« February 2008 | Main | April 2008 »
Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital will be back in prime-time this summer on ABC.
As a sequel to the critically acclaimed documentary Hopkins 24/7, ABC News returns to the famed medical center for a new six-part series titled Hopkins.
Filmed during four months in 2007, the series will debut at 10 p.m. June 26.
Baltimore has a new community theater troupe, and it will emphasize new work by, for and about women.
The Strand Theater will have an open house April 20 at its new, 65-seat space on North Charles Street. This summer, the company headed by local director Jayme Kilburn will stage its first production, Tim Paggi's "Nonstop Realism." The show will be performed July 10-27 as part of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival.
Kilburn says a local businesswoman who interested in revitalizing the Station North District is donating the space and the cost of the renovation. (The troupe's benefactor wishes to remain anonymous.) The theater at 1823 N. Charles St. -- one block north of Everyman Theatre and the Charles -- also will provide a performing home for other small, cash-strapped arts groups.
"We're trying to keep this as affordable as possible for other arts groups," Kilburn says. "Sometimes you don't have $500 for a deposit on a hall."
The April 20 event, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., will include performances by Single Carrot Theatre, BIG Improv, and Love the Poet, music by Baby Aspirin and King Cloud, and a playwright and acting workshop.
The theater came by its mission because of the dearth of good roles for women. It came by its venue because Kilburn tends bar at a local Charles Street club owned by her patron. And it came by its name because the patron, who also is an antiques dealer, happened to have a vintage sign with the elegant moniker, "The Strand."
Sounds like serependity on all accounts.
Above: Photo of the theater's construction from http://strandtheatercompany.org/
For centuries, art students sketched the nude human body to sharpen their eye and hone their skills. But you don't have to be a budding Michelangelo to join the life drawing class tomorrow at the Maryland Science Center.
As part of its Body Worlds 2 exhibition, the center is giving everyone with an interest in drawing a chance to try their hand at sketching the human figure using male and female models hired for the occasion as well as the plastinated human specimens featured in the show.
"People can come in, sketch the plastinates and compare them with live nude models posing beside them," says Christopher Cropper, the center's senior director of marketing. "Like the exhibition itself, the goal is to give people a greater appreciation of the beauty of the human body."
Cropper says that since the show opened in February, dozens of artists have visited the center during regular hours to sketch the specimens on display.
"We wanted to set aside an extended period to give more people an opportunity to draw in the galleries," Croppers says, adding that he expects 100-150 artists, amateur and professional, to attend the event, which runs 6 p.m.-9 p.m.
The center recruited four professional models for Tuesday's event through the Maryland Institute College of Art, Cropper said.
Admission to the life drawing class is $19 for adults and $16.50 for students. Participants must bring their own art supplies to be admitted. The center is at 601 Light St. For more information, call 410-685-5225 or go here.
Above: Sun photo of the BodyWorlds 2 exhibit by Glenn Fawcett
The next time you channel-flip to Jack Nicholson doing the Joker in Batman, or even to such great vintage Nicholson vehicles as Chinatown and The Last Detail, treat yourself to something a little different afterward and pop in a DVD of Richard Widmark in Kiss of Death, Night and the City, No Way Out or Pickup on South Street. Widmark died this week at the age of 93.
In the late 1940s and 1950s, Widmark pioneered the art of turning psychos, weasels and marginal hustlers into multi-faceted characters; a host of later actors, notably Nicholson and Bruce Dern, brought his influence into their portrayals of antiheroes and villains of the 1960s and 1970s. Widmark was the poet laureate of desperation. Even in his one great heroic role, in Elia Kazan's Panic in the Streets, he was doing something extreme: fighting the pneumonic plague. At his best, he physicalized sadistic psychology and mental torment, and mastered the trick of using his clear blonde looks as a mask that he occasionally lifted for the audience.
