1776, 1972 and 2010

I saw the movie 1776 on a school field trip, in one of those single-screen theaters that used to exist before the invasion of the multiplex.

At the time, I didn't know it started as a Broadway musical. And while I was an American history buff, the Colonial period was not my favorite.

Okay, maybe 1776 wasn't a totally accurate account of the writing of the Declaration of Independence, but the music and the story were captivating.

The score, by Sherman Edwards, was by turns playful ("Sit down John,") lyrical ("He Plays the Violin") and haunting ("Molasses to Rum").

And Peter Stone's book made the men who assembled in Philadelphia in 1776 seem so distinct and memorable. It made history very entertaining.

I bought the soundtrack, which I still have in my record collection. (Yes, it was that long ago and yes, I still have my records.) While I haven't listened to it or seen the movie in ages, the experience has stayed with me.

It's amazing to think about how much has changed since the movie came out in 1972. Sandra Day O'Connor was serving in the Arizona Senate and Barack Obama was 11 years old. I'm not sure I'd ever seen a musical on stage, let alone on Broadway.

Here's something else that I couldn't have imagined along with a woman on the Supreme Court, an African-American in the White House and my first Broadway show.

In August, a Kansas City company called Musical Theater Heritage is presenting the first a all-female production of 1776.

To me, it's a reminder that U.S. history has been about breaking barriers, taking risks, expanding equality and creating opportunity, in the arts and elsewhere.

Happy Independence Day!

Up

With two weeks to go until the Oscars, I've finally seen one of the 10 nominees for Best Picture. Yeah, I'm a little behind.

I know some of them are way too violent for me. And frankly, a lot of movies work fine on a small screen. So I simply add them to my Netflix queue and wait for the dvd to arrive in the mail.

But every once in awhile there's one I really wish I'd seen in the theater, or at least bought that 46-inch flat-panel plasma TV I've been thinking about.

Up, from Disney/Pixar, is definitely in the latter category. It's sweet and funny and visually stunning and it's a thrilling adventure story.

Like all Pixar films, it works on two levels - lots for the kids to enjoy and some witty references the adults might pick up on.

First, it's a buddy movie about a lonely widower, Carl Fredricksen (Ed Asner), and an eager little boy, Russell (Jordan Nagai), who yearns for some paternal attention.

But before they meet, there's a sequence introducing Carl that is simply masterful. Like the beginning of Wall-e, it's done without dialogue, yet conveys everything we need to know about his life. And it's so poignant, I was crying at the end.

Asner is in his Lou Grant mode, fiercely independent and a bit cranky. Nagai's Russell, the first Asian-American character in a Pixar movie, is so cute as a Wilderness Explorer who shows up on Carl's doorstep, trying to earn his final merit badge for "assisting the elderly."

Carl and Russell travel to an exotic location, make new friends, including a very energetic golden retriever, find themselves in hair-raising situations and match wits with a wily villain (voiced by Christopher Plummer). Some of the animation seemed so realistic, it was breathtaking.

In fact, Up reminded me of the best parts of the Indiana Jones movies. (If only Indy 4 had been this good!)

Up is only the second animated film, after Beauty and the Beast, to be nominated for Best Picture. This is one I should have gotten up off the couch and gone to the theater to see.

Passing Strange - the movie

Sometimes simply filming a musical onstage doesn't really grab me. But in the case of Passing Strange, I think Spike Lee has done a great job capturing what I enjoyed about this show when I saw it on Broadway in 2008 and made me see it in a fresh way.

Passing Strange tells the story of a young black man whose journey of self-discovery takes him from his middle class Los Angeles home to the drugs and sex and radical politics of Amsterdam and Berlin. It's more or less the life of rock musician Stew, who fronts the onstage band and narrates.

I loved the performance by Daniel Breaker as Youth, an aspiring musician and Stew's younger version of himself. (Just to drive the point home, they both wear red T-shirts and sneakers!)

Breaker, who received a Tony nomination, is exciting to watch. He's a wonderfully expressive actor and being able to see him up close - the look on his face and in his eyes - just demonstrates that even more.

