KUDOS FOR KIMBERLY!

The latest Broadway revival of Grease hasn't been getting very good reviews, but Blog About Town favorite Kimberly Grigsby seems to be rising above it all.

"Some of the best dancing at 'Grease' isn't on stage, but above it - in the loft where Kimberly Grigsby leads the band.

"Pelvis rocking, fingers flying - the willowy brunette isn't so much conducting the music as she is channeling it, riding with the rhythms and lip-syncing the lyrics, visible via video monitors, to the actors onstage...."
—Barbara Hoffman, New York Post (August 20, 2007)

"The real performance happens above the sanitized stage, where a tough and terrific conductor named Kimberly Grigsby leads the band from a synthesizer while tossing her pony tail and dancing as if she means it. Dare you to watch anybody else."
—Linda Winer, Newsday (August 19, 2007)

"Another positive element in the set is the perch for the cooking band under Kimberly Grigsby, a dressy conductor who dances as she directs an ensemble - whose tenor sax man, John Scarpulla, contributes eloquently to the '50s sound."
—Malcolm Johnson, Hartford Courant (August 20, 2007)

"The orchestra, conducted by Kimberly Grigsby, is perched on a catwalk above the stage. Grigsby, who also plays the synthesizer, puts on quite a show herself, particularly after the actors have taken their curtain calls at the end of the musical and she lets the band rock theatergoers out of the Brooks Atkinson."
—Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press (August 20, 1007)

This sounds a lot like what Grigsby did so wonderfully in Two Gentleman of Verona—which was also directed by Kathleen Marshall.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

FLOWERS FOR LUCIA

Last week I saw the superb new production of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan Opera—and I'm still energized by the experience!

Lucia is an Italian opera from 1835 about a Scottish lass who falls in love with a man who's caught in a blood feud with her own brother! Talk about uncautious!! And ill-fated!!!

The hype about the production revolves around the French diva Natalie Dessay, who deployed cagey acting in her well-shaped interpretations of Lucia's celebrated arias. Another attraction is the direction of Mary Zimmerman, the MacArthur fellowship recipient who won a 2002 Tony for Metamorphoses. With the very generous helping of talent at Zimmerman's disposal, the production is unusually well-rounded as a theatrical as well as a musical event. The three male leads—Mariusz Kwiecien as Enrico (Lucia's brother), Marcello Giordani as Edgardo (Lucia's love), and John Relyea as Raimondo)—all very strong, have roles in which they attempt to dominate Lucia; as the opera unfolds they come to dominate her vocally and also seem to tower over her more and more. She's an incredible shrinking Lucia!

The excellent casting extends to Michaela Martens, who brought her full-bodied voice to the character Alicia and Stephen Costello, a diplomatically sweet-voiced Arturo. And the music! Deborah Hoffman's harp solo (on a Lyon & Healy Style 23 harp?) was exquisite, Cecilia Brauer added armonica atmospherics to the Mad Scene, and the entire orchestra was, as usual, wonderfully responsive to James Levine's baton. (I'm beginning to hear the same kind of push-the-envelope quality in Donizetti's score that I've heard in Beethoven's later work.) The sets ranged from an old-fashioned outdoor scene to a minimalist, somewhat cartoonish, ruin of a castle—strangely yet successfully eclectic.

Hell, I even liked the wedding scene, which Anthony Tommasini (and others) criticized for its clustering of the guests into a photo pose: "Though the moment is beautifully directed, this staging device, again, overwhelmed the stirring performance." Me, I thought it complemented the performance. If I remember correctly, the moment when the flash went off was a dramatic turning point: Yes, Enrico had just succeeded in wedding Lucia to Arturo and estranging her from Edgardo...but, immediately after his contrived "picture perfect" moment, Lucia collapses, a scrim separates her from everyone else, and everything starts to unravel.

The audience Thursday night was generous with its applause, but (to my surprise) there were no flowers for Lucia. So I suppose this is my blog-bouquet for Natalie Dessay and everyone else involved in the production.

$20 rush tickets are available for performances of this particular Lucia on Monday, October 1, 2007 (8:00 pm) and Tuesday, October 9, 2007 (8:00 pm). They go on sale at the Met at 6:00 pm each performance day; on Thursday, it was wise (but, it turned out, unnecessary) to show up by 4:45 pm.

