Bold faced names showed up for the re-opening of the gloriously renovated Beacon Theatre last night. With Paul Simon performing, Fox News' Roger Friedman spotted celebrities like Paul McCartney with girlfriend (and MTA board member) Nancy Shevell, Jon Bon Jovi with wife Dorothea, Harvey Weinstein and Georgina Chapman, Rosie O’Donnell and Kelli Carpenter, Whoopi Goldberg, James Gandolfini and his wife, Jimmy Fallon with wife Nancy Juvnonen— plus Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. Friedman wrote:
he night was billed just as a Paul Simon, and that would have been enough. Simon played for over two hours with a twenty minute intermission, and covered all parts of his solo career from “You Can Call Me Al,” “Graceland,” and “Boy in the Bubble” to earlier hits like :”Me and Julio,” “Loves Me Like A Rock,” “Late in the Evening,” and “Slip Slidin’ Away.” For very old Simon fanatics, he threw in “Duncan” from his first solo album.
Simon also brought members of the cast of his late lamented Broadway show, “The Capeman,” who did some of those numbers. And he threw in some obscure but beautiful gems like “Fathers and Daughters,” “Train in the Distance,” and “You’re the One.”
But there was a buzz in the air, probably because yours truly spotted Garfunkel’s singer wife Kim in the audience. At least a couple of us knew what was going to happen: Garfunkel, flown up on a private plane from the middle of a Florida tour, took the stage to a thunderous ovation. I mean, people were screaming — even Paul McCartney.
The reunited pair sang "The Sound of Silence," "The Boxer" and "Old Friends." According to Newsday's Glenn Gamboa, Garfunkel told the audience, "The fact that you still care is tremendous." Here's video of Simon and Garfunkel performing "The Sound of Silence.
