**** DS AUDIO DRAMA “BLOODLUST” NOMINATED FOR AWARD
**** DONNA McKECHNIE HONORED BY PROFESSIONAL DANCERS GROUP
**** JERRY LACY & LISA RICHARDS IN AWARD-WINNING ONLINE FILM
**** JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT TO GUEST ON “THE MUPPETS”
**** 1991 DARK SHADOWS REVIVAL TV SERIES IN NEW DVD RELEASE
SHADOWGRAM NEWS UPDATE # 369
November 18, 2015
Hello, Dark Shadows Fan,
Big Finish Productions (BFP) of England has produced and released 50 original audio dramas firmly based in the DS universe. Recorded in-studio, original DS actors revise their TV characters or portray new ones. A number of notable actors also participate. Each drama is released on CD and as digital downloads. These all-new DS “episodes” run approximately 1 hour each with dramatic tales from Collinwood and beyond.
SG congratulates BFP: Its 2015 13-part serial “Bloodlust” was nominated 11-17 on the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) “shortlist” for “Best Online Only Audio Drama” Award. It is 1 of 6 audio dramas cited, including 3 others (not DS) from BFP.
BBC.co.uk: “The finalists will be announced on Tues., 5 Jan., 2016. Winners will be announced at a ceremony in the Radio Theatre at BBC Broadcasting House London on the evening of Sun., 31 Jan….. Celebrating Audio Drama in the UK,” these awards recognize “the range, originality and cut-through quality of audio drama on air and online and give recognition to the creativity of actors, writers, producers, sound designers and others who work in this genre.” There are 11 award categories overall.
Triple SG #124-#125-#126 published newsletter included details and comments directly from writer/co-producer Joe Lidster, co-producer David Darlington, and BFP’s Joseph Smith. The SG issue also notes the 7 original DS actors heard in the drama. That SG is available. Please contact Marcy Robin at
ShadowGram@aol.com Newest audio dramas available now: “And Red All Over” is Mitch Ryan’s first audio drama as he reprises “Burke Devlin” for the first time since 1967, with Kathryn Leigh Scott. “Deliver Us from Evil” stars Lisa Richards and Chris Pennock. Kathleen Cody is featured in “Tainted Love.”
--- To order “Bloodlust” and other CDs: Dark Shadows Festival, P.O. Box 92, Maplewood, NJ 07040. darkshadowsfestival.com
(Note: A number of these dramas available from the Fest are autographed by the stars appearing in them)
To download the dramas from BFP:
http://www.bigfinish.com/hubs/v/dark-shadows **** DONNA McKECHNIE TO RECEIVE LEGACY AWARD
DONNA’s (Amanda Harris, Olivia Corey) acclaimed international career as a dancer/singer/actress will be honored 12-7 by the Dancers Over 40 (DO40) organization. She is 1 of 5 honorees at the “holiday celebration and awards event” in NYC.
Publicity: Dancers Over 40's “7th Annual Legacy Awards presentation is its most joyous…. Each honoree holds a special place in the world of dance and have all contributed to promoting Dancers over 40 and the History, Legacy and Lives of our community. The DO40 members honored this year come from Broadway, Ballet and Radio City Music Hall. Each of the 5 has “over 50 years in show business (and) have worked with all the greats - Robbins, Fosse, Bennett, Champion, de Mille, Gennaro, Layton and more.” They “have been at the forefront of promoting the History, Legacy and Lives of the mature dance community.
“DO40 is an all-volunteer, membership-driven non-profit arts organization dedicated to preserving the History, Legacy and Lives of our mature creative community, while sharing the knowledge with the younger generation just beginning their careers. The event will be videotaped and donated to the Jerome Robbins Dance Collection at Lincoln Center's Library for the Performing Arts.”
The Mon., 12-7 ceremony is 6-9pm at the LIPS Restaurant, 227 E. 56th St., NYC. Tickets $35-$50-$75. Reservations: Telecharge, 212-239-6200 or
www.telecharge.com; DO40 members call 212-947-8844 orwww.broadwayoffers.com with discount code. St. Luke's Box Office open 2-6pm daily, at 308 W. 46th St. For more information on DO40 and this event, call our Hotline at 212-330-7016
Fans in the area and those attending the ceremony are invited and encouraged to please share photos, program book, publicity materials, media coverage, etc. Please send all items to SG’s postal- or e- mail addresses at the end of this Update.
