Well, we've come to the end of the second week of the project! Yesterday, we looked at "American Idiot," a show expected to be a huge success that did not pan out. Today, we examine a similar situation, in David Yazbek's "Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown." An all-star cast, a well-respected young composer, a successful property to adapt... what went wrong? Or did anything go wrong at all?
"Women On The Verge," set in Madrid, Spain, in the late 1980s, tells several interconnecting stories in the classic farce style, yet the stories are all somewhat tragicomic. At the center of the play is Pepa (Sherie Rene Scott), a voiceover and commercial actress whose love affair with Ivan (Brian Stokes Mitchell) has just ended. Her best friend, the sexy but flighty model Candela (Laura Benanti), has just realized that her lover may or may not be a Shiite terrorist plotting to blow up Madrid. Into the story wander Ivan's ex-wife Lucia (Patti LuPone) and her shy, stuttering son Carlos (Justin Guarini), whose lives intersect with Pepa in increasingly catastrophic ways, leading almost every character to the verge of a complete nervous breakdown. At the verge of the action is the Mambo-Loving Taxi Driver (Danny Burstein), who attempts to dispense folksy Latin wisdom from behind the wheel, but honestly has no idea what is going on.
David Yazbek, the lyricist/composer, is known for his versatility. His score to "The Full Monty" was influenced mainly by Seventies light pop in the veins of James Taylor and Billy Joel, while his "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" score was a Nino Rota-style European screwball comedy style. For "Women on the Verge," Yazbek (also a relatively successful singer-songwriter in the indie world) refines his "Scoundrels" sound based on Latin rhythms and pares away the self-conscious goofiness, giving us a sultry but lively score full of mambos, acoustic guitar ballads and Spanish-cum-Italian-foreign-film romanticism. It's a good score, but some of the most beautiful numbers stop a show in the wrong sense- they slow it down almost to a halt. These songs, like much of the score, work better on the cast album than they did on the stage.
The female performances are mostly fantastic, exactly what the term "all-star cast" implies, but with a few minor quibbles. Sherie Rene Scott, who played the female lead in "Scoundrels," is alternately very funny and deeply moving as Pepa, but her Spanish accent is the weakest in the entire cast, often disappearing altogether. Laura Benanti, one of Broadway's top young leading ladies (you may know her from the female leads in"The Wedding Singer," "Gypsy" and "Into The Woods"), is an absolute hoot as Candela, the comic lead. Her big song, "Model Behavior," stops the show in the right way, as she leaves increasingly frazzled message after message on every phone she can find throughout her hectic day as a model. In addition to her comic chops, she is pretty easy on the eyes, making her repeated disrobing and "vogueing" to distract the police in the climactic "farce scene" at the end of Act 2 a surprise highlight. In one of her smallest major Broadway parts to date, Patti LuPone does not disappoint, though her well-known comic skills are underplayed in favor of her mostly tragic character until the "farce scene" at the end.
The men of the show may get the short end of the stick in stage time and material, but they do not disappoint. As a loveable Spanish schmuck, "American Idol" and "American Idiot" veteran Justin Guarini shows off a lovely, very pure tenor voice and unexpected comic potential- a far cry from the infamous film "From Justin, To Kelly." Brian Stokes Mitchell, as Ivan, the chronic Casanova, gets several chances to display his famous semi-operatic baritone to great audience applause, especially when he breaks character to sing directly to a girl in the front row. Finally, and most of all, Danny Burstein drives the crowd wild as Mambo-Loving Taxi Driver in his opening scene, as he sings "Madrid Is My Mama" and improvises jokes about ticket prices and the show's impending closing. All three of the men seem underutilized, but this is, after all, a show about "Women on the verge," not men.
Now, the question arises: great movie, great performers, great songs- why didn't it work? The simple answer isn't so simple: a show has to be more than the sum of its parts, and "Women on the Verge" simply isn't. I know I've harped about "rhythm and tempo" on this blog many times before, but there is a third and equally important element to add to that duo: balance.
A show must not unbalance itself- lose track of its plots, take on too much or too little story or sub-plot, or become too forced. Rhythm and tempo are important to keep a show balanced, but even great and energetic direction- which "Women on the Verge" had- cannot make up for an unbalanced book. Without reading Wikipedia, I would not have known that Pepa was the main character, as the play unfolds in an "ensemble drama style." Ensemble shows are great, look at "Rent" for a show that succeeds without having one "main central character" that everyone else revolves around, but "Women on the Verge" didn't have that balanced, "all these stories fit together" feel to it. It just felt like a show that, while entertaining, was running in circles trying to keep from falling over.
Or perhaps that's the whole point- this slightly unhinged, frenetic but faintly tragic musical comedy is, like its protagonists, on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Who knows? Either way, crazy can be fun for a little while, but it's not somewhere you'd want to stay for a long time.
Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown: B-
LESSON FOR ACTORS: The breaking of the fourth wall is a risky endeavor. A good aside to the audience or a well-received, witty and appropriate improv will often be the highlight of a performance, as Danny Burstein shows as Mambo-Loving Taxi Driver. A bad one, or an improv that derails the show or doesn't fly, can wreck a performance's momentum instantly- just watch when a skit doesn't work on "Saturday Night Live."
WARNING FOR ACTORS: Make sure you don't let your accent slip. Work with a dialect coach, learning tapes, or watching appropriate films as much as you can- Sherie Rene Scott's occasional lack of Spanish accent sets her apart from the rest of the cast immediately and clouds her character.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Balance is extremely important, and varies from medium to medium. The wonky ensemble farce style of "Women on the Verge" works extremely well as a film (if you haven't seen it, check it out- Antonio Banderas is unexpectedly hilarious as geeky Carlos), but onstage, it seems unfocused and roundabout. By watching as many movies, plays and television programs as possible, we can learn what does work and what does not work rhythmically and balance-wise, which can only help to create better, stronger and more solid works in the future.
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Write with casting in mind. Danny Burstein's performance as Mambo-Loving Taxi Driver sets him up to be a narrator or Greek chorus, but does not deliver on this potential. Instead, he appears at a few crucial moments as a supporting comic character. Meanwhile, a number of smaller, one-scene-only male roles such as the judge, the police officer and a matador, appear briefly and do little but appear and then leave. A more effective use of casting would have been to make Mambo-Loving Taxi Driver appear from time and time again in various guises and smaller characters, creating a comic lead from what is a rather minor supporting character.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
American Idiot (Day 9)
Welcome back to the Musical-A-Day blog! Yesterday (well, this morning actually, since I was a day behind in posting), we looked at the Broadway smash "Rock of Ages," which surpassed all expectations and became a monster hit. Today, we look at "American Idiot," a show that many people thought would prove to be just as successful, even the next "Rent," but which didn't quite make the expected impact.
The plot of "American Idiot" concerns three twentysomething burnouts, Johnny (John Gallagher, Jr.), Will (Michael Esper) and Tunny (Stark Sands), living in suburban Jingletown, California in the spring and summer of 2008, seven years after 9-11. With their thirties nearing and no life accomplishments on the table except getting high, the three men decide to leave town to travel and find themselves. Will, however, finds out that he got his girlfriend pregnant, and stays home to help her raise the baby. In the city, Tunny joins the army, leaving Johnny alone to discover his three new loves: Whatshername (Rebecca Naomi Jones), a punk rocker girl he falls in love with, heroin, and Saint Jimmy (Tony Vincent), the dark side of his own personality that becomes dominant over sensitive, passive Johnny. As Will sits on the couch drinking bongwater, Tunny ends up in an army hospital, and Johnny is forced to choose between love and drugs with Whatshername and Saint Jimmy, they all realize that running away from their problems is just as bad as sitting at home ignoring them, and look for a way back home.
On paper, it's a pretty simple story, and fairly easy to tell, right? The critics, on the other hand, were mixed in how well "American Idiot" actually tells its tale. There is relatively little book to the musical- a few sparse dialogue scenes appear in between the songs, mainly letters and journal entries of the various characters. Rather, the staging and the somewhat expressionistic, abstracted lyrics are called on to do most of the storytelling. In the style of "Spring Awakening," "Rent" or "Hair," the unit set is transformable enough to portray multiple locations, everything from the Army Recruitment Center to a Greyhound bus. Multimedia such as recordings of news announcements, live video feeds, and television clips help move the story along and set the scene.
As Johnny, in the lead, John Gallagher Jr. turns in a soulful, understanding performance. The heart of the drama rests with him, and he gives it a grounded, moving center. Stark Sands and Michael Esper, as Tunny and Will, also do well, though their roles give them slightly less chances to shine. But despite having a smaller role than any of the above, the actor playing Saint Jimmy always managed to steal the show, with the best songs and the most gripping onstage performances. Though the role was created by Tony Vincent, Green Day frontman and show composer Billie Joe Armstrong played the role for the second half of the run, alternating during his vacations with fellow rock stars Melissa Etheridge and Davey Havok of AFI.
Why, in the end, didn't American Idiot work? Was it because the plot was too oblique? Was the hour-and-a-half of authentic modern punk rock too alienating for a Broadway crowd still weaned on jazz-based compositions and lite-rock-and-pop stylings? Or was "American Idiot" simply the wrong show at the wrong time for the market? A national tour has just launched, so perhaps time will tell if "American Idiot" gets a legacy, or a footnote. But for my money, a better, more fist-pumpingly energetic time would be hard to find.
American Idiot: B+
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Pick up an instrument, any instrument, and learn to play! "American Idiot," like many other shows, features slots to showcase actors who are also musicians, and in the curtain call, every member of the cast breaks out an acoustic guitar for a full-cast acoustic jam session on "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)" by Green Day.
WARNING FOR ACTORS: No matter how much the critics love you, no matter how many awards you win, you are never the biggest star out there- there is ALWAYS someone better or more famous than you. Tony Vincent got great reviews as Saint Jimmy, but when Billie Joe Armstrong replaced him in the role, critics were surprised and gave the rock star Armstrong better reviews, saying that he understood and portrayed the character better and with more genuine star power.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Realism is not the only style of theatre worth exploring. "American Idiot," though extremely modern in its feel, actually hearkens back the most to two turn-of-the-century theatrical forms, Biomechanics and Expressionism. Expressionism focused on nonrepresentative, abstracted communication to tell universal stories of human fears and weaknesses, while Biomechanics focused on the use of the human body through dance, movement and physical prowess to communicate more effectively than with words or plots. Both are extremely prevalent in the aggressively modern, abstract choreography and set design.
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Don't be too obscure with the points you try to make. Only one spoken line, possible to miss under a pounding drum solo, establishes that Saint Jimmy is Johnny's dark side, and not just a mysterious drug dealer that Johnny embarks on a homosexual relationship with. If you don't catch that plot point, or choose to overlook it, the second half of the show tells a much different story than intended.
The plot of "American Idiot" concerns three twentysomething burnouts, Johnny (John Gallagher, Jr.), Will (Michael Esper) and Tunny (Stark Sands), living in suburban Jingletown, California in the spring and summer of 2008, seven years after 9-11. With their thirties nearing and no life accomplishments on the table except getting high, the three men decide to leave town to travel and find themselves. Will, however, finds out that he got his girlfriend pregnant, and stays home to help her raise the baby. In the city, Tunny joins the army, leaving Johnny alone to discover his three new loves: Whatshername (Rebecca Naomi Jones), a punk rocker girl he falls in love with, heroin, and Saint Jimmy (Tony Vincent), the dark side of his own personality that becomes dominant over sensitive, passive Johnny. As Will sits on the couch drinking bongwater, Tunny ends up in an army hospital, and Johnny is forced to choose between love and drugs with Whatshername and Saint Jimmy, they all realize that running away from their problems is just as bad as sitting at home ignoring them, and look for a way back home.
