dirac

Some of you are probably too young to recall a game show called “Let’s Make a Deal.” Briefly, it involved a host, Monty Hall, who wandered amidst the audience and selected lucky audience members to play the game. That’s just what it was like. I also felt sorry for other unimportant personages, like the costume designers, who had to line up on stage and then get herded off when they lost. On the topic of actresses and weight, while Old Fashioned is correct in noting that they were no skinnier than usual, I agree with perky that they’re thinner than they should be. The gowns seem to be more and more similar these days; the actresses are so frightened of the fashion police, and justly so, that they hew to a very conservative line. So conservative were the frocks on display, in fact, that I would not have been surprised if they had been wearing corsets – some of them looked poured into the dresses. Carbro, you didn’t miss much this time. Not that there were no good films, but all in all it was not a good year for movies.

What a dream cast. I envy you, Talespinner. I almost went back up on Sunday to catch Tan and make it a triple Giselle weekend, but real life interfered, unfortunately. And as you note, cost is much more of a factor these days. Roman Rykine went to Boston Ballet, if I remember correctly. I hope he's prospering. I sometimes had mixed feelings about Lacarra, but say what you will, she's a ballerina.

I think the neglect of Carrey by the Academy has been pretty outrageous. It must have been especially hard for him this year, watching his former In Living Color colleague hailed as the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I saw Zahorian as Myrtha and felt the same way. She's a very warm, sweet personality and although she acted and danced the part well I still kept expecting her to transform suddenly into a Good Fairy, beam happily at Albrecht, and wave him off into the woods. I also took in Long's Giselle in Saturday's matinee. I fear I must second Talespinner. Long just isn't up to Giselle. I'm sorry. Was sorry to miss LeBlanc this time around, although I agree she can overdo the sweet guileless smile. I have fond memories of her and Roman Rykine in this.

The speech was silly, but for me it was just the capper on the whole recent Jamie Foxx fuss. Yes, he was very good. Other nominees were very good also, and let's not even get started on the guys who didn't make the cut. I love Kate Winslet, and I love looking at Kate Winslet. I should hate her for the golden hair, translucent skin, incandescent smile, ability to wear that shade of blue without looking ridiculous, and for being remarkably gifted on top of that, but I don't.

Well, there were no surprises last night. The Academy took another turn at slapping around Martin Scorsese, who lost to yet another actor turned director. Hilary Swank cemented her position as the Luise Rainer of the new century and the Academy continued its recent tradition of dissing un-Botoxed middle aged actresses in favor of chicks in backless dresses – tough luck, Annette and Imelda. (And Hilary – Vivien Leigh and Bette Davis won two Oscars, too. Katharine Hepburn copped four. Did they bawl out thank yous to their lawyers and publicist? No, they did not! Think about it.) I realize that in his later years Marlon Brando didn’t think much of the Oscars, but you would think in an evening that found time for tributes to Johnny Carson and Sidney Lumet, neither of whom had or has contributed much in the way of enduring value to the silver screen --gee, Lumet has really made a lot of mediocre movies, hasn't he? -- that the producers could have devoted more than a few seconds at the end of the annual Montage of Dead Folks to the man who was arguably the best American film actor of all time. Embarrassing.

Thanks for that, sandik. For the Death as a Good Career Move file: an AP report says sales have risen sharply for Thompson's books: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apu...hompson%20Sales

Yes, those were the days. The Ed Sullivan Show occasionally shows up on PBS, and I get a huge kick out of it every time. High, low, middle -- Sullivan served up everything -- you could have Joan Sutherland following a juggling act. I saw Jacques d'Amboise perform a pas de deux, but unfortunately recall nothing else about it, including his partner's name.

It's off topic, but the actor's quote came from Edmund Gwenn, I'm reasonably certain. (There's an old movie, "My Favorite Year," starring Peter O'Toole, where the line is attributed to Kean. But as Mel notes, it's been passed around some. ) I've seen Mayerling only on video with Mukhamedov, but I must say I got tired just watching him. I recall that Christopher Gable told Barbara Newman that he had asked David Wall about dancing Rudolf and Wall said it had just about killed him.

Thank you, 32tendu. "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" is a great book, and Thompson did some great political journalism, too. I actually first became familiar with him as the model for Mike's Uncle Duke in "Doonesbury." In the end he was probably hogtied to the Gonzo thing in a way that wasn't good for him. Another article on Thompson, from the Los Angeles times, with comments from Thompson's fellow New Journalists Tom Wolfe and Gay Talese: http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcas...on22feb22.story A brief account of the career of Duke, from the Doonesbury website: http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/thecast/duke.html

Most of the time I can tune the sound out, but there are occasions when it is very noticeable. The last time I saw the Stuttgart in Berkeley, the corps sounded like a cattle stampede, sans mooing, of course. It was very hard to understand how Juliet could stay asleep, even with chemical assistance, with these girls pounding all over the bedroom.

Bentley is a writer of intense romanticism and can get a tad florid at times, but that comes with the territory. I think she commented on the state of things at the State Theatre because it flows naturally from the subject matter of the review. This was a long piece and I don't think she was wandering too far afield. I enjoyed the comment on "Musagete" too, Farrell Fan.

