All posts by Zack Smith
Zack Smith ·
5 Mar 2010, 6:08 PM ·
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Jodi Picoult (Photo by Gaspar Tringale)
On the phone about her appearance at Meredith College on March 8, Jodi Picoult is friendly, bubbly and frequently laughing. There’s no indication of the misery and tragedy visited upon the characters in her best-selling novels, including My Sister’s Keeper, Handle With Care and her latest, House Rules, which hit bookstores on Tuesday.
Picoult’s novels often involve such horrors as school shootings, execution, infanticide, date rape, sexual abuse, suicide pacts and more. The tales frequently combine courtroom drama with deeply flawed characters that don’t always make it through the story intact. (On the other hand, last year’s film of My Sister’s Keeper angered many fans of the book by cutting the last tragic twist, something Picoult says she was unhappy about.)
Though she’s closer to her characters than anyone else, Picoult has few qualms about what they go through in each book. “I don’t really feel bad about it, though very often I want to slap them. I want to say, ‘God, can’t you see the bigger picture?’” Picoult says with a laugh. “I wish they’d make better decisions, but if they did, I wouldn’t have much of a book.”
House Rules, Picoult’s 17th novel since 1992, deals with a teenager with Asperger syndrome who is accused of murder. The story uses the crime as a window into the teenager’s life and the effect his condition has on his family.
Picoult said that the idea for the story came from discussions with an attorney about how the legal system breaks down when there are problems with communication. “That got me thinking about what would happen if you had some sort of disability that made it difficult to communicate with law enforcement,” says Picoult, who has an autistic cousin.
“There’s always some kind of disconnect when someone who is autistic is brought in before a judge, or the police, or anyone in law enforcement, and I thought that was something people should know about.”
To research House Rules, Picoult not only shadowed CSIs, but met with nearly 50 children with Asperger’s and their parents, combining face-to-face interviews with a detailed survey.
Picoult says the surveys yielded hundreds of pages. “Many of the observations went into the book, because they said it better than I could myself.”
“The thing about a kid with Asperger’s is that while they might have trouble talking to you, if you ask them to write something down, they’re incredibly articulate, because they’re very bright, once you take away that fluster of being in a social situation,” Picoult says. “It’s one reason the Internet has been so important to people with Asperger’s, because in chat rooms, you don’t have to look anyone in the eye.”
Picoult has already completed her next book, a tale of embryo donation and gay rights called Seeing You Home, which will include a CD featuring songs “sung” by the main character (actually an actor-musician, of course). She believes the secret to her writing is the focus on the characters. “I think what attracts a reader is emotional honesty,” Picoult says. “Most readers can tell when a character doesn’t ring true, or the contrary, where the character rings so true that it almost hurts to read that part of the book. I think if you write with emotionally honesty, you can write about almost anything at all and you’ll be able to take an audience with you.”
Jodi Picoult appears at Jones Auditorium at Meredith College at 7:30 p.m. on March 8 to read from and sign copies of House Rules. This is a ticketed event; tickets are available with purchase of House Rules or her other works. For more information, call 528-1588 or visit www.quailridgebooks.com.
Interviews, Reading Aspergers syndrome, House Rules, Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper, Quail Ridge Books & Music
Zack Smith ·
25 Feb 2010, 2:48 PM ·
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THE WINTER’S TALE
Peace College
Through Feb. 27; www.peace.edu
The Winter’s Tale is one of William Shakespeare’s last and less-performed plays, and it’s easy to see why. It’s literally half tragedy and half comedy, with a dark, vengeance-filled first opening act that gives way to a second act filled with songs and romantic misunderstandings; the meaning of the title comes courtesy of a charming child who will soon die: “A sad tale’s best for winter: I have one/ of sprites and goblins.”
The new production of The Winter’s Tale at Peace College’s Leggett Theatre, co-directed by Kenny Gannon and Flynt Burton, offers intriguing insights into this relatively obscure work of Shakespeare, although the production’s eccentric design choices occasionally obscure the meaning of particular scenes.
