Almost a Family: A Memoir, by John Darnton; Knopf; 348 pp.; $27.95By Bill WilliamsJohn Darnton was 11 months old when his father, Barney Darnton, was killed during World War II while reporting on the war in the Pacific for The New York Times.Almost a Family is a meticulous reconstruction of the lives of the Darnton family – the author, his older … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 6-8
Morris Robinson as the Commendatorein Florida Grand Opera’s Don Giovanni.Music: This weekend, Florida Grand Opera is running more like a repertory company than its normal mode of one show at one time. Its productions of David DiChiera’s Cyrano and Mozart’s Don Giovanni are running tomorrow and Sunday afternoon, respectively, at the Ziff Ballet Opera House in … [Read more...]
Theater appreciation: The volatile Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents (1917-2011).By Hap ErsteinWhen two-time Tony Award-winning writer-director Arthur Laurents died on Thursday, the theater and film world lost one of its great creative talents. And one of its most difficult.He died at his home in New York at 93, after a short illness. There will undoubtedly be an outpouring of praise for Laurents, particularly for his two most … [Read more...]
Film review: Charmless, shopworn ‘Ceremony’ deserves dustbin
Uma Thurman and Michael Anganaro in Ceremony. By John ThomasonI’m always taken aback when unequivocally bad movies like Ceremony somehow pass the same art-house muster as films by renowned artists.A snarky, misogynistic and intellectually vapid Indiewood feature, Ceremony belongs in Blockbuster’s direct-to-video dustbin, not sharing real estate with the … [Read more...]
Theater feature: ‘Mormon’ leads Tony nominations with 14 nods
Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad in The Book of Mormon.By Hap ErsteinTrey Parker and Matt Stone’s irreverent, yet surprisingly traditional musical comedy, The Book of Mormon, went into this morning’s announcement of Tony Award nominations as the prohibitive favorite to win the all-important Best Musical award. It emerged with 14 nominations, making it even more of a … [Read more...]
Music review: Guitar master Beck’s SunFest set fights sound problems
Jeff Beck at SunFest, on Sunday.(Photo by Chris Salata/SunFest) By Bill MeredithSet to turn 67 next month, Jeff Beck is one of three famed British lead guitarists who played with 1960s pop/rock group the Yardbirds, the others being Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.And each followed that stint by diving into heavy blues-rock: Clapton with Cream; Page with Led Zeppelin, … [Read more...]
Broadway Postcard No. 7: Boca team backs sharp ‘Born Yesterday’
Robert Sean Leonard, Nina Ariandaand Jim Belushi in Born Yesterday.By Hap ErsteinThis afternoon I got to see the handiwork of those three young chargers from Boca Raton -- Philip Morgaman (27 years old), Frankie J. Grande (28) and Brian Kapetanis (28) -- the lead producers of the new revival of Born Yesterday that opened last Sunday night to very … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: April 29-May 1
Street Surfer (1986), by Robert Vickrey.Art: The technique of egg tempera painting, perhaps most memorably wielded by artists such as Giotto, was eclipsed by oil painting in the 15th century.But egg tempera still draws creators, and the acknowledged modern master of this technique was the American artist Robert Vickrey, whose paintings of nuns, children, … [Read more...]
Broadway Postcard No. 5: ‘Mormon’ is best musical of the season
Andrew Randells and Josh Gad encounter a Ugandan, in The Book of Mormon.By Hap ErsteinTrey Parker and Matt Stone have been freaking out television’s Standards and Practices folks (a/k/a censors) for almost 15 years with their purposely profane animated series South Park, so it should come as no surprise that their first Broadway musical, The Book of Mormon, … [Read more...]
The View From Home 24: New releases on DVD
By John ThomasonHeartless (IFC)Release date: April 12Standard list price: $17.99A visionary director whose visions are all too infrequent, Britian’s Philip Ridley has made just three films in 21 years, making Robert Bresson look like a workaholic. His audience is tiny and seems unlikely to grow: His outstanding debut, The Reflecting Skin, has never been … [Read more...]