Fan reportage and free stuff

Removed as requested.

"Steals the show"

David Cote of Time Out NY reviews Shipwreck.

Apparently the law of trilogies is as true for Tom Stoppard as it was for George Lucas and Peter Jackson: Second parts kick butt. [...]

The febrile, talky caricatures that Stoppard and director Jack O’Brien piled onstage in Voyage are finally standing up and demanding attention. The marital woes of Herzen and his metaphysically unhappy wife (Jennifer Ehle, shrewd and glowing) are quite compelling, as are the political and cultural agendas of playboy-anarchist Michael Bakunin (the perfectly cast Ethan Hawke), Slavophilic literary critic Vissarion Belinsky (Billy Crudup, unrecognizably homely) and moderate novelist Ivan Turgenev (delicately touching Jason Butler Harner). Their heated arguments, which Stoppard renders with singular grace, humor and poignancy, continue Utopia’s grand, sympathetic critique of 19th-century philosophical reform.

Leonard Link adored Ms Ehle's Natalie:

[...] But the stars of Part II are Brian F. O'Byrne as Alexander Herzen and Jennifer Ehle as his wife Natalie, and for me Ehle really steals the show - this is a prize-worthy performance, showing an emotional range and depth that takes the breath away. Stoppard's work has a reputation for pretentious talkiness, and in truth there are some places along the way here where the characters make speeches that are a bit too didactic, but somehow the pace is not broken. By comparison to Part I, it seems that the scenes are more extended, there is more time for the pace to develop naturally. Or it may just be that, having seen Part I, one does not need as much exposition in Part II to get "into" the characters and be carried along by the story.

As before, the entire cast is wonderful, although Ms. Ehle really stands out in a special way here, and Mr. O'Byrne as Herzen really commands the stage as well. I wish there were more for Ethan Hawke to do in Part II - Bakunin is definitely an unforgettably crazy character and he plays him to the hilt, but it is largely a walk-on part in this chapter of the saga.

Anxiously awaiting Part III....

Less love chez Plum. There are also podcast audio reviews at the Journal News by Jacques le Sourd. The Wall Street Journal has a subscription-only review of Shipwreck by Terry Teachout. Here's the quotey bit.

[...] The central figure of "Shipwreck" is Alexander Herzen, commandingly played by Brian F. O'Byrne, the superlative Irish actor who created the role of Father Flynn in "Doubt." All but unknown in this country save to students of Russian literature, Herzen was that most paradoxical of figures, a skeptical revolutionary. A wealthy, well-bred intellectual who fled to Western Europe to escape the czar's censors, he arrived just in time to witness the ill-fated revolution of 1848, on whose outcome he pinned all his romantic hopes. Not only did the resulting debacle cure Herzen (temporarily) of his utopian delusions, but so did his marriage to his first cousin Natalie (played by Jennifer Ehle, who's never been better). Drunk on the same witches' brew of idealism, Natalie threw herself into an affair with Herzen's best friend, justifying it with high-minded rationalizations: "All my actions spring from the divine spirit of love, which I feel for all creation."
[...]
Jack O'Brien, the director of "The Coast of Utopia," has turned Mr. Stoppard's idea-dense play into a breathtaking cavalcade of stage pictures, all of them framed with the utmost vividness by the spare yet boldly designed sets of Bob Crowley and Scott Pask. I can imagine a simpler production, but I doubt there'll be a better one.

If we've missed anything, American Theatre Web has massive roundups for both Voyage and Shipwreck.

Give a hand to Abigail, our newest recruit! Currently in training. She's already been flying the flag at Facebook, where she started the Jennifer Ehle Appreciation Society (some photos from Jerryboree '06 there). There's also a tiny Coast of Utopia community you can join. On Myspace the Cast of Utopia group has eight cast members from the show (nope not her).

Couple more things: BWW's Katurian has a stage door photo (think we were there when this was taken), and there's a good notice for Ms Ehle's Natalie on IMDB.

PS. Forgive any double posting. Month of exile and all.

Nothing to see here, officer

These are not vids of the Lasting Impressions and An Impromptu Walkabout extras from the Pride and Prejudice boxset. And these are not the direct links to said videos (rather large filesize). Perish the thought.

