PostHeaderIcon Seeing the Big Picture at Austin’s IMAX

If you want to see a plain, old movie, you can find any number of theatres playing all sorts of mainstream films throughout Austin. Action, horror, romance and drama are only a short walk, bus ride or car trip away. But when you’ve finished seeing the show, you may wish that there had been a little more flair and panache to truly make that 10-dollar ticket worth it. You’ll be mildly disappointed (even if tit was the best film of the year) as you wander home, thinking you should have made a different choice. You should have gone to the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum and seen a film in Austin’s only IMAX theatre.

IMAX technology uses the film frame ten times the size of the conventional 35mm film - in fact, it is the largest in the industry - to give viewers a truly unique motion picture format. The impact and size of the images alone send viewers into sheer thrill and intrigue, as they watch scene after scene of whatever may currently be featured.

The lineup changes from time to time, with shows such as U23D, but there is always one mainstay: Texas the Big Picture, funded by the Texas State History Museum, ExxonMobil and the State of Texas, is a film that retells the story of Texas, including the myth, the majesty and the magnitude of the state, in a way no other theatre could. Its information stretches from the Rio Grande and Western Texas to the Gulf of Mexico. It is truly a big film, on a big screen, offering you the big picture.

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PostHeaderIcon Modern Shakespeare Festivals

In just one week, the Michigan Shakespeare Festival will present it's fifteenth season of Modern Shakespeare Festival,with modern adaptations of "The Tempest" and "As You Like It". For the purpose of this article, I will be including information that I found on the Michigan Shakespeare Festival's website detailing their interpretation and modern day production of "The Tempest".

The Tempest is reputed to be the last play Shakespeare wrote, and some say the character of Prospero represents the author and his poignant farewell to the stage. The play incorporates love, tragedy and comedy combined in equal measure.

As Shakespeare's other late romances, The Tempest is a play about forgiveness, faith, reconciliation, and trust in future generations to seal such reconciliation. Prospero, the usurped Duke of Milan, draws his enemies, his brother Antonio and Alonso King of Naples, to his enchanted island to exact his revenge. Ultimately, he finds peace and the ability to forgive, "...the rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance."

As we are transported on this majestic journey, The Tempest integrates rough magic, represented by Prospero's "art," which is both lyrical and grotesque, with the fairy tale romance and wonderful coalescence of Prospero's daughter Miranda and Alonso's son Ferdinand. Their union represents the joyous harmony of a fresh new future, "O, brave new world."

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PostHeaderIcon Jersey Boys on Broadway Touring US

It may surprise you to learn the freshest musical on stage at Broadway, and touring the nation is Jersey Boys. Critics have acclaimed the freshness and variety in the show. Charles Spencer from The Daily Telegraph declared, "Overpaid, over-sexed and over here, it will, I suspect be some time before London asserts Bye Bye Baby (Baby Goodbye) to the Unusual Jersey Boys." Benedict Nightingale from The Times declared, "Oh What a Night. There were times when I felt the performers were making even the Beatles sound rather short of musical texture." Quentin Letts from The Daily Mail announced, "I must say I completely enjoyed it. Broadway's biggest success story, and the winner of the 2006 Tony Award for Best Musical, takes you behind the music of Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons and, as The New York Times says, "the crowd goes wild!"

Jersey Boys is a musical that tells the story of how a bunch of difficult young blokes from Jersey became internationally renowned hit makers Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons.

Jersey Boysopened on Broadway on Nov 6, 2005 at the August Wilson Theatre .The musical made its West End debut at London's Prince Edward Theatre in February 2008. The London production team was the same one from Broadway.

Jersey Boys is hitting its fourth year on Broadway in style. And there are major reasons why the Tony prize-winning musical "Jersey Boys" is in its fourth year on Broadway, it is simply a shocking show, with happy customers returning to the pavement after a thoroughly entertaining evening.

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