Media Morsels 7.30.10

• American Idiot in the Media
  Lots of Idiot goodness to get to this week – the Idiots were all over!
  
  
• American Idiot Makes an Impact
  In this video, made to promote the Idiots’ appearance at Joe’s Pub for a Broadway Impact benefit (more later), Alysha Umphress, an ensemble Idiot and featured in the number “Too Much, Too Soon” brings us backstage at the St James. Watch as the cast does vocal warm ups; the cast does physical warm ups; and John Gallagher, Jr. does tongue warm ups. Fantastic.
  
  
• At said benefit, (held Sunday, July 25) most of the talented cast performed a rousing concert; some of the actors/musicians (like Joshua Kobak, Brian Charles Johnson & Chase Peacock (a.k.a. Fran Sancisco) and Declan Bennett) played original songs and others played (funny, sexy and thrilling) covers. Throughout the night, recent birthday boy Gerard Canonico served as the house drummer while associate music director Jared Stein tickled the ivories. Playbill.com and Broadwayworld.com were on hand to photograph the festivities. I was on hand to capture it live. It was great! Nearly a week later, my friend and I can’t stop talking about how much fun we had. Here are (totally unauthorized) YouTube clips (not shot by me – I like to unplug and just listen) of some of the great performances:
  
  
• Michael Esper, covering Glass Sun’s “Stick Up for Me”
• Miguel Cervantes, covering Bend Folds Five’s “Kate” (which he dedicated to his wife, Kelly), one of my favorite BF5 songs
• Christina Sajous, doing an hilarious cover of Celine Dion’s Titanic theme, “My Heart Will Go On”, complete with props and costumes
• Omar Lopez-Cepero, covering Bill Withers’s “Ain’t No Sunshine”, and looking ever so sexy while doing it (it’s the acoustic guitar – it just always ups the hot factor!)
  
  
• Last week, Playbill.com brought us part one of their backstage interview with John, Michael, Stark and Rebecca. This week, we get to watch part two.
  
  
• About a month ago, John taped a round table discussion with fellow young actors for the American Theatre Wing. That discussion is now available for steaming and downloading. Watch as John, fellow Spring Awakening alums Krysta Rodriguez (currently in The Addams Family) and Jennifer Damiano (most recently of Next to Normal and possibly soon to be seen in Spider Man), La Cage’s Robin de Jesus and Steppenwolf member and Tony nominee Jon Michael Hill discuss discovering theatre, discovering it as a career, training and more!
  
  
• The Responsible Michael Esper
  Liberty Mutual (yep, the insurance company) has a short-film series “exploring what it means to do the right thing”. In three films posted this week, young theatre actors take on the question and talk about their responsibility as an artist. My favorite of these films features American Idiot stud, Michael Esper. He talks about his character, Will, and how Will relates to young Michael. (Can I just say: I love his voice – both singing and speaking – because it’s really smooth and a little understated, but at the same time I think it’s hilarious that a kid who grew up in New Jersey and New York talks with a California cadence.) Other actors featured are Jennifer Damiano (who just left Next to Normal) and Kyle Riabko (who closed the Hair revival as Claude).
  
  
• If you heard buzzing at the St James this week, you weren’t going crazy: Sting was in the house! Broadway.com was on hand to capture the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artist greeting the cast.
  
  
• Merchant of Broadway
  As Shakespeare in the Park concludes its 2010 summer run, it was announced that the critically acclaimed production of Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino as Shylock, will transfer to Broadway this fall/winter for a limited run. The play will play the Broadhurst theatre (currently dark after Enron closed in short order) from October 19-January 9. Tickets are sure to sell out since Al Pacino will reprise his role. No other casting has been announced.
  
  
• Greetings and Salutations
  Heathers, the quirky cult 80s movie starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, has been getting the musical treatment through various workshops and readings. This September, Heathers: The Musical will play two shows (in one night) at Joe’s Pub. Yours truly already has her ticket and dinner reservation. No casting has been announced but I’m pumped. Lick it up, Heather. Lick it up!
  
  
• Glee Scoop
  The annual fanboy extravaganza, Comic Con, just ended in San Diego. Glee had a significant presence there this year, much like last. Over the duration of the convention, Ryan Murphy let slip several tidbits about next season, including: Cheyenne Jackson will join the cast in a recurring, not regular, role as Vocal Adrenaline’s coach; there will be a Britney Spears-themed episode (ugh!); they might cover REM’s Losing My Religion (which, incidentally, Anthony Rapp sang for his Rent audition); and they may do a Rocky Horror show. Get ready to time warp… again!

See Rock City & Other Destinations

Excuse me! Where are you going? Do you know? Do you know what you will find when you get there? What are you afraid of? What will happen along the way? These are some literal and existential questions raised and explored in the beautiful new musical See Rock City & Other Destinations.

