“Crickets”
Ladies and gents,
I just found out the Olympics are over, and I wasn’t even aware they had begun! Did anyone tune in this year? Were we boycotting or simply disinterested? I didn’t get the memo. I remember when the Olympics were the television event to end all television events! It wasn’t even that long ago when an Olympic moment had to power to bring the world to its collective knees. I recall the closing ceremony of 2010 when k.d. lang produced more tears than the world’s supply of onions by singing her singular rendition of the Leonard Cohen classic “Hallelujah.” When the camera panned to the athletes and audience members (one of them famously mouthed the word “amazing”), everyone was united in rapturous appreciation. This year, the most exciting moment was apparently when one of the Olympic rings failed to open up during the opening ceremony. Have we become so jaded and snarky that we’d rather see a blooper than a velvet-voiced vocalist triumph on the world’s stage? Oh, dear readers, I hope not. Well, for those of you yearning for more earnest times, look up k.d.’s performance on YouTube, and don’t forget the have tissues handy. Or, better yet, head to After Midnight at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre and see her in triumph live and in person, through March 9.
And, finally, on a somber note, we mourn the passing of one of New York’s cultural doyennes – Ruth Henderson, Board President of theesteemed New York Pops.
Ms. H passed away peacefully in the Connecticut home she shared with her husband, the late Skitch Henderson, and family. The Hendersons founded the New York Pops in 1983, and it quickly became a revered mainstay in the New York cultural landscape and portal to Music for thousands of young people in the Tri-State area.
Ruth and Skitch made NYC better place and I have no doubt that they’ve reunited in Heaven, in style.
Tidbits from around town…
Overheard Wall Street Journal critic and Satchmo at the Waldorf scribe Terry Teachout telling A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder stars Jefferson Mays and Bryce Pinkham how much he loved their show. (Unless they are the kind of actors who “never read reviews,” they were probably already well aware!)
Caught Vice President Joe Biden scraping gum off his shoe outside Rockefeller Center, before getting into the back of an SUV.
Spotted Bernadette Peters and Tovah Feldshuh coming out of a performance of Terrence McNally’s Mothers and Sons with Playbill in hand.
As always, a toast of something sparkling to you and yours!
