'A Shortcut to Happiness' You Have to Catch

 

REVIEW A Shortcut to Happiness 

Performed by Marlborough Repertory.

Boathouse Theatre, Blenheim.

Reviewed by Angela Adye

Roger Hall has done it again. Wednesday night's A Shortcut to Happiness entertained an appreciative audience who left the Boathouse Theatre with smiles on their faces and a keener insight into how others may view Kiwi culture.

Inspired by a quote from author Vicki Baum, "There are few shortcuts to happiness and dancing is one of them" - and Hall's own international folk dancing experiences - the play pokes ungentle, amusing fun at our "Kiwi kulture".

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The Beauty in Classic Romantic Comedy

The Capitol, Horsham, Wednesday, June 19

It’s hard to imagine how a team of amateur actors on a small stage could bring to life a world of extravagant social gatherings and sun-drenched estates but HAODS does it brilliantly.

Adapted by Stacey Fox and Barry Syder, Pride & Prejudice tells the classic story of the Bennet daughters and their attempts to find suitable husbands.

Dennis Manning is a success as Mr Darcy. He plays a character who’s hard to understand and, initially, even harder to like. But there are hints of emotion and even desperation behind his stern exterior, which makes the enigmatic man fascinating to watch, even if it’s hard to identify with him.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

'Searching for Eden', a Heart Melting Romantic Comedy

June 11, 2013. The audience finds themselves transported to the Garden of Eden as Blowing Rock and Boone’s Ensemble Stage presents James Still’s “Searching for Eden”. This heart-warming comedy premieres Saturday, June 15, at 7:30 p.m. in the Blowing Rock School auditorium and runs until June 23. A full schedule of performances can be found here.



Ensemble Stage, a nonprofit professional theatre that started in 2009, operates year round and performs anything from comedy to drama to suspense thrillers. A recent achievement of the theatre is the anti-bullying plays performed by the students of Blowing Rock Elementary School.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

Nora Ephron's Amazing Success From Hit Romantic Comedies

It’s been over two decades since Nora Ephron made the move from screenwriter to film director, the third of her creative roles (she began her career as a journalist). After writing scripts for well-received films like Silkwood, Heartburn, and When Harry Met Sally…, she stepped behind the lens for her directorial debut, the little-seen and mostly forgotten This Is My Life. It was her second feature, however, that solidified her cinematic eye as well as her ear for sharp dialogue. 

Sleepless in Seattle, released in June 1993, proved to be Ephron’s biggest hit. It wasn’t just a commercial success, as she received an Academy Award nomination (shared with her co-writers, David S. Ward and Jeff Arch) for Best Original Screenplay. Two decades later, Sleepless in Seattle still stands as a cinematic achievement and perhaps the last great American romantic comedy.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

A Romantic 'Comedy of Errors'

One of my minor hobby horses is defending some of Shakespeare’s earlier plays that are frequently given short critical shrift, particularly two early comedies. Strip away your expectations about The Taming of the Shrew and you will find a genuine love story, about two dark and damaged characters unexpectedly finding each other, and love, in what appears to be a most unlikely match with one another. And step back from the familiar but still workable farce of A Comedy of Errors, and you will find a play structured very much like the late romances, and striking many of the same deep chords.

A Comedy of Errors begins, after all, with a death sentence on Aegeon, merchant of Syracuse, who has come to Ephesus in search of his lost son. Well, one of his lost sons – as he explains, he lost one of his twin boys, along with his wife, in a shipwreck when his son was still a small child; and the boy he was able to keep set off several years ago, when he was grown, in search of his twin, never to return. And so the father ventured forth himself, and, having fetched up in enemy territory, he now faces a very sad end to a life of struggle and loss.

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Romantic Comedy Revolves Around Rented Truck

 

In July 2010, Jean Ann Douglass appeared in a puppet play about a gorilla, a man and a chimpanzee. She played the left arm of the gorilla.

This feat took place at the Flea Theater in TriBeCa, and Ms. Douglass, then 27 and an aspiring performance artist, may have been working for peanuts but ended up richly rewarded. Because it was at a cast outing when she met, or more accurately was accosted by, Eric John Meyer, then 31 and a struggling playwright.

“I know you!” Mr. Meyer called out to her when Ms. Douglass arrived at Souths, a neighborhood bar and theater hangout. Actually, he knew her only in the sense that he had seen her perform a solo show four months earlier at the Kitchen in Chelsea. He had been unable to talk about anything else for hours after. 

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

Crime, Thriller and Romantic Comedy on Indie Film Projects

Few actors can inhabit a character like James Gandolfini. No matter the size of his role, Gandolfini could elevate a scene and the performances of those around him. There were always going to be projects that yearned for his presence.

