Broadway Review: Rafe Spall incredible in "Betrayal"

We checked out the much-hyped production of "Betrayal" on Broadway, and the play is even better than advertised.  Daniel Craig, who plays the lead as Robert, is simply one of the best actors of our time and sadly, few would have known it if he hadn't appeared on the big screen as 007.  His wife in real life, Rachael Weisz, was spectacular in her Broadway debut.  Her performance as Emma was full of emotion that still left you wondering where her character was really going or what was in her mind at the end of the play.  In entertainment, that is gold.

But we were blown away by Rafe Spall's performance as Jerry.  You could sense tension in the entire theater as his role playing the quintessential "man in the middle" had everyone personally feel the conflict between relentless desire and overwhelming guilt.  Born in London,  Spall is the son of Timothy Spall, who played the rat in the "Harry Potter" film series.  Rafe has followed in his father's footsteps. Named after the protagonist in "The Knight of the Burning Pestle", both Rafe and Timothy have played this role.

However, Rafe Spall's most notable performance prior to "Betrayal" was as Ian in the movie "One Day".  This movie and Spall's performance in particular have been known to make grown men cry, so you can imagine how good he is on stage.

Shackman Associates New York provides corporate meeting, association convention and destination incentive groups with unique Broadway experiences that have included backstage tours and interaction with key performers.

Ellis Island Re-opens Today

One year after Hurricane Sandy left Ellis Island with major damage, the iconic landmark will re-open today.  Shackman Associates New York has been closely following the repairs and can quickly add a customized trip to Ellis Island to your New York corporate meeting.

We have run multiple events and gala that have incorporated the historic elements into events at Liberty State Park, which connects Ellis Island to the mainland New Jersey.  These events have included period actors who greet meeting attendees when our chartered ferry lands.  

Broadway Cocktail: Mix Homeland, Gene Kranz, Field of Dreams and a Drag Queen

While big stars by themselves will always be major draws on Broadway, this Fall's lineup of shows features pairing of actors that could be more interesting than a debut by a Hollywood name.

One such pairing is Mandy Patinkin and Taylor Mac in "The Last Two People; An Apocalyptic Vaudeville."  Patinkin is an established Broadway performer, but in 2013, he is becoming best known for his role as the CIA Director in the Showtime mega-hit series Homeland.  Mac, meanwhile, has been performing Downtown in "Good Person of Schechwan", which is one of his many roles in drag.

The other notable production pairing, running Off-Broadway, is Ed Harris and his wife of 30 years, Amy Madigan, in "The Jacksonian".  Most people recognize Harris and Madigan from their roles in very high-profile films. "Failure is not an option," which Harris boomed as "Gene Kranz" in Apollo 13 might be one of the best movie lines of all-time.  And Madigan's role of "Annie Kinsella" in the 1989 film Field of Dreams has probably been watched by even the most casual movie fan dozens of times. 

But both Harris and Madigan have decades of Broadway experience and it's great to see them together on the same stage. And don't forget to add Bill Pullman to the mix, who has a little experience shooting down aliens as President.

Shackman Associates provides corporate meeting, association meeting and destination incentive groups with unique Broadway and Off-Broadway experiences that have included backstage tours and interaction with key performers.

        Stage of Dreams: With and Harris and Madigan, "Failure is not an option" for your meeting group!

Rockefeller Center's Rainbow Room to Re-open in 2014

New York City’s Rainbow Room, where music greats such as Tommy Dorsey and Guy Lombard performed, will reopen to the public in the fall of 2014.

The Rainbow Room first opened as a supper club in 1934 after the repeal of Prohibition and it became the first art-deco venue of its kind long before art-deco became cool and trendy.  The iconic nightclub closed in 2009 because of a landlord-tenant dispute, but Tishman Speyer, which operates Rockefeller Center, announced on Tuesday that the Rainbow Room is on its way back!

                                                 Photo courtesy of Elena Bachman Schmidt; barstory.blogspot.com

Teambuilding for Sushi: Kayak from Manhattan to Japan, sort of

Kayak tours on the Hudson River have become incredibly popular for corporate meetings and destination incentives, and we recently found a new twist on this trend that includes some of the best sushi on the East Coast of the U.S.

