Lara Fabian

every year or so i like to sing the praises of lara fabian and hopefully introduce her to new readers and ears.

Remembering Gracie on Her Birthday: I Love Gracie

most people loved lucy. not me...i liked lucy but i LOVED gracie. her character on the 'burns and allen' show was the best. a woman who took the english language literally. gracie played the role with a brilliantly daffy wink of an eye.
why the hell is this show not on dvd? only gracie could pull the wool over so many eyes and fluster grown men over a cup of coffee with carnation milk. and that closet filled with hats. simply the best!



a look at the brilliance of gracie allen

'(500) Days of Summer' Recut as a Thriller

Happy Birthday Mariska

Golden Globes Past 2

Kerry Ellis Defies Gravity

'Yes My Heart'

a few years ago at the encore series in nyc i saw anne hathaway in 'carnival'.
i was impressed.
....then came the most underwhelming performance in 'brokeback mountain', the walk through performance in last year's, i believe straight to video, 'passengers' and the hysterical, whining and yet somehow oscar nominated performance in the god-awful 'rachel getting married'.
don't even get me started on 'bride wars'.

but back to 'carnival'. rumour has it that ms. hathaway may join hugh jackman in a film remake of 'carousel'. with the charm she showed in 'carnival' i believe she could make a delightful julie jordan. here's hoping. and if she's not available how about emmy rossum.

from 'carnival': 'yes my heart'

Audra McDonald: 'The Glamorous Life'

Natalie in Her Own Voice

Gwen Stefani with No Doubt: 'It's My Life'

two concert versions of a favorite song:

Music Is the Life Force of the Soul

i love music. it is the first thing i truly remember. as a kid all i wanted was music...records. hey, remember when we called them that?

i have spent a lot of time on film here because i love film and movies....but music is in me. in my head, my heart and in my soul.

so starting here, starting now...josh's summer music fest .

prior to today was a preview.

i love a lot of music.

a lot of genres of music.

i shall share many...(if i like 'em) Ha!

be not too hard....

haha...speaking of which...the first is joan baez from a concert ...
this video has the audio only.
i absolutely love this song and it's message.
so again i need to ask you to 'be not too hard'.
dear friends...Miss Joan Baez..."BE NOT TOO HARD"

2008 Tony Award Revisited

patti lupone best actress in a musical for 'gypsy'l.
laura benati and boyd gaines best suppoting wins in the same musical.
everything else about last year's tony awards are a blur and therefore negligible and unimportant!









sorry folks if you missed it it closed.

1987: Patti Was Robbed...Another Tony Shame!!!

Patti was the shoe-in for 'Anything Goes' but somehow lost to Joanna Gleeson who had a supporting role in 'Into the Woods'.

Fergie's 'Be Italian' from 'NINE'

...and from the original award winning broadway show:

'Angels and Demons': A-

The First really good film of 2009. Commercial? Yes. Smart? Yes.

Ron Howard has redeemed himself after the boring boring 'Frost/Nixon' and the mostly dreary and confusing 'Da Vinci Codes'. Granted the brilliant 'Da Vinci' book was a challenge to film and i guess he did the best he or anyone could have. Trust me it was not the premise of the novel nor the film I objected to.. I've been a proponent of the 'holy blood, holy grail' theory years before Dan Brown 'fictionalized' it. but enough...

'Angels and Demons', the lesser of the Dan Brown novels, makes for the better film. It's a summer romp worth taking. Despite the absurd accusations against Howard and Brown this is NOT an attack on the catholic church or papacy. In fact one starts to root for the church. Even I wanted the church to win. Anti-papist that I am.

The casting is quite well done Mr. Howard. Unlike your horrific choice of female lead in 'Da Vinci' your pick of Ayelet Zurer in this one was a brilliant choice. As the physicist working along with Tom Hank's character she was more than convincing, charming and quite stunning. I can only hope we see her again soon on the big screen.

Therefore, highly recommended. This is based on the fact that it's a repeat type of movie and just works in every way a film of this nature should work. Acted well, great to look at, a score that works frame by frame, great editing and gorgeous cinematography. Some of the best scoring and cinematography since David Lean's epics. The art direction simply amazed me. The Vatican and Sistine Chapel reproductions were flawless. I've seen the original and this set design replication is remarkable.


