Patrick Stewart in Macbeth

Blood-soaked drama, abusive power, abominable brutality--terms synonymous with Shakespeare's Macbeth. Rupert Goold's dark production, which debuted in New York on February 12th at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Harvey Theater, comprises all of these frightening elements with a modernized interpretation that is positively chilling. Coming off of a wildly successful run in Britain, all shows for the five week American debut sold out within a week of going on sale, and Patrick Stewart's celebrated return to his Shakespearian roots in the title role undoubtedly has lured audiences in.

In a press conference held earlier this month, Stewart waxed passionately about the role. It was at the very young age of fourteen (!) when he first memorized Macbeth's lengthy speeches and colorful soliloquies, and relearning them at his current age of 67 was a pleasure for him. He read everything he could about Joseph Stalin, since Goold's production has a distinct Soviet-era feel and style. When questioned about his age as it relates to Macbeth, Stewart thought it created a fantastic dynamic: As an older man with a much younger and beautiful wife in Lady Macbeth, it provides the character with more inspiration to commit his heinous deeds, as if to say, "It ain't enough.I want everything."

Playing Lady Macbeth is Kate Fleetwood, the stunning British actress and wife of director Goold. Stewart jokingly claimed that her role should have come with a warning label because of all the "manhandling" his character does. Fleetwood did not study Stalin to prepare, but paid close attention to the sexual mannerisms of Nigella Lawson, Britain's sexpot TV star, chef and author. She also read "Women Who Kill" and confessed to being perversely fascinated by people with a similar history to Macbeth. Fleetwood and Stewart share a wonderful chemistry with each other that carries the audience throughout the epic, three-hour production.
               
What about those few over-zealous Star Trek fans showing up in full costume to view Stewart's stage performances? When asked about the phenomenon of his celebrity, Stewart takes great pride when he sees television fans convert to classical live theater. Although he wishes they'd leave the uniforms at home, he does feel single-handedly responsible for creating new audience members for his stage productions and derives great satisfaction from that.

Patrick did an interview with Playboy in 1992 where he spoke about his experience working on Star Trek and his most coveted Shakespearian role that we have yet to see him play: Hamlet.

Sweet Emotions

Each holiday season for the past decade the musical juggernaut known as The Trans Siberian Orchestra has performed their orchestral heavy holiday rock music to audiences around the country. This past weekend the group made stops at New York's Nassau Coliseum and New Jersey's Izod Arena (formerly known as The Meadowlands and now affectionately called "The Metal Lands") where they played three sold-out shows. Historically, guest musicians have made surprise appearances at these particular arenas, which have included Joan Jett, Jon Anderson (Yes) and Roger Daltrey (The Who), and this weekend was no exception when the legendary Steven Tyler of Aerosmith took the stage to close out all three shows. It was a perfect holiday treat to hear the classic songs "Dream On" and "Sweet Emotion" to end the three hour, over-the-top spectacle from this entertaining group of musicians.

I was sitting in the 6th row and ran up when Steven Tyler came out and was able to take these really close shots.

This entry made playboy.com's homepage the day it was posted (click to enlarge):

Heavy Metal Readers

My recent trip to London involved attending the Metal Hammer Awards where the band Testament won a Golden God award for best album. 

The band relaxed post-show with some of their favorite reading material.

Oooh, La, la...

Burlesque star Dita Von Teese, recently announced that she'll be performing as a special guest for a limited engagement in February 2009 at the world famous Crazy Horse cabaret in Paris, France. She'll be debuting three new acts, including one where a few of the cabaret's beautiful, classically-trained dancers will join her on stage. 

Playboy has had a long love affair with the legendary Crazy Horse, which has been a Parisian hotspot since 1951. Photos of their stunning dancers first appeared in 1978 for that year's April issue and in 2008 the sister troupe in Las Vegas was photographed at the MGM Grand for the June issue.

