Bette Davis News

The St. James Studio excitedly announces a series of free post-show Q&As to encourage further discourse about each of the five productions in the Icons Season, running from 03 - 25 January 2015 in the St. James Studio. There will also be a number of limited edition, specially mixed cocktails and meal deals available throughout the season as well as the previously announced film screenings.

Socrates in the City presented a very special onstage interview with legendary TV personality, Dick Cavett, December 3rd at W83 Space in Manhattan. The interview, conducted by bestselling author and founder of Socrates in the City, Eric Metaxas, focused on Cavett's new book Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic Moments and Assorted Hijinks.

Starring San Francisco's four top drag luminaries, Victoria Theatre presents THE GOLDEN GIRLS: THE CHRISTMAS EPISODES. The formula is reasonably straightforward. Take 4 talented drag performers, cast them in two classic Xmas episodes of the ground-breaking and uproarious TV show: THE GOLDEN GIRLS, and joviality will ensue.

Tonight (Wednesday) at 7 PM, Socrates in the City will present a very special onstage interview with legendary TV personality and star of Broadway's INTO THE WOODS and THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW, Dick Cavett, at W83, 150 West 83rd Street (between Columbus & Amsterdam Ave.) The interview, conducted by bestselling author and founder of Socrates in the City, Eric Metaxas, will focus on Cavett's new book BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: CONVERSATIONS, MAGIC MOMENTS AND ASSORTED HIJINKS.

The Laguna Playhouse Executive and Artistic Directors, Karen Wood and Ann E. Wareham are thrilled to present the third show of their 2014-2015 season and the perfect confection for the Holiday season, the Orange County Premiere of STRIKING 12, with book music and lyrics by Brendan Milburn, Rachel Sheinkin and Valerie Vigoda and directed by Janet Roston.

Fearless Productions will present 'Legends and Bridge' by C. Stephen Foster in association with Black Box Theatre Publishing. This play is a comedy imagining former, silver screen legend Joan Crawford (matronly, washed up, and pickled on spiked Pepsi) who invites Judy Garland (recently fired from her CBS TV show) and Bette Davis (bitter at no longer being the 'Queen of Hollywood') up to her Manhattan apartment in 1964 to live with her as they work on a 'secret' film project.

On Wednesday, December 3rd at 7 PM, Socrates in the City will present a very special onstage interview with legendary television personality and New York Times columnist Dick Cavett at W83, 150 West 83rd Street (between Columbus & Amsterdam Ave.) The interview, conducted by bestselling author and founder of Socrates in the City, Eric Metaxas, will focus on Cavett's new book Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic Moments and Assorted Hijinks.

The Laguna Playhouse Executive and Artistic Directors, Karen Wood and Ann E. Wareham are thrilled to present the third show of their 2014-2015 season and the perfect confection for the Holiday season, the Orange County Premiere of STRIKING 12, with book music and lyrics by Brendan Milburn, Rachel Sheinkin and Valerie Vigoda and directed by Janet Roston.

Fearless Productions will present "Legends and Bridge" by C. Stephen Foster in association with Black Box Theatre Publishing. This play is a comedy imagining former, silver screen legend Joan Crawford (matronly, washed up, and pickled on spiked Pepsi) who invites Judy Garland (recently fired from her CBS TV show) and Bette Davis (bitter at no longer being the "Queen of Hollywood") up to her Manhattan apartment in 1964 to live with her as they work on a "secret" film project.

