#richard nunns

[pureanonofficial]

Chess (1988) - Richard Nelson

[cinemachronicles]

Lily’s Movie Challenge (12/370): Do The Right Thing (1989)

[marybeatriceofmodena]

What was that crazy music video type thing you included on that post about ALW being an ass to Patti Lupone? I have never seen that before and I am both intrigued and horrified. I only recently got into Phantom, and all this craziness is just delighting me. 😂

For context, this is the video referred to in this ask:

This was a promo video done in 1985 (I think), to promote Phantom. Those are the original lyrics by Richard Stilgoe, which he wrote before Charles Hart was involved. You'll recognize a few here and there, but a lot of them are... weird, to say the least (weird enough for Cameron "Satan" Mackintosh to tell ALW to either find someone to help out Stilgoe, either outright fire him, or else he wouldn't produce Phantom anymore. And given it was proving to be a VERY costly show to make, even ALW knew losing CamMack was a no-no).

The staging is also different, because Trevor Nunn was the director at this point. And that's another funny (HA) story: ALW and Cameron Mackintosh had initially got Hal Prince to direct. And for those of you who don't know, Hal Prince is basically to musicals what Steven Spielberg is to cinema. He directed some of the most successful musicals of the latter half of the 20th century: Evita, Sweeney Todd, Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, Cabaret, Company... and that's the list of musicals I know even the uninitiated will recognize. So one day, on a whim, ALW decided to fire Hal Prince, which went about as well as you might expect: ALW chickened out of the dinner where he and CamMack were supposed to break the news to him, which led to CamMack having to sheepishly break the news to Hal Prince, who stormed out furious (AS HE SHOULD). Again, imagine yourself firing Steven Spielberg from making Saving Private Ryan and replacing him with, I dunno, the Russo brothers because The Avengers made a shit ton of money.

Why? My guess is that Hal Prince had the balls to tell ALW to stick it whenever he'd bring bad ideas on the table, so ALW basically decided to replace Hal Prince with the director for one of his previous musicals, Trevor Nunn (who is a decent director, mind you, making the comparison to the Russo brothers a little harsh).

Which musical was it, mind you? CATS.

IT ALWAYS COMES BACK TO CATS.

And Steve Harley? He was a rock singer who got picked up along the way because they urgently needed someone to play the Phantom in the music video, and full offense but he's a worse singer than Gerald Butler in my opinion, and at least the latter could actually act. ALW realized that they needed someone else, and he basically smuggled the score to a comedic actor called Michael Crawford, who had some prior experience singing in musicals (he's in the film adaptations of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Hello Dolly, if you're interested), but he wasn't exactly the guy you'd think of for the Phantom? Thankfully, he proved everyone who might have doubted him wrong, and amazingly at that, but he was a gamble at the time nonetheless.

And as you may guess, the music video was kind of poorly received, and Trevor Nunn worked on a little musical called Les Misérables, which got piss poor reviews and ALW was at the head of them (CLASS ACT, THAT FELLOW). But the uneducated, unwashed plebs loved it so I guess that's the reason why it's still playing today, and not because it's one of the most beautiful scores ever written for musical theatre, summing up a 1,000 book perfectly and conveying emotions that could make angels cry, nah. /s Anyway, that led to ALW firing Trevor Nunn, and begging Hal Prince to come back, and he agreed - which really goes to show how gracious he is because I would have laughed in ALW's face.

And what happened to Steve Harley, you may ask? He found out with a call from CamMack that he was fired, with no explanation whatsoever, and it was only later that he found out Michael Crawford had replaced him. I mean, was it for the best? Yeah. Do I still feel kind of bad for Steve Harley? Yeah.

So yeah, thank your lucky stars Hal Prince, Charles Hart and Michael Crawford agreed to be in this. I'd also add Maria Bjornson, but I really wonder now how she got involved in the first place because if that came from ALW, that might be the single best decision he ever made in his entire life. But I don't have any trust in him whatsoever to pull that off lmao

[swampflix]

Twelfth Night: Or What You Will (1996)

The 1996 BBC Films production of Twelfth Night: Or What You Will is a mostly faithful staging of the classic Shakespeare comedy, directed by The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Trevor Nunn. It’s not the kind of MTV-era update to Shakespeare’s text that you’ll find in fellow 90s titles like 10 Things I Hate About You or My Own Private Idaho, which tried to Make the Bard Cool Again for a generation who…

[fascinating-yarn]

So You Want To Know About Chess The Musical

So you want to know about Chess. The first piece of advice I have to give you is:

Step 0: Are you sure?

Because trust me, it's a whole lot weirder than you think, even if you know that the story is, in fact, only very little about chess (the board game). But if you are sure, because you have a friend who, like me, can't stop talking about it, then, you're ready to begin with step one.

Step 1: Listen to the concept album

Yes, there are plenty of recordings of the full show that are easily accessible on YouTube. Do not be fooled. With very minor exceptions, they will not elucidate anything at all. Trust me, even if your favorite actor is in one of them, start here. You will have time to get back to them later, trust me. It helps to read the synopsis of the album while listening; this has been kindly transcribed here by @alovebizarre.

Already hooked? Yeah, probably. Now you understand why all of us got stuck down here in our circle of complaining about this show. We, too, all thought it was going to be good based on the concept album.

Step 1.5: Watch the 1989 concert

This is mostly the songs of the concept album and retains the two male leads, but has Judy Kuhn playing Florence, the female lead. It's a strong concert and only cuts one song, and adds another ("Someone Else's Story", the show's only breakout hit not on the album). There is plot narration in Swedish, but one of the versions on YouTube has been subtitled in English

Step 2: Acquaint yourself with The Big Four

Now you know the music but the plot may still not be totally clear. The next step is to get to know the major variations. These are, generally:

The 1986 London version (and derivatives)

The 1988 Broadway version (and derivatives)

The 1990 Sydney version (there aren't really derivatives for this one but the material shows up Everywhere)

The 2002 Swedish version aka Chess på svenska (and derivatives)

Now, you can watch the original productions of all of these, but the issue is that the first two are both... not great. So here are some alternatives.

Step 2a: London Alternatives

The London version is mostly an expansion of the plot of the concept album, with changes - most of the structural changes were initiated by director Michael Bennett, who left the production before rehearsals due to his illness, while most of the more distinct changes of themes are from later director Trevor Nunn.

There are videos of the original production, but they're generally poorly filmed and suffer from major generation loss. There was no cast album, but the score has been recorded twice: in 2002 with the cast of a Danish touring production (released as "Chess: Complete Cast Album," but recalled soon after and not on streaming) and in 2008 at the Royal Albert Hall (this is on streaming as "Chess in Concert" - one of two albums of that name).

Any one will give you an idea of the script, but the original London production is generally the most musically cohesive. The Royal Albert Hall version has some minor script changes, most of which make no real difference, but makes some bizarre choices in terms of transition music and is generally a poorly produced album. The Danish album is likewise not very strong.

The Royal Albert Hall concert was professionally filmed but the audio is poorly mixed and the show's cast varies from a few great performances to some that are... not so much. It's also got a track record of making people either latch on immediately or be totally turned away from the show, so watch at your own risk. For a possibly better experience, watch the original London production.

Step 2b: Broadway Alternatives

The original Broadway production still has a bit of a bad reputation in the fandom, but people have generally warmed up to it. The new book, by American playwright Richard Nelson, is generally strong (if a bit overlong) until about halfway through Act Two --- at which point it suddenly isn't anymore. The original production itself doesn't help, and though there are some good moments, it was not very well directed and some of Nelson's best scenes suffer.

Firstly, you should listen to the Broadway cast album. The cast is the best part of the show and does some incredible things. The new music isn't quite as good as the original material, but is still strong and worth knowing.

In terms of the actual book, your best chance at a good experience experience is probably the 1990 Long Beach production directed by David H. Bell and starring Jodi Benson, which has a watchable video online. There are some script changes, which serve to adjust the script to be less cynical, more palatable, and better paced. After this, do go back and watch the original cast, as it generally has a stronger overall cast and some scenes are genuinely great with them.

Step 2c: Sydney and Svenska

The Sydney production closed early due to the economic recession in Australia, and the script has never been revived, but parts of it appear all over the place, especially in the London derivatives of the early 1990s. It takes bits of the plots of both London and Broadway, and becomes its own thing. It is worth knowing, and there is a mostly bearable bootleg on YouTube.

If Sydney is its own thing for being a combination of London and Broadway, Svenska is its own thing because it resembles neither. The plot is streamlined to the essentials and takes place over a much shorter period of time, plus it has two new songs. There is a proshot that has been uploaded to YouTube with subtitles, and a very good cast album. There have been some productions since based on the script, but the original is still going to be your best starting point.

Step 3: Into The Abyss

There are so many other productions and they're all a little different from each other. Most are based on London or Broadway, but some are an odd combination resulting from people who wanted to produce the London version in the US being forced to retrofit the Broadway version (unavailable for US licensing until 2008). A non-exhaustive list is:

1992 Off-Broadway: Preserved only in an incomplete, poor-quality audio bootleg, plus a slightly more complete script from a lost recording, this script is Tim Rice's first (but not last) attempt at making something definitive post-Broadway. It is one of the most bizarre scripts out there and should really be experienced late to be fully appreciated.

1990 US Tour: An early attempt to jump off the Broadway script into something new, this production stars 42.9% of the original Broadway cast of Falsettos and has some wild stuff. Don't watch till you know Broadway, since it has been known to sour people's opinions on the show.

2003 Actors' Fund Benefit Concert: This one-night only concert is preserved on a leaked (but poor quality) archival video and a higher quality rehearsal performance. The script is an attempted hybrid of the London and Broadway scripts, but leans mostly on the London script with a few Broadway changes that serve really only to stay within the legal requirements of production still in place at the time (and doubly important due to Nelson's personal support of the concert).

2018 Kennedy Center Concert Series/2022 Entertainment Workers' Fund Benefit Concert: This script was eyeing Broadway for about five years but is no longer in the works as the rights were pulled. With a new book by Danny Strong, based on the London plot but with the details changed significantly, this production takes a more overtly political spin on the show and grounds it in actual political events. Start with the 2018 version, as it's generally agreed to be better than the later concert version.

2018 London Revival: To call this production a revival is generous, being staged by the English National Opera for a limited run and generally not being considered very important. It became well known mostly for being associated with the Kennedy Center production and the general knowledge that Rice was looking to bring the show back to Broadway. Despite that, this script is entirely unrelated to the Kennedy Center version and is mostly an onstage expansion of the concept album with the show being influenced heavily by Benny and Bjorn.

With all of these I have but one piece of final advice and that is:

Step 4: Be wary of The Discourse

This is not meant to scare you away from the fandom at all. I promise we're all very friendly and most of the discussions are quite civil. But every fan has very strong opinions about this show. I have tried to present this post as neutrally as possible but my bias has absolutely creeped in and you've already been influenced by my opinions on it. Some productions (notably the Kennedy Center script) are very divisive and I encourage you to consume them yourself and forming your own opinions.

And that is how to get into Chess. If you want to. It may not be the wisest decision, but hey, we all made the same mistake.

[maraschinocheri]

Happy 39th birthday to the London production of Les Misérables (which officially opened on 8 October 1985 at the Barbican Theatre, though previews began at the end of September)! By way of celebrations, scans from the 1985/86 / 1986/87 Royal Shakespeare Company Yearbook, which honoured the success of the Barbican production and its transfer to the Palace Theatre by making Colm Wilkinson and Michael Ball during 'Bring Him Home' its cover stars. The annual RSC Yearbook summarised productions in all of the company's (at the time five) theatres and on tour with production photography and critical commentary from newspapers and other media. Text from the pages above is under the cut below, with bracketed extra information to clarify some references.

Not since Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd back in 1979 has there been a score which soared out of the pit with the blazing theatricality of Les Misérables, and to those of my tabloid colleagues already in print with feeble and fainthearted objections to the show, I have but this to say: remember the demon barber. Sweeney, too, we were once told; was too dark, too savage, too downbeat a theme for a musical. Six years on, that show has won more awards and been acclaimed to more opera houses than any other in the entire history of the American musical. Les Misérables, in a brilliantly intelligent staging by Trevor Nunn and John Caird, will achieve a similar kind of long-term success …

[The Times’/Punch’s Sheridan] Morley went on. ‘… The greatness of Les Misérables is that it starts out, like Sweeney and Peter Grimes, to redefine the limits of music theatre. Like them it is through sung, and like them it tackles universal themes of social and domestic happiness in terms of individual despair.’

[The Financial Times’ Michael] Coveney talked of the allying of ‘Nickleby*-style qualities of ensemble presentation to a piece that really does deserve the label ‘rock opera’, occupying brand new ground somewhere between Verdi and Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was not, he thought, a company celebration like Nickleby, ‘but an appreciation of those values along with the musical experience gathered by the team (Trevor Nunn, John Caird and David Hersey) on Cats and Starlight Express.’ To that extent, he went on, the show was an important one, ‘bridging gaps between musical and opera, and subjecting rock musicians to RSC tutelage while last year’s Clarence [in the RSC 1984 production of Richard III], Roger Allam, is unveiled in the role of Javert as an outstanding performer in the musical idiom.’

[*The RSC's landmark 1980 production of an adaption of Charles Dickens’ The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby]

[The Guardian’s Michael] Billington posited that if you fillet any great nineteenth-century novel, ‘you are left with melodrama.’ Les Misérables, he said, jointly produced by the RSC and Cameron Mackintosh at the Barbican, becomes exactly ‘high class melodrama.’ It was staged ‘with breathtaking panache by Trevor Nunn and John Caird. It is impeccably designed by John Napier. It has a lively score by Claude-Michel Schönberg. But it is three-and-a-half hours of fine middlebrow entertainment rather than great art.’ Billington claimed to have ‘conned’ the novel sufficiently ‘to realise that it is a towering masterpiece about social injustice, redemption through love and the power of Providence.’ What the musical offered, he went on, ‘is the hurtling story of Jean Valjean, the paroled prisoner who becomes a provincial mayor, who is relentlessly pursued by the policeman Javert and who achieves heroic feats of self-sacrifice at the 1832 Paris uprising. What you don’t get is the background of moral conflict that makes this more than a classy adventure story.’ In this he thought, Hugo’s novel was infinitely more dramatic than the musical.

[The Times’ Irving] Wardle spoke of the temptation in such circumstances for anyone who has read the novel ‘to quarrel with any adaptation for its omissions and liberties instead of judging the adaptation on its own merits.’ In this instance, he maintained, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg had done a capable gutting job. ‘They present a clear outline of the epic contest between Jean Valjean, the saintly ex-convict, and his implacable pursuer Javert: including Valjean’s defeated attempt to save the wretched Fantine, and his life-long devotion to her daughter, Cosette, only to lose her to a young love, Marius, amid the Paris barricades of 1832.’

The adapters had cut corners with boldness and ingenuity, Wardle believed, and had found fresh situations where Hugo’s are theatrically unworkable. They had also preserved the essential sense that Valjean and Javert are two of a kind, belonging, as Hugo puts it, to the ‘two classes of men whom society keeps at arms length: those who prey on it and those who protect it.’

