luni, 28 martie 2011

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to fly again in new books

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LONDON | Tue Mar 22, 2011 8:04pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - James Bond creator Ian Fleming's other famous invention, the magical car Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, is set to fly again with the publication of a new series of adventures by children's author Frank Cottrell Boyce.

Fleming's estate, which has already found success with authorized spinoffs of the James Bond series, has decided to re-launch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with three new novels, the first of which is due for release on November 4.

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again" will be published in Britain by Macmillan Children's Books and set in the present day.

The plot will center around the Tooting family, who discover an old racing car engine and use it to supe up their camper van.

"Before they know it they are zooming around the world as Chitty comes to life again and is restored to her former glory," the estate said in a statement.

The new books will be illustrated by Joe Berger.

Fleming's "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car," a tale he originally made up as a bedtime story for his young son Caspar, was published in 1964, two months after the author died.

It was illustrated by John Burningham and dedicated to the real Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, built by the eccentric racing-car driver Count Zborowski.

The story is probably best known through the 1968 musical film adaptation in which Dick Van Dyke plays eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts.

"I have no idea what made the Flemings think of asking me to write the sequel. I haven't asked them in case it's all a case of mistaken identity," Boyce said.

"I went back to the book for the first time since I was a boy and was delighted to discover that, first of all, it's really good and, secondly, it's crying out for a sequel.

"I've had a lot of fun writing these books, but somewhere amongst all the fun I found it strangely emotional to revisit myself as a boy and ask if he could help me restore an old-fashioned contraption and make it fly again," Boyce said.

Boyce is a British children's novelist and scriptwriter who has worked with movie directors including Michael Winterbottom and Danny Boyle.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White)


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LONDON | Tue Mar 22, 2011 8:04pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - James Bond creator Ian Fleming's other famous invention, the magical car Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, is set to fly again with the publication of a new series of adventures by children's author Frank Cottrell Boyce.

Fleming's estate, which has already found success with authorized spinoffs of the James Bond series, has decided to re-launch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with three new novels, the first of which is due for release on November 4.

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Flies Again" will be published in Britain by Macmillan Children's Books and set in the present day.

The plot will center around the Tooting family, who discover an old racing car engine and use it to supe up their camper van.

"Before they know it they are zooming around the world as Chitty comes to life again and is restored to her former glory," the estate said in a statement.

The new books will be illustrated by Joe Berger.

Fleming's "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car," a tale he originally made up as a bedtime story for his young son Caspar, was published in 1964, two months after the author died.

It was illustrated by John Burningham and dedicated to the real Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, built by the eccentric racing-car driver Count Zborowski.

The story is probably best known through the 1968 musical film adaptation in which Dick Van Dyke plays eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts.

"I have no idea what made the Flemings think of asking me to write the sequel. I haven't asked them in case it's all a case of mistaken identity," Boyce said.

"I went back to the book for the first time since I was a boy and was delighted to discover that, first of all, it's really good and, secondly, it's crying out for a sequel.

"I've had a lot of fun writing these books, but somewhere amongst all the fun I found it strangely emotional to revisit myself as a boy and ask if he could help me restore an old-fashioned contraption and make it fly again," Boyce said.

Boyce is a British children's novelist and scriptwriter who has worked with movie directors including Michael Winterbottom and Danny Boyle.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White)


Baloane

U.S. couple create photo exhibits of war dead

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OMAHA, Neb | Mon Mar 21, 2011 3:26pm EDT

OMAHA, Neb (Reuters Life!) - A traveling photo exhibit of members of the military from two states who were killed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars has inspired its creators to put together similar displays across the country.

Bill and Evonne Williams. of Omaha, Nebraska, formed Patriotic Productions Inc. to create and display "Remembering Our Fallen" exhibits in other states that will feature photos and information on each service member killed.

"We need to remember their names," Evonne Williams said.

The exhibit featuring photos of war dead from Nebraska and western Iowa opened in November and has been booked in 39 communities across the state.

The Williams hope to organize and mount exhibits in five states a year. They said inspiration for the project came from reading newspaper coverage of the wars, especially stories of the families of those killed.

The couple has four sons who have served or are currently serving in the Army or Marine Corps.

The project is not the first time the Williams' rallied to recognize America's veterans. They raised about $1.2 million and organized Honor Flights to fly 1,500 World War II veterans from the Midwest to Washington, D.C., to see the World War Two Memorial in 2008 and 2009.

(Editing by Greg McCune)


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Baloane


OMAHA, Neb | Mon Mar 21, 2011 3:26pm EDT

OMAHA, Neb (Reuters Life!) - A traveling photo exhibit of members of the military from two states who were killed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars has inspired its creators to put together similar displays across the country.

Bill and Evonne Williams. of Omaha, Nebraska, formed Patriotic Productions Inc. to create and display "Remembering Our Fallen" exhibits in other states that will feature photos and information on each service member killed.

"We need to remember their names," Evonne Williams said.

The exhibit featuring photos of war dead from Nebraska and western Iowa opened in November and has been booked in 39 communities across the state.

The Williams hope to organize and mount exhibits in five states a year. They said inspiration for the project came from reading newspaper coverage of the wars, especially stories of the families of those killed.

The couple has four sons who have served or are currently serving in the Army or Marine Corps.

The project is not the first time the Williams' rallied to recognize America's veterans. They raised about $1.2 million and organized Honor Flights to fly 1,500 World War II veterans from the Midwest to Washington, D.C., to see the World War Two Memorial in 2008 and 2009.

(Editing by Greg McCune)


Baloane

Oriental Shakespeare, Ravi Shankar at Edinburgh festival

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Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar performs in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata February 7, 2009. REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw

Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar performs in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata February 7, 2009.

Credit: Reuters/Jayanta Shaw

By Ian MacKenzie

EDINBURGH | Wed Mar 23, 2011 1:46pm EDT

EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Indian musician Ravi Shankar and Asian versions of Shakespeare are among highlights of this year's Edinburgh International Festival, as EIF director Jonathan Mills completes a five-year artistic tour of the world.

The EIF, running from August 12 to September 4, combines with the Fringe and the city's International Book Festival and military tattoo to offer the world's biggest annual extravaganza of the arts.

Mills unveiled the EIF program on Wednesday in what he called "an attempt to make very mainstream the ideas of Asian culture and the ideas of Asia's influence on Europe and Europe's influence on Asia -- it's a very, very important bridge we build and forge."

Over the past five years, he has ranged from the origins of opera to the eastern fringes of Europe, the Americas, the Pacific and Australasia in his global artistic voyage.

This year's productions provide a rich and colorful mix from Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, India and the Middle East. colorful Legendary 90-year-old sitar player Ravi Shankar, dubbed by Beatle George Harrison as "the Godfather of world music," is back after more than 20 years with a programme of evening ragas. Music also includes a series of international orchestras.

The Arab tale of "One Thousand and One Nights," dramatized and directed by Tim Supple with stories adapted by acclaimed Lebanese novelist Hanan al-Shaykh, is in rehearsal in Morocco and premieres in Toronto before heading for Edinburgh.

Edinburgh will see the world premiere of "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle," a play in Japanese adapted from Haruki Murakami's novel on a disintegrating marriage and revelation of long-buried World War Two secrets.

South Korea's Mokhwa Repertory Company transports Shakespeare's "The Tempest" to 5th century Korea with Taoist magic and royal banishment, while Taiwanese actor Wu Hsing-kuo writes, directs and performs in his version of "King Lear."

The Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe presents "The Revenge of Prince Zi Da" in what the EIF promises will be an adaptation of "Hamlet" "unlike any you will have experienced."

In dance, New York-based choreographer Shen Wei brings "Re-Triptych" to the stage with ancient and modern takes on Tibet, Cambodia's Angkor Wat and the frenetic pace of 21st century China.

The Mariinsky Opera of St Petersburg will put on a production of Richard Strauss's "Woman Without a Shadow," while Scottish Ballet premieres a work by Jorma Elo, resident choreographer of the Boston Ballet.

The EIF kicks off on August 12 with Robert Schumann's oratorio "Paradise and the Peri" based on Persian mythology, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Festival Chorus.

Despite economic recession, Mills said the EIF's finances were "strong and robust -- We're about to find out how they are in terms of ticket sales." Edinburgh doubles in size with about half a million visitors during the festival period.

The International Festival and the Fringe were founded in 1947 as an antidote to the austerity post-World War Two.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White)


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Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar performs in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata February 7, 2009. REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw

Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar performs in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata February 7, 2009.

Credit: Reuters/Jayanta Shaw

By Ian MacKenzie

EDINBURGH | Wed Mar 23, 2011 1:46pm EDT

EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Indian musician Ravi Shankar and Asian versions of Shakespeare are among highlights of this year's Edinburgh International Festival, as EIF director Jonathan Mills completes a five-year artistic tour of the world.

The EIF, running from August 12 to September 4, combines with the Fringe and the city's International Book Festival and military tattoo to offer the world's biggest annual extravaganza of the arts.

Mills unveiled the EIF program on Wednesday in what he called "an attempt to make very mainstream the ideas of Asian culture and the ideas of Asia's influence on Europe and Europe's influence on Asia -- it's a very, very important bridge we build and forge."

Over the past five years, he has ranged from the origins of opera to the eastern fringes of Europe, the Americas, the Pacific and Australasia in his global artistic voyage.

This year's productions provide a rich and colorful mix from Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, India and the Middle East. colorful Legendary 90-year-old sitar player Ravi Shankar, dubbed by Beatle George Harrison as "the Godfather of world music," is back after more than 20 years with a programme of evening ragas. Music also includes a series of international orchestras.

The Arab tale of "One Thousand and One Nights," dramatized and directed by Tim Supple with stories adapted by acclaimed Lebanese novelist Hanan al-Shaykh, is in rehearsal in Morocco and premieres in Toronto before heading for Edinburgh.

Edinburgh will see the world premiere of "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle," a play in Japanese adapted from Haruki Murakami's novel on a disintegrating marriage and revelation of long-buried World War Two secrets.

South Korea's Mokhwa Repertory Company transports Shakespeare's "The Tempest" to 5th century Korea with Taoist magic and royal banishment, while Taiwanese actor Wu Hsing-kuo writes, directs and performs in his version of "King Lear."

The Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe presents "The Revenge of Prince Zi Da" in what the EIF promises will be an adaptation of "Hamlet" "unlike any you will have experienced."

In dance, New York-based choreographer Shen Wei brings "Re-Triptych" to the stage with ancient and modern takes on Tibet, Cambodia's Angkor Wat and the frenetic pace of 21st century China.

The Mariinsky Opera of St Petersburg will put on a production of Richard Strauss's "Woman Without a Shadow," while Scottish Ballet premieres a work by Jorma Elo, resident choreographer of the Boston Ballet.

The EIF kicks off on August 12 with Robert Schumann's oratorio "Paradise and the Peri" based on Persian mythology, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Festival Chorus.

Despite economic recession, Mills said the EIF's finances were "strong and robust -- We're about to find out how they are in terms of ticket sales." Edinburgh doubles in size with about half a million visitors during the festival period.

The International Festival and the Fringe were founded in 1947 as an antidote to the austerity post-World War Two.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White)


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Broadway to dim lights for Elizabeth Taylor on Friday

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A pedestrian walks by today's newspaper front pages with the late Elizabeth Taylor obituary on display in front of the Newseum in Washington, March 24, 2011. REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang

A pedestrian walks by today's newspaper front pages with the late Elizabeth Taylor obituary on display in front of the Newseum in Washington, March 24, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Hyungwon Kang

NEW YORK | Thu Mar 24, 2011 7:37pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Broadway's lights will darken on Friday in tribute to actress Elizabeth Taylor, who died in Los Angeles aged 79 on Wednesday.

"The Broadway community mourns the loss of Elizabeth Taylor, legendary stage and screen star," The Broadway League said in a statement.

In Taylor's honor, Broadway's theater marquees will be dimmed at exactly 8 p.m., the traditional curtain time for shows, for one minute.

The actress, best known for her starring roles in Hollywood and Europe during the 1950s and 1960s, appeared on Broadway in a revival of Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes," for which she won rave reviews and a Tony award nomination.

Taylor returned in 1983 as producer and star of Noel Coward's "Private Lives" opposite her former husband, Richard Burton, and produced "The Corn is Green" that year as well.

"With her remarkable talent and extraordinary beauty, Elizabeth Taylor lit up the Broadway stage the same way she lit up the silver screen," League chairman Paul Libin said.

"Off stage, her tireless commitment to fighting AIDS as a co-founder of amfAR and founder of The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation added yet another meaningful role to the story of her life. Our thoughts go out to her friends, family, and fans."

(Reporting by Christopher Michaud; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)


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A pedestrian walks by today's newspaper front pages with the late Elizabeth Taylor obituary on display in front of the Newseum in Washington, March 24, 2011. REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang

A pedestrian walks by today's newspaper front pages with the late Elizabeth Taylor obituary on display in front of the Newseum in Washington, March 24, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Hyungwon Kang

NEW YORK | Thu Mar 24, 2011 7:37pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Broadway's lights will darken on Friday in tribute to actress Elizabeth Taylor, who died in Los Angeles aged 79 on Wednesday.

"The Broadway community mourns the loss of Elizabeth Taylor, legendary stage and screen star," The Broadway League said in a statement.

In Taylor's honor, Broadway's theater marquees will be dimmed at exactly 8 p.m., the traditional curtain time for shows, for one minute.

The actress, best known for her starring roles in Hollywood and Europe during the 1950s and 1960s, appeared on Broadway in a revival of Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes," for which she won rave reviews and a Tony award nomination.

Taylor returned in 1983 as producer and star of Noel Coward's "Private Lives" opposite her former husband, Richard Burton, and produced "The Corn is Green" that year as well.

"With her remarkable talent and extraordinary beauty, Elizabeth Taylor lit up the Broadway stage the same way she lit up the silver screen," League chairman Paul Libin said.

"Off stage, her tireless commitment to fighting AIDS as a co-founder of amfAR and founder of The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation added yet another meaningful role to the story of her life. Our thoughts go out to her friends, family, and fans."

(Reporting by Christopher Michaud; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)


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"South Park" creators score raves on Broadway

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South Park creators Matt Stone (R) and Trey Parker pose for a photo in New York March 18, 2011. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi

South Park creators Matt Stone (R) and Trey Parker pose for a photo in New York March 18, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi

By Christine Kearney

NEW YORK | Fri Mar 25, 2011 1:23pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A satirical Broadway show about Mormons who travel from Utah to Uganda by the creators of "South Park" scored rave reviews on Friday from critics who called it the best musical comedy since "The Producers."

"The Book of Mormon," which was seven years in the making for Trey Parker and Matt Stone, opened on the Great White Way on Thursday night to reviews that said it balanced clever, humorous songs and lyrics with heartfelt reflections on faith.

