Thornton Wilder's Our Town, Two Historic Productions on Two DVD (1977) Review

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(More customer reviews)The text of this great play, opens no curtain, no scenery. Despite these revolutionary concepts, after writing Our Town, Thornton Wilder for the stage, he hoped there would eventually be a "definitive performance" for tv viewers to enjoy. In other words, he hated the 1940 box office movie with William Holden. In 1977 he worked along with a team of actors including Hal Holbrook, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox, Sada Thompson, Barbara Bel Geddes, and (fresh from Ode To Billy Joe) Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor. Although shot in a tv studio, they bent the rules slightly and added a touch of scenery, but it was so slight that it became the Grover's Corners New Hampshire that Wilder imagined. The performance was so good it was nominated for (and just might have won) an Emmy. Wilder died soon after happily, his definitive version made. His estate willed that another version for tv should not be made. Then in 1989, the late lamented Spaulding Grey headed another cast that did their best to remain completely faithful to the play as written. This Broadway performance was nominated for a Tony. A special performance was made for the executors of Wilder's estate who enjoyed it as much as the fore mentioned 1977 performance, that they allowed PBS to tape it for their "Great Performances" series. Since then, both of these showings have been hard to find on video. Now you can get them both in this nice (though pricey) 2 disc set. But trust me, it's worth the bucks. If you really need to "save money", order it from a "Marketplace Client", but buy it anyway. You will not regret it. Then for another very good showing, buy the 2003 PBS/Showtime presentation (on the PBS label) with Paul Newman, etc.

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Item Name: Thornton Wilder's Our Town: Two Historic Productions; Studio:Mastervision

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Playing Shakespeare (1982) Review

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(More customer reviews)The actual DVD set is being reviewed. I didn't see the book or TV in 1984.
This series of 9 episodes (Or should we call them "instructions" in Shakespeare acting?) seem like they were shot yesterday. They are timeless. What, if anything is staged? What is entirely impromptu? It's hard to say, nay, impossible. It's that well done. The wealth within this educational, academic experience is difficult to quickly review, but we'll give it a go.
"Playing SHAKESPEARE" is the DVD presentation of acting workshops, done like a play rehearsal underway, shot in 1982, led by John Barton, who is himself entertaining, plus an encyclopedia on Shakespearean acting. He directed over 50 plays by the (RSC) Royal Shakespeare Company. A Cambridge professor. His main interest in this series is teaching toward the marriage of the Elizabethan acting tradition and modern times or style. It is instruction dedicated to the actor--but it is of interest to so many more.
Through detailed Shakespeare direction, Barton has provided a series that will delight all lovers of the celebrated playwright. Additionally it will encourage the viewer who is newly attempting appreciation of Shakespeare and his works. Novice Shakespearean audiences will want for more, want for a complete play to view.
Much of the success of this series is the famous & talented actors being instructed. The top of the U.K. entertainers, both within the RSC and out. The BONUS FEATURES of this DVD set includes several of their bios and RSC credits. Some, not all as there are over 20, are:
Peggy Ashcorft, 1907-1991, having at some time performed near all Shakespeare's female roles.
Judi Dench, UK Superstar, fantastic in "As Time Goes By"
Ben Kingsley, "Gandhi" and "Schindler's List" to name but 2
Ian McKellan, "The Lord of the Rings" fans will remember
Patrick Stewart, would you believe "Star Trek: The Next Generation"
David Sachet, "Poirot", need more be said--yes--"The Way We Live Now"
Shakespeare wrote, "Our revels now are ended." Nay, Nay.
Here's the list of Episodes (Learning bits)
1 THE TWO TRADITIONS . . . . . . .2 USING THE VERSE
3 LANGUAGE AND CHARACTER . . . . .4 EXPLORING A CHARACTER
5 SET SPEECHES AND SOLILOQUIES . .6 IRONY AND AMBIGUITY
7 PASSION AND COOLNESS . . . . . .8 REHEARSING THE TEXT
9 POETRY AND HIDDEN POETRY
Each is a to-die-for opportunity for the student or the follower of Shakespeare. Not a full play or dramatic film, but an academic experience set in a working studio using excerpts.
In #3 language and words are discussed like Shakespeare's double syllable use of the word Ti-ime. And his often capitalization of the word, even when it's not the beginning word in the sentence. By watching another fine educational DVD series, "The Adventure of English", one can learn Shakespeare invented over 2000 words.
___Also in this segment, John Barton is coaxed into performing a bit of Shakespeare, which he does twice again during episode 9.
___#4 is outstanding when Shylock (The Merchant of Venice) is performed by Suchet (who is Jewish) and Stewart. Both have played the role in RSC under Barton's direction. The 3 demonstrate how Shakespeare characters can be played in different ways, all being good. Suchet also suggests to view this play, not as anti-Semitic, but without the 20th century Holocaust prejudice.
Other bonus extras include a trailer for "Slings & Arrows" and the much valuable SUBTITLES, recommended to be used by all, to catch the full value of the Shakespeare words.
This DVD set makes me thirst for a Shakespeare play--a Shakespearean Sundae.
If you are a William Shakespeare lover--BUY.
If you are an actor, or student of theatre--BUY.
If you are curious of those often talked about plays--BUY.
More elaboration on this would take as long as the 400+ minutes of the set. Instead, in Shakespeare's own words: "So to him we leave it."


