9-23-2001
*** Love and strength go out to all those lost and who lost loved ones in the violent incidents of a few weeks ago. Phil remains shaken, but unhurt.
*** PLANET IMPACT BENEFIT TO AID WORKING PLAYGROUND
ROSIE PEREZ, BILLY CRUDUP & MARY LOUISE PARKER TO JOIN THE 24 HOUR PLAYS
NEW YORK- Called "The downtown theatrical party/performance of the season!" by The New York Press, The 24 Hour Plays is a stunning theatrical event of which 6 short plays are written, cast, rehearsed and performed within a single day. To take place on 24 September 2001 in Manhattan, confirmed performers include Mary-Louise Parker, Billy Crudup, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, Rosie Perez, Adam Goldberg, Robert Sean Leonard, Brooke Smith, and Fisher Stevens, who will perform under the direction of Gregory Mosher, Anna Strasberg and a slew of Broadway notables. Founded in 1995 by Tina Fallon, the rotating cast and crew of the 24 Hour Plays has debuted over 200 short plays to sold-out audiences in venues all over New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and London. Planet Impact is a not-for profit founded in 1999 by a number of Wharton Business School graduates. With the mission of creating volunteer opportunities for busy people, the organization serves as a broker matching volunteers with activities sponsored by not-for-profits. Proceeds from The 24 Hour Plays will benefit Working Playground whose supporters have included Rosie Perez, Steve Buscemi, Michael Imperioli, Julia Stiles, Annabella Sciorra and Fisher Stevens. Tickets available through Ticketmaster after September 5th at 212. 307. 4100.
Apologies for the lateness of that report. Thanks to Jen for the info.
*** Want to see some awesome portraits of Phil? Go visit Pamela's Portraits and let the magic weave itself.
8-29-2001
*** Punchdrunk Love was not really the title of The Eternally Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project. I'm thinking that at this point, they might as well do without a title and just call it like... The Talented Mr. Anderson's Untitled Project or whatever. The Infernal Project. The Project that Shall Not Be Named. The Unnamed Project. har har.
*** In additon to name dysphoria, P.T.Anderson's next film also had a tremendous set-back in release date. Originally slated for release THIS December, it's been hit back to Fall of 2002. Ouch.
*** See the Site News for all the exciting updates going on here at the site...
8-28-2001
*** Playbill.com reports that The Seagull will NOT be going to Broadway. And, sad as that may be for people, I'm secretly THRILLED. Oops, I said it loud, so I am openly THRILLED to NOT be missing Phil on Broadway. That's a purely selfish stance to take, I am the first to admit. But dude, consider my positionality for a moment as regards all of Phil's New York theater work. *wink* Anyway, take care. [thanks to Kathleen and Jen for sending me the info] However, I hear from another Phil fan who shall remain nameless should things go sour, that it's been through the grapevine that The Seagull will go to Broadway. Huh. What is one to think.
*** Unsubstantiated rumor in connection with Phil: A Long Day's Journey Into Night? Who knows. You know three years before Shadow of the Vampire, a rampant rumor about John Malkovich being in a vampire movie went around the lists...
*** I just found out that Jesus Hopped the A-Train wrapped production in Edinburgh yesterday. It's Phil and LABrynth Theater Company's Production, but Phil was not able to attend the run, as is clearly indicated by his participation in The Seagull. Anyway, I've added the ARTICLE about it to the site archives.
*** Want to read John Simon's really crude review of The Seagull? What a looo-hooo-suh-her, folks. He gets the royal raspberry in the ass for calling Phil 'charmless'. Word. [thanks to Kathleen for referring me to the link]
8-27-2001
*** The Seagull has finished it's Central Park run. Any further word on the possibility of making the jump to Broadway? If so, will Phil be involved? You might know more than me. If you've any news on this, please let me know!
*** The Augst 24/31, 2001 issue of Entertainment Weekly (with Penelope Cruz and Tom Cruise on the cover) contains an article on The Seagull, as well as a picture (I will warn you that it's not the most generous review of Phil's acting...):
Birds of a Feather
Meryl Streep and other stars flock together for a Seagull that has New Yorkers flying high
by Melissa Rose Bernardo
The cast is something of a midsummer night's dream: Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Christopher Walken, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Marcia Gay Harden, John Goodman, Larry Pine, Debra Monk, Stephen Spinella. At the helm is Mike Nichols. And tickets are free. No wonder people are literally camping out in Central Park to see The Seagull. Apologies to Anton Chekhov, but it's not his name that's bringing them in.