On paper, it's a pretty simple story, and fairly easy to tell, right? The critics, on the other hand, were mixed in how well "American Idiot" actually tells its tale. There is relatively little book to the musical- a few sparse dialogue scenes appear in between the songs, mainly letters and journal entries of the various characters. Rather, the staging and the somewhat expressionistic, abstracted lyrics are called on to do most of the storytelling. In the style of "Spring Awakening," "Rent" or "Hair," the unit set is transformable enough to portray multiple locations, everything from the Army Recruitment Center to a Greyhound bus. Multimedia such as recordings of news announcements, live video feeds, and television clips help move the story along and set the scene.
As Johnny, in the lead, John Gallagher Jr. turns in a soulful, understanding performance. The heart of the drama rests with him, and he gives it a grounded, moving center. Stark Sands and Michael Esper, as Tunny and Will, also do well, though their roles give them slightly less chances to shine. But despite having a smaller role than any of the above, the actor playing Saint Jimmy always managed to steal the show, with the best songs and the most gripping onstage performances. Though the role was created by Tony Vincent, Green Day frontman and show composer Billie Joe Armstrong played the role for the second half of the run, alternating during his vacations with fellow rock stars Melissa Etheridge and Davey Havok of AFI.
Why, in the end, didn't American Idiot work? Was it because the plot was too oblique? Was the hour-and-a-half of authentic modern punk rock too alienating for a Broadway crowd still weaned on jazz-based compositions and lite-rock-and-pop stylings? Or was "American Idiot" simply the wrong show at the wrong time for the market? A national tour has just launched, so perhaps time will tell if "American Idiot" gets a legacy, or a footnote. But for my money, a better, more fist-pumpingly energetic time would be hard to find.
American Idiot: B+
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Pick up an instrument, any instrument, and learn to play! "American Idiot," like many other shows, features slots to showcase actors who are also musicians, and in the curtain call, every member of the cast breaks out an acoustic guitar for a full-cast acoustic jam session on "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)" by Green Day.
WARNING FOR ACTORS: No matter how much the critics love you, no matter how many awards you win, you are never the biggest star out there- there is ALWAYS someone better or more famous than you. Tony Vincent got great reviews as Saint Jimmy, but when Billie Joe Armstrong replaced him in the role, critics were surprised and gave the rock star Armstrong better reviews, saying that he understood and portrayed the character better and with more genuine star power.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Realism is not the only style of theatre worth exploring. "American Idiot," though extremely modern in its feel, actually hearkens back the most to two turn-of-the-century theatrical forms, Biomechanics and Expressionism. Expressionism focused on nonrepresentative, abstracted communication to tell universal stories of human fears and weaknesses, while Biomechanics focused on the use of the human body through dance, movement and physical prowess to communicate more effectively than with words or plots. Both are extremely prevalent in the aggressively modern, abstract choreography and set design.
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Don't be too obscure with the points you try to make. Only one spoken line, possible to miss under a pounding drum solo, establishes that Saint Jimmy is Johnny's dark side, and not just a mysterious drug dealer that Johnny embarks on a homosexual relationship with. If you don't catch that plot point, or choose to overlook it, the second half of the show tells a much different story than intended.
Rock of Ages (Day 8)
Greetings, friends! Yesterday we took on a recent Broadway rock musical flop, "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson." Today, we're looking at "Rock of Ages," a Broadway musical so successful that, rather than close after a respectable run, it moved to a slightly smaller theatre and resumed its successful business.
"Rock of Ages" is both a goofy jukebox musical and a parody of goofy jukebox musicals. Led by our high-energy, sexually ambiguous narrator Lonny The Sound Man (Mitchell Jarvis), the story is the somewhat predictable boy-meets-girl saga of Drew Bowie(Constantine Maroulis) and Sherrie Christian (Amy Spanger), a young rocker and a waitress who meet at the hottest rock club on the Sunset Strip in the late 1980s. The play's subplot concerns Dennis (Adam Dannheisser), the club's owner, who allies with a neo-hippie protester, Regina (Lauren Molina) to battle against the German businessman (Paul Schoeffler) and his effeminate- but not homosexual, just European- son Franz (Wesley Taylor), who want to tear down the club and gentrify Los Angeles.
If there's not much to that story, that's intentional- as Lonny points out again and again, that's just the way jukeboxes work. To drive the point home, at one point, he solves a problem by bringing out a "Musical Writing for Dummies" book to find how to resolve a plot point. Jarvis, most famous for playing Keystone Light spokesman Keith Stone, turns in a dynamite performance, clearly channeling Jack Black, who the part was allegedly written for. His peculiar sexual ambivalence leads to some of the evening's finest moments, especially the "are they or aren't they" duet of "Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon that Lonny sings with his (heterosexual?) life partner, Dennis. Naturally, much praise must go to Constantine as well- the show is anchored around his dynamic voice, even if his acting is a little understated. As love interest Sherrie, Amy Spanger is funny and displays a great voice, which is almost sad in a way, considering that the show caused her vocal deterioration I previously mentioned in my post on "Elf."
I assume I don't have to say much about the music, which is great if you loved classic rock or the Eighties, but bad if you don't like either of the above. Special props to the remarkably faithful orchestrations and the house band of actual hair-metal band veterans, who keep the score from sounding like a "Broadway version" of the hard rockin' songs they cover. For a good time at the theater, or a trip down memory lane, don't call 867-5309, just check out Rock of Ages, which, as Bret Michaels once said, pre-Apprentice, "ain't nothing but a good time."
Rock of Ages: A
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Don't be afraid to change your image! Alec Baldwin and Tom Cruise are Hollywood A-listers, but are soon to appear in a major motion picture- singing, no less- along the likes of Mary J. Blige and Russell Brand.
WARNING FOR ACTORS: Don't assume that just because you played or originated a part, you OWN it. Constantine Maroulis has shown exemplary dedication to the role of Drew on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and all over the country, but was not cast in the upcoming film. Despite this, he continues to play the role onstage.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Never take yourself too seriously. If "Rock of Ages" had tried to be a straight-up musical like "Mamma Mia" that just uses jukebox songs, chances are it would have been simply more of the same. By parodying the jukebox-musical genre, it gained a freshness and satiric bite that it would have otherwise lacked.
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Never assume that your audience will ALWAYS get the joke. When your tongue is too far into cheek, be careful- despite its clearly parodic nature, "Rock of Ages" HAS been accused of homophobia, racism and objectification of women. Okay, MAYBE they got it right on that last one, but in what other musical can you see an all-singing, all-dancing, all stripping hot female chorus? In my opinion, it may not be high art, but that's a real Broadway throwback!
"Rock of Ages" is both a goofy jukebox musical and a parody of goofy jukebox musicals. Led by our high-energy, sexually ambiguous narrator Lonny The Sound Man (Mitchell Jarvis), the story is the somewhat predictable boy-meets-girl saga of Drew Bowie(Constantine Maroulis) and Sherrie Christian (Amy Spanger), a young rocker and a waitress who meet at the hottest rock club on the Sunset Strip in the late 1980s. The play's subplot concerns Dennis (Adam Dannheisser), the club's owner, who allies with a neo-hippie protester, Regina (Lauren Molina) to battle against the German businessman (Paul Schoeffler) and his effeminate- but not homosexual, just European- son Franz (Wesley Taylor), who want to tear down the club and gentrify Los Angeles.
If there's not much to that story, that's intentional- as Lonny points out again and again, that's just the way jukeboxes work. To drive the point home, at one point, he solves a problem by bringing out a "Musical Writing for Dummies" book to find how to resolve a plot point. Jarvis, most famous for playing Keystone Light spokesman Keith Stone, turns in a dynamite performance, clearly channeling Jack Black, who the part was allegedly written for. His peculiar sexual ambivalence leads to some of the evening's finest moments, especially the "are they or aren't they" duet of "Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon that Lonny sings with his (heterosexual?) life partner, Dennis. Naturally, much praise must go to Constantine as well- the show is anchored around his dynamic voice, even if his acting is a little understated. As love interest Sherrie, Amy Spanger is funny and displays a great voice, which is almost sad in a way, considering that the show caused her vocal deterioration I previously mentioned in my post on "Elf."
I assume I don't have to say much about the music, which is great if you loved classic rock or the Eighties, but bad if you don't like either of the above. Special props to the remarkably faithful orchestrations and the house band of actual hair-metal band veterans, who keep the score from sounding like a "Broadway version" of the hard rockin' songs they cover. For a good time at the theater, or a trip down memory lane, don't call 867-5309, just check out Rock of Ages, which, as Bret Michaels once said, pre-Apprentice, "ain't nothing but a good time."
Rock of Ages: A
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Don't be afraid to change your image! Alec Baldwin and Tom Cruise are Hollywood A-listers, but are soon to appear in a major motion picture- singing, no less- along the likes of Mary J. Blige and Russell Brand.
WARNING FOR ACTORS: Don't assume that just because you played or originated a part, you OWN it. Constantine Maroulis has shown exemplary dedication to the role of Drew on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and all over the country, but was not cast in the upcoming film. Despite this, he continues to play the role onstage.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Never take yourself too seriously. If "Rock of Ages" had tried to be a straight-up musical like "Mamma Mia" that just uses jukebox songs, chances are it would have been simply more of the same. By parodying the jukebox-musical genre, it gained a freshness and satiric bite that it would have otherwise lacked.
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Never assume that your audience will ALWAYS get the joke. When your tongue is too far into cheek, be careful- despite its clearly parodic nature, "Rock of Ages" HAS been accused of homophobia, racism and objectification of women. Okay, MAYBE they got it right on that last one, but in what other musical can you see an all-singing, all-dancing, all stripping hot female chorus? In my opinion, it may not be high art, but that's a real Broadway throwback!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Day 7)
Yesterday, we looked at obscure animated musical "The Electric Piper." Today, we look at something much more up to the minute... a history lesson? Not quite. It's the emo sketch comedy historical musical, "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson." A recent Broadway engagement of this fresh, youthful show did not last long, but became a critical darling while it did.
It is the early nineteenth century, and the notion of populism- the idea that the people's interests should be represented in government, not just the interests of the fat cats- is slowly taking root across the United States. Enter Andrew Jackson, a charismatic, rough-edged and intensely popular politician who appears to be "just a normal guy." His popularity soon spreads as an antidote to the foppish, out-of-touch politicians of Washington. There's just one problem- ever since his settler family's death in his youth, Jackson has had an irrational, almost genocidal hatred of Indians.
The show, rather than progressing in a linear, traditionally theatrical style, tells its story in bite-sized chunks, scene after scene, sketch after sketch. In between the scenes are songs, not so much part of the narrative as commentary by the characters or the ensemble on that moment in the story- or in history. The songs are heavily influenced by early acoustic emo, especially Dashboard Confessional, but draw influences from other notable indie artists as well- a dark rendition of "Ten Little Indians" is clearly patterned after cabaret-goth darlings The Dresden Dolls, while "Illness As Metaphor" is Duncan Sheik all the way down to the staging's winking "Spring Awakening" reference. The emo parallel also works to highlight the nature of Jackson himself- ostensibly a rock star and the people's hero, he is still an emotional cripple, unable to shake off the heartbreaks of his youth and move forward to maturity instead of indulging himself in emotional outbursts and self-destructive behavior. (Perhaps the best example of this parallel is the way bloodletting, a nineteenth-century medical procedure thought to relieve the body's humors, is associated in the show with ritual cutting, the self-mutilation most associated with emo, as Jackson begins to bloodlet more and more as the show goes on.)
The performances are uniformly rough around the edges, played fast and loose and with little polish, but this is undoubtedly intentional. Ben Walker, as Jackson, carries true star power and charisma, even though his voice is not particularly strong. The rest of the cast, for the most part, play a variety of roles- the characters are not so much deliniated as genericized caricatures, putting on a ruffled collar to become a Washington politician, or an Indian headband to become a tribesman. The feel throughout is of sketch comedy and improv- not unlike a Team Starkid production, in fact, but on Broadway and, clocking in at under 90 minutes, MUCH shorter.
Everything about the show resonates with hipster culture, the perpetually ironic, tongue-in-cheek Americana kitsch-based movement that has sprung out of indie and emo culture in the past five years and become a stylistic revolution. Yet, just like in the best emo, below the piercing irony is a true vein of emotion- can we feel sympathy for Jackson, the man who relocated the Indians west in the infamous "Trail of Tears?" Despite all of his great accomplishments, the ending makes it very clear that there is no historical consensus on Jackson's life, and that he is often considered either the greatest president, or "an American Hitler." Love him or hate him, there seems to be no in between possible with Jackson, and sadly, the same fate seems to have applied to the show- critics loved it, but audiences ignored it. Still, if you get a chance to see this show, definitely take the opportunity. At less than an hour and a half, it won't take long out of your day, and you're almost certain to leave with a different perspective on history than you came in with. Not that it isn't funny- just that, as the show claims in its ending moments, "You can't shoot history in the throat."
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson: A-
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Always remain one hundred percent committed to what you're doing onstage. Never allow yourself to break or relax- the murder of one of the female ensemble members during the curtain call leaves her lying dead onstage through bows, exit music and the audience's departure, but she never once moves or acknowledges that it's "only a show."
WARNING FOR ACTORS: Make sure you differentiate your characters from each other, when called upon to play many people in the course of a show. The one male ensemble member who plays multiple characters from a cobbler to a messenger to a politician uses the same mincing camp-gay voice for all of them, even though it is clearly not only not his real voice, but not the same character. This could be a directorial choice, but every other actor makes different choices for their individual characters, making this one stand out like a sore thumb, even though a few of his appearances are indeed highlights.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Think outside the box- don't be afraid to make bold or unexpected choices to subvert the medium. Two of "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson's" greatest moments are a montage of Jackson cutting himself to an upbeat recording of Cher singing "Song for the Lonely," and the assassination of the narrator in mid-speech early on during the show.
WARNING FOR WRITERS: In an earlier post, I talked about rhythm and tempo- rhythm being the overall feel of the play's movement and progression, and tempo being the speed or sensation of motion of how the play moves through its rhythm. When a show is very short, just like when it is very long, watching rhythm and tempo are very important, and this show occasionally feels rushed, or dragging, because of it.
It is the early nineteenth century, and the notion of populism- the idea that the people's interests should be represented in government, not just the interests of the fat cats- is slowly taking root across the United States. Enter Andrew Jackson, a charismatic, rough-edged and intensely popular politician who appears to be "just a normal guy." His popularity soon spreads as an antidote to the foppish, out-of-touch politicians of Washington. There's just one problem- ever since his settler family's death in his youth, Jackson has had an irrational, almost genocidal hatred of Indians.
The show, rather than progressing in a linear, traditionally theatrical style, tells its story in bite-sized chunks, scene after scene, sketch after sketch. In between the scenes are songs, not so much part of the narrative as commentary by the characters or the ensemble on that moment in the story- or in history. The songs are heavily influenced by early acoustic emo, especially Dashboard Confessional, but draw influences from other notable indie artists as well- a dark rendition of "Ten Little Indians" is clearly patterned after cabaret-goth darlings The Dresden Dolls, while "Illness As Metaphor" is Duncan Sheik all the way down to the staging's winking "Spring Awakening" reference. The emo parallel also works to highlight the nature of Jackson himself- ostensibly a rock star and the people's hero, he is still an emotional cripple, unable to shake off the heartbreaks of his youth and move forward to maturity instead of indulging himself in emotional outbursts and self-destructive behavior. (Perhaps the best example of this parallel is the way bloodletting, a nineteenth-century medical procedure thought to relieve the body's humors, is associated in the show with ritual cutting, the self-mutilation most associated with emo, as Jackson begins to bloodlet more and more as the show goes on.)
The performances are uniformly rough around the edges, played fast and loose and with little polish, but this is undoubtedly intentional. Ben Walker, as Jackson, carries true star power and charisma, even though his voice is not particularly strong. The rest of the cast, for the most part, play a variety of roles- the characters are not so much deliniated as genericized caricatures, putting on a ruffled collar to become a Washington politician, or an Indian headband to become a tribesman. The feel throughout is of sketch comedy and improv- not unlike a Team Starkid production, in fact, but on Broadway and, clocking in at under 90 minutes, MUCH shorter.
Everything about the show resonates with hipster culture, the perpetually ironic, tongue-in-cheek Americana kitsch-based movement that has sprung out of indie and emo culture in the past five years and become a stylistic revolution. Yet, just like in the best emo, below the piercing irony is a true vein of emotion- can we feel sympathy for Jackson, the man who relocated the Indians west in the infamous "Trail of Tears?" Despite all of his great accomplishments, the ending makes it very clear that there is no historical consensus on Jackson's life, and that he is often considered either the greatest president, or "an American Hitler." Love him or hate him, there seems to be no in between possible with Jackson, and sadly, the same fate seems to have applied to the show- critics loved it, but audiences ignored it. Still, if you get a chance to see this show, definitely take the opportunity. At less than an hour and a half, it won't take long out of your day, and you're almost certain to leave with a different perspective on history than you came in with. Not that it isn't funny- just that, as the show claims in its ending moments, "You can't shoot history in the throat."
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson: A-
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Always remain one hundred percent committed to what you're doing onstage. Never allow yourself to break or relax- the murder of one of the female ensemble members during the curtain call leaves her lying dead onstage through bows, exit music and the audience's departure, but she never once moves or acknowledges that it's "only a show."
WARNING FOR ACTORS: Make sure you differentiate your characters from each other, when called upon to play many people in the course of a show. The one male ensemble member who plays multiple characters from a cobbler to a messenger to a politician uses the same mincing camp-gay voice for all of them, even though it is clearly not only not his real voice, but not the same character. This could be a directorial choice, but every other actor makes different choices for their individual characters, making this one stand out like a sore thumb, even though a few of his appearances are indeed highlights.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Think outside the box- don't be afraid to make bold or unexpected choices to subvert the medium. Two of "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson's" greatest moments are a montage of Jackson cutting himself to an upbeat recording of Cher singing "Song for the Lonely," and the assassination of the narrator in mid-speech early on during the show.
WARNING FOR WRITERS: In an earlier post, I talked about rhythm and tempo- rhythm being the overall feel of the play's movement and progression, and tempo being the speed or sensation of motion of how the play moves through its rhythm. When a show is very short, just like when it is very long, watching rhythm and tempo are very important, and this show occasionally feels rushed, or dragging, because of it.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
The Electric Piper (Day 6)
Hello, theatre fans! Yesterday, we looked at "Phantom of the Paradise," a forgotten gem of cult movie-musical history. Today, we're looking at an even more obscure, and even wackier, cult movie musical- "The Electric Piper." If you loved classic rock, or enjoyed the film "Yellow Submarine," this psychedelic animated trip might be for you.
The little town of Hamlin, a typical mid-Sixties suburbia, is the epitome of everything the mid-Sixties thought it stood for: family values (patriarchy), equality (there are black people in the neighborhood, sure, but they are more whitewashed than Bill Cosby), and women's rights (the only powerful woman in town has no problems flaunting her assets to get ahead). Amid the conformity around them, Mick and Janis Dixon (Robbie Rist and Lesli Margherita), the teenage children of the town's blatantly sexist and chauvanistic mayor, Nick Dixon (George Segal), want to embrace the freedom and liberation of the Sixties, but their parents will have none of it. Blindly convinced of their town's perfection, the adults have deluded themselves into ignoring the plague of enormous, hyper-intelligent rats that threatens the town.
Enter the mysterious Sly (Wayne Brady), a guitar-slinging shaman from way out of town, whose hot guitar licks have reality-warping power and an almost hallucinogenic effect on anyone that hears them. Sly is more than happy to eliminate the rats from town, in exchange for a vintage motorcyle which happens to have sentimental value for the Mayor. But when the Mayor refuses, Sly takes his revenge on the whole town, liberating the children and placing a curse on the adults he and the teenagers leave behind. As Sly uses his magic to create an endless, but ultimately hollow, world of constant immediate gratification for the young rebels, and the parents find themselves aging at a hyperaccelerated rate, both groups look for a way to get back what they have lost.
The voiceover work is good overall, with several standouts, notably Broadway legend Christine Ebersole, in the supporting role of Pat Dixon, the mayor's wife. Subtly frustrated but unable to outright criticize her husband, her performance carries undercurrents of regret for a life not lived under the mask of cheerfulness- quite an achievement for only using the voice! Wayne Brady, in the lead role of Sly, sings like Jimi Hendrix and speaks with the unmistakable poetic cadences of Jim Morrison at his most mystical. The cameos throughout are fun to spot, with Rob Schneider and Rodney Dangerfield, among others, appearing as minor characters. Everyone accquits themselves rather well with the singing as well, with Brady showing off his strong lower range and Schneider displaying a surprisingly pure falsetto register.
In case you haven't figured it out yet, this movie is BIZARRE, but enjoyably so. Much like its spiritual godfather, "Yellow Submarine," "The Electric Piper" may be appropriate for kids, but it's really for their parents to enjoy. Literally every song, moment and frame of the film is crammed with Sixties rock lore and trivia. At some points, especially during the song "London on the Moon," the imagery flies by with a stream-of-consciousness rapidity of juxtaposed images- Paul McCartney's dream of a Flaming Pie, the moon landing, Monty Python's Flying Circus, the walk across Abbey Road, the Union Jack Bullseye logo of The Who, and dozens more Sixties icons appear literally in seconds. If you aren't a classic-rock and British Invasion nerd, you're more than likely to miss much of the movie's appeal. Even the movie's songs play into the "name that reference" game: about half of the songs have a teasing, "name that tune" reference to a Sixties hit built into them, some subtly, some blatantly, as if to see who's keeping score at home.
In closing, "The Electric Piper" may not be intellectual or high art, but it's certainly mind-expanding in the other sense. If you just want a psychedelic, Sixties-inspired good times, track down a copy and see for yourself what the buzz is about.
The Electric Piper: B
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Remember, the world of "acting" does not begin and end onstage. There are many different venues and opportunities- try out for television, for voiceover work, for internet-related media, for anything you get the opportunity for!
WARNING FOR ACTORS: Remember to stay in character! According to an anecdote passed down by the writer, the woman playing young Janis was so attractive that no one in the studio could keep their eyes off her, and even in the recording of some of their lines, you can tell that many of the other voice actors had a bit of a crush on her. Of course, most of this will be entirely impossible to spot for anyone who wasn't there when they recorded, but her brother Mick DOES occasionally sound a little weird around her...
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Let your freak flag fly! Write what appeals to you, not what you think will appeal to the mass market audience. Writer/composer Bill Burnett, may not have had a huge hit with "The Electric Piper," but he parlayed his working relationships into getting his show "ChalkZone" picked up by Nickelodeon, and we all know there's nothing weirder than "ChalkZone."