Also, Passing Strange is really funny. I'd forgotten how much I laughed.

Stew won a Tony for his book and also wrote the lyrics. (The music was composed with his longtime collaborator Heidi Rodewald.) He has some very witty and perceptive things to say about race and politics, as well as about family and being true to yourself as an artist.

This is a musical with quite a few intimate scenes between Youth and the people in his life - including his strict but loving churchgoing mother, played by Eisa Davis. Maybe it was watching them on a small screen but those moments seemed even more poignant this time.

Four actors: Chad Goodridge, Colman Domingo, Rebecca Naomi Jones and De'Adre Aziza, move seamlessly from the teenage Youth's friends in L.A. to Dutch artists to German anarchists. I especially loved Domingo as Franklin, the minister's son and choir director who sets Youth out on a path about which he himself can only dream.

I know Stew has mentioned The Wizard of Oz as an inspiration and I can see that. Youth's adventures reminded me so much of the mix of apprehension and exhilaration that comes from being in a foreign country for the first time.

The only thing that bothered me about the filming of Passing Strange, and I don't know whether this had something to do with the camerawork or my PBS station, but a few times actors on the left side of the stage were cut off, so you could only see half of their bodies. I noticed the credits were the same way.

When I wrote my review, I said that while I admired the show's innovation I missed the elaborate sets and big, choreographed dance numbers that you usually find in a Broadway musical. (Also, while I enjoyed the vibrant mix of rock and punk and gospel, among other sounds, I have to admit it was a bit loud for me at times.)

But the second time around, that really didn't matter. There's something I like even better than big sets and dance numbers - a well-told story. And Stew is a masterful storyteller. I'm so glad we have Passing Strange preserved on film.

Doctorow on Ragtime, the musical

The Broadway revival of Ragtime will be my first novel to movie to musical adaptation!

I loved the 1975 novel but I don't remember too much about the 1981 movie by Milos Forman, other than it was James Cagney's last film role.

I vaguely recall that E.L. Doctorow didn't like the movie of his novel so I was curious how he felt about the musical, which features a book by Terrence McNally and a score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens.

Apparently, he likes it. I found an old interview from the San Francisco Chronicle in which he said that he was "very fond of the musical." (And the reporter confirms my suspicion that Doctorow is not a fan of the movie.)

The musical, he believes, "shows honor and devotion to the book. I was not a collaborator, but I was more than an observer. I fed them notes and think I was fairly useful to them. They were responsive to me.''

Having been promised approval rights over the creative team, been vigilant during the rehearsal process and made a point of seeing new musicals that have since opened, he says he's convinced "it verges on being an American opera. The piece really shines. Most of what you see (in other musicals) is so thin. Or hokey. Or overwrought.''

Now I know! I'm thinking it would be interesting to read the novel again, or at least watch the movie, but maybe I'll wait until after I see the musical, which begins previews Oct. 23 at the Neil Simon Theatre.

Julie and Julia

I just loved Julie & Julia. The two hours flew by.

A lot of times, I'm disappointed when I see a movie based on a book I've read but this time, I might even like the movie more. Although it's been a couple years since I read Julie Powell's memoir on working her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, so I can't really compare.

Meryl Streep is such a commanding presence and okay, maybe a tiny bit over the top at times with the high-pitched voice, but she imbues Julia Child with a humanity that makes her more than a caricature.

And Amy Adams is so appealing as Julie Powell, an office worker who feels like she's in a rut. Has she ever given a performance that I didn't like? I don't think so. Maybe her character is a little self-absorbed but aren't we all at times?

One of the things director Nora Ephron does which I really like is make the stories of Julia in Paris in the 1950s writing and cooking and Julie in New York City in the aughts blogging and cooking so parallel. A Julie scene dissolves into a Julia scene so seamlessly.

And it's interesting to see how much they have in common. They're both searching for something meaningful to do, something about which they feel passionate. And they're aided by incredibly supportive spouses, Chris Messina as Eric Powell and Stanley Tucci as Paul Child.

Plus, Paris looks beautiful and everyone in the movie is drinking wine and eating food that looks great - crusty loaves of bread, rich chocolate cake, hearty beef bourguignon. You feel so satisfied when something you've cooked turns out well. It made me want to go home and de-bone a duck.

