The cultural map of 2013 is dotted with hot spots and one with special meaning for me.
Grab your calendar and some vino, and begin planning!
On my wish list? Lots of theatres, and here are my bets.
Their global phenom, The Warhorse, has undoubtedly earned curiosity for the next collaboration of director Tom Morris and South African puppeteers Handspring. This time, they’ll tackle Shakespeare’s Midsummer’s Night Dream and London audiences will get the first look beginning in February of this year. Also in that city, from the brilliant mind of playwright John Logan, who wrote one of my favourite plays of the last decade, Red, comes a new script set in 1932 called Peter and Alice. That would be JM Barrie’s Peter Pan and Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland or the real-life characters who inspired those classics. Ben Whishaw, last seen breaking hearts in Cloud Atlas, will star opposite Judi Dench, last seen stealing the scene in Skyfall, beginning March 9th. Still in London, Helen Mirren returns to play the Queen in The Audience starting in February. Finally, Philip Pullman, writer of one of this household’s favourite series, The Golden Compass, will see the world premiere of the stage adaptation of his look at the Cinderella story, I was a Rat.
On this side of the Atlantic, singer Sheryl Crow will make her Broadway debut in April when she stars in director Barry Levinson’s musical adaptation of his classic 1982 film, Diner. Kathleen Marshall will direct. Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke will try to get audiences to forget Audrey Hepburn’s version of Breakfast at Tiffany’s as Clarke takes on Holly Golightly in a new version of the Truman Capote classic. This production will return the story to its original setting of New York during the Second World War and opens on March 4th. Finally, Alec Baldwin returns to Broadway to play a mob boss kidnapped by his brothers in Orphans. Shia Labeouf will play one of the brothers in the show opening in the spring.
Cyndi Lauper teams up with veteran Harvey Fierstein for her first Broadway musical, Kinky Boots about a shoemaker who makes fetish footwear for drag queens to save the family business.
Fortunately, I don’t have to travel to either London or NYC to see brilliance on stage. In my hometown, creative genius Robert LePage will create a new production of his acclaimed one-man show, Needles and Opium, an exploration of the link between creativity and addiction, opening in the fall of 2013 at the Canadian Stage. As well, Soulpepper has my favourite author, Charles Dickens, on deck with Great Expectations. Still, the big ticket may be Tony Kushner’s powerhouse two-parter, Angels in America, opening in July with both parts directed by Albert Shultz. Des McAnuff will mount Tommy at Stratford, but the hot ticket there is to see those scorching theatre chicks, Lucy Peacock and Seana Mckenna, team up for Mary Stuart.
In dance, I’ll be waiting for the male stars of the National Ballet of Canada to strut their stuff in Nijinksy which, says the Globe and Mail’s Paula Citron, will be thrilling.
“The great Neumeier has built his ballet about legendary dancer Vaslav Nijinsky (1889-1950) as a dream-like, lyrical, impressionist painting. Six men portray the troubled dancer, so a company needs real depth in the ranks. One Nijinsky remembers incidents in his life, while the others, in authentic costumes, perform excerpts from his virtuoso roles. Both thrilling and tragic.”
On the big screen, there are too many goodies to list here. Still, I will be writing about them all in the coming months. TIFF begins Canada’s Top 10 today in Toronto, and I’m thrilled that audiences will have another chance to see one of my favourite picks, Rebelle, from TIFF 2012 included in that list. It plays Tuesday night at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
At the Sundance film festival later this month is the biopic The Look of Love that will reunite director Michael Winterbottom and Steve Coogan. Like their past collaborations, including 24-Hour Party People, A Cock and Bull Story and the hilarious The Trip, this one promises to be brilliant. Coogan here plays Paul Raymond, nicknamed the King of Soho for his massive property empire and porn business.
Sundance also has the directing debut of musician Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana). His film, Sound City will look at the famous studio in Los Angeles where artists like Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young and Tom Petty made music for 40 years.
Also at Sundance comes Before Midnight and what may or may not be the final instalment of director Richard Linklater’s trilogy that began with Before Sunrise in 1995. This time, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy reunited in a highly secretive shoot in Greece. Two decades have passed since their characters first met on a train bound for Vienna. The trilogy has garnered a rabid fan following. (I’m with them.) If you haven’t seen Before Sunrise (low budget, low expectations) or Before Sunset (bigger budget, high expectations), then hibernate for the weekend and rent them both. I can’t wait to discover what’s next in this romantic journey. Following the premiere at Sundance, Before Midnight (huge expectations) will indeed be released sometime in 2013.
Travel agents in Greece, too, are anxiously awaiting this film’s release. They’re hoping a much-needed bump in travel will follow after fans see these two wanderings in that gorgeous country.
Director Linklater himself found the location to be intoxicating.
There’s something I like about the ancient qualities of Greece. It’s so old, it kind of resonates just by being there, in a way. There’s nothing we can experience or think about that the Greeks didn’t already deal with, because anything to do with the human psyche, the human experience, it has been philosophized about. To be somewhere that predates Christianity…
The location resonates with me too.
That chapter, known in these parts as the Greek islands fiasco, was where I said yes.
You try saying no in this location.
Lindos, Rhodes, 1990 |
It’s winter today in Toronto, but I painted my toes bright red this morning anyway: I would still say yes.
Happy 21st Anniversary to my favourite Greek.
Lindos, Rhodes, 2009 |
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