The "Sheep" Musical: February 3

Yes, that's right -- one week from tonight may be the only opportunity you will have in your lifetime to see a musical about sheep. Well, sheep and lambs. And whatever the Theatre of Ted has concocted to go along with sheep and lambs. A little mint jelly?

"Sheep's on the Lamb," a musical comedy, comes to Capen Auditorium in Edwards Hall on the ISU campus next Friday and Saturday, February 3 and 4, with performances at 7:30 pm.

The Theatre of Ted describes their new musical as "an original musical comedy featuring terrible puns, silly songs, and some very talented people. It both makes fun of musicals and is proudly a part of the genre. With characters like Wool Smith and Baaaaaab Marley, Sheep's on the Lamb is goofy to say the least. The first act resembles a romantic comedy while the second is a post-apocalyptic sheep-dominated war story. It has everything you want and more. Oh and sheep, it has a lot of sheep."

So... Pretty Mutton meets Goattaca? (They didn't really say there would be goats. It's just that "Goattaca" sounds better than "Leg of Lamb's Run" or "Soylent Sheep.")

In any event, tickets for this musical about sheep are only $2 at the door, so you can hardly go wrong. Proceeds will be directed to the Theatre of Ted's Scholarship program.

The cast for "Sheep's on the Lamb" will include Alex Kostner and Robert "Cug" Leahy as Wool Smith Sr. and Jr., Kelsey Bunner as Mary, who I'm guessing has a little lamb or two, and Becky Solomon as Bo Peep. Max Zuckert, Jake Pollock and Ethan Goldman penned the script; Goldman also directs, with Andy Hudson as Musical Director.

You are warned that, this being Theatre of Ted, there may be baaaad words and woolly situations.

Click here for further info and instructions.

Oscar's Best Pics: "The Help"

I've already talked in this blog about "Hugo" and "Midnight in Paris," two of the nine films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. They're both wonderful.

I've seen most of the others on the list, too, but wasn't moved to write about them at the time. Now that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has deemed them worthy of nominations for Best Picture, however, I thought I would give a couple of them a whirl.

First up: "The Help."

"The Help" is based on the best-selling book of the same name, written by Kathryn Stockett. The story goes that Stockett wanted her childhood best pal, Tate Taylor, to write and direct the film version of her novel, and he held the option on the book even before it was published. Both Stockett and Taylor have said that they really did have "co-mothers," much like the black servants in the novel, who are the ones who really raise the children, wipe the runny noses, cook the meals, clean the houses and keep everything running smoothly on the homefront.

"The Help" is set in Mississippi in the 1960s, when even middle-class women had domestic help, and shows both the awful treatment the black women faced on a day-to-day basis as well as the friendships which evolved between these African-American caretakers and their white charges. As a device to get into the story, we start with a young woman named Skeeter, played in the movie by current It Girl Emma Stone, who isn't interested in the whole husband-house-and-baby thing that consumes every other socially acceptable white girl in town. Instead, Skeeter wants to be a writer. She gets a try-out writing a column on homemaking hints for a local newspaper, but it's not really anything she knows anything about, so she turns to her friend's extremely capable housekeeper, Aibileen, given fierce life by Viola Davis, for help. And then Skeeter is appalled when she hears about a campaign to require the black ladies, the help, to use separate bathrooms rather than spread their alleged germs to their white employers. So Skeeter comes up with the idea of writing an exposé that will accomplish several things -- it will reveal the hypocrisy and craziness of people like Hilly Holbrook, the head of the Junior League, who launched the "Home Health Sanitation Initiative," i.e., the separate bathroom campaign; put a spotlight on how poorly treated the ladies who make up "the help" are; and also get Skeeter a book contract and open the door on her literary career.

Aside from the Best Picture nod, Viola Davis is nominated as Best Actress for her warm and honest performance as Aibileen, with Octavia Spencer, who plays mouthy maid Minny, and Jessica Chastain, in the role of Celia, a trashy outsider who has married one of the town's golden boys, both in the Supporting Actress category.

All three turn in terrific performances with a lot of energy and personality. Davis's Aibileen is deservedly the heart of the movie, with Spencer (another old friend of Tate Taylor) adding humor and irreverence as the maid who always gets in trouble for her temper, but usually gets out of it because she is such a good cook. Chastain, another It Girl of the moment, is also funny and fresh as the loud, awkward Celia, who strikes up a friendship with Minny that helps them both survive. Yes, Minny and Celia are stereotypes, but Spencer and Chastain transcend those stereotypes just by sheer force of personality.

