Hamilton on the Big Screen

Seeing the Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton was one of the best experiences of my life!  I cannot adequately describe my excitement as I sat in the Richard Rodgers Theatre (in the balcony) eagerly anticipating the iconic opening notes of "Alexander Hamilton" or the exhilaration I felt when I walked out of the theatre with all of my impossibly high expectations exceeded.  A filmed version of this production was released on Disney+ in the middle of the pandemic but it is now in movie theaters for the first time in celebration of its 10th Anniversary!  Even though I have now seen it *ahem* many times on Disney+, I just had to see it on the big screen last night and sitting in the dark with a large crowd made me feel like I was back at the Richard Rodgers Theatre (but with a much better seat).  I loved seeing all of my favorite moments up close, especially Jonathan Groff's pout (and his projectile spitting) when George III whines about the colonies in "You'll Be Back," Renee Elise Goldsberry's look of regret after Angelica Schuyler introduces Hamilton to her sister in "Satisfied," the look of panic Jasmine Cephas Jones gives as Daveed Diggs leers at her when Lafayette walks down the aisle with Peggy Schuyler in "Satisfied," the look of contrition on Lin-Manuel Miranda's face when Washington orders Hamilton to go home in "Meet Me Inside" and his look of disappointment when Angelica announces that she is leaving to get married in "Non-Stop," the mega-watt smile Diggs flashes when Thomas Jefferson milks the crowd in "What'd I Miss" and the look of absolute glee on his face when Jefferson realizes that Hamilton is no longer a rival in "The Reynolds Pamphlet," Phillipa Soo's simmering anger over Hamilton's betrayal of Eliza in "Burn," the devastation on her face over Philip's death in "Stay Alive (Reprise)," and the exact moment she forgives Hamilton in "It's Quiet Uptown" as well as the tears brimming in Goldsberry's eyes in this song, Leslie Odom, Jr.'s look of incredulity when Hamilton endorses Jefferson over Burr in "The Election of 1800," his exasperation when Hamilton delivers all of his grievances one by one in "Your Obedient Servant," and his remorse over Hamilton's death in "The World Was Wide Enough," and the look of tenderness Miranda gives Soo as Eliza describes preserving Hamilton's legacy in "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story."  I also loved the different perspectives shown through the dynamic camera work, particularly the view of Christopher Jackson just before Washington turns around and storms the stage in "Right Hand Man" ("We are outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered, outplanned.  We've got to make an all out stand!") and the views that put the audience in the middle of the action in "My Shot," "Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)," and "Hurricane."  Finally, it was great to see a new introduction featuring behind the scenes footage from the production as well as contemporary interviews with the cast about the legacy of the show.  My crowd was kind of subdued but there were a few of us singing (quietly) and applauding after every number and it was so much fun!  I highly recommend seeing this on the big screen, even if you have seen it on Disney+, because it is the next best thing to being there for the OBC at the Richard Rodgers Theatre!

Jaws

I had a blast seeing Jaws, the original summer blockbuster, on the big screen in a packed theater at the Broadway yesterday.  It is back in theaters with a 4K restoration for a limited engagement in honor of its 50th Anniversary and I think it holds up really well.  After several suspicious deaths happen in the waters around the island of Amity in New England, Police Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) and marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) believe it to be the work of a man-eating great white shark and want to close the beaches until it can be caught.  However, Mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) fears that closing the beaches over the Fourth of July holiday will hurt the economy and refuses to allow it.  After another attack on a crowded beach, Vaughn eventually agrees to hire an eccentric fisherman named Peter Quint (Robert Shaw) and both Brody and Hooper join him on his boat, the Orca, for a perilous hunt for the shark.  The fact that the audience rarely sees the shark but instead hears a menacing score by John Williams featuring the iconic alternating pattern of two notes adds to the unrelenting tension.  The scenes in which the shark actually appears are terrifying as a result, especially when it comes up on the deck of the boat to attack Quint, and I admit that I jumped out of my seat multiple times (although the first time was when Hooper dives down to the wreckage of a boat that was attacked by the shark).  I haven't seen this in a really long time, probably decades, and the narrative is much more thought-provoking than I remembered.  One of the themes that I really noticed is the clash between experience, as represented by Quint, and technology, as represented by Hooper, but I found it very interesting that Brody, the "everyman" character, is ultimately the one who is able to kill the shark (in a dramatic scene that elicited cheers from my audience).  This is such a great movie and I highly recommend seeing it as it was meant to be seen while it is back in theaters.