And here's the full text* of the NYT article on The Coast of Utopia mentioned below. Quotage from Ms Ehle:

As each actor agreed, others followed. Mr. O’Brien got just about everyone he asked for, including Billy Crudup, Martha Plimpton, David Harbour, Richard Easton, Josh Hamilton and Jennifer Ehle, who is playing three different roles in the plays. (“At first, until I saw the schedule,” she said, “I thought that it was really inconceivable that I could do this.”) [more]

Philip Boroff of Bloomberg previews Voyage:

Previews begin next week at the Vivian Beaumont for the first installment of Tom Stoppard's "The Coast of Utopia," a prestige Broadway production with this season's most daunting running time.

The trilogy, 8 1/2 hours in all, has a cast of 44, including Billy Crudup, Ethan Hawke, Brian F. O'Byrne and Amy Irving. The director is Jack O'Brien, an experienced Stoppard hand who also staged "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and "Henry IV."

The three parts cover three decades in the lives of Russian intellectuals and philosophers, including Vissarion Belinsky (Crudup), Alexander Herzen (O'Byrne), Michael Bakunin (Hawke), and Ivan Turgenev (Jason Butler Harner).

Bernard Gersten, Lincoln Center Theater's executive producer, promises that the plays are accessible.

"It's about real Russian people," he said in an interview. "We hope they spring to vivid life."

"Utopia" was first mounted in 2002 at London's National Theatre. Stoppard was still writing part three, "Salvage," as director Trevor Nunn staged part one, "Voyage." O'Brien, who previously staged Lincoln Center Theater's brilliant productions of Stoppard's "Hapgood" and "The Invention of Love," -- was in the audience.

"I felt that I was seeing this great, awkward, monster novel drunkenly move across the stage," he said in an interview posted on Lincoln Center Theater's Web site. "No one knew what they had birthed until long after the event was over."

Leavened
Stoppard has since trimmed and tinkered with the trilogy. "It's like a loaf of bread that has had time to rise," Gersten said. "We assume it will work to the benefit of the play."

Broadway has not always been hospitable to serious plays of late, and so those in search of them have already bought up most of the good seats for `Utopia.' There are about 27,000 tickets left for the three shows, almost a quarter of the total.

Yet even if every seat sells, the company expects to lose about $7 million on the three-part production. Gersten said it's art for art's sake...and, if all goes well, art for Tonys' sake, too.

"You win awards, you take pride" he said. "The board is proud. The actors are proud. Everything isn't measured in money."

Yowser, who knew non-profit was literal. Also, there's a newly minted Coast of Utopia Livejournal community, with a few wallpapers based on the Vanity Fair photo.

At eBay, a couple of interesting items: an agency headshot from Paradise Road and The Real Thing Playbill autographed by both Jennifer Ehle and Stephen Dillane.

*PS. Here's the legal version of the NYT article.

Utopia tix prices & December jamboree

Telecharge (search "Utopia") has ticket prices for the marathon performances on February 24, March 3 and March 10: orchestra and loge rows A-C are $300 while rows D-E are $195. For single plays prices are $100 and $65. See the seating chart. On marathon days Part 1 begins at 11am, Part 2 at 3:30pm and Part 3 at 8pm.

So, who wants to go see The Coast of Utopia with some fellow fans? We're* planning a meetup for the weekend of December 9-10 to see a Saturday evening performance of Voyage and matinee of Shipwreck the following day. E-mail jenniferehle@gmail.com if you're interested. You needn't come to both days if you don't want to. Let us know before September 1st, since we might book tickets as a group to sit together and cheer at inappropriate moments. Don't be shy, it'll be fun! Even if you can't come then, how about a group read/discussion of the plays? Drop an e-mail to the same address above.

PS. Controversy already! All That Chat members report that there were long lines in the morning, LCT phones rung off the hook and Telecharge crashed due to demand for Utopia member tickets. Apparently they even screwed up and tickets were available to the general public between 10am and noon. LCT does reserve tickets for single ticket sales so we have some chance, but get ready for a stampede come September 10.

*"we" = Kerry, Tess, Ann, Kimiko, Abigail & yours truly.

Ehle Library 2.0

In the past, there used to be a lending library that was run through EhleNews. This collection included all of Jennifer Ehle's rarer works as well as videos of interviews and the like. Unfortunately the lending library shut down several years ago, but we'd like to resurrect it. Holdings would probably include:

TV movies: Beyond Reason, Pleasure, Self-Catering and The Maitlands.

