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Page 24 Thursday, December 16, 1999 The Westfield Leader and THE TIMES of Scotch Plains – Fanwood A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION Arts & Entertainment Westfield Symphony Orchestra Commissions Millennium Score from Genevieve Mannion for 2000 Continued from Page 26 “I tried to give a good indication By MICHELLE H. LePOIDEVIN our doorstep,” noting that there the melody dissipates out to of how the century has changed,” Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times is a “wealth and depth of talent nothing and pushes onto some- Mr. Laventhar explained. “History WESTFIELD – Two thousand just at arms reach” in the Westfield thing very sweet.” is a kind of dying art.” delicate and colorful butterflies, area, such as he found with With a little Y2K humor, Mae- According to the author, the each representing a year in the Genevieve. stro quipped that the WSO evolution of music and dance, as millennium, is the mood would be using acoustic in- well as women’s fashion, has gone However, writing the ideal from that of a constrictive nature Genevieve Mannion had in composition for First Night was struments in the evening’s pro- to a more open-ended structure mind while conceiving a com- not without its rules and limita- gram. “So, even if the lights go later in the century. In addition, the technological Cheri Rogosky for The Westfield Leader and The Times STRUMMING AND CROONING...New York City guitarist and solo- ist Billy Populus entertained crowds with his own personal compositions and well-known favorites during the family winter celebration sponsored by the Fanwood Cultural Arts Committee and its Winter Decorating Committee on December 5. Mr. Populus was raised in Fanwood and returned home for the seasonal celebration. He has performed in several musical arenas and venues, including The Crossroads in Garwood. POPCORN Flawless Imperfectly Entertaining Paul Laventhar By Michael S. Goldberger advances since the flights of the One Popcorn, Poor • Two Popcorns, Fair • Three Popcorns, Good • Four Popcorns, Excellent Wright Brothers have enabled 2 & 1/2 popcorns pals who flit in and out of Rusty’s flat. probes to be sent up to Mars for Flawless, director-writer Joel They serve as comic relief while also detailed exploration on other life Schumacher’s atmospheric lesson in providing shock value for De Niro’s forms. tolerance, is far more entertaining chagrined straight man. War, Mr. Laventhar believes, is than it has any right to be. It’s funny, Most of the other secondary por- the same in the beginning of the touching and poignant, even though trayals, aside from helping keep the millennium as it was at the end. it’s predictable, preachy and fastidi- nation’s unemployment rate low, Despite the difference in the weap- ously noble. merely furnish bodies for Flawless’ ons utilized for battle, he explained Posturing like an avant-garde indy perfunctorily etched side business. flick, drab cinema verite art direction There are at least five mini-plots to that the reasons and principles behind going to war are pretty Michelle H. LePoidevin for The Westfield Leader and The Times and all, the only thing missing is wade through. WHAT’S THE SCORE?...Westfield High School graduate and Montclair University student, Harvey Keitel. But the getting-to- The extraneous sub-texts include: much the same. Genevieve Mannion was sought out by the Westfield Symphony Orchestra (WSO) to know-you saga about a drag queen the murderously vile drug thugs in Another “Millennium Journal” in compose a special score for a WSO performance at First Night Westfield 2000. The end (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who helps dire search of their ripped-off funds; the series about sports provides an his macho antithesis (Robert De Niro) Walt’s oddly romantic relationship(s) overview of athletic heroes from result was “Millennium Butterflies,” which will accompany Copland’s “Appalachian Spring.” recover from a stroke is much more with two women (Wanda De Jesus Funding of the commissioned score was made possible by the Westfield Foundation and Babe Ruth to Michael Jordan. Hollywood than it is Sundance. and Daphne Rubin-Vega) at a dime- “All of these people are cultural PNC Bank. Pictured, left to right at PNC Bank in Westfield, are: Thomas G. Dwyer, Vice Decrying prejudice in all forms, a-dance joint he regularly frequented President, Business Development Officer of PNC Advisors; Joanne Santoriello, member of icons that tell how we are changing Flawless brims with commercially before his illness; Rusty’s scheme to as people,” reported Mr. Laventhar. the Westfield Foundation’s Board of Trustees and Chairwoman for the Endowment of the packaged outrage — the sort that acquire the surgery that he feels will th Westfield Foundation; Genevieve and Music Conductor and Director of the WSO, Maestro gives audiences the