Jasmine Amy Rogers, who recently finished a run as the scene-stealing “Gretchen Wieners” in the national tour of Mean Girls, has been cast in the title role of the pre-Broadway world premiere of Boop! The Betty Boop Musical.
Rogers will play the iconic big-headed Jazz Age flapper for a limited engagement at Chicago’s Cibc Theatre from November 19-December 24. The production is part of the Broadway in Chicago line-up.
Directed and choreographed by Tony winning Jerry Mitchell, Boop! features music by composer David Foster, lyrics by Susan Birkenhead and a book by The Prom‘s Bob Martin.
Although the Chicago staging is described by producers as a “pre-Broadway premiere,” neither a Broadway production timeline nor Broadway casting has been disclosed yet.
“From the moment Jasmine walks into a room and shares that magnificent smile and her contagious laugh, you know you are in the presence of Betty Boop,...
Rogers will play the iconic big-headed Jazz Age flapper for a limited engagement at Chicago’s Cibc Theatre from November 19-December 24. The production is part of the Broadway in Chicago line-up.
Directed and choreographed by Tony winning Jerry Mitchell, Boop! features music by composer David Foster, lyrics by Susan Birkenhead and a book by The Prom‘s Bob Martin.
Although the Chicago staging is described by producers as a “pre-Broadway premiere,” neither a Broadway production timeline nor Broadway casting has been disclosed yet.
“From the moment Jasmine walks into a room and shares that magnificent smile and her contagious laugh, you know you are in the presence of Betty Boop,...
- 9/27/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Last week, City Harvest, New York City’s first and largest food rescue organization, presented The 40th Anniversary Gala: House of Harvest, hosted by actor, model and producer Tyson Beckford, with décor by world-renowned celebrity event planner Colin Cowie.
The evening raised enough to provide more than 9.6 million meals for New Yorkers in need as they continue to grapple with record-high food costs, the end of federal aid programs, and the continued economic impacts of the pandemic.
The event honored the organization’s longtime Board Chair Jim Kallman and City Harvest’s frontline workers who were at the forefront of the organization’s work to help feed New Yorkers in need at the height of and throughout the pandemic. These frontline heroes helped rescue and distribute nearly 300 million pounds of food for New Yorkers across all five boroughs between March 2020 and June 2022 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A native...
The evening raised enough to provide more than 9.6 million meals for New Yorkers in need as they continue to grapple with record-high food costs, the end of federal aid programs, and the continued economic impacts of the pandemic.
The event honored the organization’s longtime Board Chair Jim Kallman and City Harvest’s frontline workers who were at the forefront of the organization’s work to help feed New Yorkers in need at the height of and throughout the pandemic. These frontline heroes helped rescue and distribute nearly 300 million pounds of food for New Yorkers across all five boroughs between March 2020 and June 2022 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A native...
- 5/4/2023
- Look to the Stars
City Harvest Presents The 40th Anniversary Gala: House of Harvest featuring an elegant dinner with a one-of-a-kind live and silent auction brings together celebrities, influencers, and other high-profile individuals for the organization’s most important fundraising night of the year.
Marking 40 years serving New York City, all proceeds from the evening will support City Harvest’s work to rescue more than 75 million pounds of nutritious food this year–nearly 20% higher than pre-pandemic levels–and deliver it, free of charge, to help feed New Yorkers in need. City Harvest’s 2022 gala raised a record-breaking $5.2 million, enough to provide more than 12 million meals for New Yorkers in need. Now, as millions of New Yorkers face record-high food prices, expiration of federal supports, and the continued economic impacts from the pandemic, the need for food assistance in New York City remains high.
The event will honor the organization’s longtime Board Chair Jim...
Marking 40 years serving New York City, all proceeds from the evening will support City Harvest’s work to rescue more than 75 million pounds of nutritious food this year–nearly 20% higher than pre-pandemic levels–and deliver it, free of charge, to help feed New Yorkers in need. City Harvest’s 2022 gala raised a record-breaking $5.2 million, enough to provide more than 12 million meals for New Yorkers in need. Now, as millions of New Yorkers face record-high food prices, expiration of federal supports, and the continued economic impacts from the pandemic, the need for food assistance in New York City remains high.
The event will honor the organization’s longtime Board Chair Jim...
- 4/13/2023
- Look to the Stars
Click here to read the full article.
“Making of a Broadway Show” is the last stop in the newly opened Museum of Broadway, but its contents and design are pivotal to understanding the intimate and intricate human realities — and possibilities — behind everything floors above it.
“You go to a show and see this performance, and it’s so many people’s blood, sweat and tears. It’s several years, sometimes, for a show to even get to Broadway. That wasn’t on my radar growing up. I had no idea I didn’t have to be the actor,” says Tony-winning producer and museum co-founder Julie Boardman about the inspiration for the exhibit. “But the whole world opens up to you in this. You walk through this stage door and get to learn about these different people’s jobs. You learn how a show goes from a blank page.”
It’s an effort,...
“Making of a Broadway Show” is the last stop in the newly opened Museum of Broadway, but its contents and design are pivotal to understanding the intimate and intricate human realities — and possibilities — behind everything floors above it.
“You go to a show and see this performance, and it’s so many people’s blood, sweat and tears. It’s several years, sometimes, for a show to even get to Broadway. That wasn’t on my radar growing up. I had no idea I didn’t have to be the actor,” says Tony-winning producer and museum co-founder Julie Boardman about the inspiration for the exhibit. “But the whole world opens up to you in this. You walk through this stage door and get to learn about these different people’s jobs. You learn how a show goes from a blank page.”
It’s an effort,...
- 11/16/2022
- by Abbey White
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tony winner Jesse Tyler Ferguson and nominee Jesse Williams are suiting up again as stars of the baseball-themed Take Me Out, which is set to return to Broadway in the fall. The hit revival will re-take the field October 27 at the Schoenfeld Theatre for 14 weeks, it was revealed today.
Written by Richard Greenberg and directed by Scott Ellis, Take Me Out bowed in the spring and went on to glove Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Play and Best Featured Actor for Ferguson. The show won widespread critical acclaim — and some unwanted headlines when an audience member recorded and posted on social media some nude scenes.
Here is the show’s stat line: When Darren Lemming (Williams), the star center fielder for the Empires, comes out of the closet, the reception off the field reveals a barrage of long-held unspoken prejudices dealing with sexuality and masculinity, money and power,...
Written by Richard Greenberg and directed by Scott Ellis, Take Me Out bowed in the spring and went on to glove Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Play and Best Featured Actor for Ferguson. The show won widespread critical acclaim — and some unwanted headlines when an audience member recorded and posted on social media some nude scenes.
Here is the show’s stat line: When Darren Lemming (Williams), the star center fielder for the Empires, comes out of the closet, the reception off the field reveals a barrage of long-held unspoken prejudices dealing with sexuality and masculinity, money and power,...
- 8/18/2022
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Just shy of one month ago, a revival of legendary composer Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Company” took home five Tony Awards, including the top prize for Best Revival. Now a remounting of one of his most popular works, “Into the Woods,” has just kicked off the new 2022-2023 Broadway season. The production, which opened at the St. James Theatre on July 10 for an extremely limited run, originated as a starry two-week gala at New York City Center in May and earned such acclaim that it quickly announced this Broadway engagement with most of its cast in tact.
Brilliantly weaving together different fairytale characters, “Into the Woods” is a beautiful and moving fable (and cautionary tale) about parenting and community and of childhood wonder and the loss of innocence. The musical features a libretto by James Lapine, and Lear deBessonet helms this production. The enviable ensemble includes Tony nominees Sara Bareilles,...
Brilliantly weaving together different fairytale characters, “Into the Woods” is a beautiful and moving fable (and cautionary tale) about parenting and community and of childhood wonder and the loss of innocence. The musical features a libretto by James Lapine, and Lear deBessonet helms this production. The enviable ensemble includes Tony nominees Sara Bareilles,...
- 7/13/2022
- by David Buchanan
- Gold Derby
Click here to read the full article.
One of Los Angeles’ — and the world’s — most captivating pieces of architecture, Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall is seen by most downtown L.A. visitors from street level.
