Imelda rehearsing Follies

She never stops!

Imelda played Mama Rose in GYPSY all last year ("Sing out, Louise"), and played Martha in the recent London revival of WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? ("I do not bray") until recently - now she leads the cast of the new FOLLIES at the National Theatre this autumn - thankfully I have got my tickets for September ..... she's just a Broadway Baby. 
I dare say having Carson The Butler at home to run things helps.

Festive cheer 4

A final Christmas movie choice is 2007's HOW ABOUT YOU? - I don't know if it even opened back then, but its a pleasing end of year amusement. If you are going to film a soapy Maeve Binchy story then the way to do it is to make it look good and get some venerable old thespians on board, and so it is here. There's a nice Irish country house, posing as a retirement home, and the main regulars are Vanessa Redgrave, Imelda Staunton, Brenda Fricker and veteran Joss Ackland (I saw him on stage with Ingrid Bergman 45 years ago.

The plot is about 4 tiresome residents who have upset everyone else and are left alone for Christmas, with young Hayley Atwell (one of the Keeley Hawes-Gemma Atherton school of young actresses) who is minding the place for her sister who has to leave to care for their ill mother. 

She soon gets tired of the antics of the residents and tells them they will have to leave as the home will be closed down if they do not behave. So old showgirl Vanessa, bickering sisters Imelda and Breda, and old curmudgeon Joss have to buckle down and enjoy Christmas.

Its an amusing hour and a half, filmed in nice Irish locations by Anthony Byrne, of course snooty movie buffs would not give it the time of day, but for us others it passed an evening pleasantly enough.

Gypsy - stomping at The Savoy !

Two Roses & Mrs Lovetts: 
Angela & Imelda

Its a blast. A day later we are still on that high one gets from being blown away by a super show that exceeds one's expectations. I only knew GYPSY from the 1962 film so seeing it on stage was an eye-opener yesterday. It follows the film exactly, or I should say the film follows the original show, but the current stage show in London is fast paced, zippy, very cinematic and works on every level. The star of the show of course is that bundle of dynamite Imelda Staunton who pulls all the stops out. The audience rises as one to give her a standing ovation after "Rose's Turn" - its a huge role, with lots of business - she probably has a sit-down and a cup of tea while the Three Strippers do their "You Gotta Have A Gimmick" - they are dynamite too - and then Louise "entertains" us. Lara Pulver (whom I saw last in SHERLOCK) scores too as Gypsy and her transition during "Let Me Entertain You" is also expertly done.

I last saw Imelda on stage, well over a decade ago now, as Miss Adelaide in GUYS AND DOLLS at the National, and an indelible memory is of her dancing alone on the stage, with the audience egging her on. Since then of course she stunned us in VERA DRAKE and so much more, like the recent PRIDE and that lovely tv film last Christmas, THAT DAY WE SANG, and she voices Aunt Lucy in PADDINGTON, and we liked her in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, CRANFORD and others. Like Julie Walters, Alison Steadman and Brenda Blethyn, she has worked her way up to becoming one of our senior actresses, and also has that Mike Leigh association.  National Treasure status beckons. 

GYPSY has a great company, the children are all perfect and the transition to adult is marvellously handled, its a long show too as we settle down to the big climax with those three great numbers: "You Gotta Have A Gimmick", "Let Me Entertain You" and "Rose's Turn". What a show but what a pedigree: book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Sondheim; this production is expertly directed by Jonathan Kent. Also perfect here is Dan Burton  (right) who lights up the stage as Tulsa, with his great number "All I Need Is The Girl". Dan has been in lots of shows and is simply terrific, shame he is not in the second half.

Dame Angela Lansbury was at the opening night this week too - she also played Mamma Rose, 40 years ago. This GYPSY was already a hit at Chichester Theatre last year, and should play to packed houses here. I hope Imelda is resting up today, after two shows yesterday. She is also on TV here on Tuesday in Paul O'Grady's chatshow - Paul loves GYPSY so that should be a blast. I may even have to put on the movie again before too long ... The essence of musical theatre then, up there with FUNNY GIRL in 1966 or A CHORUS LINE or - even with the cramped leg space at the Savoy, and worth every penny of that very expensive ticket. It follows on nicely too from Sondheim's ASSASSINS seen a month or so ago ... Initially booked till July, it is now going on until November! 

For Stan Rippon who would have loved this (he loved the 1962 film and soundtrack).

Love and pride

I initially resisted PRIDE imagining it to be another of those fake, feel-good dramas which use real events and change everything. There may be an element of that here, but PRIDE works and is a deeply enjoyable, heartfelt, emotional ride through that miners strike which polarised British society in that early 1980s age of Thatcher. A great music soundtrack (Bronski Beat, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, King et al) adds to the perfect period detail. Add in a slew of British actors at the top of their game, and it makes for a marvellous viewing experience, as directed by Matthew Warchus and written by Stephen Beresford. 

