Events
The York Theatre Company to Honor Musical Theater Icon Leslie Uggams and Ted Chapin at “30th Annual Oscar Hammerstein Award” Gala
The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director; Evans Haile, Executive Director), dedicated to the development of new musicals and preserving musical gems from the past, will honor Tony Award-winning musical theater icon Leslie Uggams (Hallelujah, Baby!, Anything Goes, Thoroughly Modern Millie) with the 2022 Oscar Hammerstein Award for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theater and Ted Chapin with The York Theatre Company Founders’ Award at the 30th Oscar Hammerstein Award Gala, to be held on Monday evening, November 14, 2022 at The Edison Rooftop (223 West 46th Street).
Ted Chapin
The celebratory evening will begin with a cocktail reception at 6:00pm and a seated dinner at 7:00pm, followed by a concert and award ceremony at 8:00pm. Guests with VIP tickets will have the opportunity to take photos with the honorees and enjoy other perks throughout the evening. Michael Unger (The York’s former Associate Artistic Director and current Artistic Director of Skylight Music Theatre in Milwaukee) is set to direct the evening’s celebration. For additional information, pricing, and reservations, please visit yorktheatre.org/support/oscar-hammerstein or contact Nick Gerrity at ngerrity@yorktheatre.org.
James Morgan, The York’s Producing Artistic Director, noted, “Two show business trailblazers—one on stages and screens of all sizes, the other behind the scenes—Leslie Uggams and Ted Chapin have had tremendous impact on musical theater of the last half-century, and we are thrilled to be honoring them.”
The Oscar Hammerstein Award is named in honor of the legendary lyricist and librettist who helped shape American musical theater through his collaborations with a number of different composers and writers. His contributions to such landmark musicals as Show Boat, Oklahoma!, South Pacific, and Carousel are a legacy for all time. The award was created in 1988 by Janet Hayes Walker, Founding Artistic Director of The York Theatre Company, and is presented with the endorsement of the Hammerstein family and the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization. Its purpose is to recognize significant outstanding achievement in musical theater and is presented at a gala evening held for the benefit of The York Theatre Company.
Past recipients of the Oscar Hammerstein Award include Stephen Sondheim, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, Harold Prince, Cy Coleman, Charles Strouse, Arthur Laurents, Jerry Herman, Stephen Schwartz, Peter Stone, David Merrick, John Kander & Fred Ebb, Terrence McNally, Cameron Mackintosh, Carol Channing, Tony Walton, Joseph Stein, George S. Irving, Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick, Thomas Meehan, Barbara Cook, Paul Gemignani, Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty, Angela Lansbury, Joel Grey, Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt, Susan Stroman, André De Shields, and most recently Richard Maltby, Jr. & David Shire.
Leslie Uggams (2022 Oscar Hammerstein Award Recipient) is a Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, singer, and recording artist whose landmark career began at the age of nine, opening for Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald at The Apollo Theater in Harlem. As a teenager, she went on to break barriers as a series regular on “Sing Along with Mitch” and made her Broadway debut at the age of 24 in the groundbreaking musical Hallelujah, Baby!, earning Theatre World and Tony awards for her performance. Since then, she has starred on Broadway in Blues in the Night, Her First Roman, Jerry’s Girls, Anything Goes, King Hedley II (Tony Award nomination), Thoroughly Modern Millie, and On Golden Pond with James Earl Jones. Perhaps best known for her stirring portrayal of Kizzy in the landmark TV mini-series “Roots” (Critics Choice Award, Emmy and Golden Globe nominations), Leslie, now in her seventh decade in show business, continues to create memorable roles. Most notably, she can be seen in the Deadpool movies opposite Ryan Reynolds; on television in “New Amsterdam” and “Empire”; in the streaming comic horror series “The Bite”; and in the upcoming Sundance Grand Jury Award-winning film Nanny, soon to be released on Amazon Prime. Visit www.leslieuggams.com or follow her on Facebook and Twitter @LeslieUggams and on Instagram @LeslieUggams1.
The York Theatre Company Founders’ Award recognizes individuals who have made a significant impact on the sustainability of the arts. Past recipients of the award include Janet Hayes Walker, the Founding Artistic Director of the York, W. David McCoy, Sarah Tod Smith, Molly Grose, Robert Goldberg, Gerald F. Fisher, Betty Cooper Wallerstein, Riki Kane Larimer, and Elisa Stein.
