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By AL BRESLOFF Special to the Epoch Times The 1960s were marvelous years with some very groovy music and fads. Musical stars such as Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield, Lulu, The Beatles, and Shirley Bassey are all featured in “Shout! The Mod Musical” at Chicago’s Drury Lane Theater. The show features five talented ladies who take us through musical nostalgia and the spirit of the times. Each lady is identified by a color, which also identifies her personality. Lauren Fijol (Blue Girl) is the tall - est and has a powerful voice. Megan Long (Red Girl) plays the nerdy little loner, but when the times change she blossoms into a whole new look. Amy Steele (Orange Girl) is the unhappy housewife. Danielle Plisz (Green Girl) is amazingly vivacious and sultry and has one particular scene that will have you falling out of your seat with laughter! Maggie Portman (Yellow Girl) rounds out the group and can do almost any music with a vocal range that will astound you. These talented ladies are onstage for 90 minutes of continuous music, performing songs like “You’re My World,” “Downtown,” “Wives and Lovers,” “Son of a Preacher Man,” “I Know A Place,” “To Sir With Love,” “Sign Of The Times,” “Georgy Girl”—and the list goes on until we get to the title song, “Shout.” The show got off to a slow start, and the opening number almost made me feel that this might be a “miss.” However, I was really into it by the third song, and by the time they hit the fifth song I was madly in love with all five of these ladies, watching their every move. One of the wonderful things about the Drury Lane Theater is the inti - macy—the audience is close enough to see the animated expression on the faces of the performers. At times, I thought the audience was going to jump out of their seats and dance in the aisles—they were definitely hav - ing fun. For those of you who remember the 1960s, this will be a trip down memory lane. For you younger peo- ple, this may give you some insights into your parents’ generation. Co-creators Phillip George and David Lowenstein appear to have built this visit to the 1960s around the music of the times and have added just the right touches with a bright set, three solid musicians, and color- ful costumes. Director/choreographer Jay Falzone keeps these ladies mov - ing, and he uses the small stage well. This is a fun show and I am sure Chicago’s summer visitors will add the Drury Lane to the list of things to do in town. The show is scheduled to run through late July before it travels to Japan. Al Bresloff writes about theater in the Chicago area. NEW YORK (Reuters)—Haitian-born hip-hop star Wyclef Jean launched a new initiative to help his impover- ished homeland recently following April’s deadly food riots. The initiative is aimed at raising $48 million over the next six months to fund expanded food distribution, job crea- tion, and assistance for farmers in the poorest country in the Americas. Dubbed “Together For Haiti,” it is backed by the World Food Program, the Pan American Development Founda- tion, and Yele Haiti, which is Jean’s charitable foundation for Haiti. “We have come together to launch this new initiative because I believe we can do more and better for Haiti when we act together,” Jean told a Manhattan news conference. “We are not only interested in feeding people in response to the current crisis, but we want to offer them an alternative that can help them in a sustainable way,” he said. “Together For Haiti” plans to employ 1,800 people a day in poor areas, distribute food to 1.5 million people, and provide fertilizers to 55,000 farmers. Grants will also be given to 9,000 families to support the development of micro-enterprises. “We want to give them the opportunity to set up a small business which they can live on instead of assisting them every time there is a crisis,” Jean told Reuters. He was accompanied at the news conference by aid offi- cials and by fellow musician and social activist Paul Simon, who promised support. At least six people were killed during a week of violent protests last month against rising food and fuel costs in Haiti, where most people scrape by on less than $2 per day. 1960s musical review in Chicago makes for fun night out CANNES, France (Reuters)—The Weinstein Company will produce Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist” in a big-budget adaptation directed by Hollywood star Laurence Fishburne, Harvey Weinstein announced at the Cannes Film Festival. He said the movie would cost “60 million dollars- plus” to make and would start shooting in late spring or early summer. The movie mogul will be hoping to build on his success with other literary adaptations including “The English Patient” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” “It’s a book that I’ve been truly inspired by,” Wein- stein told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival. “I will be personally producing. I rarely produce movies, as you know. We cause movies to be produced.” He said that “The Alchemist,” first published 20 years ago, combined elements that should make it appeal to a broad audience—spirituality, a