Starring San Francisco's four top drag luminaries, Victoria Theatre presents THE GOLDEN GIRLS: THE CHRISTMAS EPISODES. The formula is reasonably straightforward. Take 4 talented drag performers, cast them in two classic Xmas episodes of the ground-breaking and uproarious TV show: THE GOLDEN GIRLS, and joviality will ensue.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center will present Let There Be Light: The Films of John Huston, December 19 - January 11,

If anyone ever told me that, on a Saturday night, I would be watching a play about an elderly woman suffering from the horrors of Alzheimer's Disease, I would question that person's sanity. However, having 'sung the praises' of actor/playwright Jerre Dye on more than one occasion, and having read a couple of rapturous local reviews, I decided to forgo a nearby musical concert by Luna Nova ( a musical venue I have ardently supported) and see Mr. Dye's DISTANCE at Voices of the South. I was not disappointed. Legendary actress Bette Davis famously proclaimed, 'Old age ain't no place for sissies' (and she knew well the truth of that, having suffered strokes, a mastectomy, and, worse, the betrayal of a daughter); compound 'old age' with Alzheimer's or dementia, and you can magnify the truth of that tenfold.

The Film Society of LINCOLN Center announced this weekend at the 52nd New York Film Festival, which they sponsored, that actor Robert Redford will be the recipient of the Chaplin Award.

Queens Theatre (QT) is pleased to announce that their 2014-2015 Season Dance Series will begin with performances by the world-renowned Martha Graham Dance Company today October 11 at 2pm & 8pmand Sunday, October 12 at 3pm at Queens Theatre (14 United Nations Avenue South, Flushing Meadows Corona Park). Tickets are available at queenstheatre.org and range from $25-$42.

Full casting is announced for Emlyn Williams' masterpiece Accolade directed by award-winning director Blanche McIntyre. Alexander Hanson and Abigail Cruttenden lead the company as Will and Rona Trenting, with Bruce Alexander (Daker), Sam Clemmett (Ian Trenting), Claire Cox (Marion Tillyard), Daniel Crossley (Albert), Olivia Darnley (Phyllis), Jay Taylor (Harold) and Jay Villiers (Thane Lampeter). Accolade - produced by Nicola Seed - is the final production in Stage One's One Stage season at the St James Theatre.

The play itself is a dichotomy. While written by Noel Coward in 1932, and no longer as controversial as it was in its day, the material is still timely and the themes are not dated.

Sir Howard Stringer, Chair of the American Film Institute's Board of Trustees, announced today the Board's decision to honor Steve Martin with the 43rd AFI Life Achievement Award, the highest honor for a career in film.

Renowned author/biographer James Spada, who has penned best-selling books on Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis and Peter Lawford, to name a few, has a new coffee table book which will hit the book stands mid October, entitled Streisand in the Camera Eye. I have seen an advanced copy, and it is simply beautiful...'Hello, gorgeous!' Barbra would say as Fanny Brice. Fans of Barbra will adore this one and even if you are merely fond of her work, like me, you will be blown away by the beauty of these rarely seen photographs accompanied by short descriptions of the time and place by Spada. It's a real page turner, and each photograph is more eye-catching, more vivid than the last.

Queens Theatre (QT) is pleased to announce that their 2014-2015 Season Dance Series will begin with performances by the world-renowned Martha Graham Dance Company on Saturday, October 11 at 2pm & 8pmand Sunday, October 12 at 3pm at Queens Theatre (14 United Nations Avenue South, Flushing Meadows Corona Park). Tickets are available at queenstheatre.org and range from $25-$42. (Photos for Queens Theatre events are available here:http://bit.ly/QT_Photos)

When Gaston Leroux published THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA back in 1911, little did he realize the numerous chandeliers that would come crashing down through the decades, and I've witnessed a good number of them. First, in 1925, there was 'the Man of a Thousand Faces,' Lon Chaney, Sr., who frightened poor Mary Philbin (a well-done version, even IF the film was silent); then, for Universal in 1941, Claude Rains (Bette Davis' favorite co-star) was a more subdued vocal coach for soprano Susanna Foster (a wooden Nelson Eddy, alas, is a greater impending horror as 'Raoul'). I could go on - even Herbert Lom, the actor who was the harried police superior to Peter Sellers' 'Inspector Clousseau,' took a swing on the old light fixture. (And let us not forget diminutive Paul Williams in the slightly askew PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE.) All of these pale, of course, in comparison to the legendary interpretation by Michael Crawford in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, which first brought the audience to its feet in 1986.