From the brilliant mind of director, writer, producer and star Cooper Raif, Cha Cha Real Smooth is a film that viewers can find life lessons, joy, and relatability in. With the combination of Raif and his Co star and producer Dakota Johnson, the film takes audiences on a journey of finding ones place in the world.
For the past fifty years, Covenant House has been a safe haven for homeless and trafficked youth all across the country.
For years, The CW has been providing us with the most intense and thrilling plot lines, incredible casts, and the most amazing shows.
Since the premiere of their iconic show in 2011, we’ve all fallen in love with the Belcher family, and their struggling restraunt, Bob’s Burgers.
In her shocking, bold and astonishing broadway show Dana H, Deirdre O’Conell lip syncs to tapes created by Dana Higgenbotham, telling the harrowing story of her five months of abduction, creating a theater experience unlike any other. The play is crafted by Higgenbotham’s son, Lucas Hnath, and the concept of the tapes is an extremely unique way to do a show, but Deirdre takes on the challenge with grace. She has now earned herself a Tony Award nomination for best leading actress in a play. We spoke to Deirdre on the red carpet for The Vineyard Theater Gala on Monday, taking place at the iconic Daryl Roth theater. The gala honored the amazing New York City Council Member Carlina Rivera, and celebrated the music of the extraordinary late singer-songwriter Laura Nyro with performances and speeches by Latoya Edwards, Julie Benko, Brandon Victor Dixon Mandy Gonzalez, Judy Kuhn, Anika Noni Rose, and Wilson Jermaine Heredia. It was truly such a special night to be apart of as we watched incredibly talented people share stories, words, and miraculous performances in support of this amazing theater. We spoke to Mandy Gonzalez, Julie Benko and Deirdre O’connell about what it meant to be there in support of the arts, check out the full conversation below!
This season on Broadway has taken us to new worlds, taught us life lessons, and entertained us beyond belief with the most magical teams of performers, designers, directors, musicians, and so much more. This year we’ve been brought to the Five Points in 1800’s Manhattan, gotten seranaded by the wives of Henry the 8th, watched life through the perspective of a queer Broadway usher, witnessed the highs and lows of a struggling family through the music of Bob Dylan, sat right in the studio during the making of Michael Jackson’s thriller video, and so much more. It’s truly been a season for the ages, and after Broadway’s reopening in September, being able to witness live performances has never felt so incredible.
The nominations for the 2022 Tony Awards we’re announced on Monday, being read by Adrianne Warren, a nominee herself for her show stopping performance of Tina Turner in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical last year. The nominations couldn’t be more well deserved, with the Pulitzer Prize winning musical A Strange Loop leading with 11 nominations. Not far behind, Larry Kirwan’s Paradise Square walked away with 10 nominations. The nominations this year marked so many historical triumphs, paving the way for years to come.
There is something so astonishing about the creation of a new story based on incredible music, and Connor McPherson’s Girl From The North Country proves that with seven nominations. The show features a family living in a boarding house, trying to survive through the ups and downs of life, with a score made up of the music of Bob Dylan. Mare Winningham plays a woman struggling with dementia, constantly going back and fourth between having a lifeless distance to her, to childlike outbursts. The role is incredibly complex and layered, and Winningham has earned a very well deserved nomination for best leading actress in a musical. “She’s such a great character for the way that Connor Mcpherson has threaded her through the play,” Winningham said while talking about her character. “She’s hearing things that the others aren’t. So even though she is in that boarding house, she is trying to figure out how to survive like all the rest of them, she is hearing music and the others aren’t. In some ways, she’s with you, with the audience, she crosses the fourth wall and participates.”
It’s a new era of Broadway, and the shows we have seen this season have transcended. “I think that I wanted to do something that was so overwhelming that it was only possible in live theater,” The Skin of Our Teeth Set designer Adam Rigg said while being asked about the creation of this incredible show. “I think that coming back after the pandemic, everyone had been staring at screens for two years. And if we’d done it before the pandemic it wouldn’t have been any smaller, but every production that I’d worked on had been very scared back just because of the nature of how we’re working and how we have to work now for safety. But this one we made it to scale, we wanted people to look at it and see that this is what we do- this is what we can do.”
