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jeremy
Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 5:36 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 6794 Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
I really didn't understand the great reviews for Mendes' Bond effort and was seriously disappointed to learn that he may get the gig again. I think there's so much good will (still!!) for Bond that critics are inclined to praise it just for not being terrible.

The series is crying out for a brave director with some genuine cinemnatc flair to inject some life into it. I'd nominate that Spanishy guy, Alfonso Toro or mayby Danny Boyle or Fincher or...

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marantzo
Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 6:13 pm Reply with quote
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Couldn't agree with you more, Jeremy. Mendes constantly drags out a movie. He's afraid to edit and he screwed up Skyfall because of that.
knox
Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 11:40 am Reply with quote
Joined: 18 Mar 2010 Posts: 1245 Location: St. Louis
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0ehsfiJ2N1qdlh1io1_250.gif
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bartist
Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 1:33 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
If any of the New Yorkers here get a chance to see Bryan Cranston as LBJ, would be most interested in your thoughts.

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carrobin
Posted: Sat May 03, 2014 12:20 am Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 7795 Location: NYC
There's too much good stuff I'm missing already--the LBJ play is low on my priorities list.

Then again, so was "Kinky Boots," but my friend whose birthday it was wanted to see it and I like both Lauper and Fierstein, so we found some discounted tickets and went last night. It's a cheerful energetic musical with no particular standout songs, and the plot is connect-the-dots predictable (even if you haven't seen the movie). In other words, a good basic Broadway musical but nothing special. Billy Porter, who won the Tony last year for his performance, is worth seeing (going over the top, but that's mostly his drag queen persona--I thought his best scene was the one in which he and the boss are singing about their fathers).

I think there must be more men in drag than there are actual women on Broadway stages at the moment. At least that's one trend that LBJ probably doesn't follow.
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Syd
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 5:42 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
The Metropolitan Opera is beginning its new season of simulcasts, starting today with "The Marriage of Figaro," which was delightful. It was set in the 1930s, which made the plot point about the Count wanting to have the "first night" privilege with Figaro's wife anachronistic. It did allow for the "wedding photo of Figaro." The hormone-crazed lad Cherubino was played by a woman (I think the usual practice), which gave an oddly lesbian tone to some of his scenes. The actress, though, was a lot of fun, including in a couple of scenes where she had to dress up as a woman. Although Figaro is the star, Susanna is an incredible amount of fun, and the actress was obviously enjoying all the "How do I get into this" moments. The music, of course, was brilliant, and everyone was in fine voice.

This was the best of the Met productions I've seen, and certainly the most fun of any opera I've seen except maybe Cosi fan Tutte, which is another Mozart. Next month the Met's showing "The Barber of Seville," which should also be enormous fun.

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Syd
Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 9:52 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
Checking on Wikipedia, Cherubino is a soprano part, and was played by a woman in Mozart's first production (which he directed--Mozart must have been a lot of fun). The part is played by a woman in drag, which is especially fun when she plays a boy who is disguised as a woman. Victor/Victoria, 18th century style. Cherubino also has two of the finest arias in The Marriage of Figaro, and has a serious problem getting laid because his name is Cherubino and he's a soprano.

PS: Don't believe the nonsense of The Marriage of Figaro being controversial in its time. The original story was (because of political commentary), but Joseph II personally approved the libretto (which omitted the political commentary), had a command performance, and the opera has been a staple in the opera world for 230 years because (1) it's brilliant and (2) it's hilarious. It's not often that I go to an opera and have the audience laughing out loud.

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Syd
Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2014 5:00 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
I'm back from Carmen, which is the tragic story of a woman who goes through extreme measures to get tickets to a sporting event and never gets to attend. It's a cautionary tale for all cigarette girls (a rather amusing euphemism).

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carrobin
Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2015 10:20 am Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 7795 Location: NYC
Finally, after the knee problems that made theatergoing a challenge, I saw "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time." Having read the book and the theater critics, I had had it at the top of my list for a couple of years, and I just missed out on seeing the actor who won the Tony, who left a few weeks back. But I don't see how he could have been any better than Tyler Lea as the autistic teenager who decides to find out who killed the neighbor's dog. I was particularly interested in seeing how the train ride to London was handled on stage, and it was brilliant (in all respects). As an anglophile who loves the sedate and dependable English trains, I found his unnerving experiences fascinating and well depicted in high-tech lights and design. (The people who left as soon as the curtain fell missed out on a nice little colorful explanation of an A-level math solution.)
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bartist
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 10:12 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
Argh, this is when I wish I lived near the large apple. I really like the book. Maybe they'll take it on the road.

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Syd
Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 9:27 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
I'm watching the 1979 film version of Don Giovanni which isn't entirely successful, though it has lots of beautiful arias, most of which are about killing Don Giovanni. After this, I'll have to seek out less well-known Mozart operas.

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inlareviewer
Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2015 5:57 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 05 Jul 2004 Posts: 1949 Location: Lawrence, KS
Some recent published efforts:

Jake Broder's (Louis & Keely Live at the Sahara, His Royal Hipness Lord Buckley) jazz-infused conflation of Cyrano de Bergerac and Hermann Hesse's Gertrude:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-miravel-at-sacred-fools-theater-company-20151117-story.html

Stephen Schwartz's first-ever revue, done specifically for the Princess Cruise lines:

http://www.americantheatre.org/2015/10/28/stephen-schwartz-has-magic-to-do-at-sea/

The resconstituted Carrie: The Musical at the historic Los Angeles Theatre:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-carrie-musical-review-los-angeles-theatre-20151012-story.html

And (our favorite show of the year thus far), the West Coast premiere of the Stonewall docu-fantasia, Hit The Wall

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-review-hit-the-wall-at-the-davidson-valentini-theatre-20150922-story.html

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carrobin
Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2016 11:55 pm Reply with quote
Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 7795 Location: NYC
R.I.P. Edward Albee. He was 88.
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bartist
Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2016 9:55 am Reply with quote
Joined: 27 Apr 2010 Posts: 6941 Location: Black Hills
I was an admirer. In the boonies, I came to know some of his plays only by reading the scripts, like Seascape and The Zoo Story. Even minus actors and sets, I was blown away. He got to the heart of the human psyche.

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Syd
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2016 3:40 pm Reply with quote
Site Admin Joined: 21 May 2004 Posts: 12887 Location: Norman, Oklahoma
I've been watching the first "Shakespeare Uncovered" disc on DVD and really enjoyed it. This disc has Ethan Hawke on "Macbeth," which is erratic, and two excellent discussions, first of Viola and Rosalind from comedies (and how well Shakespeare handled women), and Derek Jacobi on "Richard II," which I consider the first of his truly great plays. At that point, he'd also written "The Taming of the Shrew" which is pretty good, "Richard III," which has some good scenes but not enough, and a bunch of minor plays. Unfortunately, Jacobi is a De Vere partisan, but that only mars a minute or so and we get back to a discussion of the play.

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