Saturday, November 28, 2009
ANN HARADA!!!!
Any friends out there that want to get me a gift for Christmas? This would be a great stocking stuffer for me or someone else you adore.
NEED A VIDEO?
Are you a writer? Do you have a book coming out and need a video to promote that book? Are you coming out with a record and need a video to promote a Video or record?
Small wedding? Small budget?
Contact: corinescorner.com@gmail.com and let me help you.
Corine Cohen
Thursday, November 26, 2009
THE THANKSGIVING PARADE VIDEO!
My first time taping the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.
It was really exciting and it was so close it felt like I could almost reach out and touch the balloons. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did shooting and editing it. More video to follow.
Happy Thanksgiving.
PS I am very thankful for many things:
For my friends, my webmaster and for you, my readers. Thank you for coming to my site for the past 4 plus years. Covering NYC events makes me a very happy person.
Corine Cohen
Last Thanksgiving I did not cover the parade because it was hard for me to walk and I am also very thankful for my Physical Therapist Central Park PT.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
INTERVIEW WITH MARIO FRATTI.
Interview with Mario Fratti about his plays and his adaptation of NINE THE MUSICAL, which won many TONYS and other awards. The musical was made into a new musical film and I took Mario for lunch at Gente to discuss his wonderful career writing plays.
Video interview by Corine Cohen.
Video shot and edited by Corine Cohen.
For more info on Mario go to http://www.mariofratti.com
NINE will be opening in NYC on December 15th at the Ziegfield theater. I can't wait to see it!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
WOO!!!!! DONNY OSMOND WON!!!!
I was rooting for you since the start of the season. You deserve that trophy!
Donny Osmond won Dancing With The Stars!
I'm so happy!
Corine
DANIEL REICHARD HAS A NEW SHOW!!!!
GETTIN' ON THE GOOD LIST
TO PLAY THE ALVIN AILEY CITIGROUP THEATRE
December 12, 13, 14
Daniel Reichard, one of the original stars of Broadway's megahit JERSEY BOYS, returns to the New York City concert stage in his new show Daniel Reichard's Gettin' on the Good List at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theatre (405 West 55th Street).
In the spirit of old-fashioned Christmas variety specials, Gettin' on the Good List explores the music, memories, complexities, and joys of the Christmas season. Reichard will be joined by surprise guests – New York City personalities and Broadway stars – for a fully-realized Christmas extravaganza. He will be singing the hit songs of artists such as Bing Crosby, George Gershwin, Coldplay, Alicia Keys, and Paul Williams as he tries to get himself off this year's Naughty List! Join Daniel, Mrs. Claus, and even Santa himself on a journey to discover why we need Christmas in difficult times like these!
The evening promises to be very funny, heartwarming, and at times, a little outrageous!
Gettin' on the Good List is directed by Peter Gregus (Broadway’s Jersey Boys); written by Mark Noonan, Christopher Spaulding, and Daniel Reichard; & Music Direction and Arrangements by Eric Svejcar.
TICKETS
$80 VIP tickets include Preferred Seating at the concert and an Open-Bar, Holiday Cocktail Party with Daniel and special guests of the show.
$40 tickets are for General Admission to the show only.
Tickets available on SmartTix (www.smarttix.com).
SCHEDULE
Saturday December 12th 11 PM (with 9 PM VIP Cocktail Party)
Sunday December 13th 7 PM (with a 9 PM VIP Cocktail Party)
Monday December 14th 8 PM (with a 10 PM VIP Cocktail Party)
The evening will benefit International Partners in Mission, a non-profit human relief organization.
International Partners in Mission (IPM) works across borders on behalf of children, women, and youth to create partnerships that build justice, peace, and hope. IPM provides seed money to help small-scale, community-based and democratically governed programs initiate and implement projects by creating personalized partnerships among donors, friends, project coordinators, and participants. For more information, go to: www.ipmconnect.org.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
CENTRAL PARK PHYSICAL THERAPY!!!!! A CORINE'S PICK!!!!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
SECOND STAGE TO HOST POST PERFORMANCE DISCUSSION WITH ANNA DEAVERE SMITH!
TO HOST POST PERFORMANCE DISCUSSION
WITH ANNA DEAVERE SMITH
AND THREE OF THE INTERVIEW SUBJECTS FROM
LET ME DOWN EASY
FOLLOWING THE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20 PERFORMANCE
Second Stage Theatre will host a post performance discussion with Anna Deavere Smith and three of her interview subjects from Let Me Down Easy following the Friday, November 20 performance. Moderated by NPR and Radiolab’s Robert Krulwich, Smith will be joined by Ruth Katz (Chief Public Health Counsel, Committee on Energy and Commerce, U.S. House of Representatives), Elizabeth Streb (Choreographer, Streb Dance Company), and Sally Jenkins (Sports Columnist, The Washington Post), all of whom are portrayed by Smith in this acclaimed solo show. The discussion is free to all in attendance at the Friday, November 20 performance and will feature a brief Q&A with the panelists and Ms. Smith.
Conceived, written, and performed by Anna Deavere Smith and directed by Leonard Foglia, LET ME DOWN EASY opened on Wednesday, October 7 and is scheduled to run through December 6. For subscription or ticket information, please call the Second Stage Theatre Box Office at 212-246-4422 or visit www.letmedowneasy.com. Theatre is located at 305 West 43rd street.
