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Music Reviews: Willson in Cooperstown, Chabrier on the Hudson

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts
Category: Reviews
Published on Saturday, 04 August 2012 10:00
Written by Kevin Filipski
The Music Man
Book, music and lyrics by Meredith Willson
Choreographed and directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge

Le Roi malgre lui
Composed by Emmanuel Chabrier
Conducted by Leon Botstein; directed by Thaddeus Strassberger

Summer music festivals have proliferated for years, and two of the biggest in New York State have recently changed their tune, so to speak. The Glimmerglass Festival, north of Cooperstown, was the Glimmerglass Opera for decades until being renamed in the hopes of drawing audiences for whom the word "Opera" is too daunting. The Bard Music Festival, on the Bard College campus two hours north of New York City, is now part of the more encompassing Bard Summerscape, comprising films, lectures, concerts, dance, theater and opera.

The Glimmerglass Festival now includes Broadway musicals, with Meredith Willson's The Music ManMusic Man onstage this summer and Lerner and Loewe's Camelot next year. Director Marcia Milgrom Dodge's production of The Music Man—somewhat arbitrarily moved from 1912 to the 1940s, although if you don't see it in the program, you won't notice it—is an enjoyably old-fashioned romp, with Willson's captivating score at center stage, particularly the daring a cappella opener, "Rock Island," which could stake its claim as musical theater's first rap song.

Dwayne Croft makes a properly slick but less than appealing leading man as Harold Hill, the title con man who should be both obnoxious and irresistible, while perennially underrated soprano Elizabeth Futral (as winsome Marian the librarian) has a meltingly lovely voice that caresses Willson's best ballads like "Good Night Someone" and the immortal "Till There Was You." The rest of the cast is adequate if unexceptional, but buoyed by tunes like "Seventy-Six Trombones" and "Pick-a-Little (Talk-a-Little)," The Music Man remains classic musical Americana.

Downstate at Bard, where Frenchman Camille Saint-Saens is the summer's featured composer, his contemporary Emmanuel Chabrier is represented by his grand comic opera, Le Roi malgre lui, or The King in Spite of Himself. This rollicking comedy contains KingChabrier's most beguiling music, spinning its memorable melodies throughout its many arias—and they are plentiful in this three-hour, 40-minute work—as it tells the hilarious story of the new French king of Poland, Henri le Valois, who doesn't want the job.

Thaddeus Strassberger's staging slyly interpolates modernist and Brechtian touches—one character watches the royal proceedings on TV until entering the opera proper in the final act, news cameras record the goings-on and that footage is shown onscreen, and the entire opera takes place on a soundstage—that are odd but appropriate complements to the lunatic goings-on that Chabrier orchestrates (dramatically and musically) with great glee and artfulness.

The cast comprises some of the best singers yet in a Bard opera production, led by baritone Liam Bonner's regal-voiced Valois, luminous soprano Andriana Churchman's easy traversal of the torturously difficult music for the opera's romantic heroine, Minka, and soprano Nathalie Paulin as Alexina, whose duet with Churchman is the score's musical highlight. Leon Botstein paces the long opera rather erratically, but Chabrier's joyful noise still shines through.

The Music Man
Performances through August 24, 2012
Glimmerglass Festival, Cooperstown, NY
Le Roi malgre lui
Performances through August 5, 2012
Bard Summerscape @ Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

