Maestro

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was Maestro.  I have been anticipating this for months but, while I did love many elements, I didn't enjoy it as a whole.  Leonard Bernstein (Bradley Cooper) is an up and coming conductor with the New York Philharmonic and a practicing homosexual when he meets the aspiring actress Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan) at a party.  They marry and have three children while Bernstein achieves tremendous fame and success and continues his relationships with men.  Felicia initially turns a blind eye but eventually his dalliances take a toll on the marriage as well as his relationship with his daughter Jamie (Maya Hawke).  However, Felicia reconciles with Bernstein after being moved by his legendary performance conducting Mahler's Resurrection Symphony at Ely Cathedral in England.  I really liked the theatricality and stylized direction of their courtship (with the black and white photography and many scenes taking place on stages as Felicia acts and Leonard conducts for an audience of one) but I was ultimately dissatisfied with the portrayal of the marriage (now in color) because it is very superficial and doesn't have much to say beyond the notion that loving a brilliant artist exacts a high price.  The audience is kept at a distance (literally) because so many scenes are staged to appear as if one is eavesdropping on private conversations with characters who appear and disappear very suddenly (it was hard for me to keep track of who was who including their children in some cases).  Many scenes are compelling but they are a series of vignettes rather than a cohesive story.  The music, consisting of selections from Bernstein's operettas and musicals as well as pieces by Mahler, Beethoven, and Schumann, is absolutely amazing and is definitely my favorite aspect of the movie.  The performances, especially Mulligan's, are outstanding but I didn't feel anything because there is no emotional connection to the characters.  This movie looks and sounds beautiful but it ultimately means nothing (it will probably win lots of awards).

The Boy and the Heron

Last night I decided to see a double feature at the Broadway.  I started with The Boy and the Heron, which is a beautiful coming of age story involving a fantastical journey, and I really loved it!  Twelve year old Mahito Maki (Soma Santoki) loses his mother in a fire during World War II and then moves from Tokyo to the countryside when his father Soichi (Takuya Kimura) gets remarried to Natsuko (Yoshino Kimura).  Mahito is still processing his grief and is not happy with the move or with his new mother when he encounters a gray heron (Masaki Suda) who pesters him until he follows him to a mysterious tower in ruins.  When Natsuko disappears, the heron lures Mahito into the tower promising him that they will find her and his mother.  Once inside, they encounter other worlds filled with magical characters and creatures (I loved the warawara) before finding Natsuko, a younger version of his mother (Aimyon), and the granduncle (Shohei Hino), a wizard who rules this world.  The granduncle offers Mahito the choice to stay and rule this world in his place or to return to his own world despite its malice and pain.  I really loved Mahito's journey of self-discovery in which he learns resilience in the face of grief and hardship and I loved the evolution of his relationship with both his mother and Natsuko.  The world of fantasy in this movie is really dense with meaning, mythology, and symbolism and I know that I missed a lot of the more subtle themes (I am a relatively new fan to Miyazaki and anime in general) but one of the metaphors that really stood out to me was the use of building blocks as a hope that the next generation will create a better world.  The animation is absolutely gorgeous and I love that the score by Joe Hisaichi seems to match the emotion in every scene.  I loved the experience of watching this with a really large crowd and I am looking forward to watching it again (I saw the subtitled version, which is my preference, but I also want to see the dubbed version because the English voice cast is intriguing).  I highly recommend this!

A Christmas Story at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts 2023

I loved SCERA's production of A Christmas Story so much last year I decided to see it again last night (it might become a new tradition for me because I don't have enough of them). It was just as much fun as I remember! Radio personality Jean Shepherd (Ed Eyestone) narrates a Christmas story from his youth about Ralphie Parker (Mitt Harris) and his quest for an official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time. First Ralphie tries to convince his Mother (Emily Hawkes) and the Old Man (Mark Buffington), then he hopes to get Miss Shields (Marisol Peterson) on his side by writing the best theme, and he even turns to Santa Claus (Chad Taylor) as a last resort but they all tell him that he'll shoot his eye out! I am a huge fan of the movie and all of my favorite scenes are brought to life on stage including when Randy (Jackson Seaver) eats like a piggy, when Schwartz (Ty Poulson) triple dog dares Flick (Elijah Colledge) to stick his tongue to the flag pole, when the Old Man wins a Major Award, when Ralphie says the F-dash-dash-dash word while helping the Old Man change a tire, when Ralphie gets into a fight with bully Scut Farkus (Elias Kahler), when Ralphie is forced to wear the bunny costume given to him by Aunt Clara, and when the Bumpus hounds eat the turkey forcing the Parkers to have Christmas dinner at the Chop Suey Palace. The large cast (several of whom are reprising their roles from last year) does a great job and I was especially impressed with all of the children and their singing and dancing in "It All Comes Down to Christmas," "When You're a Wimp," "Ralphie to the Rescue," and "Somewhere Hovering Over Indiana." Harris is incredibly endearing as Ralphie (he was Schwartz last year) and I loved his singing in "Ralphie to the Rescue" and his tap dancing in "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out." I always think that the roles for the adults are not as compelling as those for the children (a flaw with the show not the performances) but I enjoyed having Eyestone as part of the action (while wearing the same costume as Ralphie) and Buffington's rendition of "A Major Award" is absolutely hilarious (the kick line with the leg lamps is a showstopper). This year's production makes clever use of projections but it also features some impressive sets including the two-story Parker house (I loved the smoke that comes out of a vent when the furnace acts up), the Santa display at Higbee's department store complete with a slide, and a working Oldsmobile (the best in any production I've seen of this show including the Broadway touring version)! I had a huge smile on my face from beginning to end and I highly recommend it (especially for families). There are four more performances at the SCERA Center for Performing Arts through December 16 (go here for tickets).

