Faerie Tale Theatre - Sleeping Beauty (1983) Review

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(More customer reviews)After years of waiting, Faerie Tale Theatre fans can finally own the series on DVD. Shelley Duvall's series originally appeared on Showtime 20 years ago and featured well-known and rising stars of the time. The series' enthusiastic interpretations of beloved fairy tales has made it a cult classic. Better yet, the DVD prices are affordable, especially after the high prices the used VHS copies have been earning in recent years.
About this episode:
The classic tale of Sleeping Beauty, expanded with comical touches.
Cast:
Bernadette Peters .... Sleeping Beauty
Christopher Reeve.... The Prince
Beverly D'Angelo .... Bad Fairy


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A princess who has been put into a deep sleep by an evil fairy is awakened one hundred years later by the kiss of a prince.

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Into the Woods (1991) Review

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(More customer reviews)The DVD of Sondheim's INTO THE WOODS is not that remarkable other than the fact that it's great to have this wonderful television production available in the format. The picture is crisp and the sound is pristine. There are no extras on the disc. I do enjoy the chapters, however. Unlike my video tape version, it's great to be able to skip to a particular song I wish to view.
INTO THE WOODS is such a great show. The first act is hilarious and witty. It very smartly weaves together all those fairy tales so familiar to us all. Then act two makes us look at them through adult eyes. I think Sondheim and Lapine are telling us that in fairy tales as well as "real" life, the simple words "I wish..." are truly the beginning of whatever story each of us is about to tell. They counsel us to be careful of what we wish in life -- our wishes effect everyone.
My favorite song in this production is "The Last Midnight" which is performed by Bernadette Peters as the Witch. It is very macabre and Sondheim reveals so much about the Witch's character through the lyrics. Plus, it gives Ms. Peters an opportunity to belt!
INTO THE WOODS is a hoot! Enjoy it.

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A baker and his wife journey into the woods in search of a cow, a red cape, a pair of golden slippers and some magic beans to lift a curse that has kept them childless. Tony Award winners Bernadette Peters, Joanna Gleason and the rest of the original Broadway cast weave their magic spell over you in Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece, directed by James Lapine, a seamless fusion of fairy tale characters and what happens after "happily ever after. "With oft-recorded songs such as "Children Will Listen" and "No One is Alone," "Into the Woods" is a music lover's delight from start to finish--and will forever cement Stephen Sondheim's unparalleled position as the giant of the American musical theater.

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Hey Mr. Producer: The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh (2006) Review

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"My Fair Lady", "Oliver", "Les Miserables", "Phantom of the Opera", "Cats", "Miss Saigon" all packed in one DVDs. My favourites include Jonathan Price as Professor Higgins singing "I've grown accustomed to her face, "You've got to Pick a Pocket or Two" from Oliver, "send in the clowns" by Judi Dench, "Oh! What a beautiful morning" from Oklahoma and the lovely melodies from Les Miserables. Though the performances were dated back in 1998, the star studded performances made a lasting impression nevertheless. The songs were enchanting melodies but it's the presence of the singers and the great chorus that maded this DVD truly special. And the line up of seven songs from "Les Miserables" highlighted the great work of Cameron Mackintosh. A wonderful treat.

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Item Name: Hey Mr. Producer!: The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh; Studio:Well Go Asia

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Wendy Wassertein's Kiss, Kiss, Dahlings / Terrence McNally's The Last Mile (1992) Review

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(More customer reviews)This show was broadcast in 1992 for the 20th anniversary of "Great Performances."
Hard to believe, but the DVD contains two plays, each only about 15 minutes long. With this much brevity, it won't surprise you to hear that neither play outstays its welcome.
The first, "Kiss, Kiss, Dahlings," is divided into three short acts. The three actresses (Blythe Danner, Cynthia Nixon and Nancy Marchand) play three generations of stage actresses in three different time periods. This is a love letter to the theater from the late Wendy Wasserstein, and light fare.
The second is about a nervous opera soprano about to make her debut at the Met in "Tosca." Written by Terrence McNally, this is the better piece. It stars the incandescent Bernadette Peters, who is astonishingly vulnerable at times.
Opera fans will get a couple of big laughs from the inside jokes McNally weaves in, but even non-opera folks can enjoy it. A relatively restrained Nathan Lane, a relatively unrestrained Paul Sorvino and a very funny Bill Irwin also register in their roles.
All that said, I'm not sure it's worth buying the DVD for only 30 minutes of drama. Perhaps rent it first and then determine if it's something you'll want to view again and again.

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Kiss, Kiss, Dahlings is Wendy Wasserstein's humorous love letter to the theater, starring Tony Award-winner Blythe Danner and 4-time Emmy-winner Nancy Marchand (Lou Grant, The Sopranos) together with Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City) as three generations of actresses in three different eras. Also featuring talk-show host Charlie Rose. Terrence McNally's The Last Mile captures both the comic and the poignant minutes in an opera diva's life just before the curtain rises on her Metropolitan Opera debut in "Tosca". Starring two-time Tony Award winners Bernadette Peters (Annie) and Nathan Lane (The Birdcage). Also starring Paul Sorvino and Bill Irwin.

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Paradise Lost (Broadway Theater Archive) (1974) Review

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(More customer reviews)Clifford Odetts dramatized the American depression in a way that transcends time and space. It is of a rare and refined beauty which one must experience and absorb in order to fully appreciate. Depression seems to be the order of the day for the protagonists as they contend with life, memories and ineptitude. Intellectual superfluous men abound and political radicals skirt the staging of a home where its residents cope, carry-on and troop along suffering tragedies and circumstances, unable to accept their fate and forever awaiting a turn in their luck. All the while there remains a confused but ever-present faith in life and the meaning and values it preserves. It is indeed a play that makes you happy to be alive but in a more profound way than may be initially believed. Long after a first viewing it ferments in your thoughts to avidly flesh out a philosophy about truth and reason, life and meaning, the way we live and the effect it has on all. The acting is absolutely perfect. It is a long three act play and deserves repeated viewings. Immensely rich and a broadway masterpece by all standards.

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Clifford Odets' portrait of the Depression, Paradise Lost, was premiered by the Group Theatre in a ground-breaking 1935 Broadway production directed by Harold Clurman and starring Luther and Stella Adler, Yiddish theatre legend Morris Carnovsky, Elia Kazan and Sanford Meisner, among others. It became one of the Group's most controversial plays and remains Odets' favorite. Set in 1932, Paradise Lost unfolds in the modest two-family home of Leo and Clara Gordon as misfortune strikes them and the people running with them. Less concerned with plot so much as characterization, it conveys what one critic calls Odets' "rich, compassionate, angry feelings for people." "It is my hope," wrote Odets, "that when people see [it], they're going to be glad they're alive. And I hope that after they've seen it, they'll turn to strangers sitting next to them and say 'hello.'" "A moving evocation of an apparently lost genre." --The Christian Science Monitor. With Bernadette Peters, Eli Wallach, Fred Gwynne, and Jo Van Fleet.

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