|
Who could ask for anything more?
By Gabrielle
Wiegand
Years after their deaths, the
brilliance of George and Ira Gershwin lives on in the musical
“Crazy for You.”
 First
opened at the Shubert Theater on Feb. 19, 1992, “Crazy for You”
was written by Ken Ludwig, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and music
by George Gershwin.
Considered a “new” Gershwin
musical, “Crazy for You” ran on Broadway for 1,622
performances. It won three Tony Awards for best musical,
choreographer, and costume design, two Drama Desk Awards for
best musical and choreography, and the 1993 Olivier Award for
best musical.
“Crazy for You” tells the tale
of wealthy Bobby Child who is sent to Nevada to close down a
family run theater. Bobby falls in love with the town’s
postmistress and his plans to foreclose on the theater are
quickly changed.
Based on the 1930 Gershwin hit
“Girl Crazy,” “Crazy for You” contains seven songs from “Girl
Crazy” and other famous Gershwin tunes from their many movies
and musicals. Some of these songs include "Bidin' My Time,"
"Embraceable You," "I Got Rhythm," "But Not for Me,” “Naughty
Baby" (my personal theme song), "What Causes That", "Tonight's
the Night", and "K-ra-zy For You.”
George and Ira Gershwin were a
songwriting duo who propelled the musical comedy into a new
level of popularity and sophistication. From 1924 until
George’s early death in 1937, the brothers composed over two
dozen scores for Broadway shows and motion pictures. Their
first Broadway success together was 1924’s “Lady Be Good”,
starring Fred and Adele Astaire. The success of the show
launched the Gershwin brothers to stardom.
The Gershwin brothers’ music
lives on in current films such as “Mr. Holland’s Opus” and “When
Harry Met Sally.”
George died in 1937 as a result
of a brain tumor. At the time of his death he was planning to
write a symphony and a second opera (“Porgy and Bess” was his
first).
After his brother’s death, Ira
went on to collaborate with other composers such as Kurt Weill,
Jerome Kern, and Harry Warren, to name a few. However, it is
the success George and Ira shared together that they are both
best known for.
Ira died quietly in 1983 at his
home in Beverly Hills.
In 1985, the Gershwins were
awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. On the centennial of his
birth in 1998, George was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer
Prize.
“Crazy for You” will be at
Sangamon Auditorium Saturday, Sept. 25 at 8 p.m. and Sunday,
Sept. 26 at 2 p.m. Tickets range from $30 to $50. For more
information or to purchase tickets, contact the Sangamon
Auditorium Box Office at 217.206.6160 or
www.sangamonauditorium.org.
'The Princess and the Warrior' film
set for Friday at Brookens
By Brian
Mackey
Have you ever seen cars collide
from a few feet away? Did you think, “If I hadn’t stopped for
that yellow light…” or “If I were walking just a little faster,
that could have been me.”? We make thousands of decisions that
continually affect where we are every second of every day. Tom
Tykwer has made a number of films exploring the idea that random
chance plays a dramatic role in our lives. “The Princess and
the Warrior” follows the intersections of two characters, and
asks whether their meetings are coincidental or part of some
Greater Plan.
Sissi (Franka Potente) is a
nurse assigned to the locked floor of a psychiatric asylum.
She, like several other nurses, lives in a dorm room in another
wing. Sissi is popular among her wards, and is—to say the
least—remarkably generous.
During a walk through the city
with a patient, she is badly injured in an auto accident. Bodo
(Benno Fürmann), an ex-soldier and current petty criminal, is
running away from two grocery store clerks when he suddenly
finds himself in a position to save her life. This he does, but
saying much more would spoil some of the film’s surprises.
Sissi recovers from her accident
and is released from the hospital after 53 days. She returns to
the asylum and is met with mixed reactions from the mixed nuts
on her floor. She confides in one of them, “I’m afraid that
nothing will be the same as before.” “No,” he replies, “you’re
afraid everything will be the same as before.”
With that, Sissi sets out to
find the man who saved her life. She wants to know if some
cosmic force brought them together or if it was simply a chance
encounter. Bodo, for his part, is deeply involved in the
planning of a bank robbery, and wants nothing to do with Sissi.
But as so often happens when a movie is not yet half over, fate
has other plans for the pair.
