Reviews: Artery, Indy Week

Star Trek Into Darkness is cute but insubstantial

Neil Morris — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:38:00 -0400

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

Opens Friday (see times below)

The title Star Trek Into Darkness remains just as nebulous by the time the closing credits roll as it does during a chase prologue along the Class M Planet of Nibiru. Fortunately, director J.J. Abrams inadvertently provides a number of alternate titles along the way.…

A loopy musical send-up with a heart: this Drowsy Chaperone's no sleeper

Byron Woods — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:58:00 -0400

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE

North Carolina Theatre
Through May 12

Musical theater fans can be quite rigid in their tastes, and even more so once they’ve reached a certain age. Take this tart little number, whom I encountered the other night in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium.…

Canned ham: More Downey, less Iron Man

Neil Morris — Fri, 03 May 2013 09:15:00 -0400

IRON MAN 3

Opens today

In every conceivable way, Tony Stark’s foe in Iron Man 3 is himself. It starts with an enemy born of Stark’s chronic dickishness, a spurned fan-turned-supervillain not unlike Buddy Pine-cum-Syndrome in The Incredibles.…

(Far) too much of a good thing: Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at DPAC

Byron Woods — Thu, 02 May 2013 18:43:00 -0400

PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT

Durham Performing Arts Center
Through May 5

Its characters may or may not be the kind of folks they used to warn some of us about back on the farm.

But PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT is most definitely the kind of show they warned me about in grad school.…

Making Stravinsky human through spoken word and song

Emma D. Miller — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 09:56:00 -0400

Spring Training

PRC2
Kenan Theatre
Closes April 28

Universes, the Bronx-based performance troupe that fuses spoken word, song, rhythm and theater, epitomizes the concept of arts-as-multidisciplinary. The performers who comprise Universes—all of whom are persons of color—serve as storytellers and poets and music-makers.…

Contrived horrors after fathers never come back home: Young Jean Lee's LEAR at Duke Theater Studies

Byron Woods — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 19:32:36 -0400

LEAR

Duke Theater Studies
Sheafer Lab Theater
closed April 14
In the current PlayMakers Rep production of Cabaret, would-be American novelist Clifford Bradshaw says that 1932 Berlin is “like a bunch of kids playing in their room—getting wilder and wilder—and knowing any minute their parents are going to come home.”

Young Jean Lee’s LEAR has a similar feel to it, with one marked exception: In this case, the parents are never coming home—not after King Lear and Gloucester, the fathers of the quintet we ultimately see on stage, have both been stripped of all power and banished to the storm, presumably to their deaths in this interpretation.

In the absence of such gods, the children in this bizarre redraft have already turned quite feral.…

A problematic Elektra, on the trail of a generational dilemma

Byron Woods — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 10:17:00 -0400

ELEKTRA
2 stars (out of 5)
Chip Rodgers
Meredith Studio Theater
Through Apr. 14

I love it when a theater review heralds the arrival of a new artist or a new work of art.

Sorry, but this isn’t one of those.…

It's a sweaty, chaotic ride to The Place Beyond the Pines

Nathan Gelgud — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:27:00 -0400

The Place Beyond the Pines

Now playing

Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines is a tattered melodrama that reaches fevered pitches out of nowhere and ambles with confidence through its baggy plot. It’s a sweaty ride, shifting in and out of rapid speeds that come in spurts, a lot like Ryan Gosling on his getaway motorbike, zipping through Schenectady, N.Y., against oncoming traffic to suddenly curve off onto a damp side street.…

Here's to you, Jackie Robinson: A flawed take on a baseball great in 42

Nathan Gelgud — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 17:47:00 -0400

42

Opens Friday (see times below)

“You’re medicine, Jack!” growls Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, in writer-director Brian Helgeland’s 42. He’s talking, of course, to Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman), the Negro League player whom he’s hired to play in the big leagues, breaking baseball’s color barrier.…

6 Souls is beyond salvation

Craig D. Lindsey — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:01:00 -0400

6 SOULS

Now playing (see times below)

Movies like 6 Souls, which creeps into theaters and VOD sites, remind me how psychological thrillers or supernatural thrillers or thrillers period are always tricky to pull off. These flicks always must walk a tightrope of staying intensely, viscerally plausible without falling off and descending into complete ridiculousness.…

Lush life: Anything Goes is a dazzling, old-fashioned romp

Emma D. Miller — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 09:10:00 -0400

ANYTHING GOES
* * * * 1/2 stars
@ DPAC
Through March 24

“Times have changed,” croons dazzling nightclub star Reno Sweeney in the title song of Anything Goes. “The world has gone mad today and good’s bad today.”

Maybe so, but the touring production of this Broadway revival shows that some good things have staying power.…

Eleven paintings and a giant vagina: Robin Walker at the Carrack

Chris Vitiello — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 14:24:00 -0500

“Decorative” is a bit of a dirty word in the art world. It’s why we say “interior decorators” instead of something like “décor artists.” In galleries and museums, the word “ornamental” is preferred, describing artwork that incorporates motifs from traditional crafts, fashion or architecture into a larger statement or meaning.…

Take it from us: Monty Python's Spamalot is for fans and non-fans alike

Emma D. Miller — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:08:00 -0500

SPAMALOT
* * * * stars
NC Theatre
@ Raleigh Memorial Auditorium

A confession: I never totally understood the "classic" status of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I remember watching it for the first time in seventh grade at my friend’s house, and I remember how bewildered I was as she howled and quoted every line.…

Some assembly required? Meow Meow in Beyond Glamour at PSI Theatre

Byron Woods — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 14:54:00 -0500

BEYOND GLAMOUR
Meow Meow
3.5 stars (out of 5)
PSI Theatre, Durham Arts Council
Through Feb. 14

It doesn’t always look that way, I know. But critics usually don’t go to a show for the purpose of basking in their own smugness and perceived superiority over the material, the genre, the company or the audience.…

Endless vacation: Good Day to Die Hard knows why you bought your ticket

Nathan Gelgud — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:37:00 -0500

A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD
* * * stars
Opens today (see times below)

Supercop John McClane wants everybody to know he’s on vacation. So when he gets hit by a car or shot at by a helicopter or finds himself running from the fire of 10 machine guns, he screams at his attackers “I’m on vacation!”