Channeling a dramatic range of interview subjects, from artists and athletes to doctors and those they treat, LET ME DOWN EASY is a virtuosic and moving exploration of the power of the body, the price of health, and the resilience of the spirit. With Ms. Smith’s trademark journalistic precision, LET ME DOWN EASY features first person accounts from a wide variety of sources, including Lance Armstrong and former Texas Governor Ann Richards.
Charles Isherwood of The New York Times calls LET ME DOWN EASY, “A continually engaging and engrossing collection of testimonials about life experienced at its extremes.” Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press calls the play, “Fascinating! This remarkable new show is a joyous celebration of human perseverance.” And Jamie Gangel of The Today Show says, “Run – do not walk – to see this play! Watching Anna Deavere Smith on stage is magical. One minute you are laughing, the next you are crying. It is truly brilliant and stunning.”
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH’s work in the theater explores American character and our multifaceted national identity. She has won numerous awards, among them two Obies, two Tony nominations and a MacArthur fellowship. She was runner up for the Pulitzer Prize for her play Fires In the Mirror. She is said to have created a new form of theater. Her work combines the journalistic technique of interviewing her subjects with the art of interpreting their words through performance. She has appeared on the television shows The West Wing, Presidio Med, The Practice, and the new Showtime television series, Nurse Jackie. Films include Rachel Getting Married, The American President, Philadelphia, The Human Stain, Life Support, and Dave. Her plays include Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Fires in the Mirror; and House Arrest. Her books include Talk To Me and Letters to A Young Artist. A professor at New York University, she is also the founding director of the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue, a center for artistic excellence addressing social change. She is the recipient of several honorary degrees.
LEONARD FOGLIA most recently directed Laurence Fishburne in Thurgood. Other Broadway credits include Master Class with Zoe Caldwell (also national tour and West End), On Golden Pond with Leslie Uggams and James Earl Jones, and Wait Until Dark with Quentin Tarantino and Marisa Tomei. Off-Broadway: Encores! One Touch of Venus (City Center), The Stendahl Syndrome by Terrence McNally (Primary Stages), By the Sea (Manhattan Theatre Club, Bay Street Theatre Festival), Lonely Planet (Circle Repertory Company), If Memory Serves (Promenade, Pasadena Playhouse). Regional: Paper Doll (Pittsburgh Public Theater, Long Wharf Theatre); The Last True Believer (Seattle Rep.); Seascape, The Woman in Black and A Coffin in Egypt by Horton Foote (Bay Street Theatre Festival); Dinner With Friends and God’s Man in Texas (Old Globe Theatre); Art, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, The Heidi Chronicles, Reckless, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Trinity Repertory Company). Opera: Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie, Terrence McNally (New York City Opera, Opera Pacific, Cincinnati Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Pittsburgh Opera); The End of the Affair by Heggie, Heather McDonald (Houston Grand Opera). He is co-author of the mystery novels 1 Ragged Ridge Road and Face Down in the Park, both published by Pocket Books.
ABOUT SECOND STAGE THEATRE
Founded in 1979 under the leadership of Artistic Director Carole Rothman, SECOND STAGE THEATRE produces a diverse range of premieres and new interpretations of America’s best contemporary theatre, including Tiny Alice and Peter and Jerry by Edward Albee; The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry; The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane; Little Murders by Jules Feiffer; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller; Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo’s Greatest Hits by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy; Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo; Painting Churches and Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe; Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants and On the Stem by Ricky Jay; Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; Living Out by Lisa Loomer; This Is Our Youth and The Waverly Gallery by Kenneth Lonergan; Some Men by Terrence McNally; eurydice by Sarah Ruhl; Everyday Rapture by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott; Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim; Crowns by Regina Taylor; Uncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein; Spoils of War by Michael Weller; Before It Hits Home, Jar the Floor and Birdie Blue by Cheryl L. West; Jitney by August Wilson; Lemon Sky, Serenading Louie and Sympathetic Magic by Lanford Wilson; and Metamorphoses and The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci by Mary Zimmerman. The company’s more than 125 citations include the 2009 Tony Awards for Best Score, Best Orchestrations, and Best Actress in a Musical (Alice Ripley) for Next to Normal, the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed), 2005 Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin, ...Spelling Bee) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler, ...Spelling Bee), 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play (Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses), the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 23 Obie Awards, four Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Clarence Derwent Awards, nine Drama Desk Awards, five Theatre World Awards, 11 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics Circle Award and 15 AUDELCO Awards.
In 1999, Second Stage Theatre opened its state-of-the-art, 296-seat theatre, designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. In 2002, Second Stage launched “Second Stage Theatre Uptown” series to showcase the work of up and coming artists at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre. The Theatre supports artists through several programs that include residencies, fellowships and commissions, and engages students and community members through education and outreach programs.
SECOND STAGE THEATRE AT THE HELEN HAYES
Second Stage Theatre recently announced that it has acquired the right to purchase the historic Helen Hayes Theatre, located at 240 W. 44th Street. With this new home, Second Stage will be the only theatre company on Broadway dedicated exclusively to the development and presentation of contemporary American theatrical productions. Second Stage will also become one of only four non-profit theatre companies that own and operate theatres on Broadway. The company will continue to lease and operate their original theatres on the city’s Upper West Side and in Midtown Manhattan.
