Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Keira Nabs Starring Role in "My Fair Lady" Remake







Actress Keira Knightley will portray Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle in the forthcoming film remake of the classic 1956 Lerner and Loewe musical My Fair Lady.

The Telegraph reports that "Pride and Prejudice" director Joe Wright will reunite with Knightley for the movie musical. Academy Award-winning actress Emma Thompson is penning the screenplay that includes additional material from Shaw's Pygmalion.

Knightly, who will star in the West End revival of The Misanthrope in December, was among the first names bandied about when the remake was announced in 2008. A Steady Rain's Daniel Craig has been mentioned as a candidate for Professor Henry Higgins.

"My Fair Lady" is produced by Cameron Mackintosh and Duncan Kenworthy. As previously reported, the creative team intends to film on location in London to give the film an authentic feel. According to a previous statement, producers hope to "dramatize as believably as possible for present-day audiences the emotional highs and lows of Eliza Doolittle as she undergoes the ultimate makeover, transforming under the tutelage of Professor Henry Higgins from a Cockney flower girl to a lady."

Knightley has appeared on screen in "Atonement," "The Duchess," "The Edge of Love," "Pride and Prejudice," "Bend It Like Beckham," "Domino" and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series.



My Fair Lady is based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and features a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The original Broadway production opened on March 15, 1956, ran for over six years and won nine Tony Awards, including one for Best Musical. The score contains such Broadway classics as "I Could Have Danced All Night," "On the Street Where You Live," "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" and "Get Me to the Church on Time."
The musical was adapted for the screen in 1963, directed by George Cukor, and cast Audrey Hepburn as Eliza and Rex Harrison as Higgins. The film won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Kelly Ellis: 'Bohemian Rhapsody'

is there nothing this woman can't sing?

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Mary Travers



i'm waxing nostalgic today. As the years fly by and the birthdays mount up and the mirror becomes my 'enemy' it is a moment like mary's passing that i truly realize my youth is forever gone. Yet it also reinforces the joy i have in the man i've become. a man who sees social injustice and wants to change it. and who has always fought to do so. a man who sees that all men and women are equal. a man who hates racism and war. all war. all racism. guess this is why i hate republicans also.

peter, paul and the beautiful and charming mary travers helped form me and my beliefs through their music and the truth they showed in the songs they chose to sing. they, along with the amazing joan baez, introduced me to bob dylan. hell that would have been enough. they also taught me the natural wonder and beauty of harmony. harmony in music and the harmony in mankind that might exist if we only cared enough and tried a bit harder.

one summer night in forest hills stadium...everything was perfect. the weather, the star shine and the moonlight. the music, the singers and my open heart. i was transfixed and transformed as i watched and listened to peter, paul and mary live. for the first time.



''leaving on a jet plane'' was mary's chance to fly solo and shine.




''puff the magic dragon'': the ode to marijuana for those of us who wanted it to be that.




"where have all the flowers gone" :an anti war song that sounded gently but protested loudly.



"blowing in the wind" asked the questions our hearts and minds had to answer. unfortunately most people answered wrong.



''the times they are a changing'' is the one song my parents wish i had never heard. i took up it's battle cry and there was no turning back. everything changed for me. no society, religion or mass think tank would ever own me again. i started to become a free thinker...a happy intellectual. i became an adult. i have no regrets.
5

''day is done'': a lullaby for children and adults alike. and damn if we still don't know when each and every day is still done.



''the great mandela'': the lyric spoke to what many dads and sons go through. different generations when values of war and peace collide. it caused difficulty in my family and yet we all came out the better for it as the years went flying by.



rest in peace mary. you and your friends peter and paul helped influence a generation...well those of us who listened.

'Bones' Returns Tonight and the Summer TV Doldrums Are Past



R.I.P. Mary Travers



(a full tribute is being prepared)

Wednesday, September 16, 2009