See Rock City, with music by Brad Alexander and book and lyrics by Adam Mathias, is produced by the Transport Group, whose mission is to create “intimate works by American writers that illuminate the American experience. [Their] integrated production elements distill the material to its core.” They fulfilled their mission with this song-cycle musical that, through several variations-on-a-theme vignettes, follows people on their journeys to various American landmarks. The vignettes seem to me to be sign posts marking journeys of self-discovery. The power of the sights forces the characters (and us) to confront the power within ourselves.

For example, first we meet Jess, who is sitting in a diner while en route to see Rock City. When the waitress, Dodi, asks him why he’s going he says, “I saw the signs.” Of course there were literal signs along the highway entreating him to see Rock City. But because this musical is so well written and expertly executed, we know immediately that there is something deeper going on here. Jess saw signs – cosmic, karmic, spiritual signs – that he needed to take a journey. Each character we meet feels the compulsion to take a similar journey and in the process, must ask themselves the questions I posed earlier. The answers are surprising and thrilling and scary and heartfelt and sometimes incomplete but the rewarding part of it all is that the characters (and, ostensibly, us) are forced to look inward and decipher our internal compass.

Aside from the themes of the musical, there’s much to rave about regarding the production value. The Transport Group is known for what I’ll call “immersion theatre”, in which the audience is intimately seated and the cast mingles about them so everyone is fully enveloped in the environments in the show. Here, we sat on lawn and beach chairs set up by the cast. I also liked how this sparse production effectively used seemingly simple light techniques to greatly enhance the story. For example, when Jess and Dodi are making their way through Rock City, the lighting is such that at first, everything – including the audience – looks like it’s in black and white. Then we’re all sepia toned. It isn’t until Jess and Dodi reach Rock City’s pinnacle that everything is illuminated in full, vivid living color.

Also impressive was the fact that the entire show was performed off-mic. Sure, this was a small theatre (it fit under 100 people) but I’ve been in small theatres before where, especially for musicals, the cast and musicians relied on microphones to carry their voices. Here, everyone just used their talent to do what they do. It was a beautiful euphony of sound when the cast sang together with all their might.

There wasn’t a weak link in the seven person cast. Heading in to See Rock City, I knew Hair alum Bryce Ryness was in the show and, honestly, he was the draw. He didn’t disappoint. What was wonderful about being in such an intimate environment and having the actors “live among us”, as it were, was that I could see – just a few feet away from me – every struggle going on inside Bryce. And the rest of the cast, too. Actors Stanley Bahorek (who I saw in the final company of Broadway’s Spelling Bee), Donna Lynne Champlin, Jonathan Hammond, Ryan Hilliard, Mamie Parris, Ryness and Sally Wilfert all played two characters and all 14 of those people felt full and alive.

I’m not sure what the future holds for See Rock City. It’s been workshopped in Massachusetts and presented in a festival in New York and now it’s receiving a full staging. As I was sitting in the performance, I was trying to figure out if it would work in a regular proscenium theatre: I think it could, so long as it was still a small theatre and there were opportunities for the actors to move through the audience. I hope it has a life after this because I feel that no matter what its destination, seeing this original musical is well worth the journey.

(Visit seerockcitymusical.com for more information.)

Trust

 

“Are they sick, or am I sick?” asked the older woman sitting next to me at Second Stage Theatre yesterday, as we broke for intermission during the world premiere of Paul Weitz’s Trust. You see, while Trust is about trust (and control and the imbalances within relationships) what sets off our protagonist, Harry, is a trip to an S&M dungeon where he meets a familiar dominatrix. The first act actually starts and ends there, and that clearly made my neighbor uncomfortable.

I wasn’t so uncomfortable. (Which made me wonder if perhaps I was sick.) But I did start to think about why this play was working for me while Make Me, which ran at the Atlantic a couple years ago and had a similar setting, didn’t. At first I thought maybe it was the actors. Make Me had actors of varying ages, none of whom I was particularly fond of beforehand. Trust stars theatre favorite Sutton Foster (who simply nails everything she tackles) and TV and movie guy Zach Braff. (Bobby Cannavale and Ari Graynor co-star.) All four actors are 30-ish, good looking people, and going in to the play I had favorable opinions of Foster and Braff. But by the end of the play, I realized that it wasn’t the difference in actors that made one show work and the other fail; the difference was that Make Me spent too much time in the dungeon while Trust actually comes up to the real world to explore the psychology of what goes on up top in our heads that would cause us to go down below. It seems that, in Weitz’s world, what’s going on up top is that we’re all damaged goods. We all want to be in control, whether or not we recognize that in ourselves.

Then again, maybe some of it was the actors. The quartet of actors in Trust are good, with one exception. Cannavale and Graynor are serviceable though their characters are not particularly likable. Braff was good, even if he had to ease into it. It seemed like he was playing an amalgam of his previous roles: In the first scene, which called for him to be goofy and charming, I felt like I was watching JD on stage. (JD is the character Braff played for eight years on the hit series, Scrubs.) As the play moved on, JD started to fade away but Braff’s movie characters started to creep in. Perhaps it was just the character of Harry: Like many of Braff’s movie roles, Harry is at a crossroads in his life and trying to choose between two paths in the hopes of discovering himself. This is not to say that Braff’s performance felt false, just too familiar.

So the exception to the “good” was Sutton Foster - who was great! This Tony-winning actress can do just about anything. In addition to having a ridiculous voice (seriously - download “Gimme Gimme” from Thoroughly Modern Millie and tell me you don’t get chills) and being a great dancer, she also an actress. And not just a musical-comedy actress: She can work it in any genre. I don’t want to give too much away about the play so I won’t be specific about her performance but I will say that she was undoubtedly the best thing about the play and certainly worth the price of admission.

While Trust was better than Make Me and the actors put on a good show, I’m still having a little trouble wrapping my brain around what exactly I want to say about Trust. I liked it - that’s simple enough. But why? Was it a schadenfreude thing? Did I like watching these damaged people beat each other (figuratively (mostly), not literally)? Did I just like Sutton Foster and Zach Braff so much that I didn’t care what was going on? I’m not sure.

In one scene, the dominatrix tells a potential client that every client needs to develop a relationship with the dominatrix - that you can’t just go to one session with one dominatrix and another with another. Rather, you must develop a rapport. When the client scoffs and asks why, the dominatrix replies, “You need someone you can trust so you know they won’t hurt you.” It was in that moment that I realized what, as an avid theatergoer, I was connecting to in this play: Trust.

I had an epiphany: We put a lot of trust in artists. We trust when we walk in to a theatre or a gallery or a concert hall that even if we’re taken on a perilous journey, there’ll be something redeeming waiting for us on the other side. There will have been a reason we went through the fire swamp. The redemption may just be that it’s entertaining; or it could be some form of catharsis; or it could teach us something. Whatever it is, we trust writers and painters and actors and dancers and musicians to show us something worth seeing. I love this aspect of art. It makes you feel connected to something and in a world where it is easier and easier to disconnect from people, it’s nice to know there’s still someone out there you can trust.

Media Morsels 7.23.10

• American Idiot in the Media
  This week, Playbill.com featured the first in a series of backstage videos from the St James. In this installment, John Gallagher, Jr., Michael Esper, Stark Sands and Rebecca Naomi Jones are interviewed in John’s dressing room.
  
  In related news, while I was crying my eyes out at the Booth, watching Alice Ripley, Jennifer Damiano and (the amazing) Brian d’Arcy James play their final performance of Next to Normal on Broadway (it was even more emotional than usual, plus Brian Yorkey and (the genius) Tom Kitt came out at the end to give a curtain speech), Johnny was playing a benefit show at Ars Nova. Playbill.com was on hand to capture some of the fun.
  
  Welcome the New Idiots
  As mentioned in Media Morsels a couple of weeks ago, Favorite Sun Joshua Henry will star in the upcoming Broadway run of Kander and Ebb’s The Scottsboro Boys. As such, Henry played his final performance in American Idiot on Saturday, July 17 and this week Hair alum (the replacement cast) Wallace Smith succeeded Henry in the role. Corbin Reid and Sydney Harcourt also joined the ensemble this week. Read their bios online at americanidiotonbroadway.com and say hello to the new Idiots the next time you’re at the St James!



• In This White House
  The President and First Lady hosted a bevy of Broadway belters (and other great, non-belting singers) at the White House on Monday as part of an on-going In Performance series. (Visit Broadway.com for photos.) As mentioned last week, the recording of this performance will air on PBS in October. For now, the President’s remarks:
  
  “There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. At its heart, it’s the power of a story – of love and of heartbreak; of joy and sorrow; singing witches, dancing ogres. Musicals carry us to a different time and place, but in the end, they also teach us a little bit of something about ourselves. It’s one of the few genres of music that can inspire the same passion in an eight-year-old that it can an 80-year-old – and make them both want to get up and dance. It transcends musical tastes, from opera and classical to rock and hip-hop. And whether we want to admit it or not, we all have the lyrics to a few Broadway songs stuck in our heads.
  …
  Over the years, musicals have also been at the forefront of our social consciousness, challenging stereotypes, shaping our opinions about race and religion, death and disease, power and politics.
  
  But perhaps the most American part of this truly American art form is its optimism. Broadway music calls us to see the best in ourselves and in the world around us – to believe that no matter how hopeless things may seem, the nice guy can still get the girl, the hero can still triumph over evil, and a brighter day can be waiting just around the bend.” Amen.



• "On the Cover of a Rolling Stone..."
  The new issue of Rolling Stone features the talented and handsome Leonardo DiCaprio (in full-on brooding mode) on the cover, making it the best Rolling Stone cover of the year. (I’d dare say ever, but Jimi Hendrix has also been on the cover, so…) Inside, associate editor Brian Hiatt talks to the accomplished actor about – surprise, surprise – dreams, as well as just what makes Leo tick. Pick up your copy today.



