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Off-Broadway: Pierce's "Slowgirl," Maltby/Shire's "Closer Than Ever"

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Monday, 09 July 2012 10:00; Written by Kevin Filipski

Slowgirl
Written by Greg Pierce
directed by Anne Kauffman
Starring Željkko Ivanek, Sarah Steele

Closer Than Ever
Music by David Shire; lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.
Choreographed by Kurt Stamm
directed by Richard Maltby, Jr.
Starring Jenn Colella, George Dvorsky, Christiane Noll, Sal Viviano

First, the good news: the new, intimately-scaled Claire Tow Theater is a worthy addition to Lincoln Center Theater's spaces, a terrific place to watch new plays by up-and-coming playwrights, the LCT3 program's mandate.

Now, the not-so-good news: Slowgirl, the Claire Tow's inaugural production, is a workmanlike, repetitious two-hander by Greg Pierce whose glimmers of interest are buried by tedious exposition and colorless characterization. Set in the village of Los Angeles, Costa Rica, Slowgirl concerns Becky, a 17-year-old who spends a week with her Uncle Sterling far from the scene of a teenage party gone horrifically wrong back home in Massachusetts.

Pierce's script shows a knack for recreating the rhythms of everyday speech of two people who haven't seen each other in years and are sizing each other up. (Although Becky's endless — if plausible — use of the interjection "like" quickly annoys.) But the characters are given histories that too neatly coincide: when we discover why Sterling is so far from home and what he ran away from, the parallels between uncle and niece are too convenient and pat.

Closer Carol Rosegg

Anne Kauffman's simple staging exposes the crude mechanics of Pierce's drama, such as the patently obvious symbolism of Becky and Sterling walking in circles on the stone paths of a labyrinth Sterling made years earlier. Even though Željkko Ivanek (Sterling) and Sarah Steele (Becky) enact this uncompelling character study persuasively enough, they can't hide the defects in Pierce's writing.

Richard Maltby's and David Shire's 1989 off-Broadway show Closer Than Ever isn't a musical but rather a plotless revue whose 24 songs are performed by a singing quartet.

Some of those songs are very good, even if a few — like the opening and closing numbers, "Doors" and "Closer Than Ever" — are infected with Sondheim-itis, in which our greatest musical theater creator is echoed too closely for comfort, and to composer Shire and lyricist Maltby's detriment.

The further from Sondheim they get, the better off they are. "Miss Byrd" playfully upends conventions in its tale of a mousy office worker. "There" poignantly chronicles a failed marriage, and "Fathers of Fathers" works through variously emotional paternal relations.

Superbly accompanied by pianist/musical director Andrew Gerle and a bass player, our singers affectingly perform both individually and together, led by sexy Jenn Colella. Too often icy and distant, here she warms to the songs beautifully, especially "Miss Byrd" and "There." And with Christiane Noll, Sal Viviano and George Dvorsky appealingly rounding out the talented foursome, Closer Than Ever makes for a diverting couple hours.

Slowgirl
Previews began June 4, 2012
opened June 18; closes July 29

Claire Tow Theater
Lincoln Center
150 West 65th Street
New York, NY

http://lct3.org

Closer Than Ever
Previews began June 5, 2012
opened June 20; closes July 14

York Theatre Company
619 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY

http://yorktheatre.org

July '12 Digital Week I

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Sunday, 08 July 2012 05:00; Written by Kevin Filipski

Blu-rays of the Week

Bachman and Turner—Live at the Roseland Ballroom, NYC

(Eagle Vision)

Bachman & Turner, now a duo with a crack backing band, play their best-known tunes in this rousing 2010 Manhattan concert, from the opener “Let It Ride” to the final “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet.” Special guest, fellow Canadian Paul Shaffer, joins them for a trio of encores culminating in their biggest hit, “Takin’ Care of Business.”

I saw Bachman Turner Overdrive in 1986 and they seemed an oldies band then; a quarter century later, little has changed except that they look even greyer than they did then. The hi-def image is fine; the surround sound is pummeling.

