Charming “The Drowsy Chaperone” tour (Stranahan Theater, Toledo – Review)

The charming musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone opened this week at the Stranahan Theater in Toledo for a week-long run. Winner of multiple 2006 Tony Awards, the tour is cotton candy on a cold winter day. The show’s been using the tagline “musical inside a comedy” for several years now, and that is exactly what you have here.

I saw the original Broadway cast in NYC, and this production is every bit as good as that. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the tour uses the original Broadway sets — which are themselves clever and colorful. Performed without an intermission, the tour has a tremendous cast that works well as an ensemble and smiles the entire hour and 45 minutes they are on stage.

The real stand-out here is Craig E. Treubert as “The Man in the Chair” — our narrator for the evening. His performance is sublime in a part that was originally played by Bob Martin on Broadway, and a gimmicky Bob Saget later in the run…Treubert makes the part his own and makes you feel like you want to go spend another evening listening to him talk about musicals. Great work there.

But everyone in this cast is strong and up to the deceptively difficult parts. The choral work is terrific, and everything looks great.

My one complaint — the terrible sound at the Stranahan. In the past, I’ve complained about sound in this 2600 seat barn of a theatre — but here it’s also the fault of the soundboard which missed not one, but about 7 cues this afternoon. That’s unforgivable in professional theatre, especially for a show that depends on the audience hearing every word. Lets hope that was just a bad afternoon for the sound tech crew. If not, someone needs to be fired and another soundboard operator brought on for the remainder of their tour.

Overall, it’s a pleasant and charming show, and it comes Highly recommended.

“Leap Year” is predictable, light, and ultimately a “crock ‘o shyte” (Updated)

OK, off the bat, this is a solid B movie with a horrible script and two great performances.

That being said, this is a movie you have already seen — many times. Let me tell you off the bat, the Girl gets the Boy in the end — the right one. How they get there you’ve also seen in every romantic comedy that involves a bickering couple — which is almost all of them. You will recognize every rom-com you can remember in here; and every situation is unrealistic, forced, and strains credibility. This is the type of film that asks you suspend the notion, for example, that a smart career woman would not change into a pair of jeans and flat shoes (she does late in the film) but instead trudge through sand, muck, hail, mud, and cow-doo in high heels. If you are okay with that, then it’ll be easier to go with the flow for the rest of the movie.

The inhabitants of Ireland are reduced to blathering “idjots” and idiom-hurling stereotypes. It’s as if the authors hadn’t even been to Ireland before writing their scrip, and saw it for the first time when they were there filming. That explains the half-realized scenic design — at times, as if the producers suddenly said “Ireland looks like this?? This is pretty!  Film this! Put this in there somehwere!” and left it at that.

But what you do have here is a very charming Matthew Goode in the same role he plays in every movie, and a miscast and embarrassing but well-performed role for Amy Adams. It’s as if the movie was written for someone else but got Amy instead. Their relationship does indeed grow during the course of the film, and you do end up wanting them to get together by the end (which you already know they will). How they get there is as predictable as the rising of the sun and the tides. What Amy and Matthew are able to do, though, is play off of each other with a twinkle in the eye and a furrow of a brow. It’s great acting for two capable performers stuck in a horrible script. I want to repeat that one more time just for the record — this is a HORRIBLE script. It’s from the same folks who wrote “Made of Honor.” That’s probably all you need to know about the script. Oh, and it’s horrible.

There is nothing here creative, new, or thought provoking — but once or twice a year we need to see this type of movie again to remind ourselves of the long-lost romantic notion that love shines through differences and that we find our true soul-mate when we least expect it. It’s fun because we all know that it is complete and utter “shyte” in real life. There are four previews before the movie — all of them are for the same type of romantic comedy so there is lots more shyte on the way this winter.