But when the Emmy-winning star of The Sopranos died unexpectedly Wednesday at age 51, he did leave behind at least two completed performances: Enough Said, a romantic dramedy by director Nicole Holofcener and the Brooklyn-based crime thriller Animal Rescue.


Fox Searchlight’s Enough Said centers on Eva, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, a woman fresh off a divorce. Eva befriends another recent divorcée, Marianne, played by longtime Holofcener collaborator Catherine Keener, while also deciding to pursue a relationship with Gandolfini’s character Albert, described in a statement as “a sweet, funny, like-minded man.” Unfortunately for Eva, Albert happens to be Marianne’s ex-husband.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

'Warm Bodies' Gave Romantic Comedy a Fresh New Look

Pauls Valley, Oklahoma — When it comes to a list of the world’s easiest jobs, I’d have to place coming up with dialogue for zombies near the top of that list. Right next to that position would probably vocal coach for the undead, but I’ll come clean and admit that just about any role no matter how limited in the flesh eating genre would be a blast to play.

Although most flicks in the category provide some level of comedy from the groaning clichés alone, this one actually went there on purpose with an angle hard to ignore and something I had no problem checking out. Done to death and beyond torturous was the sparkly vampire craze of recent years, but shown quite a bit less often is exploring romantic notions with the walking diseased that don’t end in prison sentences. “Warm Bodies” delivers well with this “fresh” entertainment and when you aren’t busy busting a gut, one might actually find something with meaning and an ending that feels quite a bit more comforting than many other tales like it.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

Solid Performance for 'Bert And Arnie’s Guide To Friendship'

Remember these names: Matt Oberg, Stephen Schneider, Anna Chlumksy (if you grew up in the nineties, you already know her), and Cristin Milioti. They are the stars of the horribly titled “Bert and Arnie's Guide To Friendship,” a new indie that is a bit slight, often funny, mostly likable, and importantly, a romantic comedy that is not obnoxious. Its premise is nothing new, to be sure, but director Jeff Kaplan’s film has more humor and verve than almost every new sitcom that debuted on network television in the past year, and in Oberg, Schneider, Chlumsky, and especially Milioti, it has four fine comic performers who elevate director Jeff Kaplan's script (co-written with Ian Springer) into a modest success.

Oberg’s B. W. “Bert” Scheering is a full-of-himself college professor and the noted author of a hit novel (title: “The Virgin Monster”) who discovers that his wife is sleeping with Arnie, a womanizing executive with a caddish persona. Bert’s marriage screeches to a halt and thrusts him into the perils of single life, a world Arnie knows well. Playing the author card only gets him so far; even an attempted tryst with Faye (Cristin Milioti – more on her shortly), a deadpan student with a perennially congested-sounding voice who asks Bert to write her a letter of recommendation, proves disastrous, very, very disastrous.)

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

"200 Cartas", a Bilingual Romantic Comedy

                       

Puerto Rican-born actor and director Bruno Irrizary says it was something rather unexpected that landed Lin-Manuel Miranda the leading role in his latest film, “200 Cartas.”

“I told him your Spanish is so bad, I want you to be my lead actor,” laughs Irrizary, adding that he’s also a brilliant actor and performer.

The semi-autobiographical romantic comedy is Irrizary’s only second feature film, but it is already breaking boundaries — as it is fully bilingual. It tells the story of a Nuyorican comic book artist who falls in love with a Puerto Rican girl, Maria Sanchez, who was visiting New York City. Miranda travels to Puerto Rico with his best friend to look for her, and in their search self-discovery happens. The film will be screening in New York City, for two weeks, starting Friday, June 14.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

Fine Classy Pair in Romantic Comedy

With 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Farhan Akhtar and Sonam Kapoor proved to be a fine, classy pair. Having shared the screen space with Sonam for the first time with this upcoming biopic based on veteran athlete Milkha Singh, now Farhan is keen to do one more film with the actress again.

Those who have seen the rushes of the film say Sonam does not have a full-fledged role in the film. Said a source close to Farhan, "Farhan wants to act with Sonam again and has decided to offer her another project. He is quite keen to have her as his co-star again, perhaps in a romantic comedy." Insiders say that the director-actor, who has been on a promotional spree recently, apparently plans to take his new film on the floors towards the year-end.

"He is not in a mood to take a long break and if all goes well, he will start pre-production work on his next within a couple of months. Sonam and Farhan bonded well on the sets and he wants to take their professional relationship further by doing another film together," added the source.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

Romantic Comedies That Deserve More Recognition

                              

It's a simple fact that most romantic comedies are pretty forgettable. Some of them can feel like a giant waste of time, but others are actually kind of entertaining, and when they go unnoticed or underappreciated, it's a huge letdown. I've seen more rom-coms than I can count, and though many of them feel predictable and unoriginal, these seven stood out to me, even with their flaws and poor reviews. Here are some rom-coms that didn't get the kind of positive feedback or attention they deserved.

