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Theater Review: ‘Tootsie’ Pre-Broadway Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 00:58:00 +0000

Location: Cadillac Palace Theatre, Chicago, IL

Website: Official Tootsie musical site

Starring: Santino Fontana, Lili Cooper, Sarah Stiles, Andy Grotelueschen, John Behlmann, Reg Rogers, Michael McGrath, Julie Halston

My Review: Since leaving NYC many years ago, I don’t often get an early look at new theater productions. But the new Tootsie musical is currently doing its preview run in Chicago before opening on Broadway in March 2019 and I got to see its second preview performance, so I decided to temporarily resurrect this blog to share my thoughts.

Based on the same-named 1982 Dustin Hoffman movie, Tootsie tells the story of Michael Dorsey (Fontana), an NYC actor who’s struggling to find roles primarily because he’s such a perfectionist pain in the ass that no one wants to work with him. In an act of desperation, he disguises himself as a woman to audition for a part, which he lands, and rebrands himself as Dorothy Michaels, a middle-aged Southern woman who is just as stubborn and outspoken as Michael, but in female form is seen as being a powerful feminist, thus earning her the respect and adoration of her fellow castmates and creating a level of fame that Michael had only dreamed about. Though things get complicated when he falls for his co-star, Julie (Cooper), who only knows him as Dorothy, her new best friend.

While the premise of the new stage musical (music and lyrics by David Yazbek) is similar to the movie it’s based on, a lot has been changed, so anyone looking for a completely faithful recreation may be disappointed. Most of the changes work for the better: the setting is updated to today (no 1980s shoulder pads, sorry), instead of a soap opera like in the movie Michael/Dorothy auditions to be in a new stage musical, and gone is the subplot of Julie’s father falling in love with Dorothy (the clunkiest part in an otherwise great movie, in my opinion, so it was not missed).

Generally, I haven’t been thrilled by the current trend of adapting popular movies into stage productions, and have avoided spending my money on them (no, I did not see the Pretty Woman musical when it did its pre-Broadway run here in Chicago, and judging by the NYC critics’ reviews, I didn’t miss much). But I was cautiously optimistic when I heard Tootsie was getting the musical treatment as I thought it was one of those rare movies that could translate well for the stage. Michael is a stage actor, so there’s already a theatrical vein to his story, and all of the other characters are involved in show business in some way, so the enlarged performances that are necessary for being on stage could work. Tootsie is also, at its core, a relatively simple story to tell, with no special effects or pyrotechnics needed, so the potential for any Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark-level disasters was minimal.

And for the most part, Tootsie does work well on the stage and I found the musical to be highly entertaining, albeit imperfect. The overall story fits in perfectly with today’s climate as Michael’s feminist awakening is reminiscent of men who have vocally supported the #MeToo movement, and there are topical references made to sexual harassment in the workplace and the wage gap. But rather than feeling preachy or trying too hard to be relevant, the show is quite funny (book by Robert Horn). The new musical Dorothy is cast in is a reimaging of Romeo and Juliet where Juliet doesn’t die and finds a happy ending with Romeo’s brother, Craig; a premise that is just as laughably ridiculous as it sounds and is treated as so within the production. Michael’s neurotic actor friend, Sandy (Stiles), is a recurring scene stealer with her manic patter singing about all the things that could (and do) go wrong at her various auditions, and his roommate, Jeff (Grotelueschen), is a consistent source of sarcastic support with questionable effectiveness, the kind of friend that anyone who’s ever lived in NYC and/or worked in entertainment knows all too well.

The cast as a whole is enjoyable and work well together, even managing to play off each other during some ad-libbed moments that were a result of an audio equipment malfunction the night I attended. Fontana—probably best known now for his role of Greg on the TV show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend—ably leads the whole troupe as Michael/Dorothy, paying just enough homage to Hoffman’s performance to please fans of the original movie while still making the part his own: for example, his Michael comes across as more of a petulant dick at times than an actor willing to die for his craft, but it works.

Where Tootsie falls short the most is in its songs, which, as a musical, is a bit problematic. The show is still in previews and the Playbill I received didn’t even offer a list of the musical numbers, which leads me to believe that the libretto is still a work in progress and I wouldn’t be surprised if more tweaking is done before the big Broadway premiere. As it is right now, there are no memorable tunes, with the possible exception of Sandy’s aforementioned patter singing, but that really isn’t the type of song that makes a musical unforgettable. There’s also a very clunky and overly-long song where Julie laments the difficulties of having a healthy relationship when you’re a working actor that is one of the more tedious things I’ve experienced in recent memory. I left the theater feeling amused and entertained, but with no desire to listen to the cast album, which is highly unusual for me. (Seriously, you should see my iPod. And yes, I still use my iPod.)

I also wish the show had leaned a bit more into the feminist slant of the story. The fact that so many of the issues that were addressed in the 1982 movie are still relevant today just proves how important they are and how unlikely they are to prematurely date this production. The commentary and character revelations that are made are welcome, but everything gets wrapped up a bit too quickly with no further insight. The role that Dorothy gets was one that Sandy wanted and she’s the reason Michael ever even knew about it, which is acknowledged, but Michael is never really held accountable for taking the part from Sandy (and all the other women who auditioned), and the repercussions of Julie—whose fondness of Dorothy has her examining her sexuality—discovering that Dorothy is really Michael is practically nonexistent. There was also little done to show Michael’s physical transformation into Dorothy: he just shows up to the audition in a dress and wig, and that’s Dorothy’s look for the rest of the performance. The fact that Dorothy is not a conventionally pretty woman is referenced multiple times, and I would have liked to have seen Michael struggle with that perception while offering some sort of insight on the unfair expectation that a woman has to be attractive to be worthy. Seems like a missed opportunity for a big musical number, honestly.

And no matter how they decided to stage the reveal that Dorothy is Michael, they were never going to top this:

Bottom Line: While it’s unlikely to become a modern musical masterpiece (it’s not Hamilton or Fun Home), Tootsie is a highly enjoyable show and one of the few movie adaptations that I think actually works on the stage. With a little more work on the song list and a more filled out resolution, it will surely enjoy a successful Broadway run and hopefully add to the discussion about what exactly it means to be a feminist.

Official Retirement of The Opinionated B

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 17:38:00 +0000

As the 2-3 of you who actually read this blog, you may have noticed that I haven't touched it in quite a while. This is due to many things, primarily that I no longer live in NYC, so I no longer have frequent access to the live theater and movie screenings I used to write about. So, I am officially retiring this blog.

But! If you feel so inclined, I have started a new blog you may enjoy, Lone Wolf Plus One, where I will be sharing stories and anecdotes about my first (and hopefully only) serious relationship, as well as some misadventures from my years in the dating pool.

Thanks to anyone who read and enjoyed this blog, and I hope you'll check things out at the new one.

This Shit is About to Get Personal: Ruminations on Love and Loss

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 19:25:00 +0000

When I started this blog several years ago, I was adamant that it would be a place where I would write about actual things that I was interested in, which, if you care to go through the archives, is primarily movies, theater, and junk food (and not necessarily in that order). I wasn't going to be just another jackass on the internet with a personal blog for me to pour my whiny thoughts all over, mostly because I like to believe that my emo teenage years are far behind me (though, honestly, aren't we all perpetual emo teenagers, but with bank accounts and larger sized pants?).

But seeing how this is my blog, which means I can break as many of the rules as I make and only have to answer to myself (and I think I'll cut myself some slack just this once), I'm going to stray from the norm and get a little personal.

The past couple of weeks have been challenging, to say the least. (And while I'm keenly aware that there are plenty of people out there with problems much bigger than my own, I only know how to focus on what I've got going on.) In the space of one week, my grandmother—who I grew up sharing a household with in southern state New York—passed away after many years of illness, and I packed up and moved to Chicago, leaving my family behind in Virginia, marking the first time in my life that I've lived more than a couple hour's drive away from them.

The loss of my grandmother wasn't exactly a surprise. She had emergency quadruple bypass surgery when I was 14 and was never the same since (and I recently turned 34, so that's pretty easy math for anyone to do in order to calculate how long she hadn't been well). During her recovery, her cardiologist gave her a strict diet to adhere to that included lots of fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins, and ultimately eliminated the chocolate, fatty meats, and carbohydrates she was so fond of. She essentially told him to go fuck himself, and continued to eat whatever she wanted.

Her physical therapist gave her a schedule of daily exercises to perform to help her regain strength and keep her newly reconstructed heart healthy—exercises that included tasks like "walk to the mailbox at the end of the driveway" and "lift these one-pound weights when sitting down." She did none of these exercises, instead opting to recline in her lounge chair watching TV all day, and then would blatantly lie to the therapist in her follow-up visits, insisting that she walked on the treadmill we had in the house every day. Anyone who ever visited our house at this time knows that treadmill was used to stack the boxes of snacks she would buy in bulk at Sam's Club (which is like a BJ's or a Costco, for you non-east coasters).

As a result of her refusal to take even the minimal amount of care of herself, the next 20 years were extremely difficult for her and everyone around her (especially my mother, who had become my grandmother's caretaker). Over the years she had several more heart-related episodes that resulted in the installation of not one, but two pacemakers. (Did you know a person could have more than one at a time? It was news to me!) She also eventually developed adult-onset diabetes, had some kidney failure occur, had a hernia, developed a whole host of gastrointestinal issues, and let her muscles atrophy to the point where she couldn't walk without assistance. And as if these physical maladies weren't enough, every time she would go under anesthesia for surgery, she would lose oxygen to her brain, so her memories and logical thinking skills continuously deteriorated to the point where no one knew if she had actual dementia or had just undergone one too many trips under the gas mask.

When I was away at college, my mother rarely called me due to never knowing when I would be available, so we established the Sunday call home where I would reach out to her. But she would call me to notify me of emergency situations, which always revolved around Grandma being in the hospital for any of her many ailments. So I would sit on pins and needles for days, weeks, months, wondering if this time was going to be "the time," only to get a call that she was out of the hospital and doing OK...for now...for her.

The "Sunday call to Mom" tradition carried over into my adult life, as did the "Mom only calls me when something's wrong" tradition, to the point where anytime I saw "Mom" on the caller ID, my stomach would drop and I would prepare to finally hear the words, "Grandma's gone."

My grandmother was never an easy woman to deal with, even when she was relatively healthy during my early childhood years. When asked to describe her, the descriptors most often used are "stubborn," "opinionated," "kind of racist," "often inconsiderate," and "unappreciative." But then there were the parts of her that only those closest would see, like how fiercely loyal she was to her family or how generous she could be with whatever she had to give when someone she loved was in need.

Even when remembering how she was during their childhoods, my mother and aunt (her daughters) recall Grandma being the strict disciplinarian, while Grandpa (their father) was the softie that he continues to be today at 90 years old. But she was still their mother, and my grandmother, so we loved her anyway, prickles and all.

In the spring of 2012, after living in New York City for 8 years and feeling completely burned out, I was ready to move somewhere new. My desire was to go to Seattle, for a variety of reasons I won't bore you with. Apparently my relocation plans sparked something in my family 80 miles upstate. My mother, grandmother, and grandfather were all living in that same house, none of them getting any younger. My mother had been retired from teaching for a couple of years, my grandfather was in pretty decent health despite being in his late 80s, and my grandmother was practically immobile, only occasionally lucid, and a raving bitch to everyone. Obviously distressed by the condition she was in, but unwilling to admit that there was no one to blame for her condition other than herself, she lashed out at my mother and grandfather for their gross incompetence in everything, from cooking dinner, to programming the DVR, to folding the laundry.

At the end of her rapidly fraying rope, my mother decided she could no longer handle being Grandma's primary caretaker or continue living under the same roof as her, and decided to sell the New York house and move them all down to Virginia, where her sister lives. So in a matter of months, the house was sold, my mother had bought herself a new house in a 55+ community, and my grandparents had their own apartment in a senior living complex where my mom and aunt would take turns checking in on them, taking them shopping, and shuttling them to doctor's appointments.

Feeling more upset by this familial upheaval than I cared to admit (because I'm a tough, badass, independent woman who doesn't let silly things like emotions affect her, don'tcha know), I put my cross-country move plans on hold. But still needing to get out of NYC, I compromised and moved to the Washington, DC, area to be close (but not too close) to the family who was all now in Virginia.

In the spring of 2013, after some medical episode that sprung from her refusal to eat, my grandmother was put in a hospice care facility for what we—and the doctors—were sure was finally the end. And of course, just to spite us all, she hung on for 8 more months.

I knew almost immediately after moving to DC that it was not a good fit for me. Unsure if Seattle was still my ultimate destination, I went to visit some friends in Chicago over the summer and decided that was where I should be. Due to a project at work that kept getting pushed back, and then pushed back again, my hopes of moving in the fall turned into the reality of moving in the midst of the holiday season. Not exactly what I wanted to do, but I had to get the hell out of Dodge, so moving plans were made for the weekend after Thanksgiving weekend.

When I got up at 7:00 on the Monday after Thanksgiving to get ready for work, I had a text message from my mother: "Call me when you get up." My stomach did the drop thing again, but this time it wasn't due to the fear of what was wrong with Grandma this time, but the fear that somehow she had outlived my grandfather and the bad news was about him.

I called my mom immediately and she picked up the phone with a choked silence. "Which one of them is it?" I managed to ask. I heard some shuffling as she passed the phone to my aunt, and knowing that she was at my mother's place that early in the morning was not a good sign. "Rach, it's Grandma. She passed away early this morning. We don't really know the details right now, but we'll let you know when we do. We're going to head over to Grandpa's in a little bit to let him know."

I told her I would work from home that day and to please let me know if there was anything I could do for them. And then proceeded to wonder what to do next. How do you grieve the loss of someone you've already grieved for time and time again when she's been coming "this close" to death for 20 years? The woman I remembered as Grandma—who baked Christmas cookies, bought me new ballet slippers every year, and supported my mother and I through the various trials my wretch of a father put us through—ceased to exist ages ago. Was I really sad that this sick, mean, abusive old woman who treated my mother like human garbage was finally gone? Was it OK if I wasn't sad?

Because what I felt more than sadness was relief. Relief that her struggle to hang onto a life that was finished with her years ago was finally over. Relief that my mother no longer had to carry the burden of caretaker or feel guilty about resenting her own mother. Relief that my grandfather no longer had to watch the woman he fell in love with, married, and had a family with fade further and further away. And relief for myself, because now I felt free to move away without the guilt of wondering if I might be needed back home whenever Grandma had her next episode.

Not being religious folks, we had a small family-only memorial for her at the cemetery that Thursday. She was cremated and her ashes were buried there, and a plot was purchased next to hers for my grandfather for when his time comes, which I fear will be sooner than any of us would like. Then, that weekend, movers came and collected my stuff, and I packed my car with the essentials, my two cats, and drove up to my new home in Chicago.

This will be the first Christmas without my grandmother and the first Christmas I will not be with the family since I was a kid and had to split my holiday break between my divorced parents. It wasn't how I planned things (obviously), but it is the way it is, and while it will be difficult, I know it will be alright. They will do the big family gathering that I just can't handle any more for reasons that would take up another 2,000-word blog post, and I will usurp the time-honored Jewish tradition of going out for Chinese food with friends. Hopefully next year I can convince my mother to do a Christmas trip with me. Somewhere warm. Because she sure as hell won't want to leave Virginia for Chicago this time of year!

Being an atheist-leaning person, I don't believe in heaven or hell (though I welcome the opportunity to be proven wrong when the time comes), so I don't take comfort in imagining my grandmother up in the clouds with all her deceased friends and relatives. Heck, if the latter years of her life were taken into consideration, I'm not even sure she would have been let in! But I do take comfort in knowing that a very long, very trying period of time for many people has come to an end. And I hope her final moments were peaceful and pain-free, because she raged against the dying of the light for long enough.

Goodbye, Grandma. You were a massive pain in the ass most of the time. And I loved you.

Theater Review: 'If/Then' Pre-Broadway Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Sun, 10 Nov 2013 23:34:00 +0000

Location: The National Theatre, Washington, DC

Website: Official If/Then musical site

Starring: Idina Menzel, LaChanze, Anthony Rapp, James Snyder, Jerry Dixon, Jenn Colella, Jason Tam, Tamika Lawrence

My Review: Now that I no longer live in NYC, my opportunities to be among the first people to take in a new play or musical are severely limited. (You don't know how many months I had to hear about how fantastic Pippin is before I finally made my way up to NYC to see it.) So when I heard the new Broadway-bound musical If/Then (Broadway previews begin March 5, 2014) would be doing a preview here in Washington, DC, I was interested. Then when I heard it was starring Idina Menzel and being directed by Michael Greif, I was sold.

If/Then is the story of Elizabeth (Menzel); or rather, the two possible stories of Liz and Beth. Back in NYC and pushing 40 after ending a disastrous marriage in Phoenix, Elizabeth is ready for a new start. After being tugged in two different directions by her new friend and neighbor, the free spirited Kate (LaChanze), and her old college friend, the idealistic and sexually confused Lucas (Anthony Rapp), Elizabeth's story is torn in two and played out parallel to each other, showing the vast effect that one decision can have on a person's life path. (I imagine the working title of this production was Sliding Doors: The Musical.) In the one thread, she re-brands herself as "Liz" and follows Kate's advice to embrace her new life as a single woman in NYC; in the other, she goes back to her college moniker "Beth" and accepts a city planning job with former colleague, Stephen (Jerry Dixon).

With music and lyrics by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (the creative team behind the Tony-winning Next to Normal), direction by Michael Greif, and a cast full of Broadway stage notables, If/Then is certainly a pedigreed musical. But unfortunately, I wasn't as swept away with it as I was expecting to be. While certainly enjoyable--and it's always a treat to see Idina Menzel do pretty much anything--the production has a lot of elements that just flat out didn't work for me, and were problematic enough to distract me from the elements that did work.

My breakdown:

Didn't Work: The first half of Act I. It takes a really long time for things to get moving in the first act. Maybe part of the problem is that they're laying the groundwork for not one, but two primary storylines, but whatever the issue is, the pace needs to be picked up.

Worked: The cast. The cast is pretty phenomenal, and is the production's saving grace. Menzel is Broadway musical royalty for good reason, and she gives both Liz and Beth enough distinction so that you believe that these two separate paths are shaping her in different ways, but she also manages to make them similar in specific ways so that you don't forget that you're watching two halves of the same woman. LaChanze is delightful and instantly reminds you of that person in your life who always tells you what you need to hear, even if it's not necessarily what you want to hear. And it's great to see Menzel re-teamed with her former Rent co-star, Anthony Rapp; the two play off each other well, both when their characters are happy and when they're annoyed with each other, and you can actually feel how joyful these two actors are to be working together again.

Didn't Work: Establishing the parallel timelines. Doing a parallel timeline story on stage can't be easy; there's no visual way to make it obvious to the audience when you're moving from one story to the other without being overly distracting. (To go back to the Sliding Doors comparison, the two extreme hairstyles Gwyneth Paltrow sports in that movie make it easy to keep track of which story you're watching, but having Elizabeth constantly switching wigs would never work since she's on stage for almost every scene.) The scenic design team attempts to resolve this by altering the lighting colors as the storylines switch, but it's so subtle that it's easily overlooked. I eventually caught on well into Act I, but my theater companion was still confused at intermission, as were many other audience members if the selections of mumblings I overheard are trust-worthy.

Didn't Work: The songs (for the most part). I admit that I never saw Next to Normal. And not due to lack of opportunity, but lack of interest. After seeing the number the cast performed at the 2009 Tony Awards--where the characters just loudly sung their streams of consciousness at each other--I just didn't feel inspired enough to get tickets. The songs (such that they are) in If/Then are written and performed in the same vein. While not quite patter singing (as that's usually used for comedic effect), the cast sings in a modified patter singing style where they're kind of melodically chanting their inner thoughts or their conversations. The Playbill offers no breakdown of musical numbers, so I have no idea what the names of any of the songs are, but I imagine the list would look something like, "Elizabeth is Excited, But Nervous, About Starting Over Again," "Kate Thinks Liz Should Be Willing to Take a Chance," and "Josh Feels Apprehensive, But is Pretty Sure Things Will Turn Out OK in the End."

Maybe I'm old-fashioned when it comes to musical theater, but I like to leave the theater after seeing a new show humming at least one of the songs I just heard. And then I'll buy the cast album and learn all the songs I like. And then I'll sing them in my shower, and in my car, and after having too much vodka (much to the delight of everyone around me). Even musicals that are sung all the way through, opera-style (à la Rent and Les Misérables), have distinct songs that worm their way into your memory. If/Then has melodic monologues and dialogues, which really didn't do much for me.

Worked: Idina Menzel's songs. You don't cast Idina Menzel in your musical and not give her at least a couple of showstoppers to belt out. Surprising to no one, Menzel brings down the house in a couple of powerful solos, but as I mentioned before, there's nothing memorable about the songs themselves. Rather than leaving the theater remembering how great that musical number was, you leave remembering how great Menzel's voice is, but wishing you could remember any of the music or lyrics she performed.

Bottom Line: Anybody who is a fan of Broadway theater, or just musicals in general, is going to want to love If/Then, because it's bound to be known as "The new Idina Menzel musical." And if you love Menzel enough, that might be all you need to adore this production. But as a stand-alone musical, there is a lot lacking. If the production remains as-is when it makes its way to Broadway, I'm not sure what sort of life If/Then will have once its leading lady moves on. Hopefully the producers have Kristin Chenoweth's number on file.

Theater Review: Signature Theatre’s ‘Miss Saigon’

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 18:40:00 +0000

Location: Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA

Website: Official Signature Theatre site

Starring: Thom Sesma, Diana Huey, Jason Michael Evans, Chris Sizemore, Christopher Mueller, Erin Driscoll

My Review: *In the name of fairness, I will disclose that I saw this production while it was still in previews and the pivotal role of Chris (Jason Michael Evans) was being played by the understudy (Gannon O’Brien).*

I have long had a fondness for the musical Miss Saigon. Created by the team of Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil, it was the blockbuster theatrical production that followed their other blockbuster theatrical production, Les Misérables, and landed on Broadway during my formative pre-teen years. Already being a Les Mis devotee—and a fan of big, emotional musicals in general—it wasn’t hard to fall in line with Team Miss Saigon.

Loosely based on Puccini’s opera Madame Butterfly, Miss Saigon is the ultimate tragic love story set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. American GI Chris meets and falls in love with the Vietnamese prostitute Kim (but she’s only a prostitute out of desperation and only for that one night when they meet, so she’s not that kind of prostitute, making her a protagonist that even the most conservative theater-goer would feel OK rooting for). Unfortunately, his plans to marry her and bring her back to America with him go awry when they get separated during the fall of Saigon and Kim is left behind. Three years go by, and an increasingly desperate Kim is still holding onto the dream of the return of her American husband. A reunion seems imminent when Chris’ war buddy, John, discovers Kim’s new whereabouts in Bangkok and they set out to find her. But the presence of Chris’ wife, Ellen, throws a wrench into Kim’s happily-ever-after fantasy.

Those who aren’t intimately familiar with the story or music of Miss Saigon probably know it best as, “that musical with the helicopter.” And it’s true; the early 1990s original Broadway production landed a helicopter on stage, along with having a full-size Cadillac appear for a major musical number and featuring a giant statue of Ho Chi Minh that loomed over the stage. For better or worse, it was what I like to call “a big-ass musical.” But the Signature Theatre is a modestly-sized venue, so they couldn’t do this big-ass musical with its original production values even if they wanted to (or could afford to). So how could they translate Miss Saigon for what their space would allow?

With some pretty creative staging and choreography that, for the most part, actually worked. All the musical numbers are still there, but instead of 30 dancing chorus members, there are 10. Instead of one giant Ho Chi Minh, there are six normal-sized ones still casting an imposing presence. Instead of landing a helicopter…well, I don’t want to give away all of Signature’s tricks, but what they come up with works just as well for the scene.

Surprisingly (to me, at least), the show doesn’t suffer from the move to its new, smaller digs. Sure, grand theatrics and stage pyrotechnics are fun and all, but the story, songs, and heart are what make a musical worthwhile, and none of that is missing at the Signature Theatre. There were a few instances where you could tell the cast would have liked a little more space to move or dance about in, but that didn’t detract from the more important moments, like feeling the necessary gut-punch when Kim first encounters Chris’ new wife.

Kim is, in my opinion (check the name of the blog, bitches), the performance that can make or break a production of Miss Saigon. And luckily, Diana Huey is up to the task. She’s believably scared and overwhelmed when first thrown into the life of a Vietnamese prostitute, sells you on the joy she feels when she thinks she’s found a good man who will take care of her, then breaks your heart when all of her dreams fall apart. With a voice that my theater companion aptly called “Disney princess pretty,” she’s a perfect fit for the sweet, naïve Kim. (Fun, if not overly relevant, fact: Lea Salonga, who was the original Kim on Broadway, also provided the singing vocals for Disney’s Princess Jasmine in Aladdin and Mulan in Mulan.)

Another cast standout is Thom Sesma as the Engineer, the club-owner/pimp/opportunist who first brings Kim into her new line of work and then latches onto her when he sees her as his ticket to becoming the American entrepreneur he dreams of being. Gifted with some of the more fun musical numbers, he provides bursts of much-needed comic relief during the performance, easily working his sleazy charm over on the audience while completely failing to do so on stage with various Vietnamese officials and American soldiers.

The role of Chris has always been problematic to me. His development is shoved aside in favor of focusing on Kim, so his motivations are never as clearly defined. Does he really love her, or is he just trying to do what he thinks is the right thing in the moment? Did he really tap every resource he could to find her after being forced to leave her behind? How invested was he really if he managed to find a new American wife relatively quickly? As previously stated, I saw understudy Gannon O’Brien as Chris on the night I attended, and while he was capable enough, he was clearly not as comfortable in the role as I would imagine someone who had been rehearsing it for weeks would have been, which did nothing to make me stop questioning Chris’ various motives and decisions.

A more problematic role, in that it’s a totally thankless one, is that of Ellen, Chris’ wife. She creates the primary roadblock to the happily-ever-after we want to see, but rather than emphasizing how it’s a position she never wanted to be in, Erin Driscoll makes her version of Ellen seem almost cold and cruelly disinterested in the devastation that her very existence creates for Kim.

Signature’s new production of Miss Saigon also features a brand-new song for Ellen: “Maybe,” which replaces her former Act II number (and only solo), “Now That I’ve Seen Her” (or “It’s Her or Me,” depending on if you saw the original show in London or New York). The new tune is unmemorable and, being intimately familiar with the Original Broadway Cast album, I don’t know why the Monsieurs Schonberg and Boublil felt the need to fix what wasn’t broken.

The less I say about Christopher Mueller as Thuy, the horrible man Kim’s parents arranged for her to marry before the war, the better. It’s a relatively small part, so the minutes you’re forced to spend watching him try to portray an intimidating figure are blessedly few.

Bottom Line: The Signature Theatre is marketing this new staging of Miss Saigon as the most ambitious and largest production in their history, and thankfully they were up for the challenge. There are a few growing pains (or in this case, shrinking pains), but nothing that detracts from the overall enjoyment of the show. Much like its older sister Les Misérables, Miss Saigon isn’t without fundamental problems on the page, but the newly trim version at Signature is a testament to how well a small theater can do a big-ass musical.

Theater Review: The National Ballet of Canada's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 19:42:00 +0000

Location: The Kennedy Center, 2700 F Street NW, Washington, DC

Website: Official National Ballet of Canada site

Starring: The company from the National Ballet of Canada

My Review: I admittedly know very little about ballet beyond what I learned in dance classes I attended as a child (where it was less about skill and more about looking cute in a tutu), but just as with graphic art (another art form I have little formal education in), I know what I like when I see it. And the National Ballet of Canada's production of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is something I liked very much.

Alice in Wonderland has long been one of my favorite stories, from Lewis Carroll's original book, to the Disney animated classic, to the bizarre '80s mini-series (that made me one of the few first-graders who knew who Red Buttons and Imogene Coca were), to Melanie Benjamin's recent novel, Alice I Have Been. When I first saw that the Kennedy Center would be presenting this new ballet version of Alice, I wondered why it hadn't been done before. Being such a lively, episodic, and whimsical tale, it seems to naturally lend itself to a dance performance.

Luckily, choreographer Christopher Wheeldon saw this potential and crafted this new and exciting Alice. Using a brilliantly creative combination of animated screens, puppetry, breathtaking scenery, and extremely talented dancers, Wheeldon takes you on Alice's familiar journey, but in a way that manages to feel brand new.

Clocking in at almost three hours long (with two intermissions), Alice's Adventures in Wonderland could be a tedious exercise in sitting still (especially considering how the production is likely to appeal to children). But each scene moves along at a steady, quick pace, and there's always so much to take in on stage that the length isn't even noticeable until you check your watch on the way out.

One of the key reasons that I've had less exposure to ballet than other performing arts is that I find featured dance solos to often drag on for too long. I fully support giving each principal dancer their moment to shine, but I often wish they would shine for about the half the time they take. In Alice, this is never an issue. Each solo dance is just the right length, and is energetic enough to hold your attention until the end.

I was also delighted to see that ballet could actually be funny. A lot can be communicated through dance, but it's rare that I've seen an audience burst into laughter at a dance routine that isn't accompanied by a comical show tune. The Mad Hatter's tea party is a colorful tap dance routine that is periodically interrupted by a suddenly narcoleptic Dormouse. The caucus race is completed in dramatic slow-motion. And in a highlight of the evening, the Queen of Hearts is a high-strung hostess forcing all of her reluctant servants to join her in a dance that only she thinks is worthy of performing.

Bottom Line: As my first big theatrical experience since relocating from NYC to DC, I don't think I could have chosen better than both going to the Kennedy Center and seeing Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. If you're lucky enough to have this production come to a stage near you, I highly recommend purchasing tickets, even if you don't consider yourself a "ballet fan."

'Les Misérables' the Movie: One Theater Geek's Opinion

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 20:20:00 +0000

Les Misérables was the first musical I ever fell in love with.

Growing up 80 miles north of New York City, trips to see Broadway shows were just a quick bus or train ride away. While in elementary school, my mother and I had taken trips to see some family-friendly fare, like Meet Me in St. Louis and Peter Pan, but when I was in 6th grade a bus trip to go see Les Misérables was arranged. I was dying to go; not because I knew anything about the production, but because I simply wanted to go see another show. But Broadway theater tickets aren't cheap (not then, not now), and my mother was concerned that I was too young to fully understand and appreciate the rather adult themes and emotions Les Misérables presents. So she did the unthinkable: She went without me.

And even though now I can see that she was right—a lot of the show probably would have been over my 10-year-old head—I can still very clearly remember the sting of this denial. But after seeing Les Misérables herself and determining I would probably enjoy the music, my mother conceded to buy me the cast album (on cassette!).

For the next year I played the crap out of that tape. I learned all the songs by heart, and my angsty pre-teen heart thought that "On My Own" was simply the best song ever composed (the fact that every boy I was crushing on at the time had the audacity to be indifferent toward me just added fuel to this fire). I eventually wore that tape out and had to purchase another one. By the time that one wore out, I had made the transition to CDs, so I bought the two-disc Original Broadway Cast (OBC) album and discovered to my delight that it had even more songs than the cassette (which was more of a "best of" compilation). I lost no time learning these "new" songs.

When I was in high school another bus trip opportunity to see Les Misérables came along, and this time I was going. I was slightly worried that all the years of anticipation would inevitably lead to disappointment, but fortunately, it was everything I had hoped it would be. The music! The singing! The many, many emotions! The spinning stage! It couldn't have been more wonderful.

I made a trip to NYC to see Les Misérables again while in college, and saw the revamped 25th anniversary touring production a couple of years ago (no more spinning stage, alas). And while I still loved the show, I could finally admit that it's not without flaws. There are so many storylines that many of them get shortchanged and feel rushed (and if you've ever seen the size of the tome the musical is based on, you know that there's already a ton of content that got left out). And some of the songs are less than stellar and/or ridiculously overwrought (I'm looking at you, "A Heart Full of Love").

When I first heard that a movie version of the musical Les Misérables was in the works, I was pretty worried. While I've been enjoying the recent resurgence of the movie musical, most of them haven't translated well to the screen. Then the first stills from the movie were released, and I thought, "Hm...that looks pretty good." Then the teaser trailer with Anne Hathaway singing "I Dreamed a Dream" in a way no one had heard before came out, and I thought, "Hm...that sounds pretty good." (I never understood how that song became a power ballad anyway; did no one ever actually listen to the lyrics?) Then I saw that extended look featurette (before watching Looper, of all movies), and I was no longer worried. Once the movie tickets were on sale, I pre-purchased to see it opening day (aka, Christmas Day).

