Posted on June 3, 2016 at 7:49 am
Julie Andrews has a new series for kid about the performing arts! I love that idea. STEM is important, of course, but the arts are what fuel the imagination and provide the satisfaction of creative expression. They also promote empathy and cooperation. Can’t wait for this!
Posted on May 10, 2016 at 10:51 am
For more than a century James M. Barrie’s story of the boy who would not grow up has been enchanting families as a play, several theatrical musicals, and in many different television and movie versions. Now the Peter Pan novel by Barrie is available from Audible as an audiobook, beautifully read by one of my favorite young actresses, Lily Collins (“Mirror Mirror,” “The Blind Side”). Peter Pan is the title character, and Collins does a wonderful job with everyone in the story, including Captain Hook. But having her tell the story subtly reminds us that Wendy (a name Barrie invented, by the way) is the one who really sees and understands what is happening and learning what she needs to know to do what Peter won’t do — grow up. The novel has much more detail than the familiar play and movie versions and lets us hear the story as Barrie imagined it and as he told it to the young boys he befriended and who inspired it. Play this one in the car and you’ll find yourself coming home the long way so you can keep listening.
Posted on April 16, 2016 at 3:35 pm
This week’s splendid new “Jungle Book” from Disney may inspire families to check out the books that inspired it by Rudyard Kipling. Children may prefer his “Just-So” stories and “Rikki-tikki-tavi,” about a curious mongoose who saves the day.
Families may also want to watch the original live action version of the story, starring Sabu.
Or Disney’s 1994 live action version, starring Jason Scott Lee and “Games of Thrones” star Lena Headey.
And of course there is the classic Disney animated version, the last film personally supervised by Walt Disney himself, with some of the all-time best Sherman Brothers songs. Like the new film directed by Jon Favreau, this version has outstanding voice talent, including Sebastian Cabot (Bagheera the panther), George Sanders (Shere Kahn the tiger), and Sterling Holloway (also the voice of Winnie the Pooh) as Kaa the snake.
Posted on April 3, 2016 at 8:00 am
Is there a better combination than Dame Judi Dench and William Shakespeare? In honor of the 400th anniversary of the death of the greatest writer in the history of the English language, one of the premiere actresses of our time is releasing a new CD called Exits & Entrances: Celebration of Shakespeare
Dame Judi performs some of her favorite selections from the Bard’s works, including the classic “When in Disgrace With Fortune and Men’s Eyes” and “Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds.” She is joined by David Suchet (best known in the US as Hercule Poirot), and Dench’s late brother Jeffery, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, well-known for his powerfully-intoned Shakespeare roles, who adds a contrastingly robust tone, and Oliver Dench, grandson of Jeffery, who recently did a one-man “Hamlet.” On the 24 tracks, the stars each perform well-known snippets from Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry V, The Winter’s Tale, Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, Richard III, and As You Like It, as well as sonnet selections.
Posted on March 27, 2016 at 8:00 am
My gallery of Easter movies includes “Ben Hur,” several different movie versions of the life of Jesus, a couple of choices just for kids, and a classic musical named for a classic song, Irving Berlin’s “Easter Parade.” There’s something for every family celebrating this weekend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPormnnx1aw
