Filed under: Classics, National Theatre, On Stage at the Lark, Special Events
Fall is here, and with it a fresh line-up of special events at the Lark. In September these include the first in our new series, On Stage at the Lark, and, after a great success last year, our second annual Guys Night Out screening and baccanale.
On Stage at the Lark is brought to us by producer Ellie Mednick, who created the consistently sold-out series Words & Music for Marin Theatre Company. The series runs parallel to our National Theatre transmissions from London: each evening of live performance expands on and responds to the themes of the upcoming NT Live show. So, with Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well coming October 1 & 3 – in which subterfuge is the path to bliss – we present AN EVENING WITH RICK REYNOLDS, a show that’s all about telling the truth.
Rick Reynolds is hilarious (The L.A. Times calls him “the funniest man in America”). See for yourself here: (What’s your SPQ?)
And here: (My Naked Massage)
And here: (The Prison Gig)
He’s live at the Lark for one night only, Thursday, September 17.
And then, depending on your gender, come on out or send your husband, boyfriend, brother to our second annual Guys Night Out party. All proceeds go to help us buy the live music sound system we so desperately need. The Lark is a terrific venue for an amazing array of professional musical talent, and we love hosting local schoolkids for their recitals and youth music events. But these groups have to bring their own sound equipment, which between rental fees, time spent loading in and out, and the inevitable wear and tear on our building is expensive for all concerned. So guys: Come enjoy a timeless classic, eat, drink (beer and wine included in your $40 ticket price), bid on great prizes, and reconnect with friends and neighbors at Guys Night Out, Sunday, September 20. As ever, full details on our website.
Filed under: Lark Odds & Ends
Today’s Birthday Celebration Open House at the Lark Theater was great fun. A friendly crowd milling about the sidewalk, lots of kids with icing all around their mouths watching cartoons in the theater – and of course no 5th birthday party is complete without a visit from the California State Senate. They presented the Lark with a Certificate of Recognition for… well, I can’t say it any better than they did on the certificate itself:
Congratulations on celebrating the 5th anniversary of the re-opening of the Lark Theater. Not only has the beautifully restored Art Deco theater re-created the glamour, wonder and magic of the movie-going experience, it has also served the community as a center for social and cultural events. The Lark Theater is a historical treasure and a living testament to a golden age. Congratulations again!
And it’s signed Mark Leno, Senator, 3rd District.
Not bad, eh?
Filed under: National Theatre
Last week we presented the National Theatre’s production of Phèdre, starring Helen Mirren, transmitted live via satellite from London. NT Live is a fresh venture for the National. In a brief interview with Jeremy Irons before the show, director (and NT Artistic Director) Nicholas Hytner admitted that he was nervous and that the fate of future transmissions depended on how well this one was received, technically and otherwise.
If the response from our audiences last week is any indication, the National will be sending their wonderful work our way for many seasons to come. We very much hope so. In this test-case first season, three more shows are planned. Up next is Shakespeare’s All’s Well that Ends Well. See details on our website.
Now, Helen Mirren is a humungous star. No doubt she was the main reason our two showings sold out, and quickly. And she was utterly, utterly amazing. But here’s the thing about British stage productions, or any kind of production featuring British stage actors: EVERYONE’s amazing! They just really know how to train ‘em over there. And this is why you should order tickets for at least one of these upcoming shows, as they become available. You will witness a level of craftsmanship that will blow you away.
The Lark Theater celebrates our 5th Birthday on July 9, 2009.
Do you know the story of the Lark? It’s a good story – a local example of people stepping up to make a difference right on their own main street.
Marin is full of great, colorful little towns, but few have held on to their historic character as stubbornly as Larkspur. Downtown Magnolia Avenue is anchored at its South end by the Victorian mansion that houses Tavern at Lark Creek (cheers to the good people who decided to make the exquisite fare of the Lark Creek Inn affordable!), and in the North by the 1936 Art Deco cinema, the Lark. As recently as 2003, the proud people of Larkspur would hang their heads as they passed the Lark, which had been standing empty and dark for five long years.
