Ipi Ntombi: An African Dance Celebration (1998) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have audio cassettes for Ntombi Marhumbhini. My friend gave them to me when I was in Malawi. When I came to the US, I wanted if I could find a VHS for the audio cassettes I have only to find Ipi Ntombi. I read the reviews, and I did not hesistate to buy it.
This movie is great. The way they sing and dance depicts African originality. Their voices are so sharp that I do not see it boring throughout. If you haven't watched this movie, please try to. You will not regret like I am not regretting having bought it. If you have watched Namu Lwanga from Uganda, it is almost at par. Namu Lwanga holds shows in colleges and universities all around United States.
Finally, I would advise to look for this movie and see for yourself.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Ipi Ntombi: An African Dance Celebration (1998)

Originally created by mother/daughter team Bertha Egnos and Gail Laiker, IPI NTOMBI (pronounced Ippy-Intombee and meaning "where are the girls") opened in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1974 and then played to standing ovations all over the world for the next six years. Now, more than 20 years later, this new, updated version sizzles with its return to the stage, blending the traditional rhythms of Africa with the modern heartbeat of its people. The company of 50, some of whom are direct descendants of the original cast members, dance the story of the Johannesburg mine worker, who sings of his love for the girl back home and his sense of separation from his tribal roots. The show has restyled the musical's most popular numbers and added some new ones, including the exhilarating "Four Important Porters from Potgietersrus."

Click here for more information about Ipi Ntombi: An African Dance Celebration (1998)

Read More...

Thornton Wilder's Our Town, Two Historic Productions on Two DVD (1977) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The text of this great play, opens no curtain, no scenery. Despite these revolutionary concepts, after writing Our Town, Thornton Wilder for the stage, he hoped there would eventually be a "definitive performance" for tv viewers to enjoy. In other words, he hated the 1940 box office movie with William Holden. In 1977 he worked along with a team of actors including Hal Holbrook, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox, Sada Thompson, Barbara Bel Geddes, and (fresh from Ode To Billy Joe) Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor. Although shot in a tv studio, they bent the rules slightly and added a touch of scenery, but it was so slight that it became the Grover's Corners New Hampshire that Wilder imagined. The performance was so good it was nominated for (and just might have won) an Emmy. Wilder died soon after happily, his definitive version made. His estate willed that another version for tv should not be made. Then in 1989, the late lamented Spaulding Grey headed another cast that did their best to remain completely faithful to the play as written. This Broadway performance was nominated for a Tony. A special performance was made for the executors of Wilder's estate who enjoyed it as much as the fore mentioned 1977 performance, that they allowed PBS to tape it for their "Great Performances" series. Since then, both of these showings have been hard to find on video. Now you can get them both in this nice (though pricey) 2 disc set. But trust me, it's worth the bucks. If you really need to "save money", order it from a "Marketplace Client", but buy it anyway. You will not regret it. Then for another very good showing, buy the 2003 PBS/Showtime presentation (on the PBS label) with Paul Newman, etc.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Thornton Wilder's Our Town, Two Historic Productions on Two DVD (1977)

Item Name: Thornton Wilder's Our Town: Two Historic Productions; Studio:Mastervision

Click here for more information about Thornton Wilder's Our Town, Two Historic Productions on Two DVD (1977)

Read More...

Acting Shakespeare (1982) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I saw this video in my high school British Lit. class in 1986 and was mesmerized. I was not a particular fan of Shakespeare at the time, was in fact one of those kids who found Shakespeare mostly boring and irrelevant, but this turned me on to all that Shakespeare can be and why he has remained popular for so long. I have been a huge fan of Ian McKellan ever since; he is superb in this. I have been looking for this video for years, checking McKellan's website, ebay and everywhere I could think of, so I was so excited when I googled the title today, and found it on Amazon! I cannot recommend McKellan's _Acting Shakespeare_ highly enough. It remains, in my memory, the best theatre -- Shakespeare or otherwise -- that I have ever seen. It is just Ian McKellan on a bare stage, no props or costumes as far as I remember, performing monologues from several Shakespearian plays and commenting on the plays and characters and how he approaches them. The simplicity is perhaps part of what makes this so beautifully done.As it hasn't been released yet, I cannot comment on the technical quality of the sound or video. My hope is that the reason they took so long to release it is because they were picky about getting the audio and video quality right. Anyway, it is superb.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Acting Shakespeare (1982)

A masterful tour de force from "one of the most distinguished performers of his generation" (The New York Times).
Alone on stage, without props or costumes, Ian McKellen performs some of Shakespeare's most striking monologues and offers his own personal anecdotes about life in the theater. From Henry VI to Macbeth, McKellen demonstrates the incredible universality of Shakespeare's plays with wit and humor – skillfully revealing the actor behind the writer in this celebrated one-man show.
Produced by Andrew Susskind and presented at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City.
Also includes an 8-page booklet with reflections by Ian McKellen.

