1.
Metropolitan Opera
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The Metropolitan Opera, commonly referred to as The Met, is a company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager, the music director position is in transition as of 2016. The music director designate is Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the director emeritus is James Levine. The Met was founded in 1880 as an alternative to the previously established Academy of Music opera house, the Metropolitan Opera is the largest classical music organization in North America. It presents about 27 different operas each year in a season lasts from late September through May. The operas are presented in a rotating schedule with up to seven performances of four different works staged each week. Moving to the new Lincoln Center location in 1966, performances are given in the evening Monday through Saturday with a matinée on Saturday, several operas are presented in new productions each season. Sometimes these are borrowed from or shared with other opera houses, the rest of the years operas are given in revivals of productions from previous seasons. The 2015-16 season comprised 227 performances of 25 operas, the operas in the Mets repertoire consist of a wide range of works, from 18th-century Baroque and 19th-century Bel canto to the Minimalism of the late 20th century. These operas are presented in staged productions that range in style from those with elaborate traditional decors to others that feature modern conceptual designs, the Mets performing company consists of a large symphony-sized orchestra, a chorus, childrens choir, and many supporting and leading solo singers. The company also employs numerous free-lance dancers, actors, musicians, the Mets roster of singers includes both international and American artists, some of whose careers have been developed through the Mets young artists programs. The Metropolitan Opera Company was founded in 1880 to create an alternative to New Yorks old established Academy of Music opera house, the subscribers to the Academys limited number of private boxes represented the highest stratum in New York society. By 1880, these old families were loath to admit New Yorks newly wealthy industrialists into their long-established social circle. Frustrated with being excluded, the Metropolitan Operas founding subscribers determined to build a new house that would outshine the old Academy in every way. A group of some 22 men assembled at Delmonicos restaurant on April 28,1880 and they elected officers and established subscriptions for ownership in the new company. The first Met subscribers included members of the Morgan, Roosevelt, the new Metropolitan Opera House opened on October 22,1883, and was an immediate success, both socially and artistically. The Academy of Musics opera season folded just three years after the Met opened, in its early decades the Met did not produce the opera performances itself but hired prominent manager/impresarios to stage a season of opera at the new Metropolitan Opera House. Henry Abbey served as manager for the season, 1883–84
2.
Brooklyn
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Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York City, with a Census-estimated 2,636,735 residents in 2015. It borders the borough of Queens at the end of Long Island. Today, if New York City dissolved, Brooklyn would rank as the third-most populous city in the U. S. behind Los Angeles, the borough continues, however, to maintain a distinct culture. Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are ethnic enclaves, Brooklyns official motto, displayed on the Borough seal and flag, is Eendraght Maeckt Maght which translates from early modern Dutch as Unity makes strength. Since 2010, Brooklyn has evolved into a hub of entrepreneurship and high technology startup firms. The history of European settlement in Brooklyn spans more than 350 years, the neighborhood of Marine Park was home to North Americas first tidal mill. It was built by the Dutch, and the foundation can be seen today, however, the area was not formally settled as a town. Many incidents and documents relating to this period are in Gabriel Furmans early compilation, what is today Brooklyn left Dutch hands after the final English conquest of New Netherland in 1664, a prelude to the Second Anglo–Dutch War. The English reorganized the six old Dutch towns on southwestern Long Island as Kings County on November 1,1683 and this tract of land was recognized as a political entity for the first time, and the municipal groundwork was laid for a later expansive idea of Brooklyn identity. On August 27,1776 was fought the Battle of Long Island, the first major engagement fought in the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared, and the largest of the entire conflict. British troops forced Continental Army troops under George Washington off the heights near the sites of Green-Wood Cemetery, Prospect Park. The fortified American positions at Brooklyn Heights consequently became untenable and were evacuated a few days later, One result of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 was the evacuation of the British from New York City, celebrated by residents into the 20th century. The New York Navy Yard operated in Wallabout Bay for the entire 19th century, the first center of urbanization sprang up in the Town of Brooklyn, directly across from Lower Manhattan, which saw the incorporation of the Village of Brooklyn in 1817. Reliable steam ferry service across the East River to Fulton Landing converted Brooklyn Heights into a town for Wall Street. Ferry Road to Jamaica Pass became Fulton Street to East New York, Town and Village were combined to form the first, kernel incarnation of the City of Brooklyn in 1834. Industrial deconcentration in mid-century was bringing shipbuilding and other manufacturing to the part of the county. Each of the two cities and six towns in Kings County remained independent municipalities, and purposely created non-aligning street grids with different naming systems and it later became the most popular and highest circulation afternoon paper in America. The publisher changed to L. Van Anden on April 19,1842, on May 14,1849 the name was shortened to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, on September 5,1938 it was further shortened to Brooklyn Eagle
3.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
4.
Ridgefield, Connecticut
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Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the 300-year-old community had a population of 24,638 at the 2010 census, the town center, which was formerly a borough, is defined by the U. S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place. Ridgefield was first settled by English colonists from Norwalk and Milford in 1708, the town was incorporated under a royal charter from the Connecticut General Assembly issued in 1709. The most notable 18th-century event was the Battle of Ridgefield on April 27,1777 and they faced a larger British force that had landed at Westport and was returning from a raid on the colonial supply depot in Danbury. Today, the dead from both sides are buried together in a cemetery on Main Street on the right of the entrance to Casagmo condominiums. foes in arms. The Keeler Tavern, an inn and museum, features a British cannonball still lodged in the side of the building. There are many landmarks from the Revolutionary War in the town. In the summer of 1781, the French army under the Comte de Rochambeau marched through Connecticut, encamping in the Ridgebury section of town, for much of its three centuries, Ridgefield was a farming community. Among the important families in the 19th century were the Rockwells and Lounsburys and they produced two Connecticut governors, George Lounsbury and Phineas Lounsbury. The Ridgefield Veterans Memorial Community Center on Main Street, also called the Lounsbury House, was built by Gov. Phineas Chapman Lounsbury around 1896 as his primary residence, the Lounsbury Farm near the Florida section of Ridgefield is one of the only remaining operational farms in Ridgefield. These and dozens of other estates became unaffordable and unwieldy during and after the Great Depression, in their place came subdivisions of one- and 2-acre lots that turned the town into a suburban, bedroom community in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. However, strong planning and zoning has maintained much of the 19th- and early 20th-century charm of the town, in 1946, Ridgefield was one of the locations considered for the United Nations secretariat building, but was not chosen due to its relative inaccessibility. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has an area of 35.0 square miles, of which 34.4 square miles is land and 0.5 square miles. The town is bordered by the towns of North Salem and Lewisboro in Westchester County, New York to the west, Danbury to the north, Wilton to the south, the town has a Metro-North Railroad station called Branchville in the Branchville corner of town. The Census designated place corresponding to the center covers a total area of 6.4 square miles. Ridgefield consists of hilly, rocky terrain, ranging from 1,060 feet above sea level to 342 feet at Branchville and its average village elevation is 725 feet above sea level. The landscape is strewn with countless rocks deposited by glaciers, and among the bodies of water is Round Pond. A particularly interesting feature is Camerons Line, named for Eugene N. Cameron and this fault line was formed some 250 million years ago by the collision of Proto North America and Proto Africa, and there are still occasional light earthquakes felt along its length
5.
Torch Song Trilogy
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Torch Song Trilogy is a collection of three plays by Harvey Fierstein rendered in three acts, International Stud, Fugue in a Nursery, and Widows and Children First. The story centers on Arnold Beckoff, a Jewish homosexual, drag queen, the four-hour play begins with a soliloquy in which he explains his cynical disillusionment with love. Each act focuses on a different phase in Arnolds life, in the first, Arnold meets Ed, who is uncomfortable with his bisexuality. In the second, one later, Arnold meets Alan. In the third, several years later, Arnold is a single father raising gay teenager David, Arnold is forced to deal with his mothers intolerance and disrespect when she visits from Florida. The first act derives its name from a gay bar of the same name at 117 Perry Street in Greenwich Village in the 1960s and 1970s. The bar had a backroom where men engaged in anonymous sex, the backroom plays a central role in the act. The first staging of International Stud opened on February 2,1978 at La MaMa, E. T. C. an Off-Off-Broadway theater, the Off-Broadway production opened on May 22,1978 at the Players Theatre, where it ran for 72 performances. The first staging of Fugue in a Nursery opened at LaMama on February 1,1979, torch Song Trilogy first opened at the uptown Richard Allen Center in October 1981, produced by The Glines. On January 15,1982 it transferred to the Actors Playhouse in Greenwich Village, the cast included Fierstein as Arnold, Joel Crothers as Ed, Paul Joynt as Alan, Matthew Broderick as David, and Estelle Getty as Mrs. Beckoff. After eight previews, the Broadway production, directed by Peter Pope, opened on June 10,1982 at the Little Theatre, Fierstein, Joynt, and Getty were joined by Court Miller as Ed and Fisher Stevens as David. Later in the run, David Garrison and Jonathan Hadary portrayed Arnold, Craig Sheffer was cast as Alan, and Barbara Barrie replaced Getty. The play won Fierstein two Tony Awards, for Best Play and Best Actor in Play, two Drama Desk Awards, for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Actor in a Play, and the Theatre World Award. The West End production starring Antony Sher, with Rupert Graves as Alan, opened on October 1,1985 at Albery Theatre on St. Martins Lane, where it ran for slightly more than seven months. In late January 2009, it was revived at the American Theatre of Actors Sargent Theatre in New York City by Black Henna Productions. Directed by Malini Singh McDonald, ran as a limited engagement until February 1,2009, with each act being performed separately on weeknights and the entire series running on Saturdays and Sundays. The cast featured Cas Marino as Arnold, Ian M. McDonald as Ed, Susan Erenberg as Lady Blues, Christian Thomas as Alan, Amie Backner as Laurel, Chris Kelly as David, and Mary Lynch as Mrs. Beckoff. The play was revived at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London in 2012, torch Song Trilogy was produced by Studio Theatre in Washington DC as part of its subscription series September – October 2013
6.