journey, youth, love, and action.” Coelho’s novel, which has sold an estimated 30 million copies worldwide, tells the story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who travels to Africa in search of his dream and meets the alchemist along the way. Laurence Fishburne, who in a video message said he felt like “the luckiest man on the planet,” will play the alchemist as well as direct and help develop the script. Weinstein said he had read earlier screenplays based on the novel over the years, and “hated every one of them.” There was no news on the rest of the cast, although Weinstein indicated he wanted to give a part to Span- ish star Penelope Cruz, who was in Cannes starring in Woody Allen’s popular “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” Weinstein believed the project could act as “a bridge to the Middle East,” and said Coelho would be issuing a statement in support of the movie soon. “My loyalty is not to Laurence, my loyalty is not to me, my loyalty is not to anyone other than Paulo Coelho,” he said. The Weinstein Company holds the global motion picture and television rights to the film, and Weinstein said he would use his time in Cannes to talk with dis- tributors from around the world. By MASHA SAVITZ Epoch Times Los Angeles Staff “Indestructible” is the poignant and brutally honest autobiographi- cal film by the endearing Ben Byer, chronicling his battle with Amyo- trophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Dis- ease. Over a period of three years, Byer grapples with the debilitating and fatal neurodegenerative dis- ease that attacks motor neurons in the brain and spinal chord, caus- ing atrophy and weakening of the muscles. His odyssey initially takes him across the country and then the globe. At first he seeks medi- cal answers. When those become exhausted and exhausting, Byer turns his search into a spiritual quest in hopes of finding an expla- nation for the cause of his affliction. He interviews prominent neurolo- gists and clergy from both West- ern and Eastern approaches and disciplines, discussing medicine and theodicy. Those he interviews include bestselling author and neu- rologist Dr. Oliver Sacks, Chinese neurosurgeon Hongyun Huang, and Rabbi Daniel Gordis. Byer also meets, interviews, and bonds with others suffering from the same malady, discovering that the ones most isolated are the most in need of connection. The film is gripping, exposing the stress and conflicts that arise within a family when someone is struck with the realities and challenges of ALS. Byer was born in Chicago in 1971. He studied journalism, film theory, and then later acting, which led him to perform both in the United States and in Europe. Even- tually he landed in Los Angeles, where he wrote his first play, which went on to be a success shortly before he was diagnosed with ALS in 2002. In 2003, Byer, along with his sis- ter Rebecca Rush, founded the ALS Film Fund to produce works of art intended to create positive change for ALS patients worldwide. The talent gathered to cre- ate Byer’s vision includes award- winning cinematographer Roko Belic and Chicago-based cellist Alison Chesley, who composed the score. Songs by Greg Brown, Jason Narducy, and Nora O’Conner add to the film’s soundtrack. Today there are an estimated 30,000 people in the United States suffering from ALS, with 8,000 new cases diagnosed every year. There is currently no cure for ALS. Ben Byer has to this day out- lived his prognosis. No longer able to speak, however, he is grateful for the medium of film which allows his message to continue reaching people and affecting change, as his voice and words and radiant smile live on. “Indestructible” recently com- pleted an international film festi- val tour, winning five jury prizes for best documentary among other honors. The film opens to the public in Los Angeles and San Francisco on May 30 and in Chicago on June 17. For more information, visit www.indestructible.com Entertainment P9 LIFE & LEISURE P9 Entertainment P10 Arts & Culture P11 Health P12 Autos P13 Travel P14 Science & Tech P15 Style P16 At Home May 29 – June 4, 2008 INDESTRUCTIBLE: Filmmaker and Lou Gehrig’s Disease patient Ben Byer floating in the Dead Sea. ROKO BELIC ‘Indestructible’ Bestseller ‘The Alchemist’ to be adapted for film THE ALCHEMIST: The dramatic presence in films such as “Othello,” “The Matrix,” and “Akeela and the Bee,” Laurence Fishburne will direct and star as the title character in the film version of Paulo Coelho’s bestselling book “The Alchemist.” ETHAN MILLER/GETTY IMAGES MUSICAL NOSTALGIA: Amy Steele (Orange), Danielle Plisz (Green), Maggie Portman (Yellow), Lauren Fijol (Blue), and Megan Long (Red) in “Shout! The Mod Musical” at Chicago’s intimate Drury Lane Theater. MICHAEL BROSILOW Wyclef’s initiative to help Haiti P13 Travel Paradise found A documentary about Lou Gehrig’s Disease Theater review: ‘SHOUT! The Mod Musical’ FRED C. WILSON III EMERGENCY RELIEF: Hip Hop singer Wyclef Jean performing in Philadelphia on May 3, 2008. The Haitian-born hip-hop star launched a new initiative to help his native country. JEFF FUSCO/GETTY IMAGES
Transcript of LIFE & P9 P10 P13 Travel P11 LEISURE P12 P13 P14...