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PLAYING SHAKESPEARE - DVD Movie

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Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1973) Review

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(More customer reviews)Having just watched the 1973 television production of "The Glass Menagerie" I have now seen every Katharine Hepburn performance she ever did on film or television. From "A Bill of Divorcement" to "This Can't Be Love" I now have everything on tape (yes, even "The Iron Petticoat"). This was Hepburn's first television performance and she was working with Anthony Harvey, who directed the actress in her third Oscar winning role in "The Lion in Winter." Hepburn had seen Laurette Taylor's exquisite performance in the original stage production of "The Glass Menagerie," and had long considered Tennessee William's "memory" play to be an American classic. Even though she is the quintessential Connecticut Yankee, Hepburn trotted out an affect Southern accent and tackled the role.
The play is essentially a gigantic flashback told by Tom Wingfield (Sam Waterston), who is now a merchant seaman in a distant port recalling the final days he spent in the family home in St. Louis with his mother, the faded Southern belle, Amanda (Hepburn), and his painfully shy sister, Laura (Joanna Miles). Stuck in a dead end job at a shoe factory and constantly going to the movies to escape his mother, Tom wants to be a poet. Laura, made physically ill by any attempt to go out and function in the real world, has retreated to her imagination and her titular collection of glass animals. Amanda is constantly talking about the old days on Blue Mountain, browbeating Tom for his lack of incentive, or hustling subscriptions for "The Lady's Home Companion." When his mother badgers him into finding a "gentleman caller" for his sister, Tom brings home Jim O'Connor (Michael Moriarty) from work. Even better, Jim is the boy the Laura had a crush on in high school, although she certainly never would have said anything at the time. But in a Tennessee Williams play, no good deed goes unpunished.
The centerpiece of the play becomes the scene between Laura and her gentleman caller. The scene is remarkable in that it is certainly unconventional to give two characters so much time on stage alone like this. Suffice it to say that on the basis of this extended scene both Morairty and Miles won a pair of Emmy awards each, for Best Supporting Actor/ess in a Drama and Supporting Actor/ess of the Year (the Emmys have had their fair share of strange awards over the years). Hepburn was nominated for Best Lead Actress in a Drama while Miles received a nod in the Supporting Actress category.
This version of "The Glass Menagerie" has the virtue of sticking to the play's original conclusion, which is not what happened with the 1950 film adaptation with Gertrude Lawrence, Jane Wyman, Arthur Kennedy, and Kirk Douglas. It seems that Hollywood always felt a strong urge to make Tennessee Williams' plays more upbeat on the silver screen. Once you get past her accent, Hepburn's performance is as nuanced as you would expect, and the rest of the cast more than hold their own. Given that their paths would almost cross on "Law & Order," it is ironic to find Waterston and Moriarty together in this production.
Kudos to the Broadway Theater Archive for preserving these fine performances on tape and many others as well. There just are not as many televised plays as there used to be in the old days, and it is great to see that many lost treasures are again becoming available to us as lovers of the theater.

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After what producer David Susskind called "the longest wooing for a part in a lifetime of dealing with stars," four-time Oscar winner Katharine Hepburn (On Golden Pond) made her television dramatic debut as the indomitable, overbearing matriarch, Amanda Wingfield, in Tennessee Williams' poignant 1945 memory play, which reteamed her with director Anthony Harvey (The Lion in Winter). "The Glass Menagerie" portrays a mother whose preoccupation with her past as a Southern belle and her unrealistic dreams for her children's futures threaten to smother her painfully shy daughter (Joanna Miles) and her aspiring writer son ("The Killing Fields'" Sam Waterston). Michael Moriarty plays the gentleman caller whose visit offers false hope and disrupts the family's precarious balance. 1973-74 Emmy Awards - Best Supporting Actor, Michael Moriarty; Best Supporting Actress, Joanna Miles.

