Josh & Josh are Rich and Famous

The Weekend (In Pictures): Coney Island

//Josh K.

Josh K. Takes His New Camera for a Test Drive

Last night I raced home from work so I could test out m'new camera during daylight hours. I had only a few minutes before the sun went down, so I hurriedly turned it on, pointed it at something, anything, and started pressing buttons ("oooh, what's this one do?"). Below, documented for posterity, some of my first shots.

Panasonic DVX100B Screen Test! from Josh K. on Vimeo.

Josh & Josh Do In the Heights

Lin-Manuel Miranda, star and creator of the Broadway musical In The Heights, in his dressing room at the Richard Rogers Theater. (Photo by Josh K.)

Robin de Jesus, (Sonny) backstage at In The Heights. (Photo by Josh K.)

A year ago we saw the musical In The Heights when it was Off-Broadway and earning rave reviews. (Check out our first In The Heights story and interview.) In The Heights, set in the northern Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights over one fateful Fourth of July weekend, follows the trajectory of two young couples falling in love and one very lucky lottery ticket.

Last week Josh and I had the chance to see the show again as it prepared to open in its new digs on the Great White Way and, afterward, chatted backstage with two of the show's stars.

Josh & Josh: Congratulations on the big move to Broadway! Has the show changed a lot since moving from off-Broadway?

Robin de Jesus: It has really changed, but to someone who only saw it once Off-Broadway, you wouldn’t necessarily notice the differences, or you’d notice an energy shift, or you’d think things were a little clearer. But the heart of the show is still there.

Lin-Manuel Miranda: We’ve done a lot. We’ve been working. There are four new songs in Act II. When most new shows move to Broadway they cut, cut, cut. We only cut two songs. The lesson we took from Off-Broadway was that we needed to take more time telling our story, not less.

J&J: What is it about this show that critics and audiences love so much?

Robin de Jesus: You know, the story of “In the Heights” is simple. You’ve heard it before. But this time you’re hearing amazing, different music, and there’s just so much heart.

Over the Weekend

42nd Street | Saturday, February 9th, 7:52 p.m. | The Met Life building, Grand Central Terminal, and the Chrysler building in a brief respite from the rain.

//Josh K.

Josh & Josh (and Brooke!) Weekend: Juno, West Village, Fifth Avenue; Jack Mackenroth, Ingrid Michaelson, and The Joys of Milk

Last week Josh K.’s first-and-only girlfriend, Brooke, flew to New York from Minneapolis for a whirlwind four-day visit.

On Thursday night the three of us had dinner in Hell’s Kitchen and then took a night tour of Times Square. On Friday Brooke went on a shopping extravaganza while the Joshes worked. That night we met up in Union Square for dinner at Coffee Shop (yum!) before walking to Viniero’s in the East Village for inappropriately good dessert and warm liquor-infused winter drink concoctions. Afterward we went to the theater in Union Square to catch one of the sold-out showings of Juno.

Juno is the story of a high schooler (the brilliant Ellen Page) who gets pregnant by her best friend (Michael Cera, Superbad) and plans to give her baby to a yuppy suburban couple (Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman), and is what Josh and I call an instant classic. It’s funny, quirky, and moving in a subtle way. Ellen Page’s performance is a can’t-miss event. Get thee to a theater this weekend to check it out.

On Saturday we headed down to the West Village for brunch on Bleecker Street and, by popular demand, did the obligatory pilgrimage to 66 Perry Street, Carrie Bradshaw’s stoop. We did a little shopping and gobbled the required Magnolia cupcake in the oft celebrity-laden park across from the dessert hotspot.

Later that night we went to see the new Broadway play August: Osage County. The show, set in one big, elaborate house set, follows the twists and turns of a very dysfunctional family (don’t they all?), and delivers quite a few surprises and great performances, especially in the second and third acts, one of which involves a dinner scene that outdoes anything you’ve seen on Springer (with words flying like daggers instead of the chicken wings and potatoes that usually soar through the air on Springer).

