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But the production is not so much an updating as an attempt to find archetypal equivalents through the ages. The eloquently austere set by George Tsypin is a field of ancient Greek ruins. James F. Ingalls’ potent lighting represents the fiery rise and smoldering descent of a relentless sun on Hercules' last day of life. Dunya Ramicova’s costumes imply the modern-day America and the Middle East, Handel’s 18th century and Sophocles’ Athens.

The idea of war unites us in time and place, and this “Hercules” is about what events do to people. Although written as an oratorio, “Hercules” is essentially Baroque opera in that it contains mainly solo arias with just a handful of short choruses. And Sellars has made the production all the more theatrical through judicial cutting and by conflating Handel’s three acts into two so that it more closely follows the structure of Sophocles' play.

Shakespeare, too, has also clearly influenced Sellars’ approach to Handel. Sellars' productions of "Merchant of Venice” some years ago in Chicago and “Othello” more recently in New York both revolved around the revelation of tragedy as the result of the inability or unwillingness for open communication.

In “Hercules” at the Lyric we watch psychic venom work, drop by drop. Hercules has shut down his feelings and Handel gives him little to sing but makes his presence felt in every note of the three-hour opera. Eric Owens made him terrifying. How impressive this baritone has grown from the big galoot of a monster in Elliot Goldenthal’s “Grendel” at Los Angeles Opera five years ago to this silent, menacing vet whose inability to express what has happened to him destroys him and Dejanira.

The opera’s big role is Dejanira, the wife who doesn’t know where to turn. The magnificent British mezzo-soprano Alice Coote depicts the extensive range of modern desperation and our discontents. Unable to break Hercules' stonewalling, Coote’s breakdown ranks with theatrical performances of legend.

As Iole, the British soprano Lucy Crowe is a new star born, both for her searing expression of a prisoner’s pain and for the luminous light she shines on one of Handel’s most compassionate arias, “My breast with tender pity swells.” The countertenor David Daniels and the tenor Richard Croft recorded the roles of Lichas, Dejanira's confidant who recounts Hercules horrid death, and her son, Hyllus, a decade ago. They were excellent singers then. Now they are profound ones.

The Lyric chorus became the people prophetic. Harry Bickett conducted a performance true to the spirit of Handel’s time yet truer still to Sellars’ stress points.

Daley needs to put down his cake knife and head over to Civic Opera House. Better still, Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel, who has promised to be an arts mayor, needs to persuade his former Chicagoan boss in the White House to see this “Hercules.”

An opera performance this great is plenty rare. But opera capable of inspiring moral action is for the ages. 

[For the record: an earlier version of this review identified Richard Croft as a baritone.]

RELATED:

Spring arts preview: Classical music

At last, Peter Sellars will play at the Met

Opera review: 'Nixon in China' at the Metropolitan Opera

– Mark Swed in Chicago

Photo: Peter Sellars' production of Handel's "Hercules" at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Credit: Heather Charles / Chicago Tribune

But the production is not so much an updating as an attempt to find archetypal equivalents through the ages. The eloquently austere set by George Tsypin is a field of ancient Greek ruins. James F. Ingalls’ potent lighting represents the fiery rise and smoldering descent of a relentless sun on Hercules' last day of life. Dunya Ramicova’s costumes imply the modern-day America and the Middle East, Handel’s 18th century and Sophocles’ Athens.

The idea of war unites us in time and place, and this “Hercules” is about what events do to people. Although written as an oratorio, “Hercules” is essentially Baroque opera in that it contains mainly solo arias with just a handful of short choruses. And Sellars has made the production all the more theatrical through judicial cutting and by conflating Handel’s three acts into two so that it more closely follows the structure of Sophocles' play.

Shakespeare, too, has also clearly influenced Sellars’ approach to Handel. Sellars' productions of "Merchant of Venice” some years ago in Chicago and “Othello” more recently in New York both revolved around the revelation of tragedy as the result of the inability or unwillingness for open communication.

