CHRISTY LEMIREAP Movie CritiC

Mark Duplass has said that he and his brother, Jay, look to the veteran Belgian filmmaking brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for artistic inspiration, with their naturalistic, documentary-style ap-proach to telling feature stories.

That’s evident once again in “Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” a sweet, slight tale told with simple inti-macy and a deadpan tone to its absurd humor. Not much happens over a me-andering day in suburban Baton Rouge, La., but it all builds to a climax that makes the journey worth-while. And it reveals that between this and the 2010 comedy “Cyrus,” the Du-plass brothers have figured out how to continue plac-ing their signature, impro-visational, indie stamp as writers and directors, even as they keep making big-ger studio films with well-known actors.

Jason Segel plays the tit-ular character, a 30-year-old, pot-smoking slacker who still lives in the base-ment of his childhood home. (A side note: New Orleans natives Jay and Mark Duplass moved back into their parents’ house with their own families while shooting on loca-tion.) But Jeff is a thinker

and a dreamer. Inspired by the M. Night Shyamalan movie “Signs,” he believes there are no coincidences, that everything happens

for a reason if you’re will-ing to open your mind and pay attention to the daily details that can determine your fate.

And so a simple errand for his widowed, enabling mother (Susan Sarandon in a lovely, understated per-formance) to pick up some

wood glue at the hardware store turns into a weird and winding adventure involv-ing pick-up basketball, amateur sleuthing and an

elusive man named Kevin who may hold the key to today’s true destination. The Duplasses create the sensation that we’re just following along wherever Jeff takes us, without judg-ment.

Along the way, Jeff crosses paths with his old-er brother, Pat (Ed Helms), who’s his exact opposite in terms of values and tem-perament. He’s constantly trying too hard to impress both personally and pro-fessionally, and he’s des-perately hoping to keep his marriage alive to the increasingly distant Linda (Judy Greer). All of these comic actors find different sorts of laughs — sadder, truer ones — by toning down some of their usual tendencies. They’re no less effective this way, but the shift does provide an unexpected tone.

Still, for a frequently sil-ly comedy, one of the fun-niest and most memorable elements is unabashedly romantic: Jeff and Pat’s mom, Sharon, has a se-cret admirer at work, and the way this enlivens her dreary, cubicle-dwelling doldrums is nothing short of magical. She seems willing to open herself to what the universe is trying to tell her, too, for the first time in a long time.

In some ways this sub-plot could have been its own film. Still, Jeff’s mys-tical approach to life is in-escapable, and everyone’s better for it — whether they’re paying attention to the signs or not.

“Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” a Paramount Van-tage release, is rated R for language including sexual references and some drug use. Running time: 82 minutes. Three stars out of four.

Movies

Review: ‘Jeff’ a sweet, slight comic adventure

Above: In this film image released by

Paramount Vantage, Jason Segel plays Jeff

in a scene from “Jeff, Who Lives at Home.”

(AP Photo/Paramount Vantage, Hilary Bron-

wyn Gayle)Right: Jason Segel and

Ed Helms in a scene from “Jeff, Who Lives at

Home.”

Associated Press

Jason Segel plays the titular character, a 30-year-old, pot-smoking slacker who still lives in the basement of his childhood home.

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Texas Tenors

AALIVEEntErtainmEnt in thE hEart of thE midstatE

INSIDE•••Local theatres

offer variety of ‘can’t miss’ shows

this month ••• D6-8

Section DMarch 15, 2012

The Sentinelw w w . c u m b e r l i n k . c o m

The Sentinelw w w . c u m b e r l i n k . c o m

Trio to hit Luhrs Center stage next week ••• D5

Out & AboutSpecial Events MusicTheater

Event information can be submitted via email to frontdoor@cumberlink.com, by mail, 457 E. North St., Carlisle, PA 17013 or by fax at 243-3121. For more information, visit www.cumberlink.com/entertainment

• “Green Buildings of York,” a downtown walking tour will be held at 2 p.m. April 21. The tour starts at Continental Square. For more information visit downtownyorkpa.com/walking-tours.

• Ballroom dancing classes will be offered at the LeTort View Com-munity Center on the Carlisle Barracks beginning April 17. The date of the remaining classes are: April 25, May 2, 7, 16, 23 and 29. Beginner class at 5:30 p.m. covers swing, tango, cha-cha and foxtrot. Advance class at 6:30 p.m. covers advance swing, waltz, rumba, mabo, two-step and hustle. Cost is $30 per person for the seven-week class. For more information contact Frank Hancock at 241-4483 or fhancock@comcast.net.

• Pat’s Singles Club will hold a dance from 7 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday April 1, at the Valencia Ballroom, York. DJ Ray Thomas will provide the dance music. Cost is $10.

• “Pal Joey” will be shown at the Hershey Theatre at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 18. Tickets are $7. For more information visit www.hersheytheatre.com.

• The Susquehanna Story Tellers Guild presents “Tales for St. Patrick’s Day” at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 17, in the Centennial Barn at the Fort Hunter Mansion and Park, Harrisburg. Admission is $5 for adults, $2.50 for children 12 and under. For more information call Spike Spilker at 737-8438.

• Second Floor gallery in Mechanicsburg to host a wine and cheese reception 6-9 p.m. Saturday March 17. View hundreds of pieces of artwork while listening to live blues, folk and rock by guitarists Douglas Gibboney and Kevin Kline. This event is free. Visit www.2ndfloorgallery.com or call 697-0502 for more information.

• Pat’s Singles Club will hold a dance from 7 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday March 25 at the Wisehaven Ballroom, York. “Saxy” will provide the music. Cost is $10.

• West Shore Recreation Commission presents “Smooth Dancing for Beginners” from 7 to 8 p.m. Mondays, March 26 through April 23 at the Ballroom Break in Lewisberry. And, “Latin Dancing for Beginners” 6 to 7 p.m. Mondays, March 26 through April 23, also at the Ballroom Break. Cost is $64 for residents and $77 for others. For more information visit www.wsrec.org.

• The York County Heritage Trust will present “homebrew workshops” March 31, April 14 and May 2. Cost is $70 call 848-1587 for more informa-tion.

• Rosemary Ellen Guiley will dicuss her book “The Vengeful Djinn” at 7 p.m. at the Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop.

• “Let’s Dance!” will be held from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Saturday, March 17 at the Valencia Ballroom, York. Cost is $10. Dance lessons with Frank Hancock start at 6:15 p.m. and cover foxtrot and cha-cha. For more information visit letsdance4fun.org.

• Metropolitan Area Dance Club will host a dance from 7 to 11 p.m. on March 17, 24 and 31 at the PA Dance Sport Ballroom in Hummelstown. For more information call 774-2171.

• Dickinson College to present a student performance of “The Arsonists,” at 8 p.m. March 30-31 and April 2-3 in the Mathers Theatre in the Holland Union Building. For more information, tickets call 245-1327. Tickets are $7.

• Oyster Mill Playhouse will hold auditions for its up-coming production of “Twelve Angry Jurors” at 7 p.m. March 25 and 26. For more information go to www.oystermill.com.

• The H. Ric Luhrs Center presents “Suessical” at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. March 17. For more information or to purchase tickets visit luhrscenter.com or call 477-SHOW.

• The Hershey Theatre presents “Memphis” from Tuesday, April 10 through Sunday, April 15. Tickets are $25 to $80. For more information visit hersheytheatre.com or ticketmaster.com.

• Harrisburg Shakespeare Company will be holding au-ditions for its upcoming performance of “Romeo and Juliet” from 7 to 9 p.m. April 4 and 6 and for actors out of the area auditions will be held from 11 to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 7. To make an audition appointment call 238-4111.

• The Court Street Cabaret will perform at March 16-17 at 8 p.m. in the Angino Family Theatre at Open Stage of Har-risburg. Tickets are $18. For more information call 232-OPEN or openstagehbg.com.

• Adams County School of Musical Theatre will hold auditions for their upcoming musicals, ‘You’re a Good man Charlie Brown” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” at 2 p.m. March 17 and at 6 p.m. March 18. For more information visit www.acsmt.org or call 334-2692.

• Chambersburg Ballet Theatre presents “Collabora-tions Sacred and Classical” April 3, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10. Call 709-1800.

• The Lions Community Theater will present “Annie” March 29-31 at 7:30 p.m. and March 31 at 2 p.m. at Shaull Elementary School. Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for stu-dents. For more information or to order tickets call 582-2037.

• The Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet presents “Giselle” at 1 and 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 21 and at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 22 at the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts. For tickets or more information call 214-ARTS or whita-kercenter.org.

• Carlisle High School will present “Bye Bye Birdie” on March 15, 16 at 7:30 p.m. and March 17 and 18 at 3 p.m. at the McGowan Building’s Barr Auditorium, 723 W. Penn St. Reserved tickets for the Thursday and Friday shows are $10 for adults, $8 for students. General admission tickets for the Saturday and Sunday shows are $8 for adults and $6 for stu-dents. The box office is located in the McGowan Auditorium lobby.

• The Rumpke Mountain Boys will perform from 10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Friday, March 16 at Blondies on High Street, Carlisle. Cost is $5, must 21 or older.

• The Texas Tenors will perform at 8 p.m. on March 23 at the H. Ric Luhrs Center, Shippensburg. Tickets are $28 to $44. For tickets call 477-SHOW or go online, luhrscenter.com.

• Members of the Wednesday Club will perform a concert at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 24 at the West Shore Baptist Church, Camp Hill. For more information visit wednesdayclub.org or call 234-4856.

• George Winston will perform at 7:30 p.m. March 24 at the Whitaker Center’s Sunoco Performance Theater. Tick-ets are S35.50 and $39.50. For more information visit www.whitakercenter.org/sunoco-performance-theater.

• Dickinson College faculty will present the works of Polish composer Karol Szymanowski at 7 p.m., March 31 at the Rubendall Recital Hall in the Weiss Center for the Arts. The event is free and open to the public.

• The Gettysburg College Choir will present a free concert at 8 p.m. March 24 at the college’s Christ Chapel.

• The Crimson Frog Coffeehouse presents Besty Barnicle, Irish fiddle music on March 16; Marie Smith on March 24; Poetic Perkolation on March 27; Open mic with Jonathan Frazier on March 28 and Herr Street on March 31.

• Dickinson College faculty will present a recital, “Dan-iel Brye With espirit!” at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 25 at the Rubendall Recital Hall in the Weiss Center for the Arts. The event is free and open to the public.

• The Kim Thompson Group featuring guitarist

Mike Moreno will perform at 6 p.m. at the Sheraton Har-risburg Hershey Hotel, 4650 Lindle Road, Harrisburg, on April 22.

• Casting Crowns to perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 30 at the Giant Center, Hershey. Tickets are $21.50 to $75 and are available at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 534-3911.

• Beck and Benedict Hardware Music Theatre presents Stoney Creek Bluegrass Band and Apsen Run Bluegrass Band at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 17 in Waynesboro. Cost is $13 and children under 12 are free. Call 762-4711 or visit www.beck-benedicthardware.com.

• The Shippensburg University Community Orches-tra will present “Favorites from the Stage and Screen” at 3 p.m., Sunday, April 22 at the H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center. Visit www.luhrscenter.com or call 477-1638.

Now showing

Regal Carlisle Commons 8 Noble Boulevard

21 Jump Street (R) Fri. 2:20, 5, 7:50, 10:30, Sat.-Sun. 11:45 a.m., 2:20, 5, 7:50, 10:30, Mon.-Thu. 2:20, 5, 7:50Act of Valor (R) Thu. 2, 4:40, 7:50, Fri.-Sun. 1:25, 4, 7:10, 9:50, Mon.-Thu. 1:25, 4, 7:10Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax 2D (PG) Thu. 2:10, 4:30, 6:50, Fri. 2:10, 4:30, 6:50, 9, Sat.-Sun. 12, 2:10, 4:30, 6:50, 9, Mon.-Thu. 2:10, 4:30, 6:50Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax 3D (PG) Thu. 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, Fri. 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 10, Sat.-Sun. 12:40, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 10, Mon.-Thu. 2:50, 5:10, 7:30Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 3D (PG-13) Thu. 7:10John Carter 2D (PG-13) Thu. 1:20, Fri.-Thu. 1:15John Carter 3D (PG-13) Thu. 4:20, 7:20, Fri.-Sun. 4:20, 7:20, 10:20, Mon.-Thu. 4:20, 7:20Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D (PG) Thu. 2:20, 4:50Project X (R) Thu. 2:30, 5, 7:40, Fri. 2:30, 4:40, 7:40, 10, Sat.-Sun. 12:10, 2:30, 4:40, 7:40, 10, Mon.-Thu. 2:30, 4:40, 7:40Silent House (R) Thu. 2:40, 5:20, 8, Fri. 2:40, 4:50, 8, 10:10, Sat.-Sun. 12:20, 2:40, 4:50, 8, 10:10, Mon.-Thu. 2:40, 4:50, 8The Vow (PG-13) Thu. 1:50, 4:10, 7, Fri.-Sun. 1:40, 4:10, 7, 9:30, Mon.-Thu. 1:40, 4:10, 7

Cinema Center of Camp Hill 3431 Simpson Ferry Road

21 Jump Street (R) Fri.-Thu. 11:10 a.m., 1:45, 4:15, 7, 9:35Act of Valor (R) Thu. 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:40, 7:05, 9:40, Fri.-Thu. 12, 2:30, 4:55, 7:15, 9:35The Artist (PG-13) Thu. 11:05 a.m., 1:25, 3:50, 6:30, 8:45, Fri.-Thu. 11:05 a.m., 3:50, 6:30Dr. Seuss The Lorax 2D (PG) Thu. 11 a.m., 1:10, 3:30, 5:40, 7:45, 9:45, Fri.-Thu. 11 a.m., 1:10, 3:30, 5:40, 7:45, 9:40Dr. Seuss The Lorax 3D (PG) Thu.-Thu. 11:50 a.m., 2:10, 4:30, 6:40, 8:45Friends with Kids (R) Fri.-Thu. 11:05 a.m., 1:40, 4:20, 7:20, 9:50Gone (PG-13) Thu. 1:50, 4:15John Carter 2D (PG-13) Thu.-Thu. 3:45, 6:45John Carter 3D (PG-13) Thu.-Thu. 12:30, 9:30Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D (PG) Thu. 12:20, 2:35, 5:05, Fri.-Thu. 11:40 a.m., 2, 4:20Project X (R) Thu. 1:30, 3:40, 5:45, 7:50, 9:55, Fri.-Thu. 1:30, 3:40, 5:40, 7:45, 9:50Safe House (R) Thu. 7, 9:40, Fri.-Thu. 7:05, 9:40The Secret World of Arriety (G) Thu. 11:40 a.m., 2:05Silent House (R) Thu. 1:20, 3:20, 5:30, 7:40, 9:55, Fri.-Thu. 1:20, 3:20, 5:30, 7:40, 9:45This Means War (PG-13) Thu. 11:20 a.m., 4:05, 7:30, Fri.-Thu. 11:20 a.m., 1:40, 7:30A Thousand Words (PG-13) Thu. 12:15, 2:40, 4:55, 7:20, 9:30, Fri.-Thu. 12:15, 2:40, 4:55, 7:10, 9:15Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds (PG-13) Thu. 11:15 a.m.The Vow (PG-13) Thu. 4:50, 7:15, 9:35, Fri.-Thu. 1:25, 8:45Wanderlust (R) Thu. 1:40, 9:50Woman in Black (PG-13) Thu. 7:25, 9:35, Fri.-Thu. 4:05, 9:45

Great Escape continued

A Thousand Words (PG-13) Thu. 11:50 a.m., 2:05, 4:25, 7, 9:15, Fri.-Thu. 11:50 a.m., 2:05, 4:25, 6:50, 9:10Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds (PG-13) Thu. 12:15, 4, 6:45, 9:30, Fri.-Thu. 7:05, 9:40The Vow (PG-13) Thu. 1:45, 6:50Wanderlust (R) Thu. 9:25

Flagship Cinemas 4590 Carlisle Pike, Mechanicsburg

21 Jump Street (R) Fri.-Thu. 12:30, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 9:55

Continued next column

Great Escape 3501 Paxton St.

