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Broadway Musical Review—Revival of Adam Guettel’s “Floyd Collins”

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Monday, 23 June 2025 18:01; Written by Kevin Filipski

Floyd Collins

Music and lyrics by Adam Guettel; book and additional lyrics by Tina Landau

Directed by Tina Landau

Performances through June 29, 2025

Vivian Beaumont Theatre, 150 West 65th Street, NYC

lct.org

Lizzy McAlpine and Jeremy Jordan in Floyd Collins (photo: Joan Marcus)

Daringly downbeat, Floyd Collins is the rare musical that takes chances musically and dramatically. When it premiered off-Broadway in 1996, the show got some raves but nobody was lining up to bring it to Broadway. Based on the one-third empty house the afternoon I saw it at Lincoln Center Theater, maybe they were right. The atypical musical plot is based on a real-life incident in Kentucky in 1925: our eponymous hero, a reckless spelunker, gets trapped in a mine while hoping to carve out a future tourist attraction (which it eventually became, as Mammoth Cave National Park).

Soon the locals hoping to rescue him are overtaken by outsiders who treat the entire tragic episode as a spectacular, media-driven nationwide circus with people hanging on every new development. Indeed, one of the reporters present, Skeets Miller of the Louisville Courier, begins by chasing a good story but finds himself getting personally involved in rescuing Floyd.

Composer Adam Guettel and book writer Tina Landau transform this flavorful bit of Americana into one of our most original musicals. Guettel’s music, powered by bluegrass, folk and Tin Pan Alley, is always in character, so to speak—like the thrilling chorus that opens the show, Floyd’s powerful laments, or his younger sister Nellie’s emotional solo. Landau’s book could be performed as a play without Guettel’s music, so intense is its drama and incisive its characterizations. That they meld together so persuasively is what makes the show a singular achievement.

Landau directs this revival with a beautifully wrought elegance; she uses the Beaumont’s large stage to her advantage, creating a nearly cinematic dramatization of a story that always seems to have several events happening simultaneously. Landau is greatly assisted by the collective dots’ inventively abstract sets, Scott Zielinski’s subtle lighting, Anita Yavich’s on-target costumes, Dan Moses Schreier’s startling sound design and Ruey Horng Sun’s savvy projections.

The cast is splendid. Taylor Trensch makes an engaging Skeets, Marc Kudisch is stentorian as Floyd’s father Lee, and Lizzy McAlpine—in a marvelous Broadway debut—is a heartbreaking Nellie whose second-act solo turn, “Through the Mountain,” is as understated a showstopper as you’ll ever hear. At the center of it all is Jeremy Jordan as Floyd, who is not only in imposingly great voice but is physically impressive—terrifically agile while sperlunking and spellbindingly dramatic even as he’s trapped in the cave. Jordan and company make the tragedy of Floyd Collins exhilarating.

June '25 Digital Week III

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Friday, 20 June 2025 01:58; Written by Kevin Filipski

In-Theater Releases of the Week

Materialists

(A24)

In her second feature—her debut Past Lives earned her an Oscar nomination for best screenplay—writer-director Celine Song again explores the intimate relationships of her protagonists, this time among a subset of Manhattan residents: Lucy, a matchmaker; John, her former boyfriend and struggling actor; and Harry, a charming billionaire she falls for.

As in the earlier film, Song’s dialogue is beautifully written—clever without being cloying and articulate without being overbearing; but she can’t completely break free of the rom-coms she is deconstructing, so the characters interact predictably and, in the end, conventionally. In the leads, Dakota Johnson (Lucy) has never been better, and Chris Evans (John) and Pedro Pascal (Harry) are equally good as the men in her lives.

Sex

(Strand Releasing)

The second film in Norwegian writer-director Dag Johan Haugerud’s triptych about nontraditional intimacy follows two married men who work together in Oslo—a chimney sweep and his supervisor—who discuss intimate subjects including their sex lives: the supervisor admits to having had pleasurable sex with another man.

The sweep is surprised, but when the supervisor confesses his escapade to his wife, she feels (not wrongly) that their entire relationship has shifted because he cheated, even if he says it was a one-off with no lasting repercussions. Like Love, Sex is an intriguing theoretical exercise masquerading as a deep dive into intimate relationships. Since Haugerud plays coy throughout, the film’s emotional and dramatic stakes of these endless conversations never seem genuine or urgent—what will the final film, Dreams, bring?

In-Theater/Streaming Release of the Week

Simple Minds—Everything Is Possible

(Greenwich Entertainment)

Joss Crowley’s entertaining documentary about the Scottish rock band—founded by and still comprising singer Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill—touches on its storied history, from forming in high school in the late ‘70s to still going today, in a fleet 87 minutes. Although it glosses over a lot, Kerr and Burchill are forthcoming, and their stories (and those of musical colleagues and friends) are often uproarious and even poignant.