In “Hercules” at the Lyric we watch psychic venom work, drop by drop. Hercules has shut down his feelings and Handel gives him little to sing but makes his presence felt in every note of the three-hour opera. Eric Owens made him terrifying. How impressive this baritone has grown from the big galoot of a monster in Elliot Goldenthal’s “Grendel” at Los Angeles Opera five years ago to this silent, menacing vet whose inability to express what has happened to him destroys him and Dejanira.

The opera’s big role is Dejanira, the wife who doesn’t know where to turn. The magnificent British mezzo-soprano Alice Coote depicts the extensive range of modern desperation and our discontents. Unable to break Hercules' stonewalling, Coote’s breakdown ranks with theatrical performances of legend.

As Iole, the British soprano Lucy Crowe is a new star born, both for her searing expression of a prisoner’s pain and for the luminous light she shines on one of Handel’s most compassionate arias, “My breast with tender pity swells.” The countertenor David Daniels and the tenor Richard Croft recorded the roles of Lichas, Dejanira's confidant who recounts Hercules horrid death, and her son, Hyllus, a decade ago. They were excellent singers then. Now they are profound ones.

The Lyric chorus became the people prophetic. Harry Bickett conducted a performance true to the spirit of Handel’s time yet truer still to Sellars’ stress points.

Daley needs to put down his cake knife and head over to Civic Opera House. Better still, Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel, who has promised to be an arts mayor, needs to persuade his former Chicagoan boss in the White House to see this “Hercules.”

An opera performance this great is plenty rare. But opera capable of inspiring moral action is for the ages. 

[For the record: an earlier version of this review identified Richard Croft as a baritone.]

RELATED:

Spring arts preview: Classical music

At last, Peter Sellars will play at the Met

Opera review: 'Nixon in China' at the Metropolitan Opera

– Mark Swed in Chicago

Photo: Peter Sellars' production of Handel's "Hercules" at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Credit: Heather Charles / Chicago Tribune

(egotripland imagines “what would Carlos Estevez’s life been like?”)

Charlie Sheen aka White ODB revealed in that epic 20/20 interview that once he stayed awake for 7 days straight (and that now, he sleeps in cars when he can)….so his marathon of crazy isn’t stopping anytime soon. Which gives the smart people another week to dissect, remix, and re-inact all this guy’s jewels of madness.

Yesterday, it was the Complex Charlie Sheen Soundboard, and Jimmy Fallon’s imitation. Today, the homie Rico Love (writer/producer of Usher’s “There Goes My Baby”, and much more) created a song out of Sheen soundbites, called “Bi-Winning (On That Charlie Sheen)”. LOL @ Rico’s laundry list of rapper shoutouts at the end. Did he say Coo Coo Cal?!?!

New Music: Charlie Sheen x Rico Love “Bi-Winning (On That Charlie Sheen)

Also, the pals from EgoTripLand created an awesome 15-year timeline comparing Charlie Sheen’s live versus Carlos Estevez’s life (Charlie’s real Hispanic name). Here’s a nugget (go to Egotripland for more)…

2000-2002
CHARLIE SHEEN: Replaces Michael J. Fox for the last two seasons of the sitcom Spin City. Wins first Golden Globe Award.
CARLOS ESTEVEZ: Replaces George Lopez for several episodes of Lopez’s self-titled TV series. White America doesn’t notice the difference.

2009
CHARLIE SHEEN: Arrested in Aspen, Colorado on domestic violence charges after an alleged altercation with third wife Brooke Mueller. Pleads guilty and is sentenced to 30 days in rehab, 30 days of probation and 36 hours of anger management.
CARLOS ESTEVEZ: Prison.

Hahahaa!

And after the jump….watch Questlove from The Roots remix Charlie’s “Duh” and “Winning” into something melodious.

