Complete the Hepburn Sentences

Today is the 105th anniversary of Katharine Hepburn's birth.

The last Kate movie that I saw was _____________ which _________________ .

My favorite Hepburn film is ____________ and she totally deserved the Oscar(s) for _______________________.

When Cate Blanchett played her in The Aviator I _____________________.

Stage Door: Audra's Toes, "Sweeney Peron", Busch's Hepburn and "Big Fish"

Audra McDonald rehearsing for "Porgy & Bess"Theater geeks who read The Film Experience (there be crossover!) might have been wondering what happened to the stage door column. The truth is we just haven't been seeing much. This is never a question of "nothing to see" but always a matter of finances and for one quarter of each year the the not-so-small matter of Oscar Mania keeping us busy with pre-recorded actors instead of live ones. But when I'm not seeing it I enjoy it vicariously through avid theatergoing friends and through blogs. My favorite is The Broadway Blog so if you're into theater, check it out. Here's four quick film / theater crossover tidbits I wanted to share. 

AUDRA in Rampart
I practically shrieked with surprised delight when Broadway baby Audra McDonald showed up in Oren Moverman's Rampart. She just kills her one scene role as Woody Harrelson's latest conquest. Woody's bad cop gets good love from multiple ladies and as Woody was sucking on her toes (no, really) I kept thinking, 'Audra is a star on any platform: small screen, big screen, stage, boudoir... (ahem. in this movie).' I'd love to see her in the current revival of Porgy & Bess and am hoping the opportunity presents itself.

CHARLES BUSCH does Katharine Hepburn. 
Late this month, legendary drag artist Charles Busch is doing a one night only reading of Matthew Lombardo'snplay about Katharine Hepburn, Tea at Five. The tickets are too steep for me but Busch is always wonderful when he's channelling the classic divas... and Lombardo has an actressexual's taste for them too having written the Kathleen Turner vehicle "High" and the Tallulah Bankhead play Looped. I'm curious how Charles Busch will be as Kate the Great (pictured left) given that my favorite Busch channeling is Greer Garson -- that voice! Old Hollywood and Theater History aficionados might also enjoy Mr. Busch's name droppings in this New York Times article about his apartment renovation.

BIG FISH
Were you aware that Tim Burton's 2003 movie is becoming a stage musical? The story, or to put it more accurately stories, does seem like a natural fit for musicalization. It's already heightened and fantastical which musical theater can really feed on. The score will be by Andrew Lippa but the best part of the news is that Michael C. Hall, though not officially announced, is intended for the lead role in 2013. He's got a wonderful singing voice and he's needed to do something other than Dexter for a few years now. Not that he hasn't found a surprising amount of ways to keep that particular performance lively despite the death-dealing but enough's enough -- love the show but I really think they'd be wise to wrap up; time for a little song and dance break!

EVITA Again
One more thing... Papermag amusingly wonders what Ricky Martin is thinking in this promotional still for the upcoming spring revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita. 

I don't know what he's thinking but what I'm thinking every time I see Michael Cerveris (the bald one, playing Juan Peron) is that time in early 2008 when I listened to my Broadway revival cast recording of Sweeney Todd  (in which he starred) after having recently seen Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd and just tearing up. The amount of nuance and drama and acting notes and beauty a singer/actor can put in to a musical performance as opposed to an actor who learns to sing a few bars.... I tell you the difference is astronomical. Hollywood is tone deaf.

Oh, and uh, Elena Rogers plays Eva Peron... will Madonna send her hydranges?

EXIT MUSIC

Audra McDonald singing Jason Robert Brown's "Stars and The Moon"... love this song. 

I met a man without a dollar to his name 

Who had no traits of any value but his smile 

I met a man who had no yearn or claim to fame 

Who was content to let life pass him for a while 

And I was sure that all I ever wanted 

Was a life like the movie stars led 

And he kissed me right here, and he said,

`I`ll give you stars and the moon and a soul to guide you 

And a promise I`ll never go 

I`ll give you hope to bring out all the life inside you 

And the strength that will help you grow.

I`ll give you truth and a future that`s twenty times better 

Than any Hollywood plot.`

And I thought, `You know, I`d rather have a yacht.`

Contest Winner: "I Know Where I'm Going"

Eeep! I forgot to announce the contest winners for this new Katharine Hepburn "I Know Where I'm Going" bio from Charlotte Chandler. I asked participants to name their favorite performance from "Kate the Great" and I just now pulled the winners randomly from those contest entries.

Which Hepburn performances are favored by our three winners? Read on!

Annie in New York. She writes...

