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Back by Popular Demand: Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet! What’s more, Orson Welles as Falstaff in CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT

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Last month the thought of seeing Benedict Cumberbatch, one of the most exciting British actors of his generation, starring in the new West End production of Hamlet, crowded our theaters with people eager to see him take on the ultimate role in English-language drama. Thus, some encore screenings are in order. We’ll screen it again at 7:30 PM on Wednesday, January 27 at our Fine Arts, Claremont, Playhouse and Town Center venues. Click here to purchase tickets.

Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet.
Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet.

Writing in the New York Times, theater critic Ben Brantley wrote of Cumberbatch, “For the monologues…he is superb, meticulously tracing lines of thought into revelations that stun, elate, exasperate and sadden him. There’s not a single soliloquy that doesn’t shed fresh insight into how Hamlet thinks.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5JZbeFvTZA

Equally exciting news for fans of the Bard: on February 3rd at those same theaters we’ll have Janus Films’ beautifully restored version of Orson Welles’s Chimes at Midnight.  The crowning achievement of his later film career, Chimes has been unavailable for decades. This brilliantly crafted Shakespeare adaptation was the culmination of Welles’s lifelong obsession with Shakespeare’s ultimate rapscallion, Sir John Falstaff, the loyal, often soused childhood friend to King Henry IV’s wayward son Prince Hal. Appearing in several plays as a comic supporting figure, Falstaff is here the main event: a robustly funny and ultimately tragic screen antihero played by Welles with towering, lumbering grace. Integrating elements from both Henry IV plays as well as Richard II, Henry V, and The Merry Wives of Windsor, Welles created an unorthodox Shakespeare film that is also a gritty period piece, which he called “a lament . . . for the death of Merrie England.” Poetic, philosophical, and visceral—with a kinetic centerpiece battle sequence as impressive as anything Welles ever directed—Chimes at Midnight is as monumental as the figure at its center.

Jeanne Moreau as Doll Tearsheet and Orson Welles as Falstaff. Courtesy of Janus Films.
Jeanne Moreau as Doll Tearsheet and Orson Welles as Falstaff. Courtesy of Janus Films.

Dean of film criticism Pauline Kael wrote of the film, “[Welles] has directed a sequence, the Battle of Shrewsbury, which is unlike anything he has ever done, indeed unlike any battle ever done on the screen before. It ranks with the best of Griffith, John Ford, Eisenstein, Kurosawa—that is, with the best ever done.” And Welles was very proud of Chimes, saying, “If I wanted to get into heaven on the basis of one movie, that’s the one I would offer up. I think it’s because it is, to me, the least flawed . . . I succeeded more completely, in my view, with that than with anything else.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAs2bL4Sasw

New Year’s Resolution: See More Movies, Spend Less Money

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‘Spend less money’ always ranks high on those annual lists of top resolutions for the New Year. And, no matter how many films we see here in Laemmle-land, ‘see more movies’ always sits atop our list. Using a bit of our own movie magic we’ve combined these seemingly incompatible resolutions and outlined how you can see more movies at Laemmle for less money!

premiere-cardLaemmle Premiere Card
With a Laemmle Premiere Card you receive $2 off movie tickets and 20% off concessions. Plus, every Thursday Premiere Card holders get a free medium popcorn. You can buy a Premiere Card online or at the box office for $100. Use it for all your Laemmle purchases and when it’s running low, reload it for as little as $50. Think of it as buying a gift card for yourself! For more information and the full list of card-holder perks, click here.

Senior Wednesdays
One of our most popular discount programs is Senior Wednesdays. If you’re 62 or over, all tickets before 6PM on Wednesdays are $5. Yes, five dollars. We also offer a Senior Concessions Combo (Small Popcorn & Fountain Drink for $4.50) that’s available ANY TIME.

Student Sundays
Catching a flick may not be an ideal study habit, but you sure can learn a lot from the movies. Students with a current ID can nab $8 tickets and a $1 small popcorn every Sunday for films that start after 6PM.

Frequent Movie-Goer Tickets
Pay only $7.50 per admission when you purchase a block of 20 tickets. Our new Frequent Movie-Goer Tickets are now available at theater box offices and online.

Group Activity Tickets
Many local organizations use our Group Activity tickets to reward their members but there’s nothing keeping you from participating in this amazing deal. Pay only $6 per admission when you buy a block of 100 tickets! Group Activity Tickets can only be purchased online.

