Theater review: Musicals, Old and New

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 11 April 2011 05:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Anything Goes
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Choreographed and directed by Kathleen Marshall
Starring Sutton Foster, Joel Grey, John McMartin, Jessica Walter, Colin Donnell, Laura Osnes

Catch Me If You Can
Original book by Terrence McNally
Music by Marc Shaiman; Lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman
Directed by Jack O’Brien
Choreography by Jerry Mitchell
Starring Norbert Leo Butz, Aaron Tveit, Tom Wopat, Kerry Butler, Rachel De Benedet

Company
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Lonny Price
The New York Philharmonic conducted by Paul Gemignani
Starring Craig Bierko, Stephen Colbert, Jon Cryer, Katie Finneran, Neil Patrick Harris, Christina Hendricks, Aaron Lazar, Patti Lupone, Jill Paice, Martha Plimpton, Anika Noni Rose, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Jim Walton, Chryssie Whitehead

Spring means that musicals are blooming on Broadway and even at Lincoln Center, thanks to the New York Philharmonic's starry Company. While its unfair to compare the elegance of Stephen Sondheim's Company songs or the timeless Cole Porter tunes of the Anything Goes revival to the Catch Me If You Can pastiches concocted by Marc Shaiman, the genuine talent onstage and behind the scenes makes Catch as winning as the indisputable Sondheim and Porter classics.

As Reno Sweeney, the irrepressible man-eater of Anything Goes, Sutton Foster gives the kind of electrifying performance that fans of this hugely talented singer-actress knew she had up her sleeve as they watch her effortlessly dominate Kathleen Marshall's irresistible revival.

Set on a cruise ship populated by gangsters, preachers, rich widows and widowers, young lovers and Reno, the brassy entertainer, Anything Goes is saddled with lame plotting, silly dialogue and banal characterizations that were surely old-hat in 1934, but that's not really the point. Whenever a glorious Cole Porter song begins, we're in heaven. From "I Get a Kick Out of You" to "You’re the Top," "It's De-Lovely," "Anything Goes" and "Blow, Gabriel, Blow," the Porter jukebox blasts one classic after another, putting other so-called "jukebox musicals" to shame.

Nimbly staged and sparklingly choreographed by Marshall on Derek McLane's spiffy shipboard set, with Martin Pakledinaz's snazzy costumes and Peter Kaczorowski's magisterial lighting along for the ride, this revival effervescently kicks up its heels. The de-lovely cast features zany Joel Grey as crook Moonface Martin, sly John McMartin as eternally tipsy millionaire Eli Whitney, suave Colin Donnell as stowaway Billy Crocker and incandescent Laura Osnes as lovestruck ingénue Hope Harcourt.

But this is Sutton's show all the way: her infectious personality, angelic good looks, lithe athleticism, powerhouse voice and dance moves add up to Broadway's best musical performer.
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The bubbly Catch Me If You Can isn't musically memorable, although Marc Shaiman's score is serviceable. Instead, it's the pizzazz of Jack O’Brien's staging that gives this adaptation of Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film about Frank Abagnale, Jr., world-class con artist who tormented FBI agent Carl Hanratty for years before his capture, a shiny veneer.

The musical shrewdly has Frank present his story as a TV variety show, complete with dancing girls, production numbers and "guest stars" like his parents, agent Hanratty and women he seduces. With vets like director O'Brien, book writer Terrence McNally, lyricist Scott Whitman, choreographer Jerry Mitchell and composer Shaiman aboard, this diverting show also stars a game cast which turns Shaiman's ersatz cocktail jazz, fake blues and '60s doo-wop tunes into real showstoppers, led by Kerry Butler singing the American Idol-ish fantasy "Fly, Fly Away."

Aaron Tveit (Frank Abagnale) and Norbert Leo Butz (Carl Hanratty) work their tveit butz off: Tveit is a charming and likable guide to the proceedings, while the incomparable Butz balances absurd comic touches with song-and-dance skill, and whose rousing first-act number, "Don’t Break the Rules," stops the show so thoroughly that there's almost no sense continuing.
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Sondheim musicals are no strangers to either New York Philharmonic musicians or conductor Paul Gemignani, who tackle Company with a lushness rarely (if ever) heard on Broadway.

This staged concert version of Company, slickly directed by Lonny Price (who cleverly moves  his cast around the stage to simulate a much larger playing area), stars established musical performers and assorted television actors, led by Neil Patrick Harris as eternal bachelor Bobby, whose comic timing serves him well, even if he can’t quite handle the big emotions needed for the finale "Being Alive," which Raúl Esparza easily pulled off in the 2006 Broadway revival.