Coveney maintained that the organization and placement of the continuously revolving stage was ‘beyond praise’, with John Napier’s design doing as much honour to Hugo’s Paris as he lavished on Dickens’s London [in Nickleby]: ‘Two huge trucks rumble on and form a barricaded wall which, just as Hugo describes, seems to contain a city in itself, a fantastic jumble of chairs, barrels, planks and people, a teeming segment of a revolutionary catacomb.’

This alternative society, Coveney said, was presented without sentiment ‘as indeed are its urchin sentinels, the daughter of Thenardier (a devastating waif performance by Frances Ruffelle) and Gavroche … sweetly and surely sung by an admirable child actor and just when you feel the production is slipping by allowing a [writer of Oliver] Lionel Bart-ish point number, he is shot full of bullets and left to sing plaintively on the wrong side of the barricade.’

The music, [The Sunday Times’ John] Peter though, ‘has a fresh, astringent lyricism and a powerful, ballad-like drive: number after number makes robust contributions to character and drama.’ The best performances, in Peter’s opinion, came from Alun Armstrong and Susan Jane Tanner as the ‘horrible Thenardiers', Patti LuPone (Fantine) and Frances Ruffelle (Eponine). But this was, he pointed out, ‘essentially a company musical rather than a star vehicle. If it transfers to the West End where its masterful theatricality would outshine almost anything else on offer, it might show people that success in this genre doesn’t depend solely on expensive star turns.’ The transfer to the Palace, of course, came swiftly after the Barbican opening.

[The Observer’s Michael] Ratcliffe described Schönberg’s score as ‘all tinselly arpeggios, stabbing staccato, pile-driving trumpets and thinly-disguised hymns.’ In polite terms he said, it was ‘electric, trailing a range of references from high-tech Bizet and Massenet to the air-time acceptable, and Celtic Fringe Folk.’

Some scenes, said Coveney, go straight into operatic form, ‘for example the apprehension by Javert of Valjean at Fantine’s deathbed, or a beautiful garden trio for young lovers in Valjean’s garden hideaway.’ There was also a ‘startling thematic echo of Rigoletto as Valjean ponders the son he might have had.’ Colm Wilkinson’s Valjean was in Coveney’s opinion ‘a remarkable study in impassive acquisition of self-knowledge … He [has] particularly fine and lyrical use of his upper register. Above all he transmits palpable goodness without sounding like a prig or a boar [bore?].’ [The Sunday’s Telegraph’s Francis] King thought Wilkinson not only sang the role with eloquence ‘but – far more difficult – brings out the essential goodness of a much-wronged man.’ The outstanding voice of the evening in King’s opinion, was that of Patti LuPone as Fantine.

The band under the stage and the musical direction of Martin Koch include some rumbling brass premonitions of disaster as well as some very fine work on synthesizers, brass and strings. The score also underpins such exciting production movements as the arrival of the barricade, the suicidal leap (done by the bridge flying up as Mr Allam free falls on the spot) and the descent to the sewers with lots of dry ice and naked banks of light not equalled in impact since Mr Hersey did something similar in Evita.

In short, this is an intriguing and most enjoyable musical, fully justifying the mixing of commercial resources with RSC talent and personnel, even if not all that many RSC actors are involved.* Being now acquainted with the demands of the score, I see why that should be so. [Morley]

[* The RSC members who appeared in the Barbican production were Roger Allam, Alun Armstrong, and Susan Jane Tanner. Other RSC members at this time joined Les Mis in later companies, among them David Delve, who would replace Alun Armstrong as Thenardier.]

[citizenscreen]

MGM teacher Jeanette Bates (far left) giving a folk dancing lesson to young actors, circa 1938. Students (l-r): Bobby Kelly, Ann Rooney, Larry Nunn, Gene Eckman, and Virginia Weidler. Center: Darla Hood and Richard Haydel. Front right: Jackie Horner and Darryl Hickman.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Chris Hastings

Published: Jun 25, 2023

Is this a case of crazy wokery I see before me? Actors ridicule university trigger warnings over blood in Macbeth

Queen University Belfast has issued a warning to students studying Shakespeare

It stressed Macbeth 'could cause offence' due to its depictions of 'bloodshed'  

Similar warnings have been applied to the Twelfth Night and Titus Andronicus

It is Shakespeare's most violent play – a bloody saga packed with stabbing, strangling and poisoning that reaches a grisly climax with a beheading.

And for more than 400 years audiences have been enthralled – if a little disturbed – by the butchery of Macbeth.

But now one of the UK's top universities stands accused of 'infantilising' students after it warned them they might be 'offended' by the 'bloodshed' in the play.

Queen's University Belfast has issued the warning to undergraduates studying a module called Further Adventures in Shakespeare on its BA English course.

'You are advised that this play could cause offence as it references and / or deals with issues and depictions relating to bloodshed,' the warning, a copy of which has been obtained by this newspaper under Freedom of Information laws, states.

The university has also applied similar warnings to the Bard's Richard III, Twelfth Night and Titus Andronicus.

Some of Britain's biggest theatrical stars last night branded the warnings counterproductive and unnecessary. They point out that Macbeth, which was first performed in 1606, is particularly popular with schoolchildren.

Sir Ian McKellen, who starred opposite Dame Judi Dench in Sir Trevor Nunn's landmark 1976 RSC production, said warnings such as this could undermine the dramatic impact of the piece.

He said: 'My sister (a teacher) used to show Sir Trevor Nunn's TV version of the 1976 Macbeth to her teenage students.

'She'd pull down the blinds, start the video and then leave the classroom and count the minutes till she heard the first scream from within. Had the youngsters had trigger warnings in advance, the effect of the play would have been considerably diminished.'

He added: 'I remember talking to a priest who saw a number of performances of the stage production at the Stratford Other Place.

'He would hold out his crucifix throughout the performance, to protect the audience from the devilry conjured by the cast. I suppose these triggers are something similar.'

Call The Midwife star Jenny Agutter, who has acted in Shakespeare's The Tempest, King Lear and Love's Labour's Lost, said: 'I don't understand why anyone should feel warnings are necessary for Shakespeare's plays. Unless we need to be constantly warned that depicting human nature might cause offence.'

Sir Richard Eyre, the former Director of the National Theatre who has directed productions of Hamlet, Richard III and King Lear, said: 'It's completely fatuous and totalitarian to try to police people's minds with these absurd warnings. Ridiculous, contemptible, infantilising.

Presumably the people putting out the trigger warnings feel they are able to cope with the content of these plays, but weaker, younger, less intelligent people aren't.' Doctor Who star David Tennant and The Good Wife actress Cush Jumbo are due to star in a new production of Macbeth which opens in London in December. It is one of four major productions of the play set to open in the UK.

Queen's Belfast's trigger warning for Twelfth Night centres on what it calls the 'depictions relating to sexuality or gender. Warnings for Richard III and Titus Andronicus relate to depictions of disability in the former and 'race and or racism' in the latter. A spokesperson for Queen's University Belfast declined to comment.

==

'[A priest] would hold out his crucifix throughout the performance, to protect the audience from the devilry conjured by the cast. I suppose these triggers are something similar.'

Very apt. It's magical thinking. Especially considering they've not only been shown to not work, they've been shown to make things worse.

Also: Spoiler, much?

[deadpresidents]

Who were some of the other "Future Leaders" in that Time piece, and did they go anywhere?

