We were preparing to write the standard bla-bla-bla review of this year’s Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday night as the Best Picture award was announced for the clear favorite, “La La Land.”  We would have then written that the show went pretty much as expected in terms of the awards, with the musical about […]

              A year ago, the Hollywood film industry was largely excoriated for failing to recognize the work of minorities (primarily African-Americans) in the Academy Awards.  None of the major acting nominees, for example, were black actors.                The nominations this year make up for that problem and then some.  Six of the twenty acting nominations […]

              As an avid baseball fan, I am always impressed by the various milestones that get recognized.  Among the more noteworthy are 3,000 base hits, 500 home runs, and 300 wins.  Each of these accomplishments denotes a career that is probably Hall-of-Fame worthy, as so few who play the game are able to attain them.  […]

              When “Kinky Boots” was released as a dramatic film in 2005, it captured the attention of Harvey Fierstein and Cyndi Lauper, who saw the potential to turn the true story depicted in the film into an uplifting musical that celebrated diversity.  The result of their labors, the musical “Kinky Boots,” debuted on Broadway in […]