UPDATE: Thought you might like to see what Matthew Goode thought of this masterpiece….”I didn’t do it for the script, I did it so I could fly home to England on the weekends”…

http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2010/02/25/matthew-goode-bashes-rom-com-leap-year-admits-he-didnt-do-it-for-the-script/

Funniest TV quotes 2009

Here’s my collection of the funniest tv quotes from this season…it’s a great habit – when you hear funny quotes on tv, write them down and go back at the end of the year and see what you have —

“Drama is like gay-men gatorade…It replenishes their electrolytes” – 30Rock

“If I could speak to rabbits, they would be amazed, and I would be their king”…Raj, The Big bang Theory

“The charm of your drug-addled candor knows no bounds” – The Big Bang Theory

“Let us toast your non-idiocy” – Ratatouille

“So ‘suck’ is okay to say now? Cause I have some thoughts on the lunch you packed me today” – Ted’s Daughter, Better off Ted

“It’s perfectly acceptable to cry when your sad…I cry cause others are stupid and that makes ME sad”…Sheldon, The Big Bang Theory 12/07

“As I saw Pam’s big hand coming at my face, my life flashed before me….and I had a hovercar, and a hoverhouse”….The Office

“I think it’s only fair to warn you that I am a Librarian”…The Librarian: Judas Chalice

“Cats refuse to wear sporting apparel…as my sister found out the hard way”…Big Bang Theory

“It gets like a million miles per gallon, and it comes with it’s own case” (Kath and Kim, in reference to Phil’s new Mini)

“Are you being sarcastic? Cause us Canadians have a hard time recognizing it since we don’t have a large Jewish population.” – 30Rock

Jerry Rice on Donny Osmond (DWTS)…”I wish I’ll have that much energy when I’m 82″…

“You’re irritating most of the time, but don’t take that personally”….Glee

“Ritchie joined the handbell choir at school”

“Why, was the Wedgie Club full?” — The New Adventures of Old Christine

“Toronto is just like New York…only without all the stuff” Steve Martin, 30 Rock

“No, No, I didn’t tell anybody – it just got out to the small circle of…everybody”….Worst Week

“I think you will find being my mothers caretaker can be a mixed bag. When she’s in a foul mood, she can be horribly unpleasant…at other times, she’s asleep.”  30 Rock

“Without the crew we’d just be two amazing people succeeding in a vacuum”…30 Rock

“How are you going to find time for all that?…You’re a working mom and a part time alcoholic”….New Adventures of Old Christine

“I’m going to go give him a piece of my mind”

“Oh, no, not the last one!!”  — Old Christine

“I gave it some thought….and it needs another day of thought”   Eli Stone

“No, that response is unacceptable to me” _ Big Bang Theory

“Notify the makers of the Oxford English Dictionary that the word “Plenty” has been redefined to mean “two” — The Big Bang Theory

Penny: “Can I ask you a Question?”

Sheldon: “I would prefer that you not, but I won’t go so far as to forbid it” – The Big Bang Theory

“I don’t want to be that person, but I hate the general spirit of music” – Angela, The Office

“I wrote a little song about our experience…do you want to hear it?”

“Maybe later…but probably not” — Eli Stone

“That could have gone one of two ways”…The Office

“Too many different words coming at me from too many different sentences” — The Office 10/15

H2IK Sequence — “How the Hell do I Know?” – Defying Gravity

“I’m washed up — I’m the chumbawamba of secret agents” – American Dad

“Are we breaking up?

“We can still stay friends….we’ll just see each other less, like never”…commercial

“I thought you might need a drink”

“You have no idea”…Modern Family

“I’m down with the texting….LOL Laughing out Loud…ROTFL Rolling on the Floor Laughing…WTF Why the Face”…Modern Family

“It appears people are afraid of me, which I think is pretty much their problem, but apparently not” – Better Off Ted

“Protesting is a last resort, unless your the French” King of the Hill

“Oh, I’m sorry, that’s not going to interest me at all”…Sheldon, The Big Bang Theory

“Bosses make everything better” — Better off Ted

“I know how you feel. Remember when I wanted to pull my hair out, but I couldn’t because it’s too thick” – jack, 30 Rock

“I spent a month putting the contact list on Michael’s blackberry….which he now uses as a night light”  — The Office

“1991 called, it wants that insult back” – Kath & Kim

“That’s an understandable but not excusable mistake” – Big Bang Theory

“I think it sort of zero percent helped my situation, but maybe 17 percent helped me as a guy” – Kath & Kim

“It’s like talking to a chimp” — Big Bang Theory

“your caught between a rock and a crazy place” — Big Bang Theory

“My door is always open to you…please close it on your way out” – Veronica, Better Off Ted

