Psycho

I am a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock and I have seen Psycho many times but never on the big screen.  Last night I finally had the opportunity and it was amazing (the crowd cheered when the opening credits started rolling).  It is the perfect movie to watch in October because it is considered by many critics to be the original (and best) slasher horror film.  Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) laments the fact that she must conduct a clandestine relationship with her boyfriend Sam Loomis (John Gavin) because he can't afford to marry her.  She sees an opportunity for them to be together when her boss asks her to deposit $40,000.  She impulsively embezzles the money and goes on the run to meet up with Loomis.  On the road she decides to stop for the night at the secluded Bates Motel during a rainstorm.  When the lonely proprietor, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), invites her to dinner, his mother objects which leads to tragedy (and one of the most famous scenes in cinematic history).  The narrative then shifts to the investigation of Marion's disappearance, conducted by Loomis, Marion's sister Lila (Vera Miles), and a private investigator (Martin Balsam) hired to locate the money, and the discovery that Norman Bates may not be who he seems.  There are so many aspects of this movie that I think are brilliant!  The first time I saw it, I was surprised when Marion was murdered so soon into the runtime because Hitchcock takes great pains to establish her as the sympathetic main protagonist.  Then, all of the audience's sympathy is transferred to Norman as he frantically cleans up the murder scene and disposes of Marion's body to cover for his mother.  Finally, the revelations about Norman are so shocking because of the dramatic build up about Mrs. Bates!  Hitchcock is the master of manipulation!  Even though I have now seen it many times, I still think it is incredibly suspenseful and I discover something new every time!  The shower scene is absolutely terrifying for what you don't see rather than for what you do (the cutting of this scene is ingenious) and the iconic score featuring the screeching strings adds to the intensity.  I love the use of light and dark to foreshadow danger and the symbolism of the stuffed birds.  Both Perkins and Leigh give superb performances, especially in the scene where the two of them talk about being trapped by the circumstances of life.  It was so exciting to watch one of the best psychological thrillers ever made last night and I highly recommend seeing it as it was meant to be seen.  There is one more opportunity (go here for tickets).

Broadway Villains in Concert at CPT

Last night I spent a wonderful evening back at Centerpoint Theatre for a show called Broadway Villains in Concert. Like many theatres around the country, CPT has been dramatically affected by Covid-19 but I think they have done a marvelous job with creatively adapting so that they can still provide entertainment for their patrons while keeping everyone safe. Over the summer they held concerts in the parking lot which were so much fun and this month they are presenting another concert on the Barlow Main Stage featuring songs from the best villains in popular Broadway shows. They have many safety protocols in place, including contactless ticketing, socially distant seating, and mandatory masks. The show was a little over an hour without an intermission. The entire company performed "No One Mourns The Wicked" from Wicked, "The Mob Scene" from Beauty and the Beast, "Masquerade" from The Phantom of the Opera, and "Facade" from Jekyll & Hyde which featured dramatic black costumes, innovative choreography to keep the actors physically distant, and a minimal set comprised of different levels. My favorite performance of the evening was from my favorite musical Hamilton. Christian Johnston, a former student of mine, performed "You'll Be Back" as King George III.  I think he did such a great job, even rivaling some of the Georges I've see in Broadway productions! The concert also featured "No Good Deed" from Wicked with Sydney Stephan as Elphaba, "A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with Tyler Hanson as Sweeney Todd and Brittany Bullen as Mrs. Lovett, "Dentist!" from Little Shop of Horrors with Craig Williams as Orin Scrivello, DDS, "Poison in my Pocket" from A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder with Colton Ward as Monty Navarro, "Stepsisters' Lament" from Cinderella with Kacee Neff and Sydney Stephan as Wicked Stepsisters, "Stars" from Les Miserables with Ricky Parkinson as Javert, "Alive" from Jekyll & Hyde with Ben Lowell as Hyde, "World Burn" from Mean Girls with Karina Gillette as Regina George, "Little Girls" and "Easy Street" from Annie with Camille Crawley as Miss Hannigan, Christian Johnston as Rooster, and Janessa Zech as Lily St. Regis, "The Hammer" from Matilda with Brittany Bullen as Miss Trunchbull, and "Stay with Me" from Into the Woods with Kimberly Holden as the Witch. As I mentioned, all of the actors are wearing black costumes but they each added a little flourish to represent their characters.  I especially loved King George's ermine cape, Elphaba's green eye shadow, and Regina's pink shoes. This show is extremely well done with incredibly talented performers and I really enjoyed it! It runs at CPT on Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays until October 24.  Tickets are only $12.00 for the balcony and $15.00 for the main floor which makes it a great deal (go here for tickets). I highly recommend this show for the whole family (there were a lot of kids in the audience last night and they were cheering enthusiastically).

Note:  After watching Gillette perform "World Burn," I am so excited to see Mean Girls which is, fingers crossed, coming to the Eccles Theatre next year!

