Vaudeville
Burlesque Excess
The Ninth Annual New York Burlesque Festival starts today, Sept. 29. By Oct. 2 it will have peeled completely away, and winners of the Golden Pasties awards will have been announced. Connecticut has welcomed many of the New York-based artists active in the latest burlesque revival scene. The World Famous Pontani Sisters are not just … Continue reading
Sinthea Starr Shines on Westville’s Lyric Hall: An Interview with Her Muse Joel Vig
“I first met Sinthea Starr aboard the Theatre Guild ship when Joy Behar was supposed to join us but got snowed in in New York. We had 25 minutes, but needed to get 55 ready, while sailing. “Sinthea Starr had performed before, a single number. So I had seen her perform at that time. Since … Continue reading
Ukulele Faustus: Chris Arnott plays tonight
I have a ukulele gig tonight (Thursday, Sept. 22) at the New Haven club Café Nine. I mention it because, as part of what I laughingly call my “act,” I perform a ukulele variation on the incantation speech from Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus. Just the one scene so far, but I’m working on more. My father … Continue reading
Jerry Meandering
I did a pre-show lament about the MDA no-longer-Jerry-Lewis Telethon yesterday on my other page, www.scribblers.us. Having watched as much as I could stand of last night’s Lewis-starved broadcast, I realized that an even greater loss can be registered. The Jerry Lewis Telethon was the last bastion of a certain type of TV variety show … Continue reading
Lady Zeppo
Lady Blue Eyes: My Life With Frank By Barbara Sinatra with Wendy Holden (Crown Archetype, 2011) Not that I care nothing about Frank Sinatra, but the reason I got Lady Blues: My Life With Frank out of the library was that, before Barbara Ann Blakeley became Mrs. Frank Sinatra, she was Mrs. Zeppo Marx. Few … Continue reading
Pie Squared
BBC Radio 4’s daily arts news show Front Row sliced a terrific bonus performance-art story out of the Rupert Murdoch testimonial pie-throwing fiasco. (See previous post.) The show contacted the fabric artist whose large linen piece “Debate” hangs in the hall where Murdoch was being grilled about his part in the News of the World … Continue reading
Yum! Pie!
British comic Jonnie Marbles tried to hit Rupert Murdoch with a pie—‘or rather, “a pie plate of foam,” as an Associated Press story unfancifully labeled it—during the media magnate’ s testimony in the News of the World phone hacking scandal. Marbles was deflected by Murdoch’ s wife Wendi Deng before the pie—for theatrical purposes, this … Continue reading
Where Are They Now?
A few months ago I wrote a cover story, and supplementary blog posts, for the New Haven Advocate on a couple of sassy, dressy burlesque shows at the music club Cafe Nine. (Those writings are, alas, no longer archived at the Advocate site.) Yesterday I finally made it to the Ripley’s Believe It or Not … Continue reading
Q&A, They’re The Monkees: Answers to the Monkees as Actors Quiz
The quiz is here. The answers are: 1. Oliver! 2. The Point 3. Grease 4. Pippin 5. The Prison 6. Vince Fontaine in Grease 7. Television Parts 8. The Uncle Floyd Show 9. “To Be Or Not to Be.” 10. Bugsy Malone 11. Fagin. 12. Videoranch 3D 13. Broadway Micky This also helps answer the … Continue reading
Proscenium Archie
The criticism seems rather harsh, considering that the performance brought Mr. Weatherbee to tears. And who among us wouldn’t wish to see Archie Andrews and Betty Cooper performing 19th century melodrama?