INTERVIEW: New York, get ready for entertainment that’s ‘In Your Face’
Photo: Ruth Reichl will host In Your Face — New York Thursday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the Kaufman Music Center in New York City. Photo courtesy of In Your Face — New York / Provided by KampFIRE PR with permission.
Imagine a long list of the many ways a show could entertain an audience: music, comedy sketches, storytelling. In Your Face — New York, a unique live performance and audio/visual podcast, would probably check off the entire list. In other words, there’s no telling what might happen Thursday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the Kaufman Music Center in Midtown Manhattan.
The recurring evening is the brainchild of Martin Sage, who has already planned more In Your Face’s in March and May 2019. At this week’s event, audience members can expect to enjoy an evening hosted by Ruth Reichl, a world-renowned food writer, who will be in conversation with Danny Meyer of Union Square Cafe and Shake Shack fame. Throughout the podcast taping there will be special performances from Broadway star Karen Akers and Fiddler on the Roof violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins. Writers Anand Giridharadas and A.M. Homes will also stop by, and filmmaker Heather Quinlan will explore the intricacies of the New York accent. Finally, there will be some sketches written by Sex and the City duo Julie Rottenberg and Elisa Zuritsky.
The closest comparison is Live From Here on NPR, but honestly, In Your Face — New York is pretty incomparable and unique. Recently, Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Sage about the special evening. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
How would you describe In Your Face — New York to first-time audience members?
In Your Face — New York is a stage full of the New York experience: energetic, intelligent, fun, funny, cultured, political. An audience member would hear [a] story by a prominent writer, a song by a well-known Broadway performer, a look at culture from a TV correspondent, a report on real estate economy by an award-winning economist.
In Your Face — New York is like spending a night at the opera, the 92 Street Y, the Met, the Comedy Cellar — all in 90 minutes.
What inspired the creation of this project?
It seemed like a fun idea to Joseph Steinberg and me to create a kind of topical revue, or a salon though on a slightly larger scale that embodied everything we love about living in New York. Writers, journalists play such a large part in New York’s cultural life, [and] we wanted to present them to the public as much as we wanted to feature all the performing artists that are so much a part of the entertainment scene in town. So we do.
What can audiences expect at the Dec. 6 performance?
In Your Face — New York is a little bit like a cultural circus. Ruth Reichl, the award-winning food writer, will host. I think it’s fair to say that reading about food is something so many of us like to do, and there’s no one better than Ruth in that sphere. But we’ll also have Kelly Hall-Tompkins, the lead violinist of the previous Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof and author Anand Giridharadas who has much to say about the ways rich corporations sometime use their charitable giving to deflect our attention from corporate misdeeds.
Because food is a big topic for Dec. 6, what do you love about New York City and its food scene?
New York has some of the best food in the world, and nearly all the world’s cuisines are represented here. Sometimes the food from a food truck is just as luscious as the food from a four-star restaurant. The why of that is of course important, but equally important is where to find that truck.
How do you secure hosts and guests? Are you relying on personal connections to seal the deal?
The New York creative community is at once vast but also village size. Everyone knows everyone else or at least a way to find them. Once we email someone we’d like to be in the show and provide them with the link to watch previous episodes, they get back to us, often saying, ‘Wow, this looks like crazy fun. I’m in.’ That’s how come Isaac Mizrahi, Roz Chast, Baratunde Thurston, Melissa Errico, Adam Gopnik and a million others found their way onto our stage. And we’re proud to say they all would love to do the show again.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
In Your Face — New York will take place Thursday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. at Kaufman Music Center in Midtown Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
