Pick of the Day: Me & Orson Welles

I've never seen Citizen Kane, admittedly, but I still consider myself an admirer of Orson Welles. I'm a SF fan, see, and that 1938 radio adaptation of British writer H.G. Well's The War of the Worlds that Welles did where he induced millions of Americans already spooked by the rising menace of Nazi Germany in Europe and Japan in the Far East to panic in the belief that Martians equipped with deadly "heat-rays" had invaded the U.S. is an absolute classic.

Then's there's Rita Hayworth. You have to give him that one too. He was married to her for a time, and they made The Lady From Shanghai together in 1947. The Magnificent Ambersons was another of his cinematic highlights.

Welles truly was a larger than life figure. And the actor who plays him in this period drama (Christian McKay) apparently does a fine job of capturing his verve and energy. Set in 1937, the film [which screens tonight at the RPL at 9 p.m.] opens with Welles in rehearsal at the Mercury Theatre for Broadway's first Shakespearean production -- Julius Caesar, conceived by Welles as anti-Nazi parable, and ultimately a stunning triumph.

There's some other fluff about Zac Efron being a young actor hired by Welles to play a minor role and him falling for a beautiful production assistant played by Clare Danes. My advice to you is to ignore it. Welles is the story here. Here's the trailer. (YouTube)

Also worth checking out today is the Regina Musical Club's presentation of The Schumann Letters at the University Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Held to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth, this musical work chronicles the courtship of Schumann and his wife Clara.