The New York Times called the play "flat-out, no asterisks and without qualifications, the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years."

Most people who visit New York want a good celebrity sighting, and that night we had three. First, while in line for the show, CSI’s Marg Helgenberger (Catherine Willows) stood in front of us and chatted with us. She looked great and was very low-key. Second, Jeff Perry, who plays Meredith’s dad, Thatcher Grey, on Grey’s Anatomy, was in the cast of August: Osage County (and was very good). Then, when the show let out, we were right next door to Cyrano de Bergerac, where Jennifer Garner was standing a few feet away from us signing Playbills and looking as dimply and fresh-faced as ever.

On Sunday we had brunch in Hell’s Kitchen and then braved the massive crowds on Fifth Avenue and did Bergdorf Goodman, Bendel’s, and the Rockefeller Christmas display, before settling in across the street at Dean & Deluca (right next to The Today Show) for hot chocolate and more dessert (because you can never have too much dessert, right?).

Josh and I love playing tour guide. After being here for a couple years it really is fun to see New York through the eyes of somebody who is newly in love with this city.

While at a birthday party in Hell’s Kitchen, at Xth Avenue Lounge, Josh and I spotted season four Project Runway contestant Jack Mackenroth. Apparently you can’t throw a stone in this city these days without hitting a PR contestant.

Also, Project Runway spoiler (close your eyes, close your eyes!): Jack leaves the show in tonight’s PR episode. See the dramatic health story unfold tonight on Bravo.

Last night I saw the Off-Broadway show Things We Want at the Acorn Theater. A friend recommended it, and I saw a good(ish) review in New York, so I bought tickets. Directed by Ethan Hawke (I should have known at that point), the play follows three brothers with a sad past trying to get through life in New York, and features a mysterious and troubled girl who lives in their building who changes the course of their lives.

Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine, L.I.E.) was pretty good, as was Josh Hamilton (Alive, Broken English), but the show made the mistake countless plays make: They think that lots of scenes with people getting really loud and angry makes for good theater. When they’re well crafted and deftly handled (see: August: Osage County) it can be fodder for good theatrical times, but when it’s just yelling for yelling’s sake it’s a disappointment.

I’m not upset I saw it, but I would say that Things We Want is something that, in the end, we don’t really want that much.

Something we do want, though, is Ingrid Michaelson and her fantastic album "Boys and Girls." A J&J reader tipped us off that we should give Ingrid a listen, and once we did we picked up the album and haven’t stopped listening to her since. Her music has been featured on Grey’s Anatomy, and I’d say the girl is on her way up. Also check out her songs "Overboard," "Breakable," and "Die Alone."

Below is a performance of her song “The Way I Am.”

P.S. Is anyone else loving the hilarious user comments on Amazon.com’s listing for milk? Priceless. (Thanks Eric!)

The Weekend (In Pictures): Bethesda Fountain

Bethesda Fountain | Central Park, New York City | Picture taken by Josh K.

Michael Berresse: Tony-Nominated Actor (Currently On Broadway as Zach in A Chorus Line) Talks With Josh & Josh

Michael Berresse (pronounced buh-RESS) in his dressing room at the Schoenfeld Theater in New York City, photographed by Josh K.

Last week Josh and I had a chance to sit down with Tony-nominated Broadway star Michael Berresse, currently starring in the revival of A Chorus Line as Zach, opposite 2007 Tony nominee Charlotte d'Amboise. We talked with Michael in his dressing room for an hour and a half, discussing the success and challenges of his show, unpredictable audience members, Liza Minnelli doing high kicks in the aisles, and what it's like being an out actor (with a very attractive and talented boyfriend, we might add), both on Broadway and in Hollywood.

Josh & Josh: Hi Michael! Congratulations on the Tony nominations for A Chorus Line [for Best Revival of a Musical and Best Featured Actress for Charlotte d'Amboise]!

Michael Berresse: Thank you so much!

How's the show going?

