It almost seems as though my blog has turned into an obituary column. With each passing day either one of my childhood heroes or just a noteworthy public figure passes away. Some of them I didn’t even get a chance to mention.
Today the first news I heard when I awakened was that one of my favorite comedians, George Carlin, had died. He is an iconic figure who not only amused and delighted a generation with his sharp observations about life, politics, religion or just stupid behavior by average people, but he influenced a legion of comedians like Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock. Carlin had a mastery of the English language despite being a high school dropout.
You can read all about his life in this NY Times obituary, but the best way to appreciate him is through his work.
Here is his “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” routine that caused controversy all the way to the US Supreme Court.
While it is easy to appreciate the beauty and artistry of dance, what often gets overlooked is the hard life they face as performers. Modest income, physical injuries and uncertain career paths all come with the territory. Now, a group with experience helping members of the show business profession is lending a hand.
The Actors Fund has a program specifically geared toward the dance community, called The Dancers’ Resource. The program addresses the unique situations dancers face because of the physically demanding nature of their work coupled with the significant financial challenges of earning a living in dance.
The Dancers’ Resource has seminars specifically designed for dancers, serves as a “support system” and offers groups for dancers dealing with injuries or other health concerns. The Dancers’ Resource will have an online component, to link dancers’ to additional resources and create an online community. The program will also address mental health issues including eating disorders, substance abuse, depression and other clinical areas.
The Dancers’ Resource program was founded by Actors Fund Trustee Bebe Neuwirth and grew out of her personal experience as a dancer.
“Last year I had hip replacement surgery,” said Neuwirth. “It came after several years of physical therapy, arthroscopic surgery, and excruciating pain. Add to that the emotional stress of not being able to dance and not wanting people to know about my condition - and I think you understand what that prison is like. After the replacement I recognized how extremely lucky I was to have a great doctor and great support from the few people with whom I shared my secret. And so I’d like to create a support system for other dancers.”
The Dancers’ Resource is just one of dozens of lifesaving programs provided by The Actors Fund. (Years ago, when I needed to make the transition out of a full-time acting career, I was helped tremendously by the Fund’s Actors Work Program.) From the Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic, AIDS services and the Health Insurance Resource Center to employment training, healthcare and housing, The Actors Fund is meeting the very real needs of the performing arts and entertainment community.
It has been awhile since I have written anything of any substance. I can’t promise you this one will be any great shakes either, but at least it won’t be a meme or some cut and paste photo or video. Not that you care but it really is hard coming up with regular blog content when you’re brain dead at the end of a work day and the weather is starting to get nice outside again. Maybe that’s grist for a future blog.
In any event, living in New York has certain advantages not the least of which is the abundance of cultural offerings constantly available. I know I need to get out more and see something interesting, so I thought I’d pass along some of the arts events that have caught my eye.
Regrettably, I missed this one and if you are just hearing about it now, you will have as well. But the distinguished South African actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona recreated roles they first performed more than 30 years ago in a revival of Athol Fugard’s Sizwi Banzi is Dead which was in limited engagement at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. A tale of South Africa’s apartheid system and the hardships Black residents faced, Kani and Ntshona were once jailed for performing the play in their homeland but later won Tony Awards when it was first presented in New York. With their closing performance on April 19, it will be the last time they do the play together.
Television actor Boris Kodjoe (Soul Food) stepped into the role of Brick this past week in the Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, taking over for Terrence Howard through May 4. Howard left to fulfill a contractual obligation on a movie role. He’ll return May 6 and finish the show’s expected run through June 22. The play is receiving quite favorable notices and Kodjoe is delighted to have the opportunity.
On April 30, Laurence Fishburne stars in a one-man-show about the life of the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, in a limited engagement at the Booth Theatre. Fishburne, who has a Tony for his work in August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running” sees the part as a great challenge, in this interview he did with Theatermania.com.
The Broadway musical Passing Strange (which I have yet to see) recorded its cast album last week. Normally that’s an all day affair in a recording studio, but a show that tells “the coming-of-age story of a middle-class youth seeking to find ‘the real’ by embarking on a journey of escape and exploration,” couldn’t do things in the conventional manner. Instead they performed the songs from the show live in front of an audience at the Belasco Theatre. Playbill.com has pictures.
Warmer weather means festivals and there are several on the horizon.
The Tribeca Film Festival gets underway next Wednesday, April 23 and runs until May 4. Fifty-three world premieres will be screened at seven different venues. It’s usually a tough ticket to snag but they are on sale online.
The Joyce Theater—a wonderful place to watch a dance performance—holds its 123 Festival April 29-May 11. It will showcase some of the finest new dancers and most exciting dance companies in the country. Among the companies is Ailey II, the “junior” unit of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Finally, here’s an early heads up for two June festivals. The Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, Massachusetts (for those of us who like leaving NYC in the summer) opens June 18 for a ten week run. One of my favorite companies, Garth Fagan Dance, performs during the opening week. The JVC Jazz Festival takes over New York during the last two weeks of June, with performances by some of jazz’s biggest names in the city’s concert halls, nightclubs and outdoor performance spaces.
Not that I’ve ever been a big Tyler Perry fan or was in any way inclined to go see his latest film Meet the Browns, but some reading I’ve done in the last two days has pretty much solidified it for me. Some of these reviews are funnier than the movie apparently.
Call me a snob but I’ve never been a fan of overly-simplistic storylines, one dimensional characters and heavy-handed sermonizing. Plus I’ve never liked shelling out $10-12 (what we pay here in NYC) for movies that will be on cable by the summer.
Striking members of the Writers Guild of America East and West are reviewing terms of a contract proposal from motion picture and television producers that could end the three month walkout and get writers back to work possibly as early as Monday. More noteworthy is the early report that writers may have gotten most of what they wanted in the agreement.
Writers staged a strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers largely over residual rights to produced work that airs on the internet or that is sold via DVD. Producers have kept all of the revenue for themselves despite the fact that the entertainment industry is moving more and more product into these new technologies. Writers have been asking for as little as 2 cents on the dollar, but the tight-fisted producers have continued to play Scrooge.
But with the industry’s premiere event, the Academy Awards, just weeks away and the threat of a repeat of this year’s Golden Globe Awards, where there was no ability to use writers and nominees who were members of the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild stayed away in a show of support, producers had incentive to come to their senses and return to the bargaining table.
UPDATE: This editorial in today’s Los Angeles Times suggests the strike was worth it.