Congratulations Mr. Howard. I know I have not always been kind to your films in the recent past but you have re-won me over.I actually see Oscar noms in your future for this one.

Julie Christie turned 67 This Past April. How the HELL Did This Happen!

the ravishing julie christie





Julie Christie is simply amazing - and she always has been. From her early roles in 'Billy Liar', 'Darling',' Doctor Zhivago', 'Fahrenheit 451' and 'McCabe & Mrs. Miller' to her most recent performance in 'Away from Her', she captivates her audience and so clearly relays the truth of her characters.

She won her Best Actress Oscar for 'Darling' and has been nominated for an Oscar 4 times.

And it just doesn't get any better than Al Pacino calling you “the most poetic of all actresses.”

some career highlights:

'Nine': The Musical Film

The big screen adaptation of 'NINE' The Musical starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench and Marion Cotillard is set to hit cinemas November 25, 2009.





My Favorite musical 'Nine' has been filmed.
I've been pretty skeptical about how it would translate to the screen. The preview, below, has made me less so. We can only hope!
But it is based on the Fellini masterpiece '8 1/2' which was originally a film. So the cinematic potential was built in. If only they had filmed it on location in Venice on The Grand Canal. So much for dreaming.

My main concern was the casting. My fears seem to be abating here a bit. With the exception of Nicole Kidman as Claudia Nardi. On stage the role was played by the erotic, exotic, sensual and beautiful Shelley Burch. Four qualities I never think of when Kidman's name is mentioned.

Marion Cotillard as Luisa seems a brilliant stroke.

Sophia Loren as Momma seemed a given.

Judi Dench as Liliane La Fleur? Hey Judi Dench in any role is a gift. She will be brilliant. I can't wait for her 'Follies Bergere'.

Penelope Cruz as Carla. Yes Yes Yes!

Stacy Ferguson, Fergie, is just someone I know nothing of. The trailer below tells me she will be remarkable as Saraghina the town prostitute.


Now about the only male role in 'Nine':
Daniel Day Lewis as Guido portraying a director, an italian, going through mid-life crisis? He is an amazing actor so maybe he can 'be italian'.
He does possess a certain needed sexuality.

I now have semi-high hopes. I really do want this to be brilliant and amazing. We'll see!!! In fact it seems to have 'Oscar' written all over it. Done correctly it could win them as the play did with the Tony Awards on Broadway. It may just mean that every supporting actress nominee next year could be from this film.



OH YES INDEED!!! Mothers, lovers, wives, frustrated producers, frustrated husband, ex-lovers and whores. A true mid-life crisis comes to a cinema near you on Nov. 25th, 2009.










The Cast:

Daniel Day-Lewis ... Guido Contini
Marion Cotillard ... Luisa Contini
Penélope Cruz ... Carla Albanese
Judi Dench ... Liliane La Fleur
Nicole Kidman ... Claudia Nardi
Kate Hudson ... Stephanie Necrophuros
Sophia Loren ... Mamma
Stacy Ferguson ... Saraghina

Lara Fabian: The Voice!!!

'I've Cried Enough': Two versions and it deserves as many versions as may exist.

She Sees England, She Sees France - and Kristin Scott Thomas Sees Virtue in Both

Kristin Scott Thomas is a brilliant actress.
I hope she is finally getting her due.
Although I hated 'The English Patient', which I consider one of the worst movies ever made, I did see that her future acting would probably suck me in. She did. Her new film 'Easy Virtue' begins it's role out this week. And that Colin Firth is in it makes it a double pleasure for me.

NY Daily News 5/17/2009

Kristin Scott Thomas is the quintessential English beauty: chisel-cheeked, pale-skinned with a brittle wit and cut-glass vowels. It's ironic, then, that she has lived in France for the last 30 years, and considers herself as much French as British. She zigzags between Hollywood movies ("Gosford Park," "Mission: Impossible" and her Oscar-nominated role in "The English Patient") and French-language films like last year's "I've Loved You So Long."
Scott Thomas is back acting in English in her latest comedy, an update of the Noel Coward classic "Easy Virtue," opening Friday. She plays a British matriarch determined to drive away a brash American (Jessica Biel) who has married her only son.

