In this episode of Raja Drawja from RuPaul’s DragCon, Latrice Royale talks about the joys of being at DragCon, her time in jail and defines the term slick legging! And of course the conversation wouldn’t be complete without talking about some trade!
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Her name says it all! The former male model-turned-RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Miss Fame is releasing her debut album Beauty Marked next week. Apparently, most of the ambient pop song lyrics come from her diaries and her life growing up on a chicken farm.
“I have written my adventures and dreams down in my bedside journals for years,” continues Miss Fame, at home in New York. “I did it for two reasons: to capture my stories so I would never forget the most profound moments on my path towards becoming Miss Fame and to help evolve as a person and artist. Reflecting on one’s past, the achievements and failures, is so important for growth.”
Check out her video for single Rubber Doll…and pre-order Beauty Marked on iTunes.
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Skip E. Lowe
Stacy Alexander
Thaddeus Wadleigh
Carl Barât
Colin Quinn
Harvey Fierstein
Holly Near
Jason Isaacs
Jimmy Jam
Joy Enriquez
Max Casella
Monda Guerra
Natalie Morales
Paul Giamatti
Robert Englund
Sandra Bernhard
Sonya Walger
Stacy Keanan
Uncle Kracker
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“If you don’t look, you don’t know.”
Well, first of all, there is that voice. I always think of my distinctive voice, made possible by decades of pot smoking & whiskey drinking, but Harvey Fierstein brings it all to a whole new level, a big man who sounds like he’s been chain-smoking since infancy.
Fierstein grew up in Bensonhurst, the son of a handkerchief manufacturer & a school librarian. He attended Pratt & began his career in the mid-1970s performing in drag bars under the smart drag-name Virginia Hamm. Fierstein made his acting debut in Andy Warhol‘s only play, Pork at LaMaMa in 1971. It was Fierstein’s own collection of interconnected, semi-autobiographical one-act plays in the late 1970s Torch Song Trilogy that eventually brought him to Broadway, where he has never gone far away. He also starred in the big screen adaptation of Torch Song Trilogy (1988), a rare gay themed film in that era. He has the distinction of winning Tony Awards for both writing & playing the lead role in that long-running play about a gay drag performer & his quest for true love & family. Fierstein knows a lot about Tony Awards.
Fierstein is one of our best celebrity spokespersons & champions for Gay Civil Rights. He describes himself as:
“The first real, live, out-of-the-closet queer on Broadway”.
In 1983, he wrote the book for the hit musical La Cage Aux Folles. He gave us the book for the legendary flop Legs Diamond (1988), with the great Peter Allen & already missed Julie Wilson. He also did the books for A Catered Affair, which ran a few weeks in 2008, but it is a show that I adore, & Newsies, which ran for 2 years on Broadway & then toured. The Disney musical brought Fierstein another Tony for his awards shelf. He has been nominated for 12 Tony Awards.
Fierstein has been featured in the films also, & he comes across great on the big screen, including: Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), & Independence Day (1996).
Fierstein’s turn as Edna Turnblatt in the stage musical version of Hairspray earned him a Tony Award in 2003. Fierstein really owns this role, but he was ultimately turned down for film version of Hairspray. My favorite Scientologist & closet case John Travolta, was cast instead.
He played lead role of Tevye in a revival of that old chestnut Fiddler On the Roof in 2004 & he played for 2 seasons on Broadway & then toured the country in the iconic role. His brave, unlikely & open portrayal of a straight father of 3 daughters in the Jewish The Sound Of Music earned him rave reviews every where it played. My first professional role was as Motel the tailor in Fiddler On The Roof in 1971. I have a soft spot for this show & I think it would have been nifty to have played Grandma Tzeitel opposite Fierstein in that production.
He appeared in the 2011 season’s popular revival of La Cage Aux Folles. The terrific film Kinky Boots (2005) was begging for adaption into a stage musical & Fierstein was just the one to do it. Kinky Boots, the musical, with a score by Cyndi Lauper is still playing at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on Broadway, where it was nominated for thirteen 2013 Tony Awards, winning 5 & receiving rave reviews. I love this joyous, tuneful show. Kinky Boots is touring the country now.
Last year, Fierstein’s thoughtful dramatic comedy, the true story of a Catskills summer camp for cross dressers in the 1960s, Casa Valentina, played at The Manhattan Theatre Club, directed by Joe Mantello, with 4 more Tony nominations, including Best Play. My pal, Broadway actor Kevin C. Loomis, now in rehearsals for Broadway Bares 2015, Top Bottoms Of Burlesque, tells me that Casa Valentina is Fierstein’s best work & that he told him so backstage at last year’s event. Broadway Bares have raised more than $12.6 million for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. This year’s show is June 21st.
As we ready ourselves for the Gay High Holy Days of Tony Award Weekend, I must say that I really love & admire Harvey Fierstein. He has been a vocal gay rights activist before it was cool, speaking out for gay people, queer theater, & AIDS causes. He has been a spokesman for the Services Legal Defense Fund, a group that advocates for the rights of gays & lesbians in the military.
“Time will tell us what we did & didn’t do. The way that I look at it, the only thing that I will definitely take credit for is that Torch Song & La Cage Aux Folles, 2 of my shows, were the first ever gay themed shows to make money on Broadway. I think that counts more than anything.”
The Tony Awards broadcast is tomorrow night. It is a rare year without a Fierstein nomination, maybe he will be there, or maybe he will be polishing his own awards on his 7 acre estate in Connecticut. I would welcome the opportunity to have cocktails & a chat with Fierstein.
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The other night, the brilliant Steve Martin received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. It was presented to him by Mr. Comedy Genius himself, Mel Brooks. There were funny speeches by Amy Poehler, Carl Reiner, Sarah Silverman, Steve Carell, and Martin Short. But it was Tina Fey who slayed with this tribute celebrating that wild and crazy guy.
Here’s her speech in full;
Good evening. As you can see from the end of those clips, Steve was the first rock-star comedian, playing to giant crowds and sold‑out stadiums and arenas. Let’s take a look at this Billboard chart from 1978. Steve was bigger than the Commodores … bigger than Springsteen, Elton John, and Aerosmith. By 1978, Steve had already achieved his lifelong goal of proving that music was stupid and everyone hates it. He was No. 1 at the arena box-office. And all of this was before he had ever made a movie, okay. To follow a stadium comedy career like that, with so many great movies, can only be described as a huge dropoff. Just to be sure, a devastating pay cut. He had to sell a lot of his boats.
But Steve was committed to his new dream of being a movie guy. I remember the first time I ever saw one of Steve’s movies. It was on a plane ride here today. And the part I saw before my biscuit came, Queen Latifah was really funny. Just kidding. Of course, I’m just kidding. I’ve seen all of Steve’s movies, and I definitely did not watch it on American Airlines, and I definitely did not eat a bunch of biscuits. And, of course, The Jerk, Roxanne, and all of the classic comedies, but for me, Steve is never better or more appealing than when he plays a caring dad in Father of the Bride or Planes, Trains & Automobiles, that character will always be my favorite.
And I wanted to take this weird public opportunity to tell you how much I love you in those roles, and also how much joy it brings me to know that you are a dad now. And yes, that is a patronizing thing to say, but people say dumb stuff like that to women all the time. Writing, acting, touring with his bluegrass band, and now, father. How does Steve juggle it all?
I was lucky enough to work with Steve in a movie called Baby Mama. Anyone watch the whole thing? No. But in the film, Baby Mama, Steve and I got to film several scenes together. And I remember every minute of our time together because Steve had a two-hour door-to-door. And we would chat during the turnarounds, and he gave me so much great showbiz advice, and that’s always stuck with me. He said to me,
“Amy. To be early is to be on time. [Being] on time is a sign of weakness. Never shake hands when [an] open-mouth kiss would suffice. There are no small parts, only small actors.”
And then he just listed a bunch of actors under five-two. He said,
“You can fix your nose or your teeth, but to do both is more money than I am willing to lend you.”
“It’s not show friendship. It’s Showbiz Pizza, and it’s my favorite restaurant.”
“Always find a way to give back.”
For example, Steve donates all his old white suits to lesbian commitment ceremonies.
“Always be nice to the little people because then at night, they’ll sneak in and fix your shoe. You know what? Don’t bring a gun to a knife fight, just enjoy it from the stands.”
Finally, he said,
“If you’re going to pick up Marty Short, remember to support the neck.”
I learned so much from you, Steve, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am to know you. And you have helped me so many times and in so many ways, showing up for SNL monologues, being a guest star on our dumb TV show, marrying a woman who is, I think, a younger, thinner, smarter version of me [Anne Stringfield]. It’s an honor to be a part of this evening, and to have one of my childhood dreams come true. I’m so glad that I got this one and not the sexual one I had of Adam West as Batman. You’re a genius. You mean a tremendous great deal to me.
