Topic: PLANKS FOR THE MEMORIES (Read 17634 times)

Kate · « **Reply #30 on:** July 23, 2013, 07:28:07 AM »

Good Morning Everyone:

TOD:

ROMEO AND JULIET, I'm sure everyone knows the plot.

I loved it because of the beautiful language spoken between the Two protagonists.

The lesson I learned was that stereotypes can cause harsh feelings (The Capulets and The Montagues)
Just because of their last names, the two families despised each other.

It teaches us to treat each person on an individual basis and not assume anything!

Kate · « **Reply #31 on:** July 23, 2013, 07:28:58 AM »

TOD continued,

I also did love The Merchant of Venice (The movie version)

Great Story!

Kate · « **Reply #32 on:** July 23, 2013, 07:32:00 AM »

TOD:

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE: (Classic Farce)

Why? Cary Grant is at his comedic best. Need I say more!

I just love him. So handsome and so funny!

It's rare to be both!

ChasSmith · « **Reply #33 on:** July 23, 2013, 07:35:03 AM »

Samantha's Song -- Beautiful, BK. And heartbreaking.

Jrand74 · « **Reply #34 on:** July 23, 2013, 07:35:53 AM »

I forgot to mention that MISSOURI BREAKS arrived here on Saturday.

I am very much looking forward to Miss Sandy's new CD! It sounds like it will be wonderful.

Enjoyed the notes - but that is a very sad song....and it made me cry again....just like the first time I heard it.

Jrand74 · « **Reply #35 on:** July 23, 2013, 07:37:35 AM »

Well someone sent me an important email with a list of names I need for an website post....I had it open and clicked on something else....and the email disappeared. It is not in my TRASH folder or anyplace else....any other folder. It disappeared. So I cannot write the until the sender sends it to me again.

That has never happened to me in all of the years I have been on the inner web. I do not know what I did....

Ginny · « **Reply #36 on:** July 23, 2013, 07:40:51 AM »

Tuesday morning greetings! I will be E & T for most of the midday, because Mom and I are going grocery shopping. Hope to be home before the predicted late-afternoon thunderstorms.

Jrand74 · « **Reply #37 on:** July 23, 2013, 07:44:46 AM »

TOD:

I have seen NO live Shakespeare that I can say I really enjoyed..... There are a few movies I really like:

HENRY V with Kenneth Branagh
RICHARD III - with Olivier

ROMEO & JULIET - Olivia Hussey & Leonard Whiting
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW - Burton & Taylor, although they were both TOO old for the roles
a PBS TAMING OF THE SHREW - Marc Singer & Fredi Fredi Olster

A four-DVD set recommended to me by DR ELMORE called SHAKESPEARE RETOLD that takes four of the plays (Shrew, The Scottish Play, Midsummer's, and Much Ado) putting them in modern settings and all of them featuring fantastic actors. All texts are abbreviated, so it helps to know the material, but they are all fascinating and fun viewing.

elmore3003 · « **Reply #38 on:** July 23, 2013, 07:46:36 AM »

Quote from: Ben on July 23, 2013, 07:23:30 AM

Quote from: elmore3003 on July 23, 2013, 06:41:16 AM
DR Laura, what is "All Shook UP"? And what play is it based on?

All Shook Up is a modern rock version of Twelfth Night w/music inspired by Elvis Presley. Cheyenne Jackson played Chad (his first Broadway lead). It was during the 2004/2005 Broadway season. Joe DiPietro wrote the book and Christopher Ashley directed the show.

I enjoyed it. Was it great theatre? No, but it was fun and had a good cast. I doubt it will ever be done in NY again but it has life outside the city.

I had no idea! Thank you, DR Ben.

Druxy · « **Reply #39 on:** July 23, 2013, 07:50:51 AM »

I do remember seeing a rock musical version of OTHELLO at the Ahmunson Theater in Los Angeles. I don't recall the title, but, I think, Jerry Lee Lewis played Iago.

BK, you probably remember that show...and who was in it.

Jrand74 · « **Reply #40 on:** July 23, 2013, 07:54:17 AM »

The WORST I have ever seen was directed by Libby Appel (who was then artistic director of the Indiana Repertory Theater and who is now stinking up DR JANE's neighborhood as the director the SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL out there when she was run out of town here several years ago....she took her untalented family with her...he son wrote the music for several of her shows, including this HAMLET. AND he was chosen by her when she listened to all the submissions by composers without knowing their names, don't you know....and featured all of her out of work friends from New York - there is a REASON they are out of work in New York).....HAMLET wore a black leather outfit....and at one point was tied to a giant circus wheel and spun around while spouting his famous speech.... No play can survive a wrong-headed egotistical director... She was outraged that we didn't understand what she was doing.

She also didn't care that in her second year - season subscriptions dropped by 1/3....she said that was normal. IRT also lost the support of two volunteer groups that had worked with IRT since it had been founded....she didn't care about that either....she had lots of out of work friends that could do the work....for a salary.

IRT is still recovering from her tenure....many years later.

