just plain brilliant

that is my three word review of the one man show by Julian Sands last night at the Historic Asolo Theater.  His evening - entitled "A Celebration of Harold Pinter" was absolutely masterful.  He commanded our attention standing alone on an unadorned stage with no soundtrack, virtually solely reading the poems of Pinter - interspersed with only an occasional quote from Pinter or anecdote about Pinter. Really remarkable evening of entertainment.

if you want a professional review - here is a link to the NYT review -
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/17/theater/reviews/a-celebration-of-harold-pinter-directed-by-john-malkovich.html

before this evening my main identification of Julian Sands was that of the role he played in A Room with a View- the suitor of Lucy Honeychurch- in a star studded cast of a wonderful adaptation by Merchant & Ivory. the romantic leading man- this is what he looked like then-

and here is the photo he provided for the program- LOL- time marches on-

the playbill from the show- 

a perfect encapsulation of the show-

directed by the always brilliant John Malkovich (an aside- I saw him in Chicago more than two decades ago just tear up the stage with his performance in Burn This- a memory of theater that has been completely unforgettable to me since that time!)

what Mr. Sands looked like last night as he delivered the poems and quotes of Pinter...

so WOW- really amazing talent all the way around- Pinter, Sands, Malkovich... what's not fabulous there?