Mama who bored me

(wokka-wokka)

After desperately wanting to see Spring Awakening for the past few years, I have to say that I was rather underwhelmed by it when I finally made it to the Los Angeles leg of the tour this weekend, where it was playing at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.  It wasn't the fault of the actors, whose youth and vigor were well-suited to the specifications of the play.  Certainly, my expectations were quite high, but when it came to the storytelling, I found the show to be rather uneven, which along with the distracting set design, detracted from what could have been a solid, focused morality tale.

I'll start with the aesthetic.  If you have any familiarity with the play, you know going into it that it's a modern alt-rock musical set in 1891 Germany, where adolescents struggle with the same imbalance of education and sexual urges that plagues the world today.  So it's cool to see these extremely childlike-looking actors with cartoonish hairstyles, dancing to modern music while dressed in 19th Century school uniforms.  Even as far as the band members in plainclothes seated upstage, this all contributes to an easy-to-understand juxtaposition of the old and the new.  But add to that the onstage audience members, complete with unnecessary plainclothes audience plants, and the busy flair all over the walls, and the result is a jumbled hodge-podge when the story would best be served by a black box setting - a Sisyphean transformation for the Pantages, I know.

The music, which is the play's greatest asset, starts out very strong with well-crafted hits "Mama Who Bore Me," "The Bitch of Living," and "All That's Known," but other than a second act standout with "Our Bodies Are the Guilty Ones," the songs feel forced, or sometimes completely at odds with the emotional temperature of the story beats.  Just like R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet (hear me out), the grandeur of the music didn't often match the mood of the concurrent scenes.  Courtney Markowitz, as Ilse, sang beautifully on "The Song of Purple Summer," though.

These criticisms are especially deserved when it comes to the story itself, though.  The tragic romance of Melchior and Wendla (roles originated by Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele) could be a great archetype for the dangers of withholding critical knowledge from people, and conversing with young people in an open and honest way.  Terrible things happen when ignorance is king, and the central coupling of the show could have been a new, unconventional version of star-crossed lovers suffering from the same lesson.  But the imbalanced additions of secondary characters whose storylines seemed included to confront the audience without sufficiently contributing to the message.

The standout performer, for me, was Sarah Kleeman, who took on all roles of Adult Women in the show, and perfectly transitioned from persona to persona with subtle vocal trills that gave depth to seemingly minor characters.  I know my negative opinion about the show is an unpopular one, but to me, Spring Awakening was a victim of its own hype.  I had heard it compared to the quality of recent breakout hits In the Heights and Wicked, and this praise was, as I saw it, off the mark.

Return to form?

So Sunday night's post-Super Bowl episode of Glee was miserable, and didn't bear discussing.  Luckily it was fairly standalone, plotwise, so this week's episode could swoop in without a viewing.  Quinn, Brittany, and Santana chose New Directions over Cheerios, and Quinn kissed Finn.

Our mohawked guitar-player Puck is now harboring a not-quite requited crush on Laura Zizes, the newest member of New Directions.  It makes sense that Puck would go for a tough girl, one who's a badass, being the school's wrestling champion, and one who turned him down after their blackmail-induced kiss didn't turn her on.  Puck, being an idiot, thinks that Laura should be thrilled to receive his advances since he is a dreamboat (but looks 35), and she is heavy-set.  She continues to turn him down, and Puck earnestly pursues her, not once hiding his affection for her, which I did find to be a sweet surprise.  He serenaded her with Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls," which was an obvious choice, and clearly offended Laura.  I think a rendition of Mika's "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" would have swayed her *if* the show felt so desperately that he needed to pick a song about her weight.  She continues to keep him on the hook, admitting that she likes him, but wants him to prove that he's really genuinely interested in her.  In one episode, a minor character has been given a thoughtful plotline about body image when main cast member Mercedes has been weirdly subjected to starvation dieting one week and protesting the cafeteria's removal of tater tots another.  Well done, show?

Santana's jealousy plotline wasn't very interesting, though it seemed an obvious extension of her role on the show.  However, her conniving plan to infect Finn with mononucleosis in order to reveal that Quinn's cheating on Sam with him, was clever, and a perfectly devious way to stir up drama when Santana is feeling dissatisfied with her situation.  Also, the line "I've had mono so many times it turned into stereo" was good enough to forgive her awkward 'street slang' which cropped up once again.  Meanwhile, Tina and Mike are so in love that she breaks down crying during a really weird performance of "My Funny Valentine," and I guess this doesn't bother Artie at all because he's with Brittany.  I maintain that Brittany and Mike deserve each other and should just be funny sexy dance lovers, but whatever.  His slow-motion dancing to Artie's "P.Y.T." was so cute!  Team Mike Chang.

What does it say about Golden Globe winner Chris Colfer or his character Kurt that I completely forget that Kurt has transfered out of McKinley and is now singing with the Warblers at Blazer Prep?  His crush Blaine, played by Darren Criss who has more charisma than the rest of the male cast combined, wants to serenade his crush, some dude at the mall with crazy grunge hair and great bone structure.  It's awesome.  It's a weird ad for The Gap ("Shop at The Gap!  We fire our gay employees?") but the song is just great and Darren Criss is like a teddy bear that you want to make out with.  Kurt is surprisingly okay with the fact that Blaine isn't into him (given his creepy reactions when his straight brother Finn rebuffed him).  There's a great moment after Blaine says, "If [the grunge-hair dude and I] got married, I'd get a 50% discount [at the Gap]," and the camera pans to Kurt's "Really?" face, then quickly back.  Well done, show.

