Special big-screen viewing of ‘BRUTALIST’ in N.Y./L.A.

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brutalist/futurist architecture Geisel LIbrary, UC San Diego
architect: William Pereira
photo by Erik Jepsen

It’s really nice that film distributor A24 is going to extra effort to make sure THE BRUTALIST, shot by director Brady Corbet in 70 mm film format, can be seen not just by elites but by a wide-spreading audience projected on the big screen as intended.

This emphasis on cinematic scale and spectacle, Sarah Atkinson, a professor of screen media at King’s College London, told The Guardian, “is part of a larger effort to preserve film’s status as a unique medium, distinct from home streaming and on a cultural par with theatre”.

The movie was filmed in VistaVision—a high-resolution format with a wider field of view—allowing for extraordinary clarity when projected in 70mm. Audiences will be immersed in a truly cinematic experience, watching over four miles of celluloid film (weighing 259 pounds).

The story centers on a fictional character, a Hungarian-born architect László Toth (Adrian Brody, right above) as he attempts to rebuild his life in Post-War America. Initially forced to toil in poverty, Toth soon wins a contract that will change the course of the next 30 years of his life. THE BRUTALIST world premiered to critical acclaim at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival, where the jury awarded Corbet the Silver Lion for Best Director. The film went on to play both the Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival.

The program will kick off at the Village East Cinemas in New York City and the Vista Theatre in Los Feliz. Attendees will receive a collectible brochure and postcard set showcasing the work of László Toth, the visionary architect at the heart of the story. In addition to the 70mm presentation, theater lobbies will feature exclusive displays. All tickets come with a commemorative poster to mark the occasion.


THE BRUTALIST in 70 mm projection | theaters in New York, L.A. | December 19

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‘Once Upon a Mattress’ soon at Ahmanson: from Carol Burnett to Sutton Foster

Theater

We know it is based on a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, “The Princess and the Pea.” We know its revival has been a big hit on Broadway in the 2023-24 season and that we are getting the New York cast with two-time Tony Award winning Sutton Foster in the lead. The incredibly fun and festival musical, Once Upon a Mattress, opening next Friday, December 13, will run over the holidays at the Ahmanson Theatre.

And we all know the salient fact — it’s Broadway legend — that the role of Princess Winnifred was originated in the Lower East Side to transfer to the Alvin Theater, November 25, 1959, and then to bounce around a number of Broadway houses to clock 460 performances. And that night, as directed by the stern George Abbott and choreographed by Joe Layton, a star was born. Let’s travel back in time to when critics wielded enormous influence over audiences and the entertainment industry itself. How did Carol Burnett fare with two of the Big Dogs of New York Theater Criticism?

BROOKS ATKINSON, New York Times

Two of the ladies enmeshed in the plot have remarkably fees talent. Mary Rodgers, the composer has written a highly enjoyable score. …She has a style of her own, an inventive mind, and a fund of cheerful melodies; and Once Upon a Mattress is full of good music. Some of it is sung  by a breezy comedienne who comes brawling into the story about halfway through the first act and gives it a wonderful lift for the rest of the evening. She is Carol Burnett, a lean, earthy young lady with a metallic voice, an ironic gleam, and an unfailing sense of the comic gesture. As a singer, she discharges Miss Rodger’s music as though she were firing a field mortar…Don’t be distressed by the title, and don’t expect much from the libretto. But be comforted by the fact that the musical theater has acquired a genuine new composer and a funny new clown.

ROBERT COLEMAN, New York Daily Mirror

Carol Burnett made an auspicious bow as the Princess Winifred. She is as pixyish as Alice Pearce and as hoydenish as Betty Hutton. She can belt out a song like Dolores Gray. She can cash in on comedy like Ethel Merman.  And yet remain Carol Burnett. A personality in her own right. A future star.

And here is that future star. Soon at the Music Center!


Once Upon a Mattress | Center Theater Group, Ahmanson Theatre | Dec 13 thru Jan 5

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Dance
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Dance
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Film · Music
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Dance
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Music
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Down in the dumps about democracy? Try an evening of French animated shorts at The Kabbaz

Film
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Portrait of an Artist – the many roles of Medhi Walerski

Dance
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