Ted Chapin (2022 York Theatre Company Founders’ Award Recipient) was President of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization for forty years. Under his auspices, eight Broadway revivals won the Tony Award, from On Your Toes to Daniel Fish’s controversial Oklahoma!, and The Sound of Music Live! and a multi-racial Cinderella were aired on TV. His early career in the theater included production or directorial assistant on the Broadway premieres of The Unknown Soldier and His Wife, The Rothschilds, The Sunshine Boys, and Follies, about which he wrote Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical ‘Follies’, a revised edition of which has just been published. He produced two acclaimed seasons of Lyrics & Lyricists at 92Y and serves on many boards, including the American Theatre Wing. He hosts the NJTV program American Songbook at NJPAC.
Michael Unger (Director, 2022 Oscar Hammerstein Award Gala) is the Artistic Director of Skylight Music Theatre in Milwaukee, WI. For Skylight this season he will be directing A Jolly Holiday and Noises Off. For six years, he was the Associate Artistic Director and Director of Education for The York Theatre Company. He was also the Producing Artistic Director of NewArts, a performing arts and character development initiative started with a local father in response to the Sandy Hook elementary school tragedy, for which he directed a dozen productions working with over 600 area children. Credits for The York Theatre include the Oscar Hammerstein Award Ceremonies honoring Susan Stroman (2018), André De Shields (2019), and Richard Maltby, Jr. & David Shire (2021), You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and the Mufti presentations of Big: The Musical, Milk and Honey, and Knickerbocker Holiday. Other directing credits include A Christmas Carol (18 years at McCarter, three years at NewArts), Two Point Oh (Off-Broadway, NYT Critics’ Pick), Time Stands Still (Cape Cod Chronicle Best of 2015), My Sister in This House (Deaf West, Ovation Recommended), Grease, Crimes of the Heart, and new versions of The Happy Time and The Rink. He has directed fourteen operas, two of which are available on DVD. World premieres include Caligula (NYMF, Best of Fest), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and A ROCKIN’ Midsummer Night’s Dream (featured in the documentary film Midsummer in Newtown). He is married to actress Janet Metz; their favorite collaboration is twins Phoebe and Nathaniel.
Artist Don Hershman turned his passion once again into purpose with his newest exhibition of 20 paintings entitled “The Art of Code Switching,” which debuted at the Salomon Arts Gallery in Manhattan’s Tribeca district.
Notable Attendees included: Don Hershman, Jorge Alzate, Rodrigo Salomon, Gigi Salomon, Ford Crull, Elton Ilirjani, Julia Ilirjani, Carmen D’Alessio, Tina Radziwill, Ava Breeze, Leesa Rowland, Pedro Oberto, Nabys Vielman, Marc Bouwer, Heidi Schaeffer, Neil Koenigsberg.
Originally trained as a board-certified podiatric surgeon in the early 80’s, Hershman reflects on his own life as a gay man of an earlier generation where code switching was clearly linked to his survival. “When I began my formal residency training in the early 80’s I had to relocate to the south, forcing me back into the closet. Creating these new paintings took me on a journey back to a time where there was no political correctness or recourse, easily fired or shunned if it were revealed that I was gay. After residency, I relocated to San Francisco and worked as a podiatric surgeon in an atmosphere engulfed by the AIDS epidemic, where young men often were not only hiding their sexual orientation, but their HIV status as well. They were constantly code-switching without even knowing it.”
Now with The Art of Code Switching his passion to speak on the subject matter is beautifully projected in this new collection. With bravado he takes the viewer on a journey to open their minds to comprehend patience and understanding amongst all mankind.
The show will run until Sunday, October 15 and will proudly donate 10% from the proceeds of art sales to The Trevor Project to support the nonprofits suicide prevention efforts among the LGBTQ+ community.
Photo credits: BFA / Hannah Turner Harts / Nick Guttierez
G.H. Harding
SUNDAY DEADLINE — As we go to press, the AMPTP has submitted it’s last, best offer to the WGAto resolve this strike; now heading into 145+ days. Strikes are meant to be settled, but the damage may have already been too much. Governor Gavin Newsom estimates a 5 billion dollar take-down for Hollywood and the state in general. As we mentioned last time, thousands of below-the-line workers have already been let go or furloughed during the strike and even if it is resolved by later-today, it will take a full 10-12 weeks for everything to be up and running again. By my count, that’s mid-December. Stay tuned … it can only get better.