By AL BRESLOFFSpecial to the Epoch Times
The 1960s were marvelous years with some very groovy music and fads. Musical stars such as Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield, Lulu, The Beatles, and Shirley Bassey are all featured in “Shout! The Mod Musical” at Chicago’s Drury Lane Theater.
The show features five talented ladies who take us through musical nostalgia and the spirit of the times. Each lady is identified by a color, which also identifies her personality.
Lauren Fijol (Blue Girl) is the tall-est and has a powerful voice. Megan Long (Red Girl) plays the nerdy little loner, but when the times change she blossoms into a whole new look. Amy Steele (Orange Girl) is the unhappy
housewife. Danielle Plisz (Green Girl) is amazingly vivacious and sultry and has one particular scene that will have you falling out of your seat with laughter! Maggie Portman (Yellow Girl) rounds out the group and can do almost any music with a vocal range that will astound you.
These talented ladies are onstage for 90 minutes of continuous music, performing songs like “You’re My World,” “Downtown,” “Wives and Lovers,” “Son of a Preacher Man,” “I Know A Place,” “To Sir With Love,” “Sign Of The Times,” “Georgy Girl”—and the list goes on until we get to the title song, “Shout.”
The show got off to a slow start, and the opening number almost made me feel that this might be a “miss.” However, I was really into it by the third song, and by the time they hit the fifth song I was madly in love with all five of these ladies, watching their every move.
One of the wonderful things about the Drury Lane Theater is the inti-macy—the audience is close enough to see the animated expression on the
faces of the performers. At times, I thought the audience was going to jump out of their seats and dance in the aisles—they were definitely hav-ing fun.
For those of you who remember the 1960s, this will be a trip down memory lane. For you younger peo-ple, this may give you some insights into your parents’ generation.
Co-creators Phillip George and David Lowenstein appear to have built this visit to the 1960s around the music of the times and have added just the right touches with a bright set, three solid musicians, and color-ful costumes. Director/choreographer Jay Falzone keeps these ladies mov-ing, and he uses the small stage well. This is a fun show and I am sure Chicago’s summer visitors will add the Drury Lane to the list of things to do in town.
The show is scheduled to run through late July before it travels to Japan.
Al Bresloff writes about theater in the Chicago area.
NEW YORK (Reuters)—Haitian-born hip-hop star Wyclef Jean launched a new initiative to help his impover-ished homeland recently following April’s deadly food riots.
The initiative is aimed at raising $48 million over the next six months to fund expanded food distribution, job crea-tion, and assistance for farmers in the poorest country in the Americas.
Dubbed “Together For Haiti,” it is backed by the World Food Program, the Pan American Development Founda-tion, and Yele Haiti, which is Jean’s charitable foundation for Haiti.
“We have come together to launch this new initiative because I believe we can do more and better for Haiti when we act together,” Jean told a Manhattan news conference.
“We are not only interested in feeding people in response to the current crisis, but we want to offer them an alternative that can help them in a sustainable way,” he said.
“Together For Haiti” plans to employ 1,800 people a day in poor areas, distribute food to 1.5 million people, and provide fertilizers to 55,000 farmers. Grants will also be given to 9,000 families to support the development of micro-enterprises.
“We want to give them the opportunity to set up a small business which they can live on instead of assisting them every time there is a crisis,” Jean told Reuters.
He was accompanied at the news conference by aid offi-cials and by fellow musician and social activist Paul Simon, who promised support.
At least six people were killed during a week of violent protests last month against rising food and fuel costs in Haiti, where most people scrape by on less than $2 per day.
1960s musical review in Chicago makes for fun night out
CANNES, France (Reuters)—The Weinstein Company will produce Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist” in a big-budget adaptation directed by Hollywood star Laurence Fishburne, Harvey Weinstein announced at the Cannes Film Festival.
He said the movie would cost “60 million dollars-plus” to make and would start shooting in late spring or early summer. The movie mogul will be hoping to build on his success with other literary adaptations including “The English Patient” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”
“It’s a book that I’ve been truly inspired by,” Wein-stein told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival. “I will be personally producing. I rarely produce movies, as you know. We cause movies to be produced.”
He said that “The Alchemist,” first published 20 years ago, combined elements that should make it appeal to a broad audience—spirituality, a journey, youth, love, and action.”
Coelho’s novel, which has sold an estimated 30 million copies worldwide, tells the story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who travels to Africa in search of his dream and meets the alchemist along the way.
Laurence Fishburne, who in a video message said he felt like “the luckiest man on the planet,” will play the alchemist as well as direct and help develop the script.