Martha Plimpton and Stephen Colbert have the best (and most amusing) chemistry among the five couples badgering their friend Bobby to settle down, while Mad Men's Christina Hendricks shows off a fantastic figure and nice talent for light comedy as April, a stewardess who beds (but not weds) Bobby. Among the many Broadway vets, Anika Noni Rose splendidly nails "Another Hundred People," Katie Finneran overdoes the murderous patter song "Not Getting Married Today," and Patti Lupone takes flight with the classic "The Ladies Who Lunch," punctuating her venomous rendition by flinging her drink into the first few rows. It's enough to make one forget all about Elaine Stritch. Well, almost.

Anything Goes
Stephen Sondheim Theatre
123 W. 43rd Street
New York, NY
www.roundabouttheatre.org
Opened March 10, 2011; open run

Catch Me If You Can
Neil Simon Theatre
250 W. 52nd Street
New York, NY
www.catchmethemusical.com
Opened March 11, 2011; open run

Company
Avery Fisher Hall
W. 65th Street and Broadway
New York, NY
www.nyphil.org
Opened April 7; closed April 9, 2011

Kevin's April '11 Digital Week II

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 11 April 2011 05:00

Written by Kevin Filipski

Blu-rays of the Week
Arthur and Arthur 2: On the Rocks
(Warners)
Dudley Moore’s soused, immature millionaire and John Gielgud’s unruffled butler entered cinematic legend in the original 1981 comedy Arthur (one of several reasons why I’m not bothering with the annoying Russell Brand in the new remake).

While no classic, there are plenty of laughs until the inevitable trip down sentimentality lane in the first film; the less said about the belated 1987 sequel, in which Moore and Liza Minnelli look desperately bored, the better. It was a smart idea to put both movies on the same Blu-ray disc, and both have been given acceptable, if unexceptional, hi-def upgrades, looking better than they did before. No extras.

Black Swan
(Fox)
This cheesy thriller set in the cutthroat ballet world promises to be a smart psychological study of an artist under pressure, but director Darren Aronofsky—who fills the screen with heavy-handed symbolism, visualized by his heaving and spinning camera—stops trying after awhile, throwing anything on the wall to see what sticks. Natalie Portman’s Oscar-winning portrayal of Nina is compelling precisely because she doesn’t overact.

The film consists mainly of blacks and whites (visually and metaphorically), and has been rendered beautifully on Blu-ray: if anything, the tale’s ludicrousness is well-served by hi-def. Extras include Metamorphosis, a making-of doc; Behind the Curtain; Ten Years in the Making; cast profiles; and BD Live content, including new behind-the-scenes footage.

Casino Jack
(Fox)
The story of Jack Abramoff’s lobbying scandals begs for the absurdist “can you believe he did this?” treatment that director George Hickenlooper attempts here. However, despite top-notch acting by Kevin Spacey (Abramoff), Kelly Preston (wife), Barry Pepper (associate) and Rachelle Lefebvre (associate’s wife), the movie nudges us with the ridiculousness of it all so much that it ceases being funny in either amusing or horrifying ways and runs out of gas long before an ending we all know is coming.

The movie looks properly slick on Blu-ray; the extras comprise A Director’s Photo Diary, deleted scenes and a gag reel.

I Love You, Phillip Morris
(Lionsgate)
From the makers of the unrepentantly bad-taste Bad Santa comes the “shocking” true story of a con artist who fooled many with his scheming and who came out to a world not ready for his honesty only when it came to his sexuality. The tone is reminiscent of Casino Jack, since we’re supposed to be in on the joke, but like that film, it’s not sustained, here because Jim Carrey’s bug-eyed tricks wear out their welcome.

There’s excellent support by Ewan McGregor as the con’s true love, and their scenes together calm Carrey down and go a long way to partly redeeming the movie. The hi-def transfer is first-rate; extras include directors’ commentary, making-of featurette and deleted scenes.

Tron and Tron: Legacy
(Disney)
A relic of its time, the 1982 sci-fi fantasy Tron isn’t much fun and has limited visual appeal. That aesthetic remains for the bigger-budgeted 2010 sequel, Tron: Legacy, which has the same flimsy story, cardboard characters and flattened-out graphics. What saves both films in my eyes is the star power of Jeff Bridges, to which both might owe their current popularity.

Both Trons receive the top-notch Disney Blu-ray treatment, although obviously the sequel looks much better than the 28-year-old original. Extras include The Next Day: Flynn Lives Revealed, a continuation of the Tron story; Disney Second Screen; First Look at Tron: Uprising Disney XD Animated Series; Launching the Legacy, Visualizing Tron, Installing the Cast featurettes; “Derezzed” music video.

DVDs of the Week
Come Undone
(Film Movement)
Silvio Soldini’s intense chamber drama focuses on a happily married mother who nearly chucks it all away after beginning an affair with a married waiter. Soldini daringly allows the adulterers to ignore common sense in their dangerous relationship, yet never makes them interesting enough to care about their fate over two hours.

