Irene, the career woman at the center of A Five Star Life, spends most of her days in laps of luxury around the world. As an inspector of five-star resorts, we see Irene (Margherita Buy) jetting to Paris and Gstaad and Berlin and Morocco and China, traveling incognito and, like a spy, inventing professions when fellow guests inquire about her job. The actual answer to that … [Read more...]
Hap’s picks: Top 10 stage shows of 2013
1. Lungs (The Theater at Arts Garage) — British playwright Duncan Macmillan specified no theatrical artifice — no set, no lighting effects, no distracting costumes — in this two-character dialogue and occasional rant about the advisability of bringing a baby into this world. That left Cliff Burgess and Betsy Graver alone onstage with only their acting skills and wits to keep us … [Read more...]
The View From Home 28: New releases and notable screenings, July 12-31
For years, I assumed I would simply never have the opportunity to see Skidoo, Otto Preminger’s critically and commercially maligned acid trip from 1968. The film was never even released on VHS and was therefore reduced to a distribution cycle as small as its perceived audience; you could see it at the occasional 35mm revival in New York or Los Angeles, or on a … [Read more...]
Broadway Postcard No. 7: Boca team backs sharp ‘Born Yesterday’
This 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 favorable reviews. That was the opening I missed taking a three-hop flight to New York by way of Detroit. It … [Read more...]
Bulletin from Broadway No. 5: ‘Sondheim’ and ‘A Behanding’
It is the rare New York season that does not see a production of an existing Stephen Sondheim musical, but the brilliant composer-lyricist has not had a new show on Broadway since 1994’s Passion. So those of us who remain in awe of his abilities to push the boundaries of the musical theater have had to content ourselves with revivals, such as the current A Little Night Music … [Read more...]