Award winning actor, Jonathan Groff, chats with Michael Portantiere for the Drama Desk.
Jonathan Groff, currently starring in the hit Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors, was the focus of an exclusive Drama Desk interview/audience Q&A program on Thursday, December 12 from 4:45 to 6pm.The event took place at Ripley-Grier Studios, 520 8th Avenue, and moderated by longtime Drama Desk member Michael Portantiere.
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Dinner and mayhem at the Secret Room with the new musical, Truffles: Music! Mushrooms! Murder performed with a talented robust cast.
November 10, 2019: Would you like to add a little excitement to your dining experience? Truffles: Music! Mushrooms! Murder!!! is returning to New York for a new second “season,” which began performances on Saturday, November 2 and is initially scheduled to run through December 28. The audience-pleasing original ran for four years. The new incarnation will run Saturdays at 6:30 pm at the Secret Room, 707 8th Avenue, between 44th & 45th street.
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Kathleen Chalfant stars as Mabel Loomis in the World Premiere of Rebecca Gilman’s A Woman of the World”
October 30, 2019: Kathleen Chalfant stars as Mabel Loomis Todd, Emily Dickenson’s posthumous editor, in the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize finalist Rebecca Gilman insightful take on the spirited Mabel, an inspired conversationalist, who invited scandal.
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Broadway Stars Celebrated Sutton Foster at the Drama League Annual Benefit Gala
October 28, 2019: The Drama League honored Sutton Foster, a two-time Tony Award, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Fred Astaire, and Gracie Award winner and star of TV Land’s hit television series “Younger,” and Arts Ally honoree Herb Engert with “A Musical Celebration of Broadway at The Plaza.
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American Premiere of Henry Naylor’s potent and cautionary tale, based on the true story of two Jewish/female athletes in Hitler’s Germany, is a mesmerizing account by two immensely skilled actors.
October 21, 2019: Games, directed by SoHo Playhouse Artistic Director Darren Lee Cole, is having its American premiere downtown at the SoHo Playhouse on Vandam Street. The play was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland last year where Cole attended the first performance. The Fringe is the largest arts festival in the World and the play is a powerful cautionary tale for our present times.
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Premiere of Only Yesterday, a new play by Bob Stevens, looks at one night in the lives of Paul McCartney and John Lennon before they were famous.
September 13, 2019: Northern Stages is presenting the NY premiere of Only Yesterday, a new play by Bob Stevens, which opened last night at 59E59 Theaters for a limited engagement through Sunday, September 29th. Paul McCartney and John Lennon are together again in the playwright’s intimate look at them, one night, in Key West just before fame changes everything. Stevens, best known for The Wonder Years, Murphy Brown, and Malcolm In the Middle, focuses on an obscure night when John and Paul were just about to become the most famous young men in the world.
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Karen Carpenter directs Lois Robbins’ solo show, L.O.V.E.R., a witty and self-deprecating look at the actress’ life journey that is both engaging and enlightening.
September 9, 2019: Kaleidoscope Creative partners is presenting the premier of Lois Robbins’ witty and inspirational tale, L.OV.E.R., directed by Karen Carpenter. The solo play opened last night at The Pershing Square Signature Center’s Alice Griffen Jewel Box Theatre for a limited run through November 2nd. The confessional tale, performed by the actress, is both engaging and enlightening. She reveals her truths about life, love and yes, sex, in a witty and self-deprecating style that goes behind closed doors and under the sheets to explore one woman’s journey to fulfillment and ultimately, motherhood. Robbins has said, “75 per cent of the story is true, but the names, most of them, have been changed. The title is an acronym that has two different meanings during Robbins’ life and probably, most women, as well as men, would agree.
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East Hampton’s Library 15th Annual Authors Night Benefit
August 11, 2019: On Saturday East Hampton’s Library hosted their 15th annual Authors Night to benefit the Library’s essential programs and services throughout the coming year. Press arrived around 4:30 and the authors started trickling in shorty after for a brief meet and greet with the press, before heading off to their assigned spots and their respective dinners afterwards. Honorary Founding Chair, Alec Baldwin, was one of the first to arrive along with Honorary Co-Chairs, Candace Bushnell, Douglas Brinkley, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Robert A. Caro, Rosanne Cash, and Bridget Moynahan.
