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Virgin'Rocky Horror'actors drawn to roles,
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Karen Friemund Wills had never seen any ver
sion of "The Rocky Horror Show” before Friday
night.
The significance of her being a "Rocky Horror”
"virgin” lies in the fact that she is playing the lead
female role, Janet, in the Lincoln Community
Playhouse’s stage presentation of "The Rocky
Horror Show.”
Despite the fact that she had never seen the
screen or stage version, Wills, a Playhouse veteran,
was drawn to the role because of the craziness that
-1 surrounds
1 _“Rocky Horror."
s 1 ■■■■■"■'——fc*——^ She said she
The Rocky Horror was delighted
eiiAui with the recep
W** . ^ tion the play
—C Where: IJmooln received when it
Community opened last
weekend.
2500 S. 56th St She hopes to
carry that
When: August 24-27 momentum into
-- 8 pm, Friday the next set of
and Saturday shows on Aug.
24-27.
The shows
fSBEI start at 8 p.m.
S each night with
-(Cost additional 10:30
p.m. showings
- »*£ on Friday and
Saturday.
The later
audiences last
weekend were a bit more interactive, which made
the shows especially fun, Wills said.
Wills also said her- and other cast members’ -
lack of knowledge with the script made the per
formance more challenging.
"Sometimes, it got to a point where the audi
ence’s comebacks and participation threw us off so
much that we wanted to break script,” Wills said.
The play’s director, Paul Pearson, said he wel
comed having key cast members who had little or
no knowledge of the film version of "Rocky
Horror.”
The cast had a wonderful
mix of "Rocky” fans, actors
whom he had directed in the past
and Playhouse regulars, Pearson
said.
"It kept the play from turning into
the movie,” he said. Pearson was
emphatic that the film version ("The
Rocky Horror Picture Show”) and the stage
version ("The Rocky Horror Show”) be seen
as two different types of productions.
"The theater production has this great
interaction between performers and audi
ence that you don’t get with the movie,” he
said. “With the theater version, you get
cast members shooting silly string at a
the audience.” ^k
Pearson said he found the “Rocky
Horror Picture Show” almost boring.
“Here you’ve got this lavish, the
atrical movie that lacks the intima
cy of the theater. If you want to see
die true show, come and see die
stage version,” he said.
The comebacks ana lines
that are a big part of the
movie, Pearson said, are
also part of the live show.
But, he added, even "Rocky
Horror" movie veterans
can have trouble keeping
up with the stage version.
“The live version moves
so much quicker,” he said.
“Most people get so
caught up in the perform
ance that they forget to say
anything.*
Pearson also limited the
number of props audience
members could bring into the
theater - something Wills said
the cast was grateful for.
we ve got cast members on
5-inch stiletto heels,” Wills said,
“The last thing we need is rice
thrown all over the stage.”
Fantastical eye candy makes'Cell'worthwhile
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A year from now, the college rooms of film
buffs will be adorned with posters from "The
Cell,” a poster movie if there ever was one.
There’s scene after scene of alluring, awe
inspiring visuals cataloguing the perverse
inner sanctums of a serial killer and his psy
chiatrist (Jennifer Lopez) - a real feast for the
eyes, the land of photography and produc
tion design that suggests how Luis Bunuel
might have made film in the early 21st
Century.
It’s the vision of first-time director
Tarsem, who developed his signature in the
1989 R.E.M. music video "Losing My
Religion.” Tarsem uses that style then mixes
in steals from surrealism, from Salvador Dali,
to film predecessors like "What Dreams May
Come.”
I like the result - a vibrant, abrupt, opti
cally challenging map of mortal thoughts.
One scene has a character watch a boy
ascend newly formed castle stairs only feet
away, then realize she’s miles away.
Another character finds himself on a
beach accompanied by three whispering
porcelain dolls of identical, back-bending
poses, as the beach curls up beneath
them into sandy folds. _
In another, there is a giant
log, a stallion and a k
little boy with eels for
hands. Eels swim in the
closet during another
scene.
You don’t get the pic
ture-which is the point
And you can't until you
see it firsthand.
Not quite as intrigu
ing is the story, which
melds together science
fiction - the ability for a
child counselor (Lopez) i
enter the mind of comatose patients
by virtue of a billionaire-funded
project - and elements of the hor
ror/serial killer genre.
It aH eventually morphs into a 4
race-against-the-clock drama J
about a long-haired damsel in \
severe distress, trapped in a
water cube that slowly fills until
it drowns die captive.
This contraption is the invention of
Carl Stargher (Vincent D’ Onofrio), who’s
two shades stranger than Hannibal
Lecter, especially in the sexual fetish
department. Stargher will be caught 30
minutes into the film through his own
foolish error.
ffV g)V'l U1V OV1U9V MV ntuuvu IU UV, UO
does an FBI agent (Vince Vaughn)
5haWn BaUarin/DN
embroiled in the case. But Stargher fells into a
irreversible coma related to a rare schizo
phrenia called Waylon’s Infraction.