Eileen

I enjoyed the psychological thriller Eileen at Sundance this year so, now that it is in wide release, I decided to see it again with my nephew after he suggested it last night.  Eileen Dunlop (Thomasin McKenzie) is a lonely and repressed young woman working a thankless job as a secretary at a juvenile detention center in a small town in Massachusetts during the 1960s while caring for her alcoholic and abusive father Jim (Shea Whigham).  Her drab and dreary world is transformed when she meets and becomes infatuated with Dr. Rebecca Saint John (Anne Hathaway), the alluring new prison psychologist.  Rebecca draws Eileen into her orbit but the balance of power shifts between them when they take an interest in Lee Polk (Sam Nivola), an inmate convicted of stabbing his father to death.  This is an atmospheric and stylish slow-burn with a wild twist in the third act (it happens so suddenly that I was shocked the first time I saw it because I had no idea where the narrative was going and several people in the audience last night audibly gasped) but the abrupt ending left me wanting more.  Both Hathaway and McKenzie are outstanding and have great chemistry, especially as the intense connection between their characters is explored with lingering close-up shots of their faces, but Maren Ireland steals the show with a brief but devastating monologue.  I loved the score by Richard Reed Parry because it really adds to the tension and the cinematography brilliantly highlights the desolation all around.  I would ultimately recommend this because it is incredibly unnerving and compelling but I wish that it had gone a little further.

Ballet West's The Nutcracker 2023

Another favorite Christmas tradition (I have so many) is seeing Ballet West's production of The Nutcracker and I had the opportunity yesterday afternoon. I've seen it dozens of times but I love it so much and I eagerly await all of my favorite scenes, especially the party where the Christmas tree is revealed to all of the children and Clara is given a nutcracker by Dr. Drosselmeyer, when everything is magically transformed to an enormous size and the nutcracker defeats the Mouse King with Clara's help, when the nutcracker becomes a handsome prince and takes Clara to the land of the Snow Queen and the land of the Sugar Plum Fairy, and all of the divertissements arranged for Clara's entertainment (my favorites are the Arabian dance because it is so exotic and sensual and the Russian dance because of the sheer athleticism of the leaps and spins).  The highlights for me are always the Pas de Deux between the Snow Queen (Jenna Rae Herrera) and the Snow King (Jordan Veit) at the end of Act I and the Grand Pas de Deux between the Sugar Plum Fairy (Amy Potter) and her Cavalier (Tyler Gum) in Act II.  The choreography by William Christensen is absolutely beautiful (I love it when the Sugar Plum Fairy leaps into the arms of her Cavalier and then leans all the way forward almost touching the ground) and the dancers are always exquisite but, more than that, I think the music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky used in these scenes is some of the most romantic in the classical repertoire.  I am always impressed by how many young dancers appear in this production (there are 75 in each of the four rotating casts through the run) and by how well they perform but I especially enjoyed Cameron Spencer as the naughty Fritz (it seems like every Fritz adds his own bit of business in the party scene) and Mother Buffoon's children (they are adorable especially during their bows).  The sets and costumes were updated several years ago (I love the jewel tones in Act I and the pastels in Act II) but I noticed that the costumes for the Sugar Plum Fairy's attendants changed from monkeys to cats this year.  Everything about this show is magical, from the snow falling in the land of the Snow Queen to Clara's flying sled, and I highly recommend adding this to your list of holiday traditions.  There are evening and matinee performances at Capitol Theatre through December 27 (go here for tickets).