Film
Downtown Lancaster Now Has Its Own Movie Theatre
Film Series at The Ware Center
All films are shown at The Ware Center at Millersville University Lancaster, 42 North Prince Street, Lancaster, PA.
Each film – unless otherwise noted – is priced at $6 for adults or $4 for seniors (over 62) and students. Advance tickets may be purchased by calling 717.871.2308 or you may purchase tickets one hour prior to each showing.
When you come to a film here, please ask the Front Desk Receptionist for a discounted parking voucher – good at the Prince Street Garage at Prince and Orange. The rate is only $2 for 3 hrs.
Many independent, foreign and documentary films are not rated. You should assume they contain mild adult content. If in doubt, please call 717.871.2308 for suitability for younger patrons.
Movie Schedule May 7th through August 22nd 2012
Monday, May 7, 2012
7:30 PM -- TOMBOY
Monday, May 7, 2012
9:15 PM -- L’AMOUR FOU
Monday, May 14, 2012
5 & 7:30 PM -- THE HEDGEHOG
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
5 & 7:30 PM -- A SEPARATION
Sunday, May 20, 2012
2 PM -- The Royal Ballet's ROMEO & JULIET
Monday May 21, 2012
5 & 7:30 PM -- BALIBO
Wednesday May 23, 2012
5 & 7:30 PM -- DETACHMENT
Monday, June 4, 2012
5 & 7:30 PM -- THE MAGIC TRIP
Monday, June 11, 2012
5 & 7:30 PM -- TOAST
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
5 & 7:30 PM -- THE PERFECT FAMILY
Saturday, June 16
10 AM -- THE GENERAL
Sunday, June 17
5 PM -- CARMEN
Monday, June 18
5 & 7:30 PM -- WE NEED TO TALK
Wednesday, June 20
5 & 7:30 PM -- PINA
Monday, June 25
5 & 7:30 PM -- BULLHEAD
Wednesday, June 27
5 & 7:30 PM -- GISELLE
Monday, July 2
5 & 7:30 PM -- THE DEEP BLUE SEA
Friday, July 6
5 & 7:30 PM -- TOSCA
Friday, July 8
5 & 7:30 PM -- CHICO AND RITA
Sunday, July 15
5 & 7:30 PM -- SWAN LAKE
Monday, July 16
5 & 7:30 PM -- THE SKIN I LIVE IN
Monday, August 6
5 & 7:30 PM -- IN DARKNESS
Wednesday, August 8
7 PM -- RIGOLETTO
Sunday, August 12
2 PM -- ESMERALDA
Wednesday, August 15
5 & 7:30 PM -- THE SALT OF LIFE
Monday, August 20
5 & 7:30 PM -- THE WOMEN ON THE SIXTH FLOOR
Wednesday, August 22
7 PM -- LA TRAVIATA
Monday, May 7, 2012
7:30 PM – TOMBOY
Written & Directed by Celine Sciamma
France - NR - 82 mins - in French w/
English subtitles
In filmmaker Céline Sciamma’s (“Water Lilies”) second feature, a French family with two daughters, 10-year-old Laure and 6-year-old Jeanne, moves to a new neighborhood during the summer holidays. With her Jean Seberg haircut and tomboy ways, Laure is immediately mistaken for a boy by the local kids and passes herself off as Michael. Filmmaker Céline Sciamma brings a light and charming touch to this drama. Zoe Heran as Laure/Michael and Malonn Levanna as Jeanne are nothing less than brilliant. This is a relationship movie: relationships between children, and the even more complicated one between
one’s heart and body.
"Quiet and naturalistic in the best way...a tale of malleable pre-adolescent identity with a marked absence of sensationalism.” — Los Angeles Times
“A beautiful, matter-of-fact French drama”
— Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
9:15 PM – L’AMOUR FOU
Directed by Pierre Thoretton
Starring Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge
French w/ English subtitles – 103 mins – Not Rated but Recommended for mature audiences only.