Questlove remixes Charlie Sheen from the 6:00 minute mark to 8:15 minute mark….but I have to say that the whole Jimmy Fallon episode from last night (Thurs, Mar 3) is pretty entertaining. Miley Cyrus is goofy but not too annoying. And I liked the Likke Li performance in the final segment of the show. A few months back I admitted to my loved ones that….I actually like Fallon now. Before I barely tolerated him only when The Roots were doing their usual great job as house band. I cringed during every monologue. But now….is it possible that he’s kind of hilarious? And the skits are good too. I still think Kimmel is the king of the skits….but both are way better than Conan. (It hurts me to say it.)

(no, this isn’t Miley’s imitation of Carlos Estevez, but I wish it were)

Previously from Sheen The Dream:
Charlie Sheen: The Complex Soundboard (Update: Jimmy Fallon’s spoof!)
Charlie Sheen on 20/20, greatest celebrity trainwreck ever? #Winning”
Charlie Sheen continues to win, pass “drug tests” and rehabilitate with the help of “goddesses”
Charlie Sheen, the gift that keeps on giving: “I AM on a drug, it’s called Charlie Sheen!”
You don’t know nann….who can party like Charlie Sheen! (seriously)

Yesterday we got to see a pretty crazy interview from Charlie Sheen on The Today Show ahead of the planned airing of his interview with 20/20 tonight … but there was a lot more crazy to come from Sheen as the day progressed. Sheen paid a visit to TMZ to sit down and chat with them … which resulted in his longtime publicist Stan Rosenfield to quit representing him. An angry Sheen then refused to let him quit so that he could fire him instead. Then Sheen went on Piers Morgan Tonight to bring some more crazy, all while his lawyers started legal proceedings against CBS. Homeboy is on a roll, y’all … a C-R-A-Z-Y roll.

Charlie Sheen just wrapped up a LIVE no holds barred interview with Mike Walters from the backyard of his L.A. mansion — ripping more people than ever … and even accepting some blame himself. Sheen blasted CBS honcho Les Moonves for not firing “Men” creator Chuck Lorre … and then scoffed at the studio for giving him wayyyy too much money.

Sheen also ripped a false report that he checked himself into rehab this morning — because he obviously isn’t at a rehab facility — and the at-home interview is all the proof he needs. Among the hits – Charlie explained that he “hopes” his five kids ask him about all of the drug use one day … so he can fill them in on all of the “epic” stories. Sheen also explained that his father, Martin Sheen, should stop passing judgment, because Charlie’s a grown ass man … and can make his own life choices. Charlie also told a story about how he woke up in the middle of downtown L.A. by himself when he was 7 years old … and had to find his own way home.

As crazy as Sheen‘s interview with TMZ was, he was surprisingly coherent and lucid in this portion of the interview:

You can watch the entire TMZ interview HERE. It’s worth your time, if you have the time to spare for more of Charlie Sheen‘s rantings and ravings. Clearly, Sheen‘s now ex-publicist Stan Rosenfield doesn’t have any more time for him … because after his interview with TMZ, he quit:

Charlie Sheen’s longtime publicist has quit … Stan Rosenfield tells TMZ … he’s resigning because “I worked with Charlie Sheen for a long time and I care about him very much, however, at this time, I’m unable to work effectively as his publicist and have respectfully resigned.” Stan resigned minutes after Sheen appeared on live on TMZ this morning … where Charlie insinuated that Stan lied to the media on his behalf regarding the hotel trashing incident at The Plaza hotel in NYC back in October. Stan had issued a statement saying Charlie was hospitalized that night for an “allergic reaction.” When Mike Walters asked Charlie about the medical explanation, CL responded, “I was asleep when that statement went out.” Sheen added, “I respect Stan … he was doing the best he could in that moment … had I confirmed with him, I probably would have come up with something better.”

After Rosenfield‘s resignation, an angry Sheen went on the offensive to shoot back and try and “fire” the man after he already quit:

Charlie Sheen is PISSED at his former publicist Stan Rosenfield — telling TMZ, “P**sy. He’s not allowed to quit, so you’re fired.”

