2012-05-04 22:05:00
JANE HOLAHAN
"To Cross an Ocean Four Centuries Long," started small.
When it was performed in September at the YWCA, only an actor and a percussionist were on stage, telling the story of four African-American women (three historical, one fictional) and who they were beyond their enslavement.
B......
2012-04-20 21:11:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
After directing the Wheatland Chorale for 25 years, Rob Upton is retiring. Blame Phoenix, Ariz. Upton recently bought a vacation home there. While we are shivering in February, he'll be enjoying temperatures in the sunny 60s. No more Monday night commutes from the western suburbs o......
2012-04-06 20:22:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Some theater thoughts, all connected in degrees of separation.
• Congratulations to Eliseo Roman, who is on Broadway again. He's playing one of the Angels of Mercy in "Leap of Faith," now in previews. It opens April 26 at the St. James Theatre.
Roman, who was......
2012-03-23 20:30:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Last Saturday, some friends and I took a bus trip to New York. It was St. Patrick's Day, but our goal was not to see the parade.
We wanted to see some great theater. New York, as you may have heard, has its share.
But there was no consensus among the three of us. We didn't even kn......
2012-03-09 21:26:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Next Saturday is St. Patrick's Day. If, like me, you are of Irish descent, you might want to spend the day in hiding. All the clichés come out on March 17: The green beer, the leprechauns, the supposed luck o' the Irish.
The blarney can get thick.
I suggest checking out som......
2012-02-24 20:09:00
JANE HOLAHAN
So, are you bummed?
Feeling the signs of withdrawal?
Anxiety? Sadness?
Experiencing the DTs? Shaking uncontrollably and seeing visions of Dowager Countess Violet Crawley spitting out a withering comment? Or perhaps Mrs. Patmore rolling out dough downstairs?
Hearing......
2012-02-10 21:47:00
JANE HOLAHAN
The Oscars are coming on Feb. 26, and it's time to make some predictions.
Alas, I am not so good at predicting who wins Oscars. I confuse who will win with who should win. I keep thinking the Oscars are all about artistic quality, but they are about a bunch of other thin......
2012-01-27 22:42:00
JANE HOLAHAN
So, the 2011 Oscar nominees have been announced.
I am very happy that "Hugo," which was my favorite film of 2011, is leading the nominations with 11.
And also happy that my other two favorite movies last year, "The Artist" and "The Descendants," are vying for best picture.
...
2012-01-13 23:19:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Among my very favorite movies of 2011 is "The Artist," which hasn't gotten to Lancaster yet but is expected in the next few weeks.
Maybe you've heard about it?
Not only is it a black and white film — something we rarely see these days — but it's silent as well — ......
2011-12-16 21:46:00
JANE HOLAHAN
One more week before Christmas, and I've got a lot of movies and old TV shows to watch.
Is it really the holidays without "It's a Wonderful Life," or "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer?"
Can Christmas 2011 pass without seeing Charlie Brown's pathetic tree once more?
Those sho......
2011-12-02 20:23:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Last weekend, I saw what I am confident is the best movie of 2011.
"Hugo" is such a dazzling, delightful story, such an emotional, joyful film, I can't imagine anything surpassing it.
Yes, I'm sure some good stuff is coming down the pike. Movies that are serious, important, beauti......
2011-11-18 21:29:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Happy news!
Billy Crystal will be hosting the Oscars in February. It will be his ninth appearance as host (1990 to 1993, then again in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2004) and I can't wait.
Only Bob Hope has had more appearances as host, with 18.
Crystal took the gig after Eddie Mur......
2011-11-04 22:42:00
JANE HOLAHAN
In honor of the Occupy Wall Street movement and its many offshoots that have arisen across the country, including Occupy Lancaster, with its tents comfortably ensconced next to the police station, I am starting a new one.
Occupy Television.
It will be different from the other Occu......
2011-10-21 20:31:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I'll never forget a story I saw on a news show years ago.
It was about a scientist who had been working with chimps, teaching them sign language.
He had a close relationship with an especially intelligent chimp, and the two saw each other almost every day.
But when funding......
2011-10-07 22:31:00
Jane Holahan, Footlights
I saw two shows recently that reminded me of how powerful theater can be, how it can open up a scab and look underneath to see how we live our lives, in both the best and worst possible ways. The two productions couldn't be more different. One was a local production at the Ephrata Perfo......
2011-09-23 21:07:00
JANE HOLAHAN
The first thing you hear in the movie "Contagion" is Gwyneth Paltrow coughing.
But at the showing I went to see last week, the first thing everyone heard was me coughing.
Like Beth, the character Paltrow plays in "Contagion," I had a virus.
Granted, mine was the common col......
2011-09-09 23:22:00
JANE HOLAHAN
On Sunday, it will be Sept. 11 again.
A decade has passed since that horrible day when terrorists attacked the United States and we sat in front of our TVs for days, united in horror and sadness and bewilderment.
We were one big community, and television was why.
Just abou......
2011-08-26 21:49:00
JANE HOLAHAN
We all know what comfort food is: Meatloaf, fried chicken, chocolate chip cookies.
It's the food we turn to after a bad day at work or when we've just done our bills and realize how broke we are, or when we just want to feel all comfy and cozy.
These foods do not have much nutriti......
2011-08-12 20:39:00
JANE HOLAHAN
As I was walking into the Midtown Cinema in Harrisburg last weekend to see the new Terrence Malick movie, "The Tree of Life," I saw a notice on the front door.
There had been, the notice said, complaints about "The Tree of Life," but viewers had to realize that not all movies follow a lin......
2011-07-15 23:47:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Hey, all you English literature majors out there — you know, the people holding jobs that have nothing to do with English literature — there's a movie that will take you back to your college days. "Midnight in Paris," Woody Allen's comedy about a disaffected screen......
2011-07-01 21:22:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Monday is our nation's birthday. I have the day off (not always the case when you work for a newspaper), and I plan to spend it sleeping in, bumming around, eating a hot dog or two and maybe, if I am so inclined, checking out some fireworks.
What I should be doing is honoring our founders......
2011-06-10 21:57:00
JANE HOLAHAN
One of my favorite places in the world is the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
When I visited the museum last Saturday, I felt kind of giddy knowing that such a place exists. I always do when I go there.
It's the same kind of experience I have when I go to the National ......
2011-05-27 22:44:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Raunchy movies, where gross bodily things happen and audiences are supposed to laugh at them, have until now been the domain of men.
Or maybe I should say boys, because a lot of the humor has to do with men acting like boys.
But "Bridesmaids," which is both a critical and financia......
2011-05-13 20:33:00
JANE HOLAHAN
On May 3, early in the morning, Forrest McClendon was driving to the Two Rivers Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey where he is in rehearsals for "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris," when his phone started ringing like crazy.
Like all good drivers, he did not answer his cell.......
2011-04-29 22:22:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Why does Hollywood hate old people?
Consider this: Disney has made a deal to bring Miss Jane Marple back to the big screen.
You remember Miss Marple, the elderly spinster who starred in a series of Agatha Christie murder mysteries, solving crimes in her spare time in the village o......
2011-04-15 21:53:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I am sort of a history geek.
I say "sort of" not because I don't have my share of geekiness, but because my knowledge of history pales in comparison to a lot of real history geeks.
