Friday, November 25, 2011

The Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, MD)

We went to see the exhibition on the Archimedes Codex. Fascinating story well told.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a serial killer (Michael Sturminger)

Purportedly premised on the memoirs of Jack Unterweger, a late-20th-century Austrian serial killer, the production combines the grotesquery of the criminal's clever justifications for his crimes with the lush beauty of late-18th tragic opera.   Why the two are combined is never made fully clear.  Visually, the two are connected when Unterweger attacks and strangles the two singers.  Conceptually, the second seems to be fantasy of his life as a tragic work of art in which some are doomed (through no fault of the artist) to die.
With John Malkovich as Unterweger.
Outrageous, yes. Yet, I'm still not certain this production lives up to its hype.


The Internal Comedy: Confessions of a serial killer (Michael Sturminger)

Featuring John Malkovich as Jack Unterweger, an Austrian serial killer. Strange hodge-podge of classical music and rant without any center.

Disappointing.  Recommend with reservations

Friday, November 18, 2011

A Thought in Three Parts (Wallace Shawn)

Yale Cabaret's production was one of the few on this side of the Atlantic since the play was written in the 1970s. Bold and daring understates it. Fine, fine acting by the entire cast. Saw it with Alice Kelly.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Twelfth Night, (Shakespeare)

Westport Country Playhouse and Mark Lamos--as well as a wheelchair-bound Feste. Not as surprising as expected.

Recommend

Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols)

Engrossing film that brings the audience inside the experience of Curtis--an everyday working man, husband, and father--and his encroaching schizophrenia. Make that "experiences," for the film is exceptionally good with its sympathetic portrayal of friends and family as they are pulled into and resist Curtis' delusions and paranoia in rural Ohio. Much more suspenseful that I would have expected. Excellent performances by Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon. Highly recommend.

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