Tonight - Broadway Speaks Out

I'm a guest on the Broadway Speaks Out internet show tonight at 10PM EST. You can watch below or here.


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Broadway Beauty Pageant Judges Announced!

We've got three great judges at this year's Broadway Beauty Pageant. Get your tickets now, it's on April 19th!

Via Playbill:

Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole, Charles Busch and Jackie Hoffman will serve as judges for the The Broadway Beauty Pageant, which will be held April 19 at Symphony Space.

As previously reported, Tony Award nominee Tovah Feldshuh (Irena's Vow, Golda's Balcony) returns to host the 8 PM event for the third year in a row.

The fundraiser was conceived by Jeffery Self and will be directed by Ryan J. Davis. The Broadway Beauty Pageant benefits New York’s Ali Forney Center.

Watch Me Saturday AM On-Line at CBS

I'll be on CBS News' Backstage at The Early Show tomorrow (Saturday) morning from 9AM-9:20AM. I'll be talking about Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the latest on the ever-growing Catholic Priest scandal. You can tune in on-line only here, or watch below. If you're in the chat room, try and say nice things about me.

Gay History Uncut: Harry Hay & The Temperamentals

Over the weekend I sat down with Jon Marans, author of The Temperamentals, which is currently playing Off-Broadway. We had a great conversation about Harry Hay and the founding of the early gay rights movement in America.

We both recommend reading Stuart Timmons' Trouble With Harry Hay for more information.

Listen below, or subscribe on iTunes. If you missed our first episode on the 1920s Harvard Secret Court, listen here.

Thanks to Veritable Virgo for making me the great podcoast logo!

CitizeNYC Podcast #13

Posting Two Beers In, the podcast I co-host, a few days late. I've been busy! Text from CitizeNYC.

Two Beers In! Taxing Soda, Ravitch's Budget Plan, and Yank, A Love Story

On this week's episode of New York's political talk show, hosts Ryan J. Davis and Greg Palmer discuss Ravitch's new budget plan, taxing soda, Mayor Bloomberg's public health efforts, and Yank The Musical.

Listen online right here!

We start with Lt. Governor Ravitch's plan to fix New York's longstanding budget problems and why legislators need to learn to do their jobs or face our wrath in this fall's elections. We wonder if the state is insolvent and when we're getting our tax returns, and we talk about how the state can generate more revenue.

Ryan thinks we should raise taxes, while Greg says we're already one of the highest taxed states in the country, but we agree that the proposed soda tax is a good idea. Unfortunately, Governor Paterson has gotten behind it, which probably means it's dead on arrival.

Which brings us to Mayor Bloomberg's public health efforts and why a soda tax needs to be partnered with hardcore nutritional education for parents throughout the city. Some kids' best meals are coming from their schools, where the food actually looks like food... unlike a lot of other school cafeterias across the country.

Ryan stops by Yank, a musical love story set in World War II, and thinks we should all go to Monday's equality rally in Brooklyn in response to the vicious gay-bashing that occurred in Carroll Gardens earlier this month. It'd also be a nice gesture to show some support for the 9 year old kid whose teacher taunted him as being "gay."

Coming up next week, loads more fun and a review of the Whitney Biennial. In the meantime, you can subscribe on iTunes and use Facebook Connect to discuss topics from this week's episode below!

CitizeNYC Podcast #12

Greg Palmer and I's new episode of our weekly podcast Two Beers In went up tonight. It's a really good episode. Listen below, more details from CitizeNYC:

On this week's Two Beers In, we talk about Project Runway, some great new theatre, the MTA's latest proposal to cut service, and what's happening in NYC's public schools.

On Runway this week, trash bags became amazing leather pants, keys became a glamorous necklace, and other items from the hardware store became disasters. (Hope that's not too much of a spoiler!) Ryan and I went to see The Temperamentals, a fantastic play starring Ugly Betty's Michael Urie. It's about the rise of the pre-Stonewall gay right movement in 1950's Los Angeles and is playing at New World Stages in Hell's Kitchen.