It's very rare for the public to be able to see Dita's shows since she became the darling of the fashion world and performs mostly at exclusive invite-only events, but if you can't make it to Paris for her two-week stint, there's always YouTube.

*I've visited both Crazy Horse cabarets in Paris and Las Vegas and I think it's the most classy, artistic, live erotic show in production.

C'est What?

When it was suggested that I should go see C’est Duckie!, a wildly popular performance troupe from London debuting in New York for a limited run, I did a little research to find out what I could before opening night.  I looked at their website, read a piece published in The New York Times, and spoke to a friend who had already purchased tickets for her birthday, but none of this prepared me for what I experienced.
 
I arrived with my girlfriend at the CSV Cultural Center on the Lower East Side last Friday night and walked into a large, black, very dark room with a few tables and a stage all surrounded by a curtain of multicolored metallic streamers. The void outside of this curtain of streamers felt very surreal and seemed as if we had just wandered into a side room of Willy Wonka’s factory. Who knew what would emerge from the darkness?

A waiter/actor appeared and suggested a bottle of champagne and we were given a menu to order from along with forty “Duckie dollars” for our table. The menu did not list food, but acts. Acts? Yes, acts. Twenty-two different delicacies to choose from including “Natcho Snatcho (pictured),” “Enter Me Lightly,” and “James Bond in Perverted Pussy.” With only forty Duckie dollars, it was a difficult decision, but we started with “Divided Diva.” This involved my petite girlfriend being sprawled across the table and getting sawed in half, during which she and everyone sitting at our table howled with screams and laughter.

“Art Class” was next and a performer in a costume appeared who jumped on our table and struck a pose on all fours revealing exaggerated, hairy, fake genitals, which all of us sketched with a crazed fervor. (I must add that the charcoal and drawing paper provided for this act were of excellent quality). Our special of the week, “Drag Queen Under the Table,” was exactly that: A drag queen dove under our table, inciting a few odd looks and arm flailing along the way. The pace was maddening, the vibe was maniacal. As one act ended, another began. All of this table-top entertainment was interspersed with brief stage shows, which seemed like deleted scenes from Cabaret. I imagined that this is what a night out might have felt like in the underground during 1920s Weimar, Berlin.

I’ve seen quite a healthy dose of burlesque shows, Coney Island side-shows, strip-club acts and performance art in the last ten years while living in New York City, but C’est Duckie simply cannot be categorized.

It’s not a show. It’s an experience.

"C’est Duckie!” runs from Thursday, December 20 through Saturday, January 19, 2008 at the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural Center, 107 Suffolk Street, NYC, (212) 352-3101.

12.29.07 6:57 AM CST by DG
Your review is spot on. btw: the show is presented by Performance Space 122

Guitar Euphoria at Roseland Tonight

Rodrigo y Gabriela are back in New York City. The guitar duo has been making waves this year with their debut instrumental album and tonight’s show at Roseland Ballroom marks their third appearance in The Big Apple. This show is particularly special because it’s one out of only four dates that they will be joined by the Alex Skolnick Trio.
 
Though you couldn’t tell by listening to their music, (they describe their style as “fusion music” with Latin harmonies and rhythms) Rodrigo y Gabriela are great lovers of thrash and metal. They played together in their own metal band before breaking off into the style that they are now well known for. In a series of spots that aired on MTV in August, the duo discuss how influential Alex Skolnick’s guitar playing has been to them, so they asked him to join them for these very special appearances.

Alex Skolnick is best known as the lead guitarist for the thrash-metal band Testament and is considered by many to be one of the best guitarists in this genre. Among his many musical projects, he fronts The Alex Skolnick Trio, who have made quite a mark in the jazz world by putting jazz arrangements to hard-rock classics. Tonight they’ll be playing songs from their three albums including the latest Last Day in Paradise.
 
Tickets for tonight’s show cost $30/$35 at the door. There's still a few tickets left at press time, but last night's show in Boston sold out.