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Theater Reviews—Broadway Musical “Waitress”; Shakespeare in Brooklyn
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Sunday, 01 May 2016 15:05
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Waitress
Music & lyrics by Sara Bareilles; book by Jessie Nelson; directed by Diane Paulus
Performances began March 25, 2016
Richard II & Henry IV, Part I
Written by William Shakespeare; directed by Gregory Doran
Performances through May 1, 2016
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| Jessie Mueller in Waitress (photo: Joan Marcus) |
A sweet-natured romantic comedy, the 2007 movie Waitress was stamped by the offbeat personality of writer-director-costar Adrienne Shelly—who was brutally murdered right before its release when she was just 40 years old—balancing rom-com ickiness with a sympathetic look at Jenna, a woman trying to emancipate herself from trying circumstances. Brightly played by the endlessly resourceful Keri Russell, the heroine in Waitress was easy to root for.
In its translation to the stage, much of what made Waitress charming has been lost, replaced by a by-the-numbers musical with forgettable music, strained jokes and a desperate attempt to make Jenna’s fellow waitresses—played amusingly in the movie by Cheryl Hines and Shelly herself—as important to the show as she is. Director Diane Paulus is merely a ringmaster guiding the proceedings from scene to scene with little originality or creativity
The plot was the weakest thing about the movie—rooting for Jenna to cheat on her dastardly husband with the town’s new gynecologist with whom she begins having an affair during her pregnancy isn’t easy—but Shelly’s temperament was geared more toward Jenna’s creations, the homemade pies that amusingly commented on her frustrating life.
The musical unfortunately doubles down on the story (Jessie Nelson wrote the awkward book) and gives her cohorts Dawn and Becky far more to do in the show than onscreen, to the detriment of Jenna and the show. It doesn’t help that Kamiko Glenn and Keala Settle play the friends with maximum campiness, and with Christopher Fitzgerald piling it on as the goofball who falls for Dawn, there are at least 30 minutes of Waitress that could have been excised.
But Jenna does remain front and center thanks to Jessie Mueller. Though she lacks Keri Russell’s natural charm, she’s a capable actress who can also sing the hell out of anything, even the flaccid tunes Sara Bareilles has composed. The show’s emotional center, “She Used to Be Mine,” is an earnest attempt at an 11 o’clock number that Mueller handles with effortless ease, nearly making it the shattering crescendo it desperately wants to be.
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| David Tennant in Richard II (photo: Richard Termine) |
The Royal Shakespeare Company’s auspicious return to Brooklyn brings four plays under the title King and Country: Shakespeare’s Great Kings—Richard II, Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2 and Henry V—for a six-week long residency showing the breadth and depth of its talent, spread across 12 hours of prime Shakespeare to commemorate the 400th anniversary of his death.
I saw Richard II and Henry IV, Part I and was impressed by director Gregory Doran’s ability to keep things moving cleanly and swiftly but without ignoring the needed breathing spaces that make Shakespeare singular: intimate scenes of verbal jousting that are usually superior to the physical kind, which Doran doesn’t do very well anyway, i.e., the climactic Henry IV battle.
Richard II is rarely done—the only other time I saw it was at BAM in 2000 with Ralph Fiennes essaying the title role—probably because Richard is a tricky role that’s hard to pull off. David Tennant, playing a Richard whose long, wavy hair flows behind him as eccentrically as his personality, isn’t hammy, but makes this showy role his own, eventually gaining the sympathy that Shakespeare withholds from his protagonist until the moving speech when Richard bares himself to his usurper, Bolingbroke (soon to be Henry IV). It’s a high-wire performance that calls attention to itself in the best way.
I could do without Doran’s making physical Richard’s attraction for his cousin Amerle with a pointless lingering kiss (and having Amerle wield the knife that kills Richard is also a questionable decision). But this Richard II powerfully dramatizes the tragedy of a king who gets his comeuppance.
