New York City

Subterms

    Latest story

    138 Shares27 Views

    ‘Drop Dead City’: When New York Was on the Financial Brink

    by

    This surprisingly entertaining film examines the 1975 fiscal crisis that nearly led the city to bankruptcy. The movie’s conclusions remain relevant today.There’s a bit of a puzzle at the center of “Drop Dead City” (in theaters), the new documentary about that time New York City barely escaped bankruptcy. Michael Rohatyn, who directed the film with Peter Yost, is the son of Felix Rohatyn, the banker and diplomat who led the Municipal Assistance Corporation. That’s the entity, established at the height of the crisis in 1975, that negotiated the solution with the city, the banks and the unions that ultimately pulled New York back from the brink of financial ruin. But while the elder Rohatyn is praised by many participants in the film, his connection to one of its directors isn’t mentioned at all.I admit I raised an eyebrow when I realized the link, and it’s true that at times “Drop Dead City” seems like a tribute to Felix Rohatyn’s acumen and ability. That might color the film’s credibility a bit. But on the whole, the movie probably benefits more from the younger Rohatyn’s involvement, not least because an incredible array of people who worked for the city and state at the time appear as participants, whether they are former aides and comptrollers or mayors, union leaders and members of Congress.That chorus of voices tells the story, helped by a lot of archival video that vividly illustrates how heated the protests and garbage-laden the sidewalks became while the municipal government tried to figure out the resolution. It’s an evenhanded and surprisingly entertaining account of how things got so bad, who was to blame, the way it was fixed (to some degree) and what New York inevitably lost in the process.The story, as a lot of New Yorkers know, is complicated, and “Drop Dead City” sets out to tell it as simply as possible, from the city’s progressive roots to its years of chaotic bookkeeping and sometimes profligate spending to its contentious relationship with both the state government in Albany and the federal government. The participants in the film don’t all agree with one another, which makes for a richer tale. No story about money is straightforward, but this version is about as fun and vivid as it could be without skimping on the details.Viewed through a wider lens, it’s also a parable, and it should be watched through that lens. When you think about it, it’s a bit of a miracle that the American system — involving many interlocking governments and interests, led by colorful personalities that often clash — ever works at all. But while the sheer size of the nation sometimes tempts us to think of faraway people as “them,” with problems that are only “theirs,” our fates are tied together. As people note repeatedly in “Drop Dead City,” it was in everyone’s interest to keep New York afloat, because what happened in the city had broad repercussions for the whole country. The crisis may have unfolded 50 years ago, but our interdependence is as important to remember now as it was then. More

    More stories

    • 113 Shares28 Views

      in Music

      Juilliard Plans $550 Million Drive to Go Tuition Free

      by

      The goal is to make the school’s programs more accessible and to ease the burden on graduates pursuing careers in the arts.The Juilliard School, one of the world’s most prestigious conservatories, plans to go tuition free for all of its students, the school announced on Thursday, and has begun a $550 million fund-raising drive to finance the effort.The tuition-free policy is meant to make Juilliard accessible to a broader range of students and to ease the burden on graduates hoping to pursue careers in the arts, where salaries can be meager. The fund-raising campaign will be one of the largest in Juilliard’s 120-year history.“If a student can get into Juilliard — and it’s hard to get into Juilliard — it can’t be about the money,” said Damian Woetzel, the school’s president. “Money can’t be the determining factor of having the opportunity to come to Juilliard, to be in New York City at Lincoln Center, and to fulfill that dream that empowers art itself.”Juilliard officials did not provide a timeline for putting the new policy in place, saying only that it would be a multiyear effort. The school said it has received about $180 million in early commitments, including a pledge of $130 million from Juilliard’s board.Woetzel, who has made affordability a priority since becoming Juilliard’s president in 2018, said the school would push “as fast as we possibly can” to make the tuition-free policy a reality. He said he was confident that Juilliard could meet its fund-raising target, though he acknowledged it would be challenging.“I am optimistic, even as I am realistic that it’s going to take a tremendous amount of energy and work,” he said. “I think this is a worthy goal, and I think people will understand that.”Juilliard’s tuition, for both undergraduates and graduate students, is $55,500 per year. More than 95 percent of students receive some financial aid. This school year, 29 percent of all Juilliard students pay no tuition. That number is expected to rise to 40 percent for the new school year in the fall.Juilliard already offers some tuition-free programs; since last fall, for example, it has not charged tuition for its graduate acting track. School officials said they now want to extend that policy across Juilliard’s music, dance and drama divisions, which collectively serve some 900 students.The cost of attending Juilliard has at times been a point of contention between administrators and students. In 2021, students led protests against a planned tuition increase, demanding that the school freeze its tuition.Juilliard would not be the only conservatory to go tuition free: The renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, which is much smaller than Juilliard, with about 160 students, has not charged tuition since 1928, four years after it opened its doors. More