self-satisfying make him “a real woman;” the anx- The journal entitled, “20 Century David Wroe. notion that they’ve just contributed iously awaited drag queen pageant Fashion and The Changing Role of to world understanding. If someone which shares its title with this film; Women,” reads, “Fashion holds up asks you to donate to a liberal cause and then there’s the feeling of dread a mirror to our times, reflecting missioned piece, “Millennium tions, according to Maestro. out, we’ll still be playing on!” you can say you gave at the theater. that surrounds Barry Miller as creepy social and economic change. As Butterflies,” for the Westfield “The constraints were formi- he said. In this corner, probably hailing Leonard, the snake-in-the-grass desk America has evolved throughout Symphony Orchestra’s (WSO) dable,” he said, adding that the Mr. Dwyer addressed the dol- from Hell’s Kitchen or Red Hook or clerk whose informing ways could each decade, so has its fashions.” performance at First Night 14-member ensemble for First lars and cents aspect of fund- someplace that sounds like that, is put all those concerned in harm’s Constricting corsets and flam- Robert De Niro as Walt “The Wall” way. Westfield 2000. Night is “very specific.” “It had to ing the composition. He noted Koontz, retired hero cop and But all that this rigmarole really boyant hats were all the rage in the “It’s a beautiful thing, but be a certain length and be com- that over the past two years, homophobe extraordinaire. And in does is point out the inherent inad- 1900s and 1910s, according to Mr. very terrifying at the same time,” plimentary to Aaron Copland’s PNC has created the Union this corner, from Paramus, Philip equacies of the main plot. Laventhar. But, at the end of the said Genevieve of her “Appalachian Spring.” Matching County Town Council, a Seymour Hoffman as Rusty, the con- It becomes apparent that while millennium, “shorter skirts,” “baggy the zingers fly fast and furious, there jeans” and “retro fashions” took composition’s theme. the Copland piece, would be summate self-effacing boy-girl. Westfield-based committee Following the film’s opening bell, is only occasional substance in the center stage on women’s clothing Genevieve, who is a 1998 gradu- difficult, according to Wroe, but made up of volunteers that when Walt suffers a stroke trying to droll repartee. Schumacher has noth- must-wear lists. ate of Westfield High School proved not to be an arduous task work to support the commu- thwart a drug money vendetta in the ing new to add to the timeworn “American dance and music are and student at Montclair State for Genevieve. nity and its activities. flea bag hotel where he resides, the relationship tale. Hence, with nei- as intertwined as two kids making University, was approached by Executive Director of the WSO, Over the past two years, he dipole duo’s fates are tossed to- ther the bigot nor the homosexual gether. sketched to three-dimensional depth, out on a couch with the Victrola, Music Conductor and Director Nancy N. Jackson interjected that noted that $70,000 has been Ashamed of his condition and the viewer is never fully drawn into record player, 8-track, cassette of the WSO, Maestro David the piece needed to convey the given to various organizations, frustrated by a painfully slow recov- their connection. player, CD or MP3 player on in the Wroe, to pen the piece after he sense of a “dawn of the 21st mostly in Westfield. In fact, ery, Walt takes the movie’s first fan- Stories dealing in the very inti- background,” reads the journal heard about a composition she century,” keeping in mind that $5,000 was contributed to fund tasy leap when he is told that voice mate, mind-to-mind combat that com- tagged, “Dance and Music in the lessons could help restore his speech: prises this genre, must possess a 20th Century.” wrote for the Colonial Sym- the “sun would be shining over a the circus act that performed at He solicits his heretofore disdained searing honesty. That’s just for start- whole new epoch” on New Year’s Mr. Laventhar cites the Turkey phony Orchestra. First Night 1999. neighbor to provide said singing ers. If they are to be completely Trot, Grizzly Bear and One-Step as During an interview with The Day morning. By “refocusing its support lessons. Tying in with one of the absorbing, like Educating Rita, The dances that made Americans en- Westfield Leader and The Times Ms. Jackson added that “Mil- by giving to the Westfield Sym- movie’s superfluous sub-plots, Rusty Dresser or My Dinner With Andre, thusiastic to cut a rug. However, as at PNC Bank in Westfield, lennium Butterflies” will be “in- phony Orchestra,” Mr. Dwyer has more than one reason for agree- then they require the elegantly fine ing to provide the melodious tutori- detail of a Faberge egg melded with the new millennium drew near, Genevieve reported that “Mil- clusive to everyone” and “geared added, “We are just trying to als.