Yes, there were: Lamar Alexander (33 years old at the time); Les Aspin (35); Kit Bond (35); Julian Bond (34); Bill Bradley (30); Jerry Brown (36); Willie Brown (40); Pat Buchanan (35); William Cohen (33); Morris Dees (36); Ron Dellums (38); Marian Wright Edelman (35); Elizabeth Hanford aka Elizabeth Dole (37); Richard Holbrooke (33); Maynard Jackson (36); Barbara Jordan (38); Vernon Jordan (38); Doris Kearns aka Doris Kearns Goodwin (31); Jack Kemp (38); John Lewis (34); Eleanor Holmes Norton (37); Sam Nunn (35); Ross Perot (44); Jay Rockefeller (37); Carl Sagan (39); Lowell Weicker (43); Andrew Young (42). There were more -- it was a list of 200 future leaders, so they took a lot of shots at the hoop.

They also kind of cheated because there were also a bunch of "Future Leaders" who were already leaders like Ted Kennedy, Cecil Andrus, Ralph Nader, Lawton Chilres, Joan Ganz Cooney, Charles Rangel, Billie Jean King, Donald Rumsfeld, Bill Russell, and Gloria Steinem.

It's the July 15, 1974 issue of TIME if you're interested.

[wecouldpossiblycomment]

Ian and Ian McKellen in The Marquis of Keith at the Aldwych Theatre, London 19 November 1974. He made to Ian a moving tribute the next day of his sudden passing. No word. Beautifully written

« In 1989, the Royal Shakespeare Company actors were rehearsing Trevor Nunn’s production of Othello in a church hall in London when the news reached us that Laurence Olivier had died. The greatest theatre man of our time was gone. The curtain had fallen. It seemed heartless to proceed, particularly with a play that Olivier had triumphed in, so we abandoned rehearsals as Trevor and I went off to record our tributes for BBC.I remembered this yesterday afternoon, with more bad news at rehearsals, again with Trevor and the RSC. We were discussing the storm scenes in King Lear. Jonathan Hyde blurted out his wife had just phoned to say Ian Richardson had died in his sleep, aged 72. It seemed incredible. I had seen him so recently onstage, gloriously strutting as Epicure Mammon in the National Theatre’s The Alchemist. Trevor reminisced about his first major production for the RSC, The Revenger’s Tragedy, with Richardson starring as Vendice. This was but one of a string of dramatic villains which culminated, as far as the general public is concerned, on television, with his dastardly Urquart, the Prime Minister in Michael Dobbs’ House of Cards.Over a decade or more, Richardson was a shining star at Stratford for the RSC. When I played the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1974, where he had just shared Richard 11 and Bolingbroke with Richard Pasco on an RSC tour, I was mistaken for him a couple of times. The next year we were both cast in The Marquis of Keith, again for the RSC. It is not an easy play and mine a fiendish part. Richardson as ever was effortlessly in charge of his own, whilst I floundered, even to the extent of forgetting my lines at a number of performances. At each shameful dry, Ian helped me through by providing a subtle prompt and although he must have disapproved of what can only be called “an error in stagecraft”, he never showed it. He was a company man and a gentleman.He was brought up in Scotland although drama school training had eradicated his native accent. He was most famous for his voice which could mellifluously flute or bellow, an instrument that any Lear would envy. Of late he regretted that he wasn’t much considered for the great roles he was fitted to play and said something to the effect that “Lear only goes to people like McKellen these days”. On and off stage he hid what perhaps he felt to be a failing: his height. A few inches short of six feet, he always wore lifts hidden within his shoes. Yet he needn’t have worried. Striding on as Vendice, Richard 111, Angelo, or Richard 11 he seemed as imposing as the tallest of actors. Within him was the fire and the power. It exploded in the jealousy of his magnificent Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor just as effectively as in the tragic roles. If only he had played King Lear »

Ian McKellen, 10 February 2007

Source: http://www.mckellen.com/writings/070210ir.htm

[randomlyrandoms]

Celebrity Deaths 2023

JANUARY

Gangsta Boo - Jan. 1 (Rapper)

Fred White - Jan. 1 (Drummer)

Immy Nunn - Jan. 1 (TikTok Star)

Galee Galee - Jan. 1 (Rapper)

Ken Block - Jan. 2 (Race Car Driver)

Frank Galati - Jan. 2 (Director)

Suzy McKee Charnas - Jan. 2 (Novelist)

Alan Rankine - Jan. 3 (Singer)

Elena Huelva - Jan. 3 (TikTok Star)

James D. Brubaker - Jan. 3 (Producer)

Peter Rawley - Jan. 3 (Producer)

Asia LaFlora - Jan. 4 (TikTok Star)

Sim Wong Hoo - Jan. 4 (CEO Of Creative Technology)

Hans Rebele - Jan. 4 (Soccer Player)

Arthur Duncan - Jan. 4 (Dancer)

Richard Thornton - Jan. 4 (Swim Coach)

Taylor Lewis - Jan. 5 (Reality Star)

Earl Boen - Jan. 5 (Movie Actor)

Mike Hill - Jan. 5 (Film Editor)

Russell Pearce - Jan. 5 (Politician)

Quentin Williams - Jan. 5 (Politician)

Michael Snow - Jan. 5 (Multimedia Artist)

Gianluca Vialli - Jan. 6 (Soccer Player)

Owen Roizman - Jan. 6 (Cinematographer)

Adam Rich - Jan. 7 (TV Actor)

Noah Brady - Jan. 7 (TikTok Star)

Russell Banks - Jan. 7 (Poet)

Joseph A. Hardy III - Jan. 7 (Entrepreneur)

Lynette Hardaway - Jan. 8 (Activist)

Bernard Kalb - Jan. 8 (Journalist)

Melinda Dillon - Jan. 9 (Movie Actress)

Ahmaad Galloway - Jan. 9 (Football Player)

Charles Simic - Jan. 9 (Poet)

King Constantine II - Jan. 10 (King)

George Pell - Jan. 10 (Religious Leader)

Patriarch Irenaios - Jan. 10 (Religious Leader)

Jeff Beck - Jan. 10 (Guitarist)

Tatjana Patitz - Jan. 11 (Model)

Carole Cook - Jan. 11 (Stage Actress)

Taylor LeJeune aka Wafffler69 - Jan. 11 (TikTok Star)

Ben Masters - Jan. 11 (TV Actor)

Charles Kimbrough - Jan. 11 (Stage Actor)

*Lisa Marie Presley - Jan. 12 (Rock Singer)

Lee Tinsley - Jan. 12 (Baseball Player)

Robbie Bachman - Jan. 12 (Drummer)

Odele Cape - Jan. 12 (Family Member) *John Ventimiglia's Daughter*

Paul Johnson - Jan. 12 (Journalist)

Robbie Knievel - Jan. 13 (Daredevil)

Al Brown - Jan. 13 (Movie Actor)

Yoshio Yoda - Jan. 13 (Movie Actor)

Julian Sands - Jan. 13 (Movie Actor)

Wally Campo - Jan. 14 (Movie Actor)

C.J. Harris - Jan. 15 (Country Singer)

Yung Hashtag - Jan. 15 (Rapper)

Yoshimitsu Yamada - Jan. 15 (Martial Artist)

Lloyd Morrisett - Jan. 15 (Psychologist)

Gina Lollobrigida - Jan. 16 (Movie Actress)

Jay Briscoe - Jan. 17 (Wrestler)

Michael Lehrer - Jan. 17 (Comedian)

Lucile Randon - Jan. 17 (Supercentenarian) *She Was 118 Years Old*

Edward Pressman - Jan. 17 (Producer)

Sandra Seacat - Jan. 17 (Movie Actress)

Violet Flowergarden - Jan. 17 (YouTube Star)

Renee Geyer - Jan. 17 (Jazz Singer)

Chris Ford - Jan. 17 (Basketball Player)

Van Conner - Jan. 18 (Bassist)