Here's a glimpse of one of Dessay's "Mad Scene" performances. Crazy!



Source (00:34)

WHERE WAS I? OSCAR SPECIAL 2008 As usual, anyone can play; just use a distinctive moniker (not Anonymous) so we can tell who you are.

So this is how this one goes: Leave your Oscar guesses in the comments section by 7 pm EST on Sunday, February 24, 2008. Top score gets a point. Any score that beats my score gets a point. (My ignorant picks are boldfaced.) And anyone who gets the BONUS question right gets a point.

I'd like to thank the Academy for the following list.

Actor in a leading role
George Clooney in "Michael Clayton"
Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood"
Johnny Depp in "Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
Tommy Lee Jones in "In the Valley of Elah"
Viggo Mortensen in "Eastern Promises"

Actor in a supporting role
Casey Affleck in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men"
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War"
Hal Holbrook in "Into the Wild"
Tom Wilkinson in "Michael Clayton"

Actress in a leading role
Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
Julie Christie in "Away from Her"
Marion Cotillard in "La Vie en Rose"
Laura Linney in "The Savages"
Ellen Page in "Juno"

Actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett in "I'm Not There"
Ruby Dee in "American Gangster"
Saoirse Ronan in "Atonement"
Amy Ryan in "Gone Baby Gone"
Tilda Swinton in "Michael Clayton"

Animated feature film
"Persepolis"
"Ratatouille"
"Surf's Up"

Art direction
"American Gangster"
"Atonement"
"The Golden Compass"
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
"There Will Be Blood"

Cinematography
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
"Atonement"
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Costume design
"Across the Universe"
"Atonement"
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
"La Vie en Rose"
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"

Directing
Julian Schnabel, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
Jason Reitman, "Juno"
Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"
Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood"

Documentary feature
"No End in Sight"
"Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience"
"Sicko"
"Taxi to the Dark Side"
"War/Dance"

Documentary short subject
"Freeheld"
"La Corona (The Crown)"
"Salim Baba"
"Sari's Mother"

Film editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"Into the Wild"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Foreign language film
"Beaufort" Israel
"The Counterfeiters" Austria
"Katyn" Poland
"Mongol" Kazakhstan
"12" Russia

Makeup
"La Vie en Rose"
"Norbit"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"

Score
"Atonement"
"The Kite Runner"
"Michael Clayton"
"Ratatouille"
"3:10 to Yuma"

Song
"Falling Slowly" from "Once"
"Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted"
"Raise It Up" from "August Rush"
"So Close" from "Enchanted"
"That's How You Know" from "Enchanted"

Motion picture
"Atonement"
"Juno"
"Michael Clayton"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Animated short
"I Met the Walrus"
"Madame Tutli-Putli"
"Même les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)"
"My Love (Moya Lyubov)"
"Peter & the Wolf"

Live action short
"At Night"
"Il Supplente (The Substitute)"
"Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)"
"Tanghi Argentini"
"The Tonto Woman"

Sound editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"No Country for Old Men"
"Ratatouille"
"There Will Be Blood"
"Transformers"

Sound mixing
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"No Country for Old Men"
"Ratatouille"
"3:10 to Yuma"
"Transformers"

Visual effects
"The Golden Compass"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"
"Transformers"

Adapted screenplay
"Atonement"
"Away from Her"
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Original screenplay
"Juno"
"Lars and the Real Girl"
"Michael Clayton"
"Ratatouille"
"The Savages"

BONUS I recently attended a party where guests were asked to wear tags sporting a movie title or movie line that best represented themselves. All of the following were used; guess which one was mine.

"8½"
"I've got a mind for business and a bod for sin"
"Manufacturing Consent"
"No Country for Old Men"
"The Queen"

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION CONTESTS CONTINUE!

In Caption Contest 105 (tidal wave in a built-in pool), the winner is

"I told you this house was too close to the moon."
Laura Hipp (Jackson, MS)

Now Mississippi and Missouri have two wins each.


Leaders California and New York are looking good in Caption Contest 107 (man and dog wait with beer and junk food bag while woman and cat work on equation):

"Trust me, my lessons have way more real-world applications."
Oren Uziel (Brooklyn, NY)

"You want to impress me? Drive to the store and get me more beer."
Ken Hoffman (Los Gatos, CA)

"Don't worry—they'll never actually build it."
Warren Dennis (Santa Barbara, CA)

My loser:

"It's easy to calculate. Take away the beer and the chips, then all that remains is you and me, old friend, just you and me."