Hairspray (musical)
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Hairspray is an American musical with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark ODonnell and Thomas Meehan, based on the 1988 John Waters film Hairspray. The songs include 1960s-style dance music and downtown rhythm and blues, in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, plump teenager Tracy Turnblads dream is to dance on The Corny Collins Show, a local TV dance program based on the real-life Buddy Deane Show. When Tracy wins a role on the show, she becomes a celebrity overnight and she then launches a campaign to integrate the show. The musicals original Broadway production opened on August 15,2002, in 2003, it won eight Tony Awards, including one for Best Musical, out of thirteen nominations. It ran for over 2,500 performances and closed on January 4,2009, Hairspray has also had national tours, a London West End production, and numerous foreign productions and was adapted as a 2007 musical film. The London production was nominated for a record-setting eleven Laurence Olivier Awards, winning for Best New Musical, I was home looking at a lot of movies, and one of those movies was Hairspray. She contacted John Waters, who gave her his blessing, then acquired the rights from New Line Cinema, Lion contacted Marc Shaiman, who expressed interest in the project only if his partner Scott Wittman could participate, and Lion agreed. The two submitted three songs, one of which, Good Morning Baltimore, eventually became the opening number. Based on their work, Lion felt confident that she had hired the right team. Lion contacted Rob Marshall about directing the musical, Marshall remembered Marissa Jaret Winokur from her brief appearance in the film American Beauty and arranged a meeting with Shaiman and Wittman. The two immediately felt she was right for the role of Tracy Turnblad but hesitated to commit without seeing any other auditions and they hired Winokur to work with them on the project with the understanding she might be replaced later. One year later, Winokur was diagnosed with cervical cancer, certain she would lose the role if the creative team learned about her condition, she underwent a hysterectomy without telling anyone but her immediate family. The treatment and surgery succeeded, and Winokur returned to the project, meanwhile, Marshall had started work on Chicago, and Lion hired Jack OBrien and Jerry Mitchell to direct and to choreograph, respectively. Winokur was one of the first to audition for the role of Tracy Turnblad, tracys mother had been portrayed by Divine in the original film, and Shaiman liked the idea of maintaining the tradition of casting a male as Edna Turnblad. Harvey Fierstein auditioned for the role with a half hour vocal audition and he thought they were pacifying him, but he was told they dont want anyone but you. According to Shaiman, one song, I Know Where Ive Been, became controversial during the genesis of the score, inspired by a scene late in the movie that takes place on the black side of town. It never dawned on us that a torrent of protest would follow us from almost everyone involved with the show, Tracy should sing the eleven o’clock number. We simply didnt want our show to be yet another version of a civil rights story where the black characters are just background
7.
La Cage aux Folles (musical)
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La Cage aux Folles is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and lyrics and music by Jerry Herman. La cage aux folles literally means the cage of mad women, however folles is also a slang term for effeminate homosexuals. The original 1983 Broadway production received nine nominations for Tony Awards and won six, including Best Musical, Best Score, the success of the musical spawned a West End production and several international runs. The 2004 Broadway revival won the Tony Award for Best Revival, the 2010 Broadway revival was nominated for eleven Tony Awards, winning the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. La Cage aux Folles is the first musical which has won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical twice, a National Tour, based on the 2010 revival, began in October 2011 with George Hamilton as Georges and Christopher Sieber as Albin. The show has had five nominations for Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical from the three Broadway productions, twice for Georges and three times for Albin, and won twice, both for Albin. However, he was unable to secure the rights to the film and was forced to settle for the rights to the play only. Carr hired Jay Presson Allen to write the book and Maury Yeston to compose the score for The Queen of Basin Street, All of them eventually filed lawsuits, but Yeston alone won and later collected a small royalty from La Cage. Holt and Brown had produced the 1974 revival of Gypsy directed by Arthur Laurents, All they had was the Herman song I Am What I Am, and Laurents immediately envisioned it as an emotional outburst sung at the close of the first act. Laurents further claims that when he explained his concept to Fierstein and Herman, Herman tells a very different story in an interview included in the original cast CD. He claims that they were well into the collaboration when Fierstein arrived one day with an emotional fiery scene he had written for the end of Act I that included the words I am what I am. Delighted, Herman asked to use the five words, boasting he would have a song by morning, with gay-activist Fierstein and the political Laurents on board, the show could have become a polemic diatribe on gay rights. However, Herman was a moderating influence, the team opted to create a charming, colorful, great-looking musical comedy - an old-fashioned piece of entertainment, as Herman recalled in his memoir Showtune. By delivering their sentiments in an entertaining manner, the team was able to convey their gay-themed message with more impact than they could have with a more aggressive approach. Fierstein, Herman and Laurents met daily in Hermans Manhattan townhouse to work on the musical, because they were limited to using only the Poiret play as a source, they were unable to include the character of Jean-Michels birth mother, who had been created for the film. They focused the plot on the fact that the relationship of Georges, the three men agreed that Albin needed to be as glamorous an entertainer as possible, and Theoni V. Aldredge was hired as costume designer to achieve their goal. The Boston crowds gave the show an enthusiastic reception, Fierstein, Herman and Laurents were also concerned that this was essentially a love story in which the lovers barely touched each other. Fierstein suggested they kiss on the cheeks at the end, and Laurents, George Hearn as Albin had the showier role and many of the big musical numbers
8.
Tony Award
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The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at a ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre, several discretionary non-competitive awards are also given, including a Special Tony Award, the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, and the Isabelle Stevenson Award. The awards are named after Antoinette Tony Perry, co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, the rules for the Tony Awards are set forth in the official document Rules and Regulations of The American Theatre Wings Tony Awards, which applies for that season only. It also forms the fourth spoke in the EGOT, that is someone who has won all four awards, the Tony Awards are also considered the equivalent of the Laurence Olivier Award in the United Kingdom and the Molière Award of France. From 1997 to 2010, the Tony Awards ceremony was held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in June and broadcast live on CBS television, except in 1999, in 2011 and 2012, the ceremony was held at the Beacon Theatre. From 2013 to 2015, the 67th, 68th, and 69th ceremonies returned to Radio City Music Hall, the 70th Tony Awards were held on June 12,2016 at the Beacon Theatre. The 71st Tony Awards will be held on June 11,2017, as of 2014, there are 24 categories of awards, plus several special awards. Starting with 11 awards in 1947, the names and number of categories have changed over the years, some examples, the category Best Book of a Musical was originally called Best Author. The category of Best Costume Design was one of the original awards, for two years, in 1960 and 1961, this category was split into Best Costume Designer and Best Costume Designer. It then went to a category, but in 2005 it was divided again. For the category of Best Director of a Play, a category was for directors of plays. A newly established non-competitive award, The Isabelle Stevenson Award, was given for the first time at the ceremony in 2009. The award is for an individual who has made a contribution of volunteered time and effort on behalf of one or more humanitarian. The category of Best Special Theatrical Event was retired as of the 2009–2010 season, the categories of Best Sound Design of a Play and Best Sound Design of a Musical were retired as of the 2014-2015 season. Performance categories Show and technical categories Special awards Retired awards The award was founded in 1947 by a committee of the American Theatre Wing headed by Brock Pemberton. The award is named after Antoinette Perry, nicknamed Tony, an actress, director, producer and co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, who died in 1946. As her official biography at the Tony Awards website states, At Jacob Wilks suggestion, proposed an award in her honor for distinguished stage acting, at the initial event in 1947, as he handed out an award, he called it a Tony
9.
Kinky Boots (musical)
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Kinky Boots is a Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper and a book by Harvey Fierstein. Based on the 2005 British film Kinky Boots, written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth and which was inspired by true events, the musical tells the story of Charlie Price. Having inherited a factory from his father, Charlie forms an unlikely partnership with cabaret performer and drag queen Lola to produce a line of high-heeled boots. In the process, Charlie and Lola discover that they are not so different after all, following the shows conception in 2006, the creative team was assembled by 2010. It made its Broadway debut at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on April 4,2013, the musical began its US tour in 2014. However, less than a month after opening, Kinky Boots surpassed this rival with audiences in weekly box office gross, the musicals cast album premiered at number one on the Billboard Cast Albums Chart and number fifty-one on the Billboard 200 chart. In 2016, it won three Laurence Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical, Kinky Boots is based on the 2005 British film of the same name, which was, in turn, inspired by a 1999 episode of the BBC2 documentary television series Trouble at the Top. It followed the story of Steve Pateman, who was struggling to save his family-run shoe factory from closure and decided to produce fetish footwear for men. Daryl Roth, a Tony Award-winning producer, saw the film at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and fell in love with its heart and she felt that its themes resonated and thought that the story had potential as source material for a musical. Independently, Hal Luftig saw the film in London and agreed that its heart, within a year, Roth secured the rights to adapt the film to the stage and partnered with Luftig, a Tony and Olivier Award-winning producer. By mid-2008, Roth and Luftig were in discussions with a director, Jerry Mitchell. When Roth sent Mitchell the DVD of the film, he was enthusiastic about it, Roth and Luftig hired Mitchell to direct and Harvey Fierstein to write the book. Mitchell knew that Fierstein and Cyndi Lauper were friends, and he thought they would make a team to create the musical. Lauper joined the team in June 2010. Laupers last project before Kinky Boots had been the album Memphis Blues, among Fiersteins prior experiences were works about drag queens, La Cage aux Folles and Torch Song Trilogy. Lauper has said that she identifies with drag queens, Fierstein and Lauper had both gained previous critical acclaim and honors in their respective fields. Fierstein noted a change in focus between the film about the saving of a factory and the musical, which include drag queens singing as they pass along the assembly line, Kinky Boots was given a reading on October 6,2011. Lauper was actively engaged in refining the material once the cast began readings, in January 2012, Roth announced that the show would be workshopped that month, and that Stark Sands and Billy Porter had been cast in the starring roles
10.
