The Journal News from White Plains, New York • Page 27

i i Crossword Is no For more things to do, check out the calendar LoHud.com (The Journal Monday, May 1, 2006 REVIEW "HOT FEET" i il i 1 I if it it) Lonnae O'Neal Parker The Washington Post or a few moments, it feels as if Laurence Fishburne might really let fly. "We're in a period where mediocrity rules the day," he says, his deep voice a controlled boom. "There's a lot of stuff that's not good that's tout mi. if MM8" Jl JZTJl. Ji Paul Kolnik Vivian Nixon as Kalimba Sweating to oldies and goodies Jacques le Sourd The Journal News Can you lose weight, just watching a Broadway musical? I swear I lost 20 pounds at "Hot Feet," the new workout video of a show that opened last night at the Hilton Theatre.

This is the show by Maurice Hines, with music and lyrics by Maurice White, the founder and producer of the group "Earth, Wind Fire." Yes, the show has all of greatest hits, performed by live singers in the pit. What you discover, if you didn't know it already, is that has provided much of the unconscious soundtrack of your life for the past 30 years or so. "Boogie Wonderland," "Getaway," "After the Love Has Gone" you'll hear all of your old favorites, in the original arrangements faithfully recreated in what is partly a jukebox musical. But White has created a lot of new music for this show, and it is of a propulsive intensity that will keep you vibrating for hours after the curtain has come down. What Hines, the brother of the late, lamented Gregory, has provided is two hours and 30 minutes of the most athletic dancing you can imagine to go with this score.

Most of it if you It's a high- "Hot Feet" energy, high-speed Running time: 2 workout for hours and 30 superbly minutes, includ-toned in- one intermix credibly sion-shapely bod- Tcket prce8: ies both $26.25 to male and fe- $101.25. male. The third Theater: Hilton, layer of this 213 W. 42nd St. show is a phone: 212-307-book by 4100.

Heru Ptah, which loosely follows "The Red Shoes" with a plot about a striving dancer named Kalimba (Vivian Nixon), who enters into a tragic bargain to win the fame she seeks. So, it turns out that there's a show within the gym workout within the jukebox musical. You may be a bit startled to find such seasoned veterans of the Broadway stage as Keith David (who is more likely to be playing "Othello" at the Public Theater) and Ann Duquesnay, who won a Tony Award for "Bring In 'da Noise, Bring In 'da Funk, putting across a real plot. David, who seems about to dance (though he never does, quite) and who has a nice singing voice not to mention a stage presence that easily overflows the cavernous Hilton plays Victor Serpentine, who rules the Serpentine Fire Dance Experience. Duquesnay, an extraordinary actress who can knock the roof off the Hilton with a stage whis- Please see HOT, 3D "Two Trains Running." He won an Emmy the following year, and in 1994 he was nominated for an Oscar as the complicated, magnetic, wife-beating musician Ike Turner in "What's Love Got to Do With IL" His recent work has been dominated by his portrayal of the enigmatic, omniscient Morpheus in the "Matrix" trilogy.

Fishburne knows he'll be remembered for Morpheus. "But that's not all IU be remembered for," says Fishburne. "I'm a really good actor, and I will inhabit another role with die same kind of intensity and commitment I inhabited that role. "Some people's first introduction to me will be as Dr. Larabee," he says.

That's what they're going to remember in 20 years." Some movie stars are unwilling to bend their pretty faces to put out for a role. Fishburne goes where he must to be true to the scene even if it shows up as unmasked anguish, as it does on the face of Dr, Larabee. "I carry a lot of feminine energy as well as masculine energy, and that" the hit that people are getting," he explains. "That vulnerable thing is not what we assume with black males. You get it and then they cease to become scary.

They become human. You cease to have a bogeyman." Studios wanted to make the Dr. Larabie character white, but writer-director Doug Atchison resisted. "That story had been told too many tinies and it was important to reconnect Akeelah with her community," the director says. "She had a negative impression of where she came from, and Dr.

Larabee came from her. own world and had gotten his PhD. This gave her the belief she could do iL IT. "When was the last time you got a movie Please see FISHBURNE, 3D Lions Gate tilms Studios wanted to make Akeelah's mentor, Dr. Larabee, white, but writer-director Doug Atchison resisted and Laurence Fishburne plays the important role model.

ed as being good." He pauses and leans back, his bigness taking up all the space in his chair. Will he name names? "Nooo," he says, finally. "I can't do that without hurting anyone's feelings." The actor writerdirectorproducer smiles his coolly wicked smile. In "Akeelah and the Bee," Fishburne, 44, plays a former college professor named Dr. Larabee, a mentor and father figure to a brilliant 11-year-old inner-city Los Angeles girl with a gift for words that rallies her neighborhood and carries her to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The movie is a drama about friendship and competition and the seldom-seen interior world of a little black girl who must get beyond all the neighborhood things that conspire to keep black girls small. It's a different theme for a predominantly black movie these days, one Fishburne says is more authentic and evocative of the places black people remember, like his old neighborhood in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. His parents divorced before he was born. He mostly lived with an emotionally uneven mother who poured into her son her aspirations for high art and fine things. His disciplinarian father lived in the Bronx, and moviegoing was the main feature of their monthly visits.