LET ME DOWN EASY will be performed through Sunday, December 6, 2009 at Second Stage Theatre (307 West 43rd Street, just west of 8th Avenue) on the following schedule: Tuesday at 7:00pm, Wednesday – Saturday at 8:00pm, Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00pm, and Sunday at 3:00pm.
Tickets are $70 and may be purchased by phoning 212-246-4422 or 800-766-6048 or online at www.2ST.com. Patrons age 30 and under may purchase a limited number of specially-priced $30 tickets in advance. A limited number of student rush tickets are $15 and are available 30 minutes prior to curtain.
Group tickets are available by phoning 212-889-4300 or (800) 331-0472. Box-office hours are Monday, 10:00am – 6:00pm, Tuesday 10:00am – 7:00pm, Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00am to 8:00pm, and Sunday, 10:00am to 3:00pm.
For more information, please visit
www.2ST.com
DREAMGIRLS AT THE APOLLO!!!!!
NEW YORK AUDIENCES GET 7 MORE CHANCES
TO SEE THE BROADWAY SENSATION UPTOWN
AT HARLEM’S LEGENDARY APOLLO THEATER
MUST END SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2009
New York, NY - Producer John Breglio and the Apollo Theater Foundation, Inc. announced today that New York audiences will get an additional week to see the premiere engagement of Dreamgirls at the Apollo Theater. This brand-new production of the landmark musical will now play 7 additional performances through Saturday, December 12, 2009 at Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater (253 West 125 Street – just ten minutes from midtown) prior to the national tour’s engagement at Baltimore’s Hippodrome at France-Merrick Performing Arts Center beginning Wednesday, December 16, 2009. Dreamgirls began previews at the Theater Saturday, November 7, 2009, and will officially open Sunday, November 22, 2009.
Dreamgirls is directed and choreographed by Robert Longbottom with co-choreography by Shane Sparks, scenic design by Robin Wagner, costume design by William Ivey Long, lighting design by Ken Billington, sound design by Acme Sound Partners, and media design by Howard Werner for Lightswitch. With music direction by Sam Davis, orchestrations by Harold Wheeler, and Vocal Arrangements by David Chase & Cleavant Derricks, Dreamgirls is produced by John Breglio for Vienna Waits Productions in association with Chunsoo Shin, Jake Productions & Broadway Across America/TBS.
Dreamgirls introduces Moya Angela as Effie White and features, as The Dreams, Syesha Mercado as Deena Jones, Adrienne Warren as Lorrell Robinson, and Margaret Hoffman as Michelle Morris with Chaz Lamar Shepherd as Curtis Taylor, Jr., Chester Gregory as James “Thunder” Early, Trevon Davis as C.C. White, Milton Craig Nealy as Marty Madison in a cast of 26 that also features Felicia Boswell, Tallia Brinson, Patrice Covington, Ronald Duncan, Talitha Farrow, Brittney Griffin, James Harkness, Robert Hartwell, Eric Jackson, Chauncey Jenkins, Jared Joseph, Nikki Kimbrough, Brittany Lewis, Douglas Lyons, Kimberly Marable, Jarran Muse, Amaker Smith and Marc Spaulding.
Following the Apollo Theater engagement, the national tour of Dreamgirls will play Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago, Boston, Columbus, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Costa Mesa, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Dallas, Kansas City and more. For more information, please visit www.dreamgirlsonstage.com.
Celebrating its 75th anniversary season in 2009-2010, the legendary Apollo Theater has been a driving force in shaping America’s music and cultural landscape and has played a major role in the emergence of innovative musical genres including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul and hip-hop. Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Sammy Davis, Jr., James Brown, Bill Cosby, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, and countless others began their road to stardom on the Apollo’s stage. A distinctly American landmark, it is the one of the only institutions in the nation equally devoted to showcasing both emerging talent and legendary performers on the same stage, thereby creating an exceptional community of musicians and artists. Based on its cultural significance and architecture, the Apollo Theater received state and city landmark designation in 1983 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Apollo Theater Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation founded in 1991, is dedicated to the preservation and development of the Apollo Theater. The Apollo’s mission is to honor the influence and advance the contributions of African-American artists and advance emerging creative voice s across cultures and artistic media through the Apollo Experience of world-class live performances and educational programs. The Apollo is located in the heart of Harlem at 253 West 125 Street, between Adam Clayton Powell Blvd (7th Ave.) and Frederick Douglass Blvd (8th Ave.), and is easily accessible by public transportation via the A, B, C, D, 2, and 3 trains. For further information, visit www.apollotheater.org.
Tickets to the Apollo Theater engagement of Dreamgirls range from $36-$106, and are available at www.Ticketmaster.com (212-307-4100), or at the Apollo box office at 253 W. 125th Street, between Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. and Frederick Douglass Blvd. The playing schedule is as follows: Tuesday through Saturday at 8pm, with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 3pm.
DREAMGIRLS AT THE APOLLO!!!!!
“THE THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE ON CBS”
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
The cast of the new production of DREAMGIRLS at the Apollo Theater will perform the title song “Dreamgirls” and the cast of Broadway’s hit production of WEST SIDE STORY will perform “America” Thursday, November 26, at 9am (EST) on “The Thanksgiving Day Parade on CBS.”
