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We told you the story of Joseph Pujol, who made a good living by farting onstage in Paris over a hundred years ago. Now that story is a off-Broadaway musical! The Fartiste opened last week at Sofia’s Downstairs dinner theater.
It might be lowbrow humor at its lowest, but it gets laughs. Why? Unfortunately the cast and crew can’t say. You just have to have an open mind … and open nostrils.
“I love fart jokes and I think that everyone should,” said Charlie Schulman, who wrote the show’s book. “It’s one of those things in life that makes people laugh, but I don’t know why.”
More flatulent sound effects fill the air of the Manhattan dinner theater where the show opened last week than at a Whoopee cushion factory.
“You could be at a funeral, and if somebody farts, people will laugh,” said Steven Scott, a standup comedian who produces every gassy sound in “The Fartiste” with his mouth. “There’s just something funny about it.”
So far, the show has received good reviews. Link
(Image credit: Carol Rosegg)
The folks at Old Murder House Theater have created some great productions that are more akin to B movies than live theater. Their newest live play is a performance of the science fiction 1980’s “classic” Robocop. Check out the video at the link.
Darren Aronofsky no longer needs to remake the Paul Verhoeven masterpiece, RoboCop, a movie so entrenched in our collective subconscious that its dystopian future may have influenced the downfall of the Detroit more than the collapse of the auto industry. Instead, we can all be satisfied with this strange monster: a live production based on the film RoboCop, with sets made entirely from cardboard.
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The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema enforces old-fashioned theater etiquette. They have two rules: no talking during a movie, and no phone usage. After a woman was ejected from the theater for texting during a film, she left an angry voice mail. The theater promptly turned her message into a public service announcement. In discussions at the Drafthouse site, Roger Ebert’s blog, SlashFilm, reddit, Fark, and Metafilter, most commenters applaud the theater for enforcing silence during films. Link (video at the site contains unedited NSFW language)
Charlie took his sister Ginny to the movies. What Charlie knew, but Ginny didn’t, was that Ginny’s boyfriend Matt had bought a slot during the previews. And we have her reaction on video during the whole thing. -via reddit
Actor George Takei spent World War II in a U.S. internment camp as a child. He is set to star in the production Allegiance – A New American Musical about a family who went through the same experience, with a workshop scheduled at The Old Globe Theater in July. To raise money for the theater, Takei is selling a ringtone featuring his personal catch phrase: “Ohhh Myyy!” Link
In this Japanese theater production, a sword fight breaks out between our hero, portrayed by Taichi Saotome {wiki}, and the shadows that lurk around us. Creativity, special effects, and precision choreography come together to make something special. -via The Daily What
Buttered popcorn and Raisinettes are standard fare in U.S. movie theaters. In cities you can get nachos and pizza slices. But what do people in other countries munch on while watching previews of coming attractions? Several countries enjoy fish-based snacks. In India, potato dishes are common at the movies.
For Bollywood fans, Indian fare like samosas (potato-stuffed pastries), chaat (fried dough with potato, bread or chickpeas and tangy spices with yogurt garnish) and vada (a spiced potato sandwich) are the movie snacks of choice. Psst: You can also get them at cinemas in the U.S., like Columbia Park Stadium 12 in North Bergen, New Jersey.
Read about ten types of international treats at Woman’s Day. Link -via the Presurfer
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Even for Buenos Aires, the Ateneo Grand Splendid is a big name for a business. From the looks of it, this bookstore is both grand AND splendid! Yes, it was built as a theater, in 1919. The conversion to a bookstore in 2000 was done with care to preserve the grandeur of the original theater. See more pictures at 91 Days. Link -Thanks, Juergen!
A Klingon Christmas play? Yes! After a run in St. Paul, A Klingon Christmas Carol is on the marquee at the Greenhouse Theater in Chicago until December 19th. Scrooge, the ghosts, and even Tiny Tim are there, albeit underneath Klingon makeup. The play, produced by the theater company Commedia Beauregard, is presented entirely in the Klingon language. See more pictures and watch a promotional video at Kuriositas. Link
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The show must go on, even though the actors don’t get paid, and even though the audience is there for only a few seconds each week. A group of performers in Chicago stage a skit on a rooftop for the commuters on the the Brown Line of the El, between Armitage and Sedgwick.
Turns out, every Wednesday from 5 to 6 p.m., these three friends put on a new skit atop the four-story parking garage for the Brown Line passengers who pass by.
On this particular Wednesday, the actors were indeed performing an original skit about Frankenstein and a mad scientist.
“Look at me, look me in the eyes Frankenstein,” said the actor playing the mad scientist, during a performance. (Of course, no one on the el could hear the words, but the actors’ actions pretty much explained the scene.)
“Argh, argh, argh!” said Frankenstein.
The three actors go by the name of CTA Theater, and they’ve been performing for riders for six months, every single week, just to make people happy. Riders who catch their show say they love the performances, no matter how short. Link -Thanks, Jeff!
