Ed Strong News

Fast-Rising Cabaret Stars Will Dazzle Royal Room Fans from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day: Carole J. Bufford, Nicolas King, Jennifer Sheehan, Wayne Hosford & Ariana Savalas The Colony Hotel - which The Palm Beach Post has hailed as "probably the best place for cabaret on the planet" - plans another sizzling, song-filled summer with some really hot and fast-rising performers straight from Manhattan's leading cabarets - several of whom are making their Royal Room debut and other performers who are returning favorites for loyal fans of the Royal Room Supper Club. The Colony Hotel's world famous Royal Room is widely celebrated for presenting "immaculately staged cabaret performances" by well known Grammy- and Tony-winning stars (Conde Nast Traveler, February 2011).

The Hunter College East Harlem Art Gallery will present Picturing Puerto Rico under the American Flag: The Photographs of Louise Rosskam, 1937-1948 from May 11th - July 21st.

I'm talking about StarKid Productions, aka Team StarKid, and their "Apocalyptour," which opened last night at Chicago's House of Blues (a second show is tonight). The troupe behind "A Very Potter Musical," the Billboard phenomenon "Me and My Dick," the BroadwayWorld Chicago Award-winning "Starship" and more, heads off to Indianapolis, Nashville, New Orleans and points beyond in the coming days...

Fast-Rising Cabaret Stars Will Dazzle Royal Room Fans from Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day: Carole J. Bufford, Nicolas King, Jennifer Sheehan, Wayne Hosford & Ariana Savalas The Colony Hotel - which The Palm Beach Post has hailed as 'probably the best place for cabaret on the planet' - plans another sizzling, song-filled summer with some really hot and fast-rising performers straight from Manhattan's leading cabarets - several of whom are making their Royal Room debut and other performers who are returning favorites for loyal fans of the Royal Room Supper Club. The Colony Hotel's world famous Royal Room is widely celebrated for presenting 'immaculately staged cabaret performances' by well known Grammy- and Tony-winning stars (Conde Nast Traveler, February 2011).

The Hunter College East Harlem Art Gallery will present Picturing Puerto Rico under the American Flag: The Photographs of Louise Rosskam, 1937- 1948 from May 11th - July 21st. This exhibition features the work of Louise Rosskam (1910- 2003), an elusive pioneer of the golden age of 20th century American documentary photography. The exhibition highlights her images - the photographs she created on the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico in the New Deal and post-World War II eras. The gallery is located in Hunter College's Lois V. and Samuel Silberman School of Social Work building at 2180 Third Avenue at 119th Street, Manhattan.

Ibrahim Maalouf will be performing on June 21, 2012 at Drom and as part of Make Music New York at the French Consulate.

After a weekend of large houses and enthusiastic crowds viewing enhanced stage readings of four new plays and one new musical, At The Flash by Sean Chandler and David Leeper was named the winner of the 2012 Great Gay Play and Musical Contest.

Stage plays customarily undergo long periods of development-though not as long as a half century. Yet such is the case for the opening presentation at the 31st annual William Inge Theatre Festival in Independence, Kansas.

"Now, there's a movie star!" quoth Eileen (Anjelica Huston) of Rebecca Duvall (special guest star Uma Thurman) following her breathy and spastic performance of a new Julia/Tom musical number for the Marilyn Monroe-based musical-within-the-show on SMASH - BOMBSHELL - titled "Dig Deep". While last night's "The Movie Star" episode of NBC's musical dramedy series SMASH was light on the musical numbers - only Karen (Katharine McPhee) and Rebecca managed a musical moment - the drama was dense and delectable, with the rapport between the motley crew of characters comprising the enterprise improving by the week (and it started strong). Yet, despite the best efforts of Eileen, Tom (Christian Borle), Julia (Debra Messing) and Derek (Jack Davenport) in attempting to create a new version of the Marilyn musical that showcases her best (and limited) abilities. Rebecca is a tentative talent who lacks a lot in the vocal and dance departments - to say the least - yet it is undeniable that she also possesses a certain air of a star - perhaps because she is one; on SMASH (as in real life, given Thurman's A-list status), a big one. Portraying the movie star trying out a Broadway show for the first - and, most likely, last - time, Thurman brings a caustic, nutsy vibe to the seemingly bipolar screen siren - "36-ish", meaning more like 40-ish in actuality - and gives gravitas to the cartoonishly written role. Just as the Marilyn musical has shown its astonishing, chameleon-like adaptability in its iterations starring Karen and Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty) - not only in its star, but also in its style, sound, mood, conception and musical arrangements - now BOMBSHELL is being retrofitted for Rebecca. But, at what cost? Stripping the show of its big Broadway leading lady musical potential and showing off the supporting cast to take the focus off of the shaky star at the center, BOMBSHELL's "Dig Deep" yet again gave the simply astounding songwriting duo responsible for the songs of the shows-within-the-shows on SMASH (including all of the BOMBSHELL songstack heard and seen so far, as well as the glimpses at the previous Tom/Julia collaborations, HEAVEN & EARTH and THREE ON A MATCH) "Dig Deep" was a WEST SIDE STORY-esque hot jazz song complete with the syncopation and stylization implicit in the best songs of the Actors Studio era which the 50s-set scene set out to depict (Lee Strasberg and all).

Stage plays customarily undergo long periods of development-though not as long as a half century. Yet such is the case for the opening presentation at the 31st annual William Inge Theatre Festival in Independence, Kansas.

Boosted by another strong turnout for Dancing with the Stars and Castle, ABC qualified as the Monday's most-watched TV network for the 2nd week running, outdrawing runner-up NBC with The Voice and Smash by 5.8 million viewers.

BOMB PATROL: AFGHANISTAN, G4's ground-breaking unscripted series which gives viewers an extraordinary look at an elite, eight man U.S. Navy EOD platoon as they confront danger and put their lives on the line, is returning this spring with seven additional episodes featuring never-before-seen missions and behind-the-scenes footage.

Despite premiering to less than spectacular ratings last week, the new reality competition FASHION STAR generated strong retail sales of the show's winning designs, both in stores and online according to TVGuide.com. The retailers involved, Macy's, H&M and Saks Fifth Avenue, claim they have been selling out of many of the show's winning outfits. Macy's spokesperson Holly Thomas commented, 'Sales of Fashion Star merchandise exceeded expectations.'

The highly-anticipated return of the NBC comedy series COMMUNITY (4.9 million, 2.2) earned a ratings win for the network last night and pulling in the best numbers for that time slot since January of 2011.

Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" is set during the 17th century Salem Witch trials and written during the height of 1950s McCarthyism.

HUGO AND HARRY POTTER and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 each received 10 nominations as the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films today announced nominations for the 38th Annual Saturn Awards, which will be presented on Wednesday, June 20.

BOMB PATROL: AFGHANISTAN, G4's ground-breaking unscripted series which gives viewers an extraordinary look at an elite, eight man U.S. Navy EOD platoon as they confront danger and put their lives on the line, is returning this spring with seven additional episodes featuring never-before-seen missions and behind-the-scenes footage.

Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" is set during the 17th century Salem Witch trials and written during the height of 1950s McCarthyism.