According to Sandy

January 18, 2010January 18, 2010

August and Denzel!

August Wilson’s Pulitzer prize winning play, “Fences”, is scheduled for a Broadway revival this April. Not only am I excited about seeing another one of his brilliant pieces of theater – but it will also star DENZEL! (Mr Washington is one of those people that only need one name to identify them) He along with the amazing Viola Davis are in the cast. (Tickets are already on sale – Cort Theater, NYC.)

The ambitious intentions of this playwright resulted in the impressive, and enjoyable, “August Wilson Century Cycle” box set. It consists of a play for every decade of the 20th century that would chronicle some part of the black experience in America.

Through the use of his great ear for dialogue, Wilson (April 1945 – October 2005) was able to give us some insight into the daily life – both struggles and triumphs – of an assortment of universal characters that his audience could easily recognize.

An ambitious undertaking, but, his huge vision was realized and, btw, it resulted in 2 Pulitzers and a Tony award. He accomplished a lot doing what he loved to do and perhaps more importantly, August Wilson left a powerful body of work that will be read and performed for years to come. Dreaming big has rewards of all kinds.

BTW: All 10 of August Wilson’s plays are collected in hard cover with a nice presentation box. Each has an introduction by an actor, director or writer familiar with his work.

In 2005, August Wilson completed the ten-play cycle:
1900s – Gem of the Ocean (2003)
1910s – Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1984)
1920s – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1982)
1930s – The Piano Lesson (1986) – Pulitzer Prize
1940s – Seven Guitars (1995)
1950s – Fences (1985) – Pulitzer Prize
1960s – Two Trains Running (1990)
1970s – Jitney (1982)
1980s – King Hedley II (2001)
1990s – Radio Golf (2005)

January 12, 2010January 12, 2010

“Passing Strange” – Spike Lee and PBS

Yes, I love PBS. They seem to keep the art of the “documentary” alive with their programs: American Masters, Great Performances, American Experience etc.

This week, the filmed version of the play, “Passing Strange” is coming to the Great Performances series. Spike Lee documented the last 3 days of the musical’s Broadway run (it won the 2008 Tony for Best Book) originally for HBO, but it will be released in DVD next week and also be shown on PBS.

I saw the play 2 years ago and loved it. It is clever, funny and has great music. The terrific band, whose members, along with the few actors, tell the story of a black young man, “Stew”, trying to look for the “real” by moving from middle class L.A, where he feels he doesn’t fit in and everything is a fraud, to Amsterdam and Germany.

In Europe, he is more “American”, than he was in California. To gain friends and acceptance in the avant garde scene, his new girl friend is only impressed with the oppressed, he “passes” as the stereotype of a ghetto youth and writes songs about the “struggle”. After doing this for a few years, he wonders what if the only thing real is your “art” and “reality” is phony?

He eventually returns to America to pursue his art and just be himself. He is amazed that the direction of his life was decided by the decisions he made as a teenager.

Serious questions, but told with humor and music. Hard to describe, a different type of musical, but, very entertaining.

“Passing Strange”, Book and lyrics by Stew, Music by Stew and Heidi Roderwald

Directed by Spike Lee

January 11, 2010January 9, 2010

Sam Cooke * PBS

Coming to a local Public Television Station near you this week is a new documentary about Sam Cooke (January 1931 – December 1964).

The contribution of the legendary singer/song writer will be explored in the PBS “American Masters” series “Sam Cooke: Crossing Over”. It includes some performance scenes and interviews with family and musicians to illuminate the short career that lifted our spirits with traditional Gospel music, but also gave us songs like “You Send Me” and the classic “A Change is Gonna Come” (rumor has it that he wrote this in 1963 after hearing Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind”.)

“Sam Cooke: Crossing Over” – Amazing talent, not forgotten.

January 10, 2010January 8, 2010

About Darfur, Still

“The Save Darfur Coalition” is an alliance of over 180 faith-based, advocacy and human rights organizations whose mission is to raise public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and to mobilize a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of more than two million people in the Darfur region.”

There are 2 informational DVDs about the situation in the Sudan:

“The Devil Came on Horseback”, 2007 and “Darfur Now”, 2007 directed by Ted Braun. The documentaries capture, thru images and interviews, the seemingly endless horror escalating among the Sudanese. These films are calls for intervention, both moral and diplomatic.

January 8, 2010January 6, 2010

DVD: Children of Men

The movie, “Children of Men”, is set 20 years into the future. Women are no longer able to bring a fetus to full term and a 17 year old, the youngest person in the world, dies suddenly which brings universal mourning.

Perhaps as a result of air and earth toxins new life stopped being created and supported by the universe. Based on results, mankind is on a slippery slope.

Enter the “miracle” – a sole pregnant woman is discovered in England and she must be saved if the human race is to go on.

A reluctant savior, Clive Owen, at his craggy faced/ 2 day stubble best, is enrolled by his ex-wife in taking the young woman to safety. Thru bullets, treachery and strange, fierce characters, he must get the mother-to-be to an outlawed group called the” Human Project”. They search for doctors that can keep her and the baby alive – and so the adventure begins.

The movie is both dark in atmosphere and premise, the film’s city scenes are mostly sepia and gray contrasting greatly with the few lighter, green country locations. The director, Alfonso Cuaron, wrote the screen play based upon a 1992 novel by P. D. James, famous for the Inspector Adam Dalgliesh mysteries. Her vision of a barren future was translated by Cuaron into a cramped, desperate city filled with angry, lonely people.

While on the run, the fugitives do get a chance to experience the lush greenness of the countryside, but, the pastoral is slowly being encroached by the urban insanity. Huge betrayal and huge amounts violence is encountered while trying to escape those who wish to use the baby for propaganda and gain. In the midst off all this dreck, there is a possibility of “future”.

The baby represents “hope” and many are enlisted to assist in preserving the miracle, keeping it alive and getting it to a haven, even at great risk to themselves.

A totally engrossing film. The actors are all terrific, regardless of the length of their scenes or dialogue. Owen is wonderful, and so is Michael Caine. (He makes an appearance as a kind eccentric.) The actress who plays the mom to be, Claire-Hope Ashitey, makes you believe that she would be a great mother – even though her character only remembers seeing children on television. The ending is both triumphant and tragic.

“Children of Men”– this is a good movie!