Merchant Ivory

The second documentary in my double feature at the Broadway last night was Merchant Ivory and, as someone who absolutely loved their movies as a teen and young adult in the 1980s and 90s, I found it to be fascinating.  This is a very straightforward look at the professional and personal partnership between director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant and how they, along with regular collaborators screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, composer Richard Robbins, and costume designers Jenny Beavan and John Bright, revitalized the costume drama with some of the most acclaimed movies in cinematic history.  Despite being obsessed with A Room with a View, Howards End, and The Remains of the Day, I didn't really know very much about the filmmakers who made them so I enjoyed the discussion about the yin-yang dynamic in their partnership with Ivory being calm, cool, collected, and dedicated to the purity of his artistic vision while Merchant was loud, bombastic, passionate, and determined to work faster and cheaper.  I also loved the discussion about how most of their movies have subversive themes about the hypocrisy found in polite society juxtaposed with gorgeous production design.  It was fun to see all of the behind the scenes stills and footage from my three favorites but it was also really interesting to learn about the difficulties in making their earlier movies (I now want to watch Shakespeare Wallah after learning that they only had enough film for one take in the final climactic scene) and to see how different perceptions impacted their later films, particularly with Jefferson in Paris.  My favorite aspect of this documentary is all of the contemporary interviews with many of the actors they worked with, especially Rupert Graves, James Wilby, Hugh Grant, Samuel West, Vanessa Redgrave (who is an absolute hoot), Emma Thompson, and Helena Bonham Carter.  A common theme in these interviews is how difficult it was to work on one of their movies because of the limited budget (at one point Merchant was catering the food for the cast and crew himself) but they were always lured back to make another one because of the final product.  I definitely enjoyed this and recommend it to fans of Merchant-Ivory movies.

Will & Harper

I don't see a lot of documentaries but there are two currently playing at the Broadway that piqued my interest so I decided on a double feature last night.  I started with Will & Harper because I missed it at Sundance this year and, just as I had heard from so many people at the festival, it is equal parts funny, heartwarming, and powerful.  Writer Andrew Steele and actor Will Ferrell are close friends dating from their days together on Saturday Night Live but, when Steele sends an email coming out to him as a trans woman after living for years in the closet, she wonders if their friendship will be the same (and she wonders if she will feel comfortable going to all of the places she once enjoyed as a man).  Ferrell suggests that they take a 16-day cross-country road trip together so that he can learn the best way to support her and so that he can act as a buffer when she interacts with new people who might not be accepting of her.  There are lots of really funny moments as these two friends who have known each other for decades bounce off each other (my favorites were a recurring bit involving Pringles and an attempt by Ferrell to go incognito in Las Vegas).  However, what really resonated with me was how much genuine emotion this trip elicits from Ferrell, especially when he realizes how much Steele suffered when she was forced to live an inauthentic life and when he sees first hand how dangerous it is for her to simply exist in some parts of the country (a scene in a Texas steakhouse is especially difficult to watch).  Ferrell is very curious about Steele's experience and asks her lots of questions ranging from what it feels like to have boobs, to how she chose her new name, to how she might navigate a romantic relationship in the future (as well as if she thinks she is now a bad driver because she is a woman) and his empathy and compassion set an important example for mainstream audiences, especially for those who are uncertain about how to interact with trans people, to follow.  This begins streaming on Netflix September 27 and I highly recommend it for everyone.

The Magician's Elephant at HCT

Last night I saw the U.S. premiere of The Magician's Elephant, a musical originally commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company based on the book of the same name by Kate DiCamillo, and I really enjoyed this fantastical tale about believing in the impossible. The town of Baltese is still suffering the effects of a long war so Peter Duchene (Weston Wright), an orphan whose father died in battle and whose mother died in childbirth, is being trained by his guardian Vilna Lutz (Mark Knowles) to be a soldier. However, Peter is more interested in his recurring dream about a crying baby than in discipline, control, and routine so, when he is sent to the town square to buy stale bread, he gives the coin to a fortune teller (Malia Morris) that only he can see instead. She tells him that the baby in his dream is his long lost sister and that he can find her by following the elephant. Peter is doubtful until a Magician (Bryan Dayley), who only intended to summon lilies, accidentally conjures an elephant during his show at the opera house. At first the Police Chief (Jake Ben Suazo) tries to hide it and a Countess (Michelle Blake) imprisons it in her ballroom for attention but soon the elephant brings hope to Peter and the whole town but in an unexpected way. The story about how a town is brought back to life by magic is really touching and, while the music is a bit underwhelming (the lyrics are very repetitive), I enjoyed the songs "If This Is True," "What If Why Not Could It Be," and "Anything Could Happen" because they express a longing for normalcy after a traumatic event and that is something that I think many people can relate to. I also really enjoyed the comedic elements in "Count Who Doesn't Count." Wright, who appears in almost every scene, is incredibly endearing with a lovely voice and I also liked Keith Evans' performance as the policeman Leo Matienne because he is so earnest in his desire to help Peter and his wife Gloria (Becky Jeanne Knowles), who longs for a child, believe in magic. The elephant puppet, designed and fabricated by Acheson Walsh Studios and brought to life by puppeteers Sam Cooper, Julia Wihongi, Daniel Miskin, and Sarah Neipp, is absolutely astonishing and I was particularly struck by how expressive it is because it really does seem to be sad when it is chained up. The costumes, which look like they are inspired by the folklore of Eastern Europe (I loved the traditional embroidery), are gorgeous with drab colors that are distressed in the first act and vibrant pastels in the second to reflect the mood of the town. Finally, the stage is definitely a highlight because it reminded me of a medieval town in Eastern Europe with cobblestone streets, a city wall, a market square complete with a fountain, and a crenelated castle that rises up. I also loved the dirigible used by the Countess and the fortune teller's tent. In my opinion, the magic of this production overcomes the issues I had with the music and I would definitely recommend getting a ticket (go here) because we could all use a bit of magic. It runs on the Young Living Centre Stage through October 26.