**** JERRY LACY & LISA RICHARDS: AWARD-WINNING FILM NOW ONLINE
JERRY (Tony Peterson, Rev. Trask, Lamar Trask, Gregory Trask) is the title character and LISA (Sabrina Stuart) is his wife in writer/director Ansel Faraj’s THE LAST CASE OF AUGUST T. HARRISON, released to rent on Vimeo On Demand 11-13. The independent feature film recently won these awards:
*Official Selection - 2015 Depth of Field International Film Festival – Winner: Best Film (Sci-Fi), Best Actor Jerry Lacy, Best Supporting Actress Maggie Wagner
*Official Selection - 2016 Other Venice Film Festival
*Official Selection - 2015 August Los Angeles Independent Film Festival - Official Nominee: Best Feature Film, Best Director -Ansel Faraj
Press Release: “A dark neo-noir thriller influenced by Val Lewton and (‘the great horror-sci fi writer’’) H.P. Lovecraft, set in and around Venice Beach, CA. August T. Harrison, private eye, comes out of retirement to solve what seems at first to be a bizarre missing persons case. But as he digs deeper, he finds himself caught in the middle of a dark conspiracy involving the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. Are Lovecraft's tales just fiction? Or do they hold the secrets of the cosmos?”
LAST CASE was privately screened for the cast, crew, and invited guests 6-28-15 at the historic Los Feliz Theatre in LA. The receptive audience included Jerry, Lara Parker, David & Chip Selby, Jim Pierson (Dan Curtis Productions, DS Festival), Marcy Robin (ShadowGram, DS Festival), and Kathy Resch (ShadowGram, DS Festival). Photos will be in the upcoming SGF #127 print newsletter.
SG thanks Ansel for the information and congratulates him, the excellent cast, and everyone involved in this moody, intriguing film.
*** JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT GUESTS ON “THE MUPPETS” 12-1
JOE (1991 DS David, Daniel) will guest star as himself on the ABC comedy THE MUPPETS 12-1.
Variety 11-16: On the episode titled “Going, Going, Gonzo”, Joe will perform “a show-stopping duet with Miss Piggy” on her TV talk show “Up Late with Miss Piggy,” He’ll then “join Scooter, Pepe and the gang for poker night.” Entertainment Weekly 11-16: Joe “will find himself involved in poker night with Scooter, Pepe, and the ‘cool’ gang.” It also noted Joe “is set to produce and star in the upcoming FRAGGLE ROCK movie.” Joe first guested with the Muppets in 2013’s LADY GAGA & THE MUPPETS HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR. He and Lady Gaga dueted on a version of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” – with a twist. He also told Kermit the Frog that he remembered watching the Muppets on TV when he was young
Please share with SG any media publicity, articles, etc. you find about Joe’s appearance.
**** 1991 DS TV SERIES ON DVD – REISSUE IN FULL-SCREEN FORMAT
Dan Curtis Productions: “This past summer, the complete 12 episodes of the 1991 DS primetime NBC series starring Ben Cross were reissued on DVD by TGG Direct, which has licensed the program from MGM.
“Unlike previous DVD releases of DS '91, this TGG version for the first time offers the episodes in their original broadcast ratio of 4:3, as they aired on NBC and, later, the Sci-Fi Channel, in reruns. Previous DVDs of the series were formatted only in a widescreen aspect ratio that cropped the top and bottom of the screen. DS creator Dan Curtis actually directed the pilot movie and initial episodes with an eye towards framing what he shot in wide screen and he therefore did not object to the widescreen DVDs. However, subsequent episode directors did not follow the same visual template, so it is nice for fans and purists to have the entire DS '91 series in the full screen format as it was broadcast.”
--- PLEASE NOTE: “This is a standard definition DVD release. The episodes are not available on BluRay high definition. Additionally, the TGG set utilizes the same transfers from the earlier DVD sets. That means the scenes shot ‘day for night’ in the pilot are not properly ‘color timed,’ so it appears Barnabas is lurking in partial daylight.
“Even more disappointing is the fact that the deleted scenes and other bonus material issued on VHS tape by MPI are not included and have yet to find their way to DVD. Hopefully at some point a Blu Ray set might offer those elusive extras.
The TGG set has a $49.98 list price and can be purchased at Amazon.com and other online and retail outlets.
Amazon Link:
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Shadows-Complete-Ben-Cross/dp/B001PXYH9G/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1447560301&sr=1-1&keywords=dark+shadows+1991 The NBC primetime revival DS originally was a midseason replacement series that ran 1-13/3-22-1991.
Marcy Robin
