"...another tower went up where the homeless had their homes..." who will save your soul? -jewel

millie's a grumpy bunny.

last night i learned that my favorite neighborhood pub is closing its doors. the chelsea grill, and all the buildings on the block for that matter, have been sold to a developer to make way for more luxury condos.

just what chelsea needs. more modern looking glass pieces of shit for people to not be able to afford. seriously. no one with a SOUL has enough money to buy a STUDIO for $2 million dollars. you know what's sad? people will buy these condos, and they won't live there. they'll buy it as an investment, because you know, they've got an extra billion laying around their online savings account, and then they'll rent them out to professional yuppies who want to improve their image and live in a luxury building. so the yuppies rent, thereby driving up the rents of everyone in the walk-ups around them.

can't we go back to a time when chelsea was still kind of sketchy and the gays wore leather and suspenders instead of ralph lauren polo shirts? are those days so far away as a distant memory? chelsea has become a little enclave of families and yuppies ... the gays have moved to hell's kitchen, and even that is seeming to be scant. hell's kitchen is hardly that ... you can barely get a studio there for less than $2000 a month. unfathomable. where are the prostitutes to drive down real estate costs? where have they gone? astoria?

but seriously, this place was my cheers. i could walk in there any saturday night, unaccompanied, and be greeted with a chorus of people saying hello to me by name. i had my gays, my girls, my boys, the dj, the bartenders -- it was a family. i've been going there weekly for a solid year. it's my neighborhood hideaway. i'm like norm. perched at the end of the bar with a diet soda, singing karaoke -- pop ballads, power ballads and show tunes -- and now it's going to be razed for some development with a swankified name. like the ESPLANADE or the MAGNOLIA or the FRUITY-PIECE-OF-GLASS-SHIT-THAT-IS-NOT-WORTH-$4-LET-ALONE-$2 MILLION.

new york is changing. the neighborhoods are all blending together. it's one gentrified piece of crap. no wonder everyone's moving out. there's not going to be anywhere left to do anything that isn't corporate and yuppie. what happened to falling apart apartments with great colorful people in them? rent stabilized tenants are moving into nursing homes and the world is crashing down around us.

another starbucks? another gym? another abercrombie? who cares, the chelsea grill is no longer and i'm now at a loss for something to do on saturday night. this little addict is a grumpy bunny.

thanks for the memories, i guess.

warm springs

today i stumbled across warm springs, the hbo made-for-tv movie starring kenneth branagh and cynthia nixon. what a delight. very enjoyable that it focused more on roosevelt himself, rather than his politics or his 13 year presidency. in fact, the point of him being president was only mentioned via text on the screen just before the final credits.

warm springs was critically acclaimed and received many award nominations during its year, and i can certainly see why. AND another delightful performance from kathy bates as well -- i tell you, she keeps popping up in all these unexpected places, reminding me exactly what it is i want to be when i grow up.

--------------
warm springs
directed by joseph sargent
starring kenneth branagh, cynthia nixon, kathy bates
produced by hbo
re-airing several times a month, check your listings

lachanze earned that tony, dudes

so, in my inner circles i have been trash-talking the color purple for weeks. maybe it was because oprah winfrey was the show's major backing producer -- and no one failed to mention that. even lachanze, the lead in the show, mentioned oprah in her thank-you speech at the tonys as if she were a holy entity...you know, right before jesus.

but all trash talking aside, i had the pleasure of seeing the color purple at the broadway theatre right next to letterman on saturday.

i ate my words.

the show was unbelievable. it was well done, emotional and spectacularly performed.

from the 2nd row (thank you $26.75 rush tickets), the performers were larger than life on the gorgeous set that instantly transported you to celie's backyard and mister's broken down house. lachanze, as celie in her tony-winning role, owned the stage and the show. the girl's got pipes and she never fails to let you know that. each power song is infused with gospel harmonies and delicious key changes. it's a musical theatre nerd's holiday zone.

the real entertainment comes via felicia p. fields, playing sofia -- the oprah winfrey role in the movie version. she is large and in charge and has comic timing that cannot be taught, bought or sold. in her anthem "hell no" she practically had the 87% african-american audience storming the streets with her. every line uttered rolled off her tongue and struck every other performer on stage. she was a delight to watch. a special scene to watch out for comes in act 2 where she and her husband harpo, played by columbia university senior brandon victor dixon (why was i not on broadway my senior year of college? i mean, come on -- ) profess their love for each other in "is there anything i can do for you". at one point, fields jumps into his arms and balances on his hip bone. now, not to diss the girl -- as i am a full-figured mama myself -- but she is easily twice his size and she flew into his arms and he caught her as if she was just any next ballerina. at the end of the song, the audience was dying in the aisles from laughter; it was that good.

other performances of note include elisabeth withers-mendes as shug avery, the love and affection of celie and mister albert. celie and shug's duet at the end of act one was pure gold. their voices blending together were just outstanding.

the only scene i could have done without was the live-reenactment of nettie's letters from africa. i found it to be unnecessary and completely out of context. not to mention the women's costumes in this sequence leave all to bare -- too many nipples!

as i said, at first i was hesitant about this show -- and any show in particular that is so commercially driven, but let's face it -- the theatre world is just as much corporate america as everything else. i did enjoy, however, hearing the non-theatre people attending the show ask the merch attendants where oprah was, not realizing producers don't normally attend every performance. ha.

but, thanks, oprah ... it was a real delight.