And then Charlie went on Piers Morgan Tonight to chat some more. Here is video of some of his best bits from that interview:

And while all of this stuff was happening in front of the cameras, Sheen‘s lawyers — headed by Marty Singer — fired off a letter to CBS threatening legal action against them on behalf of crazy Charlie. Here are excerpts of that letter:

“This action is outrageous and in direct violation of our client’s legal rights, including under the contract between our client and Warner Bros. Television with regard to Two and a Half Men (“the Series”). Our client is entitled to be paid for eight additional episodes under his contract on the Series. Furthermore, my client is clean and sober and has passed every drug test requested. In fact, he took passing tests this weekend. He (Sheen) intends to hold Warner Bros. fully accountable for the compensation owed on his contract and to hold Warner Bros. and CBS fully accountable for all of the consequences of their actions … if Sheen is not paid for eight remaining episodes this season, our client intends to bring appropriate legal action against Warner Bros., as well as against Mr. Lorre… There is no justification for the Series to be shut down at this time. It is clear that this action is the result of interference by Chuck Lorre with our client’s contractual rights. It is most unfortunate that Warner Bros. and CBS have conspired with Mr. Lorre in his tortuous and outrageous conduct in permitting him to shut down the show, thereby damaging many individuals and companies, in addition to our client.”

And this is just a short summation of the stuff that transpired — yesterday afternoon/evening! Charlie Sheen is, apparently, willing to talk to any and everyone in order to spread his message far and wide. The Today Show is airing part 2 of their interview today, 20/20 is still planning to air their interview tonight … and I’m certain Sheen is lining up other interviews with anyone who asks. To be honest, all of this stuff is starting to run together. Sheen‘s gonna have to amp up the crazy if he wants to grab headlines from his headlines. Ugh … watch him do do that.

[Source, Source, Source, Source, Source]

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Biotech, cancer, Real Estate

Dendreon Makes It Official, Grabs Downtown Office and Former Zymo Lab Building

Luke Timmerman 3/1/11

[Update: 12:40 pm] Dendreon has been searching around Seattle for months to find a new home to accommodate its growth, and now it has made its moving plans official.

The Seattle-based biotech company (NASDAQ: DNDN) has signed a lease to take eight floors, or about 185,000 square feet of office space, at the Russell Investments Center downtown, according to Bob Mooney, who represented Dendreon in lease negotiations along with fellow managing director Hans Kemp of Jones Lang LaSalle. Dendreon has also signed a lease to move its R&D groups into the 98,000-square foot Earl Davie Building along Eastlake Avenue, occupied by ZymoGenetics before it was acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb. The Puget Sound Business Journal had the story earlier this morning.

“We are pleased to confirm that Dendreon signed lease agreements to relocate our headquarters,” said Dendreon spokeswoman Tricia Larson, in an e-mail. “As the largest biotech company in Washington, this move enables us to continue to grow in Seattle as we realize our mission of transforming the lives of patients with cancer.”

Dendreon has been in hyper-growth mode since April 2009, when it showed in a pivotal clinical trial of 512 men with prostate cancer that its novel immune-booster was able to prolong lives with minimal side effects. The company raised $600 million earlier this year to manufacture and sell the product, sipuleucel-T (Provenge), globally. The company has been hiring hundreds of employees with new capabilities in areas like marketing and manufacturing-not just here in Seattle, but also at other sites in New Jersey, Georgia, and southern California.

The company has been struggling to find enough room to house all the employees it has been hiring. The company currently occupies an old building at 3005 First Avenue with 75,000 square feet; subleases another 35,000 square feet at the old Seattle P-I building along Elliott Avenue; and has another 60,000 square feet of office space nearby on Western Avenue where Isilon Systems is also located, Mooney says. If my math is correct, that means Dendreon currently occupies about 170,000 square feet spread among three buildings, and it is now moving into two buildings with about 66 percent more total capacity. The Russell building lease lasts five years, and the Earl Davie Building lease lasts 7.5, Mooney says. The company plans to start moving employees in phases as soon as this fall, Mooney says.