• Tony Awards
  I know, I know: The Tony awards were handed out a month ago. What news could there possibly be? Well, the 2011 Tony nominating committee was just announced. This group is responsible for seeing everything to open on Broadway during the season and then choosing, by vote, the nominees. They are not the sole group of voters so you can’t blame them entirely for Gregory Jbara winning Best Supporting Actor in a Musical in 2009 but you can blame them for the gross omission of Aaron Tveit as a nominee in the same category that year. Some new members of the committee include playwright Moises Kaufman (The Laramie Project) and director Michael Greif (Rent, Next to Normal). I suggest keeping this list handy come next May so you’ll know with whom you can file a grievance (or amicus brief) when the nominations come out!



• Glee Scoop
  This week, Glee creator Ryan Murphy confirmed that Kristin Chenoweth would return for another episode of The Kristin Chenoweth Show Glee; Jonathan Groff is likely to return; and Javier Bardem will make an appearance. Murphy also said that the number of musical numbers per show would revert to the usual five of the first 13 episodes (there were about eight in the back nine) and that the storylines would focus more on the series regulars. That last bit’s quite a novel idea!



• The Social Network
  On the heels of the release of the second teaser trailer for the new Aaron Sorkin-penned, David Fincher-directed movie, The Social Network, a new full-on theatrical trailer was released this week. The dialogue heard in the second trailer is repeated here but this time we get to see the clips of the movie – featuring Jesse Eisenberg and JTims – the dialogue accompanies. Perhaps the best thing about the trailer, though, is the perfect and eerie use of Radiohead’s “Creep” as the theme music, particularly the lyric, “I want you to notice/when I’m not around”. If that doesn’t sum up the obsession of Facebook, I don’t know what does. The Social Network hits theatres this October.



• It’s [Officially] De-Lovely
  All aboard: The upcoming revival of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes has a “dock” and an official “set sail” date. (That’s the last of the bad nautical wordplay.) Anything Goes, which will star Tony winner Sutton Foster, will make its home at the (newly renamed) Stephen Sondheim Theatre. Previews will begin on March 10 and the revival will open on April 7. More casting will be announced soon.



• New Foo for You
  Ready for some great news? The Foo Fighters are back in the studio and have just finished the demos for their seventh studio album. The fellas have been buzzing about it on some different social networking outlets, teasing fans with great photos of guitars, soundboards and song lists. No official word on anything yet but when Dave, Taylor, Chris and Nate (and friends, like Krist Novoselic) get together to make music it’s always a good thing. Stay tuned for more details as they’re announced.


• Bonus Foo News 1: Remember I mentioned several weeks ago that Sir Paul McCartney was honored with a songwriting prize at the White House? Well, Foo front man Dave Grohl was on hand for a rendition of “Band on the Run”. While a recording of the ceremony will air on PBS next week, FooFighters.com has an exclusive sneak peek at Dave’s performance.



• Bonus Foo News 2: While the Foos have been on hiatus, individual members have been keeping mighty busy. Dave’s been living his childhood dream by playing in a band with Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones (Them Crooked Vultures). Taylor has been living it up with Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders. And guitarist Chris Shiflett just released a country-inspired, folk-rocking record with his band, Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants. (This is a great summertime record!) Visit FooFighters.com to stay up to date on all the Foos.


• Some Enchanted Evening
  Last night I saw the soon-to-close Tony winning Broadway revival of South Pacific. I liked the show, but I didn't really care for the production. It could be that it's so late in the run (it’s been up for over two years now) but the performance felt very flat - it lacked energy. In addition, it was quiet - almost to the point of inaudible. The Vivian Beaumont is not a huge theatre (despite my memory from ten years ago) so I should have been able to hear in the loge. However, the sound levels were so low that I missed a lot of the dialogue. It didn't matter so much with the songs because, though also quiet, I knew the entire score (what a score! Beautiful, lush, romantic, happy – and a 30 piece orchestra to boot! No wonder it's a classic!) so even if I couldn’t hear what they were singing, I knew what they were singing. I also felt that the pacing was too slow, which made a long show even longer. Even with all my gripes, I still enjoyed watching this classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, and particularly the beautiful Brazilian baritone Paulo Szot as Emile de Becque in his Tony winning role.

Inception

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause
(Hamlet, Act III, Scene I)

We all knew Shakespeare was a genius, but prescient? I don’t think he could have fathomed Christopher Nolan’s excellent new film, Inception, but I think he would dig it.

Inception follows a team of dream interlopers who, generally, go into people’s dreams to extract secrets and other information. The plot is sprung into action when a wealthy business man asks the team, led by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Cobb, to try inception: Rather than extract information from a person’s subconscious during a dream, the team is to plant the seed that will begat an idea, hence the term inception. (As a side note, I thought that the very conceit of the movie raised an interesting question about the morality involved – or absent – in technological advancements. The movie doesn’t necessarily give us any answers, but I like that it raised the question.)

And while that piece of space-time continuum/science fiction (complete with its own set of rules) drives the action, the characters are driven by story, by relationships. Simply put, Cobb is just a man trying to get home. Kind of like Dorothy.

That’s about all I will say about the plot of Inception because I wouldn’t want to risk giving anything away or ruining for you, dear readers, the experience of watching this visually stunning, wonderfully acted movie unfold. I will say that the dreamscapes were incredible. As we watch where dreams can take us, Inception reminds us of their grand power and that, as the Bard said, must give us pause.

Aesthetically, Inception is terrific eye candy. And the locations and set designs are pretty nice to look at, too! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist taking a moment to marvel at how nice it is to look at some of those actors – Leo, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy – on a big screen for two hours!) But, seriously folks, the landscapes – and sea-scapes and snow-scapes – serving as settings throughout Inception are marvelous. Since most the action takes place in people’s dreams, the designers had license to make the settings as fantastical or beautiful or eerie or logic-defying as they wanted, which makes it all the more interesting to watch. We’re transported to a world that is unlike anything in reality. This makes the journey appealing and exciting; it also makes it plausible. In one scene (seen often in commercials or trailers for the film) Joseph Gordon-Levitt is seen fighting in a gravity-less hallway that appears to be spinning. No matter how much care Nolan took to lay out the rules, if that scene were taking place outside of a dream, I wouldn’t have bought in. But because we’re in a dream world, we can suspend our disbelief and delight in the cerebral and physical fights and struggles taking place on screen.

Moreover, and perhaps most noteworthy, the cast is superb. When trying to convince my mother to go see this (I’ve yet to succeed but the movie’s only been open one week!) I mentioned that Inception is populated by actual actors, not action stars who are able to speak on camera. By this I meant that the story and the relationship arcs are integral to the film; it’s not just about the action – though the action is pretty damn cool – and the fact that Leo is at the story’s emotional core means that there’s truth in all the fantasy. Leo’s a fantastic actor who never disappoints me – he always brings something new to the table. And in Inception he’s supported by other great actors.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is on board as Cobb’s main sidekick, Arthur. Nolan used Regular Joe to his full potential: He can be serious, emotional, athletic, charming – and use a gun! Marion Cotillard was at the top of her game as Leo’s leading lady. I was amazed by how much she could do with her eyes. In one moment she can give you an icy cold death stare and then without blinking she’ll suddenly be looking at you with sweet doe eyes, entreating you to come embrace her. Ellen Page is also very good as the newbie of the group. She’s out of whippersnapper-Juno mode and shows off some real acting chops. And Cillian Murphy (a Nolan vet who was perfectly spooky as the Scarecrow in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight) keeps a cool, affluence-inspired austere look as he unwittingly goes on the inception trek.

The actors’ performances serve the story which helps Nolan pull off the nearly impossible: A summer blockbuster movie that, while adhering to some clichés, is driven by and fully engages viewers with a compelling story. Throughout the whole movie, Leo’s Cobb struggles with his past and aches to get home. Sure, there are explosions and fight scenes and gigantic cities folding onto themselves but at the heart of it all, Cobb just wants to be back in Kansas.

(Bonus features from Rolling Stone: Off the Cuff with Peter Travers: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, At the Movies with Peter Travers and the Rolling Stone review)

Media Morsels 7.16.10

• Bloody Bloody Great News!
  With 100% of the precincts reporting, I’m ready to call this election: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is officially coming to Broadway – with its sexy charismatic star, Ben Walker, in tow! On Thursday, The Public announced that “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson just can’t be stopped.” That’s right, our seventh president is headed to the Jacobs Theatre (recent home to God of Carnage, which is possibly coming to a movie theatre near you). Performances will begin September 21, though an opening night date has not been announced. Tickets are not yet on sale but you can be bloody sure that when they are, I’ll be first in line!

• And the [Recorded, Synthesized] Band Played On
  Several years ago, amid stalled negotiating sessions with producers, theatre musicians went on strike. Rather than play with canned music, the musicals went dark during the strike. (Or maybe this was just threatened. I wasn’t in New York then and my memory is fuzzy.) Now, it seems the thinking is changing. Paul Woodiel, a violinist who currently plays in the pit for the Broadway revival of West Side Story, wrote an Op-Ed in the NY Times rightly bemoaning West Side Story producers’ decision to cut five live violinists from the orchestra and replace them with a synthesizer and/or recorded music – all just to save a few bucks. Woodiel is outraged, so am I and you should be, too! One of the thrilling things about going to see a musical live on stage is the live orchestra. In recent years, the orchestra has been pared down as musical scores change. South Pacific, an old-time musical, has a 30-piece orchestra because that is what its score calls for. American Idiot, on the other hand, is a musical with a more contemporary score, and while its orchestrations are beautiful and rich (because Tom Kitt is a genius!) the band is comprised of only eight talented musicians because that's what its score calls for. This is okay because the music is being played the way it was meant to be played. But to take an extraordinary score – I may not love this production of West Side Story, but there’s no arguing that the musical, and particularly the score, is one of the greatest in the American Musical Theatre canon – and use a synthesizer to do the job of a human being with a violin is unconscionable. Woodiel suggests that instead of cutting musicians to cut costs, the producers should honor the show – score and all – and simply end the show on a high note…played by human violinists!
  