21 Jump Street (R) Fri.-Thu. 11:25 a.m., 12:05, 2, 2:40, 4:40, 5:20, 6:30, 7:15, 8, 9:05, 9:55Act of Valor (R) Thu. 11:20 a.m., 1:55, 4:30, 7:20, 10, Fri.-Thu. 11:20 a.m., 1:55, 4:30, 7:20, 10:05Dr. Seuss The Lorax 2D (PG) Thu.-Thu. 11:30 a.m., 12:30, 1:40, 2:45, 3:50, 4:55, 6:40, 9Dr. Seuss The Lorax 3D (PG) Thu.-Thu. 12, 2:10, 4:20, 7:30, 9:35Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 2D (PG-13) Thu. 11:20 a.m., 4:20, 9:20Gone (PG-13) Thu. 7:05John Carter 2D (PG-13) Thu. 11:15 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 3:35, 5:15, 6:30, 9:30, Fri.-Thu. 11:45 a.m., 3:35, 6:30, 9:30John Carter 3D (PG-13) Thu. 12:45, 4:15, 7:15, 8:15, 10:15, Fri.-Thu. 12:45, 4, 7, 8:10, 10Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 2D (PG) Thu. 7:25, 9:45, Fri.-Thu. 11:25 a.m., 1:45, 4:05Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D (PG) Thu.-Thu. 12:20, 2:40, 5:05Project X (R) Thu.-Thu. 12:40, 2:50, 5, 7:40, 9:50Safe House (R) Thu.-Thu. 11:40 a.m., 2:15, 4:50, 7:35, 10:10Silent House (R) Thu.-Thu. 12:10, 2:30, 4:45, 7:50, 10

Continued next column

Flagship continued

Act of Valor (R) Thu.-Thu. 11:50 a.m., 2:30, 4:55, 7:40, 10:05Dr. Seuss The Lorax 2D (PG) Thu.-Thu. 11:40 a.m., 2, 6:40Dr. Seuss The Lorax 3D (PG) Thu.-Thu. 4:20, 9Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 3D (PG-13) Thu. 2:50, 9:55John Carter 3D (PG-13) Thu.-Thu. 12:40, 3:30, 7, 9:50Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D (PG) Thu. 12:30, 5:10, 7:30, Fri.-Thu. 12:10, 6:50Project X (R) Thu.-Thu. 12:20, 2:40, 5, 7:50, 10:10Silent House (R) Thu. 12, 2:20, 4:40, 7:10, 9:20, Fri.-Thu. 12, 2:20, 4:40, 7:10, 9:30This Means War (PG-13) Thu.-Thu. 12:50, 3:20, 7:20, 10The Vow (PG-13) Thu. 12:10, 3, 6:50, 9:30, Fri.-Thu. 3, 9:10

Regal Harrisburg 14 1500 Caughey Drive

21 Jump Street (R) Fri.-Sun. 12:50, 1:50, 3:40, 4:40, 6:30, 7:30, 9:10, 10:10, Mon.-Thu. 1:50, 3:40, 4:40, 6:30, 7:30, 9:10, 10:10Act of Valor (R) Thu. 1:50, 4:30, 7:10, 10, Fri. 1:10, 3:50, 6:50, 9:50, Sat.-Sun. 6:50, 9:50, Mon.-Thu. 3:50, 6:50, 9:50The Artist (PG-13) Thu. 1:45, 6:45TCM Presents Casablanca 70th Anniversary Event (NR) Wed. (March 21) 2, 7Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax 2D (PG) Thu. 2, 4:10, 6:20, 8:30, Fri.-Thu. 1:40, 4, 6:10, 8:30Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax 3D (PG) Thu. 3, 5:10, 7:20, 9:30, Fri.-Sun. 12:40, 2:50, 5, 7:10, 9:30, Mon.-Thu. 2:50, 5, 7:10, 9:30Friends with Kids (R) Fri.-Thu. 2, 4:50, 7:40, 10:15Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 3D (PG-13) Thu. 6:10, 8:50, Fri.-Sun. 3:30, 9:15, Mon.-Thu. 3:30Gone (PG-13) Thu. 2:20, 7:45John Carter 2D (PG-13) Thu. 3:50, 6:50, Fri. 3:20, 6:20, Sat.-Thu. 3:20, 6:20John Carter 3D (PG-13) Thu. 1:40, 4:40, 7:40, 9:50, Fri. 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 9:20, 10:20, Sat.-Thu. 4:20, 7:20, 9:20Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D (PG) Thu. 3:40LA Philharmonic: Gustavo Dudamel and Her-bie Hancock Celebrate Gershwin (G) Sun. 2Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake in 3D (PG-13) Tue. (March 20) 7:30Project X (R) Thu. 3:20, 5:30, 8, 10:15, Fri.-Sun. 12:45, 3, 5:10, 7:50, 10, Mon.-Thu. 3, 5:10, 7:50, 10Safe House (R) Thu. 4:20, 7, 9:40, Fri.-Sun. 1:15, 4:15, 7:05, 9:45, Mon.-Thu. 4:15, 7:05, 9:45Silent House (R) Thu. 3:10, 5:20, 7:50, 10:20, Fri.-Sun. 1, 3:10, 5:20, 8, 10:25, Mon.-Thu. 3:10, 5:20, 8, 10:25This Means War (PG-13) Thu. 4:15, 9:20A Thousand Words (PG-13) Thu. 2:10, 4:50, 7:30, 10:10, Fri.-Thu. 2:10, 4:30, 7, 9:40Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds (PG-13) Thu. 3:30, 6:30, 9:10, Fri.-Sun. 12:55, 6:40, Wed.-Thu. 6:40The Vow (PG-13) Thu. 4, 6:40, 9:25, Fri.-Sun. 1:30, 4:10, 6:45, 9:25, Mon.-Thu. 4:10, 6:45, 9:25Wanderlust (R) Thu. 5, 10:30

Carlisle Theatre 44 W. High St.

The Iron Lady (PG-13) Fri.-Sat. 7:30, Sun. 2, Wed.-Thu. 7:30Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (R) Thu. 7:30

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11 — The Sentinel, C

arlisle, Pa.Thursday, M

arch 15, 2012M

ovies

BY DAVID GERMAINAP Movie Writer

In the opening sequence of “A Thousand Words,” Eddie Murphy starts with his back to the camera then turns abruptly to reveal a strip of duct tape over his mouth.

A very good idea, if the once hip fast-talker of “Beverly Hills Cop” is go-ing to continue using hol-low, stumbling comedies such as this as his mouth-piece to the world.

The notion of taking away motor-mouth Mur-phy’s ability to spew words sounds like a bizarre film-making choice until you encounter the obnoxious clown he plays here, boor-ish literary agent and in-attentive family man Jack McCall. He’s so annoying you’ll be aching for the moment the action comes around to that opening image when the duct tape gets slapped over Jack’s mouth. That would be so he’ll hold his tongue after a bodhi tree magically ap-pears in his backyard and begins losing leaves each time he utters a word, and he learns through a guru’s mystical guesswork that when the last leaf falls, he’ll die.

Oh, yeah. About that plot. What left field did this senseless story from screenwriter Steve Koren (“Jack and Jill”) come out of? And why didn’t Mur-phy, director Brian Rob-bins and a team of produc-ers including Nicolas Cage weed it out before it took root in theaters that would be better used showing retrospectives of Murphy’s “Nutty Professor” flicks or even his dreadful “Norbit.”

“A Thousand Words,” which was made in 2008 yet sat on the shelf until

now, is a movie built on drivel. Murphy’s Jack is a jerk, but a run-of-the-mill jerk, making the filmmak-ers’ effort to build some sort of cosmic cautionary warning around him feel like overkill, like taking a Garden Weasel into the kitchen to toss a salad.

Here’s where Jack’s at as the film opens: He’s the ace at his literary agency, not through sleaziness but just through rude, crude pushiness. He clearly loves his wife (Kerry Washing-ton) and young son, but he’s not good at the fam-ily thing yet and needs to man up a bit. He’s got a mother (Ruby Dee) whose memory is slipping but is well-cared for at a lovely facility, where he visits her dutifully. He treats his as-sistant (Clark Duke) and

others in his circle like personal serfs, though he’s more neglectful than abu-sive about it.

All in all, a thoughtless loudmouth, but certainly not a terrible man.

When he tries to sign su-perstar self-help guru Sin-ja (Cliff Curtis) as a book client, he gets a few mild gibes about his lifestyle from the spiritual guide. Next thing you know, a bo-dhi tree from Sinja’s retreat transplants itself to Jack’s backyard, a leaf dropping for each word Jack utters or writes. Sinja guessti-mates there are a thousand leaves left and that when the last one falls, Jack will croak.

What? Umm, OK. It ap-parently made sense to Murphy and the filmmak-ers, including Robbins,

who previously directed him in “Norbit” and the flop “Meet Dave.”

They strain to sow laughs out of this thin, pointless idea with dumb slapstick and pratfalls and a lot of wordless mugging by Mur-phy, who proves he can be just as insufferable when he’s not talking as when he is. Along the way, we get simple-minded moralizing about what’s important in life: family, humility, gen-

erosity, treating people with respect — all the stuff that Eddie Murphy stands for.

Dee almost brings a few moments of grace to the movie, until you remember what movie she’s in, then you just feel sad she’s there at all. It’s equally sad to see Allison Janney wasting her presence as Jack’s boss.

Jack’s a guy who’s not worth the universe’s ex-treme spiritual minis-

trations. His story’s not worth your time. And “A Thousand Words” is not worth any more dismissive words. It needs to make like a tree and leave.

“A Thousand Words,” a DreamWorks film distrib-uted by Paramount release, is rated PG-13 for sexual situations including dia-logue, language and some drug related humor. Run-ning time: 91 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.

A guide to area events

Inside

MUSIC |D5-4,9The Texas Tenors bring their big sound and big hats to the Luhrs

Center stage later in March. Music Notes: Early music education has lifelong benefits; classes offered

locally. Also, iTunes’ top songs and album downloads.

NIGHTLIFE | D9Find plenty of ideas for a tradi-tionally festive St. Patrick’s Day

this weekend and also some alter-native, suds-free entertainment.

THEATRE | D6-8Catch one of several shows opening

this month: “Dial M For Murder” is guaranteed to thrill while “Ex-

tremities” will appeal to those not necessarily looking for lighthearted entertainment. Also, Allenberry in-augurates its black-box theater with

a production of “Snoopy.”

BOOKS | D9“A Story of Marriage” resonates

with reviewer who recommends it as a ‘must read’ for those tying the

knot.

MOVIES | D10-11See reviews of two blockbusters opening this month. Also, see

what’s playing on the big screen at local movie theaters this weekend.

Art

On the cover: The Texas Tenors will be performing at the Luhrs Center in Shippensburg next week.

CHRISTY LEMIREAP Movie CritiC

Mark Duplass has said that he and his brother, Jay, look to the veteran Belgian filmmaking brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for artistic inspiration, with their naturalistic, documentary-style ap-proach to telling feature stories.

That’s evident once again in “Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” a sweet, slight tale told with simple inti-macy and a deadpan tone to its absurd humor. Not much happens over a me-andering day in suburban Baton Rouge, La., but it all builds to a climax that makes the journey worth-while. And it reveals that between this and the 2010 comedy “Cyrus,” the Du-plass brothers have figured out how to continue plac-ing their signature, impro-visational, indie stamp as writers and directors, even as they keep making big-ger studio films with well-known actors.

Jason Segel plays the tit-ular character, a 30-year-old, pot-smoking slacker who still lives in the base-ment of his childhood home. (A side note: New Orleans natives Jay and Mark Duplass moved back into their parents’ house with their own families while shooting on loca-tion.) But Jeff is a thinker

and a dreamer. Inspired by the M. Night Shyamalan movie “Signs,” he believes there are no coincidences, that everything happens

for a reason if you’re will-ing to open your mind and pay attention to the daily details that can determine your fate.

And so a simple errand for his widowed, enabling mother (Susan Sarandon in a lovely, understated per-formance) to pick up some

wood glue at the hardware store turns into a weird and winding adventure involv-ing pick-up basketball, amateur sleuthing and an

elusive man named Kevin who may hold the key to today’s true destination. The Duplasses create the sensation that we’re just following along wherever Jeff takes us, without judg-ment.

Along the way, Jeff crosses paths with his old-er brother, Pat (Ed Helms), who’s his exact opposite in terms of values and tem-perament. He’s constantly trying too hard to impress both personally and pro-fessionally, and he’s des-perately hoping to keep his marriage alive to the increasingly distant Linda (Judy Greer). All of these comic actors find different sorts of laughs — sadder, truer ones — by toning down some of their usual tendencies. They’re no less effective this way, but the shift does provide an unexpected tone.

Still, for a frequently sil-ly comedy, one of the fun-niest and most memorable elements is unabashedly romantic: Jeff and Pat’s mom, Sharon, has a se-cret admirer at work, and the way this enlivens her dreary, cubicle-dwelling doldrums is nothing short of magical. She seems willing to open herself to what the universe is trying to tell her, too, for the first time in a long time.

In some ways this sub-plot could have been its own film. Still, Jeff’s mys-tical approach to life is in-escapable, and everyone’s better for it — whether they’re paying attention to the signs or not.

“Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” a Paramount Van-tage release, is rated R for language including sexual references and some drug use. Running time: 82 minutes. Three stars out of four.

Movies

Review: ‘Jeff’ a sweet, slight comic adventure

Above: In this film image released by

Paramount Vantage, Jason Segel plays Jeff

in a scene from “Jeff, Who Lives at Home.”

(AP Photo/Paramount Vantage, Hilary Bron-

wyn Gayle)Right: Jason Segel and

Ed Helms in a scene from “Jeff, Who Lives at

Home.”

Associated Press

Jason Segel plays the titular character, a 30-year-old, pot-smoking slacker who still lives in the basement of his childhood home.

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Texas Tenors

AALIVEEntErtainmEnt in thEhEart of thE midstatE

INSIDE•••Local theatres

offer variety of ‘can’t miss’ shows

this month ••• D6-8

Section DMarch 15, 2012

w w w . c u m b e r l i n k . c o m

The Sentinelw w w . c u m b e r l i n k . c o m

Trio to hit Luhrs Center stage next week ••• D5

• “Heaven” by Kate Stewart will be on display at the Gettys-burg College Schmucker Art Gallery from March 28 through April 21. Artist’s talk will be at noon March 28 and the artist’s reception will be from 5 to 7 p.m., also on March 28.

• York College of Pennsylvania will host its annual juried student exhibition from March 15 through April 3. exhibition reception will be from 3 to 5 p.m., thursday, March 15 at the Wolf Hall lobby.

• The Art Association of Harrisburg will host a five-artist invitational exhibition featuring oil works, watercolors, mixed media works and photographs and will be on display from April 6 through May 10. For more information visit www.artassocofhbg.com.

• Leslie Halaby-Moore, a chain maille jewlrey artist, will be the “artist in action” at the village Artisans Gallery March 17 from 1-4 p.m.

• Stephen Winn will present “‘iN’terior Design ‘oUt’ of the Box” as part of the CALC lecture series from 7 to 8 p.m. March 19 at CALC, 19 N. Hanover St.

• Art work from former and current Camp Hill School District visual arts faculty will be on display through the month of March at the Grace Milliman Pollack Performing Arts Center lobby.

• CASD Student Art Show will be at the Carlisle Arts Learning Center, March 26 through April 21. An opening reception will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Friday, March 30.

• Susquehanna Valley Plein Air Painters and Margaret Quintanar’s Pysanki eggs will be on display from May 4 to June 2 at the Carlisle Arts Learning Center. opening reception will be held May 4.

• “Perry County Home” by Chris Lyter will be on display at the PCCA Gallery March 14-April 18.

• Spring art classes are forming now at the Art Center School and Galleries in Mechanicsburg. For more information call 697-2072 or visit www.mechanicsburgartcenter.com.

• the Council for the Arts of Chambersburg will present “Play-ing with Color” art class on tuesdays from 9:30 to 11 a.m. for home schooled students age 10 and older from March 13 to April 3 at the council’s Main Street site. For more information contact Laurie McKelvie at 477-2132 or lauriemckelvie@comcast.net.

• the Perry County Council of the Arts will host “Drawing the Line” from March 16 through May 24 at Landis House, 67 N. Fourth St., Newport, www.perrrycountyarts.org.

• Susan Courtney, tom Svec, Jeffrey tritt and Gordan Wenzel will display their art at the Art Association of Harrisburg, 21 N. Front St. through March 29.