For Broadway doubters, "the ones who say that heaven on Broadway does not exist, that it's only some myth our ancestors dreamed up, I am here to report that a newborn, old-fashioned, pleasure-giving musical has arrived," the New York Times said.

The Times said it perfectly balanced a sharp, irreverent tone, which is "blasphemous, scurrilous and more foul-mouthed than David Mamet on a blue streak," with themes that test the ideals of faith and has a heart "as pure as that of a Rodgers and Hammerstein show."

The newspaper also highlighted several catchy numbers, including about repressed Mormons, some with gay longings, called "Turn It Off" and "Joseph Smith American Moses" about the church's founder, Joseph Smith Jr.

Showbiz trade publication Variety said "Book of Mormons" surpassed musical comedy Tony winners "Spamalot" and "Avenue Q" and applauded lead actors Andrew Rannells playing an uptight, overachieving Mormon and Josh Gad as his bumbling companion, as well as actress Nikki M. James as an African local.

"Broadway hasn't seen anything like it since Mel Brooks came to town with 'The Producers,' only 'Mormon' has better songs," Variety said. "

While the show sends up the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Mormon leaders have avoided returning fire, saying in a statement: "The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever."

Creators Stone and Parker told Reuters recently that rather than setting out to "bash Mormons," they preferred to make a "very traditional, classic musical."

The New York Post seemed to agree, saying the show "is less about religion than (about) credulity and the need to believe, as well as the singular American gift for dreaming up great stories and enduring symbols -- and selling them to everyone on the planet."

The Wall Street Journal was among the few publications extending a sharp critique, saying while it had cheery songs, it was "slick and smutty" and "flabby, amateurish and very, very safe."

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)


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South Park creators Matt Stone (R) and Trey Parker pose for a photo in New York March 18, 2011. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi

South Park creators Matt Stone (R) and Trey Parker pose for a photo in New York March 18, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi

By Christine Kearney

NEW YORK | Fri Mar 25, 2011 1:23pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A satirical Broadway show about Mormons who travel from Utah to Uganda by the creators of "South Park" scored rave reviews on Friday from critics who called it the best musical comedy since "The Producers."

"The Book of Mormon," which was seven years in the making for Trey Parker and Matt Stone, opened on the Great White Way on Thursday night to reviews that said it balanced clever, humorous songs and lyrics with heartfelt reflections on faith.

For Broadway doubters, "the ones who say that heaven on Broadway does not exist, that it's only some myth our ancestors dreamed up, I am here to report that a newborn, old-fashioned, pleasure-giving musical has arrived," the New York Times said.

The Times said it perfectly balanced a sharp, irreverent tone, which is "blasphemous, scurrilous and more foul-mouthed than David Mamet on a blue streak," with themes that test the ideals of faith and has a heart "as pure as that of a Rodgers and Hammerstein show."

The newspaper also highlighted several catchy numbers, including about repressed Mormons, some with gay longings, called "Turn It Off" and "Joseph Smith American Moses" about the church's founder, Joseph Smith Jr.

Showbiz trade publication Variety said "Book of Mormons" surpassed musical comedy Tony winners "Spamalot" and "Avenue Q" and applauded lead actors Andrew Rannells playing an uptight, overachieving Mormon and Josh Gad as his bumbling companion, as well as actress Nikki M. James as an African local.

"Broadway hasn't seen anything like it since Mel Brooks came to town with 'The Producers,' only 'Mormon' has better songs," Variety said. "

While the show sends up the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Mormon leaders have avoided returning fire, saying in a statement: "The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever."

Creators Stone and Parker told Reuters recently that rather than setting out to "bash Mormons," they preferred to make a "very traditional, classic musical."

The New York Post seemed to agree, saying the show "is less about religion than (about) credulity and the need to believe, as well as the singular American gift for dreaming up great stories and enduring symbols -- and selling them to everyone on the planet."

The Wall Street Journal was among the few publications extending a sharp critique, saying while it had cheery songs, it was "slick and smutty" and "flabby, amateurish and very, very safe."

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)


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"Book of Mormon" fresh, funny and sweet

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By David Rooney

Thu Mar 24, 2011 8:48pm EDT

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Anyone who saw "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" shouldn't be surprised to learn that Trey Parker and Matt Stone appear genuinely to love musicals even as they subvert them. What's perhaps less expected is that while "The Book of Mormon" packs plenty of blissful profanity, sacrilege and politically incorrect mischief, the defining quality of this hugely entertaining show is its sweetness.

Teaming with Robert Lopez, who co-wrote the music and lyrics for "Avenue Q," Parker and Stone have created one of the freshest original musicals in recent memory. It has tuneful songs, clever lyrics, winning characters, explosive laughs and disarmingly intimate moments. Religious zealots are not going to roll up, but the show manages to have a comic field day with Mormonism while simultaneously acknowledging -- maybe even respecting -- the right of everyone to follow any faith they choose. Or invent.

Co-directed by Parker and Casey Nicholaw, who also did the sublimely kitschy choreography, the show's delightful contradictions extend to its craftsmanship. It manages to mock and celebrate musical-theater conventions in staging that is both tongue-in-cheek cheesy and polished, and storytelling that is blunt yet sly as a fox.

In terms of construction and song placement, Mormon masters a classic formula. Starting with a chipper opening number that instantly secures audience affection for its two lead characters, the show checks off every required song function of a good musical. There are efficient nuggets of sung exposition; yearning "I want" declarations; comedy numbers that provide plot momentum; songs in which characters share their dreams, seize a challenge or face a conflict; celebratory anthems; and of course an emotionally emphatic 11 o'clock number.

The song everybody will be talking about is "Hasa Diga Eebowai," a wicked spin on The Lion King's "Hakuna Matata," in which Ugandan villagers invoke a favorite catchphrase to dispel the woes of poverty, AIDS, guerrilla warfare and enforced female circumcision. Translation would spoil the joke, but let's just say it ain't "No worries for the rest of your days."

Fresh out of training, preppy golden boy Elder Price (Andrew Rannells) and schlubby class doofus Elder Cunningham (Josh Gad) are sent to Uganda on their first missionary assignment. For Elder Cunningham, it's a chance to have a friend who can't dump him; for Elder Price, it's the start of a crisis of faith when his dreams of being sent to Orlando are crushed.

Price's meltdown puts Cunningham in charge of securing baptism candidates where the other on-site Mormons have failed. But Cunningham hasn't even read the Book of Mormon. "It's so boring," he confesses. Indulging his propensity to tell lies, he draws on "The Matrix," "Star Wars," "Star Trek," "Lord of the Rings" and his uber-geek imagination to instruct the villagers.

The result is a lurid revisionist pageant that reinterprets Mormon history in the style of an African folktale. That bastardized version, titled "Joseph Smith American Moses," is among the most riotous musical interludes. It departs radically from the official account, "All American Prophet," performed like an Osmond family TV special outtake.

Number after number hits a bulls-eye. "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream" is a satanic nightmare featuring cameos by Hitler, Genghis Khan, Jeffrey Dahmer and Johnnie Cochran. "I Am Africa," sung by squeaky-clean Wonder-Bread Mormons (including Elder Cunningham channeling Bono), is a killer riff on patronizing "We Are the World"-style humanitarianism. "Baptize Me" gleefully sexualizes the religious rite.