I think it's the best it's ever been. It's become more and more organic. The show is actually in the best shape it's ever been in, which is not always the case when a show has been on for almost a year. The Tony nomination brought even more visibility to Chorus Line. We're the only show to open this year that recouped its investment. The show's going to be here for a while. I'm really enjoying it. There's a national tour starting soon, too.

Have you had a lot of celebrities coming to see the show?

So many. Vanessa Redgrave, Rosie O'Donnell. This week Alec Baldwin was here. Alec was backstage and Charlotte [d'Amboise, who is Tony nominated this year for her role in "A Chorus Line"] told me, the next day, that Alec said some really nice things [about my performance]. He's a fantastic actor, he's really funny and talented, and I think all that drama is a little overblown [concerning the infamous "little pig" voicemail Baldwin left his daughter]. Alec had to leave before I got there. [We had] Liza Minnelli, who got up and started doing the kick line in the aisle during the show.

No! What do you do when something like that happens?

You just let her do what she wants to do. Nobody really argues with her. [laughter] I was at the Tonys one year, when I was performing, and she was a presenter. She found me backstage and grabbed me and wouldn't let me go, just talking and talking, and I wondered what was going on. Then I realized she was so terrified to go on stage that she had to stay engaged with someone, and then she heard her name called and she just turned and walked away, like "Okay, I'm done with you," and then went out on stage. [laughter] Crazy. Show business.

For much of the show your character, Zach, the director of the show-within-the-show, is at the back of the theater, talking to the actors on stage. It is strange acting from the back of a theater?

In Chorus Line I had to learn to act with my voice, because I'm offstage, but heard, so much. It's tricky. Silence is critical, and when you breathe, and when you say your lines.

I hear these stories of Zachs from the past who have their checkbooks out, doing their bills, because there are a couple of gaps there when you're not talking much, but I can't do that, because then I wouldn't have an honest feeling about what's happening [on stage].

[As Zach] I'm supposed to be alone in an empty theater. There are [audience members] sitting right next to me. There are people talking to me, there are people standing right next to me, there are people's cell phones going off, there are ushers ushering me to the bathroom if they don't know I'm the guy in the show. Some guy shouted at me "Just give her the job, give her the job!" A little boy crawled up in the seat in front of me and put his hand on my leg. Another time a guy passed out and fell on me.

Have you had any overzealous audience-member encounters?

I've had some stalkers. Usually it's women, or really young or much older men. This flight attendant started bringing gifts every time she came to the show. She started sending strange letters, and then she showed up on Valentine's Day and wanted me to take her to dinner, and then she got beligerant, and tried to contact me at home.

Depending on what you're doing, or what role you're doing, people sometimes can't tell the difference [between you and your character]. In Chicago my original role was as Fred Casely, and I wore almost nothing, and people would wait at the end of the night, and say things, or call me, or flash me. It's kind of crazy, because they think that's who you are.

Tell us about how you got into acting and dancing in the first place. Weren't you a gymnast first, and then sort of fell into the whole acting thing by accident?

I was a competitive gymnast when I was young, and that's how I got my first job. I didn't know what the hell I was doing, and I didn't know how to dance. I went to this audition with a friend as moral support, dressed in jeans and a button-up, no dance shoes or anything, and they said, "You should audition." I was like, "Okay." So I danced barefoot, in my street clothes, and I sang "Miracle of Miracles" because it was the only song I knew from when I did musical theater in high school. I got the job and that was it.

It all started because I could tumble, because of gymnastics. But then when you get a job on Broadway as an athletic Gene Kelly type, that's all they want you to do, and for four Broadway shows in a row that's all I did. So then I started having to say no, and people think you're an asshole, but then you get another opportunity to do something with someone else, and the first people come back and [forgive you]. I started understudying, then taking over roles, then starring in shows, and then choreographing and writing. I realized if I was going to [make it], it was up to me.

Have there been any really outstanding moments for you in this show?