“If you are trying to hurt my feelings you are succeeding. Fortunately, my feelings regenerate at twice the speed of the normal man’s.” – The Office

“When will I ever learn…everytime I let a guy take a photo of me in the bathroom it goes bad” – American Dad

“You are a thief of joy” – Michael to Dwight, The Office

“I’m not going to give up that easily. I’m going to make this much more difficult than it needs to be” – Michael, The Office

“It’s better to have loved and lost, than to be you” Pushing Daisies

“Michael gave me his list of the top 10 Bruce Springsteen songs. Three of them were Huey Lewis and the News” –The Office

“You seem decidedly depressed” Raul Esparza

“I haven’t decided that” Kristin Chenoweth, Pushing Daisies

“Ken has some flaws…he has 74 flaws as of yesterday”…Glee

“Good God, What Indigo Girls song is that from?” 30Rock

“I’m not good with emotion”

“What Emotion?”

“All of them” — Pushing Daisies

“Up in the Air”; “Sherlock Holmes”; “It’s Complicated”; “The Blind Side” (Review)

I’ve previously reviewed “Nine”, “The Princess and the Frog”, “Avatar”, and “2010” from this holiday season. Here are four more.

First — the far-and-away best movie of the holiday season is UP IN THE AIR. Directed by Jason Reitman, it’s a timely and highly entertaining look at the life of a social-tie disconnected man whose job it is to travel across the country as serve as a job termination consultant. But more than that, it’s about the love of motion, the freedom from emotional connection, and the sense of complete egotistical freedom to do what you want, when, where, and with whom one chooses — until choices need to be made that may (or may not) change that lifestyle forever. It’s brilliant film-making. For local interest, much of it was filmed here in Detroit.

To be sure, this is not a film for under 20’s — and I’m not sure it’s a film for under 40’s…it takes a certain amount of life experience, skepticism, and humor to fully appreciate the amazing script and performances at play here. Have no doubt, keep your under-16’s at home – it’s an adult film with adult themes, sexual situations, and language. Kids will also be bored stiff, since they won’t be able to relate to the story nor the central dilemma. This is a film that takes at its core that it is OK not to be in a relationship, something that is foreign to most kids. It’s a film that will stay with you long after you see it. This is my personal choice for this year’s Best Picture.

Much more enjoyable than it should be, SHERLOCK HOLMES is Guy Ritchie’s take on the tried and true Watson/Holmes formula — but throw what you know about this out the window — here, the duo is re-imagined as an action/adventure duo, and it generally works well. The CGI work and the recreation of London is terrific cinematography, and the film is quirky enough to keep you on your toes. Good guys win, bad guys lose, and the ending points to a sequel. Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr. are both terrific, and I completely found myself entertained by this quirky take on the genre. It’s a popcorn movie that is fun. It’s not for tiny tots, but it is generally family friendly. There is some Guy-Ritchie type violence here, but it’s done with a great sense of humor and relatively tastefully compared to his previous movies. Holmes purists will hate the film, it’s not meant for them — it’s a popcorn adventure movie with a bit of Die Hard, Van Helsing, and Indiana Jones thrown into the mix.

Finally, I have to admit that I laughed more at IT’S COMPLICATED than I have at any movie this year. It’s formulaic, and very funny. Don’t get me wrong, this is not nuanced subtle humor — this is more in the vein of recent crude comedies like The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. It has great performances, and its plain old funny. This is another picture that is inappropriate for your kids (not that they wouldn’t find it funny). It’s adult fun, and it has more laughs per scene than any other out there right now. Streep and Baldwin are terrific together, and there are also great performances from Steve Martin and John Krasinski.

The Blind Side is the surprise box-office hit film about Michael Oher’s rags to riches rise from the slums of Memphis to pro football. Sandra Bullock turns in a nicely performed role as his no-nonsense adaptive mother (and she’s channeling Kathy Lee Gifford all the way), and Tim McGraw is eye-candy as her husband. He gets lines like “I know that look” and “I think I know who is going to win this argument”.  The film is a tear-jerker that is appropriate for the entire family, and I really liked it. It’s Lifetime Movie Channel fare done one better with a big budget and a big star. But you care about these people, and this year, there haven’t been that many movies where you do. I even liked the Tim McGraw song over the final credits. This makes for a great date movie or a family evening out. Go see it, you’ll feel good about what nice people can still do in the world.

