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Music Reviews: Elvis for the Holidays
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Sunday, 02 December 2012 12:50
- Written by Lloyd Carroll
Elvis Presley
Prince From Another Planet
(RCA/Legacy)
The Classic Christmas Album
(RCA/Legacy)
This is shaping up to be a joyous holiday season for Elvis Presley fans since RCA has just dug into its vaults and released two albums from The King: Prince From Another Planet and The Classic Christmas Album.
In June 1972 Elvis Presley was at a crossroads. He had wrapped up his film career and was trying to revive his recording fortunes. The musical landscape had changed dramatically since the days when radio programmers would automatically add a Presley single as soon as they received it.
After becoming synonymous with the Las Vegas Hilton, there was some question as to whether Elvis could sell out big arenas such as Madison Square Garden.
Although he had performed in New York on both The Ed Sullivan Show and The Steve Allen Show in 1956 he had never given a full-length concert here until his decision to perform four shows 40 years ago at Madison Square Garden.
Prince From Another Planet is a DVD/two-CD package that captures arguably Elvis’s most famous live shows although some may argue in behalf of his Honolulu concert that beamed worldwide in January 1973. The unusual title comes from a headline drawn from a music critic who reviewed the MSG show and obviously idolized Elvis.
The Madison Square Garden concerts gave equal doses of Elvis the rocker and Elvis the crooner. As is the case with any artist who has compiled a sizable catalog of hits, he deftly tried to walk the line between being contemporary and yet still giving oldies fans most of the big hits that they longed to hear.
The King opened the show with his first big hit, “That’s All Right,” and quickly segued into more contemporary fare as he covered Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Proud Mary,” Three Dog Night’s “Never Been To Spain” (which was still on the pop charts at the time), and Tony Joe White’s “Polk Salad Annie.”
Elvis made sure to give the Garden audience his Mount Rushmore classics as “Love Me Tender,” “Can’t Help Falling In Love,” “All Shook Up,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” and “Blue Suede Shoes.” “Suspicious Minds” got a humorous ad-lib when Elvis wisecracked, “No not much!” after delivering the emotional line of “You know that I’d never lie to you!”
Nonetheless, Elvis would have been better off skipping his dreadful version of “Hound Dog.” Ironically, John Lennon would perform the song the way Presley should have three months later on the Madison Square Garden stage in a fund-raiser to benefit the Willowbrook Children’s Hospital which had been exposed for its shoddy treatment of its mentally disabled young patients by Channel 7 reporter Geraldo Rivera earlier in 1972.
The Las Vegas side of Elvis was on display in New York as he performed solid versions of Dusty Springfield’s “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me,” Buffy Saint-Marie’s “Until It’s Time For You To Go,” and Ray Price’s “For The Good Times.”
Pop music historians will enjoy the DVD because it replays Elvis’s press conference at the New York Hilton the day before the MSG concerts. He was asked why he hadn’t recorded more rock songs recently. Elvis replied that he was having trouble finding good ones but did say that his next single would be in the rock genre. He was referring to “Burning Love,” which would be the last true smash that he would have in his lifetime. For some reason though he did not want to introduce the song at the Garden.
Christmas albums played an important part in why Rock & Roll became acceptable mainstream pop. Holiday 
albums were always the domain of old school vocalists as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Johnny Mathis and the like, but Elvis, the Beach Boys and Phil Spector put on a fresh coat of paint on Christmas classics, as well as making hits out of original holiday material.
Elvis recorded numerous gospel albums in his career so it wasn’t a stretch to envision him putting his all into the “First Noel,” “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” and “Silent Night.”
What’s often overlooked about his career is the success that he had on the rhythm & blues charts. His 1957 version of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” hews far closer to the 1954 Drifters record than it does the 1947 Bing Crosby hit. “Santa Claus Is Back In Town,” written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the creative team behind much of his early success is a gritty, Chicago-style blues tune with a great honky-tonk piano intermezzo.
And of course you can’t think of Elvis and the holiday season without “Blue Christmas” coming to mind. Cheerful images of white snowflakes, decorations of red, and a green Christmas trees quickly turn blue because his girlfriend dumped him before the holidays.
Elvis tries to be a good sport who isn’t bitter in the song but he isn’t fooling anyone and that’s precisely the point. It was one of the first songs to admit that not everyone is jolly around the holidays.