This new kind of kayak tour takes meeting attendees from Midtown West across the Hudson River to Edgewater, NJ, which has become a major Japanese culinary destination and boasts one of the most vibrant Japanese-American neighborhoods anywhere.

Whether your attendees go for the craziest of rolls or the taste of elegantly prepared fresh sushi, it's a trip that combines a little adventure, spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline, and an incredible meal that will give your meeting plenty of energy for the row home.

Just steer your kayak for the left tower of the George Washington Bridge and enjoy how the current takes you to your destination!

Corporate Events: Manhattan Skyline Views and Foliage all at once on the Hudson

Corporate meeting attendees love the Manhattan skyline, but it often requires a cruise on the Hudson River to acquire a truly panoramic perspective.

Just 12 miles north are new and exciting event venues that are right on the river, and looking South, offer a truly unique skyline view of Manhattan that is tucked between the hills of the Palisades and behind the George Washington Bridge.  They also feature breathtaking views north to the Tappan Zee Bridge and beyond to 20 miles of foothills.

In the Spring and Summer, event venues in the "River Towns" provide a breath of fresh air and cool breezes off the Hudson.  But we think the miles if foliage attendees can see in the Fall could be something special for your next New York meeting. 

The "River Towns" are also an ideal option for a corporate retreat or off-site lunch for executives attending large association conventions.  Shackman Associates New York has previously blogged that these kinds of retreats are often an hour or more north of Manhattan.  Meeting planners now have much closer options that offer the best of both worlds.

Look north at the Husdon Valley

 Turn south an take in the Manhattan skyline.

Broadway Update: Denzel Washington back in 2014

(via Deadline.com) Denzel Washington will star opposite Diahann Carroll in the Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s classic A Raisin In The Sun. Previews begin March 8, 2014, with opening night on April 3, 2014 at the Barrymore Theatre where the original production opened 55 years ago. Set on Chicago’s South Side, A Raisin In The Sun revolves around the divergent dreams and conflicts within three generations of the Younger family: son Walter Lee (Washington), his wife Ruth (Sophie Okonedo), his sister Beneatha (Anika Noni Rose), his son Travis and matriarch Lena, called Mama (Carroll). Rounding out the cast are Stephen Tyrone Williams, Jason Dirden, and Stephen McKinley Henderson. Washington won a Best Actor Tony for his performance in 2010′s Fences. The Kenny Leon-directed A Raisin In The Sun is a limited engagement, running 14 weeks only through June 15, 2014.

Hotel Trends: Long Island City the next Brooklyn

While the word is out on how hot Brooklyn is for corporate meetings and destination incentives, its neighbor just few miles to the north is start to heat up as well.

Long Island City is in the middle of a renaissance, and the once gritty industrial neighborhood known mostly for its cab garages is becoming a mod oasis for business travel, meetings and events.  Boutique hotels are finding Long Island City to be the perfect location outside of Manhattan while providing spectacular views of the skyline and iconic bridges.  One rooftop venue is next to the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge and provides a corporate event group with an exciting pan-Asian experience.

And finally, Long Island City has the advantage of being a 10-minute subway for cab ride to Midtown East!

Lincoln Center Update: Ethan Hawke to star as Macbeth

Broadway isn't the only entertainment venue heating up as the weather gets colder.  Ethan Hawke will reunite with director Jack O'Brien in a new production of Macbeth at Lincoln Center.  Limited showings will begin on October 24.

According to a recent interview with E!Online, Hawke said he has always wanted to play this part.  He and O'Brien previously worked together in Henry IV.

Shackman Associates New York provides corporate meeting, association meeting, and destination incentive groups with unique entertainment experiences on Broadway, off-Broadway, and at other spectacular venues like Lincoln Center.  This is frequently included backstage tours and interactions with key performers.

Association Meetings and Conferences: Consider private technology to filter out endless social media updates

While there is continuing debate on how to use social media during business components at conferences and large association meetings, we recently came across a firm, QnA, via Twitter (@NYCmeetingDMC) that figured out how to create a hyper-intelligent, private system to deliver very targeted results.

The key is to provide moderators with more control than ever over questions, answers and even who gets asked the questions. 