The accomplished cast is moved around in often cramped spaces by Soldini with superb strategy, but with little at stake, after awhile wondering when the other shoe will drop becomes wearying, and is only partly compensated for by a bittersweet ending. The lone extra is 12 Years, a German film by Daniel Nocke.

Summer in Genoa
(IFC)
In Michael Winterbottom’s universe, films come at us from all directions, so don’t feel slighted that you didn’t know about this low-key 2008 drama from the prolific British director. Colin Firth’s intelligently nuanced performance as a widower who, with his two daughters, moves to Italy following the death of his wife is the film’s hook now that he’s an Oscar winner.

But, while Winterbottom uses the Genoa locations to good effect, the concentration is rightly on the family’s sorrow, with superb young actresses Perla Haney-Jardine (as the pre-teen who still sees her mom) and Willa Holland (as the teenager yearning to leave the nest) making this too-familiar drama far more than merely watchable. Extras include cast and crew interviews and on-set footage.

Tracy and Hepburn Collection
(Warners)
One of the classiest couples in movie history, Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn starred in nine films from 1942 until Tracy’s death in 1967, and this comprehensive set has them all, from George Stevens’ frothy romantic comedy Woman of the Year to Stanley Kramer’s black-and-white romp Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Other standouts are George Cukor’s Keeper of the Flame, Adam’s Rib and Pat and Mike, along with Frank Capra’s astonishingly contemporary political comedy-drama State of the Union, which doesn’t seem like it was made in 1948.

The main extra is The Spencer Tracy Legacy, a 1986 documentary narrated by Hepburn; several discs include shorts or cartoons; Desk Set has a commentary; and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner has introductions by Tom Brokaw, Quincy Jones, Karen Kramer and Steven Spielberg.

CDs of the Week
George Antheil: The Brothers
(CPO)
American composer George Antheil composed this one-act opera in 1954; based on the book of Genesis’ Cain and Abel, the setting has been updated to post-WWII America, but the tragic reverberations remain intact. Mary is married to Abe, whose older brother Ken has returned from the war a traitor to his fellow soldiers.

The 55-minute chamber drama moves quickly to its fatal conclusion, and if Antheil’s libretto lacks genuine heft, his music more easily navigates the thin line between over-the-top melodrama and shattering tragedy. Soloists Rebecca Nelsen (Mary), Ray M. Wade Jr. (Abe) and William Dazeley (Ken) give it their considerable all, and Steven Sloane ably leads the Bochumer Symphoniker.

Reger and Strauss Piano Concertos
(Hyperion)
Hyperion’s invaluable Romantic Piano Concertos series continues with the 53rd volume: superb Canadian pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin teams with conductor Ilan Volkov and the Berlin Symphony Orchestra for a classic (Strauss) and obscure (Reger) pairing.

Reger’s concerto opens with a dramatic orchestral flourish, then Hamelin pounds the keys with abandon in the difficult solo part before settling down for some lyrical passages. The weighty, 40-minute concerto bogs down in the lengthy first movement but compensates with an expressive Largo and adventurous Allegretto. Strauss’ Burleske, a mere 19-minute bagatelle by comparison, is one of the glories of the piano concerto literature—and Hamelin has no problem navigating its treacherous (but delightful) twists and turns.

Music Review: Orchestra of St. Luke's at Carnegie Hall

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Friday, 08 April 2011 15:00

Written by Jack Angstreich

On the evening of Wednesday, April 6th, 2011, I attended one of the most satisfying concerts of the season, at Carnegie Hall, given by the superb Orchestra of St. Luke's, under the exceptionally assured direction of Ivan Fischer, one of the best living conductors.

The program opened with a delightful, snappy reading of Sergei Prokofiev's splendid "Classical" Symphony. Appearing supremely relaxed, Fischer skirted the unorthodox by accelerating the tempos in the work's outer movements but nonetheless elicited a performance characterized by forcefulness and clarity, bringing out all the abundant wit in the piece, while thoughtfully and sensitively highlighting dynamic contrasts.

In the magnificent Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, Fischer also produced unusually fast accounts of the outer movements but this approach seemed to converge without strain with the intense Romanticism pervading the work. The soloist Nikolaj Znaider played with astonishing virtuosity and, after an exhilarating ovation, performed, exquisitely, the Sarabande from Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D minor.

The evening concluded, on an exalted note, with a powerful, moving reading of the enthralling Symphony No. 7 by Antonín Dvorak.

Program                                                                                                     

Symphony No. 1, "Classical"  by SERGEI PROKOFIEV

Violin Concerto by PYOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY

Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70 by ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK

Encore:  JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Sarabande from Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004

Orchestra of St. Luke's
Iván Fischer, Conductor                                                                                              NikolajZnaider, Violin

Carnegie Hall

881 Seventh Avenue at 57th Street
New York, NY 10019

212-247-7800
www.carnegiehall.org