December '12 Digital Week I
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Sunday, 02 December 2012 05:00
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Blu-rays of the Week
The Apparition
(Warner Bros)
Todd Lincoln’s risible thriller clocks in at a mere 82 minutes, 10 of which are the final credits. What happens in the preceding 72 precludes logic and plausibility: but, you say, who knows how the supernatural really works? Certainly not Lincoln, who regurgitates many cinematic clichés and might even create new ones, like an ending that—along with being telegraphed on the Blu-ray cover—must be seen to be disbelieved.
Poor Ashley Greene screams and carries on annoyingly, which fits this charming actress like a pair of size 15 shoes. The Blu-ray image is good; extras include several featurettes.
(Warner Bros)
Frank Loesser’s classic Broadway musical, adapted for the screen by director Joseph L. Mankiewicz in 1955, has much to recommend it—notably Loesser’s tunes and Abe Burrows’ hilarious book. But the leads are compromised: Frank Sinatra’s Nathan Detroit is not bad, neither is Vivian Blaine’s Miss Adelaide, but Marlon Brando looks uncomfortable as Sky Materston—he gets by on his unique charisma—and Jean Simmons seems equally ill at ease as Sky’s gal.
Still, the big set pieces (Michael Kidd choreographed) are marvelous, as is Harry Stradling’s Cinemascope camerawork. The Blu-ray image is top-notch; extras are featurettes and extended musical performances.
(Warner Bros)
The interminable Harry Potter series finale—spread out over 4-1/2 hours—made legions of fans giddy with excitement, but for others, this chronicle of a young wizard, his friends and the villains they battle is less than scintillating.
Even with the cream of British acting royalty—Ralph Fiennes and Michael Gambon have meaty parts, but Maggie Smith, Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters are mere walk-ons—and good work by Daniel Radcliffe and adorable Emma Watson as Harry and Hermione, David Yates’ glacially paced movies are barely mediocre. The Blu-ray image is first-rate; extras include picture-in-picture explorations and bonus discs with hours of featurettes and interviews.
Heaven’s Gate (Criterion)
Michael Cimino’s 1980 western was a financial debacle but only partially an artistic one. His fictionalized version of the Johnson County War has some of the most beautiful images committed to celluloid—Vilmos Zsigmond is the master cinematographer—but this 3 hour, 36 minute epic’s puny characterizations cloud the visual brilliance on display.
For the Criterion Collection edition, a chance to give full context to what happened during filming and its opening was missed: there’s nothing about budgetary overruns and a disastrous premiere. Instead, interviews with Cimino and producer Joann Carelli, star Kris Kristofferson and composer David Mansfield discuss the film in a vacuum. It’s not good enough—despite the glistening Blu-ray transfer—to be labeled a classic.
(Anchor Bay)
John Hillcoat’s drama of a trio of Virginia brothers’ rum-running enterprise during Prohibition is sporadically impressive, with taut storytelling, authentic visuals and excellent performances: notably Tom Hardy as the Kevin Costner-like eldest brother and Jessica Chastain, a rare American actress unafraid of nudity.
But a cutesy subplot about Shia Labeouf’s youngest brother and Mia Wasikowska’s love interest has contemporary portrayals out of step with the rest of the film. The hi-def transfer is superb; extras include a commentary, deleted scenes, featurettes and Willie Nelson music video.
(Sony)
The original smash sci-fi comedy hit’s second sequel is even more unnecessary than the first was—Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are sleepwalking throughout.
Making it more watchable is a deadpan Josh Brolin, assorted CGI monsters and a ridiculous, sentimental wrap-up. Of course, since there will likely be a third sequel from director Barry Sonnenfeld and his men, you’ve been warned. The Blu-ray image glistens; extras include featurettes, a gag reel and Pitball music video.
(Eagle Vision/MPL)
Sir Paul’s superlative album of standards, Kisses on the Bottom, beat the likes of Rod Stewart at his own game: and with a crack band led by pianist Diana Krall and guitarist John Pizzarelli, his live versions have even more loving care. This hour-long concert is a once-in-a lifetime event, and Joe Walsh’s lovely acoustic guitar on Paul’s own contribution, the haunting “My Valentine,” is a must-hear.
The film looks terrific on Blu-ray; extras include six versions of Paul’s “My Valentine” video with a ravishing Natalie Portman and frumpled Johnny Depp, video making-of and interview with McCartney and producer Tommy LiPuma.
(A&E)
The San Francisco Giants might have the beginnings of a baseball dynasty after capturing their second World Series championship in three seasons.