Yun Jung-Hee - Jan. 19 (TV Actress)

David Crosby - Jan. 19 (Guitarist)

Anton Walkes - Jan. 19 (Soccer Player)

Sal Bando - Jan. 20 (Baseball Player)

Stella Chiweshe - Jan. 20 (World Music Singer)

Ava Wood - Jan. 20 (TikTok Star)

Deborah Barak - Jan. 21 (Business Executive)

Slick Goku - Jan. 21 (YouTube Star)

Linda Kasabian - Jan. 21 (Family Member) *Robert Kasabian's Wife*

Sal Piro - Jan. 22 (Movie Actor)

Nikos Xanthopoulos - Jan. 22 (Movie Actor)

Leopoldo Roberto Garcia Pelaez Benitez - Jan. 23 (Comedian)

Lance Kerwin - Jan. 24 (Movie Actor)

Jeremy Ruehlemann - Jan. 24 (Model)

*Enkyboy - Jan. 25 (TikTok Star)

**Cindy Williams - Jan. 25 (TV Actress)

Shantabai Krushnaji Kamble - Jan. 25 (Non-Fiction Author)

Jesse Nathaniel Lemonier - Jan. 26 (Football Player)

Billy Packer - Jan. 26 (Sportscaster)

Gregory Allen Howard - Jan. 27 (Screenwriter)

Sylvia Syms - Jan. 27 (Movie Actress)

Alfred Leslie - Jan. 27 (Painter)

Floyd Sneed - Jan. 27 (Drummer)

Lisa Loring - Jan. 28 (TV Actress)

Kevin O'Neal - Jan. 28 (Movie Actor)

Tom Verlaine - Jan. 28 (Guitarist)

Annie Wersching - Jan. 29 (TV Actress)

Brandon Smiley - Jan. 29 (Family Member) *Rickey Smiley's Son*

Kyle Smaine - Jan. 29 (Freestyle Skier)

Barrett Strong - Jan. 29 (Songwriter)

George R. Robertson - Jan. 29 (Movie Actor)

Hazel McCallion - Jan. 29 (Politician)

Gabriel Tacchino - Jan. 29 (Pianist)

Conner Flowers - Jan. 30 (Family Member) *Olivia Flowers's Brother*

Ann McLaughlin Korologo - Jan. 30 (Politician)

Bobby Hull - Jan. 30 (Hockey Player)

Charlie Thomas - Jan. 31 (Blues Singer)

Joe Moss - Jan. 31 (Football Coach)

Andrea Thompson - Jan. ?? (Family Member) *Tristan Thompson's Mother*

FEBRUARY

Stanley Tobias Wilson Jr. - Feb. 1 (Football Player)

Lanny Poffo - Feb. 2 (Wrestler)

Butch Miles - Feb. 2 (Drummer)

Yung Trappa - Feb. 2 (Rapper)

Gloria Maria - Feb. 2 (Journalist)

Gerardo Islas - Feb. 2 (Politician)

Paco Rabanne - Feb. 3 (Fashion Designer)

Paul Martha - Feb. 4 (Football Player)

Arnold Schulman - Feb. 4 (Playwright)

Pervez Musharraf - Feb. 5 (Politician)

Lilly Kimbell - Feb. 5 (Tennis Player)

Christian Atsu - Feb. 6 (Soccer Player)

Billy Thomson - Feb. 6 (Soccer Player)

Burt Bacharach - Feb. 8 (Composer)

Branka Veselinovic - Feb. 8 (Movie Actress)

Miroslav Blazevic - Feb. 8 (Soccer Coach)

Cody Longo - Feb. 8 (TV Actor)

Kaleb Boating - Feb. 9 (Football Player)

Marcos Alonso Pena - Feb. 9 (Soccer Player)

Kiernan aka Forbes - Feb. 10 (Rapper)

Larry Coyer - Feb. 10 (Football Coach)

Hugh Hudson - Feb. 10 (Director)

Carlos Saura - Feb. 10 (Director)

Dave Hollis - Feb. 11 (Entrepreneur)

Austin Major - Feb. 11 (TV Actor)

Howard Bragman - Feb. 11 (Publicist)

Tito Fernandez - Feb. 11 (World Music Singer)

Brianna Ghey - Feb. 11 (???)

David Jolicoeur - Feb. 12 (Rapper)

Diana Deets - Feb. 12 (Model)

Coconut Kitty - Feb. 12 (Instagram Star)

Conrad Dobler - Feb. 13 (Football Player)

Savannah Watts - Feb. 13 (Family Member) *Laura Lee Watts's Daughter*

Tony Schnur - Feb. 13 (Movie Actor)

Jerry Jarrett - Feb. 14 (Wrestler)

Tohru Okada - Feb. 14 (Music Producer)

Raquel Welch - Feb. 15 (Movie Actress)

Paul Berg - Feb. 15 (Biologist)

Paul Jerrard - Feb. 15 (Hockey Coach)

Buncha - Feb. 15 (Dog)

Simone Ann-Marie Edwards - Feb. 16 (Basketball Player)

Tim McCarver - Feb. 16 (Baseball Player)

Kyle Jacobs - Feb. 17 (Songwriter)

Stella Stevens - Feb. 17 (Movie Actress)

David O'Connell - Feb. 18 (Priest)

Barbara Bosson - Feb. 18 (TV Actress)

Jim Thomas Broyhill - Feb. 18 (Politician)

Richard Belzer - Feb. 19 (TV Actor)

Greg Foster - Feb. 19 (Olympic Athlete)

*Jansen Panettiere - Feb. 19 (Movie Actor)

Dickie Davies - Feb. 19 (TV Show Host)

Maliboo Ziegler - Feb. 19 (Dog)

Ryan Keeler - Feb. 20 (Football Player)

Alicia Allain - Feb. 22 (Family Member) *John Schneider's Wife*

Ahmed Qurei - Feb. 22 (Politician)

John Motson - Feb. 23 (Sportscaster)

Tony Earl - Feb. 23 (Politician)

Walter Mirisch - Feb. 24 (Film Producer)

Matt Pobereyko - Feb. 25 (Baseball Player)

Gordon Pinsent - Feb. 25 (Movie Actor)

Ali Yafie - Feb. 25 (Religious Leader)

Betty Boothroyd - Feb. 26 (Politician)

Ricou Browning - Feb. 27 (Movie Actor)

MARCH

Just Fontaine - March 1 (Soccer Player)

Jerry Richardson - March 1 (Football Player)

Irma Serrano - March 1 (Fold Singer)

Anise Koltz - March 1 (Poet)

Steve Mackey - March 2 (Musician)

Tom Sizemore - March 3 (TV Actor)

Sara Lane - March 3 (Movie Actress)

David Lindley - March 3 (Guitarist)

Phil Eugene Batt - March 4 (Politician)

Gary Rossington - March 5 (Guitarist)

Denise Russo - March 5 (Reality Star)

Bob Goody - March 5 (TV Actor)

Georgina Beyer - March 6 (Former Mayor Of Carterton)

Tom Love - March 7 (Executive Chairman Of Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores)

Peterson Zah - March 7 (Politician)

Matt Davies - March 7 (YouTube Star)

Jim Durkin - March 8 (Guitarist)

Jeff Thomas - March 8 (Model)

Chaim Topol - March 8 (Movie Actor)

Pearry Reginald Teo - March 9 (Director)

Satish Kaushik - March 9 (TV Actor)

Dick Haley - March 10 (Football Player)

Naonobu Fujii - March 10 (Volleyball Player)

Jesus Alou - March 10 (Baseball Player)

Robert Blake - March 11 (TV Actor)

Bud Grant - March 11 (Football Player)

Chen Kenichi - March 11 (Chef)