Producer John Breglio and the Apollo Theater Foundation, Inc. present the premiere engagement of Dreamgirls at the Apollo Theater. This brand-new production of the landmark musical opens Sunday, November 22, 2009 and runs through Saturday, December 12, 2009 at Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater (253 West 125 Street – just ten minutes from midtown), launching the national tour. Dreamgirls began previews at the Apollo Theater Saturday, November 7, 2009.
WEST SIDE STORY has returned to Broadway in a new production directed by its two-time Tony Award winning librettist Arthur Laurents with the original Jerome Robbins choreography restaged by Tony Award nominee Joey McKneely. The new production began previews on Broadway Monday, February 23, 2009, and opened to critical acclaim breaking box office records at the Palace Theatre (1564 Broadway) on Thursday, March 19, 2009. The New Broadway Cast Recording of WEST SIDE STORY was released nationwide on June 2, 2009 by Sony Masterworks. A national tour of this production of WEST SIDE STORY will begin in the fall of 2010.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Hire me to shoot for you!
Are you a cabaret performer, a dancer, an artist with an upcoming art show? Are you getting married? Is your family having a special event that you want to capture on video? Hire me to shoot the event. I can shoot a video and make photos and send them to you to keep.
My rates are way below the normal rate. Email me for a proposal.
Thanks,
Corine
corinescorner.com@gmail.com
In addition to shooting the video I can also edit the video and send you an edited one with special effects. I can also make a video slideshow if you prefer that and can send multiple copies to guests for a very small fee.
Monday, November 16, 2009
HELLO!
Thanks for coming to my little corner of the internet sky. Just wanted to let you know there have been some improvements to the site. I have three different sections:
1. A video section which has all my recent videos. Over 109 to be exact. In order to find older entries simply go to the last on the menu to bring up the page before. It is also the same with the Culinary blog and update blog. The update blog will have releases from press agents, written articles and links for the video and culinary sections. It is a way for me to update these sections faster on a daily basis.
Much love,
Corine Cohen
Expect more video and photo coverage and video interviews.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
WAVE A GLADIOLA!!!!!!!! DAME EDNA IS BACK!!!!
THE SHUBERTS BRING TWO UNIQUE ARTISTES TOGETHER:
DAME EDNA
AND
MICHAEL FEINSTEIN
TO JOIN FORCES
IN
ALL ABOUT ME
Shubert Organization Chairman Philip J. Smith and President Robert E. Wankel have intervened in the ever growing public feud between Dame Edna’s upcoming spectacular It’s All About Me and Michael Feinstein’s All About Me.
Said a Shubert Organization representative:
“Due to a shortage of theaters this spring, and two ridiculously (and oddly) similar titles that would ultimately be immensely confusing to the theater-going public, we have convinced both artists, in an entirely, completely, and totally unprecedented move, to join forces to create a joint endeavor simply titled ALL ABOUT ME.”
“We love Michael and the Dame, and because we hold both artists in such high esteem, we are more than overjoyed that they have agreed to join forces in what we expect to be a singular and spectacular musical entertainment. Now it’s on to who gets the bigger dressing room….”
Famed director JERRY ZAKS has generously agreed to direct the new joint endeavor.
Acclaimed playwright CHRISTOPHER DURANG, previously announced in negotiations for Dame Edna’s solo show, will now combine both shows into one unique musical entertainment.
The newly conjoined show will be produced by the newly conjoined producing team of JEFFREY RICHARDS, JERRY FRANKEL, ROBERT G. BARTNER, and the AMBASSADOR THEATER GROUP.
“Because the essence of my show’s title was always All About Me, I’m more than delighted having the “It’s” go the way of the Dodo. Michael Feinstein is a performer of the highest caliber, I believe, and I couldn’t be more than excited to be sharing a Broadway stage with him, in moderation. And with nice Christopher Durang at our side, who knows what saucy little moments we can come up with!”
-Dame Edna
“As I said before, I have always been a huge fan of the Dame, and despite our previous friction, now that my mother has forgiven her, I couldn’t be more excited to be joining her on Broadway.”
-Michael Feinstein.
ALL ABOUT ME: starring DAME EDNA and MICHAEL FEINSTEIN, will preview at a Shubert Theater to be announced on SATURDAY, MARCH 6th in preparation for a TUESDAY, MARCH 23rd opening.
Biographies:
DAME EDNA EVERAGE
Dame Edna Everage, housewife, megastar, investigative journalist, social anthropologist, children's book illustrator, diseuse, chanteuse, swami, monstre sacré, polymath, adviser to British royalty, grief counsellor, spin doctor and icon is, arguably, the most popular and gifted woman in the world today.
Her career began in Melbourne, Australia in 1956 (see her best selling autobiography My Gorgeous Life - published in England by Macmillan and in the United States by Simon & Schuster and non-unobtainable) and though in the Fifties when her journey as a performing artiste began she had a strictly cult following.
In the 1960s Mrs Everage - as she then was - did a series of one-woman shows with Barry Humphries in her native Australia and occasional stage and television appearances in England. She first appeared on the British stage at the Fortune Theatre in 1968 in Just a Show which received a mixed reception from the critics, though rave notices from writers such as John Osborne. This led to a short-lived television seriesThe Barry Humphries Scandals.