The official film of their run to the title includes highlights from the four-game sweep (the Detroit Tigers, fresh off pummeling the hated Yankees, went down as meekly as the Pinstripers did), along with Game Seven of the National League Championship Series, when they finished yet another fabled comeback against St. Louis. The hi-def image, of course, is splendid (sports was made for hi-def); other extras include more playoff highlights.
Color Me Obsessed—A Film about the Replacements
(MVD)
This two-hour documentary about the Replacements—an underdog pick for “greatest rock’n’roll band”—might be too long for those who don’t hang on every thing Paul Westerberg and the gang said and done, but it’s still a fun ride. The premise is that, while other artists were selling millions, the Minneapolis boys stayed under the radar to make great, pure rock albums.
I’m no Robert Christgau fan, so hearing him pontificate pretentiously isn’t my idea of a good time, yet hearing from Husker Du’s Grant Hart compensates (but where the hell is Bob Mould?). For real fans, the second disc contains an additional three hours of interviews.
(e one)
This 2003 documentary, narrated and written by Henry Stephens, makes trite use of public domain material to tell John Lennon’s story from his early life to 1980 murder.
How can you tell this won’t be particularly enlightening? Because those interviewed are John’s sister (who has little of interest to say), the Beatles’ chauffeur, Quarrymen members and a general manager at Apple. Despite John’s towering talent, it’s not a must-see Beatle portrait. Extras include additional interviews.
(Cinema Guild)
Rachael Harris’ compelling presence as a woman whose life changes forever when she tracks down her estranged stepson gives this routine drama a tension otherwise lacking.
It’s too bad that director Robbie Pickering sets up a relationship that, despite being transformed by an unexpected event, remains quite ordinary instead of exceptional. All of this despite the genuine chemistry between Harris and Matt O’Leary. Extras include cast and crew interviews.
(Sexy Intellectual)
Following an artistic desert after the Exile on Main Street album—which still included a Number One hit, “Angie”—the Rolling Stones replaced Mick Taylor with Ron Wood and went on a commercial tear: Some Girls, Emotional Rescue and Tattoo You followed in succession, along with huge, tri-annual tours.
The Stones’ pivotal eight years are recounted in a doc that assumes Rescue sucked, which is wrong. But what do rock critics know? Vintage footage of the boys live and in the new video medium is included, giving this unauthorized version the scent of authenticity. Extras include brief extra interviews.
Lalo: Le Roi d’Ys
(Dynamic)
One of the hidden riches of 19th century French opera, Edouard Lalo's 1888 drama has a trite libretto but its power comes from wonderful melodies and showcase arias for the leads, which this recording displays.
Eric Martin-Bonnet sings the title role with savoir faire, while Giuseppina Piunti and Guylaine Girard give the female roles serene beauty. The orchestra and chorus of the Opera Royal de Wallonie perform well under conductor Edouard Rasquin.
(Sony Classical)
For David O. Russell’s audience-pleaser with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, the soundtrack is as eclectically mixed as its protagonists.
Alongside excerpts of Danny Elfman’s score, there’s a jumble of tunes from yesterday (Stevie Wonder’s “My Cherie Amour”) and today (“Silver Lining” by Jessie J), with little rhyme or reason linking tracks by David Brubeck Quartet, Bob Dylan/Johnny Cash and Eagles of Death Metal. Those who enjoyed the movie might get a kick out of hearing these songs again.
November '12 Digital Week IV
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Monday, 26 November 2012 15:00
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
(MGM)
This 1989 stoner comedy helped make a star of Keanu Reeves, even if his co-star Alex Winter is just as responsible for this basically one-joke movie staying on its amusing course.
In addition to the title pair, there’s also a great sardonic turn by George Carlin as their time-travel chaperone, and if the “historical” sequences (Billy the Kid, Socrates, Lincoln) are rather limply presented, the movie is so good-natured it’s easy to fall into its harmless groove. The Blu-ray image has natural graininess.
(Eagle Vision)
One of the most underrated American rock bands is profiled warts and all in a documentary that follows the group from its roots rocker origins to Michael McDonald’s hit-laden blue-eyed soul and, after the 1983 breakup, the many incarnations since.
Interviews with everyone from Jeff Baxter, Patrick Simmons and McDonald to producer Ted Templeman distill a bumpy 40-plus years into an informative and—for real fans—enticing bit of rock history. The Blu-ray image looks good; extras include 10 bonus live performances, including “Black Water,” “Takin’ It to the Streets” and “China Grove.”
