In September, excitement swirled around Radio City Music Hall. It kicked off with comic legend Mel Brooks taking the stage following a screening of his 1974 classic, Blazing Saddles. Read the Splitsider review, "Mel Brooks Destroyed at Radio City Music Hall Last Night," the Daily News piece highlighting Brooks' memories of Gene Wilder, and the Rolling Stone interview. Here Brooks shares some more touching, hilarious stories with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show.
As the month progressed, we saw Marc Anthony duet with ex Jennifer Lopez, Meghan Trainor deliver "soulful family fun" and Tony Bennett lure a red carpet crowd—including Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder and Michael Bublé—to his 90th birthday concert (which airs on NBC December 20). Finally, "Weird Al" Yankovic sent his show to the stratosphere bringing Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda onstage to sing "Yoda" (his Star Wars–themed parody of "Lola"), achieving what Vulture called the "nerd holy trinity." Miranda hits Rock Center again next week when he hosts Saturday Night Live, which has its season premiere this weekend.
Speaking of Hamilton, Leslie Odom Jr., who won a Tony for his performance as Aaron Burr in the beyond-blockbuster show, will be gracing the Rainbow Room this Friday night. Read more about his solo jazz album and upcoming concert here, and see some more teasers on his Twitter feed. This month the Rainbow Room also took a star turn in Kate Spade's "Miss Adventure" series of short films, showcasing the comic stylings of Zosia Mamet, Ali Wong and Sarah Jones.
Just a few floors up, U.S. Open champion Stan Wawrinka took his trophy to Top of the Rock the day after his victory, and singer-songwriter Dan Olsen posted a shot with the nighttime skyline.
At Christie's, the sale of Ronald and Nancy Reagan's collection made a splash. Forbes wrote about the auction's "whimsical, historical memorabilia," while Food & Wine covered the First Lady's trove of tableware. According to Fortune, the sale pulled in $5.7 million, with "all of the items sold surpassing initial estimates."
The month wrapped up with the Ocean Spray cranberry bog on display in front of 30 Rock, with growers providing an up-close experience of the harvest on the first day of fall. For a different angle on the season ahead, NBC launched its Virtual Democracy Plaza, allowing viewers to engage with Presidential debate and election coverage in a VR version of Rock Center.
There's nothing like visiting IRL, though—travel site Skift called Rockefeller Center the top attraction among NYC tourists from September 2015 to August 2016, based on data from Foursquare. And Gothamist dubbed Top of the Rock the best place to take NYC newbies for an "unbeatable" sunset view.