Kurt, Mercedes, and Rachel decide that they're better off focusing on themselves instead of desperately needing boyfriends, which - THANK YOU, THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE! - will help them become the stars they are destined to be.  From my heart to your face, readers: If you are not happy when you're single, you will not be happy when you're in a relationship; date yourself first!  Also, plus points for identifying Patti LuPone as Kurt's diva idol.  My friend Ashley who is a gay man in a woman's body would approve.  Rachel decides to sing Katy Perry's "Firework" as a sort of love song to herself, and an awkward reference to her love parallelogram with Quinn/Finn and whoever, and she blows it away.  I like the song more than a lot of people do, but Lea Michele performs it with all the teen angst and self-empowerment that she can muster.  Let's hope this show can start using Rachel's character better...if she is more comfortable with her reality, maybe she'll be less insufferable.

All in all, one of the best Glee episodes in a while.  Keep praying for the spinoff Brittany loves Mike Chang!

This show is pretty offensive (am I only just now realizing this? I can't even tell anymore.)

There was a super cute and sexy scene in last night's episode of Glee, where Santana and Brittany are having a kissing session at Brittany's house.  It's been referenced in past episodes that their friendship is sexual in nature, but it's clear they're not dating, and that they freely date other people (seemingly exclusively boys).  When Santana stopped the session abruptly, annoyed at Brittany for talking too much, she spat out that the only reason she was wasting her time with Brittany is because her preferred FWB Puck is not available.  This was the first of a couple of scenes which made me really sad for Brittany, and made me think about how differently the show treats queer women and queer men.  I might not agree totally with After Ellen's Lux Alptraum, who wrote that "Brittany and Santana are [her] queer icons," but they are definitely more than just straight girls who make out in order to please their male partners.

While of course this is not to say that this show has shown the utmost sensitivity when ever discussing gay culture or homophobia, it has taken a lot more effort to respect the struggles of gay teen boys through the character of Kurt.  Now, when Kurt announced that he would be singing a song from Victor Victoria, I audibly cheered, "Yes!"  Actor Chris Colfer has displayed some great range, and I knew he'd do a great job with the number "Le Jazz Hot."  That said, it was a little weird to show that as a gay boy, the character is some hijra blend of masculine and feminine.

Another element of this complicated situation is the new character Sam, who is found equally appealing by Kurt and Quinn (and Finn), and who everyone wants to play on their team.  Most importantly, though, this nerd speaks Na'vi and thought that he needed to impress everyone at his new school by dumping a bottle of Sun-In on his head instead of just showing off his abs, guitar and singing skills, and cute smile.  What a weirdo.

Back in Santana land, she and Mercedes belted out a duet of Ike & Tina Turner's "River Deep - Mountain High" that is so on fire that it made me sweat.  If only they didn't make Santana say every line with a sprinkle of ebonics for no reason.

Meanwhile, things are getting confusing for poor Brittany.  Since Santana won't duet with her, she asks Artie to be her partner because she knows he has a good voice.  He is surprised because she has never given him the time of day, and she admits that she used to think he was a robot.  She flirts with him, and he goes along with it, hoping to get over Tina, even though he's not really that interested in Brittany.  In a way, it was cute when Brittany lifted Artie out of his chair and laid him down on her bed, saying that their hook up would have been inevitable since he's on the football team now.  Artie seems nervously excited to lose his virginity, and Brittany never seems to have any ulterior motives or pity in mind.

So the next day, Artie slut-shames and dumps her, and it is completely uncalled for.  He gets mad at her for having sex with him because he wanted his first time to be important, and he doesn't believe that it was important for her.  Let me know if you picked up on any coercion or forcing in the previous scene, because I did not get the impression that he was anything but on board.  I don't know that it would have come off any differently if the genders had been reversed, either.  Brittany genuinely likes Artie, and hoped they could have a nice date together at Breadsticks (I forgot to mention that the glee club is competing for a free dinner there).  She wants to share spaghetti, Lady and the Tramp style.  This scene was really difficult for me.

Our other glee clubbers are just along for the ride.  Rachel pulls a Katherine Heigl and realizes that she is completely unlikeable, and she and Finn sing a couple of boring duets.  Mike Chang, who should spend more time shirtless and less time having a mullet, finally gets lines, and duets with Tina on "Sing!" from A Chorus Line.  This song is not fun but I guess they did their best with it.  I just don't understand how Tina is "introducing us to the amazing voice of Mike Chang" if he's been in the Glee Club for over a year.  Was he just the dance contingent, like Kurt is the Cheerios' singing element, and Artie is the football team's human battering ram?  What is this school?


