Word: melodrama
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...concerto is standard concert material simply because it is good, not because consummate performers like Gil Shaham like to play it. Shaham's masterful performance on Saturday night, though, drew out the piece's best qualities. Shaham began the violin solo with a rich, elegaic tone, bringing depth without melodrama to the tragic melody. He continued with a flexible tone that was glittering in his sublime upper register and lusty and rich in the low, and an impressive dynamic range that challenged the orchestra to match...
Unlike today's breed of safe-bet directors, Stone is the guy who tries things. He works fast and hard: U Turn, the dark, barking melodrama that opens this week, is his 11th feature in 11 years. He godfathers other films (The People vs. Larry Flint, The Joy Luck Club), dabbles in TV (Wild Palms), keeps stoking his legend. A Child's Night Dream should do that: it's a big, toxic dose of undiluted Oliver. But don't take his word for him. Check out Jane Hamsher's funny, true-sounding Killer Instinct (Broadway Books; 288 pages; $25), about...
...vast space, cold weather, an angry bear) and from a man's bitter, murky soul. It doesn't have much of the Mamet dialogue tang; that is on dazzling display in his forthcoming thriller, The Spanish Prisoner. Still, The Edge, directed by Lee Tamahori, offers enough of what a melodrama demands: two strong characters in mutual creative distrust...
...unprecedented eight shows with religious and spiritual themes. Each of these supplicants is praying for the Top-10 ratings success of last season's surprise hit, Touched by an Angel (CBS, Sundays, 8 p.m. E.T.). Also back this fall are 7th Heaven (the WB, Mondays, 8 p.m. E.T.), the melodrama about a minister's family; Dan Aykroyd's priestly sitcom Soul Man (ABC, Tuesdays, 8 p.m. E.T.); and the Angel spin-off Promised Land (CBS, Thursdays, 8 p.m. E.T.). Joining them are four newcomers, each offering a slightly more irreverent approach to religion. A pastor tries to fill his church...
...producer Martha Williamson was some heavy religious programming. Each week three angels (Della Reese, Roma Downey and John Dye) come to earth to counsel souls in crisis. Basically, they tell them to shut up and trust God, and then the angel of death takes someone away. It is great melodrama--Job replayed weekly--but pretty tough stuff. Nervous CBS execs ordered six episodes--and prepared a replacement. Williamson wasn't surprised by the show's success. "There are a lot more people in this country who believe in God than the guys in Hollywood and New York want to believe...