Eastern Europe
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Eastern Europe, also known as East Europe, is the eastern part of the European continent. There is no consensus on the area it covers, partly because the term has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, cultural. There are almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region, a related United Nations paper adds that every assessment of spatial identities is essentially a social and cultural construct. One definition describes Eastern Europe as an entity, the region lying in Europe with main characteristics consisting in Byzantine, Orthodox. Another definition was created during the Cold War and used more or less synonymously with the term Eastern Bloc, a similar definition names the formerly communist European states outside the Soviet Union as Eastern Europe. Historians and social scientists generally view such definitions as outdated or relegating, several definitions of Eastern Europe exist today, but they often lack precision or are extremely general. These definitions vary both across cultures and among experts, even scientists, recently becoming more and more imprecise. The Ural Mountains, Ural River, and the Caucasus Mountains are the land border of the eastern edge of Europe. Eurovoc, a multilingual thesaurus maintained by the Publications Office of the European Union, provides entries for 23 EU languages, of these, those in italics are classified as Eastern Europe in this source. Other official web-pages of the European Union classify some of the countries as strictly Central European. The East–West Schism is the break of communion and theology between what are now the Eastern and Western churches which began in the 11th century and lasts until this very day and it divided Christianity in Europe, and consequently the world, into Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. Since the Great Schism of 1054, Europe has been divided between Roman Catholic and Protestant churches in the West, and the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches in the east, due to this religious cleavage, Eastern Orthodox countries are often associated with Eastern Europe. A cleavage of this sort is, however, often problematic, for example, Greece is overwhelmingly Orthodox, the fall of the Iron Curtain brought the end of the East–West division in Europe, but this geopolitical concept is sometimes still used for quick reference by the media. The Baltic states have seats in the Nordic Council as observer states and they also are members of the Nordic-Baltic Eight whereas Eastern European countries formed their own alliance called the Visegrád Group. Estonia Latvia Lithuania The Caucasus nations may be included in the definitions of Eastern Europe, the extent of their geographic or political affiliation with Europe varies by country and source. All three states are members of the European Unions Eastern Partnership program and the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, on 12 January 2002, the European Parliament noted that Armenia and Georgia may enter the EU in the future. Georgia — in modern geography, Georgia has been classified as part of Eastern Europe. Under the European Union’s geographic criteria, Georgia is viewed as part of Eastern Europe and is the only Caucasus country to be actively seeking EU membership and it is a member of Council of Europe and Eurocontrol
11.
Jews
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The Jews, also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Israelites, or Hebrews, of the Ancient Near East. Jews originated as a national and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, the Merneptah Stele appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel, associated with the god El, somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE. The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population, consolidated their hold with the emergence of the Kingdom of Israel, some consider that these Canaanite sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as Hebrews. The worldwide Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million prior to World War II, but approximately 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust. Since then the population has risen again, and as of 2015 was estimated at 14.3 million by the Berman Jewish DataBank. According to the report, about 43% of all Jews reside in Israel and these numbers include all those who self-identified as Jews in a socio-demographic study or were identified as such by a respondent in the same household. The exact world Jewish population, however, is difficult to measure, Israel is the only country where Jews form a majority of the population. The modern State of Israel was established as a Jewish state and defines itself as such in its Declaration of Independence and its Law of Return grants the right of citizenship to any Jew who requests it. The English word Jew continues Middle English Gyw, Iewe, according to the Hebrew Bible, the name of both the tribe and kingdom derive from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob. The Hebrew word for Jew, יְהוּדִי ISO 259-3 Yhudi, is pronounced, with the stress on the syllable, in Israeli Hebrew. The Ladino name is ג׳ודיו, Djudio, ג׳ודיוס, Djudios, Yiddish, ייִד Yid, ייִדן, Yidn. The etymological equivalent is in use in languages, e. g. but derivations of the word Hebrew are also in use to describe a Jew, e. g. in Italian. The German word Jude is pronounced, the corresponding adjective jüdisch is the origin of the word Yiddish, in such contexts Jewish is the only acceptable possibility. Some people, however, have become so wary of this construction that they have extended the stigma to any use of Jew as a noun, a factual reconstruction for the origin of the Jews is a difficult and complex endeavor. It requires examining at least 3,000 years of ancient human history using documents in vast quantities, as archaeological discovery relies upon researchers and scholars from diverse disciplines, the goal is to interpret all of the factual data, focusing on the most consistent theory. In this case, it is complicated by long standing politics and religious, Jacob and his family migrated to Ancient Egypt after being invited to live with Jacobs son Joseph by the Pharaoh himself. The patriarchs descendants were later enslaved until the Exodus led by Moses, traditionally dated to the 13th century BCE, Modern archaeology has largely discarded the historicity of the Patriarchs and of the Exodus story, with it being reframed as constituting the Israelites inspiring national myth narrative. The growth of Yahweh-centric belief, along with a number of practices, gradually gave rise to a distinct Israelite ethnic group
12.
Immigration
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As for economic effects, research suggests that migration is beneficial both to the receiving and sending countries. Studies show that the elimination of barriers to migration would have effects on world GDP. Development economists argue that reducing barriers to labor mobility between developing countries and developed countries would be one of the most efficient tools of poverty reduction. Research shows that country of origin matters for speed and depth of immigrant assimilation, many animals have migrated across evolutionary history, including pre-humans. Human migration started with the out of Africa into the Middle East, and then to Asia, Australia, Europe, Russia. This is discussed in the article pre-modern human migration, recent history is discussed in the articles history of human migration and human migration. When people cross national borders during their migration, they are called migrants or immigrants from the perspective of the country which they enter, from the perspective of the country which they leave, they are called emigrant or outmigrant. Sociology designates immigration usually as migration, as of 2015, the number of international migrants has reached 244 million worldwide, which reflects a 41% increase since 2000. One third of the worlds international migrants are living in just 20 countries, the largest number of international migrants live in the United States, with 19% of the worlds total. Germany and Russia host 12 million migrants each, taking the second, Saudi Arabia hosts 10 million migrants, followed by the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. Between 2000 and 2015, Asia added more international migrants than any major area in the world. Europe added the second largest with about 20 million, in most parts of the world, migration occurs between countries that are located within the same major area. In 2015, the number of international migrants below the age of 20 reached 37 million, while 177 million are between the ages of 20 and 64. International migrants living in Africa were the youngest, with an age of 29, followed by Asia, and Latin America/Caribbean, while migrants were older in Northern America, Europe. Nearly half of all international migrants originate in Asia, and Europe was the birthplace of the second largest number of migrants, india has the largest diaspora in the world, followed by Mexico and Russia. The other top desired destination countries were Canada, France, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Germany, one theory of immigration distinguishes between push and pull factors. Push factors refer primarily to the motive for immigration from the country of origin, in the case of economic migration, differentials in wage rates are common. If the value of wages in the new country surpasses the value of wages in ones country, he or she may choose to migrate
13.
Handkerchief
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A handkerchief is also sometimes used as a purely decorative accessory in a suit pocket, it is then called a pocket square. It is also an important accessory in many folkdances in many regions like the Balkans and the Middle East, handkerchiefs can be made of cotton, cotton-synthetic blend, synthetic fabric, silk, or linen. Handkerchiefs were also used, especially by children, as a way to carry around small items when a bag or basket was unavailable. They could also serve as a substitute for a bandage over a small injury, signals may also be sent by handkerchief, such as the American LGBT handkerchief codes. In Spanish football or in bullfighting, it is a sight to see supporters waving white handkerchiefs as an expression of deep emotion. It is used both positively, in admiration of a performance by a team or player, or as a negative sign of disgust at an especially bad performance. From the late 18th century white handkerchiefs were waved, generally by women, using handkerchiefs to accentuate hand movements while dancing is a feature of both West African and African-American traditional dance, in the latter case especially in wedding celebrations. Handkerchiefs are also traditional accoutrements in certain kinds of English folk dance, before people used the word handkerchief, the word kerchief alone was common. This term came from two French words, couvrir, which means “to cover, ” and chef, which means “head. ”In the times of ancient Greece and Rome, but in the Middle Ages, kerchiefs were usually used to cover the head. Then in the 16th century, people in Europe began to carry kerchiefs in their pockets to wipe their forehead or their nose, to distinguish this kind of kerchief from the one used to cover the head, the word hand was added to kerchief. Certainly they were in existence by Shakespeares time, and a handkerchief is an important plot device in his play Othello, in addition to carrying for practical purposes, handkerchiefs have long been displayed in the top pocket of mens jackets. Used in this way, they are referred to as a handkerchief or pocket square. A traditional pocket square will have the hem rolled, contrary to handkerchiefs and it fell into disuse up until the 1990s, where pocket square made a come-back, thanks to popular television shows such as Mad Men. Pocket squares are made in fabrics such as silk, cotton. The Winged Puff, a simple and elegant fold, the Puff or the Cooper is simply shaped into a round puff. The Reverse Puff, or The Crown Fold, is like the Puff, except with the puff inside, the Westo Four Point fold, the quickest way to achieve a four-point fold effect. The TV Fold looks similar but is folded diagonally with the point inside the pocket, the One-point Fold is folded diagonally with the point showing. The Two-point Fold is folded off-center so the two points do not completely overlap, the Three-point Fold is first folded into a triangle, then the corners are folded up and across to make three points
14.