Now, the 93-year-old architect’s new The Grand LA complex — a 1 billion, 15-years-in-the-making, two-tower mix of retail, a hotel and luxury residences located just across the street — offers a different, fresh perspective on the iconic home of the L.A. Philharmonic. Many of the project’s hotel rooms and rental apartments look directly out at or peer down on the concert hall and its sweeping swooshes of stainless steel. It’s a view that the architect himself cherishes — so much so that he’s taken a unit in The Grand by Gehry residential tower on a lower floor, one that provides an intimate, up-close view of one of his most loved buildings.
One of Los Angeles’ — and the world’s — most captivating pieces of architecture, Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall is seen by most downtown L.A. visitors from street level.
Now, the 93-year-old architect’s new The Grand LA complex — a 1 billion, 15-years-in-the-making, two-tower mix of retail, a hotel and luxury residences located just across the street — offers a different, fresh perspective on the iconic home of the L.A. Philharmonic. Many of the project’s hotel rooms and rental apartments look directly out at or peer down on the concert hall and its sweeping swooshes of stainless steel. It’s a view that the architect himself cherishes — so much so that he’s taken a unit in The Grand by Gehry residential tower on a lower floor, one that provides an intimate, up-close view of one of his most loved buildings.
- 7/1/2022
- by Degen Pener
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kimberly Akimbo, Assassins, Prayer for the French Republic and The Chinese Lady were among the Off Broadway productions receiving multiple nominations for this year’s Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off Broadway, announced today.
Among the innovations in this year’s 37th Annual Lortel Awards are the first non-gendered performance categories, and the first-ever Lortel for Outstanding Ensemble. In the new Ensemble category, the inaugural nominees are the casts of English, Oratorio For Living Things, and Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992.
Kimberly Akimbo and Oratorio For Living Things scored the most nominations, with six each, while Black No More and On Sugarland received five. Assassins, Prayer for the French Republic and The Chinese Lady each have four nominations.
The awards will be handed out on Sunday, May 1, at NYU Skirball in Manhattan. The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League and Lucille Lortel Theatre, with additional support provided by Tdf.
Among the innovations in this year’s 37th Annual Lortel Awards are the first non-gendered performance categories, and the first-ever Lortel for Outstanding Ensemble. In the new Ensemble category, the inaugural nominees are the casts of English, Oratorio For Living Things, and Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992.
Kimberly Akimbo and Oratorio For Living Things scored the most nominations, with six each, while Black No More and On Sugarland received five. Assassins, Prayer for the French Republic and The Chinese Lady each have four nominations.
The awards will be handed out on Sunday, May 1, at NYU Skirball in Manhattan. The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League and Lucille Lortel Theatre, with additional support provided by Tdf.
- 4/7/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
It may not have been a full Broadway production, but the Roundabout Theatre Company nonetheless knows how to welcome live theater back to New York City.
The 56-year-old performing arts organization hosted its 2021 gala, “Curtain Up, Light the Lights!,” in Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield on Monday night. It marked one of the first large-scale events to take place in the park since the pandemic. The evening, which raised more than $3.1 million for the Roundabout, began with video messages from Emma Stone and Rachel Brosnahan, as well as a pre-taped performance by Harry Connick Jr. Whoopi Goldberg, via video, honored Sen. Chuck Schumer for his efforts to pass the Save Our Stages Act, which provides much-needed grants to live-arts venues severely impacted by the pandemic.
The main attraction for the 400 guests, who had to provide proof of a negative Covid test or full vaccination to attend before having their temperature taken upon check-in,...
The 56-year-old performing arts organization hosted its 2021 gala, “Curtain Up, Light the Lights!,” in Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield on Monday night. It marked one of the first large-scale events to take place in the park since the pandemic. The evening, which raised more than $3.1 million for the Roundabout, began with video messages from Emma Stone and Rachel Brosnahan, as well as a pre-taped performance by Harry Connick Jr. Whoopi Goldberg, via video, honored Sen. Chuck Schumer for his efforts to pass the Save Our Stages Act, which provides much-needed grants to live-arts venues severely impacted by the pandemic.
The main attraction for the 400 guests, who had to provide proof of a negative Covid test or full vaccination to attend before having their temperature taken upon check-in,...
- 6/8/2021
- by Marc Malkin
- Variety Film + TV
It’s been the longest awards season ever after the Academy decided to delay the 93rd Academy Awards from February to April because of the pandemic, but the big show is finally upon us. The 2021 Oscars ceremony begins at 8pm Et Sunday on ABC, broadcasting live from both Union Station and the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. ABC is extending its coverage of the 2021 Oscars with a pre-show beginning at 6:30pm Et and a post-show airing after the Oscars ceremony.
All three programs — “Oscars: Into the Spotlight,” “The Oscars,” and “Oscars: After Dark” — will be available to watch live via ABC.Com and the ABC app, although you will have to provide a cable subscriber log-in in order to access the live stream. Viewers without cable can tune-in by subscribing to a variety of platforms that carry ABC, including Hulu + Live TV, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV, and FuboTV.
Roku users...
All three programs — “Oscars: Into the Spotlight,” “The Oscars,” and “Oscars: After Dark” — will be available to watch live via ABC.Com and the ABC app, although you will have to provide a cable subscriber log-in in order to access the live stream. Viewers without cable can tune-in by subscribing to a variety of platforms that carry ABC, including Hulu + Live TV, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV, and FuboTV.
Roku users...
- 4/25/2021
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
On Sunday, the world and film lovers will get to see how the Academy Awards will handle its biggest night in a completely different way than ever before. At a Wednesday virtual press conference, Tony–winning set designer David Rockwell provided some insight into his plans for transforming Los Angeles’s historic Union Station for the ceremony.
Rockwell is no stranger to designing for the Oscars — his team at Rockwell Group previously designed sets during the 2008 and 2009 ceremonies. The key to finding the ideal location began with Rockwell looking back at the previous locations where the Academy Awards had been held, such as the Biltmore Hotel and the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood.
He knew the space needed to be “self-contained, but we wanted to find a place that had enough scale and that we can create a room within a room.”
His challenge this year was to ensure there was safe social distancing,...
Rockwell is no stranger to designing for the Oscars — his team at Rockwell Group previously designed sets during the 2008 and 2009 ceremonies. The key to finding the ideal location began with Rockwell looking back at the previous locations where the Academy Awards had been held, such as the Biltmore Hotel and the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood.
He knew the space needed to be “self-contained, but we wanted to find a place that had enough scale and that we can create a room within a room.”
His challenge this year was to ensure there was safe social distancing,...
- 4/22/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
The basement of a hotel, an Al Malaikah temple and the annex to an outdoor shopping mall are just some of the locations where the Academy Awards have been held during its 93-year history.
But with the pandemic comes great change in the entertainment industry, and what better time than to switch up Oscar venues — in this case trading the Dolby Theatre for the John and Donald Parkinson-designed, 82-year-old Union Station in downtown Los Angeles?
As Oscars producer Stacey Sher mentioned at a presser on Saturday, “We are here to make a case why cinema matters,” and Union Station is an iconic landmark in the movie capital of the world, where such features as crime noir Union Station, The Way We Were, To Live and Die in L.A., Blade Runner and The Dark Knight Rises were shot. As Deadline’s Pete Hammond wrote, Oscar producer Steven Soderbergh’s “manifesto” is...
But with the pandemic comes great change in the entertainment industry, and what better time than to switch up Oscar venues — in this case trading the Dolby Theatre for the John and Donald Parkinson-designed, 82-year-old Union Station in downtown Los Angeles?
As Oscars producer Stacey Sher mentioned at a presser on Saturday, “We are here to make a case why cinema matters,” and Union Station is an iconic landmark in the movie capital of the world, where such features as crime noir Union Station, The Way We Were, To Live and Die in L.A., Blade Runner and The Dark Knight Rises were shot. As Deadline’s Pete Hammond wrote, Oscar producer Steven Soderbergh’s “manifesto” is...
- 4/21/2021
- by Anthony D'Alessandro and Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
With the 93rd Oscars forced to adapt and change with the coronavirus pandemic still a major factor, the production team for the April 25 ceremony announced Wednesday reflects those conditions.