Get 24% OFF

Click here for more information about Acting Shakespeare (1982)

Read More...

Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1973) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Having just watched the 1973 television production of "The Glass Menagerie" I have now seen every Katharine Hepburn performance she ever did on film or television. From "A Bill of Divorcement" to "This Can't Be Love" I now have everything on tape (yes, even "The Iron Petticoat"). This was Hepburn's first television performance and she was working with Anthony Harvey, who directed the actress in her third Oscar winning role in "The Lion in Winter." Hepburn had seen Laurette Taylor's exquisite performance in the original stage production of "The Glass Menagerie," and had long considered Tennessee William's "memory" play to be an American classic. Even though she is the quintessential Connecticut Yankee, Hepburn trotted out an affect Southern accent and tackled the role.
The play is essentially a gigantic flashback told by Tom Wingfield (Sam Waterston), who is now a merchant seaman in a distant port recalling the final days he spent in the family home in St. Louis with his mother, the faded Southern belle, Amanda (Hepburn), and his painfully shy sister, Laura (Joanna Miles). Stuck in a dead end job at a shoe factory and constantly going to the movies to escape his mother, Tom wants to be a poet. Laura, made physically ill by any attempt to go out and function in the real world, has retreated to her imagination and her titular collection of glass animals. Amanda is constantly talking about the old days on Blue Mountain, browbeating Tom for his lack of incentive, or hustling subscriptions for "The Lady's Home Companion." When his mother badgers him into finding a "gentleman caller" for his sister, Tom brings home Jim O'Connor (Michael Moriarty) from work. Even better, Jim is the boy the Laura had a crush on in high school, although she certainly never would have said anything at the time. But in a Tennessee Williams play, no good deed goes unpunished.
The centerpiece of the play becomes the scene between Laura and her gentleman caller. The scene is remarkable in that it is certainly unconventional to give two characters so much time on stage alone like this. Suffice it to say that on the basis of this extended scene both Morairty and Miles won a pair of Emmy awards each, for Best Supporting Actor/ess in a Drama and Supporting Actor/ess of the Year (the Emmys have had their fair share of strange awards over the years). Hepburn was nominated for Best Lead Actress in a Drama while Miles received a nod in the Supporting Actress category.
This version of "The Glass Menagerie" has the virtue of sticking to the play's original conclusion, which is not what happened with the 1950 film adaptation with Gertrude Lawrence, Jane Wyman, Arthur Kennedy, and Kirk Douglas. It seems that Hollywood always felt a strong urge to make Tennessee Williams' plays more upbeat on the silver screen. Once you get past her accent, Hepburn's performance is as nuanced as you would expect, and the rest of the cast more than hold their own. Given that their paths would almost cross on "Law & Order," it is ironic to find Waterston and Moriarty together in this production.
Kudos to the Broadway Theater Archive for preserving these fine performances on tape and many others as well. There just are not as many televised plays as there used to be in the old days, and it is great to see that many lost treasures are again becoming available to us as lovers of the theater.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1973)

After what producer David Susskind called "the longest wooing for a part in a lifetime of dealing with stars," four-time Oscar winner Katharine Hepburn (On Golden Pond) made her television dramatic debut as the indomitable, overbearing matriarch, Amanda Wingfield, in Tennessee Williams' poignant 1945 memory play, which reteamed her with director Anthony Harvey (The Lion in Winter). "The Glass Menagerie" portrays a mother whose preoccupation with her past as a Southern belle and her unrealistic dreams for her children's futures threaten to smother her painfully shy daughter (Joanna Miles) and her aspiring writer son ("The Killing Fields'" Sam Waterston). Michael Moriarty plays the gentleman caller whose visit offers false hope and disrupts the family's precarious balance. 1973-74 Emmy Awards - Best Supporting Actor, Michael Moriarty; Best Supporting Actress, Joanna Miles.

Get 35% OFF

Click here for more information about Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1973)

Read More...

