#george c wolfe

[audramcdonald]

Audra McDonald stars as Rose in the Broadway revival of Gypsy (Majestic Theatre, 2024)

[glimeres]

2000 Tony Awards - Toni Collette, Mandy Patinkin, Eartha Kitt and Company perform a medley (Queenie Was a Blonde / Wild Party / Welcome to My Party / When It Ends / Wild) from the musical The Wild Party

[doyouknowthismusical]

[chinchillasorchildren]

Films of 2023: Rustin (dir. George C. Wolfe)

Grade: C-

[xtrablak674]

Glamorous Life

One of my most favorite compliments as an adult was being called glamorous! I was attending a house party being given by Dominic Vine, an artist, sex worker and writer who I had totally wanted to have relations with, but was okay just being in his very curious and fascinating presence. When I think of glamour I think of Lena Horne, Earth Kitt or Dorothy Daindridge, so it felt like such a blessing to be included amongst these classic goddesses.

I can't even lie I am not even sure what I was wearing that particular night, or when exactly I crossed the threshold into having a more elegant bearing. I think the potential was always there it just took a moment for me to refine and polish it. Curiously I have never made an attempt at categorizing my personal style, I just wear what I wear. I understand that what you wear and how you wear it is an extension of an expression of your personality and values. But sometimes you haven't come across the language in which you have your 'aha' moment.

Partially I feel this regal-ness started in high school, albeit my wardrobe would take more time to align with my internal feelings for myself. I remember I had this brown knit v-neck sweater that had a very deep neckline. I wasn't sure exactly how to wear the sweater a buttoned down shirt didn't feel right and neither did tank-tops they ruined the natural lines of the piece. So I would be bare-chested with my cleavage fully exposed. #TheGirlsWereOut My great posture and beautiful collar bones actually allowed me to carry this look off flawlessly. This would lead me years later to buying deep v-neck t-shirts from American Apparel which were my go-to travel looks. I was so sad when they closed and my source of deep v-necks dried up.

I have mentioned to the children that personal style is a journey, and I can recall certain pieces I used to own and how significant they were in elevating my style at the time. I remember some outfits I experimented with like this look I wore to work at The Public Theatre where George C. Wolfe the artistic director at the time had issue with, but wasn't man enough to say something to me himself, but sent underlings to attempt to make me feel less than.

The outfit was built around this neon orange mini dress I was gifted by a Soho boutique owner, that I was wearing as a top, these vintage polyester black bell bottom pants, and a navy morning coat with long tails that I had thrifted at my local thrift store in Williamsburg. The outfit was finished off with a long orange scarf with tassels and these vintage black 70s platform shoes I had thrifted in Ann Arbor. As far as I was concerned I looked amazing, and even visualizing the look today I did look good, it was a great pairing of items and my work was never constrained by what I wore or didn't wear.

Shelby Jiggets the dramaturg at the time took me aside and said that George had a problem with what I was wearing for the day, saying it lent itself to something reminiscent of a minstrel show. There was so much that was problematic with this summons, and this conversation. I a young dark-skinned gender non-conforming openly queer person was being called to the carpet by an older light-skinned and semi-closeted cis gay man who seemed to be mad at my young Black joy and self-expression.

This outfit was elegant and I daresay glamorous and it wasn't degrading to the history of Black people in America. I was dark-skinned but in no way possible was I dark enough to be confused with wearing blackface. I wasn't bulging my eyes or reddening my lips or acting cartoonishly Negroid, I was going about the daily tasks of my job as I would any other day with just a more elaborate ensemble. It was doubly insulting to be inside of a cultural institution where creativity was allegedly cultivated and to be told that I needed to be less creative in my own self-expression. #wtf

Working at the Public Theatre in the mid-nineties was such an honor and privilege for me so early in my theatrical career, and it was bolstered by the fact that most of the staff and crew were Black or people of color, it felt very affirming just working there. But it was also a great lesson in learning that in developing your personal style you're going to take risks and sometimes you will offend others, but you shouldn't let this discourage you from the journey of how to let your inside reflect on your outside.

We carry who we are, where we've been and what is important to us in what we wear and how we wear it. It always saddens me when folks don't use this very obvious platform as a form of self-expression, clothing can have an entire conversation with the world at large without even saying a word. Choose your words carefully.

[Photo by Brown Estate, black and white photo by Tony Kushner]

[a-kinda-nerdy-girl]

I didn't know much abouy george c wolfe which is a shame because his lifetime achievement award seems very well deserved

[kevrocksicehouse]

Rustin.

D: George C. Wolfe.

As Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln proved, one of the best ways to structure a biopic is to center it around a short but important period of time in its subjects life, but in Rustin, the story of a vital, though relatively obscure figure in the Civil Rights movement that approach becomes problematic. Bayard Rustin (Colman Domingo) was a central organizer in the movement who was a top adviser to Martin Luther King Jr (he introduced King to Ghandian non-violence tactics) but whose five-year membership in the Young Communist League (he left when the party abandoned non-violence) and open, though discreet, homosexuality made him vulnerable to attacks not only from racist politicians but also from moderate black leaders like Roger Wilkins (Chris Rock) and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (Jeffrey Wright) who saw him as an increasing liability. The film finds him rudderless, estranged from King (Domingo’s face when King accepts what Rustin thought was a pro forma resignation is as good as acting gets) when he is asked by A. Philip Randolph to help organize a march for civil and economic rights that became the landmark March on Washington and the high point of Rustin’s life.

Wolfe, working from a script by Dustin Lance Black (who as he demonstrated in Milk, knows how to portray the minutiae of politics as both explicable and exciting) more than makes history come alive – aided by Tobias A. Schliesser’s vibrant cinematography, he gives it color – and Domingo gives a titanic performance as the Dynamo at the center of it all, but his story and that of the event take turns eclipsing each other (and Rustin’s affairs with a younger activist (Gus Halper) organizer and a married NAACP pastor (Johnny Ramey) are a melodramatic distraction from the main story). Rustin almost works as a depiction of history that rescues one of it’s heroes from obscurity. But finally, it can’t meld the man with the movement.

[dclblog]

Rustin (O-Ton)...

...erzählt die Geschichte eines der größten Helden der Civil Rights-Bewegung in den USA, Bayard Rustin, der gegen alle Widerstände, denen er als schwuler Schwarzer in einem zutiefst rassistischen und homophoben Amerika ausgesetzt war, den March on Washington 1963 organisierte.

Regisseur George C. Wolfe inszeniert seinen Film mit großem Gespür für das Flair der Zeit und seine schillernde Hauptfigur, lässt aber am Ende genau jenen Biss vermissen, der seinen "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" zu einem so erschütternd guten Zeitdokument werden ließ. Ich würde lügen, wenn ich sagte, dass mir die flotte, sehr humorvolle Umsetzung nicht ausgesprochen gut gefallen hätte, aber gerade die Momente, in denen "Rustin" innehält und die tiefen Narben, die der ewige Scheißdreck Rassismus und Homophobie in Menschen auslöst, zeigen will, machen überdeutlich bewusst, dass hier diesmal nicht Denzel Washington, sondern das Ex-Präsidentenpaar Obama auf dem Produzentenstuhl sitzt, weswegen wir immer da, wo es wirklich anklagend und tief gehend werden dürfte, mit einer grenzwertig melodramatischen, nie zu tief in die Materie eindringenden und gerade für die Nachkommen der Täter nie zu schmerzhaften Soße abgespeist werden, die gerade deshalb so fahl schmeckt, weil Wolfes Vorgängerfilm sich da so gar nichts schiss.

Dass mich das alles am Ende trotzdem komplett umhaute, liegt einzig und allein an der unglaublich fantastischen Performance von Colman Domingo. Allen Konventionen, die ihm ein urtypisches Biopic-Drehbuch auferlegt hat zum Trotz erschafft er mit seinem unglaublich nuancierten Spiel einen Menschen, dessen Träume, Ängste, Kämpfe, sein Optimismus und seine Verzweiflung gerade da noch durchscheinen, wo der eigentliche Film schon im versönlich-didaktischen Einerlei zu versinken droht.

Fazit: Informative, süffige Geschichtsstunde, deren wahrscheinlich produktionsbedingte Zahnlosigkeit durch einen grandiosen Hauptdarsteller, der durchgehend bannt und tief berührt, allergrößtenteils wettgemacht wird.

D.C.L.

[bob-the-movie-man-film-reviews]

Rustin (15): Battling Against Racism AND Homophobia.

#onemannsmovies #filmreview of "Rustin". #RustinMovie. Good biopic of the organiser of the 1963 Washington rally. 3.5/5.

A One Mann’s Movies review of “Rustin” (2023). Normally you find that the Best Actor Oscar and the Best Supporting Actor nominations go with “big” films. But occasionally, the Academy will recognise a performance that stands-out in an otherwise un-garlanded film. An example from last year would be Brian Tyree Henry for “Causeway“. Although it’s a very crowded field this year, I think it’s just…

[floorman3]

Rustin Review- A Transformative and Transcending Performance From Coman Domingo

Over the years we’ve seen a lot of films about the Civil Rights movement in our country. Films like Selma, Till, and Mississippi Burning have reminded us what a dangerous time the 60s were for Black Americans in the United States. It’s been a few years in the making but the latest movie about the Civil Rights Movement, specifically about one of its most flamboyant advocates and leaders, Bayard…

[cosmonautroger]

Nights In Rodanthe, George C. Wolfe, 2008

[quotethatfilm]

Rustin / 2023

[glimeres]

2000, Rosie O'Donnell Show - Eartha Kitt (feat. Adam Grupper and Stuart Zagnit) performs Moving Uptown from LaChiusa's The Wild Party

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020, George C. Wolfe)

15/04/2024

[lockwoodshitposting]

Uhhh...nuhh *sweating* early One Piece style Lucy and co- oh no.. the transformation ! *turns into a werewolf and howls in anguish*

[blackinperiodfilms]

RUSTIN | Official Teaser Trailer

The architect of 1963’s momentous March on Washington, Bayard Rustin was one of the greatest activists and organizers the world has ever known. He challenged authority, never apologized for who he was, what he believed, or who he desired. And he did not back down. He made history, and in turn, he was forgotten. Directed by DGA award and five-time Tony award winner George C. Wolfe and starring Emmy award winner Colman Domingo, Rustin shines a long overdue spotlight on the extraordinary man who, alongside giants like the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Adam Clayton Powell Jr., and Ella Baker, dared to imagine a different world, and inspired a movement in a march toward freedom.

Produced by Academy award winner Bruce Cohen, Higher Ground's Tonia Davis and George C. Wolfe.