The ceremony will be broadcast by TBS on June 13, with an encore presentation on TCM on July 30.
The post #QuoteUnquote: Tina Fey on Steve Martin (Is the Funniest Thing You’ll Read All Day) appeared first on World of Wonder.
The City Museum in St. Louis is a 600,000 square-foot, 10-story building that was once the home of the International Shoe Company. It’s the brainchild of artist and sculptor Bob Cassilly who opened the space almost 20 years ago. Cassilly passed away in 2011, but the museum is still perpetually under construction and new features are added or upgraded by group of 20 artists known as the “Cassilly Crew“. As you can see it’s a maze with a sky-high jungle gym with not one, but two repurposed airplanes, two 10-story slides, a rooftop Ferris wheel and a school bus that hangs out over the roof. With its subterranean caves, and hundreds of feet of tunnels that go from floor to floor, an aquarium and ball pits, it looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen. It seems endless with it’s in-house circus arts facility, restaurants like The Baby Elephant Cafe and The Rooftop Cantina. All of the materials used to build the museum are salvaged, like bridges, old chimneys, construction cranes, and miles of tile which were, in effect, a massive recycling project. The fact that it was the brainchild of an artist and not “an amusement park” makes it all the more appealing. I wanna go! You can find out more here.
(via Colossal)
The post #OnlyOne: How Many Museums Have a 10-Storey Slide, a Ferris Wheel & Two Abandoned Airplanes? appeared first on World of Wonder.
Prince George presented his little sister, Princess Charlotte, to the world today with this first official portrait. Prince Charlotte was born at 8.34am on 2nd May 2015 at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, weighing 8lb 3oz. These four photographs, released today by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, were taken at home by Kate last month. Also, on the Duke and Duchess’s official website is a close-up of newborn Charlotte, disproving the conspiracy theory that the Royals first appeared with a fake baby only a day after she was born. She looks pretty real here.
The post #WelcomeToTheFamily: Prince George with L’il Sis, Princess Charlotte, In Her First Official Pics appeared first on World of Wonder.
Adam Buxton
Billy B
Ricardo Gonzalez
Amy Childs
Anna Kournikova
Bear Grylls
Bill Hader
Cassidy Rae
Colleen Camp
Damien Hirst
Dave Navarro
Emily Ratajkowski
Iggy Azalea
Jenny Jones
Karl Urban
Ken Osmond
Kym Whitley
L.A Reid
Liam Neeson
Michael Cera
Mick Foley
Mini Anden
Prince
Sir Tom Jones
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June 7, 1928– James Ivory is a great American filmmaker. When asked to name a favorite film, I usually answer with A Room With A View (1985), although that choice changes from moment to moment. That famous film is actully in a 10 way tie with other much loved films, but I name this one, based on the 1908 E. M. Forster novel, because of the time & place that I saw it & because it eventually led me to the trip of a lifetime, a month in Italy in 1991. The Husband (then the BF) & I stayed in the place where the movie was made in Tuscany & we indeed enjoyed a room with a view.
A Room With A View was nominated for 8 Academy Awards, including Best Picture & Best Director & won 3: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costumes & Best Production Design. A Room With A View was also voted Best Film of the year by The British Academy of Film & Television Arts, The National Board Of Review, & in Italy, where the film won the Donatello Prize for Best Foreign Language Picture & Best Director for Ivory.
Ivory is known for his work in a long collaboration with Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant & screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. The trio formed Merchant Ivory Productions in 1961. Their films won 6 Academy Awards. Merchant was also Ivory’s longtime partner in life & love as well as art. Their professional & romantic partnership lasted until Merchant’s death.
Oregon’s own Ivory studied at the University Of Oregon, majoring in Architecture & Fine Arts & University Of Southern California Film School. He wrote, photographed, & produced Venice: Theme & Variations, a 30 minute documentary thesis film for his degree at USC. The film was named by The NY Times as one of the 10 best films of 1957.
Merchant Ivory will always be known for smart literary adaptations, restoring characterization, subtlety & period details to films in an era of explosions, aliens & special effects escapism. At first, their films were dismissed as yawners. Yet, A Room With A View, with a production budget of $7 million, grossed $55 million & left much anticipation for the next offering, the gay-themed Maurice (1987). Maurice is an impassioned love story. The author E.M. Forster was gay guy in a period when homosexuality was a crime in Britain. He had demanded that the book, written in 1914, be published only after he died. Forster left this world in 1970.