I guess she was still at it in 2000 - and now she's changing the order of the scenes.....

http://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Ashland-s-Hamlet-Pulls-Out-All-the-Stops-3304166.php

elmore3003 · « **Reply #41 on:** July 23, 2013, 07:55:30 AM »

Quote from: Jrand62 on July 23, 2013, 07:44:46 AM

A four-DVD set recommended to me by DR ELMORE called SHAKESPEARE RETOLD that takes four of the plays (Shrew, The Scottish Play, Midsummer's, and Much Ado) putting them in modern settings and all of them featuring fantastic actors. All texts are abbreviated, so it helps to know the material, but they are all fascinating and fun viewing.

I love the SHAKESPEARE RETOLD versions of MUCH ADO with Damian Lewis and the restaurant wars of MACBETH. I still haven't seen the MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM adaptation.

I think you'd really like the MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING with Sam Waterston, DR JRand62. The early 20th century choreography by Donald Saddler, assisted by Helen Gallagher, is a lot of fun.

And now I am heading to Lincoln Center.

Laura · « **Reply #42 on:** July 23, 2013, 07:55:38 AM »

Quote from: elmore3003 on July 23, 2013, 07:46:36 AM

Quote from: Ben on July 23, 2013, 07:23:30 AM
Quote from: elmore3003 on July 23, 2013, 06:41:16 AM
DR Laura, what is "All Shook UP"? And what play is it based on?

All Shook Up is a modern rock version of Twelfth Night w/music inspired by Elvis Presley. Cheyenne Jackson played Chad (his first Broadway lead). It was during the 2004/2005 Broadway season. Joe DiPietro wrote the book and Christopher Ashley directed the show.

I enjoyed it. Was it great theatre? No, but it was fun and had a good cast. I doubt it will ever be done in NY again but it has life outside the city.

I had no idea! Thank you, DR Ben.

It was one of those times when I looked at my ticket to see how much I paid. And seriously considered whether or not to renew my season subscription. And when I thought perhaps the future of Broadway was in jeopardy. (Actually, I think that a lot.)

FJL · « **Reply #43 on:** July 23, 2013, 07:59:11 AM »

Here's the trailer for WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S STAR WARS

at this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0QonroBrEo

Ginny · « **Reply #44 on:** July 23, 2013, 07:59:20 AM »

TOD - I saw a lot of Shakespeare and classic farce at the Hilberry Classic Theatre at Wayne State University in Detroit - A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, and The Rivals are the ones I can verify from the ticket stubs in my teenage scrapbook. At the University of Michigan, I remember a wild production of Lysistrata at the height of the anti-Vietnam movement. Most recently, Richard and I loved the wild west version of Taming of the Shrew at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC.

Laura · « **Reply #45 on:** July 23, 2013, 08:05:04 AM »

Quote from: FJL on July 23, 2013, 07:59:11 AM

Here's the trailer for WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S STAR WARS

at this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0QonroBrEo

See? That's how they should be talking.

ChasSmith · « **Reply #46 on:** July 23, 2013, 08:09:34 AM »

I need to brush up my Shakespeare.

FJL · « **Reply #47 on:** July 23, 2013, 08:21:02 AM »

Quote from: ChasSmith on July 23, 2013, 08:09:34 AM

I need to brush up my Shakespeare.

I'd done this speculation when the Times had their report on that book.

Darth Up Your Shakespeare - Tune of Brush Up Your Shakespeare

The Shakespeare lovers don’t think they’re nerds
They find sci-fi too dull for words
But now we find in their folio / R-2 and C-3-P-O
So the next new Broadway hit, I’ve no doubt, not one i-ota
Since the book’s done with such wit, They’ll love the Bard crossed with Yoda

Darth up your Shakespeare / Work in Luke and Han
Darth up your Shakespeare / Cash-flow worries will be gone

You will find there is no other plan akin / To a Iago played by little Anakin
Princess Leia will take any slam at her / If she‘s Kate in iambic pentameter
Bet your Hamlet would fly with Chewbacca / Though it sounds just a bit off your rocka

So darth up your Shakespeare
And you’ll gross anon / Dough goes on and on

Charles Pogue · « **Reply #48 on:** July 23, 2013, 08:24:22 AM »

TOD:

I've seen a lot of great Shakespeare on stage and on film. Onstage, Derek Jacobi's LEAR at the Donmar Warehouse may have been the best Shakespeare production I've ever seen and made me see why the play is truly great for the first time. Brilliant production. I also saw Jacobi do a stunning Prospero in THE TEMPEST at The Old Vic. Trevor Nunn's LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST with Joseph Fiennes at the National Theatre in London was an exquisitely beautiful production. THE RSC did a terrific production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM that I saw in London a few years back. At the Old GLOBE in San Diego, I've seen many fine Shakespeare productions...particularly Paxton Whitehead as RICHARD III. At South Coast Rep, Douglas Sills played a great Benedick in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