The public life of Yves Saint Laurent was as extravagant as it was decadent, as a design prodigy and then the grand couturier of an fashion empire he influenced fifty years of style — but few are familiar with the private life of the legend. In Pierre Thoretton’s L’AMOUR FOU, Pierre Bergé, the man with which YSL shared four decades of his life and love, reflects on the equally extravagant history of their personal relationship. Framed around the 2009 auction of the priceless, elaborate art collection amassed by Yves and Pierre personally over several decades, this extraordinary documentary provides an unprecedented look at the life of a mythic personality, whose personal life matched his public for elegance, extravagance and passion. An official selection of the Toronto and Tribeca Film Festivals, L’AMOUR FOU is an un-missable film event for fans of documentary film and fashion die-hards alike.
Monday, May 14, 2012
5 & 7:30 PM -- THE HEDGEHOG
Directed by Mona Achache
Starring Josiane Balasko, Togo Igawa, Ariane Ascaride, Garance Le Guillermic, Anne Brochet
French w/ English subtitles -- 98 mins – NR
Inspired by the beloved New York Times bestseller, “The Elegance of the Hedgehog”, by Muriel Barbery, THE HEDGEHOG is the timely story of Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic) a young girl bent on ending it all on her upcoming twelfth birthday. Using her father’s old camcorder to chronicle the hypocrisy she sees in adults, Paloma begins to learn about life from the grumpy building concierge, Renée Michel (FRENCH TWIST’s Josiane Balasko). When Paloma’s camera reveals the extensive secret library in Renée’s back room, and that the often gruff matron reads Tolstoy to her cat, Paloma begins to understand that there are allies to be found beneath the prickliest of exteriors. As the unlikely friendship deepens, Paloma’s own coming of age becomes a much less pessimistic prospect.
2011 Filmfest DC – Audience Award Winner
2011 Palm Springs Int’l Film Fest – Best of Fest
2011 Seattle Int’l Film Festival – Audience Award Winner
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
5 & 7:30 PM -- A SEPARATION
Directed by Asghar Farhadi
Farsi with English Subtitles – 123 mins Rated PG13
The 2011 Best Foreign Film Academy Award Winner is set in contemporary Iran. A Separation is a compelling drama about the dissolution of a marriage. Simin wants to leave Iran with her husband Nader and daughter Termeh. Simin sues for divorce when Nader refuses to leave behind his Alzheimer-suffering father. Her request having failed, Simin returns to her parents’ home, but Termeh decides to stay with Nader.
When Nader hires a young woman to assist with his father in his wife’s absence, he hopes that his life will return to a normal state. However, when he discovers that the new maid has been lying to him, he realizes that there is more on the line than just his marriage.
“Will become one of those enduring masterpieces watched decades from now” – Roger Ebert
Sunday May 20, 2012
2PM – The Royal Ballet’s ROMEO & JULIET
A LIVE Ballet Captured on Film
Choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan
Starring Lauren Cuthbertson & Federico Bonelli -- 180 mins –
Filmed LIVE in London this year, Romeo and Juliet was Kenneth MacMillan’s first full-evening ballet, and, from its premiere in 1965, has been one of The Royal Ballet’s signature works, popular all over the world.
At the beginning of the ballet MacMillan’s crowd scenes teem with life and color. It’s a pleasure to be able to follow the characters created by members of the corps de ballet as they portray the townspeople, market traders and servants of the rival Montagues and Capulets.
However, once Romeo and Juliet meet, everything else on stage can only be scenery for their story. Three great pas de deux: the meeting in the ballroom, the balcony scene and the morning after the wedding, eloquently convey the narrative: adolescent shyness and fascination; the headlong rush of love declared, and the grief of parting. The final scene in the tomb, a pas de deux with a lifeless partner, is devastating.
The Royal Ballet has performed Romeo and Juliet well over 400 times, yet each performance is subtly different. Every pairing in the title roles brings fresh nuances to the young lovers’ characters, while the wealth of supporting roles, from the exuberant trio of harlots in the town square to the murderous rage of Tybalt, offers scope for dancers throughout the Company.
Tickets: $10; $8 for seniors; $4 for students, includes a show program and intermission refreshments and beverages.