Alibis Eatery & Spirits10 N. Pitt St.

Carlisle , 243-4151alibispirits.com

Thursday, March 15: Natty Boh specials Friday, March 16: Band night: “Not Guilty” at 9 p.m. Saturday, March

17: “St. Patty’s Day Celebration” open at noon, DJ at 10 p.m. Monday, March 19: Yuengs and Wings Tuesday, March 20: Team Trivia, 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 21: Open mic,

8 p.m.

Appalachian Brewing Company50 N. Cameron St.

Harrisburg, 221-1080 www.abcbrew.com

Thursday, March 15: ZOSO - The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience, 8 p.m., $12 Friday, March 16: The Greatest

Funeral Ever and Black Coffee, 9 p.m., no cover Saturday, March 17: Kegs and Eggs, 9-11 a.m./ Kilmaine Saints, $7.

Sunday, March 18: The Oxymorons Improv Comedy Show, 7 p.m., $7 cover Monday, March 19: The Wood

Brothers

Gullifty’s Underground1104 Carlisle Road

Camp Hill, 761-6692www.gulliftys.net

Friday, March 16: Tilt, 8 p.m. doors, 9:30 show, $7 Sat-urday, March 17: Alternative Education, 8 p.m. doors, 9

shows, $7

Holly Inn31 S. Baltimore Ave.

Mt. Holly Springs, 486-3823www.hollyinn.com

Friday, March 16: Blackhand, 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Saturday, March 17: DJ Don, karoke and dancing, 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Sunday, March 18: Open mic with Roy Bennett

and Friends, 6:30 p.m.

Market Cross Pub & Brewery113 N. Hanover St.Carlisle, 258-1234

www.marketcrosspub.com Thursday, March 15: Thirsty Thursdays with Wade Yankey

Celtic Duo, 8 to 11 p.m. Friday, March 16: Across the Pond, 10 p.m. Saturday, March 17: Kegs and eggs at 11 a.m.

The SceneA look at local nightlife

In this film image released by Paramount Pictures, Eddie Murphy, left, and Cliff Curtis are shown in a scene from “A Thousand Words.”

Associated Press

Movies

Review: Murphy’s ‘Thousand Words’ should shut up

Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions:G — General audiences. All ages admitted.PG — Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.PG-13 — Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13. Some material may

be inappropriate for young children.r — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.NC-17 — No one under 17 admitted.

Ratings

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Early childhood music educa-tion helps children achieve basic competence

When most of us think about music education, we think about music in our K-12 schools and teaching older students how to play musical instruments or sing.

What about early childhood music education? If you’re look-ing to create a supportive musi-cal environment for your child in the home, there is a local pro-gram that can help you do just that.

Music Together is a interna-tionally recognized program for babies through kindergarten age that is research based and devel-opmentally appropriate. There are two local teachers, Carol

Henry and Janet Spahr who are both firmly committed to this program and its benefits for young children and their care-givers.

I recently attended one of Carol Henry’s classes in Boiling Springs. The parents and care-givers stay involved with their children the entire class. There is never any pressure to make the children do something they don’t want to do.

As Carol told me, the twofold purpose of the curriculum for children who go through the

program is to help them develop their rhythmic skills and be able to sing on pitch. Research has shown that the preschool years are the years to most easily learn these skills. As part of the class, parents are given a songbook with suggestions for their chil-dren to do at home and CDs. The goal is to make this music mak-ing a daily part of the child’s life.

Carol Henry teaches in Boiling Springs, Shippensburg and Her-shey, and you can contact her for more information at 243-7301. Janet Spahr teaches in Carlisle

and her number is 258-4934. A new semester of classes is start-ing soon.

In case you missed the Carlisle performance by the Center Stage Opera last weekend, there will be two more performances of Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pa-gliacci on Friday and Saturday evenings at Camp Hill United Methodist Church (417 S. 22nd St, Camp Hill). Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for stu-dents. Please visit www.csopera.org for more information.

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Music Notes

Programs offered locally to start music education early

Top Songs1. “We Are Young (feat. Janelle Monae),” Fun.

2. “Glad You Came,” The Wanted

3. “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You),” Kelly Clarkson

4. “Starships,” Nicki Minaj5. “Wild Ones (feat. Sia),”

Flo Rida6. “Somebody That I Used

to Know,” Gotye7. “Part of Me,” Katy Perry8. “Call Me Maybe,” Carly

Rae Jepsen9. “Set Fire to the Rain,”

ADELE10. “Drive By,” Train

Top Albums1. “Wrecking Ball,” Bruce

Springsteen2. “21,” ADELE

3.”Spring Break 4....Suntan City,” Luke Bryan

4. “Project X (Origi-nal Motion Picture

Soundtrack),” Various Artists

5. “Some Nights,” Fun.6. “Making Mirrors,”

Gotye7. “Break It Yourself,”

Andrew Bird8. “Careless World - Rise of the Last King,” Tyga

9. “Up All Night,” One Direction

10. “Footloose (Music from the Motion Picture),”

Various Artists

Top Paid iPhone Apps1. Draw Something by OMGPOP (OMGPOP)

2. iPhoto (Apple)3. Fancy Pants (Chillingo

Ltd)4. Where’s My Water?

(Disney)5. Angry Birds (Clickgamer.

com)6. Fruit Ninja (Halfbrick

Studios)7. WhatsApp Messenger

(WhatsApp Inc.)8. Zuma’s Revenge! (Pop-

Cap)9. Camera+ (tap tap tap)10. Bejeweled (PopCap)

Top Free iPhone Apps:1. Draw Something Free

(OMGPOP)2. Jenga (NaturalMotion)3. Plumber Crack (Fluik)4. Facebook (Facebook,

Inc.)5. Camera Awesome

(SmugMug)6. Pocket Whip (App City)

7. Temple Run (Imangi Studios, LLC)

8. Hidden Objects: Gardens of Time (Disney)

9. Flashlight ? (iHandy Inc.)

10. USA TODAY for iPhone (USA TODAY)

Top Paid iPad Apps:1. iPhoto (Apple)

2. Draw Something by OMGPOP (OMGPOP)3. Where’s My Water?

(Disney)4. Fancy Pants (Chillingo

Ltd)5. Coco Loco (Chillingo

Ltd)6. Zuma’s Revenge! HD

(PopCap)7. The Lorax — Dr. Seuss

(Oceanhouse Media)8. Pages (Apple)

9. GarageBand (Apple)10. Angry Birds Seasons HD (Rovio Mobile Ltd.)

Top Free iPad Apps1. Draw Something Free

(OMGPOP)2. Plumber Crack (Fluik)

3. Temple Run (Imangi Studios, LLC)

4. iBooks (Apple)5. Skype for iPad (Skype

Software S.a.r.l)6. Fancy Pants Lite (Chill-

ingo Ltd)7. Lowe’s Creative Ideas

Magazine (Lowe’s Compa-nies, Inc.)

8. Hidden Objects: Gar-dens of Time (Disney)9. NCAA March Madness

Live (NCAA Digital)10. Angry Birds HD Free

(Rovio Mobile Ltd.)

iTunes Top 10Compiled by The Associated Press

Nightlife

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day right this year

By LiSA CLArkeSENTINEL CORRESPONDENT

St. Patrick’s Day may have started out as a re-ligious celebration, but these days popular cul-ture has broadened the event into a celebration of all things Irish. This year, warm weather, longer daylight hours, and a Sat-urday night date conspire to bring back that Celtic feeling in a grand way.

irish pubsThe Harrisburg area may

be thousands of miles away from the Emerald Isle, but there is no shortage of Irish pubs in the area.

If you want to experi-ence the St. Pat authentic-style on the West Shore, try Coakley’s on Bridge Street in New Cumberland where the party has been going on all week long with special Irish fare as well as live Irish dancing. In downtown Harrisburg, McGrath’s, Molly Branni-gan’s, and Ceolta’s start the day early and end late as Restaurant Row’s holi-day headquarters.

Just outside of town, T. Brendan O’Reilly’s, located in the Best Western at 800 East Park Drive in Harris-burg, offers special Irish menus, including a buffet on Saturday starting at 4 p.m. On Saturday night, the Tap Room features area favorites The Luv Gods providing musical enter-tainment.

The area’s major music venues also get in the spirit of the season on Saturday. The Appalachian Brew-

ing Company’s Abbey Bar features Celtic rockers the Kilmaine Saints starting at 9 p.m., while the Har-risburg M idtown Arts Center’s Stage on Herr checks in with bluegrass band Colebrook Road and Friends presenting their “St. Paddy’s Day Special.”

Tickets for the Kilmaine Saints are $7 in advance or $10 at the door at ABC, 50 N. Cameron St.,in Harris-burg. Doors open at 7:30 p.m, information is avail-able at www.greenbelte-vents.com. The Stage on Herr event opens at 7 p.m. at its 268 Herr St. location. For more information visit www.stageonherr.net.

ConcertLooking for a suds-free

way to celebrate? The Har-risburg Symphony Orches-tra has just the ticket as it joins forces with vocalist Ronan Tynan for “Irresist-ibly Irish.” The program is part of the Capital Blue

Cross-sponsored Pops se-ries, and features Tynan, a founding member of the world famous “Irish Ten-ors” performing his sig-nature blend of powerful music and Irish humor.

B o r n i n Jo h n s tow n , County Kilkenny in Ire-land, Tynan is an award-winning performer who has performed for digni-taries including U.S presi-dents and the Pope, as well as at several American sports venues. While he is best known for his voice in Europe, American audi-ences also know him as an in-demand motivational speaker.

Dancers from the Mc-Ginley School of Irish Dance, the largest Irish dance school in Cen-tral Pennsylvania, will also perform. The school trains children from age 3 through adulthood and are sanctioned by Cumann Rince Naisiunta in Dublin, Ireland. They have partici-

pated in Feiseanna (Irish Dancing competitions) at the local, national and world level.

For the pre-gamers, a V.I.P. Backstage Party is planned in the Forum’s Green Room, including a meet-and-greet with Maestro Stuart Malina and Lena McGinley-Cro-sier.

The shows take place at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 17 and at 3 p.m. on Sun-day, March 18 at the Fo-rum, located at 5th and Walnut streets in Harris-burg. Tickets are $10 to $58 for the performance. V.I.P. Backstage Party tickets are $15. For more information and tickets, visit www.harrisburgsym-phony.org.

Irish tenor Ronan Tynan will perform with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra this week-end.

Submitted photo

By LAuren MCLAneSENTINEL REPORTERLMCLANE@CUMBERLINK.COM

“I learned fairly early in my mar-riage that I did not have to confide everything on my mind to my hus-band; this would be putting on him burdens which I was supposed to carry myself.”

So writes Madeleine L’Engle on page 73 of her autobiographical work, “Two-Part Invention: The Story of A Marriage.” The fourth and final part of a series called “The Crosswicks Journals,” the book is L’Engle’s reflections on her mar-riage to actor Hugh Franklin, her husband of 40 years, during the summer when he has been diag-nosed with bladder cancer.

The narrative opens with L’Engle reflecting on her and her husband’s vastly different upbringings in the post-Great War, pre-Depression Era worlds of socialite New York (her) and middle America Tulsa (him).

Throughout the 232-page book, L’Engle weaves reflections on her life, name-dropping Broadway stars with whom Hugh acted or with whom they dined with humorous anecdotes about buying a decades-old house in need of massive re-

pairs that two actors were neither physically nor financially capable of managing.

Love storyThe book is the most articulate,

well-written, poignant love story I have ever read. Over the years, I have bought more than a dozen copies of the book to give to friends as a wedding present.

Married in 1946, L’Engle and Franklin were born and raised in an era that did not condone pre-mari-tal co-habitation or sexual rela-tions, and certainly didn’t condone

discussing them in public.“I go to my lonely bed, thinking

of Hugh alone in his hospital room, grateful for the nurses who are so good to him. During the night I reach out with my foot through force of habit to touch his sleeping body. And he is not there. Never-theless, we have been making love during this time in a profound way. He is making love with me in the pressure of his fingers. I am making love when I do simple little bodily services for him. How many times he has taken care of me! And that is intercourse as much as the more usual ways of expressing our sexu-ality,” L’Engle writes on page 184.

It is for this passage that I so fre-quently buy this book and give it to my friends who are getting mar-ried. In their passion, I want to re-mind them that the fiery passions will fade, and there will come a time when making love is holding ice chips to your beloved’s lips rather than kissing them.

FaithIn the book, L’Engle takes us on

a journey with her — a journey of faith, of hope, of love, of death, of sadness, of grief, of mourning. Written deep in every line of the book is L’Engle’s Christian faith.

Raised an Episcopalian, she was, for a time, the librarian and writer-in-residence at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. She writes throughout the book about the de-votions she is reading, the strength she finds in Scriptures, the ques-tions she lobs at God, the solace she takes in prayer and communion in a fellowship of believers.

L’Engle’s seminal work, the Time series — “A Wrinkle In Time,” “A Wind in the Door,” “A Swiftly Tilt-ing Planet,” “Many Waters,” and “An Acceptable Time” — were banned by bookstores for being both too Christian and not Chris-tian enough. L’Engle, during her life, gave interviews on the sub-ject, at one point saying, “Religion and science? One and the same. I don’t have any trouble with it. A lot of people do. They have to put one here and one there, and I think they’re much more like that, each one informing the other. Religion is less accepting than science. Science knows things move and change, and religion doesn’t want that. So I am more comfortable with science. At the same time, I am not throwing God out the window.”

HopeIn “Two-Part Invention,” L’Engle

shows deeply and truly the source, the depth, the breadth, the fullness of her faith.

“I look at my husband’s beloved body and I am very aware of the mystery of the Word made flesh, his flesh, the flesh of all of us, made potential when that first great Word was spoken that opened the tiny speck from which came all the gal-axies, all the solar systems, all of us,” she writes on page 193.

Throughout her narrative, L’Engle keeps alive her hope — and her readers’ hopes — that Hugh will rally and live, that he will survive the cancer and surgeries and infections and complications of his disease.

He does not.

LovePer a conversation they had often,

L’Engle has instructed the doctors not to take heroic actions, not to prolong death. She demands to be with him when he dies. She is.

She writes, eloquently and mov-ingly and tear-jerkingly of the cul-mination of their long-ago prom-ised wedding vows: “wedded husband and wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for bet-ter for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.”

Book Review

Book captures picture of a marriage, after the passion

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From staFF reportsfrontdoor@cumberlink.com

You’ve heard of the Irish tenors, with their larger-than-life voices. And ev-eryone knows that Texas is famed for having big hats and hair. If you combine those two things, you get the Texas Tenors.

Founded in 2009 by close friends Marcus Collins, J.C. Fisher and John Hagen, the group debuted on the real-ity TV show “America’s Got Talent.” Last year, fresh off their performance on the hit show, they were recom-mended to Leslie Folmer Clinton, the associate vice president for external affairs and director of the Luhrs Center at Shippensburg University.

“When I made my annual trip a year ago,” to a confer-ence for directors of per-forming arts centers, “they were a hot group that was being marketed to perform in performing arts centers,” Folmer said. “They were coming off ‘America’s Got Talent,’ they were well-known, and I thought the audience in our area would enjoy and appreciate them.

“We’ve had tenor groups before, but their appearance, being from Texas, is differ-ent than traditional tenor groups, like the Irish tenors. They can sing everything from classical-type mu-sic to country. It really runs the gamut. They don’t set up like a typical tenor group would, and that helps make them unqiue. A group like this, with their voices, would sound phenomenal in our acoustical facilities.

“I’m just looking forward to having them here. Here’s an opporunity to hear three men — if you like country or classical or gospel or Broad-way, you get it all in one show,” she added.

ticketsThe show will be held at

8 p.m. Friday, March 23, in the Luhrs Center. Reserved tickets are $44, $39, $35 and $28 and are now on sale. A group discount is available for groups of 20 or more. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Luhrs Center Box Office at 477-SHOW (7469) or online at luhrscenter.com.

BiosThe tenors are J.C. Fish-

er, John Hagen and Marcus Collins.

Fisher has a bachelor’s de-gree in music and performed in various roles in college, including Rodolfo in “La Boheme,” Tamino in “The Magic Flute,” Ernesto in “Don Pasquale,” and Hen-rick in “A Little Night Mu-sic.” After college, he trav-eled to Lucca, Italy, where he sang in the Puccini fes-tival under the direction of acclaimed Italian maestro Lorenzo Malfatti.

