Natasha Richardson Dies Tragically--Star Lived on Rich & Famous Tour Route in New York City near Central Park

Like everyone else in New York, I am sadded and grief-stricken at the sudden death of beautiful star Natasha Richardson, wife of Liam Neeson, daughter of Vanessa Redgrave. Last night the lights of Broadway dimmed for a minute for the great star (winner of the 1998 Tony Award in Cabaret). Her friends such as Sarah Jessica Parker & Matthew Broderick turned out on West 45^th Street to witness the event and share in their sadness. Only 45 years old, the papers have been filled with stories and pictures of this lovely woman who I so enjoyed in her many stage and film appearances. I didn’t know her, although I was acquainted with her mother Vanessa Redgrave (a lovely, warm, quirky person) but everyone says Natasha was truly a delightful person and the world is certainly a sadder place without her.

Natasha Richardson resided in a high rise on my Rich and Famous bus tour and Central Park West walking tour routes. She originally lived at 91 Central Park West (with celebs such as Armani and Imus) but several years ago they moved to their new place a couple of blocks away in a much more modern building. The new building is jammed with celebrities such as Regis Philbin, Alan Alda, Celine Dion, Howard Stern, Julie Andrews and many others…reportedly all the building residents are shocked and saddened by her sudden, accidental death at age 45 leaving behind her husband and two boys, age 12 and 13.

I lost my partner of nearly 10 years suddenly and I know the pain and grief one goes thru in this type of situation. I only hope the media leaves Neeson and the boys alone to grieve in private. It takes years to work thru this kind of pain. It’s like a hole in the center of your being (your heart?) and over time if you are grieving properly the hole gets smaller but never entirely goes away. Blessings to the Neeson-Redgrave-Richardson clan.

Henry V; The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd; ENTER LAUGHING; The Story of My Life

HENRY V by Shakespeare
Brought to NYC by the Guthrie and NYC’s Acting Company, this was a fabulous production of this Shakespearean classic…the young guy who plays Henry (Mathew Amendt) is destined for great stardom in movies & TV (you heard it here first). This is a star-making role (it’s where Kenneth Branagh was first spotlighted). I was fortunate to have a friend who writes for theatre publications invite me to the last performance on last Sunday afternoon. Completely “stripped down” Shakespeare…the entire world is created by the actors, costumes, a simple stockade set with openings and lighting. It’s a bit confusing because 12 actors play ALL the roles: noblemen, soldiers on both sides, royalty, etc. but I suppose to do Shakespeare these days you’ve got to be economical.
THE WIDOWING OF MRS. HOLROYD by D.H. Lawrence
Another small production, this is a small show at the tiny MINT THEATRE, which is located up in an office building on West 43rd St. I attended this with a friend who is a critic and theatre writer and there were several other “press” people in the audience that day such as the TIME OUT New York theatre reviewer. This is a dark play with a simple premise: In 1910, an English woman who is caught up in a bad marriage to a coal miner, who is a drunk and philanderer, fantasizes about his death and is shocked when it happens. The play’s dramatic highlight is when the husband’s “corpse” is brought into the house and spread out on the floor for the wife to clean him and prepare him for the funeral…an old practice which modern audiences are not aware of. Apparently Lawrence only wrote a few plays and this is an early one…the subject matter shocked people at the time and he had trouble initially getting it produced. Again, some of the best acting in New York is Off-Broadway and this cast is no exception.
ENTER LAUGHING
Finally, the small YORK THEATRE COMPANY has a hit…a BIG Hit with critics AND audiences. In any other economy, it would transfer immediately to Broadway but producers these days are skittish, so we must wait and see. This is a sweet, old-fashioned musical about a young man, “David Kolowitz”(played by Josh Grisetti) who is dreaming of leaving 174th Street in the Bronx and getting into the theatre. Apparently, it’s thinly based on the life of Carl Reiner. Other actors include Jill Eikenberry and her real-life husband Michael Tucker (L.A. Law) as the parents. It’s a very thin story, really just an excuse for some laughs and nice songs with great scaled-down production values for a small theatre. Just goes to show you don’t need a ton of money for scenery to get the point across. Watch for this show to move eventually…especially if they can keep Grisetti.
THE STORY OF MY LIFE
Last month I got a free ticket at Actors Equity to see THE STORY OF MY LIFE at the Booth Theatre on Broadway…a sweet little two-person show about two lifelong friends told in flashbacks. The show opens with one friend writing another friend’s obituary and Eulogy. It’s a bit sappy and maudlin and feels like you’ve seen it before. The show closed only a couple days after opening, which I could have predicted. The music feels like the composer Neil Bartram is aping Sondheim and it’s irritating that so many young composers do this. My friend leaned over during one song and said…”that melody…isn’t that directly from FINISHING THE HAT from Sunday in the Park With George?” It’s a sweet show but I knew it was too small to last in a big Broadway house…it should have opened in a small space such as the Westside Arts Theatre or Manhattan Theatre Club. The two actors are FABULOUS…Will Chase and Malcolm Gets…just to prove that if you have wonderful people, even pedantic crap is watchable and has “heart.” I leaned over to my friend and said “this show was obviously written by somebody who went to a good music school and knows how to turn out a lavish score, but is ANYthing memorable?” So many young composers today forget what Richard Rodgers and Irving Berlin knew…give the audience a song or two (or three) to hum and take home with them!! MUSICALS first and foremost should have some good MUSIC not just endless recitative aping the best of Sondheim. Recitative should be used sparingly, not making up the entire show. This was directed by Broadway composing veteran Richard Maltby Jr. who knows the value of a good tune and should have sent Bartram back to the piano to come up with a good tune or two.

