Send in the Stars
Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch make ‘Night Music’ By Mark Peikert What a difference a few months and two new cast members make. When I saw Trevor Nunn’s production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s A Little Night Music last December, I was blown away by both Catherine Zeta-Jones—who ended up winning a Tony Award for her performance as actress Desirée Armfeldt—and Alexander Hanson, as her married former lover Fredrik. The rest of this elegiac musical about lust and love, set in turn-of-the-last-century Sweden, felt serviceable at best, and egregious at worst. Having just seen the show with Bernadette Peters stepping ...
Takers
By Armond White Takers has a Brother vibe that only partly has to do with most of its dapper bank robber cast being African American. Co-producing rap artists and stars, Tip “T.I.” Harris and Chris Brown, make vivid use of the crime movie genre’s social significance, which lackadaisical film commentators have mostly ignored. Takers accents the genre’s bonhomie: its exercise of the same working-class frustrations young black artists articulated in hip-hop music and music videos under the influence of ’70s blaxploitation movies. But Takers is not a cultish parody like Machete from Robert Rodriguez. It is—to redeem a police blotter ...
“Dismount” Signs Ignored, Taken Down in Riverside Park
By Megan Finnegan A simple request for cyclists to dismount along a short stretch of bike path in Riverside Park has been causing contention among park goers this summer.
Attorney General Candidates Share Vision for Office
By Dan Rivoli Eliot Spitzer, before his stunning downfall as governor, was the white knight of Wall Street as attorney general. Before him, Robert Abrams put the attorney general office’s focus on consumer rights. Each attorney general puts their stamp on an office that commands more than 650 lawyers. This September, five candidates are running for the state’s top law job, a position held by Andrew Cuomo, the front-runner to be the state’s next governor.
Telephone Call From The Past
Writer pens ode to 100th Street phone booth By Reid Spagna Born in Pittsburgh, Peter Ackerman received a Bachelor’s degree in English from Yale and attended The American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco to study acting. Among other works he is the co-author of Ice Age and Ice Age 3. The writer met his wife when she starred in his play, Things You Shouldn’t Say Past Midnight. The couple settled down on West End Avenue and has two sons. Most recently, he is the author of The Lonely Phone Booth, his newly released children’s book.
Police Seek Man in Attempted Sex Assault
Police released surveillance video of a man they believe tried to sexually assault a women on the Upper West Side Sunday, Aug. 29. Read more
An Animated City Council
An old saying about politics is that it is Hollywood for ugly people. But Lauri Apple, a Chicago-based artist and political writer, believes politics—or, at least, the New York City Council—is more like high school.
Read more
Borough President Pans Riverside Center Plans
By Dan Rivoli
Borough President Scott Stringer rejected Extell Development’s plans for the Riverside Center development Aug. 31. Read more
More WSS Blog...
Police Seek Man in Attempted Sex Assault
Police released surveillance video of a man they believe tried to sexually assault a women on the Upper West Side Sunday, Aug. 29. Read more
Train Robbery
A Hell’s Kitchen man was robbed while riding the train home Aug. 18 at 1:51 a.m. Police said the 43-year-old man got on a southbound train on the 1/2/3 line at the West 79th Street and Broadway station. A man got on and grabbed the iPhone he was holding. The robber got off at the West 66th Street and Broadway stop.
More Crime Watch...
Stringer Pans Riverside Plans
By Dan Rivoli
Borough President Scott Stringer rejected Extell Development’s plans for the Riverside Center development Aug. 30.
The proposed five-building, 3-million-square-foot development would create too much burden on the Upper West Side, the borough president’s report concludes. Stringer likened it to the Riverside South plan, which laid out the blueprints for the redevelopment of the land between West 59th Street and West 72nd Street, from West End Avenue to the river. Riverside Center is the last undeveloped parcel of land in Riverside South. Read more
“Dismount” Signs Ignored, Taken Down in Riverside Park
A simple request for cyclists to dismount along a short stretch of bike path in Riverside Park has been causing contention among park goers this summer. Read more
More West Side News...
- Con Ed Asks UWS to Power Down [NY Times]
- Panera and Other Chains Headed to NYC [Wall Street Journal Online]
- Maloney, Schneiderman Rack Up LGBT Support [Gay City News]
- NJ Couple Owes NYC Tuition for Daughter's Secret HS Enrollment [NY Daily News]
- Tavern on the Green Could Become Visitor Center, Vendor Site [DNA Info]
- Mom Who Threw Baby in Hudson Is Bipolar, Lawyer Says [DNA Info]
- WSJ Puts Spotlight on Lincoln Square [Wall Street Journal Online]
- 19-Ton Organ Returns to Alice Tully Hall [NY Post]
- Anticipating Trader Joe's Arrival, Fairway Weighs Cafe Closure [New York Times]
- UWS Synagogue Plans Historic Cemetery Preservation Plan [DNA Info]
- Despite Court Victory, Private Schools Still Dominate Randalls Island Fields [New York Times]
- Second Balcony Fire on W. 72nd St. in Two Months [DNA Info]
- Branch Falls in Central Park, Causing Minor Injuries [DNA Info]
More Neighborhood News...
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