Exclusive: Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil, John Berendt’s 1994 bestselling book and Pulitzer Prize finalist is being developed into a new musical by playwright Taylor Mac, with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, choreography by Tanya Birl and Sarah O’Gleby and direction by Rob Ashford.
An invitation only industry reading will take place May 12 and 13 in New York.
Mac is the MacArthur Fellow, Pulitzer Prize Finalist, a Tony Nominee perhaps best known for the critically acclaimed Off Broadway production of A 24-Decade History of Popular Music.
Ashford is a Tony Award, Olivier Award, Emmy Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award-winning director and choreographer whose Broadway credits include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Frozen, How To Succeed In Business, Promises, Promises, Evita, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Shrek, John Water’s Cry Baby, Curtains, and The Wedding Singer.
An invitation only industry reading will take place May 12 and 13 in New York.
Mac is the MacArthur Fellow, Pulitzer Prize Finalist, a Tony Nominee perhaps best known for the critically acclaimed Off Broadway production of A 24-Decade History of Popular Music.
Ashford is a Tony Award, Olivier Award, Emmy Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award-winning director and choreographer whose Broadway credits include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Frozen, How To Succeed In Business, Promises, Promises, Evita, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Shrek, John Water’s Cry Baby, Curtains, and The Wedding Singer.
- 2/28/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Clint Eastwood’s 5 Worst and 5 Best Movies as a Director, From ‘The Rookie’ to ‘Unforgiven’ (Photos)
[To clarify, in the best five, it’s Unforgiven as Clint Eastwood‘s best (making Bronco Billy fifth best), and on the worst list, it’s The Rookie as the worst (making Jersey Boys fifth worst)]
The Best
“Unforgiven” (1992): Clint Eastwood held on to screenwriter David Webb Peoples’ revisionist western until the time was right, and the result was an Oscar-bestowed turning point. Evocatively, suspensefully detailing a desperate widower’s reckoning with his savage past, it tracked powerfully as both a pungent deflating of merrily violent western myths and a scarily tense depiction of how, as Eastwood’s killer tells a scared young man, “We all have it comin,” kid.” By the end, each gunshot is Eastwood mercy-killing a genre he loves, and knocking us to our senses about bloody movie justice.
“Million Dollar Baby” (2004): A poor young female boxer (Hilary Swank) wants to fight. The trainer (Eastwood) reluctantly trains. Punches await, small, and huge. An unabashedly rich-in-feeling movie about toughness,...
The Best
“Unforgiven” (1992): Clint Eastwood held on to screenwriter David Webb Peoples’ revisionist western until the time was right, and the result was an Oscar-bestowed turning point. Evocatively, suspensefully detailing a desperate widower’s reckoning with his savage past, it tracked powerfully as both a pungent deflating of merrily violent western myths and a scarily tense depiction of how, as Eastwood’s killer tells a scared young man, “We all have it comin,” kid.” By the end, each gunshot is Eastwood mercy-killing a genre he loves, and knocking us to our senses about bloody movie justice.
“Million Dollar Baby” (2004): A poor young female boxer (Hilary Swank) wants to fight. The trainer (Eastwood) reluctantly trains. Punches await, small, and huge. An unabashedly rich-in-feeling movie about toughness,...
- 9/13/2021
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
Variety is reporting that legendary drag performer The Lady Chablis has died at the age of 59. The heart and soul of Savannah’s famed Club One dance club and a mainstay of the Southern Lgbt entertainment scene, the “Grand Empress” rose to national prominence in the mid-’90s, when author John Berendt featured her in his bestselling non-fiction work Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil.
Berendt’s potent true-crime melodrama introduced readers to The Lady by noting “she had both hands on her hips and a sassy half-smile on her face,” a posture Chablis would replicate in Clint Eastwood’s 1997 adaptation of the book. Her only major film role, Chablis’ performance provides a light counterpoint to the film’s murder-laced plot, charismatically flirting with a fish-out-of-water John Cusack and deploying the iconic phrase, “Two tears in a bucket, motherfuck it” as an acknowledgement of the hardships ...
