There is nothing yesterday about Atonement as it blows the dust off the historical drama.

Written, directed, filmed and acted to perfection, Atonement sweeps you up on waves of humor, heartbreak and romance. The film moves from the country estate of a wealthy British family in 1935, through the World War II battlefields of Dunkirk, and to the end of the twentieth century, with a haunting end.

This erotic tale is not just a period piece. It deals with what's timeless about passion, art and redemption. Robbie Turner, portrayed with precision by James McAvoy, is the son of the family housekeeper. At first he can't find words to express his longing for Cecilia Tallis, the daughter of privilege who ignores him. Cecilia played by the Keira Knightley blends beauty and tension to stunning effect. Robbie's fixation is understandable.

Wright and Christopher Hamptons script is a model for a screen adaptation; they show great skill in building the carnal tension within the scenes, which make up the first third of Atonement, and transform the novel and McEwan's prose into images that burn in the memory.

The story is seen entirely through the character Briony’s eyes… played by Saoirse Ronan who is breath taking and is the film's glory. This is great Oscar worthy acting.

As Atonement shifts into the battlefield, McAvoy and Knightley deepen their performances. They are amazing acting partners, convincingly believing in the primacy of love. Wright speaks in fresh, startling ways to a new generation.

Wright brings Atonement back to words with the force of ideas behind them. Ending with an older Briony (Vanessa Redgrave) who is giving a TV interview about her latest novel, she is held in a close-up where she demonstrates what great acting is. She reflects on life's tendency to wound and art's propensity to heal; Begging us to ask can we find redemption through art?

Licensed to pee… Urinetown isn’t afraid to piss of it’s audience.

Urinetown is a light fare satirical comedy musical, though it remains demanding musically. The premise of this Tony Award-winning production is set in a world where water is at a premium and citizens are charged to use public toilets; Privately owned urinals controlled by the Urine Good Company which are the only spots to relieve oneself. The world is full of harsh laws that guarantee the citizens pay to pee or be forcibly sent to the penal colony: Urinetown where they disappear forever.

Although the premise on the surface is ridiculous, the songs are pure musical theatre and very well written. Urinetown is not so much a parody as it is an homage to musicals. The more you love musicals, and the more you know about them, the more you'll enjoy Urinetown. Poking fun at capitalism, socialism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, and petty small town politics, Urinetown rejects musical theatre convention. Then in reverse pantomime style, the unconventional plot line shatters audience expectations of a pleasant ending when the poor revolt and they perform an Evita-style song which grows into a mock finale from Les Miserables.

Most will recognize references to such classics as: The Three Penny Opera, Fiddler on the Roof, and West Side Story; it would also help if you're familiar with Showboat, Oliver!, Sweeney Todd, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Godspell, Guys and Dolls. Though, you don't need to know all these references to enjoy the show, the music, the choreography and vibrant performances delivered by the talented cast. The actors portray their circus like characters larger than life, sometimes with cartoon flare that panders well with the very youthful crowd seated in the audience.

The corrupt tycoon, who has a monopoly on public toilets and just keeps raising the rates named Caldwell B. Cladwell is played brilliantly by the very enjoyable Michael Summerville.

Bobby Strong played by the lanky yet energetic Brendan Doherty, is a pauper with a revolutionary's heart who falls in love with the mogul's daughter Hope Cladwell portrayed by Lexy Campbell (a perfect stage name if ever there was one).

The urinal mistress inspired by the character Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd, Penelope Pennywise, is played by Corine Baker with powerhouse vocals and bravado.

Also deserving mention is the deliberately dry deadpan yet subtly comical interpretation of Officer Lockstock by Mark Piggott.

Directors (Kara Fletcher & Jessica Kostuck) retained the original script and the musical score; Their seamless direction is to be commendable for such an ambitions production and large cast (18). Costume designer Kaleigh Briggs dresses the cast in 1930s costumes which gave the production a well textured feel and more classical look, but the venture was unbalanced and distracting when the actors weren’t outfitted consistently in the same period. Finally worthy of note are the lighting design of Erik Koopmans and musical direction of Jennifer Yang which married well with the space and the piece.

The Musical was presented by McGill University's community theatre, the Arts Underground Theatre Society. It ran from Jan. 23 – 26 2008 at the Moyse Hall McGill University Arts Building. With tickets priced at only 10 for students and $12 for adults this was great entertainment for our rising loony.

CYCLOPS is missing more than one eye...

It was missing more than one eye; the ‘great reviews and buzz’ and the motivation behind it genuinely concern me... This is the latest production from Rabbit In A Hat for the 'original' musical-play, written, directed, and starring Paul Van-Dyke.

The plot is basically the secret fantasy love-life of a psychiatric patient called Ballor (Neil Napier). Set in two worlds: the so defined as 'real' world and Ballor’s imaginary 'fantasy' world. The play attempts to explore how mental illness can distort reality into something grotesque and or absurd. The original script fortunately allows the audience to decide which is which.