Led by Elder McKinley (Rory O'Malley), who is determined to quash those pesky homosexual urges, "Turn It Off" is a peppy call to suppress disturbing true feelings -- replete with full-blown tap routine. And in "Sal Tlay Ka Siti," the gorgeous-voiced Nikki M. James (as Cunningham's Ugandan quasi-love interest) contemplates paradise in Utah as a soaring daydream right out of "The Little Mermaid."

The entire cast is terrific, and Gad and Rannells make a dynamite pair, exchanging leader and follower roles with equal conviction. Gad (a correspondent on "The Daily Show" With Jon Stewart) may be giving the single funniest, most endearing performance on Broadway. But Rannells is not far behind, his character's righteousness at war with his inflated ego.

The designers merit loud applause. Framed by an enhanced proscenium that conjures the Mormon Tabernacle, Scott Pask's sets make droll use of old-fashioned backcloths and painted flats, particularly in the hilariously vivid Ugandan village. Ann Roth's costumes are full of witty touches. And Brian MacDevitt's lighting is equally descriptive in hellfire and celestial modes.

In choosing Lopez and Nicholaw as key collaborators, Broadway neophytes Parker and Stone have shown enormous savvy. The result is a show that's slick where it needs to be, while retaining the rough-and-ready quality that put the "South Park" duo on the pop-cultural map. What makes the musical irresistible, however, is its panache in making naughty mockery of a whole string of untouchable subjects, without an ounce of spite.


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By David Rooney

Thu Mar 24, 2011 8:48pm EDT

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Anyone who saw "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" shouldn't be surprised to learn that Trey Parker and Matt Stone appear genuinely to love musicals even as they subvert them. What's perhaps less expected is that while "The Book of Mormon" packs plenty of blissful profanity, sacrilege and politically incorrect mischief, the defining quality of this hugely entertaining show is its sweetness.

Teaming with Robert Lopez, who co-wrote the music and lyrics for "Avenue Q," Parker and Stone have created one of the freshest original musicals in recent memory. It has tuneful songs, clever lyrics, winning characters, explosive laughs and disarmingly intimate moments. Religious zealots are not going to roll up, but the show manages to have a comic field day with Mormonism while simultaneously acknowledging -- maybe even respecting -- the right of everyone to follow any faith they choose. Or invent.

Co-directed by Parker and Casey Nicholaw, who also did the sublimely kitschy choreography, the show's delightful contradictions extend to its craftsmanship. It manages to mock and celebrate musical-theater conventions in staging that is both tongue-in-cheek cheesy and polished, and storytelling that is blunt yet sly as a fox.

In terms of construction and song placement, Mormon masters a classic formula. Starting with a chipper opening number that instantly secures audience affection for its two lead characters, the show checks off every required song function of a good musical. There are efficient nuggets of sung exposition; yearning "I want" declarations; comedy numbers that provide plot momentum; songs in which characters share their dreams, seize a challenge or face a conflict; celebratory anthems; and of course an emotionally emphatic 11 o'clock number.

The song everybody will be talking about is "Hasa Diga Eebowai," a wicked spin on The Lion King's "Hakuna Matata," in which Ugandan villagers invoke a favorite catchphrase to dispel the woes of poverty, AIDS, guerrilla warfare and enforced female circumcision. Translation would spoil the joke, but let's just say it ain't "No worries for the rest of your days."

Fresh out of training, preppy golden boy Elder Price (Andrew Rannells) and schlubby class doofus Elder Cunningham (Josh Gad) are sent to Uganda on their first missionary assignment. For Elder Cunningham, it's a chance to have a friend who can't dump him; for Elder Price, it's the start of a crisis of faith when his dreams of being sent to Orlando are crushed.

Price's meltdown puts Cunningham in charge of securing baptism candidates where the other on-site Mormons have failed. But Cunningham hasn't even read the Book of Mormon. "It's so boring," he confesses. Indulging his propensity to tell lies, he draws on "The Matrix," "Star Wars," "Star Trek," "Lord of the Rings" and his uber-geek imagination to instruct the villagers.

The result is a lurid revisionist pageant that reinterprets Mormon history in the style of an African folktale. That bastardized version, titled "Joseph Smith American Moses," is among the most riotous musical interludes. It departs radically from the official account, "All American Prophet," performed like an Osmond family TV special outtake.

Number after number hits a bulls-eye. "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream" is a satanic nightmare featuring cameos by Hitler, Genghis Khan, Jeffrey Dahmer and Johnnie Cochran. "I Am Africa," sung by squeaky-clean Wonder-Bread Mormons (including Elder Cunningham channeling Bono), is a killer riff on patronizing "We Are the World"-style humanitarianism. "Baptize Me" gleefully sexualizes the religious rite.

Led by Elder McKinley (Rory O'Malley), who is determined to quash those pesky homosexual urges, "Turn It Off" is a peppy call to suppress disturbing true feelings -- replete with full-blown tap routine. And in "Sal Tlay Ka Siti," the gorgeous-voiced Nikki M. James (as Cunningham's Ugandan quasi-love interest) contemplates paradise in Utah as a soaring daydream right out of "The Little Mermaid."

The entire cast is terrific, and Gad and Rannells make a dynamite pair, exchanging leader and follower roles with equal conviction. Gad (a correspondent on "The Daily Show" With Jon Stewart) may be giving the single funniest, most endearing performance on Broadway. But Rannells is not far behind, his character's righteousness at war with his inflated ego.

The designers merit loud applause. Framed by an enhanced proscenium that conjures the Mormon Tabernacle, Scott Pask's sets make droll use of old-fashioned backcloths and painted flats, particularly in the hilariously vivid Ugandan village. Ann Roth's costumes are full of witty touches. And Brian MacDevitt's lighting is equally descriptive in hellfire and celestial modes.

In choosing Lopez and Nicholaw as key collaborators, Broadway neophytes Parker and Stone have shown enormous savvy. The result is a show that's slick where it needs to be, while retaining the rough-and-ready quality that put the "South Park" duo on the pop-cultural map. What makes the musical irresistible, however, is its panache in making naughty mockery of a whole string of untouchable subjects, without an ounce of spite.


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Mayan relic sold for $4 million is a fake?

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A sculpture of a Mayan warrior, released March 23, 2011 by auctioneer company Binoche et Giquello, that sold for more than $4 million at a Paris auction house on Monday March 21, 2011. REUTERS/Handout/Pierre-Yves Dhinaut/Binoche et Giquello SVV

A sculpture of a Mayan warrior, released March 23, 2011 by auctioneer company Binoche et Giquello, that sold for more than $4 million at a Paris auction house on Monday March 21, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Handout/Pierre-Yves Dhinaut/Binoche et Giquello SVV

MEXICO CITY | Wed Mar 23, 2011 11:25am EDT

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A sculpture of a Mayan warrior that sold for more than $4 million at a Paris auction house this week is a fake, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History said.

The masked, stone figure, sold by a private collector, was billed as an impressive piece of Pre-Columbian art and was believed to be a unique work dating from around 550 to 950 A.D. It sold for 2.9 million euros ($4.1 million) on Monday.

But Mexican experts at the institute who studied the auction catalog said the piece, a warrior holding a shield and weapon and wearing a turban-like hat, had been made recently and was carefully carved to give an ancient appearance. Another 66 pieces in the auction also were fakes, they said.

"The figure tries to recreate the Pre-Columbian features of the Maya region in southeastern Mexico but the height, the posture of the flexed legs and the boot straps are not characteristic of this culture," the institute said in a statement.

Mexico's Foreign Ministry said it had contacted the French government prior to the auction to alert it to the fraud.

