Can’t believe we’re heading into fall, but let’s especially enjoy the rest of summer. We would normally be inviting you on the 3T wine trip to the vineyards of the North Fork….which sadly we cannot do as a group this year. But it’s a great place to head to this weekend or anytime this fall and we’ve got guide to the vineyards. And here are a few other ideas to get your out and about including….LIVE indoor Broadway concerts in NYC. Valerie Smaldone has a special message for all of this week. Our Broadway Babe has more great online entertainment suggestions.  Enjoy the holiday weekend and stay safe dear Tomatoes!

A Guide to Long Island’s Vineyards – The North Fork

Here’s a photo from last year’s 3T wine trip to the vineyards. This year would have been our 12^th but that will have to wait ‘til next year. However, the 3Ts’ Roni Jenkins who plans the trip each year is sharing this guide to our favorite vineyards….and they’re all open so go and enjoy and drink a glass of wine to us! Get the guide.

Live Indoor Concerts This Weekend!

YES! According to Time Out Magazine, Open Jar is offering a glimpse at what live performance in New York can look like. The 4,000-square-foot performance space has been transformed into a makeshift cabaret venue. This weekend you can hear solo performances by Kate Baldwin, start of Finian’s Rainbow, and Brando Victor Dixon, The Color Purple, and Hamilton.

Saturday, September 5 at 8pm EDT: Kate Baldwin
The luminous Baldwin broke through in 2009 as the star of Broadway’s Finian’s Rainbow and has since brightened shows including Giant, Big Fish and the Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! (for which she earned her second Tony nomination). Tickets to the live show cost $35–$50, and the online version is free. The charity being helped is Active Minds.

Sunday, September 6 at 8pm EDT: Brandon Victor Dixon
The excellent singer-actor Brandon Victor Dixon—who has memorably appeared in The Color Purple, The Scottsboro Boys, Shuffle Along, Hamilton and the TV broadcast of Jesus Christ Superstar (for which he nabbed an Emmy nomination to go with his two Tony noms)—raises money for the #WeAre Foundation. Live tickets cost $70–$90 and virtual tickets are $5.

The audience is limited to a maximum of 48 people; the spectators are seated more 20 feet from the stage and separated from one another by plexiglass panels. Members of the audience must wear masks at all times, and also fill out a health questionnaire and have their temperatures checked at the door. The room is flooded with outside air before each event and cleaned and disinfected afterward. 

More of the High Line Opens Up

Great news. Starting today, you can explore more of the High Line. The linear public park which is north of Gansevoort Street, up to 30th Street and The Spur, located at the corner of 10th Avenue and 30th Street are now open from noon to 8 PM. It’s free but you need to get a timed pass. Get the details.

Sept. 1- Oct. 2. Frieze Sculpture at Rockefeller Center

Stroll through the plaza and enjoy the Frieze Sculpture featuring work by leading artists: Ghada Amer, Beatriz Cortez, Andy Goldsworthy, Lena Henke, Camille Henrot, and Thaddeus Mosley. This year’s edition takes reference from the natural and botanical worlds while dealing with a range of issues like women’s suffrage, migration, urban planning, and ecology.

While you’re there, enjoy an outdoor dining experience in the rink with Estela or Frenchette through September. Get the details.

Broadway Online

Our Broadway Babe, Randie Levine-Miller has five awesome picks this week. Two of our favs are a conversation with song writers  Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and many, many more) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Frozen.) And if you love Broadway dancers, you’ll love this find that features showstopping musical numbers starring Gwen Verdon, Lee Roy Reams, Wayne Cilento, Janet Eilber and more.

Alan Menken & Kristen Anderson-Lopez

Two Award winning songwriters talk about songwriting in this very special video from 2016.

The Dramatists Guild Fund/The Legacy Project has “Frozen” songwriter, Kristen Anderson Lopez in conversation with multiple award winning composer, Alan Menken, who is probably the most prolific songwriter in the history of show business (“Little Shop Of Horrors”, “Beauty and the Beast”,”Little Mermaid”, “Newsies”, “Aladdin”..and the list goes on..).He is one of the few modern songwriters whose gorgeous melodies you can hum … a true rarity…I adore when a composer sits down at the piano and plays and sings his own songs…. which Alan does so beautifully in this video…he’s an outstanding entertainer with the most delicious personality… which you’ll experience while viewing this.

(Sidebar: His sister, Faye Menken Schneier is our stage manager for Tomatoes Got Talent and my BFF…an anecdote I’ve shared onstage: Faye was on Broadway before Alan…She was in “Fiddler on the Roof” and shared a dressing room with Bette Midler and Adrienne Barbeau…In those days, the closest Alan got to Broadway, was to come backstage and use their dressing room bathroom! He’s come a long way since then!!)

Grey Gardens

I loved “Grey Gardens” the musical, prior to its Broadway run which I also thoroughly enjoyed, but there’s something really special about the intimacy of this production….It opened in 2006 at Off-Broadway’s Playwrights Horizons, and starred Christine Ebersole, Mary Louise Wilson, Matt Cavenaugh, Sara Gettelfinger. John McMartin and Bob Stillman.. with a book by Doug Wright, Music by Scott Frankel, Lyrics by Michael Korie; directed by Michael Greif…Christine Ebersole became a bona fide star with this show…I think most Tomatoes will really enjoy… also, the show has a very tuneful score.

Something Rotten

The Broadway Musical, “Something Rotten”, is “something hilarious”, a fun show with so many outstanding and outrageous performances…. written by brothers Wayne and Karen Kirkpatrick, and directed by Casey Nicholaw…it opened in April, 2015 and ran for 2 years… It was nominated for 10 Tony Awards…. Christian Borle won for best featured actor in a musical…

The incredible cast also included: Brian D’arcy James, Heidi Blickenstaff, John Cariani, Brad Oscar (a real theater “goniff”… he steals every scene he’s in!), Brooks Ashmanskas, Gerry Vichi…. If you enjoyed “Spamalot”, you’ll adore this!

The American Dance Machine: A Celebration of Broadway Dance

…recreates the original choreography from Broadway Shows….all showstopping musical numbers… starring Gwen Verdon, Lee Roy Reams, Wayne Cilento, Janet Eilber…. from 1981… a total musical treat!

Kismet

The musical “Kismet” aired in 1967 on TV’s Armstrong Circle Theater… “Kismet” was a successful Broadway show, as well as a successful 1955 movie… this version stars Jose Ferrer, Barbara Eden, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Hans Conried and George Chakiris (you can friend him on Facebook!)…Lyrics by Wright and Forrest, and a lush score adapted from the melodies of Alexander Borodin….The host of this special is a young and gorgeous, Robert Goulet.. And you’ll even see the old Armstrong commercial!  Enjoy….

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