Finally, there was at least one Olive Garden commercial aired during this episode, which made me laugh because of the show's parody with a place called "Breadsticks," but when we see Brittany alone at the restaurant pushing a meatball across her plate with her nose, it was way sadder to me than when Rachel wanted to find her birth mom or whatever.  LEAVE BRITTANY ALONE!  (I apologize for that.)  In two weeks the show will be taking on the Rocky Horror Show, which, as a former cast member, I am biased towards, but hopefully they let the episode stew in the play's campy awfulness.  If only I could shout callbacks at the television without freaking out my housemates.

Glee, Tuesdays at 8pm on Fox

Put out the light, and then put out the light.

Matt Sax & Eric Rosen's new musical Venice, on at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City through November 14, is one of the best new musicals I have seen in the past couple of years.  In brief, it is a post-apocalyptic hip hopera transposing Othello to the not-too-distant future.  In practice it is a wonderful modern play that provides a commentary on current sociopolitical issues, invoking Shakespearean tragedy while taking on enough of a life of its own to make the audience forget about the links to the Bard's original.

Sax, who wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics, stars as the Clown MC, a Greek chorus of a man who has grown up in a city called Venice, having been born after the war which isolated Venice as a city on lockdown, under constant threat of terrorism.  A politician by the name of Venice (who, coincidentally, preaches a message of "Hope" and "Change") is seeking to save his city from a bleak future, and plans to do so by marrying Willow, who like Venice, is the child of a slain figure from the war of twenty years ago.  Unlike Venice, she grew up in the safe zone outside of the city.  So did Michael Victor, the young soldier whom Venice has recently promoted to be his second in command, incurring the jealousy of Markos, Venice's half-brother.  Markos and Venice share the same mother, a freedom fighter who died in a terrorist bombing, but Markos cannot let go of the fact that Venice is the product of a rape perpetrated by members of the enemy forces.

What follows is a tumultuous tale with all the dread of Hamlet, but with modern flourishes referencing the 24-hour news cycle and other specifically contemporary experiences.  The adaptation is faithful down to characters analogous to Roderigo and Emilia, though it takes liberties in how the story concludes.  Markos' and Venice's mother plays a role as important and affecting as a Shakespearean ghost.  The music, lyrics, and choreography are as compelling and exciting as the music in In the Heights, if more consistently dramatic in tone.  I was hooked from beginning to end while watching Venice, and I definitely think it is going to be a hit on Broadway when it makes it there.

If you can make it to a showing sometime in the next month, I highly recommend getting to Venice.

Ridiculous and Lovable...Britney vs. Glee

Last night's Britney Spears -centric episode of Glee pulled the show's highest ratings to date.  It's no surprise; the show's target audience would have grown up with Britney as a major figure in their lives.  When her first hit single "...Baby One More Time" came out I was ten years old, in the sixth grade, and wore fuzzy little pom poms in my hair even though my tastes would have skewed more to "My Name Is," "The Dope Show," "Just a Girl," and "The Kids Aren't Alright" (what can I say, my tastes were at least diverse, if superficial).  Though I will not deny that none of this music held as special a place in my heart as *NSYNC's self-titled debut, obviously.

Moving on.  The Britney/Brittany episode was a perfect example of everything that's been wrong with the show since its first season's back nine.  Not even an attempt at an interesting storyline, a handful of increasingly-unimaginative music videos strung together awkwardly, and yet redeemed by an expertly delivered one-liner or musical performance.  Where the John Stamos dentistry extravaganza, Mr. Schuester is somehow less into Brit Brit than Christopher Cross, and OCD Emma is suddenly less uptight than Schue, fail utterly, Heather Morris and a few moments of Jane Lynch save the day.

Heather Morris is easily the best dancer on the show, and while I think a hell of a lot more could have been done with Britney's greatest hits being transposed to McKinley High, getting to see her blowing Spears' familiar dance moves was pretty amazing.  Britterline's cameo was a completely unnecessary piece of stuntcasting that cheapens the quality of this show that is too beloved and new to have to rely on gimmicks like that.

The Artie-centric performance of "Stronger" was a completely missed opportunity.  The original video used chair-dancing as a means of voodoo proxy, and that could have been a great way to portray Artie's insecurities falling away as he joins the football team.  New Directions' take on "Toxic" was lovely, musically, but the Fosse dancing with Mr. Schue joining in was creepy and not that sexy.  Lea Michele's final song was very pretty but made zero sense and just left me confused.  Not that I care, now that Rachel's been written into one of the least likable characters on television.  Except for the Jewish gossip blogger, who is being far overused.

I really do hope that the writers and producers wise up and try to bolster the storylines more as the season goes on, as this show's legacy will not be remembered by iTunes sales charts alone.

Glee, Tuesdays at 8pm on Fox

Moo With Me!

This week I saw one of the preview performances of Tony-winner Rob Ashford's Leap of Faith, a new musical at the Ahmanson Theatre based on the 1992 film of the same name starring Steve Martin.  The show stars Raúl Esparza as "faith healing" con man Jonas Nightingale, who gets stranded in the small, desolate town of Sweetwater, Kansas with his traveling gospel troupe, co-led by his sister Jane (played by Kendra Kassebaum).  Their plan to put on their act in Sweetwater gets complicated when Jonas meets a local waitress, Marva (Brooke Shields), and her lovable son Boyd (Nicholas Barasch).