(Reporting by Armando Tovar and Robin Emmott; Editing by Bill Trott)


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A sculpture of a Mayan warrior, released March 23, 2011 by auctioneer company Binoche et Giquello, that sold for more than $4 million at a Paris auction house on Monday March 21, 2011. REUTERS/Handout/Pierre-Yves Dhinaut/Binoche et Giquello SVV

A sculpture of a Mayan warrior, released March 23, 2011 by auctioneer company Binoche et Giquello, that sold for more than $4 million at a Paris auction house on Monday March 21, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Handout/Pierre-Yves Dhinaut/Binoche et Giquello SVV

MEXICO CITY | Wed Mar 23, 2011 11:25am EDT

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A sculpture of a Mayan warrior that sold for more than $4 million at a Paris auction house this week is a fake, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History said.

The masked, stone figure, sold by a private collector, was billed as an impressive piece of Pre-Columbian art and was believed to be a unique work dating from around 550 to 950 A.D. It sold for 2.9 million euros ($4.1 million) on Monday.

But Mexican experts at the institute who studied the auction catalog said the piece, a warrior holding a shield and weapon and wearing a turban-like hat, had been made recently and was carefully carved to give an ancient appearance. Another 66 pieces in the auction also were fakes, they said.

"The figure tries to recreate the Pre-Columbian features of the Maya region in southeastern Mexico but the height, the posture of the flexed legs and the boot straps are not characteristic of this culture," the institute said in a statement.

Mexico's Foreign Ministry said it had contacted the French government prior to the auction to alert it to the fraud.

(Reporting by Armando Tovar and Robin Emmott; Editing by Bill Trott)


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Monet "Poplar" set to fetch $25 million at auction

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By Chris Michaud

NEW YORK | Fri Mar 25, 2011 11:42am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - A pristine Monet masterpiece from the artist's celebrated "Poplars" series will be featured at Christie's in May, when it is expected to sell for as much as $30 million, the auction house said on Friday.

"Les Peupliers," the largest from Monet's famed paintings depicting poplar trees executed during his years in Giverny, is being sold by an Asian collector who purchased it at auction in 2000 for just over $7 million.

After a precipitous decline following the financial crisis that hit in late 2008, the art market came roaring back last year with works breaking the $100 million mark, artists' records being broken and auction houses raking in cash once again.

"The appearance of this masterpiece quality work marks the first time in over a decade that a major 1890s series painting has come to auction," said Conor Jordan, Christie's head of Impressionist and modern art.

"We anticipate great enthusiasm from many collectors, dealers and museum directors who have been eager for a quintessential Monet scene such as this," Jordan added.

Prices for top-quality works by Monet have soared in recent seasons, Christie's noted. An increasingly limited supply of masterpieces, recovering markets that have freed up liquidity and increasing confidence in fine art as an investment, have all helped drive levels ever higher.

The auction record for a Monet is $80.4 million set in May 2008 by "Le Bassin aux Nympheas" from the artist's renowned Waterlilies series, which was about twice the pre-sale estimate.

The majority of the 24 works from the Poplars series hang in major art museums including London's Tate Gallery, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Tokyo's National Museum of Art.

"Les Peupliers" will be sold in New York on May 4 after touring in Moscow and London in April.

Monet painted it during the summer of 1891 after striking a deal with a wood cutter not to cut down a stand of poplar trees on the river near his home until he could finish painting them.


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By Chris Michaud

NEW YORK | Fri Mar 25, 2011 11:42am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - A pristine Monet masterpiece from the artist's celebrated "Poplars" series will be featured at Christie's in May, when it is expected to sell for as much as $30 million, the auction house said on Friday.

"Les Peupliers," the largest from Monet's famed paintings depicting poplar trees executed during his years in Giverny, is being sold by an Asian collector who purchased it at auction in 2000 for just over $7 million.

After a precipitous decline following the financial crisis that hit in late 2008, the art market came roaring back last year with works breaking the $100 million mark, artists' records being broken and auction houses raking in cash once again.

"The appearance of this masterpiece quality work marks the first time in over a decade that a major 1890s series painting has come to auction," said Conor Jordan, Christie's head of Impressionist and modern art.

"We anticipate great enthusiasm from many collectors, dealers and museum directors who have been eager for a quintessential Monet scene such as this," Jordan added.

Prices for top-quality works by Monet have soared in recent seasons, Christie's noted. An increasingly limited supply of masterpieces, recovering markets that have freed up liquidity and increasing confidence in fine art as an investment, have all helped drive levels ever higher.

The auction record for a Monet is $80.4 million set in May 2008 by "Le Bassin aux Nympheas" from the artist's renowned Waterlilies series, which was about twice the pre-sale estimate.

The majority of the 24 works from the Poplars series hang in major art museums including London's Tate Gallery, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Tokyo's National Museum of Art.

"Les Peupliers" will be sold in New York on May 4 after touring in Moscow and London in April.

Monet painted it during the summer of 1891 after striking a deal with a wood cutter not to cut down a stand of poplar trees on the river near his home until he could finish painting them.


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Daniel Radcliffe succeeds in "Business" revival

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Britain's Daniel Radcliffe is seen posing as he arrives for the world premiere of ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1'' at Leicester Square in London in this November 11, 2010 file photograph. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth/Files

Britain's Daniel Radcliffe is seen posing as he arrives for the world premiere of ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1'' at Leicester Square in London in this November 11, 2010 file photograph.

Credit: Reuters/Stefan Wermuth/Files

By David Rooney

Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:15pm EDT

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Rob Ashford clearly has a fascination for mid-20th century American office life, which was the satirical canvas for his Broadway directing debut, "Promises, Promises," and his follow-up, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." But the more penetrating naturalistic gaze of "Mad Men" has so redefined that landscape that these shows now seem doomed to quaintness.

Of course, quaint can be charming and agreeable, which is generally where this medium-wattage 50th anniversary revival lands. Charming and agreeable are adjectives that also apply to the performer around whom it was packaged, Daniel Radcliffe. The Harry Potter star works way harder in his musical-theater debut than his crafty character, J. Pierpont Finch, who shimmies up the corporate ladder with minimal effort.

The show, running indefinitely at the Al Hirschfeld Theater, is a diabolical take on the American dream realized via pure cunning and calculation. In the witty book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert (based on Shepherd Mead's novel), Finch's meteoric rise takes him in record time from window-washer to mailroom clerk to junior executive to VP of advertising, and finally, to chairman of the board. He hurdles over and eliminates rivals along the way, neglecting his steno-pool sweetheart Rosemary (Rose Hemingway) to serve his ambition.

Finch is a conniving antihero, so he needs to keep the audience on his side. On that count, the still-boyish Radcliffe's butter-wouldn't-melt smile and ingratiating manner fit the bill nicely.

The role of Finch was originated in the 1961 Broadway premiere and 1967 movie by Robert Morse, whose casting as a senior ad agency partner in "Mad Men" is one of that show's more inspired in-jokes. Unlike Morse, or Matthew Broderick in the 1995 revival, Radcliffe's take on Finch is not the usual mischievous comedic spin. Instead he projects cherubic innocence, which makes a wry contrast with Finch's underhand behavior.

Looking to expand his range as the Harry Potter franchise wraps up, Radcliffe deserves credit for setting himself new challenges. This role calls for an entirely different skill set from the febrile intensity he brought to his last Broadway assignment, as the psychotically disturbed stable boy in Equus. His voice is a little thin, but he does a capable job on Frank Loesser's songs, and while Ashford mostly entrusts the heavy lifting to the ensemble, Radcliffe more than holds his own in the boisterous dance numbers.