Ignacio Lopez Tarso - March 11 (Soap Opera Actor)

John Jakes - March 11 (Novelist)

Dick Fosbury - March 12 (Olympic)

Costa Titch - March 12 (Rapper)

Felton Lafrance Spencer - March 12 (Basketball Player)

Jim Gordon - March 13 (Drummer)

Patricia Schroeder - March 13 (Politician)

Joe Pepitone - March 13 (Baseball Player)

Bobby Caldwell - March 14 (Pop Singer)

Mimis Papaioannou - March 15 (Soccer Player)

Peter Hardy - March 16 (TV Actor)

Lance Reddick - March 17 (TV Actor)

Jehane Thomas - March 17 (TikTok Star)

Fito Oliveres - March 17 (World Music Singer)

Paul Grant - March 20 (Movie Actor)

Luri Lapicus - March 20 (MMA Fighter)

Gunter Nezhoda - March 21 (Movie Actor)

Jasmin Voutilainen - March 21 (TV Actress)

Peter Werner - March 21 (Director)

Willis Reed - March 21 (Basketball Player)

Rebecca Jones - March 22 (Soap Opera Actress)

Tad Devine - March 22 (TV Actor)

Tom Leadon - March 22 (Guitarist)

Wayne Swinny - March 22 (Guitarist)

Ben Shelly - March 22 (Politician)

Jerry Green - March 23 (Journalist)

Jeffrey "JV" Vandergrift - March 24 (Radio Host)

Nicholas Lloyd Webber - March 25 (Composer)

Chabelo - March 25 (TV Show Host)

Ron Faber - March 26 (Movie Actor)

Daniel Chorzempa - March 27 (Pianist)

Peggy Scott-Adams - March 27 (R&B Singer)

Paul O'Grady - March 28 (Comedian)

Bill Leavy - March 28 (Referee)

Ryuichi Sakamoto - March 28 (Composer)

Bill Saluga - March 28 (Comedian)

Myriam Ullens - March 29 (Entrepreneur)

Brian Gillis - March 29 (Pop Singer)

Harrison Gilks - March 30 (TikTok Star)

Mark Russell - March 30 (Comedian)

John Brockington - March 31 (Football Player)

Chelsea Lawrence - March 31 (TikTok Star)

Rabbie Namaliu - March 31 (Politician)

APRIL

Christo Jivkov - April 1 (Movie Actor)

Ken Buhanan - April 1 (Boxer)

Robert "Buchwhacker" Butch - April 2 (Wrestler)

Judy Farrell - April 2 (TV Actress)

Seymour Stein - April 2 (Entrepreneur)

Bob Lee - April 4 (Business Executive)

Andres Garcia - April 4 (TV Actor)

Craig Breedlove - April 4 (Race Car Driver)

Bella Echarri - April 5 (Instagram Star)

Sudhir Naik - April 5 (Cricketer)

Leon Levine - April 5 (Entrepreneur)

**Paul Cattermole - April 6 (Pop Singer)

Norman Reynolds - April 6 (British Production Designer)

Bruce Petty - April 6 (Cartoonist)

Ashley Morrison - April 6 (Instagram Star)

Ian Bairson - April 7 (Guitarist)

Lasse Wellander - April 7 (Guitarist)

*Michael Lerner - April 8 (Movie Actor)

Travis 'Honcho' Taylor - April 8 (TikTok Star)

Elizabeth Hubbard - April 8 (Soap Opera Actress)

Julian Figueroa - April 9 (Family Member) *Joan Sebastian's Son*

Richard Ng - April 9 (Movie Actor)

Anne Perry - April 10 (Novelist)

Raymond Sawada - April 10 (Hockey Player)

Lesley Swink-Van Ness - April 10 (News Anchor)

Al Jaffee - April 10 (Cartoonist)

Jung Chae-Yul - April 11 (TV Actress)

Miles Benner - April 11 (TikTok Star)

Blair Tindall - April 12 (Journalist)

Don Leppert - April 13 (Baseball Player)

Craig Breen - April 13 (Race Car Driver)

Mary Quant - April 13 (Fashion Designer)

Mark Sheehan - April 14 (Pop Singer)

Murray Melvin - April 14 (Movie Actor)

Ahmad Jamal - April 16 (Pianist)

April Stevens - April 17 (Pop Singer)

Charles Stanley - April 18 (Religious Leader)

Otis Redding III - April 18 (Guitarist)

Don Mcllhenny - April 18 (Football Player)

Keith Nale - April 18 (Firefighter / Reality Star)

Koko Da Doll - April 18 (Rapper)

Moonbin - April 19 (Pop Singer)

Dave Wilcox - April 19 (Football Player)

Carlo Saba - April 19 (World Music Singer)

Esther Jenner - April 20 (Family Member) *Caitlyn Jenner's Mother*

**Len Goodman - April 22 (TV Show Host)

Barry Humphries - April 22 (Voice Actor)

Dale Meeks - April 22 (Soap Opera Actor)

Keith Gattis - April 23 (Country Singer)

Ginny Newhart - April 23 (Family Member) *Bob Newhart's Wife*

Rachel Marshall - April 24 (Founder Of Rachel's Ginger Beer)

Harry Belafonte - April 25 (Pop Singer)

Parkash Singh Badal - April 25 (Politician)

Moneysign $uede - April 25 (Rapper)

Frank Agrama - April 25 (Director)

Violeta Marujoz - April 26 (YouTube Star)

**jerry Springer - April 27 (TV Show Host)

Dick Groat - April 27 (Baseball Player)

Barbara Young - April 27 (TV Actress)

Robson Gracie - April 28 (Brazilian Martial Artist)

Tim Gregg - April 28 (Guitarist)

Mike Shannon - April 29 (Baseball Player)

Ralph Boston - April 30 (Long Jumper)

Jock Zonfrillo - April 30 (Chef)

MAY

Felipe Colares - May 1 (Brazilian Mixed Martial Artist)

Eileen Saki - May 1 (TV Actress)

Gordon Lightfoot - May 1 (Pop Singer)

Mostafa Darwish - May 1 (TV Actor)

Jordan Blake - May 1 (Rock Singer)

Valentin Yudashkin - May 2 (Fashion Designer)

Tory Bowie - May 2 (Long Jumper)

Linda Lewis - May 3 (Soul Singer)

Lance Blanks - May 3 (Basketball Player)

Sonia Pizarro - May 3 (Reality Star)

Sienna Weir - May 4 (Psychologist)

Rob Laakso - May 4 (Record Producer / Engineer)

Jack Wilkins - May 5 (Guitarist)

Nick Gilbert - May 6 (Family Member) *Dan Gilbert's Son*

Vida Blue - May 6 (Baseball Player)

Frank Kozik - May 6 (Graphic Artist)

Newton Minow - May 6 (Lawyer)

Carlos Parra - May 6 (World Music Singer)

Sam Gross - May 6 (Cartoonist)

Vic John Stasiuk - May 7 (Hockey Player)

Don January - May 7 (Golfer)

Peterson Zah - May 7 (Politician)

Grace Bumbry - May 7 (Opera Singer)

Joe Kapp - May 8 (Football Player)

Rita Lee - May 8 (Rock Singer)

Denny Crum - May 9 (Basketball Coach)

John Bland - May 9 (Golfer)

Heather Armstrong - May 9 (Blogger)

David Miranda - May 9 (Business Executive)

Ed Flanagan - May 10 (Football Player)

Jacklyn Zeman - May 10 (Soap Opera Actress)

Ana Paula Borgo - May 11 (Volleyball Player)

Barry Newman - May 11 (Movie Actor)

Kenneth Anger - May 11 (Director)

