The Free Press is bringing back a Reviews section after some absence. We hope to review plenty of events around town. Check back frequently and if what\'s going on is any good.
Arts & Culture
How do we love "Annie"? Let's count some ways:
She tugs our heartstrings with the story of an orphan seeking her parents. She tickles our funny bone with her antics and her spunk. She warms our souls with her endless appeal to our children, who never tire of the show.
And there is so much more. But suffice it to say the rendition being offered at the Ohio Theater (January 16-21) does more than ample justice to this timeless classic.
The staging is lovely. The music is rendered beautifully by a travelling orchestra under the direction of Kelly Ann Lambert.
Marissa O'Donell does a fine, forceful job of bringing us an Annie who is charming, funny and full-voiced.
Her counterpart, Conrad John Schuck, gives us a personable, soulful Daddy Warbucks. With extensive credits from film (McMillan and Wife), Broadway (Annie Get Your Gun) and television (NYPD Blue), Schuck is convincing, engaging and good to hear. He has a powerful stage presence that lends seasoned talent and gravitas to a play that could otherwise float away in sentimentality and froth.
She tugs our heartstrings with the story of an orphan seeking her parents. She tickles our funny bone with her antics and her spunk. She warms our souls with her endless appeal to our children, who never tire of the show.
And there is so much more. But suffice it to say the rendition being offered at the Ohio Theater (January 16-21) does more than ample justice to this timeless classic.
The staging is lovely. The music is rendered beautifully by a travelling orchestra under the direction of Kelly Ann Lambert.
Marissa O'Donell does a fine, forceful job of bringing us an Annie who is charming, funny and full-voiced.
Her counterpart, Conrad John Schuck, gives us a personable, soulful Daddy Warbucks. With extensive credits from film (McMillan and Wife), Broadway (Annie Get Your Gun) and television (NYPD Blue), Schuck is convincing, engaging and good to hear. He has a powerful stage presence that lends seasoned talent and gravitas to a play that could otherwise float away in sentimentality and froth.
How to Impeach a President
2006, The Center for Constitutional Rights
Producers: Valerie Merians and Dennis Johnson, Melville House Productions Director: Dennis Johnson
Based on the book “Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush,” 143 p.
Run Time: 29 minutes
In less than a half hour, ordinary citizens can learn from constitutional scholars how to proceed thru CCR’s five-step strategy to impeach the president. With one member of Congress recently introducing Articles of Impeachment (Cynthia McKinney), all that remains is for citizens to begin lobbying their representatives to support impeachment.
Four articles of impeachment against Bush are outlined in the DVD and detailed in the book of the same title. The book also appends the Articles of Impeachment against Andrew Johnson in 1868, Richard Nixon in 1974, and Bill Clinton in 1998, although David Swanson reports that Bush is the tenth president to face such action. http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/20/2007/2329
2006, The Center for Constitutional Rights
Producers: Valerie Merians and Dennis Johnson, Melville House Productions Director: Dennis Johnson
Based on the book “Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush,” 143 p.
Run Time: 29 minutes
In less than a half hour, ordinary citizens can learn from constitutional scholars how to proceed thru CCR’s five-step strategy to impeach the president. With one member of Congress recently introducing Articles of Impeachment (Cynthia McKinney), all that remains is for citizens to begin lobbying their representatives to support impeachment.
Four articles of impeachment against Bush are outlined in the DVD and detailed in the book of the same title. The book also appends the Articles of Impeachment against Andrew Johnson in 1868, Richard Nixon in 1974, and Bill Clinton in 1998, although David Swanson reports that Bush is the tenth president to face such action. http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/20/2007/2329
(13 Poems to self assess your Beliefs, Values, Reason and Intellectual Integrity)
Illegal Human being
We in the land of the free,
In God we export democracy,
You, illegal human being,
No rights to feed your off spring,
We in the Eurotopia community,
Intellectuals think about humanity,
You, illegal human being,
No rights to feed your off spring,
We in the First World have intellectual integrity,
Human, Animal, Insect and Vegetable rights are priority,
You, illegal human being,
No rights to feed your off spring,
You, illegal human being, we have to teach you,
Everything about Freedom, Democracy and Human rights,
Et sur La liberte', l'e'galite' et la fraternite',
Until we colonize your country, go back,
Because you still don't understand about human rights.