Appealing as he is, however, the actor doesn't quite pop as a musical-theater performer. The same goes for pretty newcomer Hemingway, who sings sweetly but is more generic than captivating. Christopher J. Hanke makes a colorless nemesis of Finch's bumbling rival, Bud Frump, a role originated by that most arch of comedians, Charles Nelson Reilly. And Anderson Cooper's flat pre-recorded voice-overs of the step-by-step career guidance in Finch's how-to book also don't help.

In his Broadway debut, TV veteran John Larroquette is no great singer. But he nails his laughs with sharp timing and eccentric line readings as J.B. Biggley, the World-Wide Wicket Company boss duped by Finch. Their duet on the college anthem "Grand Old Ivy" is one of the first act's more rousing numbers, cementing the central dynamic of the crusty tycoon played for a fool by the shifty young upstart. As Biggley's bit of fluff, Hedy La Rue, Tammy Blanchard also supplies fresh angles on a classic tart with a heart. In smaller roles, Rob Bartlett, Ellen Harvey and Michael Park make sharp impressions.

While the production is overdesigned, Catherine Zuber's stylish costumes and Howell Binkley's pastel lighting give the show a vibrant palette. But Derek McLane's modular set of hexagonal pods falls back on the same wallpaper-patterned design vernacular seen recently in "Bye Bye Birdie" and "Promises, Promises," making this a tired retro trend.

Loesser's lyrics still amuse and the book brims with sly humor, but the show's satirical punch has become diluted over time, particularly under Ashford's fussy direction. The musical numbers too rarely catch fire, despite the hard-sell athleticism of his choreography. There's a nagging tendency to do too much, with even some of the more intimate songs treated as all-out production numbers. The effect is to somewhat smother the comedy.

Only in the evangelical "Brotherhood of Man," 2-1/2 hours into the show, does it joyfully ignite, and Radcliffe appears to be having a blast leading the dancers as Finch weasels his way out of disaster to come out on top.


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Baloane


Britain's Daniel Radcliffe is seen posing as he arrives for the world premiere of ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1'' at Leicester Square in London in this November 11, 2010 file photograph. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth/Files

Britain's Daniel Radcliffe is seen posing as he arrives for the world premiere of ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1'' at Leicester Square in London in this November 11, 2010 file photograph.

Credit: Reuters/Stefan Wermuth/Files

By David Rooney

Sun Mar 27, 2011 8:15pm EDT

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Rob Ashford clearly has a fascination for mid-20th century American office life, which was the satirical canvas for his Broadway directing debut, "Promises, Promises," and his follow-up, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." But the more penetrating naturalistic gaze of "Mad Men" has so redefined that landscape that these shows now seem doomed to quaintness.

Of course, quaint can be charming and agreeable, which is generally where this medium-wattage 50th anniversary revival lands. Charming and agreeable are adjectives that also apply to the performer around whom it was packaged, Daniel Radcliffe. The Harry Potter star works way harder in his musical-theater debut than his crafty character, J. Pierpont Finch, who shimmies up the corporate ladder with minimal effort.

The show, running indefinitely at the Al Hirschfeld Theater, is a diabolical take on the American dream realized via pure cunning and calculation. In the witty book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert (based on Shepherd Mead's novel), Finch's meteoric rise takes him in record time from window-washer to mailroom clerk to junior executive to VP of advertising, and finally, to chairman of the board. He hurdles over and eliminates rivals along the way, neglecting his steno-pool sweetheart Rosemary (Rose Hemingway) to serve his ambition.

Finch is a conniving antihero, so he needs to keep the audience on his side. On that count, the still-boyish Radcliffe's butter-wouldn't-melt smile and ingratiating manner fit the bill nicely.

The role of Finch was originated in the 1961 Broadway premiere and 1967 movie by Robert Morse, whose casting as a senior ad agency partner in "Mad Men" is one of that show's more inspired in-jokes. Unlike Morse, or Matthew Broderick in the 1995 revival, Radcliffe's take on Finch is not the usual mischievous comedic spin. Instead he projects cherubic innocence, which makes a wry contrast with Finch's underhand behavior.

Looking to expand his range as the Harry Potter franchise wraps up, Radcliffe deserves credit for setting himself new challenges. This role calls for an entirely different skill set from the febrile intensity he brought to his last Broadway assignment, as the psychotically disturbed stable boy in Equus. His voice is a little thin, but he does a capable job on Frank Loesser's songs, and while Ashford mostly entrusts the heavy lifting to the ensemble, Radcliffe more than holds his own in the boisterous dance numbers.

Appealing as he is, however, the actor doesn't quite pop as a musical-theater performer. The same goes for pretty newcomer Hemingway, who sings sweetly but is more generic than captivating. Christopher J. Hanke makes a colorless nemesis of Finch's bumbling rival, Bud Frump, a role originated by that most arch of comedians, Charles Nelson Reilly. And Anderson Cooper's flat pre-recorded voice-overs of the step-by-step career guidance in Finch's how-to book also don't help.

In his Broadway debut, TV veteran John Larroquette is no great singer. But he nails his laughs with sharp timing and eccentric line readings as J.B. Biggley, the World-Wide Wicket Company boss duped by Finch. Their duet on the college anthem "Grand Old Ivy" is one of the first act's more rousing numbers, cementing the central dynamic of the crusty tycoon played for a fool by the shifty young upstart. As Biggley's bit of fluff, Hedy La Rue, Tammy Blanchard also supplies fresh angles on a classic tart with a heart. In smaller roles, Rob Bartlett, Ellen Harvey and Michael Park make sharp impressions.

While the production is overdesigned, Catherine Zuber's stylish costumes and Howell Binkley's pastel lighting give the show a vibrant palette. But Derek McLane's modular set of hexagonal pods falls back on the same wallpaper-patterned design vernacular seen recently in "Bye Bye Birdie" and "Promises, Promises," making this a tired retro trend.

Loesser's lyrics still amuse and the book brims with sly humor, but the show's satirical punch has become diluted over time, particularly under Ashford's fussy direction. The musical numbers too rarely catch fire, despite the hard-sell athleticism of his choreography. There's a nagging tendency to do too much, with even some of the more intimate songs treated as all-out production numbers. The effect is to somewhat smother the comedy.

Only in the evangelical "Brotherhood of Man," 2-1/2 hours into the show, does it joyfully ignite, and Radcliffe appears to be having a blast leading the dancers as Finch weasels his way out of disaster to come out on top.


Baloane

Warhol's Elizabeth Taylor portrait to be auctioned

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Workers adjust Andy Warhol's ''Elizabeth Taylor'' hanging beside Edvard Munch's ''Madonna'' at Bonhams auction house in London July 9, 2010. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Workers adjust Andy Warhol's ''Elizabeth Taylor'' hanging beside Edvard Munch's ''Madonna'' at Bonhams auction house in London July 9, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Stefan Wermuth

LONDON | Thu Mar 24, 2011 12:35pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - A portrait of Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor by Andy Warhol will go under the hammer in New York on May 12 and is expected to fetch as much as $30 million, auctioneers Phillips de Pury said on Thursday.

"Liz #5" was painted in 1963 and is "a dazzling tribute to Elizabeth Taylor," the auction house said in a statement.

Taylor died on Wednesday aged 79.

"Liz #5 is a pristine gem," said Michael McGinnis, head of contemporary art at Phillips de Pury.

"It is Warhol at his very best with a perfect screen, glowing colors, and impeccable provenance. She is classic yet every bit as cutting edge as she was when Warhol painted her nearly 50 years ago."