Nicholson must have learned his knack for letting viewers in on his characters' private jokes partly from Widmark, and the way Nicholson modulates his drawling, sometimes sneering delivery owes even more to the earlier star's virtuoso verbal presentation. Indeed, after you sample Kiss of Death or Pickup on South Street, close your eyes for a second during a Nicholson star turn and you'll find yourself imagining Richard Widmark.
Above: UCLA photo via the Los Angeles Times of Richard Widmark in 'The Bedford Incident'
Battlestar Galactica's splashy poster for its fourth and final season may look like Da Vinci's The Last Supper, but series star Katie Sackhoff said today that as far she knows it was just a cool photo shoot, not a clue-riddled map to things to come.
"It's interesting that everyone thinks there is something hidden in that Last Supper photo, like if you look hard enough, you can find a hidden message in it," Sackhoff said. "To be honest, I think we [the cast] would have had to be in on it to create a hidden message, and we were all just there having a photo shoot."
But it wouldn't be the first time that Battlestar's producers have kept their cast in the dark about plot developments, so there could be hints to uncover yet.
Of course, the photo isn't a direct translation, making any clues harder to nail down. There are 12 Battlestar characters pictured; Da Vinci painted 12 apostles and Jesus to make an unlucky 13. Also a key clue in the original Da Vinci Last Supper is that Judas has his elbow on the table - a sign a rudeness in the ancient world that was said to foreshadow his betrayal of Jesus. Yet in the Battlestar version, at least four major characters (Sackhoff's Starbuck included) have their elbows firmly planted on the table.
Also, with a knife in his hand, Chief Tyrol (Aaron Douglas) seems to be cast in the role of Peter. But he's in the wrong position. We could go on, but I think I'm done geeking out for the day.
Battlestar Galactica returns for its final season next Friday on the SciFi Channel.
Above: Photo from the SciFi Channel
Once again, Mario is on the road performing as a singer and wishing he had more time to rehearse as a dancer for ABC's Dancing With the Stars.
Last week, he was in New York doing a benefit concert and worrying about whether or not he was going to get the quickstep right in his Monday night performance.
This week, he's in Florida doing a concert in Miami, appearing at BET's Spring Bling and fretting over the tango that he and partner Karina Smirnoff will do Monday night in week 3 of the hit series.
"Honestly, this is the week where I wish I had the most rehearsal, because we're dancing the tango to a song called 'Roxanne' from the movie Moulin Rouge, and there is just so much I want to bring to the dance," he said today.
"What surprised me about the tango is how theatrical it is. I'll be able to do some acting in this dance -- I'll finally be able to pull from some different personalities to do this performance. It's, like, very seductive, there's betrayal, and it's an assertive dance unlike the others. But at the same time, the posture and the form and the low knees -- all of that stuff is the same. It's a definite challenge."
But performing in concert on the road cuts into rehearsal time in Los Angeles. It didn't seem to hurt him and Karina last week -- they were once again lights out.
And this week, they have a secret: Karina's gone with Mario to Miami so that they can still get time together in the rehearsal hall.
"The good thing about Karina is that she is so dedicated to teaching me that she's traveling with me."
Above: ABC Photo of Mario and partner Karina Smirnoff
A Maryland Institute student's golden fence -- a public art project that restricted access to Mount Vernon Place and angered many nearby residents -- has come down in two squares of the downtown park. MICA says the fences were dismantled Thursday evening - two days ahead of schedule - after it was discovered that they were tampered with.
"Someone had unbolted numerous sections of the fence overnight, causing those sections to become unstable," according to a statement on MICA's Web site. "The decision to de-install the fence from two of the parks two days prior to the scheduled date was made to eliminate any danger posed by the possibility of further vandalism to those fences."
Originally, the fences were to block public access to Mount Vernon Place for two weeks, but artist Lee Freeman removed panels after a few days to allow people to use the popular park after residents and a City Council member questioned the project.
Despite the compromise, opposition to the fence continued. Signs were posted reading "Keep Out Rich Kid Art," and "boycott the Walters" (a co-sponsor of the project) even after the park had been opened.