July '12 Digital Week IV

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts
Category: Reviews
Published on Sunday, 29 July 2012 05:00
Written by Kevin Filipski
Blu-rays of the Week
Brake
(IFC)
An admittedly ingenious story device—Secret Service agent trapped in a car trunk must figure out a D.C. terrorist plot before bombs burst in air—is ruined by a twist stolen from the very first Twilight Zone episode. Then, as if admitting to the theft, writer Timothy Mannion unveils another dastardly twist, which falls flat.
Since nearly the entire 90-minute movie takes place in an enclosed box, Stephen Dorff must be commended for his controlled hysterics and apparent lack of claustrophobia. Director Gabe Torres cleverly keeps viewers from suffocating; on Blu-ray, the movie’s visuals look sharp. Extras are a Torres commentary, music video and making-of featurette.
Endeavour
(PBS)
Famed British detective Inspector Morse had to begin somewhere, and Endeavour shows where, as the green but aggressive rookie tackles the case of a teenage schoolgirl gone missing near Oxford.
With assorted characters that have something to hide—including a former opera singer, whom the young Morse adores, whose husband may have been mixed up with the unfortunate girl—Endeavour is a worthy addition to the Masterpiece Mystery family. Solid acting by Sean Lewis, Roger Allam and Flora Hemingway complements a satisfying script; the hi-def transfer is excellent.
Get the Gringo
(Fox)
If Mel Gibson is really looking to rehabilitate his image, he should pick better scripts than this one by Apocalypto co-writer Adrian Grunberg, also making his directing debut. Favoritism is one thing, but this idiotic adventure about an American jailed in Mexico who must save himself and others before bad guys get them balances flavorful dialogue with ridiculously thin characters.
Gibson gets by on his natural charisma, but the others are close to offensive caricature (although with that title, it’s not surprising). The movie has a good Blu-ray transfer; extras include a making-of featurette and music video.
The Last of England
(Kino)
Derek Jarman’s angry screed against his country being destroyed from within by Thatcher’s conservative government has lost none of its visceral power since its 1987 release and contains indelible visuals, especially those featuring then-muse Tilda Swinton, only a blip on Hollywood’s radar back then.
Still, Jarman’s ranting rarely coheres into something tangible, as it does far more strongly in his next film, the AIDS paean, The Garden. In this fine hi-def transfer, England etches a specific time and place.
On the Inside
(Anchor Bay)
Writer-director D.W. Brown’s unconvincing prison drama fails in its attempt to create a sympathetic character in a killer sentenced to a psych ward with men crazier and more psychopathic than he.
And while Nick Stahl makes a fairly credible protagonist, both Dash Mihok and Pruitt Taylor Vince are too obvious as his prison foils, and the always appealing Olivia Wilde is totally wasted in a silly “romantic” role. The movie does have a top-notch hi-def transfer, however.
Peter Gabriel: Secret World Live
(Eagle Vision)
This film of Peter Gabriel’s 1994 tour supporting his Us CD finally gets the spectacular hi-def treatment. The upgraded DTS-HD sound is impressively enveloping: every nuance of Gabriel’s vocals and his ace backing band’s playing clearly heard. The 16mm film has also gotten a thorough visual restoration.
Of course, the concert’s a knockout musically, and Peter’s duets with backing vocalist (and soon to be hitmaker) Paula Cole on “Come Talk to Me,” “Blood of Eden” and “Don’t Give Up” are among his most impassioned. Extras include “Red Rain” (why isn’t it part of the film?), a Gabriel interview, behind-the-scenes footage and “Rhythm of the Heat” from his 2010 orchestral tour.
Queen & Country
(PBS)
Trevor McDonald’s four programs about how the British see their queen in her Diamond Jubilee Year and, by extension, the institution of the monarchy itself, is a fascinating cultural history lesson. The quartet—London: Royal City, Royal Visit, The Queen’s Possessions and Traveler—is narrated by McDonald, who interviews people ranging from one of the queen’s photographers to a “Beefeater” (queen’s guard).
The show was shot in splendid hi-definition, which includes glimpses of the picturesque Channel Islands, where inhabitants think of themselves as part of but separate from their country.
They Made Me a Fugitive
(Kino)
Alberto Cavalcanti—then known simply as Cavalcanti (take that, Sting and Madonna)—directed this bleak film noir in 1947, and it remains amazingly modern. Amid the usual noirish trappings, Trevor Howard superbly plays a war veteran hardened by work in the criminal underworld.
Otto Heller’s marvelous black and white photography has so many shades of gray, reminding us that nothing’s either black or white in this sordid world; the movie looks terrific on Blu-ray.

