy Baum and Romanian poet Valery Oisteanu, and Moroccan restaurateur and master chef Hamid Idrissi. At the Bunker, Penny Arcade emceed, ushering onstage poets and well-wishers for yet a new collection of Ira verses. Many told wild stories of encounters with him, in Europe and Africa, in Paris and Tangier.

Most affecting were the words of his daughter Lakshmi Cohen, now grown up with orange hair and tattoos, who spoke of her fondest memories of her dad as she and her brother lay on the never-vacuumed matted green rug in a room infused with the aroma of pot and incense as their dad motor-mouthed on the phone to friends in Amsterdam and Katmandu, in the days of land lines when phone bills went through the roof.

The smartest man, said Arcade of Cohen, she used him as people now google. A graduate of the Horace Mann School and Cornell, he knew everything. Baum had also attended Horace Mann, and when the two met they talked through the night, a memory shared by the poets and scenesters at both venues. I for one have the memory of Cohen screening religious figures swinging their pierced penises at the Ganges, images that I cannot unsee.

A word about the Bunker, erstwhile home of William Burroughs, and later John Giorno. A former YMCA, the building on the Bowery now houses Lynda Benglis and other artists. Back in the day, the area was so menacing that Burroughs always carried mace as a defense. Nevertheless, he was routinely mugged. The people surrounding him could not protect him from street violence, but put off Ira Cohen on many an occasion, so it seems fitting that Cohen be celebrated in this space.

Let's Dance: Anticipating the Chita Rivera Awards on Broadway

“There’s nowhere I’d rather be than in a roomful of dancers,” Bebe Neuwirth quoted Chita Rivera, legendary Broadway dancer, Anita in the original "West Side Story," the star of many other classics.

At Bond 45, in a roomful of notable talent from this year’s great shows, Chita Rivera would have felt quite at home. The occasion: to announce the nominees for the Chita Rivera Award, honoring choreographers, dance ensembles, and featured dancers on stage and on screen. The Awards presentation is scheduled for May 19.

Michael Musto introduced me to Donna McKechnie, the veteran dancer of the greatest dance musical of all time, “A Chorus Line,” now on the nominating committee. Is it cheeky to ask which shows you like the most? She whispered yes, it is, and noted, she liked “Just in Time” a lot. And then, on cue, its star, Jonathan Groff, descended the stair. His role as Bobby Darin is nominated for Outstanding Dancer in a Broadway show, as are the dancers for Best Ensemble in a Broadway show, and even a movie he’s in, A NICE INDIAN BOY, is nominated for Outstanding Choreography in a Feature Film. You’re the heartthrob, I venture, to wit he grins, “Imagine that.”

For Outstanding Ensemble “Just in Time” competes with “A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical,” “Death Becomes Her,” “Pirates! The Penzance Musical,” ‘Smash,” “Boop! The Musical,” and already a fan favorite, “Buena Vista Social Club.” Dancers Carlos Falu and Angelica Beliard enthused about their show: “Come see us backstage.” They are nominated for Outstanding Dancer in a Broadway show.

Nominated choreographers, Christopher Gattelli from “Death Becomes Her” and Joshua Bergasse from “Smash” spoke to me about the challenges and joys of working on these productions. Gattelli had to work out the intricate Megan Hilty falling down a flight of stairs from the “Death” script, while Bergasse had to collaborate with the multi-TONY winning Susan Stroman, a choreographer/ director. He had created the dance for the hit television show “Smash,” and “Stro” in her role as the Broadway musical’s director merely sat on his shoulder for him to bounce ideas to. Happily, they were in sync.

Susan Stroman: A Smash on Broadway, and at The Rainbow Room

“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.

George Clooney Channels Edward R. Murrow in Good Night and Good Luck on Broadway

How timely is a stage adaptation George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s 2005 movie Good Night and Good Luck, set in the era of Joseph McCarthy and The Red Scare? Just ask the media crowd attending the play’s opening at the Winter Garden Theater last week: Stephanie Ruhle, Lawrence O’Donnell, Gayle King, George Stephanopoulos, even Drew Barrymore among them. Rachel Maddow opined about current events, “We’re f—ked!”

The newsroom drama, when CBS was broadcasting from their studios in the deep recesses of Grand Central Station, portrays broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow as a hero in a potent historic time. Or was he simply doing the job of reporting the truth?

Cool, chain-smoking, Murrow interviewed celebrities and politicians. Last year Bradley Cooper used some archival footage to recreate Murrow’s interview with Leonard Bernstein in MAESTRO. In this play, cool, chain-smoking Clooney nails it, and in the trend of eye-popping video onstage, he includes archival footage of Murrow’s 1954 contretemps with McCarthy, a landmark moment which bared his House UnAmerican Activities Committee’s witch hunt in condemning would-be, trumped up Communist sympathizers, wrecking many lives. Bringing McCarthy down was a great reminder of the power of dedicated journalism.

What now? That was on the minds of many who made their way to the New York Public Library for a swank afterparty: Robert Klein, Richard Kind, Michael J. Fox, and Jennifer Lopez who swept through the packed lobby in a white opera coat with long train; taking seriously the black and white dress code, she was an attention-grabbing vision. Yet most exultant were the producers who hit theater gold: a sold-out run at record prices.

Kieran Culkin in Glengarry Glen Ross: Looking for David Mamet

This year’s Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner Kieran Culkin can banter with the best of them, in this case, the real estate winners and losers of David Mamet’s now classic "Glengarry Glen Ross." A natural choice to play Richard Roma, Culkin fast talked his way through A REAL PAIN, as the titular “real pain,” and held his own among the Roy siblings in HBO’s "Succession." In the current revival at the refurbished Palace Theater, he’s up against Bob Odenkirk, Bill Burr, and Michael McKean; a hot shot salesman, he paces the poetry, Mamet’s language with his own evident neurotic verbal tics.

At the afterparty at Tao Downtown, Bob Odenkirk said this was his Broadway debut. When I asked, is Mamet here tonight? No. Did Mamet see it? He replied, Yes, he liked it a lot. Always a great vehicle for testosterone driven actors, I could imagine all who attended opening night this week wishing to have a crack at the drama: F. Murray Abraham, Anthony Edwards, David Schwimmer, among them. Bobby Cannavale played Richard Roma in a revival. Others: Linda Emond, Al Franken, Lorne Michaels, Ansel Elgort were on hand.

Pamela Anderson at the NYWFT Muse Awards: Keeping It Real

Voluptuous as “Baywatch” pinup, Pamela Anderson was always a muse. Just ask Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat! But this year, specifically, she is honored by New York Women in Film and Television for her work in THE LAST SHOWGIRL. At the annual Muse Awards luncheon at Cipriani 42^nd Street she greeted the over 600 guests graciously and plain-faced, an ageless beauty without the usual cosmetic accoutrements we’ve come expect of the famed and glamorous, particularly if they are sex symbols as well. Guess what? She’s all the more glamorous natural, posing on the press line in a somber tan, loose-fitting pants suit. An advocate of plant-based cooking, an earnest, healthy approach to life has become her brand.

Yes! There were veggies on the table, a baby artichoke salad with shaved parmesan, but braised boneless short ribs were the entrée of the day. Smashed potatoes had clout while messages of inclusion and empowerment were the focus of many a speech, moved forward by host Nancy Giles’ jokes about our political scene: “Therapy and medication get me by.” The humor was welcome. Speakers—among them Anderson’s fellow honorees Marissa Bode, Lisa Cortes, Amy Entelis, Versha Sharma, and producer Celia Costas, landed on the event’s theme of “Metamorphosis,” invoking Franz Kafka and Ovid, but mainly relating to their own transformative processes of becoming who they are, thanking ancestors, and encouraging women to believe in themselves.