Dame Edna's career really blossomed during the Seventies when her success in Australia was repeated in Britain with stage shows including Housewife, Superstar and A Night With Dame Edna. A Night With Dame Edna won the Society of West End Managements award for the best comedy performance of the year in 1979. In this decade the Melbourne housewife/performer was awarded a damehood (a high British honour for her services to culture) and in the Eighties she embarked on a series of spectacular stage and television shows including An Audience With Dame Edna and Another Audience With Dame Edna where she captivated a studio audience of celebrities for over an hour with her off-the-cuff replies to unrehearsed questions fired by audience members. Dame Edna's stage appearances in London have been legendary and she has performed to large audiences throughout in the Royal Albert Hall and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, often described as the greatest theatre in the world.
Her innovative television presentations have been copied by many, but never equalled. Edna also hosted two series of her own – the innovative and cutting edge talk show, The Dame Edna Experience where her past guests have included Jane Fonda, Charlton Heston, Liza Minelli, Sean Connery and Mel Gibson and Julio Inglesias. She has also recorded similar television specials for the NBC and Fox Networks, where her guests have included Kim Bassinger, Robin Williams, Chevy Chase and Barry Manilow. Her butlers over the years have been Charlton Heston, Caesar Romero, Burgess Meredith, and Michael Gough. Her TV special A Night on Mount Edna won the foremost European TV Entertainment Award "The Golden Rose of Montreux 1991". Edna's other notable awards include a British Academy Award, first prizes at the San Francisco International Film Festival and Gold Awards at the New York Film and TV Festival. She is also a star in Western Europe, having just completed a series of sell-out stage appearances in Germany. In 1994 she was honoured with the top Scandinavian award for the most popular TV personality in Denmark.
Since her television programmes for the NBC and Fox networks proved to be so successful, she has been a popular interviewee on talk shows such as Carson, Arsenio and Donaghue, and is a regular on the Jay Leno Show. Three years ago she performed the famous NBC New Year's Eve 'Countdown' in Times Square, and she has plans for a fact-finding mission to the United States in selected theatres. More recently, she hosted the Montreal Comedy Festival to great acclaim. Dame Edna's imaginative variations on the talk show theme, where she often left the studio, making excursions to supermarkets to pick up provisions and surprise guests, only to return to the set and resume the show, are devices which have since cropped up on Leno and Letterman - naturally, without acknowledgement. It could be justly said that the Australian housewife has decisively influenced the formerly staid and ponderous American talk show.
Her books include Dame Edna's Coffee Table Book, Dame Edna's Bedside Companion, Lost Monasteries of Bulgaria, her famous autobiography My Gorgeous Life and her new book (in the pipeline) Love Your Husband's Prostate.
Dame Edna is possibly Jewish (in a former life) and has three grown-up children. She spends her time visiting world leaders and jet setting between her homes in Malibu, London, Sydney and Switzerland. She is the founder and Governor of 'Friends of the Prostate' and the World Women's Prostate Olympics.
Dame Edna is the subject of an important study by the theatre historian and New Yorker critic, John Lahr - Dame Edna Everage and the Rise of Western Civilisation
She is the patron and founder of EdnaCare (Switzerland), which leases her services worldwide. Her hobbies are having afternoon tea with Stephen Hawking and compassionate photography. She especially likes lensing her fashionable friends in Aspen and Gstaad, and war orphans.
Her motto is: I'm sorry, but I care.
MICHAEL FEINSTEIN
MICHAEL FEINSTEIN – the multi-platinum selling, five-time Granny nominated entertainer dubbed of “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook” – is considered one of the premiere interpreters of American Popular Song. His 150 plus shows a year have included Carnegie Hall, the London Palladium, the Hollywood Bowl and major concert halls, as well as the White House and Buckingham Palace. More than a mere performer, he is nationally recognized for his commitment to the American popular song, both celebrating its art and preserving its legacy for the next generation.
Feinstein’s newest CD “The Power of Two”, in collaboration with Cheyenne Jackson, has been called “Groundbreaking” by the New York Times.
The Sinatra Project – his recent CD from Concord Records which celebrates the musical sensibilities of “Old Blue Eyes” – earned Michael his fifth Grammy Award nomination in 2009. Feinstein is currently preparing PBS-TV series, “Michael Feinstein: Man On A Mission” – to start airing in 2010 – in which Michael discovers treasures of the Great American Songbook around the world. He is designing a new piano for Steinway called “The First Ladies,” inspired by the White House piano. Feinstein will also serve as the Artistic director of the Carmel Performing Arts Center, a $160 million three-theatre performing arts center in Carmel, Indiana which will host an annual international Great American Songbook festival, along with diverse live programming and a museum to house his rare memorabilia and manuscripts. Starting 2010, Michael will be taking the helm as the Director of the Popular Song Series at Jazz at Lincoln Center
Michael has written the score for two new stage musicals: The Day They Saved Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and The Gold Room, and he has just started to work with MGM developing The Thomas Crown Affair into a musical for Broadway.
His previous CD from Concord Records is Hopeless Romantics, a songbook of Harry Warren classics recorded with legendary jazz pianist George Shearing. In 2004, Michael completed a national tour with songwriting icon Jimmy Webb based on their CD, Only One Life – The Songs of Jimmy Webb. The disc was named one of “10 Best CDs of the Year” by USA Today.
In 2003, Michael received his fourth Grammy Award nomination for his release, Michael Feinstein with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, his first recording with a symphony orchestra. The year before, Rhino/Elektra Music released The Michael Feinstein Anthology, a 2-disc compilation spanning the years 1987 to 1996, featuring old favorites and previously unreleased tracks.
