Eliana Willis

More stories

  • 125 Shares179 Views

    in Theater

    How Lin-Manuel Miranda and Friends Made an Old Bookstore New

    The century-old Drama Book Shop in Manhattan struggled for years. Then “Hamilton” happened.A sculptural representation of a bookworm — 140 feet of scripts and songbooks, twisted along a steel skeleton — corkscrews across the Drama Book Shop in Manhattan. It starts with ancient Greek texts and, 2,400 volumes later, spills into a pile that includes “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical.”This 3,500-pound tribute to theatrical history is the centerpiece of the century-old bookstore’s new location, opening Thursday on West 39th Street.The shop — like so many bookstores around the country — had brushes with death, caused not only by e-commerce but also by fire and flood, before encountering a rent hike it could not withstand, in 2018. The beloved institution, where students, artists, scholars and fans could browse memoirs and bone up for auditions, was in danger of closing.Then came an unexpected rescue. Four men enriched by “Hamilton,” including the musical’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda; its director, Thomas Kail; its lead producer, Jeffrey Seller; and the theater owner, James L. Nederlander, bought the store from its longtime owners. Kail has a particularly close relationship with the shop — 20 years ago, just out of college, he formed a small theater company in its basement. After he teamed up with Miranda, the two worked on “In the Heights” there.“I was not born in a trunk; I was born in the basement of the Drama Book Shop,” Kail said. “All of my early creative conversations and relationships were forged in that shop, and the thought of it not existing was painful. I couldn’t imagine New York City without it, and I didn’t want to imagine New York City without it.”The store’s decorations include replicas of armchairs used in the musical “Hamilton.”Jeenah Moon for The New York Times More

  • 150 Shares169 Views

    in Television

    ‘Run the World’ Is an Ode to ‘Enviable Friendships’ and Black Harlem

    This Starz series about four women “walking into real adulthood,” as the creator described it, is broadly appealing but unmistakably based in Black women’s perspectives.For nearly three decades, Yvette Lee Bowser has created, produced and written for television shows that portray women who have what she calls “enviable female friendships.” More

  • 138 Shares179 Views

    in Theater

    Peek at Broadway Comeback: Times Event With “Me and the Sky”

    When The Times staged a musical number for its live event series, the performance served as a sneak preview of a theater world preparing for takeoff.Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.In March, Zoe Gertz, an Australian actress, was asked by The New York Times if she would be interested in singing the soaring anthem “Me and the Sky” for an episode of its Offstage event series, which examines the theater industry during its pandemic hiatus. The number is from the Australian touring production of the 9/11 musical “Come From Away.”After teams worked on in-house music and stage direction, Ms. Gertz belted the ebullient anthem to the rafters of a simple stage at Her Majesty’s Theater in Melbourne, sans audience but backed by six musicians and five castmates of the production’s female ensemble. And it all came together in just over two weeks.“I am suddenly aliiiiiive,” Ms. Gertz sang with an irrepressible smile as she told of her character’s love for flying.The sentiment seems to be spreading. Broadway’s reopening will now occur in August. In Australia, “Frozen,” “Hamilton” and “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” were running at or near full capacity in Sydney and Melbourne for months (though masks were still required) until a recent lockdown in Melbourne put shows in that city on hold again. The performance for the Times event served as both a reminder of theater’s vitality during the pandemic and a preview of the energy to come.The musical number began to take shape in early March after The Times’s theater reporter, Michael Paulson, suggested recording a special video of the inspirational song for the Offstage series, which streamed live on April 29 and is still viewable by Times subscribers.“We wanted a song that was both good and would make sense out of context for people who hadn’t seen the show,” Mr. Paulson said. “It’s also a song that works without a very elaborate band or orchestra and is essentially a solo number.”The four-and-a-half-minute track chronicles the tale of the real-life American Airlines pilot Beverley Bass, who was among the pilots with planes full of passengers who were diverted to Newfoundland on Sept. 11, 2001.“One of the many emotions captured in this song is Beverley having to come to terms with the job she loves being put on hold, and not knowing when she might fly again,” said Rachel Karpf, the director of programming at The Times who helped plan the event with Beth Weinstein and Rachel Czipo. “We saw some parallels to the experience of theater workers in Australia and around the world this past year, as their industry was brought to a near-total standstill by the pandemic.”Ms. Karpf said the Events team began discussing ideas for the episode in early January with Mr. Paulson; Scott Heller, then The Times’s theater editor; and Damien Cave, the Sydney bureau chief. Mr. Cave and Mr. Paulson were working on a story about the return of Broadway shows in Australia, which has been much more successful at containing the virus than the United States. More

