NORM LEWIS – NJPAC In Your Living Room (Thursday, Dec 31 at 12 a.m.)
By Mabel Pais
Norm Lewis and his holiday shows at ‘Feinstein’s/54 Below’ have become a New York City tradition over the past five years and this year will be no different as Broadway’s charming and acclaimed leading man returns to perform a very special concert this year—online!
Each December, Norm’s festive sold-out shows help ring in the season and audiences travel from across the globe to join in the hottest party in town. This year, NJPAC brings Norm and his holiday cheer directly from Broadway’s Living Room into your home. Norm will be joined by his swingin’ band: Musical Director Joseph Joubert on keyboards, George Farmer on Upright & Electric Bass and Perry Cavari on Drums & Percussion. He and the “boys” will perform material from past shows, songs from ‘The NORM LEWIS Christmas Album’ and some new songs he’s excited to debut for you as he reflects on 2020.
For more information, visit events@broadwayworld.com
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HIP-HOP CINDERELLA – MUSICAL
“We are thrilled with the positive response. Virtual Theater, Rap, Hip Hop, TikTok, Pop, combined with Musical Theatre are exciting new voices for female empowerment and diversity.” – Linda Chichester: Co-Founder, HipHopMusicals.com
“HIP HOP CINDERELLA – A NEW MUSICAL”
A FAMILY-FRIENDLY VIRTUAL THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE
FEATURING ALUMNI STUDENTS OFTHE ROSETTA LENOIRE MUSICAL THEATRE ACADEMY
NOW STREAMING THROUGH JANUARY 31, 2021
Amas Musical Theatre (Donna Trinkoff, Artistic Producer) in association with HipHopMusicals.com (Linda Chichester and David Coffman, Co-Founders) announce that they are extending “Hip Hop Cinderella – A New Musical,” a family-friendly intergalactic romp with a cool, hip hop vibe, laughs, adventure and unforgettable songs. This virtual theatrical experience had its online launch on December 10 and will now be available on demand until January 31, 2021.
In this reimagining of the classic fairy tale, teenage Cinderella and her rapping robot companion Runka live on planet Zolla. They toil under the thumb of Cinderella’s stepmom, Lady Zurka, and her two social media obsessed stepsisters, Zig and Zag. The galaxy has lost its groove, and the Prince is throwing a Hip Hop Ball and Rap Competition to turn the beat around. Traveling via a quantum time warp, Cinderella transforms into “Ella C” and fights to win the competition. Upon returning to planet Zolla, Ella C is forced into a royal rap battle against Lady Zurka
Directed by Christopher Scott, Amas Artistic Associate, with musical direction by Evan Alparone, the cast features alumni students of the Rosetta LeNoire Musical Theatre Academy. They are: Alexis Aguiar, Cassandra Barckett, Jamiel Tako L. Burkhart, Brian Criado, Emily Lang and Lexy Piton. The stage manager is Benjamin A. Vigil and Nikki Wen is assistant stage manager. Video Editor is Matt Gurren.
Tickets
For more information about Amas Musical Theatre, and Ticket price-levels, visit amasmusical.org
To learn more about Hip Hop Musicals, visit HipHopMusicals.com
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT PRODUCTIONS (FFTP)
Celebrates 20th Anniversary
Presents in Collaboration withNational Action Network (NAN)
A Special Taped Presentation In Atlanta
On The Day Of Georgia’s Senate Run-Off Election
January 5th, 2021 At The Atlanta Chapter Of NAN
When Truth Is Not Enough
by Susan Charlotte
Directed By Antony Marsellis
Excerpts from Oscar® Nominee Liz Garbus’ film
“All In: The Fight For Democracy” with Stacey Abrams
and “Rigged” – part of the program
Followed By An Audience March To TheEbenezer Baptist Church, And Voting!
The award-winning theatre company, “Food For Thought Productions,” and the National Action Network, a not-for-profit civil rights organization founded by the Reverend Al Sharpton are presenting “WHEN TRUTH IS NOT ENOUGH,” a compelling play about voter suppression. FFTP and NAN will present a filmed version of the play with Sean Dougherty, Ebony Jo-Ann, Angela Pierce and Dominique Sharpton, directed by Antony Marsellis at the NAN chapter in Atlanta, Georgia on Jan. 5, 2021 (Election day for the Senate run-offs). Excerpts from Oscar® Nominee Liz Garbus’ film “All In: The Fight For Democracy” with Stacey Abrams and “Rigged” will also be part of the program.
