Film and Theater

Jim Piddock's Family Tree

The television show is called Family Tree and it airs on Sunday evenings on HBO in America and it also airs on BBC 2 in England. The one-half hour comedy was co-created by Jim Piddock and Christopher Guest and the show revolves around the character of thirty year old Tom Chadwick who explores his family tree and his ensuing adventures. Guest and Piddock wrote and produced eight episodes which were first broadcast early in May (2013) and Guest directs the shows, while both men appear in Family Tree, Piddock in a recurring role as Mr. Pfister an antique dealer. Recently, Jim Piddock visited with Riveting Riffs Magazine in our virtual studio, to talk about Family Tree. The third episode in the series was broadcast on Sunday June 2^nd. The show which stars Chris O’Dowd as Tom Chadwick, Tom Bennett as Chadwick’s best friend Pete Stupples, ventriloquist and actress Nina Conti as Tom Chadwick’s sister Bea, Michael McKean in the role of Tom Chadwick’s father and Ed Belgley Jr. as Tom Chadwick’s American cousin was filmed both in England and the United States.

“Partly it came from the business sense, because NBC Universal is based in both countries and we wanted (Family Tree) to have an English component and we wanted it to be shown there. Chris (Guest) and I obviously have strong ties with England and we thought it was a big enough story to straddle the Atlantic. It appealed to us. Fairly early on we decided that it would start in England and then it would come to America. After that decision was made it fit perfectly for Chris O’Dowd,” explains Jim Piddock. Read More

Interview with Beverly Leech Part I

“At the root of everything that I do is passion for my profession. I am a real lifer,” actress Beverly Leech laughs and continues, “All of my friends refer to me as a lifer. You would have to pry it from my cold dead fingers. I am I am very passionate about my craft, my profession and the business. I always try to present a very streamlined and professional approach. In addition, to the mail service (she laughs referencing the attempt to mail this writer her book) there are other things that have deteriorated with time. The business has morphed and it has changed so much the past few years that I can see young actors really struggling. What inspired me to write the book is my own sense of passion. My mother died recently and I was her caretaker for a number of years off and on. Writing a book had always been on my bucket list of things that I wanted to do before I died, so when my mother finally passed I had to take a very clear look at myself and say it’s time to honor yourself with these things that you always wanted to do,” she says, talking about her book Actor Muscle A Professional Guide to the Business of Acting.

Beverly Leech has an impressive stage and television acting resume having appeared as Alaura Kingsley in the Broadway production of City of Angels, as well as being cast in numerous plum roles at award winning regional theaters. A small and we emphasize small sampling of Ms. Leech’s vast television experience includes appearances on, The Rockford Files, Columbo, EZ Streets, Frazier, Modern Family, Rizzoli & Isles, Mad Men and Judging Amy. She was Sargent Kate Read More

Actress Debrianna Mansini

Debrianna Mansini who along with her husband David Forlano long ago opted for the New Mexico oasis called Santa Fe, over the bright lights of Los Angeles, it is safe to say, is an actress who is very much in demand these days, a tribute to her versatility and excellence performing in films, on television and on stage. She has appeared in films with Academy Award winning actor Jeff Bridges and actress Maggie Gyllenhaal (as Ann in Crazy Heart), with Charlize Theron (as Paula in The Burning Plain) and with Jennifer Lopez / Martin Sheen / Antonio Banderas (Bordertown). Most recently, Ms. Mansini has appeared on television in A&E’s modern western Longmire (July 2012), AMC’s Breaking Bad (July 2012) and ABC Family’s The Lying Game as Clarice. She just finished appearing (June 2012) in the stage version of Other People’s Money presented in Santa Fe and she is playing Aphrodite in a short film (being shot in July 2012). In addition, Debrianna Mansini is producing, starring as Helen Sawyer and in collaboration with British director and screenwriter Peter Kershaw, is writing the screenplay for Cyphers a web based series filled with suspense and that poses serious questions as to what is happening with our food and water supply and who is controlling it. Cyphers is preparing to enter its second season.

