Joker is a tale set in a city named Gotham, Gotham of Batman fame that is. A figure named Thomas Wayne is the principal antagonist of our mad protagonist. Capitalism is the enemy. Wayne, running for mayor of Gotham is the nexus between the corporate state and its citizens. Corporations enslave, imprison, murder, and drive mad the helpless millions. Our abused and marginalized hero strikes back, and the oppressed millions join him making his personal madness a national sickness. This cautionary tale argues that anarchy may be preferable to slavery.
Elwood P. Dowd is certifiably insane but not by happenstance. He is that way by choice. It’s the only way he can cope with an insane world. Sane people act insane in an insane world. Dowd did that for 40 years but gave it up for a sane world of his own creation. As he tells us, “…I wrestled with reality for forty years, and I am happy to state that I finally won out over it.” And in Dowd’s reality one must be “…so smart…or so pleasant. For years I was smart. I recommend pleasant.” He is the most pleasant person imaginable.
From Wagner to Berg, from Gershwin to Glass, from Handel to Puccini – there is literally something for everyone this season. We ended last season with Verdi’s grandest spectacle opera, Aida; so what better way to begin the new season than with Puccini’s grandest spectacle opera, Turandot. That’s TEWR-ən-dot. With the T! Remember – Puccini was Italian – not French – hence most people agree on “dot” not “doh”! Actually, the name of the opera is based on a name in ancient Persian poetry for a Central Asian princess, Turan-Dokht (daughter of Turan). But I digress – since Puccini decided to make her Chinese, not Persian, there is a decidedly Chinese flavor to this particular spectacle, and a never ending debate on dot or doh!
Casey is a happy-go-lucky guy who is employed at Cleo’s, a bar in Florida’s Panama City Beach in the panhandle. He earns his living, such as it is, as an Elvis Impersonator. He wears Elvis garb and lip-syncs to Elvis music. His life is about to change. Cleo’s is going down the financial toilet, and so is Casey’s career. Bar owner Eddie, desperate for more revenue, brings in two female impersonators, Tracy and Rexy, to replace him. It looks like he’s out of work.
That’s what the Restless Artists Theater is doing, and a tip of the hat to them for it. They have announced their 2019/20 season chock-full of new plays by young writers. These are fresh faces with fresh voices. They are the writers of our new century. When we look back at the 21st Century and ask who its great playwrights were, the names will be drawn from this group. Our playwright Josh Tobiessen could very well be one of them.
The greatest motion picture epic ever made, Lawrence of Arabia, will be back with us September 1st and 4th. Except for the child actor Michel Rey the cast has all passed away, but what a cast it was. Peter O’Toole played Lawrence. The cast included Alec Guinness as Faisal, Anthony Quinn as the pragmatic, grasping Auda abu Tayi, José Ferrer as the homosexual Turkish commander, Anthony Quayle, Claude Rains, Arthur Kennedy, and Omar Sharif as Sherif Ali.
We all go through stages in life. Shakespeare knew it. So does our author Greg Burdick. We are born, go through youth, our teen years, young adulthood, and finally maturity. Hopefully, at that time, we have learned to exercise good judgment. That good judgment comes from wisdom, but wisdom comes from bad judgment. We make mistakes on the road to maturity and wisdom. Society forgives us our feckless years because we all go through them. It is natural just as it is to forgive the errors of youth.
The Nevada Museum of Art has opened the “Georgia O’Keeffe” exhibit. This exhibit is indeed a stunning and inspirational exhibit.
The “Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern,” will be on display through October 20.
Check out the video where Amanda Horn takes us on an in-depth tour of the exhibit. The Biography is a great read a well.