Finally – as the wrecking ball loomed – they said “Enough! We won’t let this piece of our history, this place that could nourish our minds and souls, this place where we made out in high school while watching Mother, Jugs and Speed disappear forever!”
Executive Director Bernice Baeza and our nascent Board urgently pleaded the theater’s case all over town. Donations large and small poured in. Local residents came to do the hard physical work of tearing out the old, damaged interior and, later, to painstakingly hand-paint beautiful new Art Deco – style murals on our walls.
The Lark is still a labor of love by and for our community. Marin residents know their county is more diverse than is often assumed. In our audience are old and young, people of means and many who struggle, people from a range of interests and backgrounds. The staff, Board and volunteers of the Lark work hard to offer a wide variety of cultural programs and events to entertain and inspire. Just look over the list of our past productions. You’ll find something for everyone – and if we missed you, we welcome your suggestions.
So, on July 9th we celebrate. Come by for free cartoons, birthday cake and root-beer floats. And, if you haven’t yet, become a member of the Lark. If you’re a local resident, if you know how few historic, single-screen cinemas still operate in this country and it makes you sad, if you believe we need places to gather and reminded – through art, celebration and meaningful discourse – of our individual and collective potential, then the Lark Theater is your place and we need your support.
“Look at me – see a woman in frenzy. I am in love.”
It always gets our attention when someone says that. Especially when it’s Helen Mirren. She plays Phèdre in Racine’s eponymous play, translated into muscular free verse by Ted Hughes and presented on the stage of London’s National Theatre… and, of course, ravishing the big screen here at the Lark. The transmission is live except for a tape-delay due the time difference between here and London. Here’s the National’s quick but oh-so-juicy synopsis:
“Consumed by an uncontrollable passion for her young stepson and believing Theseus, her absent husband, to be dead, Phèdre confesses her darkest desires and enters the world of nightmare. When Theseus returns alive and well, Phèdre, fearing exposure, accuses her stepson of rape. The result is carnage.”
We are so, soooooo excited to be presenting what will surely be a stunning theatrical experience – and the first in a series of four live simulcasts from the National Theatre. If you’ve seen the Met Opera here, you know how thrillingly close the camera brings you to the skin and heart of each performance. Tickets are already selling briskly for shows on 6/25 & 27, so please call to order as soon as you can. Details on our website.
This week we’re showing Goodbye Solo (“grace…. the quality of exquisite attention, wry humor and wide-awake intelligence that informs every frame of this almost perfect film”) and Anvil! The Story of Anvil (“dredging the television of consolation from the swimming pool of disaster”). Two films that on the surface couldn’t be less alike. But both are unexpectedly moving, tender yet unsparing takes on the human predicament – and just downright really good films. Here’s your chance to compare and contrast: see both and tell us what you think.
Time once again for the Lark Theater Name-That-Thing Quiz:
“It’s thin-skinned, temperamental…. Only when someone has taken the time to truly understand its potential can [it] be coaxed into its fullest expression. And when that happens, its flavors are the most haunting and brilliant and subtle and thrilling and ancient on the planet.”
Sounds like so many of us, no? Once the flush of self-recognition has cleared from your cheeks, you might remember this from Paul Giamatti’s soaring paean to Pinot in the wonderful film Sideways. Pinot sales went up 16% in the Western US when this movie came out. See it again with the haunting and thrilling flavors of locally-produced Pinot Noir still on your tongue at our Pinot Days at the Lark Theater event on 5/14. We’ll host three local producers (Ketcham Estate, Eno Wines, and Suacci Carciere), followed by a screening of Sideways. Tasting at 7:00pm, film at 8:00pm. Tickets are only $15. A fantastic date night and surely a memorable celebration of life, love and the noble grape. A co-production between the Lark Theater and Pinot Days.