Born and raised on a cattle ranch in Texas, he and his wife now live with their two sons in Kansas.

Hagen made his Lincoln Center debut in New York City in Teatro Grattacielo’s mounting of Mascagni’s “Gulglielmo Ratcliff.” He created three tenor roles in the world premiere of “The Lost Dauphane” for Pamiro Opera airing on PBS. He has performed a vast array of operatic roles ranging from Alfredo in “La Traviata” to the title role in “Otello” for Cleveland Opera on tour. He has taught voice at Wartburg College and at his alma ma-ter, the University of North-ern Iowa. He divides his time in Texas performing, spend-ing time with family, and running a small art gallery in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Collins was born in a small town and began to sing at the age of four. He first learned how to sing by emulating his favorite ra-dio artists like Garth Brooks and George Michael before training classically in col-lege. He has performed in New York City with the cast of “Hairspray,” Off-Broad-way’s “Altar Boyz,” “Joseph and the Amazing Tech-

nicolor Dreamcoat,” and as Jinx in “Forever Plaid.” Be-yond music, he has worked extensively as an actor with appearances in over 100 episodes of network televi-sion, 25 films, and numer-ous commercials. His work includes “P.S. I Love You,” “Across The Universe,” “30 Rock,” “Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles,” “Sex and the City,” and re-curring roles on “One Life To Live” and “As The World Turns.”

Through their efforts with charities like “Homes For Our Troops” and “The Mission Project,” the Tex-as Tenors are bringing their message of “follow-ing your dreams and hope for a brighter future” with them wherever they go.

Their debut album, “Coun-try Roots-Classical Sound,” soared to No. 1 on both the classical and country charts in 2010.

The Texas Tenors hope to continue this tradition with the 2012 release of their sophomore album, “You Should Dream,” devoted to the classical treatment of beloved country, Broadway and standard favorites.

For more information about The Texas Tenors vis-it www.thetexastenors.com. For additional information about this performance or other performances within the 2011-2012 Luhrs Center series, call the Luhrs Center Box Office at 477-SHOW (7469) or visit the Luhrs Center website at luhrscen-ter.com.

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By BarBara trainin BlankSentinel correSpondentfrontdoor@cumberlink.com

William Mastrosimone isn’t known for light top-ics. His plays include “Cat’s Paw,” about a terrorist mo-tivated by water pollution, and “Bang, Bang You’re Dead,” about school vio-lence.

“Extremities,” next on stage at Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg, concerns a young woman attacked in her home by a would-be rapist. After she manages to tie him up, her two room-mates return — expressing different views about rape in society and what should be done with him.

Heather Janetta saw the four-person play years ago, and ever since had want-ed to direct it at LTM. Past boards had hesitated be-cause of the language and content.

“If people don’t know a show, they tend not to come,” Janetta agrees. “But I like to make people think. I think art should make people have a conscience. Nothing has changed since 1980. There are women in the military who are raped, and it’s swept under the rug.”

One t hing that has changed is that the legal definition of rape has been expanded. Another is that more and more, experts emphasize that rape is an act of violence and power — not sex.

“Extremities” opened off-Broadwy in 1982, star-ring Susan Sarandon. Far-rah Fawcett later took over the role, and a film version followed.

The play was inspired by an encounter Mastrosi-

mone had with a woman who had been raped. Her attacker had been caught and tied, but she was psy-chologically terrified and finally left town. Before she did she shared with the playwright that there was one moment when the man had stopped in an attempt to get a cigarette, when she might have kicked him. But

she found herself unable to move — perhaps because it was so engrained that hurt-ing someone was wrong.

Her missed opportunity translates in the play to Marjorie’s rough handling of Raul, the would-be rap-ist. “She is a survivor, who does what she has to do,” says Carolyn Dorff, in the part.

Raul, played by David Blenderman, ends up being both perpetrator and vic-tim.

“The playwright presents him as a real person,” says the actor, who had done scenes from “Extremities” in college. “It’s intimated that he was abused as a child, but he has a sense of humor and can be charm-

ing. He’s someone who might have been OK.”

But he is also “twisted” — shut off from human feel-ing, a sociopath, the actor adds.

Still, by the end, Marjo-rie breaks him down. “He is not beyond redemption,” Blenderman says.

Marjorie is not only an-gry at what Raul has tried to do to her but practical: because no rape has actu-ally occurred and she has no bruises, she would prob-ably never be able to prove anything against him.

In at least one of the roommates — they are played by Susan Wray Dan-owitz and Miranda Baldys — the playwright offers prototypes of women un-sympathetic to other wom-en.

Defense attorneys of ac-cused rapists prefer women on the jury, Janetta points out, because men tend to feel protective of rape vic-tims — seeing in them their own mothers, sisters, wives or daughters. Female jurors, though, tend to distance themselves by seeing the rape as the victims’ fault, for walking alone or night or being provocative.

“Her roommates tell her that she’s always dressing and posing for men,” says Dorff. “It bothers them that their boyfriends are more attracted to her.”

Often women are their own worst enemies, she adds.

To enhance the educa-tional aspect of the play, representatives of the Har-risburg and Carlisle YWCAs will provide printed mate-rials on the subject of rape and violence toward women and will be present at per-formances. They will also participate in a special talk

back following the April 1 matinee performance.

Both the director and lead actors agree this isn’t an easy show. “It’s so intense that people will almost think there was a rape,” says Blenderman. “It’s edge-of-your-seat theater.”

The intensity is physi-cal as well. Thanks to fight choreographer Al Varano, says Janetta, the action is kept safe for the actors. It also helps to have trust in one’s director, says Dorff.

Jim Speedy is the stage manager, and Marjorie Bicknell is the producer. Mike Delaney designed the lights.

Nature of rape, justice, explored in drama at LTM

Theatre

michael bupp/the Sentinel

David Blenderman, left, and Carolyn Dorff, rehearse a scene from “Extremi-ties” at Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg.

little theatre of mechanicsburg, 915 S. York St., presents “extremities” from march 23 to April 8. performances are 8 p.m. thursdays through Saturdays and 2:30 on Sundays. Audience mem-bers are requested to come a half-hour before curtain time.

tickets are $14, except for opening night, when there is a post-show reception and they are $16. for informa-tion and reservations, call 766-0535; www.ltmonline.net.

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Texas Tenors bring big sound - and hats - to Luhrs Center

Submitted photo

The Texas Tenors will perform on March 23 in Shippensburg.

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arch 15, 2012O

ut &

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out

By BarBara Trainin BlankSentinel correSpondentfrontdoor@cumberlink.com

Ashley Vlach and Kali Tennis have something in common besides being cast in Theatre Harrisburg’s “Dial M for Murder” as the ill-matched married cou-ple, Tony and Margot Win-dice.

Both are new in town.Vlach came here for a

13-week stint as a nurse at Hershey Medical Center. Tennis arrived recently with her husband, who is work-ing in the governor’s office.

One of the first things both of them did was to look up community-theater auditions.

“I was excited to see I would be here for the en-tire run of the show,” says Vlach, who is from Oxford, Miss.

Lamar Kukuk isn’t new in town, but he is performing at Theatre Harrisburg for the first time.

“I like mysteries,” he says, having just completed an-other one — Oyster Mill Playhouse’s “Angel Street,” though in a non-speak-ing role. Here, as Max, the American writer in love with Margot, he has a lot more to say. “I love the mental process of people hiding things. It’s fun to play.”

“Hiding things” is en-demic to the play, in which “every character is living a lie,” says Nels Martin, the technical director of The-atre Harrisburg making his directorial debut. “The challenge as director is to take melodramatic material and make it completely real and honest.”

Even the “purest” char-

acter — Max — is self-delu-sional. He thinks he can just call Margot up one day and pick up where they left off, a year after what was prob-ably an emotional affair, or to become a “part of her family,” Kukuk says.

“Dial M for Murder” was written by English play-wright Frederick Knott, also responsible for “Wait Until Dark.” It remains one of the most popular thrillers penned for the stage, having premiered in both London and New York in 1952.

Two years later, Alfred Hitchcock made a filmed version, starring Ray Mil-

land and Grace Kelly. Knott wrote the screenplay for the movie, which doesn’t de-viate much from the stage show.

Martin, who has per-formed in and directed in dozens of shows over the years, says he is taking a “different,” if not entirely new, approach to this one. He has decided on an alley-theater layout —in which audience members are placed in two sections, fac-ing each other.

One end of the perform-ing space represents the front door; the other, the French door. Both figure

prominently in the action.“Alley is often done in

plays with two completely opposing points of view,” Martin says. “I’ve done it with ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘West Side Story.’ But it’s not common for the American public.”

Although the original play is set in the 1950s, the Theatre Harrisburg pro-duction takes it into the present day. That required a few changes in dialogue.

What hasn’t changed is the suspense. Even though we know from the outset who the villain is (actually, villain and accomplice), we don’t know if he will suc-ceed, and if he’ll be caught.

Playing Tony, the charm-ing, former tennis star who isn’t above murder or blackmail, means being an actor playing an actor, ac-cording to Vlach.

“Tony acts all the way through,” he says. “Rarely does the reality come out, other than the fact that he wants to kill his wife—for her money.”

It’s probable, too, that he never loved her. Tony’s

ability to act is one reason the elegant Margot, whose “main goal is to be loved and wanted,” married him, says Tennis. “The way things look is more impor-tant than what really is. They look good together.”

Tony is cold but exciting, and ultimately that’s not enough. So Margot pursues the love of a second man.

It is one of the com-plexities of the play that the “purest” character is nonetheless one involved with a married woman. “I’m trying to find Max’s emotional core and stay true to it,” says Kuuk.

Tennis bridles somewhat against her character’s passivity. “Margot is not a contemporary woman,” she says. “She asks per-mission a lot. She comes from money, and is insu-lated.”

Still, Tennis admits, Margot shows an instinct for self-preservation. “She’s a survivor.”

Delighted as he is to be doing theater in general and his first murder mys-tery, Vlach finds one thing

troubling, sort of: “I’m trying not to enjoy being so bad,” he laughs. “I’m liking it too much.”

Rounding out the cast are Chris Fisher; Brandon Ru-binic; and Kerry Mowery.

Fischer is also stage m a n a ge r, wh i l e D i e -dra Adamiak is produc-tion manager. Paul Foltz is costume designer, and July Stuller is in charge of props.

Fri. & Sat., March 23rd & 24th

10am-4pm

125 Potato Road - CaRlisle, Pa - 717-776-6029

Visit our Website: www.mbgourds.com for our Spring Open House Events

Create-Your-Own Bunny 25% Off Sale in Retail Store

*Sale excludes raw gourds, Local Artists, food and crafting supplies.

Saturday, March 24th

10:30am-12:30pm& 1:30pm-3:30 pm

Create-Your-Own Cat Class

Spring Open HOuSe

This class will give you the opportunity to make a special cat gourd. To register, please call 776-6029 x102 or email bethm@mbgourds.com.

Create your own personally designed gourd bunny anytime during our store

hours. 4 sizes to choose from! No reservations needed.

Theatre

Man may kill rich wife in mystery

Submitted photo by Jadrian klinger

From left to right: Ashley Vlach, Kerry Mowery, Kali Tennis rehearse a scene from “Dial M For Murder.”

“dial m for murder” is presented march 23-April 1, with performances on march 23, 24, 30 and 31 at 8 p.m.; on march 28 and 29, at 7:30 p.m.; and march 25 and April 1 at 2. they take place at the krevsky production center of theatre Harrisburg, 513 Hurlock St., Harrisburg.

tickets are $25 each, except for the march 28 performance, when they are $15. for reservations and information, call 232-5501, or visit www.theatreharris-burg.com.

in Focus

By BarBara Trainin BlankSentinel correSpondentfrontdoor@cumberlink.com

When the proverbial cur-tain opens on the Allenberry Playhouse’s “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” the production won’t, strictly speaking, be taking place at the playhouse.

Rather, it will be at the Player’s Studio, once used for rehearsals only but now converted to a black-box theater.

“For many years, other artistic directors before me wanted to set up a black-box studio there, but it didn’t happen,” says Roque Berlanga, current artistic director. “My first year here, I painted the room black, but doing more was too am-bitious then. Now we have the theater.”

The studio will be used for small shows, such as Sam Shepard’s “True West” or Marsha Noman’s “’Night, Mother” —”edgier” than the ones usually done on the main stage. But “if a show takes off in the studio, perhaps the following year it could be moved to the main stage,” Berlanga says.

“Charlie Brown” is a 1967 musical comedy with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner and a book by John Gordon based on the “Peanuts” comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. Opening off-Broadway, it then moved to Broadway in 1971, and was revived there in 1999.

The musical will be per-formed by the Allenberry Professional Theatre Con-servatory.

If the black-box theater is a dream come true, so is APTC, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedi-cated to the growth and de-

velopment of young artists. Programming includes the Winter Session, a Children’s Show, and two Summer Sessions.

Aimed for youngsters 8-17, APTC is now celebrating its fifth year at the Boiling Springs resort.

“We started with 40 stu-dents and have now reached 300 alumni,” says Berlan-ga. “We started with one five-day camp session, and now are doing five weeks of camp. ‘Charlie Brown’ is our 17th production.”

It is also the Winter Proj-ect slot for 2012. Anyone who enrolls in APTC is au-tomatically guaranteed a part in the production.

Mariana King, the 13-year-old homeschooled

student playing Snoopy, has appeared in professional shows, including on Allen-berry’s main stage, since the age of 9. Along the way she has learned a lot by doing.

But, says King, till now she hasn’t had the op-portunity to “be in a good [formal] learning environ-ment — and that is exactly what APTC is. I have been so happy learning new ideas and techniques from the staff. I am someone who loves to learn new things to improve my craft.”

The Lucy of the produc-tion, Michaela Coplen, wanted to gain more theater experience and education by performing in “Charlie Brown.” But, Coplen adds, she also wanted to do the

show because “APTC is a program that I believe in. It inspired me to continue my development as an artist and pursue a future career in theater.”

One thing K ing has learned is that the part you get may not be the one you thought you wanted, but you can end up loving it nonetheless.

“Snoopy has an interest-ing opinion on everything in life, and the fact that he is a dog makes everything even more interesting,” she says. “He also has many person-alities (as any dog does), which I love about him.”

Portraying Snoopy also brings a unique perspec-tive. “I can play a human anytime I want,” King adds.

“But how often will I get to play a dog? For my future career, I would like to play the comical/fun/differ-ent/interesting characters in shows. They tend to fit me best.”

Coplen, in contrast, went into auditions wanting the role of Lucy.

“Her combination of vi-vacity and tactlessness has always been hilarious to me,” she says. “I remember my older sister at Lucy’s age possessing some of the same bossy ‘know-it-all’ traits, so I’m definitely channeling her in this role.”

Human or animal, King says, the most challenging thing in theater is to say the lines as if you are the char-acter — cause it’s “easy to

just read them off the paper and not think about it.”

For Coplen, there is one additional challenge. Al-though her love of theater makes all the hard work worthwhile, it’s tough to balance her time and energy between “Charlie Brown” and her high-school musi-cal at Carlisle — ”Bye, Bye Birdie.” In that show she plays the spitfire Rosie.

Eventually, Berlanga hopes, APTC will morph into a year-round conser-vatory for students to take classes in acting, dance and voice all in the same place — as “one-stop shop.”

That’s the kind of school he had attended. And yes, he also played Snoopy.

Theatre

Allenberry inaugurates black-box theater with ‘Snoopy’

photos submitted by Allenberry professional theatre conservatory

Mariana King, left, who plays Snoopy, rehearses with Gwen Mahan, choreographer.

black-box performances of “You’re a Good man, charlie brown” are at 7:30 p.m. on march 22, 25 and 29 and April 1 and at 1 p.m. on march 24 and 31. there is also a main stage perfor-mance on easter Sunday, April 8, at 6 p.m. All perfor-mances are at Allenberry, 1559 boiling Springs road, boiling Springs.

tickets are $12 for all black box tickets. for the easter show, which includes a buffet, tickets are $39.95 for adults and $19.95 for children. call the box office, 258-3211, or visit: www.allenberry.com.

in Focus

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he S

entin

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arlis

le, P

a.Th

ursd

ay, M

arch

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012

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eatr

e

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berlink.comD

7 — The Sentinel, C

arlisle, Pa.Thursday, M

arch 15, 2012T

heatre

By BarBara Trainin BlankSentinel correSpondentfrontdoor@cumberlink.com

Ashley Vlach and Kali Tennis have something in common besides being cast in Theatre Harrisburg’s “Dial M for Murder” as the ill-matched married cou-ple, Tony and Margot Win-dice.

