Unscripted: Feeling thankful for entertainment blessings - LancasterOnline

On Thursday, many of us will be sitting around the Thanksgiving table, taking turns sharing what we’re most grateful for.

But there are plenty of items I’m thankful for that won’t be mentioned over sweet potato casserole and stuffing — things, specifically from the entertainment realm.

I’m thankful, for example, that Netflix’s much-anticipated “Mindhunter,” starring Lancaster County native Jonathan Groff, turned out to be such a great show.

Its fictionalized account of late-1970s FBI agents who were the first to develop a profile of serial killers is sharply written, darkly atmospheric and filled with stellar performances from actors portraying prisoners, cops and suspects.

And, as he plays an intense, idealistic federal agent, Groff gets to demonstrate a different set of acting chops than we’re used to seeing from a guy we know from musical theater and the voice of a “Frozen” Disney character.

Ronks native and Conestoga Valley High School graudate Jonathan Groff stars in "Mindhunter" on Netflix.

NETFLIX

I’m also grateful that the designer-contestants on season 16 of “Project Runway” — the finale of which aired Thursday night on Lifetime TV — have finally been challenged to design for models of a wide range of body types.

It was nice, for a change, to see stunning, plus-size women walking confidently down the runway in the competitors’ creations alongside their stick-thin colleagues. One of the plus-sized models, in fact, teared up during the finale — expressing her joy at being represented on the show throughout the season.

"Project Runway" contestants designed for plus-size models throughout season 16.

LIFETIME

I’m thankful that one of my favorite actors, Shakespeare maven Kenneth Branagh, has been involved in two recent blockbuster movies, “Dunkirk” and “Murder on the Orient Express.” Those films have given talk shows a reason to book Branagh as a guest — always a special treat.

Branagh is a smart, funny storyteller, be it in tales about his childhood passion for movies or behind-the-scenes vignettes about the other distinguished actors he works with in theater and film. His recent story, told on BBC America’s “The Graham Norton Show,” about how he accidentally saw Dame Judi Dench half-naked in her dressing room in a British theater, was a corker.

After nearly 30 years of unabashed fangirling over this guy — since the moment he walked out of the shadows and into my heart at the beginning of his “Henry V” — I have a crush on Branagh that seems to grow stronger with age.

I’m grateful for the “On Screen/In Person” documentary series presented by Governor’s Awards for the Arts recipient Barry Kornhauser, through Millersville University, every couple of months at The Ware Center in Lancaster.

With films like “Oil and Water,” about two teens fighting pollution in Ecuador, and “Deej,” about the educational journey of a young man with autism, this series offers local audiences an exclusive look at these socially conscious documentaries.

I’ve loved the panel discussions with local experts before the films are shown, and the question-and-answer sessions with the films’ directors and stars afterward.

I’m thankful for digital ticket lotteries in New York City, which have allowed me to see Broadway shows for around $40.

I’ve recently seen Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole portray cosmetic-company titans Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden in “War Paint” and Janeane Garofalo and Lili Taylor in “Marvin’s Room” at rock-bottom prices — leaving money in my wallet to sample the tasty smorgasbord of offerings from our own local theater community.

I'm also thankful that, beside LNP entertainment writer and theater critic Jane Holahan, I get to talk with local theater practitioners on our Lancaster Online podcast "Theater Geeks." Getting to chat about theater, and inform listeners about what goes on backstage and on stage with actors, artistic directors, designers, choreographers, stage managers, musicians, costumers and more, is one of the great joys of my job.

Finally, I’m grateful to have learned that aging has a positive side.

Turning 60 last month not only entitled me to a new set of discounts — on senior movie tickets, for example — but it gave me the perfect excuse to finally check off some bucket list items in New York’s Hudson Valley.

I toured Tarrytown’s Sleepy Hollow Cemetery by day and heard Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” recounted by a talented actor at the Old Dutch Church by candlelight.

My landmark birthday lunch was a delightful extravaganza at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, featuring gracious service and beautiful food courtesy of the student chefs.

A circus train is fashioned from jack 'o' lanterns at the Great Jack 'o Lantern Blaze in the Hudson Valley.

MARY ELLEN WRIGHT | Staff

That lunch was merely an appetizer before my four hours at the superb Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum, and the mind-blowing Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze in Croton-on-Hudson. There, 7,000 illuminated jack-o’-lanterns showcased the shapes of giant trains, animals, skeletons, spiders, snakes and even a working carousel.

It all made entering my seventh decade on earth a fantastic experience.

So, Happy Thanksgiving to our readers. May your own entertainment blessings be bountiful.

"Unscripted” is a weekly entertainment column produced by a rotating team of writers.