Winter Spent Seeing Lots of Theatre Around Town: First Up: LOOKING FOR THE PONY, OTHELLO, HEROES

Lately I’ve been spending the quiet winter months going to various intimate, Off-Broadway shows which can be a crap shoot…some are wonderful, some not so good. I’ve had a great lucky streak, however and am doing a “round up” here:
LOOKING FOR THE PONY by Andrea Lepcio.
Small show (4 people in the cast) at a tiny theatre on 74th and Broadway about two sisters, one of who has been diagnosed with cancer and is dying…and her sister who is helping her live her life and die with dignity. This feels autobiographical…I wonder if the playwright herself lived thru this, since the “sister” in the story is a writer…hmmm. There are two additional people in the cast and they play ALL the other people (doctors, nurses, neighbors, patients, etc.) which adds a light touch to this serious show.
OTHELLO by William Shakespeare
My friend Elizabeth Rouse is in this! Playing at the intimate DUKE THEATRE (Doris Duke’s $$$ funded it) on West 42nd St., this OTHELLO is one to see…powerful, well-staged, riveting acting by mostly unknown professionals. My friend Elizabeth has a small role (Bianca, the courtesan) but she’s just one reason to see this stripped down production which isn’t weighed down with a lot of scenery and production values…simply speaking, it’s Shakespeare done well by people who know how (directed by Arin Arbus). It originally was a limited run and recently closed but got such good notices in the Times and other papers , Elizabeth tells me it’s re-opening in April!
HEROES by Gerald Sibleyras, translated by Tom Stoppard
One of the good things about a shaky economy where big, expensive shows and musicals are being scrapped, is really good actors are suddenly available for small, quality productions in tiny theatres. Finely acted, small production with big Broadway names (John Cullum, Ron Holgate, Jonathan Hogan) and a heart. It’s a French show that was translated by Stoppard and won the Olivier award in London, but this is the first NYC production. It’s about a group of elderly men in a retirement home for old soldiers (set in the 1950s) and how they are slowly coming to grip with their own impending deaths. It makes the audience think, because aren’t we all eventually coming to grips with this?
FOOTNOTE: John Cullum is currently in two New York shows at once…he’s in AUGUST OSAGE COUNTY at the Music Box Theatre on W. 45th St. with Estelle Parsons, Elizabeth Ashley and a great cast. His character dies after the first scene, which allows him to leave the theatre and go 3 blocks down to West 42nd St. to do HEROES. I spoke to Cullum at the reception after the show and he said he was hoping the press would downplay this because audiences seeing AUGUST OSAGE COUNTY aren’t aware that the character he plays dies until much later in the play.