Joan Acocella on the novelist Marguerite Yourcenar, in The New Yorker, in which she discusses Yourcenar's handling of historical themes, among many other things: http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/?050214crbo_books

From The New Republic, a February, 1949 review by the director and critic Harold Clurman of the original production of "Death of a Salesman": http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi%3Dclassic...3Dclurman022849

Thank you, Mme. Hermine. I am sorry to hear this. There is a short story by Miller in the current edition of Harper's. Here is The New York Times obituary, by Marilyn Berger. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/11/theater/...print&position= A couple of minor points I noted offhand. Ms. Berger states that the distinguished theatre critic Eric Bentley “dismissed” “The Crucible.” Bentley did no such thing. He didn’t much care for the play, for reasons clearly stated and defended, but it was no “dismissal.” (And the argument that Miller’s fame consistently outstripped his achievement, whether or not one agrees with it, is also not to be dismissed.) Second, Ms. Berger states that Miller wrote the screenplay of “The Misfits” as a “gift for his wife,” Marilyn Monroe. Other sources indicate that Monroe didn’t quite see it that way. Miller’s chief theatrical rival, Tennessee Williams, is not mentioned, even in passing, which struck me as an odd omission. In a sense, Miller was the last of his kind in America. We may not see a playwright's career like his (or Williams') in this country again. Miller saw in his lifetime the decline of the serious American theatre in prosperity and status, and the decline of his chosen profession as a career goal for young writers. This was obviously a matter of deep concern for him.

David Edelstein comments on the recent announcement that this year Oscar winners in the technical categories will not be permitted to give an acceptance speech: http://slate.msn.com/id/2113360/ While I agree with him that such a ban would indeed be deeply unfair and absurd, I part ways with him when he says that “it's painful to watch [the winners] —who should be permitted at least a long moment to bask—falling all over themselves to finish before they're unceremoniously drowned out and firmly ushered from the stage.” True, I guess, but I like lengthy acceptance speeches because they give me an opportunity to feel superior to the egomaniacal burbling of a Julia Roberts, or a Nicole Kidman who apparently can’t get from the subject of a sentence to its object without walking into a wall. Mean-spirited, I know.

Martha Graham was featured in Blackglama ads too -- am I wrong, or do I recall seeing her with F&N? On the off topic subject of smoking ads, I have a picture of Laurence Olivier endorsing his own brand of Olivier cigarettes. There's also a scene in "The Band Wagon," where Astaire lights up and offers a cigarette to snooty ballerina Cyd Charisse, who responds stiffly that she thinks dancers shouldn't smoke.

Shapiro is still listed as their dance critic, and her archived articles are available online (none of them recent). It's an interesting way to do things -- nominally dance is there, and yet it's not.

Thanks for the story - I enjoyed that! Rand affects some very bright people very strongly, and they don’t even notice that, uh, she doesn’t write very well. (Although she’s good with machinery – there’s a plane crash in Atlas Shrugged that’s well done.) Reason Online (www.reason.com) has posted some good articles on Rand for the centenary. I got a kick out of this one in particular: http://www.reason.com/0503/fe.rand.shtml Excerpt, from Nora Ephron:

Sibley was indeed injured during the filming. I'd have liked to see more of her, too. Those hands! those feet!

I have been keeping an eye out and I've seen nothing in the way of reviews in New York for months. I may be missing something, but I don't think so.

I've found I can get mildly fixated on obtaining That Special Calendar.

Danilova did work hard to look glamorous, although in her later years she had a few facelifts too many, IMO. Sometimes there's too high a price to pay for glamour.

I'm sorry that Kirkland did not play the role -- at the very least it would have given us more footage of Kirkland's dancing, of which so little is commercially available. Casting her would also have made Emilia's stunningly rapid rise to the top more convincing, although Leslie Browne has charm and appeal.

I add my voice to the chorus of gratitude for two big articles on dance in the Sunday Times. When I read this article, I sighed heavily. I feel much as Ari does, and I'm sorry. I was hoping to be able to respond to Rockwell's next piece with huzzahs, but no such luck. I agree with kfw: the article seems confused. Rockwell seems to be conflating looks with theatrical charisma. It's not by definition sexism to comment on the looks of performers -- they are on stage for us to look at, after all-- but to focus on women, which to a large extent Rockwell does, is troubling. I think you can make the case for old time glamour and star quality in other ways. Drew, I was slightly appalled by some of the comments in the Alonso piece, as well. Not a good day for women in the arts pages of the Times. The young ones aren't pretty enough, and the older ones who try to retain their looks are Norma Desmond. Like Tomatonose, I was also puzzled by Rockwell's list, which contains names of dancers who were not conventional beauties of the type he seems to be praising. No, Moira Shearer would not have won the lead in "The Red Shoes" if she had not photographed so well. However, if she had not been a ranking ballerina of England's leading company, capable of dancing the role convincingly, she wouldn't have been cast, either. Michael Powell was determined to hire someone who could dance the part of a rising star as well as look and act it, and he was fortunate enough to find the right woman.