This weekend I sat in a lot of theaters, both live and movie. I saw Jersey Boys, which is a Broadway musical and then I saw Children of Men, Pursuit of Happyness and Dreamgirls (which is a Broadway musical too, but is also a movie). I sure did spend a lot of money supporting the arts this weekend (Do movies count as “the arts”? I say yes. Anything that involves sticky floors and $4.00 Kit Kat bars is definitely art.)
Jersey Boys was good, it is the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. In case you didn’t know, they sang a lot of songs. And quite a few of them were in Jersey Boys. My season tixs for the theater are for matinee showings. About 80% of matinee-goers are over the age of 65. In case you didn’t know, these people LOVE them some Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. These peopled CHEERED after every song as if they were at a rock and roll concert. It was hilarious. On the way home Madonna’s “Vogue” came on the radio and I said, “Someday there will be a Broadway musical with this music and my generation will CHEER too. On that day I will know that I am old.” My dad did not appreciate me calling his cheering a sign of him being old.
I also saw the African American Double Feature when I movie-hopped between Dreamgirls and Pursuit of Happyness. Will Smith was about the only African American actor not in Dreamgirls, so I went and caught him in Pursuit of Happyness so he wouldn’t feel left out. It says a lot about the scant amount of black roles available that I recognized pretty much every actor who played any role in Dreamgirls. As far as the movie goes, I thought it was okay. I have trouble when they make theater into a movie, it’s just not the same. Plus, somehow people breaking into song seems to work a lot better on a stage than on a screen. I dunno, something felt off to me. And another thing that’s off? The fact that Jennifer Hudson is nominated for a Golden Globe in a supporting role. Huh? She is clearly the star of the movie. I didn’t realize that fame was a deciding factor in determining how big a role was. I thought maybe little things like number of lines and importance to the plot might play a bigger part. But no. Beyonce had like 6 lines and the rest of the time just stood around looking pretty, and she's billed as the star of the movie. Don’t get me wrong, she does pretty very well, so maybe she got extra points for that.
The last thing I saw was Children of Men, which is the pick-me-up movie of the year. Not so much. It’s set in the not too distant future where the whole world has gone to hell in a handbasket. Iraq everywhere, so to speak. It was a good movie, but maybe Beyonce could have come over for a couple of scenes and looked pretty, just to lighten the mood a little.
Showing posts with label theater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label theater. Show all posts
Monday, January 08, 2007
Friday, December 15, 2006
Doubt
I don’t really have anything to blog about today. Let me see what I can ramble on about, shall we? We shall.
It is now officially the middle of December. I haven’t really gotten much closer to accepting that it actually is December. But I have accepted that it is the month to get together with people and eat food. That much I’m on board with. In fact, as I’ve mentioned before, I don’t really have to even get together with people to eat the food. I’m that holly and jolly, I just eat the holiday food whenever, wherever.
Christmas is in like a week. Maybe I should like wrap a present or something. Or buy a present. That might be a good first step. All I’ve really done is unwrap the gift bags of chocolate I made. This is not a step in the right direction.
I saw a play the other day. It was called “Doubt”. It was in San Francisco. It ran on Broadway for quite awhile and the lead actress, Cherry Jones, who won a Tony on Broadway for her role, came out here to be in the SF production. I really enjoyed the play. It was simple in staging, only four actors, minimal sets. But it was far from simple in story. As a writer I tend to relish the words of things, whether they are lyrics to a song or dialogue in a movie or play. I thought the words of this play were amazing.
So I looked up the playwright’s information in the playbill. In his bio John Patrick Shanley was sarcastic about his background and seemed to not take himself too seriously. He also included an e-mail address, which seemed random. So I thought, what the hell. I e-mailed him and said that I enjoyed his play, that it made me want to write drama, that someday I would do something amazing and he should know that at one point he inspired me to want to be a better writer. I also said that it was a good possibility that I was sending an e-mail to a made-up address, and I hope he got a kick out of the fact that I apparently have quite a bit of time on my hands.
And he wrote me back. This man, who won has won a Tony, the Pulitzer and an Academy Award (not to mention he directed Joe Versus the Volcano(he’d probably rather I not mention it)), wrote me back to say thanks for the comments and that he looked forward to seeing my name in lights someday. How cool is John Patrick Shanley? Very cool. And how sad is it that a Tony/Pulitzer/Academy award winner can safely put his e-mail in a playbill because no one probably even bothers to look at his info?
It’s an interesting thing.
Someday, when my name is in those lights, I’ll do the same. And I too will write back to the one random wannabe who relished my words and realized the actors didn’t just make them up right there on the stage.
It is now officially the middle of December. I haven’t really gotten much closer to accepting that it actually is December. But I have accepted that it is the month to get together with people and eat food. That much I’m on board with. In fact, as I’ve mentioned before, I don’t really have to even get together with people to eat the food. I’m that holly and jolly, I just eat the holiday food whenever, wherever.
Christmas is in like a week. Maybe I should like wrap a present or something. Or buy a present. That might be a good first step. All I’ve really done is unwrap the gift bags of chocolate I made. This is not a step in the right direction.
I saw a play the other day. It was called “Doubt”. It was in San Francisco. It ran on Broadway for quite awhile and the lead actress, Cherry Jones, who won a Tony on Broadway for her role, came out here to be in the SF production. I really enjoyed the play. It was simple in staging, only four actors, minimal sets. But it was far from simple in story. As a writer I tend to relish the words of things, whether they are lyrics to a song or dialogue in a movie or play. I thought the words of this play were amazing.
So I looked up the playwright’s information in the playbill. In his bio John Patrick Shanley was sarcastic about his background and seemed to not take himself too seriously. He also included an e-mail address, which seemed random. So I thought, what the hell. I e-mailed him and said that I enjoyed his play, that it made me want to write drama, that someday I would do something amazing and he should know that at one point he inspired me to want to be a better writer. I also said that it was a good possibility that I was sending an e-mail to a made-up address, and I hope he got a kick out of the fact that I apparently have quite a bit of time on my hands.
And he wrote me back. This man, who won has won a Tony, the Pulitzer and an Academy Award (not to mention he directed Joe Versus the Volcano(he’d probably rather I not mention it)), wrote me back to say thanks for the comments and that he looked forward to seeing my name in lights someday. How cool is John Patrick Shanley? Very cool. And how sad is it that a Tony/Pulitzer/Academy award winner can safely put his e-mail in a playbill because no one probably even bothers to look at his info?
It’s an interesting thing.
Someday, when my name is in those lights, I’ll do the same. And I too will write back to the one random wannabe who relished my words and realized the actors didn’t just make them up right there on the stage.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Balleting with Scissors
I think I might not be fully understanding live productions lately. You remember my difficulty with trying to figure out what was so Siberian or Orchesta-ian about the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. This weekend I saw another live performance that baffled me so. It was “Edward Scissorhands - The Musical”. At least I thought it was going to be a musical. Silly me and my assumptions of what theater is going to be.
When we got into the lobby of the theater I went to get the hearing devices that I always get when I go to the theater. (Sidenote to people handing out the hearing devices: Yes, I understand that I am young and I understand that statistically my age group doesn’t come up to you for hearing devices very often. But please. I’m not playing a joke on you. I’m not getting the device for someone else who should probably be picking it up themselves so that they can be told how the device works. I’m just me. And I can’t hear. Also sidenote to my sidenote: Old people, stop cutting in the Return the Hearing Device line. I know you don’t believe that I’m actually in the line, but if someone is standing at what appears to be a line, then on the whole they are usually standing in said line, even if said line is made up primarily of 83 year old people. Thank you all.)
So I go to the Hearing Device Hander-Outer Girl and she says, “The show doesn’t have any speaking or singing, so you probably don’t need the hearing device.” I was confused.
“What else is there besides speaking or singing?”
“It’s a ballet.”
“Edward Scissorhands, the ballet?”
“Yes. There is music too.”
“Huh.”
And then I really didn’t stop being confused for the whole rest of the show. First of all, why on earth would theater producers decide to turn Edward friggin’ Scissorhands into a Broadway show? Then, if I’m going with you on the creative possibilities that could be found in adapting the movie for the stage, then why why why why why would you think it a good idea to do the entire thing as a ballet? Who is smoking what and can I have some of it?