Sadly, my most anticipated movie of the year, A SINGLE MAN, has yet to open in Michigan, and it looks like it’s not on the books anywhere locally for the time being, Will report back on that once it is released here.

All in all, I would have to rank the current crop of pictures in the following order as far as my favorite of 2009:

1. Up in the Air

2. Avatar

3. The Hurt Locker

4. Precious

5. Up

6. District 9

7. Star Trek

8. Invictus

9. The Blind Side

10. (500) Days of Summer

“Nine” movie adaptation is jaw-droppingly awful (Review)

First, for the record, NINE is one of my favorite 3 Broadway musicals. I saw the original 1982 production 3 times in NYC, and the revival as well (which was already watered-down…pun intended).  But what Rob Marshall has done with the movie version of NINE is jaw-droppingly awful.

First, Daniel Day-Lewis is woefully miscast. He looks vaguely Italian, and acts vaguely stereotypically Italian — but he can’t sing well, and he’s not Italian. He’s also 10 years too old for the part, and this is reflected in lyric changes.

Second, nobody in this cast is Italian with the exception of Sophia Lauren, who mutters through her role as Guido’s mother, and looks strangely CGI-like. I can list twenty Italian and Italian-American actresses right now that could have been cast instead. It’s nice to see her in the movie, but Sophia herself looks like she would rather be anywhere but.

Third, despite the star power here, only Penelope Cruz and (surprisingly) Kate Hudson turn in anything worthy of musical theatre performance. Sadly, Kate Hudson does so in a role created for the movie that does not exist in the stage production, and her number (in black and white) is awful. Her entire storyline, song, and character could (and should) be cut. Still, she has energy that is palpable, as is Cruz’s. Marion Cotillard turns in a nice acting performance as Luisa Contini, Guido’s suffering wife. Too bad most of her songs are cut.

And therein lies the biggest problem — characters and songs are cut, added, moved around, and rearranged to the point that NINE the movie no longer resembles NINE the musical. Judy Dench as a seamstress sings “Folies Bergeres” instead of Lillian LeFleur. In fact, Lillian LeFleur is cut! “Be on Your Own”, the most powerful song in the show, is cut. In fact, more than 60 percent of the musical score is cut, as is the drama. The new songs added do nothing. (By the way, they add new songs to movie adaptations so that there is something to nominate for “Best Song” for the Academy Awards — any song already performed in a Broadway musical is ineligible for consideration). Nothing here is worthy of nomination, and most likely nothing will be.

I enjoyed some of Fergie’s “Be Italian”, but the production number itself is like a bad advertisement for Victoria’s Secret — it even has haze lighting! Haze lighting!! But I liked the choreography, and it has some life.

Nicole Kidman, the most over-rated and talent-free actress of our time, here continues her long history of displaying both her over-ratedness as well as her inability to act, sing, or carry a scene. Plus she looks fat. Rob Marshall must not have liked working with her too much, since  her part is cut down to a sliver, and he gives her the least flattering camera angles of all the ladies in the show. Half of her spoken lines are not discernible as “Unusual Way” is intercut with dialogue.

As in CHICAGO, Rob Marshall tries to open up the film — instead, what happens is that boundaries are lost, scenes become discontinuous. Ghosts wear colorful clothing. Black, White, and Color, so integral to the original musical, is completely lost here. The script is changed beyond recognition…Carla is weakened and given a suicidal plot! What??? Guido’s ultimate decision to shoot himself or not, is also cut.

I could go on. I will stop here. I had a very difficult time sitting through this movie, a story and score that I just adore. This is an awful adaptation. I give it a C as a movie, a D- as an adaptation of a stage musical, or one star for effort. Wait for the DVD. The movie adaptationn of Mamma Mia looks like a masterpiece compared to this awful adaptation, because it at least followed the original script with a sense of integrity.

For Musical Theatre purists….Songs from the score of NINE that are cut in the movie version:

The Germans at the Spa…Only With You…the Follies sequence of Folies Bergeres…Guido’s Vision…Nine…The Bells of St. Sebastian…A Man Like You…the duet portion of Unusual Way…The entire Grand Canal sequence…Simple…Be On Your Own…Getting Tall…and all underscore music of the second act of the musical.

