[Theater] 39 steps

Richard Hannay meets this gorgeous woman who out of nowhere pulls out a gun and shoots into the air during a theater performance. She then invites herself over to his house, following which she gets murdered. A murder that Richard is caught into for no fault of his, a series of chaos, clumsiness, and characters is what 39 steps is all about. 

Today, got an opportunity to watch the preview show of 39 steps by Evam and Radaan.  Dint have to do anything, dint have to pay anything, went watched gave my feedback and got back!!

Based on the movie 39 steps by Alfred hitchcock,  which was in turn loosely based on the adventure novel The Thirty-nine Steps by John Buchan.this play went on for over an hour and had us in splits, gaping, wondering and wondering how fine tuned the final show going to be. 

4 actors play more than 10 characters.. switching between roles in seconds, alternating between being a man and a woman, moving the furniture on the stage around... 

Agreed, there were a few things that could be tweaked, could have been made better, but the team has over 2weeks to fine tune and am sure by the time they perform to the audience, it will be near perfect!! 

For information about the play and tickets, click here and here is Evam's Blog 

Need more reason to believe Hitchcock is hilarious?
29th October- 7:30 PM
30th October- 3:30 PM and 7:30 PM
31st October- 3:30 PM and 7:30 PM
Tickets available at all Landmark outlets. Online booking at http://www.indianstage.in/EventDetails.do?eventId=1140.
 
Contact 9840444916, 9840612333 for more details!

[Movie] Michael Jackson - This is it!!!

Directed - Kenny Ortega

 

Produced - Paul Gongaware, Randy Phillips

 

Starring - Michael Jackson and his group of dancers, singers, musicians, performers...  

 

This is it released on 28th Oct and was gonna be in Theaters for only 2 weeks.. I was hoping to catch it and i sure did... the last day it was being screened, at Sathyam Cinemas.. And what an experience it was.... !!!

I grew up listening to Michael Jackson's songs and the day he died, i felt very sad... Like someone i knew close was gone... After watching this movie, this tribute, i miss him more..!!  Here's why..

The movie opens to show his dancers and backstage guys sobbing and talking about how much they were looking forward to the shows, and how close they'd gotten to MJ during the practice sessions.. From there, it is an amazing rocking beautiful soulful music filled tribute to the Man himself.. Rehearsals for various songs, dancers setting the floor on fire, the film editing, singing, vocal sessions, and so much more is what we get to see during the 2hr movie...

It's amazing to watch MJ control every nuance of the performance, from the dancers' cues to details in the music that goes unnoticed most times... even how he describes his earpiece hurting -"it felt like "fists in my ears, but am trying to get used to it"... The little "God Bless you"s he says every now and then to his team and to the director.... 

The part when the music director makes a joke about bringing more booty into the song, Jackson sort of walks away giggling like he'd heard a naughty joke. When Ortega tells him that the cherry picker he's on is only on the low setting, he laughs and says that Ortega shouldn't have told him that because Ortega knows he'd just want to go higher. :-)

Be it Beat it, Earth Song, Man in the Mirror, I just cant stop loving you, The way you make me feel, each of the songs shown, each step they practice had us engrossed.... Woww!!! Words fail to describe the amount of effort that goes into a show [ i know this much effort goes into every show, but not many you get to see, right!!?] The footage they shoot for  Thriller is just mind blowing, almost like they've recreated the video as it were... hey were working on and the music video intro shoot for "Smooth Criminal" that uses '50s movies with Jackson merged into it. I am curious to know if Thriller was finished after Jackson's death, because the doc shows him and Ortega watching the screen wearing 3D glasses as it's being filmed, and we're shown a 2D, more final version. 

Audiences are given a privileged and private look at Jackson as he has never been seen before. Michael Jackson's "This is it" captures the singer, dancer, filmmaker, architect, creative genius and great artist at work as he creates and perfects his final show........... It was like watching a live performance, actually a live rehearsal i should say... had me singing along with the songs, grooving to the beats and wishing He was alive.... 

Have never seen my mom so engrossed in a show before.. Infact she called saying - can we go for a movie and when i was browsing through Satyam website, and saw MJ's This is it, i was tempted to ask her, but thought she might not like watching it.. Alas, who would have thought.. she picked that exact movie and said "chk if tickets are there and lets go"... Am so glad!!! She was engrossed it.. completely emotional... Infact i think the entire theater was glued in like never before...  probably the  1st movie where not a soul [ apart from the ones sittig right in the front, they just pay Rs10 and come sit in theater for AC comfort i guess.. most of them look like that ]... Everyone was in their seat as credits rolled on and till the very last word was done with!!!  Beautiful................

Only thing i felt could have been incorporated was his interaction wit others, few words from his family, an interview... something more than just practice...!!!

[Movie] Women and life...

Last week was hectic.... or was it the week before? Nah, i think every week is almost the same story...

Work...Home.. chores... cooking,etc... and well, tonnes of fun weaved between all this!!

Saw 2 beautiful interesting movies... actually saw 3, but this post is about 2.. both related to WOMEN...!! :)

1st one was an Israeli movie called Aviva, My love!  [me and a friend of mine caught this at the South India Film chamber]

Aviva --

Works in a hotel, yearns to write, jots down ideas on a small writing pad

Takes care of her family

Puts up with her jobless husband,

who, she loves, but has been cheating on her [with her own sister]

Cares about her sister and 

wants her away from her abusive husband

[knows she still is secretly in love with her ex boyfriend]

Aviva--

Takes her writing to a famous writer [or rather once upon a time famous, Oded]

Tells her, - he will sell her stories as his

in exchange for a decent sum of money....!!! [ the f@$%  B!@%#] 

A son, confused and lost

A daughter, stubborn but sweet

Another son, glued to the TV....

Aviva ---

Dealing with a psychotic mom

a dad who loves her, but is not respected 

[cos he once cheated on her mom]

A doctor who says -" let me look at you"

in exchange for not being able to pay for her son's treatment...

Finally... Aviva -

The woman, who takes charge of her life

The woman, who finds joy in writing

The woman, who is loved and respected by her family......!!!

 =============================

2nd Movie - The Guitar

The movie by Amy Redford [Robert Redford's daughter] slides through the journey of this one woman - Melody "Mel" Wilder!!! She is diagnosed with a terminal illness, given 2months to live, fired from the job, dumped by the boyfriend. ... 

What does she do ?

Leaves her home... Moves into an expensive Loft apartment for 2mths [on rent], shops like crazy[ all from the comfort of her new home], buys the most expensive materials, fabric, clothes,and everything else you can dream off!!!

Makes friends with Rosco, the delivery man and Cookie, Pizza girl... What follows are the scenes filled with plenty of lovemaking..[all candlelight and exotic linens galore] ....... Melody doesn't connect to people as much as she does to her most extreme purchase -- a red electric guitar she's longed for since her unhappy childhood (shown thru streaks of  flashbacks) .... With sudden realization of how much time has gone by, Melody visits the doc where she discovers-- Thanks to her complete transformation[of life], the tumor knows not where it lives and has gone away..............!! Oh shit, What happens to melody? What does she do with all the stuff? the payments??? watch the movie to know!!! :D