Blithe Spirit with Lansbury- A True Late Winter Treat on Broadway PLUS comments on Ebersole, Everett, Lane, Lansbury

Saw Blithe Spirit last night starring Angela Lansbury, Rupert Everett, Christine Ebersole and a great cast in this fabulous comedy by Noel Coward from 1945, now revived again on Broadway with just the right “light” touch. A wonderful treat for audiences who need to laugh and forget their own problems.
I actually did this play years ago in stock and the last time I saw it was with Geraldine Page as the dotty medium Madame Arcati (the summer she died in the role) at the Alvin Theatre. It’s still early in previews and the actors (notably Rupert Everett) were screwing up and dropping lines here and there but recovering nicely, as true stage pros do. Even though in previews, there were celebrities all around, giving this revival the whiff of a 2009 “event on the verge.”
I’ve admired Angela Lansbury from afar for years and try to never miss this working actress when she appears anywhere…but I’ve only had one personal contact with her: Years ago I attended a Christmas party tossed by Angela Lansbury on the stage of the (then Uris) Gershwin Theatre where she was doing Sweeney Todd.
FOOTNOTE: I still recall what a lovely lady she is…charming, genuine, chatty (even to newcomers), and a perfect hostess. I was only a cast member’s “date” but she went out of her way to make me feel comfortable and introduced me to her family members and other actors and crew present. Angela wore a pink chiffon “scarve” dress (remember those?) and the menu was Prime Rib, new potatoes, brussel sprouts and for dessert, piles of English trifle. It was served by a catering staff dressed like English maids and butlers and she assisted them clearing plates and refilling drinks, etc. She filled the Sweeney Todd prop oven with Xmas/party favors for everyone and had a DJ onstage spinning records (I still recall Sondheim and Len Cariou dancing to “I Will Survive.”)
It’s been fun to see her age over the years and grow into “old lady” roles with grace. The rest of the cast in this is also quite wonderful. Ebersole plays the deceased first wife Elvira who comes back in spirit form…the “blithe” spirit of the title. My only personal contact with Christine Ebersole was at a couple of American Theatre Wing events and she’s not a nice person but charming and talented in everything she tackles. She’s one of those self-promoting actresses (rhymes with rich) who must know exactly who you are and what you can do for her before she wastes a minute with you. And speaking of bitches, anybody in the gay world can tell you stories about Rupert Everett, who's been known to been to snarl at tourists in his West Village neighborhood while walking his dog.
Lansbury (as the eccentric medium Madame Arcati), Jayne Atkinson (as the second wife) and especially Susan Louise O’Connor as the maid are truly solid and hold the play together with their wonderful timing and professionalism. O'Connor makes the most of the role of the slow-witted maid. One of the people in my party (retired Broadway producer Michael Frasier (Lena Horne: the Lady and her Music)is not known for compliments unless he really means it, leaned over and said quietly: “this a really good production: the casting, the set, the lighting, the direction…everything” High praise from an old pro in the theatre.
FOOTNOTE: STOP THE PRESSES!!
Nathan Lane sat near me and actually seemed pleasant to strangers who spoke to him! So unexpected… the last time I saw him was at a bar in Chelsea all alone drinking until he couldn’t stand. When the bartender tried to help him get a cab home, he jerked away, said some nasty comments and staggered out of the bar and down W. 22nd Street. So much for the “great star” Nathan Lane (Joe Lane from Jersey City), I thought. Right after that the NY Times printed an interview with Lane lamenting why he is alone and can’t find a boyfriend. I laughed out loud, threw down the Times and said “it’s because you’re a nasty drunk and a jerk.” He seems to have changed..so docile...Perhaps he’s made a trip to Betty Ford or SilverHill?

New York City Guide Jim Dykes says: "Bernie Madoff's penthouse a HUGE hit on the Rich & Famous Tours of New York City!"