Finally, how could I not love a movie where one of the main characters is a blogger!

In fact, the movie is kind of like an ode to blogging - the uncertainty when you're first starting out about whether anyone will read it, the excitement when you discover people are reading your words.

I could so relate to those scenes of Powell writing her blog posts, her thrill at getting comments from people she doesn't know, the bond she creates with her readers. (You can read the first Julie/Julia Project post.)

It's like seeing my life up there on the big screen. Or at least it could have been my life if only I'd thought of doing something nearly as clever.

There's nothing wrong with me!

One of my coworkers - I'll call him "Bill C." - directed my attention to a horror movie, Orphan, that opens next month and, coincidentally, has a character with the same first name as mine.

Right away, I'm thinking this is going to be a problem. I hate horror movies. I don't find anything remotely entertaining in being scared. Then I read about the plot. This is one that's definitely not going in the Netflix queue.

It was one thing when Madonna became interested in Jewish mysticism and started studying Kabbalah and picked "Esther" as her Hebrew name. That was kind of flattering.

The "Esther" in this movie is a 9-year-old who (Spoiler alert!) turns out not to be as angelic as she seemed when her new parents were smitten with her at the local orphanage. (I had no idea you could just head down to the local orphanage and pick out a kid!)

Apparently, Esther is some kind of demon child - as if you couldn't tell from those deep-set eyes, that creepy stare and the perfectly symmetrical pigtails.

Just so there's no misunderstanding, the tag line makes it perfectly clear: "There's something wrong with Esther." I want to make one thing perfectly clear: There's nothing wrong with me! Behind my sweet facade is - more sweetness, I swear!

And all joking aside, the movie has drawn the ire of advocates for adoption for a another tag line that was removed: "It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own." Really, Warner Bros., what were you thinking?

At least the studio admitted its error. "We made a mistake," said Scott Rowe, a company spokesman. "We get complaints about virtually every movie ... but in this case, we went back and said, 'You're right ... and we're sorry.'"

A Nine sneak peek

Courtesy of Entertainment Tonight, here's a preview of the musical Nine.

The movie, directed by Rob Marshall and featuring a whole stable of Oscar winners, including Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren, opens Nov. 25.

PBS to air Passing Strange

Fans of Passing Strange who can't get to New York City this weekend will have to wait a bit before watching the film of the 2008 Broadway musical.

PBS has acquired the rights to Spike Lee's film and plans to show it in 2010 as part of the Great Performances series. But this Variety story says the producers are exploring a limited theatrical release in late summer or early fall.

Lee has been making the rounds of the festivals with his movie. Earlier this year, Passing Strange was shown at Sundance and tomorrow, it's being screened in New York as part of the Tribeca Film Festival.

At Sundance, the movie garnered a pretty enthusiastic review from film.com:

"Spike used 14 cameras at once to capture the action like it's never been done before. Amazingly, you never see a camera you weren't meant to see. Intimate shots were gathered in gorgeous high-definition over the course of three shows and seamlessly edited together. It's a technological triumph as well as an artistic one."

While I'm glad someone bought the rights, I'm a little disappointed that Passing Strange won't get a big theatrical release. Even though it's a fairly intimate show, I'd still rather see this rock concert/coming of age story at my local multiplex, larger than life.

I have thoughts, too!

It's been over a year now since I started writing Gratuitous Violins and I'm still waiting, patiently, for a publisher to stumble upon it and offer me a book deal. Sigh.

Until then, I'll live vicariously through Julie Powell, who wrote a blog about working her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It became a bestselling book and now, a movie, Julie & Julia, starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep in the title roles.

Here's the trailer. It opens Aug. 7, and I can't wait! Meryl Streep is pretty amazing.

Why Grey Gardens makes me queasy

So, the Grey Gardens movie premieres on HBO tonight, with Jessica Lange as "Big Edie" Beale and Drew Barrymore as her daughter, "Little Edie."