Atheist
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Atheism is, in the broadest sense, the absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is the rejection of belief that any deities exist, in an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which, in its most general form, is the belief that at least one deity exists, the etymological root for the word atheism originated before the 5th century BCE from the ancient Greek ἄθεος, meaning without god. The term denoted a social category created by orthodox religionists into which those who did not share their religious beliefs were placed, the actual term atheism emerged first in the 16th century. With the spread of freethought, skeptical inquiry, and subsequent increase in criticism of religion, application of the term narrowed in scope, the first individuals to identify themselves using the word atheist lived in the 18th century during the Age of Enlightenment. The French Revolution, noted for its unprecedented atheism, witnessed the first major movement in history to advocate for the supremacy of human reason. Arguments for atheism range from the philosophical to social and historical approaches, although some atheists have adopted secular philosophies, there is no one ideology or set of behaviors to which all atheists adhere. Since conceptions of atheism vary, accurate estimations of current numbers of atheists are difficult, an older survey by the British Broadcasting Corporation in 2004 recorded atheists as comprising 8% of the worlds population. Other older estimates have indicated that atheists comprise 2% of the worlds population, according to these polls, Europe and East Asia are the regions with the highest rates of atheism. In 2015, 61% of people in China reported that they were atheists, the figures for a 2010 Eurobarometer survey in the European Union reported that 20% of the EU population claimed not to believe in any sort of spirit, God or life force. Atheism has been regarded as compatible with agnosticism, and has also been contrasted with it, a variety of categories have been used to distinguish the different forms of atheism. Some of the ambiguity and controversy involved in defining atheism arises from difficulty in reaching a consensus for the definitions of words like deity, the plurality of wildly different conceptions of God and deities leads to differing ideas regarding atheisms applicability. The ancient Romans accused Christians of being atheists for not worshiping the pagan deities, gradually, this view fell into disfavor as theism came to be understood as encompassing belief in any divinity. Definitions of atheism also vary in the degree of consideration a person must put to the idea of gods to be considered an atheist, Atheism has sometimes been defined to include the simple absence of belief that any deities exist. This broad definition would include newborns and other people who have not been exposed to theistic ideas, as far back as 1772, Baron dHolbach said that All children are born Atheists, they have no idea of God. Similarly, George H. Smith suggested that, The man who is unacquainted with theism is an atheist because he does not believe in a god. This category would include the child with the conceptual capacity to grasp the issues involved. The fact that this child does not believe in god qualifies him as an atheist, ernest Nagel contradicts Smiths definition of atheism as merely absence of theism, acknowledging only explicit atheism as true atheism
15.
Stand-up comedy
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Stand-up comedy is a comic style in which a comedian performs in front of a live audience, usually speaking directly to them. The performer is known as a comic, stand-up comic, stand-up comedian. In stand-up comedy, the comedian usually recites a grouping of humorous stories, jokes and one-liners typically called a monologue, routine, some stand-up comedians use props, music, or magic tricks to enhance their acts. Stand-up comedy is often performed in clubs, bars and pubs, nightclubs. Outside of live performance, stand-up is often distributed commercially via television, DVD, CD, in stand-up comedy, the feedback of the audience is instant and crucial for the comedians act. Audiences expect a stand-up comic to provide a stream of laughs. Will Ferrell has called stand-up comedy hard, lonely and vicious, a stand-up comedy show may involve only one comedian, or feature a headline or a showcase format. This is followed by one or two middle or featured acts, who perform 15- to 20-minute sets, followed by a headliner who performs for longer, a showcase format may still feature an MC. Bringer shows are another opportunity for amateur performers, the performer must bring a specified number of paying guests in order to get stage time. The guests usually have to pay a charge and there is often a minimum number of drinks that must be ordered. These shows usually have a showcase format and this type of show gives comedians better exposure than open mics because there is usually better audience turnout and industry professionals sometimes go to watch. Different comedy clubs have different requirements for their bringer shows, gotham Comedy Club in New York City, for example, usually has ten-person bringers, while Broadway Comedy Club in New York City usually has six-person bringers. As the name implies, stand-up comedians usually perform their material while standing, stand-up comedy has its origin in classic Parrhesia in 400 BC used for cynics and epicureans in order to tell the reality without censorship. Stand-up comedy in the United Kingdom began in the halls of the 18th and 19th centuries. The heavy censorship regime of the Lord Chamberlains Office required all comedians to submit their acts for censorship, the act would be returned with unacceptable sections underlined in blue pencil. The comedian was then obliged not to deviate from the act in its edited form, the rise of the post-war comedians coincided with the rise of television and radio, and the traditional music hall circuit suffered greatly as a result. By the 1970s, music hall entertainment was virtually dead, alternative circuits had evolved, such as working mens clubs. The alternative comedy scene began to evolve
16.
Vestibular fold
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The lower border of this ligament, enclosed in mucous membrane, forms a free crescentic margin, which constitutes the upper boundary of the ventricle of the larynx. The vestibular folds of the play a significant role in the maintenance of the laryngeal functions of breathing and preventing food. They aid phonation by suppressing dysphonia, in some ethnic singing and chanting styles, such as in Tibet and Mongolia, the vestibular folds may be used in co-oscillation with the vocal folds, producing very low pitched sounds. Conversely, people who have had their epiglottis removed because of cancer do not choke any more than when it was present, simultaneous voicing with the vocal and vestibular folds is diplophonia. Some voice actors occasionally employ small amounts of this phonation for its dark and they are lined with respiratory epithelium, while true vocal cords have stratified squamous epithelium
17.
Matthew Broderick
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Matthew Broderick is an American actor and singer. Broderick has won two Tony Awards, one for Best Featured Actor in a Play for Brighton Beach Memoirs and he was also nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role in The Producers, but lost to his co-star Nathan Lane. As of 2016, Broderick is the youngest winner of the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. Broderick was born in Manhattan, New York, the son of Patricia, a playwright, actress, and painter, and James Broderick and his father was a Catholic of Irish, and some English, descent. Broderick attended grade school at City and Country School and high school at Walden School, Brodericks first major acting role came in an HB Studio workshop production of playwright Horton Footes On Valentines Day, playing opposite his father, who was a friend of Footes. Broderick commented on the effects of that review in a 200460 Minutes II interview, Before I knew it, and suddenly, all these doors opened. And its only because Mel Gussow happened to come by right before it closed and happened to like it, all these things have to line up that are out of your control. He followed that with the role of Eugene Morris Jerome in the Neil Simon Eugene Trilogy including the plays, Brighton Beach Memoirs and his first film role was also written by Neil Simon. Broderick debuted in Max Dugan Returns and his first big hit film was WarGames, a summer hit in 1983, in which he played the main role of David Lightman, a Seattle teen hacker. This was followed by the role of Philippe Gaston in Ladyhawke, Broderick then won the role of the charming, clever slacker in the 1986 film Ferris Buellers Day Off. At the age of 23, Broderick played a school student who, with his girlfriend and best friend, plays hooky. The film remains a 1980s comedy favorite today, and is one of Brodericks best known roles. ), also in 1987, he played Air Force research assistant Jimmy Garrett in Project X. In 1988, Broderick played Harvey Fiersteins gay lover, Alan, in the 1989 film Glory, he received favorable reviews for his portrayal of the American Civil War officer Robert Gould Shaw, whom Broderick incidentally physically resembled at the time. He won recognition for two dark comedy roles, the first was that of a bachelor in The Cable Guy with Jim Carrey. The second was that of a school teacher in Alexander Paynes Election with Reese Witherspoon. In the latter production, he played Leopold Leo Bloom, an accountant who co-produces a musical designed to fail, Broderick reprised the role in the 2005 film adaptation of the same name. Broderick was reunited with his co-star from The Lion King and The Producers, Nathan Lane, in The Odd Couple and he appeared on Broadway as a college professor in The Philanthropist, running April 10 through June 28,2009. He returned to the Broadway stage in Spring 2012, to star in the musical Nice Work If You Can Get It, Broderick met actress Sarah Jessica Parker through her brother
18.
