“Someone Woke Up”
Ladies and gents,
It’s 2015, and I feel just about old enough to be featured on the back of a Smucker’s jar during a Willard Scott segment.
The days are short, the temperatures are frigid, and everyone I know has cut everything fun out of their lives for the month of January. With the present feeling rather bleak, it’s time to reflect on the past and look forward to the future.
So let’s reflect. The holidays in New York were divine. Don’t get me wrong – I love winging off to a warm weather destination as much as the next Upper East Sider, but do so and you miss the most magical time of the year right here at home. The apartment buildings clear out, and the hotels fill up. I love pretending that I’m a tourist, checking out the tree at Rock Center, shopping around SoHo, and taking in lots of Broadway shows. Oh those stalwart Broadway performers and crew members, who forgo time with families to perform their hearts out for packed houses of tourists (sometimes even squeezing extra shows into the already packed performance schedule)!
One Broadway veteran, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, “I love nothing more than playing those holiday weeks. The houses are full, and the crowds are so enthusiastic. There’s none of that jaded, ‘show me what you’ve got’ mentality. The tourists come wanting to love it, and it shows.” Of course, there’s also a downside to having, er, less sophisticated crowds. I asked, “Any egregious behavior to report?” He answered, “Well, a few more cell phone rings than usual. I heard one guy brought a few slices of cold pizza along with him and munched on them during the second act. Oh, and a group of theater students here on an organized trip tried to sneak into the stage door and do an impromptu audition for the director. Our director, by the way, was in Bora Bora, so it was all for naught.”
Petty grievances aside (and, it should be noted that the anonymous Broadway veteran, love him though I do, is a perfect snob), the tourists are the lifeblood of both the industry and this city, and I salute them (and every last dollar they bring here)!
Tidbits from around town…
Witnessed the great Patti Labelle present the Future of Fashion Award to Isabel & Ruben Toledo at the YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund Gala, in front of a crowd that included the evening’s host, Rosanna Scotto, Countess Luann de Lesseps, Vera Wang, Mariano Rivera, Liz Smith, and Iris Apfel. The teleprompter went dead, so Ms. Labelle simply spoke from the heart, and we all ate it up!
Got pelted in the face when a popcorn fight broke out moments before the recent Joel Grey-hosted screening of The Imitation Game started. No, none of the higher profile guests, like Adriane Lenox, Tonya Pinkins, or David Mixner, took part in the juvenile behavior. It was a group of young SAG members who were apparently giddy to be in such esteemed company.
Read that Harvey Weinstein was vacationing in Gstaad, but my eyes don’t lie. I spotted the Hollywood titan at a Starbucks in deep conversation with Joe Benincasa of The Actors Fund.
As always, a toast of something sparkling to you and yours!
Kisses,
