Sigur Ros, September 19, 2008, Boston

What an incredible night at the Bank of America Pavilion. The night was chilly, but Sigur Ros was anything but. Their new album, Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust, is upbeat and uptempo, and the concert was as well.

Sigur Ros is straightforward in concert. Jon chatted with the audience on two occasions to get people to sing along. Sing along with Sigur Ros, you might ask? More of a high-pitched whir, but a good bonding moment with the audience. The band performs slightly reconfigured versions of their album cuts, with strong visual images. The lighting is good, but sparse; the movement even more sparse. But a Sigur Ros concert is about the wall of sound the band creates, and they succeeded song after song.

The songs off the new album set the tone for the evening, and the songs from previous albums, while more traditional Sigur Ros, were layered with guitars and feedback that gave them an almost rocking edge. The band did seem to be having some technical difficulties--members of the stage crew were regularly on the stage to tweak things--but this was a fine night of music and filled a gap in my musical education.

The concert got off to a great start with Parachutes, another Icelandic band clearly influenced by Sigur Ros. The ten members of the group played a huge range of instruments with lilting melodies and minimalist orchestrations. Expect more, and give a listen to the four songs on their myspace page.

(Top pics are from Chris Devers over at Flickr, the bottom ones are from my iPhone.)

I'm Not Usually Overtly Political on this Blog...But!

Isn't this the kind of hypocrisy the main stream media might consider exposing?

Devastating

This would be my one-word review for August: Osage County.

Really, there isn't much to add to the chorus of unanimous praise Tracy Letts' play has received. Yes, 3:45 minutes in the theater moves like time is flying by. Yes, you laugh. Hard. Yes, the direction of this show by Anna Shapiro is extraordinary. This is great theater.

Two shows this season left me literally catching my breath: Passing Strange and August: Osage County. The possibility that a play might be so good that I forget to breathe is what keeps me going to the theater. A lot. Whenever I can. And this is after experiencing Welcome to the Club all those years ago. Two have had two such breath-taking experiences in one season is a first, and it gives me great hope.

The August replacement cast, led triumphantly by Estelle Parsons, honor this amazing work. Not a line is wasted, not a moment is misused. Parsons is harsh, unforgiving and not a little crazy. Amy Morton, as daughter Barbara, is beautiful and frightening as she becomes her mother. I also thought that understudy Dee Pelletier gave a truly riveting performance as Ivy. But these performances were simply the rising tide that allowed everyone in the cast to give the most memorable of performances.

August: Osage County is, in the end, a show of dichotomies. We love these characters as much as they disgust us. We laugh hard (honest laughs) as we gasp at the gravity of the pain these characters inflict on each other. We're energized even as we endure.

Now go hug your mother

In the Heights

Here's something about me: I feel the magic of theater most strongly when a production is greater than the sum of its parts. Take Wicked, for example. Decent music, mediocre lyrics, good production. But the result is pure magic and a fantastic night at the theatre, oft repeated. Spring Awakening has incredible parts that amount to far more than just the sum of them. On the other hand, as much as I appreciated Caroline or Change, it was exactly the sum of its parts. It was fine, but it wasn't magical. Something to be appreciated more than loved.

Add to the list of sum=parts In the Heights. The show is creative and has wonderful energy. The score is fine; the acting is good; the story is a cut above mediocre. And the show itself is never more than that. It wasn't a bad afternoon at the theater, but it paled considerably next to the other two shows I saw last weekend, Spring Awakening (see below) and August: Osage County (thoughts forthcoming).

In the Heights is original in many ways. The choreography is fresh and original. The hip-hop, latin influenced songs are mostly excellent. It's great to see diversity and fresh perspectives on Broadway.

In all honesty, though, I didn't find the perspective all that fresh. It felt like a very traditional musical packaged in some very contemporary clothes. The three key plot elements involving a lottery ticket, a death and a departure are easily predicted. And the emotion is communicated, not felt, which ultimately leaves the audience unmoved.

Since seeing the show I've been debating whether understudy Shaun Taylor-Corbett, subbing for Lin-Manuel Miranda, bears much of the responsibility. I've heard from several people that they wept out loud at In the Heights, though there was not a moist eye or sniffle in my audience.

I must admit that my intermission thought was "Passing Strange lost to this?!?!?

The show is always competent and often engaging. Sometimes it's even mesmerizing, as in the opening number or the Act I blackout. But it was too predictable to be magical. As much as I admired it, I was never moved by it.

