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4/24/2010 NEW! Steppenwolf Theatre's The Grapes of Wrath . Previously unavailable PBS video edition of the Chicago/New York stage adaptation of Steinbeck's masterpiece. Gary Sinese stars as Tom Joad. 3/29/09 - PLAYING SHAKESPEARE RELEASED COMMERCIALLY. JUNE 2. 2009. This invaluable BBC educational series joins The Gospel at Colonus as popular programs on this website that have re-emerged into the world .In accordance with my policy, I will not make more copies available. The publisher is Acorn Media Group's Athena division. The cost will be about $80 US. I don't know when a UK release will appear. 3/11/2009 - NEW! The Secret World of Haute Coture, fillm by Margy Kinmonth. BBC 2006. Ms. Kinmonth wittily calls the rarified world of high fashion the most exclusive club in the world. Her film, a behnd the scenes look at the Paris and New York fashion shows, features conversations with the women who acquire and wear the most expensive clothing on the planet. 12/19/2008 The Gospel at Colonus has been released as a commercial DVD and is available from New Video in New York and even from Netflix! One can only wonder how this happy event took place after 23 years.. It is also available from a number of vendors on Amazon.com .In keeping with my policy, it has been removed from my list. All I can say is "What took so long?" 10/8/08 My edition of The Gospel at Colonus has been fully revised and encoded to one single-layer DVD. Lee Breuer and Bob Telson's wonderful 1985 theatrical presentation played straight through for an hour and a half without intermission. Now my DVD edition conveys the same nonstop momentum. What's more, the software which allowed me to extract the DV from my original edition somehow seems to have improved the color and picture quality. 8/14/2008 - NEW! Playing Shakespeare, episodes 1 and 2. In 1979, Royal Shakespeare Company co-founder Trevor Nunn videotaped a two-part Master Class in performing the Bard's works, with a special emphasis on language. He was joined by RSC actors Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Jane Lapotaire, David Suchet, and other esteemed performers. The programs were broadcast in the UK on The South Bank Show. In 1984 RSC dramaturg John Barton presented a nine-part continuation of these master classes, expanding the roster of actors. The RSC and its partners have discontinued the sale of these admittedly old shows, despite their enduring value. Copies are sometimes available in over-compressed DVD editions. I was luckily presented with a nearly-new videotape edition, once available ony to deep-pocketet university libraries, and I have endeavoured to produce a DVD edition that some people might find useful. A related program is Oren Jacoby's 2003 film The Shakespeare Sessions in which John Barton discusses the same issues with the American actors Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Kline, Cynthia Nixon and Liev Schreiber. This film has been availalble for purchase in the U.S. for nearly two hundred dollars. The good news is that the Royal Shakespeare Company has dropped its price to £24, which is around $50, plus shipping from the U.K. Click here to go to the RSC website. 3/14/08 - I found the Ken Kesey website where you can buy all sorts of cool psychedelia. You can also get several videos, including "Furthur: Ken Kesey's American Dreams", which has been removed from my list of offerings. A button on my links page will take you to the Kesey site. 10/19/07 - The Postal Service raised its rates this year, and I find that I have to pass the cost along, so shipping has increased to $7. At least you get a nifty cardboard box or a recyclable mailing envelope...no plastic! 9/30/07 - I've upgraded the links page to include a number of great sources for art and performance DVDs. 1/18/07 - Hallelujah! Bill Irwin - As Seen on TV has resurfaced after spending time at a friend's house. I thought I'd lost it. Hosted by Laurie Anderson, this 1987 offering from PBS' Alive From Off Center finds Bill getting lost in videospace, where, not surprisingly, complications ensue. The disk includes Mr. Irwin and Ted Koppell celebrating Charlie Chaplin's centennial, and a scene from Largely New York from the 1989 TONY Awards Show. 1/16/2007 - The IMDb has accepted my submission of Tex Avery, the King of Cartoons. In the course of getting the show listed I found a book called "Tex Avery: King of Cartoons" by Joe Adamson, who is also credited for writing the film. Several used copies of the book are available online. It appears that Mr. Adamson's book was the source of the movie. Another unsung hero of filmland.I also came across a nifty fansite honoring Tex Avery. 1/6/2007 - While on the subject of Bill Irwin I digitized my very clean VHS copy of Bill Irwin, Clown Prince from PBS' Great Performances series. It's a comprehensive hour-long survey of his life and work, from Oberlin College and San Francisco's Pickle Family Circus to the bright lights of New York City. Includes excerpts from "The Regard Evening," "The Harlequin Studies," and "Mr. Fox: A Rumination" as well as "Waiting for Godot" which starred Steve Martin and Robin Williams. 1/1/2007 - Contrary to my expectations (see 5/26/06 below) the Broadway Theatre Archive does not have Bill Irwin's wonderful debut The Regard of Flight (1983). After conducting a lot of research on the net I find that there are a very few VHS copies lingering on some library re-sale websites, but no mainstream distribution. I will re-list this program here until it becomes available through other channels. New (to me) is the Internet Theatre Database, ITDb. It's a solid and growing effort, and a complement to the Internet Broadway Database IBDb . Not affilliated with the IMDb. 12/28/2006 - This project is now running very well as more people find out about these videos. Due to increased time required to produce and ship these DVDs I have to increase my asking prices. Starting January 1, 2007, I'll be asking $3 for each DVD. 11/22/2006 - The Internet Movie Database accepted my listing for The Cradle Will Rock. This is a theatrical presentation directed by John Houseman and performed by Jullliard's Acting Company. Houseman's introduces the program with an eye-witness recounting of the 1930s U.S. Government attempt to shut down the premier of this Brechtian melodrama. That story is dramatized in Tim Robbins' feature film of the same name. 7/22/06 - Jonathan Miller's great production of The Merchant of Venice, starring Laurence Olivier, is available as a VHS tape both new and used from Amazon.com and others. It has been removed from this site. 6/28/06 - The Olivier production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya is available from Learmedia, so it has been removed from this site. 6/26/2006 -- Bill Irwin's remarkable 1983 video debut, The Regard of Flight, will be released commercially in late 2006. The distributor is The Broadway Theatre Archive. That means that this site will no longer offer copies of this video.
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