“Jersey Boys” best tour to hit Detroit in ages (Review)

I can’t recall a cast and production of a Broadway tour to hit Detroit that is this excellent from top to bottom. JERSEY BOYS is the ticket for a cold winter night in Motown, and it’s proving to be a huge audience favorite.

This is not the first time I have seen Jersey Boys. I saw it in NYC when it first opened, and in it’s sit-down production in Toronto (where it is still playing). It also has a long-running sit-down in Chicago. But this is the first time I have seen an audience reaction like that in Detroit.

Steve Gouveia, Joseph Leo Bwarie, Josh Franklin and Matt Bailey in “Jersey Boys.”

First, the production — this is a show that was developed on the road in La Jolla, so it’s an easy production to tour — it looks exactly like the Broadway and sit-down productions because of it’s easy to transport set/video screens/scaffolding. It looks marvelous. It also looks fabulous inside the Fisher Theater, itself a throwback to 60’s glam.

Second, the cast — this is a cast that is comprised of members of the original cast, other productions across the country, and is a true ensemble. Sure, the cast members don’t look like the real people, and at times they don’t even sound like the Four Seasons — but it really doesn’t matter. What you have here is a talented acting/singing/dancing cast that truly form a blended family on stage. You really believe these people are real, and you care about them.

Third, the audience — I have never seen a reaction like that in Detroit at the performance of Jersey Boys that I saw last week. The more reserved Broadway audience cheered and clapped; the Toronto audience was appreciative but generally stoic — but the last time I have seen this type of super-charged audience reaction to a show was the original Dreamgirls in NYC in 1982. The audience is positively electric — they cheer throughout – stand and cheer often, and it’s a marvelous feeling to be in a theatre and watch that magic occur.

The first spark comes with the transformation on stage, “Sherry”; and it carries on to the end. The highlight of the second act is the surprisingly emotionally-charged “Cant Take My Eyes Off of You”. The energy is so palpable you can feel it — and the cast thrives on that energy and notches up their performances as the show goes along. They grab you, and they hold you there.

It’s the best tour I’ve seen come through Detroit in 15 years. And I wonder why it took so long to get here — it’s a perfect fit for a blue-collar town, and the sound created by Franki and the Four Seasons draws as much on Motown as it does the Jersey beat.

Highly recommended – even if you have seen it already. This is something special – and it’s guaranteed to get you out of your seat and feeling really fine on the way home. And that feeling lasts for days. The line at the souvenir stand attests to this, as happy Detroiters snap up copies of the Original Broadway Cast Album of Jersey Boys on the way out the door. It’s that kind of show. You want to take it with you.

The Addams Family musical – Chicago (Review) – Funky fun!

Before even commencing with a review, let me state three things. 1) I LOVED this new musical and had a great time. 2) You will either love it or find yourself being indifferent to it depending on your level of a) appreciation for great performances, music, and stagecraft, and b) your tolerance for quirky lunacy. 3) The New York critics are going to chew this up and spit it out — they tend to be a humorless bunch, but audiences are going to flock to it and love it.

There are big big names associated with The Addams Family musical. It has a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa (UM grad). It is choreographed by Sergio Trujillo, and directed and designed by Phelim McDermott & Julian Crouch.

What, you ask? Who are these people? They are some of the most influential professional musical theatre leaders. Sergio choreographed Jersey Boys, Memphis, and Next to Normal. Marshall co-wrote Annie Hall, Sleeper, Manhattan and slew of other Woody Allen movies. Rick wrote Jersey Boys. Phelim and Julian designed and directed Shockheaded Peter and a slew of other international theatre hits. Andrew wrote The Wild Party, john & jen, and all the new songs for the revisal of Your a Good Man Charlie Brown.  This is a singularly sensational group of creators.

The show stars Bebe Neuwirth, Nathan Lane, Terrence Mann, Carolee Carmello, Kevin Chamberlin, Jackie Hoffman, Zachary james, Krysta Rodriguz, Adam Rieger, Wesley Taylor, and a 16 member ensemble. And they are great.