Chesty Morgan’s Bosom Buddies

(Image)

The mother of all cult movie stars was Chesty Morgan, she of the 73-inch breasts—not really an actress, but her bazooms were lethal weapons and that’s how director Doris Wishman treated them in the cheekily titled Deadly Weapons and Double Agent 73. The scene in 73 when she literally smothers Harry Reems to death is worth the price of admission by itself.

The third movie, The Immoral Three, doesn’t star Chesty: instead, a trio of babes (Cindy Bourdreau, Sandra Kay and Michele Marie) takes a turn cavorting for the camera. There’s a nice amount of grain in these hi-def transfers.

The Decoy Bride

(IFC)

Right after seeing this tepid romantic comedy, I pretty much forgot everything about it, except for the presence of the appealing and gifted actress Kelly Macdonald, who has to steel herself against routine writing, directing and rom-com clichés.

There is another small compensation—the Scottish locations are absolutely luminous—but other than that, this is little more than a blip on anyone’s radar. The Blu-ray transfer is very good; extras include 45 minutes of interviews, a behind-the-scenes featurette and a deleted scene.

The Devil’s Needle—and Other Tales of Vice and Redemption

(Kino)

In the 1916 cautionary tale The Devil’s Needle, Norma Talmadge plays a loose woman (an artist’s model!—tsk tsk) who falls prey to a morphine addiction. Also included are two more specimens of the era: 1913’s The Inside of the White Slave Traffic, showing women enslaved and forced into prostitution, and 1915’s Children of Eve, uncovering shocking factory conditions.

These movies definitely look their age, and the Blu-ray image does them no favors, but it’s nice to see such historic documents. Extras include additional footage from Children and Traffic.

Earth from Above: Food and Wildlife Conservation

(Mill Creek)

Acclaimed French environmentalist and photographer Yann Arthaus-Bertrand hosts two multi-part programs that combine stunning hi-def camerawork with enlightened commentary on the state of our planet.

Each program consists of two parts: “6 Billion People to Feed” and “Do Wild Animals Still Exist?” are self-explanatory titles, yet Arthaus-Bertrand’s fascinating footage and intelligent explication show how precarious is our future—and that of the animals we share our earth with. Visually (and this is obviously no surprise), the Blu-ray disc is stunning.

Mirror Mirror

(Fox)

This misfired jokey “Snow White” riff has a juicy role for Julia Roberts as a hectoring queen: too bad that she seems to be having gleeful fun but the audience isn’t, as would-be jokes fall flat, continuously. By trying to be both myth and spoof, this fantasy flick falls somewhere in between.

Lily Collins doesn’t bring much more than perkiness as Snow White, Armie Hammer has little charm as the charming prince, and Nathan Lane desperately camps in hopes of saving what’s essentially an unsalvageable movie. The Blu-ray transfer is excellent; extras include deleted scenes and on-set featurettes.

DVDs of the Week

Love in a Cold Climate

(Acorn)

This absorbing 1980 BBC adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s 1949 novel about love among the British upper-crust in between the two world wars is one of the most successful of any of the mini-series that appeared on the original Masterpiece Theatre on PBS.

The eight-part, nine-hour series might only be high-class soap opera, but it’s performed by a top-flight cast (Judi Dench, Lucy Gutteridge, Rosalyn Landor, Michael Aldridge, Vivian Pickles, Jean-Pierre Cassel) and includes exterior scenes shot on breathtaking locations.

Planeat

(Truemind)

This succinct documentary persuasively makes its point that, for a sustainable planet, our eating habits must change. Experts advocate for diets that depend on plants rather than animals, and there are commonsensical things that can be done at the local level, i.e., preparing certain foods and avoiding others.

Directors Shelley Lee Davies and Or Shlomi smartly (and gently) hit their main points without hitting it all over our heads. Extras include deleted scenes, a shorter version of the film and directors’ message.

Welcome to Rockwell
(Masterpieces)
In 2009, a collection of British musical legends and current stars joined together for a concert benefiting the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy. The best are Robert Plant with strikingly rearranged versions of old Zep chestnuts “Black Dog” and “Whole Lotta Love” and Joss Stone with her charged bluesy tunes “Free Me” and “Super Duper.”