As I was watching the ballet I actually started to get annoyed, because I could, in the time I was sitting there, come up with several really great ways to turn that story into a cool musical. And I could even think up big musical numbers about a boy who feels out of place in the world and who just wants to belong, but dammit he has scissors for hands. There is even a love story between him and a beautiful girl who can’t get passed the whole scissor for hands thing. Oh, the possibilities! But noooooo. We have to watch people twirl around for two hours. And they don’t even twirl that well.
I confused.
When we got into the lobby of the theater I went to get the hearing devices that I always get when I go to the theater. (Sidenote to people handing out the hearing devices: Yes, I understand that I am young and I understand that statistically my age group doesn’t come up to you for hearing devices very often. But please. I’m not playing a joke on you. I’m not getting the device for someone else who should probably be picking it up themselves so that they can be told how the device works. I’m just me. And I can’t hear. Also sidenote to my sidenote: Old people, stop cutting in the Return the Hearing Device line. I know you don’t believe that I’m actually in the line, but if someone is standing at what appears to be a line, then on the whole they are usually standing in said line, even if said line is made up primarily of 83 year old people. Thank you all.)
So I go to the Hearing Device Hander-Outer Girl and she says, “The show doesn’t have any speaking or singing, so you probably don’t need the hearing device.” I was confused.
“What else is there besides speaking or singing?”
“It’s a ballet.”
“Edward Scissorhands, the ballet?”
“Yes. There is music too.”
“Huh.”
And then I really didn’t stop being confused for the whole rest of the show. First of all, why on earth would theater producers decide to turn Edward friggin’ Scissorhands into a Broadway show? Then, if I’m going with you on the creative possibilities that could be found in adapting the movie for the stage, then why why why why why would you think it a good idea to do the entire thing as a ballet? Who is smoking what and can I have some of it?
As I was watching the ballet I actually started to get annoyed, because I could, in the time I was sitting there, come up with several really great ways to turn that story into a cool musical. And I could even think up big musical numbers about a boy who feels out of place in the world and who just wants to belong, but dammit he has scissors for hands. There is even a love story between him and a beautiful girl who can’t get passed the whole scissor for hands thing. Oh, the possibilities! But noooooo. We have to watch people twirl around for two hours. And they don’t even twirl that well.
I confused.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Trans-Confusion Orchestra
Okay. So I went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra the other night. And I’m confused.
First of all, I’m pretty sure they aren’t from Siberia, and they aren’t an orchestra. This is really the most confusing part to me. I had heard of Tran-Siberian Orchestra, and you probably have too, they play that one big instrumental song that you hear every Christmas, it’s sounds like a huge orchestra playing a familiar Christmas song and it’s loud and powerful and awesome. So when a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra play I said sure, because I really liked that one song and I’m a sucker for big orchestras full of instruments.
Then we got to the arena and there was a 98 Rock van outside, broadcasting live from the parking lot. Hmmm. 98 Rock is not exactly the radio station I would expect to be broadcasting from a orchestra show, it’s the hard rock station in the area. I’m thinking an orchestra might be a better fit for the light rock stations.
Then we get inside and the show starts and instead of an orchestra the band onstage is like 10 violin players, a drummer, two keyboard players and three electric guitar players. That combination does not a orchestra make. Hello, where are the trumpets? And maybe a flute or two?
And then this one dude starts telling us a story. In rhyme. It’s a poem really. But a really long one. And it’s all about peace and love and other holiday crap. And then he takes breaks in his poem/story thing and they play huge rock-style versions of Christmas songs. With lots of rock-style showmanship and loudness.
I am now beginning to understand the 98 Rock van outside.
And then the leaders of the band talk to us about who knows what and not one of them sounds even remotely Siberian. They sound like they are from Jersey or something.
I’m confused. There is smoke and lights and rocker guys with long hair and fiddler girls wearing short skirts and they are all head banging sorta. And they are all very impressed with their rock and roll-ness.
