George Takei did not want “Star Trek Beyond’s” Sulu to be gay? Oh my. While news broke that “Star Trek Beyond” will feature an openly gay Hikaru Sulu in a nod to original Sulu actor George Takei, it turns out Takei was never actually on board with this development. To be clear, the long-time LGBT […]
George Takei says the decision to make Sulu gay is ‘really unfortunate’ Read More »
Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO — One man and a piano. For most, this would be a scene in a hotel lounge with patrons coming and going. But not for virtuoso Hershey Felder who completes this year’s Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival playing at the Lyceum Theatre. Hershey Felder is well known
Maestro: Music, mysticism of Leonard Bernstein Read More »
Eric George Tauber, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO─ Do you remember what Stuxnet is? In 2010 a computer worm caused 2,000 centrifuges to malfunction at the Natanz nuclear enrichment plant in Iran. Officials in Israel and the United States denied responsibility for the sabotage, but hoped it would set back Iran’s nuclear program. When it spread to computers
The Wandering Review: ‘Zero Days’ Read More »
Lawrence Baron, Theatre, Film & Broadcast“The Innocents” soars above its seeming contradictions. A gripping psychological drama based on events more than half a century old, it has inescapable contemporary echoes. Laced with intensely emotional situations, it refuses to force the issue by pushing too hard. And it proves, yet again, that though moral and spiritual questions may not sound spellbinding
By Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO — Another Fringe Festival has come and gone, 11 days of ‘eyeball busting’ shows at fourteen venues around San Diego. If you’re not familiar, “fringe” refers to theater that’s a little too “out there” for a regular theater season. Many are small shows that travel light. Some are autobiographical.
Kisses and tomatoes at the Fringe Festival Read More »
Eric George Tauber, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & BroadcastBy Cynthia Citron HOLLYWOOD — The play has such a despicable name that you would think it would attract every neo-Nazi, Aryan Nation, Skinheaded anti-Semite in southern California. The play is called Bad Jews. But, surprisingly, playwright Joshua Harmon’s four-person diatribe is actually a perceptive reflection of the way in which many modern Jews relate
‘Bad Jews’ depicts split between religious and secular Read More »
Cynthia Citron, Jewish Religion, Theatre, Film & BroadcastScarlett Johansson, star of multiple Marvel superhero movies, Luc Besson’s brilliant sci-fi thriller Lucy and Girl with a Pearl Earring, has been a leading lady for a while now. She’s filled that action heroine role left vacant by Angelina Jolie, who seems more content behind the camera these days. She sometimes makes fun, quirky movies
Scarlett Johansson is Highest Grossing Female Star Ever Read More »
Theatre, Film & BroadcastThat Barbra Streisand is a woman of many “firsts” is indisputable. Streisand is one of the best-selling music artists of all time and the only recording artist to have a number-one album in each of the last six decades. With “Yentl” in 1983, she became the first woman to write, produce, direct and star in
Streisand’s difficult rise to fame catapulted by face-off with anti-Semitism Read More »
Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USAA new history of the Star Trek science fiction television and movie franchise reveals plans during the 1970s for a feature film that would have seen Star Trek’s first iconic captain, James T. Kirk, in a fist fight with Jesus Christ — yes, Jesus Christ — on the bridge of the starship Enterprise. The film
When Captain Kirk slugged it out with Jesus Christ Read More »
Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USALOS ANGELES — Jesse Williams made explicit what so much of this year’s BET Awards has been trying to imply: Things are different now, and so much of black America is fed up. The “Grey’s Anatomy” actor, teacher and producer/star of BET’s “Stay Woke” documentary delivered arguably one of the most searing speeches in the
A petition to stop Leonardo DiCaprio from playing Persian poet Rumi in an upcoming biopic is gaining traction online, as thousands of supporters urge the Islamic scholar be played by a Middle Eastern actor. The petition calls the casting choice proposed by the film’s screenwriter and producer “both ludicrous and offensive,” and says by starring
Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires. By Eric George Tauber SAN DIEGO–My guest shot me a look when I dared utter the name “Macbeth” as we took our seats at the Old Globe’s Summer Shakespeare Festival. “Oh no,” he intoned, “now somebody’s going to die.” “Don’t we all?”
Strange happenings and strange choices in ‘MacBeth’ Read More »
Eric George Tauber, Theatre, Film & Broadcast
SAN DIEGO — Feivel Wolgelernter, whose father Chaim Yitzchok Wolgelernter wrote the The Unfinished Diary: A Chronicle of Tears, which detailed his experiences hiding in Dzialoszyce, Poland from the German Nazis, will speak at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 28, at Congregation Adat Yeshurun, 8625 La Jolla Scenic Drive North. Feivel’s talk will be followed by a
June 28 play, lecture to augment ‘The Unfinished Diary’ Read More »
Books, Poetry & Short Stories, International, Jewish History, San Diego Calendar, Theatre, Film & BroadcastThat was one awkward moment for cable news channel MSNBC and anchor Brian Williams during their coverage of Donald Trump’s speech Wednesday attacking the record of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in New York. At one point, Mr. Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, lit into Mrs. Clinton for claiming to have come under fire during a
Brian Williams of MSNBC covers Trump speech savaging Brian Williams Read More »
Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA