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So much for Rotten Tomatoes and its "100 percent" approval rating.
Agnes Varda may be the greatest filmmaker out of Belgium since, since...(who?) but that still doesn't make her 2017 documentary of rural France any better. Zzzzzzzzz.....
Faces Places is a constant refrain of frame after frame after frame of Ms. Varda, 89, traveling around France in a big van with a "mysterious" photographer, "JR" (that's all), 33, who together take pictures, blow them up, and paste them to barns, trains, walls, whatever is handy. Cool!
Ta da! That's it! No plot, no drama, no upbeat to this tune except he wears dark sunglasses at night and all the time!
About a third of the way through, I thought about leaving. About half the way through, I thought more about leaving. At the end it was too late.
It's one of those movies you keep telling yourself it's going to pick up, pick up, pick up, but it never does, and lies flat like the train tracks. (The next time I tell myself that, I'll know it's the signal to VAMOOSE.)
Faces Places is 89 minutes long which matches Ms. Varda's age! Imagine! About 80 minutes too many.
Dullsville, lacklustre, you catch my drift. It would make a good drugless sleep aide since it works wonders in about 10 minutes.
Take my words for it and save your time and money and forget about Rotten Tomatoes! You know critics: They like films like that lifeless, depressing cat movie of 2014,
arty-farty films which earn zero return because they are public flops. But the producers don't make them for the money. Oh, no: They do it for the art! Yeah, right. And Donald Trump doesn't tweet.
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Jon Hudson Odom in Our Town at Olney Theatre Center/Photo by Stan Barouh
You can see it now through November 12 at the Olney Theatre Center.
Its message is simple but strong, and I am happy to note that Goodreads agrees with me, including Our Town in its "Top 100 Stage Plays," and ditto, Buzzfeed (32 to Read Before You Die), and the list goes on.
Olney Theatre is nothing short of sophistication and utmost professionalism in its presentations, and Thornton Wilder's play fits the missive exactly, especially with Our Town under the baton of the esteemed Aaron Posner, director of more than 250 plays and winner of five Helen Hayes Awards.
From left, Megan Anderson, Jon Hudson Odom, a puppet, and Andrea Harris Smith in Our Town at Olney Theatre Center/Photo by Stan Barouh
But the results of Posner's choice to use puppets for 21 of the roles at the Olney are unsatisfying, leaving me practically void of emotion and feeling, well, like a puppet. Fortunately, my experience did not mirror those around me since on my left, a 60- somethings
man sobbed, and on my right, a girl, age 9, cried, too, at the end.
(Come to think of it, on my first showing I was probably as emotional.)
The stage is set tennis court style, another disadvantage, with audience
members facing each other in the shadows, somewhat distracting. It's a clever arrangement for theatre types, but I doubt most
members of the paying audience favor the approach.
When a
puppet hollers from an upstairs window on one end of the stage but its
voice emanates from an actor on the other end and on a different level, my eyes
floated from side to side, tracking the source, an interruption which subtracts from the message (which is, in a few words: carpe diem and tempus fugit).
The program notes that a minimalist set (by Misha Kachman) is what Doctor Wilder ordered for his show and minimalism is what you get to focus attention on what's important (not the puppets).
Sound by Sarah O'Halloran is excellent, made visible by the actors on stage.
The puppet designer, Aaron Cromie, is due much applause for creations which reflect
today's population diversity, but it's exceedingly doubtful that diversity existed in a small town like Grover's Corners, New Hampshire 100 years ago (so why not place the current production in this century?).
Wilder (1897-1975) is the only Pulitzer Prize winner for both fiction (The Bridge of San Luis Rey) and drama (Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth). Over its 80 years, this is the first time Olney has presented the play.
The actors led by Helen Hayes winner, Jon Hudson Odom, as narrator or stage manager (a role often played by Mr. Wilder himself), are nothing less than superb: Megan Anderson is Mrs. Gibbs; Tony Nam, Dr. Gibbs; Andrea Harris Smith, Mrs. Webb; Todd Scofield, Mr. Webb; Cindy de la Cruz, Emily Webb; and William Vaughan, George Gibbs, Mr. Vaughan notably realistic as the boy. The chemistry flowing between him and Ms. de la Cruz conveys badly needed authenticity to the show. Ms. Anderson will have you believing you are a member of the cast, too.
Other creative team members are Helen Q. Huang, costumes; Thom Weaver, lights; Hope Villanueva, production stage manager; Debbie Ellinghaus, managing director; Jason Loewith, artistic director; Dennis A. Blackledge, production; and Jason King Jones, senior associate artistic director.
