Into Thin Air! 2005 - Articles Page 15

The Hidden Room presents Paul Menzer's (Brats of Clarence) stylish and crackling noire mystery INVISIBLE INC. The show appears at the Long Center's Rollins Studio tonight, January 11th, only to vanish into thin air January 20th.

185 Buddhas Walk into a Bar is set for Studio Be, 3110 N. Sheffield Ave., Chicago, Ill. on Thursdays in February and March at 8:00pm (February 7, 14, 21, 28 and March 7, 14, 21, 28)

Christmas Day 2012 marks the biggest and best day of the year for many Broadway babies around the world, but the anticipatory fervor has little to do with the man with the beard in red and white from the North Pole - you see, the guy in question in this equation is more apt to be seen in red and black and his origins are decidedly a bit more Gallic than Jolly Old St. Nick. The man whom I speak of is, of course, Jean Valjean, the protagonist of Victor Hugo's spellbinding 1862 historical epic LES MISERABLES, a novel which was subsequently adapted into a 1980 concert spectacular and ultimately a 1985 full-fledged stage musical, painstakingly developed through the shepherding of uber producer Cameron Mackintosh, alongside the talents responsible for breathing song into the story - original French composer/lyricist team Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil (along with Jean-Marc Natel), to whom Mackintosh added English lyricist Herbert Kretzmer (and also contributor James Fenton). Through a special partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company, LES MISERABLES: THE MUSICAL premiered at the Barbican Theatre in the West End soon thereafter under the direction of Trevor Nunn and John Caird and opened to largely negative reviews, albeit ecstatic, ebullient audiences. Broadway was next, where it went on to win Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Actor, Best Featured Actress & Actor and even more (eight total). LES MISERABLES onstage was a hit like few others from then on and the rest, ze say, is history - or, in this case, l'histoire. Yet, on Christmas Day, the next step in the evolution of the worldwide phenomenon commonly and colloquially known as LES MIZ will occur - just days after the Mayan-predicted end of days, no less - and the movie musical adaptation of the stage show will finally become a reality, featuring an all-star cast comprised of Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Aaron Tveit, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter, among others. The time has come to hear the people sing onscreen at long, long last. But, first, how is the film?

While many MIZ-heads may have assumed the film adaptation of their beloved musical would never actually come to fruition, here it really is, all too soon available for all to see - lo, more than twenty years after it was first announced byway of an official promo ad in a tour souvenir going as far back as the late-1980s. I was lucky enough to catch an advance screening during the dawning days of December and many small moments, full musical sequences and my first impressions themselves have filled me with a certain kind of inexpressible enrapturing ecstasy heretofore inexperienced, coming as a direct result, no doubt, of the sheer force of power the film exacts in its relentless, barreling, blazingly bravado-bedecked style - a style, I can firmly say, is completely unique in movie history. LES MISERABLES is a lot of things, but, first and foremost, it is that which it is unlike that makes it most remarkable of all; that is: it is unlike any movie musical ever made. And, it is a masterpiece.

The Hidden Room is proud to present Paul Menzer's (Brats of Clarence) stylish and crackling noire mystery INVISIBLE INC. The show appears at the Long Center's Rollins Studio on January 11th, only to vanish into thin air January 20th.

Books by the dozen are released each week, and New & Noteworthy points out pieces of all types of literature, worthy of your attention. Check out our top 5 choices for the week of Nov. 20 below:

TV About Movies(R) today announced Ken Follett's epic eight-hour mini-series WORLD WITHOUT END will air with Descriptive Audio. The Descriptive Audio function enables viewers who are blind or who are losing vision to enjoy television through narrated description of the visual elements of a program, heard between the dialogue and action sequences.

Ships disappear without a trace and planes vanish into thin air. Barely a month goes by without a boat or airplane vanishing without a trace in the Bermuda Triangle. Many theories exist, but what's really going on?

ReelzChannel - TV About Movies(R) today announced new air times for the premiere Ken Follett's epic mini-series WORLD WITHOUT END.

In the opening song on Barbra Streisand's stunning new album, RELEASE ME (produced by Streisand and Jay Landers)- a career-spanning collection of rarities and recordings that have been heretofore hidden away in vast vaults and rarely even referenced, let alone ever heard - she powerfully imparts a lyric from the Betty Comden/Adolph Green/Jule Styne score of the Arthur Laurents-directed Tony Award-winning Best Musical of 1968, HALLELUJAH, BABY!, also acting as an oh-so-apt autobiographical summation: 'I'll be the best or nothing at all.' Indeed, so goes the legacy of Barbra Streisand - the voice of a generation; the greatest living recording artist, bar (or, if you prefer, Bar) none; who, now, today, is in the final stages of preparation before embarking on her new tour in conjunction with the release of this new album, directed by longtime creative collaborator and co-director, Richard Jay-Alexander with musical director and conductor William Ross.