  
• Wicked Movie
  Ever since Wicked became a smash hit on Broadway there have been talks about adapting it for the big screen. This week, rumors abounded about who would star in the film and who would direct. At the top of the list to play Elphaba is Lea Michele. This seems inevitable and, in my opinion, a good choice. Lea has an incredible voice and can do justice to the score, picking up where Tony winner Idina Menzel left off. For the role of Glinda, originated on stage by Tony winner Kristen Chenoweth, rumors say Amanda Seyfried is in the running. I haven’t heard her sing so I don’t know what she’d do with the role. No word yet on Fiyero, but I’d like to see Aaron Tveit take on the role. (He’s played the part on Broadway. And, I should note, though all the folks who originated the roles are very talented people, they’re now – and even were then – a little long in the tooth to play early-20s-aged characters.) To direct, it appears to be a toss-up between J.J. Abrams (Star Trek) and Glee creator Ryan Murphy, with Chicago’s Rob Marshall and Walk the Line’s James Mangold also being bandied about.
  
  
• Circle Mirror Transformation
  Annie Baker’s beautiful and touching play, Circle Mirror Transformation, will get some regional exposure in late 2010 and early 2011. Playbill.com is reporting that the play will play in Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theatre from February 25-April 10. It will also be produced by DC’s Studio Theatre this fall and by California’s South Coast Rep in January 2011. If you’re in any of those areas at the same time as Circle Mirror Transformation, I urge you to go see this layered and affecting new play.
  
  
• Intellectual Property
  On an early episode of Sports Night, Dan Rydell has “the intellectual property cops crawling up [his] butt”. You see, Dan sang “Happy Birthday” to his professional partner, Casey McCall, while on the air. Turns out, sisters Patty and Mildred Hill wrote and hold the rights to Happy Birthday and are fining CSC (the station that airs the fictional Sports Night) for copyright infringement. Dan then vows to, from here on out, only sing songs that are in the public domain, like “Oh, Dem Golden Slippers”. In a similar episode playing out in reality, composer Jason Robert Brown currently finds himself in the position of defending his intellectual property claims to his own sheet music. (Brown is a terrific composer, having written such cult favorites as Songs for a New World and, one of my favorites, The Last Five Years.) It seems there are several websites out there that connect users who illegally “trade” sheet music, while the publisher, composer, et al., never see a penny. Brown says this is wrong and I agree. Much like an argument I made months ago regarding paying for the newspaper, I believe that artists and the people who help them create and distribute said art deserve to be paid for the work they do. While some people seem to think it’s infantile for “well-off” (whatever that means) artists to complain about not receiving royalties (there were several of these complaints made of Metallica when they were fighting Napster a decade ago) and while the “well-off” may not need another $4 the way the man on the street might need another $4, the principle remains the same: If Jason Robert Brown did the work, he should be paid for it. (Moreover, we are in no position to judge who is and isn’t “well-off”, nor are we in a position to judge whether or not they “need” the $4. And that's not the point, anyway!) On his website, Brown posted an exchange he had with one of the people who was offering – for free and without authorization – his sheet music. You can read that here, then read his recent blog in the NY Times, which further drives home the point that artists deserve to be paid. What do you think about intellectual property laws? Do you download music, movies or sheet music for free from disreputable or unsanctioned sites?
  
  
• Catch Me If You Can Gets Normal
  It was reported, though not confirmed, this week that Next to Normal writer Brian Yorkey will join the creative team of the Broadway-bound musical, Catch Me if You Can. Yorkey will contribute to the musical’s book. Just days before this rumor surfaced, Catch Me choreographer Jerry Mitchell confirmed to Broadwayworld.com that the show will definitely open on Broadway this season. I’m excited for this to have its public New York debut. I heard a song from it performed at a benefit last year and it moved me to tears – and that’s out of context! Plus, though no casting has been announced, both Norbert Leo Butz and Aaron Tveit have starred in the out of town try outs and industry readings, making them front runners for the roles when the show comes to the Great White Way. I’ll let you know when you can head to New York to “catch” this musical.
  
  
• Spring Awakening Tour
  Ira Pittleman and Tom Hulce, producers of both American Idiot and Spring Awakening, announced this week that a second national Spring Awakening tour would launch this fall. The direction, staging and design would remain the same but the tour would enjoy an all-new cast. This tour will kick off in Illinois on October 15. Visit springawakening.com for more details.
  
  
• Glee Scoop
  Glee will return to the airwaves for its second season on Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 8pm. It’s official so set your DVRs.
  
  
• Ms. McDonald (and Others!) Goes to Washington
  Several theatre veterans will visit the White House on Monday, July 19, to perform for POTUS and FLOTUS. This is part of the White House’s “In Performance” series. The filmed concert will be broadcast on PBS on October 20 at 9pm. On hand for the concert will be Audra McDonald, Nathan Lane, Marvin Hamlisch, Chad Kimball, Idina Menzel and, fresh off his final performance in Next to Normal, Brian d’Arcy James.
  
