Article archives
Python Maurice, 18 Feet Long, Battles Mickey Rourke ‘Wrestler’
July 31 (Bloomberg) — Eighteen feet long and more than 200 pounds, Maurice Le Grand is a big eater who has a butler to keep her happy with frozen bunnies.
The python has joined circus impresario Jim Rose’s latest traveling show which also features that former bad-boy wrestler Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
Roberts, a model for the down-and-out character Mickey [...]
MNOUCHKINE PRESENTS MINUTIAE OF EVERYDAY LIFE IN “LES EPHEMERES”
July 6 (Bloomberg) — The 12 intimate stories comprising “Les Ephemeres” include one by the epic drama’s celebrated French director Ariane Mnouchkine. Which story, she’s not divulging — she prefers injecting a bit of mystery into the show.
“Les Ephemeres” begins a two-week run tomorrow night at New York’s Park Avenue Armory as part of the Lincoln Center [...]
Ratmansky Sets War-Torn Love Triangle to Prokofiev: Interview
June 1 (Bloomberg) — During a final rehearsal of his new ballet, “On the Dnieper,” Alexei Ratmansky took center stage amidst the set’s cherry blossoms and wooden fences. The choreographer carefully watched his lithe principal dancers — Marcelo Gomes, Veronika Part and Paloma Herrera — become entangled in an emotionally convoluted yet elegant pas de trois.
The centerpiece [...]
“Two Days of Rain”: A Visit to the 2009 St. Lucia Jazz Fest
Local jazz great Ronald “Boo” Hinkson
The St. Lucia Jazz Festival is held on one of the Caribbean’s most lush and mountainous islands. This year’s lineup included such talents as Amy Winehouse, Chaka Khan and Patti LaBelle. Journalist Robert Hilferty reports from the tropical paradise.
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For the past 18 years of the St. Lucia Jazz Festival, which [...]
The Trouble With Harry
Gay playwright Jon Marans tackles the Mattachine Society — with the help of Ugly Betty star Michael Urie — in his new play, The Temperamentals.
An Advocate.com exclusive posted May 1, 2009
Before Stonewall and Harvey Milk there was Harry Hay. Pulitzer-nominated gay playwright Jon Marans resurrects this fascinating figure and his daring cohorts in The Temperamentals, which opens May 4 at the [...]
Anacondas, Millipedes Terrify Writer Hunting Explorer in Amazon
April 30 (Bloomberg) — After British explorer Percy Fawcett disappeared in the Amazon jungle in 1925, a number of copycat “Fawcett freaks” also vanished while searching for him.
David Grann survived to write “The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon.” It’s a gripping story that has already been optioned by Brad [...]
Merce Keeps It Going
Nonagenarian Merce Cunningham still wows the crowd in Brooklyn with his latest show, Nearly Ninety.
An Advocate.com exclusive posted April 20, 2009
George Balanchine and Merce Cunningham are the two greatest choreographers of the 20th century — yet polar opposites in method, style, and relation to music. But Cunningham is still alive and making new dances in the 21st [...]
Music Around the Clock in the Garden of Evil
Savannah Music Festival makes a big impression
March 26 2009
Savannah is frequently called the most beautiful city in America — and it is. An historic Southern town draped in mesmerizing Spanish moss, you feel as if you’re drifting inside an Impressionist painting when you wander into one of its many charming squares.
This corner of Georgia is [...]
Bernstein’s Masterpiece Snaps Back to Broadway
Broadway revival of West Side Story: worth the wait
March 20 2009
The Broadway revival of West Side Story that just opened at the Palace Theatre was supposed to arrive for the show’s 50th anniversary at the end of 2007, but didn’t quite make it on time. Yet it’s worth the wait. Arthur Laurents, who wrote the original book, [...]
Former Penal Colony Becomes Eco-Destination
March 18 (Bloomberg) — Following a trail leading to one of Brazil’s most beautiful beaches, I was wonder-struck by a craggy, thumb-shaped rock towering 1,060 feet (323 meters) above the shimmering sea. This geological showoff was a signal of more natural splendors ahead.
Morro do Pico (Peak’s Hill) is one of many glorious sites on the [...]