Broadway is a constant representation of what we can do, and what we constantly continue to do. Michael R Jackson built his pulitzer prize winning musical A Strange Loop up from the ground, and he is now nominated for two Tony Awards, for best score and best book of a musical. Not only that, but his show is leading for most nominations this year, with an incredible 11 nominations. “I think the thing that kept me going was trying to understand the experience of Usher,” Jackson said. “I did draw from personal experience to write it, but at a certain point it became not about me, it became about the idea of me, of I, of self. And I wanted to try to capture that, that Black, queer, gay self in a jar. The nuance of it, the specificity of it. I felt that if I could do it on the level of other pieces of art that I felt moved by, that that would love the needle somehow. It just was the story itself, I had to understand the loop.”
We loved getting to chat with the 2022 Tony Award nominees! Tune into CBS on June 12th at 8pm to watch the show!
As a resident of one of the greatest cities in the world, I’m always searching for the best possible places to go out to eat. It’s hard not to be a foodie in Manhattan, and trying out the upper east side’s newest spot, The Old Stove Pub, left nothing to be desired!
The Old Stove pub has a very popular location in the Hamptons, and just opened its doors in Manhattan a few days ago. The spot is known for its great charm, stellar steaks, fresh salads, and is owned by Southampton local Joseph DeCristofaro. Located in a prime spot on on East 59th street and first avenue, the pub has a beautiful interior with a lovely atmosphere. We checked it out on Tuesday, and it did not disappoint. They played wonderful music and the staff was incredibly friendly!
We were provided with delicious warm bread to start, and my friend and I both decided on the steak as our main course. The dish was so wonderfully seasoned and incredibly flavorful, it was truly the best steak i’ve had in the city thus far- a statement not to be made lightly! It was served with a crisp flavorful salad, the perfect addition to the meal, and a side of crispy fries. Each component of the meal complimented each other so well, creating a brilliant dining experience. The steak was cooked to perfection and full of delicious spices, it was everything you’d hope for a meal to be. For desert we enjoyed Baclava and a delicious strawberry tart, both were the ideal way to end such a delicious meal.
Overall, we absolutely loved the atmosphere and food at the Old Stove Pub, and we highly reccoemnd heading over there and trying it out for yourself! Make a reservation, check out the menu, or hear all about it here!
This season of off broadway has taken viewers to magical places, shown us the true meaning of life and morality, made us laugh with hilarious solo shows, and so much more. It’s truly been an incredible season, and Sunday’s Lucille Lortel Awards celebrated the magic of these beautiful shows. Created in 1985 by the Off-Broadway League and named for the award winning actress and producer who was honored with a theater in her name, the awards honor the excellence of the time, dedication and craft of Off-Broadway shows.
It was the first time the awards had been held in person in three years, and it was a joyous occasion for all involved. Awards were given to recipients in 16 categories, with two honorary awards also bestowed. The Awards were distributed in a ceremony at NYU Skirball hosted by three pairs of stars from stage and screen: Jared Grimes (Broadway’s “Funny Girl”) and Jeff Hiller (HBO’s “Somebody Somewhere”), Krysta Rodriguez and Jelani Alladin (“Hercules”), and Jennifer Simard and Christopher Sieber (“Company.”) The Lucille Lortel Awards are produced by the Off-Broadway League and Lucille Lortel Theatre, with additional support provided by TDF.
The big winners of the night were David Lindsay-Abaire‘s Kimberly Akimbo, and Heather Christian’s Oratorio For Living Things, each taking home three awards. Additional winners included Black No More, English, Fairycakes, Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord, Letters Of Suresh, On Sugarland, Prayer for the French Republic, Sanctuary City, The Chinese Lady and TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992.
The inaugural Outstanding Ensemble award was presented to the cast of Ars Nova’s Oratorio For Living Things. Both Performer in a Musical awards were presented to Kimberly Akimbo – Lead to Victoria Clark andFeatured to Bonnie Milligan. The Atlantic Theater Company production with Book and Lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire and Music by Jeanine Tesori, also received the award for Outstanding Musical. Sanaz Toossi’s English, a co-production of Atlantic Theater Company and Roundabout Theatre Company, took home the award for Outstanding Play.
Two special honorees this year we’re granted incredible awards. Deirdre O’Connell was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by Heidi Schreck; and David Henry Hwang was inducted onto the famed Playwrights’ Sidewalk by Jeanine Tesori.
We we’re so honored to witness this beautiful celebration of off broadway! Here more about the awards here!
Earlier this month, we witnessed singer Eloise Alterman perform songs from her all new EP Sad Bird, out today on all streaming platforms! We were completely moved by the conversations and the stories that Eloise tells throughout her immersive music style, and it was wonderful to hear her talk about these songs in addition to performing them. We sat down with Eloise to talk all about the new EP, check out the conversation below!
The Knockturnal: Eloise, how are you?
Eloise Alterman: I’m good. How are you?
The Knockturnal: So to start us out, you wrote most of this music during the pandemic. What was that process like?
Eloise Alterman: It was definitely very weird for me in the beginning because I’m so good in a room with other people and when you can really connect. Most of the time for writes, too, you sit down with people and you kind of talk about where you are in life before diving into an idea. And with writing for this EP, you sit on Zoom and it was immediately like, “ok what’s everyone’s ideas?” We’re all just stuck in our apartments just trying to make sense of it all. But the great thing about it was that I was able to write with people I never would’ve written with – oversees, people in London, one guy in Sweden. It gave such an opportunity to work with so many other creatives. And I really enjoyed that.
The Knockturnal: I love that. You have such insightful things to say about all of your music. You were talking about 4AM and you said it was that period in time where it doesn’t feel like morning or night. Can you walk me through some of the creative processes behind your lyrics?
Eloise Alterman: Yea, so with “4 in the Morning,” I had written after I had felt that about that weird time of day. Trying to get over someone I think is one of the most difficult things to do, as we know. And for me, I need to take a second and step back and check in with myself usually to understand exactly how I’m feeling about something before writing about it. And I think with lyrics, they have to be so concise. If you think about it, you can have a million feelings but try to fit it into one sentence or two minutes or something. But I usually start with a notebook and I just will free-write for a long time. It’ll just be random thoughts, random titles, and they won’t even have meaning behind them sometimes. But then once I go into a room with another co-writer, I’ll speak them out loud and they’ll say, “what does that mean to you?” and it’ll just come to me.
The Knockturnal: I really love that. Now tell me a little bit about your music video. What can viewers expect to see in it and what are you trying to channel?
Eloise Alterman: I mean, the song is pretty self-explanatory. I was in love with someone who was in love with someone else still. And we were together and it was really difficult on me. I had never experienced jealousy like that and also changing how I viewed myself. It was kind of this unraveling that happened out of nowhere while loving him and while watching him still be in love with someone else. I wanted the music video to really, really encompass that, instead of tell a story of the girl and the guy and the fight and all that kind of stuff that’s so surface level, when what was really happening was I was falling apart on the inside but trying to keep it together on the outside. And so, I wanted to create a really beautiful dreamlike world that started to go darker and darker as the music video went on and show how easy it is to pretty much just unravel in front of someone.
The Knockturnal: That’s incredible. What was the filming process like?
Eloise Alterman: It was a crazy day. It was really fun, though. It was my first music video, but… it was on the beach in Malibu. An early set time. We also were doing the photo shoot for the EP, so in between takes we were doing a photoshoot, as well. So it was quite stressful. But I actually thrive off of stressful environments, but the first two takes I was just like, “okay.” I think I kind of got settled into what felt good and it honestly was just really enjoyable to be at the beach all day long and experience what a hustle it really is to get through that long of a day videotaping yourself all day long. Lots of cameras on you – that‘s something I was not used to – but good thing for a glam team that’s got you in check the whole time. So yea, it was a really cool experience.
The Knockturnal: Absolutely. You’ve been writing all these songs for a while. How long has the EP been in the works for?
Eloise Alterman: So I’ve been writing the songs for about two years. The EP was originally supposed to be an album when I signed, and so I wrote it as an album. But as we were talking – as a new artist, too – and with people’s attention’s spans, especially breaking through in the beginning, I didn’t know if I wanted to come out with a huge project of songs. I think some of them could get lost within each other. And so we came up with “The Hurting Phase” being the first phase. That’s what I was really feeling in the beginning of heartache. The process since then has kind of just been… my favorite part is the creative part after the writing, you know? Coming up with the cover and kind of what I want to come across and picking the songs for it, too. Going through and remembering the order I’d written them in and staying true to that because I don’t want to put songs on there when I was starting to feel even a little bit better. This EP is supposed to really encompass the roller coaster in the beginning of feeling really sad.
The Knockturnal: Speaking of roller coasters – just from talking to people today, hearing what people have had to say about you, about the set and everything – so many people are so excited for your music and you’re starting to get a lot of attention. How does that feel? What are those emotions like?
Eloise Alterman: It makes me feel really, really special. And it’s such an interesting feeling. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt like this in my life before. But, you know, life is hard as a teenager, and middle school and even just moving to Nashville and not feeling special in so many different phases of my life. It’s so weird now to have all these people who care a lot about you but also care a lot about your career. It really does take a team and I would not be able to be doing any of it without… I mean, there’s so many hands on deck with just even getting this music out. And being able to have that weight lifted where I can focus on the writing and the stuff I’m actually good at instead of the business side and all that. But it’s really crazy to look around and be like, all these people are like, it’s like having a family a little bit. Just a support team. It also makes me more creative. Because when you know you can bounce ideas off people, there’s someone to listen to you all the time. I love it.
Stream Eloise’s New EP Sad Bird here!
Five floors up at Manhattan’s Lexington Hotel is home to one of the most iconic rooms in the city, The Norma Jeanne Suite. The Suite was once home to none other than Marilyn Monroe, while she filmed her legendary role in The Seven Year Itch. The white dress scene that surely comes to mind when thinking about the actress was filmed just a few blocks away. On Thursday, J.c. Penney utilized this incredible piece of pop culture history to unveil their newest collection, The Marilyn Monroe Capsule Collection.
Now available exclusively at JCPenney stores and online, the twelve piece capsule collection ($29 – $120) hilights size inclusivity and is available in sizes XS – 3X and reflects Marilyn’s down to earth, everyday style. In late-May, the collection will expand from apparel into shoes through a partnership with Keds on two exclusive sneaker designs.
Marilyn Monroe for JCPenney is a limited-time only women’s apparel line inspired by the Hollywood icon’s everyday style. The pieces hold a beautiful summery vibe, which represents visions of Marilyns Summers in cape cod, some of the peices sporting beautiful nautical colors, beach florals, and special designs to hilight the beauty of women’s bodies.
“Inspired by Marilyn Monroe’s effortless style and fashion legacy, this exclusive capsule collection provides customers with clothing they’ll feel both comfortable and stylish in,” said Val Harris, JCPenney’s senior vice president of product design, trend and brand management. “Designed for all women who love quality and timeless style, JCPenney is pleased to expand its portfolio with this versatile, affordable collection.”
The collection does a beautiful job of representing the many different sides of Marilyn and her style, and the beauty of summer styles. To celebrate the launch, J.c. Penney invited us to the Norma Jeanne Suite on Thursday to preview this miraculous collection. The morning was complete with breakfast, browsing of the pieces, and even a rooftop balcony bouquet bar where we could pick our own flowers to create a gorgeous arrangement. It was such a beautiful way to celebrate such an exciting launch and collection, and we can’t wait to see just how many people love these looks as much as we do!
Shop Marilyn Monroe for JCPenney here!