Still, I am excited to see "The Conspirator," the new movie by Robert Redford about the conspiracy t......
2011-04-01 21:32:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I have been seeing a lot of shows lately and once again marvel at how different theater can be here in Lancaster. A show can be big and brassy or small and quiet. It can cost a fortune to produce or run on a shoestring. It can be tragic, filled with murder and mayhe......
2011-03-18 20:51:00
JANE HOLAHAN
The reviews were universally bad, except for noted theater critic Glenn Beck.
The accidents, which sent a number of performers to the hospital, got so infamous that people started coming in hopes of seeing one happen.
The cancellations and delays were endless, the costs kept mount......
2011-03-04 20:41:00
JANE HOLAHAN
When Eliseo Roman took the plunge in 1999 and moved to New York City to pursue an acting career, it took him almost a decade to get a Broadway show.
Despite a few close calls, the 1978 McCaskey graduate, who worked on his acting/singing chops at the Ephrata Performing Arts Center, Dutch A......
2011-02-18 20:18:00
JANE HOLAHAN
The Academy Awards are eight days away, and that means it's time for my annual Oscar predictions.
Warning to anyone planning to use this column as a guide: DON'T! I may love movies and go to see a lot of them, but I am consistently bad at guessing what will win.
I always think aca......
2011-02-04 20:45:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Remember way back when, how cable TV was going to be this really cool place where anyone who was interested in, say, history could have an entire channel devoted just to that?
Ratings wouldn't matter because it was cable and the money you paid each month would pay for everything, and we c......
2011-01-21 23:01:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Isn't it wonderful? All these terrific movies finally arriving here.
They took their time, of course, but now, with Oscar nominations due Tuesday, little old Lancaster County is finally getting the good stuff.
A long dry spell had made me doubt the magic of the movies. Could Holly......
2011-01-07 23:09:00
JANE HOLAHAN
The New Year is already a week and a day old, but I still have some catching up to do with 2010.
I skipped my annual top-10 entertainment stories of the year in my last column, which ran on Christmas Day, because I didn't want to sully anyone's holiday by writing about so many smarmy peop......
2010-12-25 00:01:00
JANE HOLAHAN
So it's finally Christmas Day.
Hope you're having a wonderful time with the people you love.
It's kind of a funny day, though, isn't it?
After the months of hype, and watching all the TV specials and listening to the holiday music and eating the Christmas candy and going t......
2010-12-10 19:54:00
JANE HOLAHAN
So I am doing my normal morning routine. Well, my normal routine after my other morning routines, like walking the dog, making coffee, riding my stationary bike — which isn't as normal a routine as it should be — and taking my shower. Anyway, after those routines, I check my e......
2010-11-26 21:55:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Families have been the cornerstone of TV sitcoms since they were invented.
A lot of the very best shows revolved around a family. Usually, a fairly dysfunctional family.
And why not? Family is something we can all relate to. And a dysfunctional family is something just about all o......
2010-11-12 21:15:00
JANE HOLAHAN
One of the neatest perks of my job is getting to go to New York to see local actors take Broadway by storm.
There is something absolutely cool about seeing an actor walk across a Broadway stage whom you saw at Theater of the Seventh Sister or Ephrata Performing Arts Center or the Dutch Ap......
2010-10-29 20:13:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I was very eager to see "Secretariat," the Disney movie about the great race horse who won the Triple Crown in 1973 and is considered the finest race horse to ever live.
It's funny that I would be so eager, though. I hated horses when I was a kid.
Maybe "hated" is too strong a wor......
2010-10-15 21:55:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Ah, fall is here! After the dry, hot summer we had here, I am enjoying the change of season.
But the weather isn't the only thing that was dry and hot this summer.
The movie offerings were pretty pathetic.
"Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time"? "Jonah Hex"? "Robin Hood"? "......
2010-10-01 21:37:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I recently took a trip to New York and visited the Museum of Modern Art. It's a great museum with an amazing collection of late 19th century and 20th century art. I loved being able to stand in front of some of the most famous paintings in the world and just stare and drink them in.......
2010-09-17 23:09:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Enoch "Nucky" Thompson is about to take HBO by storm.
Nucky, played by Steve Buscemi, is the lead character in "Boardwalk Empire," a new series making its debut on HBO Sunday night.
Consider him a 1920s version of Tony Soprano.
Set in Atlantic City, "Boardwalk Empire" is a......
2010-09-03 21:36:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I am a huge "Top Chef" fan, and I don't miss an episode if I can help it.
And with the number of times Bravo airs the show, it's very easy to watch the same episode over and over.
Which I have done. Many times.
I can sit there, glued to my TV, watching "Top Chef" marathons......
2010-08-20 22:05:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Thanks to my dog, Henry, who wakes me up a lot in the middle of the night so he can go do his business, I am becoming way too familiar with late-night TV.It's not that he spends all that much time outside. It's that once he's back inside and all comfy-cozy in his dog bed, I can......
2010-08-06 19:46:00
JANE HOLAHAN
So what's my favorite movie of the year so far?I'd like to impress you and mention some obscure foreign film or some hard-hitting independent, but my favorite movie, far and away, is "Toy Story 3."Yeah, that's right, the movie meant for kids, though I'd arg......
2010-07-16 19:56:00
JANE HOLAHAN
When I was little, my siblings and I played Beatles.We'd use tennis rackets and go out in an area in our back yard that was apart from the rest of the yard and pretend it was a stage and we were the Beatles.Because I was the youngest, I always had to be Ringo.My bossy old......
2010-07-02 21:37:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I'm such an easy mark.I get addicted to every new Bravo reality show that comes down the pike.And like all addicts, I'm ashamed, remorseful and looking for my next fix.And it's here."Work of Art: The Next Great Artist" is to art what "Top Che......
2010-06-18 20:39:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Theater lovers of the world, did you despair during Sunday night's Tony Awards show?I know I did.How can the American Theatre Wing, the organization that puts on the Tonys, have such contempt for theater?Why would an award show paying tribute to Broadway try so very hard ......
2010-06-04 20:27:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I am in a funk.A movie funk.There's nothing I want to see, nothing coming up I want to see and nothing I regret not seeing when it was on the big screen.Except for "Avatar," it's been a long dry spell.And "Avatar" was six months ago.I......
2010-05-21 23:54:00
JANE HOLAHAN
There should be a black border around this column. I am in mourning.They've canceled "Law & Order." The last episode airs Monday.After 20 years, NBC, the network that so brilliantly handled the recent Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien "Tonight Show" debacle, pul......
2010-04-30 22:34:00
JANE HOLAHAN
So, have you heard about the Botox backlash?Women with strangely smooth faces that can't move, puffy lips and bizarrely large chests that look like they've been stuffed with basketballs aren't getting as much work in Hollywood these days.The complaint? They look like fre......
2010-04-16 22:14:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I don't mean to pick on the Beach Boys, but tickets for their show Wednesday at the American Music Theatre are $70 each.That's a heck of a lot of money for a band whose last hit, "Kokomo," was in 1988.And no, the genius behind the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, is not g......
2010-04-02 20:14:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Why would anyone want to be a celebrity?Look at Sandra Bullock.One day she's on top of the world, winning all kinds of awards — including an Oscar — for "The Blind Side," happily thanking her wonderful husband, Jesse James, for "having my back."...