Much like the stage production, Les Misérables the movie is not without issues. The pacing in certain places feels very off as scenes change before you've fully processed what just happened. The constant zoomed-in close-ups during the big solo songs are jarring, unnecessary, and just add to the pacing issue as they slow the movie way down. And Russell Crowe was woefully miscast as Javert. He casts a formidable presence, which is good, but his singing voice lacks anything resembling gravitas or intimidation, which is...not great. (Though this may not be entirely his fault; after over two decades of listening to the OBC album, the phenomenal Terrence Mann will probably always be the one and only Javert for me.)

But, again, much like the stage production, I still loved the movie, flaws and all. Seeing everything unfold close-up heightens the various emotional impacts, and being able to clearly see the dirty French streets and the desperation in the characters' eyes made me realize for maybe the first time just what a stone-cold bummer of a musical Les Misérables is (and yes, I know what "les misérables" translates to in English, thank you very much). The distance from the stage when in a theater audience, where the actors have to project every song to reach 1,000+ people, can make it easy to miss what exactly is being said and happening to these characters. The movie offers no such buffer, so you see, hear, and feel everything at its full capacity, making it the perfect movie to take someone who claims all musicals are silly, cheesy, happy song-and-dance fests with no substance.

Much has been made about director Tom Hooper's decision to have the actors sing live while being filmed, rather than relying on pre-recorded tracks, and while it's not a revolutionary tactic for musicals in general, it is for movie musicals, and it really works. It doesn't sound as polished as pre-recorded tracks would, but if any musical would benefit from raw, live singing, Les Misérables is it.

Russell Crowe aside, the rest of the cast is excellent. Hugh Jackman successfully transforms himself throughout the various stages of Jean Valjean's life, Anne Hathaway knocks it out of the park, Eddie Redmayne finally made me understand why he's considered one of the hot young actors, and Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen are the perfect choices for the comic relief Thénardiers. I was especially impressed with Aaron Tveit—who I have never heard of before, and according to IMDB is from my hometown!—as Enjolras, the leader of the student rebels, a role that is often pushed aside on the stage, but is made impossible to ignore by Tveit.

Luckily, cinematic perfection isn't a requirement to making great, effective movies. Les Misérables is a powerhouse of a musical on the stage, and it still holds its own on the screen. Now if Tom Hooper would like to take a stab at translating Miss Saigon into a movie, my inner teenage theater geek will simply be beside herself with glee.

Quest for the Best: Best Buns Bread Company

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 22:58:00 +0000

Location: 4010 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA

Website: Official Best Buns site

Price: $3 per cupcake

Atmosphere: Small, bustling bakery. There's limited seating in the front window, but with all the activity going on at the registers, it's best to get your treats to go.

My Review: After exploring the various cupcake options in New York City, now that I've relocated to the DC Metro area, I decided to see what sort of cupcakes there were to have here. My first stop was to the well-reviewed Best Buns Bread Company.

Located in the cute Shirlington Village--which is essentially a restaurant row with a few small shops (and a theater)--Best Buns is your quintessential bakery. You can pick up a whole loaf of bread in any number of flavors, a danish and a cup of coffee in the morning, a soup and sandwich combo for lunch, and a cookie or a cupcake whenever. Despite the allure of their sticky buns and monkey bread, I was on a mission to try out their cupcakes (during this initial trip, anyway).

Best Buns' cupcakes are huge--roughly the size of a baseball I'd say, if I knew anything about sports. Well, they're bigger than a golf ball, but smaller than a basketball, which I know for certain! At $3 a pop, they had better be a generous size. I picked up a half dozen variety of flavors to bring to a birthday party, but managed to get at least a taste of each one.

My initial reaction to the basic vanilla and chocolate-based cupcakes were that they were good, but not really remarkable. The peanut butter frosting on the Chocolate Peanut Butter was tasty--not too much like straight peanut butter, but not too much like straight frosting--but the chocolate cake reminded me of the relatively decent cake you can get out of a box mix. And while I have no real issue with the good people at Duncan Hines, or the memories of grade school birthday parties their cakes evoke, I expect something a bit more special and unique from a professional bakery.

I had the same response to the Vanilla cupcake--good, but kind of generic--but the vanilla buttercream frosting was smooth and creamy and not cloyingly sweet. The Toffee and Coconut cupcakes had the same basic chocolate cake base with tasty frostings and toppers. The Chocolate Ganache could have used a slightly softer ganache frosting, and I would have loved some kind of filling. Though I may just be longing for the Chocolate Ganache cupcake from Eleni's in NYC (with its buttercream filling), which is probably my favorite cupcake of all time.

The true star at Best Buns is it's Carrot Cake cupcake. The cake is moist and filled with real chunks of carrot, coconut, and walnuts. And the best part of all--no raisins! Raisins are the scourge of the earth and shouldn't be put in anything, especially something as divine as carrot cake. The cream cheese frosting on the carrot cake was really well-balanced with just the right blend of sugary sweetness and cream cheese tang.

Bottom Line: Best Buns' cupcakes are a bit pricey at $3 each, but they are generously large. Their vanilla and chocolate cakes are relatively generic for a professional bakery, but the carrot cake is worth a repeat visit. I'll probably pair it with a sticky bun or some monkey bread, rather than other cupcakes, next time.

Theater Review: Peter and the Starcatcher

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 15:30:00 +0000

Location: Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 256 West 47th Street, NY, NY

Website: Official Peter and the Starcatcher site

Starring: Christian Borle, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Adam Chanler-Berat, Kevn Del Aguila, Rick Holmes, Arnie Burton

My Review: Fun fact: Peter Pan was one of the first Broadway musicals I ever saw roughly 20 years ago (and it starred Cathy Rigby, who is currently playing the role again in a new national tour, which I suppose speaks more to what incredible shape she's in rather than proving that I am not getting old). It was never one of my favorite shows, but it always held a special place in my heart for being one of my earlier introductions to the wonderful world of live theater. So I was excited to check out this new Peter Pan theatrical experience, Peter and the Starcatcher.

Based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Peter and the Starcatcher is the unauthorized origin story of Peter Pan. Father and daughter team Lord Aster and Molly are on a sea voyage with a trunk that is mysteriously referred to as "the Queen's treasure" (the Queen in this case being Victoria). Through a series of events, Lord Aster and Molly wind up on separate ships, one of which has the actual treasure trunk and the other equipped with a decoy. While taking an ill-advised tour of her ship, Molly stumbles upon a group of orphans who have been sold into slavery, one of which is a nervous, shy boy who has no name and simply goes by "Boy." Meanwhile, the flamboyant, yet feared, pirate Black Stache hears about the treasure and overtakes Lord Aster's ship with his band of followers, determined to steal the treasure for himself.

Unfortunately, the treasure is with Molly on her ship and isn't the gold and jewels the pirates have envisioned; it's a trunk full of "starstuff" that Molly and her father as starcatchers have collected. These magical remains of shooting stars hold great power and anyone who comes into contact with some of it will be turned into whatever they desire most. Since such magic would be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands, Lord Aster is planning to destroy it once they reach their destination: The volcano Mt. Jalapeño. Once Black Stache and his pirates destroy Molly's ship in an effort to get the treasure, the whole lot of them wind up on a desert island where Molly and the orphans scramble to protect the treasure while the pirates follow in hot pursuit.

While an enjoyable evening at the theater, I was surprised by how unexciting Peter and the Starcatcher was. Whether or not you're a fan of the original Peter Pan tale, I don't think anyone would ever accuse it of being dull. But the story of how Boy became Peter Pan left a lot to be desired. Part of the problem may be what a small part he plays. Molly is a far more central character and Black Stache steals the show from everyone whenever he appears. Boy is barely even a substantial character until the second Act when he is temporarily separated from the rest of his party. And when he is treated like an actual character, he's not a very interesting one.

Played by Adam Chanler-Berat, Boy is incredibly whiny and weak-willed, and while this is meant to be an origins story, it's hard to imagine how this sad, nervous boy has any potential to turn into the spirited, adventure-seeking Peter Pan. Celia Keenan-Bolger as Molly (whose put-upon childlike British accent goes from charming to grating in about three minutes) is far more interesting and exciting, though while the implication is that her influence rubs off on Boy, we never actually see that happen. We're just meant to assume that when Boy and Molly inevitably part ways, he'll grow to be more like her.

The true star of the show is Christian Borle as pirate captain Black Stache (a pre-hook Captain Hook). Borle has recently gained some more mainstream fame from the TV show Smash, but his roots are in the theater and he really gets to show what he does best in this role. He plays Black Stache as an over-the-top diva, but with an edge of instability, so he's unnerving enough to not be seen as a total joke. A master at physical comedy, Borle jumps, stomps, flails, and flops about the stage, energetically throwing himself into every ridiculous ploy Black Stache devises in order to steal the treasure.

Bottom Line: A play that doesn't really gain any steam until Act II, Peter and the Starcatcher is an origins story that has a lot of potential, but makes too many assumptions about where things will go from where its story ends and Peter Pan begins. Yes, Boy does learn to crow by the end, but no one really believes it.

Theater Review: Once

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:24:00 +0000

Location: Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 242 West 45^th Street, NY, NY

Website: Official Once website

Starring: Steve Kazee, Cristin Milioti, David Abeles, Will Connolly, Elizabeth A. Davis, David Patrick Kelly, Anne L. Nathan, Andy Taylor

My Review: I’m not a romantic person by nature (understatement of the year), but something about Once just gets to me. I’ve seen the 2006 movie dozens of times and get emotional over it at every viewing, like I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen at every moment. Now Once has been translated into a stage musical that, after a successful run Off-Broadway, has made its way to a Broadway theater, and I have a whole new entertainment experience to get all teary-eyed about.

Set in Ireland and based on the small independent movie of the same name (and Academy Award winner for Best Song), Once tells the story of a brokenhearted Irish street musician (known simply as Guy) who meets a Czech girl (known as, yup, Girl). Guy’s been recently dumped by a woman who fled to New York with someone else, and reacts by pouring all his anger and pain into his music. Girl sees him performing and informs him that if he plays those songs for his lost love, he’ll win her back. Girl is also a musician herself and comes up with the idea that with Guy on guitar and lead vocals, her on piano singing backup, and a few additional musicians, they could record a demo tape that he could take on his trip to New York to get his music career off the ground. So they set out to make this dream a reality, and attempt to push aside those pesky feelings that they’re starting to develop for each other in the process.

Being so familiar with the source material, it’s impossible for me to talk about Once the stage musical without comparing it to Once the movie. So I’m not even going to try. While I didn’t find the stage musical to be quite as charming and touching as the movie, it was still an excellent night at the theater. While I was expecting some tweaks and changes from the movie, one of the most jarring edits were those made to the Girl character. In the movie she’s supportive and determined, but without being pushy or abrasive; in the stage musical, she’s pushy to the point that the show becomes more her story than Guy’s. In the beginning she basically berates Guy to play his music for her and demands that he go to New York to win back his ex, despite his initial lack of desire to do either of those things. It also doesn’t help that Cristin Milioti barks her various orders at him with a very thickly laid on European accent (if it’s anything close to a Czech accent, I couldn’t say, but it sounds nothing like the Girl in the movie, who is played by Czech musician Markéta Irglová).

