Life Upon The Sacred Stage

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Silence
2007-07-24 22:03:00
"To the mind that is still the whole universe surrenders."-- Buddha"Artists need silence because inspiration arises from silence. I've been watching very carefully this principle of silence and what it means. I've not experienced it yet to the extent I'd like to experience it, but it seems to grow in you if you pay attention to it."-- Phylicia Rashad
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Grasmere
2007-07-23 18:57:00
I think the play could have had potential, but with this stiff acting and those dreadful English accents, it’s hard to tell. What I liked was the feminist perspective. It’s really Dorothy Wordsworth’s story. Her famous brother, William, and his friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge, come off as weak and, in the case of William, self-involved and pompous. That may not serve those two poets well, but it’s interesting to hear from a conflicted Dorothy, who is definitely not living happily ever after at Dove Cottage. William and Samuel spend much time talking about being poets. “There’s a word for the unknown poet,” William says. “What is it? Freedom?” “Poverty,” Samuel replies. William talks about longing, “It’s what drives us to write,” he says, although the only longing he seems to have is to hear his own voice. Dorothy can play the supportive sister only so long before she tells them they are lucky “to have the luxury of your gender.”...

Try optimism
2007-07-19 22:26:00
"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit."-- Helen Keller
More About: Opti , Optimism

The Theory of Color
2007-07-17 15:54:00
I was most impressed with Celeste Moratti who plays Elena, an Italian-born artist who finds herself transplanted from New York City to a remote island off the coast of Maine when her husband, Tom, accepts a job as the town doctor. Unfortunately, she must play against the production’s weakest element, Niall O’Hegarty as Tom. This seven-character play by Lella Heins is a soap opera of a play, with schizophrenia, alcoholism, adultery, abortion, attempted suicide, an eating disorder, latent homosexuality and a possible pedophile priest. That’s OK because soap operas can be entertaining and this play overall is entertaining. Elena and Tom arrive at the end of the summer vacation season and soon meet several of the locals who traipse in and out of their house at unexpected times -- a priest with a penchant for the bottle, a schizophrenic maid who’s convinced that the other townspeople are out to kill her and a young man experiencing serious jitters about his upcoming we...
More About: Color , Theory , Theo

A Thousand Cranes
2007-07-16 19:29:00
I was deeply moved by this simple play. It’s amazing what three actors with a few props can do in only 40 minutes. “A Thousand Cran es” is based on the true story of Sadako, a 12-year-old Japanese girl, and her battle with leukemia. I had heard this story before but forgotten its details. They were brought beautifully to life in this production of Kathryn Schultz Miller’s play. Two years old when the bomb fell on Hiroshima, Sadako was sheltered by her mother and seemed to have escaped damage. Ten years later, she is training to run in a race, pushing herself to go faster and faster. When fatigue sets in and she is unable to run much, her illness is diagnosed. As her situation seems hopeless medically, she embraces an old legend, that if she makes 1,000 paper cranes her wish will be granted by the gods. We see her pursue this task as determinedly as she did her running, but death takes her before she completes it. In the epilogue, standing on a chair, she te...

Trust
2007-07-15 22:12:00
"All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen."--Ralph Waldo EmersonThe Sisters of Charity of New York follow a similar idea -- trusting an unknown future to a known God.
More About: Trust , Rust

Xanadu
2007-07-13 21:35:00
What a crazy little show, a combination of Broadway musical and “Saturday Night Live.” Actually it was more SNL than I would have liked, but anything that features, much less stars, Kerry Butler is OK with me. I wish I had seen the 1980 movie “Xanadu ” before seeing this musical parody because I felt left out of some to the jokes. The woman behind me laughed hysterically throughout and the audience in general laughed from beginning to end. The premise has comic potential (silly comic potential) -- muses who come to life out of a sidewalk chalk mural find that rather than their intended destination of Venice in 1780, they have ended up in Venice Beach, CA, in 1980, which sets the stage for an evening full of jokes about that cultural wasteland of an era. Most were funny, but then instantly forgettable. The muses -- nine sisters, two of whom are gay men -- end up offering their inspiration to Sonny, the creator of the chalk art who is ready to commit suicide unt...

