December 2007 - Posts
ckelly
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The it musical comedy Menopause: The Musical will return to 14th Street Playhouse on February 22 by popular demand. After 635 performances from April 2005 – February 2007 made it the longest-running musical in Atlanta history, the show will be back for a limited engagement. Inspired by a hot flash and a bottle of wine, this hilarious musical rendition of “the change” has been entertaining and educating women from coast-to-coast for more than five years. From the work of writer Jeanie Linders, the show is a 90-minute production, which includes re-lyricized tunes from the 60’s and 70’s that will have women -- and men -- laughing out loud in their seats! Performances are Wednesday through Sunday, with matinees on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. and evening performances on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m. and on Saturdays at 5:30 p.m. An additional, one-time Sunday evening show will be featured at 5:30 p.m. on February 24.Tickets for all performances are $42.50 and can be purchased at the theatre box office, by calling 404.733.4750 or you can visit www.menopausethemusical.com. Discounts for groups of 15+ are available by calling 404.606.2323. The 14th Street Playhouse is located at 173 14th Street in Atlanta.
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If you've never been to Composition Gallery in Candler Park (and why haven't you?), this is the perfect time. The gallery, located at 1388 McLendon Ave., is having its second annual Holiday Print and Gift Sale for the next two weekends (Dec. 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23). There will photography by Women In Focus, Atlanta's non-profit artist-initiated womens photography group, as well as handmade jewelry and gift items. It would also be a good opportunity to see the new show, Translations: Photographs by Dan Chung. www.compositiongallery.com.
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The Atlanta Bicycle Campaign is moving downtown, and it's doing so on bikes. On Saturday, December 15, volunteers will pedal the organization out of its current offices in a church basement to its new offices at 233 Mitchell Street in downtown Atlanta. ABC members and volunteers, including the Atlanta Intown Touring Club, will use panniers, bike trailers, baskets and messenger bags to make the Move By Bike happen. ABC will also host a basement sale that will include some items of interest to cyclists along with office supplies and furniture. Volunteers and staff of the nonprofit bicycle advocate will move heavier items, such as furniture and electronic equipment, by FlexCar. "Move by Bike" is part of a two-pronged agenda to 1) raise the organization's visibility with decision-makers and government agencies, and 2) weave environmentally friendly practices into its daily operations. The Atlanta Bicycle Campaign is Atlanta's largest member-based bicycle advocacy organization. ABC advocates for better conditions for biking, provides Confident City Cycling classes that teach people to ride safely, offers programs to break down the barriers to biking, educates drivers and cyclists on how share the road, and strives to make Atlanta a bike-friendly community. Visit www.atlantabike.org for more information.
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I went to see Margot at the Wedding, Noah Baumbach's new film starring Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh as estranged sisters. The movie is polarizing critics in that "love it or hate it" sorta way. I loved it. Baumbach, who wrote and directed The Squid and The Whale, has an ear for devastating dialogue. His characters wield words like cutting instruments and watching Kidman and Leigh slice and dice each other is both difficult to watch and liberating. Critics who don't like the film have said the two sisters are so loathsome as to be unwatchable. Completely untrue.
Kidman plays Margot, a writer who has mined her families tragedies and foibles to create numerous bestsellers while living a heady, literary life in Manhattan. Her sister, Pauline (Leigh), is just as smart, but has gone down a different path. She still lives in the family home, located on some Bergman-esque seashore that is never identified. Pauline is getting married to a jobless loser named Malcolm (Jack Black mostly out of his depth) and invites Margot to the wedding. The two haven't seen each other in years and it's suggested that Margot only accepted the invitation to see an ex-lover living nearby and to find a new topic for her next novel. When she meets Malcolm, Margot sets about trying to talk her sister out of the marriage. "He's not ugly," Margot says sweetly, "he's just completely unattractive. We were ignoring guys like him when we were sixteen."
The plot is mostly seen from Margot's androgynous adolescent son, Claude, who she treats like an adult, complete with cutting remarks about his manners, appearance and lack of ambition. It's Kidman's best role since The Hours and she finds an amazing balance between the character's vulnerability and nearly pathological need to one up everyone and everything. Kidman's not running around like a loony -- she often underplays it and lets her expressive face and Baumbach's searing dialogue do the work for her. This is also Leigh's best role in ages, a smarter variation on the usual "prostitute on pills" character that has become her trademark.
It's not an easy film to watch, mainly because it cuts so close to the bone on the dynamics of dysfunctional families. The ending will leave a few people perplexed, but it's a better than expected resolution without neatly tying up all the strings. Give it a shot.
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