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Sarna Lapine’s delightful staging of the Irving Berlin classic, infused with Blue Grass Melodies, lights up the stage at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor.
August 4, 2019: Sarna Lapine’s delightful staging of Irving Berlin’s beloved musical, Annie Get Your Gun, opened last night at Bay Street Theater, centered by a luminous Alexandra Socha as Annie. Every element of this streamlined production, infused with Blue Grass melodies, shines beautifully, lighting up the intimate stage in Sag Harbor with rollicking good fun. To hear these classics songs like, “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” “Anything You Can Do,” and “They Say It’s Wonderful,” sung with a Blue Grass Band that sits elevated at the back of the stage is simply wonderful and a unique surprise.
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Miranda Haymon’s conceptual adaptation of Franz Kafka’s short story opened Next Door @NYTW
July 17, 2019: In The Penal Colony, loosely based on Franz Kafka’s short story of the same name, opened Next Door @NYTW where Miranda Haymon’s fragmented and highly conceptual take on the classic tale will run through July 28. In this ambitious new staging, three black men convene in an unnamed penal colony and challenge the presumptions of the worth of a human body, asking what it means for black men to exist in the media.
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Joel Grey honored at Bay Street Theater’s 28th Annual Summer Gala
July 7, 2019: Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor presented their 28th annual summer gala, “If Your Friends Could See You Now,” at the Wolffer Estate Vineyard in Sagaponack, New York. The event, which honored Academy and Tony Award winner Joel Grey and Andrea K. Wahlquist, celebrated Bay Street Theater and Broadway musicals from the 1960s. There were cocktails, dinner and a live auction by celebrity auctioneer, Richard Kind. Afterwards, the gala celebrity emcee, designer Isaac Mizrahi, hosted an inspiring live show with appearances by some of Broadway’s best including Steven Skybell, Mauricio Martinez, Samantha Massell, John Peterson and more. Accepting his award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater, Mr. Grey dazzled the guests by singing “Cabaret,” from the hit musical and film.
Photography: Barry Gordin
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Tony winner Jack O’Brien directs the World Premier of a provocative new play with Mercedes Ruehl.
July 1, 2019: Three time Tony award winning director Jack O’Brien helmed the World Premier of Safe Space by Alan Fox, which opened at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. Feelings and politics collide with explosive consequences in Fox’s thought-provoking tale set at an exclusive liberal arts university in Anytown, USA. When a prominent African/American teacher gives his students a provocative essay assignment, he triggers an accusation of racism from a female student. Then the head of the college, played by Academy and Tony Award winning actress Mercedes Ruehl, informs the teacher inadvertently setting off a chain of events that threatens the foundation of the university. Fox has crafted an engaging, often explosive, examination of political correctness for today by pitting overly sensitive millennials against a pragmatic establishment.
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The Prom Named Outstanding Musical at the 64th Annual Drama Desk Awards, but Tootsie was the Big Winner with 4 Awards, followed by The Ferryman with 3, including Best Play.
June 2, 2019: The press room was jumping as the winners of the 64th Annual Drama Desk Awards were brought from The Town Hall, where Michael Urie was hosting the show.
Photography: Barry Gordin
2019 DRAMA DESK WINNERS:
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A young actor rescues legendary actress, who can’t remember her lines, in World Premier of affecting comedy, The Prompter at Bay Street Theater.
June 2, 2019: By popular demand, The Prompter, a new comedy by Wade Dooley that was the audience favorite at Bay Street Theater’s New Works Festival last season, opened the Bay Street Theater’s Mainstage Summer Season in Sag Harbor. The world premiere of Dooley’s heartwarming tale about the relationship between a legendary actress and the prompter, she desperately needs after a 40-year absence from the stage, is deftly helmed by Scott Schwartz, Artistic Director of Bay Street Theater.
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Hadestown, Alice By Heart, & King Kong are Winners at Chita Rivera Awards, Honoring Choreography
May 20, 2019: Last night, Tony Award winners, Ann Reinking and Ben Vereen, co-hosted the third annual Chita Rivera Awards, honoring dance and choreography. Broadway’s Hadestown and the Off-Broadway production of Alice by Heart, took home the outstanding choreography awards in Theater.
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