LIFESTYLE36 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2014 Music & Movies Creator of ‘Found’ magazine amazed by musical day after seeing himself onstage, kids. The creators pored over the maga- Davy Rothbart was still a little zine’s archive of some 10,000 notes, put- Adazed. The celebratory drinks after- ting some into projected thought bub- ward sure didn’t hurt, but those weren’t bles, wry commentary on the action - what kept him floored. He’d just watched “You are here in the friend zone. That’s an actor portray him in a new, semi-fic- all” and song lyrics. Rothbart offered tionalized musical account of the way he’d feedback but stayed out of the creating started the super-cool magazine “Found” process. and how its success nearly destroyed him. “It’s like looking at a funhouse mirror and Applauded the effort seeing your own life reflected back to The bizarre and funny tunes include you,” Rothbart said over coffee while wait- the bizarre childish rambling “Cats Are ing for a movie. “It’s a really wild ride. It Cats” - including the indecipherable was like doing mushrooms.” word “dlerd” that is faithfully sung - and A drug metaphor is sort of appropri- the he-man musings of “Lord Patrick, ate for the quirky and surreal musical King of the Ladies.” Only names and itself. “Found,” now playing at the phone numbers have been changed to Atlantic Theater Company, is a rollicking protect the real authors. Actor Nick account of how Rothbart built a mini- Blaemire, who has been on Broadway in empire on misdirected or discarded “Godspell” and “Cry-Baby,” plays Rothbart notes and other ephemera that litter the and he and the cast - including Barrett streets. “Found” magazine - and its web- Wilbert Weed and Betsy Morgan, who site - is a fascinating compilation of play romantic rivals - have wrestled with poetry on napkins, to-do lists, misdirect- wrapping their heads around a complex ed emails, love letters, random notes show with some 600 different cues. and scribbles. They are sometimes funny “I haven’t been able to explain it to or scary and often touching. Or weird. anybody. I just say, ‘You have to come One reads: “You bring the paper bag, I’ll see it.’ In rehearsal, we all had that actor’s bring the handcuffs... let’s party.” fear of, ‘Am I in a thing that’s unexplain- “You get to see people at their most able?’ And then we realized, ‘Yes, I am - in This image released by 20th Century Fox shows, from left, Ben Affleck, Patrick Fugit, David Clennon, Lisa Barnes and Kim Dickens unselfconscious. There’s a truth to them,” the best way.’” in a scene from “Gone Girl.” —AP says Rothbart. “They’re so un-self-con- Critics have applauded the effort, scious, revealing, honest and raw.” His with the New York Post calling it “the mother calls them “people watching on best date-night show of the season” and paper.” He stumbled over the concept in The New York Times declaring it an 2000 after finding a misdirected note on “engaging oddball of a musical” and his car windshield intended for a cheat- “imperfect but endearing.” Rothbart, Box Office: Pitt’s ‘Fury’ edges ing boyfriend. Celebrating such notes who has also become a writer and film- has spawned a magazine, tours in which maker, says the musical captures what Rothbart reads aloud the notes, and art he loves about “Found,” which is “cele- gallery installations. brating our collective weirdness.” “When Now, as unlikely as it sounds, it’s a you’re laughing at a found note, you’re out ‘Book of Life,’ ‘Gone Girl’ musical, with a book by Hunter Bell and laughing at yourself,” he says. “You know Lee Overtree, and music and lyrics by Eli you’ve written that same pitiful love let- Bolin. Bell wrote the Obie-winning “(title ter or to-do list or journal entry. We’ve all rad Pitt and a squadron of up-and- story that deals with dark subject matter. “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No of show),” while Overtree and Bolin have been there. Or maybe we’ve never been coming actors held off “Gone Girl” at The bloody action film is set in the waning Good, Very Bad Day” showed more staying worked with Story Pirates, which makes there but we can imagine what it’s like.” Bthe multiplexes this weekend as days of World War II and follows a gruff power despite the release of another family theatrical shows from stories written by —AP “Fury” topped box office charts with a $23.5 Sherman tank commander (Pitt), an idealis- film, “The Book of Life.” The Disney live million debut. Despite surrendering first tic newbie (Logan Lerman) and his crew action comedy dipped a mere 35% to $11.3 place after two weeks wearing the crown, (Michael Pena, Jon Bernthal, Shia LaBeouf) million, enough to capture fourth place. “Gone Girl” had impressive stamina. David on an impossible mission. Sony Pictures Opera buffs