Molly Ringwald is on hand to inform us that she told The Breakfast Club director John Hughes that Simple Minds should record what turned out to be the group’s biggest hit, “Don’t You Forget About Me.” Although Kerr and Burchill admit to being reluctant to record a song they didn’t write, they’ve since come to terms with it overshadowing the rest of their career—at least in America.

4K/UHD Releases of the Week

Drop

(Universal)

The latest Blumhouse horror is less horrific than occasionally unnerving: widowed mom Violet has a first date that goes wrong in every way, especially when someone begins drop-texting her, threatening her young son and babysitter sister if she doesn’t kill her date.

Director Christopher Landon and writers Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach’s lean thriller speeds through so many unlikely twists and turns that there’s no time to stop and say, “WTF.” It helps, too, to have a sympathetic and appealing lead like Meghann Fahy as the harried Violet. There’s a super UHD transfer; extras include featurettes and a director’s commentary.

The Wiz

(Criterion)

When Sidney Lumet’s vivid cinematic adaptation of the hit Broadway show that tweaked L.L. Baum’s The Wizard of Oz for a funky generation was released in 1978, it was met with either guffaws or indifference, despite its pedigree and starry cast led by Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Lena Horne and Richard Pryor.

Yes, it’s overlong and overstuffed and Lumet doesn’t have a complete handle on the musical numbers, but it’s a riotously colorful snapshot of mid-’70s New York, especially in the finale at World Trade Center Plaza. Criterion’s restoration looks eye-poppingly impressive; too bad extras are so meager: short archival interviews with Lumet and Ross as well as an audio commentary.

A Working Man

(Warner Bros)

In his latest routine action flick, Jason Statham plays a former black-ops soldier now working as a construction foreman who returns to his old job when his boss’ daughter is kidnaped by a group of violent Russian thugs.

Unsurprisingly, Statham and director David Ayers follow the blueprint of last year’s The Beekeeper, although to meager returns. But there is fun to be had in watching Statham do in so many bad guys (and gals), even if the thread of credibility is stretched thin to breaking. The film looks sharp in 4K; there are no extras.

CD Releases of the Week

Ligeti—Concertos

(Harmonia Mundi)

Hungarian composer György Ligeti (1923-2006) is best known for his otherworldly music, which was so brilliantly used by Stanley Kubrick in three films: 2001, The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut. But Ligeti’s genius stems from his wide-ranging oeuvre, which makes up a singular musical vision.

The concertos on this disc bear that out, from the early Concert Românesc for small orchestra to the dizzying flights of fancy of his violin and piano concertos, fiendishly difficult to perform but still playful and light on their musical feet. The soloists—violinist Isabelle Faust and pianist Jean-Frédéric Neuburger—are more than up to the task, as is the ensemble Les Siècles led by François-Xavier Roth.

Shostakovich—Suites and Concertos

(Capriccio)

The great Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-75) was prolific in many genres, from chamber music to symphonies to operas; in fact, his cycles of 15 string quartets and 15 symphonies are among the most imposing of the 20th century.

This superb compilation of several recordings made between 1996 and 2005 contains three discs of some of his signature works for orchestra, like his Jazz Suite No. 2, suites from the ballets The Bolt and The Age of Gold, and two of his concerto masterworks: the Piano Concerto No. 1 (which includes the famous obbligato turn for a trumpet) and the Violin Concerto. Various orchestras and conductors acquit themselves well in these works, and the concerto soloists—pianist Thomas Duis, trumpeter Reinhold Friedrich and violinist Vladimir Spirakov—give estimable performances.

American Ballet Theater Perform "Swan Lake" at The Met

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Wednesday, 18 June 2025 13:50; Written by Jack Angstreich

Skylar Brandt and Herman Cornejo in Swan Lake.Photo: Rosalie O’Connor.

At Lincoln Center’s marvelous Metropolitan Opera House on the evening of Wednesday, June 11th, I was afforded the immense pleasure of seeing a superb presentation, one of the first of the exciting new season at American Ballet Theater, of its indelible production of Swan Lake, featuring the immortal score by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky—here admirably conducted by the veteran Ormsby Wilkins—and the glorious choreography of former Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie, after that of the legendary Marius Petipa as well as Lev Ivanov. The superior sets and attractive costumes were designed by Zack Brown, while the evocative and sometimes powerfully dramatic lighting is by Duane Schuler.

The primary role of Odette-Odile was stunningly danced with exemplary precision and grace by Skylar Brandt in a realization that sustains comparison with those of such luminaries of this company as Natalia Osipova and Gillian Murphy. Her astonishing partner as Prince Siegfried was the tremendous Herman Cornejo, one of the greatest dancers in the troupe, who was characteristically riveting. Duncan Lyle and Andrii Ishchuk were each compelling in the doubled role of von Rothbart, the evil sorcerer.

