C: Is for Cupcakes

Cupcakes are the fave current trend, among food connoisseurs around the country. The nostalgia for a piece of childhood, has spawned a rapid growth of boutique cupcake bakeries. Like Starbucks, they are popping up on every corner. The search for the best cupcake is talked about at water coolers and cafes, with each persons favorite being hotly discussed. Here at the T2C we have found the ultimate taste treat... Cupcake Express. Times Square residents, Anthony Stellato and Nance Greenspan started Cupcake Express. Not only are they rated #1 by us, but also the NY Post. Imagine cupcake delivered hot, fresh form the oven and iced to perfection with real ingredients. They are one of the best kept secrets and you can only find them at Macy's and the South Street Seaport, where they sell out daily. As of the next issue, T2C will name the local restaurants who will be exclusively carrying them.

Looking for love? Go to match.com. That is where Anthony and Nance met and have been together since that fateful meeting. Having a mutual love of food, music and working out solidified the relationship. Nance is in the Power lifting Hall of Fame, being a multiple Power lifting World Champion. The “Queen of Extreme” squatted 556 lbs. while only weighing 131 lbs. She has also toured with Billy Idol, Boston and New Kids on the Block. Anthony was on Wall Street and nows plays in his own band "Hell or High Water."

Cupcakes are not where these two end. They also own My Hero Cuisine a home delivery company catering Italian specialties, (myherocuisine.com) from 59th to 14th. Next time you turn on the food network look for “Cooking is Funny,” a new show in development for the networks. An educational cookbook, “Good Stuff That’s Not Hard,” is also in the works. These two are people to know and that is a F.A.C.T.

In New York City, The Actors Fund has produced a string of successful one-night-only benefits including the acclaimed 20th Anniversary concert of Dreamgirls with Audra McDonald, Heather Headley and Lillias White (recorded on Nonesuch Records), Funny Girl with Sutton Foster, Jane Krakowski and Kristin Chenoweth, Chess with Josh Groban, Hair with Jennifer Hudson (recorded on Ghostlight Records, Grammy nomination) On the Twentieth Century with Douglas Sills and Marin Mazzie, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas with Emily Skinner and Terrence Mann, Brian Stokes Mitchell at Carnegie Hall and last year's all star reading of All About Eve with Annette Bening and Keri Russell.

In Los Angeles, The Actors Fund has produced a successful string of musical events including a concert of William Finn's Falsettos starring Jason Alexander and Malcolm Gets. The Fund also presented a series of musical tributes that celebrated the great Broadway composers including Tap Your Troubles Away; A Salute to Jerry Herman, Everything's Coming up

Roses: A Jule Styne Tribute and Say Yes; The Songs of John Kander and Fred Ebb. Additionally, the "Screenplays on Stage" series has showcased such talents as Stockard Channing, Calista Flockhart, Anjelica Huston, Christian Slater and Anne Heche.

THE ACTORS FUND is a national human services organization that helps all professionals in performing arts and entertainment. The Fund, which supports actors and performers and everyone behind the scenes who works in theatre, film, TV, music, dance, radio and opera, is a safety net, providing social services and emergency assistance, health services, employment and training programs and housing support for those who are in need, crisis or transition. Learn more about The Actors Fund at www.actorsfund.org

A: Is for art brought by Scott Siegel

The Town Hall, Broadway's landmark concert venue, presented the fifth annual Broadway Cabaret Festival, October 16th- 18th. This three-concert series, created, written an hosted by Scott Siegel, took place over one weekend and included A Tribute to David Merrick, staring Corbin Bleu of High School Musical, on Friday October 16th at 8pm, All of Me staring Linda Eder on Saturday October 17th at 8pm and Broadway Originals on Sunday October 18th at 3pm.

