50/50

50/50 a compassionately humorous movie

Who would have thought a movie about Cancer would be humorous?
Cancer is both sad and scary. Yet the filmakers of 50/50 dealt with compassion, finding humor in small details..

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen star as best friends whose lives are changed by a cancer diagnosis in this new comedy directed by Jonathan Levine (The Wackness). Inspired by personal experiences, 50/50 is an original story about friendship, love, survival and finding humor in unlikely places.
In spite of his healthy lifestyle, Adam (Gordon-Levitt) receives shocking news that he has a rare form of cancer. In complete denial at first, he relies on his annoying yet humorous best friend Kyle (Rogen), his family and a young medical student, Katie (Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air) for moral and psychological support as he comes to terms with his condition and gathers the courage to fight for his life.

50/50 is the story of a guy's transformative and, yes, sometimes funny journey to health—drawing its emotional core from writer Will Reiser's own experience with cancer and reminding us that friendship and love, no matter what bizarre turns they take, are the greatest healers. Also starring Anjelica Huston. Official Web Site
Director:
Jonathan Levine
Cast:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston
MPAA Rating:
R
Run Time:
1hr 40mins

Mad men meets Milk

Uptown Players Presents The Temperamentals


Uptown Players closes its 2011 season with the regional premiere of the 2010 off-Broadway hit, The Temperamentals, at the Kalita Humphreys Theater from October 7 through October 23, 2011.

Jon Marans’ The Temperamentals tells the story of two men, the communist Harry Hay and the Viennese refugee and designer Rudi Gernreich, as they fall in love while building the Mattachine Society, the first gay rights organization in the United States pre Stonewall. It is an intimate portrayal of the men who created history and the epic struggles they overcame.

The characters consist of the actual men who founded the Mattachine Society, as well as other prominent figures of the time in Hollywood and the film industry, as well as the world of fashion. The story weaves together the personal and political to tell a relatively unknown chapter in gay history. It explores the love between two complex men, as their impossible dream of forming such an unheard of organization becomes a reality in this perilous, unpredictable world.

Described as "Mad Men meets Milk," Marans’ play was a sold-out sensation off-Broadway last year and earned a GLAAD nomination for Outstanding New York Theater. This production features Gregory Lush as Harry Hay and Montgomery Sutton as Rudi Geinrich; Paul J. Williams, Kevin Moore and Daylon Walton round out the cast, with Bruce R. Coleman directing.

The Temperamentals runs October 7 through October 23, 2011, with performances Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. (no performance October 9). A special Thursday night performance will take place on October 20 at 8 p.m.. Performances will take place at the Kalita Humphreys Theater, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd. at Blackburn, Dallas TX 75219. Tickets are $25 - $35 and can be purchased online at www.uptownplayers.org or by phone at 214-219-2718.

About Uptown Players:

Now in its tenth season, Uptown Players has gathered a dedicated following with an annual audience base of over 15,000 patrons, including nearly 1000 season subscribers. The response from the community and critics has been remarkable, including over 25 Leon Rabin Awards from the Dallas Theatre League, several hundred “The Column” Awards and 15 Theatre Critics Forum Awards in its first seven seasons. In recent years, Uptown Players has also been named the best theatre company by the Dallas Voice Readers Awards, and the Dallas Observer, and has appeared on the WFAA-A list and Best of Big D – D Magazine. Uptown Players has recently been featured on Good Morning Texas and Daybreak on WFAA.

Uptown Players is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, presenting plays and musicals that challenge audiences artistically, build cultural bridges, and strive to create greater positive public awareness and acceptance through the performing arts. There is no other theater group with this unique mission in the Dallas area.

