Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Obit., a documentary about writing coming to the Strand

Saturday, August 26 at 7 PM


Cast
Bruce Weber 
Margalit Fox 
William McDonald 
William Grimes 
Douglas Martin 
Paul Vitello 
Jeff Roth 


Crew
Directed by Vanessa Gould



It's a shame no one wants to talk to them at parties, because obituary writers are a surprisingly funny bunch. Ten hours before newspapers hit neighborhood doorsteps—and these days, ten minutes before news hits the web—an obit writer is racing against deadline to sum up a long and newsworthy life in under 1000 words. The details of these lives are then deposited into the cultural memory amid the daily beat of war, politics, and football scores. 
Obit. is the first documentary to explore the world of these writers and their subjects, focusing on the legendary team at The New York Times, who approach their daily work with journalistic rigor and narrative flair. Going beyond the byline and into the minds of those chronicling life after death on the freshly inked front lines of history, the film invites some of the most essential questions we ask ourselves about life, memory, and the inevitable passage of time. What do we choose to remember? What never dies?


Advance tickets available at Highway 61 Coffeehouse: $5
At the door: $7


Monday, August 14, 2017

The Princess Bride 30th Anniversary

Returning to the Strand (for the first time) it's the 30th anniversary of the movie that never grows old:

The Princess Bride
Saturday, August 19 at 7 PM


"Life isn’t fair, it’s just fairer than death, that’s all."

Starring:
Robin Wright
Cary Elwes
Peter Falk
Mandy Patinkin
Chris Sarandon
Christopher Guest
Wallace Shawn
André the Giant
Fred Savage
Peter Cook
Mel Smith
Carol Kane
Billy Crystal
and, a lot more...

"Inconceivable!"

Advance Tickets are available at Highway 61 Coffeehouse for $6 / $8 at the door.

"I’ve got my country’s 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it; I’m swamped."

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Sunday Opera - Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera

Westside Theatre Foundation and Rising Alternative present
UN BALLO IN MASCHERA

Giuseppe Verdi

Sunday, August 13 at 2 PM


Opera in 3 acts - Sung in Italian

From the Bayerische Staatsoper
Recorded in 2016

CREATIVE TEAM
Conductor Zubin Mehta
Director Johannes Erath

Chorus Chorus of Bayerische Staatsoper
Orchestra Bayerisches Staatsorchester

ARTISTIC TEAM
Riccardo Piotr Beczala
Renato George Petean
Amelia Anja Harteros
Ulrica Okka von der Damerau
Oscar Sofia Fomina
Silvano Andrea Borghini
Samuel Anatoli Sivko
Tom Scott Conner
A judge Ulrich Reß
Amelia's servant Joshua Owen Mills


Presentation

Praise for Munich’s new Ballo in Maschera: “A formidable vocal feast” (Bayerische Staatszeitung). “The singers sent the audience into raptures (Südwestpresse). “A total triumph” (La Razón). “This production shows what a utopia opera can be” (Abendzeitung).
The Bavarian State Opera’s former music director Zubin Mehta returned to the fabled house (where his image in bronze adorns one of the foyers) to celebrate his 80th birthday conducting
Verdi’s middle-period masterpiece for the first time in a staged production. His remarkable cast includes soprano Anja Harteros singing Amelia for the first time and “filling every note with Verdian intensity”, tenor Piotr Beczala as a “visually and vocally dashing Riccardo” and George Petean as an “exemplary” Renato (Neue Musikzeitung). In director Johannes Erath’s musically super-sensitive new production, this historically-based tale of illicit love, conspiracy and betrayal unfolds in a surrealistic, shadowy setting transformed by lighting and projections. Special praise was showered by the enthusiastic critics on Maestro Mehta, who “creates concentrated musical connections, miraculously guiding his orchestra and unsurpassable voices the way a thermal lifts a paraglider [...] Musically the performance was a dream” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).

$15 Advance tickets available at Highway 61 Coffeehouse
$18 at the door

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Free Hitchcock / Free Popcorn

Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train

Free!
Saturday, August 12 at 7 PM


Ten years before Psycho, there was Strangers on a Train.

Before that famous shower there was a merry-go-round, a pair of broken glasses, a tennis match in the bright sun, a cigarette lighter...and before Norman Bates, there was Bruno.

Another free masterpiece from the Master of Suspense. The story of two men who meet on a train and decide to switch murders. Or at least Robert Walker's Bruno does. 

Join us for Free Hitchcock & Free Popcorn, but come early to get a seat.


See the trailer: 

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