Weinstein said he had read earlier screenplays based on the novel over the years, and “hated every one of them.”
There was no news on the rest of the cast, although Weinstein indicated he wanted to give a part to Span-ish star Penelope Cruz, who was in Cannes starring in Woody Allen’s popular “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”
Weinstein believed the project could act as “a bridge to the Middle East,” and said Coelho would be issuing a statement in support of the movie soon. “My loyalty is not to Laurence, my loyalty is not to me, my loyalty is not to anyone other than Paulo Coelho,” he said.
The Weinstein Company holds the global motion picture and television rights to the film, and Weinstein said he would use his time in Cannes to talk with dis-
tributors from around the world.
By MASHA SAVITZEpoch Times Los Angeles Staff
“Indestructible” is the poignant and brutally honest autobiographi-cal film by the endearing Ben Byer, chronicling his battle with Amyo-trophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Dis-ease. Over a period of three years, Byer grapples with the debilitating and fatal neurodegenerative dis-ease that attacks motor neurons in the brain and spinal chord, caus-ing atrophy and weakening of the muscles.
His odyssey initially takes him across the country and then the globe. At first he seeks medi-cal answers. When those become exhausted and exhausting, Byer turns his search into a spiritual quest in hopes of finding an expla-nation for the cause of his affliction. He interviews prominent neurolo-gists and clergy from both West-ern and Eastern approaches and
disciplines, discussing medicine and theodicy. Those he interviews include bestselling author and neu-rologist Dr. Oliver Sacks, Chinese neurosurgeon Hongyun Huang, and Rabbi Daniel Gordis.
Byer also meets, interviews, and bonds with others suffering from the same malady, discovering that the ones most isolated are the most in need of connection. The film is gripping, exposing the stress and conflicts that arise within a family when someone is struck with the realities and challenges of ALS.
Byer was born in Chicago in 1971. He studied journalism, film theory, and then later acting, which led him to perform both in the United States and in Europe. Even-tually he landed in Los Angeles, where he wrote his first play, which went on to be a success shortly before he was diagnosed with ALS in 2002.
In 2003, Byer, along with his sis-ter Rebecca Rush, founded the ALS Film Fund to produce works of art
intended to create positive change for ALS patients worldwide.
The talent gathered to cre-ate Byer’s vision includes award- winning cinematographer Roko Belic and Chicago-based cellist Alison Chesley, who composed the score. Songs by Greg Brown, Jason Narducy, and Nora O’Conner add to the film’s soundtrack.
Today there are an estimated 30,000 people in the United States suffering from ALS, with 8,000 new cases diagnosed every year. There is currently no cure for ALS.
Ben Byer has to this day out-lived his prognosis. No longer able to speak, however, he is grateful for the medium of film which allows his message to continue reaching people and affecting change, as his voice and words and radiant smile live on.
“Indestructible” recently com-pleted an international film festi-val tour, winning five jury prizes for best documentary among other honors.
The film opens to the public in Los Angeles and San Francisco on May 30 and in Chicago on June 17.
For more information, visit www.indestructible.com
Entertainment P9
LIFE & LEISURE
P9 Entertainment P10 Arts & Culture P11 HealthP12 Autos P13 TravelP14 Science & TechP15 StyleP16 At Home
May 29 – June 4, 2008
INDESTRUCTIBLE: Filmmaker and Lou Gehrig’s Disease patient Ben Byer floating in the Dead Sea. Roko Belic
‘Indestructible’
Bestseller ‘The Alchemist’ to be adapted for film
THE ALCHEMIST: The dramatic presence in films such as “Othello,” “The Matrix,” and “Akeela and the Bee,” Laurence Fishburne will direct and star as the title character in the film version of Paulo Coelho’s bestselling book “The Alchemist.” ethan MilleR/Getty iMaGes
MUSICAL NOSTALGIA: Amy Steele (Orange), Danielle Plisz (Green), Maggie Portman (Yellow), Lauren Fijol (Blue), and Megan Long (Red) in “Shout! The Mod Musical” at Chicago’s intimate Drury Lane Theater. Michael BRosilow
Wyclef’s initiative to help Haiti
P13 Travel
Paradise found
A documentary about Lou Gehrig’s Disease
Theater review: ‘SHOUT! The Mod Musical’
fRed c. wilson iii
EMERGENCY RELIEF: Hip Hop singer Wyclef Jean performing in Philadelphia on May 3, 2008. The Haitian-born hip-hop star launched a new initiative to help his native country. Jeff fusco/Getty iMaGes