Monday May 21, 2012
5 & 7:30 PM -- BALIBO
Directed by Robert Connolly
Starring Anthony Lapaglia and Oscar Issac
Australia - in English plus some Tetum w/ English subtitles -- 111 mins – Not Rated
BALIBO is a political thriller that tells the true story of crimes that have been covered up for over thirty years. Starring Anthony Lapaglia as Roger East, the “sixth” Balibo Five journalist, and rising star Oscar Issac, whose scene-stealing scenes with Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan in 2011 hit Drive has since landed him the lead role in the next feature to be directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Isaac can also be seen in the forthcoming Madonna-directed W.E. and is currently filming The Bourne Legacy.
"A tense, character-driven thriller with political comment on the side....packing a huge emotional punch...." — Variety
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
5 & 7:30PM –- DETACHMENT
Directed by Tony Kaye
Starring Adrien Brody, Marcia Gay Harden, James Caan, Christina Hendricks, Lucy Lui, Blythe Danner, Tim Blake Nelson, Bryan Cranston, William Petersen
English – 100 mins
Director Tony Kaye’s (AMERICAN HISTORY X) long-awaited film DETACHMENT stars Academy Award® winner Adrien Brody as Henry Barthes, a substitute teacher who conveniently avoids any emotional connections by never staying anywhere long enough to form a bond with either his students or colleagues. A lost soul grappling with a troubled past, Henry finds himself at a public school where an apathetic student body has created a frustrated, burned-out administration. Inadvertently becoming a role model to his students, while also bonding with a runaway teen who is just as lost as he is, Henry finds that he’s not alone in a life and death struggle to find beauty in a seemingly vicious and loveless world.
Official selection of:
2011 Tribeca Film Festival
2011 Woodstock Film Festival
2011 Deauville American Film Festival
2011 Tokyo International Film Festival
2011 Festival de Cinema Valenciennes
2011 São Paulo International Film Festival
Monday, June 4, 2012
5 & 7:30 PM -- THE MAGIC TRIP
Directed by Alex Gibney & Alison Ellwood
English -- 107 mins, Rated R
Dress like a hippie for this one. In 1964, Ken Kesey, the famed author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” set off on a legendary, LSD-fuelled cross-country road trip to the New York World’s Fair. He was joined by “The Merry Band of Pranksters,” a renegade group of counterculture truth-seekers, including Neal Cassady, the American icon immortalized in Kerouac’s “On the Road,” and the driver and painter of the psychedelic Magic Bus. Kesey and the Pranksters intended to make a documentary about their trip, shooting footage on 16MM, but the film was never finished and the footage has remained virtually unseen. With MAGIC TRIP, Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney and Alison Ellwood were given unprecedented access to this raw footage by the Kesey family. They worked with the Film Foundation, HISTORY and the UCLA Film Archives to restore over 100 hours of film and audiotape, and have shaped an invaluable document of this extraordinary piece of American history.
Monday, June 11, 2012
5 & 7:30 PM -- TOAST
Directed by SJ Clarkson
Starring Freddie Highmore, Helena Bonham Carter,
English -- 96 mins – Not Rated
Based on the heart-wrenchingly bittersweet story of food writer Nigel Slater’s childhood, and set to the songs of Dusty Springfield, TOAST is a delicious love letter to the tastes and smells that a young boy associates with his journey into adulthood. No ordinary boy, Nigel, laps up cookbooks, spending all his time gazing longingly at the delights on offer in Percy Salt’s grocers. Nigel’s father, meanwhile, worries that there is something “wrong” with his son and the two find it difficult to connect. Nigel finds it far easier relating to Josh, the gardener, who teaches Nigel about the wonders of nature as they sit munching freshly picked radishes and pork pies. After Nigel’s mother dies, leaving Nigel and his father heartbroken, the two struggle on fuelled by cheese on toast, until a saucy new cleaner who makes lemon meringue pies to die for, (played with gusto by Helena Bonham Carter), arrives.
“Toast is tasty, hearty (and) features a deliciously comic turn from Helena Bonham Carter as a semi-evil stepmother.” – Variety
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
THE PERFECT FAMILY
Directed by Anne Renton
Starring Kathleen Turner, Emily Deschanel, Jason Ritter, Elizabeth Peña, Richard Chamberlain.
English – 84 mins
Suburban supermom Eileen Cleary (Academy Award® nominee Kathleen Turner) is the ultimate Catholic, and when she’s nominated for the coveted Catholic Woman of the Year Award at her local parish, it looks like she’s about to get the plaque to prove it. Only one final test remains—introducing her family to the church board for the seal of approval.
Now, she must face the truth about her nonconformist family—one she’s ignored for years. With her gay daughter (Emily Deschanel) about to marry her life partner, her unhappily married son (Jason Ritter) having an affair with the local manicurist, and her own marriage to a recovered alcoholic pulling at the seams, Eileen decides to take action, ramping up her meddling to hilarious new heights.
“Kathleen Turner shines… one of her best screen roles in years.” – Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter
“A dynamite Kathleen Turner… [a] tour-de-force performance.” – Ronnie Scheib, Variety
Saturday, June 16
10 AM -- THE GENERAL
With a LIVE Jazz Score
By Tom & Laurie Reese
107 min. Suitable for the whole family
When Union spies steal an engineer's beloved locomotive, he pursues it single
handedly and straight through enemy lines.
A restored, Buster Keaton 1926 Silent film accompanied by an original jazz score played live by The Reese Project. This film is our Official Season Closer and is part of the building-wide Ware Center Jazz Festival that weekend.
Sunday, June 17
5 PM -- Carmen
Directed by Calixto Bieito
Starring Roberto Alagna, Erwin Schrott & Béatrice Uria-Monzon
Sung in French with English subtitles
140 mins plus one intermission
Tickets: $10; $8 seniors; $4 for students
Lies. Lust. Murder. (And some great music, too.) Georges Bizet, who died soon after the first run of “Carmen,” never enjoyed the success and fame of his creation. “Carmen” wasn’t initially well received, but today is one of the most famous and most popular works in the operatic canon.
Carmen is the story of fatal attraction between Carmen, the hot-blooded gypsy, and Don José, the upstanding corporal in the Spanish army who’s already engaged to another woman.
Tickets include a complimentary show program, refreshments & beverages at intermission.
Monday, June 18
5 & 7:30PM -- WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
Directed by Lynne Ramsey
Starring Tilda Swinton, John C ReillyEnglish – 112 mins – NR
A suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN explores the fractious relationship between a mother and her evil son. Tilda Swinton, in a bracing, tour-de-force performance, plays the mother, Eva, as she contends for 15 years with the increasing malevolence of her first-born child, Kevin (Ezra Miller). A story which builds to a chilling, unforgettable climax.
Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, WE NEED explores nature vs. nurture on a whole new level as Eva’s own culpability is measured against Kevin’s innate evilness.
Wednesday, June 20
5 & 7:30PM -- PINA
Directed by Wim Wenders
Many Languages with English Subtitles – 103 mins
“Dance, dance, or we are lost.” Pina Bausch’s final words summarize her life and provide the inspiration for acclaimed director Wim Wenders’ (WINGS OF DESIRE, BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB) breathtaking tribute to the legendary choreographer.
Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal elevated dance into brilliantly subversive new expressive realms, and in this exhilarating film Wenders captures the raw, heart-stopping intensity of the movement and transforms it into a transcendent cinematic experience.
An official selection of the Berlinale, Telluride, Toronto and New York film festivals, and now Germany’s official entry for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, PINA features interviews with and performances by Bausch’s beloved original company members, and offers an indelible image of an artist who went the full distance in her uncommonly rich creative life.
Monday, June 25
5 & 7:30PM -- BULLHEAD
Directed by Michael R. Roskam
Flemish & French with English Subtitles – 124 mins – Rated R
Perhaps the year’s most stunning international debut, Michael R. Roskam’s BULLHEAD is a harrowing tale of revenge, redemption and fate.
Domineering cattle farmer Jacky Vanmarsenille (Mattias Schoenaerts in a ferocious breakout performance), constantly pumped on steroids and hormones, initiates a shady deal with a notorious mafioso meat trader. When an investigating federal agent is assassinated and a woman from his traumatic past resurfaces, Jacky must confront his demons and face the far-reaching consequences of his decisions.