The great thing about Broadway is that actors get to do what people are afraid to say and do [in real life]. There was this teenage boy a few weeks ago during Paul's monologue [concerning a young male dancer who dealt with sexual abuse in his past, and also with being gay], where the boy just lost it, crying. It was so moving. His whole world just cracked wide open because he's watching some kid talking on stage about his own life. And whether his parents figure it out that night or not, sometimes that's the best part about doing this.

There seems to be a unique opportunity in the entertainment industry to serve as role models.

If you want to be in a profession that gives you exposure, then it's important to use that exposure honestly. I saw David Hyde Pierce [former Frasier star who won a Tony for his current role in Curtains] at an event recently, and he was very open, but I didn't know he had come out. I knew he was gay a long time ago, but I say good for him [for coming out].

I'm saying this for the record: fucking Hollywood. The gays that run the industry and try and force actors back into the closet because they're afraid it's going to make them unmarketable have so polluted the industry that it makes me really, really angry. It's so hypocritical. It's studio execs, and a lot of them are gay, and they're still saying, "You can't be out." There are exceptions, like T.R. [Knight, from Grey's Anatomy], but I'm ready for there to be a 25-year-old heartthrob who's hot and working and have him be totally out. All they need is someone young and hot, whose career is built on being a straight sex symbol, and then have him come out, and then everything will be fine once that taboo is broken. It won't make any fucking difference. Does anyone really care?

You don't need to tell everybody your secrets, but don't lie. It's just a shame, living out of fear. Fear is the most dangerous weapon that abusers have. If you're not ashamed, they can't use it against you.

It used to scare me when I met people who were really out and gay because I thought something terrible would happen to them, and there was a time where something terrible could have happened, but it's not true anymore. I don't define myself by my sexuality, but it's part of who I am.

[When I was younger] I was very self-conscious. I always felt -- and this is going to sound harsh, but I guess it's true -- like a faggot. Like I couldn't just be what I wanted to be, or laugh at what I wanted to laugh at. I believed it when somebody would laugh and say "faggot" and then I'd feel bad. But now they say it and I'm like, "You're right!" [laughter] Gay people that are ten or fifteen years younger than me now have changed so much, to be at a young age and be able to self-express. I just didn't have role models to help me figure that out until I was older.

I don't necessarily believe anymore that being in the closet is going to help you get famous, or stay famous. You know, some people knew T.R. Knight [before he outed himself], but look at him now. Now everybody knows who he is. So it's okay, boys, you can come out.

Michael Berresse is also the director and choreographer of Off-Broadway hit [title of show]. (Yes, that's the show's name; we didn't just accidentally leave the title out.) They plan to bring the show to Broadway soon. 

"College students steal songs from [title of show] off YouTube and perform them at their colleges," Berresse says proudly. "We have a big show that's growing. We did five special events in the last six weeks. Rodgers & Hammerstein bought the material and are waiting to publish it until we find out if we're going to go to Broadway. It's the thing that I'm the most proud of in my whole career."

Berresse should be proud because The New Yorker called [title of show] "immensely likeable," The New York Times called it "delectable entertainment," and Entertainment Weekly called it "sly, sassy, and inspired."

Oh, and the person who wrote the music and lyrics, and also has a starring role? None other than Michael's (very sexy) boyfriend, Jeff Bowen.

Berresse Bits

* Michael was nominated for a Best Featured Actor in a Musical Tony Award in 2000 for his role as Bill Calhoun in Kiss Me Kate.

* Michael's first big acting gig was at Disney World. "I was there for the same ages and years when you'd be in college," he says. "It really taught me about community, it helped me really understand my sexuality in a much more positive way, and it taught me how to work my ass off with five shows a day in 90% humidity. It was really hard, but I grew up a lot," Michael says. It was also while at Disney that he had his first "healthy" same-sex relationship. After Disney, Michael moved to New York, and has worked on the stage (and screen) consistently since 1990.

