Because of this and some other factors, since Thursday, I have gone into dark theaters four times and sat for long stretches while people attempted to entertain me. Thursday night was Sunday in the Park with George. I took in Next to Normal at Second Stage Theater, off-broadway, for a Saturday matinee and Curtains on Broadway (though located further from the actual street than Second Stage Theater was) Saturday night. Sunday, after my family left, my roommate and I went to see The Other Boleyn Girl at the local cinema. And now it is time for Lightning Reviews!
Sunday in the Park with George
This is the first Stephen Soundheim production I've seen that I've diskliked. Strongly. Sadly, out of my weekend list, it's also the one with the biggest ticket price. Boy Roommate 2 bought Boy Roommate 1 tickets for Valentine's Day, and the rest of us tagged along. Rear Mezzaine. $57. The music is often unapproachable, even for Soundheim, but what is worse is the lack of coherent plot and relatable characters. The first act follows painter George Seurat and the second revolves around his grandson, also a somewhat inhuman artist. I didn't care about either George, but at least the first one is surrounded by interesting characters. The second act made me want to pull my hair out. I have never been so bored in a Broadway theater in my entire life. The real star of the show is the scenery, which, through a variety of projections creates the actual park, the painting of the park, a light show, and various living creatures: a soldier, two dogs, and various moving, talking copies of the grandson George. The scenery is never boring.
Next to Normal
This is my favorite of the bunch. I knew very little of the plot and nothing of the music going into it. The songs are compelling ("I like my angst with a heavy beat" I explained to my roommates, afterwards), very high energy, though the lyrics occasionally rely on somewhat infantile, Rent-esque rhymes. It also, at times, seems a little long (though every show on this list seemed long, so that might just be me). Still, I feel these things could be easily fixed if the play tries for a Broadway run, which is apparently being considered. I love the cast, especially this kid, the new Broadway love of my life (I mean, John Gallagher Jr.'s disappeared, so a girl needs someone to turn to for comfort). The plot is character driven and full of layers, letting the audience discover secrets and sources of pain in a slow and sometimes shocking fashion. It's a play that grows on you, if me and my sisters are any indication: leaving the theatre, we liked it, but as the day wore on, we loved it and positively lusted to hear the music again.Curtains
Curtains is light and amusing and if that is all you look for in a Broadway show, it will fill your dance card perfectly. Curtains actually utilizes many elements of Old Broadway: catchy songs- a blend of happy numbers and ballads, rousing dance numbers, star power (David Hyde Pierce, Debra Monk, Karen Ziemba), a show within a show, and elaborate sets. It is entertaining and you can mentally check in and out of the show and still follow things. That's really it.The Other Boleyn Girl
Or "How I Spent My Summer Vacation, by Anne Boleyn."
First off, the movie squeezes about six hundred pages of novel and a dozen years of history into what feels like a couple of months. Girl Roommate assures me that the only reason I did not vehemently hate this film is because I am so fascinated by Jim Sturgess (and how Hollywood convinced me that this man is devastatingly attractive is an issue to be dissected later). The film murders both history and the Phillipa Gregory novel on which it is based. Eric Bana is completely wasted on the role of King Henry, who has no point in the film besides smoldering and lusting after the Boleyn sisters; there are no politics or intrigues beyond these seductions.
Natalie Portman is a passable Anne, though in the film she is shrill and desperate where in the book she is confident and conniving. Poor Jim Sturgess does the best he can with George Boleyn, terribly watered down from the book as well. One of the most fascinating aspects about the novel is that Anne and George are so in love/lust with being Boleyns that they naturally turn this into love/lust for each other. They are this pair of smart, sexual predators dominating and destroying Mary's world. In the film, there's not much to destroy: Mary is basically a peripheral figure in her own story. I'm not sure who the star becomes instead: perhaps Natalie Portman, perhaps general darkness (there was not enough light used in the filming of this movie- why must so many period pieces be so dark?), or perhaos just the insides of your eyelids (I did almost fall asleep a few times).
No comments:
Post a Comment