  • 150 Shares189 Views

    in Television

    Clarence Williams III, a Star of ‘Mod Squad’ Is Dead at 81

    He portrayed Linc Hayes, a hip undercover police officer who was teamed with Peggy Lipton and Michael Cole. Clarence Williams III, the reflectively intense actor who starred as Linc Hayes, a young, hip undercover police officer on ABC’s “The Mod Squad,” died on Friday in Los Angeles. He was 81.The cause was colon cancer, his manager, Allan Mindel, said.“The Mod Squad,” which ran from 1968 to 1973, was one of the first of its kind — a prime-time network series that focused on members of the hippie generation at the same time that it exploited them.The show had two ad taglines. “First they got busted; then they got badges” summarized the show’s back story: three hippies in trouble with the law who then joined the police force as plainclothes cops with built-in disguises — their youth and their counterculture personas.The second — “One Black, one white, one blonde” — referred to the cast: Mr. Williams, Michael Cole and Peggy Lipton. Mr. Williams was one of the first Black actors to have a lead role on a television series.Aaron Spelling, the show’s producer, never liked Linc’s Afro, Mr. Williams recalled in an NPR interview in 1999, so the style was toned down. A bit. For a while. Then, each week, he said, “we’d tease it out a little bit more.”Clarence Williams III was born in Manhattan on Aug. 21, 1939. His father, Clarence Jr., known as Clay, was a musician. His mother is omitted from his biographies. Asked about her on Sunday, a family member declined to give her name and described her as “largely absent.” He was raised by his paternal grandparents.Although “The Mod Squad” made Mr. Williams a symbol of the Vietnam War generation, he actually served in the military just before that era. He was a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division in the late 1950s.His interest in acting began when he visited a Harlem Y.M.C.A., where his sister was working, and dropped in to watch a play’s run-through. By the end of the evening he had been cast in the production.He began his acting career on Broadway, where his grandfather had appeared as early as 1908. The young Mr. Williams appeared in three plays, including “Slow Dance on the Killing Ground” (1964), for which he received a Tony Award nomination and a Theater World Award. The New York Times review offered high praise.“Mr. Williams glides like a dancer,” Howard Taubman wrote, “giving his long, fraudulently airy speeches the inner rhythms of fear and showing the nakedness of terror when he ceases to pretend.”Mr. Williams played an F.B.I. agent on “Twin Peaks” in 1990 and appeared in many films and television series after “The Mod Squad” ended.Walt Disney Television, via Getty ImagesHe owed his screen career to Bill Cosby, then a rising star. Mr. Cosby saw him on the New York stage and recommended him to Mr. Spelling, who was casting “The Mod Squad” at the time.Mr. Cosby was the first Black actor to win a leading role in a prime-time American series, “I Spy,” beginning in 1965. Diahann Carroll starred in the sitcom “Julia” three years later — the same season that “The Mod Squad” began.After the show ended, Mr. Williams dropped out of sight for a while, expressing disappointment in the kinds of roles available to Black men. He returned to Broadway, appearing as an African head of state, with Maggie Smith, in a Tom Stoppard drama, “Night and Day” (1979).Beginning in the 1980s, he had a busy film career. He played Prince’s abusive father in “Purple Rain” (1984) and Wesley Snipes’s heroin-addicted father in “Sugar Hill” (1993). He was a crazed blackmailer in John Frankenheimer’s “52 Pick-Up” (1986) and a wild-eyed storytelling mortician in “Tales From the Hood” (1995). He had small roles in the blaxploitation parody “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka” (1988) and in Norman Mailer’s “Tough Guys Don’t Dance” (1987).Television brought Mr. Williams new opportunities too. He was a leader of the Attica prison riots in HBO’s “Against the Wall” (1994); a segregationist governor’s manservant in the mini-series “George Wallace” (1997); Muhammad Ali’s father in “Ali: An American Hero” (2000); and a retired C.I.A. operative in 10 “Mystery Woman” movies (2003-07). He did guest appearances on close to 40 series, from “Hill Street Blues” to “Empire.”His other film roles included a much-too-loyal aide-de-camp in “The General’s Daughter” (1999), a glowering criminal who is set on fire in “Reindeer Games” (2000), an old-school crime lord in “American Gangster” (2007) and a White House servant’s older mentor in Lee Daniels’s “The Butler” (2013). His last film was “American Nightmares” (2018), a horror comedy.In 1967, Mr. Williams married Gloria Foster, a stage actress who appeared twice on “The Mod Squad” and later played the Oracle in “The Matrix.” They divorced in 1984.He is survived by his daughter, Jamey Phillips, and his sister, Sondra Pugh.Mr. Williams often contended that he didn’t take being a role model that seriously. “All of this is escapism, fantasy,” he told TV Guide in 1970, early in the run of “The Mod Squad.” “This is what the box is about.”In the same interview, though, he recalled being happily mobbed by young Black fans at a basketball game and acknowledged, “It’s kind of nice for kids to see a reflection of themselves.” More

