About

I am a film and theatre enthusiast…a good enough start and the bulk of the short comments on the “About” page when I began this thing roughly a week ago. Now—elaboration. I don’t watch football or baseball, and I’ve seen 3 concerts in the last dozen or so years. Besides working, being married and raising two wonderful boys—film and theatre is my life. When I was 12, I remember going to my town’s local movie house by myself to see, “The Turning Point”. “The Turning Point”!!! For those who don’t recall, that film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards(it won none), and was up against “Star Wars” for Best Picture—both eventually losing to “Annie Hall”. The 2 points: I am a geek and I’ve been doing this for a long time. I learned very early that most, if not all, of my friends didn’t want to see what I wanted to see—so I went alone. And I’ve been doing it ever since. Now, I saw “Star Wars” too. With friends, and more than once—just like every other 12 year old. But at that 1977 ballet film starring Shirley MacLaine and Anne Bancroft…I was certainly the only pre-teen there. I’ve also attended well over 200 plays and musicals in my time on this planet…well over 100 on Broadway. Sondheim is a god(“Sweeney Todd” is my favorite musical, seen in 1979 & 2005), John Malkovich gave the most searing performance I’ve ever seen on stage(1988 in “Burn This”), and 2011’s “Sleep No More” is the most remarkable attempt at a sort-of anti-theatre piece that I have ever experienced(originally slated for a few weeks run, it is now over 9 months strong—ALL on word-of-mouth). I spent a solid part of the 1980’s as an actor(a 20 performance run with “Goodfellas” star Paul Sorvino in the play “All the King’s Men”, among others). There was also film and television work, before I gave it all up for a now 20 year career in the wonderful world of radio(aka the “Theater of the Mind”). But the obsession never died. Film reviews, theatre reviews, Top Ten lists(I’ve compiled one for film, every year, since 1986), Oscar picks…all of that and more, first featured on my college show(WRPR in Ramapo)and later on stations like WGHT, WVNJ and the 50,000 watts of K-104. Changes in format and other re-positioning has ended most of that, so now…the blog. This is my passion and this is my love. And finally after years of my closest friends and family trying to talk me into doing something just like this…here it is. Expect reviews and commentary as often as possible, with honesty and accuracy the main goals. I hope you enjoy it.(About page written on 1/19/12)