The Beatles’ “Let It Be” finale is performed by Stone, Tom Jones, David Gray and others in a grand sing-along. The well-photographed concert needs more than a simple stereo mix at this late date.

Windows and The Outside Man

(MGM)

These latest releases in MGM’s Limited Edition Collection (on burned, unreliable DVD-R discs) are nearly forgotten ‘70s thrillers. Gordon Willis’ first (and only) film behind the camera, Windows, bombed in 1979 thanks to a ludicrously plotted story of a mousy woman spied on by her lesbian neighbor: despite Willis’ customarily excellent photography, the movie is eminently forgettable.

French director Jacques Deray’s The Outside Man (1972) has an impressive cast (Jean-Louis Trintignant, Roy Scheider, and Angie Dickinson) in an otherwise frivolous action flick. The movies look decent enough, considering they look like unrestored prints.

CD of the Week
Evita: New Broadway Cast Recording
(Masterworks Broadway)
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s and Tim Rice’s musical about Juan and Eva Peron is famous for the lovely lament “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” whose memorable melody is overused as a pseudo-Wagnerian leitmotif that weaves in and around other tunes during the show. The problem is that, when we finally hear it properly, its emotive power has been diluted.

Rice’s usually sophomoric lyrics are clever in Evita’s dress-up number, “Rainbow High” and hubby Juan Peron’s sardonic “The Art of the Possible.” Broadway vet Michael Cerveris (Peron) has a magnificent voice, Ricky Martin (Che, our Everyman narrator) sings superbly with flawless diction, but Argentine actress Elena Roger (Evita) is too shrill, notably in her upper register.

The New York Philharmonic's Spectacular Finale(s)

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Wednesday, 04 July 2012 10:00; Written by Kevin Filipski

After its final subscription concerts the previous week, the New York Philharmonic played two additional programs that were a godsend to those of us having to wade through the usual Bach/Mozart/Beethoven.

The all-Henri Dutilleux concert at Avery Fisher Hall (65 St. Columbus Ave) on June 26, 2012, was grand enough; what followed at the Park Avenue Armory (643 Park Ave) on June 29-30 was a bombastic climax.

Philharmonic 360 was as intoxicating as the previous seasons’ ends of the Alan Gilbert era: Gyorgy Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre and Leos Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen.

The Dutilleux concert, in honor of the great French composer receiving the orchestra’s first Marie-Josee Kravis Prize for New Music -- which the 96-year-old master is selflessly sharing with three composers, Peter Eötvös, Anthony Cheung and Franck Krawczyk -- was the first time the orchestra performed a concert consisting entirely of his music, and it seems bets were hedged by enlisting Yo-Yo Ma to play Tout un monde lontain, the gorgeous cello concerto Dutilleux composed in 1970 and revised in 1988, in order to woo the crowds.

One could quibble with the selections: the orchestral coloring of Métaboles, while beautiful and mysterious, has already been heard recently at the Philharmonic, and Dutilleux’s String Quartet, Ainsi la nuit, while performed formidably by the Miro Quartet, had its intricacies swallowed up by the large hall.

Gilbert probably chose these works to use less rehearsal time: since the players are familiar with Métaboles (performed twice in the past five seasons), presumably only the Cello Concerto would need substantive rehearsal time, allowing more work on the 360 concert.

Even so, Dutilleux’s elegant, refined, astringent but not atonal music sounded amazing—and enduring. Too bad the audience was profoundly uncivilized: coughing, unwrapping, cell phone ringing and program rustling continued throughout the evening. I hope they’re not typical Yo-Yo Ma fans.

philahrm 360 The better behaved Armory audience during Philharmonic 360 was obviously riveted by the dramatic presentation of odd orchestral configurations in music conceived for not only sound but space.

Aside from the Act I finale of Mozart’s Don Giovanni—which shed no light on the opera, and Michael Counts’s staging seemed a desperate attempt to use as much of the Armory’s magnificent Drill Hall as possible—the music was well-chosen for this particular space.