Note:  Don't forget the hilarious production of The Addams Family now playing on the Sorenson Legacy Jewel Box Stage through November 16 (go here for tickets).

Speak No Evil

I am a huge fan of James McAvoy so I was really excited to finally have a chance to see Speak No Evil last night.  I am not familiar with the 2022 Danish movie upon which it is based so I can't compare the two but I really liked this remake.  Ben Dalton (Scoot McNairy) and his wife Louise (Mackenzie Davis), an American couple based in London with their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler), befriend the free-spirited Paddy (McAvoy), his wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and their son Ant (Dan Hough) while on holiday in Italy.  Paddy invites them for a weekend at their remote farmhouse in the English countryside and, at first, Louise does not want to go but she eventually capitulates.  She is immediately put off by Paddy's creepy lack of boundaries, his passive-aggressive behavior towards her (him forcing her to eat meat knowing that she is a vegetarian was very triggering because that has happened to me), and his unusually cruel treatment of Ant (who has a congenital defect to his tongue which limits his ability to speak).  When Louise tells Ben that they should leave, it turns into an argument about her recent infidelity so she ignores her concerns and once again defers to his wishes.  However, by the time they realize that they are actually in danger it might be too late for them to get away.  McAvoy gives a thoroughly entertaining and completely unhinged performance (I don't think I will ever listen to the song "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles in the same way again) that is a lot of fun to watch because he is so charismatic that you start to question if there really is a malevolent intent to his actions or if you are imagining it.  Davis and McNairy are also compelling, particularly when their characters try to justify staying in a situation that is so clearly wrong (I often felt the urge to scream at them to get out of there) because he is afraid of looking weak and she is afraid of being perceived as judgmental.  The action sequences in the third act are thrilling but I was more impressed with the way the tension slowly escalates in the second act because, even though it seems like the Daltons are going to be able to get away, Paddy keeps finding ways to keep them there and it is unsettling but absolutely riveting.  This is one of my favorite horror movies of the year and I recommend it to fans of the genre (and fans of McAvoy).

Bright Star at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts

Even though I have now seen the musical Bright Star many times, I was still really excited when SCERA announced that it would be part of their fall season because it is such a beautiful story about love, loss, forgiveness, and redemption. I was able to see their production last night and it is amazing! Alice Murphy (Kelsey Mariner Thompson) is a young and rebellious teenager living in the small town of Zebulon, North Carolina in the 1920s and she regularly exasperates her mother (Shawnda Moss) and father (Mike Ramsey) with her wild behavior. She begins a romance with Jimmy Ray Dobbs (Christian Wawro) but his father, the Mayor (Ben Henderson), wants him to make a more advantageous match and conspires to separate them. Twenty-two years later, just after World War II, Billy Cane (Bryson Smellie) returns to his hometown of Hayes Creek, North Carolina to visit his father (Brian Tanner) and his childhood friend Margo (McKenna Thomas). He soon decides to try writing for a magazine in Asheville and meets Alice, now an uptight editor who mentors him. The narrative alternates between both timelines as Alice discovers a unique connection to Billy. I pretty much love every song in this show (the folk and bluegrass music is written and composed by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell) and everyone in the incredibly talented cast performs them beautifully. Thompson and Wawro, especially, give highly emotional renditions of "Please, Don't Take Him" and "Heartbreaker," respectively, which alternate between anger and pain and then the two of them reduced me to tears with their touching version of "I Had a Vision." I also loved Thompson's powerful performance of "At Long Last" and I was not alone because the crowd went wild at its conclusion! Shoutouts go to Jared Wilkinson and Colie Lemon as Alice's assistants Daryl and Lucy, respectively, because they provide a lot of comic relief and they are hilarious in "Another Round." The set features weathered doors and window frames suspended over the stage upon which various images are projected (my favorites were the stars during the song "What Could Be Better" and the moving train tracks during a climactic scene) and a wooden structure that is rotated to become the Murphy cabin, the Cane cabin, and Margo's bookshop. The staging is very clever because the ensemble is used to move props (the lanterns are particularly effective) on and off stage with choreography and bits of business that enhance the scene. I especially loved how they move in slow motion around Margo during the song "Asheville" because it emphasizes her longing for Billy and how they freeze around Mayor Dobbs on the train during "A Man's Gotta Do (Reprise)" to show how furtive his actions are. This is one of the best productions of this show that I've seen (on par with the Broadway cast) and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here). It runs at the SCERA Center for the Performing Arts on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays through October 5.