Michael hosted and produced The Great American Songbook, a PBS Special and DVD set from Warner Brothers Home Video that traces the history of popular music in our country. His own record label Feinery, a Concord Records subsidiary, released The Livingston & Evans Songbook, featuring Feinstein and special guest Melissa Manchester. Feinery also records favorite current artists and restore recordings & musical broadcasts from the golden age of popular song.
His Manhattan nightclub, Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, has presented the top talents of pop and jazz such as Rosemary Clooney, Steve Tyrell, Barbara Cook, Tony Danza, Glen Campbell, Diahann Carroll, Jackie Mason and Dame Cleo Laine. He appears there for a sold-out holiday engagement every year. Michael also opened the new theater, Feinstein’s at the Shaw, in London featuring such talent as Eartha Kitt, Dionne Warwick, Elaine Stritch, Chita Rivera and Boy George.
Michael started playing piano by ear when he was five. After graduating from high school in Columbus, Ohio, he worked in local piano lounges for two years, moving to Los Angeles when he was 20. Through the widow of legendary concert pianist-actor Oscar Levant, he was introduced to Ira Gershwin in July 1977. He became his assistant for six years, granting him access to numerous unpublished Gershwin songs, which he has since performed and recorded.
Gershwin’s influence provided a solid base upon which Mr. Feinstein has not only evolved into a captivating performer, composer and arranger of his own original music, but has also become an unparalleled interpreter of music legends such as Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Duke Ellington and Harry Warren.
Through his live performances, recordings, film and television appearances, and his songwriting (in collaboration with Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Lindy Robbins and Carole Bayer Sager), Feinstein has been an important musical force during the past 15 years. In addition, he scored the original music for the film Get Bruce. His television credits include performances on “7th Heaven,” “Caroline in the City,” “Melrose Place,” “Coach,” and “Cybill.”
The Library of Congress elected Michael to the exclusive “National Sound Recording Advisory Board” safeguarding America’s musical heritage.
JERRY ZAKS
JERRY ZAKS most recently directed Chazz Palminteri’s hit solo show A Bronx Tale on Broadway, and the acclaimed City Center Encores! production of Stairway to Paradise. He has received four Tony Awards, four Drama Desks, two Outer Critics Circle Awards, an Obie and an NAACP Image Award nomination for his national tour of The Tap Dance Kid. He has directed more than 30 productions in New York, including Guys and Dolls (Tony Award), Six Degrees of Separation (Tony Award), Lend Me a Tenor (Tony Award), House of Blue Leaves (Tony Award), A Funny Thing…Forum (Tony Award nomination), Smokey Joe’s CafĂ© (Tony Award nomination), Anything Goes (Tony Award nomination), La Cage aux Folles (Tony Award, Outstanding Musical Revival), The Foreigner (Obie Award), The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Obie Award), The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, Little Shop of Horrors, The Man Who Came to Dinner, A Bad Friend, The Front Page, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Assassins (Drama Desk nomination), Wenceslas Square, Sister Mary Ignatius…, Beyond Therapy and The Civil War. He also directed the Old Vic’s production of The Philadelphia Story in London, starring Kevin Spacey, as well as the award-winning film Marvin’s Room, starring Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton. Mr. Zaks served as resident director at Lincoln Center Theater from 1986-1990 and is a founding member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre. He has also directed episodes for the long-running hit comedies “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Frasier” and “Two and a Half Men.” A graduate of Dartmouth with an MFA from Smith, he received the SSDC’s George Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre in 1994 and an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Dartmouth in 1999. Since 1990 he has been proudly affiliated with Jujamcyn Theaters.
CHRISTOPHER DURANG
Christopher Durang is a playwright whose plays include A History of the American Film (Tony nomination, Best Book of a Musical, 1978), The Actor’s Nightmare, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You (Obie award; off-Bway run 1981-83), Beyond Therapy (on Broadway in 1982, with Dianne Wiest and John Lithgow), Baby with the Bathwater (Playwrights Horizons, 1983), The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Public Theatre, 1985; Obie award, Dramatists Guild Hull Warriner Award), Laughing Wild (Playwrights Horizons, 1987), Durang/Durang (an evening of six plays at Manhattan Theatre Club, 1994, including the Tennessee Williams’ parody, For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls), Sex and Longing (Lincoln Center Theatre production at the Cort Theatre, 1996, starring Sigourney Weaver), and Betty’s Summer Vacation (Playwrights Horizons, 1999; Obie award).
His most recent works are Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, which premiered at City Theatre in Pittsburgh in 2002. And the musical Adrift in Macao, with music by Peter Melnick and book and lyrics by Durang, which premiered at New York Stage and Film in summer 2002, and is under option for off-Broadway 2003-04.
Durang is also a performer, and acted with E. Katherine Kerr in the N.Y. premiere of Laughing Wild, and with Jean Smart in the L.A. production. He shared in an acting ensemble Obie for The Marriage of Bette and Boo; and with John Augustine and Sherry Anderson has performed his crackpot cabaret Chris Durang and Dawne at the Criterion Center, Caroline’s Comedy Club, Williamstown Summer Cabaret, and the Triad, winning a 1996 Bistro Award.