At Anti-Caption Contest 108 (cavepeople watching caveperson sweeping outside modern building, with volcano erupting in distance), the winner is

"Since we lost the baby, he just spends all day out there, in this 'garage' thing he built. It's like he can't even stand to be around me."
Ed C

My loser:

Cleanliness is next to troglodytes.

That might remind you of my Honorable Mention in Anti-Caption Contest 84:

Cleanliness is next to Ghostliness

Caption Contest 109 is here. Anti-Caption Contest 109 is here.


THE STANDINGS

Here is the current New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest breakdown by state. You can find it all mapped out here.

18 California

16 New York (14 from the Big Apple)

9 New Jersey

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania

4 Connecticut (two from New Haven, two not)

3 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
3 Illinois
3 Maryland (none named Mary)
3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 North Carolina
3 Ohio

2 District of Columbia
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Rhode Island
2 Texas
2 Utah
2 Virginia

1 Alabama
1 Arizona
1 Florida
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Vermont
1 Washington

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

The BAT Challenge: Oscar Special 2009!

It's that time of year again: Pick the most winners, get a point. Do better than I do, get a point. Vote by 6pm ET on Sunday, February 22, 2009. Good luck!

I'd like to thank the Academy for this list.

UPDATE February 21 I've now bolded my picks.

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Richard Jenkins in "The Visitor"
Frank Langella in "Frost/Nixon"
Sean Penn in "Milk"
Brad Pitt in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler"

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Josh Brolin in "Milk"
Robert Downey Jr. in "Tropic Thunder"
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Doubt"
Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight"
Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road"

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Anne Hathaway in "Rachel Getting Married"
Angelina Jolie in "Changeling"
Melissa Leo in "Frozen River"
Meryl Streep in "Doubt"
Kate Winslet in "The Reader"

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Amy Adams in "Doubt"
Penélope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Viola Davis in "Doubt"
Taraji P. Henson in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Marisa Tomei in "The Wrestler"

Best animated feature film of the year
"Bolt"
"Kung Fu Panda"
"WALL-E"

Achievement in art direction
"Changeling"
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Dark Knight"
"The Duchess"
"Revolutionary Road"

Achievement in cinematography
"Changeling"
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Dark Knight"
"The Reader"
"Slumdog Millionaire"

Achievement in costume design
"Australia"
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Duchess"
"Milk"
"Revolutionary Road"

Achievement in directing
David Fincher, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Ron Howard, "Frost/Nixon"
Gus Van Sant, "Milk"
Stephen Daldry, "The Reader"
Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire"

Best documentary feature
"The Betrayal"
"Encounters at the End of the World"
"The Garden"
"Man on Wire"
"Trouble the Water"

Best documentary short subject
"The Conscience of Nhem En"
"The Final Inch"
"Smile Pinki"
"The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306"

Achievement in film editing
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Dark Knight"
"Frost/Nixon"
"Milk"
"Slumdog Millionaire"

Best foreign language film of the year
"The Baader Meinhof Complex"
"The Class"
"Departures"
"Revanche"
"Waltz with Bashir"

Achievement in makeup
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Dark Knight"
"Hellboy II: The Golden Army"

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Defiance"
"Milk"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
"WALL-E"

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"Down to Earth" from "WALL-E" (Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman)
"Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire" (A.R. Rahman and Gulzar)
"O Saya" from "Slumdog Millionaire" (A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam)

Best motion picture of the year
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Frost/Nixon"
"Milk"
"The Reader"
"Slumdog Millionaire"

Best animated short film
"La Maison en Petits Cubes"
"Lavatory - Lovestory"
"Oktapodi"
"Presto"
"This Way Up"

Best live action short film
"Auf der Strecke (On the Line)"
"Manon on the Asphalt"
"New Boy"
"The Pig"
"Spielzeugland (Toyland)"

Achievement in sound editing
"The Dark Knight"
"Iron Man"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
"WALL-E"
"Wanted"

Achievement in sound mixing
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Dark Knight"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
"WALL-E"
"Wanted"

Achievement in visual effects
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"The Dark Knight"
"Iron Man"

Adapted screenplay
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Doubt"
"Frost/Nixon"
"The Reader"
"Slumdog Millionaire"

Original screenplay
"Frozen River"
"Happy-Go-Lucky"
"In Bruges"
"Milk"
"WALL-E"

Photo: David Marc Fischer

CARTOON CAPTION/ANTI-CAPTION CONTESTS CONTINUE!

