On the Town With Aubrey Reuben
Where All the Stars Shine Brightly!
July 20, 2013
07-15-13 Cast member Karina Smirnoff at the opening night party
of "Forever Tango" at Buca di Beppo. 1500 Broadway. Sunday night
07-14-13
On Broadway, Forever
Tango, created and directed by Luis
Bravo, will delight tango enthusiasts, plus fans of Dancing
with the Stars, because KarinaSmirnoff and Maksim
Chmerkovskiy headline
the production. An eleven member orchestra accompany the eighteen
talented dancers, who dance in pairs and capture the exotic
Argentine music perfectly. The opening night party took place at the
former Planet Hollywood, now called Buca di Beppo, with guests like Shalita
Grant and Charl
Brown.
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There was a tasting at the newly renovated
restaurant Puttanesca, 859
Ninth Avenue. Chef Claudio
Cristofoli prepared succulent
dishes, such as red beet ravioli, short ribs ravioli, sea bass, cornish hen,
various pizzas, delicious desserts and fine wines. Owner Thomas
Bifulco has created a
wonderful venue for his customers, who enjoy magnificent Italian cooking.
07-17-13 Chef Claudio Cristifoli with his
signature dish Short Ribs Ravioli at a tasting at the newly renovated
restaurant Puttanesca. 859 Ninth Avenue. Tuesday night 07-16-13
MoMA is presenting A View from
the Vaults: Warner Bros, Today. July 9-August 14. The
Hangover, by Todd
Phillips, USA, 2009, is a buddy film about a bachelor party in Las
Vegas, where three unpleasant men, under the influence of drugs, lose the
groom. Their attempts to find him and to remember what they did during the
endless night is the plot of this silly and crude, vulgar film. We suffer unbelievable
incidents, including a tiger, a stolen police car, a stun gun demonstration,
car crashes, and too many others. The film was a smash hit, earning an
enormous amount of money, which proves the type of audiences that watch some
commercial movies.
It also presented from July 17-23 Les
Coquillettes, by Sophie
Letourner, France, 2012, is about three young women at the Locarno Film
Festival, looking to sleep with young men, smoking cigarettes, drinking lots
of alcohol, talking on the cell phone and texting constantly, and are
compulsive talkers, whose conversations about their idiotic problems are
banal and silly. The aimless, unhappy, immature trio apparently reflect many
of today's French women. One can only hope they will grow up. I had seen the
film previously, and after a fairly favorable review in a major newspaper, I
decided to give it another look. I was right the first time. The
protagonists are irritating, annoying and pathetic.
It also presented Breakfast
at Tiffany's, by Blake
Edwards, USA, 1961, is about a young girl living a liberated life in New
York City. It made Audrey
Hepburn famous. She is
absolutely delightful, and a joy to watch, and from this film became one of
Hollywood's true film stars. Although the story is unbelievable, Hepburn is
so charming, that one ignores the fairy tale aspects, and concentrates on
the wonderful performance of the actress. The rest of the cast is equally
good, and one leaves the cinema perfectly content.
Ballet
in Cinema from Emerging Pictures presented La
Bayadere, choreography by Marius
Petipa, music by Ludwig
Minkus, in a live performance from Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre, captured
live on January 27, 2013. It featured Svetlana
Zakharova in the title role.
She is simply magnificent. No words can express her exquisite dancing. She
is truly one of the leading ballerinas in the world today. Maria
Alexandova was a marvelous
Gamzatti, with superb technique, and always a joy to watch her dance. Vladislav
Lantratov was a splendid
Solor. His variations with jumps and turns were performed at the highest
level. All the company performed marvelously and the orchestra played the
score very well, under the baton of Pavel
Sorokin. It is one of the best films in this wonderful series.
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