I barely smiled let alone laughed during the 70 minutes. In fact the sporadic laughs heard throughout the theatre were as inaudible as the lyrics in the songs; which were clever. The instrumental live music to often overpowered the lyrics (of which I could only catch every 4th word) and songs were occasionally delivered off key; in a musical this is unpardonable! Always mike your vocalists!

Was pleasantly surprised to see Neil Napier in this production. Although he is well cast for the part, and he did his usual stellar job, the material was beneath the caliber of his talent. The rest of the cast, with the exception of course of PVD were less than adequate, delivering lack luster performances with little energy and believability.

The production was in dire need of an extra EYE... that of an experienced director. Although PVD the performer does successfully reinforce our fear of clowns, and his physical timing spot on most of the time, there was an obvious lack of basic direction when it came to the other players and overall production. It took over half an hour into the play before the audience obviously started to appreciate what was being presented. Pacing was off, blocking was sloppy and transitions were anything but seamless.

So what does all the positive 'buzz' really mean? The players themselves are very popular no doubt. Material and a concept in and of themselves, regardless of how original they present themselves as being, should not have to break all the rules and basic principles of a musical production; Never cut on the quality and content and delivery of that material.

A very ambitions project to be sure, it would have been much more appropriate if it had been scheduled as a part of the Centaur's children's series. Would they (children aged 10+) have understood, the worlds PVD creates here. Surely we're not smarter than our 5th graders when it comes to something this simplistic. They would have been far more appreciative and forgiving than this theatergoer to be sure.

Eastern Promises fullfills all it promises...

"Is it Hot in Here, Or is it just Viggo?" Who sez that sex and violence isn't a good mix especially when there's a hot looking actor involved like Viggo Mortensen who provides the film voyeur with 4 minutes of the most sexy violent fight scene ever comitted to celluloid. With his fat free smooth muscle toned body he burns up the screen in this natural follow up to David Cronanberg's History of Violence.

Contrary to the armour he sported in Lord of the Rings that made him a household name, Mortensen sports nothing but tattoos, here and is among the most violent in this or any other movie of the year. And it represents one of the few times in mainstream film when major male characters are shown fully nude, particularly in fight scenes. In one scene, he uses a hair dryer to defrost a dead body before he cuts off its fingers. But even that gruesome scene is overshadowed by the fight. 

The film is much more than just the fight scene and Viggo IS Nikolai from start to finish and absolutely NAILS the Russian accent!  Viggo deserves an Oscar nomination for this performance!

Now out on DvD.

There will be blood at the Oscars ... for best actor.

Daniel Day Lewis in There Wil Be Blood is a shoe in for a best actor nomination, as is I
believe so is Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd, too very bloody performances. They may be so much blood
slinging that someone else steals it out from under them both.

As
for the film itself: There Will Be Blood, I envied the patrons walking out throughout the
presentation and I wished that I too could follow them. I didn't even need
to go pee. When we were not glaring at a dull dark barely visible
screen, we were forcing our eye lids open to say awake, and I couldn't always do
that either. BORING! Bad not just poor performances throughout, long drawn out
transitions... and really was there any point?

If anyone manages to make it to yet another
terrible ending for a film, they will walk away wondering if they just saw DDL
reprise his role in Gang's Of NY, but with a different accent. This we wil see Oscar night, since the same could be said of JD in Sweeney with comparisons to his role in Edward Sissor Hands and his character Captain Jack. I couldn't even
recommend TWBB for a DvD viewing!

Dee Arr is a fabulous bitch!

It is common knowledge that a picture says a 1,000 words. Sometimes a word says (leads to) a 1,000 words...

Richard Burnett wrote a huge plug for the Harvest theatre festival season #4 programing in Hour at the end of November. In it he referred to me as not only a drama Queen but also ...a fabulous bitch!

Well that was a surprise to me when one of my cast members, Vance de Wehal read it to me at a rehearsal that weekend. At first taken aback I then reread into it and realized what he had done.

Taking the compliment, I then proceeded to devise a way to respond, but in as original a way as he deserved. I decided that if and when he show up at a performance of A Queer Carol, I would place his name into the script, not once but thrice... including a line delivered by a bare assed chaps clad Vance (Marley's Ghost) ... fuck Richard Burnett!

Well Richard did show up on Wednesday, December 12th and we got to use the line. He was surprised, I surmised. During intermission I mentioned to him ...pay backs a bitch!

In January, Richard wrote his 2008 new year's resolutions, one of which was to continue to call fabulous Montrealer's ...fabulous bitch! Rewriting a summary of the above story for his readers.

So from now on I will refer to myself as a 'Fabulous Bitch!' r.b.

It is better than being refered to as ...the director from hell...