In the early 80s, he and Sigourney Weaver co-wrote and performed in their acclaimed Brecht-Weill parody, Das Lusitania Songspiel, and were both nominated for Drama Desk awards for Best Performer in a Musical.
In 1993 he sang in the five person off-Broadway Sondheim revue, Putting It Together, with Julie Andrews at the Manhattan Theatre Club. And he played a singing Congressman in the Encores presentation of Call Me Madam with Tyne Daly at City Center.
In movies, he has appeared in The Secret of My Success, Mr. North, The Butcher’s Wife, Housesitter, and The Cowboy Way, among others.
He has a B.A. from Harvard College, and an M.F.A. in Playwriting from Yale School of Drama.
In 1995 he won the prestigious three-year Lila Wallace Readers Digest Writers Award; as part of his grant, he ran a writing workshop for adult children of alcoholics. In 2000 he won the Sidney Kingsley Playwriting Award.
Grove Press publishes several of his plays. Smith and Kraus recently published two new collections: Christopher Durang: 27 Short Plays and Christopher Durang: Complete Full-Length Plays (1975-1995). Grove has recently published Betty’s Summer Vacation.
Since 1994 he has been co-chair with Marsha Norman of the Playwriting Program at the Juilliard School in Manhattan.
He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
WAVE THE GLADIOLA, POSSUM!
in negotiations with acclaimed playwright
CHRISTOPHER DURANG;
shares her thoughts on a certain cabaret performer;
DAME EDNA EVERAGE is proud to announce that she is in negotiations with Obie Award winning playwright CHRISTOPHER DURANG to help write her upcoming Broadway extravaganza IT’S ALL ABOUT ME.
And, on a note of a different color, she wishes to respond to Michael Feinstein’s comment to the press from earlier today:
“Someone purchased a CD of Mr. Feinstein’s at a flea market in Australia and re-gifted it to me recently. I’m impressed at how often he sings on key.”
-Dame Edna Everage
This is Dame Edna’s third return to Broadway, following her smash hit (and Tony & Drama Desk Award-winning) Dame Edna: The Royal Tour in 1999, and 2004’s Tony Nominated Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance.
Dame Edna: It’s All About Me will be directed by four time Tony award winner JERRY ZAKS, who most recently directed Chazz Palminteri’s hit solo Broadway show A Bronx Tale.
It’s All About Me will be produced by Robert G. Bartner and the Ambassador Theatre Group.
DAME EDNA EVERAGE
Dame Edna Everage, housewife, megastar, investigative journalist, social anthropologist, children's book illustrator, diseuse, chanteuse, swami, monstre sacré, polymath, adviser to British royalty, grief counsellor, spin doctor and icon is, arguably, the most popular and gifted woman in the world today.
Her career began in Melbourne, Australia in 1956 (see her best selling autobiography My Gorgeous Life - published in England by Macmillan and in the United States by Simon & Schuster) and though in the Fifties when her journey as a performing artiste began she had a strictly cult following.
In the 1960s Mrs Everage - as she then was - did a series of one-woman shows with Barry Humphries in her native Australia and occasional stage and television appearances in England. She first appeared on the British stage at the Fortune Theatre in 1968 in Just a Show which received a mixed reception from the critics, though rave notices from writers such as John Osborne. This led to a short-lived television series on BBC The Barry Humphries Scandals.
Dame Edna's career really blossomed during the Seventies when her success in Australia was repeated in Britain with stage shows including Housewife, Superstar and A Night With Dame Edna. A Night With Dame Edna won the Society of West End Managements award for the best comedy performance of the year in 1979. In this decade the Melbourne housewife/performer was awarded a damehood (a high British honour for her services to culture) and in the Eighties she embarked on a series of spectacular stage and television shows including An Audience With Dame Edna and Another Audience With Dame Edna where she captivated a studio audience of celebrities for over an hour with her off-the-cuff replies to unrehearsed questions fired by audience members. Dame Edna's stage appearances in London have been legendary and she has performed to large audiences throughout in the Royal Albert Hall and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, often described as the greatest theatre in the world.
Her innovative television presentations have been copied by many, but never equalled. Edna also hosted two series of her own inventive chat show, The Dame Edna Experience where her past guests have included Jane Fonda, Charlton Heston, Liza Minelli, Sean Connery and Mel Gibson and Julio Inglesias. She has also recorded similar television specials for the NBC and Fox Networks, where her guests have included Kim Bassinger, Robin Williams, Chevy Chase and Barry Manilow. Her butlers over the years have been Charlton Heston, Caesar Romero and Burgess Meredith. Her TV special A Night on Mount Edna won the foremost European TV Entertainment Award "The Golden Rose of Montreux 1991". Edna's other notable awards include a British Academy Award, first prizes at the San Francisco International Film Festival and Gold Awards at the New York Film and TV Festival. She is also a star in Western Europe, having just completed a series of sell-out stage appearances in Germany. In 1994 she was honoured with the top Scandinavian award for the most popular TV personality in Denmark.
Since her television programmes for the NBC and Fox networks proved to be so successful, she has been a popular interviewee on talk shows such as Carson, Leno, Arsenio and Donaghue. Three years ago she performed the famous NBC New Year's Eve 'Countdown' in Times Square, and she has plans for a fact-finding mission to the United States in selected theatres. More recently, she hosted the Montreal Comedy Festival to great acclaim. Dame Edna's imaginative variations on the talk show theme, where she often left the studio, making excursions to supermarkets to pick up provisions and surprise guests, only to return to the set and resume the show, are devices which have since cropped up on Leno and Letterman - naturally, without acknowledgement. It could be justly said that the Australian housewife has decisively influenced the formerly staid and ponderous American talk show.