Nathan Lane plays the part of Nathan Lane as only Nathan Lane can. (He plays Gomez with a manic energy, a faux-Spanish accent that comes, goes, and reappears and comes closest to sounding spanish only in his pronunciation of words like “chorizos”). Bebe Neuwirth is a delectable Morticia, and shines in her “Second Banana” number at the top of the second act. She wears a dress that is hard to imagine how difficult it is to get into every evening. Terrence Mann plays straight-laced Mal Beineke, and Carolee Carmello his uptight wife, Alice (in a star-turning role). Jackie Hoffman is a hilarious Grandma, Krystal Rodriguez a wonderful Wednesday, Kevin Chamberlin as excellent an Uncle Fester as you could find, and Zachary James a simply astounding Lurch.

There isn’t much book to speak of: Wednesday (just turned 18) is in love with straight-laced friend from school Lucas (Wesley Taylor) and  is mortified to find that Morticia insists the two families meet for dinner. What follows is a knock-off of the basic storyline of La Cage aux Folles as the two families mix and mingle in the most peculiar of ways, each learning something from the other in the process.

The music here throughout is terrific, and Andrew has written wonderfully clever lyrics. Hopefully the sound system will be a bit clearer on Broadway than it was at times here. The set is remarkable — a series of walls, staircases, and surprisingly large open spaces that move, change, rearrange, and make up the crazy world that is the Addams household. The lighting is noteworthy – there is some very pretty stagework done here by Natasha Katz and her crew. Makeup, puppetry, costuming and special effects throughout are good.

Make no mistake here — this is a show filled with lunacy and lighthearted fun. The jokes come rapidly, and sometimes too quickly. Many of them fall flat. This is broad comedy, and it’s delivered and performed splendidly by this fine cast. There is much that is instantly familiar to watchers of the tv show and movies, but it does not stick to that formula — rather, it is composed of a series of vignettes, jokes, and scenes based on the cartoons of Charles Addams, and not intended in any way to resemble what is already known. Thing appears momentarily, and so does Cousin Itt, but they aren’t recurring characters.

Uncle Fester flies (twice!); Grandma curses up a storm; Pugsley creates mischief; Wednesday tortures her brother but is also intrigued by the big wide world out there for the taking; and Lurch makes you laugh in every scene he is in.

Does it need some work? A little. I am confident it will be fixed by the New York opening. The lightbulb in Fester’s mouth is great. When the ensemble echos it, it’s just stupid. That needs to be cut. Some of the jokes need to be fixed and just fall flat. Bebe needs to drop her character voice when singing and just sing. Nathan needs to be toned down a bit more, and someone needs to work with him on his Spanish accent, but I’m not sure he’s an actor amenable to a lot of coaching — at either rate, he needs to be reeled in a bit. Some of the ensemble need to be pulled back into the background a bit more and not dance in One while the leads are in One. The show itself never feels too slow, and is a breezy 2 1/2 hours, so it’s just right for an evening of Broadway entertainment. But it does need those jokes to be fixed.

But there are brilliantly creative moments here as well: a tassel falling off the act curtain and running away…Fester flying to the moon…well-staged sword-play, and some great surprises.

In short, I truly loved this musical. I saw it with two seasoned musical theatre fans, and they both loved it too. The Chicago media was split — The Sun Herald gave the show a 4-star rave. The Tribune a 2-star average rating. The New York media will most likely split on this as well — but one thing was clear: the audience adored the show. It got a rousing standing ovation for the cast, and people left the theatre in a great mood. And that is a very good thing in this poor political and financial climate. I’ve read a few blog entries where people either loved it or were indifferent to it as well — and I think that is how this one is going to play out. Another friend said that he was surprised I liked the show, his friends had walked out at intermission. Well let me tell you, I did not see one person leave at the sold-out snowy Sunday afternoon performance that we saw in Chicago. I saw a very happy audience that was positively abuzz with laughter during intermission and back in their seats ready to go for Act 2. I also saw a long line of frozen theatre goers waiting in the cancellation line for possible tickets for the performance. I smell a big fat hit. I am going to go out on a limb and say, this show is at a point in its development that it is already critic proof.

