US – Sunday, July 5
The Grid
The week's releases
Metro staff reviews the latest CDs, DVDs and books for your reading pleasure.
 
Movies
The gangster of Hollywood
FEATURE. Johnny Depp doesn’t know what time it is. Though he technically calls an adorable village in France home and owns an island in the Caribbean, the mercurial actor spends so much time working that his internal clock is all out of whack.
 
 
Movies
Directorial debut is a shot at the ‘Moon’
INTERVIEW. When directors are limited to a $5 million budget and a 33-day shooting schedule, they usually won’t do anything too arduous — especially for their first films. But director Duncan Jones, 37, tells us that he “wanted to do something with ambition” for his debut flick. So instead, Jones, who is the son of David Bowie, decided to make the sci-fi adventure “Moon,” which opens Friday. The affable Brit explains how.
 
The Word
The Beckhams’ island getaway
GOSSIP. According to the Sun, David Beckham is planning a trip to Necker Island, Richard Branson’s private island hideaway, to celebrate his 10th wedding anniversary with Victoria Beckham. And the best part? It only costs $51,000 a night to have the whole island to themselves.
 
Movies
Bale does light-lifting
 MOVIES. Christian Bale is more relaxed than usual, and with good reason. The heavy lifting in promoting his latest film, “Public Enemies,” falls to Johnny Depp. For once, the success or failure of the movie doesn’t rest on Bale’s shoulders. There’s no talk of on-set outbursts or franchise potential. And for that, he’s grateful — and cheerful.
 
Published 20:44, January the 17th, 2008
Send
 
St. George, flanked by Neal Richard Lee and Kerri Jill Garbis St. George, flanked by Neal Richard Lee and Kerri Jill Garbis 
 

Here’s laughing at you, kid

‘Macao’ a hysterical parody

REVIEW. Ten minutes after the curtain call of the Lyric Stage Company’s production  “Adrift in Macao,” you’ll be hard-pressed to come up with a plot. But, somehow, that doesn’t matter at all. What “Macao” lacks in substance, it more than makes up for in laughter. We’re talking 90 minutes of non-stop laughter here.

Set in 1952, Christopher Durang’s flimsy spoof of “Casablanca” (and film noir as a whole) finds four Amer-icans in Macao, China for very different reasons. Though, ultimately, all ex-pats are really looking for a way to get back to the States.

Brendan McNab plays a seemingly corrupt owner of a local gambling joint and nightclub, who hires a sultry Aimee Doherty to be the new club singer because she’s hot. This doesn’t sit well with Kathy St. George’s opium-fueled resident singer, who has her own happily-ever-after plans for McNab. Enter Ariel Heller, the sexy stranger with a secret of his own, and everything turns upside down.

What drives the action is the search for a mysterious man who holds the key to the fate of at least two of the displaced Americans. But, along the way, there’s sex, booze, intrigue, murder and mayhem that provide the ensemble with plenty to spoof. And at the center of it all is Austin Ku, an “inscrutable Asian” who knows more than his subservient, offensively stereotypical personality lets on.

St. George is superb in a Lucille-Ball-on-drugs performance. Doherty, too, doesn’t miss a beat with her madcap chanteuse, and Heller feels like a throw-back to film noir, with his dry, impeccable delivery. Last-minute replacement McNab looks like he’s been with the show from the start. But the biggest hit of the night is Ku, in a role that feels like it was written for him. Not only will his performance make you laugh in all the wrong places, but his big finish will keep you singing the ridiculously likable “Ticky Tocky Tock” all the way home.

‘Adrift in Macao’
Through Feb. 3
Lyric Stage
140 Clarendon St., Boston
MBTA: Green Line to Copley
$25-$54, 617-585-5678
www.lyricstage.com

 
 
Music
MMMpod
The June edition of MMMpod features an interview with Perry Farrell on getting Jane's Addiction back together, as well as a talk with actor Ed Helms about his love/hate relationship with a capella music. We also have new music from Phoenix, Magic Magic, Lady Sovereign, and a classic from Booker T. & the MGs. As always, there's a chance to win a whole lot of free music.
 
 
Metro Life Panel
Read more