2010-03-20 00:02:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Looking for a movie fix, and low on funds, I decided to check out "The Wolfman" at the theater in Kendig Square earlier this week.I knew it didn't get great reviews, but Kendig Square matinees are only $2. Can't beat that deal.But as my friend who went with me bemo......
2010-03-06 00:01:00
JANE HOLAHAN
The Oscars are Sunday, so it's time for me to give my annual predictions, which are, I'm sad to say, usually way off the mark.Silly me, I believe that Oscars should be given to movies that are the best, not the most popular or sentimental favorites. So every year I would dec......
2010-02-20 00:02:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I've been trying to catch up with all the Oscar-nominated movies out there, and I'll tell you, with 10 movies nominated for best picture, it's not easy.But the movie I want to talk about wasn't nominated for best picture, even though it should have been.The movie is ......
2010-02-06 00:02:00
JANE HOLAHAN
J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" came out in 1951, so by the time I came along and was old enough to read it, there was something very familiar about it.I don't mean the story of Holden Caulfield was ordinary, or that Salinger's writing was ever ordinary....
2010-01-23 00:04:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I have been out of work all week, the victim of a bad cold.Living in that twilight zone, where you wear pajamas all day, cough all night and barely have enough energy to pour yourself a bowl of cereal is no fun.But the worst part of being sick and stuck in the house?Being for......
2010-01-09 00:03:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I got an interesting e-mail a few weeks ago from overstockArt.com, a Web site that sells oil painting reproductions.Written like an announcement at a heavy weight boxing match, it read:"Van Gogh's 'Starry Night' ......
2009-12-19 00:02:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Well, 2009 is almost over. It's been a wild, sleazy and kind of sad year in the entertainment world. Let's hope 2010 is better. Here's my take on the top 10 entertainment stories of the year, in no particular order.1. The Twilight SagaTo say that "N......
2009-12-05 00:02:00
JANE HOLAHAN
OK, Wednesday was a strange day for me in the world of Christmas entertainment: The best and the worst, the old and the new, the merry and the maudlin all wrapped together.I watched "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," my all-time favorite holiday TV show.Right on top of that......
2009-11-21 00:02:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Teen girls everywhere are lining up to see the latest "Twilight" movie, "New Moon."It's got plenty of teen angst, romance with vampires and werewolves and other Hollywood horrors that our brave teenage heroine, Bella Swan, has to face."New Moon" is ......
2009-11-07 00:02:00
JANE HOLAHAN
"Sesame Street" turns 40 on Tuesday.Gosh, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie all heading into their 40s? It's hard to believe, isn't it?Can you imagine Ernie grumbling about arthritis, or Cookie Monster having to switch to low-fat cookies?If Big Bird buys a little red s......
2009-10-24 00:02:00
JANE HOLAHAN
What's the deal with vampires? They are everywhere.Why are we so fascinated by them? Why do we go through these cycles where vampires becomes a cultural obsession?And why have they kept hold of our imagination for centuries?Why does a creature who once existed in some med......
2009-10-10 00:01:00
JANE HOLAHAN
OK, here are some things I really am curious about.WHO are the Kardashians?I know they have some sort of reality show called "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," but why? How did that happen?Do they have something interesting to say? Are they......
2009-09-26 00:02:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I was lucky enough to see the high-definition remastered 70th anniversary edition of "The Wizard of Oz" on Wednesday night at Penn Cinemas. The screen was big, the theater was sold out and the audience was reverential when that ominous music started playing while the MGM lion roared. We......
2009-09-12 00:01:00
JANE HOLAHAN
So the Beatles are back.In a huge marketing push this week, Apple Corps. has released all the band's catalogue in spanking new digitally remastered albums or in a boxed set that's being sold in both stereo and mono, the way their longtime producer, George Martin (the real fifth Bea......
2009-08-29 00:01:00
JANE HOLAHAN
It's been a long time since I've seen a movie I enjoyed as much as "Julie & Julia," Nora Ephron's take on two women whose lives are forever changed when they discover the joys of French cooking.I left the theater smiling, almost humming. For two hours, I was in th......
2009-08-15 00:01:00
JANE HOLAHAN
When I was a little girl, I wanted to be famous.Wouldn't it be fun? Everyone knows who you are, cameras follow you wherever you go, and people hang on your every word and action.But then I grew up and got sensible.Being famous would be horrible. Everyone knows who you are......
2009-08-01 00:01:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I've just discovered that there are two gem channels in my TV package.No, I'm not talking about great channels, like, wow, that Fox Reality channel is a real gem.They are two networks devoted to selling gems. Not handbags, clothing and gems. Just gems.They are Gems an......
2009-07-18 00:02:00
JANE HOLAHAN
The theater gods work in mysterious ways. Just check out the Ephrata Performing Art Center's current production of "The Producers." It's a huge triumph for EPAC: Funny, smart and filled with great performances. It's one of the best things they've done in years. The talent up ther......
2009-07-04 00:01:00
JANE HOLAHAN
After Michael Jackson died on June 25, TV was filled with his images and his music.How many times did you hear "Thriller," and "Billy Jean" in the last week? Or see him wearing the glove, or the hat, or the military uniform.Of course, Jackson's glory years we......
2009-06-03 11:48:00
Jane Holahan, Footlights
Look, I'm not the smartest person in the world. I surprise myself sometimes at how clueless I can be on occasion. But when I go to the movies, I expect to be able to understand what's happening. Considering that most movies are made for adolescents, this is not an unreasonable expe......
2009-05-06 14:09:00
Jane Holahan, Footlights
Last month, I was enthralled with "Little Dorrit," the BBC adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, which was shown on Masterpiece Theatre over the course of five weeks. Dickens is a great storyteller who created absolutely fascinating characters. "Little Dorrit" was ......
2009-04-22 11:50:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
So have you been following the Susan Boyle phenomenon? That's a rhetorical question. Who hasn't? Boyle is the quirky 47-year-old Scottish woman with the frizzy gray hair and extremely thick eyebrows who amazed the judges — including the wicked Simon Cowell — on "Br......
2009-04-08 13:53:00
Jane Holahan, Footlights
It just isn't right. After 72 years on the air — on both radio and TV — "Guiding Light" is being canceled. The last episode of the CBS soap will air in mid-September, to be replaced by a game show or a talk show. Something that's cheap to produce. That......
2009-03-25 14:34:00
Jane Holahan, Footlights
After 15 years, "ER" is finally coming to an end. Considering just how ridiculous the television show has gotten, I'd say it's about time. So many jump-the-shark moments: Monkeypox invades the hospital. A nurse shoots the abusive husband who had kidnapped her. Gunfights in the parking lot.......
2009-03-11 09:02:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
OK, I am embarrassed to admit this, but I have become strangely fascinated with "The Real Housewives of New York City." My brain tells me to turn away when I see them, but I can't help it. It's the accident-at-the-side-of-the-road syndrome and I'm ashamed to admit......
2009-02-25 11:29:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
I'm a big Oscar fan. Every year, I have a small group of friends over — all as devoted as I am — and we watch the lavish ceremony, making comments all along the way. Diss a dress, hiss one winner, cheer another, wonder why certain people (I'm talking to you, Philip Seymour H......