Bryce Dallas Howard and Sissy Spacek also add vivid performances to the mix as the awful, awful Hilly and her poor senile mother, with a cameo from Cicely Tyson late in the movie that broke my heart.

A lot of critics have raised issues with the film and the fact that the black characters are all maids, while the plot provides that they need a white girl, Skeeter, to come to their rescue. Both are film clichés that certainly deserve mention and discussion. And, yes, it is unacceptable that the only roles African-American actors could get for so long were maids and hookers. But Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer looked at the roles in "The Help" and saw something that they wanted to play, something beyond just stereotypical "Beulah, peel me a grape" kinds of roles. If the roles go to the heart of what it is to be a maid, if they are three-dimensional and compelling characters, does it really matter that they are maids?

The white savior thing is more troubling. Why does Hollywood (and I guess the publishing industry, as well, since it was that way in the book, too) feel the need to begin and end with the white character who will fix everything for the black people? Couldn't we get the servants' stories from them, instead of from a white translator? Still, Davis and Spencer are so ferocious and riveting that it's hard not to see this as their movie, not Emma Stone's, no matter who got top billing. And that helps a little.

"The Help" makes Mississippi in 1960 look luminous and bright, diffused with bright colors and dappled sunlight, courtesy of cinematographer Stephen Goldblatt and production designer Mark Ricker. It's a pretty, warm film all-around, with messages of conciliation and friendship to bind up the wounds suffered in the Jim Crow South. As the last images of the movie indicate, Aibileen still has a long row to hoe, a long way to walk, even if there has been a little comeuppance and a little justice earned over the course of this story. That last image of Viola Davis stayed with me for a good, long time.

Small side note: Viola Davis shares my birthday. Growing up, I was always looking for an interesting celebrity co-natalist. My sister had Robert Redford and my mom had Sophia Loren, and all I got was Jerry Falwell and Hulk Hogan. (Alex Haley also shared our birthday, but he had passed away by the time I was looking for co-natalists, and that didn't seem to count.) So, anyway, thank you, Viola Davis, for being awesome and talented as well as being born on the same day as me!

Dear Lord Grantham... How Have You Missed the Gossip About Your Daughter Mary?

Do you want to chat with Lord Grantham of Downton Abbey? Who doesn't want to chat with Lord Grantham of Downton Abbey?

Masterpiece is inviting interested parties to join "Downton Abbey" star Hugh Bonneville, who plays Lord Grantham, for an online chat on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, at 1 pm Eastern/noon Central time. Bonneville will be available to take questions about his character, Season 2 of "Downton Abbey," and presumably anything else people want to ask him that isn't rude or annoying.


As played by Hugh Bonneville, Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham, is rich and powerful and a member of the social elite in early 20th Century Britain. He has a lovely wife he is also in love with, and together they have three beautiful daughters. He seems like a decent sort of fellow, doing what is right more than what is convenient, always defaulting to compassion and integrity and all that good stuff. And he lives at the impossibly gorgeous Downton Abbey, with servants attending to his every need.

But there is one big catch in Lord Grantham's power. He needs a son. He holds his estate in fee tail, with only male heirs able to inherit Downton Abbey. And Lord Grantham has only daughters.

Nice, stable people with absolute power and everything they ever wanted are not very interesting in drama, as it happens. So giving Lord Grantham the inheritance problem is key to making him interesting. Well, that and the fact that the charming life he and his family have been leading is already being changed mightily by World War I and the pressures of the new century, with cars and planes and telephones and movies and penicillin and indoor plumbing and electricity and all the other modern conveniences, some happening already, some coming soon, smashing the old ways to smithereens. (Hint: The British Empire is also going to take a beating in the 20th Century.)

Which is exactly why Lord Grantham is fascinating. Hugh Bonneville does a dandy job with the character, in what is a bit of a departure from the other roles I've seen him do. He's been in tons of things, but I admit I've only noticed him in sort of sweet but awkward roles before this, like Elizabeth Bennet's father in "Lost in Austen," Bernie, the kind friend of the hero in "Notting Hill," and most notably, as the young half of John Bayley opposite Kate Winslet as the young Iris Murdoch in "Iris."

