by Karen Tortora-Lee on June 21, 2010
There’s always a catch when a group of grad-school liberals invites you to their dinner party, or so Dan Rosen’s The Last Supper (currently playing at the Red Room) will have you believing. This play, based on the movie Rosen wrote which was released in 1995, adapts well for the stage and under Akia Squitieri’s direction it doesn’t lose any of the meat that the original film dished up.
The Last Supper (the movie) wasn’t a box office smash, but seeing it on the smaller stage it’s easy to see why – this story was meant to start its life off as a play and perhaps become a movie later on, not the other way around. With thoughtful platforms, weighty discussions and deeply ponderous moments, not to mention strong character evolutions, this story is meant to be played out in front of an audience. It’s also a heck of a lot funnier in person – and it’s the humor which acts as the spoon full of sugar which helps the poison go down.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on June 16, 2010
For the first few minutes of his beauty (written by Ashley Jacobson and directed by Nadine Friedman) it’s almost impossible to understand what’s going on - all that’s obvious is that a couple is fighting. Soon enough, however, you realize that that’s pretty much all you need to know. The fact that they’ve stepped out of a bar (or a party, or a friend’s house) really doesn’t matter. All that matters is that she’s considered to be, by all around her, a Beauty . . . His Beauty. And he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her in her place by reminding her as often as he can that she belongs to him. That is, when he’s not telling her to stay away from him because she “smells like slut”.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on June 15, 2010
By all accounts the Come Out and Play festival was a huge success. And we’re pleased to say that The Paper Plane Derby (featured earlier on THM) was winner of the Best Family Game! CONGRATULATIONS!
Our very own Stephen Tortora-Lee was an eager participant in the derby and wound up bringing home “Most Innovative Design”; his lovely award now hangs proudly in our home for all to see. (You can see a picture of him lined up and ready to compete after the jump.)
We caught up with Rachel Schutt and Linda Perkins again to see how they felt the day went and asked them to tell us about some of their favorite moments.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on June 14, 2010
Oscar Wilde wrote The Picture of Dorian Gray over a hundred years ago and while it wasn’t tremendously well received in its day Wilde’s cautionary tale of a man captivated by vice and enslaved by hedonism is such a timeless one that there have been numerous adaptations of Gray – from movies to musicals and even an opera. It’s a juicy story with a lot of thought-provoking themes wrapped in an alluring package.
This new adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray is no exception. Directed and written by Glory Bowen it’s playing now at The Robert Moss Theater.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on June 8, 2010
Some people have these effortless lives; they’re naturally thin, they’re quick to laugh, they work to play, they enjoy their time off, they don’t give much thought to trifling matters and somehow everything is easy for them, things go their way, and they almost never suffer a bad day. These people give off a certain glow – and make the others around them seem not so much dull in comparison but almost tarnished. Meet Richard and Anthea (Michael W. Murray and Aleksandra Stattin) two happily unmarrieds who glide through their life and are blissfully ignorant of the teeth gnashing, behind-the-back grumbling, and sideways glances their dear friends are prone to exhibit whenever they’re in the proximity of this Golden Pair.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on June 4, 2010
Tell me the truth . . . Paper Airplanes – Origami for Americans or just a clever way to send the math test answers across the room?
America’s favorite paper company, Dunder Mifflin, used the Paper Airplane in the director’s cut of their paper commercial, and everyone’s favorite engineer – Dilbert – has one in the opening credits of his animated series.
This weekend you can compete in the First Annual Paper Airplane Derby as part of the Come Out & Play Festival. It’s a great chance to be creative, show off your skillz and win a trophy!
I chatted with Rachel Schutt and Linda Perkins about what makes their Derby the fliest event at the festival.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on May 28, 2010
How you feel about Before Your Very Eyes (Written and Directed by Edward Elefterion) depends very much upon the person you are, what you believe about the events of 9/11, and whether or not you are a person who trusts what they see and takes it for truth, or if you are a person who needs evidence to support everything before you’ll believe it.
Before Your Very Eyes starts off as a piece about raw emotion – but quickly becomes a piece about something quite different. For the rest of the play it vacillates between moments of poetic beauty and moments of uncompromising activism.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on May 26, 2010
Elizabeth and Mary Linley — The Linley Sisters / Oil on canvas by Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788)
Living in New York, flanked by some of the best museums of the world we often tend to forget that our city is home to some of the best small collections as well. Last Sunday I spent some time reacquainting myself with the Frick Collection and I was reminded just how much I enjoy this museum.
My main reason for going was to see The Linley Sisters which will be on exhibit until the end of the month, but even if you can’t get there by then there are hundreds of other marvelous gems that may be calling you.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on May 22, 2010
Karen Tortora-Lee and Stephen Tortora-Lee would like to announce the marriage of their Netflix Account to their Wii Console.
The bride wore a dazzling red Netflix wrapper; the groom stood wordlessly next to my TV anxiously awaiting her arrival. From the moment they locked codes it was a divine union.
It’s only been a few weeks, but ever since Netflix gave yet another option to view their catalog instantly I have been virtually glued to my Wii (which is embarrassing, since I bought it months ago specifically for the Wii Fit, enthusiastically boxed a few rounds with a cute little animated guy the first day, threw my shoulder out of whack, and never turned it on again).
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on May 21, 2010
We’re going to start this review off with a quiz to illustrate a point. What’s the title of the poem that begins “By The Shores Of Gitche Gumee?” Go ahead, I’ll wait while you find out for me.
Back so soon? And your answer? That’s right. “The Song of Hiawatha” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. And just about how long did it take you to find out the answer? Well, if you were like me you typed the title into Google, hit “search” and in .29 seconds (that’s literally the blink of an eye) not one, not two but 27,800 results were at your finger tips. You could have the text of the poem itself, the Wikipedia entry that gives the history of the poem, the 1996 novel by Tama Janowitz, a link to amazon.com where you can buy the Janowitz book if you wanted to, or some videos from YouTube.
What in the world did we we do before Google? Easy. Before Google there were Gals . . . or more precisely there was The Desk Set: Bunny Watson, head librarian of the reference department at the International Broadcasting Company, and her team of librarians. These gals were equipped with an encyclopedic knowledge of everything from batting averages to the names of Santa’s reindeer. And they’d give it to you in . . . well . . . the blink of an eye.
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