I don’t really get it. I think I would be okay with it if the name wasn’t so confusing. I don’t think of light shows when I think of Siberia.
And then there is this lady sitting next to me. She’s gotta be in her mid-50's if not older. And she cannot sit still, cannot just watch the show. She is looking all over the place, checking everyone out instead of watching the show. Eating popcorn, passing popcorn around, drinking her beer, talking to her friends. THEN this 50-something year old woman starts text messaging on what looks like a T-mobile Sidekick. And she doesn’t stop text messaging for like an hour. Because apparently this 55 year old woman needs to tell her BFF all about the Trans-Jersey Band. And then, after she gets bored with that, she decides to take a nap. I swear to god this woman just fell asleep for like two hours through the loudest music I’ve ever heard (and I actually heard it, I took my hearing aides out because the music was making them nearly explode).
I really was very confused by the entire evening. It was the longest concert ever and it ended with the LEAD SINGER OF THE BEST BAND EVER - YES!!! I put this in all caps because apparently this is very exciting to the thousands of people at the concert. Me? Not so much. I don’t think I was even alive when Yes was a big band.
But I bet the lady next to me was. Imagine the exciting text she could have sent her BFF. If only she had woken up for the finale.
Here are some videos of the Trans-American Group of Pretentious Rockers:
First of all, I’m pretty sure they aren’t from Siberia, and they aren’t an orchestra. This is really the most confusing part to me. I had heard of Tran-Siberian Orchestra, and you probably have too, they play that one big instrumental song that you hear every Christmas, it’s sounds like a huge orchestra playing a familiar Christmas song and it’s loud and powerful and awesome. So when a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra play I said sure, because I really liked that one song and I’m a sucker for big orchestras full of instruments.
Then we got to the arena and there was a 98 Rock van outside, broadcasting live from the parking lot. Hmmm. 98 Rock is not exactly the radio station I would expect to be broadcasting from a orchestra show, it’s the hard rock station in the area. I’m thinking an orchestra might be a better fit for the light rock stations.
Then we get inside and the show starts and instead of an orchestra the band onstage is like 10 violin players, a drummer, two keyboard players and three electric guitar players. That combination does not a orchestra make. Hello, where are the trumpets? And maybe a flute or two?
And then this one dude starts telling us a story. In rhyme. It’s a poem really. But a really long one. And it’s all about peace and love and other holiday crap. And then he takes breaks in his poem/story thing and they play huge rock-style versions of Christmas songs. With lots of rock-style showmanship and loudness.
I am now beginning to understand the 98 Rock van outside.
And then the leaders of the band talk to us about who knows what and not one of them sounds even remotely Siberian. They sound like they are from Jersey or something.
I’m confused. There is smoke and lights and rocker guys with long hair and fiddler girls wearing short skirts and they are all head banging sorta. And they are all very impressed with their rock and roll-ness.
I don’t really get it. I think I would be okay with it if the name wasn’t so confusing. I don’t think of light shows when I think of Siberia.
And then there is this lady sitting next to me. She’s gotta be in her mid-50's if not older. And she cannot sit still, cannot just watch the show. She is looking all over the place, checking everyone out instead of watching the show. Eating popcorn, passing popcorn around, drinking her beer, talking to her friends. THEN this 50-something year old woman starts text messaging on what looks like a T-mobile Sidekick. And she doesn’t stop text messaging for like an hour. Because apparently this 55 year old woman needs to tell her BFF all about the Trans-Jersey Band. And then, after she gets bored with that, she decides to take a nap. I swear to god this woman just fell asleep for like two hours through the loudest music I’ve ever heard (and I actually heard it, I took my hearing aides out because the music was making them nearly explode).
I really was very confused by the entire evening. It was the longest concert ever and it ended with the LEAD SINGER OF THE BEST BAND EVER - YES!!! I put this in all caps because apparently this is very exciting to the thousands of people at the concert. Me? Not so much. I don’t think I was even alive when Yes was a big band.
But I bet the lady next to me was. Imagine the exciting text she could have sent her BFF. If only she had woken up for the finale.
Here are some videos of the Trans-American Group of Pretentious Rockers:
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