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- CRITICS' CHOICE, Page 17
-
-
- THEATER
-
- PRAVDA. A stinging British satire of Murdochian media moguls
- more concerned with money than truth gets its U.S. premiere from
- the Guthrie troupe in Minneapolis.
-
- THE HEIDI CHRONICLES. Playwright Wendy Wasserstein revisits
- the rise and fall of principle among baby boomers, and star Joan
- Allen makes the stereotypes come touchingly alive, off-Broadway.
-
- WE. Pulitzer prizewinner Charles Fuller (A Soldier's Play)
- launches an earnest, poignant cycle of five black history
- dramas, beginning with Sally and Prince, in repertory
- off-Broadway.
-
- PLATONOV. Rumanian director Liviu Ciulei blends farce and
- great sadness in Chekhov's early drama, at Harvard's American
- Repertory Theater.
-
- MUSIC
-
- CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG: AMERICAN DREAM (Atlantic). The
- title cut on this reunion album delivers more bounce -- as well
- as a bit of bile -- than the rest of the album combined, but the
- guitar work has some fire and those famous harmonies can still
- soar high.
-
- THE MODERN JAZZ QUARTET: FOR ELLINGTON (East-West). Part
- hommage, part reinvention, this is a ravishing tribute by one of
- the premier jazz groups to one of America's greatest composers.
- The M.J.Q. pays the Duke the ultimate honor: it doesn't just
- respect him, it makes him swing.
-
- BRUCKNER: SYMPHONY NO. 6 (EMI). The obscure Sixth in a
- bang-up reading by Riccardo Muti and the Berlin Philharmonic.
- And you thought Bruckner was boring.
-
- TELEVISION
-
- SMOKING: EVERYTHING YOU AND YOUR FAMILY NEED TO KNOW (HBO,
- Jan. 11, 12, 14, 17). First appearing on the day that Surgeon
- General C. Everett Koop releases his new report on smoking,
- this half-hour special dramatically exposes the dangers of
- tobacco usage, while contrasting old TV cigarette commercials
- with patients' case histories.
-
- THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE (PBS, Jan. 14, 8 p.m.
- on most stations). Wonderworks presents the first hour of a
- three-part mini-series based on the classic C.S. Lewis story of
- four children who discover a magical kingdom.
-
- THE COVER GIRL AND THE COP (NBC, Jan. 16, 9 p.m. EST). A
- streetwise cop is assigned to guard a frivolous actress-model,
- witness to a murder. Dinah Manoff and Julia Duffy, two of the
- tube's slyest comedians, play the odd-couple title characters in
- this TV movie.
-
- ART
-
- HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON: THE EARLY WORK, 1929-1934, the Museum
- of Fine Arts, Houston. Some 75 prints from the period when
- Cartier-Bresson was creating one of the most original and
- influential styles in the history of photography. Through Feb.
- 26.
-
- PAINTING IN RENAISSANCE SIENA, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
- New York City. The gentle, graceful 15th century fragments and
- miniatures in this scrupulous show offer a respite from the
- brutish realities of modern life. Through March 19.
-
- RICHARD ARTSCHWAGER, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los
- Angeles. Formica and Celotex are among the odd materials
- employed by this enigmatic but important American painter and
- sculptor. Through Jan. 29.
-
- MOVIES
-
- PELLE THE CONQUEROR. A timid old Swede and his dashing young
- son find work on a 19th century Danish farm. Aided by stars Max
- von Sydow and Pelle Hvenegaard, director Bille August cuts a
- stern, colorful grand swatch of masterpiece cinema.
-
- MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN. Kim Basinger is an unlikely E.T.
- and Dan Aykroyd the earthling who humanizes her in a clever
- fable -- sweet and light enough for the kids, sexy and
- suspenseful enough for adults.
-
- WORKING GIRL. Pert secretary Melanie Griffith climbs the
- corporate ladder, dislodging career gal Sigourney Weaver and
- claiming hunky Harrison Ford in Mike Nichols' suave tale about
- getting it all on your own sweet terms.
-
- BOOKS
-
- AMERICAN APPETITES by Joyce Carol Oates (Dutton; $18.95). A
- prolific author's powerful novel about a well-to-do married
- couple falling before a fate that is unearned and undeserved.
-
- THE LYRE OF ORPHEUS by Robertson Davies (Viking; $19.95).
- The third novel in a trilogy about the life and aftereffects of
- an eccentric Canadian millionaire. An engaging plot involving
- high finance, grand opera and a voice from Limbo.
-
- DICTIONARY OF THE KHAZARS: A LEXICON NOVEL by Milorad Pavic
- (Knopf; $19.95). A wacky, totally fabricated reference book,
- translated from Serbo-Croatian, about a people that vanished
- centuries ago. Sheer oddity mixed with eerie entertainment.
-
-
-