Some critics have commented that Lord Grantham is much too nice, that he represents creator and executive producer Julian Fellowes' romanticized view of the aristocracy, or perhaps an apologia for them, all sweetness and light, treating servants like people and being all, well, noble, in a way real British toffs would never have done. My feeling is that there had to be at least one cool member of the nobility in England in the 1910s and 20s. So he's it. He may not be representative, but he's fun to watch, appealing in all the right ways, and he makes us care about the Crawley family in a way we wouldn't if the Earl was a jerk or a crazy person.

But if you side with the "too good to be true" folks, this is your chance to ask Hugh Bonneville himself. Is Lord Grantham nicer than he should be? Is he realistic? Should he be more strict with his daughters? How has he possibly missed all the gossip about Mary (which provides all kinds of plot points involving his manservant Bates, his middle daughter Edith, Mary herself, and the Turkish Embassy)? Does he have a clue what's going on with youngest daughter Sybil and the chauffeur? How is the war changing him? Would he rather be fighting at the front or at home with the fam? How can someone with a mother and sister like he has be such a nice guy? Has Bonneville created a backstory for the character including what his father was like and who, if anyone, he loved when he was young (since we know he only fell in love with his wife after they were married, and her dowry was the big attraction before that) and anything else that has shaped his psyche?

See, I have lots of questions. I better show up for that online chat and get my typing fingers ready.

Masterpiece promises more chats later with other cast members, including Allen Leach, who plays Branson, the Irish chauffeur with a rebellious spirit and an eye for a lady above his station. For this one, visit the Masterpiece site here. You can also sign up for the Masterpiece e-newsletter to get advance notice of chats and other information.

Thanks, Sarah, for the heads-up!

The Oscar Nominations Are Here!

I was trying to decide between "Here it is, lads -- 'Smell the Glove'" and "Hot off the press, strictly a mess" for a lead for this piece about the newly announced Academy Award nominations.


Neither is quite right, though. Yes, these nominations are a little odd and a little stinky in some ways (Where is Michael Fassbender? Where is Ryan Gosling? Why doesn't the Academy like Stephen Spielberg and what is this inexplicable love for Brad Pitt and "Moneyball"?) but these nominations aren't fun or irreverent enough for a "Spinal Tap" reference. And they're not really enough of a mess or related to Broadway or musicals for the "Follies" nod.

So I guess I'll just go with, well, here they are... Another year, another set of Oscar nominations that err on the side of the sad, sentimental or portentous ("Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," "War Horse," "The Tree of Life"), love the screen veterans and comeback stories (Christopher Plummer, Max von Sydow, Gary Oldman, Nick Nolte) and overlook comedy that isn't Woody Allen ("Midnight in Paris" or foreign ("The Artist"). It's not a surprise, really, but why no love for "Crazy, Stupid, Love"? Personally, I would take six "Crazy, Stupid, Loves" over one "Bridesmaids." And while "Moneyball" was okay, it was no great shakes, even in my household, where my husband once spent a great deal of time on Bill James and baseball Sabermetrics and still has a fondness for that general area, which is what "Moneyball" is about. It's a fine movie, a decent movie, and Brad Pitt is fine and decent. And that's it. No great shakes. Not really Oscar bait. Or clearly Oscar bait and I am once again not on the same wavelength as Oscar voters.

In a side note, this year's two big movies based on well-regarded stageplays --"Carnage," from Yasmina Reza's "God of Carnage" and "The Ides of March," from Beau Willimon's "Farragut North," went away pretty much empty-handed. "Ides" earned a nomination for its screenplay, but otherwise zippo. Why so little love for products of the legitimate stage?

So, anyway... Here they are... Or at least the ones that interest me...

BEST PICTURE
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

I loved "Hugo" and "Midnight in Paris," and "Hugo" would probably be my pick if I were voting. But "The Artist" is the odds-on favorite here. Overall, "Hugo" leads the pack with 11 nominations, while "The Artist" is right behind with 10. That can give a film momentum within the voting and create a kind of tsunami effect. If anybody is going to get a tsunami, it's "The Artist."

BEST DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
Martin Scorsese (Hugo)
Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)
Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life)

Malick is a bit of a surprise; I expected to see David Fincher's name for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," since he got a Directors Guild nomination, or Stephen Spielberg for "War Horse," since Oscar prognosticators were trumpeting his odds. Still, I'm betting Hazanavicius will win.

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)
Viola Davis (The Help)
Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)

I'm expecting Meryl Streep to take this, although Viola Davis's heartfelt work in "The Help" might just knock Meryl (Oscar's most-nominated actress) off the podium. Glenn Close gets a nomination in the somewhat traditional "pretending to be a gender you are not" category, which earned an Oscar nod for Dustin Hoffman for "Tootsie," a SAG nomination for Nathan Lane for "The Birdcage," and a Golden Globe win for Robin Williams for "Mrs. Doubtfire."