The beloved folksy rockish songs of the movie are present and still as emotionally resonant as ever. The cast doubles as the orchestra, playing their instruments out on the open stage for each musical number, and even entertain the audience with some rollicking Irish tunes before the curtain goes up (metaphorically, since there actually isn’t any curtain). In an effort to expand the stage musical from the 85-minute long movie, some additional songs are added (penned by the original movie composers Glen Hansard and Irglová), and while they were enjoyable at the time, I’m hard-pressed to remember much about them now.

In another attempt to expand the show to Broadway musical length, minor characters are given more to do. Instead of merely allowing Guy and Girl to use his showroom pianos, the music shop owner actively engages with them and becomes part of their demo recording band. As does the bank manager who grants them a loan to pay for the recording session. Girl now also has a group of Czech roommates who are primarily used for comic effect as they are learning to speak English from a torrid Irish soap opera. While these character additions aren’t detrimental to the story, I wish they had remained in the background so as not to periodically steal focus from Guy and Girl, who are the heart and soul of the whole operation (even if it meant having a short show and forfeiting the need for an intermission).

Bottom Line: While it occasionally dips into the well of overly simplified bon mots (there’s some nonsense about “never leaving unfinished love behind” that gets bandied about), Once is still a charming tale told with fantastic music about that rare and magical occurrence of genuine human connection. Just maybe make Girl a bit less of an emotional bulldozer going forward.

Theater Review: Newsies!

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 18:31:00 +0000

Location: Paper Mill Playhouse, 22 Brookside Drive, Millburn, NJ

Website: Official Paper Mill Playhouse site

Starring: Jeremy Jordan, Ben Fankhauser, Kara Lindsay, John Dossett, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Vincent Agnello, R.J. Fattori, Helen Anker

My Review: Like many red-blooded American women who fell into the 11-16 age range in 1992, I was a fan of the Disney movie musical Newsies. It was a lively, energetic story about a team of underdogs fighting injustice, with some catchy tunes and fun dance routines. The fact that it also starred a whole bunch of cute teenaged boys—led by a young Christian Bale, who now probably wouldn’t even admit to having been in the movie—didn’t hurt, either. It wasn’t a perfect movie, and by all counts was a box office flop, but it had charm and many people still remember it fondly. And some of those people make up the production team of Harvey Fierstein, Jack Feldman, and Alan Menken, who have turned Newsies the movie musical into Newsies! the stage musical.

Just like the movie, Newsies! tells the fictionalized true story of a group of underprivileged newsboys trying to make a living hawking newspapers on the streets of New York City in 1899. When the major paper publisher Joseph Pulitzer decides he’ll see more profit by raising—without warning—the distribution cost the newsies have to pay, he gets more than he bargained for. Led by the charismatic Jack Kelly, the newsies organize a union with newboys from every borough of the city and go on strike, refusing to sell any of Pulitzer’s papers until their distribution cost is brought back down. Aiding Jack in his cause are Davey, a newsie new to the job who acts as the brains of the operation, and Katherine, a reporter for a rival newspaper eager to write about real issues who strives to get the newsies’ cause on the front page.

While definitely entertaining, Newsies! is still a flawed production. Luckily, the flaws are mostly covered by the energy the cast brings. Whenever there was a musical number featuring the entire chorus of newsies (and there were several), each actor threw himself into it with such gusto that you almost felt exhausted on their behalf. Most of the dance routines were very acrobatic, so you couldn’t help but marvel at how many back flips an actor could turn and still easily join in singing.

Jeremy Jordan did well as strike leader Jack. He had enough strength and presence that it made sense that the other newsies would want to follow him into battle, but he managed to insert a vein of vulnerability that kept him from seeming like just some arrogant punk kid. As Jack’s reluctant right-hand-man Davey, Ben Fankhauser was alright, though at times came across so nebbishy nervous you had to wonder how he ever thought working as a newsboy would be the best way to earn extra money for his family. John Dossett as Pulitzer is painted a bit too broadly as a typical Disney villain, rather than just a greedy captain of industry who has no clue what it’s like to be one of his many underlings. Dossett does the best he can with the role, but the newly-added song Pulitzer performs about the joys of being rich and powerful is forgettable and unnecessary. I’m surprised that the producers didn’t add a handlebar moustache to his costume just so he could twirl it while cackling maniacally.

As far as the music for Newsies! goes, all the favorites from the movie are there (“Carrying the Banner,” “Santa Fe,” “Seize the Day,” “King of New York”), and in an effort to flesh out show, original composer Alan Menken was called upon to add some new musical numbers, which he does with mixed success. There’s the aforementioned song by Pulitzer, which is, well, for lack of a better word, stupid. Katherine the reporter gets to sing a song while she agonizes over writing her piece on the newsies, which is a nice comical piece. But the biggest clunker was the love song duet between Jack and Katherine, which brings me to the one really huge, glaring, neon problem with Newsies!: The shoehorned in love story.

In the movie version, the newspaper reporter is a man who becomes a father figure of sorts to the mostly orphaned group of newsies, and the closest thing to a love story is a very brief flirtation between Jack and Davey’s sister (who doesn’t exist in this new production). But somewhere, somehow in the development for the stage production, someone decided that what Newsies! really needed was a full-on romance (it didn’t) and that making the reporter a female and pairing her with Jack would happily serve that purpose (it doesn’t).

Putting aside how unnecessary a romantic relationship is in a story about underdogs making a stand, there’s the awkwardness of the unstated age difference to consider: Jack is all of 17 (which he states…in song) and Katherine is old enough to have a job as a reporter, which would put her somewhere well over 17 (right?). Why exactly is a working professional woman pining for a teenage boy? And why are we meant to see that as romantic? Perhaps the producers felt that since Newsies! is sparse on female roles, they would be alienating the female audience if they didn’t make one of the main characters a woman. But making her sort of inappropriately predatory was definitely not the way to go. And as far as I’m concerned, a couple dozen cute dancing boys should be more than enough to attract plenty of female audience members.

Bottom Line: Much like the movie it’s based on, Newsies! isn’t a perfect musical, but it is charming and entertaining. Fans of the movie will enjoy seeing the big musical numbers performed live, and newbies will enjoy the high-energy story about the little guy refusing to back down. Though with its eyes clearly focused on a move to Broadway, Newsies! would be wise to make the role of Katherine a male role again. Then all its lesser flaws may be forgiven.

Trailer Review: The Hunger Games

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:53:00 +0000

Release Date: March 23, 2012

Website: Official The Hunger Games site

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Wes Bentley

My Review: I admit it: I am an adult with no children who is totally in love with the young adult novel series, The Hunger Games. I would take this time to apologize to all the Twilight fans I’ve mocked over the past couple of years, except for one important thing: The Hunger Games is awesome, and Twilight is stupid.

The first story in a series of three, The Hunger Games takes place in a dystopian near future where what remains of the U.S. is divided into separate Districts that are ruled over with an iron fist by the oppressive Capital. At one time in the past, the Districts banded together in an attempt to overthrow the Capital, and when they lost, unlucky District 13 was obliterated as a warning of what the Capital was capable of. As further punishment for the Districts’ insubordination, every year the Capital hosts the Hunger Games; a televised survival game where a randomly selected male and female child from each District is thrown into an arena and forced to fight to the death.

From District 12, 16-year-old Katniss takes the place of her selected younger sister, and enters the arena with fellow District member Peeta, the charming son of the District baker. Luckily, Katniss isn’t your average teenager; she’s an experienced hunter, smart and resourceful enough to live off the land, and willing to fight as hard as she has to in order to survive. She’s even smart enough to let the inevitable love triangle between her, Peeta, and her back-home hunting buddy Gale run a distant second to everything else she has going on (take that, Bella!).

The recently released trailer for The Hunger Games is really just a teaser, and doesn’t reveal much other than Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss running through a forest being bombarded by fireballs. But it’s enough to make me hopeful that the movie adaptation will capture the same suspenseful energy the book has, though I’m still concerned about how much Hollywood will sanitize the story and glamorize the lead players. In any case, it’s bound to be better than Twilight.

Would I Pay For It?: I knew as soon as I finished reading the book that I would pay to see the unavoidable movie that would come from it, though it’s going to be hard seeing anyone other than the version in my imagination playing Katniss. Because the version in my head is completely badass.

Theater Review: Death Takes a Holiday

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:28:00 +0000

Location: Laura Pels Theatre, 111 West 46^th Street, NY, NY

Website: Official Roundabout Theatre site

Starring: Kevin Earley, Jill Paice, Michael Siberry, Rebecca Luker, Matt Cavenaugh, Mara Davi, Don Stephenson, Max von Essen

My Review: Death Takes a Holiday would be a pretty good student production. Unfortunately, it’s a professional one that stars professional actors and charges professional ticket prices.

Based on a play and the 1934 movie of the same name, Death Takes a Holiday is a new musical playing in the current Roundabout Theatre season. Death, in the form of a handsome man, wants to take a break from collecting souls and see what it’s like to live as a mortal, so he invites himself to a summer weekend at Duke Lamberti’s Italian villa. The Duke agrees to play host to Death’s experiment, on the condition that none of the many guests staying at the villa will be taken by Death when he leaves. But when Death meets the Duke’s newly engaged daughter, Grazia, he instantly falls in love with her, and she finds herself smitten with him (despite her new fiancé also being in town for the weekend). Will Death keep his promise to the Duke, or will he take Grazia when the weekend is over? Will Grazia listen to her father’s warnings to stay away from the handsome stranger, or is there a force beyond her control drawing her to him? And most importantly, will anyone remember this musical once they’ve seen it?

Everything about Death Takes a Holiday is amateurish in the worst possible way. The plot plods at a snail’s pace, the characters a superficial and unsympathetic, the songs are tuneless and unmemorable, and the resolution to the whole thing is nonexistent. It so desperately wants to be a sweeping epic love story set to music—in the same vein as The Phantom of the Opera—but it never fleshes out it’s characters enough to make the audience care about them, and it never stops wink-winking at the fantastical story to be emotionally resonant. The entire two and a half hours is peppered with groan-worthy death puns (“I was scared to death!”) that you might chuckle at once if you were caught off guard, but when constantly revisited they only serve to remind you that the plot is totally unrealistic, so why should what happens really matter.

Perhaps the most unforgivable element of the production is how bad the music is. There are plenty of less-than-stellar musicals in existence, but if they manage to include one or two memorable songs, the audience will forgive them all the other shortcomings. Most of the songs in Death Takes a Holiday sound like stream of consciousness prattling set to music; the sort of noise someone who hates musical theater would make while mocking musical theater. The songs could have (and probably should have) easily been removed and replaced by straight dialog, but someone decided this production had to be a musical, despite the fact that it clearly works better as a play.