What: Our Town
Where: Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, MD 20832
When: Now through November 12, 2017, Wednesday through Saturdays at 7:45 p.m., and weekend matinees at 1:45 p.m.
Tickets: Begin at $47 with discounts for groups, seniors, military, and students.
Ages: Recommended for ages 10 and up due to themes
Duration: 2.5 hours with two intermissions
Refreshments: Available and may be taken to seats
Parking: Free, nearby, and plentiful on-site
For more information: 301-924-3400 for the box office or 301-924-4485
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Fra Angelico (c. 1395-1455), The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs (about 1423-24), National Gallery, London/Wikipedia
Maurice Duruflé, George Shearing, and J.S. Bach are some of the composers whose works will be played at a free lunchtime concert Wednesday at St. John's, Lafayette Square in honor of All Saints Day.
Brent Erstad, an organist and assistant director of music at St. John's who teaches at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, will play Fantasia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 537 (Bach), Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d'Alain (Duruflé), and There is a Happy Land (Shearing).
Also on the program are Elegy by George Thalben-Ball and Litanies by Jehan Alain. The performance is part of the church's First Wednesday concert series.
Brent Erstad/Episcopal High School
All Saints Day commemorates those who have died and have gone to heaven. It falls between Halloween and All Souls Day or Day of the Dead on November 2, the latter which recognizes those who have died and have not yet reached heaven.
All Saints often commemorates the lives of loved ones who have died in the past year, including those known to members at St. John's who, throughout the year, provide names of the deceased to the church where they are read aloud in services.
The history of All Saints' Day can be traced to Pope Boniface IV, who in 609 AD consecrated the Pantheon at Rome to the Virgin Mary and all the Martyrs. In the next century, All Saints was given officialdom on November 1 by Pope Gregory III.
All Saints' Day at a cemetery in Sanok, Poland, November 1, 2011/Silar, Creative Commons, Wikipedia
St. John's was founded in 1815 and is known to Washington residents as the yellow church at Lafayette Square. It's often called the “Church of the Presidents” since beginning with James Madison, who was president from 1809 to 1817, every president has attended services at the church. A plaque at the rear of St. John's designates the pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by the church during the Civil War.
Benjamin Latrobe, known as the "father of American architecture" and the architect of the U.S. Capitol Building and the White House porticos, designed St. John's Church in the form of a Greek cross.
The church bell, weighing almost 1,000 pounds, was cast by Paul Revere's son, Joseph, in August, 1822, and hung at St. John's that November where it has rung since. Wikipedia says two accounts report that whenever the bell rings on the occasion of the death of a notable person, six male ghosts appear at the president's pew at midnight and quickly disappear.
St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie
Dolley Madison, wife of President Madison, was baptized and confirmed at St. John's, according to the National Park Service, which calls the church "one of the few original remaining buildings left near Lafayette Park today."
Following tradition, President Donald J. Trump and his family began his presidency on the morning of January 20, 2017 with private services at St. John's.
For those on lunch break Wednesday, food trucks are located at Farragut Square, two blocks away.
Who: Brent Erstad, organist, playing an All Saints' Day concert
What: First Wednesday Concerts
When: 12:10 p.m., November 1, 2017
Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16th, Washington, D.C. 20005
How much: No charge
Duration: About 35 minutes
Wheelchair accessible
Metro stations: McPherson Square (White House exit), Farragut North, or Farragut West
For more information: Contact Michael Lodico, St. John's director of music ministry and organist, 202-270-6265 or Michael.Lodico@stjohns-dc.org or 202-347-8766
Other First Wednesday concerts all beginning at 12:10 p.m. and lasting until 12:45 p.m. are:
December 6: Music of the Season by the Episcopal High School Chamber Choir
January 10, 2018: Music by French composers by Julie Vidrick Evans, organist
February 7: Soloists from St. John's Choir
March 7: Preludes and Fugues from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier by Mak Grgic, guitar, and Stephen Ackert, organ
April 4: The premiere of Paul Leavitt's Fanfare for Trumpet and Organ by Lisa Galoci, organist, and Chuck Seipp, trumpet
May 2: Music for Angels, including Craig Phillips' Archangel Suite by Michael Lodico, director of music and organist, St. John's
June 6: Music by Women Composers, including Margaret Sandresky's Dialogues for Organ and Strings by Ilono Kubiaczyk-Adler, organist, with the U.S. Air Force Strings
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