2013: A Lyric Hall Odyssey

The small stage at Lyric Hall assumed a larger-than-life presence at a screening of what some regard as among the most influential films of all time, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Appearing in person at Sunday’s fundraising event without his space helmet, and still sporting a handsome gray beard from his recent portrayal of Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, was the movie’s gracefully aging star, Fairfield resident Keir Dullea.

Dullea engaged in a robust, post-screening interview at Lyric Hall with notable film historian and author Foster Hirsch (pictured). Punctuating the discussion from the audience, with various informational tidbits and reminders, was Dullea’s wife, Mia Dillon, also an accomplished (Tony-nominated) actor of stage and screen.

Kubrick’s 1968 cinematic masterpiece was brought to the Lyric Hall stage by event producer and Keir Dullea friend, Bernie Kaufmann, as part of a fundraiser to replace the Hall’s old, wooden folding chairs. The chairs have proven uncomfortable for some patrons of the renovated former Vaudeville theater on Whalley Avenue in Westville Village.

The new chairs, framed in lightweight metal, arrived in time for the screening. They still fold. But they now offer cushioned support covered in a showy, velvet-like black fabric.

Introducing the movie, Hirsch noted that initially the film did not meet with commercial or critical success, but gained momentum over time, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1968. The film’s New York City opening was met with mixed reviews, according to Hirsch, who highlighted one review that dismissed the film as a ​“juvenile boy’s fantasy.” Ultimately, the film garnered numerous awards and Oscar nominations, with Kubrick winning an Academy Award for best visual effects — manually created effects that predated, but also presaged today’s computer-generated-imaging (CGI) special effects. 

Comparing Kubrick’s film to the recent digitally reliant, science fiction thriller Gravity, Hirsch could not contain his lack of enthusiasm for the new hit movie: ​“It takes at least 20 years for a film to stand the test of time. Gravity is not going to be remembered. There is no story there.” Dullea, for the record, disagreed, saying he enjoyed the movie.

Some in the Lyric Hall audience were seeing the modern film classic for the very first time, including local film critic Bonnie Goldberg. Goldberg said she was ​“blown away by the film’s cinematography, and the soundtrack,” Johann Strauss II’s The Blue Danube waltz. The recurring appearance of the black monolith also held interest for Goldberg who said the film was ​“most daring — way ahead of its time.”

Immediately following the film’s screening, Dullea talked about Kubrick in highly favorable terms but was less charitable when imitating the voice of Austrian-American director Otto Preminger, who directed him in the psychological thriller, Bunny Lake is Missing. 

Dullea said that his favorite part of 2001: A Space Odyssey was the ​“Dawn of Man” sequence, ​“probably because I wasn’t in it.” That portion of the film features the pivotal match-cut scene representing millions of years of evolution. An animal’s disjointed bone, one of man’s earliest tools or weapons, is tossed triumphantly in the air by an ape-like figure, transforming at its apex into a similarly shaped satellite that Dullea believes is symbolic of humans’ latest weapons of mass destruction — orbiting nuclear devices.

After the Q & A, the actor moved to Lyric Hall’s reception area for a silent auction, and to sign autographs and memorabilia as part of the fundraiser. Some fans brought their own books and posters, which Dullea gladly signed.

Forty or so individuals who purchased additional tickets to a follow-up event that included Dullea and his wife at the beautifully appointed Westville home of Patricia and Kas Kalba. Festivities were just beginning.

Cocktails and a second silent auction began the evening, followed by a Tuscan-family style dinner prepared by one of Connecticut’s leading five-star chefs, Arlene Ghent of Westville. 

A special presentation was made by producer Bernie Kaufmann to Dullea, an oil portrait of the actor by New Milford artist Joel Spector.

Helping to raise money in support of the Lyric Hall benefit was Dullea himself, who offered an impromptu performance — a ten-minute monologue of the Big Daddy character he would be performing later in the week at The Actors Studio in New York City. A goal of $100 quickly spilled over the brim of a passing hat as Dullea positioned himself on the makeshift foyer stage. The audience spread across the cozy, sunken living room.

Almost to the second, the ten-minute monologue ended, leaving a delighted audience in awe of the character and the actor that had emerged before their eyes, and an evening they would not soon forget.