London in New York

What is playing at Dodger Stages these days is is a brand of "creative, hip, edgy, entrepreneurial downtown" type theater reminiscent of the glory of New York’s theatrical past, with a modern twist……..in the convenience of midtown west. Symbolic of this renaissance of sorts is "Pieces of Ass", a New Scenario Entertainment Production.

The phrase "Pieces of Ass" conjures up an image of a drunken frat boy, redneck or  misogynist Male’s lustful matter of reference to women.  Admittedly while that phraseology has never been part of my vocabulary, the image of someone deserving of that title is nevertheless quite vivid. On that level alone, the show does not disappoint. The title is as jarring or offensive as it is descriptive of the pure quality of femininity that plays on the stage several nights per week, from the regular cast members to the Center Pieces which have graced the stage in the last few months, including Anna Benson, Catherine Hickland, Supermodel’s Carol Alt & Janice Dickinson to reality stars Jennifer Crisafulli, Trishelle Canatella, Kirsten Buschbacher and so on. The women are all exceptionally beautiful and compelling in uniquely different ways.

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to see the 100th performance of Pieces of Ass at Dodger Stages. For a variety of reasons, I had been reticent to see the show until a couple of months ago when I received the invitation from publicist in the know, Norah Lawlor of the Lawlor Media Group. Norah is like E.F. Hutton; when she calls, people listen. Never does she overshadow or steal the limelight from clients. Norah and her protege Katie Murphy spend most of their time methodically connecting the dots in New York City, making sure that their clients get the proper exposure.The hook was that the upcoming show was a Benefit Performance & Fundraiser for Victims of the Tsunami Disaster hosted by Anna Benson, wife and agent of Kris Benson, New York Mets pitcher. The show was to be followed by a cast party at The Darklight represented by charming nightlife publicist Tamie Peters.

By the time I had gone to see the show for the first time, it had been critiqued by most of the real writers in the major print publications. I had preconceived notions about the show and wondered what I would get out of watching really hot women kvetching about the relative challenges that they have faced as a result of the gifts that mother nature has bestowed on them. It turned out that I could not be any more wrong.

The show had opened in the wake of the popularity of Sex and the City and the female empowerment movement.  Needless to say, I was not impressed with the symbols of female empowerment in Manhattan social life. From Manhattan to the Hampton’s I witnessed the growth of a vapid female class of frat boys who, in the name of girl power, adopted all of the horrible traits of their fraternity type male counterparts rather than the lessons of true independence, individual responsibility, camaraderie and support. Sex and the City may have been a show with contrary intentions but it came to represent vapid ideals such as "the BBD" (the bigger better deal syndrome) combined with consumerist excess. It was an infomercial for everything that was repulsive in our urban culture.

Perhaps I had a chip on my shoulder or lingering resentment and hostility from being dumped by an avowed princess with a self entitlement complex. The last thing that I was receptive to was a show about the crisis faced by beautiful and intelligent women in this town. I was a 40 something male who felt the jibe in Bruce Springsteen’s song "Glory Days" and wondered too if my best days were behind me.  If so, why did I waste all those prime years dating  one Manhattan Princess after another with problems so complicated as which physician was the most liberal dispensing prescription drugs (anti-depressants and sleeping pills) while they sucked down Cosmo’s and contemplated such difficult choices as (a) Gucci vs. Prada, (b) who pays for the Manolo’s, (i) her account, (ii) daddy’s Amex or (iii) the schmo/boyfriend, i.e., me. The last one, a ruthless publicist (joke!) broke my heart. So much so that it changed me and defeated me as much as I tried to not let it do so. In fact, around that time a female friend observed, "Chris, you have gone from a buff yuppie attorney with the body of Sylvester Stallone to an angry middle aged man, like Larry David." She was right. Accordingly, I was really in no mood for "women on the verge" on Broadway or off Broadway.

With my expectations low, my escort having canceled and sensing that there were far worse things to do than to watch and listen to beautiful women on stage and afterward take a few photos I head to Dodger Stages. I was a little self conscious. A writer I am not….a photographer? Patrick McMullan is not exactly quivering in his boots. I am more like the accidental tourist on the Manhattan social scene. All the doors opened once I genuinely did not care whether I was accepted for who I was or not. I am always invited but never question why, never crash and do not engage in paparazzi style photography as I am not looking to humiliate or expose anyone. Ivy League education and former Wall Street legal career not with standing, I have never forgotten where I come from, the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. I am bridge and tunnel. My mom was born in Chelsea so Manhattan is really her town.  When she remarried, we got poached to the Island of Manhattan, leaving the D Train and 7 Train behind.

I look at everything through the lens of the one who is dying  to get in but cannot, not because he is awed by who or what is inside but more out of a genuine curiosity to see and understand, much like I was as a child sitting in the living room pretending to play with my toys while eavesdropping on adult conversations. I can’t help it. On some level I am socially addicted.

