When the world-famous ballet dancer Rudolph Nureyev defected to the West at the height of the Cold War, it sent tremors through the global community - and through Nureyev's world. Director Ralph Fiennes (best known as an actor in THE ENGLISH PATIENT and SCHINDLER'S LIST), working from an intricate screenplay by award-winning playwright-screenwriter David Hare, has shaped a superb film, shifting between the story of Nureyev's creative breakthrough in St. Petersburg, evocative glimpses of his childhood and the few intoxicating days of achievement and acclaim in Paris that leads to a break with his past. Fiennes also stars in the film as ballet master Alexander Pushkin. THE WHITE CROW opens in the Rose on Friday. "An exhilarating gift! Part thriller, part meditation on life and art, part portrait of a man on a tightrope." -Rolling Stone
THE SERENGETI RULES is a breath of fresh air - presenting a hopeful solution to the dangers afflicting ecosystems around the world. The film directs us "to see beauty in the way an ecologist might. Color, movement and texture all become indicators of ecological health. Seeking loveliness, the eye becomes trained to look for biodiversity. In mirroring the gaze of his professional subjects, [director Nicolas] Brown rewards audiences with a film that happily weds the scientific and the cinematic." (Excerpted from The New York Times). "A celebration of scientific excellence and an account of a discovery which has ramifications for natural environments the world over, THE SERENGETI RULES makes for compelling viewing...It's a film which sounds an alarm, but, unlike most similarly-themed pictures, one which permits a chink of light into the traditionally bleak narrative of man's impact on the land." - Screen Daily
Over 100 tickets have already been sold for Wednesday night's presentation of ASBURY PARK: RIOT, REDEMPTION, ROCK 'N' ROLL, so don't wait until the last minute. The story returns Asbury sons Steven Van Zandt, Southside Johnny Lyon and Bruce Springsteen to the club where they got their New Jersey start for interviews and a rousing concert. And only 10 tickets remain for ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS, tomorrow night in the Starlight.
It's a music filled Spring and Summer at the Rose and Starlight. In addition to ASBURY PARK and AMAZING GRACE, next Friday we open ROCKETMAN, the story of Elton John, and on June 28th YESTERDAY, in which director Danny Boyle imagines a world without the Beatles. Add to these the award-winning musicals 42ND STREET and KINKY BOOTS
--Rocky