I won't be watching, since I dropped HBO a few months ago. All of their original programming is available on dvd soon enough and I can just get it from Netflix. Also, I'm not totally on the Big Edie, Little Edie bandwagon.

When I saw the 1975 documentary Grey Gardens about the Beales - aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - my initial reaction was, these women are mentally ill. They're living in squalor in a decaying Long Island mansion and clearly have trouble coping with everyday life. I felt that filmmakers Albert and David Maysles exploited them a bit.

I guess I'm not the first person to raise the issue because it's addressed on the commentary track. The producer and director argue that Big and Little Edie were nonconformists, that their lives were examples of how opportunities for women of their era were constricted. If they were British we'd be calling them eccentric and their behavior would be considered charming.

Later, I saw Christine Ebersole on The View. She played the older Edie in the first act and the younger Edie in the second act of the Broadway musical Grey Gardens, and won a Tony award. One of the hosts brought up the same question: Wasn't there something emotionally wrong with these women? Ebersole gave pretty much the same answer, that they were artistic types, nonconformists, etc.

But leaving food out for the raccoons in your attic is not normal behavior. Neither is leaving bags of garbage - and worse - around your house. I felt these women were being romanticized and their plight explained as "nonconformity" when it was really closer to mental illness.

I've softened a little bit. There's an audio interview with Little Edie that was recorded a few years after the documentary came out. On it, she talks about how much she and her mother liked their portrayal. And she actually sounded more lucid than she did in the film.

Also, I subsequently saw Grey Gardens on Broadway and Ebersole was great. She absolutely channels Little Edie in the second act. And she creates a memorable Big Edie in the first act, really out of whole cloth, with no documentary to guide her. I think Little Edie would have been thrilled and flattered by her performance.

Still, I couldn't get away from the fact that I'd seen the documentary. The way those two women lived was not okay. No one would want to live in those conditions. Check out this 2002 New York Times obituary for Little Edie for the details.

I'm definitely curious about the movie. But I just have a tough time seeing the Beales as icons, as cult figures to be lionized. To me, they were two lonely, troubled women who needed help. And there's nothing charming about their circumstances.

Some musical news and views

Okay, it's been a few days since I've had a theatre-related post and there's quite a bit of interesting news, so it's time for a little catch-up.

The Broadway revival of West Side Story is launching a national tour starting in the fall of 2010. I think this is exciting. Sure, it's fun to see the new shows when they come on tour but it's also nice to catch up with the classics, especially one with a new twist. And a production that incorporates Spanish dialog and songs hopefully will attract a whole new audience. I'm assuming the tour will keep the Spanish parts. So it's definitely something to look forward to.

The Tales of the City musical is going to be developed this summer at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Conn., as part of the National Musical Theater Conference. It features a book by Jeff Whitty of Avenue Q and songs by the Scissor Sisters - Jason Sellards and John Garden. I've read the first book in the Tales series and I liked it. Sometimes you read about a planned musical and then, nothing. So I was happy to read that this one is coming together.

McG (Joseph McGinty Nichol) is in talks to direct the movie version of the Tony-winning musical Spring Awakening. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. On the one hand, he does have experience making music videos and a lot of time, Spring Awakening does feel like you're in a club listening to a cool new indie rock band. On the other hand, McG directed Charlie's Angels. I just don't know. I loved Spring Awakening on stage and I don't want them to mess it up.

Kirk Douglas live on dvd

I'm glad there are plans to preserve for posterity Before I Forget, the one-man show by Kirk Douglas that was staged last month for four performances at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, Calif.

In an interview with CNN, Douglas says he wants to turn the 90-minute show into a television special and a dvd. Proceeds would go to the Motion Picture and Television Home, where he endowed a wing in memory of his father.

That'll be great for those of us who couldn't get to California. Still, I can't imagine it could compare with the experience of sitting in the audience and listening to the 92-year-old actor reflect on his life and career. I'm thinking this is one where you just had to be there.

"So many people cried," Douglas said, "and I thought, you know, it's easy to make people cry, but it's more important to make people laugh. ... Especially in this world today, if you don't laugh, you cry."