OMG! This has turned out to be an unusually interesting time in Captionistan!! At least for me!!!

Over in Anti-Caption Contest 110 (ambulatory patient observes nurse pushing crash-test dummy in wheelchair), the winner is

"It seems incredibly unfair to me that a lifeless dummy gets to ride in a wheelchair while we humans are forced to walk."
Meatbomb

However, one of my own submissions made it to the Finalist spot! That would be

"I hear the nurse screws him all night long."

I think that's the best I've done so far, so naturally I'm very proud of that caption. Still, I wouldn't want to neglect my loser:

"Either I'm NUTS, or he's got a couple of loose SCREWS!"

Meanwhile, in Caption Contest 109 (aircraft passenger seated next to giant microbe), Contest 73 winner Colin Nissan has resurfaced among the candidates:

"I hate connecting through Roswell."
James Montana (Arlington, VA)

"This guy's wife lets him drink on the plane!"
Shawn Broderick (Cottage Grove, OR)

"I don't care if he's single-celled, he should have bought two seats."
Colin Nissan (Brooklyn, NY)

So watch your back, two-time weekly winner Carl Gable!

And my loser?

"Next time you get the middle seat."

At Caption Contest 107 (man with beer and dog near woman teaching equations to cat), the winner could only have been from top-two states California or New York. When the dust settled, the Golden State had taken the prize with

"You want to impress me? Drive to the store and get me more beer."
Ken Hoffman (Los Gatos, CA)

So that gives California a 19-16 lead over New York, with New Jersey trailing in third place with 9 wins.


In other news, Emdashes drew my attention to the Mick Stevens's collection of "First OK" stories of New Yorker cartoonists. And I note that, on the West Coast, Ben of I Can't Believe It's Not Better! conducts his own caption contest coverage.


Caption Contest 110 is here. Anti-Caption Contest 110 is here.


THE STANDINGS

Here is the current New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest breakdown by state. You can find it all mapped out here.

19 California

16 New York (14 from the Big Apple)

9 New Jersey

6 Massachusetts
6 Pennsylvania

4 Connecticut (two from New Haven, two not)

3 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
3 Illinois
3 Maryland (none named Mary)
3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 North Carolina
3 Ohio

2 District of Columbia
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Rhode Island
2 Texas
2 Utah
2 Vermont
2 Virginia

1 Alabama
1 Arizona
1 Florida
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Washington

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Image by David Marc Fischer using Samsung cameraphone

Movies for Cheapskates: Last Chance Harvey

The New York Observer and Overture Films are offering passes to an NYC screening of Last Chance Harvey.

Starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson and Kathy Baker and James Brolin and Eileen Atkins, Last Chance Harvey is the story of indie movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's attempt to find the golden ticket that will enable him to fulfill his dream of visiting Willy Wonka's famed chocolate factory.

Date Tuesday, December 16
Time 7pm
Place Uptown

To apply for the passes, click here.

I kinda like the trailer—a sign of age?



Source (2:30)

DAVID'S DVD CORNER: TV SPECIAL!

Animaniacs, Vol. 1 and Pinky and the Brain, Vol. 1
My college friend Ben first turned me on to these witty 'toons, among producer Steven Spielberg's greatest achievements.

Masters of Horror: Homecoming
Thanks again to Ben for tipping me off to this episode from the scary Showtime series! Director Joe Dante serves up a daring, dizzying mix of zombie horror, political satire, and sheer silliness with this controversial Iraqi war revamping of Dale Bailey's story Death and Suffrage. If you're too chicken to watch it (or if you've seen it and you want to learn more about it), check out this Village Voice article by Dennis Lim. (To those who have seen Homecoming: I'm not the Production Designer, though I think I would've done something similar with those two gravestones.)