2009-02-11 14:09:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
I think they invented the Oscars for two reasons. One was to make people like me move heaven and earth to try and see all the nominees. It's the Ca-Ching! factor. And then there's the self-righteous factor. There's nothing more fun for a movie lover than griping about the nomin......
2009-01-28 10:09:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
I know guilt by association isn't fair, but when "How I Met Your Mother" first came on CBS in 2005, I had no interest in watching it. The sitcom seemed to be paired with the rather odious "Two and a Half Men," so I didn't even give it a chance. Smutty sex jokes,......
2009-01-14 09:38:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
So far, the big hit of the young awards season is "Slumdog Millionaire." On Sunday at the Golden Globes, it won four of the big prizes: best drama, best director (Danny Boyle), best screenplay (Simon Beaufoy) and best original score (A.R. Rahman). Last week, it won the Critics Ch......
2008-12-31 08:52:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
Can you believe it? 2008 is over. As always, the entertainment world had its share of the good, the bad and the ugly. Here are my top 10 entertainment stories of the year.
1. Tina Fey.
Has there ever been such a perfect synchronicity between the news......
2008-12-17 13:12:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
Truly great movies are timeless. They speak to every generation that sees them. I realized that once again this past weekend, when I watched "It's a Wonderful Life." I've seen it a million times. We all have. It's become one of those Christmas things we do. We kn......
2008-11-12 11:55:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
I was watching an episode of the "Daily Show" last week with guest Paul Rudd, who was promoting his new movie, "Role Models." It was a typical Jon Stewart/celebrity interview and I was laughing through a lot of it. (I'm a Paul Rudd fan.) But then something unusually honest happened. S......
2008-10-15 13:08:00
JANE HOLAHAN, Footlights
The first time I remember noticing Paul Newman was when "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" came out in 1969. He was the "old' guy. Robert Redford was the one I had the crush on. Newman was older than my dad, who was ancient. He made movies back in the 1950s. He got his first Oscar nomina......
2008-10-01 11:34:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I'll always remember Michael Mitchell's handshake. It was firm, sometimes bordering on crushing. And it was invariably followed by a smile and a laugh and an enthusiastic willingness to begin another conversation about the thing he loved so much: theater. People who go into theater of......
2008-09-17 10:35:00
JANE HOLAHAN
There is so much good theater here in Lancaster that it's really a treat being a theater critic. How lucky we are to have the Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre, which stages some of the best musicals around. (And if you think that a buffet meal served beforehand means the show can't be that good, boy ......
2008-08-20 12:38:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Basically, I'm a happy enough person. I didn't say happy, I said happy enough. I don't whistle while I work, I tend to have cynical views on things and while I always try to be happy for other people, I admit to a touch of schadenfreude — taking joy in the misfortunes of ......
2008-07-23 14:25:00
JANE HOLAHAN
We are in prime time blockbuster summer movie territory right now. So many superheroes have passed through movie theaters in the last few months, I'm beginning to think those are the only kind of movies Hollywood makes anymore. Some of them are really well done, but don't worry, I'm......
2008-07-09 12:12:00
JANE HOLAHAN
My Saturday afternoons are now devoted to watching three shows on BBC America. I'm not really proud of this fact. I'd like to gain my independence from the Brits, but I'm hooked. My addiction begins every Saturday at 11 a.m. with two episodes of "How Clean Is Your House," in which two domestic ......
2008-06-25 09:45:00
JANE HOLAHAN
For the past few years I've been a Netflix customer. It's a great way to watch movies. I no longer have to run over to the video store to pick up a DVD (I know, it really isn't a video store if it's filled with DVDs, is it?) and then rush back a few days later to return it and avoid late fees....
2008-04-30 12:17:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Eliseo Roman's Broadway break is full of heart & joy I was lucky enough this weekend to get to see "In the Heights," the new Broadway show that features Lancaster's very own Eliseo Roman, a 1978 McCaskey High School graduate. The folks at Ephrata Performing Arts Center, where Roman got......
2008-04-16 09:05:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Word is that Roger Ebert will be back reviewing movies full time later this month. This is good news. I've missed the guy who has been This Weekend's movie critic since the New Era started the section back in the mid-1980s. For the past few years, off and on, Ebert has taken a break from ......
2008-04-02 13:41:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I was surfing the Internet the other day and I saw a "Style" site that asked which hairstyle looked more stylish on Mary-Kate Olsen. One had her with ratty straight hair, the other with, well, ratty uncombed hair. The site had a number of other pictures of Mary-Kate, marveling at her fashi......
2008-03-19 14:54:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I am in awe. Every year I see the Scholastic Art Awards exhibit at the Lancaster Museum of Art, and every year I am amazed at the work I see from Lancaster County's middle and high school students. Not because it's really great student art, but because it's really great art. Pe......
2008-03-05 14:51:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Like a lot of people, I was upset with Comcast Cable when it turned several channels to digital only, forcing people to get digital converter boxes. If you don't have the box, you can't get two of my favorite channels: Turner Classic Movies and Weatherscan. Sometimes it seemed like Turner ......
2008-02-20 14:43:00
JANE HOLAHAN
The Oscars are actually happening on Sunday (hooray), complete with splashy evening gowns, lame acceptance speeches and freshly applied Botox. So, it's time for my fearless — and usually wrong — predictions.
Best Picture: The nominees are "Juno,"......
2008-02-06 14:14:00
JANE HOLAHAN
OK, I decided to forego the Super Bowl on Sunday. There's always too much hype, and the game usually isn't very exciting. Besides, the Steelers weren't in it, so I didn't care who won. I decided to go see "There Will Be Blood" instead. Critics were calling it a masterpiece, comparing it to......
2008-01-23 09:44:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Well, they've announced the nominees for the Academy Awards. The big winners are "There Will Be Blood" and "No Country for Old Men," followed closely by "Michael Clayton" and "Atonement." Movies about a world with no moral values, a cold-blooded oil tycoon, the hideously corrupt corporate ......
2007-12-26 09:55:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Here's hoping you had a Merry Christmas. Next up in this hectic holiday season: New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. And that means it's time to look at the top 10 entertainment stories of 2007. There were lots of endings and bad behavior this year. Read about 'em and weep.
...
2007-12-12 14:55:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I went to see "High School Musical," at the Ephrata Performing Arts Center last week. It's the theatrical event of the year for the under-12 crowd. The theater was packed, and the audience, filled with proud parents and lots of young kids, was both enthusiastic and thoroughly tran......
2007-11-28 10:01:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I really didn't want to see "No Country for Old Men." While the reviews were great, the description of the film left me cold. A psychopath travels through Texas killing people with a cattle stun gun and a tank of compressed air. He is hunting down a man who accidentally found $2 mi......
2007-11-14 09:13:00
JANE HOLAHAN
The vast wasteland that is television is now in freefall. Thanks to the writers' strike, very little new programming will be getting on the air. "Desperate Housewives," "24" and "Two and a Half Men" have shut down. (I'll take that last one as the silver lining to this strike.) ......
2007-10-31 13:58:00
JANE HOLAHAN
After an incredibly long barren period, the movie scene in Lancaster is picking up. Last week I saw two absolutely terrific movies — "Michael Clayton" and "Gone Baby Gone" — that reminded me why I love movies. One starred hunky George Clooney, who pops up in......
