Category Archives: Celebrity
Bette Midler, Mae West, Hello Dolly
In a stroke of casting genius, Bette Midler has signed on to star in HBO’s upcoming biopic about Old Hollywood glamourpuss Mae West, based on West’s autobiography, Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It. William Friedkin (The Exorcist) is directing and Harvey Fierstein (Kinky Boots) is writing the script.
Mae West will chronicle the bawdy babes’ scandalous Broadway show, Sex, which ultimately landed her in jail for 10 days for “corrupting the morals of youth.” Midler recently garnered critical praise channeling another ballsy babe, superagent Sue Mengers, in the one woman show I’ll Eat You Last. SEE MORE HERE.
BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!
In what will surely prove to be the hottest ticket of the year. The Divine Miss M., Bette Midler has announced that she will play Dolly Gallagher Levi in a Broadway revival of the blockbuster 1964 musical, Hello, Dolly!
Midler issued a statement saying, “I am looking forward to portraying one of the most beloved characters in all of American Musical Comedy, Dolly Levi, born Gallagher, in Hello, Dolly! I know I’m going to have the time of my life, and I am so glad to be under the wings of Scott Rudin as Producer and Jerry Zaks as Director. See you next year!”
Said composer/lyricist Jerry Herman said, “Many times through the years I’ve been asked about bringing back Hello, Dolly! – and it has always been, ‘Who would be my dream Dolly?’ – and though I’ve had literally dozens of names tossed at me, I knew that we needed more than just a wonderful singer or a wonderful actor, so I held on to the hope that she would also be a distinctly original persona. Who is out there that has the necessary stature, warmth, the incredible talent and ability, and especially the singular, outsized personality that I was looking for in a 21st century Dolly? Only one person: Bette Midler. Only Bette could bring Dolly brilliantly back to ‘the lights of 14th Street!’
Pride Flag Creator Gilbert Baker at MoMa
RAINBOW FLAG CREATOR GILBERT BAKER TO DISCUSS HIS FAMED SYMBOL OF GAY PRIDE AT THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART JANUARY 7TH
Artist Gilbert Baker, who in 1978 created the rainbow flag, the iconic symbol of gay pride that was recently acquired by the Museum of Modern Art for its permanent collection, will speak on Thursday, January 7 at 11:30 a.m., at The Museum of Modern Art, Floor 3, Architecture and Design Galleries. As part of MoMA’s “Gallery Sessions” program, Architecture and Design Curatorial Assistant Michelle Fisher will lead a conversation with Baker about the flag, which has come to represent the power of a simple image and the potential of community organizing.
Facilitated by MoMA educators, Gallery Sessions are impromptu interactions that explore the creative process, art history, and the experience of art. The Sessions take place daily in select galleries at the museum and are free with museum admission.
WHAT: Q&A with Rainbow Flag Creator Gilbert Baker
WHEN: Thursday, January 7 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
WHERE: The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues
Floor 3, Architecture and Design Galleries
First Ever Broadway Con
FINALLY!
A CONVENTION FOR
BROADWAY AND THEATRE FANS
NOW IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
The third and final batch of tickets is on sale now! Learn more about tickets.
Created by long-time fans and professionals of the theatre community, BroadwayCon is theatre’s answer to a comic con, tailor-made for fans like you.
Featuring three exciting days ! Jan 22-24th, 2016 Broadway Con
Alan Cummings gay New York Restaurateur FLORENT
Showtime is working on a comedy project named “Florent,” which would star everyone’s favorite openly bisexual actor Alan Cumming as a New York City restaurateur Florent Morellet. Cumming’s passion project, “Florent” will reportedly be directed by CBS drama series “The Good Wife’s” Rosemary Rodriguez.
The half-hour show “Florent” was shopped to Sundance Channel earlier this summer. According to Deadline, the show is being written by “Nine to Five’s” Patricia Resnick. The two executive producers, Jonathan Baruch and Howard Braunstein, will also work for the project. If “Florent” goes to series, the 50-year old Cumming would make a transition to it after the completion of “The Good Wife.”