Yellow Rose

I'm not a huge fan of country music but I thought the trailer for Yellow Rose looked good so I saw it last night.  I ended up really liking it!  Rose Garcia (Eva Noblezada) is a seventeen-year-old Filipino girl who is an aspiring singer-songwriter.  She lives in a motel in a small Texas town where her mother Priscilla (Princess Punzalen) works as a maid.  They are both undocumented but Rose does not know the true extent of their immigration troubles.  Knowing her love of country music, her friend Elliott (Liam Booth) invites her to a Western bar called the Broken Spoke in Austin.  When she returns home, she sees her mother arrested by ICE in the middle of the night but she is able to get away.  She spends the next few months trying help her mother while bouncing between her aunt Gail (Lea Salonga) who doesn't want her intruding into her life, the kindhearted owner of the Broken Spoke (Libby Villari) who takes pity on her, and country singer Dale Watson (himself) who sees her talent and wants to mentor her.  Ultimately, she must make peace with her mother's decisions, learn to survive on her own, and channel all of her heartache into her music.  Rose's story is incredibly affecting (there were a few moments where I had tears in my eyes) and Noblezada gives an outstanding performance.  I was especially impressed with her singing and guitar playing and I actually really enjoyed all of the original songs.  I know that immigration is a really sensitive subject with no easy answers but I was quite upset about Priscilla's inhumane treatment while in custody and I think this portrayal is an appropriate indictment of current policies.  My only complaint about this movie is the ambiguous ending.  While I did love the triumphant scene featuring Rose playing a gig of her own songs, I was left wondering about her fate because nothing about her immigration situation has changed.  After such an emotional journey with Rose I wanted her to be more settled.  It is, however, a very poignant coming-of-age of age story and I highly recommend it.

Note:  This movie reminded me of Wild Rose.  We just need one more story about an aspiring country singer with rose in the title to complete the trilogy!

A Call to Spy

I absolutely love movies about espionage during World War II so I was pretty excited when I saw the trailer for A Call to Spy which is based on actual events.  I finally had a chance to see it last night and I really enjoyed it.  After the Nazi occupation of France, Churchill is feeling desperate and authorizes the training of female spies because he thinks they will be more inconspicuous.  Vera Atkins (Stana Katic), a glorified secretary for the SOE (the newly formed spy agency), is tasked with finding suitable candidates.  She finds Virginia Hall (Sarah Megan Thomas), an American working at the U.S. embassy in London who wants to be a diplomat but is constantly turned down because she has a prosthetic leg, and Noor Inayat Khan (Radhika Apte), a Muslim from an aristocratic Indian family who is a pacifist but also a skilled radio operator.  They are given minimal training and dropped into France with almost no support but Virginia is able to develop a vast network of local resistance fighters and Noor is able to send messages to London while on the run before narrowly evading discovery time after time.  Meanwhile, Vera struggles to be taken seriously within the SOE because she is hiding a dangerous secret.  They overcome many hardships but it is when the women are betrayed that they become true heroes and change the course of the war.  I love the fact that this is a story that has not been told before, but definitely deserves to be, and I found it to be incredibly compelling.  The pace moves quickly with a lot of tension and, because all of the characters are so sympathetic, I was very invested in the outcome.  In fact, I felt genuine distress during moments of peril and a lot of admiration for what these women go through.  Even though many of the actors in this movie are not very well known (at least to U.S. audiences), all of the performances are great and I was especially impressed with Thomas who is very affecting.  I highly recommend this inspirational story of bravery and perseverance.

Note:  After watching this movie I really wanted to know more about these three women.  I found out that Miss Moneypenney from the Bond movies is based, in part, on Vera Atkins. 

Friday the 13th

I wasn't allowed to see Friday the 13th on the big screen when it was first released but I had the chance last night!  It was back in theaters to celebrate its 40th Anniversary and it was a lot of fun because, for some reason, I really enjoy seeing slasher movies in October!  While at Camp Crystal Lake, a young boy named Jason Voorhees (Ari Lehman) drowns due to the negligence of the camp counselors who were supposed to be watching him.  The following year, two counselors, who are also negligent in their duties, are brutally murdered leading many to believe that the camp is cursed.  Twenty years later, the owner, Steve Christy (Peter Brouwer), decides to open the camp once again and a group of counselors arrive on Friday the 13th.  One counselor named Annie (Robbi Morgan) is killed by an unseen assailant as she hitchhikes to the camp.  Steve is called away during a severe storm which cuts off the power and most of the other counselors, including Ned (Mark Nelson), Jack (Kevin Bacon), Marcie (Jeannine Taylor), Brenda (Laurie Bartram), and Bill (Harry Crosby), are killed in an incredibly gruesome manner (an ax is involved).  Alice (Adrienne King) is left alone to face the killer, who has a surprising connection to Jason, in an epic confrontation (a decapitation is involved).  This movie is pretty low-budget with abysmal acting but there are some really suspenseful sequences that are enhanced by an atmospheric score.  I actually had a great time watching this on the big screen with a rowdy crowd (someone screamed out loud during a particularly tense moment) because it is such a cult classic.  If you enjoy celebrating Halloween by seeing scary movies, go here for two more opportunities to see Friday the 13th as well as other great options during the month of October.