Both are new in town.Vlach came here for a

13-week stint as a nurse at Hershey Medical Center. Tennis arrived recently with her husband, who is work-ing in the governor’s office.

One of the first things both of them did was to look up community-theater auditions.

“I was excited to see I would be here for the en-tire run of the show,” says Vlach, who is from Oxford, Miss.

Lamar Kukuk isn’t new in town, but he is performing at Theatre Harrisburg for the first time.

“I like mysteries,” he says, having just completed an-other one — Oyster Mill Playhouse’s “Angel Street,” though in a non-speak-ing role. Here, as Max, the American writer in love with Margot, he has a lot more to say. “I love the mental process of people hiding things. It’s fun to play.”

“Hiding things” is en-demic to the play, in which “every character is living a lie,” says Nels Martin, the technical director of The-atre Harrisburg making his directorial debut. “The challenge as director is to take melodramatic material and make it completely real and honest.”

Even the “purest” char-

acter — Max — is self-delu-sional. He thinks he can just call Margot up one day and pick up where they left off, a year after what was prob-ably an emotional affair, or to become a “part of her family,” Kukuk says.

“Dial M for Murder” was written by English play-wright Frederick Knott, also responsible for “Wait Until Dark.” It remains one of the most popular thrillers penned for the stage, having premiered in both London and New York in 1952.

Two years later, Alfred Hitchcock made a filmed version, starring Ray Mil-

land and Grace Kelly. Knott wrote the screenplay for the movie, which doesn’t de-viate much from the stage show.

Martin, who has per-formed in and directed in dozens of shows over the years, says he is taking a “different,” if not entirely new, approach to this one. He has decided on an alley-theater layout —in which audience members are placed in two sections, fac-ing each other.

One end of the perform-ing space represents the front door; the other, the French door. Both figure

prominently in the action.“Alley is often done in

plays with two completely opposing points of view,” Martin says. “I’ve done it with ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘West Side Story.’ But it’s not common for the American public.”

Although the original play is set in the 1950s, the Theatre Harrisburg pro-duction takes it into the present day. That required a few changes in dialogue.

What hasn’t changed is the suspense. Even though we know from the outset who the villain is (actually, villain and accomplice), we don’t know if he will suc-ceed, and if he’ll be caught.

Playing Tony, the charm-ing, former tennis star who isn’t above murder or blackmail, means being an actor playing an actor, ac-cording to Vlach.

“Tony acts all the way through,” he says. “Rarely does the reality come out, other than the fact that he wants to kill his wife—for her money.”

It’s probable, too, that he never loved her. Tony’s

ability to act is one reason the elegant Margot, whose “main goal is to be loved and wanted,” married him, says Tennis. “The way things look is more impor-tant than what really is. They look good together.”

Tony is cold but exciting, and ultimately that’s not enough. So Margot pursues the love of a second man.

It is one of the com-plexities of the play that the “purest” character is nonetheless one involved with a married woman. “I’m trying to find Max’s emotional core and stay true to it,” says Kuuk.

Tennis bridles somewhat against her character’s passivity. “Margot is not a contemporary woman,” she says. “She asks per-mission a lot. She comes from money, and is insu-lated.”

Still, Tennis admits, Margot shows an instinct for self-preservation. “She’s a survivor.”

Delighted as he is to be doing theater in general and his first murder mys-tery, Vlach finds one thing

troubling, sort of: “I’m trying not to enjoy being so bad,” he laughs. “I’m liking it too much.”

Rounding out the cast are Chris Fisher; Brandon Ru-binic; and Kerry Mowery.

Fischer is also stage m a n a ge r, wh i l e D i e -dra Adamiak is produc-tion manager. Paul Foltz is costume designer, and July Stuller is in charge of props.

Fri. & Sat., March 23rd & 24th

10am-4pm

125 Potato Road - CaRlisle, Pa - 717-776-6029

Visit our Website: www.mbgourds.com for our Spring Open House Events

Create-Your-Own Bunny 25% Off Sale in Retail Store

*Sale excludes raw gourds, Local Artists, food and crafting supplies.

Saturday, March 24th

10:30am-12:30pm& 1:30pm-3:30 pm

Create-Your-Own Cat Class

Spring Open HOuSe

This class will give you the opportunity to make a special cat gourd. To register, please call 776-6029 x102 or email bethm@mbgourds.com.

Create your own personally designed gourd bunny anytime during our store

hours. 4 sizes to choose from! No reservations needed.

Theatre

Man may kill rich wife in mystery

Submitted photo by Jadrian klinger

From left to right: Ashley Vlach, Kerry Mowery, Kali Tennis rehearse a scene from “Dial M For Murder.”

“dial m for murder” is presented march 23-April 1, with performances on march 23, 24, 30 and 31 at 8 p.m.; on march 28 and 29, at 7:30 p.m.; and march 25 and April 1 at 2. they take place at the krevsky production center of theatre Harrisburg, 513 Hurlock St., Harrisburg.

tickets are $25 each, except for the march 28 performance, when they are $15. for reservations and information, call 232-5501, or visit www.theatreharris-burg.com.

in Focus

By BarBara Trainin BlankSentinel correSpondentfrontdoor@cumberlink.com

When the proverbial cur-tain opens on the Allenberry Playhouse’s “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” the production won’t, strictly speaking, be taking place at the playhouse.

Rather, it will be at the Player’s Studio, once used for rehearsals only but now converted to a black-box theater.

“For many years, other artistic directors before me wanted to set up a black-box studio there, but it didn’t happen,” says Roque Berlanga, current artistic director. “My first year here, I painted the room black, but doing more was too am-bitious then. Now we have the theater.”

The studio will be used for small shows, such as Sam Shepard’s “True West” or Marsha Noman’s “’Night, Mother” —”edgier” than the ones usually done on the main stage. But “if a show takes off in the studio, perhaps the following year it could be moved to the main stage,” Berlanga says.

“Charlie Brown” is a 1967 musical comedy with music and lyrics by Clark Gesner and a book by John Gordon based on the “Peanuts” comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. Opening off-Broadway, it then moved to Broadway in 1971, and was revived there in 1999.

The musical will be per-formed by the Allenberry Professional Theatre Con-servatory.

If the black-box theater is a dream come true, so is APTC, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedi-cated to the growth and de-

velopment of young artists. Programming includes the Winter Session, a Children’s Show, and two Summer Sessions.

Aimed for youngsters 8-17, APTC is now celebrating its fifth year at the Boiling Springs resort.

“We started with 40 stu-dents and have now reached 300 alumni,” says Berlan-ga. “We started with one five-day camp session, and now are doing five weeks of camp. ‘Charlie Brown’ is our 17th production.”

It is also the Winter Proj-ect slot for 2012. Anyone who enrolls in APTC is au-tomatically guaranteed a part in the production.

Mariana King, the 13-year-old homeschooled

student playing Snoopy, has appeared in professional shows, including on Allen-berry’s main stage, since the age of 9. Along the way she has learned a lot by doing.

But, says King, till now she hasn’t had the op-portunity to “be in a good [formal] learning environ-ment — and that is exactly what APTC is. I have been so happy learning new ideas and techniques from the staff. I am someone who loves to learn new things to improve my craft.”

The Lucy of the produc-tion, Michaela Coplen, wanted to gain more theater experience and education by performing in “Charlie Brown.” But, Coplen adds, she also wanted to do the

show because “APTC is a program that I believe in. It inspired me to continue my development as an artist and pursue a future career in theater.”

One thing K ing has learned is that the part you get may not be the one you thought you wanted, but you can end up loving it nonetheless.

“Snoopy has an interest-ing opinion on everything in life, and the fact that he is a dog makes everything even more interesting,” she says. “He also has many person-alities (as any dog does), which I love about him.”

Portraying Snoopy also brings a unique perspec-tive. “I can play a human anytime I want,” King adds.

“But how often will I get to play a dog? For my future career, I would like to play the comical/fun/differ-ent/interesting characters in shows. They tend to fit me best.”

Coplen, in contrast, went into auditions wanting the role of Lucy.

“Her combination of vi-vacity and tactlessness has always been hilarious to me,” she says. “I remember my older sister at Lucy’s age possessing some of the same bossy ‘know-it-all’ traits, so I’m definitely channeling her in this role.”

Human or animal, King says, the most challenging thing in theater is to say the lines as if you are the char-acter — cause it’s “easy to

just read them off the paper and not think about it.”

For Coplen, there is one additional challenge. Al-though her love of theater makes all the hard work worthwhile, it’s tough to balance her time and energy between “Charlie Brown” and her high-school musi-cal at Carlisle — ”Bye, Bye Birdie.” In that show she plays the spitfire Rosie.

Eventually, Berlanga hopes, APTC will morph into a year-round conser-vatory for students to take classes in acting, dance and voice all in the same place — as “one-stop shop.”

That’s the kind of school he had attended. And yes, he also played Snoopy.

Theatre

Allenberry inaugurates black-box theater with ‘Snoopy’

photos submitted by Allenberry professional theatre conservatory

Mariana King, left, who plays Snoopy, rehearses with Gwen Mahan, choreographer.

black-box performances of “You’re a Good man, charlie brown” are at 7:30 p.m. on march 22, 25 and 29 and April 1 and at 1 p.m. on march 24 and 31. there is also a main stage perfor-mance on easter Sunday, April 8, at 6 p.m. All perfor-mances are at Allenberry, 1559 boiling Springs road, boiling Springs.

tickets are $12 for all black box tickets. for the easter show, which includes a buffet, tickets are $39.95 for adults and $19.95 for children. call the box office, 258-3211, or visit: www.allenberry.com.

in Focus

food. movies.entertainment.sports. parenting.

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— T

he S

entin

el, C

arlis

le, P

a.Th

ursd

ay, M

arch

15, 2

012

Th

eatr

e

Get all of your entertainm

ent news online at www.cum

berlink.comD

7 — The Sentinel, C

arlisle, Pa.Thursday, M

arch 15, 2012T

heatre

From staFF reportsfrontdoor@cumberlink.com

You’ve heard of the Irish tenors, with their larger-than-life voices. And ev-eryone knows that Texas is famed for having big hats and hair. If you combine those two things, you get the Texas Tenors.

Founded in 2009 by close friends Marcus Collins, J.C. Fisher and John Hagen, the group debuted on the real-ity TV show “America’s Got Talent.” Last year, fresh off their performance on the hit show, they were recom-mended to Leslie Folmer Clinton, the associate vice president for external affairs and director of the Luhrs Center at Shippensburg University.

“When I made my annual trip a year ago,” to a confer-ence for directors of per-forming arts centers, “they were a hot group that was being marketed to perform in performing arts centers,” Folmer said. “They were coming off ‘America’s Got Talent,’ they were well-known, and I thought the audience in our area would enjoy and appreciate them.

“We’ve had tenor groups before, but their appearance, being from Texas, is differ-ent than traditional tenor groups, like the Irish tenors. They can sing everything from classical-type mu-sic to country. It really runs the gamut. They don’t set up like a typical tenor group would, and that helps make them unqiue. A group like this, with their voices, would sound phenomenal in our acoustical facilities.

“I’m just looking forward to having them here. Here’s an opporunity to hear three men — if you like country or classical or gospel or Broad-way, you get it all in one show,” she added.

ticketsThe show will be held at

8 p.m. Friday, March 23, in the Luhrs Center. Reserved tickets are $44, $39, $35 and $28 and are now on sale. A group discount is available for groups of 20 or more. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Luhrs Center Box Office at 477-SHOW (7469) or online at luhrscenter.com.

BiosThe tenors are J.C. Fish-

er, John Hagen and Marcus Collins.

Fisher has a bachelor’s de-gree in music and performed in various roles in college, including Rodolfo in “La Boheme,” Tamino in “The Magic Flute,” Ernesto in “Don Pasquale,” and Hen-rick in “A Little Night Mu-sic.” After college, he trav-eled to Lucca, Italy, where he sang in the Puccini fes-tival under the direction of acclaimed Italian maestro Lorenzo Malfatti.

Born and raised on a cattle ranch in Texas, he and his wife now live with their two sons in Kansas.

Hagen made his Lincoln Center debut in New York City in Teatro Grattacielo’s mounting of Mascagni’s “Gulglielmo Ratcliff.” He created three tenor roles in the world premiere of “The Lost Dauphane” for Pamiro Opera airing on PBS. He has performed a vast array of operatic roles ranging from Alfredo in “La Traviata” to the title role in “Otello” for Cleveland Opera on tour. He has taught voice at Wartburg College and at his alma ma-ter, the University of North-ern Iowa. He divides his time in Texas performing, spend-ing time with family, and running a small art gallery in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Collins was born in a small town and began to sing at the age of four. He first learned how to sing by emulating his favorite ra-dio artists like Garth Brooks and George Michael before training classically in col-lege. He has performed in New York City with the cast of “Hairspray,” Off-Broad-way’s “Altar Boyz,” “Joseph and the Amazing Tech-

nicolor Dreamcoat,” and as Jinx in “Forever Plaid.” Be-yond music, he has worked extensively as an actor with appearances in over 100 episodes of network televi-sion, 25 films, and numer-ous commercials. His work includes “P.S. I Love You,” “Across The Universe,” “30 Rock,” “Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles,” “Sex and the City,” and re-curring roles on “One Life To Live” and “As The World Turns.”

Through their efforts with charities like “Homes For Our Troops” and “The Mission Project,” the Tex-as Tenors are bringing their message of “follow-ing your dreams and hope for a brighter future” with them wherever they go.

Their debut album, “Coun-try Roots-Classical Sound,” soared to No. 1 on both the classical and country charts in 2010.

The Texas Tenors hope to continue this tradition with the 2012 release of their sophomore album, “You Should Dream,” devoted to the classical treatment of beloved country, Broadway and standard favorites.

For more information about The Texas Tenors vis-it www.thetexastenors.com. For additional information about this performance or other performances within the 2011-2012 Luhrs Center series, call the Luhrs Center Box Office at 477-SHOW (7469) or visit the Luhrs Center website at luhrscen-ter.com.

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William Mastrosimone isn’t known for light top-ics. His plays include “Cat’s Paw,” about a terrorist mo-tivated by water pollution, and “Bang, Bang You’re Dead,” about school vio-lence.

“Extremities,” next on stage at Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg, concerns a young woman attacked in her home by a would-be rapist. After she manages to tie him up, her two room-mates return — expressing different views about rape in society and what should be done with him.

Heather Janetta saw the four-person play years ago, and ever since had want-ed to direct it at LTM. Past boards had hesitated be-cause of the language and content.

“If people don’t know a show, they tend not to come,” Janetta agrees. “But I like to make people think. I think art should make people have a conscience. Nothing has changed since 1980. There are women in the military who are raped, and it’s swept under the rug.”

One thing that has changed is that the legal definition of rape has been expanded. Another is that more and more, experts emphasize that rape is an act of violence and power — not sex.

“Extremities” opened off-Broadwy in 1982, star-ring Susan Sarandon. Far-rah Fawcett later took over the role, and a film version followed.

The play was inspired by an encounter Mastrosi-

mone had with a woman who had been raped. Her attacker had been caught and tied, but she was psy-chologically terrified and finally left town. Before she did she shared with the playwright that there was one moment when the man had stopped in an attempt to get a cigarette, when she might have kicked him. But

she found herself unable to move — perhaps because it was so engrained that hurt-ing someone was wrong.

Her missed opportunity translates in the play to Marjorie’s rough handling of Raul, the would-be rap-ist. “She is a survivor, who does what she has to do,” says Carolyn Dorff, in the part.

Raul, played by David Blenderman, ends up being both perpetrator and vic-tim.

“The playwright presents him as a real person,” says the actor, who had done scenes from “Extremities” in college. “It’s intimated that he was abused as a child, but he has a sense of humor and can be charm-

ing. He’s someone who might have been OK.”

But he is also “twisted” — shut off from human feel-ing, a sociopath, the actor adds.