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When Hell Freezes Over, I'll Skate (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1979) Review

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(More customer reviews)This Vinnette Carroll production, brought to life by a talented 8-member troupe of singers and dancers, features a combination of poetry and song which reflects the African-American experience. Inspiring, at the same time that it is an indictment of the treatment black America endured over the ages, the production celebrates the ultimate triumph of the rich and varied African-American culture.
With music created and directed by Tony Award winner Cleavant Derricks and his twin brother Clinton Derricks-Carroll, the revue showcases the performers and their melodies and rhythms, rather than musical instruments. Hand-clapping, simple drums, and a single piano or sax often provide the only accompaniment.
Joyful and enthusiastic, the music ranges from early chants and marches, as in "When the Colored Band Comes Marching Down the Street," through folk dance, gospel, revival music, blues, and disco. The late Lynne Thigpen is the female anchor, doing a passionate blues solo, her voice a contrast to the soprano of Lynne Clifton-Allen, who "just spreads her mouth and shouts, 'Come to Jesus'" in a gospel song. Clevant Derricks is a powerful interpreter/singer throughout, as is his twin, Clinton Derricks-Carroll, whose stirring bass/baritone inspires both the live audience and the viewer.
The production contains almost as much poetry as it does music, with poems by Countee Cullen, Julian Bond, Nikki Giovanni, and Langston Hughes, among others, enacted by the talented cast. Sometimes humorous and satiric, the poems range from the elegantly expressed to the vernacular, always showcasing attitudes and events which have led to moments of triumph, including domestic triumph. Gracefully blending songs, dance, and poetry, the revue creates a moving and comprehensive tribute to the enduring spirit of Black America. As one singer attests, "You can't put out the fiery spirit [of] my soul." Mary Whipple


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Acting Shakespeare (1982) Review

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(More customer reviews)I saw this video in my high school British Lit. class in 1986 and was mesmerized. I was not a particular fan of Shakespeare at the time, was in fact one of those kids who found Shakespeare mostly boring and irrelevant, but this turned me on to all that Shakespeare can be and why he has remained popular for so long. I have been a huge fan of Ian McKellan ever since; he is superb in this. I have been looking for this video for years, checking McKellan's website, ebay and everywhere I could think of, so I was so excited when I googled the title today, and found it on Amazon! I cannot recommend McKellan's _Acting Shakespeare_ highly enough. It remains, in my memory, the best theatre -- Shakespeare or otherwise -- that I have ever seen. It is just Ian McKellan on a bare stage, no props or costumes as far as I remember, performing monologues from several Shakespearian plays and commenting on the plays and characters and how he approaches them. The simplicity is perhaps part of what makes this so beautifully done.As it hasn't been released yet, I cannot comment on the technical quality of the sound or video. My hope is that the reason they took so long to release it is because they were picky about getting the audio and video quality right. Anyway, it is superb.

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A masterful tour de force from "one of the most distinguished performers of his generation" (The New York Times).
Alone on stage, without props or costumes, Ian McKellen performs some of Shakespeare\'s most striking monologues and offers his own personal anecdotes about life in the theater. From Henry VI to Macbeth, McKellen demonstrates the incredible universality of Shakespeare\'s plays with wit and humor – skillfully revealing the actor behind the writer in this celebrated one-man show.
Produced by Andrew Susskind and presented at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City.
Also includes an 8-page booklet with reflections by Ian McKellen.

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The Skin of Our Teeth (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1983) Review

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(More customer reviews)Ignoring the conventions of time, this playful "message play," directed by Jack O'Brien, studies one family from the days of the glaciers and dinosaurs to a post-apocalyptic, modern world. George Antrobus (Harold Gould), the inventor of the wheel, and Maggie (Sada Thompson), his wife, the inventor of the apron, have two children, Gladys and Henry (who was previously called Cain). Sabina (Blair Brown), the flirtatious maid, acts as the initial guide to the characters and action, commenting on their interactions. As the play progresses through the eras, author Thornton Wilder raises questions about civilization and values. George, by Act II, is convinced that the world is made for pleasure and power, but in the final act, after a modern world cataclysm, the family confronts what is truly important in their lives.
The principal actors have, among them, won twenty-two Emmy nominations and twelve Golden Globe nominations, and they certainly live up to their billing here in this 1983 production, as they present their over-the-top characterizations, accentuated by exaggerated gestures and often eye-catching costuming. Harold Gould, as George, is hilarious as the overwhelmed father of the family. Blair Brown is as seductive a housemaid as her abbreviated costumes suggest she would be, and Sada Thompson in dowdy dress is motherly and thoughtful. Academy Award winner John Houseman, in a cameo role as a buttoned-up newscaster, could not be more formal, and the satiric fortune-teller, Rue McLanahan, is full of droll humor.
Giving additional visual impact to the play are a pet dinosaur and a wooly mammoth, a beauty pageant on the Boardwalk of New Jersey, a convention of the fraternal Order of Mammals, and several attempted seductions by predatory women. The play takes liberties with the audience as the various actors step out of character to address them, as does the director. By including the audience in the action, the author reminds them that they are also part of the conclusion and the resolution.
First produced in 1942, the play reflects Wilder's fear that the war then engulfing the world might truly be a war for the future of civilization. His conclusion, which highlights the values of western philosophers, such as Spinoza, Aristotle, and Plato, also incorporates his religious beliefs and his belief in the enduring values of (western) literature. "We've come a long way--we're learning," he says, hopefully, but he also reminds us that "the end of this play isn't written yet." Creative and original in its day, the play represents a major moment in American theater. Mary Whipple