--------------
the color purple
the broadway theater (1681 Broadway @ 53rd St)
starring lachanze, felicia p. fields, elisabeth withers-mendes &
brandon victor dixon
rush tickets available at the box office for $26.75 on the day of show
warning: people start lining up at 7 AM for evening and matinees

cinema addiction

the following is a list of movies that i cannot stop myself from watching if i encounter them on television. note that i have seen all of these movies over 10x each, and many of them were first seen by me in a theater.

the prince and me - starring julia stiles and luke mably. (just now when i was checking the spelling of his name, i discovered that there is in fact the prince and me 2, starring luke mably and no one else from the original. way to go, loser sequel. *goes to netflix it*

the prince and me is a delightful tale of a bookish college senior who, in spite of being "focused on med school", falls in love with eddie - the danish exchange student. little does she know, he's the prince of denmark. they fall in love, he asks her to marry him, she says yes, then says no, then there's a hug spin sequence at the end. look for a hot scene in the library stacks somewhere towards the middle.

notting hill - starring julia roberts and hugh grant.

notting hill is a delicious celeb-reality movie in which julia roberts plays anna scott, a fictitious version of a celebrity as famous as ... well... julia roberts. in a chance meeting with some unfortunate orange juice, she crosses paths with william thacker, the "once handsome, but now squidgy around the edges" owner of a travel book shop. tantrum after tantrum, they continue to reunite -- meetings months apart until he finally decides that he cannot be cast aside by her anymore. then she says, "i'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her." do i need to tell you what happens at the end?

love, actually - starring hugh grant, colin firth, keira knightley, laura linney and more.

love, actually is a rambling lives-that-intertwine kind of story that stars hugh grant as the prime minister of england. any movie that lets hugh grant be the prime minister of england (and billy bob thornton as the president of the usa, tee hee) is a-ok by me. the soundtrack is delicious.

contact - starring jodie foster and matthew mcconaughey.

contact is a sci-fi movie based on the novel by carl sagan. it follows the life of one brilliant scientist as she makes the biggest discovery of her career and of our ficticious time -- and has it stolen by policy and politics. i have seen this movie over 50 times and still get chills everytime she receives the signal from vega.

culture watch: rembrandt cheese

here at entertainment addict in nyc, i strive to give you all great things movie, theatre, nightlife and music related. but i would be remiss if i didn't mention a little something to delight your tummy!

recently i discovered rembrandt cheese, a relative of the gouda family. extra aged, it is simply delicious. snack on it, melt it or shred it over your favorites.

as i sit sweltering in my "it-feels-like-115-degrees-outside" un-airconditioned kitchen in the west village of manhattan, i can only imagine what a rembrandt-sicle would taste like!

pick it up at balducci's, or your favorite gourmet shopping store. balducci's offers maggie and jake gyllenhaal sitings at no extra cost.

have an old brownstone you're not using? turn it into a bar!

last night i had the extreme pleasure of drinking at vlada lounge, an exceptional watering hole in hell's kitchen. on the ground floor and second floor of an old brownstone on 51st street, vlada is a very hip and trendy place to get your drink and groove on. the dj was spinning lots of great dance tracks and it was actually not too loud -- which is always nice. (a novel concept: being able to hear the people you're talking to at a bar.)

a little pricey, but what isn't these days ... try the peach cosmo for $12 or the classic vodka cranberry for $7.

on the second floor, there is even a small stage and piano, perfect for late night crooning or drunk cabaret madness.

because it's in a brownstone, things get a little tight downstairs with the bar and the booths they have installed, but upstairs is nice and open and there's a cool counter you can sit on.

you can reserve the upstairs for parties and they don't charge you anything to do that if you meet a certain minimum for liquor sold. so, go throw a party!