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Know who you're collaborating with. According to the writer/composer, the film was originally intended to be longer and somewhat darker, but when it was picked up by Nickelodeon as an original film, much of it was either cut for time or to "dumb it down." If you have the luxury to pick who you work with, pick well.
The little town of Hamlin, a typical mid-Sixties suburbia, is the epitome of everything the mid-Sixties thought it stood for: family values (patriarchy), equality (there are black people in the neighborhood, sure, but they are more whitewashed than Bill Cosby), and women's rights (the only powerful woman in town has no problems flaunting her assets to get ahead). Amid the conformity around them, Mick and Janis Dixon (Robbie Rist and Lesli Margherita), the teenage children of the town's blatantly sexist and chauvanistic mayor, Nick Dixon (George Segal), want to embrace the freedom and liberation of the Sixties, but their parents will have none of it. Blindly convinced of their town's perfection, the adults have deluded themselves into ignoring the plague of enormous, hyper-intelligent rats that threatens the town.
Enter the mysterious Sly (Wayne Brady), a guitar-slinging shaman from way out of town, whose hot guitar licks have reality-warping power and an almost hallucinogenic effect on anyone that hears them. Sly is more than happy to eliminate the rats from town, in exchange for a vintage motorcyle which happens to have sentimental value for the Mayor. But when the Mayor refuses, Sly takes his revenge on the whole town, liberating the children and placing a curse on the adults he and the teenagers leave behind. As Sly uses his magic to create an endless, but ultimately hollow, world of constant immediate gratification for the young rebels, and the parents find themselves aging at a hyperaccelerated rate, both groups look for a way to get back what they have lost.
The voiceover work is good overall, with several standouts, notably Broadway legend Christine Ebersole, in the supporting role of Pat Dixon, the mayor's wife. Subtly frustrated but unable to outright criticize her husband, her performance carries undercurrents of regret for a life not lived under the mask of cheerfulness- quite an achievement for only using the voice! Wayne Brady, in the lead role of Sly, sings like Jimi Hendrix and speaks with the unmistakable poetic cadences of Jim Morrison at his most mystical. The cameos throughout are fun to spot, with Rob Schneider and Rodney Dangerfield, among others, appearing as minor characters. Everyone accquits themselves rather well with the singing as well, with Brady showing off his strong lower range and Schneider displaying a surprisingly pure falsetto register.
In case you haven't figured it out yet, this movie is BIZARRE, but enjoyably so. Much like its spiritual godfather, "Yellow Submarine," "The Electric Piper" may be appropriate for kids, but it's really for their parents to enjoy. Literally every song, moment and frame of the film is crammed with Sixties rock lore and trivia. At some points, especially during the song "London on the Moon," the imagery flies by with a stream-of-consciousness rapidity of juxtaposed images- Paul McCartney's dream of a Flaming Pie, the moon landing, Monty Python's Flying Circus, the walk across Abbey Road, the Union Jack Bullseye logo of The Who, and dozens more Sixties icons appear literally in seconds. If you aren't a classic-rock and British Invasion nerd, you're more than likely to miss much of the movie's appeal. Even the movie's songs play into the "name that reference" game: about half of the songs have a teasing, "name that tune" reference to a Sixties hit built into them, some subtly, some blatantly, as if to see who's keeping score at home.
In closing, "The Electric Piper" may not be intellectual or high art, but it's certainly mind-expanding in the other sense. If you just want a psychedelic, Sixties-inspired good times, track down a copy and see for yourself what the buzz is about.
The Electric Piper: B
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Remember, the world of "acting" does not begin and end onstage. There are many different venues and opportunities- try out for television, for voiceover work, for internet-related media, for anything you get the opportunity for!
WARNING FOR ACTORS: Remember to stay in character! According to an anecdote passed down by the writer, the woman playing young Janis was so attractive that no one in the studio could keep their eyes off her, and even in the recording of some of their lines, you can tell that many of the other voice actors had a bit of a crush on her. Of course, most of this will be entirely impossible to spot for anyone who wasn't there when they recorded, but her brother Mick DOES occasionally sound a little weird around her...
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Let your freak flag fly! Write what appeals to you, not what you think will appeal to the mass market audience. Writer/composer Bill Burnett, may not have had a huge hit with "The Electric Piper," but he parlayed his working relationships into getting his show "ChalkZone" picked up by Nickelodeon, and we all know there's nothing weirder than "ChalkZone."
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Know who you're collaborating with. According to the writer/composer, the film was originally intended to be longer and somewhat darker, but when it was picked up by Nickelodeon as an original film, much of it was either cut for time or to "dumb it down." If you have the luxury to pick who you work with, pick well.
Phantom of the Paradise (Day 5)
Sorry for the delay- personal business got in the way of my posting the past 2 entries, but I DID do my homework and watch the musicals in question. Last time, we looked at "Velvet Goldmine," a cult movie which had musical elements. Today, we look at a very similar work to compare and contrast: "Phantom of The Paradise."
A one sentence summary of "Phantom of the Paradise" would sound absurd: "Based loosely on 'Faust,' 'The Picture of Dorian Grey,' 'Svengali,' AND 'The Phantom Of The Opera,' this is undoubtedly the best ultraviolent superhero rock musical ever written by the midget composer of 'The Love Boat Theme.'" But actually, now that I typed that out, it sounds about right. Struggling composer Winslow Leach (William Finley) wants to write a rock opera based on "Faust" as a solo concept-album piece. His music is heard by eccentric but all-powerful record producer Swan (Paul Williams, also the lyricist/composer of the score), who decides to steal the piece for himself and give the music to his studio band, a three-man vocal group seemingly capable of cheating death again and again- in the course of their concert performances, they are stabbed in the heart, blown to pieces, dismembered and more, yet still keep showing up again and again- to record.
Winslow's journey to redeem his music and reclaim his place as a singer-songwriter takes a terrible toll on him- he is thrown in prison, his teeth are replaced with metal fangs, he is hideously dismembered and left for dead, and finally, his larynx is crushed, rendering him unable to speak or sing without mechanical assistance. Desperate, he makes one final deal with Swan- he will finish the rock opera, but only Phoenix (Jessica Harper), a studio vocalist he is smitten with from afar, will be allowed to sing the songs he writes. Swan agrees, and helps Winslow finish writing by creating a giant, pipe-organ sized vocal synthesizer... which replaces Winslow's own broken throat with Swan's own singing voice. And THEN things get weird. Really weird.
The performances throughout the film, campy as they are, are extremely memorable, and suit the film's tone and style extremely well. Williams, as the diminutive villain Swan, walks the fine line between being sinister and absurd- this tyrant is, after all, only a somewhat dwarfish fellow dressed like a hippie Andy Warhol. If his peculiar speaking voice sounds familiar, it is probably because either: A, you recognize it as the voice of The Penguin from "Batman, The Animated Series;" or B, because Swan's voice and mannerisms in the film were the inspiration for Mr. Burns on "The Simpsons," even down to the steepling fingers and breathy intonation of "Excellent!" William Finley's performance as Winslow/The Phantom of the Paradise is somewhat subtler, but the garish superhero costume, metal teeth and mechanical voice still render him a larger-than-life presence. But the best in show award must go to the Studio Band, made up of Archie Hahn, Harold Oblong and Jeffrey Comanor. Appearing as Grease knockoffs, Beach Boys wannabes, Alice Cooper imitators and studio vocalists, and getting horribly mangled each and every time, these guys turn in performances WAY over the top and score some of the best moments in the entire film.
And now, a moment to talk about the songs. Like "Velvet Goldmine" last time, "Phantom of the Paradise" uses mostly diegetic music, but blurs the lines by including borderline in-character examples as well. Most of the show's songs, especially "Goodbye Eddie," "Life at Last" and "Old Souls" are songs performed in concert or recording situations by the characters. However, at other times, we get to hear the music our composer Winslow Leach hears in his head, as he mentally hums "Never Thought I'd Get To Meet The Devil" on his way to meet Swan. The end credits song, "The Hell of It," was designed for a scene that ended up being cut, but would have involved tap-dancing on the coffin of a deceased character. Finally, the most ambiguous example: "Phantom's Theme (Beauty And The Beast)." Heard over a sequence of Swan manipulating Winslow into finishing the music he writes for Phoenix, the singing voice is clearly that of Paul Williams- but does the song reflect the character of Winslow, or Swan?
One last fun fact to take with you about this musical: despite predating "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" by several years, the film still shares several extremely strange coincidental similarities with its younger sibling. First, both films contain songs about a recently deceased rocker character named Eddie, and both use an anachronistic Fifties doo-wop sound for that song only. Second, both films contain aggressive transvestite blues-rock singers in platform shoes and a corset. Finally, both films contain a scene of "the perfect man" being built, Frankenstein-like, before he rises to sing a song. Weird, huh? That's the best word to describe this entire film. Weird... but good. Give it a rental, and I guarantee you won't regret it.
Phantom of the Paradise: A
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Never give up your dreams. Actor/singer/songwriter Paul Williams had been discouraged from acting due to his somewhat bizarre, boyish appearance and small stature. After making a name for himself as the songwriter behind Barbra Streissand's "Evergreen," the theme from "The Love Boat," and just about every song you remember from The Muppets, he finally got to try his hand at a major film role- a villian, even- and he NAILED it.
WARNING FOR ACTORS: If you don't feel safe attempting a stunt, tell someone! Get it rehearsed more, or even see about using a stunt double if you are working on film. During the scene in which Winslow's face is crushed by the record press, it was assumed that the machine was rigged to stop before ACTUALLY crushing William Finley's face. As it turns out, it wasn't, and Finley was pulled to safety just in time to avoid real death.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Listen to as much music as you can- you never know what will inspire you. Part of the fun of "Phantom of the Paradise" is the way it uses multiple musical genres not just for variety, but to make a point about the fickle nature of the music-buying public.
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Check your legal status on anything that might be copyrighted BEFORE you start filming. The evil record company in the film was originally called "Swan Song Records," but a dispute with the actual record company of the same name led to heavy amounts of post-production editing to replace all instances of "Swan Song" with "Death Records."
A one sentence summary of "Phantom of the Paradise" would sound absurd: "Based loosely on 'Faust,' 'The Picture of Dorian Grey,' 'Svengali,' AND 'The Phantom Of The Opera,' this is undoubtedly the best ultraviolent superhero rock musical ever written by the midget composer of 'The Love Boat Theme.'" But actually, now that I typed that out, it sounds about right. Struggling composer Winslow Leach (William Finley) wants to write a rock opera based on "Faust" as a solo concept-album piece. His music is heard by eccentric but all-powerful record producer Swan (Paul Williams, also the lyricist/composer of the score), who decides to steal the piece for himself and give the music to his studio band, a three-man vocal group seemingly capable of cheating death again and again- in the course of their concert performances, they are stabbed in the heart, blown to pieces, dismembered and more, yet still keep showing up again and again- to record.
Winslow's journey to redeem his music and reclaim his place as a singer-songwriter takes a terrible toll on him- he is thrown in prison, his teeth are replaced with metal fangs, he is hideously dismembered and left for dead, and finally, his larynx is crushed, rendering him unable to speak or sing without mechanical assistance. Desperate, he makes one final deal with Swan- he will finish the rock opera, but only Phoenix (Jessica Harper), a studio vocalist he is smitten with from afar, will be allowed to sing the songs he writes. Swan agrees, and helps Winslow finish writing by creating a giant, pipe-organ sized vocal synthesizer... which replaces Winslow's own broken throat with Swan's own singing voice. And THEN things get weird. Really weird.