Estelle Getty
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Estelle Getty was an American actress and comedian, who appeared in film, television, and theatre. In her later years, after retiring from acting, she battled Lewy body dementia, Estelle Getty was born Estelle Scher on July 25,1923 to Sarah and Charles Scher in New York City. Her father was employed in the glass business and she had a sister, Roslyn, and a brother, David. Getty is best known for her role as Sophia Petrillo on the popular 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls and her character was the Sicilian mother of Dorothy Zbornak, played by Beatrice Arthur, although Getty was, in fact, one year younger than Arthur. In 1988, the role earned Getty the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress, during her time on The Golden Girls, Getty, along with Steve Delsohn, co-wrote an autobiography entitled If I Knew Then, What I Know Now. She further capitalized on her success by releasing a video for senior citizens in 1993. The new show saw the three remaining cast members from the original series invest in a Miami hotel, the series was cancelled after just one season. Getty reprised her role of Sophia once again for a guest appearance in Nurses and she appeared in the series for the final two seasons. Getty made numerous guest appearances on a variety of popular television series, including Fantasy Island, Cagney & Lacey, Blossom, Touched by an Angel, Mad About You. Her numerous film roles include Tootsie, Mask and Stop, or My Mom Will Shoot, alongside Sylvester Stallone, which earned her a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Getty attended Seward Park High School in New York City and she was married to Arthur Gettleman from December 21,1947 until his death in 2004. The couple had two sons, Carl Gettleman, who lives in California, and Barry Gettleman, who lives in Florida. In 1991, as reported in Star magazine, Getty helped to nurse her 29-year-old nephew Steven Scher. Because Schers parents lived in England and his friends were no longer able to care for him in Greensboro, North Carolina, Getty had him flown to California, in 2000, Getty stopped making public appearances after revealing she had Parkinsons disease and osteoporosis. In 2002, media reports claimed she was suffering from Alzheimers disease. Doctors later discovered she actually had Lewy body dementia, both the Parkinsons and Alzheimers diagnoses were incorrect, Golden Girls cast members who attempted to talk to her on the phone or in person found that she couldnt remember them, or anything about the show. Bea Arthur said that even during production of the series, Getty had so much trouble remembering her lines that they should have known something was wrong from the beginning, in 2003, Lifetime television hosted a Golden Girls reunion, The Golden Girls, Their Greatest Moments. In 2008, the show was awarded the Pop Culture award at the Sixth Annual TV Land Awards, Getty did not participate in either project due to declining health
19.
Fisher Stevens
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Fisher Stevens is an American actor, director, producer and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Ben Jabituya in Short Circuit and his most recent successes include the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for his film The Cove and the 2008 Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature for his film Crazy Love. He was born Steven Fisher in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Sally, a painter and AIDS activist, and Norman Fisher, Steven has described himself as a thin, white Jewish kid from Chicago. He co-founded the Naked Angels Theater Company with longtime friends Rob Morrow, Nicole Burdette, Pippin Parker, Charles Landry, Nancy Travis and he also co-founded Greene Street Films, a film-production company located in Tribeca, New York City, in 1996. Stevens performed as Edgar Allan Poe on Lou Reeds album The Raven in 2003 and he is also an accomplished harmonica player. As an actor, he is known for his portrayals of Chuck Fishman on Early Edition, Seamus ONeill on Key West, Eugene The Plague Belford in Hackers, hawk Ganz in The Flamingo Kid, and Ben Jabituya/Jahveri in Short Circuit and Short Circuit 2. His television credits include Columbo, Frasier, Friends, Law & Order, Key West, Damages and he appeared on two episodes of the television series Numb3rs. Fisher also has a Broadway and off-Broadway career spanning three decades. He played Jigger Craigin in the 1994 Lincoln Center revival of Rodgers, throughout his career, he has acted in and directed more than 50 stage productions. In 2010, Fisher co-founded a new media and documentary company, Insurgent Media, with Andrew Karsch. In June 2010, Stevens made his major theatrical directing debut with John Leguizamos one-man show, Ghetto Klown, the two had appeared together in a production of A Midsummer Nights Dream at The Public Theater about 20 years earlier. On July 13,2012, PBS debuted Tales From a Ghetto Klown, in 2010, Stevens won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for co-producing The Cove. He directed the 2012 crime story Stand Up Guys, starring Al Pacino and he also teamed up with Alexis Bloom to direct the film Bright Lights, Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016. Nina Takes a Lover Only You Cold Fever Hackers The Pompatus of Love Four Days in September The Taxman The Tic Code Sam the Man 3 A. M, the Right To Remain Silent Jenifer Is It College Yet
20.
Broadway theatre
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Along with Londons West End theatres, Broadway theatres are widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. The Theater District is a popular tourist attraction in New York City, the great majority of Broadway shows are musicals. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The Beggars Opera, in 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice, the company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter theatre resumed in 1798, the Bowery Theatre opened in 1826, followed by others. Blackface minstrel shows, a distinctly American form of entertainment, became popular in the 1830s, by the 1840s, P. T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince Street, Niblos Garden opened, the 3, 000-seat theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments. In 1844, Palmos Opera House opened and presented opera for four seasons before bankruptcy led to its rebranding as a venue for plays under the name Burtons Theatre. The Astor Opera House opened in 1847, booth played the role for a famous 100 consecutive performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1865, and would later revive the role at his own Booths Theatre. Other renowned Shakespeareans who appeared in New York in this era were Henry Irving, Tommaso Salvini, Fanny Davenport, lydia Thompson came to America in 1868 heading a small theatrical troupe, adapting popular English burlesques for middle-class New York audiences. Thompsons troupe called the British Blondes, was the most popular entertainment in New York during the 1868–1869 theatrical season, the six-month tour ran for almost six extremely profitable years. Theatre in New York moved from downtown gradually to midtown beginning around 1850, in 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square, and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square. Broadways first long-run musical was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857, New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London, but Laura Keenes musical burletta The Seven Sisters shattered previous New York records with a run of 253 performances. It was at a performance by Keenes troupe of Our American Cousin in Washington, the production was a staggering five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and the Post was the first show to call itself a musical comedy, Tony Pastor opened the first vaudeville theatre one block east of Union Square in 1881, where Lillian Russell performed. Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 and 1890, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham. They starred high quality singers, instead of the women of repute who had starred in earlier musical forms. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits, as in England, during the latter half of the century, the theatre began to be cleaned up, with less prostitution hindering the attendance of the theatre by women
21.
Drama Desk Award
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Broadway productions were excluded until the 1968–69 award season. The awards are considered a significant American theatre distinction and they debuted the presentations of the Vernon Rice Awards. The name honors the New York Post critic Vernon Rice, who had pioneered Off-Broadway coverage in the New York press, the name was changed for the 1963–1964 awards season to the Drama Desk Awards. In 1974, the Drama Desk became incorporated as a not-for-profit organization, in 1975, the Drama announcement of winners included the nominees as well. The Drama Desk has more than 100 members, including critics, reporters and editors who cover New York theater. Membership consists of two categories, Active membership and Participating Membership, all of the Drama Desk officers and Nominating Committee members perform their various services for the organization on a voluntary basis. The Nominating Committee generally meets twice a month to discuss the many eligible shows members are responsible for seeing and they then nominate the productions on which the entire membership will vote. What sets the organization apart is that the awards are voted on by people only without any vested interests in the results. Previous winners include Bernadette Peters, Dustin Hoffman, Al Pacino, over the last 36 years, the Drama Desk Awards have contributed to the ongoing success of major stars, playwrights and designers, while also identifying newcomers. The Drama Desk was the first New York theater organization to give awards to talents such as Edward Albee, Wendy Wasserstein, plays like Driving Miss Daisy, Other Peoples Money, Steel Magnolias, and The Boys in the Band built momentum with the help of Drama Desk wins. In 2010 William Wolf was announced as the President of Drama Desk, the current managing executive producer of the Drama Desk Awards is Gretchen Shugart, and the president of the Drama Desk is Charles Wright. David Barbour is chairperson of the nominating committee, in keeping with its original mission, the organization sponsors guest panel luncheons with theater professionals. Panels address topics of current interest, covering the season on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway, with the aim of prompting informative and stimulating discussion
22.
Independent Spirit Awards
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The Film Independent Spirit Awards, founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films, in 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit Awards. Since 2006, winners have received a trophy depicting a bird with its wings spread sitting atop of a pole with the shoestrings from the previous design wrapped around the pole, Film Independent Members vote to determine the winners of the Spirit Awards. The awards show is held inside a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, California, the show is broadcast live on the IFC network, as well as Hollywood Suite in Canada and A&E Latin America. The 32nd Independent Spirit Awards ceremony, hosted by Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, was broadcast live on IFC on Saturday, official website Film Independent Film Independents channel on YouTube Film Independent at the Internet Movie Database Independent Spirit Awards at the Internet Movie Database
23.
