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Margaret Nickens

By Margaret Nickens 7/10/12 11:22am

memorials

TKTKTKTKTK.

Broadway’s Best Celebrate the Late Bradshaw Smith, Executive Producer of the Influential Broadway Beat

Speaking at yesterday’s memorial for the award-winning cabaret singer, producer and videographer Bradshaw Smith, actor and ventriloquist Todd Stockman announced to the somber crowd, “I have a surprise for you.” Bending down, he pulled a fire-haired puppet from a small black bag, a puppet he hasn’t performed with for 15 years. “Are Bradshaw and John in heaven?” the puppet asked Mr. Stockman, referring to Mr. Smith’s partner John Scoullar, who passed in March 2011. “Because I can smell the marijuana all the way down here.”

Mr. Smith, who died in January from a sudden stroke, began his career as a cabaret artist, winning the 1987 MAC Award for Best Male Vocalist and the 1985 Backstage Bistro Award. In 1885, Mr. Smith went behind the camera and began the cable television show, Cabaret Beat, which eventually morphed into Broadway Beat. The show featured over 1,000 Broadway and cabaret performances, interviews with artists, opening and award ceremonies and other theatre events. Read More

By Margaret Nickens 6/29/12 11:51am

Q&A

Brent Barbour. (Photo by flickr.com/imonfort)

The NYC Bicycle Film Festival Starts Tonight, And We Spoke (Sorry) with its Founder Brendt Barbur

Twelve years ago, Brendt Barbur was happily riding his bicycle through the streets of New York City when one oblivious driver doored the hapless biker, throwing him into the path of an oncoming bus. “I saw the light,” Mr. Barbur said, quickly adding, “just kidding.” While he was able to walk away from the accident with limbs in tact, it inspired him to found the Bicycle Film Festival (adorably acronymed BFF) to “do something positive for bikes,” he said. Since its 2001 founding, the festival has traveled to over 30 cities around the world, including Moscow, Sydney, Paris, San Francisco and, of course, New York. This weekend BFF is back for the 12th annual Bicycle Film Festival NYC, and before the credits roll tonight at Anthology Film Archives, Mr. Barbur sat down with The Observer to talk about snooty bikers, lemonade massages and Meryl Streep’s secret biking fetish. Read More

By Lindsey Cherner, Michele Narov, Margaret Nickens, Sarah Sassoon and Jess Schiewe 4:15pm

Music Events

elec guitar

Five Mini-Profiles of the Music Makers of Make Music New York

Yesterday saw over one thousand concerts in the greater New York area, organized under the umbrella of Make Music NY, a rambling participatory music festival that spills over into this weekend. The sheer number of concerts means it’s more than any one news organization could ever hope to cover (and, in fact, interest in MMNY was so great that their website crashed yesterday due to too many visitors), but we did our best. We sent correspondents to four single-instrument “Mass Appeal” events, where musicians of any level could be involved in a group performance. Below the cut, we chat with players of the guitar, drums, bagpipes (complete with a dude in a kilt!) and the ukulele–the event for which was held in Williamsburg, natch. Read More

By Margaret Nickens 6/19/12 6:00pm

The Sporting Life

From left to right: Tracy Wolfson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Billie Jean King, Summer Sanders and Cheyenne Woods. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Coca-Cola)

Superwomen from Two Generations Debut Sporting Chance, a Documentary about Title IX

As Billie Jean King walked onto the stage at Monday night’s celebration of the 40th anniversary of Title IX, the 68-year-old retired tennis star fist-bumped former track-and-field Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Ms. King and Ms. Joyner-Kersee joined the retired swimmer and sports commentator Summer Sanders and the golfer Cheyenne Woods, Tiger’s niece, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts for the premiere of the NCAA’s documentary, Sporting Chance. The film focuses on the history and success of Title IX, a 1972 act that made gender discrimination in educational programs, including sports, illegal. The four women also participated in a panel discussion hosted by Tracy Wolfson of CBS Sports. Read More

By Margaret Nickens 6/14/12 12:00pm

Charity Events

Sarah Reinertsen and Aviva Drescher. (Larry Busacca/Getty Images)

Reality TV Drama and Chocolate Milk at the “Heroes, Heart and Hope” Gala

If you throw chocolate milk martinis, real housewives and world-renowned athletes into the Waldorf Astoria’s Grand Ballroom, what do you get? Besides having quite a story to tell friends, you would find yourself amidst the sixth annual, “Heroes, Heart and Hope” Gala, sponsored by the Challenged Athletes Foundation. Wednesday night’s festivities brought together amputee athletes of all ages to raise money for prosthetic running legs and other special equipment.

Sarah Reinertsen, the first female leg amputee to complete an Ironman, said her prosthetic running leg cost $36,000 and was not covered by insurance. One of the most popular guests of the evening, Ms. Reinertsen unveiled her new “Got Chocolate Milk?” ad at the fundraiser. “I’ve actually been drinking chocolate milk for years,” she said. “A triathlete boyfriend of mine—well, ex-boyfriend—used chocolate milk in his recovery.” Read More

By Margaret Nickens 6/12/12 6:03pm

broadway benefit

Roosevelt Credit, Rita Harvey, Brigid Brady and Natalie Toro perform "Seasons of Love" from Rent with students from the Computer School.

Broadway Notables Perform with Kids in UWS Middle School Auditorium, Warm Fuzzy Feeling Ensues

“I think they heard him in New Jersey,” joked Stacia Teele, the emcee at Monday’s fifth annual “Night of Stars.” Broadway actor Roosevelt Credit’s impossibly loud voice had just reverberating through the halls of the Upper West Side’s Computer School, a small public school with a curricular focus on technology, during a star-studded musical event to benefit their music programs. Read More