Rick Wakeman
WAKEMAN’S OPUS —(via Prog) Rick Wakeman has announced that he has released a massive 32-disc box set entitled The Prog Years 1973-1977, which features his studio albums from 1973’s The Six Wives Of Henry VIII through to 1976’s No Earthly Connection, plus his film soundtracks for 1975’s Lisztomania and 1977’s White Rock. You can watch a video trailer for the box set here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nER9BgLka1w
Each album is represented by four discs, either CD or DVD, featuring the original album plus rare live material, demos, alternative mixes and live film footage all from the era. These include live performances of Six Wives… and Journey To The Centre Of The Earth from Melbourne, a DVD of The Myths And Legends Of King Arthur And The Knights Of The Round Table performed on ice at Wembley, the full films of both. Lisztomania and White Rock, and more.
The Prog Years 1973-1977 also features a 60-page hardback scrapbook, 10 x postcards, 8 x full-size replica promotional photos and 4 x A3 posters, plus reproduction press kits for the relevant albums. The first 500 copies of this extremely limited box set will also come with a numbered certificate signed by Rick himself.
He may wear the cape and be a bit old school, but Rick Wakeman is the real deal. He rocked Yes and his solo albums were simply terrific. When Yes did The Apollo several years back, when Wakeman left the stage and went up and down the aisles with his keyboard strapped on, there was sheer joy. He’s amazing. Bravo!
SHORT TAKES — Robert DeNiro shilling for Uber? That’s what a divorce does to you. Actually, it should be great commercial, although it was filmed in London as opposed to NYC, which is odd. Taxi Driver writer Paul Schrader was quoted in Deadline as saying: “Ouch,” he wrote. “Why Bob would do this is beyond my reckoning. But I haven’t seen it. If I’m lucky I never will” I’m sure he asked Driver-director Marty Scorsese …
Micky Dolenz, ACE Theatre
Micky Dolenz’s SRO show Friday night in LA (at the ACE Theatre)
ACE Theatre
was sensational and he debuted the live version of his new single, R.E.M.’s “Shiny Happy People.” Seen at the show were Randy Lewis; Roy Trakin; Tyrone Biljan; Ken Sharp and Nederlander’s Lisa White …
Savannah Guthrie
On Friday’s Today Show, Savannah Guthrie interviewed someone who told you how to pack during a move, quickly. They said to put all personal items in a lock box with a label saying to be moved by owner only. Savannah quipped that all the personal items in your nightstand belong there begging the question, what does she have in hers? … A report on NY1 about the ongoing migrant crisis in NYC called The Roosevelt Hotel – where the migrants have been housed – the new Ellis Island … Say what you will about NYC’s Hell’s Kitchen, but it’s been a key area in NYC for decades.
Film Center Cafe
For me, when the Film Center Cafe disappeared, it was a tragedy. And, remember the fabulous restaurant Memphis? Here’s a great look into images from there: https://w42st.com/post/hells-kitchen-photographers-karla-james-murray-book-vanishing-mom-and-pop-stores/?utm_medium=email … George Clooney selling his Lake Como retreat he’s had for 21 years? Could go for 100 million … SIGHTING: PR-pasha David Salidor at Shalom Japan in Williamsburg Sunday night … Usher headlining Super Bowl 2024? Wonder where that choice came from as he hasn’t had a hit in 20 years …
Jen Psaki
Watched Jean Psaki on MSNBC Sunday. She didn’t bowl me over, but was good. She had stories on Rupert Murdoch and FOX and an interview with Hillary Clinton, who bashed Trump and Putin again … and HAPPY BDAY Mark Bego and Cory Robbins!
NAMES IN THE NEWS — Sara Gore; Andrew Sandoval; Pat Prince; Mark Bego; Jim Clash; Cynthia Rowley; Barry Zelman; Christopher Gilman; Barry Manilow; Joel Diamond; Nancy Ruth; Teresa Knox; Gary Gershoff; Tom & Lisa Cuddy; Tony King; Donnie Kehr; Kimberly Cornell; Lush Ice; Barry Fisch; Eppy; and BELLA!
Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement and is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. This holiday is centered on repentance and fasting, as it is the day we are closest to God, and to the essence of our souls. Yom Kippur states, “For on this day He will forgive you, to purify you, that you be cleansed from all your sins before God.”
The holiday started several minutes before sunset on Sunday, September 24, until after nightfall on Monday, September 25th. For nearly 26 hours people of the faith will abstain from food and drink, they will not wash or apply lotions or creams, they not wear leather footwear, and will abstain from marital relations. Instead, spending the day in synagogue, praying for forgiveness.