“They’ve had people practically sitting on top of each other, sharing conference rooms, things like that,” Mooney says.

[Update with employee headcount numbers.] Dendreon is hiring so fast it’s hard to keep track of how many employees it has at any one time. The company said it had 1,497 employees as of February 15, according to its latest annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That’s up from 198 employees two years earlier. The company also lists 141 current job openings on its website this morning.

Luke Timmerman is the National Biotech Editor of Xconomy, and the Editor of Xconomy Seattle. You can e-mail him at ltimmerman@xconomy.com, or follow him at twitter.com/ldtimmerman.

The United States Army is radically redesigning its physical fitness test.

AP (“Army’s new fitness tests add taste of battlefield“):

Sit-ups don’t make a soldier, the Army has decided. So its 30-year-old fitness requirements are getting a battlefield-inspired makeover.

Soon every soldier will have to run on a balance beam with two 30-pound canisters of ammunition, drag a sled weighted with 180 pounds of sandbags and vault over obstacles while carrying a rifle. Those were just some of the tests the Army unveiled Tuesday as it moves toward making its physical training look more like combat.

Right now soldiers have to complete sit-ups, push-ups and a two-mile run twice a year within times that vary by age and gender. Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, the general in charge of the Army’s initial military training, said he has been working to change that test for years.

Hertling said the current test “does not adequately measure components of strength, endurance, or mobility,” or predict how well a soldier would do under fire.

A new annual “combat readiness” test includes running 400 meters — about a quarter of a mile — with a rifle, moving through an obstacle course in full combat gear, and crawling and vaulting over obstacles while aiming a rifle. Soldiers also will have to run on a balance beam while carrying 30-pound ammo boxes and do an agility sprint around a course field of cones.

Soldiers also will have to drag sleds weighted with sandbags to test their ability to pull a fallen comrade from the battlefield. The combat test might be given before deployments as well as annually, but that has not been decided.

The Army will keep elements of its old assessment in a “physical readiness” test, which adds such things as a 60-yard shuttle run and a standing long jump to one minute of push-ups and a 1.5-mile timed run. This might be given every six months, said Frank Palkoska, head of the Army’s Fitness School at Fort Jackson.

While it makes sense to have a test to assess the fitness of soldiers, this strikes me as absurd.

I was a cadet the last time the Army changed its PT test, moving from the Army Physical Readiness Test (APRT) to the Army Physical Fitness Test (AFPT) in 1986. The tests were actually identical–2 minutes of pushups, 2 minutes of situps, and a 2-mile run–but the standards radically increased. I went from being able to max situps and the run without much training to not being close on either score.

For the youngest age group (18 to 21), the pushup max went from a reasonable 58 to a holy crap 82. And I went from maxing the run at 13-something to being in wonderment at having to complete it in well under 12 minutes to get the 100 points. I had a couple runs in the low-12s as a cadet but never quite got there.

Apparently, according to various online sources, the standards have since been lowered to something more realistic for those not endowed with Olympic caliber athleticism. Indeed, if the charts I’m seeing on Wikipedia and elsewhere are right, they’ve been lowered so far that I could probably pass them now as an out-of-shape 45-year-old office worker.

But they’re now going radically in the other direction. Seriously, an average soldier is supposed to be able to do gymnastics while carrying ammo? I was never good at balance beams. And I’m trying to fathom the combat condition under which a solder would simultaneously be firing a rifle and negotiating obstacles. It’s been a long time since my training but it seems to me that you’re either moving or shooting, but never both.

The amusing thing about all this is that it’s moving in just the opposite direction of logic. The truth of the matter is that the vast majority of soldiers do  the equivalent of office work. Even in combat zones, they’re not doing Rambo stuff.

It may well make sense to have Rangers and Special Forces types doing feats of derring-do on the PT test. But most soldiers would be better off being tested doing, say, a 5-mile march or other tests of endurance.

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