Back in the world of policy, we discuss the MTA's latest plan to cut service, which has everyone up in arms - except for our friends in Williamsburg in Bushwick, who would see expanded V train service under the new plan. But student Metrocards go back on the chopping block, and we talk about the economics and the necessity of getting students to school.

And - always a hot topic for us - trying to innovate in the city's public schools to provide every child with a good education. It's good for the kids, and good for the future of our city.

Listen on iTunes, and be sure to check out last week's episode about Governor Paterson's fall from grace.

Mr. Broadway 2010!

It's hard to believe that it's almost time for 2010's Broadway Beauty Pageant, pitting Broadway's hottest guys against each other to benefit The Ali Forney Center. It's an old fashioned beauty pageant with an American Idol twist.

We've just announced that the always marvelous Tovah Feldshuh will return to host for the third time. Announcements on contestants and judges are coming up, it's gonna be a great group!

Get your tickets now, starting at just $25.

This is the forth year that I've co-produced the show with my friends Jeffery Self & Wil Fisher. But, every year the pageant grows and more and more people join to help us make the night a huge success. I'm thankful to all of them!

V Train to Bushwick & Williamsburg

The MTA is in the process of making some very steep cuts to subway service. But one change will actually benefit residents (I'm one) of Williamsburg & Bushwick, two growing Brooklyn hipster neighborhoods.

Plans to scrap the M train and extend the V train will finally give us a direct route into Manhattan. The M barely went anywhere, but our new V would go everywhere. If this happens, the rate of development will surge around the new V line.

This map shows the proposed new route.

Via CitizeNYC.

Whoopi Backs White Noise

One of my favorite reporters at the NY Times, Patrick Healy, has an interesting feature today about celebrities presenting Broadway shows.

He gives a nice little mention to my musical White Noise:

Other well-known artists have played roles not only as presenters but also as producers in recent years. Whoopi Goldberg was a producer on the 2002 musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie” as well as the 2003 revival of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” in which she starred. She tried to produce a revival of “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf” in 2008, but the recession had begun, and some investors balked, in part because she was not investing substantially in the show.

She is working as a presenter and creative adviser on two musicals aiming for Broadway: “Sister Act,” now running in London and based on her 1992 movie, and “White Noise,” about young white separatists and set for next season or later.

I'm very excited Whoopi has come on board! She is a big fan of the show, saying at a reading in December, "You will never see anything like this. There is nothing like this." I think she may be right, but than again I'm a little biased.

Win Tickets To "Fuerza Bruta: Look Up" over Twitter

I'm giving away a pair of tickets to Fuerza Bruta: Look Up's special Twitter night on Thursday. It's sure to be a fun night and you're encouraged to live-tweet with pictures and video. More from the show's website.

FUERZA BRUTA: LOOK UP is a non-stop collision of dynamic music, visceral emotion, and kinetic aerial imagery.

Featuring mind – blowing visual effects that must be seen to be believed – a man running full throttle through a series of moving walls, women frolicking in a watery world suspended just inches above the audience – FUERZA BRUTA: LOOK UP is a theatrical experience that floods the senses. Come experience a 360° heart-pounding theatrical experience!

To enter to win a pair of tickets to Thursday's performance, all you need to do is Tweet; "Just entered to win a pair of tickets to see @FuerzaBrutaNYC, via @RyanNewYork at http://ryanjdavis.blogspot.com." I'll draw and announce the winners late tonight. The tickets have to be used Thursday, so be in the New York City area.

If you don't win, there are discount tickets available.

Good luck!

CitizeNYC Podcast #11

On this week's episode, hosts Greg Palmer and I discuss Governor David Paterson's fall from grace and Harold Ford's Stonewall visit.

Or listen on iTunes, and be sure to check out last week's episode where we discussed renaming the Freedom Tower.