Gossip Central

Three Identical Strangers: Three Men and a Mystery

The Paley Center was chockablock with long lost friends and family, a hug fest rejoicing a new must-see documentary, Three Identical Strangers, that starts in the celebratory mood of a miracle: triplets, separated at birth, and their happenstance reconnection as teens. As Tim Wardle’s smart film traces the path of these brothers, through home movies, footage of their appearances on Phil Donahue and all the talk shows, and interviews with the people who knew them best, a mystery unfolds, and the mood darkens until the charismatic New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright shifts the conversation to the science, asking, what is most significant in determining who we are, nature or nurture?

Love, Cecil: Picturing the Queen

In his memoir, Without Stopping, the American writer and composer Paul Bowles describes a party held on the beach in North Africa’s Caves of Hercules, with one grotto that had been decorated by Cecil Beaton. Truman Capote, fearful of scorpions, had to be carried down the face of the cliff by a group of Moroccans. Guests lay in the moonlight among cushions in the sand sipping champagne and smoking hashish, serenaded by an Andaluz orchestra. If Lisa Immordino Vreeland’s documentary, Love, Cecil, about the life and times of Beaton, a singular British photographer and illustrator for Vogue and Tony and Academy Award winning scenic and costume designer—for the films Gigi and My Fair Lady-- omits mention of this gathering, she must be forgiven, because the detail she does provide—especially of Beaton’s art-- is truly illuminating. As she said in a recent phone chat, “Making the film was a pleasure to me.”

Laurie Anderson at Guild Hall: No Fear of Flying

When Laurie Anderson talks about carrying no baggage in her new book, All the Things I Lost in the Flood, a tome literally about loss, of precious objects and dross, of anything that weighs you down, take her seriously. At her current one-woman exhibition at Guild Hall, comprised of large scale paintings of her dog Lolabelle, now deceased, in the Bardo, and films, including “Heart of a Dog,” an Academy Award nominated documentary, plus two extraordinary works of Virtual Reality, let’s just say, she gives the label multimedia new meaning. While all of this work is impressive, the two trips through Anderson’s virtual “looking glass” completely knocked me out.

The TONY Awards: Party to Party

Some like to watch mega award shows from the comfort of home, but the long night that is the TONY Awards is a worthy schmooze fest. Everything said from the rose festooned red carpet at Radio City Music Hall to its ample stage about the generosity, talent, commitment to decency of the theater community is true in spades. Sure, Robert Di Niro’s expletives deployed against the present regime—deleted for television but you can well imagine-- were not welcome to some ears, but with his well-meaning heart he introduced his pal Bruce Springsteen –Di Niro calling his Broadway one-man show “Jersey Boy.” 

Here are some of my favorite moments from the 72nd TONY’s: Chita Rivera exclaiming “There’s still salt in this shaker.” Andrew Garfield, so gorgeous in a turban and gown in Angels in America as AIDS ridden Pryor Walter accepting his TONY: “Let’s all bake a cake for everyone who wants a cake.”Katrina Lenk dedicating her Band’s Visit TONY to the Israeli actress Ronit Elkabetz who brought her character to life in the movie original. Tony Shaloub honoring his immigrant father: “May we never lose sight of what they taught us.”Nathan Lanequipping even Tony Kushner’s emails are Pulitzer worthy. The British Glenda Jackson reminding everyone: “America is always great!”

 

Remembering Anthony Bourdain

The irreverence of Anthony Bourdain’s CNN series, “Parts Unknown” always struck me as a sign that behind this foodie’s yen for travel and exotic eats was a beat soul. One segment had him on an island off Italy fighting with the fishermen. In Tangier, a city I know well, he found the funkiest place to shoot a crackerjack Moroccan feast. His programs did not feel over-produced. He allowed for the mayhem of spontaneity. And I loved that.

Why Mister Rogers Matters: Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Premieres

My kids weren’t interested in the nerdy television personality of Fred Rogers when they were growing up, maybe because, as the Academy Award winning documentarian Morgan Neville put it, introducing his new movie, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? at a special screening at MoMA this week, as a cultural figure, he was a two-dimensional. That’s an odd way to describe this former Protestant minister and gifted composer from Pittsburgh. Recognizing television as the ultimate pulpit, Fred Rogers was so committed to the emotional lives of children that he created an imaginary world, a Neighborhood of Make-Believe, for them and encouraged them to just be themselves. When Neville made his documentary about Yo Yo Ma, he was struck by the cellist’s friendship with Fred Rogers. Born in 1967, Neville was the right demographic to remember and admire the man who entered the room, removing a formal jacket, and putting on a comfy cardigan on television beginning in 1968. And now, with this treasure of a film, we can all appreciate just how radical his vision was.

Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan, and Marilyn Monroe in Fellow Travelers, A World Premiere Kicks Off Bay Street’s Season

A kittenish Marilyn Monroe in bed with director Elia Kazan, who then introduces the starlet to playwright Arthur Miller! This love triangle, the heart of playwright Jack Canfora’s Fellow Travelers in a world premiere that just opened at Bay Street Theater, is astonishing for more than the sex, who is having it with whom. These were artists of the 1950’s fully committed to their work, and so a backstory for staging the 20^th century’s most iconic dramas against the real-life trials of the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, informs the heated, engaging dialogue.

Fellow Travelers, under Michael Wilson’s fine direction, will leave viewers deeply moved by the effects of the McCarthy era on creative lives, debating points along the way. Is it relevant to today’s American ethos? The line about paranoia that Russia is infiltrating our country through our movies leaps out. Here it refers to Kazan’s masterpiece On the Waterfront, and to the consequence of fear that so informs the writing of Miller’s stage play, The Crucible. To what extent does the present culture force self-censorship?

A Jason Wu Fashion Show at the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation Annual Luncheon

As noted in the past: It is a truth widely held, that ladies who lunch are wont to shop. And so a fashion show to benefit the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation has become an annual luncheon event. The options for lavish spending were displayed at Susan Gutfreund’s apartment in May, featuring models wearing Jason Wu’s dresses and gowns currently available on Bergdorf’s third floor. While the designer was not present, his assistant assured everyone he sincerely wished he could be, but was mid-air en route to Asia, launching a new fragrance. We would all get one in a goody bag, along with a cupcake from Magnolia. For guilt free spending, the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation benefits from a portion of the sales. Dr. Samuel Waxman, formidable and inspiring, spoke to the rapt crowd, many women beautifully dressed for the occasion.