Word: thespians
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...House of Representatives last Wednesday was part theater, part courtroom and part confessional. As his wife Betty wept in the visitors' gallery, Speaker Jim Wright played defense attorney, arguing away each charge against him; thespian, wiping his brow and lowering his voice to a whisper; and penitent: "Are there things I would do differently? Oh, boy." As the minutes ticked away -- Wright took more than an hour -- some began to wonder whether he was giving a resignation speech or making another plea for forgiveness. Finally the words that had caught in his throat for so long passed his lips...
...some of the show's lewdest gems. Flapper waitresses Trixie deTrade (Sherwin Parikh '90), a Joisey homegirl in a clingy jade satin mini and fuschia bikini top, and Sheila Lowitt, with sinister eye makeup, deftly trade bedtime barbs. When Trixie is scared by Sheila's desire to be a thespian, Sheila wonders, "How can you be so shallow?" "My boyfriend says I'm deep," Trixie retorts...
...doubt it started out sincere and was eventually co-opted by the forces of commerce) is having an attitude. Enough with Sting's image as the politically correct artiste extraordinare who can rock out with the boys, jam with Black jazz musicians, do the classical thespian thing, father a host of love children and be just the eccentric country gentleman donating his time and energy to worthy causes. I mean, aren't we bohemian? Gimme a break...
...Jack is not a Hollywood bubblehead. He is a serious New York thespian, meaning he sometimes thinks before he says his lines. Or anyway he thinks he thinks, which for an actor amounts to the same thing. In this enterprise he is encouraged by his inherited mistress (Sonia Braga) and by his dislike of the spokesman for the protofascist status quo (Raul Julia). The trio are game performers, but their energy cannot compensate for the lack of funny lines and well-constructed scenes. It may be that Mazursky was overcome by a sincerity attack and decided to send an earnest...
Yeah, he's not Olivier, but one only needs to think back to the diversity of characters Murphy played on Saturday Night Live (Buckwheat, Gumby, Mr. Robinson, Stevie Wonder and even Elvis) to realize how much he has wasted his thespian talents since then in most, if not all, of his movie roles. Murphy could--and still can--capture a character's entire life history in a few well-chosen gestures and phrases. Maybe this talent means that Murphy is more imitative than creative, but so be it--he is a brilliant imitator, which is why he was the ideal...