On Sunday, October 18th at 3pm, Broadway Originals highlighted Michael Rupert, Stephen Bogardus, Barbara Walsh, Chip Zien and Jonathan Kaplan - the five original Broadway stars of William Finn's Falsettos - in a special tribute to that famous show. Stephanie J. Block (9 to 5, Wicked), Tony nominee Celia Keenan-Bolger (Les Miserables, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) and Manu Narayan (Bombay Dreams) also joined previously announced stars Julia Murney (Wicked, Lennon), Kerry O'Malley (Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Into the Woods) and Sharon McNight (Tony nominee for Starmites) for an afternoon of performances of the songs that they made famous on the Broadway stage. A must-see for any Broadway aficionado, the program featured favorites by Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg and more of the theater's greatest songwriters.

Scott Siegel has created for The Town Hall, three acclaimed and popular series: Broadway By The Year®, now in its tenth season, the Broadway Cabaret Festival and the Summer Broadway Festival. Mr. Siegel also conceived and produces both Broadway Unplugged and The Nightlife Awards at The Town Hall. Scott and his wife, Barbara, are authors (47 books, including The Encyclopedia of Hollywood) and critics ("The Siegel Column" and "The Two of Clubs" on TalkinBroadway.com).

Built in 1921 by a group of suffragettes, The Town Hall began as a lecture hall and public forum for debates. Over the decades, Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Sanger, Billie Holiday, Igor Stravinsky, Bob Dylan and Miles Davis have graced the stage. Today the hall flourishes as a popular, affordable venue, boasting the hottest acts in rock, pop, folk, cabaret, world music, comedy and dance, including Billy Joel, Blondie, Elvis Costello, Natalie Merchant, Graham Nash, Liza Minnelli, Cyndi Lauper, Norah Jones, Andre Watts, Henry Rollins, Joe Jackson, Pink Martini, Regina Spector, Brian Adams, Aimee Mann and Dawn Upshaw. For over a decade, The Town Hall has hosted live broadcasts of Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion. Over the past two-and-a-half decades, The Town Hall has produced a number of new and critically acclaimed musical series, which include The Century of Change, Not Just Jazz, Broadway by the Year® and The Broadway Cabaret Festival. Lawrence Zucker is the Artistic and Executive Director.

The 5th Annual Broadway Cabaret Festival ran October 16th - 18th at The Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street.

Next up: Broadway un-plugged and it's not to late to get your ticket and that is a F.A.C.T.

F: Is for Fantastic

Remember the days of Studio 54? Well there back, at Purgatorio. Already becoming a celebrity hang out, I spotted Prez Hilton, Jude Law, Moby, the cast of "Our Town" and models galore, circulating among the debauchery, within the darkened chambers. Purgatorio, is a tri-level interactive theater and nightclub, from the creators of The Box and CBS. You are lead to believe that you are entering a funeral parlor, only to learn the funeral is your own. To get into the rest you must enter through a coffin, so those afraid of tight spaces beware, as the fear is very real. Then the club begins. Reunited with friends, you enter a lounge called Hell. Purgatory is a theatre where you are entertained by some of the best acts around. Check out Kenichi Ehina. What he does with his head and his body, makes the exorcist look tame and a disco called Heaven. This is a Halloween full of sin, intoxication and sheer madness. With this kind of fun who needs Heaven? Mixed with a sensual pounding of pulsating music this club offers Halloween themed burlesque acts, circus tricks and cabaret for a one-of-a-kind experience. Come scantily clad, or be prepared to watch as some of the hottest bodies surround you.

You can delve into Dante’s macabre from October 15 through the 31st. This club unlike The Box is open to the public for a fee of $40 to $80 at enterpurgatorio.com with no velvet rope in sight. I actually missed the exclusivity of The Box as the guests were not on their best behavior. Also this is not a haunted house. Pugatorio is a club, an event, that brings out madness, the erotic. Must be 21 to enter.






Weiner even predicts that the kind of interactive, "environmental theater" on display at Purgatorio will one day replace most traditional stage shows. It’s proximity to Broadway theaters is a start. But would Hammerstein ever considering opening a more permanent venue in Times Square — a terrifying location even without fake Halloween blood?