Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Arnold Horwitt’

Jane Jacobs vs. Robert Moses: The Opera

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 28, 2014| 6 Comments »

It’s a little hard to get my head around using this topic for an opera, but an article at FastCo Design makes it seem almost logical.

“A legendary 1960s battle over the urban design of New York City is getting its dramatic due. The struggle between urban planner Robert Moses and journalist/activist Jane Jacobs over Moses’s proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway will become an opera, thanks to composer Judd Greenstein and director Joshua Frankel.

“Moses and Jacobs had deeply divergent visions of New York City’s future. Moses was the powerful planner behind a swath of New York City expressways that displaced half a million people during his reign as the city’s master builder. He envisioned a city built for easy driving.

“Jacobs, who popularized the idea of eyes on the street — the notion that streets are safer and more vibrant when there are pedestrians on them — vehemently opposed Moses’s plans to raze Washington Square Park and much of Greenwich Village, where she lived, to build yet more miles of highway.” More here.

If you ask nicely, I will sing you the lyrics Arnold Horwitt wrote to the tune of “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” (substituting the word Moses) that the crowd sang on a ferry ride to protest a road Moses proposed for Fire Island.

Photo: FastCoDesign

Read Full Post »

Ocean Beach Youth Group Fundraiser Jan. 6

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 3, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Today I had an amusing back and forth with Fire Islanders past and present. It was about a fund raiser for what we used to call “Group” back when I was a day camper and later a counselor and writer-director of teenage musicals.

The fundraiser is to restore the Ocean Beach Youth Group (“Group”) building below, which was pummeled by Hurricane Sandy. From the first e-mail:

“Food . Beer & Wine . Auction . Guest Bartenders . Tequila Tasting
“Sun., Jan. 6, 2013, 4-7 pm @ Rodeo Bar, 375 Third Avenue, NYC
“$50 cash/check at door, 21+
“$30 for 16-20 For advance tickets or to make a donation, visit http://www.nycharities.org/Events/EventLevels.aspx?ETID=5691 OBYG is a 501(c)3 organization.
“As an added bonus Tony Roberts of Broadway fame and Youth Group Alumnus will be our guest.”

I wrote back that I was in one of Tony Roberts’s teenage plays (back when his name was still Dave) and can sing most of the lyrics to the theme song of his show Like You Like It.

I then indulged in some contradictory reminiscing with my first co-writer/director and with the daughter of playwright Arnold Horwitt, who was an adviser on the first show we wrote.

“Memories can be beautiful and yet” … (Oh, sorry, we used to burst into song a lot.)

But about memories. I know I have the most accurate memories for the shows I worked on, yet friends keep remembering differently. And who can blame Arnold Horwitt’s daughter, for example, if she thinks her father wrote all the lyrics to our “Return of the Native” when he only contributed the song that he had already written for a cruise to fight a bridge, “Everything’s Coming Up Moses”? He was a huge support, and that’s what she gets right.

Want me to sing anything for you?

Read Full Post »

Sing Me a Song with Social Significance

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on July 1, 2011| 5 Comments »

How can you not love groups that use the arts to facilitate community development goals?

In a recent NY Times article I see that a collaboration to revive a 1937 musical revue is designed to benefit the community. The show is a classic, and it’s called Pins & Needles.

“Running at the Irondale Center in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, from Wednesday through July 9, the show, comprising sketches and songs, is a joint endeavor of the Obie-winning Foundry Theater and Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (Furee), which since 2001 has worked to increase access to housing, jobs and services for low-income families.”  Read the Times article here.

I went to Wikipedia to refresh my memory about Pins & Needles, which I have heard only on an old vinyl recording, and found this.

“The International Ladies Garment Workers Union used the Princess Theatre in New York City as a meeting hall. The union sponsored an inexpensive revue with LGWU workers as the cast and two pianos. Because of their factory jobs, participants could rehearse only at night and on weekends, and initial performances were presented only on Friday and Saturday nights. The original cast was made up of cutters, basters, and sewing machine operators.”

I have to say, I love Wikipedia — you never know what new paths it will lead you down. I had forgotten (if I ever knew) that one of the Pins & Needles creators was Arnold Horwitt, a playwright neighbor who helped me out years ago. He showed me how to write a musical on Fire Island. It was for the annual teenage show. His daughter is a tech writer in the Greater Boston area now, someone who also writes fiction.

Read Full Post »

%d bloggers like this: