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Today in New York:
'Looped' reviews: 'cruel but enjoyably catty cliché'
 The new comedy “Looped” last week opened on Broadway to mediocre reviews, telling the somewhat-true story of how over-the-top diva Tallulah Bankhead wasted a day trying to sync a line of dialogue for the movie “Die, Die My Darling.”
Valerie Harper stars with Brian Hutchison and Michael Mulheren as the frustrated studio workers.
“Looped” has an open-ended run at the Lyceum Theatre, 149 W. 45th St., map. Regular tickets are priced from $25 to $111.50 Premium seats are $151.50 to $226.50. Student rush are available one hour before curtain for $25.
Age advice: Due to strong language, producers advise the play “may be inapproriate for 11 and under.”
The “Looped” Broadway reviews:
New York Times - “With the corners of her mouth dragged down to her ankles, a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other, Ms. Harper camps and vamps with determined proficiency, injecting plenty of life if not much verisimilitude into Mr. Lombardo’s cruel but enjoyably catty cliché.”
Associated Press - “Out of this real-life misadventure, playwright Matthew Lombardo has fashioned a frequently funny but at times labored little play, which opened Sunday at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre.”
Post - “But in the second half of the show, Tallulah inexplicably turns into a supportive listener (Tallulah, meet Rhoda) and we have to suffer through Danny’s back story. Are we supposed to believe she would have listened to that bore for more than a minute? It plays like a gay man’s fantasy of being a BFF with a diva.”
New York magazine - “How much Tallulah Bankhead is too much? A shot glass’s worth is probably just about right, but Matthew Lombardo’s Looped fills two jumbo tankards and then some.”
New York Observer - “It’s a bad play, but Ms. Harper is excellent. Looped is a campy good time.”
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March 20, 2010 1:12 PM Comments (0)
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Ellis Island preservation group desperate for donations
Save Ellis Island, the non-profit that’s been methodically stabilizing 30 abandoned buildings at the country’s most famous immigration center, is in dire need of $500,000 in donations by April 2 in order to keep its own doors open, Judith McAlpin, President of SAE, today told NewYorkology.
 The small group has already cut staff, delayed projects and put employees on furloughs. But if it’s unable to pay rent and salaries, unspent grants must be returned and no more buildings will open to the public.
Before Save Ellis Island started work a decade ago, two-thirds of the island was in serious disrepair, with crumbling staircases, broken windows and trees sprouting indoors. The deterioration has been on the public radar since 2005, when free hard-hart tours of the old hospital were first offered as part of the annual Open House New York event.
So far, 29 of the 30 abandoned buildings have been stabilized but only one has reopened as part of the museum. In 2007, SAE and the National Park Service opened the “new” ferry building, an art deco, WPA-era buidling used by immigrants who cleared customs and were waiting for the boat to Manhatttan. The renovation includes a functioning fan and bench both original to the room, as well as exhibits.
The one still-exposed building — the giant baggage and dormitory building that faces north to the Hudson River — last year received U.S. stimulus funds. The National Park Service, which runs Ellis and Liberty islands, is overseeing that project and the initial phase of stabilization has begun, NPS spokesman Darren Boch said .
While funds are available to prevent more damage to the baggage building, without Save Ellis Island, there would be no plans to reopen any more buildings.”It’s not going to happen in their absence,” Boch said in an interview this morning. “We have to work with a partner.”
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March 19, 2010 11:55 AM Comments (0)
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Yankees single-game tickets on sale Friday at noon
 Individual home-game tickets for the world champion New York Yankees will go on sale to the general public starting Friday at noon, according to the MLB.com story posted on the team’s official website.
Tickets are currently available only in multi-game or season-ticket packages.
Initially, the tickets will be available only through Yankees.com, YankeesBeisbol.com and Ticketmaster’s phone line: (877) 469-9849.
Prices will start at $5 for some games.
Opening day at Yankee Stadium will be April 13 vs. the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Image source: New York Yankees 2009 World Series Champions Official Club House T-Shirt.
Update on March 19: This story was updated to include the Yankees ticket sales link, which was unavailable earlier.
Earlier: Mets tickets on sale today at 10 a.m. for 2010 season
Yankee Stadium tours resume after World Series win
Yankees 2009 ticker-tape parade pictures and video
March 17, 2010 12:25 PM Comments (0)
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Cleanliness letter grades coming to restaurant windows
 In July, New York City will start requiring restaurants to display their cleanliness letter-grade near their entrances, the NYC Department of Health decided Tuesday.
More detailed restaurant inspection results have been available online for several years.
“Giving consumers more information will help make our restaurants safer and cleaner. The grade in the window will give you a sense of how clean the kitchen is – and it will give every restaurant operator an incentive to maintain safe, sanitary conditions,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley said in a statement announcing the policy.
March 17, 2010 12:04 PM Comments (0)
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'God of Carnage' adds daily $26.50 student rush tickets
 The Broadway comedy “God of Carnage” — which recently added Jeff Daniels, Dylan Baker, Lucy Liu and Janet McTeer to the cast — will start selling $26.50 student rush tickets daily at the box office, producers announced today.
Same-day student rush tickets will be available when the box office opens for the day. Students with a valid school ID may buy up to two tickets with cash or a credit card.
The play opened a year ago to excellent reviews with an original cast of Jeff Daniels, James Gandolfini, Marcia Gay Harden and Hope Davis. When their contracts expired, the cast was replaced by Christine Lahti, Annie Potts, Jimmy Smits and Ken Stott.
The comedy by Yasmina Reza was written in French and originally set in Paris. For the Broadway run, the set up is two pairs of Brooklyn parents who meet up to discuss a Cobble Hill Park fight involving their two 11-year old sons.
“God of Carnage” has an open-ended run at the Bernard Jacobs Theater, at 242 W. 45th St., map. Regular tickets are priced from $66.50 to $116.50. Premium seats are sold from $176.50 to $251.50. If a performance is sold out, standing-room tickets will go on sale at the box office two hours before curtain for $26.50 each.
March 15, 2010 4:52 PM Comments (0)
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King Tut funeral exhibition opens at Met Museum
In April, the blockbuster King Tut exhibition will open at the Discovery Times Square Exposition. But starting Tuesday, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will open a more low-key Tut exhibition that focuses on the less flashy elements of the burial process of the boy king.
 “Tutankhamun’s Funeral” at the Met is made up of mummy bandages, linen sheets, mud seals and bags of natron and sawdust from the embalming process. Discovered in 1907 by Edward S. Ayrton, some of the funeral items bear the name of King Tutankhamun, and helped lead Howard Carter to his nearby discovery of the actual tomb in 1922.
Ayrton was working for New York lawyer and amateur archaeologist Theodore M. Davis, who later donated the funeral items to the Met Museum. (All the items in the new exhibition are normally on display, but have been given a special room and new book to coincide with the major Tut exhibition at Times Square.)
 “We thought it might be a good idea to give people another aspect of the story,” Dorothea Arnold, curator and chairman of the Department of Egyptian Art at the Met, said in an interview at the museum Monday. “You can start here and get the context.”
Indeed the Met offers deep context, with one of the best Egyptian art and textile collections in the world. When the original King Tut exhibition came to New York in 1979, it was on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art . In 2004, officials from the Met said they opted out of this tour because they did not want to add a higher entry fee. (Times Square tickets will cost $27.50 for the single exhibition, while the Met is always a $20 suggested admission for the entire museum.)
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March 15, 2010 2:08 PM Comments (0)
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'Next Fall' mixed reviews: best new play or Cliché City
 The new drama “Next Fall” opened on Broadway on Thursday to reviews mixed with praise for its deft comic touch but criticism for clichéd characters.
Tackling religion, homsexuality and other issues about love and commitment, the play by Geoffrey Nauffts transferred from Off-Broadway with the financial backing of co-producer Elton John.
Directed by Sheryl Kaller the cast members are Patrick Breen, Maddie Corman, Sean Dugan, Patrick Heusinger, Connie Ray and Cotter Smith.
“Next Fall” has an open-ended run at the Helen Hayes Theater, 240 W. 44th St., map. Regular tickets are priced from $81.50 to 116.50. Premium seats are $176.50 to $226.50. Student rush tickets are usually available at the box office two hours before curtain for $26.50.
Age advice: The story is about the romance between two gay men. It contains strong langauge and children under the age of 4 are not permitted in the theatre.
The “Next Fall” Broadway reviews:
New York Times - “‘Next Fall,’ which opened Thursday night at the Helen Hayes Theater, is that genuine rara avis, a smart, sensitive and utterly contemporary New York comedy.”
Wall Street Journal - ” Alas, “Next Fall” is cliché-infested and cloyingly sentimental, and the fact that it has transferred to Broadway after a successful Off-Broadway run means only that you can fool some of the people most of the time.”
Variety - “The laughter and sobs emanating from the audience at “Next Fall” reinforce the impression of a sure-footed return to somewhat unfashionable territory. Calling it a thoughtful, funny-sad soap opera is not intended as a putdown.”
Associated Press - “‘Next Fall’ is expertly cast, enormously entertaining and even laugh-filled despite the underlying seriousness of its subject matter.”
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March 14, 2010 10:11 AM
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Williamsburg waterfront hooks Faith No More for July 5
 Free concerts will return to the Williamsburg waterfront this summer, but the kickoff concert — Faith No More on July 5 — and a handful of others will require an admission fee as a benefit for the nonprofit Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn, organizers said Wednesday.
Prices haven’t yet been set, but the Faith No More tickets will go on sale through Ticketmaster on March 19 at noon. Tickets may also be purchased via phone (800) 745-3000 or at the Nokia Theatre Times Square Box Office, where there is no service fee. The presale will start March 16.
Dates and performers for other Williamsburg Waterfront concerts have not yet been announced. But the Brooklyn Vegan blog noted that a series of eight free shows are planned.
“The benefit shows will help fund the restoration and preservation of parks in North Brooklyn, and subsidize the cost of free concerts at the Williamsburg Waterfront,” Stephanie Thayer, OSA’s Executive Director said in a statement. “As nearby McCarren Park Pool is being renovated, OSA is pleased to continue its tradition of bringing outdoor music to North Brooklyn.”
The Williamsburg Waterfront is located at North 8th Street & Kent Avenue on the East River in Brooklyn.
Schedules have not yet been announced for Brooklyn’s other free summer concert series, including the Seaside Summer Concert Series and Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series. The schedule for Celebrate Brooklyn in Prospect Park will be announced May 4, according to the website for BRIC Performing Arts. The Siren Festival has set its 2010 date for July 17.
Image source: “King For a Day” album cover from the Faith No More store.
Earlier: NYC’s (mostly free) summer concerts and film series
March 11, 2010 8:40 AM Comments (0)
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Manhattan Bridge time capsule date stamp: 2109
NewYorkology contributor Moses Gates is an urban planner, part-time tour guide, and full-time Gothamphile. He reports on the high up, the low down, and the out-of-the-way in New York City.
On the last day of the tenure of Mayor George B. McClellan the Manhattan Bridge opened for the very first time. One hundred years later (give or take a few months,) the bridge is in fantastic shape carrying bikes, pedestrians, four subway lines and almost 100,000 vehicles a day.
 This is due to the efforts of many people, not the least “Gridlock” Sam Schwartz, (pictured at left) former chief engineer/first deputy commissioner of the Department of Transportation. During his tenure in the 1980s, Schwartz and the DOT embarked on a major capital campaign to rehabilitate and stabilize the East River bridges, which were suffering after more than a decade of deferred maintenance. One of the bridges in the worst shape was the Manhattan.
“When I was chief engineer in 1986, I had to shut half the bridge. It was so dire we almost lost the entire bridge,” Schwartz told Streetfilms.
This past Friday, Schwartz joined DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Kahn, along with Ironworkers, Engineers, Painters, Electricians, and other bridge workers and aficionados at the bridge’s Manhattan Colonnade to place a time capsule — to be opened on the 200th anniversary of the bridge - inside a small nook in the grand archway that crowns the entrance.
The time capsule includes newspapers from Dec. 31, 2009; DOT Bridges safety vest, hard hat and ironworker gloves; the NYC Transit Authority Subway Map; the DOT’s annual Bridge Report; present-day electronic devices (flash drive, CD, DVR;) and a program from the Bridge Centennial Commission event Oct. 4, 2009. The contents were compiled by members of the Bridges Division of the NYC DOT.
“We’re here to deliver a message to the people 100 years from now,” Schwartz said.”And that message is that we’re all links - that if we don’t continue to maintain our bridges we’re going to lose them.”
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March 10, 2010 12:57 PM Comments (0)
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Push my button: new official NYC condom logo revealed
 It’s about to get easier to turn on a New Yorker.
The logo of the city’s official condom will soon take the shape of an electronic power button. The design, by Luis Acosta of Kew Gardens, Queens, was today revealed as the winner in a contest run by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
A panel of judges narrowed the 600 submission down to five finalists, which then went to an online vote in February. More than 15,000 votes were cast, with the power button drawing 23 percent for the win.
“The HIV/AIDS epidemic is far from over in the city, and sexually transmitted diseases continue to spread at high rates. We hope Luis Acosta’s package design will remind all New Yorkers of their power to take control of their health,” said Dr. Thomas Farley, New York City Health Commissioner, today said in a statement announcing the winner.
NYC Condoms, which are free, became the nation’s first municipally branded condom when they were introduced on Valentine’s Day 2007. The new design will be available in the fall.
Image source: NYC Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Earlier: NYC condom contest: vote to choose who gets lucky
March 9, 2010 7:32 AM Comments (0)
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Subway archaeology to go on display at Transit Annex
After a renovation, the New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex at Grand Central Terminal will reopen March 18 with a free exhibition of New Amsterdam artifacts discovered while building a subway extension in Lower Manhattan.
“Archeology at the South Ferry Terminal” will include more than 100 of the 65,000 artifacts — ceramic sherds, shells, coins, tobacco pipes, and architectural materials — found at the site before it reopened in February 2009 as the South Ferry subway station.
“Among the most important finds of the excavation were pieces of two 18th century landmarks — the Battery Wall and Whitehall Slip,” museum officials said in announcing the exhibition. “Stones from the Wall are on view, as are photographs of a section of the Wall that was reinstalled in the new South Ferry station. Whitehall Slip was built in stages from the 1730s to 1790s using landfilling and dredging. It allowed boats to dock and spurred the commercial and military use of lower Manhattan. Excavation of the Slip uncovered stone, construction material, 19th century English ceramics, household goods, refuse, and animal bones, furthering our knowledge of the city’s commerce and its residents’ lifestyles.”
The exhibition will be on display through July 5.
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March 8, 2010 11:10 AM Comments (0)
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Lego repairs come to NY Public Libray, Central Park
It looks like artist Jan Vormann has had a busy trip to New York City.
A few weekends ago, NewYorkology spotted his Lego fill-in work at the wall of Chelsea’s General Theological Seminary, but apparently he was also hard at work in the West Village, Central Park, Times Square, Dumbo and other locations around Manhattan and Brooklyn. Even the New York Public Library needed a little work done.
Vormann’s website has a new section, DispatchWork -New York, filled with pictures of the work.
“In cooperation with the Gallery Jarmuschek+Partner and the kind support of Henk Holzheimer (LEGO Graffity Styles Convention), I went to New York City, as part of the VOLTA artshow, to support Mayor Bloomberg in his everyday-struggle to make this city even more amazing,” Vormann says on the website.
Previously his DispatchWork Lego installations have popped up in Berlin, Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, Quito, Belgrade and other cities.
Update on March 9: “I am now back in Berlin, but I loved it in New York,” Vormann said in an e-mail to NewYorkology late Monday. Also, a story in today’s New York Post notes that almost all of the Lego installations have already been removed.
Picture credit: Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
(Editor’s note: Credit goes to 14-year-old Christopher Langfield who first spotted the Chelsea Legos on Feb. 21 and said it looked like the work of a European artist he’d read about.)
Earlier: Guggenheim Museum for sale, by Lego
March 8, 2010 9:48 AM Comments (1)
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