Producers Jesse Collins, Stacey Sher and Steven Soderbergh unveiled 14 key members of their team for the show, which will air live on ABC from both the Oscars’ usual home at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles’ Union Station. Among the returning veterans are newcomers including The Roots drummer and filmmaker Questlove, who had previously performed on the telecast but is now musical director; Oscar-nominated screenwriter Richard Lagravenese, who also penned the Soderbergh-directed Liberace movie Behind the Candelabra, as a writer; and Dream Hampton, a writer and executive producer of Surviving R. Kelly, also as as writer.
All three are first-timers in the Oscar world. Other newcomers include Jesse Collins Entertainment veterans Jeannae Rouzan-Clay and Dionne Harmon as co-producers. They will be joined by veterans of the annual broadcast including supervising producer Rob Paine, who has been part of the Oscars team for 20 years; co-producer Raj Kapoor, back for a fifth consecutive year overseeing screen content and performances; and Taryn Hurd who returns for the eighth consecutive year as talent producer.
Head writer writer Jon Macks, the longtime Tonight Show With Jay Leno scribe who returns for his 24th Oscars telecast after recent gigs writing for the 2020 Democratic National Convention and the Celebrating America inauguration special, will lead a team that includes Amberia Allen (second Oscars), Rodney Barnes (Wu-Tang: An American Saga) and Mitchell Marchand (MTV Music Video Awards) along with Lagravenese and Hampton.
Other veterans returning include production designer David Rockwell, who served in that role for the 81st and 82nd Oscars and is a Tony winner with more than 60 theatrical productions including She Loves Me, Kinky Boots and Harispray (he also designs Nobu hotels and restaurants); and lighting designer Robert Dickinson, who returns for his 32nd Oscars show with 18 Primetime Emmy Awards to his credit — including three for Oscars telecasts.
As Deadline scooped this week, there is no single host planned for this year’s ceremony, with producers now out with offers to talent they hope will come in to present the categories on a rotating basis.
Glenn Weiss returns to direct the Oscars for a sixth straight year but little else is known about the makeup of the ceremony. Organizer the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has told nominees there will be a ban on Zooms, so popular with other Covid-era shows including Golden Globes, Critics Choice and the upcoming truncated SAG Awards.
“Our plan is that this year’s Oscars will look like a movie, not a television show, and Glenn has embraced this approach and come up with ideas of his own on how to achieve this,” Collins, Sher and Soderbergh said when Weiss came aboard last week.
Producers Jesse Collins, Stacey Sher and Steven Soderbergh unveiled 14 key members of their team for the show, which will air live on ABC from both the Oscars’ usual home at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles’ Union Station. Among the returning veterans are newcomers including The Roots drummer and filmmaker Questlove, who had previously performed on the telecast but is now musical director; Oscar-nominated screenwriter Richard Lagravenese, who also penned the Soderbergh-directed Liberace movie Behind the Candelabra, as a writer; and Dream Hampton, a writer and executive producer of Surviving R. Kelly, also as as writer.
All three are first-timers in the Oscar world. Other newcomers include Jesse Collins Entertainment veterans Jeannae Rouzan-Clay and Dionne Harmon as co-producers. They will be joined by veterans of the annual broadcast including supervising producer Rob Paine, who has been part of the Oscars team for 20 years; co-producer Raj Kapoor, back for a fifth consecutive year overseeing screen content and performances; and Taryn Hurd who returns for the eighth consecutive year as talent producer.
Head writer writer Jon Macks, the longtime Tonight Show With Jay Leno scribe who returns for his 24th Oscars telecast after recent gigs writing for the 2020 Democratic National Convention and the Celebrating America inauguration special, will lead a team that includes Amberia Allen (second Oscars), Rodney Barnes (Wu-Tang: An American Saga) and Mitchell Marchand (MTV Music Video Awards) along with Lagravenese and Hampton.
Other veterans returning include production designer David Rockwell, who served in that role for the 81st and 82nd Oscars and is a Tony winner with more than 60 theatrical productions including She Loves Me, Kinky Boots and Harispray (he also designs Nobu hotels and restaurants); and lighting designer Robert Dickinson, who returns for his 32nd Oscars show with 18 Primetime Emmy Awards to his credit — including three for Oscars telecasts.
As Deadline scooped this week, there is no single host planned for this year’s ceremony, with producers now out with offers to talent they hope will come in to present the categories on a rotating basis.
Glenn Weiss returns to direct the Oscars for a sixth straight year but little else is known about the makeup of the ceremony. Organizer the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has told nominees there will be a ban on Zooms, so popular with other Covid-era shows including Golden Globes, Critics Choice and the upcoming truncated SAG Awards.
“Our plan is that this year’s Oscars will look like a movie, not a television show, and Glenn has embraced this approach and come up with ideas of his own on how to achieve this,” Collins, Sher and Soderbergh said when Weiss came aboard last week.
- 3/24/2021
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Oscar producers Jesse Collins, Stacey Sher and Steven Soderbergh have announced 14 key members of the production team for the 93rd Academy Awards.
Rob Paine (“A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote”) will serve as supervising producer, while co-producer Raj Kapoor (“Grammy Awards”) joins the Oscars for the fifth consecutive year, overseeing screen content and performances. Taryn Hurd (Governors Awards) rejoins the Academy Awards for the eighth consecutive year as talent producer, while head writer Jon Macks (“The Tonight Show With Jay Leno”) returns for his 24th Oscarcast. Amberia Allen (“The Daily Show With Trevor Noah”), Rodney Barnes (“Things That Make White People Uncomfortable”) and Mitchell Marchand (“The Upshaws”) return as writers for the Oscar ceremony. Production designer David Rockwell (founder and president of Rockwell Group) is returning after having designed the 81st and 82nd Oscars, and lighting designer Robert Dickinson (“The Kennedy Center Honors”) is back for his 32nd Oscarcast.
Rob Paine (“A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote”) will serve as supervising producer, while co-producer Raj Kapoor (“Grammy Awards”) joins the Oscars for the fifth consecutive year, overseeing screen content and performances. Taryn Hurd (Governors Awards) rejoins the Academy Awards for the eighth consecutive year as talent producer, while head writer Jon Macks (“The Tonight Show With Jay Leno”) returns for his 24th Oscarcast. Amberia Allen (“The Daily Show With Trevor Noah”), Rodney Barnes (“Things That Make White People Uncomfortable”) and Mitchell Marchand (“The Upshaws”) return as writers for the Oscar ceremony. Production designer David Rockwell (founder and president of Rockwell Group) is returning after having designed the 81st and 82nd Oscars, and lighting designer Robert Dickinson (“The Kennedy Center Honors”) is back for his 32nd Oscarcast.
- 3/24/2021
- by Antonio Ferme
- Variety Film + TV
Oscars producers have unveiled the production team for this year’s ceremony, including Questlove as the show’s musical director and Richard Lagravenese and Dream Hampton as writers.
Jesse Collins, Stacey Sher and Steven Soderbergh, the producers for this year’s Academy Awards, announced a total of 14 new members of the team on Wednesday. This follows the news that Glenn Weiss will be returning to direct the show with the intention of making it look more cinematic than past Oscars broadcasts.
The members added to this year’s show are supervising producer Rob Paine, co-producers Jeannae Rouzan-Clay, Dionne Harmon and Raj Kapoor, talent producer Taryn Hurd, writers Amberia Allen, Rodney Barnes, Dream Hampton, Mitchell Marchand and Richard Lagravenese and head writer Jon Macks, music director Questlove, production designer David Rockwell and lighting designer Robert Dickinson.
The Roots crew leader Questlove has previously been a musical director for artists like D’Angelo,...
Jesse Collins, Stacey Sher and Steven Soderbergh, the producers for this year’s Academy Awards, announced a total of 14 new members of the team on Wednesday. This follows the news that Glenn Weiss will be returning to direct the show with the intention of making it look more cinematic than past Oscars broadcasts.
The members added to this year’s show are supervising producer Rob Paine, co-producers Jeannae Rouzan-Clay, Dionne Harmon and Raj Kapoor, talent producer Taryn Hurd, writers Amberia Allen, Rodney Barnes, Dream Hampton, Mitchell Marchand and Richard Lagravenese and head writer Jon Macks, music director Questlove, production designer David Rockwell and lighting designer Robert Dickinson.