“I auditioned for The Lying Game in New Mexico and I was very happy that I got the part, because it was a large part to be cast from here. I got the role and subsequently the production moved to Austin, Texas. It was (to be filmed) here and then they (the politicians) started fighting about the film incentives and Read More

Scene from the film Little Birds

Little Birds Photo by Millenium Entertainment

Images courtesy of Millenium Entertainment protected by copyright ©, All Rights Reserved

Scene from the film The Host

Image courtesy of EPK.TV, protected by copyright ©

Falling Is A Must See Film

Can ten young actors write their own film script and then have all ten of those scripts woven together into one cohesive film? Director and screenwriter Michael Zelniker thought so. He asked ten young actors to write individual short scripts with the intention that they would be filmed, so the actors would have a calling card to show to agents and casting directors. It turns out he was right, because in August (2012) the film Falling won Indie Fest USA International Film Festival's Best of the Festival Award.

As we considered the structure of the class, a question came to me. Would it be possible to weave together the ten self-contained, independent short film scripts into a feature length story? So, the idea for this larger experiment was conceived from the outset. What excited me about the experiment was I knew we would be exploring an entirely novel form of storytelling. As doable as the short films were, the prospect of emerging a feature film from this process was much less certain. I knew that we would never sacrifice the integrity of any individual story in order to create or find connective tissue /overlapping moments between the stories,” says Zelniker.

We know what you are thinking and we thought that too. This is going to turn out horribly disjointed, artsy perhaps, certainly novel, but not cohesive. Guess what we were wrong and so are you. Zelniker and Celeste Chute, Sharon Elliott, Maryanna First, Paige Gibson, Christina Gudjenova, Matthew L. Hart, Read More

Michael Colby

Librettist / lyricist Michael Colby now has a number of his musicals being licensed, including, Delphi or Bust, North Atlantic, Tales of Tinseltown, Ludlow Ladd, Charlotte Sweet, They Chose Me and Slay It With Music, which was staged in London, England last year, where it received great reviews. Mr. Colby says that Slay It With Music, which was first produced in America Off Broadway, is in the tradition of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane and Sunset Boulevard.

Michael Colby’s accomplishments are many. His Charlotte Sweet received a Drama Desk Nomination, North Atlantic a Show Business Award, he was the chief writer for the Drama Desk Award winning new Amsterdam Theatre Company and he has written for well-known celebrities such as, Tony Randall, Linda Lavin, Paul Shaffer, Dina Merrill, Susan Stroman, Michael Feinstein, Kristin Chenoweth, Lainie Kazan, Jane Powell, Cicely Tyson, Eric Stoltz, Cliff Robertson and many others. Productions to which he has contributed have also starred, Betty Buckley, Elaine Stritch, Leslie Uggams, Carol Channing and Nell Carter.

He contributed significantly to Dorothy Hart’s book, Thou Swell, Thou Witty: The Life and Lyrics of Lorenz Hart. One might even suggest that it was somewhat auspicious that Michael Elihu Colby was born in the very same New York City hospital where Lorenz Hart passed away and as Mr. Colby jokes, “I would like to think that his spirit lives on.”

Michael Colby’s stature in the theatre community Read More

42 : A Film Review

42 the movie that opened on April 12^th and that is based on the life and career of Jackie Robinson the first African American to ever play in Major League Baseball is a film that deserves to be seen by a lot of people. It says here that this Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures picture should garner actor Harrison Ford an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of Branch Rickey the President of the Brooklyn Dodgers who brought Jackie Robinson first to the Montreal Royals and later to the Dodgers. Chadwick Boseman is solid in his role as Jackie Robinson, but we believe Nicole Beharie as Rachel Robinson, Jackie’s wife, was just as good and that should not be construed as a knock on the performance of Chadwick Boseman, but this is simply a movie that has several outstanding performances.

Brian Helgeland who wrote the screenplay did an outstanding job of directing 42: The True Story Of An American Legend. He painted a realistic and unfortunately sad commentary on the racism that Jackie Robinson and blacks in general faced in 1947, the year in whichRobinson became the first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers (in later years Jackie Robinson would play second base, third base and outfield). What makes Helgeland’s screenplay and the film work so well is he does not attempt to make a statement nor does he try to try to turn this into a political film he simply lets the events of the day tell the story. That becomes the best commentary that anyone can make about the injustice of prejudice of any kind. Denying Robinson in one scene and Rachel Robinson in another scene the Read More

They Shoot Mimes Don't They?