--------------
vlada lounge
331 w. 51st street (btw 8th & 9th)
and since hell's kitchen is the new chelsea
there was an overwhelming gay-happy-friendly
atmosphere.

why broadway in bryant park might not be worth your time

the sound sucks. the music is canned. actors don't like to get up before 2pm.

these are all good reasons to buy tickets to the musicals that are showcased instead of getting your 4 free songs in bryant park every thursday afternoon circa 12:30 PM.

today was mamma mia, beauty and the beast and the drowsy chaperone.

mamma mia was perky enough. big cast, lots of dancing, company numbers -- makes for good viewing in open air park area.

beauty and the beast? disney barf-a-thon. it was only belle and gaston, and then i think gaston sang one of the beast's songs and then mrs. potts came on. you couldn't hear them and they were just bad. but, never fear: it's been open for 12 years and shows no signs of closing now that jacob young from "all my children" is stapled to the cast.

the drowsy chaperone gave it their best effort for sure. the entire cast appeared to be there, execpt for kecia lewis-evans. (and if i had a part as small as hers in such a good show, i'd probably stay in bed too.) they danced, they sang, they entertained. and if i could have heard them, i'm sure it would have been a good time.

to make matters even worse, you couldn't get that close to the stage because the lawn is "resting" after all the rain. it's fucking grass, why the fuck can't we stand on it. so, you're forced to watch from the perimeter. you can check bryant park's website before you go to see if the lawn is "resting" or if it's, you know, doing the conga.

not everything was meant to be performed in a park, unfortunately. but, it does provide interesting marketing opportunities. lackeys were scanning the mostly young-professional-on-a-4-minute-lunch-break crowd handing out mamma mia lip gloss. what is the world coming to?

and just for the hell of it: i went last week and the performance actually made me NOT want to see jacques brel is alive and well and living in paris which is actually a pretty cool show.

--------------
broadway in bryant park
40th - 42nd street @ 6th ave
sponsored by lite 106.7 fm and bank of america
thursdays from 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
(don't get there too early or else you'll be subject to awful
sound checks.)

laughs in the basement

last night, on the spur of the moment, millie, sister millie and sister millie's roommate traversed down to the comedy cellar, on the corner of macdougal and minetta lane in the west village to see some good, old fashioned comedy. after a $15 cover and a two item minimum (i had a soda and a piece of grandma's old fashioned apple pie ... at a comedy club, i know! who knew?) we were on our way to an evening of earth shattering laughter.

well, sort of.

the host of the evening, keith robinson, warmed up the house with some ripe jokes about white people vs. black people (it never gets old?) and pointed out the obvious out-of-towners sitting in the front row. you have to wonder if club management took a look at them and was like, "hey. those people are white and their shirts are tucked into their shorts! they're from anywhere, usa! put them in the front row for comic fodder!" it does get exhausting, act after act, as each comic says to them, "where are YOU from? cause it ain't new york!"

then we had some of the main event, including russ meneve, jim norton, andrew kennedy and jay oakerson. funny, decent. nothing too memorable. then, my friends: dave attell. featured on comedy central's "insomniac with dave attell", this guy is just hilarious. his facial features frequently sport a "poor me" motif, which just serves his truly self-depricating humor. he spent less time picking on the audience than the rest of the comics, and as a result -- got the most laughs. funny how that works. my personal favorite joke of his, and i am paraphrasing, i'm sorry: "girls love to get flowers, don't they? they love the fucking flower arrangements. and the flower people are so nosy -- 'what is the occasion, so i can help you pick the floral arrangement?' 'i punched my girlfriend in her cunt, what have you got for that?'" and then he went on to say, "somewhere between punching a girl in her cunt and sending flowers is Applebees."

i died. obviously my typing says nothing for his delivery, but he was in fact hilarious.

rounding out the night was sherrod small, most well known for his pokes and prods on VH1's "best week ever". i enjoy his comedy for several reasons: 1) he is a smart guy. very much for the same reason, i like eddie izzard, i enjoy comedians that reference a lot of current events. 2) he makes fun of all the races, not just white people. whenever he tells a particularly smart joke, he says something to the effect of "if you didn't get that, ask the asian kid sitting next to you."

stuff like that is funny.

in any case, table of 3 cost $90 -- including cover and drinks and pie and tip. so not a bad night out, if i do say so myself.

--------------
the comedy cellar
117 macdougal (btw w. 3rd and minetta lane)
$15 cover, plus 2 item minimum
all ages admitted, must be 21+ to drink
featuring comics like: dave attell, colin quinn, dave chappelle,
jim norton, sherrod small and more.

Caroline, or Change, a D.C. Hit, Extends to July 23

by Kenneth Jones, for Playbill.com

The Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C., has a hit on its hands with the area premiere of the Broadway musical, Caroline, or Change.

The resident staging of the musical by librettist-lyricist Tony Kushner and music Jeanine Tesori — featuring Julia Nixon in the title role — was embraced by critics and performances have been selling out. A fresh extension takes the show to July 23.
The run was originally to be May 17-June 25.

"As the Civil Rights movement ignites passions across the American South, one ordinary African-American woman dreams of changing her life," according to The Studio. "Caroline works as a maid for a Jewish family in Louisiana. When her employers tell her she can keep the change she finds in their eight-year-old son's pockets, they set in motion a series of events that will alter both Caroline and their family forever."

