PICKET TICKETS: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: THE ADAPTATION

The problem: It's Friday night. And, due to the strike dimming The Great White Way, you can't see the Broadway versions of the movies Hairspray, Legally Blonde, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. And you so wanted to see a version of a movie!

The solution: It's child's play. Literally. Because tonight, Anthology Film Archives screens the almost shot-by-shot remake Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation...videotaped and performed by teenagers...mostly in Mississippi...on Betamax...over the course of several years...during the 1980s!

Like some kind of rare archelogical artifact, the tape was more or less forgotten for more than a decade. Then, soon after the turn of the century, its time finally came in the form of a "world premiere" at Austin's Alamo Drafthouse, a "thumbs up" from Steven Spielberg, and a cavalcade of warmly received screenings including some at the Anthology Film Archives, which brought it back this week. With the help of friends who got $10 tickets at 6 pm for the 8 pm screening, I just saw it myself in all of its low fidelity, fell under its hypnotic spell, and greatly enjoyed the Q&A with director-performer Eric Zala and star Chris Zompolos, both very good storytellers with very good stories to tell.

One of the exciting things about watching this work is seeing how creative the low-budget copying can be. With very few resources and no video reference source for a substantial part of the shoot, the filmmaking kids worked their way through this major Hollywood film, coming up with at least some kind of solution for most of the challenges they faced—including the melting people, Myra. The more you learn the backstory, the more you can appreciate the risks and the tenacity involved. For the kids participating in the project—and the adults in their orbits—the effort was akin to that behind the making of Apocalypse Now.

If you want to get in tonight, get in line early! And wear layers so you can stand outside in the cold and be comfortable in the warm and crowded theater.

Click here for more info.

And here's a revealing interview with the filmmakers.



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JOURNEY'S END. I've recently mentioned a number of witty, satirical musicals that appeared on Broadway around 1930, but of course there was more than comedy on Broadway during that period. Eugene O'Neill explored the lighter side with the satirical Marco Millions (1928) as well as Ah, Wilderness! (1933), but he also continued his exploration of drama and tragedy with very substantial works such as Strange Interlude (1928) and Mourning Becomes Electra (1931). And, in 1929, British playwright R. C. Sherriff's World War I drama Journey's End began a successful Broadway run that lasted more than a year.

Now revived at the Belasco Theatre and well worth seeing, Journey's End is an example of excellent conventional playwriting applied to exceptionally troubling subject matter. Portraying a group of soldiers literally entrenched in one of the war's catastrophic stalemates, Journey's End involves characters who today must seem very familiar to anyone who has seen a few war movies. There's the very experienced Osborne (Boyd Gaines), the newcomer Raleigh (Stark Sands), the convivial Trotter (John Ahlin), and the jittery Hibbert (Justin Blanchard)--and there's Captain Stanhope (Hugh Dancy, pictured), who feels responsible for all of their fates and for maintaining his sense of duty to his country. In a very British way, there's even a private (Jefferson Mays) who serves as a kind of butler. As the play unfolds through Sherriff's subtly calibrated dialogue, it becomes ever clearer that we are watching these men "strut and fret their hours upon the stage," as Shakespeare put it (more or less) in Macbeth.

Sherriff, himself a veteran, seems to stay true enough to the actual experience to do justice to the soldiers' beastly predicament. Thanks to his writing and the excellent acting and direction, the play and the characters come across as meaningful and vibrant rather than hackneyed. Standing out among the company is Dancy, whose compulsive Stanhope seems to personify values compromised by war.

James Whale directed Colin Clive in a 1930 movie version of Journey's End, but it seems that no version of the play is readily available in the United States. That's the case with Aces High, which transposed the setting to the air war.

Now...about the ticket situation. As far as I can tell, there's no reason (except the very good reason of "supporting the arts") for a reader of this post to pay full price for a ticket to Journey's End. Discounts are available via online sites such as Playbill. Tickets should also be available via TKTS. (Save time by using the express window for plays.) And, based on my experience (granted, on St. Patrick's Day, when the weather wasn't great), a $36.25 balcony seat might get you an automatic upgrade into the mezzanine zone (where there was a very annoying noise by audience right). So if money is no object, pay full price; if it's a slight object, go for the discount on the better seats; and if you need a bargain, you can still go for the cheaper seats and have a good experience.

Photo: Paul Kolnik

SONDHEIM'S FOLLIES. This weekend Encores! opens its new season with a very strong and thoroughly well-cast revival of Stephen Sondheim's 1971 musical Follies. Having enjoyed last night's performance, I now consider it one of my very favorite Sondheim musicals (with Sweeney Todd).

Follies portrays veterans of a show called Weismann's Follies as they gather for their first and last reunion. The main plot revolves around two former actresses and their dissatisfaction with their husbands, whom they met while double-dating during their showbiz days. Over the course of the show, the couples and other characters perform numbers that reflect on their former and current lives. There are varying degrees of interplay between the reuniting cast members and figures representing their younger selves.

Last night Victoria Clark (Sally) and the stunningly glammed-up Donna Murphy (Phyllis) were excellent in their lead roles, shining in their climactic second-act numbers. Mimi Hines (Hattie) was a delight performing "Broadway Baby" and Jo Anne Worley (Stella) impressed with her delivery of "Who's That Woman?" I was tickled to hear Yvonne Constant (Solange) perform the folies-style "Ah, Paris!" And Encores! favorite Christine Baranski (Carlotta) offered an expertly shaped "I'm Still Here," though some of her lyrics did not come through in the nosebleed seats.

The production is directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw of The Drowsy Chaperone, a show that also views past musicals with something approximating 20-20 hindsight. An extra performance of Follies has been added on Monday, February 12.

Here's the late Yvonne DeCarlo (the original Carlotta) discussing and singing "her" song, "I'm Still Here," on The David Frost Show.



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Here's Alexis Smith (the original Phyllis) performing a version of "The Story of Lucy and Jesse" at the 1975 Tony Awards.



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Here's little Daisy Eagan with an unusual rendering of "Broadway Baby." What a charmer!



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And here's "Who's that Woman?" from the 1987 London production.



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