Forster’s literary executors tried to interest Merchant Ivory toward the writer’s other works. The team found it hard to find investors for their gay love story. Their collaborator Jhabvala declined to write the screenplay. Ivory co-wrote the script with Kit Hesketh-Harvey, an actor who had graduated from Cambridge where much of Maurice takes place. Just before shooting began that year, Julian Sands, who had co-starred in A Room With A View, opted out of playing the title role claiming personal reasons. Ivory was warned that during the new AIDS plague, a tale of homosexual passion was probably not a good bet for the box-office. The R-rated film shows men courting, kissing & making love. Ivory:
“It would have be wrong to turn our faces from the homosexual community. We wanted the audience to root for a happy ending for the film’s male lovers. People should be saying, ‘I know what’s in their hearts, I can feel for them.’ Although the book was written over 90 years ago, it’s completely relevant to today. The laws may have changed regarding homosexuality, but people’s feelings, the dismay, panic & compromises, they endure remain the same.”
In 1987, Maurice debuted at the Venice Film Festival where it received the Silver Lion Award for Best Film, Best Film Score & Best Actor Awards for co-stars James Wilby & Hugh Grant. The film was received good reviews & made a profit.
Ivory & Merchant are the most impressive, impassioned, inspired & influential gay partnership in film history. The films of Merchant Ivory will always be loved for their visually sumptuous, smartly acted period pieces of literary works produced on tiny budgets. The couple & their work are so closely intertwined that film fans assume that “Merchant Ivory” is the name of one individual. With British literary & cultural traditions, their professional & personal relationship actually managed to bring together diverse elements of American & Indian culture.
Other Merchant Ivory films based on gay literary sources include their adaptations of Forster’s Howards End (1992), Carson McCullers‘s The Ballad Of The Sad Café (1991, directed by gay actor Simon Callow), & Henry James‘s The Golden Bowl (2001).
Ivory had no problem gathering A-list actors willing to work for union scale: all of those darn Redgraves, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Sam Waterston, Alan Bates, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Bernadette Peters, Christopher Reeve, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anne Baxter, Stanley Tucci, Helena Bonham Carter, Daniel Day-Lewis, Julie Christie, Ralph Fiennes, Nick Nolte, Leslie Caron, & my boo Jeremy Northam.
In 2005, Merchant took his final bow, after a short illness. Ivory’s last film was The City Of Your Final Destination (2010), based on openly gay Peter Cameron’s novel. It is the only film he has made on his own. Ivory:
“Ismail was very much there to plan it, he bought the rights to the book & we went down to Argentina together to scout the location. We then went to China & made The White Countess &, when we returned to London, that was when he died. I had to finish The White Countess without him & how can I put this?… It took me some time to recover.”
Ivory lives in the 3 houses on the 3 continents that inspired his work in art & life with Merchant. The made 35 films as a duo.
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Cat people have been accused of being crazy before and now there’s research to back it up! A recent study published in Schizophrenia Research examined previous studies and found that childhood cat ownership may be a risk for schizophrenia later in life. A second study, published in the journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, found that an individual infected with Toxoplasma gondii was almost twice as likely to develop schizophrenia according to CBS News.
T. gondii has been known to cause illness, developmental disorders and death and now researchers have greater evidence to link the cat-carried parasite to mental health issues, like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
“In schizophrenia, the evidence of an association with T. gondii is overwhelming. These findings may give further clues about how T. gondii infection can possibly [alter] the risk of specific psychiatric disorders.”
It’s estimated that 60 million people in the U.S. have T. gondii. Outdoor cats are more likely to carry the parasite than indoor ones. Cat owners can protect themselves from it by keeping cats exclusively indoors and covering the litterbox when it’s not in use. It’s also best to change the litter daily, since it’s infectious one to five days AFTER it’s shed in feces. Like about 10% of the population, I’ve been allergic to cats all my life, so consequently, we’ve never had much use for each other. I wouldn’t say I hate them, but I’m indifferent to them and the feeling always seemed to be mutual. Now I’m so happy I’m not around them EVER.
(via Epic Times)
The post #CatCrazy: The Internet LOVES Them, But Parasites They Carry Can Make You Bipolar appeared first on World of Wonder.