According to the company, the portrait "embodies the most important themes of Warhol's oeuvre including celebrity, wealth, scandal, sex, death and Hollywood.

"The epitome of old-world Hollywood style and glamour, Liz Taylor was one of Warhol's most famous inspirations alongside Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy."

The painting is estimated to be worth $20-30 million.

British actor Hugh Grant sold a Warhol portrait of Taylor in New York in 2007 for $23.6 million, several times what he paid for the work.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Steve Addison)


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Workers adjust Andy Warhol's ''Elizabeth Taylor'' hanging beside Edvard Munch's ''Madonna'' at Bonhams auction house in London July 9, 2010. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Workers adjust Andy Warhol's ''Elizabeth Taylor'' hanging beside Edvard Munch's ''Madonna'' at Bonhams auction house in London July 9, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Stefan Wermuth

LONDON | Thu Mar 24, 2011 12:35pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - A portrait of Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor by Andy Warhol will go under the hammer in New York on May 12 and is expected to fetch as much as $30 million, auctioneers Phillips de Pury said on Thursday.

"Liz #5" was painted in 1963 and is "a dazzling tribute to Elizabeth Taylor," the auction house said in a statement.

Taylor died on Wednesday aged 79.

"Liz #5 is a pristine gem," said Michael McGinnis, head of contemporary art at Phillips de Pury.

"It is Warhol at his very best with a perfect screen, glowing colors, and impeccable provenance. She is classic yet every bit as cutting edge as she was when Warhol painted her nearly 50 years ago."

According to the company, the portrait "embodies the most important themes of Warhol's oeuvre including celebrity, wealth, scandal, sex, death and Hollywood.

"The epitome of old-world Hollywood style and glamour, Liz Taylor was one of Warhol's most famous inspirations alongside Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy."

The painting is estimated to be worth $20-30 million.

British actor Hugh Grant sold a Warhol portrait of Taylor in New York in 2007 for $23.6 million, several times what he paid for the work.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Steve Addison)


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duminică, 27 martie 2011

"Book of Mormon" fresh, funny and sweet

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By David Rooney

Thu Mar 24, 2011 8:48pm EDT

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Anyone who saw "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" shouldn't be surprised to learn that Trey Parker and Matt Stone appear genuinely to love musicals even as they subvert them. What's perhaps less expected is that while "The Book of Mormon" packs plenty of blissful profanity, sacrilege and politically incorrect mischief, the defining quality of this hugely entertaining show is its sweetness.

Teaming with Robert Lopez, who co-wrote the music and lyrics for "Avenue Q," Parker and Stone have created one of the freshest original musicals in recent memory. It has tuneful songs, clever lyrics, winning characters, explosive laughs and disarmingly intimate moments. Religious zealots are not going to roll up, but the show manages to have a comic field day with Mormonism while simultaneously acknowledging -- maybe even respecting -- the right of everyone to follow any faith they choose. Or invent.

Co-directed by Parker and Casey Nicholaw, who also did the sublimely kitschy choreography, the show's delightful contradictions extend to its craftsmanship. It manages to mock and celebrate musical-theater conventions in staging that is both tongue-in-cheek cheesy and polished, and storytelling that is blunt yet sly as a fox.

In terms of construction and song placement, Mormon masters a classic formula. Starting with a chipper opening number that instantly secures audience affection for its two lead characters, the show checks off every required song function of a good musical. There are efficient nuggets of sung exposition; yearning "I want" declarations; comedy numbers that provide plot momentum; songs in which characters share their dreams, seize a challenge or face a conflict; celebratory anthems; and of course an emotionally emphatic 11 o'clock number.

The song everybody will be talking about is "Hasa Diga Eebowai," a wicked spin on The Lion King's "Hakuna Matata," in which Ugandan villagers invoke a favorite catchphrase to dispel the woes of poverty, AIDS, guerrilla warfare and enforced female circumcision. Translation would spoil the joke, but let's just say it ain't "No worries for the rest of your days."

Fresh out of training, preppy golden boy Elder Price (Andrew Rannells) and schlubby class doofus Elder Cunningham (Josh Gad) are sent to Uganda on their first missionary assignment. For Elder Cunningham, it's a chance to have a friend who can't dump him; for Elder Price, it's the start of a crisis of faith when his dreams of being sent to Orlando are crushed.

Price's meltdown puts Cunningham in charge of securing baptism candidates where the other on-site Mormons have failed. But Cunningham hasn't even read the Book of Mormon. "It's so boring," he confesses. Indulging his propensity to tell lies, he draws on "The Matrix," "Star Wars," "Star Trek," "Lord of the Rings" and his uber-geek imagination to instruct the villagers.

The result is a lurid revisionist pageant that reinterprets Mormon history in the style of an African folktale. That bastardized version, titled "Joseph Smith American Moses," is among the most riotous musical interludes. It departs radically from the official account, "All American Prophet," performed like an Osmond family TV special outtake.

Number after number hits a bulls-eye. "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream" is a satanic nightmare featuring cameos by Hitler, Genghis Khan, Jeffrey Dahmer and Johnnie Cochran. "I Am Africa," sung by squeaky-clean Wonder-Bread Mormons (including Elder Cunningham channeling Bono), is a killer riff on patronizing "We Are the World"-style humanitarianism. "Baptize Me" gleefully sexualizes the religious rite.

Led by Elder McKinley (Rory O'Malley), who is determined to quash those pesky homosexual urges, "Turn It Off" is a peppy call to suppress disturbing true feelings -- replete with full-blown tap routine. And in "Sal Tlay Ka Siti," the gorgeous-voiced Nikki M. James (as Cunningham's Ugandan quasi-love interest) contemplates paradise in Utah as a soaring daydream right out of "The Little Mermaid."

The entire cast is terrific, and Gad and Rannells make a dynamite pair, exchanging leader and follower roles with equal conviction. Gad (a correspondent on "The Daily Show" With Jon Stewart) may be giving the single funniest, most endearing performance on Broadway. But Rannells is not far behind, his character's righteousness at war with his inflated ego.

The designers merit loud applause. Framed by an enhanced proscenium that conjures the Mormon Tabernacle, Scott Pask's sets make droll use of old-fashioned backcloths and painted flats, particularly in the hilariously vivid Ugandan village. Ann Roth's costumes are full of witty touches. And Brian MacDevitt's lighting is equally descriptive in hellfire and celestial modes.

In choosing Lopez and Nicholaw as key collaborators, Broadway neophytes Parker and Stone have shown enormous savvy. The result is a show that's slick where it needs to be, while retaining the rough-and-ready quality that put the "South Park" duo on the pop-cultural map. What makes the musical irresistible, however, is its panache in making naughty mockery of a whole string of untouchable subjects, without an ounce of spite.


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Monet "Poplar" set to fetch $25 million at auction

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By Chris Michaud

NEW YORK | Fri Mar 25, 2011 11:42am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - A pristine Monet masterpiece from the artist's celebrated "Poplars" series will be featured at Christie's in May, when it is expected to sell for as much as $30 million, the auction house said on Friday.

"Les Peupliers," the largest from Monet's famed paintings depicting poplar trees executed during his years in Giverny, is being sold by an Asian collector who purchased it at auction in 2000 for just over $7 million.

After a precipitous decline following the financial crisis that hit in late 2008, the art market came roaring back last year with works breaking the $100 million mark, artists' records being broken and auction houses raking in cash once again.

"The appearance of this masterpiece quality work marks the first time in over a decade that a major 1890s series painting has come to auction," said Conor Jordan, Christie's head of Impressionist and modern art.