The Roots crew leader Questlove has previously been a musical director for artists like D’Angelo,...
- 3/24/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Just over one month before the first pandemic-era ceremony, Oscars producers Jesse Collins, Stacey Sher and Steven Soderbergh announced 14 additions to their production team, including big names like musician Questlove, set designer David Rockwell and writers dream hampton and Richard Lagravenese.
The full list of newcomers follows.
Rob Paine has been associated with the Oscars telecast for more than 20 years and returns as supervising producer. Paine has more than 200 television events to his name and has earned eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations, a Daytime Emmy Award nomination and a Peabody Award. His credits include Celebrating America, A West Wing Special to Benefit When We ...
The full list of newcomers follows.
Rob Paine has been associated with the Oscars telecast for more than 20 years and returns as supervising producer. Paine has more than 200 television events to his name and has earned eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations, a Daytime Emmy Award nomination and a Peabody Award. His credits include Celebrating America, A West Wing Special to Benefit When We ...
- 3/24/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Just over one month before the first pandemic-era ceremony, Oscars producers Jesse Collins, Stacey Sher and Steven Soderbergh announced 14 additions to their production team, including big names like musician Questlove, set designer David Rockwell and writers dream hampton and Richard Lagravenese.
The full list of newcomers follows.
Rob Paine has been associated with the Oscars telecast for more than 20 years and returns as supervising producer. Paine has more than 200 television events to his name and has earned eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations, a Daytime Emmy Award nomination and a Peabody Award. His credits include Celebrating America, A West Wing Special to Benefit When We ...
The full list of newcomers follows.
Rob Paine has been associated with the Oscars telecast for more than 20 years and returns as supervising producer. Paine has more than 200 television events to his name and has earned eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations, a Daytime Emmy Award nomination and a Peabody Award. His credits include Celebrating America, A West Wing Special to Benefit When We ...
- 3/24/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Producers of Broadway’s Take Me Out starring Patrick J. Adams, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Jesse Williams have set an opening date of April 22, 2021, with previews beginning March 22.
The Second Stage Theater staging of the Richard Greenberg play is the latest production targeting a Spring opening after being interrupted or postponed this year due to Broadway’s Covid-19 shutdown. Take Me Out is directed by Scott Ellis.
In addition to Adams, Ferguson and Williams, Take Me Out, at the Second Stage’s Hayes Theater, will feature Julian Cihi, Hiram Delgado, Brandon J. Dirden, Carl Lundstedt, Ken Marks, Michael Oberholtzer, Eduardo Ramos and Tyler Lansing Weaks. The production had been scheduled to begin previews on April 2, 2020 and officially open on April 23, 2020.
Also aiming for Spring 2021 openings are the Tony Kushner-Jeanine Tesori musical Caroline, or Change, The Music Man, Flying Over Sunset, American Buffalo, Plaza Suite and The Minutes. Birthday Candles,...
The Second Stage Theater staging of the Richard Greenberg play is the latest production targeting a Spring opening after being interrupted or postponed this year due to Broadway’s Covid-19 shutdown. Take Me Out is directed by Scott Ellis.
In addition to Adams, Ferguson and Williams, Take Me Out, at the Second Stage’s Hayes Theater, will feature Julian Cihi, Hiram Delgado, Brandon J. Dirden, Carl Lundstedt, Ken Marks, Michael Oberholtzer, Eduardo Ramos and Tyler Lansing Weaks. The production had been scheduled to begin previews on April 2, 2020 and officially open on April 23, 2020.
Also aiming for Spring 2021 openings are the Tony Kushner-Jeanine Tesori musical Caroline, or Change, The Music Man, Flying Over Sunset, American Buffalo, Plaza Suite and The Minutes. Birthday Candles,...
- 7/1/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
“I’m having to be more inventive, to be more athletic in a way, because the dancers are,” admits Warren Carlyle. The choreographer picked up his third Tony nomination for upping his game with inventive choreography for the current revival of “Kiss Me, Kate.” He previously won the category for his work on “After Midnight,” and chatted with Gold Derby about the challenges and successes that lead to his most recent nomination. Watch the exclusive video interview above.
See‘Oklahoma!’ vs. ‘Kiss Me, Kate’: Which do our Tony Experts think will win Best Musical Revival?
On creating new dances, Carlyle says “I approach it like a writer. I wrote a story for ‘Too Darn Hot’ that interests me. “Too Darn Hot” is the classic show-stopping dance sequence that opens Act 2 of the Cole Porter musical. With stage directions in the script that simply read “and they dance,” there was...
See‘Oklahoma!’ vs. ‘Kiss Me, Kate’: Which do our Tony Experts think will win Best Musical Revival?
On creating new dances, Carlyle says “I approach it like a writer. I wrote a story for ‘Too Darn Hot’ that interests me. “Too Darn Hot” is the classic show-stopping dance sequence that opens Act 2 of the Cole Porter musical. With stage directions in the script that simply read “and they dance,” there was...
- 5/20/2019
- by Sam Eckmann
- Gold Derby
We’ve all had that moment of genius, usually while getting stuck on TCM, when the brilliant idea reveals itself to us: This film really deserves a remake, an update stripped of archaic notions or bad hair and polished to a shiny modern sheen. Some movies all but demand it. Tootsie isn’t one. Sydney Pollack’s 1982 film starring Dustin Hoffman seems so perfectly of its time – right down to the blissful ignorance of its unexamined mansplaining – that any fiddling would seem as unnecessary as spray tan on a president.
You’ll have just enough time during the false-start opening moments of director Scott Ellis’ wonderful new Tootsie to ponder such things, and then the musical and its star Santino Fontana grab hold and don’t let go. It’s not without a few runs in its stockings, but this Tootsie is a delight, a not-quite-blind date that plays out...
You’ll have just enough time during the false-start opening moments of director Scott Ellis’ wonderful new Tootsie to ponder such things, and then the musical and its star Santino Fontana grab hold and don’t let go. It’s not without a few runs in its stockings, but this Tootsie is a delight, a not-quite-blind date that plays out...
- 4/24/2019
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
The Nap, Broadway’s latest laugh from London, tries to fool us and sometimes does, though not in ways playwright Richard Bean might have intended. Teased with the appealing prospect of an evening of Martin McDonagh-lite, we’re quickly handed a cartoon con job.
No offense to Snooker fans here, there or anywhere, but a comedy built around the game’s intricacies and milieu is bound to lose some bite when rules need more set-up than jokes.
Well-reviewed in London, and with real possibility promised by a good cast, a strong director in Daniel Sullivan and a playwright with an earlier stateside gem, The Nap begins to disappoint fast.
So, some exposition of my own. Snooker is a billiards-like game, nap is the fuzzy surface of the table and the British apparently love...
No offense to Snooker fans here, there or anywhere, but a comedy built around the game’s intricacies and milieu is bound to lose some bite when rules need more set-up than jokes.
Well-reviewed in London, and with real possibility promised by a good cast, a strong director in Daniel Sullivan and a playwright with an earlier stateside gem, The Nap begins to disappoint fast.
So, some exposition of my own. Snooker is a billiards-like game, nap is the fuzzy surface of the table and the British apparently love...
- 9/28/2018
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
When the 1990 movie comedy “Pretty Woman” catapulted Julia Roberts to stardom, it was widely reported that Disney and late director Garry Marshall had tweaked J.F. Lawton’s downbeat prostitute/john tale “Three Thousand” into a sumptuous rom-com, to the profit of all concerned. Its newest incarnation sanitizes the tale completely. With anything mature or sensual systematically removed, “Pretty Woman: The Musical” goes all-in on fantasy, casting two sizzling talents, Samantha Barks and Andy Karl, as bland, pretty people singing pretty Bryan Adams-Jim Vallance tunes with nothing much at stake. Stubbornly inconsequential, it’s a morally uplifting fairy tale of which everyone, young and old alike, can be skeptical.
The Lawton-Marshall libretto fundamentally sticks to the screenplay line by line, joke by joke. Multimillionaire corporate raider Edward Lewis (Karl) hops in a brand-new 1989 Lotus Esprit and, in an impulse maybe only Hugh Grant could explain, whisks streetwalker Vivian Ward (Barks) from Hollywood Blvd.