So, as a landmark theatrical occasion - which has surpassed The Producers on the hype-o-meter and demands some 15 hours of your time in a ticket line - The Seagull succeeds brilliantly. Credit the Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival for pulling this off: It's where Kline tackled heavies like Hamlet, and where Streep, in the late '70s, trod the boards in shows such as Measure for Measure. (And where her 21-year-old son, Henry Gummer, is making his New York theater debut on stage alongside his mother.) Credit NYSF also for blowing the lid off the play: The Seagull is perfect for an open-air stage like the Delacorte. Talk of trees and lakes seems perfectly natural; a throwaway line about a storm rings especially true on a soggy summer evening.
Apparently, it was Streep who selected The Seagull, a tragicomic masterwork that gives the the plum (though smallish) part of Arkadina, an aging actress whose vanity trumps her talent. She's shacked up with Trigorin (Kline), a Tolstoy wannabe who falls for nubile Nina (Portman), who's the beloved of Arkadina's son, Konstantin (Hoffman). When they're not professing love or contemplating death, they're listening to friends and relative profess love and contemplate death. In Chekhov, this is called comedy.
And though it is frequently funny and moving - partly owing to playwright Tom Stoppard's fine adaptation - this Seagull is more an event than a well-rendered revival. Nichols may have extended his actors carte blanche, allowing them to walk wherever or do gymnastics if so inclined. (Who knew Streep could cartwheel?) But some handle freedom better than others: Walken, for instance, gives a wonderfully subdued, soulful performance as Streep's sickly brother, while Hoffman - in a more pivotal part - could afford to turn it up. A bit of the bluster he showed in 2000's True West would serve him well here. Nor is Portman - another young actor with intelligence and sensitivity to spare - ready to carry the tragic Nina on her slender shoulders.
Of course, not everyone clicks like Streep and Kline. The Sophie's Choice costars have something so effortless, so intuitive between them that the mind reels imagining what these two could do in other classics: plotting in Macbeth, bickering in Much Ado About Nothing, drinking and pillpopping in Long Day's Journey Into Night... The possibilities are endless. Their time in The Seagull, regrettably, is not. Barring some alignment of the planets - or of the stars' schedules - this Seagull shutters Aug. 26. (Rated a B)
8-21-2001
*** Thanks to Amy, Marketing Manager for the MCC Theater for the following info on Phil's upcoming theater directing project, The Glory of Living: MCC Theater is a small theater on 28th Street that presents three New York premieres every season, the first will be this Rebecca Gilman play.. The play is described as this...
The Glory of Living
October 30 - December 2
by Rebecca Gilman, Directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
Explore an ambiguous world where absolute guilt and innocence are unclear. Lisa is a neglected and abused teenager whose older, ex-con husband Clint manipulates her so far into a world of sex and violence that it becomes as common to her as TV dinners. Behind them lies a trail of victims whose blood ends up on her hands only. But who is to blame?
Playwright Rebecca Gilman wrote New York hits Spinning into Butter (Lincoln Ctr.) and Boy Gets Girl (MTC). Stage and screen actor Philip Seymour Hoffman of Broadway's True West and The Public's The Seagull, earned a Drama Desk nomination for his direction of Jesus Hopped the A Train.
Tickets will go on sale in mid-September and can be purchased thru www.mcctheater.org. Prices will range between $35 and $40.
8-20-2001
*** My first fan review of The Seagull thanks to Gayana!! If you saw it, please feel free to submit your review!!! Just click on the email link at the bottom of any page!
8-18-2001
*** Please to all Phil phans out there -- If you have seen The Seagull and could possibly find the time to write up a review of the show, a story of your experience, anything like that -- I would be more than happy to post it on this site! Any reviews of any of Phil's films are welcome!