1. The Wedding Date  

The chemistry between Dermot Mulroney and Debra Messing is incredible in this 2005 treasure, which depicts the redhead actress as a woman who is very nervous about attending her younger sister's wedding. To cope with the fact that her ex-fiance will be there, Messing's character hires a male escort who pretends to be her new boyfriend. You can probably guess how this ends, but I promise you their banter is worth the lack of mystery and cliche rom-com plot line.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

 

 

Romantic Comedy Scandalization

Abby Rosebrock is diving headfirst into the shark tank of New York theater with her new comedy, Different Animals, now playing at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Rosebrock began her career in comedy writing with the Upright Citizens Brigade, a New York improv theater, where she trained in sketch comedy performance. Different Animals not only marks Rosebrock's off-Broadway debut as both a playwright and an actress, but the production also marks the debut of her first-ever full-length work.

The play follows a friendship that develops between two RomCom-obsessed women floundering through their twenties in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Jessica is cheating on her much older husband, Leo, with a local pastor named Will while Molly (played by Rosebrock herself) becomes obsessed with Jessica's husband and slowly reveals herself as a mentally unstable sociopath. Jessica, Molly, and Leo soon find themselves living a polygamous lifestyle as one big dysfunctional family.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?
 

Romantic Comedy That You Should Not Fear

A romantic comedy far from ordinary, Theatre Nebula’s “Scaring the Normals” explores why it’s important to be true to yourself, and not pretend to be someone else, like lonely Eleanor Rigby does, “…wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door…,” in that song by the Beatles.


“Scaring the Normals” is an original show that runs through Sunday, June 16 at Cutting Hall Performing Arts Center, 150 E. Wood St., in Palatine. Written by Christopher Bibby of Hoffman Estates, it began as a movie script and became a play when Bibby realized it would be easier to get a show produced in the theatre than a movie on the big screen.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

'Reasons to Be Happy' With This Romantic Comedy

 

In Will Ferrell's Nascar send-up Talledega Nights, Leslie Bibb plays Ricky Bobby's "red-hot smoking wife... a stone cold fox who if you were to rate her ass out of 100 it would easily be a 94." Bibb, who was discovered in a modeling search on Oprah in the '90s, again takes on the role of the Hot Girl in the off-Broadway MCC production of Neil LaBute's new play Reasons to Be Happy.

Written as a kind-of sequel to LaBute's Broadway play reasons to be pretty, about a quartet of friends who are grappling with what it means to be beautiful and how that affects their relationships, this play -- as the title suggests -- is more about what it means to be happy in a relationship. It follows up with the same characters, the beautiful Carly (Bibb), the "regular-looking" Steph (Jenna Fischer, fresh of the finale of The Office), the aggressive hunk Kent (Fred Weller) and the aimless Greg (Josh Hamilton).


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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

'Searching for Eden Lights the Ensemble Stage

June 11, 2013. The audience finds themselves transported to the Garden of Eden as Blowing Rock and Boone’s Ensemble Stage presents James Still’s “Searching for Eden”. This heart-warming comedy premieres Saturday, June 15, at 7:30 p.m. in the Blowing Rock School auditorium and runs until June 23. A full schedule of performances can be found here.

Ensemble Stage, a nonprofit professional theatre that started in 2009, operates year round and performs anything from comedy to drama to suspense thrillers. A recent achievement of the theatre is the anti-bullying plays performed by the students of Blowing Rock Elementary School.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

British Romantic Comedies That Top the List

Few film industries have defined the romantic comedy more than the British, and this list counts down the best from the UK. Here are ten of the best.

Notting Hill (1999)
The British romantic comedy at its finest, starring the archetypal romcom lead Hugh Grant (in the first of five movies on this list featuring the actor) in a modern fairy tale of a humble bookshop owner who falls for the world's biggest movie star (Julia Roberts). Charming, clever and, above all, hilarious.

Alfie (1966)
We dip into the past for the British institution Sir Michael Caine in one of his defining roles - the selfish, philandering title character romancing his way across London. Caine's charm shines through and the performance earned him an Oscar nomination and attention in Hollywood, with the film still held in high esteem by cinema aficionados.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

 

Stakes are High in Romantic Comedy

Romantic comedy was once a noble genre, a place to work out not only will they or won’t they, but why or why not, and should they or shouldn’t they? The Lady Eve may be a goofy romp about a conwoman and her beer-heir mark, but Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda’s spiky courtship is all about how much we can overcome deeply ingrained prejudices about class and sexual experience. 