Franka Potente may
be best known to American audiences as the girlfriend in “The
Bourne Identity.” “The Princess and the Warrior” is the second
of German writer/director Tom Tykwer’s films to gain wide
distribution in America. The first, “Run Lola Run” (1998), also
starred Potente, literally running on a mission to save her
boyfriend’s life. If “Run Lola Run” was an amphetamine, “The
Princess and the Warrior” is more like lithium.
The first 20 minutes may leave
you scratching your head, or worse, reaching for your coat, but
this is the kind of film that rewards patience and close
attention. Seemingly innocuous details are later revealed to be
connections among the characters. The mood of the film is
plaintive and restrained, but there is a palpable forward
momentum, helped in part by the guitar-based score that Tykwer
had a hand in composing.
This is a beautifully shot,
artistic film. Tykwer’s camera moves slowly through sweeping
arcs, dancing with the characters and occasionally allowing us
to see the world through their eyes. Color is vibrant, but not
so much as to overpower the setting. In one scene, Sissi is
walking through a rainstorm on a huge expanse of what must be
the greenest grass caught on film since Michael Mann’s “The
Insider” (1999). Tykwer, like Mann, can film setting so well
that it becomes another character in the film.
As with any foreign-language
movie, reading subtitles makes it difficult to catch every
nuance taking place on screen. This movie, so dependent on
small details, loses something in translation. But Potente and
Fürmann deliver their dialog with a canorousness that is rarely
associated with the “harsh” German language.
This is an art film, but it is
suspenseful and utterly watchable. Tykwer and his cast have
achieved an admirable balance lacking in much of the current
cinema.
“The
Princess and the Warrior” will be shown this Friday at 7:00 p.m.
in Brookens Auditorium. The screening is sponsored by the
Division of Student Affairs through the Independent & Foreign
Film Series; admission is free. Running time: 2:13. In German
with English subtitles. The film is rated R for disturbing
images, language, and some sexual content.
I'm a Believer:
60's Hearthrob Davy Jones brings energy, excitement to show
By Gabrielle
Wiegand
Evolution has come along way for
this Monkee. Davy Jones, of the 1960’s musical sensation The
Monkees, gave an extremely high-spirited performance Sept. 18 at
Sangamon Auditorium.
I’ll admit it- I’m not the world’s biggest Davy Jones or The
Monkees’ fan. I’ve never actually seen an episode of the TV
show, but that in no way stopped me from appreciating Jones’
show.
 A
short little man with a British accent, Davy Jones regaled the
audience with almost 20 songs during the two-hour concert. He
performed Neil Diamond’s “A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You,” a
medley from “Olivier,” his first Broadway musical, and “Wasted
Days and Wasted Nights,” among others.
The evening would not have been
complete without the songs that he is best known for- “I’m a
Believer” and “Daydream Believer.” It was worth going to the
show just to be able to sing along with an original Monkee to
“Daydream Believer.”
Jones also sang one of his
original compositions “I Will Love You Forever” which he
dedicated to the audience. “I want to dedicate this to all of
you here, and to those who aren’t here- suck eggs!” said Jones.
Throughout his performance, Jones
entertained the audience with jokes and stories. And while the
jokes were cheesy and we had all heard most of them before, they
were perfect for the audience. Jones understood the average
audience member was about 50 and carrying two X chromosomes. He
really played to that audience.
“I used to be a heartthrob,”
Jones said with his British accent, “but now I’m a coronary!”
The audience loved it.
Jones’ band consisted of seven
other members- keyboardist, bass guitar player, guitar player, 2
sax players (one of which I had the biggest crush on!),
trombone, and drums. They were all incredibly talented and did
a great job of making Jones look good. One band member did a
very funny Meatloaf impression as well as an entertaining little
scene from the 1970’s TV program “All in the Family.” You could
tell they all had great respect for Jones and loved what they
were doing.
Jones stayed after the
performance to sign autographs for what looked like just about
everyone in the auditorium. There was more then one “We love
you Davy!” outbursts.
I was a little disappointed to
see how empty the auditorium was for Jones’ performance,
however. There had been a good deal of publicity in conjunction
with the radio station Cool 101.9, so I was surprised at the low
turnout.
Davy Jones’ voice is nothing to
write home about and his jokes were unbelievably corny, but his
high energy and excitement resulted in everybody having a good
time. Jones obviously loves what he does.
He does not give the impression
of a man trying to recapture the glory of his youth, but rather
of a man who is embracing his age and wants to spend his time
performing for the sheer love of it.
|