Book (musical theatre)
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Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement, since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals. These were followed by the numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the theatre works of American creators like George M. Cohan. Musicals are performed around the world and they may be presented in large venues, such as big-budget Broadway or West End productions in New York City or London. Alternatively, musicals may be staged in smaller fringe theatre, Off-Broadway or regional theatre productions, musicals are often presented by amateur and school groups in churches, schools and other performance spaces. In addition to the United States and Britain, there are vibrant musical theatre scenes in continental Europe, Asia, Australasia, Canada, the three main components of a book musical are its music, lyrics and book. The interpretation of a musical is the responsibility of its team, which includes a director. A musicals production is also characterized by technical aspects, such as set design, costumes, stage properties, lighting. The creative team, designs and interpretations generally change from the production to succeeding productions. Some production elements, however, may be retained from the production, for example. There is no fixed length for a musical, while it can range from a short one-act entertainment to several acts and several hours in length, most musicals range from one and a half to three hours. Musicals are usually presented in two acts, with one intermission, and the first act is frequently longer than the second. A book musical is usually built four to six main theme tunes that are reprised later in the show. Several shorter musicals on Broadway and in the West End have been presented in one act in recent decades, moments of greatest dramatic intensity in a book musical are often performed in song. Proverbially, when the emotion becomes too strong for speech, you sing, typically, many fewer words are sung in a five-minute song than are spoken in a five-minute block of dialogue. Therefore, there is time to develop drama in a musical than in a straight play of equivalent length. Within the compressed nature of a musical, the writers must develop the characters, the material presented in a musical may be original, or it may be adapted from novels, plays, classic legends, historical events or films. On the other hand, many musical theatre works have been adapted for musical films, such as West Side Story, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Oliver
24.
Peter Allen (musician)
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Peter Allen was an Australian singer-songwriter and entertainer. In addition to recording albums, he enjoyed a cabaret and concert career. His song I Still Call Australia Home, used extensively in advertising campaigns, was added to the National Film, Allen was the first husband of Liza Minnelli, with the couple divorcing after seven years of marriage, he later came out as gay. He and his partner, Gregory Connell, died from AIDS-related illnesses eight years apart. Several years after his death, the musical The Boy from Oz was written about his life and it ran on Broadway and earned Hugh Jackman a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Peter Allen was born Peter Richard Woolnough in Tenterfield, New South Wales and he was the grandson of George Woolnough, whom Allen immortalised in his song Tenterfield Saddler. He began his career with Chris Bell as one of the Allen Brothers. He began performing as Peter Allen around the same time, Mark Herron, the husband of Judy Garland, discovered Allen while he was performing in Hong Kong. Allen commenced releasing solo recordings in 1971, but throughout his career achieved greater success through his songs being recorded by others. He scored his biggest success with the song I Honestly Love You, which he co-wrote with Jeff Barry and her single reached number one in the United States and Canada and won two Grammy Awards, for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Newton-John. One of his songs, I Go to Rio, co-written with Adrienne Anderson, was popularized in America by the group Pablo Cruise. In 1976, Allen released an album, Taught by Experts, which reached number one in Australia, along with the one single I Go to Rio. Although his recording career in the US never progressed, he performed in Atlantic City and at Carnegie Hall. He had three extended engagements at New York Citys Radio City Music Hall, where he became the first male dancer to dance with The Rockettes. This performance was broadcast live and exclusively on subscription television service WHT The Movie Network. Allens most successful album was Bi-Coastal, produced by David Foster and featuring the single Fly Away, in addition, Allen co-wrote the Patti LaBelle hit I Dont Go Shopping, which reached the top 30 on the R&B chart in 1980. Allen co-wrote the song Arthurs Theme with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager and Christopher Cross, the song reached number one in the US and the songwriters won an Academy Award for Best Song. One lyric for the song, If you get caught between the moon and New York City, was adapted from a song that he
25.
A Catered Affair
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The article is about the stage musical. For the 1956 film, see The Catered Affair, a Catered Affair is a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by John Bucchino. It is based on both the 1956 film The Catered Affair written by Gore Vidal and the original 1955 teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky and this is the first of Bucchinos scores produced on Broadway. The show premiered on September 20,2007 at San Diegos Old Globe Theatre in tryouts, with the opening on September 30. The show began previews on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre on March 25,2008, the production closed on July 27,2008 after 116 performances and 27 previews. John Doyle directed the production, which stars Fierstein, Faith Prince and this production received 12 Drama Desk Award nominations, the most of any show from the 2007-08 season. In the Bronx in 1953, young lovers Jane Hurley and Ralph Halloran decide to get married. Meanwhile Janes father, Tom, who owns a third-share in a taxi, agrees with one of his partners, Sam, Jane and Ralph, along with Tom and Sam, happily exclaim the virtues of partnership. Timing is inauspicious, since the brides brother has just been killed in the Korean War, the couple does not want a large, expensive wedding, and Tom needs the money to buy out Pasternak. As Janes mother Aggie announces that the wedding will be held quickly and quietly in City Hall. Aggie feels guilty about having neglected Jane and sees an opportunity to plan the wedding that she herself never had. The brides gay Uncle Winston, initially hurt and furious at having been left off the original guest list, Jane is initially beguiled by the attention, and happily picks out a wedding dress. But soon relationships are strained to the point under the pressure of costly bridesmaids dresses, cake layers. Aggie confesses to Jane that she and Tom were married because she was pregnant, finally Jane and Ralph decide to call off the elaborate wedding and party and marry quietly as they had planned. The quiet and unemotional Tom finally expresses his love and caring for Aggie, as they get ready for the small wedding ceremony, Aggie secretly makes arrangements for Tom to buy his share of the taxi, which arrives in time for him to drive her to their daughters wedding. Uncle Winston has the last word, You paid your money, took the ride, a Catered Affair received mixed reviews. Ben Brantley for the New York Times, wrote, From Mr. Ms. Prince, best known for her madcap musical turns in revivals of Guys and Dolls and Bells Are Ringing, scrubs down to raw-skinned plainness here. Her performance is tight, disciplined and at times quite affecting, clive Barnes, reviewing for the New York Post, wrote, Under John Doyles expert, discreet direction, it emerges less like a musical and more like a play with music, lovely, urban chamber music
26.
Old Globe Theatre
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The Old Globe Theatre is a professional theatre company located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It produces about 15 plays and musicals annually in summer and winter seasons, the White Theatre also houses the Karen and Donald Cohn Education Center. The Old Globe Theatre was built in 1935, designed by Richard Requa as part of the California Pacific International Exposition, like the original Globe, the theatre was open in the center with a roof over the seating on the sides. During the exposition, it hosted 50-minute versions of Shakespeare plays, at the end of the exposition, the Globe had been received so well that a nonprofit organization called the San Diego Community Theatre was formed to save the temporary structure from demolition. The committee leased the structure from the city, produced full-length plays, in 1939, a young actor and director named Craig Noel was hired as general director. During World War II the U. S. Navy took over all buildings in Balboa Park, the Community Theatre group stayed together, producing one-act plays in various venues around San Diego. When the Globe was returned to use in 1947, Noel returned as general director. In 1949 he launched the Globes summer Shakespeare Festival in partnership with the department at University of San Diego. Since then the Shakespeare festival has presented every summer except 1953. The Globe continued to produce a combination of modern plays along with Shakespeare, in 1981 Jack OBrien was hired as artistic director, while Noel became executive producer. The Cassius Carter Centre Stage, a theater in the round, was added in 1969 in what had been the Falstaff Tavern restaurant and it was rebuilt in 2009 as the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre. In March 1978, the Globe Theatre was destroyed in a fire. The Globe Theatre was rebuilt and reopened in 1981, in 1984, the festival stage in turn succumbed to arson. It was rebuilt and is now named the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, the entire three-theatre complex is called the Simon Edison Centre for the Performing Arts. The Globe has grown into an internationally known theatre complex, an influential powerhouse among regional theatres, in 1984 it received the Tony Award for best regional theatre. Shows which originated at the Old Globe have gone on to Broadway to win nine Tony Awards, Old Globe official website Old Globe Theatre at the Internet Broadway Database
27.
Newsies (musical)
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Newsies The Musical is a Disney Theatrical Productions stage musical based on the 1992 musical film Newsies, which in turn was inspired by the real-life Newsboys Strike of 1899 in New York City. The show has music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman, the musical premiered at the Paper Mill Playhouse in 2011 and made its Broadway debut in 2012. Newsies The Musical premiered at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, the production was directed by Jeff Calhoun with choreography by Christopher Gattelli. This production was transferred to Broadway with several changes. The musical opened on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre for a limited engagement starting in previews on March 15,2012, on May 16,2012, Disney announced that Newsies was an open-ended engagement. The engagement was extended through August 19,2012, after the first previews, the original cast of the Broadway production featured Jeremy Jordan as Jack Kelly and John Dossett as newspaper tycoon Joseph Pulitzer. The Broadway production cost about $5 million to stage, Newsies recouped its initial investment of $5M in 7 months, becoming the fastest of any Disney musical on Broadway to turn a profit. Producers announced on August 14,2012, due to his commitments with NBCs Smash and it was also confirmed that newcomer Corey Cott would be his replacement beginning September 5. The musical closed on August 24,2014, having played 1,005 performances, the musical began a North American tour on October 11,2014, commencing in Schenectady, NY. During the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons, the tour was expected to play 25 cities and it concluded its run on October 2,2016 in Austin, TX after 784 performances in 65 cities across the US and Canada. Act I In the early hours of the morning in 1899 New York City, newspaper delivery boy Jack Kelly tells his friend, Crutchie. Jack lives with his fellow newsies, many of whom are orphaned, as the sun rises, the newsies awaken and prepare for another day on the job. While buying their supply of papers to sell, Jack meets Davey and his little brother, unlike the rest of the newsies, Davey and Les have a home and a family. They started work as newsies because their father suffered an accident at work resulting in the termination of his employment, seeing young Les as an opportunity to sell more papers, Jack offers to help the boys. Meanwhile, the publisher of the New York World, Joseph Pulitzer, increases the cost of the newspapers to the delivery boys, later, Jack, Davey, and Les are chased down by Warden Snyder of The Refuge, a juvenile detention center. The boys find cover in a theatre owned by Jacks friend Medda Larkin. Jack refuses to tell Davey why Snyder was after him, the boys then watch Medda perform. While at the show, Jack spots a female reporter named Katherine Plumber
28.