On TV or DVD, I have seen a lot of great productions of what are essentially filmed theatre (which, despite a lot of naysayers, I quite like and wish there was more of...what a wonderful way to see great theatre pieces). These include a magnificently hysterical production of TAMING OF THE SHREW from ACT in San Francisco starring Marc Singer as Petrouchio, a brilliant COMEDY OF ERRORS starring The Flying Karamazov Brothers (a juggling troupe, believe it or not), an elegant RSC production of A WINTER'S TALE starring the brilliant Antony Sher; another beautiful, imaginative RSC MIDSUMMER starring Alec Jennings and Lindsay Duncan as Oberon and Titiania; RSC's David Tennant's HAMLET; and a televised production of Trevor Nunn's MERCHANT OF VENICE starring a dynamic Henry Goodman as Shylock. Another great Nunn televised production (from the RSC) was ANTONY & CLEOPATRA with Richard Johnson and Janet Suzman in the title roles. The recent BBC HOLLOW CROWN has a great RICHARD II, both parts of HENRY IV, and HENRY V. Simon Russell Beale, maybe the greatest actor working today, plays a brilliant nasty Falstaff.

Roger Allam also plays a brilliant and funny Falstaff in the Globe Theatre's DVD of their HENRY IV productions. I highly recommend the Globe DVDs of their productions...I very like their LOVE's LABOUR LOST and MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING and their MERRY WIVES. Looking forward to getting their TWELFTH NIGHT with Stephen Fry as Malvolio and Mark Rylance playing Olivia.

On film, Branagh's HENRY V and MUCH ADO are great. And Zefferelli's ROMEO & JULIET. And Olivier's RICHARD III.

As for farce, I was lucky to see the original production with the original cast of NOISES OFF in London. Nothing has ever topped it.

Ron Pulliam · « **Reply #49 on:** July 23, 2013, 08:35:17 AM »

TOD: Branagh's "Henry V" and "Much Ado About Nothing".

Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet" and "The Taming of the Shrew".

Julie Taymor's "Titus".

Why? Branagh's because they're brilliant, to me, and not stagey and not overacted by the stars and supporting casts. They are beautifully edited and easily sustain my interest.

Zeffirelli's because they are SO magnificently produced and they're very Italianate in their sensibilities and they're brilliantly conceived and wonderfully performed.

Taymor's because it's audacious and moving and edgy.

singdaw · « **Reply #50 on:** July 23, 2013, 08:38:47 AM »

And fizzy and funny and fine.

Jrand74 · « **Reply #51 on:** July 23, 2013, 08:45:07 AM »

I forgot that I really liked that filmed version of TITUS as well.

I would love to see a good farce....such as NOISES OFF. I shall have to think about some I have seen on film....NOISES OFF didn't quite work for me because of some of the casting.....

ChasSmith · « **Reply #52 on:** July 23, 2013, 08:48:09 AM »

Some fine lyrics there, DR FJL.

I, too, would like it if there were a lot more filmed theater.

Laura · « **Reply #53 on:** July 23, 2013, 08:51:04 AM »

I love Noises Off.

MBarnum · « **Reply #54 on:** July 23, 2013, 08:53:24 AM »

TOD:

I have seen no Shakespeare on stage, good or bad.

MBarnum · « **Reply #55 on:** July 23, 2013, 08:54:02 AM »

On a related note, I do have a 1940s Bollywood version of HAMLET on dvd which I need to watch one of these days.

MBarnum · « **Reply #56 on:** July 23, 2013, 08:54:43 AM »

I also just ate a large chunck of dark chocolate. It was good.

Ron Pulliam · « **Reply #57 on:** July 23, 2013, 09:15:21 AM »

TOD:

Does "Kiss Me Kate" count?

Charles Pogue · « **Reply #58 on:** July 23, 2013, 09:17:12 AM »

Quote from: Jrand62 on July 23, 2013, 08:45:07 AM

I forgot that I really liked that filmed version of TITUS as well.

I would love to see a good farce....such as NOISES OFF. I shall have to think about some I have seen on film....NOISES OFF didn't quite work for me because of some of the casting.....

Farce rarely works on film because it is the stage timing of the action that makes it amazing and fun. The only film farce I remember working for me was THE RITZ. But I haven't seen it in years, so memory may be kind.

ChasSmith · « **Reply #59 on:** July 23, 2013, 09:29:34 AM »

Quote from: Charles Pogue on July 23, 2013, 09:17:12 AM

Quote from: Jrand62 on July 23, 2013, 08:45:07 AM
I forgot that I really liked that filmed version of TITUS as well.

I would love to see a good farce....such as NOISES OFF. I shall have to think about some I have seen on film....NOISES OFF didn't quite work for me because of some of the casting.....

Farce rarely works on film because it is the stage timing of the action that makes it amazing and fun. The only film farce I remember working for me was THE RITZ. But I haven't seen it in years, so memory may be kind.

Right. In spite of the multitude of totally hilarious films, the kind you can still laugh at loud at after many years of repeated viewings, the kind of laughing I've experienced at a well produced farce on stage is a whole different animal. If you aren't laughing till you're almost bent over double in pain and exhaustion, it ain't a true farce.

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Author Topic: PLANKS FOR THE MEMORIES (Read 17634 times)

FJL

FJL

MBarnum

MBarnum

MBarnum