  • 113 Shares189 Views

    in Television

    Lights, Camera, Run! Behind the Videos of Mayor Candidates

    What did it take to record videos of eight Democrats who are vying to lead New York City? Collaboration, hustle and a willingness to talk to ambulance drivers, for starters.Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.On June 22, New Yorkers will go to the polls to choose the Democratic candidate who will very likely be the city’s next mayor. After a chaotic year, many voters are, understandably, just tuning in now.As a politics producer on The New York Times’s Video desk, I spend most of my time thinking about how we can use original visual reporting to bring additional depth to key races and issues. For this project on the mayoral race, our goal was to help readers get to know a big group of contenders in a way that was clear, informative and fun.Last month, we digitally published our final product, an interactive set of videos featuring interviews with the top eight Democratic candidates. The interviews, conducted by the Metro reporters Emma Fitzsimmons and Katie Glueck, along with photography done on set, inform a print version of the project that appears in Sunday’s newspaper.When we started planning, we knew that the race had a number of distinct qualities we needed to take into consideration. First, many of the candidates were not well known to those who didn’t closely follow city politics. This was also the first year New York City would be using ranked-choice voting — in this race that means voters can rank up to five candidates on the ballot. (A full explanation of how this voting will work can be found here.)Our team included Metro editors and reporters, designers, graphics editors and video journalists. The initial idea for the piece was based on past Times projects that focused on Democratic presidential candidates in advance of the 2020 primaries. (here and here). The core idea was simple: Bring in the candidates, ask them all the same questions and publish their answers in an interactive format that allowed readers to “choose their own adventure” and navigate through topics of interest.We wanted to give these interviews and the project a New York City feel, so we selected two different spaces in The New York Times Building where we could use the city as a backdrop.Emma Fitzsimmons, The Times’s City Hall bureau chief, on set for an interview with Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president.Tony Cenicola/The New York TimesOur interviews were set primarily in natural light, which can pose certain challenges. Ideally, an overcast sky or a clear sunny day is best, because you want light to hit your subject evenly. A cloud that moves in front of the sun and casts a shadow on your subject’s face can ruin a shot. This meant closely tracking the weather and cloud movements with Noah Throop, our cinematographer, in advance of every shoot. On bad weather days, we filmed in the Times Center auditorium, which was less susceptible to light change.We also had to navigate the challenges of filming during a pandemic, meaning we needed to find large open spaces and set up testing regimens and safety protocols for both staff members and guests.Shaun Donovan, a mayoral candidate, on set. When filming in natural light, either an overcast sky or a clear sunny day is best.Tony Cenicola/The New York TimesBehind the scenes, we coordinated with the campaigns in an effort to catch each candidate arriving, which at times meant running through the Times Square subway station, trying to scout for their vehicles in traffic and looking to confirm whether Andrew Yang and his team were in fact having lunch at Schnipper’s (a burger joint in the Times building) before his interview. The cameras were rolling from the moment we met up with candidates outside until the moment they left the building.The author looks out for Mr. Throop in the Times Square Subway station.Tony Cenicola/The New York TimesWe decided to make one video per candidate, instead of organizing videos by topic, to give viewers an opportunity to sit and listen to a particular individual if they desired. The interviews ranged in length from 40 minutes to more than an hour based on the candidate’s speaking style and brevity.The videos on Kathryn Garcia and the other top seven Democratic candidates were organized so that viewers could sit and listen to a candidate at length. Tony Cenicola/The New York TimesMy role during an interview as a producer is to focus on how everything will look and sound on video. This means that the array of things I do includes listening for good sound bites, monitoring what questions might need an additional take, fixing people’s hair and running outside to ask ambulance drivers on a break to turn off their flashing lights (which I had to do numerous times during these shoots).In editing down the interviews, we tried to highlight what made a candidate unique and pull out key differences among members of the group — along with some moments of levity. But ultimately what we wanted to provide was a resource where voters could hear from each person, relatively unfiltered, to help them make up their minds.Who Wants to Be Mayor of New York City?The race for the next mayor of New York City may be one of the most consequential elections in a generation. Here are some of the leading candidates vying to run the nation’s largest city. More