The performances throughout the film, campy as they are, are extremely memorable, and suit the film's tone and style extremely well. Williams, as the diminutive villain Swan, walks the fine line between being sinister and absurd- this tyrant is, after all, only a somewhat dwarfish fellow dressed like a hippie Andy Warhol. If his peculiar speaking voice sounds familiar, it is probably because either: A, you recognize it as the voice of The Penguin from "Batman, The Animated Series;" or B, because Swan's voice and mannerisms in the film were the inspiration for Mr. Burns on "The Simpsons," even down to the steepling fingers and breathy intonation of "Excellent!" William Finley's performance as Winslow/The Phantom of the Paradise is somewhat subtler, but the garish superhero costume, metal teeth and mechanical voice still render him a larger-than-life presence. But the best in show award must go to the Studio Band, made up of Archie Hahn, Harold Oblong and Jeffrey Comanor. Appearing as Grease knockoffs, Beach Boys wannabes, Alice Cooper imitators and studio vocalists, and getting horribly mangled each and every time, these guys turn in performances WAY over the top and score some of the best moments in the entire film.
And now, a moment to talk about the songs. Like "Velvet Goldmine" last time, "Phantom of the Paradise" uses mostly diegetic music, but blurs the lines by including borderline in-character examples as well. Most of the show's songs, especially "Goodbye Eddie," "Life at Last" and "Old Souls" are songs performed in concert or recording situations by the characters. However, at other times, we get to hear the music our composer Winslow Leach hears in his head, as he mentally hums "Never Thought I'd Get To Meet The Devil" on his way to meet Swan. The end credits song, "The Hell of It," was designed for a scene that ended up being cut, but would have involved tap-dancing on the coffin of a deceased character. Finally, the most ambiguous example: "Phantom's Theme (Beauty And The Beast)." Heard over a sequence of Swan manipulating Winslow into finishing the music he writes for Phoenix, the singing voice is clearly that of Paul Williams- but does the song reflect the character of Winslow, or Swan?
One last fun fact to take with you about this musical: despite predating "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" by several years, the film still shares several extremely strange coincidental similarities with its younger sibling. First, both films contain songs about a recently deceased rocker character named Eddie, and both use an anachronistic Fifties doo-wop sound for that song only. Second, both films contain aggressive transvestite blues-rock singers in platform shoes and a corset. Finally, both films contain a scene of "the perfect man" being built, Frankenstein-like, before he rises to sing a song. Weird, huh? That's the best word to describe this entire film. Weird... but good. Give it a rental, and I guarantee you won't regret it.
Phantom of the Paradise: A
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Never give up your dreams. Actor/singer/songwriter Paul Williams had been discouraged from acting due to his somewhat bizarre, boyish appearance and small stature. After making a name for himself as the songwriter behind Barbra Streissand's "Evergreen," the theme from "The Love Boat," and just about every song you remember from The Muppets, he finally got to try his hand at a major film role- a villian, even- and he NAILED it.
WARNING FOR ACTORS: If you don't feel safe attempting a stunt, tell someone! Get it rehearsed more, or even see about using a stunt double if you are working on film. During the scene in which Winslow's face is crushed by the record press, it was assumed that the machine was rigged to stop before ACTUALLY crushing William Finley's face. As it turns out, it wasn't, and Finley was pulled to safety just in time to avoid real death.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Listen to as much music as you can- you never know what will inspire you. Part of the fun of "Phantom of the Paradise" is the way it uses multiple musical genres not just for variety, but to make a point about the fickle nature of the music-buying public.
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Check your legal status on anything that might be copyrighted BEFORE you start filming. The evil record company in the film was originally called "Swan Song Records," but a dispute with the actual record company of the same name led to heavy amounts of post-production editing to replace all instances of "Swan Song" with "Death Records."
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Velvet Goldmine (Day 4)
Yesterday, this blog looked at "Elf," last season's Christmas musical. Today, we're taking a look at the film musical "Velvet Goldmine," and the various different ways one can deal with a musical on film.
The plot of "Velvet Goldmine" is easy to state, but hard to explain. After a failed publicity stunt years ago, glam rocker Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Myers), better known as Maxwell Demon, has disappeared for the better part of a decade. The year is 1984, and journalist Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale), a former fan of Slade, is assigned to write a "where are they now" piece on the reclusive rocker, who appears to have literally disappeared. As Stuart explores his Slade's past, as well as his own, he discovers that both stories intertwine with the rumors of a scandalous love triangle between Slade, his American wife (Toni Collette), and another rocker (Ewan McGregor). The plot is loosely based on David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" period, his (eventually denied) allegations of bisexuality, and the legends of the decadence surrounding him, but rather than being a biopic musical, the plot is heavily mixed with the lore of such rockers as Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Jobriath and nineteenth-century wit Oscar Wilde, who is described in the movie as the world's first pop idol.
The question arises- is "Velvet Goldmine" a musical? Yes, and no. Yes, it is a piece of dramatic art which uses music for communication, but no, not ALL the music is in the style of "the characters sing their thoughts and feelings." Moments like that DO occur, but they are usually dreamlike and nonrealistic moments, such as the incredibly surreal "Satellite of Love" sequence, or Slade's final meltdown in the "Tumbling Down" number. The bulk of the music, however, appears as either music videos or concert performances, only natural for a musical about rock stars. Even these moments are showy, theatrical affairs, though, and they are often rapidly intercut with "offstage" scenes in the lives of the characters. Finally, some music is just "soundtrack," like in any other film.
McGregor and Myers are great in the two lead roles, as fictionalized variants on Iggy Pop/Jim Morrison and David Bowie/Jobriath, respectively. Their characterizations are often hard to read, as a central theme of the film is how these two men, and indeed the entire ilk of the glam movement, were ciphers, androgynous but artificial. Their real personalities, sexual preferences and "styles" are left a central mystery, and a good deal of the movie's satire is on the way so-called "alternative sexuality" was turned into a trendy commodity by the glam stars. (Real life example: blues singer David Jones, forced to change his name and image by the presence of Davey Jones and the Monkees, became a glam star, David Bowie, and fostered a public image of camp bisexuality, which, upon his sudden abandonment of glam in favor of a soul-based rock sound, he denounced as having been a publicity stunt.)
In final analysis, "Velvet Goldmine" is not a movie for everyone, nor is it a musical for all tastes. If you don't like glam rock (especially David Bowie), proto-punk (especially Iggy Pop and the Stooges), or experimental art-rock (especially Roxy Music), this MAY not be for you. On the other hand, if you like movies with a good beat you can dance to, and you're wondering where Lady Gaga got her look and style, go ahead and rent it on Netflix. What can you lose?
Velvet Goldmine: A-
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Do your research. When Ewan McGregor was simply told to "go wild" in a concert sequence that introduces his character, he mixed spasmic dancing, use of props and public nudity into his performance- all stage techniques heavily associated with Iggy Pop, the inspiration for his character.
WARNING FOR ACTORS: Don't let your accent slip! Toni Collette, as the American wife of a British rocker, vacillates in mid-sentence from American to British dialects. Whether or not this was intentional is still contested to this day.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Remember this term- roman a clef. The "roman a clef" is a fictional story based on real-life elements, with enough changed to avoid lawsuits or controversy. Notable films in this genre include "Valley of the Dolls" (the fall of Judy Garland), "Dreamgirls" (the Supremes), and "Inherit The Wind" (the Scopes Monkey Trial).
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Keep track of your characters and plot elements- don't use something and then forget why you threw it in. Plot points involving Oscar Wilde and his mysterious space earrings, and the influential but silent glam figure Jack Ferry, are established in the first half and never pay off.
The plot of "Velvet Goldmine" is easy to state, but hard to explain. After a failed publicity stunt years ago, glam rocker Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Myers), better known as Maxwell Demon, has disappeared for the better part of a decade. The year is 1984, and journalist Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale), a former fan of Slade, is assigned to write a "where are they now" piece on the reclusive rocker, who appears to have literally disappeared. As Stuart explores his Slade's past, as well as his own, he discovers that both stories intertwine with the rumors of a scandalous love triangle between Slade, his American wife (Toni Collette), and another rocker (Ewan McGregor). The plot is loosely based on David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" period, his (eventually denied) allegations of bisexuality, and the legends of the decadence surrounding him, but rather than being a biopic musical, the plot is heavily mixed with the lore of such rockers as Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Jobriath and nineteenth-century wit Oscar Wilde, who is described in the movie as the world's first pop idol.
The question arises- is "Velvet Goldmine" a musical? Yes, and no. Yes, it is a piece of dramatic art which uses music for communication, but no, not ALL the music is in the style of "the characters sing their thoughts and feelings." Moments like that DO occur, but they are usually dreamlike and nonrealistic moments, such as the incredibly surreal "Satellite of Love" sequence, or Slade's final meltdown in the "Tumbling Down" number. The bulk of the music, however, appears as either music videos or concert performances, only natural for a musical about rock stars. Even these moments are showy, theatrical affairs, though, and they are often rapidly intercut with "offstage" scenes in the lives of the characters. Finally, some music is just "soundtrack," like in any other film.
McGregor and Myers are great in the two lead roles, as fictionalized variants on Iggy Pop/Jim Morrison and David Bowie/Jobriath, respectively. Their characterizations are often hard to read, as a central theme of the film is how these two men, and indeed the entire ilk of the glam movement, were ciphers, androgynous but artificial. Their real personalities, sexual preferences and "styles" are left a central mystery, and a good deal of the movie's satire is on the way so-called "alternative sexuality" was turned into a trendy commodity by the glam stars. (Real life example: blues singer David Jones, forced to change his name and image by the presence of Davey Jones and the Monkees, became a glam star, David Bowie, and fostered a public image of camp bisexuality, which, upon his sudden abandonment of glam in favor of a soul-based rock sound, he denounced as having been a publicity stunt.)
In final analysis, "Velvet Goldmine" is not a movie for everyone, nor is it a musical for all tastes. If you don't like glam rock (especially David Bowie), proto-punk (especially Iggy Pop and the Stooges), or experimental art-rock (especially Roxy Music), this MAY not be for you. On the other hand, if you like movies with a good beat you can dance to, and you're wondering where Lady Gaga got her look and style, go ahead and rent it on Netflix. What can you lose?
Velvet Goldmine: A-
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Do your research. When Ewan McGregor was simply told to "go wild" in a concert sequence that introduces his character, he mixed spasmic dancing, use of props and public nudity into his performance- all stage techniques heavily associated with Iggy Pop, the inspiration for his character.
WARNING FOR ACTORS: Don't let your accent slip! Toni Collette, as the American wife of a British rocker, vacillates in mid-sentence from American to British dialects. Whether or not this was intentional is still contested to this day.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Remember this term- roman a clef. The "roman a clef" is a fictional story based on real-life elements, with enough changed to avoid lawsuits or controversy. Notable films in this genre include "Valley of the Dolls" (the fall of Judy Garland), "Dreamgirls" (the Supremes), and "Inherit The Wind" (the Scopes Monkey Trial).
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Keep track of your characters and plot elements- don't use something and then forget why you threw it in. Plot points involving Oscar Wilde and his mysterious space earrings, and the influential but silent glam figure Jack Ferry, are established in the first half and never pay off.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Elf (Day 3)
Yesterday, we looked at "The Scottsboro Boys" by Kander and Ebb, a musical which had an all-star pedigree and huge critical acclaim, but closed sooner than expected. Today, we look a very different show: "Elf," by Thomas Meehan, Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin. In addition to looking at the show in itself, we will also consider the pros and cons of "Christmas musicals."