The story was sweet and fun, if wholly as predictable as any about a con man with a soft spot.  The music was scored by Alan Menken, most famous for his Disney scores, and the lyrics contribute an upbeat gospel sensibility to the sometimes troubling events onstage.  Esparza is incredibly magnetic, and during a flubbed verse that occurred at my showing, he managed to ask the conductor to go back and start over, winning over the crowd with, "It's previews folks, look what you paid for," and later, "Wow, déjà vu!"  His scenes with the young Barasch are particularly winning, and the kid has an excellent singing voice (until puberty hits).  Shields excelled in her more tense scenes, but her vocal range did not do much justice to the music.  The supporting performances of Kassebaum, as well as Kecia Lewis-Evans and Krystal Joy Brown, brought much more impressive musicality.

I wonder how much retooling will have to be done before this play reaches Broadway.  Some parts dragged on too slowly, and made me long for the more interesting set pieces that bolster the middle section of the story.  In general there was a lot of comic sweetness to a potentially heavy subject matter, and I hope to be able to see the movie upon which it was based sometime soon.

Leap of Faith, running until 10/24 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles

Glee, season 2 premiere

So, last year's insta-sensation Glee came back for its second season last night, and I have one thing to say about that: Mike Chang's abs. I might make them my desktop wallpaper, and then when IT comes to help me update QuickTime or whatever, they can judge me for having dude abs as my wallpaper. (Though they're just as cute as my current wallpaper, otters holding hands, if you ask me.)

Okay, I guess that's not the only thing I have to say. As usual, the plot line of the episode was a total yawner, and I didn't care one bit whether the glee club found new members or anything. Rachel is a completely unlikable character, and I am really looking forward to seeing her reaction when Finn leaves her for new blond quarterback / shower-singer Sam (who is basically Ronnie/Sunshine from Remember the Titans, right?). Honestly there was more sexual tension in the glances the two of them made at each other during the "Empire State of Mind" number than in any scene with Kurt last season.

I loved the addition of Coach Beiste (played by Dot Jones, who according to Wikipedia, is a champion arm wrestler) as another foil for Sue Sylvester, whose bullying went way over the top. I'll miss Tanaka, though. And whither Emma Pillsbury? Sue wasn't given much room to breathe in this episode, but any Jane Lynch is better than none.

I thought it was a pretty mediocre season premiere, both musically and story-wise. But the new additions were entertaining, and I am just excited that there seems to be more Brittany going on, because she is the greatest character on television right now (I can't tell if I'm serious about that or not). There were other plot points that were completely uninteresting, so whatever. For now:

Glee, Tuesdays at 8pm on Fox

On a Clear Night

This weekend I saw the Australian indie musical Bran Nue Dae, Rachel Perkins' adaptation of the 1990 stage show known for bringing Aboriginal stories to the Australian stage. The film begins on an entertaining high note with a comedic number set in a church that touches on many of the themes that teenage protagonist Willie will have to deal with throughout the movie. As it goes on, the quality of the entertainment declines, but with all its flaws, it's difficult to fault the movie too much.

While the quality of the acting is unimpressive, and the musical performances do not live up to the songs themselves, my biggest complaint with the movie is that not enough was done in the adaptation process to make the story stand on its own as a film. Sometimes it felt like watching a staged reading. Lead actor Rocky McKenzie has about a thimble-full of charisma, but he leaves room for more interesting supporting performances by Geoffrey Rush, Ernie Dingo, and Tom Budge (and impressive singing by Missy Higgins and Jessica Mauboy, unsurprisingly). It would have been great to see more time and planning devoted to the musical numbers, but I wondered if efforts to keep the story true to its origins got in the way of what could have taken on new life as a great quirky musical film. And for the record, looping the audio of tap dancing into scenes where actors' feet are out of frame is against the rules.

Major themes in the film are about how to properly express identification with the Aboriginal culture, and what it means to be an Aborigine. I wondered why, then, the story was set in 1969, two years after Aboriginal people legally became considered people in Australia (previously, they were listed as native fauna). There are a number of characters or lines in the movie which hint at the systematic usage of Aboriginal women for sex that had been ongoing for decades, but it all fades into a lighthearted wink at the camera and there are no real lessons to be learned. In the end, all the characters, regardless of origin, gather around a table and sing the main chorus:

There's nothing I would rather be
Than to be an Aborigine,
And watch you take my precious land away.
For nothing gives me greater joy
Than to watch you fill each girl and boy
With superficial existential shit.

I wondered exactly how seriously we were supposed to take the movie, and landed on regarding it as a very sweet and simple musical comedy of errors, with a lot of unfulfilled potential. I wonder how it was received by viewers with no exposure to Australian history or culture, or to Australians. Thoughts?

Everybody loves a winner...

Last night's episode of Glee was a pretty fractured one for a show which has been easy to follow up until this point. With lead girl Rachel foregoing Glee Club for the school's production of Cabaret, she was isolated from the rest of the cast, and Jane Lynch was hardly in the episode at all. Mr. Schuester's pregnancy dramz took a backseat to Quinn's, and all of the new tertiary characters confused the flow of the story.