To learn more about ALL our discount programs, visit www.laemmle.com/discounts.

Certain restrictions apply. Specific terms are detailed on each program’s web page.

CONTEST: Win an ANOMALISA poster signed by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson!

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ANOM-SOS-BANOMALISA, the latest from Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) opens January 7th in Pasadena and later this month in Claremont and NoHo! We’re excited to offer our customers a chance to win an ANOMALISA poster signed by filmmakers Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson (Moral Orel, Frankenhole).

For ANOMALISA tickets and showtimes, click here.

Enter to win the signed poster using the form below (no purchase necessary). The more tasks you complete, the more you help us spread the word about the film, and the more chances you have to win. The winner will be selected at random and announced on February 1st. Special thanks to Paramount Pictures for making this contest possible!

Win an ANOMALISA poster signed by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson

ANOMALISA is the tender and absurdly humorous story of a man crippled by the mundanity of his life. He discovers a possible escape from his desperation in the form of an unassuming sales rep who may or may not be the love of his life. ANOMALISA features the voices of Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan, and David Thewlis. Its stirring strings-based score by Carter Burwell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQkHA3fHk_0

Win a poster signed by Kenneth Branagh and see THE WINTER’S TALE 1/18 & 1/19 at select Laemmle locations

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We’re excited to screen the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company’s production of THE WINTER’S TALE as part of our Culture Vulture series January 18th and 19th at select Laemmle locations.  To celebrate we’re giving away a poster signed by Kenneth Branagh himself!

THE WINTER’S TALE screens Monday, January 18th at 7:30PM and on Tuesday, January 20th at 1PM at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills, The Town Center 5 in Encino, the Claremont 5 in Claremont, and the Playhouse 7 in Pasadena. Click here for tickets.

Enter to win the signed poster using the form below (no purchase necessary). The more tasks you complete, the more chances you have to win.

Win a poster signed by Kenneth Branagh and see THE WINTER'S TALE 1/18 & 1/19 at Laemmle Theatres

Shakespeare’s timeless tragicomedy of obsession and redemption is re-imagined in a new production co-directed by Rob Ashford and Kenneth Branagh. The Winter’s Tale stars a remarkable group of actors, featuring Judi Dench as Paulina, alongside Tom Bateman (Florizel), Jessie Buckley (Perdita), Hadley Fraser (Polixenes), Miranda Raison (Hermione) and Kenneth Branagh as Leontes.

Win this poster for THE WINTER'S TALE signed by Kenneth Branagh. Background persian rug not included =)
Win this poster for THE WINTER’S TALE signed by Kenneth Branagh. Background persian rug not included =)

Wonder of Wonders – It’s Fiddler Sing-a-Long Time Again!

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*** FIDDLER UPDATES  (skip to main article)
We’re pleased to announce an all-star line-up of Fiddler Hosts for 2015!
Also, as in year’s past, we’ll have food trucks out at select locations. Here’s the per-location rundown of what’s shaking in the shtetl:

Ahrya Fine Arts
Dr. Ron Wolfson – author, professor – BUY TIX
BONUS! – Dr. Wolfson will be signing a copies of his new book, The Best Boy in the United States of America: A Memoir of Blessings and Kisses.

Claremont 5
Cantor Paul Buch – BUY TIX

NoHo 7
Craig Taubman – entertainer, community organizer – BUY TIX
FOOD TRUCK – The Deli Doctor (truck food welcome inside the theater)

Playhouse
Gary Wexler – blogger, public speaker – BUY TIX
FOOD TRUCK – Hungry Nomad (truck food welcome inside the theater)

Royal
Naomi Ackerman – actress, social activist – BUY TIX
BONUS! – Naomi will be joined by BARBARA ISENBERG who will be signing copies of her book TRADITION!: The Highly Improbable, Ultimately Triumphant Broadway-to-Hollywood Story of Fiddler on the Roof, the World’s Most Beloved Musical.
FOOD TRUCK – The Hurricane Kitchen (truck food welcome inside the theater)

Town Center 5
Cantors Herschel Fox & Phil Baron – BUY TIX

See below to find out more about our hosts.

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Wonder_of_Wonders_edit_2Will the matchmaker make you “the perfect match?” There’s only one way to find out … join us this year for our 8th annual FIDDLER ON THE ROOF Christmas Eve SING-A-LONG!

(Scroll down to watch the event trailer.  For tickets, visit Laemmle.com/Fiddler).