60 Collister Street in Tribeca was former horse stables in a time gone by. Boy has it come a long way. This 5BR/6.5BA apartment originally hit the market about 5 years ago for $24.5 million. It appeared on Million Dollar Listing, twice and had two price reductions until it finally sold in 2013 for almost $10 million less, at just under $15 million. But a year later it was back on the market just under $20 million. No buyer yet, but it’s on the rental market for $65,000 a month, marked down from $80,000 when it first listed in December. Just look at the pictures, it’s pretty amazing. Tell your rich friends.
(via Curbed NY)
The post #RealEstatePorn: This “Million Dollar Listing” Tri-Plex Is on the Market for Only $65,000 – Per Month! appeared first on World of Wonder.
My house in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York is a converted barn, consequently, I’m a bit barn crazy. Waaaayyy down south, in Western Uruguay, local architect Nicolás Pinto da Mota just finished this minimalist pool house using the traditional forms associated with their vernacular architecture. Named ‘La Lunera’, the gabled red structure is set against an adjacent forest – using old materials and contemporary construction techniques. It opens onto an expansive terrace which has a sunken swimming pool with sweeping views. I’d love to add this exact structure to my property as a painting studio. I’m adding this to my Pinterest boards.
(via Design Boom)
The post #RealEstatePorn: This Barn-Inspired Poolhouse In Uruguay Is Perfection appeared first on World of Wonder.
For the world’s top Starchitects, museums get press and private homes pay the big bucks, but hotels are a unique way to let the public experience the work. From public spaces and pools to luxurious suites, these 10 hotels listed are architecture nerd heaven.
1. REMOTA
Puerto Natales, Chile — When you’ve journeyed to the end of the earth, a man-made monument would feel out of place. Remota, by Germán del Sol, is modern architecture at its most self-effacing.
2. HOTEL AMERICANO
New York, New York — The Americano’s simple white interiors recall those of its Chelsea art gallery neighbors, however the gleaming metal screen that covers its face is anything but minimal.
3. CONSERVATORIUM
Amsterdam, Netherlands — Amsterdam’s historic music conservatory retains its classic façade, but inside it’s been totally re-imagined, put to new use as the ultra-modern Conservatorium Hotel.
4. H2HOTEL
Sonoma Valley, California — Northern California’s Sonoma Valley finally comes of age: this modern classic in wine country leaves Tuscan villas and Provençal farmhouses as nothing but a distant memory.
5. CLASKA
Tokyo, Japan — It’s no longer the new kid on the block, but Claska, out in Tokyo’s creative-focused Meguro district, is still a pilgrimage site for design groupies and boutique-hotel junkies.
6. LA PURIFICADORA
Puebla, Mexico — This modernist makeover of a 19th-century water processing plant is one of Puebla’s new architectural wonders, with a rooftop pool that’s not to be missed.
7. KAMEHA GRAND
Bonn, Germany — Karl-Heinz Schommer’s striking wave-shaped structure and Marcel Wanders’s whimsical neo-baroque interiors combine to create a luxury hotel for the next century.
8. SAFFIRE FREYCINET
Tasmania, Australia — It takes an impressive building to compete with the scenery here, and the stingray-shaped main lodge at Saffire Freycinet rises to the challenge.
9. BENESSE HOUSE
Kagawa, Japan – This hotel is collaboration between the billionaire art collector Soichiro Fukutake and the Pritzker prize–winning architect Tadao Ando, with major works and site-specific installations by everyone from Jackson Pollock to James Turrell.
10. OPPOSITE HOUSE
Beijing, China — Though the concept is inspired by ancient Chinese hospitality, Beijing’s Opposite House, by the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, is a thoroughly modern hotel. (via Tablet Hotels)
The post #FantasyGetaways: 10 Amazing Destination Hotels That Are Architectural Marvels appeared first on World of Wonder.
In this episode of Ring My Bell, Buck Angel gives advice to a closeted Trans girl, talks about his recent divorce battle and about the importance of building a community of understanding!
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June 8, 1933– Joan Alexandra Molinsky’s death, sudden & unnecessary continues to shock me. I have been a fan for 50 years & I must admit I miss her very much. A true comedy pioneer, Joan Rivers was transgressive & transporting, brash & bold. The first time I saw her was on The Tonight Show in 1965 & her shtick was the message that I needed to hear as a little gay child:
“Life is very tough. If you don’t laugh, it’s even tougher. I’m in nobody’s circle. I’ve always been an outsider.”
Rivers was never afraid of controversy in the service of her comedy. That is just one of the many reasons that I love her. For me, speaking a truth, saying out-loud what most other people are thinking, is the very essence of what is funny, a gasp & then a laugh.