Of course, Douglas is best known for movies such as Spartacus, Lust for Life and Paths of Glory but my favorite is a 1966 film set in Israel called Cast A Giant Shadow. I found it when I was channel-surfing late one night and the movie inspired me to make my first trip to Israel, in 1995. I ended up living there for a year, so Kirk Douglas has had quite an impact on my life.

Here's an interview with Douglas on NPR. And a report from the Los Angeles Times on opening night. In his review, Charles McNulty noted that Douglas' stroke-impaired speech was a little difficult to understand at times but he says:

"Genuinely touching and amusing by turns, the show — special event, really — has a relaxed, moseying feel. It’s as though we’ve been invited into Douglas’ Beverly Hills den to watch home movies and listen to tales from his incredible showbiz odyssey."

Stepping into Judy Garland's slippers

Last week I wrote about how I'd love to see Anne Hathaway in a musical - and now it looks like I'll get that chance. The Oscar nominee is going to play Judy Garland in movie and stage versions of the biography Get Happy, by Gerald Clarke.

The rights have been scooped up by The Weinstein Company, and Harvey Weinstein told Variety that Hathaway "will be a true class act in this challenging role." He said Clarke's biography "is particularly outstanding because of its exclusive details from her [Garland's] own writings."

I'm not quite sure how it will work. Will they make the movie first and release it simultaneously with a stage version? The only thing remotely resembling this is when Kevin Spacey did a concert tour singing Bobby Darin songs to promote his biopic Beyond the Sea.

I'm assuming Weinstein is planning a full stage production, which isn't a bad idea. You'll get twice the buzz. People who like Hathaway as Judy Garland in a movie will probably want to see her on stage as Garland. Didn't the movie of Chicago gave the Broadway show a boost?

Now, I think Anne Hathaway can do just about anything. Supposedly, she's always wanted to make a musical and this is her dream role. But one possible roadblock: according to the Hollywood Reporter, she has about eight inches on Garland, who was barely 5 feet tall.

Of course, Philip Seymour Hoffman was a lot taller than Truman Capote, too. And he did fine in the movie Capote, winning an Oscar for his performance. Although it's easier to mask that height difference in a movie than it is on stage.

Slumdog Millionaire

So I finally saw Slumdog Millionaire this afternoon. I was all prepared to wait for it to come out on dvd but my fellow bloggers Steve and Vance urged me to make the trip to the multiplex and watch it on the big screen. They were right. Thanks for the encouragement, guys!

I've mentioned before that I'm very squeamish and I was afraid that some of the scenes I'd read about would be too hard to take. But while some parts of Danny Boyle's movie are horrific and the slums of Mumbai, India, are unbelievable in their poverty and vastness, Slumdog Millionaire is never unwatchable.

Just the opposite - I thought it was a compelling story, vivid and riveting, with characters who will totally touch your heart. I liked British actor Dev Patel, as a slum kid who's competing on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? He's so appealing, low key and tenacious, with big dark eyes and - for some reason I was fixated on this - extremely cute ears.

The producers cast real slum kids to portray the main characters as children - Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar and Rubiana Ali. They were on stage last week when Slumdog Millionaire won the Oscar for Best Picture and they're adorable.

The lives of these children that we see depicted on screen are so harsh and gut-wrenching. It's hard to watch them being exploited and living in conditions that no one should have to endure. It's hard to believe the government of India can't do more for them.

Since it won a total of eight Academy Awards, what's the next chapter in this story? Why, a musical of course. (Why doesn't anyone ever announce plans to turn a movie into a play? That's a rhetorical question. I think I know the answer.) The producers are planning to bring the movie to the stage to raise money for the slum children of Mumbai.

Of course there is a precedent. Remember Oliver! And Slumdog Millionaire is nothing if not Dickensian. Still, I wouldn't want anything that's too cutesy, that sugarcoats the lives of these children. It's a lot easier to take a musical about poor kids when the conditions depicted on stage are safely in the past.

Nine in 2009

I know I'm woefully behind on my 2008 moviegoing but that doesn't mean I can't look ahead to the spring and fall of 2009.

Near the top of my list is the musical Nine, directed by Rob Marshall and featuring a whole stable of Oscar winners, including Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren. Whew!