David E. Talbert's The Fabric of a Man Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The Fabric of a Man is one of David Talbert's best musical stage plays. It's the story of Dominique (Tammy Townsend - Family Matters, she played Eddie's girlfriend Greta), an up and coming fashion designer who thinks she is in love with Blair Godfrey (Clifton Powell), a self-centered stockbroker who wishes she'd focus less on her career and more on him. Her father is a minister and she has stopped going to church to concentrate on her career and boyfriend. Even though everyone tells her he is no good for her, she makes excuses for his behavior.
Dominique's employee (Buddy Lewis)forgot to take the dry cleaning to the cleaners and her regular cleaners is closed, she accidentally stumbles into an old-school dry cleaner, where she meets Joshua King (Darren DeWitt Henson - Soul Food), who has similar career goals. Joshua is a devout christian who doesn't make a move without God, their first date was dinner and church.
Dominique can't make up her mind about who's better for her, Blair who represents finance or Joshua who will give her the best of both worlds; love and a chance to explore her career goals. Dominique is forced to decide which man/fabric wears best on her.

Click Here to see more reviews about: David E. Talbert's The Fabric of a Man

Get 10% OFF

Click here for more information about David E. Talbert's The Fabric of a Man

Read More...

Playing Shakespeare (1982) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The actual DVD set is being reviewed. I didn't see the book or TV in 1984.
This series of 9 episodes (Or should we call them "instructions" in Shakespeare acting?) seem like they were shot yesterday. They are timeless. What, if anything is staged? What is entirely impromptu? It's hard to say, nay, impossible. It's that well done. The wealth within this educational, academic experience is difficult to quickly review, but we'll give it a go.
"Playing SHAKESPEARE" is the DVD presentation of acting workshops, done like a play rehearsal underway, shot in 1982, led by John Barton, who is himself entertaining, plus an encyclopedia on Shakespearean acting. He directed over 50 plays by the (RSC) Royal Shakespeare Company. A Cambridge professor. His main interest in this series is teaching toward the marriage of the Elizabethan acting tradition and modern times or style. It is instruction dedicated to the actor--but it is of interest to so many more.
Through detailed Shakespeare direction, Barton has provided a series that will delight all lovers of the celebrated playwright. Additionally it will encourage the viewer who is newly attempting appreciation of Shakespeare and his works. Novice Shakespearean audiences will want for more, want for a complete play to view.
Much of the success of this series is the famous & talented actors being instructed. The top of the U.K. entertainers, both within the RSC and out. The BONUS FEATURES of this DVD set includes several of their bios and RSC credits. Some, not all as there are over 20, are:
Peggy Ashcorft, 1907-1991, having at some time performed near all Shakespeare's female roles.
Judi Dench, UK Superstar, fantastic in "As Time Goes By"
Ben Kingsley, "Gandhi" and "Schindler's List" to name but 2
Ian McKellan, "The Lord of the Rings" fans will remember
Patrick Stewart, would you believe "Star Trek: The Next Generation"
David Sachet, "Poirot", need more be said--yes--"The Way We Live Now"
Shakespeare wrote, "Our revels now are ended." Nay, Nay.
Here's the list of Episodes (Learning bits)
1 THE TWO TRADITIONS . . . . . . .2 USING THE VERSE
3 LANGUAGE AND CHARACTER . . . . .4 EXPLORING A CHARACTER
5 SET SPEECHES AND SOLILOQUIES . .6 IRONY AND AMBIGUITY
7 PASSION AND COOLNESS . . . . . .8 REHEARSING THE TEXT
9 POETRY AND HIDDEN POETRY
Each is a to-die-for opportunity for the student or the follower of Shakespeare. Not a full play or dramatic film, but an academic experience set in a working studio using excerpts.
In #3 language and words are discussed like Shakespeare's double syllable use of the word Ti-ime. And his often capitalization of the word, even when it's not the beginning word in the sentence. By watching another fine educational DVD series, "The Adventure of English", one can learn Shakespeare invented over 2000 words.
___Also in this segment, John Barton is coaxed into performing a bit of Shakespeare, which he does twice again during episode 9.
___#4 is outstanding when Shylock (The Merchant of Venice) is performed by Suchet (who is Jewish) and Stewart. Both have played the role in RSC under Barton's direction. The 3 demonstrate how Shakespeare characters can be played in different ways, all being good. Suchet also suggests to view this play, not as anti-Semitic, but without the 20th century Holocaust prejudice.
Other bonus extras include a trailer for "Slings & Arrows" and the much valuable SUBTITLES, recommended to be used by all, to catch the full value of the Shakespeare words.
This DVD set makes me thirst for a Shakespeare play--a Shakespearean Sundae.
If you are a William Shakespeare lover--BUY.
If you are an actor, or student of theatre--BUY.
If you are curious of those often talked about plays--BUY.
More elaboration on this would take as long as the 400+ minutes of the set. Instead, in Shakespeare's own words: "So to him we leave it."


Click Here to see more reviews about: Playing Shakespeare (1982)

PLAYING SHAKESPEARE - DVD Movie

Click here for more information about Playing Shakespeare (1982)

Read More...