DVDs of the Week
Black Butterflies
(Tribeca Film)
Deserved winner of the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival’s Best Actress award, the Netherlands’ Carice van Houten fearlessly portrays South African poet Ingrid Jonker, an unforgettable performance that overshadows the rest of Paula van der Oest’s biopic.
Some good, intense sequences visualize Jonker’s tortured psychology, but too often Butterflies falls into the melodramatic trap of similar screen biographies. But Houten is so shattering that it rarely matters. Extras include van der Oest and van Houten interviews.
Extraterrestrial
(e one)
In Nacho Vigalondo’s smart sci-fi thriller-cum-romantic comedy, a lovely young woman, her boyfriend, a one-night-stand and a nosy neighbor wonder whether any of the others is one of “them”: aliens that have landed on earth.
The tongue-in-cheek humor makes up for lazy exposition as each person’s suspicions don’t pan out. The performances (notably by knockout Michelle Jenner) keep Vigalondo’s intriguing but one-note concept amusing for 90 minutes. Extras include three Vigalondo shorts and a making-of featurette.
Finding Your Roots
(PBS)
Henry Louis Gates Jr’s genealogy series continues with episodes that enlighten celebrities of their lineage—with surprises such as when married couple Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick learn that they are ninth cousins.
Others interviewed are musicians Harry Connick and Branford Marsalis, actors Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey and Maggie Gyllenhaal, and politicians Condoleezza Rice and Cory Booker. Gates’ chronicles are historically relevant and engaging to watch as famous people become emotional while discovering their ancestors.
Missing and Scandal
(ABC)
These new ABC drama series revolve around immensely likeable leading ladies: Missing stars Ashley Judd as a former CIA agent who takes it upon herself to find her kidnaped son in Europe, while Revenge stars Kerry Washington as head of a crisis management agency that uses its expertise to hush up possible scandals in Washington D.C.
While both shows unabashedly traffic in implausibilities, good writing, acting and a quick pace compensate. Extras are interviews and behind the scenes snapshots; Missing also includes deleted scenes.

Never Stand Still: Dancing at Jacob’s Pillow
(First Run)
This remarkable documentary presents the history of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, one of the Berkshire’s summer jewels. For 80 years, renowned choreographers and performers descend upon Jacob’s Pillow to perform cutting-edge, controversial, thought-provoking modern and classical dance works.
Narrated by choreographer Bill T. Jones, Ron Honsa’s film includes interviews with Suzanne Farrell and Mark Morris, and succinctly summarizes the place’s historical and artistic importance. Extras include a brief Merce Cunningham interview and additional performance snippets.
Patagonia Rising
(First Run)
Brian Lilla’s urgent expose of a massive dam project threatening Chile’s Patagonia region is cinematic advocacy at its most revelatory. The project, comprising five dams along two rivers, purports to help millions receive needed electricity, but experts insist it will destroy one of the world’s most fragile eco-systems, and that alternative forms of energy are preferable.
Lilla methodically covers both sides, even though it’s obvious where he sits. The project’s PR mouthpiece comes off slick and rehearsed, but more troubling are sincere but naive comments from people who live in Santiago, who feel the dams are needed for their well-being (needless to say, most are young adults).

July '12 Digital Week III

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts
Category: Reviews
Published on Sunday, 22 July 2012 05:00
Written by Kevin Filipski


