Nadler Makes House Call on Upper East Side

For the first time in 30 years, Carolyn Maloney no longer represents the UES. Jerry Nadler does. And Monica Atiya, leader of Upper East Side for Change and coordinator of Women’s Leadership Forum Metro New York, organized an event, in the home of Upper East Sider, Beth Grossman, so that Nadler and a cross-section of his new constituents could meet. Atiya’s been organizing events, large and small, since Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign. Many of those who attended were longtime members and volunteers of Atiya’s organizations.

The event at Grossman’s home was their first in-person event in three years. Robert Gottheim, Nadler’s District Director, was a guest speaker, and he and Nadler joined in lively conversation and Q & A. Included in the photo: Lexington Democratic Club reps: Meryl Brodskey District Leader, 73A, David Menegon, VP, Mark McKew, Treasurer, John Ruiz, District Leader, 68C, Democratic Club of El Barrio, Charles G. Sturcken, President of Tilden Democratic Club, Four Freedoms District Leaders Kim Moscaritolo, 76B, and Rebecca Weintraub, 76A, Conrad Foa, NYS Democratic County Committeeman. Assembly member Alex Bores’s Chief of Staff Bryan McNamara.

At the end of the evening, I’ve been told, Nadler said that he “loves meetings where he can really get to know [us] and we can get really get to know him.” Sounds like a plan.

Shangri-La For Theater Loving Seniors

Since February, Inspir Carnegie Hill has been a Shangri-La for theater-loving residents of the trendy UES’s senior living residence with their in-house Broadway Series. Inspir is hosting the events with Broadway Plus, an organization dedicated to bringing the thrill of Broadway to private groups. Four-time Tony award-winning Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller of Hamilton, Rent and Avenue Q fame and Lisa Howard of Wicked and South Pacific are among the performers, directors and other Broadway talents participating.

The program kicked off in February to pay homage to NYC Broadway Week with “Broadway Through the Decades 1930’s-1940s” featuring Broadway stars Lisa Howard and Michael Winther. Think Kiss Me Kate and 42nd Street. Residents were delighted. Some recalled seeing the shows with their original casts. After the show, the performers mingled with the residents as they chatted and reminisced.

One Inspir resident regaled with stories of his friendship with Fiddler on the Roof’s Zero Mostel back in the day. Another of Inspir’s residents, Marilyn Snyder aka Maggie Burke, was thrilled to be back in her milieu with the theater programs. She’s an actor. In late February, the producer of Be More Chill and author of the The Untold Stories of Broadway, Jennifer Ashley Tepper, shared her experiences and insights from the world of Broadway in a private reading and Q&A session.

At another event, which I attended, Broadway Plus’s Corey Steinfast had a sit-down with the aforementioned Jeffrey Seller. Steinfast was the consummate interviewer, leaving Seller to tell his tales and interjecting only to keep the flow. The audience loved every minute of hearing Seller reminisce and talk about his rise in theater from his early days in Michigan at Detroit’s Temple Israel where he performed in a Purim play, and then professionally onto the heights (literally) having worked with Lin-Manuel Miranda on In the Heights and Jonathan Larson on Rent. Now, Seller’s working on Sweeney Todd and wears the tag around his neck allowing him entry to the show.

Inspir Carnegie Hill’s Director of Resident Experience, Evan Rossi, summed up the bringing Broadway home to the residents, by asking, “Why should having access to the arts decrease as you age? They enjoyed Broadway time and again with their families and friends. By bringing the theater experience to them now, they get a chance to revisit fond memories and make new ones,” while enjoying it right at home. And, in true Broadway tradition, even after NYC Theater Week wrapped, theater keeps coming to Inspir Carnegie Hill.