Above: Sun photo of the dismantled fence by Tim Swift
The stars were aligned last night, at least above Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where one of the season's most gratifying concerts took place. It wasn't just that Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra came together in such a potently expressive fashion (occasional shortcomings in the playing didn't ultimately matter much). Capping the harmonious convergence was stellar pianist Andre Watts, who delivered an incendiary account of Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2.
Watts, celebrated since his debut with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic at the age of 16, has lost none of his pianistic flair now that he's entered his 60s. In fact, what he produced last night seemed bigger in tone, richer in nuance -- simply greater in overall impact -- than anything I've heard from him over the years. Of course, he's always been a dynamic pianist, but this was wonderfully risky music-making, always on the edge, full of surprising flourishes. (There's a spurious old tale that Brahms heard a demonstration of ragtime before he died in 1897, though ragtime actually emerged a little later.
But, after what I witnessed last night, in the super-syncopated flurry that Watts unleashed in a few delicious measures toward the end of the finale, I'm ready to posit that Brahms may have unknowingly invented ragtime in this concerto, nearly two decades earlier than any American.) The mix of energetic drama and lyrical poetry that flowed in equal portion from the keyboard ignited a vivid response from Alsop and the ensemble. Ilya Finkelshteyn's cello solo in the Andante was elegantly sculpted. That movement also found the conductor providing sensitive, spacious molding of her own. (I wish she had allowed even a little of that breadth into the Andante of Beethoven's Fifth a few weeks ago.)
The remainder of the program was devoted to Brahms' great friend, Dvorak. That composer is the focus of a recording cycle Alsop and the BSO are making for Naxos, and all the performances are being recorded live. I imagine a lot of last night's effort will be left on the editing room floor, given the droopy intonation and occasional blooper in the winds, not to mention periodic outbursts of whooping cough and seismic sneezing in the audience. But the spirited effort on stage proved formidable. Every time I hear Dvorak's Sixth, it becomes my favorite of his symphonies. It really is absurd how rarely the piece shows up in concerts. Not surprisingly, Alsop relished its propulsive power, driving her forces along in the Scherzo and, especially, the breathless dash kicked of by the strings in the last movement. But the conductor also paid plenty of attention to the work's romantic side, with some of the most beautifully shaded phrasing I've yet heard from her. And even allowing for the less polished bits of execution, the orchestra sounded terrifically involved in the symphony's sunny, eventful journey. The strings were especially impressive, and they had a chance to shine on their own at the start of the concert in Dvorak's lovely, rarely encountered Notturno, which Alsop paced with a gentle touch.
Remaining performances are at 8 tonight, 3 p.m. Sunday at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, and 8 p.m. Saturday at the Music Center at Strathmore. For tickets: 410-783-8000 or bsomusic.org.
The Greene Sisters of Baltimore, who have shared the stage with gospel legends such as James Cleveland, Mahalia Jackson, Shirley Caesar, and the Staple Singers, are returning to the gospel scene.
The group is giving a free concert tomorrow night at Israel Baptist Church.
Speaking with Maxine Webb this week, she said that she and her sisters – Edna Isaac, Joyce Sanders and Sherry Bogier (the newest member) - will sing crowd favorites and originals songs such as "Rushing of a Mighty Wind (Blow Wind Blow)" and "My God is Able."
Their father, the Rev. Albert Greene, formed the original group, which included Isaac, Sanders and Webb, and a few "singing sisters" that weren't relatives. They performed locally and also traveled the world performing before military audiences as part of the USO.
But in the 1970s "life happened,’’ she said. And for the most part, the group disbanded.
"I went to college,’’ Webb said. "My sisters went onto be moms and pursue other interests ... We had some concerts but nothing like we use to.’’
They are all grandparents and now have time to rededicate themselves to their first love. Two years ago, they performed with the legendary the Mighty Clouds of Joy in Lanham. There were so many who requested that they return to gospel.
"The time is right,’’ Webb said.
The group, with its new band the Winds of Change, will sing an array of gospel that includes country western, Negro spirituals, contemporary and traditional. Some music will have a bluesy flavor.
The concert will be in the church's new sanctuary at North Washington and East Preston streets. Doors open at 4:45 p.m.; concert at 6 p.m. Information: 410-732-3494.
One of the most depressing trends in public life the past two decades has been the steady cutback in political convention coverage by the major TV networks. Their reason: a claim that viewers weren't interested.
But not this year with a red-hot race between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination driving record ratings for cable channels carrying debates and offering wall-to-wall election-night coverage.
"The interest that this race is generating in the news media is incredible," says Ricky Kirshner, co-producer of this summer's Democratic National Convention in Denver. "You know, even four years ago, the networks would cover the debates on a wheel [in rotation] -- covering it only because it was their turn. But now, they're actually jockeying to carry the next debate because there's so much interest in this race."
Indded, CBS has been trying for months to get a debate with which it could showcase lowly rated anchorwoman Katie Couric.
It might seen a bit early to be talking about a convention that is five months off -- Aug. 25 through 28 -- but Kirshner and his co-producing partner, Mark Squier, have been in talks with the networks and cable channels for weeks, and today they talked to the press, promising a "more interactive" TV and online experience that will "tear down walls" in traditional coverage come August.
It was disappointing to hear them say they could not yet discuss "specifics" of those new media strategies for competitive and contractual reasons. But that's OK, it was more encouraging to hear that instead of trying to shirk any sense of social and civic responsibility, everyone in TV was suddenly rushing to embrace it.
"If you check the ratings for the debates on CNN, MSNBC and Fox, it's been through the roof, it's been unprecedented," Kirshner said. "So, clearly the major networks see the excitement, and they want to cover the convention this year."
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra music director Marin Alsop was hailed -- and hailed and hailed -- last night as a champion of living composers during a nearly three-hour event presented by the Evolution Contemporary Music Series that drew a standing-room-only crowd to An die Musik. Two of those composers, Christopher Rouse and Kevin Puts (who has studied with Rouse), were on hand to join in the praise during a pre-concert discussion with her and, later, in remarks to the audience before their works were performed. The chat session was moderated by series founder and composer Judah Adashi (I'll get back to that in a moment); the remarkable concert balanced works by Rouse and Puts with those by two other composers whose music Alsop has long advocated, John Corigliano and John Adams.
The sensational violinist Tim Fain, who gave a memorable performance with Alsop and the BSO in December, played the heck out of Arches, a 2000 score by Puts. Extraordinarily kinetic and virtuosic, the unaccompanied piece also has a strong emotional core, suggesting something Bach might have written were he to pop back up today (subtle references to Bach flash by in the first movement). Fain is quite the fiddler, as effortless in taming technical challenges as he is compelling in the way he shapes phrases organically and creates an extensive range of tone colors as he goes. Mesmerizing.
Rouse's Compline, a 1996 work inspired by time spent in Italy, progresses in mood from "giddy tourist" stage (his description) to something spiritual. Scored for flute, clarinet, harp and string quartet, the music creates an inventive, involving sound world. Along the way, reiterative motor rhythms are deftly employed, but not for typical, minimalist purposes. There is drama, as well as energy, in that propulsion, leading at the end to a chant-like section that creates a clam, if not entirely settling, effect. An ensemble of musicians drawn from Baltimore and beyond performed the piece effectively.
The first half of the program opened with Corigliano's Etude Fantasy of 1976, a brilliantly organized exercise for solo piano that combines harsh dissonance, haunting melodic ideas, thunderous outbursts and hushed reflection. Michael Sheppard had the daunting music well in hand and tapped deeply into its expressive undercurrents. Adams, most familiar in his orchestral or operatic guises, was represented by one of his chamber works, Road Movies, a sporty vehicle from 1995 that puts violin and piano through intricately timed paces. The infectious minimalist motion of the score came through neatly in the performance by violinist Courtney Orlando and pianist Ken Osowski. The well-chosen repertoire reaffirmed the reasons why Corigliano, Adams and Rouse became such established composers, and why Puts is well on his way to joining them.