TV appearances: Mierella Folstrup interview (1999), Late Lunch (1999), Variety awards, Tony Brunch, Charlie Rose, BBC America for Possession, BAFTA awards (1996) and Tony awards (2000).

Are you interested? There needs to be a critical mass for this project to be worthwhile.

Ehle Library 2.0 would differ in several ways from the original. Firstly, we want to get the VHS tapes converted into DVDs, since they're durable, copiable and easy to post. Secondly, we want to make the library global, not just restricted to the US as it was previously. Third, whereas the version 1.0 library lent out items on a request basis, in version 2.0 the entire collection will be circulated as a set of about 6 DVDs. The idea is that from the master set, a number of lending sets would be dispatched to each region, eg. Australasia, UK/Europe, US/Canada, rest of the world. Postage would work on a "pay it forward" fashion: each person would post the set to the next person in line from their region, within a deadline. Each region would have its own queue. As with the old library you would be required to share your views on the work.

Ok. So if you're interested, e-mail us at jenniferehle@gmail.com with the following information:

Subject line: "Ehle Library"
1. Your name or alias:
2. E-mail address:
3. City/state and country:
4. Would you contribute $5-10 USD to help set up the library, if it meant you had priority in the queue?
5. Other queries/suggestions:

This is not signing-up for library membership; we just want to find out the numbers and regions to see if the project is viable. Your answer to #4 isn't binding.

Talk Macbeth

To discuss Macbeth, come to the forum where we have a thread about it set up. No registration's necessary, just click "reply" or type in the little box down the bottom and it'll direct you to the full reply page. You just need to enter your name or nickname.

Share the love! Ask questions, share reports, or just hyperventilate with us!

Cute as

Mary has just made these spiffy little affiliation buttons which you can stick on your site if you love us.

Revelations

At long last it's safe to reveal what was in the package we sent to Ms Ehle on behalf of the blog and its readers to thank her for the interview and wish her a happy birthday. It's so late because she'd left the country before it arrived.

We've been keeping this under our hats to keep it a surprise...oh alright, we just love being mysterious. Anyhow, since this was on everyone's behalf, we thought we'd better let you know what we sent:

Card. Cover says "to our favourite actress in the world, you are [ace]!". The ace is a playing card. There's also a photo of a BAFTA with fake lashes glued on. Inside left: our mugs with a note from each of us. Inside right: "Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Thanks for everything! From Tina and Chelsea on behalf of our fellow loyal fans from the Blog" and a bunch of roses.

Inventory list. Cover says "CARE package inventory". CARE = "(hopefully) Cool (mostly) Aussie Random objEcts". Inside says "Unfortunately we couldn't procure these for you..." with a picture of Pemberley, a backyard with the Old Vic in it, a baby sling, a cellar full of wine, and a giant Starbucks cup. The other side says "...so we got you these instead" with a list of what's in the package and silly comments on them. There's an Aussie theme since we're both from down under.

"Gorgeous" moisturiser and "Eau Roma" from Lush. Les pièces de resistance.

Tim Tams, chocolate biscuits. Aimed at luring Ms Ehle down under for refills.

"Jane Austen - Antipodean Views". A collection of famous Australians and New Zealanders' opinions on Jane. There's a note to Ms Ehle from Susannah Fullerton, an editor of the book and the current president of JASA (I think?).

"Dogs of the world" playing cards.

Bookmarks with Aussie authors.

We also ended up getting stuff for the rest of the family since it was around Christmas. It started with something for George, a stuffed kangaroo and socks. Then we thought we'd better thank Rosemary Harris since we sent the parcel through her, so she and Mr Ehle received a box of tea and a card. It seemed too mean to exclude Mr Ryan, so he got "Prince" shaving cream from Lush and a card.

By the way, "we" here means Chelsea and I. Full interstate collaboration - from planning to making the cards to getting the presents, everything! We had a blast - seriously, we gleefully plotted for yonks. We hope that Ms Ehle and her family enjoy it at least as much as we did creating it.

Convert

Laura S. Moncur of The Quotations Page admits to being a Janeite despite (gasp) not being a "frilly girl"....

I don't like dresses or pretty things. I fantasize about setting fires more than men. I enjoy learning about hoaxes and scams much more than learning about manners and correct speech. I find no interest in romance, because I'm too busy accruing interest in finance. I enjoy my life as a woman who can do whatever she wants in this world. Why, then, do I like Jane Austen's novels?