With this kind of technology, your association meeting attendees can now ask unlimited questions, and moderators can quickly filter out ones that don't make sense or disrupt the flow.  Furthermore, because speakers can clearly see the questions being asked, they do not get lost among the noise of status updates.

Need to export data into a spreadsheet or pdf format?  It's a one-click process.  Moderators and speakers can also create components for live polling, discussion capture and event feedback.  And finally, we are seeing an opportunity to run meetings without requiring attendees to download apps that might work differently on the iPhone versus a Galaxy. 

Photo courtesy of QnA, @QnA_Event_Tech

Broadway Update: Fantasia Barrino and Wynton Marsalis a dream team in After Midnight

It seems like so long ago when Fantasia Barrino became the Season 3 winner of American Idol.  Since then, she has become a Grammy Award-winning R&B vocalist and Broadway star.

Director Warren Carlyle and superstar fashion duo Isabel and Ruben Toledo are teaming up with  Barrino and nine-time Grammy Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Wynton Marsalis and The Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars in After Midnight, which recreates the days of a hip Harlem nightclub to a new generation of theater fans.

In 2007, Barrino made her Broadway debut in the lead role of Celie in musical The Color Purple.  The musical was based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel by Alice Walker. After appearing on American Idol and The Oprah Winfrey Show to pitch her upcoming appearance, the musical rolled in over two million in pre-ticket sales in one week.  The Color Purple had sold 6.5 million tickets before Barrino first took the stage on April 10, 2007.

Shackman Associates New York provides unique Broadway experiences for corporate meeting, association meeting and destination incentive groups.  The experiences have included backstage passes and interaction with key performers. 

With previews beginning on October 18 and the show's projected run to end in February 2014, we are expecting After Midnight to be a very high-demand production.

Photo courtesy of Rickey.org

Food at Corporate Meetings: Turn Cocktails into Cupcakes!

Cupcakes, mini-cupcakes, and many other versions of this delicious treat are already a big trend at corporate meetings and destination incentives.  But we've found a new take that just might take the cake!

One New York City bake shop is flavoring cupcakes like your favorite cocktails.  There is real alcohol in the frosting and filling and feature flavors like Old Fashioned, White Russian, Margaritas, Car Bombs, and Sex on the Beach.  They cater events and are the perfect dessert or treat for a quite filling cocktail hour!

Major Events: Brooklyn continues to boom with Video Music Awards

With the Video Music Awards (VMA's) being held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on August 25, New York City is proving once again that it is a top destination for major events and conventions.  In fact, the Barclays Center is now the #2 grossing arena in the world. 

Shackman Associates has been accommodating increasing requests by corporate meeting and destination incentive groups to hold major components of their trip to New York in Brooklyn.  The borough has a rich history and culture that does not exist anywhere else.  When the Barclays Center first opened, the area surrounding it was still a little raw from the massive construction project.  What a difference a year makes!

Event attendees can choose from multiple shopping venues around the arena and we are seeing new restaurants and coffee shops popping up that provide the hipster look and feel people love about the borough.

Photo courtesy of Sports-Kings

Off-Broadway Update: Be the star of the worst remake ever

The movie "Point Break" was a huge when it was released in 1991.  It also launched the career of Keanu Reeves as undercover FBI agent Johnny Utah, and had Patrick Swayze and Gary Busey in roles that now all seem kind of laughable.

But Alcorn Entertainment decided to order a remake a few months ago, which has led to an explosion of YouTube parodies.  It has also led to the birth of a very unusual Off-Broadway show: "Point Break Live."

This show travels around New York City doing its own remake of the movie and has an interesting catch: the part of Johnny Utah is selected from the audience!  Shackman Associates thinks this is a great way for corporate incentive groups to have a little fun at the expense of an good-sport executive who might be selected as the next Keanu Reeves.

It doesn't take a real actor to make a good Johnny Utah because as the show's producer noted to the New York Times, "In the movie, it looked like he just received his lines, so feeding them on a cue card to a volunteer won't look that much different."

Shackman Associates New York develops unique experiences for corporate meetings, association meetings and destination incentives that often include backstage passes, interaction with key performers, and off-Broadway shows that attendees won't find in other cities throughout the world.