"We anticipate great enthusiasm from many collectors, dealers and museum directors who have been eager for a quintessential Monet scene such as this," Jordan added.

Prices for top-quality works by Monet have soared in recent seasons, Christie's noted. An increasingly limited supply of masterpieces, recovering markets that have freed up liquidity and increasing confidence in fine art as an investment, have all helped drive levels ever higher.

The auction record for a Monet is $80.4 million set in May 2008 by "Le Bassin aux Nympheas" from the artist's renowned Waterlilies series, which was about twice the pre-sale estimate.

The majority of the 24 works from the Poplars series hang in major art museums including London's Tate Gallery, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Tokyo's National Museum of Art.

"Les Peupliers" will be sold in New York on May 4 after touring in Moscow and London in April.

Monet painted it during the summer of 1891 after striking a deal with a wood cutter not to cut down a stand of poplar trees on the river near his home until he could finish painting them.


Birou Notarial Bucuresti

Warhol's Elizabeth Taylor portrait to be auctioned

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Workers adjust Andy Warhol's ''Elizabeth Taylor'' hanging beside Edvard Munch's ''Madonna'' at Bonhams auction house in London July 9, 2010. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Workers adjust Andy Warhol's ''Elizabeth Taylor'' hanging beside Edvard Munch's ''Madonna'' at Bonhams auction house in London July 9, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Stefan Wermuth

LONDON | Thu Mar 24, 2011 12:35pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - A portrait of Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor by Andy Warhol will go under the hammer in New York on May 12 and is expected to fetch as much as $30 million, auctioneers Phillips de Pury said on Thursday.

"Liz #5" was painted in 1963 and is "a dazzling tribute to Elizabeth Taylor," the auction house said in a statement.

Taylor died on Wednesday aged 79.

"Liz #5 is a pristine gem," said Michael McGinnis, head of contemporary art at Phillips de Pury.

"It is Warhol at his very best with a perfect screen, glowing colors, and impeccable provenance. She is classic yet every bit as cutting edge as she was when Warhol painted her nearly 50 years ago."

According to the company, the portrait "embodies the most important themes of Warhol's oeuvre including celebrity, wealth, scandal, sex, death and Hollywood.

"The epitome of old-world Hollywood style and glamour, Liz Taylor was one of Warhol's most famous inspirations alongside Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy."

The painting is estimated to be worth $20-30 million.

British actor Hugh Grant sold a Warhol portrait of Taylor in New York in 2007 for $23.6 million, several times what he paid for the work.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Steve Addison)


Birou Notarial Bucuresti

Broadway to dim lights for Elizabeth Taylor on Friday

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A pedestrian walks by today's newspaper front pages with the late Elizabeth Taylor obituary on display in front of the Newseum in Washington, March 24, 2011. REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang
A pedestrian walks by today's newspaper front pages with the late Elizabeth Taylor obituary on display in front of the Newseum in Washington, March 24, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Hyungwon Kang
NEW YORK | Thu Mar 24, 2011 7:37pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Broadway's lights will darken on Friday in tribute to actress Elizabeth Taylor, who died in Los Angeles aged 79 on Wednesday.
"The Broadway community mourns the loss of Elizabeth Taylor, legendary stage and screen star," The Broadway League said in a statement.
In Taylor's honor, Broadway's theater marquees will be dimmed at exactly 8 p.m., the traditional curtain time for shows, for one minute.
The actress, best known for her starring roles in Hollywood and Europe during the 1950s and 1960s, appeared on Broadway in a revival of Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes," for which she won rave reviews and a Tony award nomination.
Taylor returned in 1983 as producer and star of Noel Coward's "Private Lives" opposite her former husband, Richard Burton, and produced "The Corn is Green" that year as well.
"With her remarkable talent and extraordinary beauty, Elizabeth Taylor lit up the Broadway stage the same way she lit up the silver screen," League chairman Paul Libin said.
"Off stage, her tireless commitment to fighting AIDS as a co-founder of amfAR and founder of The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation added yet another meaningful role to the story of her life. Our thoughts go out to her friends, family, and fans."
(Reporting by Christopher Michaud; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
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"South Park" creators score raves on Broadway

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South Park creators Matt Stone (R) and Trey Parker pose for a photo in New York March 18, 2011. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi

South Park creators Matt Stone (R) and Trey Parker pose for a photo in New York March 18, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi

By Christine Kearney

NEW YORK | Fri Mar 25, 2011 1:23pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A satirical Broadway show about Mormons who travel from Utah to Uganda by the creators of "South Park" scored rave reviews on Friday from critics who called it the best musical comedy since "The Producers."

"The Book of Mormon," which was seven years in the making for Trey Parker and Matt Stone, opened on the Great White Way on Thursday night to reviews that said it balanced clever, humorous songs and lyrics with heartfelt reflections on faith.

For Broadway doubters, "the ones who say that heaven on Broadway does not exist, that it's only some myth our ancestors dreamed up, I am here to report that a newborn, old-fashioned, pleasure-giving musical has arrived," the New York Times said.

The Times said it perfectly balanced a sharp, irreverent tone, which is "blasphemous, scurrilous and more foul-mouthed than David Mamet on a blue streak," with themes that test the ideals of faith and has a heart "as pure as that of a Rodgers and Hammerstein show."

The newspaper also highlighted several catchy numbers, including about repressed Mormons, some with gay longings, called "Turn It Off" and "Joseph Smith American Moses" about the church's founder, Joseph Smith Jr.

Showbiz trade publication Variety said "Book of Mormons" surpassed musical comedy Tony winners "Spamalot" and "Avenue Q" and applauded lead actors Andrew Rannells playing an uptight, overachieving Mormon and Josh Gad as his bumbling companion, as well as actress Nikki M. James as an African local.

"Broadway hasn't seen anything like it since Mel Brooks came to town with 'The Producers,' only 'Mormon' has better songs," Variety said. "

While the show sends up the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Mormon leaders have avoided returning fire, saying in a statement: "The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever."

Creators Stone and Parker told Reuters recently that rather than setting out to "bash Mormons," they preferred to make a "very traditional, classic musical."

The New York Post seemed to agree, saying the show "is less about religion than (about) credulity and the need to believe, as well as the singular American gift for dreaming up great stories and enduring symbols -- and selling them to everyone on the planet."

The Wall Street Journal was among the few publications extending a sharp critique, saying while it had cheery songs, it was "slick and smutty" and "flabby, amateurish and very, very safe."

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)


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vineri, 25 martie 2011

Pe viata si pe moarte. Cele mai stranii coincidente

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Stranii, iesite din comun, incredibile. Asa au fost catalogate de catre oamenii din intreaga lume unele dintre cele mai cunoscute coincidente din istorie....

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VIDEO Tsunami-ul din Japonia a atins 25 de metri înălţime.

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Măsurătorile făcute după înregistrările video au arătat că valurile distrugătoare au avut peste 24 de metri înălţime. Recordul la înălţime al valurilor tsunamice a fost de 28 de metri şi s-a înregistrat în urma cutremurului şi a tsunamiului din 1896, din Meiji Sanriku, care a ucis 27.000 de japonezi de pe insula Honshu....

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Haos la Galata! Hagi: "Sunt la datorie"

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Gheorghe Hagi e în continuare antrenorul echipei de fotbal Galatasaray Istanbul. Hagi a condus antrenamentele echipei sale din această săptămână, deşi presa din Turcia a anunţat că românul a fost demis....

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