A Q & A will follow with Dominque Sharpton, Director Antony Marsellis, and Susan Charlotte. The audience which will consist of approximately 15 people who have not voted, will leave NAN headquarters and go to the Ebenezer Baptist Church (Martin Luther King was its most famous member). Rev. Raphael Warnock has been the senior pastor of the Church since 2005 and is running for the Senate. Rev. Sailor, the Southeast Regional Director for the National Action Network, will speak for a few minutes at this site which is considered the spiritual home of Dr. Martin Luther King. This will be followed by audience members going to the different polling sites to vote. Rev. Sailor, Dominque Sharpton, Antony Marsellis and Susan Charlotte will then go to Rev. Sailor’s polling site where Rev. Sailor will vote.
“When Truth Is Not Enough” takes place on Election Day in an old rural town in the South. An elderly black woman, Margaret, has come to vote. She has been voting all her life. But today is different. Today she must show a picture ID. As she says, “I don’t have no passport. But that doesn’t mean I can’t vote. And they lost my birth certificate. But that don’t mean I wasn’t born!”
Originally produced in 2012 by Susan Charlotte’s Cause Celebre, a not-for-profit theatre company that connects theatre and film with causes, this play was part of a Project called the “Rosa’s Registration Ride” in honor of Rosa Parks. The RRR, which first presented the play, offers audience members a chance to vote on site, has travelled throughout the country — from Macon, Georgia to Washington D.C. to New York City. Students registered over 100 people in the field after it was presented at the Democracy Prep HS in Harlem. FFTP recently presented the play in New York City in October just before the November 2020 election.
Tickets for the January 5th presentation are FREE, but extremely limited, by calling +1.678.732.0405 and speaking with Edith. The National Action Network’s Atlanta Chapter is based at 632 Peoples Street, Atlanta GA 30310. The event starts at 2:00pm and will run through, 4:00pm followed by the March to the Ebenezer Baptist Church (101 Jackson St NE, Atlanta, GA 30312), and then to Reverend Sailor’s Polling site at 4:45pm.
To learn more about NAN, visit www.nationalactionnetwork.net
To learn more about FFTP, visit www.foodforthoughtproductions.com
Atlanta Contact for FFTP & NAN’s presentation, march & voting event on January 5th, 2020: Dwain Smith, TDS Communications, 1.770.354.7678, tdwain@tdscommunications.net
( Mabel Pais writes on The Arts and Entertainment, Social Issues, Spirituality, and Health & Wellness)
The room is a perfect circle of black marble. A single spotlight illuminates two chairs. One is ornate, gilded, empty. The other is simple, steel, occupied by MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN, 40, still wearing the pristine white thawb he died in. He looks impatient.
Across from him, CROWLEY WOLF, 50s, dressed in a threadbare velvet smoking jacket, paces slowly, holding a small, leather-bound director’s script. He stops, turns, and his voice booms, filling the vast, empty space.
CROWLEY WOLF
(Not shouting, but with immense, theatrical volume)
You’re late. The curtain rose an eternity ago. You think power makes you immune to time? Here, time is the only critic that matters. And it has found your performance… lacking. You’re playing the role of “Crown Prince.” Act like it. Sit up.
Mohammed shifts, his arrogance a physical shield.
MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN
I do not answer to stagehands. I am the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. This… interrogation is a mistake. A grotesque misunderstanding.
CROWLEY WOLF
(Waving a dismissive hand)
Mistake? There are no mistakes, only bad choices followed by worse acting! “I am the Crown Prince.” The line is delivered with the conviction of a man reading a shopping list. Again! From the entrance! You sweep in! You own the room! You are the vessel of a nation’s destiny! FEEL IT, YOU BLITHERING INCOMPETENT!
MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN
(Icy)
I am the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. My destiny is not a matter for your… amusement.
CROWLEY WOLF
(A cruel smile)
Better. A flicker of something. Not belief, but the memory of it. Good. We can work with that. Let’s talk about your props. Your toys. This… “Directed Weapon.” Don’t look at me like that. We have the schematics. We have the usage logs. We have the encephalograms. I want the monologue. The scene where you, the great visionary, describe your creation. The soliloquy of the god-maker. Go!
MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN
It was a tool for national advancement. A shield. A way to…
CROWLEY WOLF
(Slamming his script down)
NO! NO, NO, NO! “A tool”? “A shield”? That’s the dialogue of a bureaucrat, not a king! You didn’t build a shield, you built a throne for the mind! You stole God’s lightning and used it to rewire souls! Now, DESCRIBE IT! What did it feel like? The first time you used it on yourself? The euphoria? Tell me about that feeling!
Mohammed’s composure cracks. A memory surfaces, unwanted.
MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN
(Quieter, almost a whisper)
It was… clean. Like the moment after anesthesia, but with perfect clarity. No grogginess. Just… light. A motivation that didn’t end. I could run for hours. I didn’t need to sleep. One press… and the deepest sleep. Movies weren’t on a screen, they were… real. Music wasn’t sound, it was… a color. A feeling of being loved by the universe itself.
CROWLEY WOLF
YES! SEE? THAT’S ACTING! The truth! And what else? What did it do to your perception of the little people? The ones outside your skull?
MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN
(A flicker of the old arrogance)
It clarified things. It showed me what was… necessary. The distance between me and… others. They became… smaller. Insignificant. Like insects scurrying on the pavement kilometers below. Their concerns… microscopic.
CROWLEY WOLF
Magnificent! The god-monologue! Now, the next scene. The difficult one. The casting call. You have this divine tool. You need a court. A government. But the best minds, the strong-willed, the ones who might actually help you… they see you for what you are. A tyrant. They wouldn’t come. They wouldn’t love you. So what did you do, my brilliant casting director? What kind of actors did you settle for?
MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN
My advisors were chosen for their loyalty. Their commitment to Vision 2030.
CROWLEY WOLF
(Leaning in, voice dropping to a conspiratorial boom)
LOYALTY? Don’t lie to me, I can smell the mediocrity from here! You couldn’t attract the lions, so you trained the puppies! You took the weak-willed, the ambitionless, the men who saw power as a paycheck instead of a burden… and you used your weapon on them, didn’t you? You spent years with your secret service, not building a government, but breaking minds! Forging affection from fear! Tell me about that process! How did it feel to know the men sitting at your table only loved the electrical impulses you forced into their skulls?
Mohammed stands up, shaking.
MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN
That’s enough! You know nothing! Security required it! The smart ones, the critical ones… they would betray me! They would question! It was safer! It was the only way to protect the nation from…
CROWLEY WOLF
(Laughing, a loud, echoing sound)
FROM WHAT? FROM COMPETENCE? You were afraid, little prince! Afraid a man with a spine might look at you and see a fraud! So you surrounded yourself with echoes! With puppets whose strings you pulled, and now you have the weakest government in Saudi history, a house of cards built from broken minds! You sit in meetings, don’t you? You look into their eyes, and you know! You know you had to dial down their charisma, their confidence, just so they wouldn’t outshine you! You have to listen to their thoughts because you don’t trust their words! You’re not a king, you’re a paranoid zookeeper!
MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN
(Slumping back into the chair, broken)
I… I did what was necessary.
CROWLEY WOLF
You did what was easy. Now. The final scene. The one that earned you this stage. The private performance. The young student. What was her name? The one you practiced on.
Mohammed flinches as if struck. The room suddenly feels colder.
MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN
I… there is no one.
CROWLEY WOLF
PLAY THE SCENE! You are not Mohammed bin Salman. You are her. LAYLA. A 21-year-old architecture student. You feel a presence. A pressure in your mind. It feels like… love. But it’s wrong. It’s invasive. It tells you that you want this. That you want him. Describe it, Layla. What did he do to you?
Mohammed’s eyes widen. He’s no longer on the chair. He’s curled on the floor. His voice changes, higher, trembling.
MOHAMMED/LAYLA
It started with… dreams. Happy dreams. About him. I didn’t even know who he was. But I loved him. I wanted him to notice me. I started dressing… differently. I felt this… need.
CROWLEY WOLF
And then? The night he came to you. Not in person. Through the machine. What did that feel like, Layla?
MOHAMMED/LAYLA
(Writhing, sobbing)
It was like… fire. But good. So good. My body… it wasn’t mine. It was his instrument. He played me. The pleasure was… agony. It went on for hours. I couldn’t stop it. I didn’t want to stop it. He made me love it. He made me love being… violated. He broke my will and replaced it with his own desire.