Read the rest of the article here...

***

For shame, Washington D.C. -- if you're embracing that, just THINK what you would have done had you seen tonya pinkins or adriane lenox (the tony-winning standby) in new york! if you think THAT performance is good, please go out and buy the original cast album, listen to "lot's wife" and then go back to the theatre and watch it again. is it really as good as you thought?

the performance at the studio theatre in washington d.c. was acceptable and poorly directed. nothing more. certainly not worthy of extension or accolades. they missed the boat here, folks.

"love if you can now, clara. love if you can and be loved."

the immortal words uttered by margaret johnson, the winston-salem, nc mother, via victoria clark this afternoon at the vivian beaumont theater of lincoln center rang louder than the cracked liberty bell, i tell you what.

i love this musical. the light in the piazza is one of the most romantic, touching, tragic, vibrant scores ever written for musical theatre. and the character of margaret johnson, which escalated vicki clark from semi-known character actress to a tony-winning, world-renknowned leading lady, is a role that, for me --a character actress, will never be forgotten.

vicki clark brings so much to the table, there isn't enough room to list it. whether it was her musical southern drawl, her physical freeness of running around the stage in catherine zuber's magnificent costumes, her exclamations of "whew!" at just the right times -- the performance is utter brilliance. and, i would say not to be missed, but alas. it closed today.

slightly bizarre to close on a matinee performance, i would have thought. but, these actors and the audience today certainly weren't phoning in any performances is or appearances. the energy inside of the beaumont today was pure electricity. each performer got a rousing ovation when they entered, none more than vicki, and each sang and spoke with a delightful urgency that reminded the audience that they were seeing something that was fleeting.

this was my 4th time seeing piazza live at the beaumont, 5 times if you count the live at lincoln center broadcast on pbs. i've owned the cast album for over a year and i purchased the piano/vocal selections approximately 6 months ago. so, yes, i'm a fan. there is something about this show that makes my hair stand on end, even a year and a half later, even after i've memorized everything and i know exactly what will happen on stage. i still find myself surprised and moved and overwhelmed.

vicki clark started crying a little after she entered before "statues and stories", mostly because the audience wouldn't stop applauding. i told my other theatre afficionado friends that there would be a pool going for who would be crying more -- me or her. i think i may have won, for while she had tears streaming down her cheeks through most of the 2nd act, i was sobbing during "fable", her gorgeous show-ending song.

"fable" in particular stirs my blood. telling everyone to look for love and when you find it, don't let go. suddenly feeling old and alone at 24 years old, "fable" cuts to my core and i just rode the rest of the song with her.

after a 10 minute curtain call, vicki asked everyone to sit down so she could talk. she talked about the cast, the crew, the orchestra, the writers (and invited adam guettel, craig lucas on stage with her), the direction (bartlett sher appeared wearing sneakers!) and for 20 minutes just basked in the glow that was piazza. she likened the final performance to giving birth to a child. painful, but so happy once you've delivered it. she also remarked that the audiences have been amazing partners. she acknowledged that sometimes the material is so heavy, she felt she couldn't continue. but the love of the viewers took her down a road that gave her the strength to come back and live the moments of the show.

matthew morrison, who originated the role of fabrizio nacarelli (now played brilliantly by aaron lazar) was in the audience. i glanced at him every once in awhile to get his reaction. during intermission i told him that i enjoyed his performance in the show when i saw it a year and a half ago. he acknowledged that it was weird sitting in the audience watching the show.

piazza is something special. this show will be with me for years to come. i know it's going on tour, but this past year and a half, where i have experienced it 5 times, has been different. i can't give credit to the show entirely, but it has in fact changed my life. i know people use that phrase so loosely these days. but i really mean it. victoria clark and the light in the piazza have done something for me that i will be thankful for for many years to come.

i will love if i can. i will love and be loved.

i see it. i hear it. everywhere. it's everywhere. it's everything and everywhere.

the light in the piazza.

free entertainment tip

yesterday i spent an hour or so chilling out at the hudson river park . i just walked to the end of 14th street and crossed the west side highway and walked downtown (south). after a little construction on the pier where the ny dept of sanitation is (yum), you will find yourself in a little urban paradise overlooking the hudson river and the rapidly developing jersey city.

there are some nice grassy patches for sunbathing and there is an adorable little kid park that has a fountain and a cool sprinkler thing for summer cool-down procedures. and it's all brand new and looks brand new, which is nice.

stop on by.

--------------
the hudson river park
550 acres and the largest open-space development
in manhattan since the completion of central park
free wi-fi from clarkson to horatio street in the w. village
starting at pier 99 (w. 59th street) and goes to battery park city