2008 September | Jeffrey Donovan Fans

Archive for September, 2008

Changeling New York Premiere

Sep 30, 2008 Movies

    NEW YORK, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ --

    WHAT:   The New York Film Festival Centerpiece Screening of the
            provocative drama "CHANGELING"

    WHO:    "CHANGELING" director/producer/composer Clint Eastwood; cast
            members Angelina Jolie, Jeffrey Donovan, Michael Kelly, Colm
            Feore, Jason Butler Harner and Amy Ryan; producers Brian Grazer
            and Robert Lorenz; and screenwriter J. Michael Straczynski

    WHERE:  Ziegfeld Theatre
            141 West 54th Street
            New York City, NY

    WHEN:   Saturday, October 4, 2008
            7:15 PM    Press Call Time
            8:15 PM    Celebrity Arrivals
            9:15 PM    Screening Begins

“CHANGELING” opens in select theaters on October 24 and expands nationwide on October 31.

‘Burn Notice’ recap: Enter Mike’s doppelganger

Sep 17, 2008 Burn Notice

It’s been a long three weeks since we lost Burn Notice to all that tennis. Thanks to TNT’s Law & Order marathon, I watched Jeffrey Donovan’s recent episode twice. Otherwise, it was a long haul. So, in the interest of getting back to speed, let’s begin the recap with a recap. On the personal side, Fiona started dating other men, making Mike a bit jealous. At home, Madeleine dragged him to therapy with her mini-me analyst, but it all went bust when the shrink agreed with Michael over Mom. And, in the spy world, Mike carried out a Carla-ordered op to steal a high-powered Russian sniper rifle (a.k.a. the Dragunov) and has since been obsessed with finding out what the frak she wants it for and who the h-e-double-hockey-sticks is its new owner, Bill Johnson.

Got it? Good. Because yesterday’s episode wasn’t just the best of the season, it was the best of the series. Number one, guest star Tim Matheson was perfect as Michael’s psychotic buddy from the time he spent in the Balkans during the early ’90s. Apparently, walking into an exploding oil refinery back then didn’t kill Larry (it was all a ruse) and now he’s freelancing. You know, a lot like Michael, but he kills people rather than helps them. As a friend, Larry’s the anti-Sam. Sure, they share the same awesome wisecracks (Larry: “Slippery slopes can be fun too, like waterslides. Sam: “Larry… still drinking the blood of children?”), but they’re very different influences on our guy. Sam has a big heart. Larry likes to give people heart attacks by spraying atropine on their silverware.

Number two, last night’s show featured Burn Notice’s most heart-pounding (and heartbreaking) scene ever: When Michael saved Fiona and this week’s sad sack Jeannie (Amy Pietz) from death by dump truck by allowing the driver to literally run over the pickup he was in. It’s almost impossible to describe on paper, but between the split screens and the anxious music, and the look on Fiona’s face when she saw the accident, I nearly poked my eyes out trying to cover them. Then when Michael walked away from the pile-up and into her concerned arms, it nearly took my breath away.

Finally, the plot was about Michael’s bad side — the crazy things he may have done in the Balkans 15 years ago and his old covert-operative ability to have very little compassion. Says Larry about Michael’s ability to kill: “Tell me that you don’t have the same impulse. I know how you used to look at people when they betrayed us. When their stupidity disappointed us. Come on. I know that look and you know how easy that this would be.”

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Royal George’s Don’t Dress for Dinner

Sep 17, 2008 Theater

Jeffrey Donovan, Mark Harelik, Spencer Kayden, and Chris Sullivan will headline Mark Camoletti’s farce Don’t Dress for Dinner, to play Chicago’s Royal George Theatre, November 14-January 11. The production, to open officially on November 23, will be directed by John Tillinger. Additional casting will be announced shortly.

The creative team includes James Noone (sets) and Keith Parham (lighting). Tillinger has received Tony Award nominations for Say Goodnight Gracie, Inherit The Wind, The Price, and Loot!, and was most recently represented on Broadway by the Manhattan Theatre Club revival of Absurd Person Singular.

Donovan currently stars on the USA series Burn Notice; his stage credits include An Inspector Calls and Toys in the Attic. Harelik starred on Broadway in The Light in the Piazza; his other stage credits include Old Money, The House in Town, The Beard of Avon, and The Heidi Chronicles. Kayden received the Outer Critics Circle, Theatre World, and Clarence Derwent Awards for her portrayal of Little Sally in Broadway’s Urinetown and is a longtime member of Chicago’s Neo-Futurists. Sullivan’s recent Chicago credits include The Ballad of Emmett Till and Dangerous Beauty.