Her books include Dame Edna's Coffee Table Book, Dame Edna's Bedside Companion, Lost Monasteries of Bulgaria, her famous autobiography My Gorgeous Life and her new book (in the pipeline) Love Your Husband's Prostate.
Dame Edna is Jewish (in a former life) and has three grown-up children. She spends her time visiting world leaders and jet setting between her homes in Malibu, London, Sydney and Switzerland. She is the founder and Governor of 'Friends of the Prostate' and the World Women's Prostate Olympics.
Dame Edna is the subject of an important study by the theatre historian and New Yorker critic, John Lahr - Dame Edna Everage and the Rise of Western Civilisation
She is the patron and founder of EdnaCare (Switzerland), which leases her services worldwide. Her hobbies are having afternoon tea with Stephen Hawking and compassionate photography. She especially likes lensing her fashionable friends in Aspen and Gstaad, and war orphans.
Her motto is: I'm sorry, but I care.
JERRY ZAKS
JERRY ZAKS most recently directed Chazz Palminteri’s hit solo show A Bronx Tale on Broadway, and the acclaimed City Center Encores! production of Stairway to Paradise. He has received four Tony Awards, four Drama Desks, two Outer Critics Circle Awards, an Obie and an NAACP Image Award nomination for his national tour of The Tap Dance Kid. He has directed more than 30 productions in New York, including Guys and Dolls (Tony Award), Six Degrees of Separation (Tony Award), Lend Me a Tenor (Tony Award), House of Blue Leaves (Tony Award), A Funny Thing…Forum (Tony Award nomination), Smokey Joe’s CafĂ© (Tony Award nomination), Anything Goes (Tony Award nomination), La Cage aux Folles (Tony Award, Outstanding Musical Revival), The Foreigner (Obie Award), The Marriage of Bette and Boo (Obie Award), The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, Little Shop of Horrors, The Man Who Came to Dinner, A Bad Friend, The Front Page, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Assassins (Drama Desk nomination), Wenceslas Square, Sister Mary Ignatius…, Beyond Therapy and The Civil War. He also directed the Old Vic’s production of The Philadelphia Story in London, starring Kevin Spacey, as well as the award-winning film Marvin’s Room, starring Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton. Mr. Zaks served as resident director at Lincoln Center Theater from 1986-1990 and is a founding member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre. He has also directed episodes for the long-running hit comedies “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Frasier” and “Two and a Half Men.” A graduate of Dartmouth with an MFA from Smith, he received the SSDC’s George Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre in 1994 and an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Dartmouth in 1999. Since 1990 he has been proudly affiliated with Jujamcyn Theaters.
ROBERT G. BARTNER (Producer) produces in NY and London. Broadway: The Seagull, Boeing-Boeing (Tony), Rock ’n’ Roll, Company (Tony), Sweeney Todd, Faith Healer. Off-Broadway: Wit (Pulitzer). West End: La Cage aux Folles, West Side Story (UK).
AMBASSADOR THEATRE GROUP (Producer) ATG is the largest theatre group in the West End and separately, the second largest in the UK regions, with a total of 23 venues. ATG’s portfolio of theatres include high-profile and historic buildings such as the Comedy, Donmar Warehouse, Duke of York’s, Piccadilly, Savoy and Trafalgar Studios. Recent ATG co-productions include Broadway: Guys and Dolls, Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning Company, Sweeney Todd (also London). West End/UK: West Side Story, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, Riflemind (with Sydney Theatre Company), Fat Pig by Neil LaBute, Harold Pinter’s The Lover/The Collection, Elling, the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.
Monday, November 9, 2009
JONATHAN BLUM PORTRAITS.
Jon is a very close friend of mine and we are searching for a wine and cheese sponsor for this art show. If you are in pr and represent a wine and or cheese company and you are looking to be a food and or wine sponsor you can write to me. I will donate a free ad to the company that donates the wine and or cheese for this reception.
Thanks,
Corine Cohen
Saturday, November 7, 2009
UPDATE IN THE VIDEO BLOG.
This video is a must if you love dance.
Friday, November 6, 2009
IF YOU ARE IN CHICAGO GO AND SEE JACKIE HOFFMAN!!!!
"Endearingly bitter, explosively funny" -Variety
LIMITED ENGAGEMENT: FOUR MONDAYS ONLY!
Nov. 30, Dec. 7, 14 & 21 at 7:30 pm
At the Royal George Cabaret
1641 N. Halsted Street, Chicago
All seats $25.00
Call 312-988-9000 or online at
http://www.theroyalgeorgetheatre.com/
For audiences 18 and over
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
UPDATE IN THE VIDEO BLOG! INTERVIEW WITH HARRIET HARRIS!
Monday, November 2, 2009
UPDATE IN THE VIDEO BLOG.
Central Park Physical Therapy
1727 Broadway at 55th StreetEntrance on 55th StreetNew York, NY 10019
Phone (212) 765-4800
Fax (212) 765-4855
Central Park Physical Therapy is a Corine's Corner pick!