    • 113 Shares118 Views

      in Theater

      Bernadette Peters Loves a Day Out in New York

      by

      Back on Broadway for “Old Friends,” the actress reflects on the art she saw with Sondheim and the delights of the High Line and Central Park.Growing up in Queens, Bernadette Peters was enraptured by trips into Manhattan to see the dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History.“There’s something special about revisiting them as an adult, with fresh eyes,” said Peters, 77, a two-time Tony-winning actress who originated the roles of the Witch in “Into the Woods” and Dot in “Sunday in the Park With George.”She’s doing much the same thing in her latest turn on Broadway — her first in nearly seven years — in “Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends,” a concert-style revue of songs by the acclaimed composer and lyricist who died in 2021, in which she stars opposite Lea Salonga.Though Peters has played a number of the featured roles, her song choices are surprising — singing “I Know Things Now” as Little Red Riding Hood, for instance, in the “Into the Woods” segment.“I like a challenge,” said Peters, who put her stamp on half a dozen Sondheim characters, including Momma Rose in “Gypsy,” Desirée Armfeldt in “A Little Night Music” and Sally Durant Plummer in “Follies.”In a phone interview last month from Los Angeles, where “Old Friends” was wrapping up a pre-Broadway run, Peters, who was anxious to get back to home to New York City and her rescue dogs Charlie and Rosalie, shared 10 of her Big Apple-inspired cultural essentials.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 138 Shares111 Views

      in Theater

      How Brandon Kazen-Maddox, an American Sign Language Artist, Spends Their Sundays

      by

      Brandon Kazen-Maddox has always felt an affinity with mermaids.“We both straddle two worlds,” said Mx. Kazen-Maddox, 36, an American Sign Language dancer, choreographer and filmmaker who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns.Mx. Kazen-Maddox, like both their parents, is hearing. But they grew up living with their mother at her parents’ home in Washington State, where their maternal grandparents, both of whom are deaf, spoke with their hands.Soon, Mx. Kazen-Maddox learned to do the same. “I like to say my words are just along for the ride,” they said.Mx. Kazen-Maddox said they enjoyed spending time at Riverside Park, dancing and listening to music, near their home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.Amir Hamja for The New York TimesMx. Kazen-Maddox has been interpreting professionally since 2012 and has worked on the Broadway production of “Aladdin” and for former President Joe Biden, the composer Lin-Manuel Miranda and the actress Marlee Matlin.In a half-hour PBS special scheduled for Tuesday, “SOUL(SIGNS): Making Music Visible,” Mx. Kazen-Maddox documented the process of choreographing, filming and performing an A.S.L. music video for Morgan James’s “Drown,” shedding light on their own relationship with music and sign language.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 175 Shares146 Views

      in Music

      Alice Tan Ridley, Subway Singer Who Dazzled on ‘America’s Got Talent,’ Dies at 72

      by

      The mother of the actress Gabourey Sidibe, she spent decades singing full time as a busker in the New York City subways.Alice Tan Ridley, who rose to fame after decades singing for tips in the New York City subway with an unexpected run in the television show “America’s Got Talent,” died on March 25 in New York City. Ms. Ridley, who was the mother of the Oscar-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe, was 72.Her family announced the death in an obituary published online. It did not cite a cause.Ms. Ridley’s public life as a singer began underground in the mid-1980s, and she spent decades belting out songs in New York City subway stations. At first, the subway busking was meant to supplement income from her day job in education. Eventually, she quit to sing full time.In her early days of busking, the performances were collaborations with her brother Roger Ridley and their cousin Jimmy McMillan, the political activist who would become famous for founding the Rent Is Too Damn High Party in New York.“We are not homeless,” she told “Good Morning America” in 2010, referring to buskers. “We are not beggars. And we’re not under drug influence, you know? There are traditional jobs, and there are nontraditional jobs.”She compared busking in New York to “being in a cathedral.”“It’s wonderful,” she said. “There’s just music all over this city, and especially down underground.”For Ms. Ridley, singing underground fulfilled a calling. In 2005, she appeared in the film “Heights,” directed by Chris Terrio, as a subway singer.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 125 Shares73 Views

      in Television

      Rick Levine, Who Gave Commercials Cinematic Flair, Dies at 94

      by

      An award-winning director, he created ads for brands like Diet Pepsi (starring Michael J. Fox) and Wells Fargo by bringing a Hollywood sensibility to the small screen.Rick Levine, an award-winning television commercial director who brought a big-screen sensibility to the small screen with widely celebrated spots, like a Diet Pepsi Super Bowl ad from the 1980s featuring Michael J. Fox risking life and limb for love, died on March 11 at his home in Marina del Rey, Calif. He was 94.The death was confirmed by his daughter Abby LaRocca.Mr. Levine was a product of what is often called the golden age of advertising, rising in the business through the “Mad Men” era of the 1960s and founding his own company, Rick Levine Productions, in 1972. It was a time when network television held a hypnotic sway over the average American household, and advertising, like so many other cultural arenas of the era, was exploding in creativity.Often serving as his own cinematographer, Mr. Levine approached his big-budget commercials like a director of Hollywood blockbusters.“We decided to make our ads look as good as films,” he said in a 2009 interview with DGA Quarterly, published by the Directors Guild of America. “I would direct and shoot, so I would have complete control.”The Guild named him the best commercial director in 1981 and 1988, in particular for three specific spots.Most notable among them was the Diet Pepsi commercial with Mr. Fox, which Mr. Levine made for BBDO New York; it was one of many ads he shot for Pepsi.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 125 Shares149 Views

      in Television

      Chelsea Handler at 50: Still Hustling and Dreaming of Margaritas

      by

      The comedian Chelsea Handler is unapologetic in her latest book, “I’ll Have What She’s Having.” Well, of course, she is. She’s Chelsea Handler, and that’s always kind of been her thing.There are many of the stories you would expect from the former host of the E! show “Chelsea Lately” in her seventh book, which came out last month, such as confronting rudeness in men, shamelessly propositioning Andrew Cuomo for sex when he was governor of New York and ruthlessly pushing out a business partner for a lemonade stand. (She was 10 at the time.)But Handler also weaves in more life advice, a healthy dose of cheerleading (both for the reader and herself) and insights gained from therapy and various breakups.The book includes chapters about her very public relationship with the comedian Jo Koy, but fans looking for the details of the breakup will be disappointed: She doesn’t say much, and mostly speaks well of Koy. A sign of growth, she says.“While I am sure that is of interest to people, I will no longer throw someone I once loved under a bus,” Handler writes. “My sharing what exactly went wrong in our relationship would negate all the work I have done on myself while also creating a headline I don’t want to create.”The main takeaways: She’s 50. She’s hustling. There’s a Netflix special coming later this month, and a residency in Las Vegas. And she’s sure of herself. That’s all she needs, and she’s finally realized it. In an interview, Handler discussed the new book and the newish Chelsea.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in Movies