My favorite Katharine Hepburn performance is in Bringing Up Baby (1938). Reasons: The improvised line, "I was born on the side of a hill" when the heel on her shoe broke; the glorious close-up of her smiling face that brings the film to a complete halt just to luxuriate in it; "Did we get to the other side?".  It's her full commitment to every aspect of the funniest movie ever made that makes this my favorite Hepburn performance.

Seisgrados in Spain. He writes...

Leonor of Aquitania in The Lion in Winter (1968). Her character is talked about like a bigger than life figure, strong, conniving, powerful, long before she enters the movie.



It's so hard for an actor to live up to those expectations in any film but when Hepburn shows up in this, she manages to be all that. An irresistible force.

Kimberly in Massachussetts. She writes..

Growing up Katharine Hepburn was the first real "actress" I knew of save my fathers obsession with Vivien Leigh (and all things Gone With The Wind). Living in New England she's considered a treasure. I could easily rattle off a specific reason, scene, or line that make each of these performances my favorite: Stage Door - I long to have a real life dialogue where I can use a few of the gems her and Ginger Rogers spout at one another; Bringing Up Baby for the early scene in the restaurant when her dress is ripped; The Philadephia Story drunk in Jimmy Stewarts arms...

But, my favorite would be in Desk Set (1957). Besides being the most often quoted film between my father & I, the performances are pitch perfect. It makes me sad that so many people haven't seen this film. As a woman this film has always stood out to me because Bunny Watson never tried to dumb herself down for Richard Sumner - he came to love her because she was smart. Hepburn also plays off of Joan Blondell in a fantastic way - Kate was rarely given girlfriends in her films - she was tough and always sparred with the boys, so it's fantastic to see her be a girls girl. This is one of my all time favorite films and I watch it every single time it's on. 

Congratulations to the winners! Your books will be in the mail soon.

Was your favorite Hepburn performance duly noted?

Pssst. Mine is Bringing Up Baby with Alice Adams as runner up but I am far from a completist.

Contest: Win a Katharine Hepburn Bio

My reading habits are very schizophrenic. I won't read anything but blogs for a long time and then suddenly I'm a voracious reader. I blame "What You See in the Dark" which got me back into a fiction mood. I just finished "The World of Normal Boys" today (total page turner) and I may start the newest Katharine Hepburn bio. Who knows. I have so many actress bios that are sitting here unread. As many of you know (and are perplexed by) Hepburn is far from my favorite actress but I am as ever willing to try. 

I can't vouch for the book as I have not read it. Apparently Charlotte Chandler, known for writing bios about deceased celebs, sometimes gets flak for quotes that are contradictory of previous quotes from other biographies, auto and otherwise. But what can you do about celebrity:What life, in the telling, is not a mix of fiction and truth, even if the person doing the telling is the subject!?

Anyway, I have two copies to give away. To enter the contest, email me before Thursday night at filmexperience (at) gmail (dot) com with "Hepburn" as the subject line and include the following.

• your name and address
• your favorite Katharine Hepburn performance and why*

* I might quote you on this last part so be forewarned

DVD: Gwynnie, Kate and Dolph?

Today's DVD releases cover a lot of ground. But let's start with the most amusing. Two collections arrive today. One, Tracy & Hepburn the Definitive Collection, collects every film that co-starred Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn, one of moviedom's most legendary couples both onscreen and off. The other is Dolph Lundgren Triple Threat. Hee. Because my movie-addled brain is always mushing things together I couldn't help but imagine a Lundgren/Hepburn series for a split second. What kind of movie could they possibly have made together?

The Lundgren triple doesn't even include any movie you've heard of. It's mostly post 90s stuff. Unfortunately none of the films are musicals despite the title of "triple threat" . When you hear triple threat you automatically think of a actor/singer/dancer, right?  Make your next straight-to-DVD action pic a musical, Dolph.

The best of the new releases is Claire Denis's typically hypnotic and disturbing White Material, which I wrote briefly about in January and the worst is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1 which I'm off-trend about it because it got wildly thumbs up reviews but I think it's easily the worst Potter feature  (give or take the Chamber of Snoozing) and aside from that admittedly stellar animated sequence, it was the most cynical (and successful) cash grab of 2010. The debuts  I haven't seen: the Gilles Marchand thriller Black Heaven starring Grégoire LePrince-Rinquet (Love Songs) and the acclaimed documentary Marwencol, about a brain damaged man recreating a World War II era town to 1/6th scale.

Finally, Country Strong also debuts on DVD today. But since we've heard Gwyneth's lovely voice crooning the  tracks, is there any reason left to see the movie? Have any of you?

I feel a poll coming on...

poll by twiigs.com