turned out in force for the Fincher’s adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s best- released the $68 million production which Metropolitan Opera’s live transmission of selling mystery dropped just 32 percent to was backed by QED and LStar Capital, It was Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” on $17.8 million. Its total now stands at $107.1 written and directed by David Ayer (“End of Saturday, with an estimated attendance of million and it is striking distance of surpass- Watch”). The opening is slightly lower than 90,000 in North America, which gave the ing “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” projections, which predicted a debut of $25 special event a $2.1 million gross from 900 ($127.5 million) as Fincher’s highest-gross- million. But Sony said the film is resonating screens. In limited release, Fox Searchlight’s ing domestic release. Water cooler effect with audiences, which could help it build “Birdman” achieved liftoff, riding a boatload achieved. word-of-mouth. of rave reviews to a $415,000 debut in just In third place, 20th Century Fox and Reel “As people leave the theater, it resonates four theaters. That accounts for a dazzling FX’s Day of the Dead themed animated fan- with them and it takes them on a journey per-screen average of $103,750. It’s the sec- tasy, “The Book of Life” took in $17 million and provokes conversation,” said Rory Bruer, ond best debut from a per-screen standpoint across 3,071 theaters. The weekend’s other Sony Pictures president of worldwide distri- since “The Grand Budapest Hotel” bowed in wide release, Relativity’s “The Best of Me,” bution. “We’re seeing a lot of social media March to a $202,792 average. racked up $10.2 million from 2,936 theaters, conversation going on, and I believe we’re Another art house standout was “Dear good enough for fifth place, but below such going to get a terrific multiple and be White People,” which Roadside and Lionsgate previous Nicholas Sparks’ pictures as “The around for a long time.” launched on 11 screens in New York, Los Notebook” ($13.5 million debut) and “Dear Angeles, Washington DC and Atlanta. The John” ($30.5 million). The animated picture More staying power race relations satire grossed $344,136, for a cost $50 million to produce, while romantic “Fury” played to an opening crowd that heady per screen average of $31,285. The drama carries a $26 million price tag. was 60 percent male, and 51% over 35 years Weinstein Company expanded “St Vincent” Relativity says that foreign and ancillary pre- old. Among holdovers, “Dracula Untold” fell from four theaters to 68, earning $685,000 In this Oct 10, 2014 photo, actor Nick Blaemire, left, and magazine pub- sales and tax credits limit its exposure on 58% to $9.9 million, bringing its domestic and a per screen average of $10,074. The Bill lisher Davy Rothbart pose in downtown New York. —AP the film to $5 million. total to $40.7 million, and “The Judge” Murray comedy co-stars Melissa McCarthy “Fury” relied on Pitt’s star power and dropped 41% to $7.9 million, giving it $26.8 and was backed by Chernin Entertainment. It strong critical notices to attract crowds to a million after two weeks. goes wide next weekend. —Reuters Singer Neil Diamond digs An android opera: Japan’s Shibuya for ‘real gold’ with new album plots new era of robot music ife and death, surveillance and privacy, humans and ing noodles, helping patients undergo physiotherapy and aking music is all about “dig- experiences over a period of years, my his unique sound, and it seems to be robots: Keiichiro Shibuya likes to unsettle and push even helping in the clean-up after the 2011 nuclear melt- ging inside of yourself” for observations, my impressions... It’s a working as his 2008 album, “Home Lboundaries in music. The Japanese composer made down at Fukushima. And Ishiguro, a professor at Osaka M“real gold”, Neil Diamond, journey, a musical journey.” The musi- Before Dark” topped charts in the a stir in 2012 when he created the first ever virtual opera University, is the master of robotic science, known for cre- one of the bestselling singer-song- cian, a member of the Rock and Roll United States and Britain. “I try to starring a computer-generated image of a girl, and he is ations such as his recent news-reading android. writers of all time, told AFP in an inter- Hall of Fame whose music has been avoid getting involved with or being now preparing to go a step further with a show per- He even has a humanoid version of himself which he view. Speaking in London before this covered by artists as diverse as Elvis infected by the music that I hear on formed by singing androids made by leading roboticist sends overseas to give lectures. But beyond his country’s week’s release of his latest album, Presley and Andrea Bocelli, has