But if all of the hubbub was due to the show's writers scotch-taping the episode back together after realizing they'd snagged Kristin Chenoweth as a guest star, then who the hell cares! Kristin Chenoweth! For the Broadway musical obsessed "gleeks" watching the show, I'm sure this was all anyone could care about. Kristin Chenoweth! With Idina Menzel-lookalike Lea Michele! Well, we didn't get to hear any Wicked (an NBCU property - with Glee plugging Fox-owned MySpace every five minutes, it's hard to forget about the bidness behind it all), but we got Cabaret, and country music, and Heart, and most importantly - Queen! Oh joy of joys!

When Kristin and Lea had their intercut duet of "Maybe This Time," I couldn't help but tear up. Listening to such powerfully talented women do what so few people can, and just sing with all their might, gets me every time. I was applauding uncontrollably by the end of the song, and laughed when Kurt wiped his eyes after her performance, because the show was lampooning my exact reaction. The ensemble's closing performance of "Somebody to Love" was absolutely wonderful also, and the music without a doubt took center stage in the episode.

Hopefully the storylines get back on track next week. For now I am going to listen to musicals on my iPod, and laugh thinking about Kurt, drunk at school, calling Jayma Mays' Emma "Bambi" because of her big big eyes.

This is not going to go well...

Very belated, I would like to share a few thoughts on this years "most anticipated new show," Fox's Wednesday night addition, Glee. I quite liked the pilot, when it aired at the beginning of the summer, but I wasn't really sucked in until the second episode which aired last week. Glee is created by Ryan Murphy, who brought us Popular and Nip/Tuck, and a lot more of his biting humor was present in the second episode than in its PG predecessor.

The adult roles on the show are Will Schuester, played handily by Matthew Morrison (whom I recognize only from an episode of Ghost Whisperer that I watched by accident) as a passionate and optimistic loser. He has a lot going for him, but many obstacles between him and happiness. One such obstacle is his neurotic wife Terri (played by the always-welcome Jessalyn Gilsig - another Nip/Tuck presence), whose financial woes, hysterical pregnancy, and controlling behavior make me wonder how she and Will ever got together in the first place. I think they were supposed to be high school sweethearts, which just makes it even more tragic.

In stark contrast to Terri, there is Will's coworker Emma, the school's obsessive compulsive guidance counselor. The adorable Jayma Mays (Heroes! Ugly Betty!) is wonderful in this tight-lipped but hilarious role of the girl who's hopelessly in love with a married man, but adult enough to know better.

Will's ultimate foe is Sue Sylvester, as played by Jane Lynch, whom I want to accompany me everywhere in my daily life, I am such a fan of hers. She is absolutely wicked to the core, and brings her negative energy to her job as the "Cheerios" cheerleading coach. As the school funds are balanced precariously between her team and the fledgling Glee Club, her one mission is to bring Will down, but I think he is hardy enough to hold his own against her. Sue also has about 90% of the show's best lines, and I heard Jane Lynch (who is a wonderful improviser) say in an interview that she never feels the need to improve on the script.

The kids are, frankly, less interesting. Our main girl is Rachel, who is awesome. She's played by Broadway star Lea Michele, who originated the role of Wendla in Spring Awakening, which I think is inspired casting. She's so much more talented than most of the primetime teen show actors, and her voice is incredible. Her character is such a hilarious exaggeration of an archetype that it's just like a giant wink to the audience the whole time. She's desperate to become famous, and in her mid-teens, feels she's almost too old for success (embarrassingly, I totally empathize). She'll be ruthless in her pursuit of fame, but is dealing with nerdiness, insecurity, and a desperate crush on Cory Monteith's Finn, the bumbling jock with a bitchy Cheerio girlfriend and a wonderful voice.

The other kids in the show are just cookie cutters, and I really think that this needs to be worked on. Mercedes, the plus-sized black diva; Artie, the paralyzed nerd; Tina, the stuttering Asian-American Hot Topic customer; Kurt, the effeminate gay kid; and Quinn, the Christian blonde Cheerio who is Finn's girlfriend. There is pretty much no depth to these supporting characters beyond their stereotypes, and if any one of them is going to get fleshed out, it is likely to be Quinn, which I think is a disservice to the rest of the diverse cast.

I am very excited to tune into the show's third episode tonight, which I think will feature more of Gilsig. Also, I would like to remind everyone of last week's best exchange (paraphrased):

Emma: Rachel, are you throwing up in there?
Rachel: No.
Emma: Then what's that next to you?
Rachel: The girl who was throwing up in here before me left that there.
Emma: Rachel...
Rachel: I tried throwing up, but I couldn't! It's like I have no gag reflex or something.
Emma: You may find that comes in handy later on.

I hate to laugh at bulimia jokes, but I do anyway.

Finally, if you are wondering about this post's cryptic title, I am worried about this show. It is unique, and hilariously well-written, and has a rabid fan base. And it's on Fox. If that network does to this show what it did to Arrested Development, Firefly, Futurama, and Family Guy (for a time), then I think many "Gleeks" will be very disappointed. It's currently on just before SYTYCD, but in a few weeks, that show will be switching to a 2-hour format, so where will that push Glee? Friday night at 10pm or something horrible, I'm sure. I am not optimistic about it's chances if it moves around without a solid lead-in.