As for the pre-concert discussion, that certainly had its rewards, too. Alsop, as usual, was self-effacing, amusing and informative. Puts and Rouse (who arrived a little late from New York, thanks to an Amtrak glitch), exchanged anecdotes with Alsop about their experiences together, and provided some insights into the creative process of composing. But I wish moderator Adashi hadn't used the occasion for some Yuri Temirkanov-bashing, a sour note in an otherwise pleasant evening. It's one thing to celebrate Alsop's openness to new music; composers everywhere take great comfort in her advocacy role. But Adashi couldn't resist a comparison with Temirkanov's era at the BSO, citing the relatively small number of American composers whose music he knew -- Ives, Gershwin, Copland, Barber.
I wonder how many American conductors, if offered the helm of a Russian orchestra, would bring with them fluent knowledge of, and experience with, any Russian composers other than Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. Would they be likely to know lots of music by Kancheli or Gubaidulina or any other contemporary Russian composers? It shouldn't be necessary to take digs at Temirkanov, whose musicianship remains in a class by itself, in order to celebrate Alsop's obvious virtues. But the main problem with Adashi's argument was that he left out some worthwhile details. Like the violin concerto he commissioned from Daniel Brewbaker (Temirkanov was to have conducted the 2005 premiere, but was sidelined by illness). Even more to the point was anothe significant item that Adashi overlooked: In 2002, Temirkanov enthusiastically selected and conducted the BSO in a piece by a young, very much living Amercian composer -- it was called Network and the composer was Kevin Puts. I would have thought someone on the panel might have remembered that.
Photos: TOP Christopher Rouse and Marin Alsop at 2006 BSO rehearsal (Sun Staff Photo by Monia Lopossay); ABOVE RIGHT Violinist Tim Fain (photo from timothyfain.com)
The Heart of the City, the potent rap/R&B joint tour with Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z, stopped at 1st Mariner Arena last night. The nearly three-hour show was packed with musical thrills. Both artists delivered mostly engaging sets, breezing through their greatest hits, which span more than a decade.
Blige and Jay-Z, icons in the hip-hop community, brought some grown-up class to the youth-obsessed genre. They were backed by a titanic band, which included a 12-piece horn-and-string section. The musicians were dressed in white shirts, dark vests and ties. Chandeliers hung above the sparkly set. Nice touch.
Although Blige wasn't very interactive with the full house, she was definitely spirited. At times, though, she was overwrought. Jay-Z was his usual ultra-cool self, rapping in that nonchalant style that made him a superstar. But he was still charismatic, never aloof. He smiled more than Blige, who seemed to exhibit more swagger than Jay-Z when the two shared the stage.
Above: Associated Press photo of Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige from Saturday's concert in Miami
Despite everything it has going for it – a tuneful, poignant Lerner & Loewe score, a story line that blends romance, tragedy and idealism – Camelot never has been an unqualified critical success.
The story about the creation of the Knights of the Round Table and the love triangle among King Arthur, Guenevere and Lancelot simply has proven too complex for even a 2.5-hour musical. After all, the source on which the show is based, T.H. White’s great novel The Once and Future King, is nearly 700 pages long.
For the national touring production, currently running at the Hippodrome Theatre, Alan Lerner’s son, Michael, has revised the script in an attempt to remedy its flaws. Unfortunately, his treatment robs the story of much of the story’s emotional resonance. Even more disappointing, Lou Diamond Phillips delivers a wooden performance as Arthur.
And that’s a shame, because few stories have as much potential for capturing an audience’s imagination and pulling on its heartstrings. Camelot is about the noblest of aspirations, the struggle to harness our destructive impulses and enlist them in aid of a higher cause. The romantic triangle among Arthur, Guenevere and Lancelot is compelling precisely because the personal drama mirrors the larger struggle. Arthur’s battle to subdue the evil in himself is a small example of his effort to make might serve right, to make the strong the defenders of the weak.