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Demián Bichir (A Better Life)
George Clooney (The Descendants)
Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
Brad Pitt (Moneyball)

Which of these things is not like the other? Brad Pitt in "Moneyball." Okay, I will stop ragging on Mr. Pitt. But he really doesn't belong. Not for "Moneyball," anyway, in which he was competent and cute, but hardly revelatory. Maybe this is really a nomination on the order of "We're sorry we didn't like you better in 'The Tree of Life,' so 'Moneyball' it is." Anyway, George Clooney is widely expected to take this, with some folks thinking that Jean Dujardin could ride "The Artist" train to victory if it builds up a big enough head of steam. Leonardo DiCaprio ("J. Edgar") and the aforementioned Michael Fassbender ("Shame") were considered likely to be nominated, but didn't get into that select group.

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Bérénice Bejo (The Artist)
Jessica Chastain (The Help)
Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs)
Octavia Spencer (The Help)

Just take that award over to Octavia Spencer right now. She was terrific in "The Help," she already won the Golden Globe and a spattering of critics awards for the role, and she is nominated for and expected to win the SAG award in this category, too. I suppose Bérénice Bejo (in what is really a leading role) or Melissa McCarthy (fresh off her Emmy win) could have a shot, but I really think this is Octavia Spencer's year.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn)
Jonah Hill (Moneyball)
Nick Nolte (Warrior)
Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close)

Max von Sydow is always amazing, and longevity certainly seems to be a factor in Academy voting. That will also help Christopher Plummer, though, and he is getting a lot of notice for a showy role. And his character dies in "Beginners," which always helps garner sympathy from voters.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Descendants (Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash)
Hugo (Screenplay by John Logan)
The Ides of March (Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon)
Moneyball (Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin)
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan)

Playwright Beau Willimon is nominated for his work helping to adapt his play "Farragut North" into "The Ides of March" for the screen, and playwright John Logan ("Red," "Hauptmann") is nominated for his work as a screenwriter on "Hugo." "The Descendants" was adapted from the book by Kaui Hart Hemmings, while "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" comes from the John le Carré spy novel of the same name, and "Hugo" began its life as a children's book called "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick. The oddsmakers think Clooney et al. will win for "The Descendants," but I am pulling for Martin Scorsese.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius)
Bridesmaids (Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig)
Margin Call (J.C. Chandor)
Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen)
A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)

Although I applaud the Academy for recognizing comedy, my preference would be more cerebral stuff than the girl-gross-out comedy in "Bridesmaids." Potty humor is not ma thang, not from the guys and not from the girls. So all the acclaim for "Bridesmaids" (Who knew women could be funny???? What a surprise!!!! Except, COME on. Women have always been funny. Sometimes even with poop.) strikes me as decidedly odd. Oh well. I would vote for Woody Allen's charming and creative "Midnight in Paris," and who knows? Maybe the Academy will agree with me and recognize that movie and Mr. Allen in just this one category, since they are figuring so much else will go to "The Artist."

All of my kvetching aside, I know when all is said and done, I will be tuning in on February 26th with a good chunk of the rest of the world to see whether Meryl Streep remembers her glasses, Marty Scorsese and his love of film preservation take him over the top, Viola Davis and her choice of gown knock 'em dead one more time, and Jean Dujardin brings the dog onstage if "The Artist" wins Best Picture. Maybe I should start a drinking game...

Producers Guild Honors "The Artist" (And Oscar Noms in the AM)

Yes, the 84th Annual Academy Awards nominations will be announced tomorrow morning. This year, Jennifer Lawrence (nominated last year as Best Actress for her performance in "Winter's Bone") and Academy president Tom Sherak will reveal the official Oscar nominations in about half the categories at 7:30 am Central time from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.

And, yes, the Oscars are clearly the main event when it comes to movie awards. But the Producers Guild did their own awards thing just two nights before the Oscar nods come out, handing out both TV and movie commendations. In case knowing who the Producers Guild chose to honor helps you with last-minute Oscar-nomination predictions or helps you figure out what to watch on the crowded TV schedule, I thought I'd keep you up to date.

Long story short: "The Artist" won again, making that film a prohibitive favorite to win big with the Academy, too. And "Boardwalk Empire" upended "Mad Men," even as we (okay, I) anticipate the new season the latter.

