{"id":370424,"date":"2026-10-11T16:18:36","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T16:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/370424\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T16:18:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T16:18:36","slug":"tony-winning-director-kenny-leon-spills-his-secrets-in-new-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/370424\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony-winning director Kenny Leon spills his secrets in new book"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kenny Leon likes to keep busy. As if he weren\u2019t swamped directing Broadway shows, he\u2019s written a book \u201cDirection: Making the Most of the Performance of Your Life<\/a>\u201d coming from Regalo Press on Dec. 1.<\/p>\n

With a foreword by Tom Hanks, it brings together 21 lessons from Leon\u2019s life and his work as a Tony Award-winning director.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s helming \u201cThe Conversation<\/a>\u201d starring Joshua Henry and Julia Harriman at Astor Place Theater. The musical begins previews Nov. 17 and opens Dec. 7 for a 10-week run.<\/p>\n

Leon, who lives in Atlanta, Georgia, was sitting on his porch when I phoned him. He said he wrote the book \u201cto share some lessons that I\u2019ve learned.\u201d<\/p>\n

One lesson came when Leon was a student at Clark Atlanta University<\/a> competing in a sorority-sponsored Mr. Irresistible contest. Asked to name his heroes. He cited Richard Pryor and Muhammad Ali.<\/p>\n

One woman in the audience stood up and protested, creating an uproar, and Leon, after waiting for the hubbub to die down, said, \u201cLet me tell you why these men are my heroes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI went on to talk about how Richard Pryor<\/a> consistently exposed the rawest, most vulnerable parts of himself and dug up humor from the toughest, sometimes most-traumatic depths of his life \u2014 things like drug abuse, health scares, and relationship problems \u2014 just so he could make us laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the heavyweight champ, he said, \u201cMuhammad Ali<\/a> had refused to serve in the Vietnam War, saying he wasn\u2019t going to go across the world to kill people who had never done him any harm on behalf of a nation whose policies and practices negatively impacted its Black citizens every day \u2026 The dude risked everything \u2026 even when his own people, and country, didn\u2019t stand with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese men get us,\u201d I said. \u201cThey understand how hard life is for us as young Black people \u2026 whether we admit it or not, we all benefit from their bravery.\u201d<\/p>\n

The audience went wild with approval and Leon won the pageant.<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

Ivy Supersonic<\/a> went to France where they named a school after her cousin, a lesbian pioneer who also changed her name.<\/p>\n

Born Chawa Zloczewer<\/a> into a Jewish family in Poland, Eve Adams emigrated to the US in 1912, took a new name, befriended anarchists, and ran lesbian-and-gay-friendly speakeasies in Chicago and New York. Then, in 1925, Adams risked all to write and publish a book titled \u201cLesbian Love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adams\u2019s bold activism caught the attention of the young J. Edgar Hoover and the US Bureau of Investigation, leading to her arrest. Adams was convicted of publishing an obscene book and of attempted sex with a policewoman sent to entrap her.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandfather Alexander Migdall tried to pay to stop Eve from being deported but they jailed her and sent her back to Poland,\u201d Ivy told me. \u201cThe Nazis murdered her, her mom and four siblings and their children for being Jewish. Never forget!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Daring Life and Dangerous Times of Eve Adams<\/a>\u201d by historian Jonathan Ned Katz came out in 2021. \u201cUniversal is making the movie,\u201d Ivy said.<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

If Odysseus and Penelope were alive today instead of during \u201cThe Odyssey<\/a>\u201d they might drive Harleys. That\u2019s what Anne Hathaway<\/a> thinks.<\/p>\n

She also says waiting 10-plus years for her man was her only choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cOdysseus is one of one and she loves him, she just doesn\u2019t know where he is. I always felt Penelope was 100 percent \u2018ride or die\u2019 for him and if they lived in modern times they\u2019d do things like ride motorcycles together. Not on the same one. She could handle her own bike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hathaway revealed all this during a recent Critics Choice roundtable discussion. What she rode home in, or on, afterward wasn\u2019t disclosed.<\/p>\n

\"AnneAnne Hathaway attends Amazon MGM Studios’ “Verity” New York Premiere at AMC Lincoln Square 13 on Sept. 29, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

The dead don\u2019t rest \u2014 they roast!<\/p>\n

The Dead Comedian Contest<\/a> is part comedy show, part Halloween party, and part live impersonation competition where performers bring their favorite late comedy legends back to life at the Comic Strip on Oct. 14.<\/p>\n