Let's face it: you'd probably have to live under a rock to not know the story of "Elf" by now. Based on one of the most successful Christmas movies of the past decade, the musical tells the story of Buddy Hobbs, a human raised as an elf who journeys to New York City to meet the human family he never knew he had. As the story goes on, narrated by a rather crotchety Santa, Buddy spreads Christmas cheer and a new understanding of the meaning of family to his cynical relatives and their friends.
The cast for this show seemed hit-or-miss, though perhaps that was because of the iconic performance of Will Ferrell as Buddy in the movie. Lead actor Sebastian Arcelus has big shoes to fill, literally and metaphorically, but an actor of his type will be automatically at a disadvantage. Granted, Arcelus is an extremely winning performer- his Buddy is goofy, naive, childlike and a little bit fey, to the point where he seems to be channeling sketch-comic-cum-Broadway-star Martin Short for most of the show. However, the simple fact that he appears winsome, childlike and fey as Buddy countercuts one of the movie's inherent visual jokes- a slim, youthful-looking Buddy is much less funny and absurd than a paunchy, hairy, visibly ADULT Buddy, which was what Will Ferrell brought to the table with the same amount of childlike innocence.
Amy Spanger plays Jovie, the female lead played by Zooey Deschanel in the film. Here, also, is a case of a game performer not being able to live up to expectations. One of the best-remembered things about the film is the scene in which Jovie sings "Baby, It's Cold Outside," revealing her fantastic singing voice. When Spanger sings in the show, not only is it not such a revelation due to the musical genre, but her voice is still a bit fried from "Rock of Ages," a show she left to take vocal rest. George Wendt, as Santa Claus, seems visibly out of breath the whole show every time he is called upon to walk or dance, though is introductory monologue (in which Santa takes a moment at the start of the show to turn off his cell phone and open his candies so as not to distract himself during the show) brought down the house.
Though the cast itself was sometimes a disappointment, the show was certainly not bad by any means. Frequently very funny, it took to the stage very well- if you didn't know there had been a movie, it would still seem like a fun Christmas show. Despite this, there were a few problems inherent in the show's material itself. First, the lines that got the biggest laughs were in-jokes about New York, or current-events references that seemed almost improvised on the spot (a Charlie Sheen joke, a bit with Santa's new iPad, an extended riff on Tivo at the North Pole). Touring, regional and especially community productions of the show may suffer if the topical jokes are not updated, or the New York references prove not as funny outside Times Square. Second, and most importantly, this is a Christmas show.
The market can only support a Christmas show once a year, in the crucial November-early January time slot. In addition, it can only support ONE Christmas show a year. Broadway is a much smaller market than film, where several Christmas would-be blockbusters can duke it out over the Christmas season at the box office. To have "Elf" and, say, "White Christmas" running simultaneously would be counterproductive- their earnings would cancel each other out, and producers are thus more likely to make the smart decision to invest in a year-round show than put up a SECOND holiday extravaganza. The limited possible play time per year is the biggest con against Christmas shows... but there IS a pro. People seem to love holiday entertainment. Christmas specials, Christmas movies- when the winter weather hits and the media commercial blitz begins, people get in the mood for a Christmas show, and believe it or not, there aren't very many Christmas shows to pick from. Take a look:
MAJOR CHRISTMAS MUSICALS ABOUT CHRISTMAS OR CHRISTMASSY THEMES:
A Christmas Carol
Elf
White Christmas
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
Holiday Inn (a variant on "White Christmas")
Miracle on 34th Street (originally produced as "Here's Love")
Radio City Christmas Spectacular (if you happen to be Radio City Music Hall)
A Christmas Story
The Nightmare Before Christmas
CHRISTMAS MUSICALS ONLY ASSOCIATED CULTURALLY WITH CHRISTMAS:
The Wizard Of Oz
The Sound Of Music
Annie (has a Christmas scene at the end, which is not very memorable anyway)
Beauty And The Beast
Stinkfoot
With odds like those, what can you lose writing a new Christmas show? If it doesn't suck, SOMEONE will probably produce it, and if it gets produced, people will eventually come. And "Elf," despite a critical ravaging, doesn't suck. It isn't great, but it's good, even though many of its best moments feel rather derivative. During the North Pole scenes, for instance, the actors dance on their knees with feet attached to knee pads, a la Lord Farquaad in "Shrek." Later scenes in the office recall both "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "How To Succeed" in choreography and direction. Perhaps the only completely original moment in the show is the final sight gag of the show, in which a full-cast tap battle is won by an unseen baby in a stroller. Was it brilliant? Heck, no. Was it original? Probably. Did I like it anyway! Criticize me if you wish, but it made me laugh, and smile, and feel Christmassy, even in dreary, humid, overcast May. Ho ho ho, and to all a good night.
Elf: B-
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Stay in shape! Shows like "Elf" will sometimes make unusual physical demands, such as ice skating or being able to dance long tap numbers entirely on your knees. The more flexible and physically fit you remain, the easier getting into and staying in such casts will be.
WARNING FOR ACTORS: Never underestimate the power of your character voice. Playing the Macy's manager, Michael Mandell employs an extremely over-the-top character voice of "big, bombastic black man" in the Tyler Perry style. He does not alter this characterization at all as a mall Santa in Act 2, making the impact of both characters slightly less.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Make sure to think of unusual and pleasing ways to do ordinary, cliched things when you absolutely have to do them. Rather than make a dry pre-show announcement, or even a quirky, individualized one, the writers chose to incorporate the house rules speech into Santa's opening monologue, far enough into the scene that rather than eliciting groans from the audience, it got laughs instead.
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Be careful when going for a cheap laugh- think how well the joke will age if it's produced again. "Elf" was only booked for last Christmas, but did well enough that it will be back this coming holiday season- but how will jokes about iPads and Charlie Sheen play a year removed from the premiere?
Let's face it: you'd probably have to live under a rock to not know the story of "Elf" by now. Based on one of the most successful Christmas movies of the past decade, the musical tells the story of Buddy Hobbs, a human raised as an elf who journeys to New York City to meet the human family he never knew he had. As the story goes on, narrated by a rather crotchety Santa, Buddy spreads Christmas cheer and a new understanding of the meaning of family to his cynical relatives and their friends.
The cast for this show seemed hit-or-miss, though perhaps that was because of the iconic performance of Will Ferrell as Buddy in the movie. Lead actor Sebastian Arcelus has big shoes to fill, literally and metaphorically, but an actor of his type will be automatically at a disadvantage. Granted, Arcelus is an extremely winning performer- his Buddy is goofy, naive, childlike and a little bit fey, to the point where he seems to be channeling sketch-comic-cum-Broadway-star Martin Short for most of the show. However, the simple fact that he appears winsome, childlike and fey as Buddy countercuts one of the movie's inherent visual jokes- a slim, youthful-looking Buddy is much less funny and absurd than a paunchy, hairy, visibly ADULT Buddy, which was what Will Ferrell brought to the table with the same amount of childlike innocence.
Amy Spanger plays Jovie, the female lead played by Zooey Deschanel in the film. Here, also, is a case of a game performer not being able to live up to expectations. One of the best-remembered things about the film is the scene in which Jovie sings "Baby, It's Cold Outside," revealing her fantastic singing voice. When Spanger sings in the show, not only is it not such a revelation due to the musical genre, but her voice is still a bit fried from "Rock of Ages," a show she left to take vocal rest. George Wendt, as Santa Claus, seems visibly out of breath the whole show every time he is called upon to walk or dance, though is introductory monologue (in which Santa takes a moment at the start of the show to turn off his cell phone and open his candies so as not to distract himself during the show) brought down the house.
Though the cast itself was sometimes a disappointment, the show was certainly not bad by any means. Frequently very funny, it took to the stage very well- if you didn't know there had been a movie, it would still seem like a fun Christmas show. Despite this, there were a few problems inherent in the show's material itself. First, the lines that got the biggest laughs were in-jokes about New York, or current-events references that seemed almost improvised on the spot (a Charlie Sheen joke, a bit with Santa's new iPad, an extended riff on Tivo at the North Pole). Touring, regional and especially community productions of the show may suffer if the topical jokes are not updated, or the New York references prove not as funny outside Times Square. Second, and most importantly, this is a Christmas show.
The market can only support a Christmas show once a year, in the crucial November-early January time slot. In addition, it can only support ONE Christmas show a year. Broadway is a much smaller market than film, where several Christmas would-be blockbusters can duke it out over the Christmas season at the box office. To have "Elf" and, say, "White Christmas" running simultaneously would be counterproductive- their earnings would cancel each other out, and producers are thus more likely to make the smart decision to invest in a year-round show than put up a SECOND holiday extravaganza. The limited possible play time per year is the biggest con against Christmas shows... but there IS a pro. People seem to love holiday entertainment. Christmas specials, Christmas movies- when the winter weather hits and the media commercial blitz begins, people get in the mood for a Christmas show, and believe it or not, there aren't very many Christmas shows to pick from. Take a look:
MAJOR CHRISTMAS MUSICALS ABOUT CHRISTMAS OR CHRISTMASSY THEMES:
A Christmas Carol
Elf
White Christmas
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
Holiday Inn (a variant on "White Christmas")
Miracle on 34th Street (originally produced as "Here's Love")
Radio City Christmas Spectacular (if you happen to be Radio City Music Hall)
A Christmas Story
The Nightmare Before Christmas
CHRISTMAS MUSICALS ONLY ASSOCIATED CULTURALLY WITH CHRISTMAS:
The Wizard Of Oz
The Sound Of Music
Annie (has a Christmas scene at the end, which is not very memorable anyway)
Beauty And The Beast
Stinkfoot
With odds like those, what can you lose writing a new Christmas show? If it doesn't suck, SOMEONE will probably produce it, and if it gets produced, people will eventually come. And "Elf," despite a critical ravaging, doesn't suck. It isn't great, but it's good, even though many of its best moments feel rather derivative. During the North Pole scenes, for instance, the actors dance on their knees with feet attached to knee pads, a la Lord Farquaad in "Shrek." Later scenes in the office recall both "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "How To Succeed" in choreography and direction. Perhaps the only completely original moment in the show is the final sight gag of the show, in which a full-cast tap battle is won by an unseen baby in a stroller. Was it brilliant? Heck, no. Was it original? Probably. Did I like it anyway! Criticize me if you wish, but it made me laugh, and smile, and feel Christmassy, even in dreary, humid, overcast May. Ho ho ho, and to all a good night.
Elf: B-
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Stay in shape! Shows like "Elf" will sometimes make unusual physical demands, such as ice skating or being able to dance long tap numbers entirely on your knees. The more flexible and physically fit you remain, the easier getting into and staying in such casts will be.
WARNING FOR ACTORS: Never underestimate the power of your character voice. Playing the Macy's manager, Michael Mandell employs an extremely over-the-top character voice of "big, bombastic black man" in the Tyler Perry style. He does not alter this characterization at all as a mall Santa in Act 2, making the impact of both characters slightly less.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Make sure to think of unusual and pleasing ways to do ordinary, cliched things when you absolutely have to do them. Rather than make a dry pre-show announcement, or even a quirky, individualized one, the writers chose to incorporate the house rules speech into Santa's opening monologue, far enough into the scene that rather than eliciting groans from the audience, it got laughs instead.
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Be careful when going for a cheap laugh- think how well the joke will age if it's produced again. "Elf" was only booked for last Christmas, but did well enough that it will be back this coming holiday season- but how will jokes about iPads and Charlie Sheen play a year removed from the premiere?
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
The Scottsboro Boys (Day 2)
Yesterday, we took a look at "A Very Potter Sequel," a fast and funny (though perhaps a bit overlong) musical comedy by Team Starkid. Today, we bring you something completely different on literally every level: "The Scottsboro Boys," the final musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb, as directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman.