If you live in the regional area — see if you can get to The Addams Family — and go have a great time. It’s also generally family-friendly though it does skew to an adult audience. The full website for the show is here: http://www.theaddamsfamilymusical.com/

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UPDATED 12/29/09 — It has just been announced that Jerry Zaks will be brought in to review and fix the parts of the show that are not currently working! This is great new, and perhaps he will do a good job of reigning in Nathan Lane since they are buddies who have worked together before. For the NYT article, see this link:     http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/theater/29addams.html?ref=arts

And that’s the view from Ann Arbor today.

James Cameron’s “Avatar” has wow-factor to spare (Review)

James Cameron’s AVATAR is, to put it mildly, the WOW-movie of the year. Or any year. You’ve never seen anything like this. Nobody has ever seen anything like this.

You know you want to see it — so just go see it. It’s everything it has been proclaimed to be. But before I even go any further, make sure you see it in 3D, or better yet IMAX Real 3D. Some theaters are showing it in the standard format 2D as well — DO NOT SEE this 2D version. This is a film that is designed in 3D and is meant to be seen in 3D, and the only way you will truly immerse yourself in the world of AVATAR is to see it in 3D. If you see it in 2D, you are likely to leave the theatre scratching your head as to why the amazing reviews — it’s not the movie itself that is getting raves, it is the WAY you see this movie — fully immersed in the 3D world of CGI film.

There is a star-turn here in Sam Worthington’s Jake Scully. He has personality to spare, and his Australian accent only once makes itself apparent. He made a blip on the American audience radar last summer in Terminator: Salvation. Here he becomes a full-blown star. Also turning in a showy performance is Stephen Lang. Great to see him on the screen again, he has been absent too long. Here he plays a blustery army general in a performance worthy of an oscar nomination — and that’s an amazing feat in a film that is 95% CGI. Sigourney Weaver has a showy role as a biologist and educator, and both Joel David Moore and Michelle Rodriguez turn in fine performances.

Not a month after 2012 set the CGI standard to beat – now comes AVATAR with visuals that you have never seen before…correction…you’ve never seen them this way before…it brings a new standard to 3D film-making as well. There’s no cheap tricks here – and no breaking of the 4th wall. Nothing comes hurling or poking at your eyes (think Walt Disney World 3D movies) — instead, it’s used to enrich the stunning visuals and bring you into the movie. Within a few minutes you are there. You feel like you are IN this movie. And I don’t say that lightly.

Those who suffer migraines, easily become nauseous, or otherwise suffer from visual difficulties will not enjoy watching this movie, and perhaps that is why there is a standard 2D release, other than accommodating those theaters that are not equipped to run 3D films. But if they don’t catch up soon, they’ll find themselves shuttering down, since this is the dawn of a new movie-making age. 3D not only comes into its own here, it blazes the path for what future films can accomplish with the techniques.

Also noteworthy is a return to SciFi which is bright, colorful, and visually appealing. You won’t see any of the Matrix-type inspired scenes here — there are no heroines wearing sunglasses and leather. The first scene on planet Pandora reminds you more of the moment in The Wizard of Oz when the door to Dorothy’s house opens and you see OZ in technicolor. AVATAR has that same magical moment — followed by another shortly afterwards as Pandora comes to magical, glow-in-the-dark colorful life.

There is some clunky dialogue here — your not going to care. There is a standard good-guys-win storyline here as well — again, your not going to care. But more importantly, you never feel the 2 hour 46 minute length of the movie is too long — and it’s not. The richly developed characters have immediate emotional resonance, and it makes the drama in the final scene battle (think Lord of the Rings stuff) dramatic, exciting, and sad.

By the way — it’s not for the kiddies — its rated PG-13 for a reason, and it’s not appropriate for young’uns, even though they will want to see it because of the commercials and McDonald’s happy meal tie-ins — which are misbegotten.

Go see it. It’s awesome filmmaking, and you will find yourself finding time to go see it a second time. I’m going again on Monday. It is that good.

Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” is a gorgeously crafted snooze-fest

As my last duty before heading off to Orlando for a week, I saw Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” in its first showing at the Showcase Cinemas this morning. It allowed me a short nap before heading off to Florida.

The first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes are absolute Disney at its best. If only the entire movie could maintain that tone. The hour in between those opening and closing bookends is a snooze-fest clearly aimed at 6 year old girls.