*** A clip from The Seagull captured by a crazycool Natalie Portman fan has Phil sitting in. The clip is hosted by natalieportman.com and here is the link: SEAGULL1.MPG Sorry I don't know what all gizmo's you need to play it. My computer plays it with QuickTime. It's an mpg, pretty standard.
*** For those desperate people who are weird enough to try it, there are tickets for The Seagull somehow available on eBay. I'm not sure how it works, but hey, if you're game...
*** Dude, it's like... Ozzfest or something... (reference page):
August 2, 2001 -- IF you want to see Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Natalie Portman and other stars in "The Seagull," get in line. Each day, New Yorkers and out-of-towners line up by the thousands to get tickets for the free Shakespeare in the Park production. Most leave empty-handed. TV writer Kimberly Hill got to the park at 5:45a.m. Tuesday and still couldn't nab tickets. Yesterday, she arrived at 4:15a.m.
Waiting ahead of her was Rebecca Winson, a documentary filmmaker who arrived at the Delacorte Theater's ticket counter at 10 p.m. Tuesday - a full 15 hours before tickets were actually distributed. Winson brought her family and blankets, sleeping bags, lawn chairs, newspapers, snacks and games. "My husband came to scope out the line the night before, so I had some idea of what I was getting into," Winson said.
At 1 a.m. every morning, a police officer escorts those already on line out of Central Park (the park is closed from 1 to 6 a.m.) and onto Central Park West at 81st Street. By 5:45 a.m., the line - as many as 300 people strong - is led back into the park.
On Wednesday, No. 173 in line, Dominick Dusseault, said he'd left his Montreal home at 9 p.m., arrived in Central Park at 4 a.m. and planned to drive back to Montreal that night after the show. No. 5, Kathleen Huber, who had joined the line at 11 p.m. Tuesday night, brought a small air-mattress and a sleeping pill.
"The buses were noisy and the street lights were glaring, but I managed to doze off," she said. The production run has been extended through Aug. 26, which means another 11,400 people will be able to see it. They're probably already on line.
8-14-2001
*** According to Upcomingfilms.com, Sony has announced that Paul Thomas Anderson's fourth feature film is now titled Punchdrunk Love. Yay, indeed. Still aiming for the December 25 release.
*** Playbill Online reports that The Seagull may move on to do great things on BROADWAY!! "Producers are currently exploring the possibility of a transfer to an indoor theatre sometime this fall, with several of the venture's many famous names remaining aboard, if schedules can be worked out." -- so everyone not in the area may have even longer to miss seeing Phil on stage! *wink* A snippet on the current progress of the play:
In response to demand, the Public Theater added an extra week to the starry production. Talk of a commercial transfer comes as no surprise to those who thought bringing out the big guns of Streep, Kline, Walken and Nichols seemed like such a waste, given the limited number of seats.
*** Playbill Online reports that the August 12 performance of The Seagull was an eventful one, apparently the action was all stop-and-go due to torrential downpours of water from clouds in the sky.
8-11-2001
*** I'm sorry for that lack of reviews of The Seagull!! Eep! I am having trouble with my email. It's driving me insane. But I do assure you that EVERYONE I've heard from LOVES and ADORES and WORSHIPS it and I wish that I could go see it, but sadly I cannot. I hear Phil just kicks ass. So, there you have it for now. Peace.
*** A synopsis of The Seagull: For over a hundred years, The Seagull has remained a modern classic, resonating with contemporary question of sex, love, family and fame. Madame Arkadina is a well-known b-list actress. Trigorin a well-known writer, Arkadina's young lover and lapdog, falls madly in love with an even younger want-to-be actress, Nina. Enter Konstantin, Arkadina's son, a would-be-writer who is fiercely jealous of his mother's lover, and is dying to write the ultimate modern theatrical tragedy. As his own play unfolds, so does Konstantin's real tragedy, when he must choose between his art and his love.
7-23-2001
*** Today is Phil's 34th birthday! Yay! Happy birthday Phil!
*** Once again, The Seagull will be performing July 24 through August 19th in New York, NY at the Delacourt Theatre in Central Park. Tickets are free. You can get them the day of the performance at the Public Theatre, and there are a couple of other places too around the city including the actual theatre where tickets can be procured. Tickets are limited to two per person. Phil will be playing Konstantin.
This page last updated July 22, 2002