Still, by the end, Marjo-rie breaks him down. “He is not beyond redemption,” Blenderman says.

Marjorie is not only an-gry at what Raul has tried to do to her but practical: because no rape has actu-ally occurred and she has no bruises, she would prob-ably never be able to prove anything against him.

In at least one of the roommates — they are played by Susan Wray Dan-owitz and Miranda Baldys — the playwright offers prototypes of women un-sympathetic to other wom-en.

Defense attorneys of ac-cused rapists prefer women on the jury, Janetta points out, because men tend to feel protective of rape vic-tims — seeing in them their own mothers, sisters, wives or daughters. Female jurors, though, tend to distance themselves by seeing the rape as the victims’ fault, for walking alone or night or being provocative.

“Her roommates tell her that she’s always dressing and posing for men,” says Dorff. “It bothers them that their boyfriends are more attracted to her.”

Often women are their own worst enemies, she adds.

To enhance the educa-tional aspect of the play, representatives of the Har-risburg and Carlisle YWCAs will provide printed mate-rials on the subject of rape and violence toward women and will be present at per-formances. They will also participate in a special talk

back following the April 1 matinee performance.

Both the director and lead actors agree this isn’t an easy show. “It’s so intense that people will almost think there was a rape,” says Blenderman. “It’s edge-of-your-seat theater.”

The intensity is physi-cal as well. Thanks to fight choreographer Al Varano, says Janetta, the action is kept safe for the actors. It also helps to have trust in one’s director, says Dorff.

Jim Speedy is the stage manager, and Marjorie Bicknell is the producer. Mike Delaney designed the lights.

Nature of rape, justice, explored in drama at LTM

Theatre

michael bupp/the Sentinel

David Blenderman, left, and Carolyn Dorff, rehearse a scene from “Extremi-ties” at Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg.

little theatre of mechanicsburg, 915 S. York St., presents “extremities” from march 23 to April 8. performances are 8 p.m. thursdays through Saturdays and 2:30 on Sundays. Audience mem-bers are requested to come a half-hour before curtain time.

tickets are $14, except for opening night, when there is a post-show reception and they are $16. for informa-tion and reservations, call 766-0535; www.ltmonline.net.

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Texas Tenors bring big sound - and hats - to Luhrs Center

Submitted photo

The Texas Tenors will perform on March 23 in Shippensburg.

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Early childhood music educa-tion helps children achieve basic competence

When most of us think about music education, we think about music in our K-12 schools and teaching older students how to play musical instruments or sing.

What about early childhood music education? If you’re look-ing to create a supportive musi-cal environment for your child in the home, there is a local pro-gram that can help you do just that.

Music Together is a interna-tionally recognized program for babies through kindergarten age that is research based and devel-opmentally appropriate. There are two local teachers, Carol

Henry and Janet Spahr who are both firmly committed to this program and its benefits for young children and their care-givers.

I recently attended one of Carol Henry’s classes in Boiling Springs. The parents and care-givers stay involved with their children the entire class. There is never any pressure to make the children do something they don’t want to do.

As Carol told me, the twofold purpose of the curriculum for children who go through the

program is to help them develop their rhythmic skills and be able to sing on pitch. Research has shown that the preschool years are the years to most easily learn these skills. As part of the class, parents are given a songbook with suggestions for their chil-dren to do at home and CDs. The goal is to make this music mak-ing a daily part of the child’s life.

Carol Henry teaches in Boiling Springs, Shippensburg and Her-shey, and you can contact her for more information at 243-7301. Janet Spahr teaches in Carlisle

and her number is 258-4934. A new semester of classes is start-ing soon.

In case you missed the Carlisle performance by the Center Stage Opera last weekend, there will be two more performances of Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pa-gliacci on Friday and Saturday evenings at Camp Hill United Methodist Church (417 S. 22nd St, Camp Hill). Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for stu-dents. Please visit www.csopera.org for more information.

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Music Notes

Programs offered locally to start music education early

Top Songs1. “We Are Young (feat. Janelle Monae),” Fun.

2. “Glad You Came,” The Wanted

3. “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You),” Kelly Clarkson

4. “Starships,” Nicki Minaj5. “Wild Ones (feat. Sia),”

Flo Rida6. “Somebody That I Used

to Know,” Gotye7. “Part of Me,” Katy Perry8. “Call Me Maybe,” Carly

Rae Jepsen9. “Set Fire to the Rain,”

ADELE10. “Drive By,” Train

Top Albums1. “Wrecking Ball,” Bruce

Springsteen2. “21,” ADELE

3.”Spring Break 4....Suntan City,” Luke Bryan

4. “Project X (Origi-nal Motion Picture

Soundtrack),” Various Artists

5. “Some Nights,” Fun.6. “Making Mirrors,”

Gotye7. “Break It Yourself,”

Andrew Bird8. “Careless World - Rise of the Last King,” Tyga

9. “Up All Night,” One Direction

10. “Footloose (Music from the Motion Picture),”

Various Artists

Top Paid iPhone Apps1. Draw Something by OMGPOP (OMGPOP)

2. iPhoto (Apple)3. Fancy Pants (Chillingo

Ltd)4. Where’s My Water?

(Disney)5. Angry Birds (Clickgamer.

com)6. Fruit Ninja (Halfbrick

Studios)7. WhatsApp Messenger

(WhatsApp Inc.)8. Zuma’s Revenge! (Pop-

Cap)9. Camera+ (tap tap tap)10. Bejeweled (PopCap)

Top Free iPhone Apps:1. Draw Something Free

(OMGPOP)2. Jenga (NaturalMotion)3. Plumber Crack (Fluik)4. Facebook (Facebook,

Inc.)5. Camera Awesome

(SmugMug)6. Pocket Whip (App City)

7. Temple Run (Imangi Studios, LLC)

8. Hidden Objects: Gardens of Time (Disney)

9. Flashlight ? (iHandy Inc.)

10. USA TODAY for iPhone (USA TODAY)

Top Paid iPad Apps:1. iPhoto (Apple)

2. Draw Something by OMGPOP (OMGPOP)3. Where’s My Water?

(Disney)4. Fancy Pants (Chillingo

Ltd)5. Coco Loco (Chillingo

Ltd)6. Zuma’s Revenge! HD

(PopCap)7. The Lorax — Dr. Seuss

(Oceanhouse Media)8. Pages (Apple)

9. GarageBand (Apple)10. Angry Birds Seasons HD (Rovio Mobile Ltd.)

Top Free iPad Apps1. Draw Something Free

(OMGPOP)2. Plumber Crack (Fluik)

3. Temple Run (Imangi Studios, LLC)

4. iBooks (Apple)5. Skype for iPad (Skype

Software S.a.r.l)6. Fancy Pants Lite (Chill-

ingo Ltd)7. Lowe’s Creative Ideas

Magazine (Lowe’s Compa-nies, Inc.)

8. Hidden Objects: Gar-dens of Time (Disney)9. NCAA March Madness

Live (NCAA Digital)10. Angry Birds HD Free

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iTunes Top 10Compiled by The Associated Press

Nightlife

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day right this year

By LiSA CLArkeSENTINEL CORRESPONDENT

St. Patrick’s Day may have started out as a re-ligious celebration, but these days popular cul-ture has broadened the event into a celebration of all things Irish. This year, warm weather, longer daylight hours, and a Sat-urday night date conspire to bring back that Celtic feeling in a grand way.

irish pubsThe Harrisburg area may

be thousands of miles away from the Emerald Isle, but there is no shortage of Irish pubs in the area.

If you want to experi-ence the St. Pat authentic-style on the West Shore, try Coakley’s on Bridge Street in New Cumberland where the party has been going on all week long with special Irish fare as well as live Irish dancing. In downtown Harrisburg, McGrath’s, Molly Branni-gan’s, and Ceolta’s start the day early and end late as Restaurant Row’s holi-day headquarters.

Just outside of town, T. Brendan O’Reilly’s, located in the Best Western at 800 East Park Drive in Harris-burg, offers special Irish menus, including a buffet on Saturday starting at 4 p.m. On Saturday night, the Tap Room features area favorites The Luv Gods providing musical enter-tainment.

The area’s major music venues also get in the spirit of the season on Saturday. The Appalachian Brew-

ing Company’s Abbey Bar features Celtic rockers the Kilmaine Saints starting at 9 p.m., while the Har-risburg M idtown Arts Center’s Stage on Herr checks in with bluegrass band Colebrook Road and Friends presenting their “St. Paddy’s Day Special.”

Tickets for the Kilmaine Saints are $7 in advance or $10 at the door at ABC, 50 N. Cameron St.,in Harris-burg. Doors open at 7:30 p.m, information is avail-able at www.greenbelte-vents.com. The Stage on Herr event opens at 7 p.m. at its 268 Herr St. location. For more information visit www.stageonherr.net.

ConcertLooking for a suds-free

way to celebrate? The Har-risburg Symphony Orches-tra has just the ticket as it joins forces with vocalist Ronan Tynan for “Irresist-ibly Irish.” The program is part of the Capital Blue

Cross-sponsored Pops se-ries, and features Tynan, a founding member of the world famous “Irish Ten-ors” performing his sig-nature blend of powerful music and Irish humor.

B o r n i n Jo h n s tow n , County Kilkenny in Ire-land, Tynan is an award-winning performer who has performed for digni-taries including U.S presi-dents and the Pope, as well as at several American sports venues. While he is best known for his voice in Europe, American audi-ences also know him as an in-demand motivational speaker.

Dancers from the Mc-Ginley School of Irish Dance, the largest Irish dance school in Cen-tral Pennsylvania, will also perform. The school trains children from age 3 through adulthood and are sanctioned by Cumann Rince Naisiunta in Dublin, Ireland. They have partici-

pated in Feiseanna (Irish Dancing competitions) at the local, national and world level.

For the pre-gamers, a V.I.P. Backstage Party is planned in the Forum’s Green Room, including a meet-and-greet with Maestro Stuart Malina and Lena McGinley-Cro-sier.

The shows take place at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 17 and at 3 p.m. on Sun-day, March 18 at the Fo-rum, located at 5th and Walnut streets in Harris-burg. Tickets are $10 to $58 for the performance. V.I.P. Backstage Party tickets are $15. For more information and tickets, visit www.harrisburgsym-phony.org.

Irish tenor Ronan Tynan will perform with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra this week-end.

Submitted photo

By LAuren MCLAneSENTINEL REPORTERLMCLANE@CUMBERLINK.COM

“I learned fairly early in my mar-riage that I did not have to confide everything on my mind to my hus-band; this would be putting on him burdens which I was supposed to carry myself.”

So writes Madeleine L’Engle on page 73 of her autobiographical work, “Two-Part Invention: The Story of A Marriage.” The fourth and final part of a series called “The Crosswicks Journals,” the book is L’Engle’s reflections on her mar-riage to actor Hugh Franklin, her husband of 40 years, during the summer when he has been diag-nosed with bladder cancer.

The narrative opens with L’Engle reflecting on her and her husband’s vastly different upbringings in the post-Great War, pre-Depression Era worlds of socialite New York (her) and middle America Tulsa (him).

Throughout the 232-page book, L’Engle weaves reflections on her life, name-dropping Broadway stars with whom Hugh acted or with whom they dined with humorous anecdotes about buying a decades-old house in need of massive re-

pairs that two actors were neither physically nor financially capable of managing.

Love storyThe book is the most articulate,

well-written, poignant love story I have ever read. Over the years, I have bought more than a dozen copies of the book to give to friends as a wedding present.

Married in 1946, L’Engle and Franklin were born and raised in an era that did not condone pre-mari-tal co-habitation or sexual rela-tions, and certainly didn’t condone

discussing them in public.“I go to my lonely bed, thinking

of Hugh alone in his hospital room, grateful for the nurses who are so good to him. During the night I reach out with my foot through force of habit to touch his sleeping body. And he is not there. Never-theless, we have been making love during this time in a profound way. He is making love with me in the pressure of his fingers. I am making love when I do simple little bodily services for him. How many times he has taken care of me! And that is intercourse as much as the more usual ways of expressing our sexu-ality,” L’Engle writes on page 184.

It is for this passage that I so fre-quently buy this book and give it to my friends who are getting mar-ried. In their passion, I want to re-mind them that the fiery passions will fade, and there will come a time when making love is holding ice chips to your beloved’s lips rather than kissing them.

FaithIn the book, L’Engle takes us on

a journey with her — a journey of faith, of hope, of love, of death, of sadness, of grief, of mourning. Written deep in every line of the book is L’Engle’s Christian faith.

Raised an Episcopalian, she was, for a time, the librarian and writer-in-residence at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. She writes throughout the book about the de-votions she is reading, the strength she finds in Scriptures, the ques-tions she lobs at God, the solace she takes in prayer and communion in a fellowship of believers.

L’Engle’s seminal work, the Time series — “A Wrinkle In Time,” “A Wind in the Door,” “A Swiftly Tilt-ing Planet,” “Many Waters,” and “An Acceptable Time” — were banned by bookstores for being both too Christian and not Chris-tian enough. L’Engle, during her life, gave interviews on the sub-ject, at one point saying, “Religion and science? One and the same. I don’t have any trouble with it. A lot of people do. They have to put one here and one there, and I think they’re much more like that, each one informing the other. Religion is less accepting than science. Science knows things move and change, and religion doesn’t want that. So I am more comfortable with science. At the same time, I am not throwing God out the window.”

HopeIn “Two-Part Invention,” L’Engle

shows deeply and truly the source, the depth, the breadth, the fullness of her faith.

“I look at my husband’s beloved body and I am very aware of the mystery of the Word made flesh, his flesh, the flesh of all of us, made potential when that first great Word was spoken that opened the tiny speck from which came all the gal-axies, all the solar systems, all of us,” she writes on page 193.

Throughout her narrative, L’Engle keeps alive her hope — and her readers’ hopes — that Hugh will rally and live, that he will survive the cancer and surgeries and infections and complications of his disease.

He does not.

LovePer a conversation they had often,

L’Engle has instructed the doctors not to take heroic actions, not to prolong death. She demands to be with him when he dies. She is.

She writes, eloquently and mov-ingly and tear-jerkingly of the cul-mination of their long-ago prom-ised wedding vows: “wedded husband and wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for bet-ter for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.”

Book Review

Book captures picture of a marriage, after the passion

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usic

BY DAVID GERMAINAP Movie Writer

In the opening sequence of “A Thousand Words,” Eddie Murphy starts with his back to the camera then turns abruptly to reveal a strip of duct tape over his mouth.

A very good idea, if the once hip fast-talker of “Beverly Hills Cop” is go-ing to continue using hol-low, stumbling comedies such as this as his mouth-piece to the world.

The notion of taking away motor-mouth Mur-phy’s ability to spew words sounds like a bizarre film-making choice until you encounter the obnoxious clown he plays here, boor-ish literary agent and in-attentive family man Jack McCall. He’s so annoying you’ll be aching for the moment the action comes around to that opening image when the duct tape gets slapped over Jack’s mouth. That would be so he’ll hold his tongue after a bodhi tree magically ap-pears in his backyard and begins losing leaves each time he utters a word, and he learns through a guru’s mystical guesswork that when the last leaf falls, he’ll die.

Oh, yeah. About that plot. What left field did this senseless story from screenwriter Steve Koren (“Jack and Jill”) come out of? And why didn’t Mur-phy, director Brian Rob-bins and a team of produc-ers including Nicolas Cage weed it out before it took root in theaters that would be better used showing retrospectives of Murphy’s “Nutty Professor” flicks or even his dreadful “Norbit.”

“A Thousand Words,” which was made in 2008 yet sat on the shelf until

now, is a movie built on drivel. Murphy’s Jack is a jerk, but a run-of-the-mill jerk, making the filmmak-ers’ effort to build some sort of cosmic cautionary warning around him feel like overkill, like taking a Garden Weasel into the kitchen to toss a salad.

Here’s where Jack’s at as the film opens: He’s the ace at his literary agency, not through sleaziness but just through rude, crude pushiness. He clearly loves his wife (Kerry Washing-ton) and young son, but he’s not good at the fam-ily thing yet and needs to man up a bit. He’s got a mother (Ruby Dee) whose memory is slipping but is well-cared for at a lovely facility, where he visits her dutifully. He treats his as-sistant (Clark Duke) and

others in his circle like personal serfs, though he’s more neglectful than abu-sive about it.