  • 88 Shares99 Views

    in Television

    As Life Slowed Down, They Got Creative

    The actor and comedian Niecy Nash and her wife, Jessica Betts, a musician, reveal how crab legs, skinny dipping and therapy improved their life as newlyweds.The actor and comedian Niecy Nash and the musician Jessica Betts married Aug. 29, 2020, at the peak of the pandemic, in an intimate ceremony at their home in Ventura County, Calif.“We only had 24 guests,” noted Ms. Nash, 51, the Emmy winner who many fans may recognize from her longstanding role as Deputy Raineesha Williams on “Reno 911!” or as the enterprising Desna Simms on “Claws.”Since saying “I Do,” the creative pair, who met on Instagram in 2015, have been productive while forced to hunker down like the rest of the world.Ms. Betts, 41, who considers her music a blend of rock and soul and sings and plays the guitar, has been busy writing and producing music for a new album. Her first single from the project is tentatively scheduled for release this summer. Ms. Nash is involved in two highly anticipated Netflix projects, a biopic mini-series, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” and a rom-com film, “The Perfect Find,” also starring Gabrielle Union.The dynamic duo also had the opportunity to mix business and pleasure when they shared the stage for the 32nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards on April 8. Ms. Nash hosted the virtual ceremony and Ms. Betts performed her soulful single “Catch Me.”Home Is Where the Love IsWhile quarantined, the newlyweds got a chance to get to know each other better.“Covid is terrible in terms of what it represents, but in terms of us being able to have more time to spend together? I’m really not complaining about that,” Ms. Betts said.Ms. Nash agreed, adding, “The other good thing for us is we got married in our backyard. We can walk around here and say, ‘Remember, we took that wedding picture there? Remember we got married right there? We cut the cake right there!’ The house is so full of memories and getting married here made it warmer.”The couple also created new memories with at-home date nights. “One night we might cook out late,” Ms. Nash said. “Or, we might have a tent outside and sleep in the yard. Or we’ll say, ‘Let’s go in the movie room and have a movie night and pop real popcorn with butter.’ We enjoy our space.”Quarantined ActivitiesBeing stuck at home together enabled the newlyweds to rediscover their love of water. One of the couple’s fun quarantine pastimes included nightly dips in their pool. When asked who the better swimmer is between the two, Ms. Nash immediately responded, “Jessica.” Then she jokingly added, “But I’m the better skinny dipper.” To this Ms. Betts responded with a chuckle, “Yeah. You got me on that one.”Homebound ValentinesFor the couple’s first Valentine’s Day as a married couple, Ms. Betts planned a private dinner in the couple’s home. “It was funny because I get in the car and I can’t see anything,” Ms. Nash said. “I have to keep my eyes closed. We drive somewhere. I have no idea where we are because I can’t open my eyes. So I get to the door, open it, and we were at our house.“She drove me right back to the house and had it transformed into this beautiful dining experience,” she continued. “There were balloons everywhere. It was absolutely gorgeous.”Ms. Betts also hired a private chef to prepare a custom menu that included Caesar salad, filet mignon and snow crab legs. “We both love snow crab legs,” Ms. Nash said. “That’s our favorite.” A loaded brownie with caramel and whipped cream dessert and Cristal Champagne completed the romantic meal.[Sign up for Love Letter and always get the latest in Modern Love, weddings, and relationships in the news by email.]Dealing With LossesMs. Nash and Ms. Betts both lost relatives during the pandemic.