Bottom Line: There are so many more things wrong with Death Takes a Holiday, but I was bored enough while watching it that I really don’t feel like putting myself through it a second time while recalling all its failings. It may be the death of me! *rim shot*

Theater Review: Royal Shakespeare Company’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:05:00 +0000

Location: Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue, New York, NY

Website: Official Lincoln Center Festival site

Starring: Dyfan Dwyfor, Mariah Gale, Jonjo O’Neill, Forbes Masson, Noma Dumezweni, Joseph Arkley

My Review: The Royal Shakespeare Company is probably on its way back home across the pond as I type this, but for a few brief weeks this summer they took up residence here in New York at the Park Avenue Armory, performing five of Shakespeare’s classic plays in repertory. As much as I would have liked to have seen all five, my bank account said I was allowed only one, so I went with the classical classic of all classics that ever classiced, Romeo and Juliet.

If I need to summarize Romeo and Juliet, then you either never took a high school English course, or you failed it miserably. In brief, Romeo and Juliet are teenagers from feuding families who meet at a party and instantly fall in love. Unfortunately, the fact that their families hate each other creates some difficulties in their relationship. So with the aid of a drama-loving nurse and a priest hoping to create peace between the families, they secretly marry, only to have Romeo kill Juliet’s cousin mere hours after their wedding, getting him banished from town. The priest hatches a plan that will allow Juliet to fake her death, making it possible for her to escape with Romeo, but when his message of this plan to Romeo goes astray, Romeo hears only that Juliet is dead. As only a lovesick teen would, he goes to her tomb and kills himself. Juliet awakens from her false death, sees Romeo dead, and kills herself. The fighting families mourn the loss of their children and vow to put their petty rivalry to rest. If you’ve ever seen a movie, watched a TV show, or read a book, you know this story already.

This instant familiarity could easily be the undoing of any production of Romeo and Juliet. It’s a 400-year old tale that’s been told over and over again in every available medium, so is it even possible to present it in a new and exciting way? If the RSC production is any indication, yes, it is (and adding fire could help).

Park Avenue Armory

Knowing that bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better, the RSC went minimalist with their production, with a cobblestone thrust stage acting as everything from an outdoor market square, to the inside of a castle, to an underground tomb. Rather then relying on fancy theatrics, they allowed the performances to be the attention-grabbers; a decision that worked brilliantly. Both Romeo (Dyfan Dwyfor) and Juliet (Mariah Gale) shone, and even managed to capture an element of the story that is so often forgotten: Romeo and Juliet are teenagers.

The actors themselves were obviously past their teen years, but they still managed to capture all the wonderful horribleness that is being a teen. Dressed in modern clothes while the rest of the cast was in Elizabethan garb already set them apart, making it clear that they were not of the same world as everyone else. Romeo mooned about, slouching in a hoodie, embodying all the reckless emotions that come with falling in love and experiencing adult feelings for the first time. Juliet was prone to bratty fits of temper and foot-stomping when she didn’t get her way, but wasn’t afraid to show her softer side when the time called for it. Some other reviewers complained about the use of these typical teen antics, but I found them to be a refreshing way to make it clear that Romeo and Juliet is ultimately a story about children.

As is so often the case with this play, Mercutio was a scene-stealer (played by Jonjo O’Neill). He only appeared in a handful of scenes, but reveled in playing the bawdy clown of the show, though his devotion to his best friend Romeo was clear so that his untimely death (400-year old spoiler?) was still tragic. Juliet’s nurse (Noma Dumezweni) was another highlight from the supporting cast, as she begins as Juliet’s confidant but eventually shows her duplicity when she sides with Juliet’s parents on forcing a marriage with the man of their choice. Dumezweni’s nurse was never cruel, but simply a woman who enjoyed the drama of a secret relationship, until she saw how it would negatively affect her employers and was forced to choose a side.

I saw one of the final performances of the RSC, and unfortunately, the production was plagued by mishaps. An unidentified beeping noise in the middle of the first act brought the play to a stop while it was fixed. Even more disruptive, at the dramatic peak of the second act when Romeo enters Juliet’s tomb, a torch bearing actual fire refused to be extinguished, so a stagehand had to appear to carry it offstage. But despite these issues, the cast remained professional, yet playful enough to wink at the audience and let us know that, yes, this kind of stuff can happen even during Shakespeare.

Bottom Line: Given the quality of the production they offered and the reception they received from a New York audience, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s first visit here was a success. Being able to breathe new life into Romeo and Juliet is a task not many could do, but the RSC made it look effortless. I hope they return again soon with some new perspective on other old favorites.

Movie Review: Bridesmaids

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Rated: R

Website: Official Bridesmaids site

Starring: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Chris O’Dowd, Jon Hamm

My Review: I was lucky enough to attend an advance screening of the comedy Bridesmaids, so figured a brief step out of my hiatus to share my thoughts on it was in order. You are allowed to show your pleasure.

Bridesmaids wants very badly to be a female-centric comedy without delving into the realm of romantic comedies and being labeled with the unfairly tainted hallmark “chick flick.” Being produced by Apatow Productions and having Paul Feig as director is a step in the right direction, but the movie still lacks that certain something that would make it the next The 40-Year Old Virgin comedy sensation.

Annie (played by Kristen Wiig) is going through a bit of a rough patch in life. Her bakery business went under due to the recession, so she now works at a boring jewelry store job she got through one of her mother’s Alcoholic’s Anonymous contacts. She shares an apartment with a pair of very creepy British siblings. The closest thing she has to a real relationship is occasional sex with a guy who would prefer that she not spend the night (played by Jon Hamm, so it’s hard to feel too sorry for her). And to add the cherry to her crap-life sundae, her life-long best friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph) is getting married and wants Annie to be her maid of honor. Wanting to be supportive, but in way over her head, Annie agrees, and is introduced to her fellow bridesmaids, including Helen (Rose Byrne), an overgrown mean girl who is hell-bent on using her rolodex of important contacts and her husband’s money to give Lillian the wedding of her dreams, thus muscling Annie out of the role of “best friend.”

While Bridesmaids tries hard to avoid typical romantic comedy tropes, I wish it had tried a little harder. While the bulk of the movie is about the women and their relationships with each other—the groom only has one line in the whole movie; “I do”—it can’t resist dipping into the familiar well a couple of times. In addition to the cattiness that bubbles up between Annie and Helen in their fight for Lillian, Annie is also presented with the classic dilemma of having to choose between two men: One is handsome, but treats her poorly, the other is kind of nerdy, but adores her. Whoever will she ride into the sunset with at the end?! (Hint: Exactly who you think she will.) There was plenty of comedy to mine in having an inept maid of honor try to make her best friend’s big day memorable, so having to shoehorn in a love triangle and rehash the stereotype that women would rather fight than be friends was disappointing.

Being an R-rated comedy in the Apatow family, Bridesmaids is rife with adult-only humor that you wouldn’t want your children (or possibly your parents) to see. The movie opens with a sequence of Annie having awkward sex with her disinterested fuck buddy, and the biggest gag involves a case of food poisoning that leads to massive uncontrollable vomiting and explosive diarrhea. The laughs are plentiful throughout most of the movie, but about midway through they start to feel kind of cheap. Sure it’s an adult comedy, so things are bound to be a bit raunchy, but most adults can find humor in things other than bad sex and bodily functions.

Though their times on Saturday Night Live overlapped very briefly, Kristin Wiig and Maya Rudolph make such a natural pair of best friends, you would think they’ve been working together for years. The fact that the uptight Helen thinks she even has a chance of coming in between them is almost laughable. But the real standout in Bridesmaids is Melissa McCarthy as Megan, the groom’s sister and one of Lillian’s bridesmaids. If, like me, you were a fan of her Sookie on Gilmore Girls, prepare to be shocked, as brash, bawdy, and vulgar Megan is the anti-Sookie. It would have been easy to stick her in the role of “token funny fat person,” so it was refreshing that she got to be genuinely funny (and kind of gross) with her weight having nothing to do with her comedy.

Bottom Line: Bridesmaids offers lots of laughs, and some heart, but there just isn’t enough there to make it a comedy that you’ll want to revisit again and again, or to pick you up when you need a laugh. If a movie ever manages to capture the true hilarity that can come from female relationships, leaving cattiness and overdone love complications out of the equation, I’ll happily be first in line to see it. But if they wanted to cast Jon Hamm as another casual sex partner, I’d be OK with that.

Going on Hiatus

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:02:00 +0000

For those of you who read my blog (all both of you), you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been slacking a bit in getting new posts published. This was due mainly to being busy with a big project I was working on at my day job, and the general laziness I sometimes fall victim to. But that was nothing compared to the blog slacking I’m about to do as I go on official hiatus.

In addition to my full-time job and the various other activities that fill my time, I’m now taking a paralegal certificate course in an effort to broaden my career aspects (since it’s no secret that the publishing/editing/writing field is struggling to stay alive). The course takes up a lot of my free time, so for the next few months I’m going to take a break from The Opinionated B, with the possibility of doing a post here or there if I come across something worth writing about.

So have a great spring, go see some theater, and eat lots of cake. And if you know of anyone in the NYC area looking for a paralegal with a background in editorial work, please let me know!

Theater Review: Gruesome Playground Injuries

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Location: Second Stage Theatre, 305 West 43^rd Street, New York, NY

Website: Official Second Stage Theatre site

Starring: Jennifer Carpenter, Pablo Schreiber

My Review: After seeing a show, I usually wait a day or two before writing about it so that I have some time to let it all sink in and form a somewhat thoughtful opinion on what I saw. Polarizing shows that generate a ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’ response are easier to get to quicker, while I’ll procrastinate writing about those I have mixed feelings on for as long as I can stand it. It’s been a week since I saw Gruesome Playground Injuries, and I’m basically forcing myself to write about it before I forget everything that happened, which pretty much says everything about how I feel about the show.

The two-person play is the story of the bizarre friendship between Kayleen and Doug over the course of 30 years, told in out-of-order episodes from their life ranging from elementary school childhood to their late 30’s. When they first meet in the nurse’s office of the private school they both attend, Kayleen’s sullen and self-destructive ways immediately bond her to the constantly accident-prone Doug, and the two stumble (sometimes literally) into each other’s lives at lengthy-spaced intervals as they grow up.

Gruesome Playground Injuries is such a mixed bag, and every moment seems to fall slightly short of its aim. When it’s being darkly funny, it generates more of a smirk than an actual laugh. When it’s being touching and poignant, it tries too hard to avoid being mawkish that it misses on being resonant at all. Most of my reaction to the performance can best be broken down into a series of pros and cons:

Pro: The actors. When the entire cast consists of two people, having the wrong two people in those roles can destroy the play before the house lights have dimmed. Luckily, Gruesome Playground Injuries gets its casting exactly right. As Kayleen, Jennifer Carpenter (best known as foulmouthed Debra on Dexter) is perfectly acidic and thorny, but maintains a necessary thread of vulnerability. As Doug, Pablo Schreiber fluidly moves through the various facets of his character, from immature jokester, to Kayleen’s whipping boy, to empathetic friend, to tragic clown as the series of injuries Doug sustains during the course of the show gradually move away from being comic relief. The two actors play their characters at various ages, from eight to 38 and periods in between, and it was amazing at how good they were at portraying the childhood and teenage years without delving into exaggerated stereotypes.