Acclaimed at festivals worldwide including the Berlin Film Festival, AFI Fest and Fantastic Fest, the award-winning BULLHEAD is visceral thriller bursting with rage that TwitchFilm calls “one of the most original crime films in recent memory.”
“STUNNING IN ITS ORIGINALITY…Holds you tight In Its grip until its final scene” -Indiewire
“A Career-Defining, Powerfully Physical Lead Performance By Schoenaerts.”
-Variety
Wednesday, June 27
6 PM -- “GISELLE”, The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House in London
A LIVE Ballet Captured on Film
Choreographed by Marius Petipa
Starring Marianela Nuñez and Rupert Pennefather
150 mins including one intermission - NR
GISELLE is one of the most influential of all Romantic ballets, and one of the greatest and most popular works of the dance canon and of The Royal Ballet’s repertory.
The title role presents the transcendental power of a woman’s love in the face of betrayal and is oneof the most technically demanding and emotionally challenging roles in classical dance – not surprisingly, it is here a great showcase for the leading ballerinas of the Company.
Peter Wright’s sensitive staging in the atmospheric designs by John Macfarlane heightens the contrast as the story moves between the human and supernatural worlds. – Courtesy of Opus Arte
“…Giselle is the most famous of the 19th-century Romantic ballets.” — The Independent
“…The Royal Ballet’s revival of Giselle provides the succulent spectacle of a world-class company at the top of its game.” — The Telegraph
Monday, July 2
5 & 7:30PM -- THE DEEP BLUE SEA
Directed By Terence Davies
Starring: Rachel Weisz, Simon Russel Beale and Tom Hiddleston
English – 98 mins – Rated R
Master chronicler of post-War England, Terence Davies (The Long Day Closes, The House of Mirth) directs Rachel Weisz as a woman whose overpowering love threatens her well-being and alienates the men in her life. In a deeply vulnerable performance, Rachel Weisz plays Hester Collyer, the wife of an upper-class judge (Simon Russell Beale) and a free spirit trapped in a passionless marriage. Her encounter with Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston), a troubled former Royal Air Force pilot, throws her life in turmoil, as their erotic relationship leaves her emotionally stranded and physically isolated. The film is an adaptation of British playwright Terence Rattigan’s 1952 play, featuring one of the greatest roles for an
actress in modern theatre.
Features Samuel Barber’s majestic Opus for Violin and Orchestra
Official Selection – Toronto International Film Festival & San Sebastian International Film Festival
Closing Night Selection – BFI London Film Festival
Friday, July 6
7:30PM -- “TOSCA” from the Royal Opera House in London
A LIVE OPERA CAPTURED ON FILM
Directed By Terence Davies
Starring: Rachel Weisz, Simon Russel Beale and Tom Hiddleston
English – 98 mins – Rated R
Tickets: $10; $8 seniors; $4 for students
Conducted by Antonio Pappano
Directed by Duncan Macfarland
Starring Angela Gheorghiu, Jonas Kaufmann, Bryn Terfel & Lukas Jakobski
Sung in Italian with subtitles in English
2 hrs 11 mins plus two intermissions
Powerful music, a gripping story and a tragic end: Puccini’s eternally popular Tosca performed at the Royal Opera House with a fabulous cast, with a score that includes such great set pieces as the Act I ‘Te Deum’ and the arias ‘Vissi d’arte’ and ‘E lucevan le stelle’.
The story is set against the historical backdrop of Rome in 1800, a political world of control and suspicion, beautifully evoked in Paul Brown’s lavish designs. The pageantry of church ritual, the darkness of a brooding study with its hidden torture chamber and the false optimism of the light of a Roman dawn – all throw into relief the love of the beautiful diva Tosca, the idealism of her lover Cavaradossi and the deadly, destructive obsession of the malevolent Chief of Police, Scarpia.