“I lost my grandmother,” Ms. Betts said. “When you lose an older family member you’re filled with so many wonderful memories. But during Covid, it’s not easy to have gatherings or funerals. “It’s difficult because you want to be there for family members and make sure people are comforted. On the other hand, you have to be very careful and conscious of all the safety rules and regulations.”Ms. Nash, who lost a close great-aunt, echoed her wife’s sentiments. “Trying to manage everybody’s mind and heart and keep their spirits up during that time was important,” she said.Honeymoon Dreamin’There were no elaborate post-wedding vacations. While Covid travel restrictions played some part in this, Ms. Nash said there were other factors as well. “The first time we tried to leave, we got to the airport and my passport was expired,” she said. “I didn’t realize it because we were in quarantine. So, we just drove to Santa Barbara.” Right around the new year, the couple managed to take another “mini-moon” to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The couple see more travel in their future. “We were just talking about going to Aruba,” Ms. Betts said. “And Turks and Caicos,” Ms. Nash added.Talking it OutWhen asked how they avoid letting their challenges consume the relationship, Ms. Betts immediately answered, “Therapy.” To which Ms. Nash added, “I’m a firm believer that there’s two types of people in the world. People who are in therapy and people who need to be in therapy.”The couple were committed to keeping a consistent therapy schedule even during the pandemic. “We were doing our sessions over FaceTime in the beginning of the quarantine,” Ms. Nash said.Couples therapy was initially Ms. Nash’s idea, but now both she and Ms. Betts sing the praises of it. “We do individual and couples therapy and we started before we got married,” Ms. Nash said.A Desire to InspirePerusing through the couple’s social media accounts allows one to see how these two glow in each other’s presence. Both Ms. Betts and Ms. Nash recognize their powerful influence. “We definitely were not sitting together strategically coming up with a plan on how to inspire with our love, I can guarantee you that,” Ms. Betts said. “But yes, I take responsibility for that because I love to inspire and so does my wife.”Ms. Nash, who has three adult children and was previously married twice to men, said, “It’s funny because people always knew me to be in relationships with men.”When she and Ms. Betts married, she said, “People were like, Auntie Niecy?! Yep! Your favorite Auntie.”Continue following our fashion and lifestyle coverage on Facebook (Styles and Modern Love), Twitter (Styles, Fashion and Weddings) and Instagram. More

  • 88 Shares129 Views

    in Television

    Drake Bell Charged With Attempted Child Endangerment

    Mr. Bell, who starred in the Nickelodeon series “Drake & Josh” from 2004 to 2007, has pleaded not guilty.Jared Drake Bell, a former star of the Nickelodeon sitcom “Drake & Josh,” was charged in Cleveland with attempted child endangerment and disseminating material harmful to children.Mr. Bell, 34, pleaded not guilty to both charges in Cuyahoga County Court on Thursday. He was released after posting a $2,500 bond and agreeing to not have contact with the alleged victim.He was indicted by a grand jury on May 21.According to prosecutors, the charges stem from an incident at a concert in Cleveland on Dec. 1, 2017. Mr. Bell, who also goes by Drake Campana, had tweeted that he had a show scheduled at the Odeon Concert Club there on that date.Prosecutors said that Mr. Bell engaged in a conversation with a 15-year-old girl that was at times sexual in nature. An investigation by the Cleveland Police Department also revealed that Mr. Bell had sent the girl inappropriate social media messages in the months before the show, the prosecutors said.According to prosecutors, Mr. Bell “violated his duty of care” at the concert and, “in doing so, created a risk of harm to the victim.” A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, Tyler Sinclair, did not say why Mr. Bell had only just now been indicted.In a brief statement on Friday, Ian N. Friedman, a lawyer representing Mr. Bell, declined to address specific questions. “All facts will be revealed in the courtroom,” he said.The felony child endangerment charge carries a sentence of up to 18 months in prison, with a minimum sentence of six months, and up to a $5,000 fine. The second charge, a misdemeanor, is punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.A pretrial video hearing for Mr. Bell has been scheduled for June 23.“Drake & Josh,” a young adult sitcom, aired for four seasons on Nickelodeon from 2004 to 2007. Mr. Bell played one half of a pair of stepbrothers (the other was played by Josh Peck) who lived together despite having opposite personalities.In the years since, Mr. Bell, who now goes by Drake Campana, has launched a music career and toured in support of several albums. More

