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Salman Rushdie is again the toast of literary Manhattan
NEW YORK, NY.- Three security guards stood along a leafy street in the West Village of Manhattan on April 11, watching as a procession of writers, editors and publishing industry veterans entered the Waverly Inn restaurant for a book party. The security team was present because this wasn’t just any book party. It was a gathering for the release of “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder,” a new memoir by Salman Rushdie, in which he examines how his life was altered by a violent stabbing nearly two years ago, when he was attacked onstage at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York. The episode temporarily placed Rushdie on a ventilator and left him blind in his right eye. (The suspect, Hadi Matar, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault.) When Rushdie, 76, arrived in the Waverly ... More

Judith Hill sang with pop royalty. Now she is composing her own story.
NEW YORK, NY.- The first time musician Judith Hill performed her anguished requiem “Black Widow” for an audience, she wept, right onstage. The song’s title is an epithet that has been directed at her for years by tabloids and trolls because as a vocalist and artist, she had been close with two of pop’s biggest stars shortly before their deaths. She was Michael Jackson’s duet partner and performed at his televised memorial in 2009. And for two years before Prince’s fatal overdose in April 2016, she was his protegee, collaborator and more. They shared what she has called “an intense relationship”; he told her he loved her. Prince’s sudden, accidental death derailed her promising career — which he had been guiding — and she spiraled into deep grief, depression and self-doubt as online cruelty rained down. It took years before ... More

'Cabaret' Review: What good is screaming alone in your room?
NEW YORK, NY.- Just east of its marquee, the August Wilson Theater abuts an alley you probably didn’t notice when last you were there, perhaps to see “Funny Girl,” its previous tenant. Why would you? Where the trash goes is not usually part of the Broadway experience. But it is for the latest revival of “Cabaret,” which opened at the Wilson on Sunday. Audience members are herded into that alley, past the garbage, down some halls, up some stairs and through a fringed curtain to a dimly lit lounge. (There’s a separate entrance for those with mobility issues.) Along the way, greeters offer free shots of cherry schnapps that taste, I’m reliably told, like cough syrup cut with paint thinner. Too often I thought the same of the show itself. But the show comes later. First, starting 75 minutes beforehand, you can experience ... More

Saddling up and feeling spry at Martha Graham
NEW YORK, NY.- The Martha Graham Dance Company won’t turn 100 until 2026, but evidently it’s not too early to start celebrating. The company is commemorating the milestone with not one, but three New York seasons, the first of which opened Wednesday at New York City Center. “We couldn’t fit it into one year,” Janet Eilber, the company’s artistic director, said in a curtain speech, adding, “We’re feeling pretty spry for our age.” Under the title “American Legacies,” the season includes a new production of Agnes de Mille’s “Rodeo,” her 1942 ballet set on a ranch in the American Southwest; the New York premiere of “We the People,” choreographed by Jamar Roberts to music by Rhiannon Giddens; and Graham’s “The Rite of Spring” (1984), among other works. Some of this feels more dated or dutiful than spry, but one part of the ... More

'Hell's Kitchen' review: Alicia Keys' musical finds its groove on Broadway
NEW YORK, NY.- There was never much doubt that the Alicia Keys musical, “Hell’s Kitchen,” was going to be on Broadway. Keys spent 12 years developing a loosely autobiographical jukebox of her songs, incorporating such hits as “Girl on Fire,” “Fallin’” and “No One.” The problem is that while it played to sold-out crowds, the show that premiered at the Public Theater in November had herky-jerky pacing, a few too many groan-inducing scenes, and a second act that lost sight of whatever point the story was trying to make. (In his review for The New York Times, Jesse Green pointed out that, after the intermission, the show tumbled “directly into the potholes it spent its first half so smartly avoiding.”) Yet here we are now, with “Hell’s Kitchen” at the Shubert Theater, a few blocks from where the show’s action is set. Having seen the first ... More

The Maya Train will get you to all of Yucatán's best spots. But not yet.
NEW YORK, NY.- I stepped off the platform at the gleaming new Maxcanú, Mexico, train station, eager to see the magnificent Maya archaeological site of Uxmal. All I needed was a taxi to take me there, a trip of about 30 miles. There are no taxis, said the stationmaster, as we stood on the polished limestone floors of the high-ceilinged station, which was cool and breezy despite the brilliant late-morning sun outside. And I was the third person in two weeks to get off at Maxcanú expecting to reach Uxmal, he said. I was midway through a five-day trip to explore the brand-new Maya Train and several of its destinations in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. Designed to run 965 miles (1,554 kilometers) around a loop of 34 stations when completed, the train will whisk passengers in cool comfort through colonial cities, archaeological sites, splashy ... More

Cher, Dave Matthews Band and A Tribe Called Quest join Rock Hall of Fame
NEW YORK, NY.- Cher, Ozzy Osbourne, Peter Frampton and Mary J. Blige are part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2024, along with Dave Matthews Band, Kool & the Gang, Foreigner and A Tribe Called Quest, the hall announced Sunday. The latest crop of stars will officially join the pantheon in a ceremony Oct. 19 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, where the hall’s affiliated museum is also located. The 39th annual group of inductees matches the hall’s genre and demographic spread of recent years, with a pop diva (Cher), a metal idol (Osbourne), a top funk band of 1970s and ’80s vintage (Kool & the Gang), a couple of ’90s hip-hop and R&B heroes (Blige, Tribe) and rock mainstays from the boomer (Frampton, Foreigner) and Gen X (Matthews) eras. Of those artists, four were elevated to the hall ... More

The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia celebrates its 20 millionth visitor
SYDNEY.- The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia welcomed its 20 millionth visitor. This significant milestone marks the enduring impact and cultural significance of MCA Australia since its inception. MCA Australia opened its doors in 1991, through a bequest by Australian artist John Power to make contemporary art accessible to all Australians, attracting an estimated 100,000 visitors. Over the past 33 years it has firmly established itself as the leading platform for contemporary art in Australia and beyond, and a much-loved cultural destination for Australian and international audiences alike. The Museum celebrated its major milestone with the MCA Board, advisory groups, staff, artists, supporters, and NSW Minister for the Arts, The Honourable John Graham MLC, coming together to welcome the 20 millionth visitor into the ... More