GAZETTE
THE SUNDAY
LIFE& ARTS
COMEDY
SECTION E
APRIL 12, 2009
Brad Garrett, best known as Ray Romanos brother in the hit series Everybody Loves Raymond, brings his brand of comedy to Proctors Thursday night.
Garrett wont be TV brother in his stand-up routine
BY BILL BUELL Gazette Reporter
Brad Garrett
WHERE: Proctors, 432 State St., Schenectady WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday HOW MUCH: $60-$20 MORE INFO: 346-6204 or www. proctors.org
PETER R. BARBER/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER
Jaimen McMillan, bottom right, leads a movement class in the rennovated santuary of the Arts Center on the Hudson in Mechanicville . The grand hall is the setting for most of the performances and classes offered at the center. This spacious and acoustically perfect room is the former home of the St. Lukes Episocopal Church, which was close to being torn down before it became the arts center.
Soothing the soul
BY WENDY LIBERATORE Gazette Reporter MECHANICVILLE he grand hall in the Arts Center on the Hudson was silent. But the people, rimming the edges of this large sanctuary, communicated. With slow, sustained motion, they rocked back and forth on their feet and oated their arms toward the center. And in doing so, they created a vibrant, invisible stream of energy among them. These movers, actors, singers and gymnasts have come from as far as Germany, France and Mexico to take this course in Spacial Dynamics the practice of commanding a room and communicating without words.
Renovated old church becomes arts center in Mechanicville
rad Garrett doesnt want to mislead anyone. Hes nothing at all like Robert Barone, the character he played in Everybody Loves Raymond. The role won him three Emmys for Best Supporting Actor, but when Garrett shows up at Proctors on Thursday night at 8 hell be doing his stand-up routine, and thats a whole different animal than the guy he played on prime time television. Its important that people know my stand-up persona couldnt be further from my Robert character, said Garrett in a phone conversation from his home in Los Angeles earlier this month. Its an adultrated show. Its my slanted but honest viewpoint of life, of people, and of men and women. I dont get into politics too much. Im really not a political guy. I just say what Im thinking; maybe the things that other people are thinking but are afraid to say. Mostly, its a lot of fun. Garrett became one of the most recognizable things on television during the 10-year run of Everybody Loves Raymond, and since that show stopped production in
2005, his career hasnt at all slowed down. His current sitcom on Fox, Til Death, with Joley Fisher, has been renewed for its fourth season this fall; he had a nice supporting role in the 2007 movie, Music and Lyrics, with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore; and hes continued to perform as a stand-up comic. Stand-up is something you eventually get totally away from, or you continue to do it because its something you really enjoy, said Garrett. To me, its the only thing in this business that is totally solo. Youre your own director and writer. After that rst ve minutes of stand-up, whatever you did before doesnt matter. It either works or it doesnt. Its a very unique medium. Its fun, but after all these years, I still get nervous. After 30 years, Im still trying to tweak it. 1 Garrett, who is 6-foot-8 2, grew up in Southern California. At the See GARRETT, page E3
MUSIC
Miller, ASO will play Walton symphony
BY GERALDINE FREEDMAN For The Sunday Gazette ALBANY lbany Symphony Orchestra conductor David Alan Miller has wanted to conduct William Waltons ruggedly romantic rst symphony for years. Its the undisputed greatest English symphony, Miller said. But I couldnt nd a place to t it. That predicament changed last year when the New England Conservatory invited him to conduct the Walton with the conservatorys orchestra and scheduled the concert for December. Miller saw not
Albany Symphony Orchestra with utist Alexa Still
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday WHERE: Palace Theatre HOW MUCH: $49$20; $15, students MORE INFO: 465-4755 or www. albanysymphony.coml IN ADDITION: As part of the Orchestras Feeding America food drive, non-perishable food will be collected prior to the concert in the lobby and will be donated to the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York.
See ASO, page E3
Jaimen McMillan is the founder and director of the Arts Center on the Hudson, which he hopes will serve communities along the banks of the upper Hudson.
BIG PLANS
And for Jaimen McMillan, the founder of the Arts Center, this weeklong workshop is one small part of his plan for the newly renovated center on South Main Street. His aim, in the once-condemned St. Lukes Church, is to engage the community, and its surrounding towns, in all forms of artistic endeavors. The arts have a way of bringing people together, said McMillan as he sat in the basement of the Arts Center. Its
bigger than religion and politics. Last week, the center hosted The Open Window, a retelling of the story of Vedran Smailovic, the cellist of Sarajevo who spotlighted the 1992 genocide by performing at funerals and bombed-out buildings. The center staged a three-person play, The Gospel of John, on Good Friday. And this week, the center will welcome an international contingent to a weeklong
workshop Moving Through Trauma, a course to help victims overcome the haunting effects of their ordeal. Last December, when the center rst opened, McMillan was seeking the attention of a local audience with a oneman rendering of A Christmas Carol with British actor Ashley Ramsden. It was a fantastic, unbelievable show See CENTER, page E3
Albany Symphony Orchestra conductor David Alan Miller will conduct William Waltons rst symphony at the Palace Theatre Saturday.
NEVER TOO LATE
Ed McMullen always had a voice in the back of his head telling him to be an actor; he didnt listen until he was 32. E2.
BREAKING THE RULES
Director Jody Hill chips away at taboos, irreverence toward minorities and full-frontal male nudity in Observe and Report. E7.
INDEX
Books Environment Travel Week Ahead E8 E10 E6 E2
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