Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina, this week's featured adaptation, is dividing the critics. Shallow, overblown eye candy? Faithful retelling of Tolstoy's tale of doomed lovers? You'll have to judge this one for yourself. But don't be surprised if you get an argument, including whether Keira Knightly was the right choice for Anna. Here are excerpts from some reviews: -- Tribune: At its most frantic the cutting and staging here veers perilously close to Baz Luhrmann "Moulin Rouge!" territory for comfort.

Anna Karenina, this week's featured adaptation, is dividing the critics. Shallow, overblown eye candy? Faithful retelling of Tolstoy's tale of doomed lovers? You'll have to judge this one for yourself. But don't be surprised if you get an argument, including whether Keira Knightly was the right choice for Anna. Here are excerpts from some reviews: -- Tribune: At its most frantic the cutting and staging here veers perilously close to Baz Luhrmann "Moulin Rouge!" territory for comfort.

Olney Theatre's production of Anna Karenina is astonishing, bewildering, clever, disjointed, evocative, fraught, galvanizing, humdrum, insightful, jerky, kaleidoscopic, lucid and morbid. You could exhaust half the letters in the alphabet, or more. You could pick your adjectives almost at random and never go wrong, because how you respond to this adaptation by British playwright Helen Edmundson largely will depend on the filter you bring to it. And if you've ever taken a course in world literature in college, or even a high school honors English class, chances are that you have some familiarity with Anna.

The last commandment in Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing declares that an author should "try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip." The people at Phoenix Press think a number of classic authors were negligent in observing this rule. Anna Karenina, for instance, weighs in at a whopping 800-plus pages. Who can possibly hope to read that and still have time to watch Dancing with the Stars? "The great classics contain passionate romance, thrilling adventure, interesting characters, and unforgettable scenes and situations," Phoenix generously acknowledges.

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)was born in Yasnaya Polyana, Russia, into an aristocratic family. Orphaned at 9, he was brought up by an elderly aunt and studied at Kazan University, but did not graduate. After several aimless years in town and countryside, Tolstoy served as an officer in the Caucasus, wrote his first novels, and after the Crimean War retired as commander. He returned to St. Petersburg a literary star, traveled abroad and married Sophie Behrs in 1862. They had 13 children. He is best remembered for some of the most important fiction ever written - "War and Peace" (1869)

The title of our film tonight is "Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina." If you're waiting for "Danielle Steel's Anna Karenina" or "Stephen King's Anna Karenina," please return to the lobby.Happily, "Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina" actually does hew closely, even reverently, to Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina," arguably literature's greatest piece of romance writing. Perhaps, though, the film could have benefited from a little more Danielle Steel. Or at least a little more sex.Is that a sacrilege? Yes, but at the core of Tolstoy's 19th-century novel is a passion so surpassing, so searing, its consequences sunder lives every which way. Screenwriter and director Bernard Rose ("Immortal Beloved")

Winners will be announced in ceremonies to be televised at 9 tonight on WBAL (Channel 11).* Play: "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches," Tony Kushner; "Someone Who'll Watch Over Me," Frank McGuinness; The Sisters Rosensweig," Wendy Wasserstein; "The Song of Jacob Zulu" Tug Yourgrau.* Musical: "Blood Brothers," "Kiss of the Spider Woman," "The Goodbye Girl," "The Who's Tommy."* Revival: "Anna Christie," "Saint Joan," "The Price," "Wilder, Wilder, Wilder."* Actor, Play: K. Todd Freeman, "The Song of Jacob Zulu"; Ron Leibman, "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches"; Liam Neeson, "Anna Christie"; Stephen Rea, "Someone Who'll Watch Over Me."

The last commandment in Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing declares that an author should "try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip." The people at Phoenix Press think a number of classic authors were negligent in observing this rule. Anna Karenina, for instance, weighs in at a whopping 800-plus pages. Who can possibly hope to read that and still have time to watch Dancing with the Stars? "The great classics contain passionate romance, thrilling adventure, interesting characters, and unforgettable scenes and situations," Phoenix generously acknowledges.

British playwright Helen Edmundson is equal parts chemist, historian, literary sleuth and trapeze artist. All these talents are needed to adapt for the stage such epic novels as Tolstoy's War and Peace and George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss. The latter was seen in an acclaimed production at the Kennedy Center in 2001. Now, Edmundson's staging of Anna Karenina, which has been performed worldwide, runs through Sept. 21 at the Olney Theatre Center. These adaptations showcase Edmundson's ability to craft an imaginative visual language that expresses the spirit of these mammoth - and seemingly unstageable - novels.

Anybody who dedicates his life to reading books believes in rescuing things from oblivion," a character says halfway into Nilo Cruz's Anna in the Tropics. The 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning play not only advocates rescuing books, it also advocates rescuing romance, family and tradition. As is fitting for a play about old-fashioned ideals, Anna - which is receiving its area premiere at Washington's Arena Stage - is also structurally old-fashioned, and the tale it tells is, in many respects, a time-worn account of love and loss.

