Scene4 Magazine | letters to the editor

Be sure to watch which hand you are raising and which fingers you are crossing...even in your cartoons! This cartoon is YOU...it is perfect! Thanks for making my morning!
C. McCammon
view Elliot Feldman's comic

Kathi Wolfe is going to be the great humorist of our day.I am watching it happen right here and now.
Grace Cavalieri
read Kathi Wolfe's column

Happily, the majesty of the piece is not lost on the poet writing the review for that comes pillowing through, even with Gert looking on from the wings.
Grace Cavalieri
read Karren Alenier's column

How does Miles David Moore do it? He sees all the veils and lifts them so eloquently. Real film history behind his words.
Grace Cavalieri
read Miles David Moore's review of Children of Men and Idiocracy

Thank you for this insightful interview with this lovely and talented artist. I saw her in concert and more importantly heard her in concert and she is as impressive and compelling as you describe. I wonder why she isn't a major recording artist as well as a major figure on the concert stage. As you say, "she's only 22" so that means that she and we have many years to watch her emerge and thrill at her new achievements.
Patricia Gundersen
read Arthur Meiselman's article

Are you saying that in those heady times that MAT and Stanislavsky and his colleagues gave a damn about marketing? I don't think so.
Dirk
read Nathan Thomas' article

I very much appreciate Andrea Kapsaski's remembrance and comments. This movie remains as a masterpiece. Maybe that is a little strong to say, but it is as wonderful today as it was when it first flashed on the screen. It was so ahead of its time even though there have been only a few attempts since then to do a movie where all the dialogue is sung. None have come close to this beautiful movie. This is understandable because it has the glorious music of Michel Legrand and the masterful direction of Jaques Demy.
Paulin
read Andrea Kapsaski's article

Thanks so much for your comment. It opens up several possible issues. Talking about marketing in late-19th-century Moscow at any level is far different than talking about marketing today -- particular in American terms (particularly since I'm writing this even as the spectacle of the Super Bowl is playing out).

That being said, it's undeniable that Stanislavsky weren't interested in creating 'boutique' theatre in the main house. They (Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko) wanted the plays done by the MAT to be seen by *many* people. Indeed, there was discussion that it should be named the Moscow *POPULAR* Art Theatre. Likewise Vakhtangov thought that theatre should communicate to people. There was also a practical reason for wanting successful shows in the early (read pre-Revolutionary) days. Where was the money to come from? One of Nemirovich-Danchenko's on-going irritations with Stanislavsky was that Konstantine Sergeiivich wouldn't put the weight of the Alexiev family fortune into the venture. Shows had to be popular to keep the theatre open.

Maybe I can express an idea in another way. Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko (for example) were motivated by wanting to make art. They also were optimistic to think that truly great art would find not only a small audience -- but a large audience. A popular audience. And they had enough confidence to think they could do it all -- make art that was truly popular. Thanks for the opportunity to engage the idea.
Nathan Thomas
read Nathan Thomas' article

Great article. Di Wu is a fantastic pianist in every way possible. Such intensity and technical skill filled with emotional playing. I simply love her music so thanks for letting more folks know about her wonderful gift.
Steven Vaughn
read Arthur Meiselman's article

The politics of the serious music world is ruthless and often devastating. I suppoose it's true everywhere in the civilized world. I know, from personal experience. Stay the course, Miss Wu, you are almost there.
Sharon Rubenstein
read Arthur Meiselman's article

Right on! Sharply written, point well made. You hit the nail right on the head--Mel Gibson's head! You should have called this piece "The Passion and Scourge of Mel Gibson." Sorry about all the puns, it's not really funny. I like his films too, but there's something wrong with this guy. He needs help and he sure can afford to get it. There's so much truth in what you say when you write about separating the artist from his art. Even more, separating the player from his sport and the politician from his politics (which will never happen). Something about celebrities and successful people who lose sight of who they are and who supports them. Dear Mel Gibson, just make films and stay home the rest of the time with your family. If you have to go out in polite company, make sure you have a chaperone.
GH
read Lia Beachy's article

It´s crap you are saying. Live 30 or more years chased by paparazzi every day... every minute, and then tell me how you feel, without a private life! Maybe you can handle all the confrontations with paparazzi and fans well most of the time, but certainly in a weak mood -do you know what kind of problems Mel Gibson has at the moment?- you might react similar to him. I beg you would. You also should know that he is a very high tempered person and for these kinds of personality it´s quite normal to act like this, even non-famous human beings. Don´t jury like this about him. Let him live for goodness sake!
kiki
read Lia Beachy's article

After seeing the show myself, I feel that this article was an accurate and descriptive representation of the show. It portrayed the feeling and emotion of the performance. Most reviews of this nature I feel are pretentious and full of "theatre lovey" language; it was refreshing to read something a little more honest and heartfelt.
Sally Oakley
read Rosie Harrison's article

I have just finished watching "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" in its entirety for the first time, and everything Andrea Kapsaski said about the film is true. It is unique and thrilling, as poignant a paean to lost love as I have ever seen on film. If you can stand cinematic stylization (and get past the singing mechanics at the beginning!) it's a wow.
Miles Moore
read Andrea Kapsaski's article

Thanks Lia Beachy for your well written article about meeting Mel Gibson, separating the man from the art—something to ponder.
Glen B.
read Lia Beachy's article

Your review and interview with the film director is so good, it tells us what we need to know. I was there in the 60's and I saw it. It is an important part of our recent history. The important point of your article is the quote about Rome. I would also hearken back to Santayana, so relevant today and always--"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Jay Lieberman
read Arthur Kanegis' and Rob Cochran's article

Yeah. I was also in Chicago. Hanging on the wall in the room where I'm typing this message is a Nixon Agnew poster with fleeing demonstrator footprints all over it. I picked it up from the ground as I was running from cops through Lincoln Park on the under-reported bloody day before the Grant Park massacre.
In 2003, my house burned to the ground with a few thousand other houses in the San Diego wildfires. On my way out the door I grabbed two things off the wall: my original Zap Comics S. Clay Wilson pirates page and the Nixon Agnew poster from Chicago.
I hope this film does the event justice. Rage Against the Machine? I dunno. Maybe. Detroit's own MC5 were playing in Lincoln Park on the day that the shit went down for me.
Elliot Feldman
read Arthur Kanegis' and Rob Cochran's article