Fishburne acted in his first stage play at 10; the next year he was a regular on the soap opera "One Life to a few years later, he was making movies. That sense of place drew Fishburne to "Akeelah and the Bee." "It's an honest portrayal of black contemporary life," he says. Hollywood doesn't think audiences want to see any of that, he intones darkly. His anger is the sheet music to a riff about a film industry that often frames black life between pathologies: "The things the studio makes a place for, the gangs and pimps and hos and guns and killing and expletive doesn't negate the fact that there is a real need for death and birth and relationships and jobs and struggle and grandma's house and life." And even a spelling bee, he says. You can't just go with what's in style, he argues.

"You've got to tell some stories. Take a expletive stand! Say what you want to say! Be honorable about your expletive!" There's a propulsive quality to his curses. It's part of being a black man in Hollywood and staying in your right mind. "I have a standard, and it has nothing to do with money," he says. Fishburne won a Tony Award in 1992 for his Broadway stage work in August Wilson's Spring shopping has sprung at Grand Central In addition, Amy Zinaman of Mamaroneck will be offering fabric throws and tabletop items through her company, Amy with some creations designed by Zinaman and others imported.

1 yyr'l Vendors will also be selling custom-made shoes, hand-made clothing, children's toys, vases; journals and sketchbooks, watches and handbags. The fair is open from 10 a.mAo 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays in Vanderbilt Hall. The ter: minal is on Lexington Avenue-at 42nd Street.

Call 212-340-2210 or visit www.grandcentraltermi-nal.com. Reach Mary Shustack at mshustaclohud.com or Koulianos' creations, many in sterling silver, feature words and often-inspirational phrases such as. "miracles happen" and "live your dreams." Having studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, Koulianos started her company 15 years ago and hand-carves each letter in her pieces. She typically sells them wholesale, leading to them being carried in stores ranging from Bloomingdale's to Fortunoff, but says the fair offers her something valuable. "It gives me a great avenue," Koulianos says.

"It's great to see the customers." Mary Shustack The Journal News Shoppers most often run across select pieces from the contemporary-jewelry line designed by Georgianna Koulianos of New Rochelle in stores. These days, though, a wealth of the charms, bracelets and necklaces offered by GK Designs are available in a booth at Grand Central Terminal. Koulianos is one of more than 60 vendors participating in the Grand Central Terminal Spring Fair 2006, which continues through May 13 in Manhattan. vir D6cor items by Amy Zinaman can be found at Grand Central Fair. Georgianna Koulianos' inspirational jewelry, offered at the Fair.

ctjzgu (H to THE WEEK AHEAD For a complete calendar of events go to LoHud.com SUNDAY FRIDAY TOMORROW Finkelstein Memorial Library's 27th International Film Festival continues with "Balzac the Little Chinese Seamstress" in the Cultural Arts Center at Rockland Community Col-1 lege in Ramapo. 7 p.m. $3, $1 students and seniors. Tuesdays through May 30. Call Finkelstein Memorial Library at 845-352-5700, ext.

231 or 244. THURSDAY Avoid the hassle of getting Into New York City and hear the original "Jersey Boys" -Frankle Valll and the Four Seasons perform doo-wop favorites such as "Sherry," "Big Girls Don't Cry" and others. The group has had more than two dozen singes in the top-40 charts. 8 p.m. $98.

BergenPAC in Englewood, N.J. 201-227-1030. www.bergenpac.org. TODAY "Red Is Everywhere" is the outdoor sculpture exhibit at Rockland Center for the Arts in West Nyack. See how the artists explore the use of the color red in a wide range of sculptural expressions as you stroll along paths and gentle hills.

The works can be seen as part of the natural setting or in relation to a man-made SATURDAY Cantor Sheera Ben-David of Beth Am Temple and Adam Ben-David perform a cabaret and jazz concert. Ben-David is the associate conductor for "Wicked" on Broadway. They are booked to perform the show this fall in the Oak Room at The Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan. 8 p.m. $25.

Reservations. Beth Am Temple in Pearl River. 845-735-5858. "Thoroughly Modern Mil-He" and the other flappers dance onstage at West Point, doing the Charleston and having a great time. If you plan to attend, leave time for car inspections at the gates and have photo ID.

3 p.m. $36, $38, $40. Eisenhower Hall at the U.S. Military Academy. Telecharge: 800-233-3123.

Box office information: 845 938-4159. www.ikehall.com Acoustic guitarist Patty Larkln is known for her music and wit. Her 10th album, "RedLuck" collection of songs includes subtle post-911 ruminations and joyful romps. Larkin has sung for movies including "Evolution" and "Random Hearts." 8 p.m. $24.

Sharp Theater in the Berrie Center at Ramapo College of New Jersey in Mahwah, N.J. 201-684-7844. www.ramapo.edu. WEDNESDAY Piermont is one of Rockland's most picturesque communities Woody Allen picked it for his film "Purple Rose of Cairo." You can see much of its beauty in photographs by Sally Savage that are on display at the Piermont Library. Savage collected data on village buildings from 1969 to 1974.

1-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 1-5 Friday-Sunday. Free. 845-359-4595. www.rcls.orgpmt..