Terminal 5
610 West 56th St.
Monday, November 25, $30-$150, 8:00
800-7453000
www.publictheater.org
www.terminal5nyc.com
Earlier this month, Super Typhoon Haiyan (aka Yolanda) struck the Philippines, leaving thousands dead, nearly two million homeless, and costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars. International rescue efforts are ongoing, and there are now more and more ways for people to contribute. On November 25, David Byrne will team up with the original cast of his and Fatboy Slim’s breakout hit, Here Lies Love, for a one-time-only fundraising concert at Terminal 5. The sensational immersive Public Theater musical is set in the Philippines, where it follows the rise and fall of Imelda Marcos (Ruthie Ann Miles) as she turns her back on her childhood friend Estrella (Melody Butiu), is romanced by Ninoy Aquino (Conrad Ricamora), and ends up marrying Ferdinand Marcos (Jose Llana) and losing touch with the citizenry. Byrne, Miles, Ricamora, Llana, and Butiu will be joined by ensemble members Renée Albulario, Natalie Cortez, Debralee Daco, Jaygee Macapugay, Jeigh Madjus, Maria-Christina Oliveras, George Salazar, Trevor Salter, and Janelle Velasquez as they perform the entire soundtrack song by song, in order, including “The Rose of Tacloban,” “Eleven Days,” “Order 1081,” and “Here Lies Love.” All proceeds from this special event go to Doctors Without Borders/Mèdecins Sans Frontières, which notes on its website, “Almost ten days have passed since Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines, and while aid is reaching airports, seaports, and cities, people in many rural areas are still struggling without assistance.” In a statement announcing the benefit, Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis said, “Here Lies Love made us feel a deep connection to the Philippine people, and to Tacloban specifically. Now we have a chance to make that connection matter. We hope this concert will raise money, raise awareness, and provide support for those who have lost so much.” Tickets are $30 for the balcony, $50 for the main floor, and $150 for VIP floor seating.
Fashion photographer Bruce Weber, who directed the seminal Chet Baker doc Let’s Get Lost a quarter century ago, made this fun hodgepodge of still photos, old color and black-and-white footage, and new interviews and voice-over narration back in 2001. You might not know much about Frances Faye, but after seeing her perform in vintage Ed Sullivan clips and listening to her manager/longtime partner discuss their life together, you’ll be searching YouTube to check out a lot more. The film also examines how Weber selects and treats his male models, who are often shot in homoerotic poses for major designers (and later go on to get married and have children). As a special treat, Jan-Michael Vincent’s extensive full-frontal nude scene in Daniel Petrie and Sidney Sheldon’s 1974 Buster and Billie is on display here, as are vintage clips of Sammy Davis Jr., adventurer Sir Wilfred Thesiger, former Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, and Robert Mitchum singing in a recording studio with Dr. John. The film is about model Peter Johnson and Weber as much as it is about the cult of celebrity; Weber gets to chime in on Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Clark Gable, Frank Sinatra, Arthur Miller, and dozens of other famous names and faces. Though an awful lot of fun, the film is disjointed, lacking a central focus, and the onscreen titles, end credits, and promotional postcards are chock-full of typos — perhaps emulating a Chinese takeout menu, hence the film’s title? Chop Suey is screening November 20 at 7:00 as part of Film Forum’s “Bruce Weber” series and will be preceded by Weber’s twelve-minute 2008 short, The Boy Artist; the series continues through November 21 with a 35mm print of Let’s Get Lost, 1987’s Broken Noses, about former Olympian boxer Andy Minsker, 2004’s A Letter to True, a tribute to Weber’s dog, and a compilation of shorts, videos, commercials, and works in progress.
Told with the surreal flair of Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and 8½ , the dark, witty cynicism of Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories and Deconstructing Harry, and the psychological intricacies of Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries and The Seventh Seal, Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty is a masterful epic about an Italian writer looking back at his life as he turns sixty-five, and not liking what he sees. Toni Servillo gives a sparkling deadpan performance as Jep Gambardella, a deeply sarcastic and intentionally hypocritical journalist in Rome who scored a huge success with his first novel, The Human Apparatus, but has been unable to write a follow-up for decades, instead spending his time attending wild parties, sleeping with woman after woman, and sharing his unique views on the sociocultural, political, and religious nature of modern-day Rome. He is surrounded by sycophants, jealous writers, a mysterious neighbor, a culinary cardinal, bizarre performance artists, an aging stripper, a magician, and many more hangers-on (played by Isabella Ferrari, Roberto Herlitzka, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Verdone, Massimo De Francovich, Pamela Villoresi, and others who appear to have come straight from a Fellini set), but the only person who truly understands him is his diminutive editor, Dadina (Giovanna Vignola). “You’re a spectacular woman,” he tells her. “You’ve had the career you deserve.” She responds, “But you haven’t had the career you deserve.”