You filmed "Easy Virtue" on location in three real English stately homes.
There was one that had the most fantastic - what do you call it? - glasshouse. It's the most extraordinary place, in really bad shape, with very little central heating. It was just like the book: in disrepair, freezing cold. It was perfect for playing the character of the house in the film.

Did you all have to stay on site for Method acting?
Oh no, we stayed in a perfectly ordinary hotel. But at least then we got hot water and warm beds.

Jessica Biel, Colin Firth and Ben Barnes all sing on the soundtrack of "Easy Virtue." But no sign of you - why not? Are you tone deaf?
I don't know why. I think I wasn't available. I've been incredibly busy doing one film after another and haven't had any downtime. Actually, I'm going to be doing [Stephen Sondheim's] "A Little Night Music" in Paris in the spring in English. In Paris, it's treated as an opera - they've never done anything like this before, as they don't go in for musical theater at all.

You've lived in France since moving there as an au pair after finishing school 30 years ago. How did that happen?
I didn't really know what to do at all. I had secretarial experience, I typed a few letters, that kind of thing. Then I needed somewhere to stay, and fell into working as an au pair. I loved it. In fact, the other day I bumped into the girl I looked after and she now has three kids.

When you act in French, after all this time, do you still have an exotic accent?
Yes, some of my vowels are a bit funny. But in France, people are so used to having foreign actresses - Italian, German - that they don't mind at all. If you have a foreign accent, they don't only give you the part as the baddie, as is so much the case in Anglo-Saxon films.

Your movie debut was as a topless French socialite in Prince's notorious bomb "Under the Cherry Moon" in 1986. How was that?
People just hated the film. It was a real baptism of fire as far as I'm concerned. I got the reviews you dread. From then on, I thought, "I'm never going to read reviews of the theater I do and only read reviews about films I don't really mind about."

Have you kept in touch with Prince? I read that the song "Better With Time," on his last album, was an ode to you.
If it's true, it's fantastic. He came to see "The Seagull" [when Scott Thomas was acting on Broadway last year] and was completely wowed by it. A lot of people knew what we were doing and he just turned up. He is incredibly intelligent and talented - if he's written a song for me, it's just the most wonderful present. He's just brilliant, brilliant, brilliant at what he does. What's really great about getting older is that down the road you meet people you haven't seen for a long time and they're still doing something you really admire.

Speaking of age, you turn 49 next week. You're famously candid about aging, especially for an actress.
They did tell me to shut up a long time ago: "You mustn't say you're 35, say you're 30." I thought, "This is ridiculous! Why should I?" In English and American cinema, people my age are immediately categorized into either campy, kind of clowny middle-aged women making them appear much older than they really do look or you're playing someone's grandmother. In Europe, we have this fantastic tradition of really enjoying women over 40, of that not being a taboo at all - people like Catherine Deneuve. Look at [Pedro] Almodóvar, the way he films women with such care and affection. The filmmakers here just love women who've been around a bit longer, they make those wrinkles look beautiful. In English or American films, they just want you to be old and shut up.

Every time you're interviewed, it seems that you're described with some word like haughty, frosty or aristocratic. But you don't seem that way to me.
"Ice queen" is the one they always seem to pick. I think it's the parts you play. Once people have worked with me they know I'm not frosty at all. The parts I play? Someone's gotta do them.

But your breakout role was far from icy. In "Four Weddings and a Funeral," you played the lovelorn Fiona, who ended up marrying Prince Charles. Have you ever discussed that with him?
I met him the day before yesterday for the first time! And no, there was none of that. It was a rather sad occasion that we met. And [the film] was such a long time ago, I think he's forgotten completely.

BY MARK ELLWOOD: NY Daily News 5/17'2009

Oscar Winners 10-25-50-75 Years Ago

10 Years ago:



25 Years ago:



50 Years ago:



75 Years ago: