Something for the weekend (2): Le Jazz Hot

Rory loved this .... from VICTOR/VICTORIA, 1982. One of Julie's best numbers.

Hail Caesar ?

Here's a new one! I had not heard of the Coen Brothers new one HAIL CAESAR! but it features Channing Tatum doing a sailor number (a la Gene Kelly?) , and Ralph Fiennes and Tilda Swinton are in it too (see A BIGGER SPLASH below), along with Clooney ..... sounds intriguing at the very least ! 

The BFI says: "25 years after BARTON FINK the Coens revist Capitol Pictures with another colourful portrait of studio-era Hollywood. This time its the 1950s and Capitol boss Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) is making a prestige Roman epic, but all hell breaks loose when star George Clooney is kidnapped. Many familiar faces - Tilda Swinton as Hedda Hopper (didn't Helen Mirren also portray Hopper in TRUMBO..) - populate an extraordinary cast." There's also Tatum doing a camp musical number, and Scarlett Johansson as perhaps Esther Williams doing a swimming number ....

We can see it when it opens here in March, (There really was an Eddie Mannix at MGM back in the day, a Mr Fixit for the stars). 

A NEW Sound of Music ....

THE SOUND OF MUSIC was one musical I never wanted to see and I successfully avoided it until New Year's Day 1996 when I had to give in and watch it with my then ill partner (he died 2 weeks later) and his mother ..... and ok, I enjoyed it, but it is not my favourite or even favourite Oscar & Hammerstein musical (that would be SOUTH PACIFIC). Far too saccharine - I relished Pauline Kael's famous review at the time, where she muses "Wasn't there one little Von Trapp who did not want to sing on cue with the others or who threw up before having to go on stage?" - or words to that effect; or as "Films and Filming" said: "THE SOUND OF MUSIC is 179 minutes, and the first minute is rather good".  Eleanor Parker was marvellous as the Baroness, she could do a lot with very little.

I also saw the London Palladium production some years ago which starred television discovery Connie Fisher, who was an ideal Maria too. The O&H show was first staged in 1959 with Mary Martin. The 1965 film air again here also on new Year's Day. But now our ITV commercial channel has aired a new production, done 'live' and as my current partner (of 13 years) also loves the show and has done the whole Salzburg thing, I had to sit down and watch it again, and actually liked it a lot, it may be the best production yet. Obviously it could not be opened out like the Robert Wise film with location shooting, but it was nicely done and included the songs, mainly for the Baroness, which were not included in the film. 

Kara Tointon was an ideal Maria - she is a television actress here (EASTENDERS)  and won a series of STRICTLY COME DANCING so is well versed in show business and is quite charming, particularly as her Maria matures. The children were all ok, TV regulars Alexander Armstrong was Max, Mel from the BAKE-OFF was the housekeeper, Katherine Kelly (CORONATION STREET, MR SELFRIDGE) as the Baroness, but Julian Ovendon seemed a tad too young for Von Trapp, though he too matures into the role - he sings at the Proms, was in FOYLES'S WAR and one of Lady Mary's suitors in DOWNTON ABBEY (final episode screens here on Christmas Day - there will be a report) and he stripped for that scene in that revival of MY NIGHT WITH REG at the Donmar, which we saw last year. Maria Friedman is a great mother superior at the convent and sings a convincing "Climb Every Mountain".  So in all, we quite liked it and it adds a new dimension to the well-known show. With David Bamber and Paul Copley. Directed by Mel's sister Coky Giedroyc and Richard Valentine. It is due to be repeated soon.

Getting back to SOUTH PACIFIC, I was wondering why it did not do more for Mitzi Gaynor - its really her last film of note, after that came that dreadful SURPRISE PACKAGE (reviewed a while back, Stanley Donen label), then a forgettable David Niven comedy and her final screen credit in 1963 in a long-forgotten comedy with Kirk Douglas. 
Mitz was a talented hoofer and comedienne who arrived just as musicals were going out of fashion, but she scores in the 1954 THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS (above, relaxing with Marilyn and Ethel), and ANYTHING GOES and she was one of the LES GIRLS with Kay Kendall and Taina Elg in Gene Kelly's dance troupe for Cukor in 1957, one of our favourites here, see label - and then her Nellie Forbush in SOUTH PACIFIC, where she seems ideal - I loved the movie as a kid and it was one of the first soundtrack albums I got. I would not have bought the more well known Doris Day in the role. Mitzi then had a good television career with all her musical specials and, like Debbie Reynolds, is still a game gal now.  
Below: those guys on the island, including muscle boy Ed Fury - ideal rainy day viewing.

Les Demoiselles de Rochefort

A midwinter treat ...... I simply love this movie, as per reiews - Deneuve, Dorleac, Demy labels. 
Click the full-screen icon to see it widescreen.

Jacques Demy's films are awash with that particular type of French glamour, as we have noted here before, see labels. Here he dresses up Deneuve and Dorleac in those pastels for LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHFORT in 1967, turns Jacques Perrin into a blonde sailor in a sailor suit, gets George Chakiris and Grover Dale into tight trousers, and makes Danielle Darrieux a very glamours mother to the singing and dancing sisters, then there is an older Gene Kelly!

LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT is now on the BFI list of '10 Best Gay French Films" .... it may not be gay as such, but there is a definite gay sensibility here. Bliss is assured watching it in mid-winter. 

As the BFI put it: "File this one under ‘queer aesthetic’. In the most excessive of Jacques Demy’s films, he creates an infectiously cheery musical in which everyone has a ball. Catherine Deneue and Francoise Dorleac are the damsels of the title, looking for love in the sunny seaside town of Rochefort. But will any of the attractive men on offer fall for their charms?

There’s nothing explicitly gay here, but any film that shoves Jacques Perrin in a sailor suit, squeezes George Chakiris into tight white trousers and decorates itself with lavish, lurid sets definitely has a queer eye. Its relentless good nature isn’t for Scrooges, but it’s a hard heart that can’t enjoy Gene Kelly’s surprise cameo, or the vision of Deneuve in elbow-length gloves, chain-smoking while removing a chicken from the oven (trust us, it’s amazing)".

A new Funny Girl ...

50 years after the original 1964 Broadway (and London in 1966) production of FUNNY GIRL, there is finally a new major production. It is currently rehearsing at the London Menier Chocolate Factory, a nice small theatre with cafe and bar (I was there earlier this year for Sondheim's ASSASSINS), so I wondered how they could stage this show with those big production numbers. Well it seems they are not ....

Funny Girl in 1966

In fact it may not be the same show at all. I have to declare an interest here - I saw the Broadway version when it played several months in London at the Prince Charles Theatre in 1966. I was 20 and somehow we got front row seats, and the young Streisand was the talk of the town.  It was the first big show I saw on stage and I was a total Streisand nut then ..... Michael Craig was her Nicky Arnstein (left, with Streisand). 
There have been other out of town productions since but no major London production, as presumably Streisand had made the part of Fanny Brice so much her own, particularly after the success of the William Wyler film in 1968. (We will kindly overlook FUNNY LADY).

So now we have a new FUNNY GIRL heading into town, it is already sold out at the Menier, but is transferring to The Savoy next April - where that current revival of GYPSY is still playing until later this month - Imelda will need a holiday after that! Sheridan Smith is the new Fanny - we like Sheridan a lot, one of our National Treasures in waiting, she played the young Cilla Black to great acclaim on television this year and has been in lots of successful series since she began as Antony's vegetarian girlfriend in THE ROYLE FAMILY and her hilarious Brandy in BENIDORM. She was a knockout on stage in Terence Rattigan's FLARE PATH a few years ago, and I also saw her in LEGALLY BLONDE - and she has also played (a younger than usual) HEDDA GABLER and Shakespeare's Tatiana on stage - but can she be Fanny Brice?

Fanny was an odd-looking Jewish woman, and one could say young Barbra also was though she re-defined beauty with her amazing looks. Sheridan is British, blonde and beautiful. Darius Campbell should be a good foil as her Nicky. It seems though the show is being overhauled for the new generation - it is 50 years later after all. Isobel Lennart's book has been revised by actor and writer Harvey Fierstein who has said "It had stuff in it that wasn't necessary any more for a modern audience". He has cut 40 pages from the script, a couple of songs have been dropped and others used. (I hope they still keep Barbra's final number "The Music That Makes Me Dance" which was electrifying on the stage, but was replaced with "My Man" for the film). It seems, according to The Daily Mail, that the new show will focus on Fanny and Nicky's troubled marriage, at the expense of Fanny's career - so there are no Ziegfield Follies numbers or showgirls. 

