A Community Treasure Winter 2017 Dear Friends, Patrons & Members
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A Community Treasure Winter 2017 Dear Friends, Patrons & Members, said the arts are a “positive experience in a troubled world.” I hope you’ll For nearly 20 years the Colonial has operated as a non-profit theatre. This tell us why you support the Colonial Theatre when you mail your appeal status has enabled the theatre to grow and flourish. Ticketing and conces- contribution or better yet - call or stop by our office to chat. sion revenues provide some of the money it takes to run this historic Now more than ever we need your support. Many of you have already theatre and the remainder is freely and generously donated by a commu- received our holiday appeal letter and I hope you’ll give generously to nity of wonderful people like you. Thank you so very much for standing the annual fund by December 31, become a member (check out our new beside this beautiful old theatre as a patron and supporter. membership levels online) or renew your membership. As a positive One of our donors recently said that when it first re-opened in 1999, result of our building expansion the Colonial’s footprint, programs, and the Colonial served as the "town’s warm embrace." That was a difficult patron amenities will grow in 2017 – and so will our operating budget. period in Phoenixville’s history that we’ve moved past together. Whether Our staff and board of directors send our warmest holiday wishes. We you’re a regular to the theatre or just getting to know us, the Colonial’s hope you’ll visit this winter to enjoy old favorites with neighbors and friendly brick façade and glowing marquee are still here to welcome you, friends, or take in new films or concerts in a place that will withstand the your family and friends to great entertainment and new memories. passage of time and continue to offer a warm embrace to patrons through The Colonial is a venue for vital artistic expression that unifies and uplifts. your support. See you at the theatre! It’s a place where patrons can be seen cheering for movie heroes, greeting With gratitude, their neighbors and friends, and contributing to this community as volun- teers who help to run our programs and manage this historic space. In a recent public opinion study, Americans for the Arts examined Mary Foote, Executive Director national perceptions and attitudes about the arts in America to help advocate on behalf of theatres like ours. Over 60% said the arts lift P.S. Does your employer match charitable contributions or offer an em- them up beyond everyday experiences - that they are a “pure pleasure to ployee giving or volunteer program? You can double (or even triple) the experience and participate in.” Almost three-quarters of the respondents impact of your gift. Be sure to enclose your matching gift form. Patrons and fans gather around Mr. Lobo after the Friday Night Runout during Blobfest 2016. Photo by Chorus Photography. CLASSICS ON SUNDAYS LAUGHING IN THE NEW YEAR uncomplicated musings are interpreted by government insiders as profound viewpoints from an intellectual giant. Unbeknownst to him, THE THREE MUSKETEERS Chance is now the toast of the town – and a potential pawn in the politics Richard Lester. US. 1973. PG. 106 min. game. Much like its protagonist, Being There is a kind and gentle film Rialto. blu ray. that observes our world in a most perceptive way. Nominated for several Sun, Jan 8 @ 2 PM Academy Awards (with a Best Supporting Actor win for Douglas), this Director Richard Lester (Hard Day’s Night, film sadly marks the last great performance by the chameleon-like Sellers Help, Superman II) brings a new and witty and is universally considered the last masterpiece in director Hal Ashby’s take to Alexandre Dumas’ classic in this (Harold & Maude, Coming Home) filmography. knock-about version of the tale about the all-for-one quartet. It features a young Mi- ARTHUR chael York as D’Artagnan and Oliver Reed, Steve Gordon. US. 1981. PG. 97 min. WB. 35mm. Richard Chamberlain and Frank Finley as Sun, Jan 29 @ 2 PM his musketeer companions, along with a If you are looking for a great movie that reveals the truly terrible stellar supporting cast, including: Charlton consequences of alcoholism, we highly recommend The Lost Weekend, Heston (as the evil Cardinal Richelieu), Faye Dunaway (as Milady, his starring Ray Milland, or Days of Wine and Roses with Jack Lemmon and companion in crime), Raquel Welch (as D’Artagnan’s lady love), Spike Lee Remick. However, if you want to see a hilarious hour-and-a-half- Milligan (as her husband) and Christopher Lee (as Rochefort). As Leon- long drunk act performed with immaculate timing by one of England’s ard Maltin has so succinctly put it, this is a “delightful tongue-in-cheek foremost physical comedians, then please come join us in seeing Arthur, version of Dumas’ classic, mixing swashbuckling adventure and romance starring Dudley Moore. This is a simple fantasy of a fabulously wealthy with broad slapstick. One of Raquel Welsh’s finest hours.” (and fabulously witty) inebriate who must decide between maintaining his happy and dissolute life, or being disinherited after finding his One THE RULING CLASS True Love (the working-class Liza Minnelli). Adding to the fun is Sir Peter Medak. UK. 1972. NR. 154 min. Westchester Films. 