May 30 2009
Walked out of the media room at Joe Louis Arena before Game 1 tonight and right into ... Kid Rock. He's a skinny little guy. Who knew?
Question for Penguins fans: Blue vs. Black-and-Gold. Seeing lots of Penguins blue amid the other assorted colors here. Tell me why you'd rather be blue when it comes to Pens jerseys at seberson@post-gazette.com.
May 30 2009
Hey, Pittsburgers if you're on your way to Detroit today, besides construction concerns, you should also know that they're announcing around 30,000 people are downtown for the Race for the Cure this morning. It looks like a lively pink-out in some places out there.
For info: http://www.karmanos.org/raceforthecuredetroit/index.asp
May 28 2009
After back to back, polar opposite theatrical experiences -- "Spring Awakening" at Heinz Hall Tuesday and "Joseph and the Amazing . . ." Wednesday -- I'm exiting for a while and headed to Detroit to see what I can dig up of interest for Penguins fans.
If you're going to the Motor City, with or without a ticket, just to be close to the guys in black and gold, please share your experience. Send an e-mail to seberson@post-gazette.com or call 412-263-1960 (the voice message says I'm away from my desk, which I will be, but I can access my messages). Or if there's anything else you'd be interested in reading about, besides for who put the puck in the net and the final score, please send along your ideas.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
May 25 2009
It's been a while -- too much going on, so little time. Also, been distracted by the NBA and, of course, NHL playoffs. Did anyone see the LeBron shot heard 'round the world the other night? Amazing. And the Cavs still might lose to Dwight Howard and the Magic. Anyway . . .
I wrote about the revival of "Hair" for print and Chris Rawson wrote about the other musicals I saw while in New York, "9 to 5" and "West Side Story," but I'll add my 2 cents on the others here. I agree with Chris in that "9 to 5's" strength is in its familiarity and strong central roles -- it should play well on the road. It felt a little lightweight, but Allison Janney, who I think is more Lauren Bacall than Lily Tomlin, makes everything interesting and Megan Hilty has us all saying, "Hello, Dolly" -- Parton, that is. She was a lot of fun. Any time you can see talented dancers perform Jerome Robbins' choreography makes "West Side Story" a must see. I found the second-act ballet a little distracting, much more so than the Spanish dialogue and lyrics, and it all felt rushed. And inserting "Play It Cool" before the rumble was a big mistake in my estimation -- it works so well afterward in the movie version. But Josefina Scaglione gave Maria soul to go with her beauty and beautiful voice. She was worth the price of admission.
Speaking of stages filled with song, dance and talent ... Pittsburgh's own Gene Kelly Awards are one of the most entertaining evenings of theater this town has to offer. It's a shame that the Benedum Center has to be filled with the deserving performers, faculty and family, because it would be great for all theater lovers to see this one-off showcase of high school's best in musical theater. The Pittsburgh CLO, which administers the event with the University of Pittsbugh, brought in as presenters Shoshana Bean and David Osmond, the stars of CLO's season-opening show, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." It was great to watch their smiling faces, appreciating not only the talent of the young performers in Pittsburgh but this wonderful event; it was clear they'd never seen anything like it outside the Tonys.
I'm sure the new, national event in New York that's to be patterned after the Kellys, for representatives from high schools throughtout the United States, will be pretty spiffy. But they'll find it hard to match the Kellys for energy, excitement and grass-roots support.
While we're talking theater ... remember to visit pgTHEATERnow for the latest and greatest in local theater.
May 21 2009
TV viewers obviously loves Kris Allen, having voted him as their "American Idol" winner over Adam Lambert.
Most people called Allen's victory over the vocally blessed Lambert shocking, but not so fast:
According to a poll at PopEater.com, 48% of folks who have heard Allen's debut song," No Boundaries," “love it,” while 64% felt he deserved to win "Idol."
The poll went like this:
What do you think of 'No Boundaries'?
Love it! 48%
It's OK 35%
Not a fan 17%
Total Votes: 5,964
Who should've won 'American Idol'?
Kris Allen 64%
Adam Lambert 29%
Neither 7%
Total Votes: 6,426
May 14 2009
So, what they're telling us is, "Lost" is all about love?
Well, not all. But the Jack-Kate-Sawyer triangle (with Juliet on the fringes) reached a fever pitch in the explosive (had to say it) two-hour "Lost" finale on Wednesday. And when Jack revealed, to Sawyer of all people, that he was willing to blow up the island, himself and everyone on it, just on the chance he could start from scratch and hopefully get Kate back, well, I didn't know whether to hug him or lock him in a hatch for eternity.
He's been annoying in his seeming serene single-mindedness lately. I never would have guessed that it was all because he was pining for Kate.
And who was that man on the island's beach, sitting beside Jacob and looking out at a sailing ship -- a ship perhaps doomed to suffer a fate similar to that of Oceanic Flight 815? He was calmly telling Jacob -- the "real" Jacob this time, I suppose, and not the Jacob in the form of Jack's father -- that he wished he could kill Jacob, but there was something preventing that from happening. (I laughed out loud later, when Richard tried to stop Locke from taking Ben along to see Jacob, citing a "rule," and Locke got angry and accused him of making up the rules as he goes along.)
And why doesn't Richard age? Was that corpse really Locke and the Locke who led Ben to Jacob the guy from back on the beach? And does Sawyer really still love Kate, or did he realize that Juliet was the one?
It was telling, I thought, that in the end, the only person willing to say "I love you" out loud was Juliet.