This play, which was first performed around 1611, encompasses the classic Shakespearean themes of tragedy, prophecy, mistaken identity, tragic pride, disguises, young lovers, fools, kings and reconciliation. Also, in this play, someone gets eaten by a bear. The story opens in Sicilia, where the king, Leontes (Katja Hill), has developed a paranoid conviction that his wife Hermione (Johanna Coats) has cuckolded him with his friend, the Bohemian king Polixenes (Elisabeth Brewer). This results in Leontes’ daughter, Perdita (Cassidy Jane Hutchison), being exiled at birth, subsequent tragedy befalling the king, and many further travails before old wrongs can be rectified.
The all-female production isn’t a problem for the most part, but because all the characters are given gender-neutral blue pajamas, the action becomes difficult to follow in the first act. The use of classical music cues throughout the show also occasionally drags down the action, obscuring the points of some important soliloquies. Things pick up in the second half, though, when the costumes become more specific and the action lightens up (literally and figuratively) as the story moves forward 16 years from a claustrophobic tragedy and we find ourselves in a pastoral romantic comedy in far-off Bohemia.
There are some strong performances throughout this show, which mixes professionals with students: notable among the former are Hill’s implosive work as Leontes, Nicole Quenelle as the lady Paulina, and Emilie Stark-Menneg, who in multiple roles shows off a real talent for physical comedy. Among the students, Aneisha Montague and Sidney Edwards make for a compelling comic duo in the second act, respectively playing a shepherd and his son (accurately called “Clown” in the dramatis personae).
While it’s one of Shakespeare’s odder plays, The Winter’s Tale does have a certain magic in its combination of comedy and tragedy; and, unlike the author’s darker works, this tale ends on a note of redemption. For Shakespeare fans, it’s an opportunity to see one of the Bard’s least-produced plays come alive, and see unique local talents on display.
Reviews, Theater Aneisha Montague, Emilie Stark-Menneg, Flynt Burton, Katja Hill, Kenny Gannon, Nicole Quenelle, Peace College, Sidney Edwards, The Winter's Tale
Zack Smith ·
1 Feb 2010, 4:04 PM ·
1 Comment
XANADU
Raleigh Memorial Auditorium
Jan. 28-31
For a film famously reviewed as “Xana-Don’t,” the ill-fated 1980 Olivia Newton-John/ Gene Kelly musical Xanadu lingers in the mind. True, it helped kill the movie musical, along with the careers of most people involved, but the color, spectacle and sheer wrongness of the whole venture gave it a certain cult appeal. And the Electric Light Orchestra songs weren’t bad, either.
As one who has seen multiple big-screen revivals of Xanadu and even butchered the theme song on a few karaoke nights, it’s a pleasure to report that the stage musical, which premiered on Broadway in 2007 and played through the snowy weekend in Raleigh’s Memorial Auditorium, enraptured both those bored silly by the original movie and those who still recall with fondness its laser-riffic effects and nonsensical storyline.
Said storyline involves Sonny (Max Von Essen), a none-too-bright Venice Beach artist with a propensity for headbands and short-shorts, who finds a new inspiration in Kira (Elizabeth Stanley). Kira happens to be an actual muse-disguised as human with roller skates, leg warmers and a horrible Australian accent, and she encourages Sonny to pursue his dream of opening the ultimate center for the arts … a roller disco. Complications ensue that involve Kira’s jealous sisters (Natasha Yvette Williams and Annie Golden) and a wealthy developer (Larry Marshall).
The deliberate goofiness of Douglas Carter Beane’s book includes a Greek chorus of muses, a love duet in a rolling phone booth, leg warmers as a plot point, a love song performed on a hovering Pegasus and a plethora of ELO songs, many of which Stanley delivers in an uncanny mimic of Newton-John mannerisms. The production calls attention to its own artificiality, with audience members seated on stage and a major character disappearing from the climax…because, it’s pointed out, the actor is already on stage in another role.
More than just a genuinely amusing redo of a flop movie, though, Xanadu is a sly critique on the current state of Broadway musicals that’s still accessible to those who’ve never set foot on the Great White Way. In an age where almost every show is either based on a movie or a collection of repurposed rock oldies, Xanadu uses its muse characters and the movie’s infamous history to poke fun at the lack of originality on stage while reminding the audience that this is a stage musical based on a movie that uses old rock tunes for its soundtrack.
