On the Town With Aubrey Reuben
Where All the Stars Shine Brightly!
October 12, 2013
10-08-13 (L-R) (Standing) Legendary former New York Yankee Yogi
Berra. cast members Richard Topol who plays Yogi. kneeling
Christopher Jackson at the opening night for "Bronx Bombers" at The
Duke on West 42nd St. Tuesday night 10-08-13
On Broadway, A
Night with Janis Joplin, written and directed by Randy
Johnson, is basically a concert, very loud and
highly amplified, performed by Mary
Bridget Davies as
the famous Rock 'n' Roll singer. She tells her life
story between songs, and shows the influences of
black singers on her career, like Aretha
Franklin and Bessie Smith,
with other cast members, who imitate them in various
songs. For fans of Joplin, this will be an
opportunity to be reacquainted with her work.
Off-Broadway, Bronx
Bombers, by Eric
Simonson, is a play that baseball fans will
enjoy, especially New York Yankee fans. It begins in
1977 when the conflict between playerReggie
Jackson and
manager Billy
Martin have
a conflict, with coach Yogi
Berra trying
to resolve it In the second act there is a dream
sequence of a dinner party with all the legendary
players like Babe
Ruth and Joe
DiMaggio. It is well acted by the nine member
cast, and I heartily recommend it. Yogi Berra
attended the opening night and the opening night
party took place at West Bank Cafe.
I attended a splendid
all Balanchine short
story program in the final fourth week of the New
York City Ballet. It began with La
Sonnambula, music by Vittorio
Rieti, a mysterious ballet about a sleepwalker
(a brilliant Sterling
Hyltin) and a poet (Robert
Fairchild), who is entranced by her. Prodigal
Son, music by Sergei
Prokofiev, followed with Daniel
Ulbricht superb
in the title role, and Maria
Kowroski sensual
as the Siren. The program concluded with the funny Slaughter
on Tenth Avenue, music by Richard
Rodgers, with an outstanding performance by Andrew
Veyette, enamored with the sexy Sara
Means as
the Striptease Girl. It was an entertaining night at
the ballet, and I eagerly await the company's winter
program.
The press screenings of
the 51st
New York Film Festival September 27 - October 13 continue. The
Secret Life of Walter Mitty, by Ben
Stiller, USA, 2013, is an entertaining,
completely different, new version of the 1947 comedy
starring Danny
Kaye. In the title role, Ben Stiller stars as an
employee of Life magazine, in charge of the
negatives on file. He daydreams constantly, in
particular, about the new female employee (Kirsten
Wiig). As this is the last issue of the
magazine, Stiller is responsible for the last page
negative, which he cannot locate. His daydreams turn
to reality, full of adventures, as he journeys to
Iceland to find the legendary photographer (played
by Sean
Penn) and recover the lost negative. The film is
scheduled to open to the public on Christmas day,
and should be a successful family entertainment.
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12 Years a Slave, by Steve
McQueen, USA, 2013 is based on a true story, of a free Black man,
kidnapped in 1841 and sold as a slave. He is one of the few, who
returned to freedom. The film depicts the brutal treatment slaves
received from their white masters on plantations in the South. We
witness men and women being whipped mercilessly, slaves being lynched,
and all the humiliation suffered by these unfortunate human beings. Chiwetel
Ejiofor gives a powerful
performance as the slave serving 12 years of horror. The brutality and
cruelty is shown time and time again in this overlong film.
All is Lost, by J.
C. Chandor, USA, 2013, has an old man (Robert
Redford) trying to survive eight days on a damaged yacht in the
Indian Ocean. It is an harrowing ordeal, and Redford gives a splendid,
realistic performance. As he is alone, it is virtually a silent movie.
The photography is magnificent.
Nebraska. by Alexander
Payne, USA, 2013, is one
of the highlights of the festival. Bruce
Dern received the Best
Actor Award at the Cannes Film festival, and it is easy to understand
why. He plays an old, feeble man, who thinks he has won a million dollar
prize. His son (Will Forte)
drives him from his home in Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska to
claim the non-existent prize. On the way, there are lots of adventures,
especially in the town where he grew up in Nebraska. It is a sweet,
beautiful, naturalistic, funny, sad film, and the acting by everyone in
the film is sensational. It is one of the most enjoyable films of the
year.
The Invisible Woman, by Ralph
Fiennes, UK, 2013, is a film about the secret relationship between a
young actress, Nelly Terman (Felicity
Jones) and Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes), the famous married
novelist with ten children. The costume drama captures the atmosphere of
the nineteenth century in England and the Victorian moral life, which
required secrecy in adulterous relationships. Unfortunately, the story
moves at a snail's pace, and is quite dull.
Only Lovers Left Alive, by Jim
Jarmusch, USA, 2013, is a
film about vampires. One (Tilda
Swinton) lives in Tangier and visits her lover and fellow vampire (Tom Hiddleston)
in Detroit. Unfortunately, a younger vampire sister from California
comes to visit unexpectedly and causes trouble. Nearly every scene is
filmed in darkness, and the vampires walk and drive around a lot.
Apparently, their love live is not very interesting, as is this silly
picture.
Blue is the Warmest Color, by Abdellatif
Kechiche, France, 2013, begins with a high school teenager (Adele
Exarchopoulos in a
marvelous, sensitive performance) exploring her sexuality. When she
realizes that she is attracted to women, she begins a warm and tender
relationship with an older painter (Lea
Seydoux), and we follow this loving, and, subsequently, sad affair
for ten years. The film won the Palme O'Or at the 2013 Festival de
Cannes, and is well deserved.
Opera in Cinema from Emerging Pictures presented Rigoletto,
by Verdi, from
Teatro Antico, Taormina, Italy, in a live performance on July 9, 2013.
This open air production was well sung, especially by the male singers. Carlos
Almaguer (Rigoletto), Gianluca
Terranova (Duke of
Mantua) and Emanuele
Cordaro (Sparafucile)
sang with strong voices, andRocio
Ignacio was a touching
Gilda, who received a tremendous ovation for her aria Caro
Nome, in the second scene of the first act. Gianluigi
Martinenghi conducted the
orchestra. It was a splendid evening of grand opera.
10-09-13 The nine cast members at the
opening night party for "Bronx Bombers" at West Bank Cafe. 407 West 42nd St.
Tuesday night 10-08-13
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