HAESOO - May 12 (Pop Singer)

Owen Davidson - May 12 (Tennis Player)

Bernard Membe - May 12 (Politician)

Gerry William Hart - May 12 (Hockey Player)

Samantha Weinstein - May 14 (Movie Actress)

Ingrid Haebler - May 14 (Pianist)

Marlene Hagge - May 16 (Golfer)

Superstar Billy Graham - May 17 (Wrestler)

Jim Brown - May 18 (Football Player)

Helmut Berger - May 18 (Movie Actor)

Andy Rourke - May 19 (Bassist)

Martin Amis - May 19 (Novelist)

Veno Taufer - May 20 (Poet)

Ray Stevenson - May 21 (Movie Actor)

Lew Palter - May 21 (Movie Actor)

Ed Ames - May 21 (Pop Singer)

Chas Newby - May 22 (Musician)

Rick Hoyt - May 22 (Runner)

Daniel Brooks - May 22 (Director)

Sheldon Reynolds - May 23 (Guitarist)

John Dunning - May 23 (Novelist)

George Maharis - May 24 (TV Actor)

**Tina Turner - May 24 (Rock Singer)

Micky Jagtiani - May 26 (Entrepreneur)

Milt Larsen - May 28 (Magician)

Antonio Gala - May 28 (Poet)

John Beasley - May 30 (TV Actor)

Sergio Calderon - May 31 (Movie Actor)

Ms Jacky Oh - May 31 (Instagram Star)

Ama Ata Aidoo - May 31 (Playwright)

JUNE

Mike Batayeh - June 1 (Movie Actor)

Anna Shay - June 1 (Reality Star)

Pacho Antifeka - June 1 (Rapper)

Jim Hines - June 3 (Runner)

George Winston - June 4 (Pianist)

Astrud Gilbarto - June 5 (World Music Singer)

Robert Hanssen - June 5 (Criminal)

Pat Cooper - June 6 (Comedian)

Paul Eckstein - June 6 (Movie Actor)

Matulu Shakur - June 6 (Activist)

Tony McPhee - June 6 (Guitarist)

Iron Sheik - June 7 (Wrestler)

Pat Robertson - June 8 (Entrepreneur)

Julee Cruise - June 9 (Pop Singer)

Don Hood - June 10 (Baseball Player)

Tony Lo Bianco - June 11 (Movie Actor)

*Treat Williams - June 12 (TV Actor)

John Romita Sr. - June 12 (Comic Book Artist)

Silvio Berlusconi - June 12 (Politician)

John Fru Ndi - June 12 (Politician)

Carl Eiswerth - June 13 (TikTok Star)

Cormac McCarthy - June 13 (Novelist)

Glenda Jackson - June 15 (Movie Actress)

Ray Lewis III - June 15 (Family Member) *Ray Lewis's Son*

Paxton Whitehead - June 16 (Movie Actor)

Angela Thorne - June 16 (TV Actress)

Michael Hopkins - June 17 (Architect)

Big Pokey - June 18 (Rapper)

Shahzada Dawood - June 18 (Business Executive)

Stockton Rush - June 18 (Business Executive)

Britney Joy - June 19 (TikTok Star)

Robert Elegant - June 20 (Non-Fiction Author)

Betta St. John - June 23 (Movie Actress)

Fredric Forrest - June 23 (Movie Actor)

Terry Price - June 23 (Coach)

Sheldon Harnick - June 23 (Composer)

Richard Ravitch - June 25 (Politician)

Nicolas Coster - June 26 (Soap Opera Actor)

Alfredo Victoria - June 26 (Instagram Star)

Ryan Mallett - June 27 (Football Player)

Maria Del Carmen Garcia - June 27 (TV Actress)

Sue Johanson - June 28 (TV Show Host)

**Alan Arkin - June 29 (Movie Actor)

Christine King Farris - June 30 (Family Member) *Martin Luther King Jr.'s Sister*

Darren Drozdov - June 30 (Wrestler)

[xineprincova]

Watching Trevor Nunn’s Othello. Ian McKellen is a perfect Iago. The character allows him to unleash his impish side. Even Richard III is less gleefully inimical than Iago.

Also Willard White is damn sexy.

[byneddiedingo]

Spike Lee and Danny Aiello in Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)

Cast: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Spike Lee, Bill Nunn, John Turturro. Screenplay: Spike Lee. Cinematography: Ernest R. Dickerson. Production design: Wynn Thomas. Film editing: Barry Alexander Brown. Music: Bill Lee.

All these years later, Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing is still fresh and true, whereas the best picture Oscar winner for that year, Driving Miss Daisy (Bruce Beresford, 1989), has grown stale and false. It's not as though what happens in the movie can't happen anymore. Black lives do matter, as do those of Muslims, gays, immigrants, food stamp recipients, Planned Parenthood workers, and anyone else some people want to portray as the enemy. Lee was nominated for the screenplay for Do the Right Thing, losing to Tom Schulman for Dead Poets Society (Peter Weir, 1989), and Danny Aiello received a supporting actor nod -- he lost to Denzel Washington for Glory (Edward Zwick, 1989). But where were the nominations for Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, or Giancarlo Esposito? Or for Ernest Dickerson's cinematography, Wynn Thomas's production design, or Barry Alexander Brown's editing? In fairness, Oscars aren't everything: Do the Right Thing has taken its rightful place in the National Film Registry; Driving Miss Daisy and Dead Poets Society haven't. The Academy tried to make up for its neglect of Lee, after slighting him for this film and the magnificent Malcolm X (1992), by giving him an honorary Oscar in 2015.

[my-chaos-radio]

Release: January 25, 1986

Lyrics:

We cross the street

You hold my hand

Afraid to let go and if I walked away

And left you there

Would you know why

You are the answer now

You don't know

You can be everything

You don't know

You won't believe it now

You don't know anymore

You are the reason and the rhyme

We walk into your room

A mirror's caught your reflection

You walk away and call to me

To fill in the frame

You are the only one

You don't know

You are the fire of love

You don't know

You can believe it now

You don't know anymore

You are the reason and the rhyme

I walk this road

You follow me

I don't know why

Songwriter:

And if I walked away

And left you there

Would you know why?

Harry Wayne Casey / Richard Raymond Finch

SongFacts:

"You Don't Know" is a song by American band Berlin, which was released in 1986 as the third single from their fourth studio album Count Three & Pray. It was written by John Crawford and produced by Andy Richards, Bob Ezrin and Berlin. It reached No. 39 in the UK and No. 16 in Belgium.

"You Don't Know" was recorded in London. Recalling the initial recording of Count Three & Pray, Nunn said in a 2014 interview for Pop Entertainment: "It was so bad with this guy in England that we trashed the whole thing. I think we kept one song, "You Don't Know," that he had done. We started all over with Bob Ezrin."

A music video was filmed to promote the single, which gained breakout rotation on MTV.

Upon release, Cash Box commented: "A cool, atmospheric treatment shows the musical growth of former synth-pop pioneers. The haunting melody and non-conforming arrangement form a bracing contrast to Terri Nunn's sultry, passionate vocal." Vici MacDonald of Smash Hits described the song as "really quite good" and added: "A screechy guitar and a wailsome woman echo distantly over a foreboding, rolling drumbeat and the whole thing's massive, mysterious and foggy".

[jacksongilbertaut]

Week 12 - Hand In!!!!

What I did this week.

This week was hand in week and all that was left was to add sound, make any final changes and make a quick change to my type specimen book.