Contestants dress as a deceased comedian, learn 3\u20135 minutes of their classic material, and recreate their voice, mannerisms and timing.<\/p>\n

Three judges critique the performances, and the audience gets a vote too. Come and cheer your favorite dead ringer, and find out who can bring a comedy legend back from the grave.<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

Fashion designer Frederick Anderson<\/a> seems to draw bigger celebrities for The Blue Jacket Fashion Show out in Los Angeles than he did in New York.<\/p>\n

The event \u2014 highlighting the importance of early detection to cure prostate cancer \u2014 marked its 10th anniversary on the rooftop of the W Hotel in Hollywood, its third year in LA.<\/p>\n

Models included NFL legend Rodney Peete, \u201cDancing With the Stars\u201d pro Gleb Savenchko, pro cyclist Dante Young, Britney Spears\u2019 ex Sam Asghari and actors Ian Ziering, Terrence Terrell, Brett Brown and Everett Osborne.<\/p>\n

Cheering them on as they strode the catwalk were LeBron\u2019s wife Savannah James, Rod\u2019s son Sean Stewart, and Tom Sandoval of \u201cVanderpump Rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

Melissa Etheridge will be honored at Audrey Gruss\u2019 Hope for Depression Research Foundation\u2019s 20th annual luncheon and seminar<\/a> at The Plaza on Nov. 10.<\/p>\n

The singer founded the Etheridge Foundation<\/a> following the tragic loss of her son Beckett to opioids in 2020, and has continued to support the development of transformative plant medicine treatments for opioid abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I lost my son, I learned how much my capacity for love was,\u201d she said. \u201cNot only loving him and missing him \u2026 but loving myself enough not to go into a major depression.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other honorees have included Dakota Johnson, Michael Phelps and Anderson Cooper.<\/p>\n

\"MelissaMelissa Etheridge speaks onstage at An Evening With Melissa Etheridge at Grammy Museum on Aug. 24, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rebecca Sapp\/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

The Ned\u2019s Club NoMad<\/a> on Broadway is gaining a world class health and wellness center of 20,000 square feet being developed by its sister club Soho House (for its own flagship North America Health Club.)<\/p>\n

Ned\u2019s members and hotel guests will have access to the fitness center, Pilates classes, ice baths, sauna, personal trainers, cryotherapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.<\/p>\n

The interiors reflect the historic character of the 1903 Beaux-Arts building with wood-paneled walls, antique lighting and sculptural stone ice baths beneath tall arched windows.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur members have told us they want their club to be part of their whole day, not just their evenings,\u201d said a Ned spokesperson.<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

October \u2014 Breast Cancer Awareness Month \u2014 will be marked by events from coast to coast.<\/p>\n

Susan G. Komen\u2019s Party in Pink<\/a> will be held Oct. 14 in New York, while the artist Mike Han kicked things off in Detroit by transforming a Herm\u00e8s Birkin with his calligraphy artwork.<\/p>\n

The iconic handbag, named after the actress Jane Birkin, is a favorite of celebrities including Victoria Beckham, Kendall Jenner and Jennifer Lopez.<\/p>\n

Han donated the one-of-a-kind piece to the Dynami Foundation, a charity dedicated to breast cancer research.<\/p>\n

The Birkin is being auctioned online at charitybuzz.com, with an estimated value of over $40k.<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

Cynthia Bailey<\/a>, of \u201cThe Real Housewives of Atlanta,\u201d will be honored at the Park Lane New York on Oct. 14<\/a> for taking care of her mother, a breast cancer survivor.<\/p>\n

The CABS Health Network will also honor NYC Council Member Mercedes Narcisse and SOMOS executive director Rosa Maria Pelton Alcantara.<\/p>\n

\"CynthiaCynthia Bailey, star of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” arrives on the pink carpet at Australia’s first-ever exclusive reality TV event, Hayu FanFest Sydney on Aug. 15, 2026 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Wendell Teodoro\/Getty Images for Hayu)<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n

Out & about: Wendy Williams, looking better than ever, dined on waffles with her bodyguard at Carnegie Diner & Cafe<\/a> in the new Voco Times Square Broadway Hotel \u2026 Candace Bergen and Marlo Thomas saw \u201cEvery Brilliant Thing\u201d at the Hudson Theater \u2026 Nathan Lane, Hank Azaria, Jamie de Roy, Richard Ridge, Steve and Debbie Garrin celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Robin Williams Center with a screening of \u201cThe Birdcage.\u201d<\/p>\n

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