One of Shakespeare’s towering masterpieces, Henry IV, Part I joins typically probing history with the comic world of Sir John Falstaff, one of the most original and audience-pleasing characters he ever wrote. When director Jack O’Brien trimmed both parts of Henry IV at Lincoln Center a decade ago into one play, Kevin Kline’s masterly comic portrayal of Falstaff was its anchor; here, Antony Sher is equally amusing and touching as the blowhard Falstaff, who gives free rein to the king’s precocious son Prince Hal’s inability to grow up.
Sher brilliantly doesn’t overdo Falstaff; instead, he plays this garrulous, gregarious character straight, which makes him all the more endearing. And Sher’s generous performance is balanced beautifully by Alex Hassell’s Hal who, aware of his own immaturity, slowly becomes the mature prince who will be crowned Henry V by the end of the next play.
With intelligent and inspired acting throughout both plays, director Doran smartly keeps visual flourishes to a minimum: scrims and projections are sparingly but particularly well-used, Stephen Brimson Lewis designed the ingeniously spare sets and even the floor is cleverly lit (by the talented Jim Mitchell) to illuminate the strenuous physical and psychological terrain these plays traverse. There’s no better celebration of Shakespeare’s genius in this 400th anniversary year of his death than such exciting and edifying productions of his remarkable works.
Waitress
Brooks Atkinson Theatre, 256 West 47th Street, New York, NY
waitressthemusical.com
Richard II & Henry IV, Part I
Brooklyn Academy of Music, Harvey Theatre, Brooklyn, NY
bam.org
The Sounds of Bavaria at Carnegie Hall
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Friday, 29 April 2016 04:56
- Written by Jack Angstreich
The accomplished musicians of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra gave an excellent concert at Carnegie Hall on the evening of Tuesday, April 19th, under the estimable direction of Mariss Jansons.
The program opened with a confident account of John Corigliano's interesting Fantasia on an Ostinato, spun out of the famous motif that haunts the slow movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. At the work's finish, the composer took the stage for a bow.
Also gratifying was the equally fine performance of Erich Korngold's beloved Violin Concerto, featuring the impressive soloist Leonidas Kavakos who obliged an appreciative audience with a superb encore, the magnificent Gavotte en Rondo from Johann Sebastian Bach's Partita No. 3 in E Major (Kavakos was also strong in the Violin Concerto of Jean Sibelius which he recently played with the New York Philharmonic at David Geffen Hall).
The second half of the program surpassed the first with a lucid account of Antonín Dvorák's beautiful Symphony No. 8. A superb encore, the lovely "The Wild Bears" from Edward Elgar's The Wand of Youth Suite, brought the evening to its apotheosis. I greatly regret that illness prevented me from hearing this ensemble perform Dmitri Shostakovich's "Leningrad" Symphony on the following night.
April '16 Digital Week IV
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Wednesday, 27 April 2016 13:16
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Blu-rays of the Week
And Then There Were None
(Acorn)
The classic Agatha Christie mystery, a.k.a. “Ten Little Indians,” returns in this fitfully entertaining yarn that is, quite simply, too long: I know it was made to fill out three one-hour television time slots, but stretching out the story with plentiful flashbacks to the victims’ previous lives strangles the tautness that was Christie’s stock-in-trade.
It’s certainly a first-class production, with strong performances by Charles Dance, Toby Stephens, Miranda Richardson, Maeve Dermody and Sam Neill, among others. The hi-def transfer is first-rate; extras include featurettes and interviews.
Betrayed
Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street
(Olive Films)
In Costa-Gavras’s 1988 Betrayed, Debra Winger and Tom Berenger are superb as an undercover FBI agent and the possibly racist murderer she falls for; too bad Joe Eszterhas’ script and Costa-Gavras’s direction highlight the illogical plot holes instead of the stars’ far more interesting character dynamics.
1972’s Dead Pigeon, made in Germany and one of the more bizarre items in director Samuel Fuller’s career, is an alternately fascinating and frustrating drama about an American detective looking for his partner’s killer. Both films have good hi-def transfers; the lone Pigeon extra is the documentary Return to Beethoven Street: Sam Fuller in Germany.