A woman in China has done what many of us would like to do. Chen Xiaomei, a lawyer in Xian, Shaanxi province is suing a movie theater and a film distributor for wasting her time by playing twenty minutes of advertising before a film.
Chen Xiaomei claims she was unreasonably treated by the cinema’s owners and the distributors of the film she went to see, because she was not warned there would be 20 minutes of adverts prior to the screening of the main feature. She is demanding a full refund (35 yuan), an extra 35 yuan in compensation for emotional damages and a written apology, reports the Xinhua agency.
In addition, Xiaomei is calling for the Polybona International cinema in the northern city of Xian to publish the length of advertisements on its website, in the lobby or on its customer hotline. In total, they should be less than five minutes, she says.
The film was Aftershock, a big hit in China. Chen’s lawsuit has been accepted by the People’s Court in Xian. Link
-via Arbroath
The most beautiful theaters in the world are captured in photographs by David Laventi in a series called Opera. Link -via Holy Kaw!
Image Credit: Flickr user bound_4_freedom
I miss going to the drive-in, a movie experience unlike any other yet a quickly disappearing icon of early American car culture. The differences between going to a drive-in and a regular theater are numerous. I remember looking around at other screens when the movie I was watching grew slow, the obligatory repeat visits to the concession stand, even sneaking in via the trunk to save a few bucks.
When real estate became too valuable, these operations were forced out for development, and they just started vanishing. Even improving the audio experience -by replacing those awkward, often broken speakers with a signal beamed to the local AM/FM band- hasn’t stopped the extinction. Even the film world is somewhat devoid of scenes involving one, but there are a handful that I can think of.
Heat
Warner Bros.
The Centinela Drive-In in Los Angeles was already closed up when Michael Mann filmed this scene for Heat there. The rows of small inclines, placed there so patrons could angle their cars up for premium viewing experience, make for some exciting driving as the characters react to a violent double-cross. The land is now a middle class development. More Heat filming locations at the link, and nine more examples after the jump.
The two great theaters of Elizabethan London were the Rose, where Christoper Marlowe’s plays were performed, and the Globe, home to the works attributed to Shaksper. Ongoing archaeological work at the sites is revealing information not only about the structures, but also about the theatergoers seated in the galleries and milling about the stage.
“Food remains and seeds indicate that the preferred snacks were oysters, crabs, mussels, periwinkles and cockles. Walnuts, hazelnuts, plums, cherries, peaches, dried raisins and figs were also popular…”
The distribution of food remains over the site suggested that there was a class divide in the consumption of snacks. [Museum of London archaeologist Julian] Bowsher explained that remains found underneath the gallery seating suggested that the wealthier classes munched on crabs and sturgeon, as well as imported treats like peaches and dried figs. Meanwhile, oyster shells were found scattered all over the yard area, where commoners stood.
“At that time, oysters were indeed the staple diet of the poor,” Bowsher said.
Link. Image credit: Museum of London Archaeology
Open air theaters are usually associated with the cultures of ancient Rome and Greece but the tradition is still going strong in the windswept but beautiful landscape of Cornwall in the United Kingdom. Although it resembles an ancient artifact, the Minack Theater is less than a hundred years old! It is made of solid stone and perched directly over the sea, so it will probably see Shakespearean productions for centuries to come.
(image credit: Flickr user Fimb)
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Photo: Futurestar Entertainment Group
Mask Changing (or Face Changing) is an ancient Chinese tradition in theater, used to indicate a character’s shift in mood and demeanor. Accompanied by fan flourishes and other methods of obscuring the actor’s face, masks are changed with lightning speed. He Hongqing is considered one of the best. Check out the video at BBC.
Oobject captures the majesty and opulence that once defined theater archiecture, and the sadness of their current emptiness in this gallery of urban decay photography. The theater pictured here is in Hellingly Asylum, Sussex.
Theaters are a relic of the past. Don’t believe me? Look at drive-in movie theaters and the shakespearean stage. They simply don’t exist in modern America anymore, save for a relic or three buried in a small town somewhere. This list pays tribute to the thespians and films of the past century, to their writers and directors and to the actors who made them happen.
(image credit: Flickr user Howzey)
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29-year-old James Joseph Cialella was arrested in Philadelphia Thursday night for shooting another patron at a movie theater because the man and his family were talking during the movie.
Police said Cialella told the man’s family to be quiet, then threw popcorn at the man’s son. The victim, whom television reports identified as Woffard Lomax, told police that Cialella was walking toward his family when he stood up and was shot.
Detectives called to the United Artists Riverview Stadium theater in South Philadelphia found Cialella carrying the weapon, a .380-caliber handgun, in his waistband, police said.
Lt. Frank Vanore called the incident “scary that it gets to that level of violence from being too noisy during a movie.”
The 31-year-old victim was released from the hospital and had no comment. Cialella faces six charges, including attempted murder. Link -Thanks, Geekazoid!
(image credit: Philadelphia Police Department)