Here's a more complete list:

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN producers Peter Jackson, Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Competition Television:
THE AMAZING RACE producers Jerry Bruckheimer, Elise Doganieri, Jonathan Littman, Bertram van Munster and Mark Vertullo

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:
BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST producers Debra Koffler, Frank Mele, Edward Parks and Michael Rapaport

The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy:
MODERN FAMILY producers Paul Corrigan, Abraham Higginbotham, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Morton, Jeffrey Richman, Dan O’Shannon, Brad Walsh, Bill Wrubel and Danny Zuker

The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama:
BOARDWALK EMPIRE producers Eugene Kelly, Howard Korder, Stephen Levinson, Martin Scorsese, Rudd Simmons, Tim Van Patten and Terence Winter

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television:
THE COLBERT REPORT producers Meredith Bennett, Stephen Colbert, Richard Dahm, Tanya Michnevich Bracco, Tom Purcell and Jon Stewart

The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television:
DOWNTON ABBEY producers Julian Fellowes, Nigel Marchant and Gareth Neame

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television:
AMERICAN MASTERS producers Susan Lacy and Julie Sacks

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:
THE ARTIST producer Thomas Langmann

Get That 10-Minute "Playing Games" Play in Before February 1!

Heartland Theatre Company's annual 10-Minute Play Contest is still accepting entries... But only through February 1st!


This year's theme, "Playing Games," has proved popular with playwrights, with almost 300 plays from around the world already entered for consideration. But there's room for a few more, as long as:

• The play strongly reflects the theme "Playing Games."
• There are no more than four characters.
• Those four characters can be played by actors who range from 18 to 80.
• It would play at ten minutes or less if performed. (On the page, that's no more than ten pages formatted in Heartland's official style.)
• The action in your play can work in Heartland's physical space.
• Something happens. Something compelling, entertaining and altogether wonderful happens.

And that's all it takes to enter Heartland's 10-Minute Play Contest!

Once all the entries are judged (through two rounds of in-house Heartland judging) and finalists are selected, those 15-20 finalist scripts will be sent to a nationally-known playwright to select the eight winning entries to be produced on Heartland's stage in June.

If you've always wanted to see your work live and breathe on stage in the hands of accomplished actors and directors like the ones who are part of the "company" in Heartland Theatre Company, this is your chance. Just spruce up that entry, pay attention to the rules, please make sure it has something to do with playing games, and send it on in before February 1. Entries should be submitted online, through the Heartland Theatre Company website.

"Secrets" Goes Behind the "Downton Abbey" Manor House

My friend Sarah, who comments here occasionally, has introduced me to this blog, Jane's Austen's World, which offers intriguing information about, well, Jane Austen's world, as well as British life in other eras.

It is a lovely blog, and today it features a review and recap of a PBS companion show to "Downton Abbey" called "Secrets of the Manor House."


"Secrets of the Manor House" is billed as "a fascinating glimpse of life inside the great homes of Edwardian England."

PBS says, "Secrets of the Manor House looks beyond the fiction to the truth of what life was like in these ancient British houses. They were communities where two separate worlds existed side by side: the poor worked as domestic servants, while the nation’s wealthiest families enjoyed a lifestyle of luxury, and aristocrats ruled over their servants as they had done for a thousand years."

You'll find out a little about how Britain's aristocracy came to be (warrior class) and how they displayed their power and elite status through their homes, as well as how they refilled their coffers by marrying American women, AKA the Buccaneers. All of that dovetails nicely with "Downton Abbey," although we don't know who the soldier was way back when who scored the real estate that Downtown Abbey sits on. We do know, however, that the current Earl married an American heiress to keep the property stable financially, and those finances are at the very heart of the romances and conflicts swirling upstairs at Downton Abbey. The "warrior" business also informs the current generation(s) of servants and masters, as so many of the principal characters have been pulled into World War I, either as soldiers or nurses or support on the homefront. This time, however, war is acting as a great equalizer, not a way to rise to the top of the social heap or gain favor from the king. Fascinating, indeed!

You can see a 9-and-a-half minute teaser video here, along with other information about the program. I especially like the little pictures on the wall to illustrate the hierarchy inside the aristocracy.

Or you can scan Jane Austen's World's more detailed info, including screencaps, here.

"Secrets of the Manor House" airs at 7 (central) on our local PBS stations WTVP from Peoria and WILL from Champaign-Urbana, with the third episode of this season of "Downton Abbey" immediately after at 8 pm.