Haven—Complete Final Season
(e one)
In the final season of this offbeat supernatural drama based on Stephen King’s novella The Colorado Kid,the population of the supposedly idyllic seaside town uncovers still more unsettling stories and reveals dark secrets.
The large cast—led by Emily Rose, Eric Balfour, Adam Copeland and Lucas Bryant—is able to remain straight-faced throughout, a not inconsiderable fat under the circumstances. The series’ 13 episodes all look impressive on Blu; extras include featurettes, interviews and commentaries.
The Merchant of Venice
(Opus Arte)
Although I’m not too enamored of director Polly Findlay’s modern-dress vision of one of Shakespeare’s more problematic plays, she does have an authentic Shylock in actor Makram J. Khoury, who provides this disjointed production with its most dramatic moments.
It’s also unfortunate that Findlay has cast Patsy Ferran, a charmless and one-note Portia, who especially looks bad next to the far more engrossing Khoury. The Blu-ray transfer is excellent; extras include interviews, featurettes and Findlay’s commentary.
Misconduct
(Lionsgate)
Even though Anthony Hopkins and Al Pacino are top-lined in this legal thriller, it’s Josh Duhamel’s show all the way, so your mileage may vary if you’d rather see two past-their-prime legends as the leads instead of mere support, but the main problem with director Shintaro Shimosawa’s routine drama is its inconsistencies, which grow more desperate as it all continues.
Still, the cast does decent work—aside from the men, there are Malin Akerman, Julia Stiles and Alice Eve all scoring in thankless parts—which somewhat mitigates the absurdity that’s mostly on display. The film looks fine on Blu; extras include deleted scenes and a making-of featurette.
Outlaw Gangster VIP—The Complete Collection
(Arrow)
Another shining example of Arrow’s growing hi-def collection of films that have been either neglected or simply ignored, this set of the six films in the Outlaw Gangster series—fast-paced, trashily entertaining Japanese gangster flicks churned out starting in 1968, and begun by director Toshio Masuda and star Tetsuya Watari—is the latest gem of a release.
The movies themselves are mainly disposable but sturdy entertainments; the hi-def transfers of all six features are stellar; and the extras include a commentary, visual essay and 42-page booklet.
The Stuff
The Zero Boys
(Arrow)
These wacky, grisly mid-80s horror flicks have been brought back from obscurity for whoever wants them. The Stuff, a 1985 entry by Larry Cohen (best known for It’s Alive), is a risibly silly chiller about a new dessert that turns its eaters into…well, something. There’s a surprising then-name cast involved, including Andrea Marcovicci, Michael Moriarty, Paul Sorvino, Garrett Morris and Danny Aiello, while the premise is just whacked-out enough to keep one watching.
As for The Zero Boys, Nico Mastorakis’ 1986 slasher entry, neither the deer-in-the-headlights performers nor the less-than-clever ways that people are killed off help matters, while one of Hans Zimmer’s earliest (and synth-laden) scores is only a temporary reprieve. The hi-def transfers are decent enough; extras include intros, interviews and audio commentaries.
April '16 Digital Week III
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Wednesday, 20 April 2016 21:55
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Blu-rays of the Week
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead
(Magnolia)
The long, strange history of National Lampoon—once America’s most irreverent humor magazine, notable for controversial covers like the iconic dog with a gun to its head, while also spinning-off to radio and TV shows and movies like Animal House and Vacation—is satisfyingly recounted in Douglas Tirola’s documentary.
New and vintage interviews illuminate the behind- the-scenes vibe, including glimpses of such veterans as P.J. O’Rourke, Matty Simmons, Doug Kenney and John Hughes. There’s a solid hi-def transfer; extras comprise more than an hour of interviews and deleted scenes.
(Severin)
This celebrated 1978 bit of Australian erotica, finally released in hi-def, stars the effervescent Glory Annen as a naïve young woman who blossoms sexually after discovering the delights of carnality.
Director John D. Lamond isn’t after subtlety, even if the soft-core sex scenes seem far less racy today; coupled with two bonus mid-‘70s films by Lamond, The ABCs of Love and Sex and Australia After Dark, this is a fine introductory set for those interested in adult-film history. Extras are audio commentaries and outtakes.
The Fool
The Major
(Olive Films)
Russian director Yury Bykov, who debuted with 2010’s To Live,followed up with these tough, vivid depictions of the current lawlessness in Putin’s Russia. 2014’s The Fool is an allegory about a plumber who, blowing the whistle on a dangerously teetering apartment complex, tells the local authorities, who are incompetent and corrupt.
2013’s The Major is an allegory about local police arrogantly protecting one of their own after he runs over a young boy on an icy road: they will eliminate anyone who questions the official report, including the boy’s mother, who witnessed the whole thing. There’s much to admire and provoke in Bykov’s cinema. The hi-def transfers are exemplary.
(Fox)
In which for two hours and 35 minutes, Leonardo DiCaprio undergoes impossibly rigorous physical treatment—including the infamous bear sequence—for which he won his supposedly long-overdue Best Actor Oscar.
DiCaprio is impressive in a role that’s more a test of physical stamina than outright acting, but most ungainly about the film is director Alejandro G. Inarritu’s crude technique that overrelies on stunts, CGI and Emmanuel Lubezki’s admittedly miraculous camerawork—although Lubezki has done it before, and better, for Terrence Malick—to tell a story that, without these frills, is merely mundane. The hi-def transfer is excellent; lone extra is a 45-minute making-of documentary.
Theory of Obscurity
(Film Movement)
The Residents have been the most famous—or infamous—music/video collective of the past half century that’s managed to hide its identity from the world, and Don Hardy’s mostly amused, occasionally bemused documentary recounts its bizarre and extended career, as discussed by many people around the band’s members.
But not the guys themselves: they remain—coyly but playfully—anonymous. At least it seems that way: maybe some of the members are posing as mere collaborators. The film looks fine on Blu; extras comprise featurettes, outtakes, performances and interviews.
Silicon Valley—Complete 2ndSeason
(HBO)
Some of Veep’s barbed humor got noticeably smoothed out when Selina Meyer became president, forcing an edgy if uneven satire to sometimes turn desperate in its attempt to return to earlier glory. Although Julie-Louis Dreyfus is fine in the lead, it’s the supporting cast—led by Anna Chlumsky, Tony Hale and Timothy Simons—that keeps it from jumping the shark completely.
Silicon Valley, the one-joke Mike Judge comedy, has stretched itself perilously thin, and even if the actors transcend their caricatured characters, it will be interesting to see if the humor can find more depth in its upcoming season. Both shows look quite good on Blu; extras include deleted scenes and, on Valley, commentaries.
DVDs of the Week
Cinema’s Exiles—From Hitler to Hollywood
(Warner Archive)
This endlessly fascinating 2007 PBS documentary about how so many emigres from Germany’s film industry—the world’s best by the early 1930s—were able to flee the country after Hitler came to power and, in several instances, resuscitate their careers in Europe and Hollywood is narrated by Sigourney Weaver.
With its generous use of many vintage interviews—including with directors Fritz Lang and Billy Wilder—and archival footage of the likes of Marlene Dietrich, this absorbing cautionary tale is far more than a mere piece of distant film history.
(Lionsgate)
This schlocky thriller about a trans-Pacific flight that begins to go badly out of control when a healthy passenger suddenly dies is at least short at 80 minutes, but even its brevity can’t cover up the many crazy contrivances that proliferate, and culminate with a twisty and insane denouement.
The mainly no-name cast actually works hard—even poor Leslie Bibb, who rarely gets the good roles she deserves, does what she can as a veteran flight attendant—but it ends up being for naught.
Grace and Frankie—Complete 1st Season
(Lionsgate)
The unlikely chemistry between Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as two long-time antagonists who together must deal with the aftermath of their husbands leaving them after admitting they’ve been carrying on an affair with each other is what makes Grace and Frankie watchable, even when the series itself tries (and fails) to balance showing the characters’ new relationships.
Happily, alongside Fonda and Tomlin, the rest of the cast (starting with Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston as the soon-to-marry husbands) is also up to the task. Extras include featurettes, gag reel and commentaries.
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