The Lawton-Marshall libretto fundamentally sticks to the screenplay line by line, joke by joke. Multimillionaire corporate raider Edward Lewis (Karl) hops in a brand-new 1989 Lotus Esprit and, in an impulse maybe only Hugh Grant could explain, whisks streetwalker Vivian Ward (Barks) from Hollywood Blvd.
- 8/17/2018
- by Bob Verini
- Variety Film + TV
The Hard Problem, a new play by Arcadia playwright Tom Stoppard to be staged by his The Coast of Utophia director Jack O’Brien, will premiere next fall as a Lincoln Center Theater production.
The Stoppard play is one of two new Lincoln Center Theater productions announced today for the fall season. Also coming: Miranda Rose Hall’s Plot Points in Our Sexual Development, to be directed by Margot Bordelon.
Stoppard’s The Hard Problem begins previews Thursday, October 25 with an official opening on Monday, November 19 at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. Hall’s Plot Points, a Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 production, begins performances Saturday, October 6, opens Monday, October 22, and runs through Sunday, November 18 at the Claire Tow Theater.
The Hard Problem will feature Eshan Bay, Adelaide Clemens, Nina Grollman, Katie Beth Hall, Chris O’Shea, Tara Summers, and Karoline Xu, with additional casting to be announced. The...
The Stoppard play is one of two new Lincoln Center Theater productions announced today for the fall season. Also coming: Miranda Rose Hall’s Plot Points in Our Sexual Development, to be directed by Margot Bordelon.
Stoppard’s The Hard Problem begins previews Thursday, October 25 with an official opening on Monday, November 19 at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. Hall’s Plot Points, a Lincoln Center Theater/LCT3 production, begins performances Saturday, October 6, opens Monday, October 22, and runs through Sunday, November 18 at the Claire Tow Theater.
The Hard Problem will feature Eshan Bay, Adelaide Clemens, Nina Grollman, Katie Beth Hall, Chris O’Shea, Tara Summers, and Karoline Xu, with additional casting to be announced. The...
- 7/17/2018
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Nashville‘s Will Chase and Tony-winner Kelli O’Hara will take on Kiss Me, Kate in a new Roundabout Theatre Broadway production set for next year. Roundabout’s Todd Haimes, Artistic Director/CEO, made the announcement today.
Kiss Me, Kate will begin preview performances at Studio 54 on Broadway on Thursday, February 14, 2019 and opens officially on Thursday, March 14, 2019. The limited engagement runs through Sunday, June 2, 2019.
Chase will play “Petruchio/Fred Graham” to O’Hara’s “Kate/Lilli Vanessi.” The musical, with book by Sam and Bella Spewack and music and lyrics by Cole Porter, will be directed by by eight-time Tony nominee and Roundabout’s Associate Artistic Director Scott Ellis.
Additional cast members will be announced soon.
Warren Carlyle will choreograph, with music direction by Paul Gemignani. The creative team includes David Rockwell (Sets), Jeff Mahshie (Costumes), Donald Holder (Lighting), Brian Ronan (Sound) and David Brian Brown (Hair & Wig design...
Kiss Me, Kate will begin preview performances at Studio 54 on Broadway on Thursday, February 14, 2019 and opens officially on Thursday, March 14, 2019. The limited engagement runs through Sunday, June 2, 2019.
Chase will play “Petruchio/Fred Graham” to O’Hara’s “Kate/Lilli Vanessi.” The musical, with book by Sam and Bella Spewack and music and lyrics by Cole Porter, will be directed by by eight-time Tony nominee and Roundabout’s Associate Artistic Director Scott Ellis.
Additional cast members will be announced soon.
Warren Carlyle will choreograph, with music direction by Paul Gemignani. The creative team includes David Rockwell (Sets), Jeff Mahshie (Costumes), Donald Holder (Lighting), Brian Ronan (Sound) and David Brian Brown (Hair & Wig design...
- 6/28/2018
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Even by Hollywood-meets-New York standards, the production of Lobby Hero at Broadway’s newly renovated Hayes Theatre is an impressive crossover affair. Written by Kenneth Lonergan 15 years before his Manchester by the Sea triumph, starring Michael Cera, Chris Evans (in a really terrific Broadway debut), Atlanta‘s Brian Tyree Henry and The Diary of a Teenage Girl‘s Bel Powley, the lines outside the theater on any given night are a foregone conclusion.
But Lobby Hero is no gimmick event, its no-weak-link casting anything but a stunt – strong enough, in fact, to merit serious Tony consideration. A fine and funny drama when it debuted Off Broadway in 2001, the play hasn’t so much aged as grown into itself and the world around it. That’s good news for the theater, not so much the world.
At once intimate and encompassing, Lobby Hero, directed by Trip Cullman, takes no prisoners in...
But Lobby Hero is no gimmick event, its no-weak-link casting anything but a stunt – strong enough, in fact, to merit serious Tony consideration. A fine and funny drama when it debuted Off Broadway in 2001, the play hasn’t so much aged as grown into itself and the world around it. That’s good news for the theater, not so much the world.
At once intimate and encompassing, Lobby Hero, directed by Trip Cullman, takes no prisoners in...
- 3/29/2018
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
This morning, Monday, February 5, 2018 at 1000am, Second Stage Theater Carole Rothman, Artistic Director Casey Reitz, Executive Director hosted the official lighting ceremony for its new Broadway home, The Hayes Theater 240 West 44th street. Designed by David Rockwell of Rockwell Group, this landmarked, newly renovated venue has become, under Second Stage's ownership, the first Broadway theater dedicated exclusively to living American Playwrights.
- 2/11/2018
- by BroadwayWorld TV
- BroadwayWorld.com
The famed architect reprises his role as set designer for the Academy Awards. Yesterday, he gave us a backstage tour.
At a rehearsal for the opening number of Sunday night's Oscar show at the Kodak Theatre, tiny, plain-clothed dancers pranced over glossy laser-cut laminate in what felt like a sparkly, white-on-white dream sequence. "5-6-7-8!" Seated in the audience, architect David Rockwell was dressed in black jeans, Asics running shoes and a black Academy zip-up, surveying his latest spectacle. "It's going to be terrifying all over again," he said, over the syncopated four-counts. "Which I love."
Tapped last October to reprise his role as set designer for the Oscars, Rockwell cautioned that the 82nd Academy Awards will not be a straight-up sequel of last year's performance. "You try and find the story--the design narrative--for each show," says our 2009 Master of Design. "Last year, Hugh Jackman embodied the Busby Berkeley supper club environment.
At a rehearsal for the opening number of Sunday night's Oscar show at the Kodak Theatre, tiny, plain-clothed dancers pranced over glossy laser-cut laminate in what felt like a sparkly, white-on-white dream sequence. "5-6-7-8!" Seated in the audience, architect David Rockwell was dressed in black jeans, Asics running shoes and a black Academy zip-up, surveying his latest spectacle. "It's going to be terrifying all over again," he said, over the syncopated four-counts. "Which I love."
Tapped last October to reprise his role as set designer for the Oscars, Rockwell cautioned that the 82nd Academy Awards will not be a straight-up sequel of last year's performance. "You try and find the story--the design narrative--for each show," says our 2009 Master of Design. "Last year, Hugh Jackman embodied the Busby Berkeley supper club environment.
- 3/5/2010
- by Alissa Walker
- Fast Company
Photo: AMPAS
Earlier this week the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and 82nd Academy Awards® production designer David Rockwell unveiled the set for the upcoming Oscar show. This marks the second consecutive year that Rockwell has designed the set for the Oscar telecast. Last year’s was sooo “Bob Mackie” and the samples of this year’s set is once again very reminiscent of Old Hollywood Glamour…it’s gorgeous.
Photo: (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
“It has been fantastic to work on the Oscars® again, particularly because we have been able to build and expand on so many of the design innovations we introduced last year,” said Rockwell. “It has been a thrill to work with Adam, Bill and the rest of the team, dreaming up sets that embrace all the reasons we love movies: the glamour, the lights, the colors, the technique and the emotion!”
Light and movement,...