“I am thrilled that Anderson Cooper finally came out of the closet, because this explains why he never tried to date me. I saw him as the perfect package. I would have loved Gloria Vanderbilt as a mother-in-law. This explains everything.”
For 6 decades Rivers changed how women were considered as stand-up comics in show biz. From her first appearances with Johnny Carson to Celebrity Apprentice (which she won & boosted her career) to Fashion Police, Rivers continued to lambast the sexual double standard. She was an Emmy winning talk show host, Tony nominated actor, bestselling writer, a jewelry designer & balloon popper of the pompous.
I always anxiously waited for her wrap-up of award shows best & worst dressed. The Husband & I laughed & wondered at the brilliant & honest documentary, Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work (2010), again with a gasp & then the big laugh. This documentary follows one year in the life of Rivers, with a calendar full of engagements, sometime several each day, working to support her opulent lifestyle, & to bolster her own sense of self-worth as a basically insecure person who was better known now for her overuse of cosmetic surgery rather than her own work as a comedy professional. She worked that full schedule up until the day she was killed.
I winced when shortly before she left this world, a friend on The Facebook referred to her as “that hag, Joan Rivers…”. But I loved Rivers because she un-apologetically skewered everyone & everything that came in to her orbit. She injected crass & controversial cracks into the world of buttoned-up, male-dominated network TV shows, & the boys’ club of comedy spots.
It might surprise some of my friends to know that she was one of my idols, even though I try to keep my humor smaller & with a gentler touch. She did inspire me to be unafraid to say ANYTHING.
In 1989 Rivers became the host of The Joan Rivers Show, the first woman to host a late show, for which she won her Emmy Award, & which famously got her barred from appearing on Carson’s Tonight Show. After a decades-long shut-out, Rivers was invited back to The Tonight Show in 2014 by Jimmy Fallon.
In 2013 Rivers launched In Bed With Joan, a weekly Web series of interviews with celebrities. Rivers even got cozy with World Of Wonder stars RuPaul Charles & James St. James.
Rivers continued to cook up controversy in the last year of her life. She stormed out of a CNN interview after being asked whether there should be boundaries on her jokes, particularly when it affects public figures.
“Life is very tough & if you can tell a joke to make something easier & funny, do it.”
Rivers ignored the whole notion of “too soon.” Days after her the funeral of husband, Edgar, who had committed suicide, she claimed that she’d scattered his ashes at Neiman Marcus, so she could visit 5 times a week.
Rivers always wanted to be taken as a serious actor & she stated that comedy was a fall-back profession when she had trouble finding work on the stage. In 1959, at the start of career, she was cast opposite a then unknown Barbra Streisand in an Off-Off-Broadway play in which the pair of future gay icons played lesbians & had a kissing scene.
“This was before she was singing, before anything. I knew she was talented, but you never know what someone will be. She was a fabulous kisser, that’s what I knew.”
Rivers was also one of show biz’s most vocal supporters of LGBT equality. Speaking out, having gay guests on her TV shows & serving on the board of the HIV services organization God’s Love We Deliver from its very start.
“My gay fans have been wonderful from day one. I remember when I was working at the Duplex in Greenwich Village at the beginning of my career & the only ones who would laugh at my jokes were the gay guys. I think if I had started out in straight clubs & bars I never would’ve gotten anywhere.”
I am acquainted with several people that knew or met Rivers & claim that she was a most generous & loving friend. My buddy on The Facebook & Instagram, the handsome & talented David Dangle, a 3 time Emmy winning designer, was Rivers right-hand-gay & is CEO of her QVC brand. He suffered a terrible loss at her passing & has praised his dear friend’s generosity & spirit.
At her 5th Avenue palace, River had a pillow & stitched on it was the phrase: “Don’t Expect Praise Without Envy Until You Are Dead.” Rivers had long stated that when she left this world she’d be sanctified just like Lenny Bruce, her hero. That adage proved true. After her death, last September, the praise came from friends & foes, all naming her as a trailblazer & a force of nature.
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Everything interesting last night seemed to happen around the groundbreaking coming-of-age show Fun Home which won Best Musical last night at the Tonys, one of the five it got. Co-hosts Kristin Chenoweth and Alan Cumming kept the show moving with a low-key medley of jokes and songs which highlighted their nutty chemistry. Their costume quick-changes included Cumming in a hoop skirt a and Chenoweth as E.T., with her co-host scolding her; ”
“No, Kristin – I said “FUN Home.”