Blu-rays of the Week
American Reunion
(Universal)
The fourth go-round for the American Pie teens find them at their 13th high school reunion, when horny hell breaks loose again, despite their being older and (supposedly) wiser. It’s surprisingly easy to take, since the performers are comfortable in their characters’ skins as they embarrass themselves again.
Add to that a real find in Ali Cobrin as a horny 18-year-old whom Jason Biggs’ character once babysat, and the stage is set for more goofy but harmless lunacy. The Blu-ray image looks fine; extras include commentaries, featurettes, interviews, deleted and extended scenes and a gag reel.
Dirty Pretty Things
(Echo Bridge)
Stephen Frears’ engrossing 2002 thriller follows illegal immigrants working at a London hotel who find themselves caught up in a bizarre body-parts-for-sale scheme.
With persuasive performances by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Audrey Tautou and Sophie Okonedo and a skillful script by Steven Knight, Frears’ best film since The Snapper and The Grifters slowly but surely crawls under your skin. The Blu-ray image is good, not great; extras are a Frears commentary and a making-of featurette.
Down by Law
(Criterion)
After his no-budget 1984 breakthrough Stranger than Paradise, Jim Jarmusch two years later made this deadpan romp about small-timers breaking out of a Louisiana jail together: Roberto Bengini, Tom Waits and John Lurie are an unlikely trio, and even the sumptuous visual palette (thanks to Robby Müller’s B&W photography) can’t liven the comedic deadness.
The Criterion Collection impressively brings the film back to life with its hi-def transfer; extras include Jarmusch and Muller interviews, outtakes, Cannes Festival footage, Jarmusch Q&A and phone conversations between Jarmusch and stars.
The Fairy
(Kino)
The Belgian trio of Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy wrote, directed and star in this intermittently amusing tribute to classic cinematic comedians like Chaplin, Keaton and Tati, the latter of whose fingerprints are all over this self-conscious, near-silent farce with physical comedy galore.
There are a few glorious visual moments, but the trio—despite its lithe onscreen gracefulness—never approaches the true masters. The hi-def image is superb.
Friends with Kids
(Lionsgate)
Jennifer Westfeldt wrote and directed this busily innocuous time-waster about couples who mate, fight, split up and (sometimes) make up with an increasingly large brood of children growing up around them.
As in most contemporary comedies, every character is improbably with-it and witty; but Westfeldt writes occasionally zingy dialogue, and directs Megan Fox in her least mannequin-like performance. Otherwise, this is typical rom-com fare that looks quite good on Blu-ray; extras include a commentary, making-of featurette, bloopers and deleted scenes.
Sanctuary—The Complete 4th Season
(e one)
For its fourth season, the creators of Sanctuary decide to up the dramatic quotient as the heroic scientific crew (and even the real Bigfoot) goes into emergency assist mode for the monsters it’s trying to keep safe, ending with a two-part fight for survival at season’s end.
Essentially ludicrous, but the program gets by on the chemistry of its actors and bizarre monster make-up. The whole thing looks particularly splendid on Blu-ray; extras include featurettes, interviews, audio commentaries, deleted scenes and a blooper reel.
Singin’ in the Rain
(Warners)
Gene Kelly’s 1952 musical is a joy from start to finish: no one’s been able to equal Kelly’s extraordinarily cinematic choreography—with the exception of Bob Fosse—and Kelly’s co-stars Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds are unmatched, even by their director’s exacting standards.
Warners has pulled out all the stops for its 60th anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition: this classic looks luminous on Blu-ray; extras include a new documentary, vintage documentaries, a deleted musical number and an audio commentary; along with goodies like an umbrella (!), 48-page hardcover commemorative book and lobby card facsimiles.
The Turin Horse
(Cinema Guild)
Bela Tarr once made interesting pictures about Hungarian life under the Communist regime, but after discovering Profundity with his exasperating seven-hour Satantango, he became the Hungarian David Lean (whose best films were the early, shorter ones). Tarr’s supposedly last feature is another glacially paced, magnificently photographed non-story about the titular horse from a Nietzsche anecdote and its owners; if Tarr mesmerizes you, then by all means see it.
Fred Kelemen’s B&W photography shimmers on Blu-ray; extras include critic Jonathan Rosenbaum’s commentary, Tarr’s 1978 short, Hotel Magnezit; Berlin Film Festival press conference; and a Tarr interview.
Under the Tuscan Sun
(Disney)
In this chipper 2003 adaptation of Frances Maysle’s memoir, Diane Lane gives an un-self-conscious, winning portrayal of an American divorcee who rebuilds her life in beautiful Italy—and, at the end, falls in love: but not with whom you think.
The main draws are Lane’s innate dazzlingness—when she breaks into a smile, she becomes even more so—and the rolling Tuscan hill towns, all receiving an upgrade to hi-def. Extras include featurettes, interviews and director-writer Audrey Wells’ commentary.
DVDs of the Week
The Code and This Is Civilization
(Athena)
These impressive British TV documentaries display a remarkable ability to make dense subjects into something informative and endlessly fascinating.

The Code, narrated with engaging authority by Marcus du Sautoy, unravels the mathematical and numerical patterns that allow the world to function as it does, with evidence ranging from cicadas and serial killers to Chartres Cathedral and Grand Central Station. This Is Civilization, an equally erudite but approachable dissection of art through the centuries, from the Greek, Roman and Muslim worlds to painters David, Goya and Picasso, is hosted by Matthew Collings. Civilization extras comprise a trio of shorts.
Don Quichotte
(Naïve)
Belgian bass-baritone Jose Van Dam culminated his towering 50-year career by singing one of literature’s great characters in French composer Jules Massenet’s 1910 opera based on Cervantes’ classic novel.
Laurent Pelly’s centenary production, while it has ludicrous modern touches, keeps Don upfront, and van Dam responds with a physically and emotionally authentic portrayal of a daunting role. Marc Minkowski conducts Van Dam’s operatic swan song with extraordinary sensitivity; an hour-long documentary about the production is the lone extra.
Johnny Carson: King of Late Night
(PBS)
This excellent American Masters program profiles the long-running late-night king who ruled the airwaves for 30-plus years as host of The Tonight Show.
Aside from being a valuable bio of the notoriously reclusive Carson—along with surprising information about his selflessness and altruism—the show is filled with innumerable delightful anecdotes about the master from many of his disciples and acolytes (Letterman, Leno, Conan, Kimmel, Shandling, Rivers, Rickles). Extras include a featurette about narrator Kevin Spacey and additional interviews.
Leverage—The Complete 4th Season
(Fox)
Tim Hutton and his intrepid crew of Robin Hoods on the trail of “real” bad guys entertain several dangerous cases during the season, which opens with a near-death experience while tracking down crooked businessmen who are off mountain climbing.
Alongside Hutton is a solid supporting cast led by Gina Bellman, and the scenarios continue to be clever without condescension. Along with all 18 episodes, there are audio commentaries on every episode, deleted scenes, making-of featurettes and a gag reel.
Muddy Waters and the Rolling Stones—Live at the Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 1981
(Eagle Rock Entertainment)
On a night off during their 1981 U.S. tour, the Stones go to hear Muddy Waters at his Chicago club: after a few great tunes to start things off, the master invites the students to the stage for amazing jams like “Hoochie Coochie Man, “Mannish Boy” and “Got My Mojo Working.”
Other guests include Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, but Waters remains front and center, even with Mick, Keith and Ron Wood (and touring keyboardist Ian Stewart) crowding the cramped stage. This legendary one-night-only show finally gets a legitimate release, at long last. An accompanying CD has most of the songs, but the DVD contains the entire performance in a new surround sound mix by Bob Clearmountain.