2007-10-17 11:43:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Many years ago, in a land far far away, television was free. Yes, children, free. Granted, you had only about six or seven channels, but everyone seemed pretty happy. Then cable arrived. We were all going to get great channels, no commercials and it would only cost $10 or $15 a month.......
2007-10-03 12:45:00
JANE HOLAHAN
You have to understand, I've still got emotional scars when it comes to computers. There was trauma involved back in those primitive days almost 30 years ago. Those rectangular cards with the little square holes in them still haunt me. (If you don't know what I'm talking about,......
2007-09-19 14:12:00
JANE HOLAHAN
"Knocked Up," Judd Apatow's raunchy comedy about a one-night stand that turns into a lifelong family values love story, is coming to DVD next week. It was the critical darling of the summer and got so much buzz I had to go see it. After all, I loved Apatow's previous movi......
2007-09-05 11:15:00
JANE HOLAHAN
My goodness, it's September and a new theater season is about to begin. But before we plunge ahead, it's time to look back at the best and the brightest in Lancaster theater. It's time for my annual Footsies awards. Annual means every year and last year I skipped the Foots......
2007-08-22 09:50:00
JANE HOLAHAN
You've got to love the Internet. There I was the other day, proofing a story about Toby Keith by my colleague and friend, Kathy Daminger, and I had to find out if "number one" — as in "Number One hit" — was capitalized or not. So I Googled it, and what......
2007-08-08 09:57:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Want to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers? They are playing Aug. 25 in the Hamptons. Tickets are only $15,000. Well, that's exaggerating a bit. The group is part of a five-act concert series this summer in the Hamptons, playground of the rich and privileged. Other acts inclu......
2007-07-25 10:37:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Well, it's all over. The Harry Potter story is complete. No more books to anticipate. No more articles to write about the bespectacled wizard's latest adventure. The New Era has written a lot of stories about Harry Potter over the years, as has every newspaper in America and dar......
2007-07-11 12:30:00
Jane Holahan
If you've been to a Broadway show, you know how glamorous it is. Great sets, stunning costumes and the best talent in the business. The front of the house — the part that the public sees — oozes with glamour. But as I discovered last week, the back of the house is anothe......
2007-06-27 11:34:00
JANE HOLAHAN
God bless Turner Classic Movies. Despite the $50-plus monthly fee for standard cable, it's a vast wasteland out there on the television landscape. Commercials run rampant, reality shows gets lamer and lamer, and Paris Hilton seems to be taking most of the available airtime on those cable "......
2007-06-13 13:48:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Well, Lancaster's most famous actor didn't win a Tony Sunday night, but what a victorious night for Jonathan Groff. His Broadway show, "Spring Awakening," won eight Tony Awards, including best musical, and he is fast becoming a Broadway star. Girls scream for him outside ......
2007-05-30 13:56:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Why is it OK to bring small children to the movies ? I'm talking about children who couldn't possibly sit quietly in their seats for more than 10 or 15 minutes — children who feel free to roam the theater, clomping up and down the steps, talking loudly whenever they feel like it. I'm......
2007-05-16 14:24:00
JANE HOLAHAN
The TV season is coming to a close and a couple of my favorite shows are bowing out for good. Sometimes, when shows say goodbye forever, the publicity goes on for weeks and weeks. Remember "Friends"? I think NBC carved out the entire night for the final episode and spent about a month prep......
2007-04-25 13:49:00
JANE HOLAHAN
The death of Kitty Carlisle Hart last week took me back to the days when words like urbane, witty and sophisticated could actually be used to describe television shows. When intelligence was something you didn't have to hide. When glamour really was glamorous. When a book publisher like the bow......
2007-04-11 14:10:00
JANE HOLAHAN
I unwrapped my cough drops and placed them in a plastic bag so I wouldn't make any noise when I needed one. I took a super-duper cough suppressant before the show. I bought a bottle of water for $2 at the concession stand. And still, I became the kind of audience member I love to hate......
2007-03-28 12:49:00
Jane Holahan
I enjoy watching "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" because I like the actors on the show and I'm a sucker for all things "Law and Order." But I gotta tell you, sometimes I get the creeps watching "Law and Order: SVU." The criminals on the show are almo......
2007-03-14 14:33:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Critics love to love "The Sopranos," "Deadwood" and "The Wire," three HBO TV series that go where few TV series can go. Every new season brings endless columns about their brilliance. I can't keep track of how many critics have proclaimed "The Sopranos&quo......
2007-02-28 14:18:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Even my dog got bored during the 79th annual Academy Awards Sunday night. There he was, on the rug by the front door, sighing regularly, wondering when we were going to go to bed. With the show rolling in at three hours and 47 minutes, it was well after midnight by the time the big surpris......
2007-02-14 11:28:00
JANE HOLAHAN
Much has been written about the best actress race in this year's Academy Award nominations. Shockingly, three of the nominees are — gasp! — over the age of 55. I bet you never knew women over 55 are allowed to star in movies. Meryl Streep, who is deliciously nasty in "The ......
2007-01-31 11:17:00
Jane Holahan
They announced the Oscar nominations last week, and from what I've seen of the nominees, it looks like a pretty good group. Small films are vying with big ones, and established actors are competing against newcomers. Unfortunately, as far as suspense goes, the only category that seems at a......
2007-01-17 14:37:00
JANE HOLAHAN
“Dreamgirls” finally came to Lancaster this past weekend after what seemed like the longest, most drawn out film release in history. The movie opened in New York and Los Angeles on Christmas Day and trickled out to theaters across the country over the next three weeks. This ......
2007-01-03 17:58:12
Jane Holahan
You know, the ones the critics are raving about. The ones that have graced magazine covers and been the subject of long feature articles in newspapers. The ones that will be getting all the Oscar nominations. The ones declared the best movies of the year by critics other than Larry King....
2006-12-20 14:49:42
Jane Holahan
It’s one ugly story after another. Mel Gibson, Michael Richards, Anna Nicole Smith. Ugh. Consider 2006 the year of celebrities behaving badly. Here’s my top 10 — or should I say bottom 10? — in no particular order: 1. Britney Spears had a bad year. Divorce, a new baby, accusations of bad......
2006-12-06 10:09:29
Jane Holahan
What are your favorite Christmas songs? Christmas movies? Christmas TV specials? When did they first appear on the Christmas radar screen? I’ll bet most of them have been around for a while. Of course, you’ll say, nostalgia takes hold. Christmas is really for kids, so you’ll most fondly rememb......
2006-11-22 13:29:23
Jane Holahan
The woman lost her head because of it. Now comes “The Queen,” about Queen Elizabeth II, who is about as different from Marie Antoinette as it’s possible to be and still be a queen. But Elizabeth almost lost her head too (metaphorically speaking) when she utterly failed to understand how deeply......
2006-11-08 12:25:10
Jane Holahan
Despite being a very smart, well- educated man, he was obsessed with taping reruns of “Hawaii Five-O” and “Cannon.” Hey, to each his own. I was busy taping my soap opera, “The Guiding Light.” God forbid I should miss the hysteria and melodrama for even one day. Clearly, the value of having a V......
2006-10-25 13:44:12
Jane Holahan
For two hours, we get to explore Versailles, look at lavish dresses, amazing wigs, stunning food and scenic gardens. Alas, for two hours, we also get to watch the young queen of France lollygag, looking bored, tired and unfulfilled. The more unhappy she is, the more shoes she buys. Clearly, al......
2006-10-11 11:14:44
Jane Holahan
But what you’re about to read here is a true-blue, heartfelt, genuine tribute. Garrison Keillor is one of my heroes. I don’t have too many of them. This is not an era of heroes. We tend to be way too ironic and sarcastic these days, far too eager to find the flaws in people. And let’s face......
2006-09-27 14:20:32
Jane Holahan
But there is one show I just can’t miss. “The Office,” starring the terrific Steve Carell, is the best sitcom on TV right now. I’d even say it might save the sitcom from a long and dreary death. Based on the BBC version of “The Office,” which was created by and starred Ricky Gervais, the Ameri......
2006-09-13 10:49:52
Jane Holahan
When I make the decision to spend the evening reading a book or working in my garden, as I have consciously been doing lately, I just feel better. I think I get a low-grade fever and a sluggish feeling when the TV is on too long. Must be something coming out of the cathode ray-tube. Maybe it’s......
2006-08-30 13:49:31
Jane Holahan
There are serious problems with the Emmys. There are way too many awards. The people who do the nominating apparently don’t watch the shows they nominate, and far too often, the best shows and the best performances are overlooked, while the same old shows and same old performers keep winning year in...
2006-08-16 12:51:20
By Jane Holahan
Yeah, OK, actors always say stuff like that. But in Groff’s case, it’s brilliantly and stunningly true. I wasn’t prepared for the amazing change in Groff when I went to see “Spring Awakening” on its final day of performances before it heads to the Eugene O’Neill Theater on Broadway in December......
2006-08-02 14:17:00
Jane Holahan
Tweens everywhere know what a pop phenomenon 'High School Musical' is.
Never heard of it? Well, the made-for-TV movie, which first appeared on the Disney Channel six months ago, has been seen by 37 million people ' most of them not yet teens but in that middle ground known as tweens.......
2006-08-02 14:16:00
Jane Holahan
Tweens everywhere know what a pop phenomenon "High School Musical" is.
Never heard of it? Well, the made-for-TV movie, which first appeared on the Disney Channel six months ago, has been seen by 37 million people ' most of them not yet teens but in that middle ground k......
2006-07-05 13:58:58
Jane Holahan
It was, she tells the checkout lady, the last one. Could she charge her just for the five? I wanted to say, “Couldn’t you get a different brand of water, lady? I guarantee, they all taste the same.” But no, we had to wait for the manager to come over and figure it all out. So I spent my tim......
2006-06-22 01:07:00
Jane Holahan
The Inca Campers are going to enjoy their concert on the top of the Central parking garage on Friday for a couple of reasons.
It will be outside, so the air will be fresh, with no smoke to worry about. And lots of friends and family who don’t normally hang out in the bars......
2006-06-21 12:49:34
Jane Holahan
There’s a buzz of anticipation in the air, and everyone is hoping to see a great show, even this theater critic. The lights go down, the buzz settles, and the curtain (usually only figuratively) goes up. And it begins. The Over Laughing. I’m talking about the “ISN’T THIS THE FUNNIEST SHO......
2006-06-07 12:08:56
Jane Holahan
But I didn’t review the Dutch Apple show, which opened May 11, because a week or so earlier, I spent a day in Philadelphia with the cast, director and music director and wrote a story about it for our This Weekend section. We laughed, we cried, we visited Independence Hall, walked around Old Town......
2006-05-24 11:06:29
Jane Holahan
A few weeks ago, I went to see a staged reading of a play called “Any Day Now,” which won the 2006 Fulton Opera House New Play Contest. Written by David Rush, of Chicago, it’s the story of a college professor, Frederick Miller (Chet Williamson), and one frantic day at the end of his career, when ......
2006-05-10 12:45:59
Jane Holahan
I’d become a Broadway regular, checking out the latest plays and musicals every other weekend or so. Well, it didn’t quite work out that way. Lack of energy and lack of money are my problems. My weekends are usually spent vegging and trying to catch up on my sleep. The idea of heading off t......
2006-04-26 12:39:41
Jane Holahan
Back then, in the dark ages of the 1960s, you made decisions like that and you rarely deviated from them. Our motto: We’re a CBS family and we’re going to stay a CBS family. Huntley-Brinkley? John Chancellor? Tom Brokaw? Nope. Howard K. Smith? Babwa Wawa? Peter Jennings? Sorry, no tha......
2006-04-12 11:35:35
Jane Holahan
From the frigid winter of 1777-78, when a weary and tattered army took refuge at Valley Forge, to the hot Philadelphia summer of 1787, when the founders set out to write a constitution, the beginnings of America have been filled with fascinating characters and events. The men and women who helped......
2006-03-29 12:51:32
Jane Holahan
But then I figured I should try to look on the bright side. There has got to be good TV out there. I can’t be paying more than $50 a month to watch pure junk. (And no, that doesn’t include the pay channels like HBO and Showtime!) So I started thinking about all the good shows on TV. Granted, t......
2006-03-15 12:54:48
Jane Holahan
He took film courses but dropped out when he didn’t like the direction of the program. He won first place in a campus-wide comedy contest back in the early 1990s, but then never pursued a life of laughs. Instead, he went into his family’s business. “We used to own Kountry Kitchen, and we ow......
2006-03-01 12:10:58
Jane Holahan
To hear tell, it’s all wrapped up. “Crash,” sneaking in from behind, wins best picture, Reese Witherspoon takes best actress, Philip Seymour Hoffman wins best actor, George Clooney picks up best supporting actor and Rachel Weisz wins best supporting actress. And to sate “Brokeback Mountain” fans ......
2006-02-15 12:52:27
Jane Holahan
The Fulton’s Playwright-In-Residence was the toast of Washington a year and a half ago when his adaptation of “Cyrano” wowed audiences and critics at the prestigious Shakespeare Theatre. The legendary Michael Kahn directed the show and had great praise for Kornhauser’s clever and moving adaptatio......
2006-02-01 12:57:46
Jane Holahan
To nobody’s surprise, “Brokeback Mountain” won more nominations than anything else. And those eight include the big ones like best picture, best director (Ang Lee), best actor (Heath Ledger), best supporting actress (Michelle Williams) and best supporting actor (Jake Gyllenhaal). “Brokeback Mount......
2006-01-18 12:43:41
Jane Holahan
The Globes, given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (whoever they might be), are seen as a precursor to the Academy Awards. And they are usually a lot more fun to watch because, well, they have lots of alcohol flowing at all the celebrity tables. Just ask Harrison Ford, who came o......
2006-01-04 12:43:20
Jane Holahan
I can sit there endlessly watching live coverage of the the U.S. House and Senate (actually on C-SPAN 2). Oddly, I’m glued to hearings, speeches, press conferences, authors talking about their books, and nameless bureaucrats and journalists discussing issues of the day. Where else can a political......