Earlier this week the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and 82nd Academy Awards® production designer David Rockwell unveiled the set for the upcoming Oscar show. This marks the second consecutive year that Rockwell has designed the set for the Oscar telecast. Last year’s was sooo “Bob Mackie” and the samples of this year’s set is once again very reminiscent of Old Hollywood Glamour…it’s gorgeous.
Photo: (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
“It has been fantastic to work on the Oscars® again, particularly because we have been able to build and expand on so many of the design innovations we introduced last year,” said Rockwell. “It has been a thrill to work with Adam, Bill and the rest of the team, dreaming up sets that embrace all the reasons we love movies: the glamour, the lights, the colors, the technique and the emotion!”
Light and movement,...
- 2/19/2010
- by Michelle
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The 2010 Academy Awards are approaching and details on the secretive telecast have begun to trickle out. After a flourish of changes last year as Hugh Jackman tap danced his way to a ratings boost, the Association of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is making a few more tweaks for March 7.
“Best Picture” was expanded this year to ten nominees, allowing niche favorites like District 9 to sneak into the list, even if it’s a 75:1 longshot. Though populist pick Avatar should provide some excitement after racking up nine nods in additional to $2.4 billion at the global box office.
The Academy (and ABC) is hoping this will bring fresh viewers to the telecast executive produced by newcomers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman (who recently complained there is too much misinformation about the show). 2009’s Oscar were watched by 36.9 million people, an improvement but well below the 57.25M when Titanic took home...
“Best Picture” was expanded this year to ten nominees, allowing niche favorites like District 9 to sneak into the list, even if it’s a 75:1 longshot. Though populist pick Avatar should provide some excitement after racking up nine nods in additional to $2.4 billion at the global box office.
The Academy (and ABC) is hoping this will bring fresh viewers to the telecast executive produced by newcomers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman (who recently complained there is too much misinformation about the show). 2009’s Oscar were watched by 36.9 million people, an improvement but well below the 57.25M when Titanic took home...
- 2/18/2010
- by Jeff Leins
- newsinfilm.com
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and 82nd Academy Awards production designer David Rockwell (above, with Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman) have unveiled the set for the 2010 Oscar show. This is Rockwell’s second consecutive year as the designer of the Oscar telecast set. As per the Academy’s press release, "light and movement, the most basic components of moviemaking, will be integrated into this year’s sets to create an immersive, transformative environment. Rockwell Group has reprised one of the most dazzling elements of the 81st Academy Awards design – the Swarovski Crystal Curtain – but with new and unexpected features for an even greater theatrical effect. The overall design [...]...
- 2/17/2010
- by Anna Robinson
- Alt Film Guide
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences debuted the new Oscar set for the 82nd Academy Awards invisioned by production designer David Rockwell today. Rockwell also designed last year's stage and has incorporated the stunning, shimmering curtain that was a big hit. In a statement from the Academy Rockwell said, “It has been fantastic to work on the Oscars again, particularly because we have been able to build and expand on so many of the design innovations we introduced last year. It has been a thrill to work with Adam, Bill and the rest of the team, dreaming up sets...
- 2/17/2010
- Hitfix
The idiots in the Academy press office didn't bother to include any photos of the set when they sent out this press release: Beverly Hills, CA — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and 82nd Academy Awards® production designer David Rockwell unveiled the set for the upcoming Oscar show today. This marks the 2nd consecutive year that Rockwell has designed the set for the Oscar telecast. Rockwell said all the producers had been "dreaming up sets that embrace all the reasons we love movies: the glamour, the lights, the colors, the technique and the emotion!” Light and movement, [...]...
- 2/17/2010
- by Nikki Finke
- Deadline Hollywood
Recession? What recession? Some brave restaurateurs are defying the economic gloom and doom and opening new places. We take a look at the design behind a select few. Today, Woodward in Boston--where a hip colonial might take his wench.
When it comes to strange bedfellows of design, combining the cutting-edge aesthetic of Morgans Hotel Group and the historic architecture of Boston is like imagining Snoop Dogg at the bar with Abigail Adams. It's easy to look ridiculous, tough to get right.
That, in a nutshell, was the schizophrenic challenge facing the Rockwell Group, when they got the nod to design the Mhg's latest outpost, the Ames Hotel in Boston, which opened in November 2009.
To start, the site of the new hotel was the historic Ames Building, an imposing 13-story Romanesque pile that was the first skyscraper in Boston, and once the tallest masonry building in America. Designed by the august...
When it comes to strange bedfellows of design, combining the cutting-edge aesthetic of Morgans Hotel Group and the historic architecture of Boston is like imagining Snoop Dogg at the bar with Abigail Adams. It's easy to look ridiculous, tough to get right.
That, in a nutshell, was the schizophrenic challenge facing the Rockwell Group, when they got the nod to design the Mhg's latest outpost, the Ames Hotel in Boston, which opened in November 2009.
To start, the site of the new hotel was the historic Ames Building, an imposing 13-story Romanesque pile that was the first skyscraper in Boston, and once the tallest masonry building in America. Designed by the august...
- 2/16/2010
- by Linda Tischler
- Fast Company
The nominees were announced today for the Art Directors Guild's 14th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards for 2009. In order to recognize the worthy achievements in their field, the Art Director's break up their film nominees into three categories. The only big surprise was the lack of a period nomination for "Nine." The film may have gotten horrible reviews, but the production design wasn't one of the reasons why. Another curious omission is the 81st Academy Awards which was nominated for an Emmy last year. Is it possible production designer David Rockwell isn't in the guild or the show wasn't...
- 1/8/2010
- Hitfix
By Steve Pond
The 82nd Oscar show will include dancing by the winner of “So You Can Think You Can Dance” … and maybe by the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers … and perhaps a tribute to director John Hughes ….
Those, at least, are some of the hints dropped by Adam Shankman, who’s been intermittently posting info about his plans for the show on Twitter since being named co-producer (with Bill Mechanic) back in October.
Shankman hasn’t really given away anything (other than the identity of the show’s set designer, David Rockwell, which he reveal...
The 82nd Oscar show will include dancing by the winner of “So You Can Think You Can Dance” … and maybe by the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers … and perhaps a tribute to director John Hughes ….
Those, at least, are some of the hints dropped by Adam Shankman, who’s been intermittently posting info about his plans for the show on Twitter since being named co-producer (with Bill Mechanic) back in October.
Shankman hasn’t really given away anything (other than the identity of the show’s set designer, David Rockwell, which he reveal...
- 12/28/2009
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
In an exclusive interview, new Design Within Reach CEO John Edelman talks about knockoffs, Dwr's desperate need for a better Web presence, and China.
John Edelman, the new CEO of Design Within Reach, officially starts work on January 3, but he's already unofficially on the job and trying to orchestrate a turnaround for the woebegone retailer. He recently spent four days in San Francisco, brainstorming and meeting people. (For the time being, he'll be commuting between his home in Connecticut and Dwr headquarters in California.) In his first interview since his appointment, he talks about the big mistakes that Dwr has made, his background running his family's leather business, and the disrespect that many people show "to the entire nation of China." Here are some choice bits from the conversation:
Fast Company: What's the first thing you did on the job? Edelman: The first thing when I got to San...
John Edelman, the new CEO of Design Within Reach, officially starts work on January 3, but he's already unofficially on the job and trying to orchestrate a turnaround for the woebegone retailer. He recently spent four days in San Francisco, brainstorming and meeting people. (For the time being, he'll be commuting between his home in Connecticut and Dwr headquarters in California.) In his first interview since his appointment, he talks about the big mistakes that Dwr has made, his background running his family's leather business, and the disrespect that many people show "to the entire nation of China." Here are some choice bits from the conversation:
Fast Company: What's the first thing you did on the job? Edelman: The first thing when I got to San...
- 12/21/2009
- by Jeff Chu
- Fast Company
Without a doubt, the physical "Center" of the new Las Vegas superdevelopment CityCenter is a shimmering circular fountain tucked into the glass curves of the anchor hotel Aria. It seems pretty enough until you start to notice something you've definitely never seen before. Was that a hot pink splash? Electric blue? Wait a second--colored water? In the middle of the day? That eye-defying spectacle, and four more like it, are brought to you by Wet, the Sun Valley, California-based design firm that turns natural elements into high-tech entertainment.