Er, because of all of the above? Besides the pyromania. And because of the below:

I must admit that this rendition of Pride and Prejudice is what started it all for me. Seeing Jennifer Ehle play the feisty Elizabeth Bennett made me love Jane Austen. Colin Firth plays a dark and brooding Mr. Darcy with curly locks and glaring glances. I bought this set at full price and it was well worth it.

Oprah

Kiri, a blog reader, has suggested that we write to Oprah to urge her to have Ms Ehle as a guest on her show. Who knows, maybe Oprah's a fan?

By the way, I just realised how close it is to the 15th! It's your last chance to see The Other Side.

Since this is turning into a random-bits-of-information post, here's a slightly interesting auction from eBay - a German edition of Possession ("Besessen") by A.S. Byatt, with the movie poster on its cover.

Oh frabjous day!

The fansite is back up! Note that the URL is different from before: it's now http://www.geocities.com/dwan_y/index.html not http://www.geocities.com/Broadway/Alley/4820/ any more. Not sure if this change is permanent though.

The last update is from December 17th - there are some Philadelphia Story photos you've probably seen before.

Meanwhile, the EhleNews Yahoo group needs new blood fresh meat some enthusiastic new members. Go join up! The registration process is a bit long if you're not a Yahoo member already, but the 5 years of discussion are definitely worth it. Lots of photos, articles and fan encounter stories.

The thingo

Here's the collage of fans' birthday wishes.

What you see is not exactly the same as what we sent her. Her version allows for mega mega zoom so all the text can be read, whereas this public version is small and low-quality so the text can't be read. Wasn't sure whether it was entirely clear to people who submitted things that the final product would be made public, so this is to avoid treading on privacy toes. Hopefully you can get the general idea.

Thanks to everyone who took part!

BUT BUT BUT...this just in!

Thank you all so much! That is so sweet and creative of you. They are all wonderful and generous but there [are] a few particularly apt references...

Evelyn- have been reading much Pooh (the classic edition, of course, of course). There is little finer.

Mary- Kerala?! That's wild cause [I'm] on my slow boat there now. Or do you know that already?!

Tina- the Elvis - I've always fancied Eddie Izzard playing me in the hypothetical blah de blah but now you've got me wondering how things might have been...

I can not thank you all enough for thinking of me- a sweet, generous gift.

Thank you again,
Love,
Jennifer

What a way to end the year. Freaking cool, no?

Tickity tock

Last chance!

Join the mailing list

I've added a new form doodad on the sidebar which lets you sign up to the blog's mailing list. You'll receive reminders about blog events and important dates. We'll only write if there's something really important. No spam, promise.

Also, pssst...only 2 days left!

RIP Under the Wigs

Under the Wigs, the Jennifer Ehle fanlisting, is now closed. A sad day. However, this means that someone can open up a new one. I'd do it, but don't have the required HTML and graphics skills - this blog is run on a standard template and a prayer. If you have the chops, apply at The Fanlistings.

Deadline extension

We're moving the deadline for the thank-you project to December 22nd.

Forum events

We're doing a group-watch of Pride and Prejudice at the forum today. Want to join us? We're watching Episode 1 at 09:00 GMT (ie. 9am London time, 8pm here in Melbourne) and coming online at 10:00 GMT to discuss/squeal/sigh. We're going to be doing one episode a day til Wednesday. [edit: from Saturday onwards we're going to watch at 11:00 GMT and chat at 12:00].

We're also messing around trying to write a "P&P-in-15-minutes" parody, à la Movies in 15 Minutes. One LiveJournaler has already done one for the new film. Come play!

Pride and Prejudice script in full

Just noticed that the Pride and Prejudice script I linked to in an earlier post isn't complete. Well, Script-O-Rama has the whole thing, albeit without character names. They also have a transcript of the 1940 Garson/Olivier version.

By the way, 12/12 is approaching. It's soon, but there's time to throw something together. One nice submission we've had so far is a photo of scenery where the person lives and a little message, in a Word file. Nothing more complicated than that is needed.

Quick!

You've got 10 days left to participate in our project for Ms Ehle's birthday. Make haste, make haste!

Another (belated) reminder: The River King came out in Thailand on November 22nd.

There's an additional not-worth-its-own-post item as well, photos from Possession signed by Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Ehle, Jeremy Northam and Aaron Eckhart on eBay.