Con: An unconvincing relationship. Kayleen and Doug are best friends. How do I know this? Because the play told me so. Unfortunately, it failed to make be believe it. I believed their awkwardly cute first meeting in the nurse’s office. I believed their stilted flirting and petty arguments as they grew older. But as they became adults and professions of life-long friendship were made, they lost me. It’s established that they don’t see, or even speak, to each other for stretches of years at a time. They conceal major life events from each other. And when they do eventually get together, they do little more than fight with each other. Friendships come in all shapes and sizes, but the one between Kayleen and Doug never felt completely formed or rang true for me, as I found it hard to believe that they really cared about each other all that much (making it hard for the audience to care about them all that much).

Pro: The scenery. Gruesome Playground Injuries is a play that doesn’t need a lot of props or elaborate scenery, so the minimalist Second Stage Theatre was a perfect fit. The stage floor is made of clear Plexiglas cubes, with a pair of shelves with boxy drawers on both sides where the actor’s quick-change costume components are stashed. For each scene a chair, bench, or bed is easily slid in from offstage, then quickly pushed out during the scene change, making the whole production run like a well-oiled machine.

Con: Abrupt ending. The play feels like its building toward something during its 80-minute run, but then it just ends. It wasn’t until the stage went completely dark and other audience members started clapping that I even realized it was over.

Pro: The title. Despite its various shortcomings, Gruesome Playground Injuries is one of the best titles for anything I’ve ever heard.

Bottom Line: A flawed play that is saved by its stellar performers, Gruesome Playground Injuries is nevertheless a play that sticks with you. But not because it’s so memorable or entertaining, but because it’s almost impossible to decide if you really liked it or not.

Theater Review: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:34:00 +0000

Location: Paper Mill Playhouse, 22 Brookside Drive, Millburn, NJ

Website: Official Paper Mill Playhouse site

Starring: Ephie Aardema, Will Blum, Lyle Colby Mackston, Marla Mindelle, Olivia Oguma, Jerold E. Solomon, Ali Stroker, David Volin, Brandon Yanez

My Review: The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is probably one of the most purely fun musicals to come around in the past few years (though it’s still trumped by Avenue Q in that capacity). It’s funny and lighthearted with just enough amount of pathos tossed in to prevent it from being completely unsubstantial. The characters are exaggerated, but still relatable, the story is comical, but not a farce, and the songs are simple and tuneful, but still clever and thoughtful.

Spelling Bee tells the story of six unique students (played by adult actors) competing in a middle school spelling bee. Each dreams of taking home the top prize, but must overcome their individual hurdles to do so. The bee is preceded over by one-time spelling champ Rona and the school’s disgruntled vice principal, and former convict Mitch is performing his community service as the comfort councilor who provides the ousted spellers with a sympathetic pat on the back and a juice box. The spellers relate their various spelling—and personal—woes in a series of songs, including helicoptering same-sex parents and an unfortunately timed erection.

All in all, it’s not an overly complicated show; there are no elaborate set changes, no complicated song and dance numbers, and no need for “serious” actors. Which means that Spelling Bee is the perfect show to let loose with, and each individual production has the potential to be completely unique. There’s even an audience participation element that can be played with by a cast that’s able to think on their feet (a handful of audience members are invited on stage to be participants in the bee).

Unfortunately, no one told the Paper Mill Playhouse that this was a show that they were free to toy around with. I was lucky enough to see Spelling Bee during its Broadway run and found it to be hilarious, and while I wasn’t expecting this new production to live up to those standards, I was still expecting a bit more than what I got. Everything that I saw on stage was very by the book, as if the cast was handed the script and warned about deviating from what was on the page. The resulting production was still amusing, but it could have been uproarious if the cast had just loosened up a bit.

It also didn’t help that they obviously had a stock pile of jokes and quips to be made about the audience participants, rather than improvising in the moment. Maybe this was a conscious decision by the director who felt the cast didn’t have the comedic chops for improv, or maybe it was a huge misstep, but either way, it was noticeable and resulted in a lot of jokes that fell flat.

Bottom Line: For theatergoers who like their musicals frothy and fun, with just a modicum of risqué, Spelling Bee is an ideal choice. Just pray that you get to see a cast that’s willing to play it a little faster and looser than this one.

I Bet I Can Pick More 2011 Oscar Winners Than You

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 21:46:00 +0000

The nominees for the 2011 Academy Awards have been announced, and my first reaction is, “Can someone please explain the widespread love for Winter’s Bone to me?” I saw Winter’s Bone. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t find it to be all that, either. It was interesting to see a primarily overlooked section of America being portrayed, and the acting was pretty good, but in the end it just didn’t move me and it didn’t stick with me.

The nominees are a nice mixed bag of the expected (Black Swan and The King’s Speech both got a healthy dose of nods), surprises (Javier Bardem for Biutiful, the aforementioned Winter’s Bone nominations), and outrages (Christopher Nolan didn’t get a Directing nom?! No Mila Kunis for Supporting Actress?!). And on a personal note, if Time Warner Cable would get its act together and offer The Social Network On Demand, I’d totally watch it before the awards on February 27.

With limited knowledge and no expertise whatsoever, here are my winner predictions:

Best Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

So we’re still doing the 10 nominees thing, eh? Well, I’m going to go ahead and whittle the race down to Black Swan, The King’s Speech, and The Social Network. I know The Social Network is considered the frontrunner, especially after its big Golden Globe win, but I’m guess The King’s Speech gets the Oscar. Oscar LOVES historical dramas. And this one is British! We Americans sure do love us some Brits!

Best Actor
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Jessie Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King's Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours

OK, I know that out of this list The King’s Speech is the only one I saw, and I’m always a bit clouded by my undying love for Colin Firth, but can’t we all agree that this is his race to lose?

Best Actress
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Well screw you, Julianne Moore! No, not really. I mean, I still like you, but somebody apparently decided you were the weak cog in The Kids Are All Right machine. This category is probably a race between Bening and Portman, and while Oscar tends to love seasoned actors who have been routinely overlooked (like Bening), the statue is more than likely going home with Portman.

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffery Rush, The King's Speech

I haven’t even seen The Fighter, but Bale will probably win, and I pray that he still looks like coked-up Jesus when he goes onstage to accept.

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

I really liked Helena Bonham Carter in The King’s Speech because it was nice to see that she still has the acting chops to take on sedate, understated roles (we all know by now that she can tackle any number of kooky misfits in the various Tim Burton carnivals she appears in). But Melissa Leo is apparently great in The Fighter, and a lot of people seem to still be rooting for her from Frozen River a couple of years ago. But Hailee Steinfeld was apparently phenomenal in True Grit, and the Academy does like to honor remarkable child actors. But the five people who saw Animal Kingdom can’t shut up about Jacki Weaver. I’d put my money on Leo winning.

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David O. Russell, The Fighter
Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
David Fincher, The Social Network
Joel Coen/Ethan Coen, True Grit

This is probably between Aronofsky and Fincher. Fincher will probably win for being able to create a compelling story about a bunch of computer nerds. Though in my opinion, getting the masses to go see a movie about ballet is no small feat, either.

Best Screenplay — Adapted
Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, 127 Hours
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Michael Arndt, Toy Story 3
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, True Grit
Debra Granik and Anne Roselini, Winter's Bone

Wouldn’t it be neat if Toy Story 3 won? It won’t, but it would be neat. Aaron Sorkin basically has this locked for both being a long-time beloved screenwriter and for, like Fincher, creating a compelling story about a bunch of computer nerds.

Best Screenplay — Original
Mike Leigh, Another Year
Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson, The Fighter
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right
David Seidler, The King's Speech

I have a feeling this is the one category The Kids Are All Right could actually win. Or The King’s Speech will win, which is probably more likely.

Best Animated Feature
How to Train your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

If you haven’t learned by now that you never bet against Pixar, you never will.

Shenanigans: Happy 2011!

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Years ago, when I was younger, starrier-eyed, and didn’t have to work full time, I would occasionally create these stupid, poorly illustrated stories in MS Paint depicting some ridiculous and/or inane event in my life that would really only be funny to me and maybe two other people. And I called this series of crudely depicted tales ‘Shenanigans.’ So seeing how this is a new year and this is my blog (ergo, I can do what I want with it), I’m tentatively reviving Shenanigans and, well, we’ll see how it goes.

In my first Shenanigans story, I will detail how I spent New Year’s Eve.

For those who know me personally, it’s no secret that I can be a bit antisocial and lazy about making plans. But I was determined to ring in 2011 with some semblance of celebration after the previous year’s New Year’s Eve left a lot to be desired.

I belong to an online listing that offers severely discounted tickets to various events and performances in the city, and they had a listing for a New Year’s Eve party for singles. This seemed like a good idea for several reasons.

So I proposed attending this party to my best friend, who agreed.

Unfortunately, being the idiot I can be sometimes, I failed to see the one big major downside to attending a party specifically for singles: Scores of creepy and poorly socialized people assuming that everyone else there is as desperate as they are for companionship.

Upon entering the club, everyone got a card with the name of one half of a famous couple on it. As an ice breaker game (ugh) you were supposed to find your “mate” in the crowd and win a prize of some sort. My identity was…Barbie.

I wasn’t particularly interested in seeking out Ken in the crowd, but more focused on having a few drinks, eating a few pigs in a blanket, and hanging out with some cool chicks. But this was not the case with the other party guests, and the rest of the night progressed something like this:

Gaggle of creepy dudes aside, it was still an improvement over my welcome to 2010. And no, I never did seek out Ken. Because what am I supposed to do with a guy who can’t bend his joints and whose nether region is as smooth as pigs in a blanket are awesome?

Oh, and kitty still wishes everyone a happy new year.

2011 Golden Globe Awards Post-Mortem

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:53:00 +0000

So was it just me, or were the Golden Globes sort of ‘meh’ this year? There were plenty of good movies and TV shows being honored, but everyone from the host to the nominees to the guests just seemed to not really care this year. I know America is famous for its apathy towards nearly everything, but if we can’t at least get a little pomp and ostentatious ceremony from our overly-coiffed celebrities, the terrorists win!

Second-time host Ricky Gervais delivered on his promise to pull no punches with his zingers, but a lot of them fell flat (not that anyone seemed to care too much). It felt like he was trying too hard to make the most of the time he had on stage, which was precious little, which makes me wonder why the producers bother the get hosts for these award ceremonies. With different presenters for all the categories and a handful of pre-taped bits and montages, is a host even necessary to keep everything tied together?

I didn’t score too badly on my winner predictions, but that’s mainly because I stuck to the big categories only and didn’t even bother to delve into the TV categories. Apparently The Social Network is going to be the front runner at the Academy Awards, so I should really get around to seeing it (which I totally will if Time Warner On Demand would get its act together).