What is so touching isn’t Arthur’s occasional and very human failings, but the fact that he never gives up trying.
This is rich material, but it is sadly undeveloped in the current version of Camelot. Michael Lerner has said in interviews that he felt that there was a jarring disjunction in tone between the light, romantic first act and the darkness of the show’s second half. His solution is to greatly compress the latter, which robs it of much of its pathos. Arthur is forced by the very system of laws that he created to put the love of his life and his best friend on trial for their lives. It is his greatest test – and it goes by, through narration and mostly off-stage, in the blink of an eye.
No wonder Phillips’ performance seems so lackluster. His singing voice never has been his strong suit, and at times, Phillips visibly struggles to stay in tune. But that isn’t the real problem; Arthur always has been more a role for an actor than a singer. It’s just that Phillips seems so uninvolved. He never seems on fire with either passion for his wife or for his great idea. He never seems gripped by jealousy, and the conflict between his anger and his compassion is won so easily by the latter that we never really believe much is at stake.
Though they lack Phillips’ name recognition, Rachel de Benedet (Guenevere) and Matt Bogart (Lancelot) deliver superior performances. During the pair’s illicit rendezvous, when they sing the haunting “If Ever I Would Leave You,” the show briefly becomes alive with all the sense of monument and poignancy that has been missing for the previous two hours.
De Benedet has a regal presence and a lovely, clear soprano. During the course of the show, her journey from selfish girl to a queen capable of sacrifice is entirely believable.
As for Bogart, he brings to his portrayal of the French knight a resonance that may have been lost on audiences in 1960, when Camelot initially was staged.
Lancelot is humorless and grandiose. He is utterly dedicated to a cause for which he would gladly give his life. He is, in his own words, a fanatic.
In the 1960s, audiences would have unquestioningly admired someone with such strong convictions. In 2008, though, such fervor gives us pause.
Camelot continues at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, 12 N. Eutaw St., through April 6. Show times are 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 2 p.m., 8 p.m. Saturdays; and 1 p.m., 6:30 p.m. Sundays. Tickets cost $25-$70. Call 410-547-7328 or go to www.france-merrickpac.com.
Above: Photo of Lou Diamond Phillips as King Arthur by Craig Schwartz
Alexander Kobrin, the Russian-born pianist who took the gold at the 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, will give a free recital April 13 at Har Sinai Congregation in Owings Mills. I was in Fort Worth for the finals of that competition and remember well Kobrin's potent combination of effortless virtuosity, beautifully rounded tone and thoughtful, often remarkably poetic phrasing. It's not clear yet if the 28-year-old Korbin will enjoy a long career and all the trappings of stardom (these days, it's hard to find any competition winner who does), but he certainly revealed the potential back in Texas, and it will be interesting to hear him in our fair region. His recital, made possible by the Peggy and Yale Gordon Trust, will focus on music by Beethoven and Chopin.
The performance is at 3 p.m. April 13 at Har Sinai Congregation, 2905 Walnut Ave., Owings Mills. Tickets are free, but must be obtained in advance at Har Sinai (other ticket outlets are Baltimore Hebrew Congregation and Temple Oheb Shalom). More info: 410-654-9393.
Alexander Kobrin performing an Intermezzo by Brahms (from YouTube)
CAPSULE REVIEW | The concept album, a set of songs meant to be digested as a whole, has long become a relic. In an age where more and more folks seemingly prefer their music in byte sizes, pop acts generally don't spend much time crafting albums anymore.
But the Counting Crows pay no attention to the pop conventions of the day. Five years after the rock band's last studio album, 2002's ambitious Hard Candy, the Crows return with Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, in stores today. The CD is packaged like a mini LP, with a gatefold and all. And the songs are supposed to flow like those on classic rock albums.
