What to do on a Saturday afternoon when you have to see a movie because it's been weeks. Well, April 25 did not bring an grand openings, though the promise of the summer movie season is just a week away. After reading a very positive review by A.O. Scott in the New York Times, I decided to check out Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. Truth be told, the film has a little something to chew on.
Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay is not your typical stoner comedy. In fact, our heroes are not stoned or looking for bud for a large chunk of the film. Kumar's love of weed moves him to smuggle dope and a bong onto his flight to, where else, Amsterdam. When he says "bong" people hear "bomb" and hijinx ensue. Harold and Kumar are delivered to Gitmo, but escape two minutes later and spend the rest of the film being chased across the south.
The film has lots of laughs, and not just scatological humor (though such humor figures prominently as expected). Much of the humor and the plot are driven by judgments people make based on the appearance of others. That gives Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay a resonance that most stoner comedies never achieve.
The film is definitely deeply flawed, but a late scene with W alone makes the film worth an afternoon at the movies. The cameo by Neil Patrick Harris as "Neil Patrick Harris" is also worth the price of admission.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Quick Takes: Three New Albums
I've been waiting for months since I heard in October that the B-52's were releasing their first album of new material in 16 years. Funplex is the result of that effort, and it doesn't disappoint. Funplex is reminiscent of the B's of old--pre Cosmic Thing. It's sexy and bouncy and makes you want to get your groove on. The harmonies are still fierce and the lyrics witty and fun. Does the album break new ground? Not especially, though the synth influence might be a little heavier. But the number one party band moniker is still safe.
I'm still taking in the new Moby disk, Last Night. I've played it several times now, and every time it feels like a new discovery. I think that's good. It's a fresh album and contains the great hooks and solid dance beats I love to hear from Moby.
The new album that's getting the most play at the moment: Pretty.Odd. from Panic at the Disco. At first listen Pretty.Odd. seems ready made for the adult contemporary circuit. When Brendan Urie sings on "We're So Starving": You don't have to worry cuz we're still the same band, it really isn't clear that's true. The music feels a little lighter, a little poppier, but the lyrics are still the fascinating tongue twisters we expect from Panic. Take the songs out of the context of the album, and it becomes a little clearer that this is, in fact, the same band. And Pretty.Odd. is a worthy follow-up to a fine debut album.
I'm still taking in the new Moby disk, Last Night. I've played it several times now, and every time it feels like a new discovery. I think that's good. It's a fresh album and contains the great hooks and solid dance beats I love to hear from Moby.
The new album that's getting the most play at the moment: Pretty.Odd. from Panic at the Disco. At first listen Pretty.Odd. seems ready made for the adult contemporary circuit. When Brendan Urie sings on "We're So Starving": You don't have to worry cuz we're still the same band, it really isn't clear that's true. The music feels a little lighter, a little poppier, but the lyrics are still the fascinating tongue twisters we expect from Panic. Take the songs out of the context of the album, and it becomes a little clearer that this is, in fact, the same band. And Pretty.Odd. is a worthy follow-up to a fine debut album.
Cry-Baby
Now that the reviews are out, it's high time I add my thoughts about Cry-Baby, the latest John Waters film-to-stage adaptation that opened at the Marquis on Thursday. The show is based on the film that helped Johnny Depp on his way to stardom.
Cry-Baby is John Waters' version of the sweet naive virginal girl who falls for the bad-boy outcast. You can see it currently in the Grease revival stinking up the boards, or in a gazillion other films, television shows and plays. How does this one measure up? Right square in the middle, I would guess. It's not bad, but it's not particularly engaging either.
The musical captures much of the plot of the film, but the characters are largely bland iterations of their filmic counterparts. James Snyder is sexy, but not special as Cry-Baby. Perhaps he and the equally bland Elizabeth Stanley as Allison are really made for each other. The rest of the cast--Harriet Harris excepted--even pales by comparison.
James Snyder said in an interview that Cry-Baby is Hairspray's dirty sibling. Not really. The show would be helped immensely by more crassness and tastelessness and raunch. But this is a musical for the mainstream, and it never takes the risk to be bad.
And so, it's never particularly good either. At $54 for preview performances, it was a not unpleasant divertissement. But in the company of any of the other shows I saw that week, it was a distant last.