The Dust Bowl
(PBS)
Ken Burns’ latest epic documentary relates the little-understood story of how the Dust Bowl—which turned the Great Plains into uninhabitable mounds of dirt during the Great Depression—was a man-made disaster that could have been avoided.
It’s done in the usual Burns way, with Peter Coyote’s narration heard over indelible, brilliantly used photographs and vintage era film footage. The Blu-ray image looks spectacular; extras include additional scenes and interviews.
(Warner Bros)
Steven Spielberg’s 1987 adaptation of JG Ballard’s autobiographical novel is one of his best, least appreciated films: with a minimum of his usual sentimentality, he explores the difficult years of a young British boy (Christian Bale in his film debut) in Shanghai, separated from his parents during the WWII Japanese occupation.
Tom Stoppard’s elegant script, Allen Daviau’s sparkling photography and John Williams’ happily unbombastic score contribute to Spielberg’s epic vision. The film looks magnificent on Blu-ray; extras include a 50-minute making-of featurette narrated by Martin Sheen and a 45-minute special, Warner at War, narrated by Spielberg.
(LionsGate)
This yawn of an action yarn stars a bunch of has-beens: so if you’ve missed the likes of Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Van Demme, Lundgren, Willis and Jet Li, then this dopey adventure is for you.
Despite slam-bang sequences, nothing is memorable in the least; the token females (Charisma Carpenter and Amanda Ooms) might as well be invisible with all the testosterone on display. The Blu-ray image is impeccable; extras are commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, gag reel.
(Eagle Rock)
35 years after his biggest success, Peter Frampton played the entire Frampton Comes Alive! album live. His fluid fretwork and songwriting chops are on display on hits “Show Me the Way” and “Baby, I Love Your Way” and progressive-rock classics “Lines on My Face” and “Do You Feel Like We Do?”
The rest of the concert, with songs from a checkered career, is highlighted by his blistering instrumental take on Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” and son Julian singing on “Road to the Sun,” which they co-wrote. The hi-def image looks fine; lone extra is a featurette about Frampton reuniting with his lost Gibson guitar.
(Eagle Vision)
On the band’s last tour in 1986, Queen played a concert in Budapest for the first time; recorded by a Hungarian crew, the show finally sees the light of day 26 years later. The world’s best live band was on fire, as usual, from the opening “One Vision” to closing “We Are the Champions.”
Freddie Mercury’s unsurpassable showmanship made him the ideal frontman, and Brian May’s unique guitar sound, Roger Taylor’s skillful drumming and John Deacon’s tight bass round out the tightest, most disciplined rock quartet. The Blu-ray image and surround sound are excellent; bonus featurette A Magic Year recaps the 12 months from Live Aid to the final tour.
(Kino/Redemption)
Pete Walker, British purveyor of low-budget exploitation, is represented here by four of his representative ‘70s dramas, House of Whipcord (1974), Schizo (1976), Die Screaming, Marianne (1971) and The Comeback (1978).
By far the most interesting is Die Screaming, mostly due to the superb acting by toothsome beauty Susan George as an innocent woman targeted because of her inheritance. The movies, while not campy, strain to distinguish themselves as bizarre but dark-humored classics, which they are not. The hi-def image is first-rate and grainy; extras include commentaries and Walker interviews.
The Day He Arrives
(Cinema Guild)
Hong Sang-soo’s self-reflexive movie about a director who returns home to strangely familiar experiences is brief enough (79 minutes) to not wear out its welcome. Too bad he does little with a played-out scenario that Fellini nailed in 8-1/2 but to which subsequent filmmakers have only added diminishing returns.
This fitfully inspired cross between Groundhog Day (déjà vu) and Stardust Memories (B&W images) goes nowhere—which may be its lone point. Extras include an hour-long conversation at the British Film Institute and a short visual essay on the film.
(First Run)
In this excellent doc, director Jon Shenk shows how the first democratically elected president of the Maldives—an Indian Ocean island chain which will be underwater soon if sea levels continue to rise—convinces other nations to sign a greenhouse gas protocol.
President Nasheed does what he can to ensure his country won’t literally be flooded before than the rest of the world, and his crusade is shown in all its difficulty. That he was subsequently ousted by a military coup sympathetic to the country’s previous dictator answers a lot about the rightness of what he did. Extras include a Shenk interview.
(Docurama)
This is cinematic advocacy at an urgent clarion call that our water supply is finite, even in the economically rich United States, where a city of a few million like Las Vegas is at the mercy of Lake Mead drying up.