Perhaps there’s still a dearth of original songs and stories on stage, but Xanadu gets plenty of laughs and energy out of what one character calls “the box known as juke.” It’s enough to almost make you want to buy some leg warmers at the gift shop afterward (yes, they’re on sale). Perhaps I won’t be the only one mutilating the theme at the karaoke bar. Xanaduuuu….Xaaaaaaaannnnnadduuuuuuuuuuuu….
Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, Theater Douglas Carter Beane, Electric Light Orchestra, Elizabeth Stanley, Gene Kelly, leg warmers, Max Von Essen, Olivia Newton-John
Zack Smith ·
14 Jan 2010, 3:42 PM ·
1 Comment
Jennifer Coolidge in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call—New Orleans, which plays its final Triangle engagement Thursday, Jan. 14, at the Carolina Theatre in Durham. (Photo courtesy of First Look Pictures)
It took one simple acronym to put Jennifer Coolidge in the public eye: “MILF.” Since her appearance as the teen-deflowering Stifler’s mom in 1999’s American Pie, the actress says she’s been inundated with scripts for “horny mother and trophy wife” roles. But she looks back on the part with fondness: “It’s gotten me a lot of dates.”
Coolidge will appear at Goodnight’s for a stand-up comedy show beginning tonight and continuing through Sunday, though she doesn’t quite know what her set will be: “Probably a lot of weird stories about being an actress.” She should have plenty of those, for the last decade has made her a familiar face in film and TV, particularly in such films as Legally Blonde, A Cinderella Story and Best in Show.
“Kids will go up to me who’ve seen Cinderalla and go ‘Are you a bad witch?’ Sometimes you’ll get someone who goes, ‘You’re the crazy evil lady in Pootie Tang! Someone said they loved the girl I played on an episode of Friends, and I forgot I did Friends. It all becomes a distant memory.”
In the past year, Coolidge has played a hooker on ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager, a plastic surgery addict on Nip/ Tuck, another mom in Gentlemen Broncos, and a small part in Bat Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans for Werner Herzog and Nicolas Cage.
“It’s honestly my favorite film from last year,” says Coolidge, who that both Cage and Herzog were a pleasure to work with, despite their gonzo on-set antics. “I had no idea what it would be like working with Nic Cage, but he’s just such a nice person, a real professional.”
And she’s a big supporter of the film, which is still playing in the Triangle: “I think it’s one of the best movies of the year, and not just because I have a small part in it. Watching it, it was just brilliant. And I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever seen Nic Cage in. He takes such huge risks sometimes, and he just went for it.” She also praises Werner Herzog as “un-Hollywood,” and reveals that despite the outrageous content of his films, he’s “never taken anything stronger than an Aspirin.”
Who would she like to work with? “I always liked Jack Nicholson, and I always hoped one day to get in a movie with him. I’ve always been obsessed with him and Anthony Hopkins. I would love to be like the mother or mentor of Angelina Jolie, or some up-and-coming young actress and show her how to operate the high-powered guns.”
Despite her prolific output, Coolidge says her acting plans this year are unclear.” “I’m doing the standup so I don’t get bored with my life,” she says. “When you live in Hollywood, it’s like you’re behind a tall hedge, this life that doesn’t feel normal. When I started doing standup as a lark, you have to fly everywhere and hang out with people at hotels and get to know the area. I’ve gotten to see all these parts of the United States I never would have seen otherwise. It’s like there’s this whole life I’ve been missing.”
She’s looking forward to checking out the local sights in Raleigh, which could include the flea market. “I have yet to go to a city where they don’t have a good flea market,” she says.
“It’s hard to find places where people are enthusiastic about what’s local,” she says. “I went on a date with this guy at one stop, and he took me to the mall.”