Everyone and their mother will find something to enjoy during the first week of May, as we wind up to Mom’s special day. Gone With the Wind, Sing-along Mamma Mia, Joy Luck Club (a special celebration of mothers and daughters, sponsored by neighbors the Magnolia Avenue Salon and DJ’s Chinese Cuisine), a tribute to Mary Pickford (lots more on our Mary Pickford festival here), and – if she’s not one for the chick-flicks – Goodbye Solo are ALL playing during the first week of May. See our website for showtimes.
Do you have tweens? Then you know Twilight, the teenage vampire romance series that has invaded the adolescent psyche like some kind of rampant cross between Harry Potter and Titanic (the movie). Directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown). One critic calls it “a cloudburst mood piece filled with stormy skies, rippling hormones… Hardwicke stirs this teen pulp to a pleasing simmer.” To die over if you’re a teenage girl, and a guilty, lightly cheesy pleasure for grown-ups. Starts April 10, rated PG 13. Dress up! Here’s how.
For grown-ups who prefer more complication and less cheese with their steamy romance thrillers, we have Duplicity, with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, starting 4/10. On 4/16 at 1:00pm we’ll offer a Cinemama screening: bring your little baby, up to two years old, at no extra charge. Changing table provided.
Music lovers who don’t yet love Peter Rowan have their chance on Thursday, 4/16. A venerable, grammy-winning artist who has played with Bill Monroe, Jerry Garcia, David Grisman and countless others, Rowan serves up bluegrass with flavors of folk, rock and reggae. Simple, distilled melodies, thoughtful lyrics and smooth, nimble pickin’ that will expand your musical horizons even as they make you feel right at home.
Daters! Bring that charming person you are hoping so desperately to impress to our Big Night dinner-and-a-movie event on Saturday, 4/18. We’re serving an Italian dinner at 7:00pm followed by the fun and fabulous food movie, directed by Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott with a great ensemble cast. Tickets for all this are only $20, so the pressure’s off, plus you’ll be supporting your local independent cultural center, which will make you look, well, local, independent, cultural and centered. As the tagline goes, “In love and life, one big night can change everything.” Fingers crossed!
We celebrate the future of local filmmaking with our annual Youth Film Festival on 4/26, 12:00 – 3:30pm. Please buy your tickets soon, especially if your kid has a film in the festival. They sell out fast. This year we are especially impressed by the resourcefulness, creativity and care these student filmmakers have brought to their work. Awards announced at the event.
If you missed last week’s post, please scroll down to see the rest of what we’re doing in April.
Poor April. First that silly old King Numa Pompilius moves it from second to fourth place in the calendar by inserting January and February, back in 700 BC… and then along comes T.S. Eliot… oh, and the IRS…
Well, fortunately the Lark Theater is here to put things right. We start with the action thriller Taken, starring Liam Neeson, now playing. Mick LaSalle of the SF Chronicle says, “the level of skill that went into Taken is masterly…. There are different kinds of creativity. Taken evinces the creativity of expert craftsmanship.”
The creativity of expert craftsmanship… that reminds us… Have you seen Man on Wire? Ends 4/9. In lean times, reasons for supporting the arts can fall out of focus. That’s when we in the arts non-profit sector start shuffling around, spouting phrases like “economic importance of the creative sector”, “community-enhancement”, “jobs in the arts”, “tourism”, and so on. Forget it. Philippe Petit’s astonishing act of pure courage and grace says “art for art’s sake” like nothing else we can imagine – and I, for one, don’t want my arts any other way.
The Metropolitan Opera has put out a documentary about a group of people who aspire to a less literal lofty height. The Audition features the finalists of the Met’s National Council Auditions as they compete in this career-launching contest. We’re showing a premiere simulcast on 4/19, and an encore 4/22. Directed by Susan Fromke, who brought us Grey Gardens and Christo in Paris.