Bernie Madoff’s posh Eastside building where the Ponzie-schemer has been under house arrest for several months has become one of the most requested sites on Jim Dykes’ New York City tours as well as his Rich and Famous New York City tours. Madoff gave himself up 3 months ago after his $50Billion scheme was revealed due to the plummeting economy. The building is located on East 64th Street, which is notable for having an extremely high number of billionaire residents. Television host Matt Lauer, of NBC’s TODAY SHOW (not a billionaire) is a resident of the building and is said to “despise” the attention Madoff has brought to the building. “On many days, there are huge crowds of TV crews, TV satellite trucks, security guards, reporters and photographers, policemen, bystanders and MY tourists outside the building,” says Jim Dykes. The rich ladies and gentlemen in that neighborhood are furious…they can’t wait for Madoff to be hauled off to jail. Other celebs in that area include: Caroline Kennedy, Joan Rivers, Kim Cattrall, columnist Cindy Adams and many others.”
“Everybody wants to know about Bernie Madoff, his fancy penthouse, his office building and information on his various victims, many of whom are neighbors on the Upper Eastside,” says Dykes, one of the guides and co-founders of Rich and Famous Tours, the “Celebrity-themed” tour of New York City. Madoff’s office building is 11 blocks south and one avenue over…it’s the famed Lipstick Building, designed by famed architect Phillip Johnson with John Burgee, and which is shaped, aptly enough, like a tube of lipstick. It is said that Madoff would walk home very often, since the two buildings are fairly close together…perhaps a 15 minute walk from his penthouse on E. 64th St.
“People always want to know about the grim, sordid things mentioned in the newspapers on my tour” says Dykes. “ A year ago on Halloween celebrity realtor Linda Stein was bludgeoned to death in her Fifth Avenue penthouse and EVERYone wanted to know about it. And when Heath Ledger overdosed in his SoHo loft, it became the #1 location people wanted to see on the tours. People have accused me of being morbid, but I’m only giving the customers what they want, just like the TV reporters, with their fake sadness when reporting a story. A friend of mine who used to work at ABC-TV Channel 7 Eyewitness News in Manhattan told me: “If it bleeds, it leads” meaning of course, that bloody murder scenes and other grim locations ALWAYS begin the news telecasts.”

St. John the Divine Organizes Special 2-Day Tour for Jim and NYC Tour Guides

Recently a group of New York City tour guides were invited to increase our knowledge of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine—the “unfinished” Cathedral-- by attending a specially organized two-day seminar on two of the coldest, snowiest days of the winter. Day One, in the morning we had a general highlights tour of the cathedral. The guide Kevin Blum, was a very nice young fellow from Iowa, who had followed his studies (and his girlfriend) to New York City. His tour was fine and efficient, but not for a group of well-read New York guides who had been leading groups to the Cathedral for many years. In our group alone, we calculated about 100 years of NYC guide experience, including myself, Mike Brennan, Tour Goddess Jane Marx and Juliette Frydman. Kevin soon began letting us all contribute and embellish his memorized accounts of Cathedral history, including the struggle between two architectural firms in the 1890s which ended up with part of the Cathedral being Romanesque Revival and part being French Gothic Revival—two styles that usually clash but are unusually harmonious in St. John the Divine.
After lunch, we had a chance, casual meeting with the Dean of the Cathedral (an Arian from Darien, Connecticut) and were able to ask any question we liked. Following this, we had a special Numerology tour of the cathedral with an expert. Various numbers are repeated quite a bit for various religious reasons (4 signs of the cross, 7 deadly sins, 12 apostles, etc.). It doesn’t sound interesting but the numerologist, a young volunteer named Howell, was excellent and spoke compellingly for 2 hours.
The next morning began with an in-depth tour of the fabulous stained glass windows, and their stories, such as the Media window with its images of Jack Benny on the radio and the Gutenberg printing press. Also, the American History window donated by the Astor family in memory of John Jacob Astor, who died on the Titanic. It’s sinking is depicted in the lower right corner of the window.
After lunch on the second day, they saved the best for last: the one thing I’d been wanting to do for 20 years: The Vertical Tour, in which we would be permitted to venture thru locked doors and to climb up more than a dozen flights to view the Cathedral from above. The guide distributed flashlights and told us the rules: We climbed up and up, …first stop, 4 flights up to view the nave from a balcony landing. Second stop, a few more flights to look down on the altar from 8 floors up, then another few flights up to the top of the ceiling, 12 flights up. Along the way, the guide spent a few minutes at each landing discussing the art and the windows from this wonderful vantage point, rarely seen by most visitors close up.
Just as I thought we’d be heading downstairs, the guide led us up thru more passages and more flights to the huge attic area (who knew it existed?) above the cathedral ceiling, where we viewed the giant iron supports and the Guastavino tile ceiling from above. Then she took us up even FURTHER…this time to the very roof of the Cathedral…to the stone balconies that ring the building and we viewed the Morningside Heights campus (and neighborhood) for blocks…truly breathtaking. Of course my camera’s battery died after only a few pictures (isn’t that always the case?) but a few pictures survived of the gorgeous limestone carvings and the view into the Nave from above.

Liz Smith signed her book Natural Blonde to Jim Dykes: For Jim: One of My Stars!