Carolina Theatre of Durham, Comedy, Film American Pie, Bad Lieutenant, Gentleman Broncos, Jennifer Coolidge, Nicolas Cage, Nip/Tuck, Stifler's mom, Werner Herzog
Zack Smith ·
20 Nov 2009, 8:39 AM ·
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Celebrated, protean British writer Anthony Horowitz visits Quail Ridge Books & Music Sunday, Nov. 22. (Photo by Des Willie)
Anthony Horowitz is considered one of the top television dramatists in the UK, as the mind behind such shows as Foyle’s War, Midsomer Murders, numerous adaptations of Agatha Christie’s Inspector Poirot tales and, most recently, Collision, currently airing on PBS’ Masterpiece Contemporary (the miniseries concludes at 9 p.m. on Nov. 22; Part One encores at 2 a.m. on Nov. 21, for those with insomnia or TiVo).
But his biggest success hasn’t come from his reality-based dramas but a series of children’s books about a teen spy: Alex Rider, a teen James Bond-style secret agent whose latest adventure, Crocodile Tears, was just published in the States on Nov. 17. Horowitz will appear at Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh on Nov. 22 for a signing-line ticket event at 2 p.m.
The series, which started with 2000’s Stormbreaker, pits 14-year-old Rider against a variety of spies, terrorists and evil billionaires; it’ll end after 10 books when the character turns 15. “I’ve aged 10 years to my character’s one,” says Horowitz in a call from England. “It really doesn’t seem fair.”
Horowitz had written numerous children’s books before the medium hit the big time with J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books. “It was a backwater, it was something you didn’t really do, but I was drawn to it because I loved story,” he recalls. “Children’s books have always had a sort of purity I’ve always liked-you can literally cut to the chase and get on with the action.”
He’s written more than 50 books for both older and younger readers, along with his TV work, the feature film The Gathering, and the play Mindgame, which was directed by gonzo filmmaker Ken Russell in an Off-Broadway production last year (Horowitz will only describe working with Russell as “memorable”).
How does he stay so prolific? “The discipline in my life is being able to stop writing and get out and doing other things and having a life,” Horowitz says. “I’m passionate about what I do, and when you’re by yourself like I am, seven hours is a long time, and you can get a lot done.”
He approves of how American television has adopted the more complex, long-form plotting of British TV: “I think in many respects, American television is now leading the world. It’s not hard to see why: American television has come of age. You have directors as good as Steven Soderbergh and Barry Levinson doing these shows, wonderful actors, and huge, cinema-sized budgets, which of course you can’t get over here. American shows like The Wire, Lost and 24 are the shows we’re talking about over in Britain, even more than most British TV shows.”
He admits that Collision owes a debt to Lost in its use of flashbacks, though he might not need to worry about American TV overtaking the UK: The New York Times‘ rave review of Collision said the series “raises an old question: Why are the British so much better at this sort of thing than we are?”
Horowitz says that books give him fewer restrictions than TV: “I can destroy the world, I can visit other worlds, and I don’t have to worry (about budgets). He considers it a “golden age” for children’s literature and looks forward to writing the further adventures of his teen spy: “I find Alex endlessly fascinating. It’s a journey I haven’t tired of, ever.”
Interviews, Reading Alex Rider, Anthony Horowitz, Collision, Crocodile Tears, Ken Russell
Zack Smith ·
31 Oct 2009, 11:39 AM ·
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Who wouldn’t want to live in a house where a strangely indestructible white-masked serial killer began his reign of terror? For many horror fans, Kenny Caperton is living the dream.
Caperton is the owner and proprietor of the Myers House North Carolina, a Victorian residence in rural Hillsborough designed to replicate the veneer of the house used as the residence of the Myers family in John Carpenter’s horror classics Halloween and Halloween II.
He moved into the house in March 2009. Since then, it’s served as the base for a number of local horror events, and will celebrate its first Halloween Bash starting tonight at 7:30 p.m.
The event includes screenings of the original Halloween and Halloween II, special appearances from two child actors from the horror film The Strangers, a couple of costume contests (including one based around Michael Myers, the iconic killer from the films), a memorabilia raffle and more.
Caperton says he’s heard from fans coming in from other states to attend his party: “There’s a lot of people who want to check it out. Halloween fans are just like Trekkies.” It’s only appropriate, given Myers’ look originally came from a Captain Kirk mask.