Sure, we subscribe to Netflix. But we know there’s nothing like film on the big screen – especially movies that were made for the big screen. In observance of this fact we’re showing The Sound of Music and The Wizard of Oz this month. No late fees! Details here.
Like so many, we were shocked and saddened at the passing of Natasha Richardson. We celebrate the work of this elegant and adventurous actress with Widow’s Peak, 4/17 – 4/21.
And that’s not all! Details on our Big Night event, Youth Film Festival, Twilight, and Live at the Lark Music events coming soon. Stay tuned…
Name that icon: “… The best known woman who has ever lived, the woman who was known to more people and loved by more people than any other woman that has been in all history…” In the words of a film journalist during her heyday, this was Mary Pickford.
A prolific and beloved actress – and the first to make more than one million dollars a year – she was also a pioneering film producer and a co-founder (with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith) of United Artists Studios. She had a huge impact on the development of film acting and on the shape of the nascent film industry – and she got the ball rolling in terms of the celebrity culture we now love and hate so very much (she and Douglas Fairbanks – “America’s unofficial ambassadors to the world” – being the ur-Brangelina).
Fall prey to the mystique and get behind the myth of Mary Pickford in May, at our mini-festival. We start with the West Coast premiere of Nicholas Eliopoulos’s documentary Mary Pickford: The Muse of the Movies on Friday, 5/1. Mr. Eliopoulos will join us for a conversation after the film. Then, just when your curiosity is piqued, we’ll show the Pickford classics My Best Girl and Secrets (5/2 – 5/6, showtimes to be announced).
And while we’re contemplating great women, let us not forget the most influential of them all: Your mother! We celebrate Mother’s Day early this year with a screening of The Joy Luck Club, Wayne Wang’s film based on Amy Tan’s novel, on Thursday, 5/7.
Don’t be fooled: There’s a lot of interesting stuff going on in April too! As soon as a couple of scheduling details have fallen into place, we’ll share the news with you here (and of course on our website) ~ Check back soon.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day from the Lark Theater! Try not to eat too many green things that aren’t green on any other day of the year.
Unless you’re tapped into it, you might not know that there’s a huge bluegrass/new grass/roots/acoustic music scene going on all over the greater Bay Area – and the Lark is a frequent stop on the circuit for some very exciting local musicians. Coming up we’ve got the Waybacks, with special guests the Wronglers, on Friday 3/27; and the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band on Thursday, 4/16. (As ever, details are on our site: www.larktheater.net.)
We do a lot of live music at the Lark. The bluegrass folks are right at home here; but with lush velvet curtains, tasteful art deco murals and cushy reclining seats – not to mention cup-holders for your wine! – we’re also an elegant and intimate concert setting for such local vocal legends as Maria Muldaur and Jon Hendricks, both of whom have recently graced our stage.
And for those of you who like your music served up with a little crime fiction: on Friday, 4/3, Harlan Coben (Hold Tight, Tell No One) presents his new book Long Lost, together with the sensational Australian singer/songwriter Missy Higgins. See, this is just the kind of eclectic, free-associative thing we like around here. A co-presentation with Book Passage. (They don’t know either just how these two talented people from disparate fields got themselves paired up together. Hopefully all will be revealed on the night!)
We continue to be excited about our association with Book Passage. They’re a book store and much more, offering an amazing array of classes and workshops and luring some very influential thinkers and doers to speak at their Corte Madera store. (We remember their great beginnings, as a little travel bookstore just up the other end of Magnolia Avenue. Heck, we remember when the lovely Ward Street Cafe was Dexter’s T.V. Repair!). In a similar spirit, the Lark is a place not just for film but for experiencing culture in a variety of ways, and for the vibrant exchange of ideas.
And so, a St. Patrick’s Day toast: To the arts in Marin! To our local independent businesses! And to the good people who value and support us. Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!
