Entertainment : 'The Last Song'

Eric Olson measures Palace for digital equipment, with help from Gerald Horst and Pat Lyons.

Fund-raising continues, even as the Palace is measured for the digital system.

Two weeks in a row? Nicholas Sparks is back, ladies!

“The Last Song,” starring Miley Cyrus (girl), Liam Hemsworth (guy) and Greg Kinnear (dad), plays the Palace THREE NIGHTS ONLY on Friday, May 7 and Saturday May 8 at 7 pm and 9 pm, and Sunday, May 9 at 7 pm. This romantic drama with a bit of comedy runs 108 minutes and is rated PG for thematic material, some violence and sensuality, and language.

(To watch the trailer of "The Last Song" click HERE)

Nicholas Sparks told Oprah that he was commissioned to write the screenplay for this show specifically with Miley Cyrus in mind. He wrote the screenplay before the novel, which is not the case with his other books-turned-movies (“Dear John,” “The Notebook”).

I read a lot and I watch a lot of movies. I’m one of those people who can read a fantastic book and still appreciate the movie it’s based upon, even when I know there’s no way to do it justice in two hours. On the other hand, I’m not a big Nicholas Sparks novel fan – I think his books are pretty lukewarm, but I did enjoy the big screen adaptation of “The Notebook.”

I will also admit to watching my fair share of “Hannah Montana” (Miley’s Disney sitcom) – it’s amazing what you’ll watch with your kids when you’re too tired to do the dishes. Anyway, Miley Cyrus as Hannah has sort of grown on me. I definitely like her better than her dad, Billie Ray. I guess I can appreciate the “best of both worlds” theme. We’ll see how she holds up in her film debut.

Guys bring your girl friends, wives, and moms for Mother’s Day. We’re continuing the NICHOLAS SPARKS FREE MEDIUM POP FOR MEN special!

CLOSED MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

ACT I takes the stage full time next week when we close for dress rehearsals of “Bus Stop” Monday through Thursday. The show opens Friday, May 14 and runs for two consecutive weekends, Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Reserve your tickets online at www.act1.org.

DIGITAL UPDATE

Gerald and I, and trustees Alan Woodhouse and Pat Lyons were lucky to meet with Eric Olson, from the Iola, Kansas based company, Sonic Equipment, on Sunday afternoon for a site survey of the theatre. I say lucky, because the owner of the company does not usually do site surveys, but as he has family in Denison and Cedar Rapids he volunteered for the job.

Sonic Equipment, the leading expert in digital cinema conversions, is the company Gerald has researched and contracted to do our upgrade. Last week, we were disappointed, but not surprised, to learn that in the past six months business has grown so much that installations are now three months out.

However, Eric loved our theatre, took photos of our digital drive fundraising and advertising materials, as well as our seat savers, and bonded with the boys over Hawkeye and Panther stories. Sonic called on Monday to let us know that Eric scheduled our installation for end of June!

Of course, we do need to ramp up our fundraising! We have currently received more than $30,000 in pledged contributions (in just three short weeks!) but still need your help to reach our goal.

Digital Cinema – who’s in?