andy fraser, tartan butler

Curious about whether you can pull off a tartan plaid in 2012?  Look no further than Andy Fraser, the new Tartan Butler at Edinburgh’s Balmoral Hotel. A master at tracing Scottish ancestry, Fraser scoured over 30 variations of his own family tartan to trace the clan as far back as the early 13th Century. Coming quick to the realization that this talent was more than just an avocation, the local Edinburgh resident partnered with Rocco Forte’s Balmoral to share his expert guidance with guests wanting to find out a little more about their Scottish heritage. The gentleman definitely knows his history, too: “It was the Dress Act of 1746 that tried to bring the warrior clans under government by banning the tartan and other aspects of Gaelic culture,” says the Scotsman. “When the law was abolished in 1782, it was no longer ordinary Highland dress but was adopted instead as the national dress of Scotland.” Just imagine: plaid, a political statement. Once Fraser has established a connection to one of the thousands of clans and traditionally recognized tartans, he can arrange a trip to Kinloch Anderson, one of the city’s most established Highland dress shops. Or better yet head to my friend, kilt maker Howie Nicholsby, for an altogether 21st century kind of statement.

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just published: spa couture

You love designer duds, covet a closet full of fashionable shoes and handbags – why would you even think of staying anywhere other than a designer hotel?  That’s exactly the thinking among a handful of the world’s top fashion houses, including Armani, Versace, Bulgari, Missoni, and Moschino, who are boldly taking the idea of lifestyle chic where no hotel and spa has gone before. Haute holidays have arrived. Here’s our peek at the new chic: vacationcouture.

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bucket list: 2010 – august

UK: It’s a good thing I got all that rest in July, because I needed it once August rolled around.  My producing partner and I premiered a new musical we’ve been developing in London, later moving it lock, stock and barrel to Edinburgh as part of the largest arts festival in the world, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.  Many of you know about my theatrical background, but for those of you who don’t, I need to get you up to speed via an old theater joke:  if Hitler were alive today, his punishment should be to go out on the road with a new musical in trouble. (I just need to think that joke and it cracks me up every time.)  Of course, it wasn’t all that arduous – or punishing – but to start, it was being done across an ocean.  And while my partner and I are both old hands at this by now, we’ve also both invested a peculiarly personal part of ourselves in The Screams of Kitty Genovese, which only served to raise the stakes.

On top of it all, we were in two of my all-time favorite cities:  London and Edinburgh.  Yet we were working, working, working the whole time – and not in the lighthearted way travelers do but in the how do we fix this particular scene and how much is it going to cost us way that producers do.  I will say it gave me a different perspective of each city.  I may have been staying along Hyde Park but I spent the days working – or is it wandering? – the back streets of Hammersmith. Once we made it to Edinburgh, we were lucky enough to be staying together in posh digs at the Hotel Missoni, which was transformed into Kitty HQ.  A bee-line to the theater was quickly established, from which we rarely strayed.

The show – as I’m sure you’re dying to know – was an unqualified success.  A complete sell-out in London, it was equally well received in Edinburgh.  Plus it looks like it will be coming to New York in the very near future, so watch this space! It was an exhilarating experience, working overseas without any infrastructure in place or familiar resources at our disposal.  It made us get out into the streets on a very basic level, which went a long way towards making my romantic notions of two cities I’ve come to know extremely well over the years much more realistic.

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is that all there is?

Edinburgh has been a whirlwind:  as both traveler, producer, and artist.  Is it possible to be both exhausted and exhilarated at the same time?  Absolutely.  I’m glad it’s over and I can’t wait to do it all over again.  Do I contradict myself?  Well …. to paraphrase Whitman:  I contain multitudes and I am too tired to argue.  Ciao for now, Edinburgh.

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another opening of not just another show (part deux)

Lines around the block for The Screams of Kitty Genovese in Edinburgh. (And sweet relief in the gut of two hard-working producers, too!) A little factoid about the 2010 Edinburgh Festival:  it features 40,254 performances of 2,452 shows in 259 venues across the city.  The average audience for a Festival show is 6.  That’s right:  6.  The show has surpassed expectations here – and gotten some great notices to boot:  The Guardian said, “it is simply the best musical theater work on show at the fringe and festival.  One not to be missed.”  What’s On Stage gave it Four Stars, calling it “a darkly hypnotic rock opera.”

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edinburgh in the gloaming

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video: along the royal mile

Edinburgh’s Royal Mile is the main artery of the original city, connecting Holyrood Palace with Edinburgh Castle.  During festival season it’s positively mental: bursting at the seams with crowds of festivalgoers, buskers, and thousands of people trying to promote their shows via both formal and impromptu high street stunts. The Screams of Kitty Genovese had a stunt the other day during a downpour, yet somehow this talented group of performers found a way to soldier on and gather a crowd.

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welcome to the scrum: edinburgh’s royal mile

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on the midnight train to london

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video: crossing the firth of forth

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dean gallery: no miracles

In addition to currently hosting a major exhibit entitled Another World:  Dali, Magritte, Miro and the Surrealists, Edinburgh’s Dean Gallery – the contemporary wing of the National Galleries of Scotland -  has an outdoor sculpture park on its great lawn. This piece by Turner-nominated Scottish artist Nathan Coley is particularly striking.


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sunny daze: princes street gardens

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in the spotlite

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hello, kitty!

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the play’s the thing

And we’re off!  To London and Edinburgh that is, with a bold and daring new musical drama: The Screams of Kitty Genovese.  Watch this space for live blogging from the London premiere at the Tete a Tete Festival to the madness that is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world.  If you’re a social media darling, you can follow Kitty as she tweets her way across the UK @ScreamsofKittyG.  She’ll be on Facebook by the time you read this, too.  And for the old-fashioned among you there’s always Kitty’s website, which now seems about as high-tech as an abacus.  It will be updated with photos and news along the way.  Bonne chance, Kitty!

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