Corporate Team-building: Use Foursquare for Four-day Scavenger Hunts

Here's a new team building idea that is turning the corporate scavenger hunt on its side: Foursquare for scavenger hunts that can last as long as four days.  Think it sounds impractical?  It's not.  Especially when a corporate meeting has heavy business components that last most of the day.

Here's the real kicker: museums love these kinds of events because they know they can promote new exhibits and pad visitor statistics while helping a meeting group incorporate other items they need to find. 

Of course, an organized scavenger hunt that lasts for hours is easier to manage than something that requires days self-discipline and a version of the "honor system".  But that is why Foursquare is the equalizer.  If your team as to check-in, it keeps everything even.  And it helps meeting attendees find a cool way way to manage their down time.

CSR at Meetings: Event venues become the give-back

We were recently inspired to learn that the founder of one corporate event venue in Manhattan is redefining CSR.  George Faison, the first African-American Tony Award winner for his choreography of the Wiz, has founded a fantastic venue in Harlem that is ideal for a major destination meeting event or a simple cocktail hour.  Working with Tad Schnugg of the American Performing Arts Collaborative, Inc., Faison's vision for a community based arts organization has brought together the artistic and business communities and takes an active role in mentoring the youth of Harlem. 

 

This is truly a win-win for everyone, and most importantly, Harlem's vibrant youth community.

 

Shackman Associates New York helps destination corporate meeting clients develop exciting and unique CSR programs.  Some of these team-building activities have included sustainable meeting components and bike-builds for youth in economically challenged neighborhoods.

 

 

Opening Receptions at Corporate and Association Meetings: Try a Sunday Rooftop

Shackman Associates New York is seeing a new trend in rooftop venues that provides an opening for meeting planners to book Sunday opening receptions without reinventing the wheel.

One rooftop venue is taking a very unique approach: it is booking weddings during on weeknights and opening up its schedule for other "private events" on weekends.  Weeknight weddings are exploding in popularity because of the exponentially increased cost of getting married.  This is putting less financial pressure on venues to book weddings on Saturday and Sunday.

We have previously blogged that opening a corporate, association or incentive meeting on a Sunday in Manhattan is a great way to save costs.  It's becoming easier than ever in New York City.

Corporate Event Venues: Art showrooms offer flexibility, style and space

Art studios in Manhattan were once primarily used for, well, art shows.  The are now becoming exciting venues for corporate meetings, cocktail receptions, and even galas because of their unique design elements. 

The key is choosing a studio that offers the right size, look and feel for your company's sense of style.  Some studios are offered 100% bare and provide AV components such as hanging projectors that create powerful videos on the walls.  Other studios include fashionable wall designs, unique lighting and hip furniture that provide a lounge feel for your event without having to rent out one in a club.  If you like SoHo or Tribeca, the neighborhood has event studios that are converted industrial sites and have exciting entry options such as modern, glass-centric garage doors.  They can remain open as late as November and provide fresh air if your event is packed.  And finally, Manhattan has art studios that are over 5,000 square feet, which is large enough to accommodate over 300 meeting attendees. 

Flotillas on the Hudson River Go All-Glass

The days of the Circle Line tours for New York City meeting groups have been replaced with sleek all-glass options that provide spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline and items like the Statue of Liberty.

More importantly, these views can provided in all weather elements and during dinner, which is a huge advantage over requiring people sitting inside to bundle up and crowd on freezing decks to briefly catch a glimpse of their favorite building or neighborhoods.

Shackman Associates New York recently ran a 10-boat flotilla on the Hudson River for a meeting group that ended with a fireworks show by the Statue of Liberty. 

New York Corporate Meetings and Citi Bike

There is lots of talk about Mayor Bloomberg's Citi Bike program.  If your corporate meeting is thinking about using them for your attendees, we can help.

Citi Bike is really for residents who pay $95 per year to use them, and we have seen mixed results.  In some cases, people who use Citi Bike drop them off in one location and can't use them in another.  More importantly, your attendees need to understand where the bike lanes are in Manhattan.

Shackman Associates regularly coordinates bike tours for corporate meetings and destination incentives.  If you want the best experience, we can help you find bike professionals who know the ideal routes around Manhattan, create customized tours and teambuilding activities, and can recommend the best options for a uniquely peaceful ride.