35mm. John Gielgud, one of the 20th century’s finest Shakespearian actors who, Sun, Jan 15 @ 2 PM ironically but deservedly, won his only Oscar for playing Arthur’s acerbi- A toast from the 13th Earl of Gurney goes something like “To England, cally funny, but loving, butler/confidant/guardian angel. Come see why this teeming womb of privilege.” One of the blacker English satires I’ve Moore’s Oscar-nominated portrayal has been called “one of the single come across, it starts out as an outrageous comedy and about halfway funniest film performances of the past 50 years.” through turns into a musical. No really, it does! They even do a Tom Leh- rer song! And then, it gets really dark, tragic and symbolic. I will never OSCAR WINNERS & NOMINEES OF 1937 forget the hysterical laughter in the theatre the night the movie opened in Philadelphia in 1972. At that time, the humor was shocking, to say the MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW least. If, like me, you’re not British, some of the humor may go right over Leo McCarey. US. 1937. NR. 91 min. your head, but you’ll get a chance to see how they view themselves in one Universal. 35mm. of the most sarcastic movies of it’s time. (Ted The Fiddler) Sun, Feb 5 @ 2 PM When director Leo McCarey took the BEING THERE stage to accept his Best Director Oscar for Hal Ashby. US. 1979. PG. 130 min. The Awful Truth (playing next Sunday), WB. 35mm. Sponsored by Shorty’s he began his speech with the admission, Sunflower Cafe & Truckstop. “Thanks, but you gave it to me for the Sun, Jan 22 @ 2 PM wrong picture.” Released the same year as In 2015, the Library of Congress selected his Oscar-winning film, Make Way for To- Being There for inclusion in the National morrow was McCarey’s proudest cinematic Film Registry, an honor bestowed upon achievement. After a life of hard work films deemed “culturally, historically, or and happy memories, elderly couple Barkley and Lucy Cooper (Vic- aesthetically significant.” In this case all tor Moore and Beulah Bondi) should be celebrating their golden years. three of those categories are checked. After Unfortunately, they’re faced with a major crisis. Unable to find work due his lifelong benefactor dies, Chance (Peter to his age, recently jobless Barkley misses one too many mortgage pay- Sellers), a simple-minded gardener whose ments forcing the bank to foreclose. Now homeless, Barkley and Lucy sole exposure to the outside world is television, finds himself thrust into must reluctantly rely on their adult children for help. Split up and living the real world. Confused and alarmed as he wanders around the mean in separate residences, Barkley and Lucy dream of their happy reunion… streets of the nation’s capital, the once-cloistered Chance has a fateful one day. Profoundly hilarious and heartbreaking (Orson Welles famously encounter with politically savvy tycoon Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas) and declared that “it could make a stone cry”), Make Way for Tomorrow is an his wife Eve (Shirley MacLaine). Miscommunication leads the Rands to overlooked masterpiece that is finally receiving its due. One viewing and believe that Chance is an upper class academic named Chauncey Gar- you’ll join the chorus of admirers like Roger Ebert and Errol Morris in diner. As he navigates the political inner circle, the childlike gardener’s singing its praises. www.thecolonialtheatre.com | 610-917-1228 2 CLASSICS ON SUNDAYS THE AWFUL TRUTH it, that “Hollywood movies don’t get much classier than this one.” And Leo McCarey. US. 1937. NR. 94 min. adding greatly to the excitement (and the classiness) is the marvelous, Sony. 35mm. Oscar-nominated score by Alfred Newman, one of the finest ever created Sun, Feb 12 @ 2 PM by that landmark composer. (And yes, Newman is the uncle of composer/ If you enjoy 1930s screwball comedies and, singer Randy Newman. And no, he is not related to Alfred E. Neuman, of in particular, if you enjoy Cary Grant in Mad magazine fame.) them, then this is the movie for you. Here’s what the London Radio Times has to say SELDOM SEEN HITCHCOCK about the film: "A wonderful example of Cary Grant at his screwball comedy best as STAGE FRIGHT one half of a sniping, divorcing couple, who Alfred Hitchcock.