Brian Bedford as Lady Bracknell. Don't get her mad.
We’ve talked about THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST and THE CHERRY ORCHARD here, so, thrilled as we are to be bringing them to our huge screen from Broadway and London, we won’t go on about it. But: once you’ve seen EARNEST on 6/6, you will want to join us for a TONY AWARDS PARTY on 6/12, if only to root for Brian Bedford as Best Actor for his brilliant turn as Lady Bracknell.
So here’s something else exciting. The Metropolitan Opera’s amazing program of satellite transmissions, The Met: Live in HD, is very popular here at the Lark, with most live broadcasts selling out. But we know there’s an audience we’ve yet to reach: people who maybe love theater and musicals but haven’t quite made it over to opera yet, or people on fixed incomes for whom the ticket prices pose a challenge.
Is this you? Then you’ll want to know that starting in June we have the Met’s Summer Encore Series, six of the most popular and accessible shows from the past season, for only $15 each.
Simple gestures movingly convey a child's curiosity, concern and tenderness.
We start with Puccini’s MADAMA BUTTERFLY on Sat, 6/18 at 10am. The insanely beautiful, colorful staging of Anthony Mighella’s production and the music – you’ve heard the heart-piercing aria “Un bel di vedrema,” even if you don’t know it – make this a great introduction if you’re new to opera, or new to opera onscreen. Film-goers know Minghella from THE ENGLISH PATIENT). The production is also graced by the astonishing work of London’s Blind Summit Theatre, which created Cio-Cio San’s puppet child. Read about the production here.
Cio-Cio San and her puppet son. Puppeteers are fully visible but go unnoticed.
Zoe Wanamaker as Ranyevskaya in the Cherry Orchard from London's National Theatre. At the Lark 6/30 & 7/9.
Every young acting student has this conversation with a teacher at some point, on being assigned a Chekhov scene. You go off full of purpose, your little yellow Samuel French script in hand. The cover says “Uncle Vanya, A Comedy, by Anton Chekhov.” Or “The Three Sisters, A Comedy, by Anton Chekhov.” Or “The Cherry Orchard, A Comedy, by Anton Chekhov.” You read the play, read it again to see what you missed, go back and say, “Um – I don’t get how this is a comedy.” And the answer invariably comes back: “It’s the human comedy.”
Fast forward a decade or two, maybe you’ve had your heart broken, seen your ideals collide with reality, faced foreclosure – whatever. You’ve come out with a more nuanced, less grandiose idea of your place in the universe. And presto! You get it. It’s a comedy!
Chekhov was a doctor, and he treats his characters the way a good doctor treats patients – with an unsparing eye for disorders like pomposity, hypocrisy, and our tendency to waste our lives by sitting around worrying about whether we are wasting our lives. But also with tenderness and a non-judging, all-encompassing humor.
Just look at this face.
Then there’s Oscar Wilde, for a whole different (equally unsparing) take on human foolishness. This stuff is just flat-out hilarious, and no one has to tell you why. We are very happy to bring Broadway to our screen for the first time. I’m going to let the actors speak for themselves here. I’ll only say that Brian Bedford (brilliant classical actor) plays Lady Bracknell, in what is already being called a legendary performance.
Excellent and insightful New York Times review here.
Now comes the really good stuff. Warning: off-color language. The actors, in full costume and character, performing text from Jersey Shore. Don’t say I never gave you anything.
Jersey Shore Gone Wilde part 1 ~ part 2 ~ part 3 ~ part 4 ~ part 5.
And, as if all that wasn’t enough, here’s the brilliant Stephen Fry (you may know him as part of the defunct British comedy duo, Fry and Laurie – yes, Dr. House – or from a thousand other things). Click here to read his musings on Wilde and Chekhov, and for recordings of him reading Wilde’s fairy tales and Chekhov’s short stories.
"I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion. Frightful must it be..."
So many sinewy themes run through Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN – given raw new life at the National Theatre in a sold-out production from Oscar-winner Danny Boyle – that it’s hard sort them out. But you’ll feel compelled to, if only to do justice to this stark, intensely creative production (NY Times review here) and to the brilliance of the 19-year-old girl who wrote the original novel.
Let’s just toss out a few…
Fathers and sons.
Scientific progress outstripping ethics, or, if you prefer, Man vs. God.
Our human fear of difference and the cruelty it breeds.
Artificial intelligence.
Real love.
The bitter and violent fruits of childhood neglect.
The perils of repression.
The limits of control.
Bioengineering.
Social engineering.
What makes a human?
What makes a monster?
And on and on. Please let me know what I’ve missed.
Oh and of course the divided self. Danny Boyle plays with this idea by casting two thoroughly talented actors as Dr. Frankenstein and his Creature – and requiring them to switch roles for every performance.
Now we have big news for those who were awe-struck by the performances when we showed Benedict Cumberbatch as the Creature and Johnny Lee Miller as Frankenstein. We’ve got the swap. Personally I cannot see how Mr. Miller could top Mr. Cumberbatch’s jaw-dropping turn. But critics are saying he does, and that Mr. C brings special nuance to the role of the flawed Doctor.
Cool steam punk train symbolizing man's domination of natural forces. Or the brutal thrust of progress. Or something.
And good news for those who haven’t see it at all, yet: FRANKENSTEIN rides again. April 14, 7:30. General seating, $24.
It’s event season again here at the Lark, and we have a lot coming up. Our Family Film Series has been a great success. Sponsored by the Sellers and Koeppel families, the series has been our way of offering an easy and affordable afternoon activity for kids and parents alike. Tix are $5 for kids under 12, $6.75 general. As a special part of the series, on 1/29 & 1/30 we’ll have Sing-along WIZARD OF OZ, with SF Opera chorus member Kathleen Bayler leading us in song (same ticket prices except adults are $10 at the door, $6.75 in advance).
Part of our NT Live series, KING LEAR comes to our screen on 2/3 and 2/5. The title role in this most dark yet transcendent of Shakespeare’s works is taken on by that most humane, most nuanced, most astonishing actor, Derek Jacobi. We are proud to be able to offer this caliber of performance, and we hope you’ll join us.
On Feb. 6 we’ll have Super Bowl XLV live onscreen – great for families who like to gather friends together but prefer to skip the clean-up or who have kids too young for the sports bar. Our Sports Onscreen events have grown in popularity. Ticket price Includes one soft drink or beer, popcorn and hot dog or pizza. Join us!
By popular demand, we’ve added a showing of FELA! on 2/10 at 7:00pm. Tony Award winner and living legend choreographer Bill T. Jones helms this amazing production, which he says is “rooted in the big questions of my life, questions like creativity, transgression, rebellion, sensuality, history, race, power. And there’s something about the man that calls out for a very poetic treatment. His life is so mythic in its scale.”
Stay tuned for more – not least, our Seventh Annual Academy Awards Party, coming up on 2/27.
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: 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.
“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.
