PopSmart

Tony-winning actress and singer Judy Kaye has performed in Stephen Sondheim’s bloody, brilliant musical Sweeney Todd five times, but none was like director John Doyle’s “actor/musician” concept for the Broadway hit. Kaye replaced Patti LuPone as Mrs. Lovett for five weeks on Broadway and plays the role — along with the tuba and the glockenspiel — in the official touring show, playing the Fox Theatre May 27-31.

Continue reading Speakeasy.

(Photo courtesy of DavidAllenStudio.com)

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Adrian Belew

(Courtesy Adrian Belew)

1) Adrian Belew performs at Smith’s Olde Bar with Elliot Holden.

2) South African writer Rose Moss comes to Charis Books for a reading and discussion of In Court.

3) Halo Lounge hosts Pop Art, an evening of art featuring iconic pop culture images.

4) Screen on the Green kicks off its first screening of the summer with Jaws at Centennial Olympic Park.

5) X performs at Variety Playhouse with Detroit Cobras.

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Just a couple corrections/clarifications on some upcoming movie-watching options in the Atlanta area:

We incorrectly reported in this week’s issue the date for Thursday’s (May 29) Screen on the Green presentation of Jaws at Olympic Centennial Park. (The error has been fixed on our website.) On a side note, Peachtree TV announced that the Athens band Blue Flashing Light will perform before the screening, which usually starts just after sundown.

Also, we learned after press time that Errol Morris’ latest documentary, Standard Operating Procedure (pictured), has been delayed a week and will be shown Friday, June 6. Curt Holman’s combo review of SOP and the Phil Donahue/Ellen Spiro doc Body of War runs in this week’s issue.

Sorry for any confusion.

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In memory of the late Sydney Pollack, who died earlier this week, Turner Classic Movies will show four of his films on the evening of Monday, June 2. The films are: The Slender Thread (1965), starring Sidney Poitier and Anne Bancroft (8 p.m.); Three Days of the Condor (1975), starring Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway (10 p.m.); Tootsie (1982), starring Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange (midnight); and Jeremiah Johnson (1972), starring Robert Redford and Will Geer (2 a.m.).

The network also announced that its new original program, “Elvis Mitchell: Under the Influence,” which begins airing July 7, will include in its premiere episode an interview with Pollack.

It’s great to see these four films again, although I’d quibble with a repeat showing of Three Days of the Condor after TCM already broadcast the spy thriller last night. (Must be a TCM vault/archive issue.) Still, another chance to remember a Hollywood pro.

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(Photos courtesy Jackson Fine Art)

In this week’s issue I take a look at the images from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and ’60s that grace the High Museum, most notably in the Road to Freedom exhibition. As part of this, photographer Bruce Davidson is using Jackson Fine Art to show some of the images from his landmark Time of Change series that didn’t make it into the High exhibition.

I had a chance to conduct an email interview with Davidson, some of which I used for the article. Here’s the complete transcript …

Talk about how the Jackson Fine Art and High exhibits came about.
The High museum planned their show, and then the Jackson Fine art gallery wanted to show my work that wasn’t going to be shown at the High Museum. A broader view of this body of work from Time of Change and East 100th Street, which came just after. (more…)

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Candy Everybody Wants

1) Former Atlantan Josh Kilmer-Purcell reads and discusses his book, Candy Everybody Wants, at Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse.

2) R&B songstress Alicia Keys performs at Philips Arena.

3) Jordan Eagle uses his own blood in New Blood, his exhibit opening at Krause Gallery.

4) Augustana performs at Variety Playhouse.

5) Author James Rollins discusses his book, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, at Wordsmiths Books.

(Image courtesy Amazon.com)

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I practically grew up on Sydney Pollack, the actor, the producer and the director. And as many of the eulogies note, his passing is practically that of an era in Hollywood when directors tried to make accessible adult-themed movies. Never a true auteur, Pollack nevertheless did the kind of things directors of even the highest artistic vision don’t always do. He could get great performances out of actors who were playing in often conventional storylines. If you didn’t know a Pollack film, you certainly knew a Robert Redford performance.

While it’s a given that his later directing output was substandard, Pollack was an important Hollywood figure in other ways, and not just as an actor. He remains the best host of Turner Classic Movies‘ “The Essentials” showcase of the no-brainer films, mainly because without any trace of ego (looking at you, Peter Bogdanovich) but with all the passion and smarts, he could crystallize what made an essential movie an essential movie. This is where his acting ability really served him well; he knew how to “sell” it.

(more…)

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TEW Galleries presents Ukrainian artist OLENA ZVYAGINTSEVA, continuing Tues., MAY 27. Zvyagintseva creates her dreamy, heavily textural still life paintings with the use of a variety of paint applications, which range from delicate glazes to forceful impasto with a pallet knife, rendering the paintings nearly three-dimensional. Through June 6. Free. Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. 425 Peachtree Hills Ave., No. 24. 404-869-0511. www.tewgalleries.com.
(”Remembrance of the Sea,” 2008, Olena Zvyagintseva)

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Today’s Air Loaf features CL’s own Chanté LaGon and Curt Holman chatting about Sweeney Todd playing through June 1 at the Fox Theatre.

Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.

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The Prince of Frogtown

(Courtesy Amazon.com)

1) Author Rick Bragg discusses and signs his new book, The Prince of Frogtown, at Jimmy Carter Library and Museum.

2) Natasha Bedingfield performs at Variety Playhouse with the Veronicas and Kate Voegele.

3) The official Broadway tour of Sweeney Todd opens at the Fox Theatre.

4) Louvre Atlanta: The Louvre and the Ancient World continues at the High Museum of Art.

5) Atlanta History Center presents History Live! WWII Remembrance Day.

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