A gang member learns to fight for his community and morphs into a civic leader in '99% 'Reduced Fat, or, You Can Bank On Us,' Theater for the New City's 36th annual Street Theater musical, which will tour City streets, parks and playgrounds throughout the five boroughs from tonight, August 4 to September 16 in free performances.

Saint Michael's Playhouse stages FOREVER PLAID, tonight, August 1 through August 11. A "sensational Off-Broadway musical," FOREVER PLAID, created by Stuart Ross, staged by Saint Michael's Playhouse, McCarthy Arts Center, is one of the most popular musicals in recent history.

Theatricality does not come on a scale much grander - and available to an audience much wider and larger, natch - than by way of the heady and hallucinogenic images concocted by visionary, Academy Award-winning British director Danny Boyle for the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony tonight. A hill, a heath, dozens of sheepherders and milkmaids below a large, looming tree set the scene for the start of the big, big show - and it was definitely very, very big. All of this countryside accoutrement signaled the entrance for Sir Kenneth Branagh, with sharp top hat and lit cigar, portraying noted industry king Isambard Kingdom Brunel, as he physically and metaphorically ushered in the new age in this culturally and historically-inspired phantasmagoria - setting the proceedings into high gear with a particularly impassioned and spine-tingling reading of one of the most moving and memorable passages from all of literate in a thrilling Prospero moment from Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST. And that was just the first five minutes!

Saint Michael's Playhouse stages FOREVER PLAID, August 1-11. A "sensational Off-Broadway musical," FOREVER PLAID, created by Stuart Ross, staged by Saint Michael's Playhouse, August 1-11 in the McCarthy Arts Center, is one of the most popular musicals in recent history.

A gang member learns to fight for his community and morphs into a civic leader in '99% 'Reduced Fat, or, You Can Bank On Us,' Theater for the New City's 36th annual Street Theater musical, which will tour City streets, parks and playgrounds throughout the five boroughs from August 4 to September 16 in free performances. It's the saga of a tough young man named B.C., known for stealing tires and bullying store owners, who falls for Suzy Freedom, a young and oh-so-innocent activist in Zuccotti Park. Guided by her dreams, he abandons hooliganism to become a community organizer. The production will have book, lyrics and direction by Crystal Field and musical score composed by Joseph Vernon Banks.

Roundabout Theatre Company, in association with Don Gregory, presents the new Broadway production of Mary Chase's Harvey. Previews began May 18, and the show officially opens tonight, June 14, 2012, at Studio 54 (254 W. 54th St.), where it will play a limited engagement through August 5. See how the critics reacted below!

Playwright Michael Hollinger pulls the audience into the drama and challenges us to decide for ourselves whether or not we believe in ghosts in Merrimack Repertory Theatre's haunting production.

The Finborough Theatre's 'Celebrating British Music Theatre' series follows Perchance to Dream with Ivor Novello's last musical.

Amphibian Stage Productions is set to embark on its 13th season of plays that challenge the way we see the world around us.

The Finborough Theatre's 'Celebrating British Music Theatre' series follows Perchance to Dream with Ivor Novello's last musical.

This weekend, Sony Pictures releases Anonymous, a drama about the conspiracy theory that questions the authenticity of Shakespeare's work.

Boise Contemporary Theater will present the Boise Premiere of "Skiing Everest," the first feature-length documentary about the cutting edge sport of high altitude skiing, directed by Mike Marolt and Les Guthman.

CIRQUE DREAMS HOLIDAZE lights up the 2011 holiday season when it transforms the stage at the BROWARD CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS into a wonderland of fantasy and disbelief, December 27 - January 1, 2012. Cirque Dreams, an American theatrical production company, brings its critically acclaimed entertainment brand to Fort Lauderdale for 8 holiday performances presented by Broadway Across America.

CIRQUE DREAMS HOLIDAZE lights up the 2011 holiday season when it transforms the stage at the BROWARD CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS into a wonderland of fantasy and disbelief, December 27 - January 1, 2012. Cirque Dreams, an American theatrical production company, brings its critically acclaimed entertainment brand to Fort Lauderdale for 8 holiday performances presented by Broadway Across America.

CIRQUE DREAMS HOLIDAZE lights up the 2011 holiday season when it transforms the stage at the BROWARD CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS into a wonderland of fantasy and disbelief, December 27 - January 1, 2012. Cirque Dreams, an American theatrical production company, brings its critically acclaimed entertainment brand to Fort Lauderdale for 8 holiday performances presented by Broadway Across America.