The Roses

The second movie in the double feature at the Broadway with my nephew last night was The Roses, another movie we were both looking forward to seeing.  Unfortunately, it was not at all what I was expecting and I found it very disappointing considering the talent of the two leads.  Theo Rose (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a successful and visionary architect and his wife Ivy (Olivia Colman) is a gifted chef who has put her career on hold to care for their children Hattie (Hala Finley) and Roy (Wells Rappaport).  Theo buys her a small restaurant so she can indulge her passion several times a week as he designs a maritime museum in the shape of a sailboat but an unexpected storm reverses their fortunes.  Theo's museum is destroyed, and his design is blamed, while stranded motorists, including an influential food critic, congregate at Ivy's restaurant.  He is fired and her restaurant becomes a huge success so she decides to work full-time while he cares for the children and indulges his passion by designing their dream home.  This role-reversal leads to dissatisfaction because he feels unappreciated and resents her success while she feels like she is missing out on family time with her children.  These simmering recriminations eventually lead to all-out war between the two of them.  This is definitely not as funny as I thought it would be (I didn't hear any laughter from my audience).  All of the humor is spoiled in the trailer and, even then, when we see these moments in the context of the movie, they do not seem as funny.  However, my biggest complaint is that it isn't dark enough.  I never felt like Theo and Ivy truly hated each other (Cumberbatch and Colman have too much chemistry as lovers and not enough as enemies) because they are always tearfully making up with each other and the final "war" is very rushed and underwhelming (I waited impatiently through the whole movie for the fireworks to finally start and then they were over in fifteen minutes).  The supporting characters do not add much to the proceedings (I have grown weary of Kate McKinnon's schtick as the sexually inappropriate friend and I am struggling to remember if Sunita Mani even had any lines as a sou chef in Ivy's restaurant).  The exception is Allison Janney because she steals the show with her five minutes of screen time as Ivy's aggressive divorce lawyer.  Ugh!  I love both Cumberbatch and Colman so it pains me to say this but you should give this a miss.

Caught Stealing

Last night my nephew and I returned to the Broadway for another double feature.  We started with Caught Stealing, which is a movie that both of us were excited to see, and we really liked it!  Henry "Hank" Thompson (Austin Butler) is a former baseball phenom whose life and career were derailed by a car accident that took the life of his friend.  It is now 1998 and he is slumming as a bartender in New York City but still makes a point of cheering for the San Francisco Giants.  When his punk-rock neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to watch his cat Bud (Tonic) after he is unexpectedly summoned home to London, his girlfriend Yvonne (Zoe Kravitz) convinces him to do it even though he doesn't like cats.  However, this brings him unwanted attention from two Russian mobsters (Yuri Kolokolnikov and Nikita Kukushkin), their Puerto Rican associate (Benito Martinez Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny), and a narcotics detective (Regina King), who are all looking for the money Russ stole from two Hasidic drug dealers (Liev Schreiber and Vincent D'Onofrio) who are also looking for the money.  Hank is beaten, bruised, and chased all over New York but, when his friends and family are threatened, he must finally reconcile his past (and rescue Bud).  This thriller is a lot of fun with some humorous scenes involving a cat who bites, a perpetually annoyed neighbor (George Abud), a black and white cookie, a shabbos dinner (with Carol Kane), and the propitious use of a Giants hat but the tension keeps escalating with stakes that are much higher than I was expecting (the trailer is a bit misleading) because Hank has no idea what Russ has gotten him into or how to get himself out of the mess.  There are some fantastic action sequences, particularly several spectacular chases and car crashes, with epic needle drops (my favorite was "Rock You Like a Hurricane" by the Scorpions).  The ensemble cast is great, especially Schreiber and D'Onofrio who play the most unlikely villains, but Butler is very impressive in both the action scenes and the more poignant moments.  Darren Aronofsky is very hit or miss with me but I think this is probably his most entertaining movie and I highly recommend it.

Something Rotten at The Ruth

I have now seen the musical Something Rotten many times (I have already seen it twice this year with another production scheduled in a few months) but that didn't damper my excitement for The Ruth's version last night in the least!  I always joke that it was written specifically for me because I am a former English teacher who loves musical theatre and I don't think I stopped laughing once while watching this entertaining show!  Brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom (Ryan Shepherd and Austin Dorman, respectively) are desperate to write a hit play but they are constantly overshadowed by the wildly popular William Shakespeare (Jordan Nicholes).  When the soothsayer Thomas Nostradamus (Scott Rollins) tells Nick that the future of theatre involves singing and dancing, they set out to write the world's first musical.  However, inspiration fails so Nick returns to Nostradamus to learn what Shakespeare's most popular play will be and Omelette The Musical is born!  Eventually, the Bottom brothers realize that reaching the top means being true to thine own self.  I loved everyone in the cast but there were several standouts for me.  Rollins had everyone in the audience laughing out loud at his antics while trying to see the future (at one point he was lying upside down on a set of stairs).  Ondine Morgan-Garner as Portia, the repressed daughter of a Puritan and the love interest of Nigel, has hilarious facial expressions as she responds with *ahem* pleasure to Nigel's poetry (much of the profanity is toned down but most of the innuendos remain).  Nicholes oozes charisma as the bard and he is an incredible dancer with some impressive rock star moves (I especially loved the moonwalking and the athletic jumps in the song "Will Power").  However, I think Matt Baxter steals the show as Brother Jeremiah because his physicality and line deliveries are both playful and naughty (he is positively gleeful whenever he accuses the theatres of debauchery).  I really like Izzy Arrieta as a choreographer and his work in this show is very dynamic, especially with such a small stage.  I absolutely loved seeing so many different styles of dance from specific Broadway shows in "A Musical" and "Make an Omelette."  I always notice something new in these numbers every time I see this show and, in this production, I noticed references to The Music Man in both of them.  The set, which is configured as an Elizabethan theatre, is different from the ones I've seen in other versions but it is very effective and I particularly loved the backdrop used on the balcony (it reminded me of The Unicorn Tapestries).  I also loved the period costumes.  My favorite is the one worn by Lord Clapham (Josh Tenney) because it features pink and purple frills and it makes his line accusing Nick of making him look ridiculous even funnier!  If you are a fan of this show I definitely recommend getting a ticket (go here) because this production is very well done!  It runs in the Smith Grand Theatre through October 4.