BY TRAV S.D. | Today, June 5, is the birthday of Paul Swan (1883-1972). How fitting that it falls during PRIDE month! Swan was one of the most remarkable artists of the 20th century: painter, sculptor, model, dancer, choreographer, poet, movie actor, set and costume designer, and—for a few weeks in 1914–vaudevillian. Furthermore, he functioned […]
BY MAX BURBANK | On Thursday, May 23, President Donald Trump made an unannounced trip to Arlington National Cemetery, where he and first lady Melania Trump planted flags almost certainly made in China at the graves of U.S. service members. Observant calendar enthusiasts will note, Thursday, May 23 is not Memorial Day, which took place […]
BY ELIZABETH ZIMMER | Chelsea teems with historic dance in late May, including five days of performances by the venerable Limón Dance Company at the Joyce, and six shows, curated by Sans Limites Dance, at the Hudson Guild Theater, featuring work by close to 50 different choreographers from around the globe. Performing with the Limón […]
BY SCOTT STIFFLER | Who needs snark when you have an abundance of sweetness? Who needs to be cocky when carry yourself with such confidence? RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9 contestant Shea Couleé slayed at West 42nd Street’s Laurie Beechman Theatre last night, with a candid bio show that “RuVealed” intimate details on growing up, […]
BY CHARLES BATTERSBY | “I didn’t know that make up could be a job,” said makeup artist James Vincent, at a preview of The Makeup Show. Mr. Vincent is the Director of Education and Artist Relations at The Makeup Show, an industry convention which took up four floors of the Metropolitan Pavilion, (125 W. 18th […]
Before there were the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, or Abbott and Costello, there was Weber and Fields—the largely forgotten comedy team who made all of them, and many others, possible. The famous roughhousing German dialect comedians were not only the most popular funny men in the country at the turn of […]
PHOTO ESSAY BY WINNIE McCROY | Downtown notables mingled with festive partygoers on Saturday, May 4, at the 29th Annual Night of 1000 Stevies—the beloved Stevie Nicks fan event that graced many venues, among them the High Line Ballroom, Hiro Ballroom, The Knitting Factory, and Don Hill’s, before landing at Irving Plaza for this year’s […]
BY ELIZABETH ZIMMER | One of the great success stories of American contemporary dance is that of David Parsons, an athletic kid, fond of the trampoline, who emerged from Kansas City in 1977 with a work/study scholarship to New York’s Ailey School. He supported himself pumping gas in Manhattan, until an apprenticeship with the Paul […]
TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW BY SEAN EGAN | Like the imposing chorus of shanty-singing fishermen that opens the film, the specter of the patriarchy lingers long over Blow the Man Down. The new noir from writer/directors Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy, finds a small Maine fishing town grappling with the collective traumas caused by […]
TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW BY SEAN EGAN | Initials S.G., the new Spanish-language feature from writer/director tandem Rania Attieh and Daniel Garcia, is the kind of offbeat, smoke-addled dark comedy that casually draws from both Breathless and Goodfellas. And, if there’s any justice in this world, it should earn itself a sizable cult, and join […]