Busy Day at City Theatre with Bryan Cranston and ‘Feeding the Dragon’ (Sun., 11/20/16)

Bryan Cranston and wife Robin Dearden at an Emmy party in 2008. photo: watchwithkristin and Wikipedia.

1) Bryan Cranston will pause from filming Last Flag Flying in Pittsburgh to discuss his memoir, A Life in Parts, at City Theatre. Tracy Brigden, City Theatre Artistic Director, will ask Cranston questions about his memoir and career. Attendees will also receive a signed copy of the book. Cranston appeared on many people’s radar as Tim Whatley, the dentist on Seinfeld. His star would rise with another comedic role: Hal, the hapless dad on Malcolm in the Middle. At 50, he was cast as Walter White, the chemistry teacher turned meth cook on Breaking Bad. Over five seasons, White “broke bad” as well as The Godfather’s Michael Corleone or Crime and Punishment’s Rodion Raskolnikov. Cranston won four Emmys for the role. In 2014, he won a Tony for portraying President Lyndon B. Johnson in the play All the Way. Tickets for his appearance at City Theatre are sold out, but those interested can call the box office to be put on a waitlist. 4 p.m. 1300 Bingham St., South Side. (CM)

Sharon Washington has a library’s worth of stories to share.

2) New York-based actress Sharon Washington is at City Theatre premiering a one-woman show about her childhood. Washington’s father worked as a live-in custodian for the New York Public Library system, so she grew up in apartments built into various old libraries, and from that odd circumstance flow many stories. She was able to roam the stacks after hours, reading from books that transported her imagination to faraway places while she sat alone under spots of light in the vast and vacant corridors. A custodian was needed around the clock to feed the huge coal furnaces that both heated and generated power for the old buildings—hence the title of Washington’s show, Feeding the Dragon—and when very young, she idolized her dad. He was the man who went down into the bowels and shoveled the fuel to keep the library alive. That changed in later years as dad’s drinking problem became apparent to her: there were times when he was out of commission, and she’d have to help her mother shovel the coal to keep the breadwinner’s job alive. Feeding the Dragon is thus a multifaceted tale of youth and learning. 2 p.m. Ends today. 1300 Bingham Street, South Side. (MV)

3) The Girl on the Train, a novel by British writer Paula Hawkins, was the subject of many a book club on both sides of the pond. In 2015, it debuted at number one on The New York Times Fiction Best Sellers list and was the number one hardback in the UK for 20 weeks. DreamWorks Pictures soon acquired the film rights with Universal Pictures distributing. As with the book, the movie concerns Rachel Watson (Emily Blunt), an alcoholic whose husband, Tom (Justin Theroux), left her for another woman. Watson commutes by train past her old home, where Tom lives with his new family. To distract herself, she fantasizes about the presumably happy couple living on the same block: Megan (Haley Bennett) and Scott Hipwell (Luke Evans). The fantasy is shattered when Watson witnesses something horrible from the train. She wakes the following day, bruised and hungover, but with no memory of last night. Megan Hipwell, however, is missing. Tate Taylor (The Help) directs. For screens and times, check Fandango. (CM)

Emily Blunt at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. photo: gdcgraphics and Wikipedia.

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