“This is a Tosca to savour.” – George Hall, The Stage
“consistent high quality…an unbeatable night out when it happens. ” – John Woods, Musical Criticism
Sunday, July 8
5 &7:30 PM – CHICO AND RITA
Directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
Spanish with English subtitles – 94 mins
Oscar®-winning director Fernando Trueba (Belle Epoque, Calle 54) and Spain’s legendary illustrator Javier Mariscal celebrate their passion for the music and culture of Cuba with an epic, 2011 Oscar nominated (for Best Animation) story of love, hot music, passion, & heartbreak.
Cuba, 1948. Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and desire unite them as they chase their dreams and each other from Havana to New York to Paris, Hollywood and Las Vegas. With an original soundtrack by legendary Cuban pianist and five-time Grammy®-winning composer Bebo Valdés, Chico & Rita captures a defining moment in the evolution of history and jazz, and features the music of (and animated cameos by) Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Cole Porter, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Tito Puente, Chano Pozo, and others.
Sunday, July 15
2PM – The Bolshoi Ballet’s “SWAN LAKE”
Conducted by Pavel Sorokin
Choreographed by Yuri Grigorovich after Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, Alexander Gorsky
180 mins with one intermission
Tickets: $10; $8 seniors; $4 for students
The battle between white and black swan unfolds with savage grace in Swan Lake. Tchaikovsky’s haunting music traces the steps of the prima ballerina Mariya Aleksandrova as she dances both Odette and Odile in this definitive production from the Bolshoi Ballet.
Ticket includes refreshments & beverages
Monday, July 16
5 & 7:30PM – THE SKIN I LIVE IN
Conducted by Pavel Sorokin
Choreographed by Yuri Grigorovich after Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov, Alexander Gorsky
180 mins with one intermission
Directed by Pedro Almodovar
Starring Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya and Marisa Paredes
Spanish with English subtitles - 117 mins.
Rated R
Ever since his wife was burned in a car crash, Dr. Robert Ledgard, an eminent plastic surgeon, has been interested in creating a new skin with which could have saved her. After twelve years, he manages to cultivate a skin that is a real shield
against every assault.
In addition to years of study and experimentation, Robert needed three more things: no scruples, an accomplice and a human guinea pig. Scruples were never a problem. Marilia, the woman who looked after him from the day he was born, is his most faithful accomplice. And as for the human guinea pig…
“Dazzling to watch” – Wall Street Journal
“A beguiling fairy tale of vengeance, murder and obsession!.. Perhaps Almodovar’s most visually ravishing film” – Elle Magazine
“Hithcock-en-Espanol… A film you’ll tell your friends they absolutely must see” – Andrew O’Hehir,Salon.com
Monday, August 6
5 & 7:30PM – IN DARKNESS
Directed by AGnieszka Holland
Polish, German, Yiddish, Ukranian with English Subtitles
145 mins – Rated R
From acclaimed director Agnieszka Holland, In Darkness is based on a true story. Leopold Socha, a sewer worker and petty thief in Lvov, a Nazi occupied city in Poland, one day encounters a group of Jews trying to escape the liquidation of the ghetto. He hides them for money in the labyrinth of the town’s sewers beneath the bustling activity of the city above. What starts out as a straightforward and cynical business arrangement turns into something very unexpected, the unlikely alliance between Socha and the Jews as the enterprise seeps deeper into Socha’s conscience.
The film is also an extraordinary story of survival as these men, women and children all try to outwit certain death during 14 months of ever increasing and intense danger.
2011 Academy Award Nominee – Best Foreign Language Film
Official Selection
2011 Telluride Film Festival
2011 Toronto International Film Festival, Special Presentation
Wednesday, August 8
7PM – RIGOLETTO from the Royal Opera House in London
LIVE OPERA ON FILM
(Filmed April, 2012)
Conducted by John Eliot Gardiner
Directed by David McVicar
Starring Dimitri Platanias, Ekaterina Siurina, Vittorio Grigolo, Pablo Bemsch &
Christine Rice
Sung in Italian-English subtitles - 129 mins
Tickets: $10; $8 seniors; $4 for students
Considered one of Giuseppe Verdi’s greatest accomplishments, and certainly his most touching portrayal of a father-daughter relationship, Rigoletto continues to enthrall audiences worldwide with its tragic plot and trademark arias. One of the most popular arias of all time, “La donna e’ mobile,” is so catchy that Verdi swore the tenor to secrecy, forbidding him to sing, hum, or whistle it anywhere except in his private rehearsals. Verdi knew that if someone heard the melody on the street, they could copy it down and claim to have written it themselves, before the opera’s premiere in March, 1851.
Tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto, and Rigoletto's beautiful daughter, Gilda, who is in love with the Duke and eventually sacrifices her life to save him from the assassins hired by her father.
Sunday, August 12
2PM – The Bolshoi Ballet’s “ESMERALDA”
Conducted by Pavel Klinichev
Choreographed by Yuri Burlaka & Vasily Medvedev after Marius Petipa
Starring Maria Alexandrova & Denis Savin
155 mins, plus two Intermissions
Tickets: $10; $8 seniors; $4 for students
A girl, two men and a hunchback -- a different take on the hunchback of Notre Dame story told from the point of view of the gypsy Esmeralda and her many suitors.
The ticket includes refreshments & program.
Wednesday, August 15
5 & 7:30PM – THE SALT OF LIFE
Directed by Gianni Di Gregorio
Italian with English Subtitles – 90 mins
In his warm and witty follow-up to the 2010 sleeper hit Mid-August Lunch, writer-director-actor Gianni Di Gregorio has created another sparkling comedy—this time with a dash of the bittersweet. In The Salt of Life, Gianni plays a middle-aged retiree who has become invisible to all distaff Romans, regardless of age or relation. He contends with an aristocratic, spendthrift mother; a wife who is more patronizing friend than romantic partner; a daughter with a slacker boyfriend whom Gianni unwillingly befriends; and a wild young neighbor who sees him merely as her dog walker. Watching his “codger” friends snare beautiful younger women on the sun-kissed cobblestones of Trastevere, Gianni tries his polite, utterly gracious best to generate some kind of extracurricular love life—with both hilarious and poignant results.
Monday, August 20
5 & 7:30PM – THE WOMEN ON THE SIXTH FLOOR
Directed by Phillipe Le Guay
French w/ English subtitles - 104 mins
“..a fairy-tale version of The Help.” – Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
“A humane, charming, and socially relevant comedy that’s well worth seeing… a disarming story that offers substance as well as entertainment.” – Leonard Maltin
Wednesday, August 22
5 & 7:30PM – “LA TRAVIATA” from the
Royal Opera House, London
LIVE OPERA CAPTURED ON FILM
Tickets: $10; $8 seniors; $4 for students
Conducted by Antonio Pappano
Directed by Richard Eyre
Starring Renée Fleming
Sung in Italian with English subtitles
136 mins plus one intermission
This film closes our Summer Film Series. La Traviata was written in record time: letters from 1853 indicate that Giuseppe Verdi completed it in well under two months. The opera is based on the play “La dame aux camellias” by Alexandre Dumas. The title, which means “The fallen woman,” refers to the heroine, Violetta Valery, a courtesan in 19th century France.
The role of Violetta is considered one of the most challenging (if not most feared!) in the soprano repertoire. The score requires a vast range of vocal pyrotechnics from the performer, and also sheer endurance – Violetta is onstage for nearly the entire opera.
Short synopsis – The classic opera scenario -- party girl meets boy, they move in together, girl has financial and father-in-law problems…blah…blah…blah she, of course, dies in her lover arms. In and around Paris. Curtain.
This production stars the celebrated American soprano Renée Fleming, alongside tenor Joseph Calleja and bass Thomas Hampson – all audience favorites.
Additional Info
The Ware Center Fall Film Series will begin mid-September. Look for the new brochure that will show the schedule of all the independent, foreign, alternative films and documentaries upcoming.
Also, this Fall The Ware Center will be screening LIVE simulcast productions of operas, ballet, lectures by renowned authors and theatrical events from around the world.
For information of the films above and other events/performances taking place at the Ware Center this Summer, call 717.871.2308.
If you have friends who would like to get onto the Ware Center electronic newsletter, which is distributed weekly during the Season, have them send their name and email address to: warecenterinfo@millersville.edu.
