Curtainup Founder & Editor Elyse Sommer's Epilogue -- I've passed the torch for reviewing and editing new theater productions on and off-Broadway and elsewhere. However, I'll continue to sound off here with my take on Live and Onscreen Entertainment. As for Curtainup's extensive content since 1996-- it's all sill available at www.curtainup.com

Thursday, September 15, 2022

It's a Wonderful Life -- Without Rose-Colored Glasses


 
 It's a Wonderful Life sure beats the drum loudly for kindness and doing the right thing. In fact, in these stressful times we may not want to wait until Christmas to bask in Director Frank Capra's world, in which kindness and doing the right thing insures a happy ending. George Bailey's behavior, unfailingly putting the needs of others before his own, thus handily resolves his difficulties. And, when in the interest of dramatic tension, Capra allows George to  succumb to anger and despair, the director further insures that satisfying ending by bringing on the Angel Clarence to make George realize how important he has been to the well-being and happiness of others.

 That said, critics and viewers have blinded themselves to the less than wonderful aspects of that feel-good message.  For one thing, if other George Baileys with ambitions to explore opportunities for   education and achievements in the world beyond their hometowns opted to stay put, the world would  have lost many inventors, scientists, artists, writers, and humanitarians. Even more awful than  wonderful, the movie's Scrooge, the evil Mr. Potter managed to get away with stealing the money  without which George's bank could not survive.  At a time when we see corruption and selfish interests unchecked even in the most powerful places, Mr. Potter is a more ominous than ever presence.  

 Without Mr. Potter getting his just desserts, the town of Bedford Falls will remain something of a dead end for anyone with dreams of doing really big things. The reality is that the glow of that heart-warming holiday finale will fade. Bedford Falls will still lack the opportunities a less selfish rich man  like Potter might foster rather than manipulate.

 But as the unquestioningly embraced message about kindness and doing the right thing bringing its own rewards has a darker side, so did Frank Capra. The widely lionized filmmaker wasn't really the  liberal champion of kindness and America's little guy that everyone thought he was. He just happened  to be brilliantly able to use the George Baileys of America's heartland to create surefire audience- pleasing narratives. When he made Wonderful Life, Capra had just returned from his stint in the U.S. Signal Corps. The small-town life and virtues he defended were of the pre-war era. His return took him to Hollywood, not a small town where most citizens were not rich. In fact, Capra was a lifelong Republican who despised President Roosevelt and, like all movies made in the '40s, Wonderful Life did not address stereotypical racist casting. Neither were women likely to see any life choice more fulfilling than  motherhood.

 What's more, the film that has made George Bailey America's symbol of humanity had a very  inauspicious premiere.  And it was only the movie's over-exposure on TV,  thanks to an inadvertently   unrenewed copyright, that got people to fall in love with George and the other characters. 

Actually, when the movie first came out it was hardly a Christmas Must-See, and certainly not an   integral part of our cultural landscape. Its reception was so unimpressive that the copyright was  allowed to run out. And it was only because Hollywood studios were always on the lookout for movies  they could offer frequently and cheaply that Wonderful Life was seen so often. Viewers gradually fell   in love with George and made the movie a cultural phenomenon, something that feels permanent in our society.   

Though I've never been a big fan of the movie, I was very much a Jimmy Stewart fan so I'm not  posting this commentary because it's an awful movie. It does warrant a "thumbs up" thanks to the cast,  the well-crafted script with its full development of each character, the cinematography and the wonderful costumes. (All available in both black and white or colorized at Amazon Prime.) I just think it's time to take off those heavily rose-tinted glasses and recognize its decidedly unwonderful aspects. In fact, maybe some smart filmmaker will consider a reboot. After all, It's a Wonderful Life was Capra's reboot of Dickens' Christmas Carol, the most iconic of all Christmas tales. Now, there is a brand-new and  drastically recast Broadway  production in which Jefferson Mays will play all the characters.  Perhaps some talented filmmaker can do a version in which Mr. Potter goes to jail and an innovative rich man decides to make Bedford Falls a showcase for a thriving small town -- with thriving businesses and a topnotch college and hospital.  