Difficult scores by Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen were the program’s lynchpins, and if their music is usually better seen than heard, here seeing and hearing it were one and the same.

The various instrumental groupings for Boulez’s Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna and Stockhausen’s Gruppen were as much fun to watch as to listen to the sounds swirling around the Armory from all angles. Ending the concert was Charles Ives’ majestic The Unanswered Question, with its ecstatic trumpet part soaring above the audience.

Gilbert, who conducted superbly, was greatly assisted by Matthias Pintscher and Magnus Lindberg for the complexities of Gruppen. No one will probably ever hear (or see) these works again, so the Armory concert was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and a perfect ending to the Philharmonic season (that's not counting this week’s Summertime Classics and next week’s Concerts in the Parks).

To learn more, go to: http://nyphil.org

Avery Fisher Hall
65 St. Columbus Ave
New York, NY 10024

Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10065

June '12 Digital Week V

Details: Parent Category: Film and the Arts; Category: Reviews; Published on Sunday, 01 July 2012 10:00; Written by Kevin Filipski

Blu-rays of the Week

And Everything Is Going Fine

and Gray’s Anatomy

(Criterion)

Spalding Gray’s unique theatrical contributions were his subversively funny monologues, and Steven Soderbergh’s films brilliantly take the measure of Gray as performer and human being. 1997’s Anatomy intercuts Gray’s incisive eye-operation monologue with others’ accounts of equally bizarre ocular problems; 2010’s Everything comprises footage of Gray—who killed himself in 2004—that serves as a fine memorial.

Soderbergh’s affection for Gray (who starred in Soderbergh’s King of the Hill) is obvious in both movies and in his interviews on these typically superb Criterion Collection discs. The movies have flawless transfers and, as extras, interviews with his widow Kathleen Russo and ex-partner/producer Renee Shafranksy, and—most important—two of Gray’s early monologues, Sex and Death to Age 14 and A Personal History of American Theater.

Bullhead

(Drafthouse Films)

Writer-director Michael R. Roskam’s nifty psychological thriller—whose title refers to cattle steroids our hero injects—is too clever for its own good, especially when Roskam overexplains his hero’s behavior through flashbacks to a horrific injury suffered as a boy.

Still, led by a hearty performance by Matthias Schornaerts as “Bullhead,” the movie is, if not unforgettable, at least quite diverting. There’s an impeccably detailed hi-def transfer; extras include Roskam’s commentary, Roskam and Schornaerts interviews, a making-of featurette and Roskam’s 2005 short, The One Thing to Do.

Deliverance

(Warners)

Although it’s inferior to James Dickey’s poetically disturbing novel of four businessmen on a weekend canoe trip gone wrong, John Boorman’s 1972 adaptation is rip-roaring entertainment that’s equally disturbing, superbly directed and starring a first-rate cast of then not-well-knowns (Burt Reynolds, Jon Voigt, Ronny Cox, Ned Beatty).

The prodigiously realized photography and editing look equally splendid on Blu-ray, thanks to a terrific transfer. Extras include a Boorman commentary, new featurette reuniting the four principals and vintage featurettes.

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

(Cinema Guild)

Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s latest begins as a group of officers travels to a remote area with murder suspects to find a body. Spending interminable time waiting, they engage in small talk (like buffalo yogurt!); we soon find those involved have their own ethical and personal problems.

Magnificent compositions mask a disjointed narrative: would police be so inept and forget a body bag or not have room in vehicles for a body? Would an autopsy be conducted with the victim’s wife and son outside the room? The Blu-ray image is immaculate; voluminous extras include a 95-minute making-of documentary and 50 minutes of Cannes Film Festival footage.

Oranges and Sunshine

(Cohen Media Group)

The shocking true story of thousands of British children being sent to new, orphaned lives in Australia is brought to the screen with the humane anger of Ken Loach—er, that should be Jim Loach, the brilliant director’s talented son. As his father does, Loach fils smartly casts his central role, as Emily Watson (one of those rare actresses believable in anything) beautifully plays the woman who helps the now adult kids discover—or at least find out about—their real families.