Alan Menken
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Alan Irwin Menken is an American musical theatre and film score composer and pianist. Menken is best known for his scores for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and his scores for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas have each won him two Academy Awards. He also composed the scores for Little Shop of Horrors, Newsies, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Enchanted, Tangled and Sausage Party and he is also known for his work on musical theatre works for Broadway and elsewhere. Some of these are based on his Disney films, but other stage hits include Little Shop of Horrors, A Christmas Carol, Menken has collaborated with such lyricists as Howard Ashman, Tim Rice, Glenn Slater, Stephen Schwartz and David Zippel. With eight Academy Award wins, Menken is the second most prolific Oscar winner in the music categories after Alfred Newman and he has also won eleven Grammy Awards, a Tony Award and other honors. Alan Irwin Menken was born on July 22,1949, at French Hospital in New York City, to Judith and his father was a boogie-woogie piano-playing dentist, and his mother was an actress, dancer and playwright. Menken developed an interest in music at an age, taking piano. He began to compose at an early age, at age 9, at the New York Federation of Music Clubs Junior Composers Contest, his original composition Bouree was rated Superior and Excellent by the judges. He attended New Rochelle High School in New Rochelle, New York, Menken remembers, Id make up my own Bach fugues and Beethoven sonatas because I was bored with the piano and I didnt want to practice, so Id go off on tangents. He then enrolled at New York University and he graduated with a degree in Musicology in 1971 from the universitys Steinhardt School. Menken recalled, First, I was pre-med, I thought Id be a dentist like my Dad. Finally, I got a degree in music, but I didnt care about musicology and it wasnt until I joined BMI Workshop. Under Lehman Engel, and walked into a room with other composers that I knew this was it, Menken noted that Before college, I was writing songs to further my dream of being the next Bob Dylan. A lot of guitar songs – I was composing on piano before that, after college, he attended the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop. After graduating, Menkens plan was to either a rock star or a recording artist. His interest in writing musicals increased when he joined the Broadcast Music, Musical Theatre Workshop and was mentored by Lehman Engel. From 1974 to 1978, he showcased various BMI workshop works, such as Midnight, Apartment House, Conversations with Pierre, Harry the Rat and he performed his material at clubs like The Ballroom, Reno Sweeny and Tramps. In 1976, John Wilson reported for The New York Times that members of Engels BMI Workshop began performing as part of the Broadway at the Ballroom series, featured Maury Yeston and Alan Menken, both playing their piano accompaniment and singing songs they have written for potential musicals
29.
Kinky Boots (film)
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Kinky Boots is a 2005 British comedy-drama film written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth, and directed by Julian Jarrold. Based on a story, the movie tells of a struggling British shoe factorys young, strait-laced owner, Charlie, who forms an unlikely partnership with Lola. In the town of Northampton, in the East Midlands of England, Charlie Price is attempting to save the family shoe factory, which has been floundering since his father died. While on a trip to London to sell the companys extra stock, Charlie encounters a woman being harassed by drunken hoodlums. He wakes up backstage, in the room of Lola. Charlie is intrigued when he sees that drag queens high heels snap easily since they have only womens shoes to wear, rather than those that can support the weight of a larger male body frame. Back in Northampton, while in the process of making his workers redundant, one employee, Lauren, gives Charlie the idea of looking for a niche market product to save the business. Charlie then recruits Lauren to assist him in designing a high-heeled boot for Lola, initially as a thank-you, when their initial designs are met with scorn by Lola, Charlie and Lauren bring her on as a consultant. Charlies fiancée arrives at the factory, furious that he took out a mortgage on their house to save the company. Nicola insists that he sell the company, but Charlie is determined to save it, the argument is broadcast on the factorys PA system, which is overheard by Lauren and Lolas bitterest opponent at the factory, Don, a chauvinistic male worker. After arriving in Milan with no one to model the boots, Charlie is forced to go onstage and model the boots himself as the symbol of his dedication to his workers. After tripping and ultimately falling flat on his face, Lola and her posse of drag queens arrive, put on a runway show. In the films denouement, Lola headlines her own show and sings a song in honor of the kinky boots factory of Northampton, most of the key workers are in attendance and enjoying themselves, including Charlie and Lauren, who have become a couple. J. Brooks Ltd, a family-controlled Earls Barton, Northamptonshire shoe factory, the Kinky Boots, Original Soundtrack was released on April 11,2006 by Hollywood Records. The film earned a total of $9,941,428 internationally, ejiofor was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Director Jerry Mitchell is also the choreographer, the Chicago cast included, Billy Porter and Stark Sands. At the 67th Tony Awards won six Tony Awards, including Tony Award for Best Original Score, Best Actor and Best Musical
30.
Cyndi Lauper
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Cynthia Ann Stephanie Cyndi Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT activist. Her career has spanned over 30 years and her success continued with the soundtrack for the motion picture The Goonies and her second record True Colors. This album included the one hit of the same name and Change of Heart. Since 1989, Lauper has released nine albums and participated in many other projects. In 2010, Memphis Blues, became Billboards most successful album of the year. In 2013, Lauper won the Tony Award for Best Original Score for composing the Broadway musical Kinky Boots, the musical was awarded five other Tonys including Tony Award for Best New Musical. In 2014, Lauper was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for the cast recording. In 2016, the West End production won Best New Musical at the Olivier Awards Lauper has established herself as a pop culture icon selling over 50 million records and 20 million singles. She has won awards at the Grammys, Emmys, Tonys, the New Yorks Outer Critics Circle, MTV Video Music Awards, Billboard Awards, and American Music Awards. An inductee into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Lauper is one of the few singers to win three of the four major American entertainment awards. Lauper won the inaugural Best Female Video prize at the 1984 VMAs for Girls Just Want To Have Fun and this music video is recognized by MTV, VH1 and Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the greatest ever music videos of the era. She is featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museums Women Who Rock exhibit. Her debut album is included in Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, VH1 has ranked Lauper No.58 of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll. Lauper has been celebrated for her work, particularly as an advocate for LGBT rights in the United States. Her charitable efforts were acknowledged in 2013 when the singer was invited as a special guest to attend US President Barack Obamas second-term inaugural, Lauper was born at Boulevard Hospital in Astoria, Queens, New York City, to a Catholic family. Her father, Fred, was of German and Swiss descent and her mother, Catrine, is Italian American. Laupers siblings are younger brother Fred, and older sister, Ellen, Laupers parents divorced when she was five. Her mother remarried and divorced again, Lauper grew up in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens and, as a child, listened to such artists as The Beatles, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland and Billie Holiday
31.
Al Hirschfeld Theatre
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The Al Hirschfeld Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 302 West 45th Street in midtown Manhattan. Designed by architect G. Albert Lansburgh for vaudeville promoter Martin Beck and it was the only theatre in New York that was owned outright without a mortgage. It was designed to be the most opulent theatre of its time, the theatre has a seating capacity of 1,424 for musicals. Coffi in the musical Curtains, and Daniel Radcliffe in the latest revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and this is one of five theatres owned and operated by Jujamcyn Theatres, who purchased it in 1965 from the Beck family. In the Fall of 2002, Jujamcyn Theatres announced that the Martin Beck Theatre would be renamed in June 2003 in honor of illustrator Al Hirschfeld, as Hirschfeld approached his 100th birthday. Jujamcyn President Rocco Landesman described the renaming as “an important event for the history and heritage of Broadway. ”Landesman stated that “No one working in our world is more deserving than Al Hirschfeld. ”Notably, Hirschfeld has become the only visual artist to have a Broadway theater named after him. Although Hirschfeld died prior to the renaming on June 23,2003. Hirschfeld’s traditional aisle seat was vacant in his honor during the presentation. The theater constructed a new marquee to mark its renaming, featuring a version of Hirschfeld’s Self-Portrait As An Inkwell. West 45th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues was closed to traffic for the unveiling of the new marquee, the marquee was initially installed with red neon representing the “ink, ” but blue neon was later substituted because the red was perceived by some as “macabre”. 1931, The House of Connelly 1934, The Pirates of Penzance,1966, A Delicate Balance 1967, Hallelujah, Baby. 2012, Elf the Musical 2013, Kinky Boots The limited-engagement Elf the Musical achieved the box office record for the Al Hirschfield Theatre, the production grossed $1,572,835.50 over nine performances, for the week ending December 26,2010. Whos Who in the Theatre, edited by John Parker, tenth edition, revised, London,1947, p.1184
32.