The success of "Pieces of Ass" lays in the zone of free expression that Brian Howie, Thomas Hanna and the folks at  New Scenario Entertainment have so adeptly crafted without otherwise undermining the story telling by a talented and evolved cast of women who share their real life experiences in a manner that is both earnest and entertaining. Many of these women, I hope to be seeing on the stage and screen in the coming years.

Pieces of Ass succeeds specifically, however, because it is smart, sassy and well styled but more so because it will make you fall in love with women all over again. You will see women in a new light. Your confidence restored in the value of womanhood as a whole. It rekindles the spirit and helps men (and women) understand, at least partially, the wonder and complexity of femininity. If you are like me, you walk away wondering whether perhaps at some point you in your life you have underestimated or misjudged an exceptional woman or two, if not more. Pieces of Ass is a modern tapestry of the cultural phenomenon which is the 21st century woman. To see a collection of photos from several shows and cast parties that I have taken,click here

Catherine Gordon, friend and New York City Center Access Group Member emailed and then called me to ask, "Chris, are you coming Tuesday night to our Friends & Fete Event at Cafe Spice?" Catherine’s personal invitation was followed by a passionate dissertation on the history of NY City Center, as the oldest New York City Center for the Performing Arts, the importance of arts programming for urban youth and why she has devoted herself, her energy and network of friends to support growth of the Access Group, City Center’s Young Professionals Group.

I was informed that it would be a brief mixer, between 6-8 pm, centrally located on 55th Street, near the corner of 6th Avenue with Indian food and beverages to support City Center’s Adopt a School Program. The Program provides arts programming for students at the Access-sponsored Beacon High School. This season Beacon High School kicked off their participation with City Center’s Young People Dance Series by sending 100 excited students to an Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performance. Students will again visit NY City Center this April to see Martha Graham Dance Company.

I equivocated initially since work, exercise and event coverage had left me over tired. I was actually hoping to have nothing to do of a social nature this week..no dates, no friends, no drinks. As I hung up the phone Catherine’s energy and enthusiasm reverberated in my ears.  I realized that this was more than a simple cocktail party. So, this past Tuesday night I head to Cafe Spice with my gym bag in tow figuring that I would greet some friends that I had not seen in a while, take a few photos, support a great cause and otherwise limit myself to one (yeah right!) glass of wine, Sauvignon Blanc. This was to be followed by an evening of weights and cardio at Clay.

By 7 pm, while the rest of 55th street was relatively quiet, Cafe Spice was buzzing, filled with an eclectic array of professionals, a good mix of male and female attendees I might add, jamming the bar and indulging in the spicy Indian fare. Three glasses of wine later, all I could think about was laying down on my bed and not any kind of a bench in a gym. My summer exercise program suffered a setback yet another night. 

At approximately 8:30 pm, I left Cafe Spice with the bar was still jamming. I head down 55th street towards 5th Avenue, snapped a few more photos, and noticed that The Pump Energy Food Restaurant was still open. I ordered my usual #48 Thunder Plate, grabbed a cab and head home to Yorkville on the Upper East Side. Never so happy was I to return home to an empty bed. Just a few years ago that itself would have made for a unique night. How ironic that I used to evaluate my relative success by how often someone was there waiting in my bed. Yet now it is the sound of silence that relaxes me even more than sex. To see photos from the evening, click here to go to the ofoto album

I admit it. I have a social addiction of sorts. My social calendar often takes me on a tour of Manhattan where I have the opportunity to meet, speak and socialize on a somewhat intimate basis with some of New York’s real "movers and shakers", or what I like to refer to as my kind of socialites. A friend recently asked me why I even cared or bothered to to promote the interests of and photograph the beautiful, well healed, well coiffed socialites at various upscale private and public venues around town. Aren’t many of these people a bunch of posers who just want to have their picture in Avenue or Gotham Magazine? Similarly an ex girlfriend once asked after I returned back to her apartment after a long day at work and a night on the town, and I was more interested in laying my head on some clean sheets and a soft mattress than I was in a romantic interlude, "how do I know that you can be or are in fact faithful to me if a major interest of yours is social life which often leads you out and about with a camera in one hand, cocktail in the other while you are meeting, networking and flirting with beautiful women?" Good question but one that I did not have the answer to at the time.

The answer is rather simple but until recently it eluded me. As a New Yorker, born and raised (with educational and career stints in Boston and Philadelphia) I have often found a sense of camaraderie with virtual strangers who share my love affair with New York City, even though admittedly I myself had grown weary of my hometown during the Pre-Giuliani era and briefly left for Boston. It began to crystallize for me while I was out covering two events in particular, one for the Municipal Art Society, Urbanists and the other for the New York Junior League and then further driven home for me in a conversation I had with friend Catherine Gordon, a member of New York City Center’s Access Group, about how to best utilize the resources, talents and energies of those in her network to enable arts programs for inner city youth. While listening to her passionate dissertation on the history of New York City Center and how much untapped potential exists to do some great things, I gained an even deeper appreciation and respect for the "social classes" of people who come to this town, adopt it as their own and seek to leave their mark on through volunteerism of this kind.  There is great sacrifice of time and energy without a personal stake other than a stronger community around them.