2005-12-21 13:11:44
Jane Holahan
Call 2005 the year of relationships, lost and found. Here’s a look back at the top 10. 1. “The March of the Penguins” was the documentary hit of the year. Yeah, I know documentary hit is an oxymoron, but this movie drew big crowds. Emperor penguins, who live at the South Pole, go to great leng......
2005-12-07 13:10:07
Jane Holahan
Lancaster County is full of such places, including the Hans Herr House, Rock Ford, Wheatland, the Ephrata Cloister and Landis Valley, which all hold special holiday tours. It’s quiet, the skies are dark and there are no dancing reindeer or talking Santas to harass you. And I enjoy being remind......
2005-11-23 10:18:59
Jane Holahan
And once again, an incredible performance brings a legendary singer alive and takes what would have been a standard “E! True Hollywood Story” and turns it into something much more. Joaquin Phoenix is phenomenal in “Walk the Line,” directed and co-written by James Mangold. Phoenix always has be......
2005-11-09 13:04:20
Jane Holahan
The movie is an intense, claustrophobic look at how a network and a newsman, at great risk to themselves, helped bring down a man who’d become drunk and dangerous with power. So what did we talk about afterward? Why, the Natalee Holloway case, of course. That’s what passes for big news on t......
2005-10-12 13:55:13
Jane Holahan
It’s rated R for “strong brutal violence, graphic sexuality, nudity, language and some drug use.” So what do you do with your 5-year-old daughter? Take her along, of course. Why spend good money on a baby-sitter when you can traumatize your kid for a mere $6.50? As I settled in to watch the......
2005-09-28 12:48:06
Jane Holahan
You may be writing furiously, with ideas flowing, but you can never know how your play will translate onto the stage until it’s up there being produced. That’s the great catch-22 of playwrighting. How will actors shape certain characters? Will audiences respond the way you hope they will? Will......
2005-09-14 13:05:18
Jane Holahan
Obviously, I’m not hip enough to get director/writer Jim Jarmusch’s deadpan style or understand the deep complexity of Bill Murray’s quiet performance. Gosh, I just read that last paragraph and I sound defensive, don’t I? I get that way when all the movie critics adore something I find lame. W......
2005-08-31 13:32:28
Jane Holahan
But for us movie fans in Lancaster, the new special collector’s DVD of “Witness” is a special occasion. The DVD, which retails for $19.99 (though I picked it up at Suncoast Video for $14.99), might disappoint those of us hoping to see all those scenes they filmed around Penn Square and other plac......
2005-08-17 13:13:49
Jane Holahan
I’m ready to vent. · Can somebody explain the popularity of celebrity poker to me? Why do we care that a bunch of B-list or soon-to-be B-list celebrities are sitting around playing cards? It would be one thing if they were all witty, urbane people, like a 21st century version of the Alg......
2005-07-20 13:49:07
Jane Holahan
Two weeks ago, “The Fantastic Four” took in more than $56 million in its first weekend. Not bad for a movie that got dreadful reviews. And “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” took in $55.4 million this past weekend. Sweet. But is the slump really over? Not likely. Ticket sales have been dec......
2005-07-06 13:50:45
Jane Holahan
Hey, what could be more entertaining? Alien invasions are a time-honored tradition in the movies, but it was “Independence Day” and its computer-generated technology that really gave the genre new life back in 1996. We could really see the end of the world. Now this summer we’ve got the master......
2005-06-22 12:18:51
Jane Holahan
I’m going to become a cable news star. Like Jennifer Wilbanks, the Runaway Bride. It’s been reported that Regan Media, which publishes books and produces TV shows and movies, has made a deal to acquire all media rights to Wilbanks and her clueless, um, I mean supportive fiancé, John Mason. ......
2005-06-08 13:47:01
Jane Holahan
And after a week of watching the real Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein on all the talk shows, it’s very clear that they don’t look much like Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. Real life was competing with its own Hollywood version this past week after Mark Felt, the number two guy in the FBI back ......
2005-05-25 13:02:27
Jane Holahan
I knew it was coming and I steeled myself for it. Judge Amy Gray and Bruce Van Exel, her intense legal clerk, will never admit their feelings for each other. In the season — and series — finale, we were left with the two smiling at each other as if they were brother and sister. Puleeze! All th......
2005-05-11 13:33:01
Jane Holahan
“Crash,” now playing at the Regal, is definitely not that kind of movie. Paul Haggis, the writer and director of “Crash” (and the writer of the critically acclaimed “Million Dollar Baby”) wants us to look at the real world, America, circa 2005. It’s not a pretty sight. We are scared, angry ......
2005-04-27 13:39:24
Jane Holahan
They both, in their own ways, open the door a little wider on the human experience, and that is a joyful thing. One, The Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre’s “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast,” is a lavish production with great sets, costumes and an enduring but simple story about how beauty is about what’s......
2005-04-13 14:15:33
Jane Holahan
I always get highly nervous when I talk to writers. Especially writers whose work I greatly admire. I think it’s because I know how hard writing is. A great writer makes it look easy, but writing is tough, hard, often lonely work. “You’ve got to leave some blood on the page,” Wilson told me....
2005-03-30 13:54:27
Jane Holahan
I picked an arbitrary time (Monday, 10:15 p.m.) and, beginning on 1, worked my way up the dial to see what was on all the stations — cable and network —up to and including channel 78, the Food Network. I don’t get the premium stations, so it turned out to be a total of 71 channels. It took 20 min......
2005-03-16 13:11:59
Jane Holahan
We all know you can never be too rich or too thin, right? Well, no. See, if you’re too thin we ridicule you, too, and slap you in the tabloids with terror headlines about the bones sticking out of your back. It’s almost like a revolving door. One week, there are pictures of Kirstie, Oprah o......
2005-03-02 12:29:24
Jane Holahan
It happens every year, proving that the Oscars aren’t really that important in the scope of things. Quick, can you remember who won best supporting actress last year? Yea, I couldn’t remember either. It was Rene Zellweger, for “Cold Mountain.” But I love the Oscars anyway because I love mov......
2005-02-16 12:49:32
Jane Holahan
It’s a joyous night when those two categories converge, which they rarely do. For every Daniel Day-Lewis winning for best actor for “My Left Foot,” there’s too many Roberto Begnini’s winning for the amazingly stupid “Life is Beautiful.” But I’ll keep hoping that the best truly will win those litt......
2005-02-02 13:23:42
Jane Holahan
Unless the person behind you keeps asking dumb questions. Loudly. Or the guy in front of you is snoring for 10 minutes. Or, when a shot of London appears on the screen, someone feels the need to loudly say to her companion: “That’s England!” I complain a lot about people talking and making ......
2005-01-19 14:21:55
Jane Holahan
· Why are there so few movie theaters in Lancaster County? Anyone who heads over to the Regal Cinemas in the Manor Shopping Center on a Friday or Saturday night knows what I’m talking about. The place is packed, the parking lot is a nightmare that makes driving in Midtown Manhattan seem......
2005-01-05 14:02:09
Jane Holahan
Yea, that’s right, women marched for equal rights so we could all get lung cancer. Great! That’s kind of how it feels watching TV these days. Women have more opportunities in society than ever before, yet on TV way too many of them make June Cleaver and Carol Brady look like Susan B. Anthony a......