Off-Broadway: New Musical "Dogfight"

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts
Category: Reviews
Published on Friday, 20 July 2012 10:00
Written by Kevin Filipski

Dogfight

Starring Annaleigh Ashford, Nick Blaemire, Derek Klena, Lindsay Mendez, Josh Segarra

Music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul; book by Peter Duchan

Choreographed by Christopher Gattelli; directed by Joe Mantello

Based on a 1991 movie starring the late River Phoenix and Lili Taylor, the new musical Dogfight2ST5Dogfight starts sordidly and ends romantically, its title referring to a contest by a group of Marines on leave before shipping out from San Francisco to Japan on their way to Vietnam, conveniently on Nov. 21, 1963, the day before JFK's murder: whoever brings the ugliest local girl to their party wins the monetary prize.

Our hero, Eddie Birdlace, a nice Buffalo boy, meets Rose Fenny, a chubby waitress at her mom's diner, and asks her to the party. Even though he easily trades profanities and insults with his buddies, he has a soft side: twice he has qualms about bringing Rose to the contest, but ends up doing so anyway. After they lose (to another Marine who paid a hooker with horrible teeth to be his date), Rose discovers the horrible truth, slaps Eddie and storms off.

Eddie can't shake his feelings for the dowdy Rose and makes it up to her: they go on a date which starts inauspiciously at a fancy restaurant when Eddie threatens a snippy maitre'd/waiter, but they soon find their footing and fall for each other. (that she improbably bursts out with a string of profanities while ordering delights him no end.) After a romantic night in Rose's room—where she, a kind of budding Joni Mitchell, plays him a new song of hers on the guitar—he ships off to Vietnam and real slaughter, where he loses his closest friends, Bernstein and Bolan. They were "The Three B's," memorialized on his arm in the form of a tattoo.

After returning to the States physically and emotionally crippled—and spat at by an uncaring public—Eddie searches out Rose, whom he never contacted after tearing up her address in embarrassment when Bolan discovers it, which leads to a bittersweet ending.

Dogfight honestly earns its emotions through Benj Pasek and Justin Paul's songs, which are never less than decent and, in a couple instances (notably Rose's solos "Nothing Short of Wonderful" and "Before It's Over"), quite nicely turned. Derek Klena (Eddie) and especially Lindsay Mendez (Rose) are sweetly believable in the leads: while Klena subtly balances the tough marine and tender young man, Mendez thoughtfully portrays inner beauty triumphing over an ordinary exterior.

Joe Mantello directs persuasively—except for a woefully misconceived, overdone Vietnam sequence—and Christopher Gattelli's choreography is muted but effective. If Peter Duchan's book can't square the men's abhorrently sexist behavior with the budding romance that develops, that was also a problem with the movie, where Phoenix and Taylor made a convincing pair. Despite such built-in flaws, Klena and Mendez make Dogfight worth seeing.

Dogfight

Previews began June 27, 2012; opened July 16; closes August 19

Second Stage Theatre, 307 West 43rd Street, New York, NY

http://2st.com

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  2. Mark Rivera Interview: From Billy Joel to Ringo
  3. Off-Broadway: Pierce's "Slowgirl," Maltby/Shire's "Closer Than Ever"

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