Those sounding the alarm are soundly level-headed: activist Erin Brockovich (immortalized in the eponymous movie with Oscar-winning Julia Roberts) discusses how she helped the people of Midland, Texas, whose town is being poisoned like the California town she made her name with. Extras include a Brockovich interview and Jack Black commercial.
(Oscilloscope)
When Nicholas Ray made his 1973 experimental feature We Can’t Go Home Again, his career was already in eclipse (he’d die six years later). Now wife Susan Ray has gotten it restored and seen again, even if it’s more a curiosity than a successful film.
But Susan succeeds in the new documentary, Don’t Expect Too Much, which straightforwardly explores Ray’s way of working with students on the earlier film. Interviews with acolytes Jim Jarmusch and Victor Erice give insight into Ray’s working methods. Extras include extended interviews and Ray featurettes.
Lincoln
(Sony)
For Steven Spielberg’s reverential but engrossing biopic of our beloved 16th president, John Williams contributes one of his most restrained scores, which rarely sounds as out of place and needlessly anticlimactic as most of his film scores do.
Although it’s too safe-sounding at times (there is Aaron Copland-esque Lincoln Portrait orchestration and traditional fiddle playing), it’s gratifying to hear this veteran composer realize the value of underplaying for the first time since an earlier important Spielberg epic, Schindler’s List. The Chicago Symphony plays exquisitely under Williams’ baton.
The Beatles: Please Please Me
(EMI)
In 2009, EMI finally released the remastered Beatles albums on CD, both in mono and in stereo. The differences in sound quality to the original 1987 discs were monumental, and sales went through the roof. So it’s no surprise that EMI looks to squeeze even more blood from a stone by pressing brand new vinyl records—remember those?—of those remasters of the original British albums, along with the two-disc Past Masters compilation of non-album singles and B-sides.
Of those re-releases, I’ve heard the Fab Four’s phenomenal debut, Please Please Me, originally released in 1963, and if the songs are not as immortal as those on everything from Rubber Soul to Abbey Road, the sheer delight and excitement of their first forays in the recording studio—which yielded such gems as the title song and “I Saw Her Standing There” alongside scintillating covers of “Chains” and “Twist and Shout”—leaps off the turntable and points them in a direction that would change music forever.
Theater Roundup: 'Scandalous,' 'Edwin Drood,' 'Golden Child,' 'Piano Lesson,' 'Emotional Creature'
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Reviews
- Published on Wednesday, 21 November 2012 05:00
- Written by Kevin Filipski
Scandalous
Book and lyrics by Kathie Lee Gifford; music by David Pomerantz and David Friedman
Directed by David Armstrong
Performances began October 13, 2012
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Music, lyrics and book by Rupert Holmes; directed by Scott Ellis
Performances through February 10, 2013
Golden Child
Written by David Henry Hwang; directed by Leigh Silverman
Performances through December 16, 2012
The Piano Lesson
Written by August Wilson; directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Performances through December 30, 2012
Emotional Creature
Written by Eve Ensler; directed by Jo Bonney
Performances through January 13, 2013
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| Scandalous (photo: Jeremy Daniel) |
Aimee Semple McPherson had an incredible life—born to a God-fearing mother in western Canada, she hated religion until seeing the light as a teenager and becoming a famous and influential (if controversial) preacher with her own church in Los Angeles until her death at age 52—but you’d never know it from the formulaic musical Kathie Lee Gifford has fashioned from such rich ore: Scandalous is anything but.
Scandalous has been Gifford’s baby for years, and her book and lyrics show that she’s researched McPherson’s life assiduously: unfortunately, she’s unable to transform that into a compellingly theatrical show. Scenes showing McPherson from naïve teen to high-powered minister flit by chronologically but with little dramatic thrust. The music by two Davids, Pomerantz and Friedman (Gifford and McPherson’s own hymns also contribute), is passable Broadway pastiche, but its fist-pumpingly generic gospel numbers sound suspiciously similar to another lackluster preacher musical, Leap of Faith, which flopped on Broadway last spring.
Another David, Armstrong, provides slick direction that is unable to fit floundering parts into a cohesive whole, but as Aimee, Carolee Carmello is fiercely persuasive both as the young Canadian girl and the rich and infamous preacher. Her powerhouse voice makes the songs, the character and the show itself seem stronger than it is.