Cry-Baby is John Waters' version of the sweet naive virginal girl who falls for the bad-boy outcast. You can see it currently in the Grease revival stinking up the boards, or in a gazillion other films, television shows and plays. How does this one measure up? Right square in the middle, I would guess. It's not bad, but it's not particularly engaging either.
The musical captures much of the plot of the film, but the characters are largely bland iterations of their filmic counterparts. James Snyder is sexy, but not special as Cry-Baby. Perhaps he and the equally bland Elizabeth Stanley as Allison are really made for each other. The rest of the cast--Harriet Harris excepted--even pales by comparison.
James Snyder said in an interview that Cry-Baby is Hairspray's dirty sibling. Not really. The show would be helped immensely by more crassness and tastelessness and raunch. But this is a musical for the mainstream, and it never takes the risk to be bad.
And so, it's never particularly good either. At $54 for preview performances, it was a not unpleasant divertissement. But in the company of any of the other shows I saw that week, it was a distant last.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Sunday
It's great to see Sunday in the Park with George on the boards again. I find it to be one of Stephen Sondheim's great scores (greater scores, they're all great)--an intellectual work with great heart and insight. The Act I finale has always moved me to tears, and I've had the luxury of seeing three great productions: Patinkin/Peters (OBC), Esparza/Kuhn (Kennedy Center Sondheim Festival) and now the Roundabout Theatre's import of the Menier Chocolate Factory production.
This production features direction by animator Sam Buntrock and imports the London leads Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell. It's a wonderful production, and the fantastic animation never overwhelms the production, it only enhances it. The strength of Sunday in the Park with George has always been the near-prefect first act. This production finds great strength and deeper meaning in the second act.
Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell are fine as George and Dot/Marie. Russell's Dot is quiet and sometimes hard to hear. Her Marie, though, is wonderful and provides great focus for the second act. Truth be told, as wonderful as Evans and Russell are, I don't think think they're an essential component of the Buntrock production. In other words, I could imagine the production without them.
So what's different? The score is played by a group of five musicians. At times it's effective and at times the score sounds thin. The show is softly miked. Even in the balcony we often heard the voices directly from the stage. How uncommon is that?
But really, it's the production design that brings great new life to this Sunday. It's inspired, creative, an just so right for the show.
This production features direction by animator Sam Buntrock and imports the London leads Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell. It's a wonderful production, and the fantastic animation never overwhelms the production, it only enhances it. The strength of Sunday in the Park with George has always been the near-prefect first act. This production finds great strength and deeper meaning in the second act.
Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell are fine as George and Dot/Marie. Russell's Dot is quiet and sometimes hard to hear. Her Marie, though, is wonderful and provides great focus for the second act. Truth be told, as wonderful as Evans and Russell are, I don't think think they're an essential component of the Buntrock production. In other words, I could imagine the production without them.
So what's different? The score is played by a group of five musicians. At times it's effective and at times the score sounds thin. The show is softly miked. Even in the balcony we often heard the voices directly from the stage. How uncommon is that?
But really, it's the production design that brings great new life to this Sunday. It's inspired, creative, an just so right for the show.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Passing Strange
Moments into Passing Strange you realize this will be a different theatrical experience. Shortly thereafter you think, "This is going to be great." Then Stew and company arrive in Amsterdam and, well, I can't speak for anyone else, but I was trembling and struggling to catch my breath I was so awed. As the wall of sound from "Keys" washed over me, as the emotional intensity of Youth in Amsterdam punched me in the gut, I was transported.
After that defining moment in my three decades of theatergoing, I was hooked. And things only got better and better. I'd call this a top-5 experience in my life.
Nominally, Passing Strange is the story of Stew, in the show he's the narrator and tour guide, as he travels from L.A. to Amsterdam and Berlin to find himself, his identity--to find what is real. His Black, middle-class existence is a mask he needs to yank from his face. Youth (Daniel Breaker) is the young man looking to find something real.
The journey is less about the physical move from the U.S. to Europe--though this journey is critical to Youth's self-discovery--than it is about the more personal journey that Youth must go through to find his place in the world.
Add to that ongoing ruminations on reality as a social construct, identity, and art, set them to driving rock rhythms, and personify these ideas in the bodies of an extraordinary cast, and you have something so stirring and original my love for the power of theater was ignited again and raised to new heights. Suddenly the brilliant Gypsy felt like a history lesson.
Annie Dorsen's staging is also worth mention. The tiniest moments of interaction between Stew and Youth have tremendous power. The cast is used to brilliant effect on a stage that seems bare and cluttered as needed, sometimes simultaneously.
I was also thrilled to see such a diverse audience. The racial and age diversity gave me great hope for music theater. The 70-year-old women to my right were the first on their feet at the curtain call and engaged in an intellectual comparison of Passing Strange and Spring Awakening. The young men to behind me were high school students.
It's worth taking a look at the website, and the two songs on the site are great, But don't be fooled for one second that you're getting more than the tiniest fraction of the strange beauty that is Passing Strange.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Everything's Coming Up Phlegm
"Ladies and Gentlemen, We regret to inform you that Patti LuPone is not feeling well today. However, in the true spirit of Broadway, the show must go on, and Ms. LuPone will appear at today's performance."
Thus began one of the stranger theatrical experiences I've had. Not only was Ms. LuPone ill, but Laura Benanti was coughing up a storm. Boyd Gaines hacked a bit here and there, and you'd swear that half the cast was struggling with a cold. Mama Rose always carried a hankie.
My first thought was back to the late 70s and early 1980s when I saw Yul Brenner in the touring revival of King and I. At the three different performances I saw over several months, Mr. Brenner was not feeling well. It was a gimmick then. Not yesterday, but just as effective.
I've rarely witnessed the kind of applause that Laura Benanti received at the curtain call, and I've never seen the Kind of Applause LuPone received at the end of "Rose's Turn" or during the curtain call. A rare standing ovation during the performance.
OK, so what about the show. All you've heard about Gypsy is true. This is the role that LuPone was born to play, and she knows it. Her performance was extraordinary, but she's given a huge boost by Benanti. I've appreciated Benanti's work in the past, but I found her Louise to be truly masterful. Gaines is also wonderful as Herbie.
The production lacks the big sets of the recent Bernadette Peters revival, but what it lacks in technical stagecraft it more than makes up for with a huge orchestra that produces a gorgeous sound not heard recently on Broadway. The supporting cast is uniformly stellar.
This is not your mama's Mama Rose. If Peters introduced a new level of sensuality into Mama, LuPone turns up the heat even more. When Herbie and Rose meet for the first time, you can almost see the tent forming in his pants. He's hooked, and we're hooked, even though we know where this is headed.
I have always appreciated Gypsy, but more often than not on an intellectual level. This Gypsy punched me in the gut and carried me along on an emotional level. It's nothing short of great theater.
Thus began one of the stranger theatrical experiences I've had. Not only was Ms. LuPone ill, but Laura Benanti was coughing up a storm. Boyd Gaines hacked a bit here and there, and you'd swear that half the cast was struggling with a cold. Mama Rose always carried a hankie.
My first thought was back to the late 70s and early 1980s when I saw Yul Brenner in the touring revival of King and I. At the three different performances I saw over several months, Mr. Brenner was not feeling well. It was a gimmick then. Not yesterday, but just as effective.
I've rarely witnessed the kind of applause that Laura Benanti received at the curtain call, and I've never seen the Kind of Applause LuPone received at the end of "Rose's Turn" or during the curtain call. A rare standing ovation during the performance.
OK, so what about the show. All you've heard about Gypsy is true. This is the role that LuPone was born to play, and she knows it. Her performance was extraordinary, but she's given a huge boost by Benanti. I've appreciated Benanti's work in the past, but I found her Louise to be truly masterful. Gaines is also wonderful as Herbie.
The production lacks the big sets of the recent Bernadette Peters revival, but what it lacks in technical stagecraft it more than makes up for with a huge orchestra that produces a gorgeous sound not heard recently on Broadway. The supporting cast is uniformly stellar.
This is not your mama's Mama Rose. If Peters introduced a new level of sensuality into Mama, LuPone turns up the heat even more. When Herbie and Rose meet for the first time, you can almost see the tent forming in his pants. He's hooked, and we're hooked, even though we know where this is headed.
I have always appreciated Gypsy, but more often than not on an intellectual level. This Gypsy punched me in the gut and carried me along on an emotional level. It's nothing short of great theater.
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