Film
The Theater Jerk Guide to New Releases on Netflix
Been a while since I did this, but I like to point out vague theatrical themes in films recently added to the vast repositories of Netflix. These are the types of flicks I personally seek out and plan to watch. Go figure. In no particular order… Carry On Cowboy and Carry on Cleo. A couple … Continue reading
Stars of Stage and Screen: Review of The Bretts—The Complete Collection DVD box set
The Bretts: The Complete Collection (2011, Acorn Media) My father imagined himself in the tradition of the great old British actor/managers of yore—he was English, and for decades he ran summer stock theaters where he regularly directed, acted and consulted on everything from design to promotion. That actor/manager model seems ancient now, at least in … Continue reading
Theater-related “New Arrivals” on Netflix
Airplane: “What’s his problem?” “That’s Lieutenant Hurwitz. Severe shellshock. Thinks he’s Ethel Merman.” (The misspelling of Merman’s surname in the YouTube clip above is not my fault.) Some Like It Hot: Features an actual vaudevillean, Joe E. Brown. Plus Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in drag. Plus Marilyn Monroe playing a ukulele. Of course … Continue reading
The Norman Conquests on DVD: Ayckbourn with camera angles
A BBC radio documentary found online this week (Ayckbourn in Action, on Radio 4) shows a side of Alan Ayckoborn not often considered by the prolific playwright’s more casual fans—namely that he’s also a prolific director. Indeed, Ayckbourn is quoted in the program saying he considers himself a director first and a writer second The … Continue reading
15 Theater-related “New Arrivals” on Netflix
A random survey. All these “New” or “Recent” titles at www.netflix.com are in the “Watch Instantly” mode, so you don’t have to wait for days by the mailbox to find out that I’ve recommended sheer crap. Almighty Thor: A Norse-god-in-the-modern-world superhero epic released in 2011, yet it’s NOT the Kenneth Branagh Thor. This one is … Continue reading
Having a Wonderful Time, Wish You Were Here
I’m still in L.A. The pop-up Engine 28, for which I and 20 fellow Fellows from USC Annenberg’s NEA Arts Journalism Institute for Theater been working all week, has popped back down and won’t be adding any new stories or posts. The site was a purposefully short-lived thing, which we loaded up with hundreds of … Continue reading
Memphis in print
The musical Memphis teems with Connecticut regional theater connections. While it did NOT have an out-of-town try-out or workshop at Goodspeed Musicals (main developer of Broadway-friendly song-and-dance shows in the state, from Man of La Mancha to Annie to All Shook Up), Memphis availed itself of the expertise of producer Sue Frost (who left her … Continue reading
The Viewing List
A dozen stage-savvy flicks among the “new arrivals” on Netflix’s Watch Instantly list: 1. Orson Welles & Me. It’s a self-conscious period piece self-consciously presenting a teen idol, Zac Efron, in his first “mature” role (though he’s still playing a teenager). Yet it strenuously avoids dumbing down its story. Names like John Gassner and Brooks … Continue reading
Won Before
The indie film Win Win is opening wide this week. Its director, Tom McCarthy, and its star, Paul Giamatti, both studied acting at the Yale School of Drama in the mid-90s, and I have indelible memories of each of them. As Duke Orsino, McCarthy provided exquisite framing moments for one of the best Twelfth Nights … Continue reading
Crock
Isn’t putting Tom Cruise and Alec Baldwin in the film of Rock of Ages a little like putting Oliver Reed and Jack Nicholson in the movie of Tommy, or Steve Martin and Frankie Howerd in the Bee Gees’ Sergeant Pepper, or Eddie Izzard in Across the Universe? It seems to be one of those bragging … Continue reading