Sound

Finding a sound was difficult as I wanted to use a traditional Māori sound to match the theme. However, a lot of traditional Māori music is very slow and it didn't seem to match the rythm of my animation which is very fast (I have included one I experimented with in this post). The one I experimented with is being played by a Kōauau (Māori flute). However the one I ended up choosing is being played by multiple taonga puoro (different māori wind instruments) it also is still a very slow rythm however it is less like a song and more of a relaxing sound. I just felt that it fit right. The sound name is "He Whakae Kotahi / In One Breath" by Judy Bailey and Richard Nunns. I paid $2.50 for the usage of this sound

Time

My final animation was 5 seconds over time. However, this was done intentionally because I wanted the end credits to come on slowly in a typewrite motion and stay there for a while. This will stand out against the fast moving text from before from my pepeha. So I checked in with David and as long as it’s done intentionally it doesn’t matter if it’s even ten seconds over.

Transitions

I also changed the way the pepeha text transitioned. Previously each line appeared with a different animation. However after reflecting and having a conversation with David I decided to change it so that all the text came in with the same animation. This will give the animation a more cohesive look and look more purposeful.

What the Triangles mean

I feel that I need to touch on the use of my triangles more than I have previously as they make up a major part of both my assessments, so I did some more research.

The pattern is called  nihotaniwha (meaning dragons teeth and is a connection to the realm of mythology and the traditional māori stories that are told) and is designed from the traditional weaving pattern (photo attached of the pattern in a marae).

Specimen Book Update

I made on quick small change based on the feedback from my formative. Which was to move to rational pages to page 2 and 3. The other feed back was to make the text all the same font size (which it already was). Other bit of feed back was to increase the leading to increase the space within the text. But from a design perspective this would have meant that it wasn't perfectly square and in line so I decided to keep it as is for the design aspect.

Reflection

... And breathe. Wow what a semester. It just flew by so quickly and I can't believe how much I learnt. From never using In Design and After Effects to producing two different assessments using those programmes. Assessments that I am very very proud of. I can already see the improvement in my design thinking and I love the way the two projects connect and how it connects to my whakapapa. Not only have I learnt design skills. I have also learnt more about Māori culture along the way and more about my whakapapa which was very enjoyable.

Overall this has been a wonderful experience and I can't wait for next semester.

[sebastiancroftupdates]

Sebastian Croft: ‘I feel so fortunate to be in 4000 Miles, and a responsibility not to fuck it up’

If things had been different, Sebastian Croft might have found himself sitting in the audience watching Eileen Atkins perform in a new production of 4000 Miles. Instead, he is in rehearsals to star in the revival of Amy Herzog’s play alongside one of UK theatre’s foremost acting dames.

“I’d booked to see 4000 Miles multiple times when it was going to be at London’s Old Vic,” he says. “I was so excited to watch it.”

Atkins had been due to star opposite Hollywood star Timothée Chalamet, directed by the Old Vic’s Matthew Warchus, but Covid-19 scuppered that production in 2020.

Now, the play has found a new revival – still with Atkins, but this time staged at Chichester Festival Theatre and directed by Richard Eyre.

Croft now finds himself taking on the role that had been earmarked for Chalamet. It was, he says, “a no-brainer” to agree to being involved. “I’d have sold my soul to be part of it.” 

Croft, 21, is one of the UK’s fastest-rising stars. Following his big break as the titular Dickensian orphan in Sam Mendes’ 2010 West End production of Oliver!, he has had starring roles in musicals Matilda and The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, and taken on Shakespeare in King John. He’s been BAFTA-nominated for the film of Horrible Histories and acted in Game of Thrones. Most recently, he’s brought to life the manipulative, closeted Ben Hope in Netflix’s hugely popular version of Alice Oseman’s queer graphic-novel Heartstopper. His Twitter account is jokingly called the B*n H*pe Hate Club.

In 4000 Miles, Croft plays Leo, who arrives at 3am at his grandmother Vera’s (Atkins) apartment in New York’s West Village. He’s just completed a 4,000-mile bike ride from Washington State, during which time he’s suffered a terrible loss. Over a month, Herzog’s beautifully understated play charts the distance and the closeness of their fractious intergenerational relationship. They communicate across faded door labels, stories of failed marriages and Vera’s faltering memory. It’s a well-shaded portrait of family.

Croft and I speak early in rehearsals, over a sometimes erratic Zoom connection. (He smilingly references a scene in 4000 Miles where Leo can’t get FaceTime to work.) On why he likes the play, he says: “It’s gentle and quiet. It asks a lot of questions and doesn’t answer them, which I love.” He’s fascinated by the intergenerational dynamic of two people who are “both quite far left, but she’s an old-school lefty and he’s new wave. There’s a lot of difference in terms of what they think is acceptable and not acceptable”. He finds that a “way more interesting” set-up than if it were just conservative versus liberal.

Croft’s enthusiasm for the people he’s working with is palpable. He’s been running lines with Atkins at her home and describes her as “a master of her craft”.

He adds: “It’s a really wonderful experience to spend this much time with someone who’s been part of British theatre for so long.” Croft says he has taken on board Atkins’ approach “to keep it simple, rather than doing a lot of academic work on who these people are”, to avoid “putting things into the characters that aren’t in the script”.

He’s taking as much as he can from Atkins and Eyre. “The stories they can tell – you just want to sit back and absorb it all,” he says. “I feel really fortunate to be playing this part – and a responsibility not to fuck it up.”

Croft has been acting since the age of seven. The transition from child star to adult actor has an infamously long and rocky history. How has he approached it?

“I was actually quite conscious of it,” he says, “because I love acting so much and was terrified that it would just disappear.” Alongside Game of Thrones, he credits playing Arthur in Trevor Nunn’s 2016 production of King John at the Rose Theatre in Kingston as a “stepping stone”.

“I got to lean into being an actor, rather than a ‘musical theatre kid’. ” That journey, he says, is far from over. “I’m grateful for all the experiences I’ve had until now, but I’m incredibly aware of how new I am to this.”

Croft is of a generation of actors who have also grown up in the spotlight of social media. He has 560,000 followers on Twitter. He admits he’s still “trying to figure out” his relationship with such platforms.

“Like a lot of things in life,” he says, “there are good and bad parts. I think finding the balance is something we’re all still getting used to.

“But feeling connected to the people watching what you’re making is a beautiful thing,” he says, smiling. And a series like Heartstopper, he adds, has a “lovely community of people that connect to it in a way they wouldn’t be able to without social media”. Since it debuted last year, he and his co-stars have also used Twitter to support LGBTQ+ causes.   

From talking animatedly about Michael Caine’s autobiography to keeping a running list of inspiring quotes on his phone, Croft’s love of acting pours off the screen. Yet he used to worry that being dyslexic would hold him back. “A lot of time in school, you’re made to feel stupid about it.”

Now, he subscribes to fellow dyslexic actor Josh O’Connor’s view, “that it adds quite a lot to you, as a creative”. Taking longer than some to read a play can mean “you get more out of it”, he elaborates. “Once I’ve got the characters and the emotional arc, I tend to find getting the lines, the world of it, easier.”

After a run of TV work, Croft is relishing being back on stage, particularly the room for exploration in the rehearsal period. “We rehearsed for Heartstopper,” he says, “but that’s quite rare for film or TV.”

“In theatre, you get the time to just sit with a play. You get a greater sense of your character’s journey and the building blocks that need to be in place to get there.” He’s looking forward to “finding a different flow or discovering something new” each night. He thinks that it’ll be like “an intense game of tennis”, acting opposite Atkins.

For Croft, it’s all about honing his craft. A play such as 4000 Miles “is a great opportunity to learn, to get better and hopefully lay foundations for the actor I want to become. And that’s exciting,” he says. “Yesterday, someone asked: ‘How was rehearsal?’ I said: ‘I can’t wait to be back again tomorrow.’ ”