Fun Home, is based on Alison Bechdel‘s graphic novel about growing up with a closeted dad in a funeral home –and, btw, is the first musical to have a lesbian as its main character. It won for Best Book and Best Direction for Sam Gold. It had 12 nominations in total and took home some of the night’s big trophies. Michael Cerveris won his second Tony for playing the closeted and suicidal father. Another “Fun” highlight came when Joel Grey, who recently came out publicly, introduced Fun Home with his daughter, Jennifer Grey, who joked that the show was about a “brilliant and complicated father.” Joel Grey acknowledged that the topic was one his daughter “knew something about.”
British-born actor Alex Sharp who beat out Bradley Cooper and Bill Nighy for Best Actor in a play for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time had the most inspiring acceptance speech of the night;
“This time last year I was picked up my diploma graduating from Julliard, so to be holding this is insane. I just want to dedicate this to any young person out there who feels misunderstood or who feels different and answer that question at the end of the play for you: Does that mean I can do anything? Yes it does.”
Others Brits had a good night, as well, with Skylight winning for best revival, and Helen Mirren picking up her first Tony for playing Queen Elizabeth in The Audience. She owes THAT Queen a LOT, huh? She won an Oscar for playing her too, you know, in The Queen.
It all took place in THE best theater in the world, Radio City Music Hall and featured appearances by Jennifer Lopez, Sting, Jim Parsons, Amanda Seyfried, Kiefer Sutherland, Bryan Cranston, Taye Diggs and Ashley Tisdale, among many others. Lots of non-theater celebrities were in attendance, including Kendall Jenner, Monica Lewinsky and Vogue editrix Anna Wintour, who was singled-out in row 2 during On The Town‘s musical number and given flowers, for some reason?
The King and I was crowned Best Musical Revival and Kelli O’Hara won Best Actress and her co-star Ruthie Ann Miles, won for Best Featured Actress.
Here’s a complete list of the night’s winners:
BEST MUSICAL
An American in Paris
Fun Home
Something Rotten!
The Visit
BEST PLAY
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Disgraced
Hand to God
Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two
BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
The King and I
On the Town
On the Twentieth Century
BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
The Elephant Man
Skylight
This Is Our Youth
You Can’t Take It With You
BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Michael Cerveris, Fun Home
Robert Fairchild, An American in Paris
Brian d’Arcy James, Something Rotten!
Ken Watanabe, The King and I
Tony Yazbeck, On the Town
BEST ACTOR IN A PLAY
Steven Boyer, Hand to God
Bradley Cooper, The Elephant Man
Ben Miles, Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two
Bill Nighy, Skylight
Alex Sharp, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Kristin Chenoweth, On the Twentieth Century
Leanne Cope, An American in Paris
Beth Malone, Fun Home
Kelli O’Hara, The King and I
Chita Rivera, The Visit
BEST ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Geneva Carr, Hand to God
Helen Mirren, The Audience
Elisabeth Moss, The Heidi Chronicles
Carey Mulligan, Skylight
Ruth Wilson, Constellations
FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Christian Borle, Something Rotten!
Andy Karl, On the Twentieth Century
Brad Oscar, Something Rotten!
Brandon Uranowitz, An American in Paris
Max von Essen, An American in Paris
FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Victoria Clarke, Gigi
Judy Kuhn, Fun Home
Sydney Lucas, Fun Home
Ruthie Ann Miles, The King and I
Emily Skeggs, Fun Home
FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Matthew Beard, Skylight
K. Todd Freeman, Airline Highway
Richard McCabe, The Audience
Alessandro Nivola, The Elephant Man
Nathaniel Parker, Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two
Micah Stock, It’s Only a Play
FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Annaleigh Ashford, You Can’t Take It With You
Patricia Clarkson, The Elephant Man
Lydia Leonard, Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two
Sarah Stiles, Hand to God
Julie White, Airline Highway
BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
Sam Gold, Fun Home
Casey Nicholaw, Something Rotten!
John Rando, On the Town
Bartlett Sher, The King and I
Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris
BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
Stephen Daldry, Skylight
Marianne Elliott, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Scott Ellis, You Can’t Take It with You
Jeremy Herrin, Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two
Moritz von Stuelpnagel, Hand to God
BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL
Craig Lucas, An American in Paris
Lisa Kron, Fun Home
Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell, Something Rotten!
Terence McNally, The Visit
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron, Fun Home
Sting, The Last Ship
Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick, Something Rotten!
