Heading to Lincoln Center? Bring a RaincoatArchitecture critic Justin Davidson notes that the fountain in the newly renovated cultural complex has been on overdrive of late.
Ben Stiller Is Moving Back in With His ParentsWell, sort of. He bought a $10 million duplex in the same building as his ’rents. Plus, Stephen Schwarzman has fallen off ‘Vanity Fair’s’ New Establishment list; Dennis Kozlowski appeals, and the ‘WSJ’ proudly unveils its new magazine, in today’s industry news.
company town
Citigroup Posts $2.5 Billion LossA lot of big news at the banks today — but there’s also crazy stuff going down with Jeff Zucker, Dan Rather, Brooke Astor (from beyond!), and Barack Obama, in our daily industry roundup.
The Nine Media Lives of Tina BrownTina Brown signed a deal to develop story ideas and shows for HBO. Donny Deutsch celebrated his 50th-birthday party at the Jazz at Lincoln Center with lobster tail and foie gras. Harvey Weinstein and Georgina Chapman are having trouble yachting around on their Caribbean honeymoon because there’s a massive fuel strike on St. Barts. (Weinstein’s friends also sent him a lot of video congratulations on the day of his wedding.) Lydia Hearst is mad that her name is being attached to Darfur awareness events without her permission. Gay activist Allen Roskoff keeps George Bush toilet paper at his Jane Street apartment.
party lines
Wynton Marsalis Continues to Rail Against Rap at Lincoln Center BenefitIn Southampton Friday night, Wynton Marsalis spoke bluntly of his struggle to introduce jazz to youngsters soaked in hip-hop and its attendant culture. “A lot of it is just absurd,” Marsalis said of his competition, noting that he has worked to install jazz programs in 1,000 schools across the nation. “A lot of [hip-hop] is semi-pornographic. How do you compete with these girls in the videos and all of that? You can’t. Jazz is something totally different, I don’t even like to compare them. We just want to get it out there as much as we can.” Performing with his band at the home of Jazz at Lincoln Center board members Victoria and Jay Furman (the concert was a benefit for the organization), Marsalis expressed political fatigue. Describing the dazed and slightly confused feeling certain jazz can invoke in a listener, he said “it’s kind of like how you feel after an election.” Yeah. Except, you know, happier. — Selim Algar
photo op
Ring in Summer!
If it’s not quite summer for you without a little bit of Wagner to go with your fruity cocktails and pastel shirts, you’re in luck. Lincoln Center Festival and the Met are presenting the Ring Cycle, performed by the Kirov Opera. It kicks off at 8 p.m. tonight, and — though we know virtually nothing about opera — we can assure you the performance includes a singing women inside what looks like an oversize spun-sugar dessert. At least yesterday’s dress rehearsal did.
Kirov Ring Cycle 2007 [MetOpera.org]
vulture
Beverly Sills Has SungBeverly Sills, the Brooklyn gal born Belle Silverman, died of cancer yesterday at 78. She was a quintessentially American diva — a quin- tessentially New York diva, even — who bridged the high and low worlds of grand opera and American pop culture as a charismatic broad who could get things done. New York’s Christopher Bonanos offers an appreciation at Vulture.
Beverly Sills Dies at 78 [Vulture]
party lines
Say Good Night, Alice, As Construction Work Starts
It’s been a big few days for the reconstruction of Lincoln Center, and last night Center president Reynold Levy and emcee Tom Brokaw hosted a “Good Night, Alice” party to mark the closure of Alice Tully Hall for renovation. Wynton Marsalis, Philip Glass, and Kelli O’Hara performed, and there were fireworks, but otherwise this was simply a dressed-up version of college kids hosting one last blowout before they moved out of their rented apartment. There were flasks of cosmopolitans and dirty martinis distributed — and even allowed (gasp!) inside the theater — plus appetizers served in construction-themed lunch pails. (Surprisingly, the general letting-down-of-hair resulted in the audible shattering of only four martini glasses.) Over the next two years, crews will install fancy glass walls overlooking Broadway, weather-protected bleachers, and even a bar, which led Levy to pledge Lincoln Center wouldn’t “close it until you do” each night. One important thing won’t change about the hall, though: its cushy leg room. The six-foot-two Tully ensured there’d be at least one theater in Manhattan where she’d be comfortable, Levy promised. “Some people want Alice Tully back so she can design airplanes,” he added. “Especially coach class.” —Jocelyn Guest
Earlier: Lincoln Center Holds a Press Conference on Overhaul, Tells Us Mostly What We Already Knew; Also: LEDs!
