Divamensch

Stephanie and I saw the Mark Morris Dance Group at the Joyce Theater on July 23, 2026. It was a program called *American Heartbeat: Country and Western.* We'd seen MMDG at the Joyce the year before. That program ended with a piece called "Going Away Party," dances done to recordings by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. I was crazy for that piece and of course they were doing it again on this country and western-themed program. And I was curious to see how Morris would work wi

How can it be season 22 of Project Runway? I've seen ever damn episode of this show. Are we going to get into the 40s before I lie down for my dirt nap...? Is that a wish or a threat? First off I want to thank our corporate sponsor, my friend Francesca. I watch PR on Hulu and Francesca shares her Hulu subscription with me. Legitimately, of course. Um hello - - new guest judge Tyra Banks! TYRA MAIL! That puts fuel in my tank. Naturally the first episode has to start with Heidi

I was cleaning my apartment last Saturday and I don't know what possessed me but somehow I had a craving for Styx. I could go the rest of my life without hearing "Come Sail Away" but I think "Lady" is a pretty great song. A few observations: The video is clearly the work of a fan and not done by a pro. I love that. These guys are so authentically unattractive. The guy with the short hair (the bass player) is the pick of the litter but he has an unfair advantage. He's done a s

I never heard of Plas Johnson but I sure know his work. I read his NY Times obit the other day, he died at the age of 94. He was a saxophone player best known for playing the killer sax solo central to the theme from The Pink Panther. I'm not able to embed the video in this post but hopefully you'll be able to click this link...? It's a live performance, probably on some morning TV show. Henry Mancini, "Pink Panther Theme" Here's the single, just in case: Johnson was also a c

The 1980 Tony for Best Revival went to Morning's At Seven, a gentle little drama about (according to Wikipedia) "four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1928, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to make some changes before it’s too late." Smells like a Mensch, am I right? Another nominee was Peter Pan. Need I say more? Diva: Peter Pan Mensch: Morning's At Seven

My friend Scott and I spent quite a while talking about Ann-Margret the other night. It's dangerous to put a quarter in that slot with me because I can go ON and ON about her. The next night I was looking for something to watch and realized that I hadn't checked the Turner Classic Movies streaming app in a while. Lo and behold, they have Viva Las Vegas, which I had never seen! Come on - - if I'm an Ann-Margret fanatic, this is must-see viewing, right? It says a lot that I've

Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street won the 1979 Tony for Best Musical. A big operatic Sondheim musical about a serial murderer and his accomplice who bakes his victims into meat pies. Cut the throat of that Diva and put it on a plate! One of the other nominees was Ballroom, a warm-hearted musical about a middle-aged widow finding her way back into the world through ballroom dancing. A Mensch for sure.

Stephanie just informed me of the death of Sam Neill, age 78. He's best known for Jurassic Park but since I'm not a fan of those movies I looked through his imdb list for something else. I didn't find much of interest, frankly! I liked The Piano at the time but I feel like that movie might not hold up because of the drippy score by Michael Nyman and the now-problematic casting of Harvey Keitel as a Maori dude (with all those fake tattoos). So I'll give you the preview to Jura

I saw Obsession earlier this week - - my friend Lydia encouraged me to see it, it's an indie horror movie that's getting a lot of attention, has broken all kinds of peculiar records. I recently came up with two personal goals when it comes to movies and this one checked both boxes: To see more movies in the theater, rather than streaming at home. To see more movies about which I know very little. A little background on the second point: a couple summers ago I saw the movie *T

There were four shows up for Best Director of a Play in 1978, they fit neatly into pairs: Diva: Dracula, Deathtrap Mensch: The Gin Game, Da Melvin Bernhardt was the winner for Da, a quiet little Irish drama about a man acknowledging the father figures in his life. Total Mensch territory. I bet there were about eight lighting cues in that show.

I just read in the NY Times about the death of Louise Lasser (age 87). I just read her Times obit and what a treasure trove of useful information! It was no surprise that she went to a private school in the Bronx and then Brandeis but I was not expecting to read that she was Barbra Streisand's understudy as Miss Marmelstein in I Can Get It For You Wholesale, the show that catapulted Streisand into semi-stardom. She met Woody Allen on a double date (she was with the other guy)

I've been listening to a lot of Les Paul and Mary Ford lately. Les Paul was a major innovator in two areas: he's one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar. And he was among the first to really go to town with multi-track recording. He said it was a money-saving thing at first - - he didn't want to hire backup singers for his wife Mary Ford so he had her record her own backup vocals and laid them on top of each other. Patti Page was the first artist to hit the big

The 1977 Tonys had another showdown between Julie Harris and Colleen Dewhurst: Diva: Colleen Dewhurst, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Mensch: Julie Harris, The Belle of Amherst Once again Harris was the winner. Don't feel too bad for Dewhurst, she did win two Tonys. Though Harris won FIVE.

Ann Blyth (age 98) was a major Hollywood star in the 40s. She's best known and was nominated for an Oscar for playing Joan Crawford's horrible daughter in Mildred Pierce. Here she is in my favorite scene from that movie: James Burrows (age 85) was a major figure in television. I read two mind-boggling statistics in his New York Times obit: he directed 75 pilot episodes that became series. And he directed 240 of the 275 episodes of Cheers. Other shows that he created: Taxi, Fr

Donna and I saw *Onegin* at American Ballet Theatre on June 23, 2026. I was curious to see it because it's an adaptation of the Pushkin novel *Eugene Onegin* with a score by Tchaikovsky - - I know the Tchaikovsky opera of *Onegin* very well and had just seen it at the Met in April so I was curious to see what the ballet would be like. The surprise is that the score is an assembly of Tchaikovsky (arranged and orchestrated by Kurt-Heinz Stolze) but doesn't appear to feature any

I imagine many of you read my review of the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black concert and thought, "I wonder what their music sounds like." Or maybe even, "I'd love to hear that song 'Underwear Drawer,' it sounds like a real classic!"

Elaine and I saw The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black on June 18, 2026. I ask you: is that one of the greatest band names of all time? Or what. I think I first heard of them in an article in the New York Times on the subject of band names. I’m not sure. Anyway I knew they were a punk band and was always curious about them but not curious enough to actually go to YouTube and check them out. One quick note before I continue - - it's tricky to add a lot of photos to a blog post

The musical Tonys for 1976 were swept away by A Chorus Line. That show has both the Diva and the Mensch embedded in it: Diva: the aura of show biz, flashy song and dance numbers Mensch: the lack of a set or traditional costumes, the desperation and fear under the surface for the characters

I've had this song in my head the last few days, the perfect summer pop song.

Rita Moreno won the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play in 1976 for The Ritz, playing the insane Googie Gomez. This is a character she had created herself, a Puerto Rican performer who takes herself very seriously and has no idea how hilarious she is. Terrence McNally got wind of this, wrote her into the show, and history was made. Another nominee in that category was Frances Sternhagen as Dora Strang in Equus. She's the central character's mother. Her performance was so