I was thinking about Nine because it showed up as number 20 on The Film Experience blog's list of the year's 20 most anticipated movies, where Nathaniel called it "the rare stage musical that might be improved by bringing it to the screen." Some of the comments are more skeptical. You can check out the discussion for yourself.

I've never seen Nine on stage, never heard any of the songs, by Maury Yeston, but I have heard great things about the show, which won the 1982 Tony Award for Best Musical and the 2003 Tony for Best Revival of a Musical. (I wonder how often that's happened? I'll have to do some research.) And what a cast in the revival: Antonio Banderas, Chita Rivera, Laura Benanti, Jane Krakowski.

Coincidentally, Nine takes place in Venice, which I visited in 1982 and remains one of the most beautiful, unique cities I've ever seen. Plus, I have watched 8 1/2, the 1963 movie from Italian director Federico Fellini about a movie director struggling with problems in his personal and professional life.

The musical is scheduled to open in the United States on Nov. 25. A perfect after-turkey treat.

The Oscars: A few of my favorite things

Time for a little Oscar postmortem:

I thought Hugh Jackman's opening number was hilarious and wow, he has such a terrific stage presence. It's nice to have a host who looks good in a tux and can do more than tell a few topical jokes. He reminded us that the movies are about glamour. Plus, Anne Hathaway is so funny, so adorable. I've loved her ever since The Princess Diaries and I'm sure she'll get an Oscar someday soon.

Hugh's big musical number, produced by Baz Luhrmann, was ok. It did seem a little strange to give a big wet kiss to movie musicals this year, since there weren't any nominated. But I enjoyed the shoutout to films like West Side Story. Coincidentally, I'd been listening to the Broadway cast recording on my iPod that very afternoon! Anytime I get to see the talented Mr. Jackman singing and dancing, it's a treat.

Honestly, I thought the show dragged a bit - maybe because I'd seen so few of the nominated movies. It was a little hard to get swept up in the all the hoopla for Slumdog Millionaire. From the descriptions I've read, it's much too violent for me. I'll have to wait until it comes out on dvd. As for The Wrestler, I'll probably never see it. Same for The Reader. I read the book, though. Does that count?

But I did like the way they gave out the awards - taking us from the script to the finished product and showing us a little bit about the process along the way. And I liked having winners from previous decades standing in a semicircle to introduce this year's nominated performances.

Seeing all of the little kids on stage when Slumdog Millionaire won Best Picture was awfully cute. And watching Phillipe Petit balance an Oscar upside down on his chin when Man on Wire won for Best Documentary was pretty cool.

There were very moving acceptance speeches from Dustin Lance Black for Best Original Screenplay for Milk; Kate Winslet for Best Actress for The Reader, the family of the late Heath Ledger accepting his award for Best Supporting Actor for The Dark Knight; and Sean Penn for Best Actor for Milk.

Both Black and Winslet were so personal about what the award meant to them. And I can't even imagine how difficult it must have been for Ledger's parents and sister, who aren't in show business, to get up there in front of thousands of people. I would have been like a deer in headlights.

Winslet was so sweet, talking about how she'd dreamed of this moment ever since she was a little girl: "I'd be lying if I hadn't made a version of this speech before, I think I was probably eight years old and staring into the bathroom mirror. And this (holding up her statuette) would've been a shampoo bottle. Well, it's not a shampoo bottle now!"

I got choked up when Black talked about what Harvey Milk's life meant to him as a gay man and the message that Harvey would want him to give to gay and lesbian kids who have been told that they are less than by their families, their church, their government: that "you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value. And that, no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you."

And Penn, who portrayed one of the country's first openly gay elected officials, used his speech to remind the audience plainly and simply what this fight for our gay and lesbian friends and family and neighbors and coworkers is all about: "We've got to have equal rights for everyone."

At 92, a new stage for Kirk Douglas

I must give props to 92-year-old Kirk Douglas, who's planning four performances of a new one-man show next month at the theatre in Los Angeles that bears his name. Before I Forget will feature the actor, author and philanthropist talking about his life and career.

