the traveler's resource guide to festivals & films
a FestivalTravelNetwork.com site
part of Insider Media llc.
Theater
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Takes Its Last Dance at Bryant Park
- Details
- Parent Category: Other Festivals
- Category: Theater
- Published on Wednesday, 10 February 2010 19:21
- Written by T. Terry Maloney
From February 11-18, during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2010 (MBFW), thousands of fashion industry professionals will come together in Bryant Park's iconic Tents for one last time before MBFW relocates to Damrosch Park in Lincoln Center next September.
Retailers, reporters, editors, fashionistas, celebrities from the A to D lists and the occasional interloper will pack the lobby to see Collections from the world’s established and up-and-coming designers, and how the fashion community sets the tones and trends for what (they hope) the rich and famous will wear in Fall/Winter 2010 (or just to grab a free vodka tonic, frappuccino or the latest copy of WWD.)
"As we close a chapter in the history of our event, IMG is excited to be working with Lincoln Center, the CFDA and the City to create a new home for the fashion industry at Lincoln Center,” said Peter Levy, Senior VP and Managing Director of IMG Fashion Worldwide. “We are looking forward, with our partners, to rolling out our plans in the coming months."
"All of us at IMG Fashion are excited about the outstanding and stellar lineup which has come together from around the world to share in this historic Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week," said Fern Mallis, Senior VP of IMG Fashion. “This will be a significant season, as we reflect on 17 years, 31 seasons and close to 2,500 fashion shows in Bryant Park that have launched many careers....from Designers to Editors, Models, Producers, Celebrities, TV Commentators and Reality Shows. We all also look forward to the change - and September's move to Damrosch Park in Lincoln Center."
The two highlights of every recent February Fashion Week are non-traditional runway shows: the Heart Truth Red Dress Collection 2010, featuring A-list celebrities modeling red dresses created by top designers; and The Project Runway final runway show, featuring designs from the four finalists of the 2009-10 season. Needless to say these two shows are very hot tickets, although I did get invited to last year's Red Dress show and hope to be there again on February 11. (Alas, a Project Runway invitation is a very long shot.)
A runway show by the legendary Tommy Hilfiger will close Fashion Week at Bryant Park forever — or least the forseeable future — when his models start the final walk down the runway of The Tent at 8 p.m. on Thursday, February 18.
The Bryant Park Tents’ three venues include:
the Salon (the smallest)
the Promenade (the one with two runways)
the Tent (the biggie)
Over the course of eight days, the runway venues, lobby and backstage sponsor-lounges will be bustling from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., when approximately 100,000 people come to attend shows, meet and greet the media, retailers and fashion professionals.
Title sponsor Mercedes-Benz is joined by DHL, American Express, Maybelline New York, W Hotels Worldwide, TRESemmé, The Heart Truth Campaign, Starbucks Frappuccino Coffee Drink, Peroni, Chambord, Martini Gold Mixers and O.N.E. (One Natural Experience) as well as the media outlets The New York Times, Vevant, Women's Wear Daily and Getty Images.
