Private Schools in New York-- WOW! “Where are the schools and the grocery stores?” is a frequent question from tourists. After explaining that large grocery stores with parking lots don’t exist in Manhattan, I point out Whole Foods, Gristedes, Fairway and a few others.  But when it comes to schools, the sky is the limit… guides talk about the various public schools, especially the specialized high schools (Fashion, Business, Math & Science, Performing Arts, etc.). But when there’s time and interest, I take it a bit further and get into an in-depth explanation of the world of private schools and how there are more elite private schools crammed onto Manhattan’s 22 square miles that any other place in the world…filled with the children of the Rich & Famous. It’s quite a cut-throat experience interviewing and trying to get your children accepted into these elite schools where tuition can range from $21,000--$46,000 yearly!  In fact, there are more than 300 private sch...

OK, well the show is over. Here's my opinion: It's got that gorgeous old Rodgers & Hammerstein score that we baby boomers remember  from TV (Ten Minutes Ago, A Lovely Night, In My Own Little Corner, Impossible!, etc.)  mixed with gorgeous sets & costumes (Into the Woods meets A Little Night Music on the  way to Beauty & the Beast) and gorgeous symphonic orchestrations that sweep you away  with goose bumps. It's color blind casting but still uneven. One one hand you have Broadway's best: Tony  winner Victoria Clark (Light in the Piazza) as the Fairy Godmother Marie. In this version she starts as a homeless woman named Marie and then blossoms into the Fairy Godmother,  complete with WINGS and yes she flies, as the Wicked Stepmother the fabulous Harriet  Harris (Tony winner from  Thoroughly Modern Millie and you may remember her from  Desperate Housewives as  "Felicia"), as Cinder...

Madonna—the complete story We’ve all read the big news that at long last Madonna (Louise Ciccone) has put her fabulous Central Park West apartment on the market, not exactly priced to sell quickly at $23.5 million.  I wondered how long it would take her to sell….she hasn’t lived there in a couple years since she offended and alienated everybody in the exclusive building with her constant redecorating, renovating as well as loud music and fled to a huge mansion on E. 81st Street near the Lexington Avenue subway. Her CPW abode was pieced together from sections of apartments on the fifth, sixth and seventh floors in Harperly Hall at 1 West 64th Street. Harperly Hall was built around World War I in what is referred to as “arts & crafts style”…on a sunny day if you peer carefully you can see the colorful artsy trim around the top of the building. Other neighbors in the building include Mikhail Baryshnikov, Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas, Ed Asner, Carol Kane and a f...