Caperton describes himself as a “crazy Halloween fan” (he even enjoys the Myers-less Halloween III: Season of the Witch). “The original Halloween has been my favorite movie my entire life,” Capterton says. “I just grew up with it. I always told everyone that if I could have any house in the world to live in, it would be the Myers house.” Continue reading »
Film, Spectacle Halloween bash, Kenny Caperton, Michael Myers, Myers House North Carolina
Zack Smith ·
30 Oct 2009, 7:48 PM ·
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It’s the next-to-last night of the North Carolina State Fair, and my friends and I are stalking the fairgrounds in search of deep-fried butter. Everyone we’ve talked with claims that it’s here, but no one’s actually seen it.
Since Oprah Winfrey shared the flash-frozen sticks covered in batter with her audience at the Texas State Fair earlier this month, everyone has wondered if it will make its way to North Carolina. And rumors are flying around. “It’s like the Loch Ness Monster,” says James Rice of the booth Rice’s Corn and Lemonade. “Everyone claims they’ve heard it’s here, but no one’s seen it.”
It wouldn’t be surprising if deep-fried butter showed up. I remember when I was a kid and saw news reports about this new novelty item at the fair called “fried dough.” Even at a young age, it seemed weird that you could sell something that was the basic ingredient of most pastries by itself if you just deep-fried it.
Today, fried food forms the basis of most of the fair’s cuisine-the official blog for the fair is even called “Deep Fried.” As one wanders from one end of the fairgrounds to another, they might encounter the aforementioned fried dough, along with fried Oreos, fried candy bars (Snickers, Three Musketeers or Milky Way), fried pickles, fried strawberry cobbler bites, fried banana pudding bites, fried pecan pie, fried alligator tail, fried PB and J, fried Twinkies (also available frozen and dipped in chocolate) and the ever-popular fried cheeseburger on a stick.
The sticks are particularly important. The gourmands are like civil engineers of grease; if there’s a way to get something on a stick, they’ll find it. It’s simply a matter of shoving a splint of bamboo through some flash-frozen consumable before coating it in the batter of choice (usually cornmeal), and sending it on to the cauldron of trans fats. Continue reading »
Food, Spectacle fried alligator tail, fried banana pudding bites, fried candy bars (Snickers, fried cheeseburger on a stick., fried dough, fried Oreos, fried PB and J, fried pecan pie, fried pickles, fried snickers, fried strawberry cobbler bites, fried Twinkies, Three Musketeers or Milky Way)
Zack Smith ·
20 Oct 2009, 1:29 PM ·
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Michael Chabon is the jack-of-all-trades of contemporary literature. His literate, humorous, elegiac books include everything from a Pulitzer Prize winner about comic book creators (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) to an alternate-world mystery in a Jewish free state (The Yiddish Policemen’s Union). Chabon’s making his first trip through the Triangle to promote his new collection of essays, Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son. In the book, Chabon discusses bonding with his children and explores memories of his own childhood. We got Chabon on the phone to discuss some of the ideas and themes in his book; here are some highlights of our conversation.
Continue reading »
Reading
Zack Smith ·
2 Oct 2009, 5:10 PM ·
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PERKINS LIBRARY, DUKE UNIVERSITY—Those who maintain that comic books are merely for children would have encountered powerful arguments to the contrary at Duke’s Perkins Library on Tuesday, where a trio of young creators discussed comics covering such topics as teen homosexuality, living with herpes and hooking up with a way-too-young waitress on a business trip.
The library played home to the Punchbuggy Tour, a two-week junket promoting the work of M.K. Reed, Liz Baillie and Ken Dahl.
Each cartoonist read from their work, which amounted to narrating panels projected onto a screen via computer. Reed’s deadpan Cross Country chronicles two guys touring a series of big box stores for work; her illustrations capture the washed-out landscapes of these characters and painfully real observational dialogue (the first chapter is available as a PDF and the complete work can be ordered here).
Baillie read from two of her works. My Brain Hurts is a teenager-queer-punks-in-New York City saga, while Freewheel is the tale of an orphan on a quest to find her brother; though vastly different, both works show an assured visual tone that represents everything from graffiti-riddled streets to a forest refuge for drifters, and an ear for realistic dialogue. Both works can be ordered from her Web site. Continue reading »
Reading Duke University, ken dahl, liz baillie, megan lewis, mk reed, punchbuggy tour, rob clough