It would be hard to think of a less commercial musical than "Scottsboro:" an all-black (save for one minor character), no-stars, extra-low-budget musical about a miscarriage of justice in Alabama during the Great Depression, sentencing nine black men to prison for an alleged rape which they did not commit. But perhaps the "no-stars" distinction is not entirely accurate. There are no big stars onstage- the biggest you'll see are John Cullum, a fairly successful Broadway figure from years past who still appears as a character actor occasionally on stage and screen, or Josh Henry, who played The General in last season's "American Idiot." However, the creative team are the true all-stars here.
Kander and Ebb, the music and lyrical team behind "Chicago," "Cabaret," "Curtains," and "New York, New York." Director/choreographer Susan Stroman, best known for her direction and choreography of the Tony-Award winning musicals "The Producers" and "Crazy For You," does great work with her material, turning out electrifying number after number, and countless brilliant stage moments. Working with extreme minimalism, the entirety of the show's set and props are made from twelve steel chairs arranged, stacked, sprawled or reconfigured a myriad of ways, becoming everything from a train, to a prison cell, to the barbed-wire-enclosed obstacle course outside of a prison. The dancing, as well, is stellar, utilizing tap, cakewalk, kicklines and countless other minstrel-show techniques to... wait. Did I forget to mention the minstrel show? Oh, yeah...
Here's where the controversy kicks in. "The Scottsboro Boys" tells its story through the now-antiquated theatrical style known as the minstrel show: black vaudeville at its most degrading and degraded. A white ringmaster, the Interlocutor, and his black "boys" sing, dance and play the fool for the audience, aided by the Interlocutor's two chief clowns, Mr. Bones and Mr. Tambo, who play all the "white people" roles as broad ethnic caricatures- Southern belles, big-city Jewish lawyers, and racist redneck policemen. This is social satire of an extremely daring kind- condemning racism and the use of ethnic stereotypes by inverting, subverting and flip-flopping genders, classes and ethnic groups, and it is only natural that some audiences didn't get that the joke was on them. During the short Broadway run of "The Scottsboro Boys," the theatre was picketed by many groups offended by the use of blackface, the minstrel show tradition, or the depiction of Jews. Whoopi Goldberg, a supporter of the show, quickly pointed out that most of the protesters had not actually even seen the show.
The performances are wonderful across the board, with Josh Henry's portrayal of Haywood, the "boy" who refused to cave and plead guilty even if it meant parole, being particularly strong, the dramatic root in a show full of pitch-black comedy. Also, Coleman Domingo and Forrest McClendon are hilarious and cringeworthy as Bones and Tambo, whose antics and caricatures are simultaneously uproarious and subtly disturbing.
The grand prize for best in show, though, goes to director Stroman, who, though she never appears onstage, makes her touch and presence palpable in literally every moment, much like Bob Fosse did in the musicals he directed and choreographed. The "Make Friends With The Truth" musical number must be seen to be believed: as Haywood shucks and jives his way through a tale of a little boy whose dishonesty always leads him into trouble, a bedsheet stretched behind him becomes a shadow theatre. Haywood dances a duo with his own silhouette (another actor behind him) in perfect synchronization and interplay, then later dances in front of it as his shadow becomes a grotesque, monstrous creature dancing in step with him. After a silhouetted lynching, Haywood becomes Saint Peter at the pearly gates, and the bedsheet flies up on poles and becomes a pair of wings for him. Genuine stage magic, with nothing but a lantern, twelve chairs and a bedsheet.
In closing, it seems almost unfair to rank "Scottsboro" against the greatest works of Kander and Ebb- not because it is inferior, or even in a different class, but because time has treated "Chicago" and "Cabaret" with such huge favor that "Cabaret" and its film version are considered one of the greatest musicals of all time, and a revival of "Chicago" currently holds the record for longest-running revival of all time. Against such iconic works, "Scottsboro" seems a footnote- but will it rise to prominence over time, despite its untimely end on Broadway? Only time will tell.
The Scottsboro Boys: A+
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Pay attention in your theatre history classes! Absorb as many techniques, genres, styles and tools of the trade as you can, because you never know when they will come in handy. Just because something is no longer current, don't assume that it won't make a comeback in one form or another. Two years ago, actors might have assumed that the minstrel show was gone for good, and would never play a legitimate stage again, but here it comes, big and bad as ever.
WARNING FOR ACTORS: Don't look for more attention than you warrant- sometimes you simply have to be the background. If the woman playing the part of The Woman, a one-line character who only speaks in the show's final moment, had drawn any audience attention before her sudden chance in the spotlight, her impact would have been lost. Rather, by being always silent, and always in the shadows but ever present throughout the show, her mere presence onstage made her more interesting than anything she could have said or done.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Tell the stories you feel need to be told. Kander and Ebb surely knew that "The Scottsboro Boys" would be a controversial show, but they felt the need to make the injustice known and educate audiences while entertaining them, just like they did with "Cabaret," a musical that, for all its high-energy production numbers and big standards, is really a show about how German citizens were complicit in the rise of Nazism. Don't be afraid of how audiences will react- tell your story the way you want to tell it.
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Despite the above, be well aware that not everyone will get what you're trying to do. Picture three audiences that could attend your show- a cultured, fairly well-educated audience, an uncultured, uneducated audience, and the type of people who will judge your show before they even get to see it. Consider how the show will play to the first and second groups, and then consider the blanket argument of the uninformed but agitated masses. What will their inevitable complaint or fear be? Consider what in your work will defend you against their accusations once they have actually SEEN the show. If nothing comes to mind, consider rethinking how you are saying what you are saying in your play.
It would be hard to think of a less commercial musical than "Scottsboro:" an all-black (save for one minor character), no-stars, extra-low-budget musical about a miscarriage of justice in Alabama during the Great Depression, sentencing nine black men to prison for an alleged rape which they did not commit. But perhaps the "no-stars" distinction is not entirely accurate. There are no big stars onstage- the biggest you'll see are John Cullum, a fairly successful Broadway figure from years past who still appears as a character actor occasionally on stage and screen, or Josh Henry, who played The General in last season's "American Idiot." However, the creative team are the true all-stars here.
Kander and Ebb, the music and lyrical team behind "Chicago," "Cabaret," "Curtains," and "New York, New York." Director/choreographer Susan Stroman, best known for her direction and choreography of the Tony-Award winning musicals "The Producers" and "Crazy For You," does great work with her material, turning out electrifying number after number, and countless brilliant stage moments. Working with extreme minimalism, the entirety of the show's set and props are made from twelve steel chairs arranged, stacked, sprawled or reconfigured a myriad of ways, becoming everything from a train, to a prison cell, to the barbed-wire-enclosed obstacle course outside of a prison. The dancing, as well, is stellar, utilizing tap, cakewalk, kicklines and countless other minstrel-show techniques to... wait. Did I forget to mention the minstrel show? Oh, yeah...
Here's where the controversy kicks in. "The Scottsboro Boys" tells its story through the now-antiquated theatrical style known as the minstrel show: black vaudeville at its most degrading and degraded. A white ringmaster, the Interlocutor, and his black "boys" sing, dance and play the fool for the audience, aided by the Interlocutor's two chief clowns, Mr. Bones and Mr. Tambo, who play all the "white people" roles as broad ethnic caricatures- Southern belles, big-city Jewish lawyers, and racist redneck policemen. This is social satire of an extremely daring kind- condemning racism and the use of ethnic stereotypes by inverting, subverting and flip-flopping genders, classes and ethnic groups, and it is only natural that some audiences didn't get that the joke was on them. During the short Broadway run of "The Scottsboro Boys," the theatre was picketed by many groups offended by the use of blackface, the minstrel show tradition, or the depiction of Jews. Whoopi Goldberg, a supporter of the show, quickly pointed out that most of the protesters had not actually even seen the show.
The performances are wonderful across the board, with Josh Henry's portrayal of Haywood, the "boy" who refused to cave and plead guilty even if it meant parole, being particularly strong, the dramatic root in a show full of pitch-black comedy. Also, Coleman Domingo and Forrest McClendon are hilarious and cringeworthy as Bones and Tambo, whose antics and caricatures are simultaneously uproarious and subtly disturbing.
The grand prize for best in show, though, goes to director Stroman, who, though she never appears onstage, makes her touch and presence palpable in literally every moment, much like Bob Fosse did in the musicals he directed and choreographed. The "Make Friends With The Truth" musical number must be seen to be believed: as Haywood shucks and jives his way through a tale of a little boy whose dishonesty always leads him into trouble, a bedsheet stretched behind him becomes a shadow theatre. Haywood dances a duo with his own silhouette (another actor behind him) in perfect synchronization and interplay, then later dances in front of it as his shadow becomes a grotesque, monstrous creature dancing in step with him. After a silhouetted lynching, Haywood becomes Saint Peter at the pearly gates, and the bedsheet flies up on poles and becomes a pair of wings for him. Genuine stage magic, with nothing but a lantern, twelve chairs and a bedsheet.
In closing, it seems almost unfair to rank "Scottsboro" against the greatest works of Kander and Ebb- not because it is inferior, or even in a different class, but because time has treated "Chicago" and "Cabaret" with such huge favor that "Cabaret" and its film version are considered one of the greatest musicals of all time, and a revival of "Chicago" currently holds the record for longest-running revival of all time. Against such iconic works, "Scottsboro" seems a footnote- but will it rise to prominence over time, despite its untimely end on Broadway? Only time will tell.
The Scottsboro Boys: A+
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Pay attention in your theatre history classes! Absorb as many techniques, genres, styles and tools of the trade as you can, because you never know when they will come in handy. Just because something is no longer current, don't assume that it won't make a comeback in one form or another. Two years ago, actors might have assumed that the minstrel show was gone for good, and would never play a legitimate stage again, but here it comes, big and bad as ever.
WARNING FOR ACTORS: Don't look for more attention than you warrant- sometimes you simply have to be the background. If the woman playing the part of The Woman, a one-line character who only speaks in the show's final moment, had drawn any audience attention before her sudden chance in the spotlight, her impact would have been lost. Rather, by being always silent, and always in the shadows but ever present throughout the show, her mere presence onstage made her more interesting than anything she could have said or done.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Tell the stories you feel need to be told. Kander and Ebb surely knew that "The Scottsboro Boys" would be a controversial show, but they felt the need to make the injustice known and educate audiences while entertaining them, just like they did with "Cabaret," a musical that, for all its high-energy production numbers and big standards, is really a show about how German citizens were complicit in the rise of Nazism. Don't be afraid of how audiences will react- tell your story the way you want to tell it.
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Despite the above, be well aware that not everyone will get what you're trying to do. Picture three audiences that could attend your show- a cultured, fairly well-educated audience, an uncultured, uneducated audience, and the type of people who will judge your show before they even get to see it. Consider how the show will play to the first and second groups, and then consider the blanket argument of the uninformed but agitated masses. What will their inevitable complaint or fear be? Consider what in your work will defend you against their accusations once they have actually SEEN the show. If nothing comes to mind, consider rethinking how you are saying what you are saying in your play.
Monday, May 16, 2011
A Very Potter Sequel (Day 1)
For my first daily musical, I decided to view "A Very Potter Sequel," by Darren Criss and A.J. Holmes, better known as Team Starkid. This musical premiered on YouTube last summer, but I had been too busy to actually watch it in its entirety until now. I'll admit right off the bat that I'm a sucker for Team Starkid- I think they're talented and hilarious, and Darren Criss is one of my personal heroes for doing whatever the hell he wants and succeeding. He writes a parody musical around his friends and their goofy sketch comedy, it gets on YouTube, he gets famous, and becomes the actor-singer-songwriter star he always wanted to be, just by following his own admittedly ridiculous instincts. Now, he's a main character on Glee (Blaine, Kurt's boyfriend), and his songs sell more than any of the show's "stars" on Itunes.