CROWLEY WOLF
AGAIN! FROM THE MOMENT YOU REALIZED IT WASN’T LOVE! IT WAS A PRISON!
MOHAMMED/LAYLA
(Screaming)
The fire! It was real fire! It’s burning! IT’S BURNING!
The black marble of the room begins to glow red. Veins of orange light crack across the walls. The air shimmers with heat. Mohammed scrambles away from the growing heat, but there is nowhere to go.
CROWLEY WOLF
(Standing over him, his voice now impossibly calm and clear)
There is no exit. This is the stage. This is the audience. You wanted them to feel your power. Now you will feel their pain. Every Layla. Every broken advisor. Every citizen you saw as an insect. You will feel their terror, their violation, their hopelessness, their despair. You will feel it all. Forever. Your performance is finally… honest.
The flames engulf Mohammed’s form. He screams, but the sound is not his own. It’s a chorus of a thousand voices, all screaming in unison.
Crowley Wolf watches, unblinking. He nods slowly, a single, definitive gesture.
CROWLEY WOLF
Circle Seven. Violence. The role is yours. Play it well.
He turns and walks away into the darkness as the screaming continues, the single spotlight finally winking out, leaving only the burning, inescapable light of the performance.
This piece captures the mix of hope and reflection that comes with ringing in a new year. I especially like how it reminds us that fresh starts aren’t just about big resolutions—they’re also about small, repeatable choices. It got me thinking about how I evaluate tools for those choices. I recently found jev-xyz.com, which shares public usage cases grouped by the decision they support, along with self-run latency and cost measurements on the same task set. It doesn’t verify every author’s claim or cover every post, which actually feels refreshingly honest. How do you usually balance optimism with practical evidence when starting something new?
The idea of using the new year to clear out digital clutter stuck with me. I’ve been doing that with YouTube links by saving videos in HD through VidsSave – BR instead of letting another watch-later tab pile up. Curious if you think this makes people more likely to actually finish what they save.
I kept thinking about the “free forever” line while reading this New Year post: no sign-up, no paywalls, no hidden fees feels like the right reset for anyone cleaning out old apps. Does the 1080p+ option hold up for short-form clips too, or do you mostly use it for longer videos?
I like how this frames ringing in the new year as a moment to pause rather than just a date change. I’ve been using Youtube Downloader to save a few short talks and music clips offline so I can step away from endless tabs and still revisit them. Do you keep a small offline list for that first week?
The ring-in-the-new-year post made me think about how quickly those midnight Reels and stories disappear. I’ve started using SaveFromIns to save a few celebration clips before they vanish, so I can rewatch them later. Do you usually keep any New Year videos offline?
One small thing I appreciated in the step-by-step guide is that you don’t need to install anything or create an account before converting. For a New Year’s playlist, that makes grabbing a YouTube track to MP3 much easier, especially on mobile. I’m curious whether you lean toward 256 kbps MP3 for everyday listening or MP4 when you want the video offline too.
The New Year post reminded me how quickly WhatsApp status clips from friends disappear. I was curious whether VidMate can grab HD status videos without compressing them, since most downloaders seem to reduce quality. Might try the MP3 converter for a few songs too.
I really appreciated the New Year framing here. The concrete detail about saving posts and media before they vanish stood out to me—vidmate-apks has a similar save option that has helped me keep status clips and short videos without scrambling. Do you think that kind of offline saving changes how people treat temporary posts?
The New Year playlist angle resonated. I usually build a Sertanejo and Funk Carioca mix in Muka Saver Org the night before, then download it at 320kbps so the party keeps going even if the Wi-Fi drops at midnight. Do you lean fully Brazilian for the countdown, or do you blend in global hits?
The New Year follow-up made me think about starting runs clean instead of going straight to full-spoiler answers. I like how the 007 First Light Guide separates mission order, collectibles, and hint-first safe codes, so you can keep the story feel intact while still getting unstuck. Did you find that one small change in your reset made the rest of the year easier to manage?
The video-to-recipe detail caught my attention — pasting a TikTok or YouTube link and getting a clear, editable recipe beats pausing and rewinding to jot down ingredients. For a New Year reset where I’m trying to cook more at home, that one step would lower the friction a lot. Do the extracted instructions usually keep the original steps intact, or do you still tweak them?
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