developing
Lincoln Center Holds a Press Conference on Overhaul, Tells Us Mostly What We Already Knew; Also: LEDs!
Will LEDs and info displays seem as quaint in the 2050s as the white-walled, elevated Lincoln Center seems now? Not if architect Liz Diller has the touch her clients say she does. At a construction update today, Diller detailed how Diller Scofidio & Renfro, with FXFowle and other design specialists, plans to festoon every border of the twelve-institution center with a constant stream of showtimes and words as part of the $900 million effort to refresh the fifties-era complex. After recounting already-established plans at the press conference — a new lawn, outdoor restaurants, a sexed-up fountain — Diller told us more about the electronic displays, which, she said, will really grab passersby at key spots on 65th Street and on Broadway.
photo op
Alternatively: Practice, Practice, Practice
Spotted in front of Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall Friday night, just before a New York Philharmonic concert performance of My Fair Lady, starring Kelsey Grammer, Kelli O’Hara, Brian Dennehy, and Charles Kimbrough: a woman desperately soliciting a scalped ticket — in her mink coat. Only in New York, kids.
gossipmonger
It’s Not Easy Being a PatakiBreaking: Tinsley Mortimer shops for her own groceries! Kevin Federline is broke, steals food and booze from a restaurant. Emily Pataki failed the bar exam. How Kennedyesque. Former Tom Cruise sparring partner Brooke Shields is going to his wedding, perhaps as a publicity stunt. Nicole Kidman probably isn’t pregnant, Ivanka Trump maybe had a boob job, but Tom DeLay definitely nominated about-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as Time’s Person of the Year. Dave Chappelle bowed out of a gig for HBO, and HBO isn’t happy. Axl Rose brought some strippers to Soho House. Borat’s cultural learnings may soon be available in a Barnes & Noble near you. (Meantime, he’d do well to avoid getting into a fight with fellow Kazakh Wladimir Klitschko.) Bruce Springsteen made a surprise appearance at a London concert; the crowd liked him. George Gershwin and Ed Bradley were honored at Lincoln Center, where it is discovered that Mr. Gershwin used to be quite the ladies’ man. Liza Minnelli played a $1 million bat mitzvah pro bono. A former America’s Next Top Model winner ditched Tyra Banks as her manager, changed her last name. Angelina Jolie was going to adopt an Indian kid, but Madonna scared her off.
intel
Everything Was Beautiful at the Ballet — and Tasty, Too
New York City Ballet principal dancer Jock Soto retired recently, but on Thursday he’ll already be returning to Lincoln Center. This time, though, he’ll be the caterer — or, at least, his company will be. “I’m Jock of all trades,” says the dancer, clearly rehearsing a line he’s used before. His catering outfit will serve food at a ladies-who-lunch luncheon following a special rehearsal of the company’s benefit performance of Ecstatic Orange, in which he originated a lead twenty years ago. Soto has long had a passion for food — he co-wrote a cookbook with fellow City Ballet retiree Heather Watts, and he catered his longtime dance partner Wendy Whelan’s wedding — but it’s an admittedly odd one for a dancer. “All my career I had to watch what I ate,” he says. “Now, I don’t really have to. I can eat butter and cream and all the good things. No more unitards for me! As long as I look good in a suit, that’s all that matters.”
— Rebecca Milzoff