  • 63 Shares149 Views

    in Theater

    Review: Connection, Interrupted, in ‘Communion’

    Christopher Chen’s new play is big on concept and cleverness, but withholds the intimacy that theater-lovers have craved during the pandemic.Last March, I booked tickets to see “The Headlands,” a new play by Christopher Chen. A few days later, live theater vanished like some awful magic act. I never made it to that show. But now Chen, a high-concept playwright with a vertiginous approach to dramatic structure, has created a new one, “Communion,” a clever and chilly digital wisp produced by the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and experienced on Zoom. To see it, as in-person performances prepare to return elsewhere, provides a dizzy kind of symmetry.“Communion,” directed by Pam MacKinnon and starring Stacy Ross, begins as so many recent shows have. A house manager greets the audience (about 40 people on the night I attended), offering a brief tutorial on cameras and mics and gallery view. Then Ross, a beloved Bay Area performer, appears, speaking from what looks like a basement. A nice basement. Ross, wearing a blazer, pigtails and a shrunken porkpie hat, has through-the-roof charisma, even in a Zoom window. This helped during the pro forma opening monologue, a friendly acknowledgment of the limits and possibilities of remote theater. “I always thought it would be interesting to do a Zoom show that somehow really took advantage of this strange intimacy this platform has,” Ross said excitedly.Like works by Will Eno and Lucas Hnath, Chen’s create a tension between the ideas at play — here, presence and absence, truth and lies, trust and manipulation — and the characters who inhabit them. There’s so much intelligence in “Communion,” enhanced by Ross’s mischievous performance and MacKinnon’s sleek direction. But the overall effect is somewhat stingy. It might have felt differently earlier in the pandemic. But at this point, most of us with working Wi-Fi have already thought plenty about presence and absence. I would trade the conceptualism for something more embracingly human.In fairness, “Communion” offers that, too. Late in the show, an unseen force sorts the audience into breakout rooms, asking us to introduce ourselves and perhaps discuss one of the prompts Chen had emailed before the show — chiefly, “In one or two sentences, can you describe a guiding principle you have?” Awkwardly and then with more ease, we introduced ourselves. One man shared a guiding principle, often attributed to Einstein: “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”The rest of us had no principles. Still, we reveled in one another’s company and in the experience of sharing a work of art together, even though we sat some 4,000 miles apart. (In this, it resembles the recent efforts of groups like 600 Highwaymen.) It made me nostalgic for all those taken-for-granted lobby nods, that post-show race around the corner to discuss the play at a safe distance, that feeling of constituting an audience.“Communion” ends with a few conceptual switcheroos designed to make you question everything you have seen and heard. And I did. But these reveals dangle what people who love theater hunger for — connection, intimacy and yes, sure, communion — then snatch it back again, like Tantalus on a video call. Did you suspend your disbelief? Sucker.I like my disbelief suspended. And if a year of seeing shows from my bedroom has taught me anything, it is that I will take theater where I can find it. Here, I’d locate it less in Chen’s forceful smarts and more in those halting, unscripted breakout room moments, in a grid of people marking time with good will and small talk until we can really, actually be together again.CommunionThrough June 27; act-sf.org. More