Monday, September 12, 2022

Blogspot Blog Update: September 12, 2022


Shakespeare Gets The Last Word In King Charles' Farewell To His Mama, The Queen


In his first speech as Queen Elizabeth II's successor, her son gave Shakespeare the final words for his  mother with "May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest (Hamlet)." But while Shakespeare's plays  about historic royals were full of violence and power-seeking political machinations, the legacy of her  70-year spanning reign was that she remained a consistently neutral head no matter how societal changes affected even her own family. As one reporter about her death at 96 so aptly put it, this left her life "an  outline" open to interpretation.

 No wonder so many outstanding actors have put their own stamp on that "outline" in stage and screen  dramas like The Crown and The Queen, both still streaming at Netflix, with a highly anticipated new  season of the former due soon. It's a sure bet that the never-ending fascination with the British royals  will continue the flow of dramas about past and present royals.

 While Shakespeare continues to be a steady presence on our cultural landscape and his texts remain  favorite sources for apt comments at the right time and place, plenty of other plays have entered the  cannon of  stage-and-screen classics. They've thus also been ripe for brand-new presentations. One of  the most interesting examples coming up on Broadway next year is the musical 1776, about the   contentious forging of the document that would establish a new nation. Diane Paulus and Jeffrey Page  are presenting it with a cast haggling about that document's details that is all female, and in some roles transgender.

A Christmas Carol Also Gets a New Casting Twist

 For millions of people, it wouldn't be Christmas without Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. This  year, the beloved classic gets a new casting twist. Jefferson Mays, who gave the solo play new status  with his Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, is taking on all the characters on Broadway during the coming holiday season.  It will run at the Nederlander Theater from November 8 to January 1.  

Even with more conventional casting, annual productions have been off-Broadway. In the same vein, Cost of Living would not extend its 2017 off-Broadway life (when  I  reviewed  it) before the current aims to make Broadway more diverse. It's therefore now premiering at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre with an official opening on October 3rd.

An Off-Broadway Theater's Attempt to Attract Audiences With Affordable Tickets

The Off-Broadway incubator Ars Nova on West 54th Street will allow audience members to pay what they wish for theater tickets in a new initiative called "What’s Ars Is Yours: Name Your Price"  for its 2022-23 season. Tickets will start at $5 and increase in $5 increments up to $100 per ticket. The season includes the world premiere of Hound Dog (Oct. 6-Nov. 5), and the world premiere of (Pray) from March 9-April 15. On Broadway, casting plays by proven playwrights and with stars is still the best way to sell tickets. Case-in-point: Laura Linney will return to Broadway next spring in Summer 1976, a new play by David Auburn about a friendship that arises between two women during America’s bicentennial.

 Series Continue To Hang In Longer Than They Should

Only Murders in the Building hopscotches cleverly between farcical humor and its trio of amateur  sleuths' darker sides. Steve Martin plays a once-famous TV actor, Martin Short is a down-on-his-luck Broadway director, and Selena Gomez is a young artist with her own issues. All live in an elegant   historic Manhattan apartment house (the interiors shot in one of the more renowned of these Upper West Side buildings). The amateur Sherlocks also manage to turn their crime-solving efforts into a popular podcast. Obviously, very timely. And, obviously, encouraging Hulu to let the series overstay its welcome to cash in on its success. The second season just wasn't as funny, but given the terrific acting and clever filming, the fan base did hold and yet another season is on the streaming horizon.

Working Girl, a 1988 Movie Gem, Becoming a Broadway Musical 

Working Girl, a  delightful 1988 movie that starred Melanie Griffith and Sigourney Weaver, is now being brought to the stage as a musical (music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper; directed by Christopher Ashley; scripted by Theresa  Rebeck). But why wait?  You can catch the movie if you're a Hulu subscriber or rent or buy it at Amazon Prime.