STATEWIDE – This edition of State of the Arts looks at current productions of stage and screen, from Broadway’s “Young Frankenstein,” to McCarter Theatre’s new play by Edward Albee, to HBO’s small screen film about the late heiress Doris Duke. Also included, is a preview of the New Jersey Film Festival. Stage & Screen airs on Friday, January 25 at 8:30 pm, with a rebroadcast on Wednesday, January 30 at 11:30 pm. State of the Arts, NJN’s long running series, has earned 28 Regional Emmy Awards, including New York Emmy Awards in 2007 and 2005, and a 2006 Mid-Atlantic Emmy.
• Me, Myself, and I
Three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Albee is back at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton with a world premiere play about a pair of identical twin brothers, both named Otto. Starring Tony Award-winner Tyne Daly as the mother struggling to tell them apart, the play puts a dark but funny spin on the themes Albee has spent his career exploring: the absent parent; family dynamics; and the fine line between imagination and reality. State of the Arts producer Christopher Benincasa speaks to Albee, as well as to the McCarter’s Artistic Director Emily Mann, who is the director of “Me, Myself, and I.” The play runs January 11 through February 17, 2008.
• The Creature of Montclair
Award-winning actor Shuler Hensley has made a career out of playing monsters: he won a Tony, an Olivier (London theatre’s equivalent of the Tony Award), and a Drama Desk Award for his searing portrayal of the semi-psychopathic Judd Fry in the 2002 revival of “Oklahoma.” He’s played the lead in “Phantom of the Opera” — performing the role in German, was a silverback ape in the Disney musical version of “Tarzan” on Broadway, and has played the Frankenstein creature no less than three times. He recorded a concept album for an off-Broadway adaptation of the Mary Shelley story; played the role in the sci-fi thriller film “Van Helsing,” and now is a song-and-dance creature in Mel Brook’s new
Broadway musical “Young Frankenstein.” The son of a football star and a ballet director from Georgia, the 6-foot-3-inch Hensley was classically trained in opera, and now lives in Montclair, New Jersey. State of the Arts producer Amber Edwards visits him at home, and also in his dressing room at the Hilton Theater, as he undergoes the nightly transformation from man to monster.
• Nick Rolfe, Musician & Actor
A highly versatile musician, Nick Rolfe is currently playing with various R & B, jazz, gospel, funk and alternative groups in and around New York. Along with his musical talents he has added acting to his résumé. Rolfe is co-starring with Academy Award-winners Susan Sarandon and Ralph Fiennes in the upcoming HBO feature film “Bernard and Doris” directed by Robert Balaban, and slated to air Saturday, February 9, 2008. Rolfe plays the young jazz-pianist lover of the late tobacco heiress Doris Duke during her later years. Fiennes takes the role of Duke’s butler to whom she left her entire fortune. As a musician, Rolfe’s success includes an award-winning (SESAC National Performance Award) debut record, “The Persuader,” which was the number five jazz record in the United States on multiple charts in 2001. Both as a leader and a sideman, Rolfe has toured extensively, nationally and internationally. He has received critical acclaim for performances in his most recent albums “The Remedy” (2003) and “The Mind Of An Evolutionary” (2005), as well as his work as a highly sought-after piano player/keyboardist for other artists. State of the Arts producer Eric Schultz visits Rolfe in the recording studio as he records his latest solo CD and at home in Montclair, New Jersey.
• The New Jersey Film Festival
The New Jersey Film Festival is a haven for movie fans and film connoisseurs alike, featuring big studio pictures, experimental animated shorts, and eye-opening documentaries. Festival curator and Rutgers University professor Albert G. Nigrin spoke with State of the Arts producer Christopher Benincasa about some of the films he’s excited about, and shows some clips and sneak previews to whet the moviegoer’s appetite. The spring 2008 installment of the New Jersey Film Festival runs from January 25 through April 13, 2008 on the New Brunswick campus of Rutgers University.
State of the Arts, the award-winning, half-hour arts magazine, airs every Friday at 8:30 pm, followed by an encore presentation each Wednesday at 11:30 pm.
The current episode of State of the Arts can be viewed online at www.njn.net. Individual stories will be available to view following their broadcast by visiting the program online at State of the Arts.
Funding for State of the Arts is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. The series producer is Susan Wallner and the executive producer is Nila Aronow.
NJN is available on all New Jersey cable systems, satellite systems, and Time Warner Cable channel 750 in NYC.
State of the Arts is also available via video streaming at njn.net after the original broadcast.
Additionally, the program is repeated on NJN’s JerseyVision available on Comcast Digital Cable in New Jersey.
(Check http://www.njn.net/digital/schedule.html for detailed listings.)
NJN – Uniquely New Jersey
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