The Culture Czar

'Musical Fireworks' Today at Avery Fisher

John S.W. MacDonald — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:01:24 -0400

CONCERTS

"The live show is the new album cover," says David Tobias, singer/guitarist for Brooklyn's electro-funksters Apes & Androids. In a piece in July's Spin on the new vogue for psychadelic stage-shows, we learn that the Androids hand out kazoos to their audience so they can play along to Gary Glitter's "Rock & Roll Part 2," and that the band's friends are known to dress up like zombies on-stage and perform a dead-on impression of Michael Jackson's "Thriller." Sounds like a good time. Even better when you consider who the boys are playing with—the borough's most accomplished sonic terrorists, A Place To Bury Strangers. read more »

In the Heights Choreographer Guesting on So You Think You Can Dance

Gillian Reagan — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:12:43 -0400

Andy Blankenbuehler, the dance choreographer who won a Tony award for his saucy Latin and contemporary routines for Broadway's In the Heights, will be a guest on the best (in our humble opinion!) reality show on network TV this summer: Fox's So You Think You Can Dance. He'll be creating a new routine for one of the seven remaining couples in the competition. They dance a new routine in pairs each week in different styles, including Broadway, hip-hop, ballroom, contemporary and jazz. If the competitors make their moves on stage and don't get on judge Mary Murphy's "hot tamale train," they'll have to dance solos and risk being eliminated. read more »

Gillian Anderson to Play War Journalist, Hemingway's Ex Gellhorn

Gillian Reagan — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:39:18 -0400

Gillian Anderson is all about Martha Gellhorn, a war reporter who covered conflicts for 60 years. As a correspondent for Collier's Weekly, she reported on the Spanish Civil War, along with her future husband, Ernest Hemingway. Ms. Anderson read Caroline Moorehead's 2004 biography Gellhorn: A Twentieth-Century Life and was hooked. "Martha Gellhorn was one of the most respected journalists of this century, and I thought Caroline's biography effectively encompassed her rich and complex life," Ms. Anderson told Variety. She was so taken with Ms. Gellhorn's story that she's producing and starring in a new movie about the journalist. read more »

Manhattan Weekend Box Office: Talking Robots Can't Outsell Angelina Jolie's Pretty Pucker

John S.W. MacDonald — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:38:14 -0400

Manhattan may be famous for its plummeting crime rate (Oslo has four times as much crime as New York this year!), but it's clear its residents still have a taste for violence — that, or they prefer Angelina Jolie's slender arms and James McAvoy's glistening chest to a dented metal-box with eyes. Either way, last weekend New Yorkers resisted the calls of ecstatic critics and chose Timur Bekmambetov's kill-fest Wanted — in which Jolie and McAvoy star as members of a secret gang of assassins — over Pixar's Wall-E. Wanted raked in just over a million dollars locally during its opening weekend, making it the city's no. read more »

Free Bon Jovi Concert Slated for Central Park

Gillian Reagan — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:45:47 -0400

As the Politicker's Azi Paybarah reported this morning, all New Jersey cheese-rock fans will descend upon Central Park on July 12 for the Jon Bon Jovi concert. It's free but you'll need tickets. Where can you get 'em? We're half way there!

According to a press release posted by Brooklyn Vegan, beginning tomorrow, July 2, tickets will be distributed at baseball parks and events throughout New York City. The bulk of tickets distributed at the ballparks will be found at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, with others made available at Shea Stadium in Queens, KeySpan Park in Brooklyn, and at the home of the Staten Island Yankees at 9 a.m. In addition, tickets also will be available in Manhattan at DHL All-Star FanFest at the Jacob K. Javits Center on Friday, July 11. MLB.com also will be conducting a random drawing for tickets. read more »

Jonathan Levine Finds Work After Wackness

Gillian Reagan — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:41:01 -0400

Jonathan Levine, whose New York '90s dramedy The Wackness is being released this weekend, has just signed on to two new projects. He'll work on Positive, a "romantic thriller" that sounds like a slightly scarier version of Meet the Parents, and Echelon Vendetta, an adaptation of David Stone's thriller novel about a CIA agent who tries to keep the organization's shady ways under wraps.

The Hollywood Reporter reports:

"Positive" centers on a twenty-something who visits his fiancee's family only to be seduced by her sister. Occupant's Joe Neurauter, Felipe Marino and Keith Calder will produce the film, which is aiming for a mid-2009 start date. read more »

Peter Sarsgaard, Kristin Scott Thomas to Star in Seagull on Broadway

Gillian Reagan — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:47:34 -0400

Chekhov's The Seagull is back on Broadway, this time with indie movie hipster god Peter Sarsgaard as Trigorin, pretty Brit actress Kristin Scott Thomas as Arkadina and Zoe Kazan (featured in the forthcoming film August) as Masha. Pretty great casting, especially considering Ms. Thomas' Olivier award for best actress for the last time she performed The Seagull. But how will Mr. Sarsgaard do compared to Alan Cumming's performance as the broody famous writer who woos an older woman and a budding actress in the Classic Stage Company's production last spring? We'll find out when the play opens open Oct. 1 at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Preview performances begin Sept. 16, according to the Associated Press.

Jason Schwartzman Cast in HBO Pilot as Drunken Brooklynite

Gillian Reagan — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:07:24 -0400

HBO has found an actor for anew pilot that we're actually psyched about! Jason Schwartzman will play "a struggling thirtysomething writer with a drinking problem in Brooklyn" in their comedy Bored to Death, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Mr. Schwartzman is kind of stuck in this role as the resident weirdo/grumpy guy in movies but we don't mind. He'll play Jonathan, a guy who just got his heart broken by his ex-girlfriend and decides to become a faulty private detective. read more »

Adding Machine to Close July 20

Gillian Reagan — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:16:18 -0400

Adding Machine, the little Off-Broadway show that could about a man who lost his job to a machine, will close its curtains at the Minetta Lane Theatre on July 20. The play began previews Feb. 8 and officially opened Feb. 25.

Producer Scott Morfee said in a statement, "Adding Machine is a labor of love for all involved. The New York production, which sits so perfectly at the Minetta Lane Theatre, has allowed this musical to get the kind of attention it deserves. My partners and I are proud to know that Adding Machine will prove to be a significant addition to the repertoire of opera companies and adventurous theater troupes around the world, and the introduction of an extraordinary new voice in the musical theater (Mr. read more »

Japan Cuts Film Fest Roundup

Caroline Bankoff — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:09:46 -0400

The Japan Society will once again be hosting its annual Japan Cuts festival, a twelve-day review of Japanese cinema at its Manhattan headquarters. Beginning on Wednesday, the Society will be screening a mix of feature premieres, revivals, and short films. Here’s a roundup of some of the most highly recommended offerings: read more »