Broadway Blessing 2007
2007-07-12 23:42:00
MARIAN SELDES AND FRANCES STERNHAGEN ARE AMONG THE PERFORMING ARTISTS WHO WILL BE APPEARING AT THIS YEAR’S BROADWAY BLESSING, 7 P.M. SEPT. 10 AT THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE, 1047 AMSTERDAM AVE. AT 112TH ST. The evening will begin with a Hebrew chant by Rabbi Jill Hausman of the Actors’ Temple. Three Mo’ Tenors, who will be appearing in September at the Little Shubert Theatre, will follow with a gospel medley and later sing “Make Them Hear You” from “Ragtime.” Ms. Seldes (in photo) and Ms. Sternhagen will offer a dialogue/meditation about their lives in the theatre. Pianist Mary-Mitchell Campbell, who won a Drama Desk Award in May for her work as musical director of “Company,” will perform and composer/lyricist/playwright Phil Hall’s group, passage, made up of Andy Redeker, Chad McCallon, and Jeff Applegate, will sing “The Moon Will Shine Its Light” from “Matthew Passion,” Mr. Hall’s play that had a successful off-Broad way run in the spri...
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Art and Imagination
2007-07-12 22:03:00
"Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth."--Picasso"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."--Albert Einstein

Three Mo' Tenors
2007-07-11 19:05:00
See them first at Broadway Blessing!After receiving rave reviews and playing to sold houses across the country and internationally, Three Mo' Teno rs (www.ThreeMoTenorsOnTour.com) will arrive in the fall at the Little Shubert Theatre (422 W. 42nd Street). Conceived, directed and choreographed by Marion J. Caffey, this exciting musical event begins previews on Sept. 12, with opening night set for Sept. 27.Before that, though, you can experience their “joyful noise” on Sept. 10 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. I am thrilled they’re able to join us this year. I heard them in concert in the spring of 2006 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was wowed. I asked producer Willette Murphy Klausner if they could be with us last year for our 10th anniversary celebration. She tried to work it out, but the scheduling just didn’t work. I told her they’d have an open door to appear anytime they were in town. And oh how happy I am that this year is the year. They will si...

Just Like Heaven
2007-07-11 18:31:00
I got this charming little movie out of the library yesterday and watched it last night. It’s a lovely way to spend a hot summer night -- a light romantic comedy starring Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo, who proves how funny he can be. (I already knew how funny Reese is.) Ruffalo plays David, a man still mourning for his wife who died two years ago. He sublets an apartment -- with a great view of San Francisco! -- in which Witherspoon, as Elizabeth, appears at unexpected times. He thinks she’s a spirit; she thinks she’s alive. Together they set out to find the truth and, no surprise, fall in love.I had never heard of this movie, but I’m so glad I stumbled upon it. I enjoyed it from beginning to end and will probably get it out again sometime. Check it out!
More About: Heaven

David Pomeranz
2007-07-10 23:21:00
I received this greeting from Davi d recently:“I send you my warmest wishes. I am presently recording an album in the Philippines for the next weeks and am very blessed with these great and lovely people in my life.” If any of you were at Broadway Blessing 2005 you had the joy of hearing David sing “Half a Dream,” a song he composed for Kathie Lee Gifford’s lyrics for the delightful off-Broadway musical “Under the Bridge.” My friend Lorraine Cates said later, “Wow, he is such a great performer.” Yes he is, and a great person too.I have one of the CDs he recorded in the Philippines several years ago, “The Eyes of Christmas,” which I love. I’m looking forward to this new one. David told me he considers himself an adopted son of the Philippines and he returns often; his concerts in 7,000-seat venues are regularly sold out. His concerts in this country also attract large Filipino audiences. Being a hit recording artist and performer in one of the world’s m...
More About: Meran

Frances Sternhagen and Marian Seldes
2007-07-10 23:14:00
I had a nice phone chat yesterday with Franny Sternhagen (in photo) who is recuperating from toe surgery at her home in New Rochelle. She and Mari an Seldes will be appearing at this year’s Broadway Blessing, Sept. 10 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.I asked if she and Maria n would do a dialogue/meditation about their lives in the theatre. I had the privilege of interviewing the two of them together at last summer’s Christians in Theatre Arts (CITA) conference and they were fascinating. Afterwards, Dale Savidge, CITA’s executive director, took the three of us our for lunch. He joke later that at times we might as well not have even been there, Marian and Franny got so into their conversation. He didn’t say this as a complaint -- we both loved listening to them. They were two old friends talking about their lives and careers, it’s just that in this case the lives and careers involved bold face name after bold face name and decades of lived theatre history. From ...
More About: Frances , Franc