Anybody who dedicates his life to reading books believes in rescuing things from oblivion," a character says halfway into Nilo Cruz's Anna in the Tropics. The 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning play not only advocates rescuing books, it also advocates rescuing romance, family and tradition. As is fitting for a play about old-fashioned ideals, Anna - which is receiving its area premiere at Washington's Arena Stage - is also structurally old-fashioned, and the tale it tells is, in many respects, a time-worn account of love and loss.

British playwright Helen Edmundson is equal parts chemist, historian, literary sleuth and trapeze artist. All these talents are needed to adapt for the stage such epic novels as Tolstoy's War and Peace and George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss. The latter was seen in an acclaimed production at the Kennedy Center in 2001. Now, Edmundson's staging of Anna Karenina, which has been performed worldwide, runs through Sept. 21 at the Olney Theatre Center. These adaptations showcase Edmundson's ability to craft an imaginative visual language that expresses the spirit of these mammoth - and seemingly unstageable - novels.

Olney Theatre's production of Anna Karenina is astonishing, bewildering, clever, disjointed, evocative, fraught, galvanizing, humdrum, insightful, jerky, kaleidoscopic, lucid and morbid. You could exhaust half the letters in the alphabet, or more. You could pick your adjectives almost at random and never go wrong, because how you respond to this adaptation by British playwright Helen Edmundson largely will depend on the filter you bring to it. And if you've ever taken a course in world literature in college, or even a high school honors English class, chances are that you have some familiarity with Anna.

Many writers have soared into reverie for Greta Garbo - most famously Kenneth Tynan when he wrote, "What when drunk one sees in other women, one sees in Garbo sober." But too often that mode of praise feeds into her mystique without crediting her amazing skill. Tonight at 7:30, as part of Vivat!, the Walters Arts Museum, the Maryland Film Festival and the Johns Hopkins Film and Media Studies program will present the 1927 silent romance Love, featuring Garbo's incandescent first performance in the role of Anna Karenina (she did the more famous sound version in 1935)

Novelist Francine Prose, in the Feb. 13 issue of the New York Times Magazine published a one-note rant about the "stupid and narcissistic" onslaught of woman-oriented pop culture. She torched Anna Quindlen, Oprah, Oxygen, iVillage.com, "Providence," Faith Popcorn, Women.com, "Bridget Jones's Diary," "Judging Amy," "Allure," Diane Keaton, Meg Ryan, and "The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing" (though, weirdly, she didn't even mention Lifetime, "television for women," and, sadly, her deadline preceded the premier of "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-millionaire?"

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)was born in Yasnaya Polyana, Russia, into an aristocratic family. Orphaned at 9, he was brought up by an elderly aunt and studied at Kazan University, but did not graduate. After several aimless years in town and countryside, Tolstoy served as an officer in the Caucasus, wrote his first novels, and after the Crimean War retired as commander. He returned to St. Petersburg a literary star, traveled abroad and married Sophie Behrs in 1862. They had 13 children. He is best remembered for some of the most important fiction ever written - "War and Peace" (1869)

Orem, Utah. -- I don't know about you, but I got a lot of paper clips this year for the Holidays. Aunt Mable sent chocolate-covered paper clips from the Antibes (she goes there for her athlete's foot.)The Barnstables, who used to live across the street and had the dog with dandruff, sent a nice card and included one of those gag paper clips -- you know, you put it on a birthday cake and light it and then when you blow it out it relights itself. Corny gag, but it was nice to hear from them.

A New York auction house is gearing up for throngs of Greta Garbo fans curious about the reclusive actress who wanted so fervently to be alone.Officials at Sotheby's said they were expecting thousands of people to visit a preview exhibition of this week's sale of art and furnishings once owned by the Swedish-born actress, who died in April at 84."There's an awful lot of excitement," said Sotheby's president Diana Brooks. "People feel like they're getting a glimpse of this woman."The collection, valued at more than $20 million, is scheduled to be sold in three separate auctions this week at the venerable auction house.

The title of our film tonight is "Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina." If you're waiting for "Danielle Steel's Anna Karenina" or "Stephen King's Anna Karenina," please return to the lobby.Happily, "Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina" actually does hew closely, even reverently, to Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina," arguably literature's greatest piece of romance writing. Perhaps, though, the film could have benefited from a little more Danielle Steel. Or at least a little more sex.Is that a sacrilege? Yes, but at the core of Tolstoy's 19th-century novel is a passion so surpassing, so searing, its consequences sunder lives every which way. Screenwriter and director Bernard Rose ("Immortal Beloved")

They're everywhere in our house. The place is infested. Behind doors, under dirty laundry, in corners, on top of cabinets, hidden by piles of newspapers. We've lived in five houses and too many apartments to remember, and each time we've moved to a new address, they've come long for the ride.Not cockroaches.Books.Big books, small books, thin ones, fat ones. Dirty books, serious books, dumb ones and fun ones. I can't live without them.Yes, I am a book junkie, a bibliophile whose addiction borders on sickness.