All in all, a thoughtless loudmouth, but certainly not a terrible man.

When he tries to sign su-perstar self-help guru Sin-ja (Cliff Curtis) as a book client, he gets a few mild gibes about his lifestyle from the spiritual guide. Next thing you know, a bo-dhi tree from Sinja’s retreat transplants itself to Jack’s backyard, a leaf dropping for each word Jack utters or writes. Sinja guessti-mates there are a thousand leaves left and that when the last one falls, Jack will croak.

What? Umm, OK. It ap-parently made sense to Murphy and the filmmak-ers, including Robbins,

who previously directed him in “Norbit” and the flop “Meet Dave.”

They strain to sow laughs out of this thin, pointless idea with dumb slapstick and pratfalls and a lot of wordless mugging by Mur-phy, who proves he can be just as insufferable when he’s not talking as when he is. Along the way, we get simple-minded moralizing about what’s important in life: family, humility, gen-

erosity, treating people with respect — all the stuff that Eddie Murphy stands for.

Dee almost brings a few moments of grace to the movie, until you remember what movie she’s in, then you just feel sad she’s there at all. It’s equally sad to see Allison Janney wasting her presence as Jack’s boss.

Jack’s a guy who’s not worth the universe’s ex-treme spiritual minis-

trations. His story’s not worth your time. And “A Thousand Words” is not worth any more dismissive words. It needs to make like a tree and leave.

“A Thousand Words,” a DreamWorks film distrib-uted by Paramount release, is rated PG-13 for sexual situations including dia-logue, language and some drug related humor. Run-ning time: 91 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.

A guide to area events

Inside

MUSIC |D5-4,9The Texas Tenors bring their big sound and big hats to the Luhrs

Center stage later in March. Music Notes: Early music education has lifelong benefits; classes offered

locally. Also, iTunes’ top songs and album downloads.

NIGHTLIFE | D9Find plenty of ideas for a tradi-tionally festive St. Patrick’s Day

this weekend and also some alter-native, suds-free entertainment.

THEATRE | D6-8Catch one of several shows opening

this month: “Dial M For Murder” is guaranteed to thrill while “Ex-

tremities” will appeal to those not necessarily looking for lighthearted entertainment. Also, Allenberry in-augurates its black-box theater with

a production of “Snoopy.”

BOOKS | D9“A Story of Marriage” resonates

with reviewer who recommends it as a ‘must read’ for those tying the

knot.

MOVIES | D10-11See reviews of two blockbusters opening this month. Also, see

what’s playing on the big screen at local movie theaters this weekend.

Art

On the cover: The Texas Tenors will be performing at the Luhrs Center in Shippensburg next week.

CHRISTY LEMIREAP Movie CritiC

Mark Duplass has said that he and his brother, Jay, look to the veteran Belgian filmmaking brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for artistic inspiration, with their naturalistic, documentary-style ap-proach to telling feature stories.

That’s evident once again in “Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” a sweet, slight tale told with simple inti-macy and a deadpan tone to its absurd humor. Not much happens over a me-andering day in suburban Baton Rouge, La., but it all builds to a climax that makes the journey worth-while. And it reveals that between this and the 2010 comedy “Cyrus,” the Du-plass brothers have figured out how to continue plac-ing their signature, impro-visational, indie stamp as writers and directors, even as they keep making big-ger studio films with well-known actors.

Jason Segel plays the tit-ular character, a 30-year-old, pot-smoking slacker who still lives in the base-ment of his childhood home. (A side note: New Orleans natives Jay and Mark Duplass moved back into their parents’ house with their own families while shooting on loca-tion.) But Jeff is a thinker

and a dreamer. Inspired by the M. Night Shyamalan movie “Signs,” he believes there are no coincidences, that everything happens

for a reason if you’re will-ing to open your mind and pay attention to the daily details that can determine your fate.

And so a simple errand for his widowed, enabling mother (Susan Sarandon in a lovely, understated per-formance) to pick up some

wood glue at the hardware store turns into a weird and winding adventure involv-ing pick-up basketball, amateur sleuthing and an

elusive man named Kevin who may hold the key to today’s true destination. The Duplasses create the sensation that we’re just following along wherever Jeff takes us, without judg-ment.

Along the way, Jeff crosses paths with his old-er brother, Pat (Ed Helms), who’s his exact opposite in terms of values and tem-perament. He’s constantly trying too hard to impress both personally and pro-fessionally, and he’s des-perately hoping to keep his marriage alive to the increasingly distant Linda (Judy Greer). All of these comic actors find different sorts of laughs — sadder, truer ones — by toning down some of their usual tendencies. They’re no less effective this way, but the shift does provide an unexpected tone.

Still, for a frequently sil-ly comedy, one of the fun-niest and most memorable elements is unabashedly romantic: Jeff and Pat’s mom, Sharon, has a se-cret admirer at work, and the way this enlivens her dreary, cubicle-dwelling doldrums is nothing short of magical. She seems willing to open herself to what the universe is trying to tell her, too, for the first time in a long time.

In some ways this sub-plot could have been its own film. Still, Jeff’s mys-tical approach to life is in-escapable, and everyone’s better for it — whether they’re paying attention to the signs or not.

“Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” a Paramount Van-tage release, is rated R for language including sexual references and some drug use. Running time: 82 minutes. Three stars out of four.

Movies

Review: ‘Jeff’ a sweet, slight comic adventure

Above: In this film image released by

Paramount Vantage, Jason Segel plays Jeff

in a scene from “Jeff, Who Lives at Home.”

(AP Photo/Paramount Vantage, Hilary Bron-

wyn Gayle)Right: Jason Segel and

Ed Helms in a scene from “Jeff, Who Lives at

Home.”

Associated Press

Jason Segel plays the titular character, a 30-year-old, pot-smoking slacker who still lives in the basement of his childhood home.

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Texas Tenors

AALIVEEntErtainmEnt in thEhEart of thE midstatE

INSIDE•••Local theatres

offer variety of ‘can’t miss’ shows

this month ••• D6-8

Section DMarch 15, 2012

w w w . c u m b e r l i n k . c o m

The Sentinelw w w . c u m b e r l i n k . c o m

Trio to hit Luhrs Center stage next week ••• D5

• “Heaven” by Kate Stewart will be on display at the Gettys-burg College Schmucker Art Gallery from March 28 through April 21. Artist’s talk will be at noon March 28 and the artist’s reception will be from 5 to 7 p.m., also on March 28.

• York College of Pennsylvania will host its annual juried student exhibition from March 15 through April 3. exhibition reception will be from 3 to 5 p.m., thursday, March 15 at the Wolf Hall lobby.

• The Art Association of Harrisburg will host a five-artist invitational exhibition featuring oil works, watercolors, mixed media works and photographs and will be on display from April 6 through May 10. For more information visit www.artassocofhbg.com.

• Leslie Halaby-Moore, a chain maille jewlrey artist, will be the “artist in action” at the village Artisans Gallery March 17 from 1-4 p.m.

• Stephen Winn will present “‘iN’terior Design ‘oUt’ of the Box” as part of the CALC lecture series from 7 to 8 p.m. March 19 at CALC, 19 N. Hanover St.

• Art work from former and current Camp Hill School District visual arts faculty will be on display through the month of March at the Grace Milliman Pollack Performing Arts Center lobby.

• CASD Student Art Show will be at the Carlisle Arts Learning Center, March 26 through April 21. An opening reception will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Friday, March 30.

• Susquehanna Valley Plein Air Painters and Margaret Quintanar’s Pysanki eggs will be on display from May 4 to June 2 at the Carlisle Arts Learning Center. opening reception will be held May 4.

• “Perry County Home” by Chris Lyter will be on display at the PCCA Gallery March 14-April 18.

• Spring art classes are forming now at the Art Center School and Galleries in Mechanicsburg. For more information call 697-2072 or visit www.mechanicsburgartcenter.com.

• the Council for the Arts of Chambersburg will present “Play-ing with Color” art class on tuesdays from 9:30 to 11 a.m. for home schooled students age 10 and older from March 13 to April 3 at the council’s Main Street site. For more information contact Laurie McKelvie at 477-2132 or lauriemckelvie@comcast.net.

• the Perry County Council of the Arts will host “Drawing the Line” from March 16 through May 24 at Landis House, 67 N. Fourth St., Newport, www.perrrycountyarts.org.

• Susan Courtney, tom Svec, Jeffrey tritt and Gordan Wenzel will display their art at the Art Association of Harrisburg, 21 N. Front St. through March 29.

Alibis Eatery & Spirits10 N. Pitt St.

Carlisle , 243-4151alibispirits.com

Thursday, March 15: Natty Boh specials Friday, March 16: Band night: “Not Guilty” at 9 p.m. Saturday, March

17: “St. Patty’s Day Celebration” open at noon, DJ at 10 p.m. Monday, March 19: Yuengs and Wings Tuesday, March 20: Team Trivia, 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 21: Open mic,

8 p.m.

Appalachian Brewing Company50 N. Cameron St.

Harrisburg, 221-1080 www.abcbrew.com

Thursday, March 15: ZOSO - The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience, 8 p.m., $12 Friday, March 16: The Greatest

Funeral Ever and Black Coffee, 9 p.m., no cover Saturday, March 17: Kegs and Eggs, 9-11 a.m./ Kilmaine Saints, $7.

Sunday, March 18: The Oxymorons Improv Comedy Show, 7 p.m., $7 cover Monday, March 19: The Wood

Brothers

Gullifty’s Underground1104 Carlisle Road

Camp Hill, 761-6692www.gulliftys.net

Friday, March 16: Tilt, 8 p.m. doors, 9:30 show, $7 Sat-urday, March 17: Alternative Education, 8 p.m. doors, 9

shows, $7

Holly Inn31 S. Baltimore Ave.

Mt. Holly Springs, 486-3823www.hollyinn.com

Friday, March 16: Blackhand, 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Saturday, March 17: DJ Don, karoke and dancing, 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Sunday, March 18: Open mic with Roy Bennett

and Friends, 6:30 p.m.

Market Cross Pub & Brewery113 N. Hanover St.Carlisle, 258-1234

www.marketcrosspub.com Thursday, March 15: Thirsty Thursdays with Wade Yankey

Celtic Duo, 8 to 11 p.m. Friday, March 16: Across the Pond, 10 p.m. Saturday, March 17: Kegs and eggs at 11 a.m.

The SceneA look at local nightlife

In this film image released by Paramount Pictures, Eddie Murphy, left, and Cliff Curtis are shown in a scene from “A Thousand Words.”

Associated Press

Movies

Review: Murphy’s ‘Thousand Words’ should shut up

Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions:G — General audiences. All ages admitted.PG — Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.PG-13 — Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13. Some material may

be inappropriate for young children.r — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.NC-17 — No one under 17 admitted.

Ratings

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Out & AboutSpecial Events MusicTheater

Event information can be submitted via email to frontdoor@cumberlink.com, by mail, 457 E. North St., Carlisle, PA 17013 or by fax at 243-3121. For more information, visit www.cumberlink.com/entertainment

• “Green Buildings of York,” a downtown walking tour will be held at 2 p.m. April 21. The tour starts at Continental Square. For more information visit downtownyorkpa.com/walking-tours.

• Ballroom dancing classes will be offered at the LeTort View Com-munity Center on the Carlisle Barracks beginning April 17. The date of the remaining classes are: April 25, May 2, 7, 16, 23 and 29. Beginner class at 5:30 p.m. covers swing, tango, cha-cha and foxtrot. Advance class at 6:30 p.m. covers advance swing, waltz, rumba, mabo, two-step and hustle. Cost is $30 per person for the seven-week class. For more information contact Frank Hancock at 241-4483 or fhancock@comcast.net.

• Pat’s Singles Club will hold a dance from 7 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday April 1, at the Valencia Ballroom, York. DJ Ray Thomas will provide the dance music. Cost is $10.

• “Pal Joey” will be shown at the Hershey Theatre at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 18. Tickets are $7. For more information visit www.hersheytheatre.com.

• The Susquehanna Story Tellers Guild presents “Tales for St. Patrick’s Day” at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 17, in the Centennial Barn at the Fort Hunter Mansion and Park, Harrisburg. Admission is $5 for adults, $2.50 for children 12 and under. For more information call Spike Spilker at 737-8438.

• Second Floor gallery in Mechanicsburg to host a wine and cheese reception 6-9 p.m. Saturday March 17. View hundreds of pieces of artwork while listening to live blues, folk and rock by guitarists Douglas Gibboney and Kevin Kline. This event is free. Visit www.2ndfloorgallery.com or call 697-0502 for more information.

• Pat’s Singles Club will hold a dance from 7 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday March 25 at the Wisehaven Ballroom, York. “Saxy” will provide the music. Cost is $10.

• West Shore Recreation Commission presents “Smooth Dancing for Beginners” from 7 to 8 p.m. Mondays, March 26 through April 23 at the Ballroom Break in Lewisberry. And, “Latin Dancing for Beginners” 6 to 7 p.m. Mondays, March 26 through April 23, also at the Ballroom Break. Cost is $64 for residents and $77 for others. For more information visit www.wsrec.org.

• The York County Heritage Trust will present “homebrew workshops” March 31, April 14 and May 2. Cost is $70 call 848-1587 for more informa-tion.

• Rosemary Ellen Guiley will dicuss her book “The Vengeful Djinn” at 7 p.m. at the Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop.

• “Let’s Dance!” will be held from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Saturday, March 17 at the Valencia Ballroom, York. Cost is $10. Dance lessons with Frank Hancock start at 6:15 p.m. and cover foxtrot and cha-cha. For more information visit letsdance4fun.org.

• Metropolitan Area Dance Club will host a dance from 7 to 11 p.m. on March 17, 24 and 31 at the PA Dance Sport Ballroom in Hummelstown. For more information call 774-2171.

• Dickinson College to present a student performance of “The Arsonists,” at 8 p.m. March 30-31 and April 2-3 in the Mathers Theatre in the Holland Union Building. For more information, tickets call 245-1327. Tickets are $7.

• Oyster Mill Playhouse will hold auditions for its up-coming production of “Twelve Angry Jurors” at 7 p.m. March 25 and 26. For more information go to www.oystermill.com.

• The H. Ric Luhrs Center presents “Suessical” at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. March 17. For more information or to purchase tickets visit luhrscenter.com or call 477-SHOW.

• The Hershey Theatre presents “Memphis” from Tuesday, April 10 through Sunday, April 15. Tickets are $25 to $80. For more information visit hersheytheatre.com or ticketmaster.com.

• Harrisburg Shakespeare Company will be holding au-ditions for its upcoming performance of “Romeo and Juliet” from 7 to 9 p.m. April 4 and 6 and for actors out of the area auditions will be held from 11 to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 7. To make an audition appointment call 238-4111.

• The Court Street Cabaret will perform at March 16-17 at 8 p.m. in the Angino Family Theatre at Open Stage of Har-risburg. Tickets are $18. For more information call 232-OPEN or openstagehbg.com.

• Adams County School of Musical Theatre will hold auditions for their upcoming musicals, ‘You’re a Good man Charlie Brown” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” at 2 p.m. March 17 and at 6 p.m. March 18. For more information visit www.acsmt.org or call 334-2692.

• Chambersburg Ballet Theatre presents “Collabora-tions Sacred and Classical” April 3, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10. Call 709-1800.

• The Lions Community Theater will present “Annie” March 29-31 at 7:30 p.m. and March 31 at 2 p.m. at Shaull Elementary School. Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for stu-dents. For more information or to order tickets call 582-2037.

• The Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet presents “Giselle” at 1 and 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 21 and at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 22 at the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts. For tickets or more information call 214-ARTS or whita-kercenter.org.

• Carlisle High School will present “Bye Bye Birdie” on March 15, 16 at 7:30 p.m. and March 17 and 18 at 3 p.m. at the McGowan Building’s Barr Auditorium, 723 W. Penn St. Reserved tickets for the Thursday and Friday shows are $10 for adults, $8 for students. General admission tickets for the Saturday and Sunday shows are $8 for adults and $6 for stu-dents. The box office is located in the McGowan Auditorium lobby.

• The Rumpke Mountain Boys will perform from 10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Friday, March 16 at Blondies on High Street, Carlisle. Cost is $5, must 21 or older.