WEST SIDE STORY

GRAMMY AWARD WINNING BROADWAY SMASH HIT

NATIONAL TOURING PRODUCTION
PRESENTED BY DALLAS SUMMER MUSICALS
AT THE MUSIC HALL AT FAIR PARK
OCTOBER 4-23, 2011

The national touring production of the smash hit Broadway revival of WEST
SIDE STORY will be presented by Dallas Summer Musicals Tuesday, October 4 through
Sunday, October 23 at the Music Hall at Fair Park. Single tickets, priced from $20-$85, are now on sale at The Box Office, 5959 Royal Lane, #542 in Preston Royal Shopping Center; or at any Ticketmaster outlet. Tickets are also available by calling 1-800-982-ARTS, or purchase online at www.ticketmaster.com. For groups of 15 or more, please call 214-426-GROUP.

Proclaimed “Bold, fresh and transcendent” and “So exciting it makes you ache with pleasure” by The New Yorker, WEST SIDE STORY is also the State Fair of Texas musical for 2011. The state fair runs Sept. 30-Oct. 23.

Tony Award-winning librettist Arthur Laurents’ Broadway direction will be recreated for the tour by David Saint, the Associate Director on Broadway. The original Jerome Robbins choreography is reproduced by Tony Award-nominee Joey McKneely (The Boy from Oz, The Life).

The cast stars Kyle Harris as Tony, Ali Ewoldt as Maria, Michelle Aravena as Anita, Joseph J. Simeone as Riff and German Santiago as Bernardo. Also featured are Mike Boland as Krupke,Ryan Christopher Chotto as A-rab, Stephen DeRosa as Glad Hand, Drew Foster as Action,Alexandra Frohlinger as Anybodys, Jay Garcia as Chino, Grant Gustin as Baby John, Nathan Keen as Big Deal, Christopher Patrick Mullen as Schrank, John O’Creagh as Doc, Kyle Robinson as Diesel, Cary Tedder as Snowboy, along with Karolina Blonski, Alicia Charles, Lauryn Ciardullo,Beth Crandall, Dean Andre de Luna, Ted Ely, Lori Ann Ferreri, Ryan Ghysels, Tim Hausmann,Thayne Jasperson, Déa Julien, Kristen Paulicelli, Waldemar Quinones-Villanueva, Alexandra Blake Redelico, Michael Scirrotto, Jeffrey C. Sousa, Dani Spieler, Jessica Swesey, Kathryn Lin Terza and Kirstin Tucker.

The new Broadway production began previews at the Palace Theatre on Broadway Monday,
February 23, 2009, opened to critical acclaim breaking box office records at the Palace Theatre on Thursday, March 19, 2009, and recouped its $14 million investment after running only 30 weeks. The Broadway production played its final performance January 2, 2011. The musical played 27 previews and 748 regular performances, making it the longest-running production of the groundbreaking musical in Broadway history. The original production, which had held the record,played 732 performances on Broadway.

WEST SIDE STORY features scenic designs by James Youmans (Gypsy), costumes by Tony
Award nominee David C. Woolard (The Farnsworth Invention, The Who’s Tommy), lighting by Tony Award winner Howell Binkley (Gypsy, Jersey Boys), sound design by Tony Award nominee Dan Moses Schreier (Gypsy, A Catered Affair) and hair by Mark Adam Rampmeyer (The Farnsworth Invention).

WEST SIDE STORY is written by three theatrical luminaries: two-time Tony Award winner
Arthur Laurents (book) and multiple Tony and Grammy Award winners Leonard Bernstein
(music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) in his Broadway debut.

WEST SIDE STORY is produced by Kevin McCollum, James L. Nederlander, Jeffrey Seller
with Terry Allen Kramer, Sander Jacobs, Roy Furman/Jill Furman Willis, Robyn Goodman/Walt Grossman, Hal Luftig, Roy Miller and Broadway Across America.

Season sponsors for Dallas Summer Musicals, presented by Comerica Bank, are The Dallas Morning News, Metro PCS, WFAA TV Channel 8, American Airlines, and Texas Instruments.

For more information about Dallas Summer Musicals, presented by Comerica Bank, visit their website at www.dallassummermusicals.org or call (214) 421-5678.