01/29/08

Adam Pascal Looks Back on Rent

If you went to high school during the '90s, you might know the type: striped scarves, plaid pants, colored mascara, unwashed hair and other aesthetic nods to "la vie bohème." They were Rent-heads, and, after the musical smash hit opened in 1996, they were everywhere.

The high-school hipsters weren't the only ones who noticed the show. After its debut, the musical walked away with ten Tony nominations (winning four of them, including Best Musical), ten Drama Desk nominations (winning six), and the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Now, after 12 years, Rent is slated to close on June 1. This news especially resonates in Westchester—and not just among those Rent-heads—since the county has many connections to the...

01/22/08

Westchester's Oscar-Attracting Power

01/15/08

No Statues for County Residents and Other TV Tidbits

Last night was the 65th annual Golden Globes awards ceremony. And by "ceremony," I mean "press conference." And by "press conference," I mean bizarre, hard-to-watch presentation in which Access Hollywood's Billy Bush and Nancy O'Dell read the nominees, announced the winners, and provided commentary on the winners all in a row. "Here are the nominees. The winner is X. That's strange, I thought it would be Y." Writers, we miss you!

When all the winners were announced (an commented upon by Bush and O'Dell), only one would bring a statue home to Westchester County: Bedford resident Glenn Close, who won the "Best Performance...

01/08/08

Surviving the Culture Doldrums

The holiday season is finally, truly, definititively over. And I hope it was nice for one and all. Now, I suspect that many of you are emerging from a Champagne-plus-Christmas-returns-and-gift-card-binge coma to realize that—oh no!— once the guests are gone, January is actually pretty boring.

This goes double when it comes to pop culture. Gone are the prestige movies, the holiday mix CDs, the classic TV marathons, the hours-long stretches of "Guitar Hero" played with family. In their place…nothing. With the writers' strike holding steady, most networks have plunged themselves into reruns and schlocky game shows. Instead of Oscar-bait movies with big stars and showy performances, we have a nonstop parade of...