The secondary cast was also terrific and I will here single out the most striking of these, beginning with Léa Fleytoux, Yoon Jeung Seo and above all the extremely promising Jake Roxander (who was also Benno, the prince’s friend) who together magnificently executed the fabulous Pas de Trois from Act I. The dance of the Cygnettes at the lakeside in Act II—one of the unforgettable highlights of the ballet—was here performed by Lauren Bonfiglio, Camila Ferrera, Rachel Richardson and Hannah Marshall, while the equally exquisite dance of the Two Swans was forcefully executed by Paula Waski and Remy Young.

The leading roles in the splendid divertissements from Act III were also notably brilliant. Seo, Bonfiglio and Richardson again along with Zimmi Coker were the Hungarian, Spanish, Italian and Polish Princesses respectively. Marshall again and Roman Zhurbin enacted the Czardas. The two couples in the delightful Spanish Dance were Virginia Lensi and Joseph Markey and Scout Forsythe and Jose Sebastian. Finally, Carlos Gonzalez and Andrew Robare were the protagonists of the Neapolitan Dance.

The most significant players in non-dancing roles were Isadora Loyola as the Queen Mother and John Gardner as both Wolfgang, tutor to the prince, and the Master of Ceremonies in Act III. The stellar corps de ballet was not unexpectedly enthralling, if at moments maybe ever so slightly under-rehearsed.

The artists deservedly were rewarded with an enthusiastic ovation.

MET Orchestra Perform Strauss at Carnegie Hall

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Tuesday, 17 June 2025 13:30; Written by Jack Angstreich

Soprano Elza van den Heever with Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Photo by Chris Lee

At the marvelous Stern Auditorium, on the night of Thursday, June 12th, I had the exceptional pleasure to attend a superb concert, the first of two in six days presented by Carnegie Hall and featuring the extraordinary MET Orchestra under the brilliant direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

The event, consisting entirely of music by Richard Strauss, started enchantingly with a splendid reading of the wonderful Suite from his glorious opera, Der Rosenkavalier. In a useful note on the program by Harry Haskell, he describes the Suite as “unauthorized” and says that “conductor Artur Rodziński had premiered [it] in Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic in 1944.” He adds that “The published score credits Strauss as composer but fails to mention Rodziński’s presumed role as arranger.”

The terrific soprano Elza van den Heever then entered the stage to perform unforgettably a sterling selection of songs—all originally written for voice and piano and later orchestrated—beginning with one of the composer’s greatest and most popular, “Zueignung,” Op. 10, No. 1 from 1885, set to a poem by Hermann von Gilm, who also wrote the text for the third song on the program, “Allerseelen,” which is No. 8 from the same set and also one of Strauss’s most magnificent achievements in the form. Two of the songs—the second, “Wiegenlied,” Op. 41, No. 1, from 1899 and the final one, “Befreit,” Op. 39, No. 4, from 1898–have their sources in poems by a more famous author, Richard Dehmel, one of whose works inspired Arnold Schoenberg’s indelible Verklärte Nacht. (The latter of these two is referenced in Strauss’s gorgeous Ein Heldenleben that closed this concert.) The fourth song was another quite popular one, the 1894 “Cäcilie,” Op. 27, No. 2, to a text by Heinrich Hart.

Remarkable and rewarding as all this was, I found the second half of the evening even more impressive: an astonishing account of Ein Heldenleben. The composer wrote: “Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ is so little beloved of our conductors, and is on this account now only rarely performed, that to fulfill a pressing need I am composing a largish tone poem entitled Heldenleben, admittedly without a funeral march, but yet in E-flat, with lots of horns, which are always a yardstick of heroism.”

The work indeed begins heroically leading to the somewhat playful second movement, entitled “The Hero’s Adversaries,” which has caustic, scherzo-like sections largely for woodwinds. The third movement, “The Hero’s Companion,” is ludic too, even eccentric; dominated by the solo violin, it has some extremely beautiful, more lyrical, Romantic passages. The martial fourth movement, “The Hero’s Battlefield,” which opens with an offstage fanfare, is more turbulent. The annotator describes the penultimate movement, “The Hero’s Works of Peace”, as “a catalog of allusions to Strauss’s earlier tone poems and other music.” He adds, quoting Strauss:

In the final section, the composer speaks unmistakably in his own voice as the Hero, “overwhelmed with revulsion,” retires from the world, “now only wanting to live on his own reflections, desires, and the quiet, contemplative resolution of his very own personality.”

The artists deservedly were enthusiastically applauded.

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