This year, the popular Fiddler program has been extended to more venues to accommodate demand including, for the first time, the recently reopened AHRYA FINE ARTS in Beverly Hills.

In addition to exuberant movie and song, the evening will feature TRIVIA with PRIZES being awarded to Fiddler buffs with the quickest recall.  Dressing in COSTUME is not required, but highly encouraged!  Will the best costume will garner a prize?  That will be up to the emcee.

Craig_pix_01_edit_lr_crop_4_p
CRAIG TAUBMAN will be hosting at the NoHo 7
Ron_Wolfson_pix_02_crop_p
RON WOLFSON will be hosting at the Fine Arts

Speaking of which, we’re very excited to announce two new, dynamic hosts for this year.  Acclaimed Jewish singer-songwriter and founder of the Pico Union Project CRAIG TAUBMAN will be bringing his signature blend of charisma and high-powered energy to the NOHO 7.  Over in the city side, professor, author, and community mensch Dr. RON WOLFSON will be headlining at the stunning AHYRA FINE ARTS in Beverly Hills. Wolfson is most recently the author of The Best Boy in the United States of America: A Memoir of Blessings and Kisses offered by Jewish Light Publishing. You can’t go wrong with either of these incredible gentlemen!

Our own Greg Laemmle is enthusiastic as ever about the Fiddler experience, declaring that “Christmas Eve isn’t just Chinese food anymore!”  Furthermore, “we welcome all those in the community who are looking for an alternative Christmas Eve experience.”

He continues, “This is your once-a-year chance to be the star of the shtetl. Join voices with friends and neighbors and sing your heart out alongside Fiddler’s screen legends. And it’s okay if you haven’t memorized all the songs. We provide the lyrics.”

Song highlights include the iconic “TRADITION”, “IF I WERE A RICH MAN”,  “TO LIFE”, “SUNRISE SUNSET”, “DO YOU LOVE ME?” and “ANATEVKA”, among many, many more.

Don’t miss the buggy! Those who wish to attend the program are advised to purchase tickets in advance as the program has traditionally sold to capacity.

See you in the shtetl…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnuyNaOEBt4&feature=youtu.be

Fiddler Hosts – 2015

Ron_Wolfson_pix_02_crop_p

Dr. Ron Wolfson at the Ahrya Fine Arts (Beverly Hills)
Renowned educator and author DR. RON WOLFSON will be our host at the Fine Arts in Beverly Hills. Wolfson is a Fingerhut Professor of Education at the American Jewish University and, most recently, author of The Best Boy in the United States of America: A Memoir of Blessings and Kisses offered by Jewish Lights Publishing. A pioneer in the field of Jewish family education, Dr. Wolfson is a frequent scholar-in-residence for synagogues and communities and a co-founder of Synagogue 3000. He is also the author of the well-known Art of Jewish Living book series.

Craig_pix_01_edit_lr_crop_4_pCraig Taubman at the NoHo 7 (North Hollywood)
Beloved Jewish singer/songwriter and community builder CRAIG TAUBMAN will be our host at the NoHo 7 venue in North Hollywood. Taubman is renowned for original compositions and live performances that speak to the Jewish American experience. He is the originator of events such as Friday Night Live, The Big Jewish Tent, and A Sacred Noise, among others. Most recently, he founded the Pico Union Project, an interfaith community center near L.A.’s downtown that celebrates diversity and unity within the framework of art, music, and worship.

Herschel Fox_prCantor Herschel Fox
at the Town Center 5 (Encino)
For over three decades, HERSCHEL FOX (top) has shared his knowledge, talent, and Yiddishkeit with Temple Valley Beth Shalom (Encino) and the greater L.A Jewish community. Born in Europe and raised in Winnipeg, Canada, among Holocaust survivors, he became a cantor at the age of 13.  In his early career, he performed in Yiddish theater, opening for Molly Picon, Fiddler’s “Yente the Matchmaker” for many years. Fox teaches classes in Yiddish language, culture and song, prayer and the art of the cantor.

Phil Baron_prCantor Phil Baron
at the Town Center 5 (Encino)
Also of VBS (Valley Beth Shalom), cantor PHIL BARON (left) is the son of a violinist and the grandson of a Vilna rabbi. Before becoming a cantor, he took a successful detour into children’s entertainment, where he had over 300 original songs recorded – nearly 200 of these by the Walt Disney Co. He co-created two television series for Jewish children, Bubbe’s Boarding House, and the multiple award-winning series Alef…Bet…Blast-off! As a vocalist he has been featured with the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra and the New Orleans Philharmonic.