stuck the radio, the music that’s on records,” Hiroshi Ishiguro. obvious propensity for robotic breakthroughs, Shibuya “Melody Road”, the 73-year-old said to his classic style in his new work. Diamond said. “I’m focusing on my “I have a project that I will put on later with robots that says he is trying to understand the very nature of art via that success is often down to luck and A mix of rock, country and folk, music and I have to stay clear of every- have human form,” said the 41-year-old, in Paris yesterday his high-tech creations. being a musician is a gamble. “It’s not peppered with love songs, “Melody thing else while I’m doing that.” Will he for a separate solo concert called “Perfect Privacy” that a very practical way to live your life, Road” was greeted as a “schmaltzy but ever retire? “I think it would be horrid sees him marry traditional piano playing with computer- the odds are against you being able to well-crafted honeymoon album” by for me, stopping would be very diffi- generated music and sounds. “There will be only robots make a living doing it. the Guardian newspaper-Diamond cult,” Diamond said. “It’s part of who I on stage, no human beings,” he told AFP of his future proj- “But if you insist then you have to married his third wife Kate McNeil, am.” Or as he croons on “Melody Road”, ect planned for 2016, acknowledging that he likes to devote yourself almost entirely to it three decades his junior, in 2012. The the title track of the eponymous unsettle and stir up intense emotions with high-tech cre- and remain passionate about it,” musician said he tends to avoid being album: “Melody road I’m on with you, ations. Diamond said. The Brooklyn native, influenced by other music to protect all the way to the end.” —AFP who has sold 128 million albums with Hunted by paparazzi hits such as “Red Red Wine”, “Sweet With his trademark long fringe covering part of his Caroline” and “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman face, Shibuya is fast becoming a household name in Soon”, was in London to promote his Japan, where his electronic music, piano and futuristic cre- latest album. “Definition of optimism: ations have placed him firmly in the limelight. He is also bringing my sunglasses to London,” he dating well-known actress Miho Nakayama, and the joked to his 810,000 Twitter followers paparazzi hunt for proof of their relationship was an inspi- as he arrived. “When you’re creating ration for “Perfect Privacy”, yesterday’s concert that will see the music, you’re compiling ideas, scores of cameras installed in the Theatre du Chatelet to you’re digging inside of yourself, project his every move on stage onto a giant screen. The you’re reflecting on the past,” concert in the French capital comes almost a year after he Diamond said. “It’s a pretty difficult put on his sell-out virtual opera “The End”, which tackles “When a human being plays something, when he cre- process. But it’s supposed to be diffi- life and death, at the same theatre. ates art, others are impressed or moved,” he said. “Why? cult. If it were easy, you couldn’t really That show starred Hatsune Miku, a virtual young girl Because they feel that this human being has made an dig down and get the real gold, the whose image is projected on stage and who “sings” effort, has performed perfectly as a human being? Or important elements that you’re look- through a vocal synthesizer-a so-called “Vocaloid”. Miku because the art itself is beautiful? We don’t really know.” ing for.” has become a star in Japan, performing in concerts Putting on an opera without any human beings around the country and she even appeared on David involved is one way of finding out,” says Shibuya, adding ‘A musical journey’ Letterman’s Late Show earlier this month, leaving the smil- he aims to put on “something beautiful but created by Dressed in a taupe blazer with a ing host slightly bemused. something other than a human being.” Shibuya started carefully trimmed salt and pepper playing the piano when he was six, and has never stopped beard, as he appears on the front of Robot newsreader despite branching off into electronic music with his ATAK his new album, Diamond met AFP in a Shibuya’s next opera will be even more futuristic with music label. But his experiments with high-technology are luxury hotel and explained that his several androids designed by Ishiguro singing on stage, what really make him stand out. “If others appreciate latest work is very personal. “The story and the music entirely computer-generated. Robots are something that was created by something other than a of Melody Road is the story of my life,” used in Japan to perform a variety of tasks such as cook- human being, it’s a new type of pleasure,” he says. —AFP Diamond said. “It takes us through my Neil Diamond