Berendt’s potent true-crime melodrama introduced readers to The Lady by noting “she had both hands on her hips and a sassy half-smile on her face,” a posture Chablis would replicate in Clint Eastwood’s 1997 adaptation of the book. Her only major film role, Chablis’ performance provides a light counterpoint to the film’s murder-laced plot, charismatically flirting with a fish-out-of-water John Cusack and deploying the iconic phrase, “Two tears in a bucket, motherfuck it” as an acknowledgement of the hardships ...
- 9/8/2016
- by William Hughes
- avclub.com
The Lady Chablis, the iconic nightclub performer best known for her turn in the 1997 film adaption of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, has died. She was 59. Club One, the Savannah, Georgia, hot spot where Chablis famously performed, announced her death on Facebook, Thursday. A friend, Cale Hall, further confirmed to the Associated Press that Chablis was suffering from pneumonia, and had been hospitalized for the past month. Chablis (née Benjamin Edward Knox) rose to prominence as the unlikely star of John Berendt's bestselling, 1994 non-fiction novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which centered around Savannah and its inhabitants.
- 9/8/2016
- by Lindsay Kimble, @lekimble
- PEOPLE.com
The Lady Chablis, the iconic nightclub performer best known for her turn in the 1997 film adaption of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, has died. She was 59. Club One, the Savannah, Georgia, hot spot where Chablis famously performed, announced her death on Facebook, Thursday. A friend, Cale Hall, further confirmed to the Associated Press that Chablis was suffering from pneumonia, and had been hospitalized for the past month. Chablis (née Benjamin Edward Knox) rose to prominence as the unlikely star of John Berendt's bestselling, 1994 non-fiction novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which centered around Savannah and its inhabitants.
- 9/8/2016
- by Lindsay Kimble, @lekimble
- PEOPLE.com
Clint Eastwood's mint juleps 'n' murder epic is an easygoing pleasure. Kevin Spacey, John Cusack and a host of great performances guarantee interest, but maybe I have to go to the book to really understand what's going on. A solid 'A' for this one, Clint. The Savannah tourism board must bless you in their nightly prayers. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Blu-ray The Warner Archive Collection 1997 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 155 min. / Street Date September 27, 2016 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 21.99 Starring John Cusack, Kevin Spacey, Jack Thompson, Irma P. Hall, Jude Law, Alison Eastwood, Paul Hipp, The Lady Chablis, Dorothy Loudon, Anne Haney, Kim Hunter, Geoffrey Lewis, Richard Herd, Jo Ann Pflug. Cinematography Jack N. Green Original Music Lennie Niehaus Written by John Lee Hancock from the book by John Berendt Produced by Clint Eastwood, Arnold Stiefel Directed by Clint Eastwood
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Clint Eastwood...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Clint Eastwood...
- 9/5/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In 1962, Harold Hayes, managing editor at Esquire magazine, marched over to the cubical of junior editor John Berendt, announcing himself with the infamous ca-clat of his metal-tapped shoes. “Who is the most important literary figure in New York?”, Hayes asked. “W.H. Auden”, Berendt blurted meekly. “Take him to lunch and get him to do a piece for us.” He did, and in December Esquire published ‘Do You Know Too Much?’, an article by Auden on the limits of education. This anecdote, recounted in the documentary Smiling Through the Apocalypse: Esquire in the 60s, proves representative of the magazine’s approach during its golden age. Indeed, that was the way of Harold Hayes: his editorial ambitions were strat...
- 9/10/2014
- Village Voice
As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Rob Ashford helmed a June reading for Alfred Uhry's musical version of John Berendt's 1994 best selling book Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil. Producers Craig Haffner and and Anne Hamburger revealed intentions to take the new musical to London next, prior to a Broadway run. Now according to an Equity casting notice, the same team will helm a New York City workshop for the show on September 15-19.
- 8/28/2014
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Author Carole Radziwill celebrated her 50th birthday, fittingly enough, with a Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil party on Tuesday's Real Housewives of New York City, and - in addition to real butterflies, chandeliers, lots of lace, mannequins and snake handlers - there were plenty of other surprises. "I never celebrated my birthday after my husband died," said Radziwill, who stated she initially wasn't looking forward to celebrating her 50th, "but I feel sexy and empowered and strong." Although New York's health department nixed the snakes, Heather Thomson, who planned Radziwill's birthday bash, was able to infuse NYC...