Glee airs Wednesday nights on FOX at 8pm.

Summer in the City, Pt. I (Music)

So, as my first action back on the blog, I'm going to do a little catching up on what I've been enjoying this summer. The quickest for me to update you on will be music. For the last five years, I've complained at how lazy I've become with learning about new music. In high school I was obsessed, reading Q, the NME, Rolling Stone, Spin, and various online music publications. I used to stay up until early morning to watch the new, hip music videos on Fuse and MTV2. I'd go to record stores and pick up CDs I'd never heard of based on the employees' recommendations. I don't think a day went by when I was 14, 15, 16, that I didn't listen to some new music.

And then I went to college and this practically all stopped. I don't really know what happened. I was busier, yes, but I spent hours and hours screwing around on the internet, just not looking for new music. The wonderful radio station Indie 103.1 came and went, and I just waited for new music to come my way, on mixtapes by friends usually.

This summer I've found myself listening to a little more new music than I had been doing. Maybe it's because I have a commute that crosses all of L.A., so I stop at Amoeba with some frequency, and it inspires me. Anyway, here's a short list:

Regina Spektor, "Far"

I've loved Regina ever since hearing "Samson" performed a capella by a friend of mine a couple of years ago. I immediately bought everything of hers I could get my hands on. When I saw her perform live at the Wiltern a year or so ago, it was a really remarkable, ethereal show. This summer, her new album quickly became my favorite. Upon my first listen, I knew that it was immensely more enjoyable to me than "Soviet Kitsch" or "Begin to Hope," both of which I love. "The Calculation," "Eet," "Laughing With," and "One More Time With Feeling" instantly became my favorite tracks, and I had them memorized within days. I even called my boyfriend while I was driving home and made him listen to "Eet" with me. I'm going to be seeing her at the Greek Theatre in October, and I think that the kookiness of this album will be on great display at that venue. The religious tones of her work come back with a passion, and her voice...is as mesmerizing as ever.

She & Him, "Volume One"

My enjoyment of "country-fried indie rock" (as I once termed it in an article I wrote for school) came as a surprise to me in high school when the particular stylings of bands like Rilo Kiley and Limbeck were all I wanted to listen to. The lilting twang of Zooey Deschanel's voice fits in perfectly with that, and is left stripped bare with M. Ward's music. I don't like every track on this album, but there's something so desperate in the vocals that I can't seem to get enough. My friends and I even sat through Yes Man to hear Zooey singing. It was not worth it.

Here's a video of Elvis Costello, Jenny Lewis, and Zooey Deschanel on stage. It's like fantasy rock band for me!

The Temper Trap

Okay so I don't know too much about them, but thanks to Ash, I got to see them live at Space Land for free, and they were a really wonderful show. I think the last time I saw a really great small act in a small venue was Everybody Else at the Troubadour in 2005 or so, and they are two very different kinds of bands. The Temper Trap was energetic, and played cleanly, and definitely piqued my interest. They have a song, "Sweet Disposition" featured on the (500) Days of Summer soundtrack, so I'm excited to see what happens for them next.

Death Cab for Cutie at the Bowl

A few weeks ago I got a friend's extra ticket to see DCFC perform with the L.A. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. It was a wonderful last minute surprise, though the performance was less impressive than expected. We got there while The New Pornographers were opening, which was a shame because I would have liked to see more of their set. They were quickly followed by Tegan & Sara, who were very talkative and charming, and played a good mix of older and newer music. Death Cab performed one short set solo, again with a good mix of old/new, and then one set backed by the L.A. Phil. Something was just missing though. The sound was off and consequently some of the horns drowned out the rest of the music, and some of the DCFC songs felt at odds with the horde of instruments and the huge venue. Plus, Ben Gibbard seemed to be phoning it in a bit. The general consensus among my friends seems to be that he's happy now that he's engaged to Zooey Deschanel, and can't really bring the angst to his music anymore. In 2004, DCFC performed at the Wiltern, and when they ended the show on "Transatlanticism," the stage filled with yellow light and fog, it felt like I was floating in the air, alone with the music. When they ended the Bowl show on the same note, there were fireworks in the air, and it became a spectacle. In the end, the best part about going to show was being at the Bowl, picnicking in the Hollywood hills and chatting with friends, as it always is.

Spamalot at the Ahmanson

Back in April, I waited in line at the Dorothy Chandler pavilion while Laker girls, wand'ring minstrels, and various Spam-themed games and activities carried on wildly around me. I was queuing up for discounted tickets to the preview shows of Monty Python's Spamalot, in town starring John O'Hurley. I know that the theatre doesn't quite count as "music," but I figured this was as good a place for it as any. Those of us familiar with the Pythons, and The Holy Grail, probably got more enjoyment out of the show than the unitiated. We knew which jokes to expect, but there was enough of a new take on the material to be freshly entertaining. My mom who has no Monty Python experience laughed wildly the whole time, and couldn't believe how crude some of the humor was, so maybe I'm wrong. There were a few little kinks to be worked out (it was in previews, after all), and the faux program in the Playbill was one of the funniest parts of the show, but overall I enjoyed it quite a bit.

That's all I can think of for now. Lately my car's CD player has been playing audiobooks mostly, as it helps more during a long commute than music sometimes does.

what can i say?