In When Harry Met Sally, the two main characters talked their way through what makes a good relationship for a decade—and worked out their attitudes towards their careers and themselves as friends—before they got together. And movies like Annie Hall defied the traditional meaning of comedy—it ends with a breakup, not a marriage—to acknowledge both the power and potential for heartbreak of modern relationships.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

Romance Gets Deadly Serious

Ah, the road trip. It’s been fodder for countless movie comedies, but the new British import Sightseers, opening in Atlanta May 31, ups the ante by working murder and mayhem into the mix.

Alice Lowe is Tina, a meek young 30-something who lives at home with her overbearing mom (a scene-stealing Eileen Davies). When her boyfriend Chris (Steve Oram) invites her on a holiday to visit some fun sites in the British countryside, Tina happily agrees, much to the consternation of her mom. Chris tries to win over the cranky matriarch with some pleasant small talk, but mum offers a curt response: “I don’t like you.”

True, Tina and Chris have only been dating three months, but what could possibly go wrong when visiting such innocuous destinations as the Crick Tramway Museum and the Keswick Pencil Museum? As it turns out, plenty. A run-in with a litterbug gets Chris’ dander up, and before long he turns the trash-tossing gent into road kill.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

Romantic Bickerings at 'Much Ado'

If you all think back all the way to when I was in Toronto last fall, you'll recall I was very enamored with Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, the story of the bickering lovers Beatrice and Benedick. And now, months later, this morning, he was on Morning Edition to talk about it with NPR's Renee Montagne.

You perhaps know the story — how he shot it in less than two weeks after finishing the shooting part of his Avengers experience, how he shot it at home, how he used friends and actors he's worked with on his films and shows (including Amy Acker, Nathan Fillion, Fran Kranz and Alexis Denisof)

What I found most intriguing about it was that he discussed the fact that Beatrice and Benedick are the template for modern romantic comedy rooted in arguing — not just It Happened One Night, but Cheers and Moonlighting. In some of the most traditionally canonical art we have, you see the roots of some of the most well-worn tropes we have; high art helps create genre art just like high fashion helps create off-the-rack fashion.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

Gearing Up For a Typical Bollywood Romance

 

“Gangs Of Wasseypur” actress Richa Chadda says “Ishqeria” will see her in a typical romantic role opposite Neil Nitin Mukesh.

“When I did ‘Gangs...’, everybody was asking me the same question — ‘When will I be seen playing a romantic film?’ So finally I did a film with Neil, which is a typical romantic film,” Chadda told IANS.

“I will be doing the typical song and dance, which is a prominent part of the industry. I am really looking forward to this film. The film is titled ‘Ishqeria’,” she added.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

Romantic 'Package Deal'

 

TORONTO - New comedies starring Robin Williams, Rebel Wilson, Andy Samberg and Anna Faris are heading to City this fall, while violent dramas are being excised from the schedule in favour of a lighter lineup.

Rogers Media — which runs City as well as specialty channels including FX Canada, Sportsnet, OMNI and OLN — announced a 2013-2014 roster Tuesday that includes fresh laughs from "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane, "The Big Bang Theory" creator Chuck Lorre and "Parks and Recreation" creator/producers Dan Goor and Michael Schur.

"We want to be known as the place people come to laugh," Rogers Media president Keith Pelley said at a breakfast gathering that kicked off a full day of celeb-studded promotions.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

 

Wartime Romance Comedy Lands on Richmond

A battle of emotions in play Less Than Kind will be at Richmond Theatre this week following a successful UK tour last year.

Steel magnate John Fletcher has risen to the colossal challenge of out-producing the Nazi war machine in tanks for D-Day.

He meets Olivia Brown (Sue Holderness) in a comic tale that turns into despair as Brown is forced to choose between her true love and her son who has joined the rising tide of socialists and is outraged at the thought of his mum marrying ‘the enemy.’

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?

Romance in the Real Estate Business

There’s nothing like a little gentrification to get the sparks flying.

In her first-ever self-published book, “Million Dollar View,” author Silver Krieger explores the ever-changing demographics of New York City through a story about a real estate agent tasked with clearing out a Park Slope building of its artsy women residents — but instead finds himself in a tight predicament when he falls in love with a rebellious painter who has no intention of moving out.

“I wanted to write a romantic comedy and this is how it came out with little social, political implications,” said the native Manhattanite, who lived in Park Slope for 16 years before moving to Sunset Park more than a year ago.

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For more information about a wonderful romantic comedy please visit What Would Meg Do?