John Kander and Fred Ebb, The Visit
BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY
Bunny Christie and Finn Ross, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Bob Crowley, Skylight
Christopher Oram, Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two
David Rockwell, You Can’t Take It with You
BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Bob Crowley and 59 Productions, An American in Paris
David Rockwell, On the Twentieth Century
Michael Yeargan, The King and I
David Zinn, Fun Home
BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY
Bob Crowley, The Audience
Jane Greenwood, You Can’t Take It with You
Christopher Oram, Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two
David Zinn, Airline Highway
BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Gregg Barnes, Something Rotten!
Bob Crowley, An American in Paris
William Ivey Long, On the Twentieth Century
Catherine Zuber, The King and I
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY
Paule Constable, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Paule Constable and David Plater, Wolf Hall: Parts One & Two
Natasha Katz, Skylight
Japhy Weideman, Airline Highway
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
Donald Holder, The King and I
Natasha Katz, An American in Paris
Ben Stanton, Fun Home
Japhy Weideman, The Visit
BEST ORCHESTRATIONS
Christopher Austin, Don Sebesky, Bill Elliott, An American in Paris
John Clancy, Fun Home
Larry Hochman, Something Rotten!
Rob Mathes, The Last Ship
In a night of great performances, the most riveting was 11 year-old powerhouse,
Sydney Lucas from the cast of “Fun Home”
(via Us Weekly)
The post #TonyAwards15: “Fun Home” Won Best Musical + The Rest of Last Night’s Big Winners! appeared first on World of Wonder.
Johnny Depp in Ed Wood
Johnny Depp and Tim Burton posthumously gave Ed Wood, who some called the worst director ever, the fame he never had in life. Martin Landau won a Best Supporting Oscar for his role as Bela Lugosi. We get to see the real Ed, in the 1953 film, Glen or Glenda. It was an exploitation film written, directed by, and starring Ed Wood, and then-girlfriend Dolores Fuller, played by Sarah Jessica Parker in Burton’s film. The original title, I Changed My Sex! is often given as Glen or Glenda?. It’s so crazy backward and bad that it might have seemed funny to audiences up until recently. It’s just been a week but Caitlyn Jenner‘s Vanity Fair cover has already done so much to sensitize today’s world to transgender issues – but in the fifties, it was open season on anything and anyone different. You can see the trailer below, and the whole film here. Watch.
The post #IChangedMySex!: Ed Wood’s “Glen or Glenda” Is Even More Bizarre In Today’s Rear View appeared first on World of Wonder.
Tim Curry, 69, made a rare public appearance at a Tony Awards viewing party last night. Three years ago he suffered a stroke in his home, which he was forced to sell, and even though wheel-chair bound, looked in good spirits and said he was ‘doing well’. He was honored with The Actors Fund Lifetime Achievement Award and showed his still-great sense of humor, joking about the fund assisting funeral costs, saying:
“I’ve done a few benefits for the Actors Fund and I think it’s a marvelous organization. I hope not to have to use it.”
He’s used his humor to help him through his current situation and when asked how important it was for him, he said:
“Vital. Absolutely vital. It’s not tough to maintain. It is just part of my DNA.”
His speech has been affected and he was speaking slowly. Speaking prior to the event about receiving the award for his stage work, he said:
“It means that it just sort of solidifies the kind of work the American acting community has given me for years now.
“It’s very gracious of them, I think. I was thrilled when they told me and I am thrilled now.”
(via The Mirror)
The post #Legendary: Tim Curry Makes a Rare Appearance Accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award appeared first on World of Wonder.
Over the weekend, Zayn Malik‘s girlfriend Perrie Edwards posted a pic of the former 1d hunk sporting a lovely new ‘do. It’s green! Yes! Green like grass! Green like a pickle slice! Green like the beer bottle next to him! If we’re going to be honest, it’s kind of green like the mold in my bathtub, but with his coloring he can certainly pull it off. Oh, yes. He’s still the handsomest man in show business! What do YOU think of his new color?
The post Zayn Malik Goes Green appeared first on World of Wonder.
Watch as Alyssa Edwards is joined by season 7 contestant Katya Zamolodchikova for a live taping of Alyssa’s Secret on day 2 of RuPaul’s DragCon 2015! The two of them together will make your day!
Watch more live tapings from RuPaul’s DragCon!
The post Alyssa Edwards Is Joined by Katya for Alyssa’s Secret at DragCon 2015! appeared first on World of Wonder.