It’s great to have an African-American “Princess” in Tiana (I don’t think I give anything away here, since Disney has been touting this as their newest “Princess movie”)…and the voice cast is stellar. But the movie ends up emphasizing money rather than empathy with another human, and it dissolves into the typical “gotta marry a Prince and live happily ever after” fantasy that does no good for any children in this day and age no matter what their race.

Randy Newmann’s music is peppy at best, serviceable at worst, and there isn’t a memorable song in the bunch. The middle portion of the movie set in the bayou makes no sense even for Disney – an alligator that plays jazz with human counterparts on a riverboat…a “shadow man” that appears far too many times in the film and feels basically there to just “fill out the hour”; and long drawn out sequences where I literally found myself nodding off. I have NEVER in my life found myself nodding off at any film, let alone a Disney picture. But there is very little there to keep adults involved in the middle goings of the film. It’s a big-screen equivalent of Saturday morning television messages — although it all looks and sounds a lot better.

Once we get back to New Orleans for the final act, things take a turn for the much better, and Disney film-making at its best is at play. But at no point in this film did I ever feel anything “magical”.  Instead, I found myself looking around the theatre wondering if any of these 4-year olds that were brought there by their parents and nannies this morning had any clue as to what was going on in this film.

Heigh Ho — it’s off to WDW I go.

“Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” at Wharton Center, East Lansing (Review) is a Dream

Okay, let me state this for the record: I have seen White Christmas, the musical, 7 times now – between San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, and East Lansing. I love this show, and am not going to review the show itself…This is the 2009 Tour that made a one-week stop at the Wharton Center at MSU, East Lansing.

The show is a dream – and the cast is one of the best I’ve seen since the initial production in San Francisco (still my favorite cast – but maybe just because I saw them first and could brag for a year until other people started to see the show in it’s season incarnations). Stephen Bogardus and Kerry O’Malley reprise their roles from the NYC 2008 production. David Elder and Megan Sikora play their dancing-fool sidekicks, and they are dandy together. This production features the best-danced “I Love a Piano” that I have seen in four different incarnations. The Elder/Sikora “Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing” is perfection. The tap dancing throughout this production is spectacular by the entire cast. Stephen Bogardus brings charm and style to his role, while Kerry O’Malley is just plain lovable.

What is currently a drought of productions and jobs on Broadway has resulted in one of the most talented dancing casts in ages — there are folks in this show that normally play leads in other musicals. It all lends a wonderfully polished perfection to the show as a whole. Lorna Luft makes a fine Martha Watson and sings her heart out in her big show-stopper number. Her stardom in no way overshadows any of the cast members, and she appears to be having the time of her life.

For those who saw the show at the Fox Theatre, be warned that it’s a different creature at Wharton Center — featured as part of it’s Broadway tour season, the performances are near sold-out throughout the run. There appear to be balcony and scattered rear orchestra seats available for some performances this week — but don’t expect you can walk up to the box office like you could at the Fox and just get great seats. Not the case here.

For those not in the know – this is just a holiday treat — a big, colorful, Randy Skinner tap-dance filled extravaganza. It could really play at any time, not just Christmas time — it’s a full-blown Broadway musical with spectacular dancing and a fine familiar book and score. Filled with classics like “White Christmas”, “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep”, “Snow”, “Blue Skies”, “Sisters”, “I’ve Got My love to Keep Me Warm” and a half-dozen others. It moves at lightning pace, and it’s a musical lovers musical, much like “42nd Street” or “Babes in Arms”.

Go, have fun, and see a spectacular cast. On a final note — beware the weather. I don’t know which was more exciting on Tuesday night — opening night at White Christmas, or the spectacularly dangerous drive home to Ann Arbor for an hour in some of the worst driving weather you could imagine — snow, turning to sleet, turning to ice. I hate driving, and I particularly hated driving home after the show. Luckily I had the White Christmas cast album on my iPhone to play through the car stereo system to keep me in a good mood. Check the weather reports before you head out this week. I leave for Florida tomorrow, or I would have seen the show a second time if I could. But I’m glad I will be out of this weather in less than 24 hours for a week. For those of you left behind in this Michigan weather — go enjoy this “warm cup of hot chocolate” musical. Go see a Broadway show.

And that’s the view from Ann Arbor this week.