Don’t Worry, We’ll Never Forget Her

Comments (0) By Hiya Swanhuyser Wednesday, May 25 2011

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You already know so much about Elizabeth Taylor: husbands, jewels, AIDS activism. That’s fine; you should know those things. But at “Remembering Dame Elizabeth Taylor,” you can learn even more about her. Seems like no one ever talks about what a great actor she was, for one thing. Tonight’s two films demonstrate every best thing about Taylor the artist, many of which are surprising to those more familiar with her as a wrinkly Michael Jackson–identified parfumeuse or whatever BS the celebrity machine spit in your brain. In the first place, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf is a shivery classic in which every actor rides insane perfection to a froth, and still Taylor towers over them all. You are a different and better person after that first, clinging-to-the-reins viewing. In the second place, if it is indeed your first time seeing Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, do not under any psychotropic-free circumstances attempt Boom! Even seasoned freaks have been known to wobble at Taylor’s headdresses and shrieking here (Noël Coward, making entrances and exits for the ages, does not calm you down) but her control is total. An opening night event (gala double feature of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly, Last Summer on May 27) benefits Project Inform, an organization supporting people living with AIDS, which Taylor’s own foundation supported generously.
May 27-June 1, 2011