Within the Walls of Freedom
Within the Walls of Freedom,
The sun shines so bright,
The colors are so many,
It all seems so right,
So many Arena Heroes,
So many Stars and Gold Icons,
Synthetic worship awards to all,
And to the most overplayed songs,
Illegal Human being
We in the land of the free,
In God we export democracy,
You, illegal human being,
No rights to feed your off spring,
We in the Eurotopia community,
Intellectuals think about humanity,
You, illegal human being,
No rights to feed your off spring,
We in the First World have intellectual integrity,
Human, Animal, Insect and Vegetable rights are priority,
You, illegal human being,
No rights to feed your off spring,
You, illegal human being, we have to teach you,
Everything about Freedom, Democracy and Human rights,
Et sur La liberte', l'e'galite' et la fraternite',
Until we colonize your country, go back,
Because you still don't understand about human rights.
Within the Walls of Freedom
Within the Walls of Freedom,
The sun shines so bright,
The colors are so many,
It all seems so right,
So many Arena Heroes,
So many Stars and Gold Icons,
Synthetic worship awards to all,
And to the most overplayed songs,
CATS
Now Playing at the Palace Theater
The legendary "CATS" has opened at the Palace, and it should not be missed. This most successful of all stage musicals has been very nicely brought to Columbus, and if the range of ages among the audience at opening night is any indication, the success should continue here.
The levels of genius in this show are many. The concept of doing an entire musical based on the thin reed of the personalities of a few eccentric cats (aren't they all?) would make a great pitch parody for "The Producers." Add the chutzpah of cobbling together poetry from a long-dead English poet (albeit a Nobel Prize winner), dressing up the cast in feline finery and hanging the story line on a single cat's desire to be reborn, and you've got a formula that should never work.
But there is true magic here, first and foremost that of Andrew Lloyd Weber. The score for this show is magnificent. It's topped off, of course, by the standard "Memories," the classic lament of a creaky, crotchety elder headed to the graveyard, hoping to become somehow young again.
Now Playing at the Palace Theater
The legendary "CATS" has opened at the Palace, and it should not be missed. This most successful of all stage musicals has been very nicely brought to Columbus, and if the range of ages among the audience at opening night is any indication, the success should continue here.
The levels of genius in this show are many. The concept of doing an entire musical based on the thin reed of the personalities of a few eccentric cats (aren't they all?) would make a great pitch parody for "The Producers." Add the chutzpah of cobbling together poetry from a long-dead English poet (albeit a Nobel Prize winner), dressing up the cast in feline finery and hanging the story line on a single cat's desire to be reborn, and you've got a formula that should never work.
But there is true magic here, first and foremost that of Andrew Lloyd Weber. The score for this show is magnificent. It's topped off, of course, by the standard "Memories," the classic lament of a creaky, crotchety elder headed to the graveyard, hoping to become somehow young again.
Produced by the Ohio State Department of Theater at the Southern Theater
Guest Director: Steven C. Anderson
After all these years, HAIR is still a force of nature...and a theatrical delight.
The iconic sixties musical is at the Southern Theater for the weekend and it should not be missed. A bright, lively group of very talented OSU students has rendered the show in exactly the spirit it was meant---young, irreverent, fun...and poignant.
It's easy to forget amongst the monumental songs like "Age of Aquarius" and "Let the Sun Shine" that this play is about a good young guy confronting the draft for the Vietnam War---and losing. The play is given its spiritual depth by the memory of the lethal, useless stupidity that was the slaughter in Southeast Asia.
Indeed, HAIR is more than just fun and games. It reminds us that a brilliant generation, endowed with a unique genius, was swallowed by a ghastly error for which we still pay---and which is now being repeated in Iraq.
Guest Director: Steven C. Anderson
After all these years, HAIR is still a force of nature...and a theatrical delight.
The iconic sixties musical is at the Southern Theater for the weekend and it should not be missed. A bright, lively group of very talented OSU students has rendered the show in exactly the spirit it was meant---young, irreverent, fun...and poignant.
It's easy to forget amongst the monumental songs like "Age of Aquarius" and "Let the Sun Shine" that this play is about a good young guy confronting the draft for the Vietnam War---and losing. The play is given its spiritual depth by the memory of the lethal, useless stupidity that was the slaughter in Southeast Asia.
Indeed, HAIR is more than just fun and games. It reminds us that a brilliant generation, endowed with a unique genius, was swallowed by a ghastly error for which we still pay---and which is now being repeated in Iraq.
