I was too young to know him well…
Arts + Scene
Reviews, interviews and upcoming highlights from the week in visual and performing arts around Humboldt County.
Freaks Are Really Greeks?
Theatre can be most alive when it is rough and unfinished. Some of the most exciting performances I’ve witnessed have been staged readings, script-in-hand or living room cold readings. But what I saw and heard last week at the Arcata Playhouse is more than the raw and even intuitive attempt to explore dramatic material — […]
Clooney Plays the Field
Opening COUNTERFEITERS.Biggest counterfeit money scam of all time goes down during the last years of WWII in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Rated R. 98 m. At the Minor. DON GIOVANNI.San Francisco Opera performs Mozart classic in pure Digital Cinema. Second of four SF Opera Cinemacasts, runs April 12-13 at Fortuna. MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A […]
Hair and Other Stylings
Unlike any shows before and few since, the musical Hair was produced in several U.S. cities at the same time it was still on Broadway. I saw it in San Francisco in 1969. I had a friend in the cast, who’d been the lead in the play I wrote and directed at college a year […]
Same Old Spacey
Opening FUNNY GAMES.Remake of 1997 thriller follows young men as they take a family hostage in a vacation home invasion. Rated R. 108 m. At the Minor. LEATHERHEADS.A ragtag team in early-1920s professional football league is saved by golden boy war hero. Rated PG-13. 114 m. At the Broadway, Fortuna and Mill Creek. NIM’S ISLAND.Author’s […]
Band’s Visit: A Small Gem
Opening 21.Group of brilliant students and unorthodox math prof take on big casinos and win their way into racy Vegas lifestyles. Rated PG-13. At Mill Creek and the Broadway. MARRIED LIFE.Characters fumble towards their passions leading to a complicated web of deceit, murder plans, love and lies. Rated PG-13. At the Minor. SAMSON AND DELILAH.San […]
See ‘City of Men,’ Quick
Note to readers: This will be my last column until early May as I’m going on hiatus to spend about six weeks in Portland, Ore., where, among other pleasures, I may get to see a greater variety of films. I realize that "hiatus" is TV-speak for "to be canceled at a later date," but hopefully […]
All’s Not Well
With great playwrights and great plays comes great responsibility. All’s Well That Ends Well may not be Shakespeare’s greatest comedy, but it is at least as great as some of his plays that are performed more often. It’s full of ideas and ironies (which may well include the title). The story is rooted in ancient […]
Inside the Brain of Carl Muecke
Carl Muecke likes his artwork, and that’s refreshing. He’s not arrogant or obnoxious about it, but he really likes what he does, as all artists should. He likes the bright colors, the ideas and the uniqueness of his work. Looking around on the Internet and talking to other artists, he says he’s never found anything […]