Naked City (Set 1, Set 2, Set 3)
From the listing for Media Funhouse Episode 659:

"I celebrate my birthday this year with a presentation of select clips and reviews of the recent DVD releases of Naked City episodes. The program is notable for its incredible location shooting in the five boroughs and for its sad, nearly grim, noir-style plotting. Based on the 1948 movie of the same name, the show’s only 'normal' moments focused on sensitive, Freudian police detective Paul Burke, his gruff boss Horace McMahon, and always chipper sidekick Harry Bellaver; each episode generally spun into high gear when covering the life of a criminal or disaffected city dweller. In this episode, I discuss the show’s 'cold openings' where we join the crooks/misfits in media res and try to figure out exactly where the show will go from there. Also discussed are the fledgling stars who appeared on the program, most of whom were struggling NYC theater actors or film stars who had moved down the work-scale, and the noir directors and scripters who moved on to this series after the noir cycle had wound down in the mid/late ’50s. Last up is a discussion of favorite Funhouse actresses as they appeared on the show as mere lasses: Sandy Dennis, Barbara Harris, and the ever-radiant Tuesday Weld. All three starred in particularly grim episodes that can truly be labeled 'TV noir.'"

Other talent involved in the series: Alan Alda, Diahann Carroll, Lee J. Cobb, William Daniels, Robert Duvall, Peter Falk, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Hopper, Walter Matthau, Burgess Meredith, Gene Roddenberry, Claude Rains, Maureen Stapleton, Rip Torn, and Eli Wallach. I understand that Torn claims that one episode inspired the movie Bonnie and Clyde. (But what about Gun Crazy?) And some of the camerawork was wild!

The Pee-wee Herman Show: Live at The Roxy Theater
Reviewed here.

The Prisoner: Complete Series Megaset (40th Anniversary Edition)
Capsule review here.

Sybil: 30th Anniversary Two-Disc Special Edition
The classic TV movie of the Seventies.

A TOUCH OF THE POET. There's something poignant about A Touch of the Poet being the first Eugene O'Neill play to reach Broadway after the death of August Wilson on October 2, 2005. O'Neill envisioned A Touch of the Poet (finished in 1942) as part of a vast American history cycle that he never finished; Wilson, in a way, took on the O'Neillian task and managed to complete an entire ten-play cycle.

In some respects, Wilson's cycle couldn't sound farther removed from O'Neill's play. The former follows African Americans over the course of the twentieth century. The latter revolves around an Irish American immigrant family living outside on the outskirts of Boston in 1828. (The father and mother both live under the spell of past glories while the daughter seeks a new life free from their fantasies.) Yet theatergoers familiar with the character of Wilson's work may be struck at how the current Roundabout production of A Touch of the Poet bears a family resemblance to many of Wilson's plays. Elements such as folk music and themes of ambition, identity, and conflicts between classes, cultures, and generations are all significant forces in the O'Neill's Irish American drama as well as Wilson's African American cycle. Surely that says something about what both playwrights thought of their country.

As for this particular production, it is filled with beauteous moments in which O'Neill's lines resonate with Shakespearean (or perhaps Byronic) lyricism. There are also, intermittently, less rapturous stretches where the characters' interactions seem slightly lacking in intimacy.

Indeed, the drama seems to lack a certain rollicking momentum. O'Neill, son of one of the most popular melodramatic actors of his time, wrote that central character Major Cornelius Melody (a 1942 pun if there ever was one) should be played by "an actor like Maurice Barrymore or my old man." As quoted in Arthur and Barbara Gelb's O'Neill, the playwright pictured "One of those big-chested, chiseled mug, romantic old boys who could walk onto a stage with all the aplomb and regal splendor with which they walked into the old Hoffman House bar, drunk or sober." This production's Major Melody, Gabriel Byrne, is probably not the larger-than-life thespian O'Neill envisioned.

Byrne plays Melody intriguingly, as a fragile figure barely maintaining his grasp on his pretensions. It's a fair interpretation with revelations of its own, but the absence of a bigger blowhard in the role (think Brian Dennehy or Philip Bosco) seems to take some of the air out of the work as a whole. Still, the general high quality of the production and the beauty and cleverness of O'Neill's playwrighting (the drama anticipates The Iceman Cometh) make this production worth consideration.

A Touch of the Poet is playing at Studio 54, which recently installed relatively conventional seating in the front rows. Discount tickets have been available through TKTS, Playbill.com, and TheaterMania.com. I suspect that the nosebleed seats might be too far away, but most other seats (especially those to audience left) should be fine.