David Earnhardt's Eternal Vigilance: The Fight to Save Our Election System
focuses on the National Election Reform Conference, held in April 2005 in
Nashville, which gathered several hundred concerned citizens from 30
states. Since it took place so close on the heels of the November 2004
election, it took on a sort of post-mortem feel. We survived, we're
grieving, we're together. Now, what are we going to do?
Something interesting is happening. I keep thinking and writing "we" as opposed to "they." Even though I heard about the conference only afterward it happened, I feel like I was there. It's uncanny, this bond that connects all of us patriots who feel so strongly about the absolute need for fair elections.
Something interesting is happening. I keep thinking and writing "we" as opposed to "they." Even though I heard about the conference only afterward it happened, I feel like I was there. It's uncanny, this bond that connects all of us patriots who feel so strongly about the absolute need for fair elections.
This is a film that is more than simply the sum of its parts. It combines powerful content, high-quality camerawork, effective graphics, and a haunting musical score. The film is clearly the work of someone with extensive experience in the field. In fact, Dorothy Fadiman has been making documentaries for the last 30 years, and has many awards to her credit.
Stealing America is a quiet film, and most of the action takes place away from the bombast of politicians. Floundering democracy is the true protagonist here. The corporate media do not come out well – film clips of commentators on Election Day remarking on how smoothly everything went are interspersed with long lines of voters standing in the dark for hours, waiting for a turn to vote. When the networks began to call the election for Bush, inner city voters were still in line – some standing there for as long as thirteen hours – trying to take part in an election that had already been declared.
Stealing America is a quiet film, and most of the action takes place away from the bombast of politicians. Floundering democracy is the true protagonist here. The corporate media do not come out well – film clips of commentators on Election Day remarking on how smoothly everything went are interspersed with long lines of voters standing in the dark for hours, waiting for a turn to vote. When the networks began to call the election for Bush, inner city voters were still in line – some standing there for as long as thirteen hours – trying to take part in an election that had already been declared.
"Cheated!" written by Sheri Myers illustrated by Sophie Goldstein, published by Wake Up and Save Your Country, 2006
Buy "Cheated!" through our online store now
Buy "Cheated!" through our online store now
I'm going to start this with a sales pitch: you need to buy this film. No, really. Not because Greg Palast receives second billing but because you must see this film.
American Blackout is the kind of documentary that only comes along every few years. It's the sort of film that changes things -- changes how you think. If there was any justice in this world this film would receive the same buzz and box office that anything that Michael Moore releases gets. Greg Palast told me the film "blew him away" -- this from a man who is almost always underwhelmed by documentaries, especially ones about his field of expertise.
American Blackout is the kind of documentary that only comes along every few years. It's the sort of film that changes things -- changes how you think. If there was any justice in this world this film would receive the same buzz and box office that anything that Michael Moore releases gets. Greg Palast told me the film "blew him away" -- this from a man who is almost always underwhelmed by documentaries, especially ones about his field of expertise.
The Alphabet versus the Goddess: The Conflict between Word and Image
by Leonard Shlain
1998 Viking-Penguin
432 pages
Of all the sacred cows allowed to roam unimpeded in our culture, few are as revered as literacy. Its benefits have been so incontestable that in the five millennia since the advent of the written word numerous poets and writers have extolled its virtues. Few paused to consider its costs. Sophocles once warned, "Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse." The invention of writing was vast; this book will investigate the curse. --Leonard Shlain
Before I begin this review in earnest, I'd like to explain why I feel this book by vascular surgeon Leonard Shlain is so momentous. It is not a new book, but itis my favorite book, one that I would like to see become required study at every college and university on our planet. When I first read it six years ago, I couldn't have been more astonished and thrilled. Please understand that this is a graybeard historian telling you this, one who spent half his life searching for the "Holy Grail" that is contained within the pages of this book.
by Leonard Shlain
1998 Viking-Penguin
432 pages
Of all the sacred cows allowed to roam unimpeded in our culture, few are as revered as literacy. Its benefits have been so incontestable that in the five millennia since the advent of the written word numerous poets and writers have extolled its virtues. Few paused to consider its costs. Sophocles once warned, "Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse." The invention of writing was vast; this book will investigate the curse. --Leonard Shlain
Before I begin this review in earnest, I'd like to explain why I feel this book by vascular surgeon Leonard Shlain is so momentous. It is not a new book, but itis my favorite book, one that I would like to see become required study at every college and university on our planet. When I first read it six years ago, I couldn't have been more astonished and thrilled. Please understand that this is a graybeard historian telling you this, one who spent half his life searching for the "Holy Grail" that is contained within the pages of this book.