As far as an actual review, here goes. There's a lot going on in "A Very Potter Sequel," most of it good, some of it great, but the only major problem is that there might be just a bit too much going on for its own good. The plot, in a nutshell: After telling a condensed version of the entire Harry Potter story in the first musical, "A Very Potter Musical," the plot has nowhere to go (a point lampshaded by Lucius Malfoy in the opening number). So, in order to prevent the overthrow of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, Lucius, the right hand man of the late Dark Lord, uses the Time Turner to travel with his Death Eaters back in time to Year One of the Harry Potter series to prevent things from turning out the way they did. We thus follow Harry and his friends/entourage through a new plot cobbled together from the sub-plots of the Potter series, mainly focused on the rise to power of dictatorial teacher Dolores Umbridge.
The comedic strategy here is pretty much "anything goes." Since Starkid's biannual musicals are an "event" as much as a new work of theatre, their shows are often extremely long, and AVPS is no different- in fact, at four hours with intermission, it may be their longest. However, the speed at which scene after scene, joke after joke, fly by makes up for the extreme length, which probably felt much quicker live. Also, the authors are well-versed in the art of the brick joke. For those of you not familiar with the tropes of writing comedy, a brick joke is a joke that pays off twice- once immediately, and once later when least expected. Throwing a brick into the air is funny in itself. What is even funnier is when it comes down, often much later. If you think something is funny in Act 1, chances are you've only heard the set-up, and the real joke is just down the line.
The actors are fantastically game for this kind of show and its demands- most of them play multiple roles, with director/puppet designer Nick Lang playing eight of them himself, everyone from the Sorting Hat (and its life partner, the Scarf of Sexual Preference) to Peter Pettigrew, to Zac Efron... which makes more sense in context, I promise. Lead actor and songwriter Darren Criss has plenty of charisma and charm as a narcissistic, admittedly douchey version of Harry Potter, and even takes some well-received jabs at his real-life persona as a dorky-but-loveable singer who plays Disney songs on guitar. Lauren Lopez, the petite soprano who plays the breeches role of Draco Malfoy, has phenomenal comic timing and skill at slapstick physicality. Additionally, her ability to bring genuine pathos and vulnerability to one of the show's most ridiculous and unlikeable characters points her out to be a cut above her still-talented co-stars. Finally, once again, Criss's good friend Joe Walker steals the show. While last year, he was an overly-buff, sexually-confused Voldemort, whose biggest wish was not to overthrow the world, but to tap-dance, this year he appears (ostensibly) in drag, as Dolores Umbridge, reimagined as a nightmarish mix of Tennessee Williams Southern belle and John Travolta in "Hairspray." Grotesquely masculine and feminine at once, Walker's "Mama Umbridge" has the other characters constantly speculating as to her actual gender. A truly fearless performer, Walker chews the scenery like a pro, to the point where Mama Umbridge literally breaks off her own finger to prove her bloodlust.
Darren Criss and AJ Holmes have not changed TOO much as songwriters- no song in the show is as instantly catchy and genuinely heartfelt as "Not Alone," nor as emotionally rooted as "Missing You," though several come close. What they have done, however, is improve their sound, by employing several more musicians for a sound that is less garage-like than the two-to-three-piece band from "A Very Potter Musical." Also notable is the increased influence of Menken, Ashman and Rice, the composing team behind most of the Disney Renaissance musicals. As composer Criss is an admitted devotee of "Beauty and The Beast," "Aladdin" and "The Little Mermaid," the song style crops up repeatedly in his works, most notably in the opening villain song, "Not Over Yet."
In summary, if you haven't seen AVPS yet, head to YouTube and watch it, but make sure that you've seen the original "A Very Potter Musical" first. Many of the jokes will make much more sense once you've seen the first musical, as a lot of the fun of this one is deconstructing the new character interpretations created in the first one. Fan of Harry Potter or hater, AVPS will surely convince you that it actually IS possible to write a sequel to a musical, and not make it suck. As a work of musical theatre, it is entertaining and fun, not a masterpiece by any means. But as a combination viral video, sketch comedy show, stage musical and yearly "event," it is a surefire success. Go Team Starkid!
A Very Potter Sequel: B+
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Know your genre and know your role. Acting may OFTEN be living realistically under imaginary circumstances, but in farce as extreme as this, sometimes you have to cut completely loose.
WARNING FOR ACTORS: Be wary of the lesson above. In a show with as many over-the-top characters and caricatures as this, some actors are going to be more commanding onstage than others. Actors like Joe Moses (Snape) and Dylan Saunders (Dumbledore) are wise enough to not try and upstage Joe Walker as Mama Umbridge during his/her big moments. When other characters DO attempt to take back the scene, they are massively overwhelmed.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Trust your instincts and material. A parody musical sequel deconstruction of a musical viral video? On paper, it sounds ridiculous, even impossible. Sequels, in particular, are often called the only thing worse than vampires on the musical stage. However, if you do it right, it can work. If you want to write a work that people say is impossible or improbable, you go right ahead and do it. Prove them wrong- dare to fail gloriously, as my professor used to say!
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Watch your show's rhythm (its overall build, ebb and flow, rise and fall), as well as its tempo (the rhythm as it relates to individual scenes and their progressions one after another). AVPS is an extremely long show, so in its slowest moments, it can drag. Occasionally, fifteen minutes can pass between songs, which affects the rhythm relatively little, but slows the tempo to a halt. Be very aware of your book-to-music ratio.
As far as an actual review, here goes. There's a lot going on in "A Very Potter Sequel," most of it good, some of it great, but the only major problem is that there might be just a bit too much going on for its own good. The plot, in a nutshell: After telling a condensed version of the entire Harry Potter story in the first musical, "A Very Potter Musical," the plot has nowhere to go (a point lampshaded by Lucius Malfoy in the opening number). So, in order to prevent the overthrow of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, Lucius, the right hand man of the late Dark Lord, uses the Time Turner to travel with his Death Eaters back in time to Year One of the Harry Potter series to prevent things from turning out the way they did. We thus follow Harry and his friends/entourage through a new plot cobbled together from the sub-plots of the Potter series, mainly focused on the rise to power of dictatorial teacher Dolores Umbridge.
The comedic strategy here is pretty much "anything goes." Since Starkid's biannual musicals are an "event" as much as a new work of theatre, their shows are often extremely long, and AVPS is no different- in fact, at four hours with intermission, it may be their longest. However, the speed at which scene after scene, joke after joke, fly by makes up for the extreme length, which probably felt much quicker live. Also, the authors are well-versed in the art of the brick joke. For those of you not familiar with the tropes of writing comedy, a brick joke is a joke that pays off twice- once immediately, and once later when least expected. Throwing a brick into the air is funny in itself. What is even funnier is when it comes down, often much later. If you think something is funny in Act 1, chances are you've only heard the set-up, and the real joke is just down the line.
The actors are fantastically game for this kind of show and its demands- most of them play multiple roles, with director/puppet designer Nick Lang playing eight of them himself, everyone from the Sorting Hat (and its life partner, the Scarf of Sexual Preference) to Peter Pettigrew, to Zac Efron... which makes more sense in context, I promise. Lead actor and songwriter Darren Criss has plenty of charisma and charm as a narcissistic, admittedly douchey version of Harry Potter, and even takes some well-received jabs at his real-life persona as a dorky-but-loveable singer who plays Disney songs on guitar. Lauren Lopez, the petite soprano who plays the breeches role of Draco Malfoy, has phenomenal comic timing and skill at slapstick physicality. Additionally, her ability to bring genuine pathos and vulnerability to one of the show's most ridiculous and unlikeable characters points her out to be a cut above her still-talented co-stars. Finally, once again, Criss's good friend Joe Walker steals the show. While last year, he was an overly-buff, sexually-confused Voldemort, whose biggest wish was not to overthrow the world, but to tap-dance, this year he appears (ostensibly) in drag, as Dolores Umbridge, reimagined as a nightmarish mix of Tennessee Williams Southern belle and John Travolta in "Hairspray." Grotesquely masculine and feminine at once, Walker's "Mama Umbridge" has the other characters constantly speculating as to her actual gender. A truly fearless performer, Walker chews the scenery like a pro, to the point where Mama Umbridge literally breaks off her own finger to prove her bloodlust.
Darren Criss and AJ Holmes have not changed TOO much as songwriters- no song in the show is as instantly catchy and genuinely heartfelt as "Not Alone," nor as emotionally rooted as "Missing You," though several come close. What they have done, however, is improve their sound, by employing several more musicians for a sound that is less garage-like than the two-to-three-piece band from "A Very Potter Musical." Also notable is the increased influence of Menken, Ashman and Rice, the composing team behind most of the Disney Renaissance musicals. As composer Criss is an admitted devotee of "Beauty and The Beast," "Aladdin" and "The Little Mermaid," the song style crops up repeatedly in his works, most notably in the opening villain song, "Not Over Yet."
In summary, if you haven't seen AVPS yet, head to YouTube and watch it, but make sure that you've seen the original "A Very Potter Musical" first. Many of the jokes will make much more sense once you've seen the first musical, as a lot of the fun of this one is deconstructing the new character interpretations created in the first one. Fan of Harry Potter or hater, AVPS will surely convince you that it actually IS possible to write a sequel to a musical, and not make it suck. As a work of musical theatre, it is entertaining and fun, not a masterpiece by any means. But as a combination viral video, sketch comedy show, stage musical and yearly "event," it is a surefire success. Go Team Starkid!
A Very Potter Sequel: B+
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Know your genre and know your role. Acting may OFTEN be living realistically under imaginary circumstances, but in farce as extreme as this, sometimes you have to cut completely loose.
WARNING FOR ACTORS: Be wary of the lesson above. In a show with as many over-the-top characters and caricatures as this, some actors are going to be more commanding onstage than others. Actors like Joe Moses (Snape) and Dylan Saunders (Dumbledore) are wise enough to not try and upstage Joe Walker as Mama Umbridge during his/her big moments. When other characters DO attempt to take back the scene, they are massively overwhelmed.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Trust your instincts and material. A parody musical sequel deconstruction of a musical viral video? On paper, it sounds ridiculous, even impossible. Sequels, in particular, are often called the only thing worse than vampires on the musical stage. However, if you do it right, it can work. If you want to write a work that people say is impossible or improbable, you go right ahead and do it. Prove them wrong- dare to fail gloriously, as my professor used to say!
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Watch your show's rhythm (its overall build, ebb and flow, rise and fall), as well as its tempo (the rhythm as it relates to individual scenes and their progressions one after another). AVPS is an extremely long show, so in its slowest moments, it can drag. Occasionally, fifteen minutes can pass between songs, which affects the rhythm relatively little, but slows the tempo to a halt. Be very aware of your book-to-music ratio.
The Project Begins
Hello, Internet folks! A year ago, I started a project of watching the extant video recordings (whether official or "archival") of Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals, current or historical, and blogging thoughts on them in context of themselves, their legacy, and the state of the art as it stands today. The original thoughts, which were written off-the-cuff during filmings, were sent via text message to a few colleagues. Today, I've opened a blog to share my thoughts more coherently. Every day that I am available to do it, I will post my observations, trivia, and maybe a few "teachable moments" for the theatre writers, composers, actors and students of today. Enjoy yourselves, and have a great summer!
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