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Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning play brings to life the fate and foibles of the celebrated Antrobus family--a bold and brassy embodiment of Wilder's vision of the American people. This eloquent comedy serves up an allegorical tale of one American family whose members must come to grips with their destinies. Having survived fire, flood, pestilence, seven-year locusts, the Ice Age, and a dozen wars, the Antrobuses are as durable as radiators, and remain as optimistic as a spring day. A genuine modern classic. "Wilder's masterwork - a love letter to the human spirit." --Nicky Silver. With Blair Brown, Harold Gould, Rue McClanahan, Sada Thompson, and John Houseman.

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David E. Talbert's The Fabric of a Man Review

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(More customer reviews)The Fabric of a Man is one of David Talbert's best musical stage plays. It's the story of Dominique (Tammy Townsend - Family Matters, she played Eddie's girlfriend Greta), an up and coming fashion designer who thinks she is in love with Blair Godfrey (Clifton Powell), a self-centered stockbroker who wishes she'd focus less on her career and more on him. Her father is a minister and she has stopped going to church to concentrate on her career and boyfriend. Even though everyone tells her he is no good for her, she makes excuses for his behavior.
Dominique's employee (Buddy Lewis)forgot to take the dry cleaning to the cleaners and her regular cleaners is closed, she accidentally stumbles into an old-school dry cleaner, where she meets Joshua King (Darren DeWitt Henson - Soul Food), who has similar career goals. Joshua is a devout christian who doesn't make a move without God, their first date was dinner and church.
Dominique can't make up her mind about who's better for her, Blair who represents finance or Joshua who will give her the best of both worlds; love and a chance to explore her career goals. Dominique is forced to decide which man/fabric wears best on her.

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The Fabric of a Man is a jewel in the Talbert crown of romantic musical stage plays. It’s the story of Dominique Majors (Tammy Townsend), an up-and-coming fashion designer in love with Blair Godfrey (Clifton Powell), a self-centered stockbroker who wishes she'd focus less on her career and more on him. One night Dominique stumbles into an old-school dry cleaner, where she meets Joshua King (Darren DeWitt Henson), a good-looking young tailor who takes interest in more than just her dry cleaning. Torn between the comfort of finance and the potential of new romance, Dominique is forced to decide which fabric of which man best suits her. It's your front row ticket to inspirational theatre at its best! UrbanWorks Entertainment proudly welcomes David E. Talbert’s The Fabric of a Man into the prestigious Soul Theater Series!

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Madea's Big Happy Family: The Play Review

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(More customer reviews)I have seen this Play live in Kansas City and I must agree. I laughed, cried, was angry, sad and happy. But thank god for the majority I was laughing. :)
It involved every emotion that we experience in life, and not to be dissapointed had quiet a few lessons in it.
As with every good comedy, you take someones hardship and make fun of it' a lot of people will laugh, because they can relate. The cast was the best he has had yet. Very talented all the way through and I had my favorites of course. "Yaaaa Trick!!!" lol
I have seen all of Tyler Perry's Plays, watched all of his movies. But with this one I wasnt even out of the Sprint Center and asked if they had the play on DVD. But was told I had to wait until november. :( sniff.
I have never ever in 40 years waited on any movie or play ...on anything for that matter for 6 month,
but for this I did.
Thank You Tyler for opening my eyes on a few things and making me laugh while you are sharing your experience and pain.
Buy it, trust me you will not regret it, it's worth every penny!
(Oh and this is my first ever review. Can you tell? lol)

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Shirley has important news for her family, but she has five grown children with different lifestyles and finds it difficult to get them and the kids all together. So in steps Madea, the Matriarch General, to put the family's life in perspective with a hilarious twist on financial difficulties, drugs and, most important, family secrets. The next generation has a lot to learn. In her own way, Madea expresses how deliverance won\'t change you to be someone else, but will allow you to be who you really are. Ain\'t nothing like family!

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