This series lead by led by film critic and former stage actor Richard Alleva begins with All About Eve.  Filmmakers have always nursed a crush on the legitimate stage, and since the theater is at least two thousand years older than the movies, it certainly provides a lot of history and gossip for the scriptwriters to feast on.  And while it's great to see a play, it's just as fascinating to peek behind the scenery at the rivalries, love affairs, feuds, artistic clashes and money problems that fuel or undermine a production.  Even the stagehands and the scenery seem romantic when the camera scouts them out in the backstage darkness.

 

Richard Alleva has selected four very different movies that have in common an awareness of the theater's special magic and a compassion for the sacrifices often made for the sake of the magic.  Before and after each show, he will have a lot of stage lore and movie gossip to share with you to increase your viewing pleasure.

 

All About Eve (1950) takes place on Broadway in teh late 1940's.  Margot Channing, diva of divas, wants to hang onto her stardom but also yearns for domestic bliss.  Can she have both?  Not while Eve Harrington, talented understudy and sneaky predator, waits in the wings.  This classic made Bette Davis a legend and won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (George Sanders).  Viewers are invited to bring a sandwich and the library will serve dessert and bevereges.  This program is sponsored by The Friends of the Russell Library.

 

Future films include Me and Orson Welles on March 27, Shakespeare in Love on April 24 and Stage Beauty on May 29.