I feel like my "sorry I haven't been posting" blogs get more and more frequent, but I really do think that this situation will be remedied before long. As some of you may know, today I am moving to Australia for a few months to live alone and focus on my writing. My personal travel blog can be found at http://kat-walkabout.blogspot.com though I endeavor to keep up this blog as well. Since I am committed to spending solid chunks of my days at my computer working, I hope my procrastination tendencies can be somewhat productive if used to blog.

A lot of summer movies have come and gone, and I have seen my share. Every time I think, "ooh got to remember to post my review of that movie I saw last month," it seems less and less likely, so basically, here's a list of what I've seen since I last posted: The Dark Knight, Hellboy 2, Mamma Mia!, Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express, Hamlet 2, and The House Bunny. Good, good, decent, awesome, good, good, decent, basically.

I'll be posting next from Oceania!

singular, indeed

Last Wednesday I got to see a wonderful performance of A Chorus Line at the Ahmanson Theatre, which was definitely a culturally enlightening experience for me. A Chorus Line ended up being one of those things which is packed full of things that have been referenced in pop culture, and finally seeing it allowed me to contextualize all of those references.

As a dancer, and someone who (like most of us) entertained a few stage fantasies as a child, I very much enjoyed the portrait of the young wannabes in search of a chance to share the spotlight. At first, knowing that no intermission was going to come to break up the narrative, I was unsure about what story would unfold over the course of the show. It seems simple enough of a setup: some of the dancers will get a part, and some won't. But as the musical numbers unfold, it becomes an exploration of the personality traits which unite dancers across talent levels and backgrounds.

"At the Ballet" and "Hello 12, Hello 13, Hello Love," in particular, were the two songs which I felt really dug into the passionate emptiness of the dancers. That isn't to say that I feel that all dancers are beset with body image problems and daddy issues, but that most dancers have experienced the healing qualities of dancing and performing. What unfurls as a real-time representation of a crowded Broadway tryout is packed with the thoughts and feelings of the dancers, sometimes masked by their on-stage personae, as they vacillate between opening up to the choreographer about themselves and expressing their inner monologues to the audience.

There were some numbers which definitely felt dated in the mid-1970s style of the original, which has definitely been a conscious choice made by the directors of every iteration of the musical since then, and by the second hour, the lack of an intermission was certainly having an impact on audience attention span. Though Cassie and Paul are both very interesting characters, their soliloquies contributed to a slump in the second half. Spreading out the highly energetic medleys and very amusing numbers like "Dance Ten, Looks Three," would have kept the feel of the musical more even, I think. However, by the glittering finale of "One (Reprise)," there is so much onstage to look at and be impressed by that I left the theatre with a definite spring in my step.

A Chorus Line will be at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles through July 6.

can't stop the beat

The other summer hit that I finally had a chance to see on the plane was Hairspray, which I'd been apprehensive about ever since the fiasco that was 2005's The Producers rehash. With Hairspray, I have only the previous experience of John Waters' 1988 film starring Ricki Lake, and no experience with the Broadway musical. Now, having been surprised by the enjoyability of the recent film, I would like to see the stage version of the musical, as I'm sure any version not involving John Travolta would be incredibly entertaining.

The 2007 film lacks almost any shred of John Waters' masterful campy grotesqueness, but instead of making a failed attempt to capture the spirit of the original, the new take moves forward into the bouncy kitsch of movie musicals, with winking social commentary sprinkled throughout. Though I missed the Reefer Madness -style sendup of beatniks, the new music created for the musical is very well-written, and enhanced the experience quite a bit.

Nikki Blonsky was well-cast, filling Ricki Lake's pumps nicely, and even Amanda "All That" Bynes was enjoyable. Given too much room to amuse herself, she's just irritating, but as the repressed Checkerboard Chick she complements Blonsky well. Even though his nose looks like a cat, Zac Efron (to borrow a line from 30 Rock's Liz Lemon, "that's a thing, right?") was all too charming as Link Larkin. I'm pretty much the only person under 21 who's never watched a High School Musical, but I can see why preteen girls and questioning boys tune in for a piece of the Efron action.

Christopher Walken was amusing as ever in Jerry Stiller's old role, who had a much appreciated cameo as Mr. Pinky. I just wish Walken had had room to put on his dancing shoes. Queen Latifah and Brittany Snow turned in serviceable performances, and Michelle Pfieffer is turning out to be an excellent villainess (see Stardust).

Now, on to the troubling presence of Travolta as Edna Turnblad. While I appreciate the one-two punch of including him and Pfieffer as alumni of both installments of the Grease franchise, I am baffled as to why he would be cast in the role made famous by Divine. Travolta's voice is high-pitched and unnerving as it is, and when he affects a low-rent Baltimore drag queen, the result is like Chief Wiggum impersonating Johnny Carson after a helium binge. I think I actually grimaces every time he was onscreen. The point of Divine playing Edna was not that she was in drag, but that she was Divine. I don't know who would have been a better casting choice, but Travolta was an unwanted blemish on an otherwise enjoyable film.

Finally, the song "You Can't Stop the Beat: was an excellent set piece, and a great one for musical fans to hum after the movie is over.

chicken, egg, &c.