Gary Wexler_prGary Wexler at the Playhouse 7 (Pasadena)
GARY WEXLER is a USC Adjunct Professor in the Masters program at the Annenberg School of Communication, teaching both Nonprofit Marketing, as well as Advertising and Copywriting. Wexler’s first career was as a Clio-winning copywriter for ad agencies such as Chiat-Day, DDB-Needham and others with clients ranging from Apple to Coca Cola. He since made the switch to the non-profit world, working with over 1000 nonprofits, including the foundations of Steven Spielberg, the Ford Foundation, United Ways and Jewish Federations. Today, he is an active blogger, consultant, seminar leader, and public speaker.

Naomi Ackerman_prNaomi Ackerman at the Royal (West L.A.)
An actress, social activist, and special education teacher, NAOMI ACKERMAN’s credits include theater, musicals, films, television as well as being an accomplished street performer and professional clown. She was a founding member of View Points an Arab Jewish dialogue theater produced by the Shimon Peres Center for Peace. In addition, she wrote, directed and performed the acclaimed one woman show Flowers Aren’t Enough. In 2011 she founded The Advot Project, transforming the lives of incarcerated girls in the L.A. probations system through drama instruction. This garnered her KCET’s Local Hero Award in 2014.

Paul Buch_prCantor Paul Buch at the Claremont 5 (Claremont)
Cantor PAUL BUCH has served Temple Beth Israel in Claremont since 2003. He came to the cantorate after a 25 year career in TV and film production in Los Angeles, New York, and Portland. In addition to his cantorial duties, Buch is President of the Claremont Interfaith Council and serves on the Faith-Based Roundtable of the Pomona Unified School District. He is also Chair of the City of Claremont’s Human Relations Committee and serves on an advisory committee at the Claremont School of Theology. This will be his third consecutive year as our Fiddler host in Claremont!

 

Behold! Our new Culture Vulture trailer.

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Have you partaken in one of our weekly screenings of opera, ballet, theater and fine art exhibitions or would you like to know more? For a taste, check out this new trailer we’ll be running on all Laemmle screens starting Friday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWn3qxF2XFM

You can enjoy one of these screenings every Monday evening at 7:30 and every Tuesday afternoon in far-flung corners of Los Angeles County: from the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills, the Playhouse 7 in Pasadena, the Town Center 5 in Encino, to the Claremont 5 in, uh, Claremont and early next year we’ll likely add the long-awaited, hotly-anticipated Monica Film Center to that list. We’ll announce the early 2016 program soon but for now here’s where you can always find our Culture Vulture slate and what we’ve got coming up as 2015 draws to a close: www.laemmle.com/culturevulture. (Hot tip: those December 21 and 22 screenings of HAMLET star one of the most exciting actors of his generation, Mr. Benedict Cumberbatch. Get your tickets while they last.)

“Riotously funny” sleeper MEET THE PATELS is “a lively and engaging universal story made with an unmistakable sense of fun.”

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Every year there are at least one or two films that come out of left field and delight audiences enough to generate that most ineffable and valuable kind of publicity, word of mouth publicity. Such is the case with the new comedic documentary MEET THE PATELS, which has shown great legs and made its way from a humble start in just one of our theaters to six of them: by this Friday we’ll be showing it at the NoHo, Royal, Claremont, Town Center and Playhouse. PATELS is a laugh-out-loud real life romantic comedy about Ravi Patel, an almost-30-year-old Indian-American who enters a love triangle between the woman of his dreams…and his parents. This hilarious and heartwarming film reveals how love can be a family affair.

In his L.A. Times review, Kenneth Turan wrote that the film “[turns] one man’s culturally specific journey into a lively and engaging universal story made with an unmistakable sense of fun.” In the New York Daily News, Jordan Hoffman wrote: “MEET THE PATELS is warm and loaded with laughs, and it might even create some intercultural understanding. If only all our relationship woes could be so worthwhile.” In Variety Andrew Barker called the film “often riotously funny.” If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7litSYXbpRs

“Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem” ~ Join Aimee Ginsburg Bikel and Leonard Maltin to Celebrate the Legendary Actor-Singer-Author-Activist

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Portraits of two beloved icons — Sholom Aleichem and Theodore Bikel — are woven together in the enchanting new documentary Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem. The two men had much in common: wit, wisdom and talent, all shot through with deep humanity and Yiddishkeit. The film combines Bikel’s charismatic storytelling and masterful performances with a broader exploration of Aleichem’s remarkable life and work.