  
• The Constitution v. F.C.C.
  A federal court just rejected the F.C.C.’s appeal in a case regarding fleeting expletives during live broadcasts. You might remember that after Janet Jackson flashed her nipple for a millisecond during the Super Bowl half-time show in 2004, prudes across the country got up in arms. Subsequently, the F.C.C. began arbitrarily cracking down on such incidents, including occasions of celebrities blurting out one of the seven dirty words during a live broadcast. (One “offender”: Bono.) The recent court’s ruling says the F.C.C. rule and application is unconstitutional and moreover that it doesn’t specify exactly what is deemed inappropriate and how each offense will be handled. Since precedent is the mother’s milk of the legal system, it’s not surprising that the court would insist on such specification. Personally, I think the F.C.C. needs to stop deciding what is and is not appropriate for me to see or hear on television. And if parents are that concerned that their children will grow up to be pedophilic rapist murders because they once heard Bono drop an F-bomb on TV, well, they’ve got other problems.
  
  
• U2 Back on Stage
  Speaking of Bono, U2 will be headed back on tour in 2011. Their recent 360 tour had to be postponed due to Bono’s emergency back surgery. In a video posted on Rolling Stone’s website, Bono apologized to fans, particularly those who had made travel plans to see the band. All 16 dates have been rescheduled for next summer at the same venues. Read the Rolling Stone article for all the details.
  
  
• The Social Network
  Just weeks after the first teaser trailer for the Aaron Sorkin-penned movie The Social Network hit the ‘net, a second teaser trailer has been released. This one actually has some dialogue in it, giving us just a taste of Facebook in Sorkinese. It was also announced this week that Aaron Sorkin would write, direct (this would be his debut) and produce a film adaptation of the book The Politician. This book is Andrew Young’s first-hand account of life as Senator John Edwards’s aide. (In other trailer news, the first trailer for the movie Howl, recounting the obscenity trial over Allen Ginsberg’s eponymous poem, is now online. The movie has a great cast, including James Franco as Ginsberg, Aaron Tveit(!), Jeff Daniels, David Strathairn and Mary-Louise Parker. (Thanks to Melissa for pointing out this trailer!) Howl is set for a fall 2010 release after successfully opening at Sundance in January.)
  
  
• On a Clear Day You Can See Michael Mayer
  Tony Award winning director Michael Mayer will return to the off-Broadway stage, namely the Vineyard Theatre, early next year with his re-imagining of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. Mayer won’t say too much about the changes he’s making, but rumor has it he’s doing some gender-bending with the roles. He’s a great director with unparalleled vision so I’m definitely looking forward to this.
  
  
• Good Morning American Idiot
  And lest we get through a week without talking about the amazing American Idiot, here’s video of their performance on Good Morning America this morning. Happy weekend, y'all!
  
  
• R.I.P., Mr. Steinbrenner
  Baseball lost a big figure on Tuesday: George Steinbrenner, The Boss of the Yankees since 1973, died Tuesday morning after suffering a heart attack. Later that day, Yankees players wore black armbands as they took the field for the All Star Game (which the National League team won – for the first time in 13 years – giving them home field advantage in the World Series). And throughout the week, several sports fans and commentators shared anecdotes about Mr. Steinbrenner. Here, Maureen Dowd recounts Mr. Steinbrenner’s reaction to his non-appearance on Seinfeld. And here, Playbill.com tells of Mr. Steinbrenner’s theatre connections. And here, my guy Matt Taibbi wonders how long we’ll all keep talking about the late head honcho.

The Kids Are All Right (Or Are They?)

In a rare move for me, I saw two first-run movies in the movie theatre over the last two weekends, Cyrus and The Kids Are All Right. Both were Sundance-darlings; both were about relationships – between lovers and between parents and children; both were set in sunny California and both had good casts. However, that’s about where the similarities end because in the all important category of “Was it good?”, the answer is split.

Cyrus was a hit at Sundance and has been building buzz ever since. But I felt let down by the film. It wasn’t entirely bad but it certainly didn’t live up to the hype. Jonah Hill stars as the titular Cyrus, a 22 year old guy with serious mommy issues. Mommy, also known as Molly, is played by the lovely Marisa Tomei, who does warm, quirky and sharp-tongued very well. Molly and Cyrus have a disturbingly close, co-dependent relationship that is challenged when Molly meets and starts dating John, played by the versatile John C. Reilly.

Over a long hour and a half, we watch as John and Cyrus vie for Molly’s sole affection. Cyrus and Molly are thisclose and it seems entirely unhealthy. The movie doesn’t try to portray this relationship as a good one, but it also doesn’t appropriately spread the blame. For example, in one confrontational scene between Cyrus and John, both men say Molly isn’t to blame for Molly and Cyrus’s weird, Electra-infused mother-son relationship. The thing is: Molly is to blame; maybe not entirely, but certainly in part. The fact that rising screenwriters Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass let Molly off the hook really bothered me.

Sure, some personality traits are innate, but others are learned. Though Molly may have rightly recognized early on that Cyrus was special and needed a different kind of attention than other kids, she didn’t need to smother him; she didn’t need to foster or enable the unhealthy, territorial and dependent impulses that are palpable in her man-child of a son. Instead, Molly could have given Cyrus some special attention while still nurturing his sense of independence. Perhaps, then, her fledgling relationship with John (who, to be fair, has his own baggage) might not have skidded about the way it did.