Michael Ritchie, artistic director of the Center Theatre Group, which includes the Kirk Douglas Theatre, tells the Los Angeles Times Culture Monster blog that it was Douglas's idea. "It’s anecdotes, but there’s also a philosophical thread throughout. It's about being an artist and an actor. It’s his life, told through some of his characters."

Of course, Douglas is best known for movies such as Spartacus, Lust for Life and Paths of Glory but my favorite is a 1966 film set in Israel called Cast A Giant Shadow. I found it when I was channel-surfing late one night and the movie inspired me to make my first trip to Israel, in 1995. I ended up living there for a year, so Kirk Douglas has had quite an impact on my life.

Douglas suffered a stroke in 1996 that partially impaired his speech. The last movie I saw him in was It Runs in the Family in 2003 and it was clearly affecting him. I'm not sure how much stage work he's done since his last Broadway appearance, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, in 1964. But I'm sure the audience will be very understanding and hanging on every word.

Maybe he'll even take the show on the road!

12 Movies Meme

Okay, Vance from Tapeworthy has tagged me to program a movie theatre for 6 nights, with two movies a night. Here are the rules:

1) Choose 12 films to be featured. They could be random selections or part of a greater theme. Whatever you want.
2) Explain why you chose the films.
3) Link back to Lazy Eye Theatre so I can have hundreds of links and I can take those links and spread them all out on the bed and then roll around in them. (I'm not sure what that last part means but a rule's a rule.)

These aren't my 12 all-time favorite films, although a couple of them do make an appearance. And some of my favorite genres, like documentaries, aren't represented at all. But since I always did pretty well on term papers, I decided to go with a theme of compare and contrast. I picked movies that I thought would be interesting to see back to back.

I'm tagging:
The Singleman Party
Theatre Aficionado at Large
Stage Left, House Right
I Can't, I Have Rehearsal
And anyone else who'd like to play along!

Day 1: A cinematic feast - What's Cooking and Alice's Restaurant
Sure, "Thanksgiving movie" doesn't have quite the same ring as "Christmas movie" but it can still serve up a filling cinematic feast. In 2000's What's Cooking, director Gurinder Chadha follows four Los Angeles families - Jewish, Latino, African-American and Vietnamese - as they make preparations for the big holiday meal. They cook, they eat, they squabble. It's a sweet little movie about the foods we love and the ties that bind. I'll admit that Arthur Penn's 1969 film Alice's Restaurant is dated, with its focus on the draft and the counterculture. But Arlo Guthrie is terrific in this adaptation of his song about a Thanksgiving with friends that goes awry.

Day 2: The sincerest form of flattery - The Pursuit of Happyness and The Bicycle Thief
Not every director would have been handed the script of The Pursuit of Happyness and thought, The Bicycle Thief. But Gabriele Muccino clearly and lovingly constructed this 2006 movie starring Will Smith as an homage to Vittorio De Sica's classic 1948 Italian neorealist drama. Some of the scenes are identical, with Smith and his son trudging around the streets of San Francisco in a way that evokes the journey of the Italian father and son in postwar Rome. Both movies are about the struggles of a man in very meager circumstances to provide a better life for his family. Both will tug at your heartstrings as they poignantly and powerfully demonstrate the bond between parent and child.

Day 3: From screen to stage and back - Hairspray and Hairspray
I always liked John Waters' 1988 cult classic Hairspray, about attempts to integrate a Baltimore teen dance show in the early 1960s but I loved it once the story became a musical. For me, this is a screen to stage adaptation that works. Maybe it's not quite as quirky and subversive, maybe it's a little more mainstream, but on stage, with some songs and dance numbers, Hairspray becomes a joyous, energetic celebration. It's still about being true to yourself, a testament to the power of individuals to affect change. I'm very happy that in 2007, Hairspray made the transition back to the movies, this time as a musical.

Day 4: The joy of movement - Billy Elliot and Swan Lake
I love those small British movies about a community banding together in the face of adversity. Billy Elliot, released in 2000 and directed by Stephen Daldry, is set against the backdrop of a miners' strike, so it fits the bill perfectly. And since it's the story of a boy, played by Jamie Bell, who realizes that he loves to dance, what better to pair it with than a ballet? I'm not sure Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake ever made it to movie screens but since you can watch it on a 1996 dvd, that's close enough. I know that traditionally, the swans are portrayed by ballerinas. I'll take Bourne's handsome and agile male swans any day.