We will screen Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem Monday, 10/19 at 7:30 PM and Tuesday, 10/20 at 1 PM at the Ahrya Fine Arts/Beverly Hills, Town Center 5/Encino, Playhouse 7/Pasadena and Claremont 5. Film critic Leonard Maltin and Mr. Bikel’s widow, Aimee Ginsburg Bikel, will introduce and participate in a Q&A after the Monday screening in Beverly Hills. Mrs. Bikel will also participate in a Q&A after the 1 PM screening of the film on Tuesday, October 20th in Encino.

Mrs. Bikel wrote the following about her husband: “Nothing gave Theodore Bikel more pleasure than telling stories and singing songs that connected deeply to his own roots. “I sing the songs of all nations,” he would say, “and all of humanity are my brothers and sisters, we are like flowers in a garden. So,” he would add, “I sing my songs not because they are better, but because they are mine. And if I don’t tend to them, they will wither, and die.”

“On July 21 Theo Bikel passed away, leaving us with an enormous vacuum. Theo was a giant and there will be no one who can walk in his shoes. Actor, singer, author, activist for peace and human rights, he did everything with a deep joy and a commitment to making our world a better place.
“Theo considered this film his crowning achievement, and spent this past year appearing in person at the many film festivals that screened it. The audiences, cheering and clapping, loved it. Theo, who made the film at 88, improved with the years, his voice and performance deepening and softening; his humor and humanity shining bright.
“This will be the first public screening and Theo would have wanted to appear in person. Please come with your friends and family and share with us in the legacy of the one and only and forever Theodore Bikel.”

Mr. Maltin wrote the following, which he titled “Celebrating Theodore Bikel.”

“The challenge in discussing Theodore Bikel is where to start? He led so many lives—as an actor, folksinger, Civil Rights activist, union leader, and more. He is the only person I could think of who could say he worked with Humphrey Bogart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Frank Zappa! (He played a band manager in 200 Motels, but gently refused Zappa’s request to dress as a nun for one scene.) He was the original Baron von Trapp in The Sound of Music on Broadway, a best-selling recording artist, and a busy character actor who earned an Oscar nomination playing a Southern sheriff in The Defiant Ones. Those are just a handful of his many credits.

“His lifelong connection to the celebrated author Sholom Aleichem predates his casting as Tevye in the musical Fiddler on the Roof. (He logged more than 2,000 performances, and acknowledged that the play’s universal appeal is based in part on its ability to make the author’s work palatable to a non-Jewish audience. He described it as “Sholom Aleichem lite.”)

“As for his facility with languages, Theo explained that his father spoke only Yiddish at home and prided himself on his library of Sholom Aleichem books, which they were forced to leave behind when his family fled from Vienna to Palestine in 1938. The postscript is quite amazing: his grandmother, who stayed behind, hounded the Nazis who guarded confiscated property—so much so that they eventually let her reclaim the books, which turned up on the Bikels’ doorstep in Palestine, to the utter amazement of Theo and his parents.

“His mother spoke German at home, his father spoke Yiddish, he was given Hebrew lessons as a child, and learned French while visiting a family retreat during the summer. English was his fifth language—the fifth of many. (When he played linguist Zoltan Karpathy in My Fair Lady and George Cukor asked him to draw on his skill with dialects, Bikel reminded Cukor that of the two of them, he was not the one with Hungarian roots.)

“My wife remembers attending protest rallies at Washington Square Park in the 1960s when Theo’s folk songs roused the young people. When Alice and I moved to Los Angeles and went to our first Rosh Hashanah service, we found ourselves sitting in front of Theo and had the thrill of hearing his sonorous voice in prayer all night long.

“He continued performing, and making a difference, to the very end of his life. In 2013 he was invited to appear before the Austrian Parliament to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Krystallnacht—the dreadful night that synagogues were burned to the ground throughout Germany and Austria. He recognized that today’s Austria is not run by, or populated by, the same people who were responsible for those atrocities, and while he could never forget, he was willing to move on.

“Many of his achievements are covered in the documentary Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem.  No one film could include every facet of Theo’s remarkable life…but this one provides a welcome overview. And, like Theo himself, it is consistently entertaining.”

https://vimeo.com/114923514