“Boeing Boeing” is a meretricious, cliché-ridden contraption without a shred of literary quality — and it is absolutely irresistible, at least in Blackfriars’ slam-bang production. I have seldom heard an audience enjoy itself so much as I did at this opening night, and I happily admit I also enjoyed every door slam, unlikely coincidence, double […]
Comedy
Posted inArts & Entertainment
“Another Christmas with the Calamari Sisters”
“Another Christmas With the Calamari Sisters: Feast of the Seven Fishes” is the latest in the series of campy, irreverent musical-comedy shows featuring bickering (but loving) sisters Carmela and Delphine Calamari, hosts of Brooklyn public-access-television cooking program, “Mangia Italiano.” The characters, created by Jay Falzone, Dan Lavender, and Stephen Smith, have been charming audiences over […]
Posted inMovies
Film Review: “American Hustle”
Based on a true story, “American Hustle” opens in a semi-documentary manner, with a line of on-screen prose providing the location — the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan — and the date — November, 1978. Some intermittent voice-over narration from the two major characters throughout the movie continues the documentary tone. After that, however, both action […]
Posted inMovies
Film Review: “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues”
“Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” took audiences by surprise when it opened nearly a decade ago, in the summer of 2004. The 70’s-era tale of Will Ferrell’s dimwitted, sexist newsman was a minor hit at the box office and has only grown in popularity in the years since. Many of its more memorable lines […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
“Relatively Speaking”
The JCC CenterStage’s new production is “Relatively Speaking,” a program of one-act plays, recently presented on Broadway, by writers better known for their work in the movies: Ethan Coen, Elaine May, and Woody Allen. Does anything tie them together? Well, each of them contains a generous sprinkling of wisecracks, as you might expect. And each […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
“Sister Strikes Again! Late Nite Catechism 2”
The character of the funny nun has been around at least since Chaucer, and is here to stay as a staple of pop culture. You’ve seen her in “The Sound of Music,” “The Flying Nun,” numerous variations on “Nunsense”, etc., etc. My own upbringing was about as un-Roman Catholic as can be imagined, so I […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
“The 39 Steps”
When you walk into the house for Geva’s current production of “The 39 Steps,” the first thing you see is a good, old-fashioned proscenium framing a good, old-fashioned red curtain. That’s a pretty retro visual for a modern theater production, but it turns out to be a perfect visual introduction for this one. If you […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
“Me and Jezebel”
“Darling, there are no other stars.” That line is ascribed to Bette Davis in “Me and Jezebel,” the opening production in Blackfriars Theatre’s 64th season. The show tells the allegedly true story of what happened when Davis — the legendary movie star who won two Academy Awards for Best Actress, received 10 Oscar nominations, and […]
Posted inMovies
Guy flick, chick flick, skin flick
Joseph Gordon-Levitt might possibly regard “Don Jon” as his Orson Welles achievement — after all, he wrote, directed, and stars in the movie, a Hollywood trifecta. The picture may perhaps rank somewhat below “Citizen Kane” in quality, but we all know that standards everywhere have declined. Rather than an American epic, it begins as an […]
Posted inCulture
Fringe Fest 2013 Reviews: An Evening with Dave Barry
It’s a man’s world. What else could explain how the unaffected faces of headliners Marc Maron and Dave Barry could be plastered on billboards all over the city? Could you even imagine if they were, instead, talented women just smiling away without the least bit of sexiness? Call it my bad-attitude carryover from Jazz Festivals […]
Posted inCulture
Fringe Fest 2013 Reviews: Marc Maron
About halfway through Marc Maron’s set at Kodak Hall Saturday night, Maron did an impression of himself stalking around in his early years. He said, mockingly, “I had to own the stage.” The irony was, all these years later, with a far more subtle (though not always) approach, he owned the whole theater. In fact, […]
Posted inCulture
Fringe Fest 2013 Reviews: RAPA’s A Night of Laughs
Friday night I attended RAPA theater’s comedy showcase A Night of Laughs, featured a sampling of several of the Fringe Festival’s comedy acts. Despite the name of the program, however, I was disappointed to find that the laughs were relatively few and far between. Maybe it’s just my comedic tastes. I prefer the more risqué, […]