You can see the full list of Golden Globe winners here, and here are some random thoughts/observations from the ceremony:

* Gervais’ trademark mean-spirited comments were hit or miss, but my favorite was his comment about how Sex and the City 2 should have at least received a nomination for whoever airbrushed the movie poster. The best part was the reaction shot of Chris Noth (there for being nominated on The Good Wife) cracking up.

* I watched the first season of Boardwalk Empire and liked it well enough, but did it and star Steve Buscemi deserve to beat out Mad Men, Jon Hamm, and Bryan Cranston in their respective categories? That would be a ‘no.’

* Can anyone explain why The Tourist and The Kids Are All Right are considered comedies (or musicals)?

* Annette Bening totally deserved to win for The Kids Are All Right and looked great in her age-appropriate dress. Now if she could just do something about that crazy troll-doll hair…

* Robert Downey, Jr. has to be one of the most well-adjusted former drug addict sex fiends ever.

* I laughed at winner Natalie Portman’s comment about how good an actor her fiancée is because “he totally wants to sleep with me!” Maybe she can do comedy after all. (No, I still won’t pay to see No Strings Attached.)

* I would love to fault the Hollywood Foreign Press for being Glee fans, since it’s a guilty-pleasure show, not an award-winner show, but then they went and gave an award to Chris Colfer, who is far and away the best thing about the whole show. And his legitimate shock and awe at winning was adorable. So keep on believin’, Hollywood Foreign Press, and hold on to that feeling.

Theater Review: Angels in America Part One: Millennium Approaches

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Location: Signature Theatre, 555 West 42^nd Street, NY, NY

Website: Official Signature Theatre site

Starring: Christian Borle, Bill Heck, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Kazan, Billy Porter, Robin Weigert, Robin Bartlett, Frank Wood

My Review: Three months after seeing the second part of Angels in America, I finally got to start at the beginning. It was a convoluted way of doing things, no doubt, but somehow that didn’t take away anything from the experience.

I already wrote an overly lengthy review of Part Two: Perestroika, so I’ll refrain from blathering on here. My overall impression of the production hasn’t changed, and seeing how I actually like the first part of the play better, seeing them out of order worked out in my favor. Part One: Millennium Approaches is the more engaging and entertaining of the two halves of Angels, as the second half tends to get a bit too preachy for my taste (which I know is a strange complaint to make about a play called Angels in America, but there it is anyway).

Zachary Quinto is more involved in the first half, so I got to form a more well-informed opinion of his performance. He made an excellent Louis, a part that’s somewhat thankless. Louis is a weak man who walks out on his lover Prior at the most critical time of his life, for primarily selfish reasons. It’s hard to feel compassion for Louis when witnessing Prior’s struggle, but Quinto manages to make him sympathetic and while not exactly redeemable in his actions, he’s at least understandable.

Christian Borle and Frank Wood are still the standouts in the cast, as Prior and the horrible Roy Cohn, and Zoe Kazan is still woefully miscast as the emotionally unstable Mormon housewife Harper, as she continues playing her like a stunted child. Billy Porter seems to have toned down the over-the-top sassiness of Belize that he had when I saw Part Two: Perestroika, and truly shines in the few scenes where he portrays Harper’s smarmy travel agent imaginary friend, Mr. Lies.

Bottom Line: There’s no question that Angels in America has become and American theater classic, evidenced especially in the fact that this “limited” run at the Signature Theater has to keep extending due to ticket demand. It’s not a flawless production, but its merits far outshine its shortcomings. And seeing how Angels is a play that doesn’t get revived often, it’s an opportunity worth jumping at.

Trailer Review: The Tree of Life

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Release Date: May 27, 2011

Website: Official The Tree of Life site

Starring: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Fiona Shaw

My Review: I first saw the trailer for The Tree of Life when it played in the theater before Black Swan. When it was done, I leaned over to my friend and whispered, “I have no idea what that movie is supposed to be about.” After watching the trailer a second time, I still have no idea.

Here’s what I know for sure: It stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn.

Here’s what I can infer: Pitt plays the father to a brood of boys in the 1950s. He’s extremely hard on his children, thinking the only way they’ll grow up to be real men is to be emotionally abusive, and as a result, as his kids grow up they distance themselves from him. Penn plays the adult version of one of the boys, and as a result of his harsh upbringing, he’s an emotionally crippled person.

Here’s what I wildly assume: Penn is haunted by some traumatic childhood incident that he blames his father for. He will spend his adult life coming to terms with it. Tears will be shed, lessons will be learned, and emotional growth will occur. Hugging, no doubt, will be involved.

Would I Pay For It?: No. I mean, I do enjoy a good drama, but I don’t enjoy having it rammed down my throat.

Theater Review: Les Misérables

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Location: Paper Mill Playhouse, 22 Brookside Drive, Millburn, NJ

Website: Official Paper Mill Playhouse site

Starring: Lawrence Clayton, Andrew Varela, Betsy Morgan, Chasten Harmon, Justin Scott Brown, Jenny Latimer, Shawna M. Hamic, Michael Kostroff

My Review: As if there aren’t enough things in this world that remind of the fact that I’m not getting any younger, now the musical that ignited my love of musical theater so many years ago is celebrating its 25^th anniversary. Yes, Les Misérables is 25 and kicking off a new U.S. tour at the Paper Mill Playhouse. And in a somewhat futile attempt to scale back on one of the most grandiose musicals ever, the spinning lazy Susan-inspired stage is gone, as is the giant barricade that folds down onto the stage. But the music is all there, along with the enormous cast, and if you’re willing to let yourself get swept up in a musical that takes itself very seriously, the emotional wallop is as strong as ever.

Les Misérables is about a lot of things, and the fact the source novel was able to be whittled into a three-hour show is still somewhat unbelievable. At its core, it’s the story of Jean Valjean, a thief who breaks parole to search for redemption, and Javert, the pious police officer doggedly hunting him across France. There’s also stories of love (sacrificial, first, and unrequited), loss, and a revolution that—despite the popular misconception—is not the French Revolution.

The new anniversary production utilizes the artwork of Les Misérables novelist Victor Hugo to replace the stage tricks that have been removed. A screen in the background reflects various paintings that represent everything from the ocean, an industrial factory, and the sewers of France. In many ways, this works better than the formerly spinning stage—it makes (spoiler alert?) Javert’s suicide scene far more impacting—but for some reason the various dates covered in the production aren’t announced. When a show utilizes a projection screen and covers a time span of 17 years, being kept up to date when we were jumping ahead in time would have been helpful.

Les Misérables employs a cast of dozens, but the success or failure of the show depends on the two men playing Jean Valjean and Javert. In the past I’ve seen a production where both roles were performed perfectly, and one where the actor playing Javert was so weak it was almost laughable that other characters would tremble in his presence. Luckily, this production gets the balance of the two adversaries just right. As Valjean, Lawrence Clayton conveys confliction about his past, but the determination to create an honest life for himself. As Javert, Andrew Varela is angry and intimidating, but with a vein of vulnerability that appears when he’s uncertain about how to conclude his career-long manhunt. When the two share the stage, they create scenes of high tension that also garner sympathy for two men who are simply trying to do what they think is right.

In a vast cast of impressive talent, the one misstep made is in the casting of Eponine. Chasten Harmon has a natural R&B/gospel quality to her singing voice, which would well serve any number of musical theater roles, but unfortunately, an 1830’s French pauper isn’t one of them. Every solo Eponine sings—and there are quite a few—is a bit jarring and sounds out of place in a show that depends on the ability for dozens of different voices being able to blend together easily.

Bottom Line: Les Misérables is a show that even the most casual musical theater fans tend to fall in love with, and the new 25^th anniversary production should be no exception. Just try not to sing along with all the songs, no matter how well you may know them. It can be really distracting to those sitting around you. Trust me.

I Bet I Can Pick More 2011 Golden Globe Winners Than You

noreply@blogger.com (Wolfie) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:00:00 +0000

The 68^th annual Golden Globe nominees are out, so here are my picks for winners. I’d include some of the television categories, but I didn’t, so…there.

BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

Black Swan

The Fighter

Inception

The King’s Speech

The Social Network

I haven’t even seen The Fighter, but I’m so sick of movies about professional fighters, that I’m automatically discarding it from every category it was nominated in. I’d say that this race is between Black Swan and Inception, so it’ll probably all come down to whether voters prefer a mind-bending sci-fi action flick, or a mind-bending emotional thriller. I saw and enjoyed both movies, but if it’s a question of being the better crafted movie, I’d go with Black Swan.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

Halle Berry, Frankie and Alice

Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole

Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

This is Natalie Portman’s race to lose, which I don’t think she will. No one has seen or cares about Frankie and Alice, and Rabbit Hole is a too generic drama (parents mourning a dead child). Jennifer Lawrence was the best part of Winter’s Bone, but I’m somewhat dumbfounded about the mass appeal that movie seems to be having on people. I haven’t seen Blue Valentine yet, but I find it hard to imagine Michelle Williams trumping Portman here.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

James Franco, 127 Hours

Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine

Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

Colin Firth. It’s long overdue.

BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

Alice in Wonderland

Burlesque

The Kids Are All Right

RED

The Tourist

The fact that Alice in Wonderland, Burlesque, and the generally panned The Tourist are even nominated for awards is mind boggling. I’ve heard that RED was a fun movie, but The Kids Are All Right is the only movie with any gravitas here. For this reason, I wouldn’t have categorized it as a comedy, but the Golden Globes have, so it’ll probably win.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Anne Hathaway, Love and Other Drugs

Angelina Jolie, The Tourist

Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right

Emma Stone, Easy A

Again, I’m not entirely sure how The Kids Are All Right is a comedy, but the two women from that movie have the best shot at winning here. Annette Bening had the more emotional performance, and managed to garner sympathy for a hopelessly flawed character, so I’d bet on her.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY

OR MUSICAL

Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland

Johnny Depp, The Tourist

Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version

Jake Gyllenhaal, Love and Other Drugs

Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack

I have no idea here. I doubt Johnny Depp will win for either of his movies since neither one was very good. I don’t know how many people saw or cared about Barney’s Version and Casino Jack, and Love and Other Drugs was hardly an award-worthy movie. But everyone love Paul Giamatti, so maybe he’ll win for that movie no one’s seen.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Despicable Me

How to Train Your Dragon

The Illusionist

Tangled

Toy Story 3

I’m starting to feel slightly bad for animation studios that aren’t Pixar. They just never stand a chance.

BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

David Fincher, The Social Network

Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

Christopher Nolan, Inception

David O. Russell, The Fighter

Again, I’d put this between Black Swan and Inception. Both Aronofsky and Nolan crafted excellent films, but it’s a question of what voters will prefer. I think it might be Aronofsky’s year, but a Nolan upset would be neither surprising nor really all that upsetting.

You can see the full list of the thousand of Golden Globe nominations on their website, and the awards air on Sunday, January 16^th, hosted once again by Ricky Gervais. It’s sure to be spectacularly awkward and giggly.