2004-12-27 14:16:53
Jane Holahan
Like millions of other Americans, I travel on the big holidays, helping to clog highways, airports, bus terminals or train stations so that I can be with my family. A family that’s spread thick and thin through several states and time zones. We all congregate in Pittsburgh, where my entire extend......
2004-12-22 12:37:27
Jane Holahan
1. Ashlee Simpson fakes it. She sang live at her appearance at Donegal High School in October, but the same can’t be said of her gig on “Saturday Night Live” a few days earlier. We were shocked — yes, SHOCKED — to realize that an artist of her caliber would lip synch. 2. That wild and crazy “Da V......
2004-12-08 12:32:14
Jane Holahan
“Sideways” renews your faith that movies can open a window into life in a way no other art form can. So many movies out there seem like loud, empty blockbusters put together by a corporate committee. “Sideways” is wonderfully human and small. Grounded in messy reality, it takes us on a great r......
2004-11-24 12:58:36
Jane Holahan
The 30-year-old software engineer has been a contestant on “Jeopardy!” since June 2, and over the course of 70 games he’s won $2,355,001, more than any other contestant has won on any game show in the history of game shows. Every night, legions of “Jeopardy!” fans tune in to see if the mild-manne......
2004-11-15 13:30:49
Jane Holahan
C’mon, it’s mid-November. The malls are filling up, the traffic is maddening, and your gift list keeps getting longer. Time’s a-wasting. Remember back to the days when your looked forward to the holidays and didn’t dread them? When getting into the Christmas spirit was as easy as helping your mom......
2004-11-10 13:03:34
Jane Holahan
With apologies to those productions I missed, here are my choices for the best and the brightest. Best Musical The Fulton’s incredible production of “Ragtime” was the highlight of the theater season. A huge production, with more than 40 cast members, the show vibrated with life thanks to great......
2004-10-27 13:07:51
Jane Holahan
Yeah, we all know only too well. I love politics, but this has been the longest campaign I can remember, and not a very nice one. And since we live in the swing state of Pennsylvania, we’ve been seeing an endless array of ads for the candidates. We can’t get away from it! Our country is divide......
2004-10-13 12:46:36
Jane Holahan
The program takes a look at just about everything you can imagine in Broadway’s 100-year history, ranging from Florenz Ziegfeld and his lavish production numbers to the genius of Rodgers and Hammerstein and the international blockbusters of producer Cameron McIntosh. Producer Michael Kantor takes......
2004-09-22 13:00:52
Jane Holahan
How did “Father Knows Best” morph into “My Dad’s a Jerk and We All Know It?” Take a look at the sitcoms on TV, and you’ll see a theme emerge. Wherever there is a dad who’s a regular on the show, he’ll be a fool. Ward Cleaver, who offered up pearls of wisdom to Wally and the Beaver, has been re......
2004-09-08 12:50:56
Jane Holahan
Paparazzi stalk him and his perfect family relentlessly. The poor guy is just trying to be a superstar and they won’t leave him alone. Hey, it could drive anyone to murder, right? Killing paparazzi — who are subhumans — is not only OK, it’s beneficial to society. That’s the premise of the ridi......
2004-08-25 13:00:34
Jane Holahan
If you’re like most people, you’ve got a lot of keys, and they make a lot of noise. You’ve probably got a car key, a few house keys, one or two of those little plastic-key discount cards for the supermarket and drug store, and maybe one or two keys you’ve forgotten about, all hanging from a key chai...
2004-08-11 15:24:40
Jane Holahan
Paranoia is hot. Go to the movies and you’ll get sucked into some kind of conspiracy theory designed to make you afraid — very afraid. Unseen forces are out to get you and all the other good people out there. I’ve seen “The Manchurian Candidate” and “The Village’’ in the last week and while they ......
2004-07-28 12:58:33
Jane Holahan
“Cyrano” is the toast of Washington. The critics love it and ticket sales have gone through the roof. Kornhauser told me he heard it was the best-selling show the Shakespeare Theatre has ever produced. Several people have been back to see it over and over. A few weeks ago, the National Public Rad......
2004-07-14 14:02:06
Jane Holahan
But this summer, I’m beginning to understand the appeal, thanks to “Spider-Man 2’’ and a wonderful novel I’m reading about the creation of a comic book superhero. It’s “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,” by Michael Chabon, who also happened to help write the story of “Spider-Man 2.’’ “Sp......
2004-06-30 13:34:53
Jane Holahan
If anyone had told me back then that that guy would not only change the face of community theater in Lancaster but be responsible for a magnificent $2.4 million renovation at the playhouse, it would have seemed like a joke. But after his not-so-amazing debut (all I can remember is the fur coat), ......
2004-06-16 14:49:16
Jane Holahan
Monday night, I watched the “Showbiz Moms & Dads” marathon on Bravo. Oh sure, I had every intention of doing virtuous things like reading, but “Showbiz Moms & Dads” was just way too important. It was the accident on the side of the road syndrome. “Showbiz Moms & Dads’’ chronicles five families......
2004-06-09 13:24:21
Jane Holahan
Forty-one is old on TV. And if you’re a woman? Forget about it! The people who run TV must figure that we’d all stop watching “ER’’ en masse if a middle-aged woman were one of the stars. Stories about her personal life, about facing middle age? Ugh. Better to populate the show with hunky guys in ......
2004-06-02 14:30:34
Jane Holahan
This season will not go down in the annals of history as very interesting. It will be known as the season when a lot of good shows came to an end, not a season when a lot of good shows were born.
It was the season when some excellent shows began to falter. A season when reality TV hit new...
2004-05-26 14:22:35
Jane Holahan
Go to the movie theater, and "Shrek 2'' will be playing on half the screens there.
Yep, it's the old Summer Movie Blast. Movies get so much hype and are pushed in our face in so many different directions we can do nothing but surrender.
People -- including me -- surrendered in drov...
2004-05-19 13:41:16
Jane Holahan
Hey, I know that change is a part of life, but some changes are better than others.
I barely shed a tear when "Friends'' closed up shop. It was definitely time for the gang to say good-bye.
The final, abbreviated season was a disappointment when you think about how clever and poign...
2004-05-05 14:36:57
Jane Holahan
Like, how the heck did Monica lose all that weight she carried around in high school flashbacks? She's a chef and she looks like she lives on bread and water. You'd think there'd be a weight issue there, but I've never heard her even talking about carbs.
Whatever became of Mocholate, that...
2004-04-28 14:58:19
Jane Holahan
Your assignment is to take the ads to a higher level, make them sexier, more mysterious, more appealing.
So you're thinking, hmm, maybe we get a man in there. He can smolder and then the woman wearing wings and a Victoria's Secret bra can smolder back. It will be sexy and evocative.
...
2004-04-21 17:30:04
Jane Holahan
I know "Friends'' is a pop culture phenomenon, but does it have to take up all the air in the room? "Frasier'' was a great show. Urbane and witty, it did slapstick better than anyone and somehow managed to make you laugh so hard your sides hurt. How did they do that? For 11 years, it made making...
2004-04-07 14:36:01
Jane Holahan
The couple got engaged right at the start of their makeover and the show sponsored a fairy tale wedding for them at Disney World. They wouldn't reveal their new selves to each other until the wedding ceremony.
This was meant to warm our hearts. All it did was creep me out, depress me and ...