And, yes, John does have his own issues. Issues that the filmmakers didn’t fully explore or acknowledge, in my opinion. John is still hung up on his ex-wife, Jamie, who is about to remarry. While he does seem enamored of Molly, there are side glances and hushed conversation that tell the audience, or at least me, that he still has a thing for Jamie. While some viewers may see this as a nice, congenial relationship between exes, I see it differently.

Cyrus was supposed to be a quirky, funny counter-programming little gem but instead it was a timid, mildly funny indie movie pebble with a trite ending.

On the other hand, The Kids Are All Right 100% lived up to the hype. (Before we even begin, though, I have to say kudos to the filmmakers for properly spelling “all right” as two words, instead of using the incorrect spelling sweeping the nation, alright. Also sweeping the nation and totally wrong: Gotta. I recognize that in the vernacular we all use “gotta” in lieu of “got to”. That’s fine, I suppose, even though in most cases it should actually be “have to”. But there’s a Black Eyed Peas song entitled “I Gotta Feeling.” That’s just flat out wrong. You “got a” feeling. You don’t “got to” feeling. Just wrong. But I digress…)

This is a modern story about relationships. The set up is that Jules and Nic (Julianne Moore and Annette Bening, respectively,) have been married for about 20 years. They have two children, Joni and Laser (Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson, respectively) both of whom were conceived from sperm donations by Paul (Mark Ruffalo). Joni has just turned 18; it is the summer before she starts college and Laser convinces her to try to contact Paul. (Donation rules preclude a child under 18 from making contact with the donor.) Paul then comes into the family’s life and for a delightful hour and a half, we watch what happens.

But really, like I said above, this is a story about relationships. The above mentioned plots points are just devices to explore what happens to a marriage over 20 years; what happens when a child wants to assert his/her independence; what happens when an interloper suddenly comes into your life. Now, I’m neither married nor a parent so I can’t fully speak to the veracity of what was depicted. (Though, from my observations, it seems like screenwriters Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg successfully captured the raw and honest connections and struggles inherent in marriage and parenthood.) I am a daughter, though, and I did go off to college so I can say, without giving too much away, that they nailed the children’s emotions: Loving you parents but wanting your independence and wanting to be treated like an adult. The penultimate scene in the dorm room, during which the daughter, Joni, struggles with getting what she wants, was pitch perfect.

Helping to tell the story were beautiful gardens and delicious looking food. Paul, you see, is an organic gardener and the proprietor of a cleverly titled LA eatery, WYSIWYG. This is a computer term which translates to “what you see is what you get” and the moment the restaurant’s signage appeared on screen, I knew exactly the kind of place it was: A restaurant that serves simple, sophisticated and scrumptious meals made out of fresh, in-season ingredients whose taste is enhanced with just a little salt and pepper instead of being hidden with chemicals, processed foods and heart-attack inducing sauces. I wanted to eat everything on screen! (Inspired, when I got home that night I cooked a dinner of grilled watermelon, assorted tomatoes tossed in extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, and garnished with just a little bit of creamy and tangy crumbled Greek feta. It was delicious!)

Also helping to tell the story were great performances from everyone. Julianne Moore and Annette Bening had terrific chemistry and seemed to get the nuances of a long-married couple just right. They complemented each other very well, even if one of their gripes is that they don’t compliment each other very often. Mia Wasikowska, an Aussie who does a nearly flawless American accent, was a natural as an 18 year girl on the cusp of womanhood. She did wonders with just the quiver of her lip. As Jules and Nic’s son, Laser, Josh Hutcherson was entirely impressive. While I was watching the movie, I thought he looked familiar but it wasn’t until I got home and looked him up on IMDB.com that I realized he was the little kid from the delightful little movie Little Manhattan. (Add it to your Netflix queue: It’s a sweet story about first loves.) If there’s any justice in the world, the adorable Hutcherson will have a steady career and the tweens and teens will start to swoon over him the way they (unjustifiably) do over Robert Pattinson.

And rounding out the cast is the underrated yet prolific Mark Ruffalo. Let’s just say it: Mark Ruffalo is a handsome man; you ruffle his hair, get some scruff on his face and dirt on his hands, as he appears in this movie, and he’s one sexy dude. The bonus is that he’s a fantastic actor. He can do funny (Safe Men!); he can do serious (Shutter Island, We Don’t Live Here Anymore); and, as if there were any doubt, The Kids Are All Right proves he sure can do charming, too. Paul struggles throughout the film to find his place with his new found kids and the women who’ve raised them and the talented Ruffalo doesn’t miss a beat.

The Kids Are All Right is currently in limited release (very limited: This weekend it only played in three theatres in Manhattan), but when it does make its way to a town near you, run to the theatre! This sweet, touching portrait of a family is wonderfully contemporary but its themes are classic, making it one for the canon.

(Read the NYTimes rave review for The Kids Are All Right.)