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
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The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 261 West 47th Street in Midtown Manhattan. Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp for impresario Irwin Chanin, with a seating capacity of 903, it was one of Broadways smaller venues. The theatre was used by Federal Theatres Living Newspaper project in the 1930s, CBS leased it for use as a radio and television studio from 1952 until 1961. The producer David Cogan acquired the Biltmore in 1958, in 1968, the groundbreaking rock musical Hair opened at the theatre. In 1986, Cogan sold the Biltmore to developer Samuel Pfeiffer in 1986, in 1987, a fire struck the Biltmore. The blaze, which was determined to be an act of arson. After the fire, the building sat vacant for fourteen years, suffering more structural damage from water and vandals. In 1993, the Nederlander Organization and Stewart F. Lane acquired the Biltmore, after being unable to secure a deal with theatre unions, in 2001, the theatre was assumed by the Manhattan Theatre Club as a permanent home for its productions. Surviving sections of the theatre were restored by Polshek Partnership Architects. With 622 seats the new Biltmore has about two-thirds of the capacity of the old, although it now boasts modern conveniences such as elevators, the Biltmores landmarked features, such as the proscenium arch, dome, staircases and a vaulted second-floor gallery, were restored or replicated. The theatre was renamed the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in a ceremony held on September 4,2008. The new name honors Broadway publicist Samuel J. Friedman, the Manhattan Theatre Club took ownership of the Samuel J. Friedman in October 2008. The Biltmore Theatre is prominently featured in The Muppets Take Manhattan as the location of the Broadway show that the Muppets put on in the finale of the film
33.
Joe Mantello
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Mantello was born in Rockford, Illinois, the son of Judy and Richard Mantello, an accountant. His father is of Italian ancestry and his mother is of half Italian descent, Mantello studied at the North Carolina School of the Arts, he started the Edge Theater in New York City with actress Mary-Louise Parker and writer Peter Hedges. He is a member of the Naked Angels theater company and an associate artist at the Roundabout Theatre Company, I think it had to do with this growing sense I was gay, although I couldn’t have put a word to it back then. Where I grew up, boys played sports, when Mrs. Windsor wrote in my yearbook, Have you ever considered a career in the theater. It was literally like she wrote the word faggot, Mantello began his theatrical career as an actor in Keith Currans Walking the Dead and Paula Vogels The Baltimore Waltz. On the transition from acting to directing, Mantello said, I think Ive become an actor since I started directing. Since Ive been removed from the process I see things that fall into. Now theres a part of me thats removed from the process, the production was postponed indefinitely due to her departure. Mantello directed the Jon Robin Baitz play Other Desert Cities at the Booth Theater in 2011, Mantello had previously been nominated for the Tony Award for his role as Louis in Angels in America. He directed the Off-Broadway world premiere of the musical Dogfight in the summer of 2012 at the Second Stage Theater, in January 2013, he directed the Broadway premiere of Sharr Whites The Other Place at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. In 2014 he directed Stings new musical The Last Ship and he directed the Harvey Fierstein play Casa Valentina, which premiered on Broadway in April 2014. He is acting in the revival of The Glass Menagerie which opened on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre in February 2017, directed by Sam Gold, the play stars Sally Field as Amanda Wingfield, with Mantello playing Tom. From 1990 to 2002, Mantello was the partner of Jon Robin Baitz. Awards 1993 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play – Angels in America, Millennium Approaches 1994-1995 Obie Award,1995 Tony Award Best Direction of a Play – Love. Cookie Law & Order Sisters Playbill writers, the Old Globe Presents Richard Greenbergs Take Me Out
34.
Patrick Page
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Patrick Page is an American actor and playwright. He originated the role of Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin in Spider-Man and he is currently playing Menenius in Red Bull Theaters Coriolanus. John Patrick Page was born in Spokane, Washington and raised primarily in Monmouth and his father, Robert Page, was a theatre educator at Western Oregon University. Pages early love of Shakespeare took hold when Robert, his father, was an actor with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon and his mother, Geri, was an administrator at Oregon State University. Patrick has two brothers, Robert and Michael, and one sister, Gayle, in his teens, he developed an interest in magic and illusion. He was married to actress Liisa Ivary from 1989-91, in 2001, he married actress and TV personality Paige Davis. The Pages said in 2009, Weve been a couple for 14 years, Page attended Central High School in Independence, Oregon, graduating in 1980. Next, he attended The Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts and he then graduated Cum Laude from Whitman College in 1985 and was chosen as the valedictory speaker for his class. Pages early career was spent primarily in Utah and Oregon, during the off-season he frequently performed with the Pioneer Theatre Company in Salt Lake City. Subsequently, he spent several seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, before branching out to other regional theatres, Pages Broadway credits include originating the role of The Grinch in Dr. Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Off-Broadway, he has seen in Richard II, Rex. Page is also recognized as one of Americas leading classical actors. He is an Affiliate Artist of The Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC, as a member of The Shakespeare Theatre Company he received the William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre along with other company members in 2007. Past recipients include Ian McKellen, Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Anthony Hopkins, and Kevin Kline. In 2006 Page was awarded the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Leading Performance by an Actor for his portrayal of Iago in Michael Kahns production of Othello at The Shakespeare Theatre, Pages other performances at STC include the title role in Macbeth and Claudius in Hamlet. At the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego Pages performance in the role of Cyrano De Bergerac won the Craig Noel, San Diego Critics. He has also seen at the Globe as Malvolio in Twelfth Night, Pogo Poole in The Pleasure of His Company. Page has performed at many of Americas leading regional theatres, in 2004 his play Swansong debuted at the Lucille Lortel White Barn Theatre in Norwalk, Connecticut and was named one of the top ten plays of the year by the American Theatre Critics Association
35.
Mare Winningham
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Mary Megan Mare Winningham is an American actress and singer-songwriter. An eight-time Emmy Award nominee, she won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for Amber Waves in 1980 and she was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1995 film Georgia. She made her New York stage debut in the 2007 Off-Broadway musical 10 Million Miles, and her Broadway debut in the 2013 revival of Picnic. In 2014, she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for the original Broadway production of Casa Valentina, Winningham was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and raised in Northridge, California. She is the daughter of Marilyn Jean and Sam Neal Winningham and she has three brothers and one sister. Her father was the chairman of the Department of Physical Education at California State University, Northridge and her mother was an English teacher and college counselor at Monroe High School. She credits her first interest in acting to seeing an interview with Kym Karath on Art Linkletters television show House Party when she was five or six years old, elementary School, where her favorite activities included drama and playing the guitar and drums. She took the extended drama option at Patrick Henry Junior High School and it was at this time that she adopted the nickname Mare. Her mother arranged for her to go to Chatsworth High School, in grade 12, Winningham starred in a production of The Sound of Music, playing the part of Maria, opposite classmate Kevin Spacey as Captain Von Trapp. She graduated co-valedictorian of her school class in 1977. Winningham began her career as a singer-songwriter, in 1976 and 1977, she got her break singing The Beatles song Here, There and Everywhere on The Gong Show. That year she was offered a role on Young Pioneers and Young Pioneers Christmas, though the series ended with just three episodes being broadcast, a number of television projects followed, including parts on Police Woman in 1978 and Starsky and Hutch in 1979. Later that same year, she played the role of teenage outcast Jenny Flowers in the made-for-TV film The Death of Ocean View Park, in 1980, Winningham starred in Off the Minnesota Strip playing a young prostitute. In that year, she broke into feature films with One Trick Pony. In 1984, she starred as Helen Keller in Helen Keller, Winningham achieved greater fame co-starring in St. Elmos Fire, alongside the other original brat pack alumni. Another well-known and well-received performance was as a young mother in the television movie God Bless the Child. In 1988, Winningham also starred in the Los Angeles stage production of Hurlyburly with Sean Penn, in the early 1990s, she returned to film for 1994s all-star Wyatt Earp and the family drama The War, both starring Kevin Costner. 1995 brought Georgia, a character study of two sisters, which earned Winningham Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award nominations
36.
The Wiz Live!
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The Wiz Live. is a television special that aired live on NBC on December 3,2015. Produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, it is a performance of a new adaptation of the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz, the broadcast is performed live from Grumman Studios in Bethpage, New York. This adaptation of the musical aspects of both the Broadway play and its 1978 film adaptation. Blige as Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West Queen Latifah as the Wiz Scooter the Dog as Toto Pit voices were provided by Broadway Inspirational Voices. like the previous specials, The Wiz Live. was televised from Grumman Studios in Bethpage, New York. The role of Dorothy was cast via an audition, on August 5,2015. The special was directed by Kenny Leon and adapted for television by Harvey Fierstein from the musicals book by William F. Brown. Fatima Robinson was the choreographer, with Harvey Mason, Jr. Stephen Oremus with stars Ne-Yo and Elijah Kelley, was performed as Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion began their journey to find and kill the Wicked Witch of the West. The cost of a 30-second commercial during The Wiz ranged between $330,000 to $350,000, marking a drop from the $345,000 to $400,000 cost of ad time during Peter Pan Live. The decrease in ad cost was attributed to the modest viewership of Peter Pan in comparison to The Sound of Music Live, which an analyst felt was a result of the reduced novelty of the production in comparison to The Sound of Music. Reddi-wip served as a sponsor of the presentation, Walmart. The Wiz Live. was the first live TV program in US history to contain audio description for blind or visually impaired viewers. The list of numbers is taken from the actual broadcast and are in order as they appear in the broadcast. All numbers composed by Charlie Smalls save for the following, Tornado is composed by Timothy Graphenreed, emerald City Ballet is composed by Graphenreed and George Faison. We Got It is written by Ne-Yo, Elijah Kelley, Harvey Mason Jr, everybody Rejoice/A Brand New Day is composed by Luther Vandross. The Wiz Live. received positive reviews critics, who praised the acting and singing abilities of the cast. On Rotten Tomatoes, the show has a 91% rating, based on 32 reviews, the sites consensus states, The Wiz Live. is several notches above NBCs other musical broadcasts thanks to bold performances and large-scale production pieces. Metacritic reports an average of 73 out of 100, based on 16 critics