I got a lot out of In the Heights, but I wanted more. As fine as the elements of the show are, I was never transported. Will I see it again when it passes through Boston? In a second!!

Spring Redux

Eighteen months after I first saw the original cast of Spring Awakening I had the chance to take it in again on Friday night. Given all I haven't seen, Spring wouldn't have been on my list except for one reason: Hunter Parrish stepped into the role of Melchior a week earlier than planned. Verdict? In three days, Parrish has developed a fully realized character that breaths fresh life into Spring Awakening. He's fantastic.

Not that Spring was on life support, nor is Parrish alone in providing fresh new insights into these intriguing characters. The show maintains its energy and relevance in droves, and it's just a great night at the theater.

Alexandra Socha is a fine Wendla, in my view superior to Lea Michelle. Gerard Canonico, memorable as the understudy on stage right in the original cast, has permanently assumed the role of Moritz. He, too, gives a fine performance. The creative team has done something very special and rare on Broadway these days. They have replaced the original cast with very different actors (from body type to vocal style) and given them great freedom to bring their own interpretation to their characters. None of them does this more successfully than Emma Hunton whose Ilse in almost unrecognizable from Lauren Pritchard's. Hunton's Ilse is fragile, touched, not the confident earth nymph so memorably portrayed by Pritchard. It's a true departure and a brilliant performance.

Christine Estabrook and Glenn Fleshler are generally strong in the adult roles, though Estabrook tends to go broad when she might be more restrained.

But in the end, it's Parrish who is the revelation. Melchior must be the glue that holds everything together in Spring Awakening, and he must be the catalyst that sets and keeps everything in motion. Parrish understands Melchior. His voice is perfect for the role. He has such ease on stage and with his character.

Stay tuned for my thoughts on In the Heights and August: Osage County, as well as long overdue reviews of The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia!

The Hammer is My Penis

Those who know me know that I never missed an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel during their multi-year runs. I was not originally a fan of Joss Whedon's Firefly, but a friend subsequently introduced me to the DVDs and I got to see the episodes in order. They're terrific. So, I would be totally remiss if I didn't point the way to Whedon's latest, super-fantastic gig (no, not Dollhouse, that's six months away) Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog. Available for viewing at DrHorrible.com or for downloading at iTunes, Dr. Horrible is a small web project Whedon and family undertook during the writers strike.

Neil Patrick Harris stars as Dr. Horrible, a wannabe criminal mastermind who also wants to get the girl of his dreams. The doc has to do something really horrible to get into the Evil League of Evil, while fighting his nemesis Captain Hammer (a laugh-out-loud Nathan Fillion) and getting the girl, Felicia Day. Oh yes, and this really is a video blog and a musical.

Whedon writes the score with his brother, and it is stronger even than the Buffy musical "Once More with Feeling." Harris is a fantastic, nuanced Dr. Horrible, and Day and Fillion, particularly Day, provide wonderful support. The story is funny, but more than funny, and the music and lyrics drive the plot in very creative ways.

Dr. Horrible is shown in three acts of about 13 minutes each. All three episodes are now available online. The few friends I've shared it with so far have all responded the same way: "That's the most awesome thing I've seen on the web in a long time." And it is!!

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

"Straight from the mind of, yes, visionary director Guillermo del Toro" is pretty much the only way to describe the strong Hellboy II: The Golden Army. The story is compelling and, like all del Toro films, visually compelling. Red (Ron Perlman) is back to save the world with his bull-in-a-china-shop approach to crime fighting. He's ably supported by the fiery Liz (Selma Blair) and the smoky Johann Krauss (voiced by Seth McFarlane).

I found the second entry in the Hellboy series to be far more compelling than the first. In this installment, the mythical world is rebelling because the human world has largely been ignoring or marginalizing the mythical dimension. The mythical beasts, led by Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) plot world domination. Nuada is set on pulling together the three pieces of the crown that will give its owner full control over the golden army.

This is del Toro's vision and the mythical beings feel like cousins to those in the far darker Pan's Labyrinth. But the psychological exploration that is del Toro's strength is very present here. Hellboy is one of those mythical beings trying to find his place in the world, and even as he strikes at the villains, he understands he is snuffing out a piece of himself. Add to that the natural marital tension that arises between Liz and Red, and the film rises far above the typical summer action fare.