This nicely understated drama delivers an emotional punch in the usual Loach tradition. There’s a sturdy, understated hi-def transfer; extras include interviews with Loach, Watson, writer Rona Munro and other actors.

Pink Floyd—The Story of Wish You Were Here

(Eagle Vision)

The making of Pink Floyd’s compelling follow-up to the massive-selling Dark Side of the Moon is recounted in new interviews with the three surviving members, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and David Gilmour, along with vintage studio and concert footage.

Best of all—since much of the album comprises tributes and allusions to Floyd founder Syd Barrett—are the members’ touching reminiscences of him. The Blu-ray image is fine; extras include added interviews and “dueling” performances by Gilmour and Waters of “Wish You Were Here” and “Shine on You Crazy Diamond.”

21 Jump Street

(Sony)

I don’t get how Jonah Hill, basically a one-note amateur, has somehow become a big star. His non-talent is on display in this meretricious reboot of the late ‘80s TV show, with a game Channing Tatum as Hill’s inept cop sidekick who’s the only reason to watch this overlong action-cum-comedy flick.

The movie is painful to watch, especially since it promises another unnecessary franchise; that the show’s original stars, Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise, have cameos is depressing. The Blu-ray image looks decent enough; extras include commentary, gag reel, 20 deleted scenes and interviews.

Wrath of the Titans

(Warners)

This sequel to the Clash of the Titans remake has titanic talent—Sam Worthington, Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson—and little imaginative drama. Once again, there are fantastic creatures, less than fantastic humans or gods and less than impressive special effects, despite the use of state-of-the-art CGI. At least Neeson and Fiennes try to keep straight faces throughout.

The hi-def image, despite—or because of—the extensive CGI, looks a bit too unrealistic, more robotized than human in movement; extras include Maximum Movie Mode, storyboards and deleted scenes.

DVDs of the Week

Damages—The Complete 4^th Season

(Sony)

Capable young lawyer Ellen comes into her own during the fourth season as she takes the lead in investigating the smug head of a private military organization, a la Blackwater, doing underhanded things in the Middle East.

Damages smartly moves delectable Rose Byrne—by far the best reason to sit through Bridesmaids—into a true co-leading role with Glenn Close (Patty), and the two women’s complex relationship is the main interest of these 10 episodes, although John Goodman chews heavy scenery as the head thug. Extras include outtakes, deleted scenes and featurettes with cast and crew interviews.

The Hedgehog

(Neoclassics)

A real find, pre-teen actress Garance Le Guillermic is a natural as a young girl who’s planning to kill herself on her birthday, but instead builds an unlikely friendship with her family’s building’s concierge (the sweetly hard-headed Josiane Balasko).

Writer-director Mona Achache’s engrossing character study never condescends; the result is a fascinating look at a real relationship that you wouldn’t see on our screens except as sappy melodrama. The lone extra is a making-of featurette.

Web Therapy—The Complete 1^st Season

(e one)

It’s a clever sitcom premise: a psychiatrist conducts sessions online. Lisa Kudrow is funny in the lead, and there are amusing special guests as her web patients: Courtney Cox, Jane Lynch, Alan Cumming and Rashida Jones. There’s even Victor Garber as her husband and Lily Tomlin as her mom.

But despite everyone’s best intentions, the show is extremely hit-or-miss, and the laughs dwindle as the series wears on. Perhaps this could only work as an occasional web series with short episodes, a la Children’s Hospital. Extras include audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurette and outtakes.

CD of the Week

Rising: Music for Flute and Strings

(Bridge)

It’s always good news when famous musicians go beyond their comfort zone, and flutist Carol Wincenc’s new CD is a great example. The three flute quintets she plays with an excellent ensemble from the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival are a cross-section of American composers.

She begins with Joan Tower’s new Rising, an atmospheric and memorable work that shows off Wincenc’s formidable technique and the quartet’s sympathetic support. Also performed are two short but flavorful works by Arthur Foote from 1918, and Theme and Variations by the underrated Amy Beach (1867-1944), finally getting her due as a formidable American composer.

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