Day 5: Leading men - Casablanca and Annie Hall
I would have to say that Annie Hall from 1977, and Casablanca, from 1942, are my two all-time favorite movies. So many memorable scenes, so much quotable dialogue. Sure, it doesn't seem as though Humphrey Bogart's smooth and confident cafe owner Rick Blaine, in World War II Morocco, has much in common with Woody Allen's fumbling and insecure late 20th-century New Yorker Alvy Singer. But both movies are about a man and a woman from very different backgrounds coming together, and the difficulties that arise from those relationships. And in their own way, Bogie and Woody are the perfect leading men for their times.

Day 6: New York, New York - On the Town and Midnight Cowboy
Could there be two more diametrically opposite views of New York City than the ones presented in these two films? On the Town, from 1949, is a lighthearted musical about a trio of sailors (Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin) who do some sightseeing and search for romance during a 24-hour shore leave in Manhattan. John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy, on the other hand, from 1969, is a New York City filled with danger and squalor and places where no tourists venture. We've got Jon Voight and an amazing Dustin Hoffman as two hustlers who become unlikely buddies. Where does the truth lie? Probably someplace in between.

And I'd like to thank eBay

Wow, I'm kind of surprised by this: according to New York magazine, there's a Tony award for sale on eBay. I didn't even know you were allowed to sell one.

The award belonged to the late costume designer Florence Klotz, who won it for her work on the 1985 musical Grind. Ms. Klotz, who died in 2006 at the age of 86, won a total of six Tonys, including for Follies, Pacific Overtures and Kiss of the Spider Woman.

I know that since 1950, every Oscar winner has had to sign an agreement that neither they nor their heirs can sell the statuette without first giving the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences the right to buy it back - for one dollar! Here's an article from Forbes that explains it all.

I don't know whether the American Theatre Wing has a similar stipulation for a Tony. But according to a New York Times story, Christie's auction house sold one in 2007 for $4,800 and another, which may have been returned to the manufacturer because of a misspelling, sold last year for $5,676.25.

(Update: Kevin at Theatre Aficionado at Large says there is one, and it requires that anyone wishing to sell an award first offer it to the Theatre Wing for a nominal sum. Here are the details. Apparently, the Tony that Klotz received for Grind predates the requirement.)

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I agree with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences spokesman who told Forbes: "They're not tchotchkes to be bought off of a shelf." On the other hand, I can sympathize with someone who needs the money, an heir who doesn't have an emotional attachment to the award or who might want to use the proceeds for some worthy cause.

Of course, a Tony won't net you as much as an Oscar. The Forbes story says that an Oscar can bring as much as $1.5 million. Bidding for the Tony starts at $10,000, although you can buy it now for $20,000. But I think the principle is the same - you should get one by earning it, not because you have enough money to buy one on eBay.

Prayers for Bobby

You have another chance tonight at 9 to see Prayers for Bobby, a Lifetime movie starring Sigourney Weaver as a deeply religious mother who struggles to accept her gay teenage son, played by Ryan Kelley.

I recorded the movie over the weekend and just had a chance to watch it last night. Well, I was crying. I thought Prayers for Bobby told its story effectively and powerfully. Weaver's performance is especially compelling. Henry Czerny also does a good job as the father in the family.

Prayers for Bobby is based on a true story and there's some really interesting supplemental material at Lifetime's Web site, including an interview with Weaver and with Mary Griffith, the inspiration behind the movie.

Unfortunately, the people most likely to watch this movie aren't the people I'd like to have watch it: those who still think that being gay is a "lifestyle choice," who misinterpret the Bible, who don't understand the fear involved in coming out, who would reject a gay family member.

No one should ever have to worry about whether their family will love and accept them because of the way they were born. It is unconscionable. That's the message behind Prayers for Bobby and at the risk of sounding preachy, it's one a lot of people need to hear.