• The Texas Tenors will perform at 8 p.m. on March 23 at the H. Ric Luhrs Center, Shippensburg. Tickets are $28 to $44. For tickets call 477-SHOW or go online, luhrscenter.com.

• Members of the Wednesday Club will perform a concert at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 24 at the West Shore Baptist Church, Camp Hill. For more information visit wednesdayclub.org or call 234-4856.

• George Winston will perform at 7:30 p.m. March 24 at the Whitaker Center’s Sunoco Performance Theater. Tick-ets are S35.50 and $39.50. For more information visit www.whitakercenter.org/sunoco-performance-theater.

• Dickinson College faculty will present the works of Polish composer Karol Szymanowski at 7 p.m., March 31 at the Rubendall Recital Hall in the Weiss Center for the Arts. The event is free and open to the public.

• The Gettysburg College Choir will present a free concert at 8 p.m. March 24 at the college’s Christ Chapel.

• The Crimson Frog Coffeehouse presents Besty Barnicle, Irish fiddle music on March 16; Marie Smith on March 24; Poetic Perkolation on March 27; Open mic with Jonathan Frazier on March 28 and Herr Street on March 31.

• Dickinson College faculty will present a recital, “Dan-iel Brye With espirit!” at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 25 at the Rubendall Recital Hall in the Weiss Center for the Arts. The event is free and open to the public.

• The Kim Thompson Group featuring guitarist

Mike Moreno will perform at 6 p.m. at the Sheraton Har-risburg Hershey Hotel, 4650 Lindle Road, Harrisburg, on April 22.

• Casting Crowns to perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 30 at the Giant Center, Hershey. Tickets are $21.50 to $75 and are available at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 534-3911.

• Beck and Benedict Hardware Music Theatre presents Stoney Creek Bluegrass Band and Apsen Run Bluegrass Band at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 17 in Waynesboro. Cost is $13 and children under 12 are free. Call 762-4711 or visit www.beck-benedicthardware.com.

• The Shippensburg University Community Orches-tra will present “Favorites from the Stage and Screen” at 3 p.m., Sunday, April 22 at the H. Ric Luhrs Performing Arts Center. Visit www.luhrscenter.com or call 477-1638.

Now showing

Regal Carlisle Commons 8 Noble Boulevard

21 Jump Street (R) Fri. 2:20, 5, 7:50, 10:30, Sat.-Sun. 11:45 a.m., 2:20, 5, 7:50, 10:30, Mon.-Thu. 2:20, 5, 7:50Act of Valor (R) Thu. 2, 4:40, 7:50, Fri.-Sun. 1:25, 4, 7:10, 9:50, Mon.-Thu. 1:25, 4, 7:10Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax 2D (PG) Thu. 2:10, 4:30, 6:50, Fri. 2:10, 4:30, 6:50, 9, Sat.-Sun. 12, 2:10, 4:30, 6:50, 9, Mon.-Thu. 2:10, 4:30, 6:50Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax 3D (PG) Thu. 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, Fri. 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 10, Sat.-Sun. 12:40, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 10, Mon.-Thu. 2:50, 5:10, 7:30Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 3D (PG-13) Thu. 7:10John Carter 2D (PG-13) Thu. 1:20, Fri.-Thu. 1:15John Carter 3D (PG-13) Thu. 4:20, 7:20, Fri.-Sun. 4:20, 7:20, 10:20, Mon.-Thu. 4:20, 7:20Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D (PG) Thu. 2:20, 4:50Project X (R) Thu. 2:30, 5, 7:40, Fri. 2:30, 4:40, 7:40, 10, Sat.-Sun. 12:10, 2:30, 4:40, 7:40, 10, Mon.-Thu. 2:30, 4:40, 7:40Silent House (R) Thu. 2:40, 5:20, 8, Fri. 2:40, 4:50, 8, 10:10, Sat.-Sun. 12:20, 2:40, 4:50, 8, 10:10, Mon.-Thu. 2:40, 4:50, 8The Vow (PG-13) Thu. 1:50, 4:10, 7, Fri.-Sun. 1:40, 4:10, 7, 9:30, Mon.-Thu. 1:40, 4:10, 7

Cinema Center of Camp Hill 3431 Simpson Ferry Road

21 Jump Street (R) Fri.-Thu. 11:10 a.m., 1:45, 4:15, 7, 9:35Act of Valor (R) Thu. 11:30 a.m., 2, 4:40, 7:05, 9:40, Fri.-Thu. 12, 2:30, 4:55, 7:15, 9:35The Artist (PG-13) Thu. 11:05 a.m., 1:25, 3:50, 6:30, 8:45, Fri.-Thu. 11:05 a.m., 3:50, 6:30Dr. Seuss The Lorax 2D (PG) Thu. 11 a.m., 1:10, 3:30, 5:40, 7:45, 9:45, Fri.-Thu. 11 a.m., 1:10, 3:30, 5:40, 7:45, 9:40Dr. Seuss The Lorax 3D (PG) Thu.-Thu. 11:50 a.m., 2:10, 4:30, 6:40, 8:45Friends with Kids (R) Fri.-Thu. 11:05 a.m., 1:40, 4:20, 7:20, 9:50Gone (PG-13) Thu. 1:50, 4:15John Carter 2D (PG-13) Thu.-Thu. 3:45, 6:45John Carter 3D (PG-13) Thu.-Thu. 12:30, 9:30Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D (PG) Thu. 12:20, 2:35, 5:05, Fri.-Thu. 11:40 a.m., 2, 4:20Project X (R) Thu. 1:30, 3:40, 5:45, 7:50, 9:55, Fri.-Thu. 1:30, 3:40, 5:40, 7:45, 9:50Safe House (R) Thu. 7, 9:40, Fri.-Thu. 7:05, 9:40The Secret World of Arriety (G) Thu. 11:40 a.m., 2:05Silent House (R) Thu. 1:20, 3:20, 5:30, 7:40, 9:55, Fri.-Thu. 1:20, 3:20, 5:30, 7:40, 9:45This Means War (PG-13) Thu. 11:20 a.m., 4:05, 7:30, Fri.-Thu. 11:20 a.m., 1:40, 7:30A Thousand Words (PG-13) Thu. 12:15, 2:40, 4:55, 7:20, 9:30, Fri.-Thu. 12:15, 2:40, 4:55, 7:10, 9:15Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds (PG-13) Thu. 11:15 a.m.The Vow (PG-13) Thu. 4:50, 7:15, 9:35, Fri.-Thu. 1:25, 8:45Wanderlust (R) Thu. 1:40, 9:50Woman in Black (PG-13) Thu. 7:25, 9:35, Fri.-Thu. 4:05, 9:45

Great Escape continued

A Thousand Words (PG-13) Thu. 11:50 a.m., 2:05, 4:25, 7, 9:15, Fri.-Thu. 11:50 a.m., 2:05, 4:25, 6:50, 9:10Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds (PG-13) Thu. 12:15, 4, 6:45, 9:30, Fri.-Thu. 7:05, 9:40The Vow (PG-13) Thu. 1:45, 6:50Wanderlust (R) Thu. 9:25

Flagship Cinemas 4590 Carlisle Pike, Mechanicsburg

21 Jump Street (R) Fri.-Thu. 12:30, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30, 9:55

Continued next column

Great Escape 3501 Paxton St.

21 Jump Street (R) Fri.-Thu. 11:25 a.m., 12:05, 2, 2:40, 4:40, 5:20, 6:30, 7:15, 8, 9:05, 9:55Act of Valor (R) Thu. 11:20 a.m., 1:55, 4:30, 7:20, 10, Fri.-Thu. 11:20 a.m., 1:55, 4:30, 7:20, 10:05Dr. Seuss The Lorax 2D (PG) Thu.-Thu. 11:30 a.m., 12:30, 1:40, 2:45, 3:50, 4:55, 6:40, 9Dr. Seuss The Lorax 3D (PG) Thu.-Thu. 12, 2:10, 4:20, 7:30, 9:35Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 2D (PG-13) Thu. 11:20 a.m., 4:20, 9:20Gone (PG-13) Thu. 7:05John Carter 2D (PG-13) Thu. 11:15 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 2:15, 3:35, 5:15, 6:30, 9:30, Fri.-Thu. 11:45 a.m., 3:35, 6:30, 9:30John Carter 3D (PG-13) Thu. 12:45, 4:15, 7:15, 8:15, 10:15, Fri.-Thu. 12:45, 4, 7, 8:10, 10Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 2D (PG) Thu. 7:25, 9:45, Fri.-Thu. 11:25 a.m., 1:45, 4:05Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D (PG) Thu.-Thu. 12:20, 2:40, 5:05Project X (R) Thu.-Thu. 12:40, 2:50, 5, 7:40, 9:50Safe House (R) Thu.-Thu. 11:40 a.m., 2:15, 4:50, 7:35, 10:10Silent House (R) Thu.-Thu. 12:10, 2:30, 4:45, 7:50, 10

Continued next column

Flagship continued

Act of Valor (R) Thu.-Thu. 11:50 a.m., 2:30, 4:55, 7:40, 10:05Dr. Seuss The Lorax 2D (PG) Thu.-Thu. 11:40 a.m., 2, 6:40Dr. Seuss The Lorax 3D (PG) Thu.-Thu. 4:20, 9Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 3D (PG-13) Thu. 2:50, 9:55John Carter 3D (PG-13) Thu.-Thu. 12:40, 3:30, 7, 9:50Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D (PG) Thu. 12:30, 5:10, 7:30, Fri.-Thu. 12:10, 6:50Project X (R) Thu.-Thu. 12:20, 2:40, 5, 7:50, 10:10Silent House (R) Thu. 12, 2:20, 4:40, 7:10, 9:20, Fri.-Thu. 12, 2:20, 4:40, 7:10, 9:30This Means War (PG-13) Thu.-Thu. 12:50, 3:20, 7:20, 10The Vow (PG-13) Thu. 12:10, 3, 6:50, 9:30, Fri.-Thu. 3, 9:10

Regal Harrisburg 14 1500 Caughey Drive

21 Jump Street (R) Fri.-Sun. 12:50, 1:50, 3:40, 4:40, 6:30, 7:30, 9:10, 10:10, Mon.-Thu. 1:50, 3:40, 4:40, 6:30, 7:30, 9:10, 10:10Act of Valor (R) Thu. 1:50, 4:30, 7:10, 10, Fri. 1:10, 3:50, 6:50, 9:50, Sat.-Sun. 6:50, 9:50, Mon.-Thu. 3:50, 6:50, 9:50The Artist (PG-13) Thu. 1:45, 6:45TCM Presents Casablanca 70th Anniversary Event (NR) Wed. (March 21) 2, 7Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax 2D (PG) Thu. 2, 4:10, 6:20, 8:30, Fri.-Thu. 1:40, 4, 6:10, 8:30Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax 3D (PG) Thu. 3, 5:10, 7:20, 9:30, Fri.-Sun. 12:40, 2:50, 5, 7:10, 9:30, Mon.-Thu. 2:50, 5, 7:10, 9:30Friends with Kids (R) Fri.-Thu. 2, 4:50, 7:40, 10:15Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance 3D (PG-13) Thu. 6:10, 8:50, Fri.-Sun. 3:30, 9:15, Mon.-Thu. 3:30Gone (PG-13) Thu. 2:20, 7:45John Carter 2D (PG-13) Thu. 3:50, 6:50, Fri. 3:20, 6:20, Sat.-Thu. 3:20, 6:20John Carter 3D (PG-13) Thu. 1:40, 4:40, 7:40, 9:50, Fri. 1:20, 4:20, 7:20, 9:20, 10:20, Sat.-Thu. 4:20, 7:20, 9:20Journey 2: The Mysterious Island 3D (PG) Thu. 3:40LA Philharmonic: Gustavo Dudamel and Her-bie Hancock Celebrate Gershwin (G) Sun. 2Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake in 3D (PG-13) Tue. (March 20) 7:30Project X (R) Thu. 3:20, 5:30, 8, 10:15, Fri.-Sun. 12:45, 3, 5:10, 7:50, 10, Mon.-Thu. 3, 5:10, 7:50, 10Safe House (R) Thu. 4:20, 7, 9:40, Fri.-Sun. 1:15, 4:15, 7:05, 9:45, Mon.-Thu. 4:15, 7:05, 9:45Silent House (R) Thu. 3:10, 5:20, 7:50, 10:20, Fri.-Sun. 1, 3:10, 5:20, 8, 10:25, Mon.-Thu. 3:10, 5:20, 8, 10:25This Means War (PG-13) Thu. 4:15, 9:20A Thousand Words (PG-13) Thu. 2:10, 4:50, 7:30, 10:10, Fri.-Thu. 2:10, 4:30, 7, 9:40Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds (PG-13) Thu. 3:30, 6:30, 9:10, Fri.-Sun. 12:55, 6:40, Wed.-Thu. 6:40The Vow (PG-13) Thu. 4, 6:40, 9:25, Fri.-Sun. 1:30, 4:10, 6:45, 9:25, Mon.-Thu. 4:10, 6:45, 9:25Wanderlust (R) Thu. 5, 10:30

Carlisle Theatre 44 W. High St.

The Iron Lady (PG-13) Fri.-Sat. 7:30, Sun. 2, Wed.-Thu. 7:30Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (R) Thu. 7:30

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ovies

CHRISTY LEMIREAP Movie CritiC

Mark Duplass has said that he and his brother, Jay, look to the veteran Belgian filmmaking brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for artistic inspiration, with their naturalistic, documentary-style ap-proach to telling feature stories.

That’s evident once again in “Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” a sweet, slight tale told with simple inti-macy and a deadpan tone to its absurd humor. Not much happens over a me-andering day in suburban Baton Rouge, La., but it all builds to a climax that makes the journey worth-while. And it reveals that between this and the 2010 comedy “Cyrus,” the Du-plass brothers have figured out how to continue plac-ing their signature, impro-visational, indie stamp as writers and directors, even as they keep making big-ger studio films with well-known actors.

Jason Segel plays the tit-ular character, a 30-year-old, pot-smoking slacker who still lives in the base-ment of his childhood home. (A side note: New Orleans natives Jay and Mark Duplass moved back into their parents’ house with their own families while shooting on loca-tion.) But Jeff is a thinker

and a dreamer. Inspired by the M. Night Shyamalan movie “Signs,” he believes there are no coincidences, that everything happens

for a reason if you’re will-ing to open your mind and pay attention to the daily details that can determine your fate.

And so a simple errand for his widowed, enabling mother (Susan Sarandon in a lovely, understated per-formance) to pick up some

wood glue at the hardware store turns into a weird and winding adventure involv-ing pick-up basketball, amateur sleuthing and an

elusive man named Kevin who may hold the key to today’s true destination. The Duplasses create the sensation that we’re just following along wherever Jeff takes us, without judg-ment.

Along the way, Jeff crosses paths with his old-er brother, Pat (Ed Helms), who’s his exact opposite in terms of values and tem-perament. He’s constantly trying too hard to impress both personally and pro-fessionally, and he’s des-perately hoping to keep his marriage alive to the increasingly distant Linda (Judy Greer). All of these comic actors find different sorts of laughs — sadder, truer ones — by toning down some of their usual tendencies. They’re no less effective this way, but the shift does provide an unexpected tone.

Still, for a frequently sil-ly comedy, one of the fun-niest and most memorable elements is unabashedly romantic: Jeff and Pat’s mom, Sharon, has a se-cret admirer at work, and the way this enlivens her dreary, cubicle-dwelling doldrums is nothing short of magical. She seems willing to open herself to what the universe is trying to tell her, too, for the first time in a long time.

In some ways this sub-plot could have been its own film. Still, Jeff’s mys-tical approach to life is in-escapable, and everyone’s better for it — whether they’re paying attention to the signs or not.

“Jeff, Who Lives at Home,” a Paramount Van-tage release, is rated R for language including sexual references and some drug use. Running time: 82 minutes. Three stars out of four.

Movies

Review: ‘Jeff’ a sweet, slight comic adventure

Above: In this film image released by

Paramount Vantage, Jason Segel plays Jeff

in a scene from “Jeff, Who Lives at Home.”

(AP Photo/Paramount Vantage, Hilary Bron-

wyn Gayle)Right: Jason Segel and

Ed Helms in a scene from “Jeff, Who Lives at

Home.”

Associated Press

Jason Segel plays the titular character, a 30-year-old, pot-smoking slacker who still lives in the basement of his childhood home.

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