Here's the concept: Saturday nights, the first half of the 14-track album is brazen, full of surging choruses, and focuses on "sinful" tales of indulgence. Sunday mornings, the second part, is acoustic and musically sparse - the lyrics mostly centering on songs of redemption and self-reflection. Although the concept may sound a bit contrived, the Crows seem inspired. The production, overseen by Gil Norton, is very polished in spots but largely retains an organic, live feel. Standout cuts include the "1492," "Cowboys" and "Anyone But You."
The warbling vocals of Adam Duritz, the Crows' lead singer and chief songwriter, still bristle with Van Morrison influences. And there's still a lot of lyrical navel-gazing. Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings is unmistakenly a Counting Crows record but more tightly crafted. The raucous first half is better, the second part is less consistent.
But the combination still makes for a satisfying listen, a nice return to form.
Laura Linney, whose performance in John Adams is winning rave reviews, says she is embarrassed by how little she knew about America's first vice president and his wife, Abigail, prior to playing Mrs. Adams.
"Taking this role made me really think about what I really knew about my history as an American," Linney said today. "When I think about John Adams, I knew: a) he was married to a woman named Abigail, b) they wrote lots of letters to each other, and c) he was part of the Declaration of Independence. And, yeah, I knew he was president. And that's about it, which is embarrassing quite frankly, when you start to be exposed to all this material and realize how important it is to us as Americans."
One of the keys to understanding Abigail Adams, according to Linney, is that, "Her entire life, she regretted that she wasn't able to have an education (because of 18th century American mores). And she was a far superior writer to her husband, which he admitted. But her grammar's bad, her spelling's terrible, and the handwriting's not very good. So, she always felt that there was injustice there."
Beyond reading David McCullough's Pulitzer-Prize-winning book on Adams, on which the $100 million seven-hour mini-series is based, Linney said she also learned much about the life of Abigail and her husband from the richness of the HBO production.
"I have never been in a production that had production values this high," the Emmy-Award winning actress, said. "Production design, costume design, props, hair and makeup -- all of that stuff was exceptional. So, we were really able to rely on each other for a lot information. So, I would learn an awful lot from the research that the production designer had done, or a lot from what the props master would show me. So, I knitted that in with the research I had done from David McCullough's book and others that I had gotten my hands on."
One of the biggest challenges was learning the Colonial American dialect that the characters speak.
"The dialect was something that it really took us a while to zero on," says Linney, "because no one really knew what they sounded like. There are experts in this field who believe it was that crossover between British and American and what would eventually become that Yankee accent. And, then, she was slightly higher class than John Adams. So, once Paul Giamatti (who plays Adams) had his accent, I sort of based my accent on his, but pitched it up a little bit."
Linney, who will appear next on Broadway in Les Liaisons Dangereuses (May 1), says she's delighted with the warm critical response and solid ratings the mini-series has received - especially given producer Tom hanks' commitment to accurate history at all costs.
"I'm so thrilled that people are seeming to like John Adams so much. It's nice -- really nice -- because the standards are so high on this production. And when something with high standards succeeds, it makes it easier for all of us to do good work."
From UniSun Editor Karlayne Parker ...
Tyler Perry may not be the best filmmaker, he never wins top Hollywood awards, but his movies continue to bring in top dollar at the box office.
His latest, Meet the Browns, opened this weekend and brought in $20 million, second only to Horton Hears a Who!, which is in its second week.
Browns stars Angela Bassett and former Los Angeles Laker forward Rick Fox. Other familiar characters from Perry's movies, plays and the television show, House of Payne on TBS also drop in. The movie follows the comic, spiritual, and dramatic discoveries of a single mother who meets a side of her family she never knew.
Perry's Madea character makes a five-minute cameo in this movie, a commercial of sorts to reveal his next movie out later this year - Madea Goes to Jail.
Perry has a huge following in Baltimore. His latest play, The Marriage Counselor comes to the Murphy Fine Arts Center at Morgan State University, Tuesday through Sunday. Times vary. Tickets are $35.50 to $45.50. Information: 443-885-4440.
Above: Photo from Meet The Browns from Lionsgate Entertainment
