Live Event Blog

One of the new playwrights on the New York scene is Zakiyya Alexander, the author of “10 Things to Do Before I Die”. According to this reviewer, the show isn’t all that great, because the characters just like to talk about themselves and it’s not completely consistent with the difficulties that they are having in their lives. They are completely different characters, with opposite problems. And yet they can somehow blame these problems on their father. The men in the play aren’t made to be particularly sympathetic. At the same time, other reviewers rather like this skewing of the normal lines of narrative and characterization. Characters that claim that their problems are one thing but are actually something else. It’s more about what people do and what they say they do and whether those can jive in any way.

Jamie Foxx has been one of the most famous comedians of the last 20 years. He started gaining in popularity when he joined the cast of “In Living Color” which was very popular in the early 90s and has been seen frequently in syndication since then. His own show came shortly thereafter, the Jamie Foxx Show, which was also popular. Similarly he has performed R&B music and has been nominated for Grammys as a result. For his movie work in the movie “Ray” he won an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award. His standup show is considered one of the more entertaining in the business, even if it’s a little bit off-color at times. If you want to enjoy one of America’s best comedians in person, then get your Jamie Foxx tickets today!

When you turn on The Office on Thursdays, you can see a rather strong description of what the working world is like for many people. The office is full of politics and complicated things, according to episodes of this show. Meanwhile, Ethan Coen, of the Coen Brothers films, has written a show called Offices, where he puts three short plays together to paint a picture of this same world. He does an amazing job, according to the current reviews. It’s a very entertaining show, with characters that are as sharply drawn as those in Coen Bros movies and their lives just as quietly tragic. Take a look at the whole Variety review in order to get a better idea of the whole show, but it’s quite a lot of fun.

When 1776 opened at the Paper Mill Playhouse, people weren’t sure if it would work as well as it did when it first opened back in the 60s. It’s a nice show, an entertaining way to put the history onstage. This production is a really good one, with great actors. The actress playing Martha Jefferson gives the role strength and energy that it really needs. Her solo “He Plays the Violin” is impressive and strong for everyone. The costuming is good, while understated, so it doesn’t take away from the beauty of the work itself. Anyone in the area should try to see it, because this is a show that’s not very often played!

In the last 5 years or so, Dane Cook has become one of the most famous comedians in the country. He is mostly popular amongst the younger crowd, including teens and pre-teens, but adults also seem to like him a lot. A few years ago, he was one of the spokespeople for the MLB playoffs on FOX. More frequently, you can see him on Comedy Central specials and shows. He did his first performance with them in 1998, and has worked with them often ever since. His shows are some of the most fun, and his comedy flows from all kinds of styles, from slapstick to observational and wordplay. He has been featured in several movies that were really funny. He’s on tour this spring, so get Dane Cook tickets as soon as you can!

Kanye West had an interview with VH1 this weekend and he had, as usual, lots of comments about many different things. One of the issues he brought up was the problem of Chris Brown and Rihanna. Last month, Rihanna was allegedly beaten up by Brown during an argument they had on the night before the Grammys. He went to the police afterwards, and she went to the hospital. Kanye said that we should “give him a break”, saying that everyone makes mistakes and we shouldn’t hold him accountable for that. He’s just a person, says Kanye. The comments were left out of the broadcast version of the interview however. He also made cut-out comments about Michael Phelps and OJ Simpson for roughly the same reasons. Smoking pot? or beating someone up? Pick your poison, apparently.u

Someone asked me recently if the singers of the song “In the Year 2525″ were still together and what else they had done together. The group is called Zager and Evans and it turns out that they actually wrote the song a few years before it was recorded. They met each other at Nebraska Wesleyan University and wrote the song in 1964. They are known as a one-hit-wonder. That’s not to say that they didn’t write anything else. One of their other main songs is equally somber and didn’t achieve the same kind of success. “2525″ was at the top of the charts in 1969 and really fit the mood of some people at that time. They haven’t really been heard from since and they have moved on to other non-performing musical careers.

Where has Leonard Cohen been all these years? He has been overseas for a long time at this point. The singer came to his new concert series with a newfound interest in performing for our country. The audiences, however, have really found that they like him. He left the US without necessarily having the goodwill of audiences, but with some hits that people really liked over the years, it doesn’t matter much anymore. The style of his songs have become extra philosophical and have a “prophetic” tone compared to a lot of the music that’s out there now. Don’t miss him now, because who knows; it might be another 30 years before he comes back to America!

Ute Lemper is in New York, performing in the place of the late Eartha Kitt, at the Cafe Carlyle. She is a very impressive singer, and presents well generally. But the reviewer that I read frequently was not impressed. He didn’t like the selection of pieces or the style of some of them. Lemper is well known for her renditions of German cabaret music, and she’s also very good at it. There is, in this new set of music, a long bit of Astor Piazzolla in the show, which doesn’t really fit into the rest of the style completely. They say that she sang quite well, but just didn’t quite hit the stride that she has had in earlier shows. Maybe this one’s just for the real hardcore fans.

The reviews of last weekends Grammys have now been published. The reviews are generally good, without a lot of really exciting things. This was more or less expected: the show was decent, but pretty disjointed. There were lots of good performances, people doing what they do best, but it didn’t blow our minds like they could have. U2 was decent. Apparently, Rihanna and Chris Brown wouldn’t have made the show that much better. The show has become one of those things that people don’t watch too much. Why not? It’s probably just that there are too many awards ceremonies this time of year. Between the Golden Globes, the Emmys, the Grammys and the Oscars, you run out of interest. Especially if you don’t get a chance to check out what they produced before it was nominated.