So there I was recently at the MAS Urbanists Winter Party in the Magic Room  at the LVMH Tower high atop 57th Street overlooking Manhattan’s skyline from a most precious vantage point, camera in one hand and Moet Chandon in the other. Despite the view of the city, my attention was captured at the marvels of grace, femininity and intelligence which graced the room. These were real people, not movie stars. This was not the Oscars and I am not Patrick McMullan……but my camera just steered me towards lively banter with some of the most beautiful and intelligent women you will see on the New York social scene these days, including Urbanist Steering Committee Members Christine Cachot Williams, Regan Lynn, Jennifer Roesner and Host Committee Members Coralie Charriol, Mona Wyatt, Karla Farach and Susan Shin.  While working the room, I ran into Roger Webster, gentlemen publicist of Manhattan’s High Society and contributing columnist to 15 Minutes Magazine, wherein we briefly discussed the character and importance of this organization and the devotion of MAS Chairman Philip Howard and the MAS Urbanists Steering Committee to the quality of this city’s built environment, preserving the best of its architectural and cultural past while seeking to educate themselves and others about the issues that will shape the city’s future. Notably, I also ran into friend Jade Cantor, Publisher Ian Shapolsky, the Baroness Sheri de Borchgrave and film critic Neal Rosen. To see a few of the best photos from the MAS Urbanists Winter Party event click here, or to view the ofoto album with all the photos from the event Click here.

Just a few days later I attended and event I was truly looking forward to for some time, the New York Junior League’s Winter Ball 2005, "Orient Express" at Cipriani 42nd Street. Upon my arrival I was greeted by Kirsten Meadow, briefly said hello to the gracious and always impeccably  & stylishly dressed, NYJL President Cynthia Cathcart. I mean, you really have to love the glasses and the whole ensemble. I grabbed a cocktail,surveyed the room and was introduced to Committee Co-Chairs Elizabeth Fallon and Michela F. King. While making my way around the venue I greeted some familiar faces and was graciously introduced by NYJL Winter Ball Committee Members, including the especially helpful Alexandra Wilkis, a Harvard MBA Career woman who just also happened to design her own dress that she was wearing that evening, and the always gracious Noel Bettencourt Momsen. The best photos of the evening were taken by my brother and Manhattan Society.com photographer Gregory Partanio. You can see all the photos from the NYJL Winter Ball 2005 by clicking here

Presiding over the Winter Ball was NYJL President Cynthia Cathcart, while the Master of Ceremonies was one of the cities most revered and respected public figures, in my lifetime at least, the honorable Rudolph W. Giuliani while his wife Judith S. Giuliani, Managing Director of Changing our World Inc., a national fundraising and philanthropic services company headquartered in New York was given a Community Honoree Award for a lifetime of public service. Awards were given to Outstanding Sustainers, Barbara Willmarth Callahan and Margaret S. Scott and to Outstanding Volunteers, Sarah Hewitt, Susan G. Munn, Elizabeth Knight Sweeney, Jeptha Tausig Edwards and Derval M. Whelan.

Beyond the elegance, this annual event pays homage to what Judith S. Giuliani referred to in her remarks as the "they" of New York City. As Mrs. Giuliani stated, often she would see an urban problem and would say to herself that "they should really do something about that." It turns out that the "they" is often consists of a silent, capable and well trained team of Junior Leaguer’s who have devoted themselves to some of the most pressing urban problems in our city.

In post 9/11 New York City these are the real New York stories; young, beautiful, intelligent, well educated, well dressed people who one would presumably think would have far better things to do. But, instead, while they occasionally celebrate, network and partake of a nice party, they devote themselves to the cultural and spiritual enrichment of New York City.  These folks are my kind of socialites, truly rock stars in my estimation. So if part of "the show" so to speak is to document the historical significance of their gracious speeches, their artistic presentations and their elegant dresses and great smiles or to otherwise engage in spirited banter while I capture their photos to preserve a great moment in a glorious evening then…guess what? Consider me a foil, a complicitor or conspirator to celebrate the age of charity in New York City. Thank god I am a New Yorker, yes lord, thank god this is my city, my home and that people like these socialites live in my town. I consider it an honor, especially if it results in perhaps a few more of you buying a ticket to one of their next events, joining a committee or making a donation. Then and only then is the exposure and my verbose pontification all the more worthwhile.

Apres dinner and the presentation, dancing commenced with the Alex Donner Orchestra and the elegance of the space came even more to life, spirits ran high, the bar was full, smiles and good cheer abounded. My brother and I were able to get a few more pictures of some of the NY Junior League Winter Ball League Committee Members who really knocked themselves out with the level of detail that went into making this a banner event for 2005 and one that will be hard for any event planner to top. I am glad I was there…in my town no less.