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Lenin lifestyle TUESDAY, APRIL 22, 2014 MUSIC & MOVIES ‘Touched by an Angel’ producer back in series TV n the decade that “Touched by an ic, the Hallmark Channel series will remain Angel” executive producer Martha a “safe place” for families who still want and IWilliamson has been away from series deserve less-edgy programming, she said. TV, much has changed. A new golden age “The television landscape has changed. But has brought more daring shows, from “Mad people don’t change,” Williamson said. She Men” to “House of Cards” to “Breaking Bad,” recalls seeing moms perusing the DVD and more ways to see them. But Williamson shelves at her local store, “looking desper- says her Hallmark Channel series, “Signed, ately for something they could watch com- Sealed, Delivered,” will be just as comfort- fortably with their families.” It was her own able a fit for viewers as “Angel” was during brood that kept Williamson away from TV: its 1994-2003 run. “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” debuting 8 pm EDT Sunday, stars Eric Mabius (“Ugly Betty”) as Oliver, the straight-laced, good-natured supervi- sor of an offbeat group of US Postal Service employees who become sleuths to get mail to its proper place. While mail carriers refuse to surrender to the weather, Oliver’s crew is undeterred by a missing name or indecipherable address. In the first episode, a boy’s urgent letter to an anonymous Grandmom leads them into unexpected territory. Kristin Booth, Crystal Lowe and Geoff Gustafson co-star as the unlikely Sherlocks. Valerie Harper is a visiting manager in the first two episodes, with Carol Burnett, Valerie Bertinelli, Marilu Henner and former “Angel” star Della Reese also set to guest Sing-along saint: Showbiz star. The series is “a remarkably executed gem of a series, one that we hope returns the Sunday night tradition of families watching television together,” said Michelle world gets papal inspiration Vicary, the channel’s executive vice presi- dent for programming. “Touched by an Angel,” a hit for CBS, ope John Paul II’s extraordinary life is In the audience, a smiling Sister Carmela from to bring down communism in Europe. kept within the boundaries of decorous After “Angel” ended, she concentrated on being set to music in Rome, with audi- the Daughters of St Anne congregation was Father Giuseppe Spedicato, the author of a storytelling. “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” raising her two daughters, now 14 and 12, Pences enjoying a flourish of theatre shows thrilled. “We’re already praying a lot and it’s been second musical in Rome about Wojtyla, said his does the same, with charms as old-school with her husband in the Los Angeles area. about the former playwright and future saint a great gift to see this before the canonization!” theatrical background prepared him well for the as the Post Office appears in an increasing- Inspiration for her return to series TV came ahead of his canonization on Sunday. Highlights she said. “I passed the theatre and saw the papacy. As he oversaw the final rehearsals for “Be ly digital world. There’s gentle humor as in the form of a rediscovered box of like his famous meeting with his would-be poster and I was immediately drawn to it Not Afraid!” Spedicato said he first had the idea well, which Williamson traces back to her “Touched by an Angel” fan letters that had assassin Ali Agca in 1983 and his famous phrase because I knew the pope well. He blessed me for a musical in 1994 when John Paul II came to TV roots writing for variety shows and sit- gone unread. In a sense, she said, “they “Be not afraid!” have become modern dance when I was a student!” The musical features visit his diocese in Lecce in southern Italy. coms including “The Facts of Life.” On the arrived right on time, just when I wanted to numbers and jaunty tunes in an unusual cocktail songs composed by Israeli singer Noa and pre- “Knowing about his passion for theatre, I told flip side, Williamson said she hopes her read them.” of piety and showbiz. miered in Krakow, where Wojtyla was archbish- him that I wanted to write this musical and he new series will grow to encompass more She was struck anew by the power of Nuns and priests were out in force at a per- op for many years, with the pope’s longtime said ‘Go for it!’ That’s where it all started,” he said. complex and sensitive issues, such as scribbled words and what they add to life formance of “Karol Wojtyla: The True Story”-one friend Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz in attendance. The overlap between faith and showbusiness is “Touched by an Angel” did with domestic and history: President Barack Obama’s of at least three pope-linked productions in the not as jarring in Italy as it might be in more secu- violence, human rights violations and emails won’t provide the insights that can Eternal City. Backstage, 26-year-old actor ‘Passion for theatre’ lar societies and it came naturally to Danilo more. be gleaned from a handwritten missive Virgilio Brancaccio donned a cardinal costume Wojtyla was born in 1920 and took up theatre Brugia, the actor playing John Paul II in “Be Not from 20th-century leaders like John F. and rehearsed his lines as he prepared for his in the 1930s when he was a student of lan- Afraid!” .”I often turn to John Paul II in my own People don’t change Kennedy and Richard Nixon, she said. star role as the Polish pontiff. “The hardest guages at the Jagellonian University in Krakow, prayers. I think we need initiatives like this to Episode two of “Signed, Sealed, Besides, Williamson suggests, in these days thing for me was combining his strong charis- performing in various productions and writing bring people closer,” said Brugia, before rehears- Delivered” about a PTSD-afflicted veteran, of hackers and snoops, “the most private ma with a great gentleness and purity,” said plays even during World War II. In the run-up to ing his favorite scene-the pope’s meeting in heads in that direction. No matter the top- thing you can do is send a letter.” — AP Brancaccio, who plays Wojtyla as a young man the canonization, the French seminary in Rome prison with Agca. But not all the actors are reli- in a plot that ends with his Vatican election in has staged a production of a play written by giously inspired. “It’s part of our job to transform 1978. “We know his papacy but we don’t really Wojtyla entitled “Our God’s Brother” about the ourselves!” said Roberto Rossetti, who plays know what he was like as an adolescent and a life of Polish painter-turned-monk, Saint Adam Wojtyla’s brother Edmund in “Karol Wojtyla: The young man,” said Brancaccio, a television actor Cmielowski. Wojtyla was ordained in 1946 and True Story”. “Sometimes we have to believe what French, American and former participant in the Italian version of went on to become one of the longest-serving we do not believe in and make the public believe the talent show X Factor. popes in history, who was credited with helping it. We have studied how to fake it!” — AFP cultures collide in romantic comedy ‘5 to 7’ Country music singer Kevin rench and American attitudes about best known for her role as Severin oppo- food, wine, world events, and love site Daniel Craig in the 2012 James Bond Fand marriage collide in “5 to 7,” a film “Skyfall,” is the lover, Arielle, a mother love story set in New York that premiered of two and wife of a French diplomat. A Sharp dies at age 43 at the Tribeca Film Festival. While for woman who loves her children and her Americans 5 to 7 is the typical time when husband, she accepts his affair as she evin Sharp, a country music singer who diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of bars offer discounted drinks and food, the begins her own. When she suggests to recorded multiple chart-topping songs and bone cancer, as a high school senior. French have a decidedly different take on Brian that they can meet from 5 to 7, he Ksurvived a well-publicized battle with cancer, He overcame it after two years of chemotherapy happy hour. In French, “cinq a sept,” or five misunderstands her meaning in the first has died. He was 43. His sister Mary Huston said and radiation. The Make-A-Wish Foundation grant- to seven, refers to the time of day that of many cultural and traditional clashes as Sharp died at his mother’s Fair Oaks, Calif., home, at ed Sharp’s wish to meet Grammy Award-winning Frenchmen traditionally see their mis- they embark on their unlikely love affair. 10:49 pm Saturday of complications from past music producer David Foster, who gave him tips to tresses before heading home to dinner French-born actor Lambert Wilson (“Of stomach surgeries and digestive issues. “He had a help jump-start his career. Sharp also became a with their families. Gods and Men” and “Catwoman”) plays strong heart, that’s what kept him alive, (but) I’m so motivational speaker, a spokesman for the Make-A- Brian is the aspiring, young writer who Arielle’s husband, Valery. A worldly diplo- happy for him, that there’s no Wish Foundation and wrote “Tragedy’s Gift,” a 2004 discovers the cultural nuance and much mat, Valery welcomes a very confused more suffering,” Huston said through tears and book about fighting cancer.

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