      Stanley R. Jaffe, 84, Oscar-Winning Producer and Hollywood Power, Dies

      by

      His “Kramer vs. Kramer” won for best picture in 1980, one of many high points in a career that saw him in top jobs, twice, at Paramount.Stanley R. Jaffe, a former Hollywood wunderkind who became president of Paramount at 29, then left after just a few years to become an Oscar-winning producer of films like “Kramer vs. Kramer,” “Fatal Attraction” and “The Accused,” died on Monday at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 84.His daughter Betsy Jaffe confirmed the death.Mr. Jaffe was known as a hands-on producer, and his work on “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979), a searing divorce drama, showed why.The movie was based on a 1977 novel of the same name by Avery Corman, and he bought the rights immediately after it was published. He persuaded a reluctant Dustin Hoffman to play the father, Ted, and cast the relatively unknown Meryl Streep to play his wife, Joanna.The film was a commercial and critical success. Along with the Oscar for best picture, it won for best actor (Mr. Hoffman); best supporting actress (Ms. Streep); and best director and best adapted screenplay (both for Robert Benton).Mr. Jaffe backstage with his best picture Oscar, for “Kramer vs. Kramer,” at the Academy Awards ceremony in 1980.ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content, via Getty ImagesIn addition to winning the best picture award, “Kramer vs. Kramer” also won for best actor (Dustin Hoffman) and best supporting actress (Meryl Streep).Stanley Jaffe Productions/Columbia PicturesMr. Jaffe was not quite 40 when he won the Academy Award, but he was already a veteran heavyweight in Hollywood.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 100 Shares189 Views

      in Theater

      Striking Stage Crews Reach Agreement With Atlantic Theater

      by

      The deal will be scrutinized by New York’s other Off Broadway theaters, which the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees has been working to unionize.Ending a two-month strike, the prestigious Atlantic Theater Company and the labor union representing its crew members said Monday that they had reached a tentative agreement that they anticipated would allow the theater to resume performances.The agreement will be closely scrutinized by New York’s other Off Broadway theaters because the union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, has undertaken a major drive to organize those stage crews. The crews include the stage hands who move scenery and the people working in audio, video, hair, makeup, wardrobe, props, carpentry and lighting.The union and Atlantic Theater announced the tentative agreement in a joint statement Monday afternoon but said it was pending approval by union members. The contract would cover nearly 100 workers, many of whom are not full-time staff but are hired to work on individual shows.The parties said they would not describe the details of the agreement until the workers were notified, but they said the agreement featured “significant compensation increases” as well as “comprehensive benefits,” which a union official said would include both health insurance and pension contributions.The workers are no longer picketing. Chris Boneau, a spokesman for Atlantic, called it “a fair agreement” and said the theater was hoping to soon announce a plan to resume producing shows later this spring.The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, commonly known as IATSE, has already reached agreements with the producers of two commercial Off Broadway musicals, “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Titaníque,” and is seeking labor contracts at two more Off Broadway nonprofits, the Public Theater and Vineyard Theater.The unionization push comes at a tough time for nonprofit theaters, and some producers fear that it will further drive up their costs as they struggle with inflation and diminished attendance. But workers say that times are tough for them too, and that they deserve better pay and benefits than have traditionally been provided Off Broadway.Atlantic, founded in 1985, is a midsize company with two theaters in Chelsea and the birthplace of several musicals that went on to win the Tony Award for best musical after transferring to Broadway, including “Spring Awakening,” “The Band’s Visit” and “Kimberly Akimbo.” Atlantic also staged the first production of the stage adaptation of “Buena Vista Social Club,” which is now in previews on Broadway and opens next week.Atlantic and IATSE said in their joint statement that, if the contract is approved as expected, Atlantic would become “the first not-for-profit theater company producing solely Off Broadway in history to have a union agreement covering production classifications.”Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theater Club and Roundabout Theater Company, large nonprofits that have both Broadway and Off Broadway houses, have unionized stage crews.Jonas Loeb, the union’s communications director, called the tentative agreement “a step forward for Off Broadway” and said that “after over a year of discussions, it’s great that we have this agreement.” More