I had to have been in middle school when my dad first told me about the classic Mel Brooks comedy The Producers (1968). We rented it and watched it together, and ever since then, it has been one of my favorite movies of all time. Who can forget the first time they entertained the concept of springtime for Hitler? My dad had to explain to me some of the cultural cues of the late '60s that I was missing for all of the humor to stick, but otherwise, I had a blast. By high school, all of my close friends had seen it too, and we used to get a kick out of breaking pregnant silences with a hearty singalong of, "Germany was having trouble, what a sad sad story..."

In 2001, when we heard that Mel Brooks was adapting his movie into a stage musical, I was mostly excited. Though to be honest, I wasn't sure why the entirety of The Producers had to be turned into a musical, when the songs in Springtime for Hitler stand on their own. I ended up seeing the musical version when it came to the Pantages in Hollywood starring Jason Alexander and Martin Short. It was funny and entertaining, sure. But I was pretty underwhelmed, I guess. Then, in 2005, I made the unfortunate decision to watch the movie adaptation of the stage musical adaptation of the original movie, starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick who brought Zero Mostel's and Gene Wilder's roles to the stage in the first place. Oy. I understand that Mel Brooks was making mad dolla off of this morphing franchise, but really - a lot of the magic of the dialogue and the original genius actors was lost with the pointless new songs.

Now, hairstory (oh, I know I slay you) is repeating itself. In 2002, someone got the bright idea to turn John Waters' 1988 film Hairspray into a Broadway musical. About this, I can't say much. I have never seen the musical nor listened to the soundtrack, but I do know that it has been very well-received by audiences. I would tend to think that the source material is much more appropriate for the stage than The Producers was, because of Waters' fine skill with camp. Also, the whole thing is about music and dancing, not just a few scenes. Now, Adam Shankman, who brought us such comedy hits as A Walk to Remember and The Pacifier, as well as such artful masterpieces as Bringing Down the House and Cheaper by the Dozen 2, will be at the helm of the movie adaptation of the stage adaptation of the original.*

For some reason, I have a lot more confidence that the new version of Hairspray will be a lot better than the new version of The Producers even though I have not seen the musical, and it involves the most hideous looking version of John Travolta this side of treating his son's medical conditions by giving him a stress test. Certainly, I will miss Divine, Ricki Lake, and Jerry Stiller, but I think that at least Travolta and Queen Latifah have proven their experience in musicals, Christopher Walken is a great dancer (see bottom of post, beneath trailer, for proof), and Shankman is a dancer/choreographer. I'm curious if the original film's racial issues have been altered in any way for the new movie, though I would be surprised if they were, considering that even in '88 it was a period piece. But they changed the character of LSD from a hippie to a homosexual in The Producers, so you never know.

I'd be interested to know if any of my readers have seen the Hairspray musical, or can give any other insight, as I know very little about the details. Any thoughts on whether or not Hollywood may want to adapt Pink Flamingos for a younger audience?




(Spike Jonze is the shit.)

*Really, I can't hate on Shankman for directing really cheezy movies like Cheaper by the Dozen 2. Hell, The Pacifier was even kind of fun (maybe because I watched it with Czech subtitles in an empty theater in Prague, wondering what I was doing with my life?). As an aspiring screenwriter, I know that the key to success is most likely selling out as early as possible. How many times have I said, "If making it big means I have to crap out a few Scary Movie 8s starring DMX and Steven Seagal, then so be it." I'm personally hoping that Shankman's dance experience will shine, as I would love to see movie musicals really have a strong presence for modern audiences.

falling slowly

This weekend I went to the Laemmle 7 in Pasadena, where I have made so many movie memories that it's difficult to quantify. On Saturday at the matinee, I made another. My dad and I went to see Once, a small Irish film about love, music, and their inextricable link. It's difficult to describe Once because it is one of the least plot-driven movies I've ever seen. I keep seeing it described as the reinvented movie musical, but for some reason it doesn't come across that way to me. Musicals convey story and action in their songs, where the music in Once conveys emotion and character. There's more backstory than there is plot here, and I think that is somehow truer to life than I would have imagined. How often do we spend the day dwelling on our pasts instead of paying attention to the movement forward that we're living through? Our main characters in this movie, The Guy and The Girl, are given the chance to stop and look at what is happening to them, and it is a gift to the audience that we get to witness this landmark week in each of their lives.

The music that carries the film is absolutely stunning. The filmmaker has referred to it as a video album, and that description totally gelled with the experience I had of watching it. Sometimes I just had to close my eyes and listen to the music as it reverberated off the worn fabric lining the walls. Watching this movie for the first time is like listening to a beautiful album alone on your headphones and not wanting to escape the environment you've created between you and the music. Walking around afterwards, it took quite some time for the street sounds to permeate the dusky atmosphere I was in.

I've conveyed to you the experience of Once without being able to give any real details about the picture. I think this movie is for anyone who's ever loved music. If you understand how music can take care of you in difficult times, and exalt with you when you're happy, then you'll be moved by the songs quite a bit. I intend to buy the soundtrack as soon as I'm off work today, and listen to it until I can't anymore, for fear of being overwhelmed by it.