3.23.10: All About Me (and the rest of New York)

All About Me (and the rest of New York)

Dame Edna, Celeste Holm, Judge Judy, Michael Feinstein, Valerie Simpson, Elaine Stritch, Judith Light, Dave Koz, Nick Ashford, and Gloria Reuben

Last Thursday night at Henry Miller’s Theatre Dame Edna Everage (Barry Humphries) and Michael Feinstein opened their new Broadway show, All About Me.

Dame Edna

Michael Feinstein

Dame Edna and Michael Feinstein

Staged by Casey Nicholaw (Spamalot, The Drowsy Chaperone) and co-written by Dame Edna, Mr. Feinstein and Christopher Durang, it was a smash on opening night.

Harriet Halloway

Jonathan and Laurie Tisch

Dickie Moore and Jane Powell

Celeste Holm and Frank Basile

Laura Savini and Jimmy Webb

Kathleen Marshall and Joel Grey

Judith Light and Dave Koz

Marc Rosen and Arlene Dahl

Patrick Wetzel

LuAnn de Lesseps and Jacques Azoulay

Leba and Neil Sedaka

Aubrey Reuben

Elvis Costello and Diana Krall

Liza Minnelli

Elaine Stritch

Lucy Prebble

Judge Judy Sheindlin and Barbara Walters

Valerie Simpson and Nick Ashford

Jim Dale

Stewart Lane and Bonnie Comley

Robert Osbourne

Andrea Martin

Karen Ziemba

Penny Fuller and friend

Casey Nicholaw

Asia Week New York got off to a great start on Friday evening when The Asian Art Dealers New York, a group of international Asian specialists from the France, Italy, England, Japan and the United States, held their kick-off reception honoring The Rubin Museum of Art, and its Co-Founders Donald Rubin and Shelley Rubin.

The Rubin Museum of Art is the premier museum of Himalayan art in the Western World with over 2,000 works of art including paintings, sculpture, textiles, ritual objects and prints from the 2nd century to the 20th century (www.rmanyc.org).

Arnold Lieberman, Joan Mirviss, Shelley Rubin, Donald Rubin, Jiyoung Koo, and Ramesh Kapoor

For fifteen years, international collectors and museum curators descend on New York for a week of non-stop exhibitions, auctions, lectures and receptions. This past week-end thirty-one AADNY galleries and private dealers, held open houses to kick off Asia Week.

This is an excellent opportunity to see the full scope of ancient through contemporary works of art from China, India, Nepal, Tibet, Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea that are on view for the first time. It’s also a chance to meet many by-appointment only private dealers who open their doors to the public this week.

Jiyoung Koo, Joan Mirviss, Catherine Sweeney Singer, Marilyn White, and Margi Gristina

Brook Mason, Wendy Moonan,Jason Steuber, Jiyoung Koo, Suzanne Charle

Among those in the crowd were Donald Rubin and Shelley Rubin, Mary McFadden, Gregory Speck, Frank and Victoria Wyman, John and Fausta Eskenazi, Conor Mahoney, Edith Dicconson, Carlton Rochell, Joan Mirviss, Jiyoung Koo, James Lally, Arnold Lieberman, Leiko Coyle, Christian Deydier, William and Catherine Sweeney Singer, Brendan Lynch, Carol Conover, Karen and Leon Wender, Marie Helene Weill, Mr. and Mrs. Hirsohi Yanagi, Giuseppe and Daniel Eskenazi, Pierre Durand, Michael McCormick, Andrew Chait, and Hedy Hartman.

Joan Mirviss, Catherine Sweeney Singer, Wendy Moonan, and Suzanne Charle

Leiko Coyle and Sarah Cook

Sophia Takal and Kate Sheil

Ravi Akhoury, Ginny Akhoury, Donald Rubin, and Joan Mirviss

Ramesh Kapoor and Arnold Lieberman

Asian Art

Christian Deydier and Raphael Harve

Brendon Lynch, Martine Lerner, and Andre Kahane

Margaret Tao, Yi Fawn Lee, and Dessa Godeart Bonhams

Joseph Gerena, Marge Levin, and Frederick Schultz

Margi Gristina, Edith Dicconson, Conor Mahony, and Dora Wong

Liz Knight, Michael McCormick, Alison Bradley, and Go Sugimoto

Margrite Scholten, Rene Scholten, and Jiyoung Koo

Karen Wender, Joan Mirviss, and Leon Wender

Ravi Akhoury, Ginny Akhoury, and Navin Kumar

Laurie Barnes and Martha Sutherland

Edward Wilkinson and Theresa McCullough

Joan Mirviss and Edith Dicconson

Carol Conover and Jim Lally

Gregory Speck, Mary McFadden, Frank Wyman, and Victoria Wyman

Dora Wong, Henry Howad-Sneyd, Laurie Barnes, and Matthew Edlund

Li-Shuan Chen and James Lally

Navin Kumar and Trice Able

Conor Mahoney, Justena Kavanagh, Noah Kupferman, and Tina Kavanagh

Shelley and Donald Rubin

Tim McHenry

John Berwald and Debbie Slacks

Num Stubbe, Ornan Rotem, and Joan Mirviss

Gabrielle Lurie, Sam Lurie, John Eskenazi, and Fausta Eskenazi

Jiyoung Koo, Joan Mirviss, William Singer, and Catherine Sweeney Singer

Margaret Tao, John Eskenazi, and Joan Mirviss

Lois Robins and Andrew Zaro hosted a discussion featuring Sam Waterston benefitting Oceana, at private residence here last Monday night.

Lois Robbins, Sam Waterston, and Susan Cohn Rockefeller

Harlan Bratcher, Susan Cohn Rockefeller, and Toby Usnik

Andrew Sharpless

Caroline Hirsch and Andrew Fox

Rodney Hilton Brown

Angel Chang and Joanna Spilker

Harlan Bratcher, Michele Oka Doner, and Jim Simon

Deborah Buck, Keith Addis, Susan Cohn Rockefeller, and Chris Buck

Angela and Steve Kilcullen

Gilles Mendel was celebrated by The French Institute/Alliance Française (FIAF). The evening began with an interview of Mendel by Fashion Television news commentator and Harper’s Bazaar editor-at-large Mary Alice Stephenson in FIAF’s plush auditorium.

Paris-bred Gilles Mendel, heir apparent and head designer of J. Mendel talked about the reinvention of this fifth-generation, family-owned luxury brand. J. Mendel that was founded in 1870 by his grandfather in Paris.

The Interview: Mary Alice Stephenson and Gilles Mendel

Mendel spoke about the similarities and differences between French mode and American style. It was the first of three Talks on this topic organized by the French fashion writer Pascale Richard.

The other two in the series feature Tommy Hilfiger, speaking about the intriguing business of creating an international fashion brand and Marc Jacobs discussing the evolution of fashion designers into stars and the relationship between fashion and Hollywood.

The celebratory evening continued with a dinner hosted by fashion writer Michèle Gerber Klein. Guests included FIAF director Marie-Monique Steckel, Anne Caruso, Laureen Goodman, Countess LuAnn de Lesseps, Larry Creel, Susan and Michael Sokol, Amanda Ross, Dana Gers, Eduard Pesch, Juliette Longuet and Blair Clarke.

The maestro regaled the table with amusing an amusing story about getting Celine Dion’s dress altered at the last minute before her appearance at the Oscars. He was especially excited about a new commission to create costumes for the New York City Ballet. “So beautiful!” he exclaimed happily, “just like dressing little dolls.”