* Michael has two small framed photos of his boyfriend in his dressing room. On his dressing room table sits a picture of his boyfriend, eyes closed and wearing a knit hat, somehow managing to look both serene and hot. "It's very sweet," Michael says of the photo, "and to me that's what I feel and think of when I think of him. But he was like 'Fuck that, you need to have a sexy picture of me in your dressing room." Thus, on a shelf above Michael's mirror sits a shirtless picture of Jeff, ripped torso in full view, focusing a smoldering stare straight at the camera. "Then he gave me that picture. And now I keep it on the top shelf," Michael said, laughing.

* Michael cringes, but admits that he has performed for both George W. Bush and George Bush, Sr., at the Kennedy Center Honors. "We did Forever Plaid, which turns out to be Bush Senior's favorite show." Who knew that Bush Senior was into musical theater? And Forever Plaid, a revue of a faux 1950s harmonizing boy band? Hmmm. Very interesting.

* Michael says that he's performed for so many celebrities that he's rarely star-struck anymore. There is one woman who gets him every time, though, he reports. "When Meryl Streep came to see Light in the Piazza [in which Berresse starred in 2005] -- she came, like, eight times -- she brought her daughter and waited at the stage door like everybody else. She made me really, really nervous. People would see her and they'd be all, 'Fuck the Light in the Piazza cast, it's Meryl Streep!'"

Window Shopping: Naked Men, Feist's The Reminder

Whenever I pass an open window I go out of my way to look inside.  Maybe I'm just more voyeuristic than the average guy, but I can't stop myself; my curiosity always gets the best of me. A few things I'm looking for: how tasteful the decor is, an indication of gender, orientation, age, or career, and bookshelves.  (I love love love bookshelves.)  But because I'm such an intense people watcher (nobody passes me on the street without me noticing), I get most excited when I see a live specimen in his or her natural habitat. 

And last night, I discovered why floor-to-ceiling windows look even better from the outside.

I was cleaning up my room in preparation for our apartment's upcoming makeover paint job.  My roommate still has a few things stored in my bedroom (he switched to the bigger room when I arrived), but since he's out of town I wasn't sure where I should put his stuff.  I wondered if I would I be out of line by opening his door and putting it in his new room.  I thought about it for a while and decided to devote a  small corner of the kitchen to the matter. The cuter-than-cute"punk isn't dead" sock monkey, though, was going in his bedroom.  That I knew.  So I opened his door, took a few steps, looked out the window to admire the new glass condos behind our building, and immediately saw something that caught my eye:

Adonis, making his bed.  Naked.

One floor up, a gay couple finished up dinner on their patio, walked inside to the bedroom, and turned off the lights.

Then, above them: a super fit woman with perky ta-tas doing something on the floor, toying with a remote.

Jackpot.

When my roommate gets back I'm asking him if he'll leave his door open when he's out of town.  That shit's better than cable.

Currently in love with:
Feist's new album The Reminder

Favorite  track: I Feel It All
Quip: "I'll be the one to break my heart, I'll be the one to hold the gun."

 

//Josh K.

The Weekend (In Pictures)

Chris Garneau | Friday night | Mercury Lounge, Lower East Side
World Trade Center | Saturday Morning | Lower Manhattan
Fried bananas | Sunday afternoon | 9th Avenue Street Fair, Hell's Kitchen
Birds on a wire | Sunday afternoon | 9th Avenue Street Fair, Hell's Kitchen
The crowd | Sunday afternoon | 9th Avenue Street Fair, Hell's Kitchen

//Josh K.

Josh K.'s First Holga

I took these pictures with my amazing new piece of shit all-plastic medium format real-film toy camera called the Holga.  Again: it's amazing.  A few reasons why:  There is no auto focus (focusing options are "portrait," "group," or "landscape").   The camera's two exposure settings are "sunny" and "overcast."  There is no LCD screen to aid you in framing your shot.  Hell, the viewfinder is just a hole with a magnifying glass.   Manual advancing of the film means that double exposures are inevitable.   But, most of all, sometimes the most perfect pictures, well, aren't.  Plus, at $30 it won't break the bank (but developing the film will).

//Josh K.