Wet's signature work can be found up and down the strip--there are perhaps no fountains more famous than their work at the Bellagio, where streams of water spout high into the air to Frank Sinatra tunes. But when Wet got tapped for CityCenter, its CEO Mark Fuller wanted to do something that would test their creative limits. "Instead of doing one piece,...
Wet's signature work can be found up and down the strip--there are perhaps no fountains more famous than their work at the Bellagio, where streams of water spout high into the air to Frank Sinatra tunes. But when Wet got tapped for CityCenter, its CEO Mark Fuller wanted to do something that would test their creative limits. "Instead of doing one piece,...
- 12/21/2009
- by Alissa Walker
- Fast Company
In his role of assembling a team of seven world-famous architects (as well as over 200 more design teams) to collaborate on the largest development in U.S. history, there's one question that executive architect Arthur Gensler gets asked the most: How the hell did they not kill each other?
With the stories we hear about the perils of getting one architect to agree with anyone, much less with another architect, you'd think at least one of the half-dozen brand names would have been found impaled on a stake of balsa wood. But it was more like a starchitect love-in as Gensler and four of the design architects for CityCenter exchanged bear hugs and belly laughs in the View Bar at the just-opened Aria earlier today (Helmut Jahn's plane had been delayed, Cesar Pelli was rightfully mobbed by reporters after his speech opening Aria at the press conference, Norman Foster's...
With the stories we hear about the perils of getting one architect to agree with anyone, much less with another architect, you'd think at least one of the half-dozen brand names would have been found impaled on a stake of balsa wood. But it was more like a starchitect love-in as Gensler and four of the design architects for CityCenter exchanged bear hugs and belly laughs in the View Bar at the just-opened Aria earlier today (Helmut Jahn's plane had been delayed, Cesar Pelli was rightfully mobbed by reporters after his speech opening Aria at the press conference, Norman Foster's...
- 12/17/2009
- by Alissa Walker
- Fast Company
MGM Mirage's CityCenter is claiming itself to be the face of the "new Vegas" when it opens this week. The $8.5 billion, 18 million-square-foot development right on the Strip bucks the mega-resort trend by corralling multiple hotel and residential concepts in one master-planned site. But it's also a revolutionary convergence of starchitects--Daniel Libeskind, Rafael Viñoly, and Norman Foster, just to name a few--who worked together to create a cohesive vision for what might be Vegas' first walkable, urban development. In addition to its long list of sustainable features--many of the buildings nabbed their Leed Gold certification--CityCenter wants to live up to its name, creating a new center for the city. So the 67-acre grounds are studded with public art installations and sculpted into parks and boulevards, not paved with buffets and miles of Fear and Loathing-inspired carpet.
Headed by executive architects at Gensler, the CityCeter project encompasses a jaw-dropping three architects-of-record,...
Headed by executive architects at Gensler, the CityCeter project encompasses a jaw-dropping three architects-of-record,...
- 12/1/2009
- by Alissa Walker
- Fast Company
Photograph by Jonny Valiant
Out Of Fashion: "It throws people off," says ousted CEO Ray Brunner of his white-stocking style. So did his controversial reign. Then-ceo Brunner said that Dwr Kitchen was ahead of plan. That "plan" must have been extraordinarily conservative. Only one person purchased a Dwr kitchen in 2009. | Photograph by Clay Patrick McBride
Retailer Design Within Reach helped create a new appreciation for the modernist aesthetic. With design more mainstream than ever, why is the company in such dire straits?
Well-founded Fears "Dwr was a profitable, audacious business until the evil forces of mass-market retailing took over," says Dwr founder Rob Forbes. | Photograph by Clay Patrick McBride
The Wigan Garden Spade is a thing of verdant beauty. Its hunter-green steel and sunny ash-wood handle evoke the pastoral fantasias of an aspiring gentleman farmer -- a dwarf maple in your yard, perhaps, around the base of which you can,...
Out Of Fashion: "It throws people off," says ousted CEO Ray Brunner of his white-stocking style. So did his controversial reign. Then-ceo Brunner said that Dwr Kitchen was ahead of plan. That "plan" must have been extraordinarily conservative. Only one person purchased a Dwr kitchen in 2009. | Photograph by Clay Patrick McBride
Retailer Design Within Reach helped create a new appreciation for the modernist aesthetic. With design more mainstream than ever, why is the company in such dire straits?
Well-founded Fears "Dwr was a profitable, audacious business until the evil forces of mass-market retailing took over," says Dwr founder Rob Forbes. | Photograph by Clay Patrick McBride
The Wigan Garden Spade is a thing of verdant beauty. Its hunter-green steel and sunny ash-wood handle evoke the pastoral fantasias of an aspiring gentleman farmer -- a dwarf maple in your yard, perhaps, around the base of which you can,...
- 11/27/2009
- by Jeff Chu
- Fast Company
David Rockwell, one of Fast Company's 2009 Masters of Design, has been just been announced as the set designer for the 2009 Academy Awards--for the second year in a row. His design for this year's Oscars--the 81st--channeled the spirit of Busby Berkeley in Swarovski crystals, and no doubt next year's stage at the Kodak Theater will be just as glamorous.
Rockwell describes a great job as "50 percent terror, 50 percent thrill," and he definitely fulfilled the terror quotient with last year's Oscar setup. The Thursday before the show, Rockwell told Fast Company, "A crystal leg in the curtain snagged, and it rained crystal on the Kodak theater. Then, everyone turned and looked at me because what had been a really good idea was now my idea. It was terrifying. It was ahorrible moment. And the stage manager, whose job it was to deal with all these actors who had never been on...
Rockwell describes a great job as "50 percent terror, 50 percent thrill," and he definitely fulfilled the terror quotient with last year's Oscar setup. The Thursday before the show, Rockwell told Fast Company, "A crystal leg in the curtain snagged, and it rained crystal on the Kodak theater. Then, everyone turned and looked at me because what had been a really good idea was now my idea. It was terrifying. It was ahorrible moment. And the stage manager, whose job it was to deal with all these actors who had never been on...
- 11/13/2009
- by Addy Dugdale
- Fast Company
David Rockwell will serve as production designer for the 2010 Academy Awards, Oscar telecast producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic have announced. Rockwell served in that same capacity last year. Rockwell’s set design work includes the Broadway productions of Hairspray, Legally Blonde, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and The Rocky Horror Show, as well as the upcoming Elf and Houdini. His firm also designed the Kodak Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland complex. Other projects designed by Rockwell Group include a free-standing building for Cirque du Soleil at Walt Disney World in Florida; the Elinor Bunin-Munroe Film Center at Lincoln Center in New York; and the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. The [...]...
- 11/12/2009
- by Anna Robinson
- Alt Film Guide
Design has ramifications beyond the simple form and function--teacups are actors in rituals and environments are where we stage experiences. Turns out the design of my grade school building played a bigger role in my education than I thought.
I grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio, home of Antioch College, where I attended the Antioch School. Arthur Morgan started it in 1921, the same year in New York that Elizabeth Irwin founded the Little Red School House and seven years after City & Country School opened. It was very progressive when progressive was really experimental! While we played with blocks and made up plays, from nursery school through sixth grade, the student teachers actually did experiments with us! Some worked and others didn't work so well!
Concurrent with my high school reunion, the Antioch School had its own funky little reunion. As I chatted with some other much younger alumni, I was...
I grew up in Yellow Springs, Ohio, home of Antioch College, where I attended the Antioch School. Arthur Morgan started it in 1921, the same year in New York that Elizabeth Irwin founded the Little Red School House and seven years after City & Country School opened. It was very progressive when progressive was really experimental! While we played with blocks and made up plays, from nursery school through sixth grade, the student teachers actually did experiments with us! Some worked and others didn't work so well!
Concurrent with my high school reunion, the Antioch School had its own funky little reunion. As I chatted with some other much younger alumni, I was...
- 11/12/2009
- by Tucker Viemeister
- Fast Company
By Steve Pond
The Academy hasn’t made it official yet, but Oscar show producer Adam Shankman let it slip Wednesday morning on Twitter: the set designer for the 82nd Academy Awards will be David Rockwell, who designed sets for February show and is also the architect responsible for the Kodak Theater.