The remaining victim yet unfound,
Vaughn’s character, looking like he came off a
three-day bender, calls upon Catherine
Deane (Lopez) and her scientists. The idea is
to enter Stargher’s mind, make contact with
the inner child and get the goods. There’s no
spilling secrets in saying Lopez gets much
more than that
The remainder of “The Cell” is largely
spent in one mind or another, and the scenes
are best left discovered in the theater.
I found Deane’s initial foray into
Stargher's mind, involving a horse, a body
builder, little boys and an idealized, king-like
version of Stargher’s self, as the most com
pelling.
The second looks a good deal like the
R.E.M. video, while a medieval disembowel
ing under the watchful eye of a concubine
highlights another head trip.
The mindscape sequences are intercut, as
they must be, by the slowly filling water cube
where the final victim waits and cries in the
desert underground.
Strangely, these scenes, along with the
setup involving a still-alive Stargher, achieve
their chilling effect more easily than die fan
tasy interludes. “The Cell” continually
reminds us that nothing is real. I accept
^ that.
Things die a bit in the final 20 min
utes, as the movie rushes headlong
toward a predictable conclusion.
Lopez’s character takes a big risk,
k and there’s a showdown that turns
^ into a letdown, in both
visual and i
story terms. I
One line /IT " ■ —
in the movie JlUG CGI I J
- a cheap _
salvo that; _f5irectorT Tarsem
belongs m a v ■■■—
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flick-mars V*atir?S:. representa
the end with ~?PS?o
abi|th^ ing? severe
But “The • tl?i i
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. sur" child abuse
yj v et.s serial murde
because it is
andto!«hat -(Stars: Jennifer Lop
the same Vince Vaughn
time, as it
doesn’t D'Onofno
overindulge ^ ,
in its eye yyycMim
candy and
remembers that its core is thriller-based, and
the question of the gill must be solved.
There is enough police procedural to lend
the head trips some weight, rather than float
unattached, as they did in “What Dreams
May Come.”
The performances follow suit. Though
Lopez won’t make anyone forget Jodie Foster,
she does exactly what she was hired to do - be
easy on the libido; along with her purr and
whisper, she shows off a low-cut feathery
wedding dress and a S/M leather getup.
Vaughn grumbles and smolders, while
D Onofrio adds to his resume
of playing genuine odd
W balls.
But the real stars are
the production team
I Tarsem, who lays it on a
' bit thick (Slow-motion
helicopters are a real
snooze.) but mostly
keeps a steady hand,
especially in the water
cube sequences.
“The Cell" takes small
liberty with the truth - just how
one embed hooks into their own back is
beyond me - but we forgive because the fan
tasy is worth it
In reality, many critics couldn’t forgive,
railing the movie for its pretentiousness, its
bloated self-importance, its gruesome depic
tion of medieval torture, among other things.
Pretentious, self-important, gruesome:
L' “The Cell” is all of that, and more.
R Name me one ambitious film that
B isn’t. My advice: See “The Cell," like it,
■ then buy the poster. I’m betting there'll be
at least 20 to choose from.
COURTESY PHOTO
Susan Bames,JuRa Noyes and JannaHarsch modd some of the hats that wi be mod
eled tonight ata Noyes Art Gallery opening.
Hat party opens Noyes exhibit
bymemwempjSSH_
Mama always said it's rude to
wear your hat indoors, but
tonight break out the sombreros
and fedoras and tip your caps to
some of Lincoln’s artists.
The Noyes Art Gallery, 119 S.
9th St., is throwing a “hat party*
from 7-9 p.m. tonight, during
which several gallery artists will
showcase their work and tech
niques.
“I just finished teaching a
workshop on making hats last
week,* said Julia Noyes, owner of
the gallery. “We had a lot of fun
with it and decided to add it to
the show.”
Visitors are encouraged to
wear hats of all styles during the
artists’ demonstrations, and if
you don’t have one, “you can
always borrow one,” Noyes said,
pointing to a variety of her hats
on display.
The gallery, open since 1993,
prides itself on the variety and
individuality of its artists. As a
co-op, the gallery has about 25
members, allowing artists to
encourage and inspire each
other.
Artists will show their work
in areas such as black and white
photography, mask making, ink
drawing and jewelry design, giv
ing patrons the opportunity to
rHat Party Art ]
.Gallery J
—(When: August 22
-7-9 pjn.
-C Cost: Free
meet the people behind the art
Janna Harsch, a mixed
media artist, will demonstrate
colored pencil techniques and
showcase her award-winning art
in the focus gallery.
“Horses are my particular
obsession,” she said. “But
whether its a horse or a person
or a seashell, my paintings are
about motion and change.”
The Noyes Art Gallery usual
ly showcases a new artist the first
Friday of each month but want
ed to do things a bit differently
this month, Noyes said.
“We’ve never done this
before, and it’s good for people
to see the art and meet the
artists.”