In 1984 20 year old closet gay Joe hesitantly arrives in London from Bromley for his first Gay Pride march and is taken under the collective wing of a group of gay men and Lesbian Steph, who meet at flamboyant Jonathan and his Welsh partner Gethin's Soho bookshop. Not only are gays being threatened by Thatcher but the miners are on strike in response to her pit closures and Northern Irish activist Mark Ashton believes gays and miners should show solidarity. Soon a mini-bus full of gays find themselves in the Welsh village of Onllwyn in the Dulais valley and through their sincere fund raising and Jonathan's nifty disco moves persuade most of the community that they are on the same side.
 When a bigot tries to sabotage the partnership with a tabloid smear Mark turns it back on her with a hugely successful benefit concert to which most of the villagers, now thoroughly in tune with their gay friends, turn up. The miners are defeated and return to work but at the Pride march in 1985 they turn up to add their support to their gay friends.

This is not all feel-good stuff, as we take in a family not accepting their gay son, the Miners' refusal to fully support the LBGT community when the going gets tougher, the start of AIDS and the knowledge that these men's lives will never be the same, the occasional violence shown to the gay men, as Gethin (Andrew Scott) gets beaten up and finally gets back with his estranged mother. 

We also take in The Gays The Word Bookshop, the Vauxhall Tavern pub, and other gay London landmarks. The scenes in Wales are amusing and heartfelt too, as the locals get to meet the gays and bigotry soon becomes, in almost all cases, friendship. It is nice to see Imelda Staunton doing her thing and Bill Nighy playing a real character role for once. Dominic West and Andrew Scott are terrific, as are most of the cast, Freddie Fox is in there too. The pride ball and 1985 gay pride festival are covered too. Its a comedy, a social document and very emotional. Ok, I loved it. File next to those other British successes like BILLY ELLIOTT (also dealing with the miners' strike), SHIRLEY VALENTINE, BRASSED OFF, THE FULL MONTY etc. 
We also see in the closing credits how the lead characters fares - Mark Ashton (Ben Schnetzer), the young activist died 2 years later in 1987. He features in footage in the dvd extras on the story of the film's background, as does the real Dominic West character, and Sian, the Welsh MP. 

Next: gay television drama at its best: episode 6 of CUCUMBER and a hilarious American documentary on Mormon husbands: MY HUSBAND IS NOT GAY. No, he suffers from 'SSA': Same Sex Attraction, which is not gay at all ...

Life upon the wicked stage . . .

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE was one of those polarising movies back in 1998/1999 - did you prefer it or SAVING PRIVATE RYAN ? (just like in 1994 were you a PULP FICTION or FORREST GUMP kind of person? - It was definitely PULP for me, I have never wanted to see GUMP!). While I enjoyed SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE at the time, it was a great evening at the cinema, I have hardly thought about it since, and now that we have Shakespeare debunked in ANONYMOUS, a television showing of SIL made me relish it all over again.

A friend of mine, Leon, over at IMDB puts it perfectly in his review:

Given the little information available on Shakespeare the Man a movie, either full of gravitas or, as here, a tongue-in-cheek entry, was a brilliant idea waiting to happen and the only mystery is what took so long. The two writers have contrived to cater for just about everyone from the Shakespeare scholar to those with a reasonably nodding acquaintance - i.e. someone who can name say ten of the plays off the top of their head and are aware of Marlowe as the author of The Jew Of Malta, Tamburlaine and Dr. Faustus but wouldn't necessarily associate 'Kit' with CM - to those who wouldn't know Shakespeare from Pete Doherty but have a thing about Gwynneth Paltrow, Joe Fiennes or both and provided humor for all from the 'in' jokes such as the bloodthirsty young boy who identifies himself as John Webster, to the conceit of Shakespeare seeing a shrink to say nothing of the Victor Victoria spin on girls playing boys playing girls and the wry twist on Romeo and Juliet. This movie has just about everything, spectacle, social history, satire, romance, glamor and top quality thesping all round. Definitely one to own on DVD and replay annually.

The cast certainly dazzles: Joseph Fiennes is ideal as is Gwynneth - will they ever be as iconic again? - and they are surrounded by Colin Firth amusing as the obnoxious beau, Judi Dench makes an unforgettable Elizabeth I in her few minutes, then there is Simon Callow, Anthony Sher, Tom Wilkinson, Geoffrey Rush, Imelda Staunton perfect as usual, Rupert Everett, Ben Affleck, Jim Carter, Martin Clunes and the rest. [Fiennes was also in Tudorbethan mode the same year as the Earl of Leicester to Cate Blanchett's Virgin Queen in ELIZABETH]. Tom Stoppard's script amuses too as writer and actor Shakespeare strugges with his new play "Romeo and Ethel the pirate's daughter" and then he spies the lady Viola who loves the theatre but women cannot appear on stage, and there is that arranged marriage ... It ends on a satisfying note though with Will getting his inspiration, Viola going to the New World and the Queen demanding "a comedy next time for Twelfth Night".

At the time it was considered by some with disdain as the perfect Miramax/Harvey Weinstein production designed and marketed to win all those awards, but here is one instance when they were deserved. Costumes, scenery, lighting, and sound - all the technical and design elements are incredibly well researched and well executed as love, life and the theatre are conjured up in the Elizabethan era. I never wanted to see director John Madden's follow-up CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN which by all accounts was a filleted version of a book I loved, rendering it just a Greek travelogue with some very questionable casting ...

My friend Daryl adds that SAVING PRIVATE RYAN seemed too self-important at the time when it was really an updated version of those World War II war movies like THE STORY OF G.I JOE, whereas audiences actually enjoyed the verbal wit, romance, comedy and great period detail of SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE.