Times Square Gossip

Marge Champion With Harry Belafonte Ivy Bar and Grill, New York’s newest hotspot hosted The Astaire Award’s kick-off party with a private cocktail reception to celebrate the New Year and the start of the current theater and dance season. Hosted by Patricia Watt, attendees included Astaire Awards Board Members, Nominating Committee Members and other special guests including Laura Penn (Executive Director of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society), legendary dance instructor Luigi and Tony Award nominee Lee Roy Reams. This year's award nominations are to be announced on Monday, May 5, 2014 with the awards ceremony to take place on Monday, June 3, 2014 at New York University’s Skirball Center . Honorees Cora Cahan, who was responsible for the revitalization of 42nd St, head of The New Victory Theater and the driving force behind The Joyce and Patricia Birch who is receiving The Douglas Watt Lifetime Award on what would have been his centennial year. In addition...

Berry Gordy Harry Belafonte EBONY Magazine today unveiled its annual EBONY Power 100 list, which salutes the remarkable achievements of African-Americans. Among the game changers honored this year are President Barack Obama, actress Kerry Washington, NBA legend and entrepreneur Earvin "Magic" Johnson, actor Michael B. Jordan, entertainer Nick Cannon, film director Lee Daniels, chef Marcus Samuelsson and activists Harry Belafonte and Marian Wright Edelman. Berry Gordy, founder of the famed Motown record label, music impresario and legendary songwriter will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. The gala celebration will take place in New York City on November 4, 2013, at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, Time Warner Center. The EBONY editorial team selected the 100 most influential African-Americans in the country. These achievers have made noteworthy accomplishments over the past year. Our list of outstanding leaders highlights indiv...

**** WALTER MCBRIDE ON BROADWAY **** Anna Deavere Smith John McDaniel Stewart Lane With Bonnie Comley Christopher Gattelli Julie Halston With Charles Busch Alan And Marilyn Bergman Anne Meara And Jerry Stiller Carmen De Lavallade Alex Timbers Brian Stokes Mitchell With Marge Champion Tracie Bennett Angela Lansbury Joyce And David Dinkins Bebe Neuwirth Christopher Plummer Charlotte Rae With Tyne Daly Blair Underwood Harry Belafonte With Wife Pamela  Daphne Rubin-Vega Daphne Rubin-Vega along with Christopher Plummer, Angela Lansbury, Joyce And David Dinkins, Charlotte Rae,Tyne Daly, Blair Underwood and others, attended the Actors Fund Gala honoring Harry Belafonte, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara & David Steiner at the Mariott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Photos By: Walter McBride / WM Photography / Retna Ltd.

**** THE WEB GOSSIP **** Harry Belafonte SING YOUR SONG --- I had the pleasure of attending last Friday's Tribeca Film Festival screening of the HBO documentary on singer/activist/actor Harry Belafonte entitled Sing Your Song. I've been aware of him since his initial performances of such shows as Ed Sullivan and The Dinah Shore Show and was struck, as was everyone else by his captivating persona as a total entertainer with one, truly unique voice, highlighted perhaps best by his recording and performance of The Banana Boat Song, from which the phrase Day O came from. What I wasn't really a aware of was his early relationship with the burgeoning theater-movement with the likes of Marlon Brando, Walter Matthau, Bea Arthur, Sidney Poitier, and Tony Curtis in the Dramatic Workshop of the New School of Social Research. Paralleling his pursuits in the theater was his love of jazz. His album Calypso (1956) made him the first artist in industry history to sell more than 1 million ...

**** 18TH ANNUAL NEW YORK AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL RETURNS TO THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER ON APRIL 6 Special Presentation and Panel Discussion on April 2 to Feature Actor-Filmmaker Harry Belafonte at the Museum of Arts and Design **** Stolen Viva Riva Witches Of Gambaga The Film Society of Lincoln Center (FSLC) and African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) will present the 18th New York African Film Festival (NYAFF) in celebration of the United Nations International Year of Peoples of African Descent, which serves as the festival’s guiding theme. This year’s NYAFF will also commemorate the 50th anniversary of independence in both Sierra Leone and Tanzania, countries from which much of the African Diaspora draws its roots. The festival, which will include 15 features and 16 short films by emerging and veteran filmmakers from 24 countries, will commence with a screening of rare archival footage from the Russian State Archives of both Sierra Leone and Tanzania’s 1961 liberation from the Unite...

A rare constellation of South African stars came together for a special concert at New York’s City Center, under the patronage of Dr. Harry Belafonte, who was honored in a traditional Zulu praise song by a group of Zulu warriors at the event. South African musical legends Hugh Masekela, and Abdullah Ibrahim, shared the stage with special guest performers the Soweto String Quartet, and the dynamic South African siren, Khanyo. Proceeds from the event will go toward funding opportunities for young South African talent to perform in the United States and gain valuable access to the international market. The concert was presented by national Geographic Traveler Magazine in association with South African Tourism.