There’s a lot of gunfire and crashing cars in A Good Day to Die Hard.…

What the ocean saw: David Gatten's films at NCSU

Chris Vitiello — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:31:00 -0500

DAVID GATTEN FILM SCREENING AND DISCUSSION
N.C. State University
Caldwell Hall G107, 2221 Hillsborough St.
Fri., Feb. 15, 5-7:30 p.m.

This is the true story of how the ocean made a movie.

To be more precise, filmmaker David Gatten collaborated on a movie with the Atlantic Ocean, where the Edisto River empties its freshwater into the ocean’s salt along the South Carolina coast.…

Mary Poppins is witty and colorful, if not supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Zack Smith — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 14:37:00 -0500

MARY POPPINS
* * * 1/2 stars
Through Feb. 17
Durham Performing Arts Center

The touring production of the stage musical version of Disney's Mary Poppins, co-created by Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera hitmaker Cameron Mackintosh and appearing at the Durham Performing Arts Center through Feb. 17, is an odd experience, depending on which version of Mary Poppins you know. If you're mostly familiar with the 1964 film with Julie Andrews, this version jettisons many of the songs, scenes and plot points, creates a completely different conflict for the second act and adds a handful of new characters, including a nemesis for the titular magic nanny.…

Identity Thief steals nothing but time and joy

Craig D. Lindsey — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:21:00 -0500

IDENTITY THIEF
1 star
Opens Friday in theaters everywhere

For a movie that’s billed as a comedy, Identity Thief certainly leaves you with an empty feeling. Then again, the movie is about a con artist who steals from a dude who doesn’t even know he’s being jacked.…

Rites without seasons: Bill T. Jones and Anne Bogart's A Rite at Memorial Hall

Byron Woods — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:23:27 -0500

A RITE
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
SITI Company
Memorial Hall, UNC
Closed January 26

Some rites are seasonal. It's a fact those who've spent any part of their lives in close contact with the land know, intimately.…

Closing Sunday at NC Museum of Art: Project 35: Volume II

Amy White — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 17:48:00 -0500

PROJECT 35 — Volume II
North Carolina Museum of Art
Part II closes Jan. 13
Part III Jan. 20-March 24
Part IV April 2—June 2

When it comes to good art, sometimes late is better than never.…

Leave 'em wanting more: Deborah Cox sparkles, briefly, in Jekyll and Hyde at DPAC

Chris Vitiello — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 16:40:00 -0500

Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical
* * 1/2 stars
Durham Performing Arts Center
Through Jan. 13
Tickets $35-$95

If you’re not a Deborah Cox fan, you’ll probably become one if you see Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical at the Durham Performing Arts Center this week. The Grammy-nominated R&B star pushes the rest of the cast out of the way with her round, rich voice and nuanced singing.…

A bittersweet ballroom: Million Dollar Quartet at DPAC

Byron Woods — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 11:47:00 -0500

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET
4 stars (out of 5)
DPAC
Through Dec. 9

The live band is cooking, and dead ringers for the first generation of rockabilly royalty nail rave-ups from “Who Do You Love” to “Great Balls of Fire.” But even at its full (and considerable) force, the 2007 jukebox musical Million Dollar Quartet seems haunted by something surprising, given the supposed durability of the subject matter. It’s hard not to conclude that Floyd Mutrux and Colin Escott’s book ultimately celebrates—and mourns—its evanescence.…

Skyfall, the latest Bond flick, brings pleasures both familiar and fresh

Neil Morris — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 10:13:00 -0500

SKYFALL
*** stars
Opens today

During the latter half of Skyfall, Judi Dench’s M, testifying before a bureaucratic inquest, declares that today’s true threats to safety and security are “individuals, not nations.”

Punctuated by a passage from Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” the expertly edited scene plays like a commentary on our post-Bin Laden world. However, the megalomaniac or terrorist-led organization was always the central villain throughout Ian Fleming’s James Bond books and the now-50 years of films they spawned, unlike most of Fleming’s Cold War spy novel counterparts.…

Catch Me If You Can soars on live jumping jive—before a bumpy landing...

Byron Woods — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 09:08:00 -0500

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
3.5 stars (out of 5)
Broadway Series South/NC Theatre
Through Nov. 11

Frank Abagnale’s life story, vividly related in the jazzy Broadway musical Catch Me If You Can, beggars belief. A prodigy as an adolescent (albeit at check kiting and gaming various mechanisms in the American financial system), before age 18 he’d rung up well over $1 million dollars in multiple bank frauds.…

The minimalist, highly personal multimedia pioneer Meredith Monk at Duke; final performance tonight

Kate Dobbs Ariail — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 13:15:00 -0400

MEREDITH MONK
Nov. 2-3
Duke Performances, Reynolds Industries Theater

Multimedia mama Meredith Monk has been at Duke on a residency for two weeks, and last night presented a show in Reynolds Theater that brought her past into the present. The show repeats tonight—who knows when you might have another opportunity to see and hear the woman so important to the beginnings of a strain of art that we take for granted today.…