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| The Mystery of Edwin Drood (photo: Joan Marcus) |
A new Broadway revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Rupert Holmes’ delightful 1986 multi-Tony winner, is one of those sheerly entertaining musicals that come along much too rarely. Based on Charles Dickens’ final—and unfinished—novel about the disappearance of a young man in Victorian England, Drood prominently features a gimmick: audiences choose the criminal, detective in disguise and romantic couple.
Even though that gimmick adds fun—and audience participation—to the proceedings, Drood is a solidly comic and musical trip on its own terms, starting with Holmes’ tuneful score, a loving throwback to British music hall performances (Drood itself is a show within a show, its actors playing performers playing characters in Drood), and his equally clever lyrics and book round out the amusement.
The revival is staged to a frothy fare-thee-well by Scott Ellis, assisted by Anna Louizos’ outlandish sets and William Ivey Long’s perfect costumes. The cast is supremely in on the joke, with standouts grand dame Chita Rivera, TV’s Smash star Will Chase, silvery-voiced Betsy Wolfe and Jim Norton’s beguiling master of ceremonies.
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| Golden Child (photo: Richard Termine) |
Off-Broadway, the Signature Theatre is reviving two plays that were on Broadway in the ‘90s. By far the lesser is Golden Child, which David Henry Hwang (who won the 1988 Tony for M. Butterfly) wrote about his family: the heroine is his grandmother, seen as a feisty old lady at the opening (and in the epilogue) being interviewed by her teenage grandson in 1968 in the Philippines. The bulk of the play, which takes place in China in 1918-19, shows Grandma as a young child whose polygamous father has three wives.
As the wives and their husband trade anachronistic quips, Hwang never finds the right balance between sitcom-like comedy and a serious exploration of how Chinese assimilated western ideas and ideals. Leigh Silverman misdirects her cast to act like hip quipsters on today’s TV shows, further deemphasizing Hwang’s point.
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| The Piano Lesson (photo: Joan Marcus) |
The Piano Lesson, on the other hand, is among the best in August Wilson’s 10-play cycle, set in different decades of the 20th century in Pittsburgh. A widow and her prodigal brother, who’s just returned from down South and up to shady dealings, butt heads over a family heirloom: an ornately-sculpted piano that their father gave his life for. Boy Willie wants to sell it to finance his purchase of farmland; Berniece wants to keep it, despite the family ghosts and blood that hover over it.
For three hours, Boy Willie and Berniece, her young daughter Maretha, their Uncle Doaker, Willie’s partner Lymon, musician friend Wining Boy and Reverend Avery—who’s in love with Berniece—wage a royal family battle in which their pasts literally creep up as ghosts that materialize in an abrupt ending that’s the sole blemish on an exhilarating drama with aspirations to Shakespearean tragedy. The innate musicality in Wilson’s writing—literalized here with sad, joyful songs played on the piano—reaches its apogee in extraordinary monologues that build to dramatic and emotional crescendos.
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, a superb actor who has become a reliable director of Wilson’s work, corals this unwieldy masterwork on Michael Carnahan’s set that stunningly evokes the working-class existence of blacks in Pittsburgh, circa 1936. The director also coaxes grand, gloriously larger-than-life performances by his entire cast, led by Brandon J. Dierden’s charming but dangerous Boy Willie and Roslyn Ruff’s level-headed and deeply wounded Berniece. If there’s such a thing as don’t-miss theater in New York, this is it.
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| Emotional Creature (photo: Carol Rosegg) |
Also at the Signature is the forgettable Emotional Creature, Eve Ensler’s flimsy 80-minute play that shows today’s complicated world for young women. The problem is that Ensler never settles on a satisfying way of presenting her material: opening with peppy singing and dancing by an energetic sextet of talented actresses, it awkwardly moves through tragic monologues by mistreated girls in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia, which are interspersed with less-urgent problems of high-strung high-schoolers.
The kitchen-sink approach to this melting pot is further diminished by Charl-Johan Lingenfelder’s generic songs and dance moves, which recall the relentlessly cheery ‘70s TV show, Free to Be You and Me. Director Jo Bonney keeps things perky with videos and photos projected behind the women, but this mess of a show too clearly apes the messy lives of the young women it shows.
Scandalous
Neil Simon Theatre, 250 West 52ndStreet, New York, NY
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Studio 54, 254 West 54thStreet, New York, NY
Golden Child
The Piano Lesson
Emotional Creature
Signature Theatre, 480 West 42ndStreet, New York, NY
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