We are not quite sure how we first met documentary filmmakers Christine and Mark Bonn, except to say that the introduction came through social media. Like so many who work hard at their craft, it did not take look to understand that Christine and Mark are very passionate about filmmaking, they are very good at storytelling and they really do care about the people whose stories they tell. While their Second World War documentary series about the lives of veterans, serves as a fabulous tribute to the those men and women who served America and preserved our freedom, it may very well be their next release, They Shoot Mimes Don’t They, which garners this husband and wife team the most notoriety. The film, which they hope will be released at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013, chronicles the life, career and escapades of mime Robert Shields a native Californian who came to the attention of those in San Francisco through both his performances and what some might consider to be outrageous acts at Union Square in the 1970s and many will know him as one-half of the mime team Shields and Yarnell (Lorene Yarnell). Shield and Yarnell had their own television program for one season during the seventies and appeared on significant shows of the day including, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, The Red Skelton Show, The Muppet Show and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

“We were thinking that we really have vetted ourselves as documentarians doing these types of stories and a weird thing happened when we ran into Robert at a ocal art fair. He is an artist now and he travels around. We told him what we do and he told us about the Sedona International Film Festival (in Arizona). We ended up entering that with Vi’s film (Wings of Silver: The Vi Cowden Story) and we won the Audience Award. This is a big festival, a really big festival. For us to win we were Read More

Broadway's Sarah Rice

He was a dashing pig,” says New York City actress and singer Sarah Rice, recalling her first role as a child when she played the girlfriend of the brick house builder in a stage production ofThe Three Little Pigs.

Sarah Rice would later take a more substantial step to stardom when she left the Phoenix – Tempe, Arizona area as a young woman, straight out of college, in the mid-1970s.

“I was going to school at Arizona State when I won a singing contest. The Phoenix Musical Theater had run a contest and I won first prize, which was $400. They would not give me the money until I left town, because they wanted me to use it for a career. They paid for my ticket one way and I came to New York City with $200 and two cats,” she recalls.

That bold step launched a career in which she has demonstrated excellence at her craft, as well as versatility. Ms. Rice was cast as The Girl in the Broadway production of the Fantasticks and she was the original Johanna when Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street opened on Broadway in 1979, which also starred Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury. The musical would go on to claim eight Tony Awards and nine Drama Desk Awards. Sarah Rice has performed as an Opera soloist on some of the most prestigious stages worldwide and in 2011 she took her music in a decidedly different direction with her Screen Gems Songs of Old Hollywood, winning both a Bistro Award Read More

Interview: Newsies

Bob Tzudiker and Noni White are highly respected screenwriters who at different times during their careers have worked for Disney, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures, Dreamworks and Fox. A small sampling of their work as writers includes, the animated features, Tarzan (1999), Tarzan 2 (2005), 102 Dalmatians (2000), Anastasia (1997) and the Hunchback of Nortre Dame (1996). Bob Tzudiker and Noni White began their careers as actors, with Bob appearing on television shows such as, Walker, LA Law, Moonlighting, Murder She Wrote, Simon & Simon, Mike Hammer and TJ Hooker, as well as the movie Ruthless People. Noni White’s career as an actress includes appearances in 7^th Heaven. Little House on the Prairie, Falcon Crest and Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, plus the made for television movies, Scandal In A Small Town, Not My Kid, Malice In Wonderland, From The Dead of the Night and Not My Kid, to name but a few. With such significant accomplishments in film and television it may seem to some people somewhat surprising that the husband and wife writing duo of Bob Tzudiker and Noni White are about to make what may become their biggest splash yet and it will take place on Broadway, when their screenplay for the hit film Newsies is adapted to the stage for the second time in less than a year, as it graduates from New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse to Broadway.

Noni and Bob give credit to what they refer to as “a hugely successful run” at the Paper Mill Playhouse, for making it possible for Newsies to play Broadway. Read More