- 7/16/2014
- by Wade Rouse
- PEOPLE.com
Author Carole Radziwill celebrated her 50th birthday, fittingly enough, with a Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil party on Tuesday's Real Housewives of New York City, and – in addition to real butterflies, chandeliers, lots of lace, mannequins and snake handlers – there were plenty of other surprises.
"I never celebrated my birthday after my husband died," said Radziwill, who stated she initially wasn't looking forward to celebrating her 50th, "but I feel sexy and empowered and strong."
Although New York's health department nixed the snakes, Heather Thomson, who planned Radziwill's birthday bash, was able to infuse NYC with Southern...
"I never celebrated my birthday after my husband died," said Radziwill, who stated she initially wasn't looking forward to celebrating her 50th, "but I feel sexy and empowered and strong."
Although New York's health department nixed the snakes, Heather Thomson, who planned Radziwill's birthday bash, was able to infuse NYC with Southern...
- 7/16/2014
- by Wade Rouse
- People.com - TV Watch
Author Carole Radziwill celebrated her 50th birthday, fittingly enough, with a Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil party on Tuesday's Real Housewives of New York City, and - in addition to real butterflies, chandeliers, lots of lace, mannequins and snake handlers - there were plenty of other surprises. "I never celebrated my birthday after my husband died," said Radziwill, who stated she initially wasn't looking forward to celebrating her 50th, "but I feel sexy and empowered and strong." Although New York's health department nixed the snakes, Heather Thomson, who planned Radziwill's birthday bash, was able to infuse NYC...
- 7/16/2014
- by Wade Rouse
- PEOPLE.com
According to Deadline, Rob Ashford recently helmed a reading for Alfred Uhry's musical version of John Berendt's 1994 best selling book Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil. Producers Craig Haffner and and Anne Hamburger revealed intentions to take the new musical to London next, prior to a Broadway run. The cast for the reading included Tony Goldwyn, Leslie Uggams, Peter Cincotti, Jessica Molaskey, Michael Park and Jake Robinson. A workshop is reportedly set for September- casting has not yet been announced.
- 6/23/2014
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Exclusive: The long-aborning musical adaptation of John Berendt’s Georgia-drenched best-seller Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil moved closer to reality with a reading last week overseen by Rob Ashford and cast that included Tony Goldwyn (Scandal), Leslie Uggams, Peter Cincotti, Jessica Molaskey, Michael Park and Jake Robinson (The Carrie Diaries, upcoming in HBO’s The Leftovers and NBC’s Odyssey). Alfred Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy) is the writer; composer and sound designer Mark Bennett is overseeing the the score, which will use standards and lesser-known songs from the American songbook, notably from such Johnny Mercer-lyrics as “In The Cool Cool Cool Of The Evening” […]...
- 6/23/2014
- Deadline
Michael Riedel reports in today's The New York Post that producer Anne Hamburger, founder of Off-Broadway's En Garde Arts, has acquired the rights and hired Alfred Uhry to turn John Berendt's 1994 best selling book Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil into a Broadway musical. Said to be nearly done with the first draft, the show will feature musical numbers from the catalog of Johnny Mercer.
- 11/16/2012
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
We have tried -- Mrs. Tater and I -- over the years to readjust the thinking of everyone we know regarding Christmas. Please don't give us anything, we've urged, nay, implored the relatives. Let's just get together and go out to dinner and spend a couple hours together and laugh and stuff and split the check and wish each other well and merry and go home happy. This would not apply to the young'uns, who still get their money etc., just to the supposed adults.
I say supposed because, despite our many entreaties, we have failed miserably. Which is to say, they have failed us miserably.
Every year we beg, "Please don't get us anything, we don't need anything, please."
Nevertheless, most adult factions of the extended Tater universe insist on plying us with gifts, to the point we have pretty much given up on our vision of our version of Christmas.
I say supposed because, despite our many entreaties, we have failed miserably. Which is to say, they have failed us miserably.
Every year we beg, "Please don't get us anything, we don't need anything, please."
Nevertheless, most adult factions of the extended Tater universe insist on plying us with gifts, to the point we have pretty much given up on our vision of our version of Christmas.
- 1/8/2011
- by Dustin Rowles
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