Other shows on the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week's schedule are:
BCBGMAXAZRIA
Richard Chai
Duckie Brown
Toni Maticevski
Ports 1961
Anne Bowen
La Perla
Farah Angsana
Cynthia Steffe
Yigal Azrouёl
Michael Angel
Christian Siriano
Nicole Miller
Charlotte Ronson
Venexiana
Lacoste
Georges Chakra
Andy & Debb
Adam
Academy of Art University
Prabal Gurung
ARISE Magazine African Collective - III
Lela Rose
Luca Luca
Malandrino
DKNY
Rebecca Taylor
Calvin Klein Men’s Collection
Hervé Léger by Max Azria
Diane Von Furstenberg
TonyCohen
Y-3
Tuleh
Custo Barcelona
Vassilios Kostetsos
Carolina Herrera
Carlos Miele
Jill Stuart
Donna Karan Collection
Tracy Reese
Monique Lhuillier
Yeohlee
Tadashi Shoji
Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation
Perry Ellis
Elie Tahari
Badgley Mischka
Vera Wang
Pamella Roland
Max Azria
Dennis Basso
Diesel Black Gold
Thuy
Tibi
Narciso Rodriguez
Toni Francesc
Tory Burch
Michael Kors
Nanette Lepore
3.1 Phillip Lim
Milly by Michelle Smith
Alexandre Herchcovitch
Anna Sui
Brian Reyes
Ralph Lauren
Isaac Mizrahi
Trias
Calvin Klein Women’s Collection
Naeem Khan and J. Mendel
For more information: http://www.mbfashionweek.com/newyork
Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2010
February 11-18
Bryant Park
(between 6th Av and 5th at 42nd St)
Get Your Patter On: G&S Fest 2010
- Details
- Parent Category: Other Festivals
- Category: Theater
- Published on Monday, 04 January 2010 08:23
- Written by Lynne Shannon
The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players (NYGASP), America’s preeminent professional G&S repertory company, launches its G&S Fest 2010, presenting four classic shows between January 8 and 17, 2010. The fest plays at New York City Center - Main Stage, West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues, New York, New York 10019. 
This year’s Fest presents what are arguably the three most popular and widely-performed shows—including by schools—that instantly say “Gilbert & Sullivan”: The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore, and The Pirates of Penzance. Also included is the less-frequently performed Ruddigore.
The Fest begins with the ever-popular (and much-spoofed) Mikado, which Gilbert, a former lawyer, had swathed in Japanese decor to disguise his swipes at British realpolitik.
The duo’s first production together was H.M.S. Pinafore, which took the stage when England was thick with class consciousness. But Pinafore presented the revolutionary notion that when True Love strikes, class distinctions are moot. (Or are they?)
The second G&S collaboration, The Pirates of Penzance, is jolly fun, but with two morsels of food for thought: that a) accident of birth can be a bummer; and b) pirates are really all "noblemen who have gone wrong."
In 1869, Gilbert had written a short play, Ages Ago, for an intimate theatre presentation. For the famed British the
atre had hit a nadir in the early mid-Victorian period, and playgoing was shunned by respectable folk. To indulge thespian thirsts, however, plays were allowed to be performed only at private gatherings. The productions were at first mounted very simply, often in parlors of private homes, and in order to avoid censure by calling them “plays”, were known as “Illustrations.” By 1875 theatregoing was respectable again, and Ages Ago later became the basis for the G&S collaboration that was Ruddigore.
This year, NYGASP presents an all-new production of Ruddigore, eagerly awaited by G&S fans everywhere.
Performance Schedule:
The Mikado
Fri, Jan 8 @ 8:00pm | Sat, Jan 9 @ 8:00pm | Sat, Jan 16 @ 2:00pm
The Pirates of Penzance
Sat, Jan 9 @ 2:00pm | Fri, Jan 15 @ 8:00pm
H.M.S. Pinafore
Sun, Jan 10 @ 3:00pm | Tue, Jan 12 @ 7:00pm: FREE Kids Night
Ruddigore
Thu, Jan 14 @ 8:00pm | Sat, Jan 16 @ 8:00pm | Sun, Jan 17 @ 3:00pm
"So give three cheers and one cheer more for the" three Great Classics and old Ruddigore!
More information can be found at http://nygasp.org.
G&S Fest 2010
January 8-17, 2010
New York City Center - Main Stage
West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues
New York, New York 10019
The New York Times Arts & Leisure Weekend On Sale Now
- Details
- Parent Category: Other Festivals
- Category: Theater
- Published on Thursday, 17 December 2009 15:31
- Written by Jessica Gatdula
As one of New York's most anticipated cultural events to kick off the new year, The New York Times Arts & Leisure Weekend features must-see speakers from theater, art, dance, film, music, literature and media.
Pre-sale tickets for 2010's installment of Arts & Leisure weekend are now available. The four-day TimesTalks event will take place from Jan. 7 through Jan. 10, 2010 at the TimesCenter in Midtown Manhattan.
Joining some of The New York Times' journalists are NBC late-night host Jimmy Fallon, Precious director Lee Daniels and the film's star Gabourey Sidibe, Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi and judges Gail Simmons and Tom Colicchio, Golden Globe award-nominated actor James McAvoy (Wanted, Atonement) and more guests still to be announced. There will be a special opening night discussion with Cirque du Soleil writer-director David Shiner, choreographer Jared Grimes and dancers from the cast. A performance will follow.
The latest addition to this year’s line-up is the five-time Tony Award-winning star of A Little Night Music, Angela Lansbury interviewed by Anthony Tommasini.
• Previously announced is the star of the new film Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges interviewed by Lynn Hirschberg
• Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash interviewed by Jon Pareles
• Best-selling crime novel authors Lee Child (Gone Tomorrow) and Carol O’Connell (Bone by Bone) interviewed by Janet Maslin
• Tony Award-winning actor Alan Cumming interviewed by Patrick Healy
• Director and star of the award-winning new indie film Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, Daniels and Sidibe interviewed by Patricia Cohen
• NBC late-night talk show host Fallon interviewed by Bill Carter
• Author and star of the autobiographical Broadway show Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher interviewed by David Carr
• Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights Beth Henley, Donald Margulies and John Patrick Shanley interviewed by Robin Pogrebin
• Talent from Bravo’s hit television reality show Top Chef, Padma Lakshmi, Eric Ripert and Gail Simmons interviewed by Frank Bruni
• Golden Globe-nominated actor James McAvoy interviewed by Melina Ryzik
• All My Children creator and head writer Agnes Nixon, actors Rebecca Budig, Susan Lucci, Cameron Mathison, Debbi Morgan and executive producer Julie Hanan Carruthers discussing the 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking daytime drama, with Jacques Steinberg
• Star of Jim Sheridan’s film Brothers, Natalie Portman interviewed by Patrick Healy
• The star of the upcoming Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge, Liev Schreiber interviewed by Lynn Hirschberg
• Performers from Cirque du Soleil’s Banana Shpeel with writer-director David Shiner and choreographer Jared Grimes interviewed by Jason Zinoman.
Tickets are $30 per event and are general admission. Additional information and announcements to come are available at http://www.artsandleisureweekend.com/
The New York Times Arts & Leisure Weekend
Jan. 7 to Jan. 10, 2010
TimesCenter
242 West 41st Street
New York City
Circle Mirror Transformation Briefly Returns
- Details
- Parent Category: Other Festivals
- Category: Theater
- Published on Sunday, 13 December 2009 00:06
- Written by Jessica Gatdula
Playwrights Horizons' recent production of Annie Baker's play Circle Mirror Transformation is returning for a limited engagement.
The play, which chronicles the lives and happenings of four small-town Vermont residents who have enrolled in a drama-class experiment at the local community center, will be performed at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater in Lincoln Square from Dec. 15, 2009 to Jan. 17, 2010. The comedy features Obie Award-winners Reed Birney, Deirdre O'Connell and Heidi Schreck, as well as Tracee Chimo and Tony Award-nominee Peter Friedman.
Tuesday through Friday performances start at 7:30 p.m. Saturday performances are held at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday performances take place at 2 and 7 p.m. Added Monday evening performances for Dec. 21 and Dec. 28 start at 7:30 p.m.
More information on Circle Mirror Transformation's brief return to the theater can be found at: http://www.playwrightshorizons.org/
Circle Mirror Transformation Limited Engagement
Dec. 15, 2009 to Jan. 17, 2010
Peter Jay Sharp Theater
416 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
212-279-4200