“Decided on oscar set concept,” read Shankman’s tweet. “Excited doesn't even start to express how I'm feeling. Totally original. David Rockwell, and I r grt 2gther.”
<img style="margin:15px 15px 15px 15px;height:200px;width:300px;float:left;" alt="" src="/fil...
The Academy hasn’t made it official yet, but Oscar show producer Adam Shankman let it slip Wednesday morning on Twitter: the set designer for the 82nd Academy Awards will be David Rockwell, who designed sets for February show and is also the architect responsible for the Kodak Theater.
“Decided on oscar set concept,” read Shankman’s tweet. “Excited doesn't even start to express how I'm feeling. Totally original. David Rockwell, and I r grt 2gther.”
<img style="margin:15px 15px 15px 15px;height:200px;width:300px;float:left;" alt="" src="/fil...
- 11/11/2009
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Economics grab all the headlines but beauty is just as important, and even has serious financial ramifications. Beauty does serve a function. Didn't the way that cars used to look--and no longer do--have a big effect on the failure of Detroit? Beauty is more than skin deep. Beauty is powerful. Utility is beautiful and beauty has utility. Let's call it "Beautility" for short.
The Avanti Studebaker, designed by Raymond Loewy (and one of my dad's favorites)
Beauty has different meanings in different cultures and eras--but everybody has some idea of beauty (even the Hell's Angels). Although humans can't agree on specific examples, we do all share a general formula for beauty: It has a very pleasing physical sensual element combined with mental enlightenment. "Aaaahs" and "Ah-has." It's the combination. There is an intellectual component to a beautiful person and an emotional component to a beautiful mathematical proof. The experience of...
The Avanti Studebaker, designed by Raymond Loewy (and one of my dad's favorites)
Beauty has different meanings in different cultures and eras--but everybody has some idea of beauty (even the Hell's Angels). Although humans can't agree on specific examples, we do all share a general formula for beauty: It has a very pleasing physical sensual element combined with mental enlightenment. "Aaaahs" and "Ah-has." It's the combination. There is an intellectual component to a beautiful person and an emotional component to a beautiful mathematical proof. The experience of...
- 11/3/2009
- by Tucker Viemeister
- Fast Company
"Godmother of Punk" Patti Smith didn't go to Pratt. She didn't have the money and, she says, she was "too erratic a student" to get past the admissions office. That didn't stop her, however, from enthusiastically accepting an award from the art and design school Thursday night at the Pratt Legends 2009 gala (click for pics).
Karim Rashid, Richard Meier, Stefan Sagmeister, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, and Carlos Zapata were among the artsy crowd sipping cocktails on the 49th floor of 7 World Trade Center--whose jaw-dropping views make it the city's current glam party venue.
Smith, in her signature pegged jeans, white shirt, and jacket, joined fellow honorees fashion designer Marc Jacobs, clad in his favorite red tartan party kilt, and architect David Rockwell, decked out in a work-a-day blue shirt for the event, which raised $400,000 in scholarships for Pratt students.
Smith said her fondness for the school dated back to 1967, when she met photographer Robert Mapplethorpe,...
Karim Rashid, Richard Meier, Stefan Sagmeister, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, and Carlos Zapata were among the artsy crowd sipping cocktails on the 49th floor of 7 World Trade Center--whose jaw-dropping views make it the city's current glam party venue.
Smith, in her signature pegged jeans, white shirt, and jacket, joined fellow honorees fashion designer Marc Jacobs, clad in his favorite red tartan party kilt, and architect David Rockwell, decked out in a work-a-day blue shirt for the event, which raised $400,000 in scholarships for Pratt students.
Smith said her fondness for the school dated back to 1967, when she met photographer Robert Mapplethorpe,...
- 11/2/2009
- by Linda Tischler
- Fast Company
A few weeks ago, Marc Fitten, editor of the Chattahoochee Review, wrote an op-ed called "Our Cars, Ourselves" in The New York Times that said this: "Gm left its Atlanta plant to rot. So I left my Gm loyalty behind." Gm is an example of how branding is changing in this post-economic era. The field of brand strategy needs to change as much as the derivative business because the market is changing, the climate is changing, technology is changing, and the customer is changing.
Branding is a great framework for corporations. Branding finds the soul of a company and applies it. The brand mission aligns all facets of a company creating a coherent presentation to consumers--strong brands use all their packaging, products, advertising, services, and expectations to build a brand experience that lots of people want. For the last few decades, the branding mantra was to build internal teamwork so...
Branding is a great framework for corporations. Branding finds the soul of a company and applies it. The brand mission aligns all facets of a company creating a coherent presentation to consumers--strong brands use all their packaging, products, advertising, services, and expectations to build a brand experience that lots of people want. For the last few decades, the branding mantra was to build internal teamwork so...
- 11/2/2009
- by Tucker Viemeister
- Fast Company
At Razorfish we used to say: "Everything that can be digital, will be!" We built a Web site for Charles Schwab that could execute stock transactions faster and better than your broker--and unlike selling physical widgets, adding customers didn't cost Schwab anything! We predicted that digital technology would do almost anything faster, cheaper and better--an unbeatable combination--especially if "better" meant the user experience is better.
Bill Moggridge is attributed with coining the name "interaction design," because, as he says, "designers of digital technology products no longer regard their job as designing a physical object--beautiful or utilitarian--but as designing our interactions with it." Interaction design is also a lot nicer than what the engineers call it: "computer human interface."
Digital technology makes inanimate things smarter and more intelligent when it's interactive. Instead of only watching and embedding interactive media, the audience becomes an active player in its own experience. Video games...
Bill Moggridge is attributed with coining the name "interaction design," because, as he says, "designers of digital technology products no longer regard their job as designing a physical object--beautiful or utilitarian--but as designing our interactions with it." Interaction design is also a lot nicer than what the engineers call it: "computer human interface."
Digital technology makes inanimate things smarter and more intelligent when it's interactive. Instead of only watching and embedding interactive media, the audience becomes an active player in its own experience. Video games...
- 10/30/2009
- by Tucker Viemeister
- Fast Company
When the dot-coms were revvin' up their engines, we thought things were changing fast, and that opened up plenty of opportunities for design. We loved to read about speedy people taking advantage of the quick changes. Today we really need to think faster about the future--if we want one! Aesop's fables about grasshoppers, ants, turtles and rabbits are basically about how we can control our future if we are careful and plan ahead. They are stories design about making the future better than today.
I used to think that fables, myths, songs and movies were mostly about love. But now I've been thinking about how they all boil down to the conflict between truth and fiction (love still fits), reason and magic, now and later. And like the heroes on quests, solving crimes, or combating dragons, designers are fighting those battles everyday: Trying to get clients to believe in the...
I used to think that fables, myths, songs and movies were mostly about love. But now I've been thinking about how they all boil down to the conflict between truth and fiction (love still fits), reason and magic, now and later. And like the heroes on quests, solving crimes, or combating dragons, designers are fighting those battles everyday: Trying to get clients to believe in the...
- 10/29/2009
- by Tucker Viemeister
- Fast Company
Designers often talk about the moment they realized their destiny lay in design. For Tucker Viemeister, it was pretty much the moment he was conceived. Yes, Tucker was born to Read Viemeister, a famous industrial designer (and an activist mom, Beverly, who nurtured his social responsibility side). And the name Tucker? It's because of the 1948 Tucker Sedan, the legendary automobile that his dad Read was busy designing at the time of his birth. Yes, Tucker Viemeister is named after a piece of industrial design...which his industrial designer dad worked on! Talk about a birthright.
His career path went about the way you'd expect it to go. He was the co-founder of Smart Design with Davin Stowell, where he co-created the now-household-name kitchen tools Oxo Good Grips. He then went on to found the New York office of frog design. Since 2001, however, he's been ensconced in the office of our...
His career path went about the way you'd expect it to go. He was the co-founder of Smart Design with Davin Stowell, where he co-created the now-household-name kitchen tools Oxo Good Grips. He then went on to found the New York office of frog design. Since 2001, however, he's been ensconced in the office of our...
- 10/28/2009
- by Alissa Walker
- Fast Company
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