Still more questions than answers. I have to reset the DVR and watch again for any clues I might have missed. Then wait until next year for the final season and see if I was lost all along.
Any thoughts, "Lost" fans?
May 14 2009
RAVO AND COMCAST BRING "TOP CHEF: THE TOUR 2" TO PITTSBURGH, PA ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2009
Bravo's "Top Chef: The Tour 2," a 21-city promotional tour featuring a customized 18-wheeler semi-truck "with an
expansive space to accommodate more fans for each on-site demonstration" will
visit the Strip District May 20. Bravo, Comcast and
Foodland are sponsoring the tour stop.
Guests chefs will be Season Five's Ariane Duarte and
Season Four's Spike Mendelsohn. There will be three shows --10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. and
1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. -- in the Strip at 21st Street between
Smallman and Penn.
According the press release, the "Top Chef" truck is "a 44-foot
self-sufficient moving vehicle equipped with power and water, and includes a
state-of-the-art kitchen. The truck will expand outwards with its kitchen,
stage, demonstration area and 60 seats, all under an enclosed canopy. Additional
guests will be able to view demonstrations from outside of the seating area or
from a 50" plasma television in the activity area. More info at bravotv.com.
May 13 2009
Got an intriguing e-mail that I thought I'd share. The title was "BROADWAY TO GO 3D: Broadway is Being Re-imagined; for the First Time Ever, Broadway Shows to be Broadcast in 3D in Movie Theaters around the World.
"A new entertainment partnership" called Fugobi says it arrived on the scene at a meeting of The Broadway League last week, with a plan to follow a stage production from it's earliest stages to a big-screen, 3-D film.
"In response to what they describe as an increasing demand for interactive, integrated and inclusive entertainment options, ["Xanadu" producer Dale] Smith and [Aussie TV vet Tim] Hickson have created fugobi broadway 3d: a fully immersive, universally accessible, ‘larger than live'TM experience that will be a fundamental part of a show's road to Broadway, as well as successful touring engagements and international productions."
There are no projects listed and their Web site is in the works, but getting the best of Broadway on film for the masses who never get to New York is definitley an idea whose time has come. Does it need to be 3-D? I have to admit, I'm not as sure about that.
May 13 2009
I have an overactive DVR, so "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" gets a hit only when someone in the household is pumped about the guest. Sorry, Fareed Zakaria. You probably lost out on May 5 because some other late-night talker had a guest who we deemed to be more interesting than you.
Well, obviously, we were wrong.
Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, was on the show to promote his book, "The Post-American World," and when I came home from vacation, I got an e-mail suggesting that I go to the "Daily Show" Web site and watch Zakaria's appearance.
The author/editor jokingly pronounced his book "Brilliant," prompting the host to find out who had give the book a stamp of approval. The blurb Stewart referred to was by David Shribman, editor of the Post-Gazette. Jon Stewart obviously does not know (or care) that Mr. Shribman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, so his tone was rather mocking.
Still, as long as you're not a politician being called out on a blunder, it's pretty cool to be mocked by Jon Stewart.
May 12 2009
Did you know that Robert De Niro rejected the first song John Kander and the late Fred Ebb turned in as the theme for the film, "New York, New York"?
That little pop culture fact comes courtesy of a Biography channel episode on De Niro's co-star, Liza Minnelli. The great songwriting team explained that director Martin Scorsese came to them and said sorry, guys, but Bobby doesn't like it. They were not pleased, but went back to the drawing board and wrote the "New York, New York" that became the city's anthem.
I was thinking about that walking through the streets of NYC last weekend, how "if I can make it here," the "I" of the song probably had to sweat out a few failures first.
The streets around Broadway felt like they were my playground when I was a messenger in the jewelry district during my college days. When work was over, there was always a concert, a play, a musical, a hockey game at the Garden - some reason to stay in the city.
Now, it seems a little too much like a kids' playground in Times Square. There were characters - Elmo, the Tin Man, Minnie Mouse - all around to take pictures with, but no Naked Cowboy for three straight days. Street pashminas were $5, five for $20, so no haggling on prices. A guy dressed as Pharaoh was in the window of the Hershey's store, promoting the sequel to "Night at the Museum." And the Ollie's Noodles that was on 44th Street is now a Levi's store.
OK, OK, so sometimes I find it hard to embrace change.
There are advantages to this new New York.
Bryant Park looks great in a sunny spring day and, instead of being afraid of running into a drug deal, people respectfully keep off the grass and use the ample number of seats and tables provided there; families bring kids to the quaint carousel (Schenley Plaza's is way bigger) and there's a nice restaurant hard against the library with a roof terrace bar and dining.
The Tony Awards signs all around Radio City and midtown brought a smile to my face. Hugh Jackman, who's been prepping for a new musical but now making the "Wolverine" rounds on talk shows, has been talking about his hosting experiences at the Oscars and the Tonys, and he keeps joking about how the latter is mostly a private gathering at Radio City, wth perhaps dozens watching on TV. A shame ... it's the one way most people get to see the best of Broadway.
Midtown Manhattan, for me, is all about the shows, after all, and Times Square is all about sensory overload.
Times Square with stadium seating seems like an idea stolen from Chris Rawson, who has twice gathered Pittsburghers there and creating his own scaffolding for the events. Now, there are permanent bleachers there, the better to look out at the mass of people and incredible digital signs that loom all around.
More later on "Hair," "9 to 5" and "West Side Story."
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