Yom Kippur may be the most solemn day of the year, but its undercurrent is of joy. Joy of being immersed in the spirituality and the confidence that God will accept, forgive and give us life, health and happiness.
Maybe we should all take a day to atone and set our minds to things of a spiritual nature.
For the 17th year, the Metropolitan Opera’s Opening Night will be transmitted live to numerous large screens on Tuesday, September 26th at 6:00pm in Times Square on Duffy Square (between 46th and 47th Streets). This year it will feature Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking starring Joyce DiDonato and Ryan McKinny in a new production by Ivo van Hove conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
A 17-year tradition continues as the Met once again partners with the Times Square Alliance to present a free, live transmission of the season-opening opera to the iconic screens of Times Square. This year’s simulcast of Dead Man Walking is Tuesday, September 26; house opens at 5:30 p.m.; pre-show begins at 6:00 p.m.; and the opera begins at 6:30 p.m. Attendance is free, and no tickets are required. There will be 2,000 seats available on a first-come, first-served basis at Duffy Square (between 46th and 47th Streets) and the Broadway plazas between 43rd and 44th streets and 46th and 47th Streets with additional standing room available.
The participating screens in Times Square include ABC SuperSign; American Eagle Times Square; Branded Cities’ NASDAQ Tower; and EXPRESS Times Square. The live transmission to Times Square is made possible with the cooperation of the City of New York and the Times Square Alliance, with leadership support provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Based on Sister Helen Prejean’s memoir about her fight for the soul of a condemned murderer, Dead Man Walking matches the high drama of its subject with Heggie’s beautiful and poignant music.
Events
Jabłonki Celebration with State of Poland Foundation, Tree Time Foundation and the Consulate General of the Republic
The State of Poland Foundation, Tree Time Foundation and the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland held a ceremony and reception at The Carlyle Hotel to commemorate the nation’s unity with the United States, represented through a Jabłonki project of planting over 300 flowering apple trees throughout New York City. During the vibrant ceremony, which was held under the auspices of Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland, 17 of these trees were named, honoring the many Polish and American figures who have historically impacted the nations’ relationship.
Włodzimierz Dola, President of the State of Poland Foundation, kicked-off the event, welcoming over 100 guests with an introduction to the organization and the tree-planting project in New York. Beata Daszynska-Muzyczka, President of the Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK) stepped in to introduce Jabłonki, the art of celebrating apples. She shared how the tree planting project symbolizes the mutual heritage and friendship between Poland and the United States and a background on the BGK’s role in CSR activities.
Among those honored with trees planted in their name include Revolutionary War hero Tadeusz Kościuszko; celebrated veteran turned filmmaker Merian C. Cooper; Polish nobleman, soldier and military commander Kazimierz Pułaski; American documentarian Julien Bryan; soldier and Silver Star recipient Michael H. Ollis; and the famous Polish transatlantic liner nicknamed Lucky Ship. Notable guests included actors Patrick Wilson, Scott Foley and Marika Domińczyk.
The ceremony was followed by a celebratory party, where attendees were served apple-infused Polish beverages and snacks while surrounded by the soft music of Polish Jazz Trio, The Rotker-Lynn.
The event embodied a traditional Jabłonki celebration, an annual festival dedicated to honoring the magnificent apple trees that stretch across Poland’s landscape. Often referred to as the Orchard of Europe, Poland’s orchards account for approximately 30% of the total orchard area in the entire European Union, despite the country itself comprising only 7% of it. The expanse of Polish orchards saw a remarkable 11% growth, its fastest rate, between 2012 and 2017. In Poland, the Jabłonki festivities extend from May through late autumn, beginning when the apple trees begin to blossom and concluding with the harvest season.
Adrian Kubicki, Consul General of the Republic of Poland in New York, greeted the guests by sharing a few words about the honored figures important to Polish-American history and why Jabłonki is essential to
recognizing these individuals and bringing our two nations closer together. Daniel Pipes, President of the Middle East Forum and son of Richard Pipes, also paid homage to his parents by sharing a story of when his father served as a member of the National Security Council and led Eastern European and Soviet Affairs under Ronald Reagan.
Danuta Nierada, Creative & Strategic Director at the State of Poland Foundation, concluded the event presenting the plaques to the honorees, prior to their display on the trees.
“We’re honored to be able to fulfill this project in one of the most diverse cities in the world,” said Dola. “This touch of Poland throughout the city represents our gratitude for the friendship between our two nations and expresses an utmost thank you to our ongoing historical ties.”
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