The outlet reported that the show is inspired by the original story of Morellet who had opened a restaurant in a Meatpacking District in New York during early 1980s. “Florent” is aimed to explore the light and dark of that time and will gradually turn into a destination for everyone starting from New York’s literati, the neighborhood hookers and hustlers, AIDS activists, sex workers to New York city’s cops and local LGBT community.
read more at Movie News
Bea Arthur LGBT Residence
On Monday, July 20, 2015, there will be a groundbreaking ceremony for the Bea Arthur Residence, an 18-bed residence for homeless LGBT youth operated by the Ali Forney Center.
In 2012 the New York City Council and the Manhattan Borough President awarded $3,300,000 for the renovation of a long vacant building owned by the New York City Department of Housing and Preservation Development.
The building has now been turned over to the Ali Forney Center in partnership with Cooper Square Committee, and renovations are beginning this month. It is anticipated that the building will begin to provide housing by the end of 2016.
Bea Arthur gave one of her final public performances as a benefit for the Ali Forney Center in 2005. She was very upset to learn that hundreds of thousands of LGBT teens were rejected by their families, and driven to homelessness. She said that she would do anything in her power to help these teens. When she died in 2009 the Ali Forney Center learned that she had bequeathed $300,000 to us in her will. At that time, Carl Siciliano, the Executive Director of the Ali Forney Center, pledged that the first building they owned would be named in her memory.
The groundbreaking ceremony will be held at the building site, located at 222 East 13th Street at 1pm. In attendance will be the staff and clients of the Ali Forney Center, as well as invited politicians who have supported this project and the work of the AFC, including Brad Hoylman, Democratic Senator for the New York State Senate in Manhattan’s 27th district, New York City Council Members Richie Torres, Danny Drum, Carlos Menchaca and Rosie Mendez, a representative from Mayor DiBlasio’s office and Steve Herrick, Executive Director of Cooper Square.
Said Carl Siciliano, Founder and Executive Director of the Ali Forney Center:
“It meant the world to me that a star of the magnitude of Bea Arthur would do so much to help the Ali Forney Center in our work of housing homeless LGBT youths.” says Carl Siciliano, Executive Director of the Ali Forney Center. “I am very grateful that we will now be able to honor Bea and continue to keep her compassion alive through the establishment of the Bea Arthur Residence for Homeless LGBT Youth.”
In an article prior to her passing, Bea Arthur said this:
“I’m very, very involved in charities involving youth. These kids at the Ali Forney Center are literally dumped by their families because of the fact that they are lesbian, gay or transgender — this organization really is saving lives.”
Matthew Camp – Getting GO
How did I miss this?
I stumbled upon this cute little movie by accident this week – it’s a Sexy, innovative gay romance with Tanner Cohen & Matthew Camp!
“An affecting drama full of heart and humor, reminiscent of instant classics like Weekend.” — Edge Boston
This wonderfully innovative and exceptionally sexy drama has an infectious energy and a completely unique aesthetic as it tells a classic story of lust becoming love — and then some. Super cute Tanner Cohen (Were The World Mine) returns to the big screen as a college boy named Doc who drunkenly cruises a gay go-go boy named Go (super hot Matthew Camp – well known New York night life performer) with the pretense of making a documentary about him.
“As they grow closer, flirtation blurs the line between subject and filmmaker,” the film’s description reads, “until a steamy night together solidifies deeper feelings.”
Though his character “Go” was inspired directly by his dancing alter-ego, Matthew Camp says he’s actually pretty different from what most believe him to be behind closed doors — he’s quite reserved, completely monogamous, an artist, a perfumer, and nothing like what you’d assume a New York City bar star to be.
“What you see in Getting Go is a rough representation of me,” he says. “I mean, I do run around shirtless all the time, Go and I are both not afraid of a lot of things, and we danced in our underwear, so we’re both confident. But I wouldn’t have handled most of the situations in the same way Go did. I’m not as sexual as him… I don’t go on a lot of dates, I’m very reclusive, hanging out at my house. Go-go dancing was very much a job for me and after I’d perform, I’d leave right away rather than hang out at the club.”
Now 30, Camp reveals that he began go-go dancing when he moved to the city at 21 in order to pay his bills. “I’ve never felt I should be embarrassed by go-go dancing,” he says. “It’s not prostitution – which I’m not judgmental about – but I view dancing more as performance. I don’t like opening myself up to people, so with go-go dancing, people get to just see my body, they don’t see what’s going on in my head.”
See more at Queerty.
WOLFE movies on demand
Gavin Scribner An American in Paris
Every year TIME OUT NEW YORK votes for the top 10 chorus guys and girls on Broadway! This is Gavin Scribner who is in AN AMERICAN IN PARIS @ Palace Theatre.
From Time Out: Broadway musicals kick into high gear every spring, powered by the gifted dancers and singers of their ensemble casts. And each year, we give you a sneak peek at some of the chorus performers who may grab your eye onstage. We’ll be there to give you the latest previews and reviews of the spring season. In the meantime, here is our fifth annual roundup of 20 sexy men and women who will brighten up Broadway in 2015.
The Center – Once Upon A Time
LGBT Center: Once Upon A Time And Now
February 3, 2015 – March 3, 2015
The Center is revisiting The Center Show (1989) by reinstalling artworks from artists such as David LaChapelle and incorporating new artwork, under the curatorial direction of Ian Alteveer, Associate Curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The goal of the exhibition, Once Upon a Time and Now, is to encourage guests and supporters to explore The Center including our rich, cultural history while continuing our role as a cultural destination for years to come.
LaChapelle’s artistic temperament is characterized by an unremitting effort to discover the ever newer possibilities offered by the medium of photography. His works from the 1980’s often represent a sort of fusion of photography, collage and graphic art.
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center has undergone a major renovation of their historic main building over the last year and a half, upgrading the capabilities of the space while preserving their unique history in New York City.
Presented to celebrate the renovation of The Center, Once Upon A Time and Now, examines historic works from the 1980s preserved in the renovation and looks to the future with new works.
Featuring: Arch Connelly, Leon Golub, Gran Fury, Keith Haring, David LaChapelle, Stephen Lack, Thomas Lanigan Schmidt, Kay Rosen, Barbara Sandler, Kenny Scharf, Nancy Spero, Robert Storr, Susan Strande, Richard Taddei, George Whitman, and Martin Wong
Alongside more recent work by Deborah Kass, Tseng Kwong Chi, Glenn Ligon
Curated by Ian Alteveer, Associate Curator, Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
208 W 13th St, New York, NY 10011 | www.gaycenter.org
ONCE UPON A TIME AND NOW
FEBRUARY 3, 2015
6:00-9:00 PM
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
208 W 13th St, New York, NY 10011 | www.gaycenter.org
Phone:
212.620.7310
Building Hours:
Mon–Sat 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Sun 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Christmas with the Crawfords in New York
HOW FABULOUS IS THIS?!
Christmas with the Crawfords
Model Actor Mark MacKillop ROOM FOURTEEN
Mark MacKillop is a singer actor dancer. Originally from Vancouver he studied ballet in Vancouver with Li Yaming at Pacific DanceArts and spent summers training with the Boston Ballet and American Ballet Theater in New York, both on full scholarship. After three years dancing with the Atlanta Ballet Mark moved to New York to pursue musical theatre and just finished a year on tour playing Riff with the international production of West Side Story – which leads us to this story about Mark!
Earlier this year, our good friend Michael Cavnaugh, founder of HEROnews.org and HIVhero.org interviews the very talented and handsome Mark MacKillop – the Broadway HERO of the month. Mark talks about his international tour of West Side Story, Broadway Bares, his struggle to become a performer and so much more. This man is an inspiration, smart sexy and a great guy- please check it out here!
From Huffington Post: New York performer Mark MacKillop offers musical theater fans a provocative peek at the offstage life of a working actor in his coffee table book, Rm. XIV.
The new book comprises 80 black-and-white selfies of MacKillop in various stages of undress, shot in various hotel rooms around the world while he was in the midst of an international tour of “West Side Story” last year.
Though the steamy images will no doubt set pulses racing, MacKillop sees Rm. XIV as capturing “physicality, composition, reflection” as opposed to being intentionally scintillating.
“I had just finished a year touring all over Europe and Israel with the international production of West Side Story. During the course of my time abroad i started taking pictures of myself in each hotel room I stayed in. This quickly became a staple of my experience on tour.”
“ Surprisingly traveling around with 30 cast members and a 30 piece orchestra left me feeling incredibly isolated and at times lonely. I used the photos as a way of connecting with friends who I was separated from to give them a unique, intimate look at my life on the road,” MacKillop, who originally hails from Canada, told The Huffington Post. Noting that he shot all of the images on his iPhone with a self-timer app, – which are REALLY REALLY GOOD!! “I definitely wouldn’t call myself a photographer. I would just call myself an artist exploring in various mediums.”
MacKillop, who is openly gay, said the photos also represent a very personal journey, and were partly inspired by Tom of Finland in addition to his own ballet and modern dance training.
A very successful kickstarter campaign was launched and the book was printed!
(Photo Right : is from one of the MANY fashion shoots Mark has done. Photographer Walter Kurtz Emporio Armani Underwear. See more on Pinterest.)
Having performed in the 2014 installment of “Broadway Bares,” MacKillop will donate a portion of the proceeds from Rm. XIV to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA). In addition, the book will feature an introduction by Tony Award-winning “Kinky Boots” star Billy Porter and a foreword authored by New York artist Robert W. Richards.
You can read more about Rm. XIV here. BUY THE BOOK!
Sneak Peak Video on YouTube
Instagram @markmackillop
Twitter @mark_mackillop
markmackillop.net
On a side note…..
OCTOBER 19th! Please support this event! $20 tickets. Other donations on Indigo.
The best of both worlds performing together.
Featuring performances from the brightest stars from Broadway and Ballet.
Honoring The Actors Fund, Tony Award Winner, Jerry Mitchell and Ballet Star, Stephen Hanna
A benefit for HERO – HIV Experience Resources Organization.
Sunday, October 19th, 2014
42 West, 516 West 42nd Street, NYC
8–10 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Purchase Tickets $20 General Admission – Premium seating $100 – Tables of Ten
Hunks and Hounds by Mike Ruiz
Louie’s Legacy Animal Rescue, is the organization behind a genius calendar that combines handsome shirtless men with adorable, adoptable doggies.
The 2015 calendar, fittingly called “Hunks and Hounds,” benefits Louie’s Legacy financially and also promotes animal welfare.
“The message of the calendar is that we should all be kind to animals and protect them from harm,” says Mike Ruiz, a celebrity photographer who shot the calendar’s images.
Ruiz is well-known for LGBT advocacy on top of his animal rescue work. And he’s appeared in front of the camera himself for the Show Your Soft Side anti-cruelty campaign, with his much-loved, very spoiled pit bull Oliver, who was adopted in 2012.
“I can’t imagine a life without him,” Ruiz says.
For those wondering one final question: Yes, it is possible that some of the human Hunks and Hounds models are also available.
“As far as I know, and I know a lot, they are all single,” says Ruiz. “I just hope that people enjoy the images, and that they are reminded daily that adopting and loving an animal is the most humane thing a person can do. I hope we sell a million so that Louie’s Legacy can broaden their services to be able to help more dogs find forever homes.”
Order your Hunks and Hounds calendar at Louieslegacy.org and check out more Louie’s Legacy adoptable animals on Facebook.