Fierstein says he has re-shaped the show so its all seen through Brice's eyes. "Its not Ziegfield Follies with 500ft staircases and 60 girls in white ostrich feathers. Hopefully, we can find the human being in the legend.". 
The Menier and The Savoy in a joint statement says: “It's enormously exciting to be bringing this legendary musical back to the West End for the first time since 1966, in a brand new production starring the incredible Sheridan Smith. We are also thrilled to have the opportunity to work with the hugely gifted, multi-award winning Broadway director Michael Mayer.”
Can a great musical be stripped down and made over for a new generation fifty years later? Well, we will see.

Dolly

Interesting to see HELLO DOLLY again .... back in 1969 when in my twenties this seemed an elephantine old-fashioned film in that era of trendy counterculture, but we went along to see it all the same, and even had the soundtrack album. We were still on a Streisand high and she certainly delivers here, though of course is far too young for the middle-aged Dolly  Levi, a role ideally suited to Shirley Booth in the film THE MATCHMAKER (Mary Martin, Carol Channing and Pearl Bailey had successes as Dolly too). But hey it was a hit show, and 20th Century Fox certainly made it high wide and handsome. Gene Kelly directs (but not so that you would notice), it does though have some nice moments.

I like the opening number "Just Leave Everything To Me" as Dolly sets off for Yonkers to see her latest client, that well-known unmarried half a millionaire Horace Vandergelder. Streisand is perfect here gowned and hatted by Irene Sharaff (who also did the costumes for that other Fox extravaganza CLEOPATRA). Walter Matthau is ideal as the grouch (of course he and Streisand did not get on at all, putting it mildly), and young Michael Crawford and Danny Lockin (later, murdered by a stalker pickup) are fun as the juveniles Cornelius and Barnaby, Tommy Tune scores too. Barbra is a lot of fun actually as she vamps an guys the material.

"Put On Your Sunday Clothes" is a delicious number too, nicely staged and danced (and with a nod to MEET ME IN ST LOUIS) - then there is the huge parade and that finale at the restaurant with the singing waiters and Louis himself to reprise the title number.   On the downside, it looks too brash, the period detail looks trowelled on, the costumes look too new, the two girls at the hat shop - Irene Malloy and her assistant Minnie Fay - are excruciatingly winsome. It is a fun scene though when Horace comes calling, with the boys in hiding and Dolly on hand to get them dancing ..... 

Not a GREAT musical then, but fun to see now and then.  

Deneuve & Dorleac

More French 1960s glamour ... with sisters Catherine Deneuve and Francoise Dorleac in Jacques Demy's LES DEMOISELLES DEROCHEFORT, a great from 1967 - its marvellous on the big screen as Demy gets all of Rochefort dancing with our sisters - add in Gene Kelly, blonde sailor Jacques Perrin, dancing boys George Chakiris and Grover Dale, as well as eternally chic Danielle Darriex as the girls' mother and bliss is assured. More on this at Demy label .... 

Francoise perished in a car accident in 1967 .... she was certainly an essential Sixties beauty and French star. We like her in THAT MAN FROM RIO, LE PEAU DEUCE, even GENGHIS KHAN and that Michael Caine film. See my fuller appreciation on her at Dorleac label.

Fathers

Some of our favourite fathers, seeing as its Father's Day ....   (for Dad) 

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, 1962 - Has there been a more fundamentally decent father than Atticus Finch?, the widower and small-town lawyer expertly played by Gregory Peck, in Robert Mulligan's classic from the perennially loved book by Harper Lee. I loved the book, and then I loved the film ... as we spend time with Scout and Jem and Boo Radley, while Atticus has his day in court, in this Deep South Gothic drama with the spellbinding images. It all works perfectly, particularly that ending as Atticus watches over the children ....

BICYCLE THIEVES, 1948 - In broken post-war Rome, a father struggles to provide for his family. He gets a job sticking posters on walls but his bicycle gets stolen. Father and son scour the city looking for it, and then the unthinkable happens - the father is reduced to stealing a bicycle and gets caught and we see it all through his son's eyes ..... Since its release in 1948 Vittorio Se Sica's masterpiece has come to define the Italian New-Realistic movement, but it is a timeless classic, acted by non-professionals and De Sica finds the humanity in all of them, as we share the father's desperation to provide for the family when the world is conspiring against him. There is that stunning moment when the family sheets are pawned, and the pawnbroker places them on top of a pile of other families' sheets, all waiting to be reclaimed .... (see De Sica label for review).

FINDING NEMO, 2003 - One of Pixar's most enduringly popular animated features which one can enjoy time and time again, as we follow Nemo's worried father (a clown fish voiced by Albert Brooks) who seems to go half way round the planet to find his lost son, the only survivor when his family are destroyed .... Andrew Stanton's film captures the father's helplessness as he wants the best for his offspring and then allowing him to discover whats best for himself, as I suppose all our fathers had to ....

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, 1944 - Before the 1904 World Fair in St Louis, the Smith family learn lessons about life and love as they prepare for a reluctant move to New York, as the paterfamilias Mr Smith (Leon Ames) think it is best for them. He had not reckoned though on Tootie and her snowmen, the boy next door, and daughters Esther (Judy Garland) and Rose (Lucille Bremer) and their romantic complications. Add in Marjorie Main's cook and Henry Davenport's grandpa, as well as Mary Astor's perfect mother who will stand by her husband, no matter what, and poor Mr Smith (who vetoes having dinner an hour early so Rose can get her call from her beau in New York without all the family listening) does not stand a chance of moving ..... A Golden Age (and Minnelli) Classic and the ultimate dream factory movie made at that crucial point in the Second World War, when dreadful things were happening in Europe ....

A Star Is Born and those Fifties dramas

Nice to catch 1951's A PLACE IN THE SUN again on television, along with SUNSET BOULEVARD and ALL ABOUT EVE, those great early '50s dramas, and of course, as the decade wore on, those Kazan classics like EAST OF EDEN, and the later 50s dramas like ANATOMY OF A MURDER or the over-heated SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER or Susan Hayward classics like I WANT TO LIVE or I'LL CRY TOMORROW, or Magnani or .... See Drama-1 label for my first post here on all those ...

Now, a few more comments on Cukor's A STAR IS BORN, that 1954 musical drama that just keeps looking better and better each time I see it.  There is quite a bit on it here - see the labels - as its one of the first movies I saw that year as a kid of 8. JOHNNY GUITAR was the first, what a vivid introduction to movies that was - but A STAR IS BORN may well have been the second. I loved the widescreen images, like that beach house with the sun reflected on the glass, and that rich Warnercolor just glows now, particularly after the film was restored and the extras included those 3 alternative versions of "The Man That Got Away" and all that premiere footage with all the stars of the time (Doris, Peggy Lee, Crawford, Bacall, the Wildings, the Curtises, the Fishers etc) 

It is one of the great Fifties dramas - a drama with music, as opposed to one of those MGM spectaculars, It was Brando's year of course but for me Mason delivers the performance of the year, and of his career, as Norman Maine. 

Judy of course is something else. It is easy to see now why Grace Kelly got the Oscar for that year. She was the hot new girl in town (like Audrey the year before, and Judy Holliday in 1950 when Bette and Gloria were seen as old-timers; and a decade later in the bright shiny early Sixties when the two Julies - Andrews and Christie - were the next hot new girls in town..).   Judy too had burned her boats a lot and had antagonised too many with her tantrums and delays, maybe caused by a bi-polar or medical condition caused by all her medications and addictions. 

It is though a Hollywood drama at its dizzying peak. Unlike more modern filmed musicals where the performances are edited to pieces (Rob Marshall) or upstaged by other action (Baz Lurhmann), Cukor goes in for long takes and full musical sequences. So many scenes that were phenomenal showing Esther's rise through Hollywood:  "The Man That Got Away" when Norman discovers her again after prowling the nightclub circuit in search of freash cuties (but not from Pasadena!), the number Judy stages for Mason ("I am discovered on a rather simple divan");  the Academy Award scene, the dressing room breakdown scene, Norman's shamed appearance in court ....any one of them would have propelled another actress to an Oscar. At least A STAR IS BORN is appreciated more today - when was the last time anyone mentioned THE COUNTRY GIRL or saw it on television?, its a dull boring film enlived by Grace playing dowdy in a cardigan. 

Yes, Judy's weight fluctuated and she does not always look her best (at only 32) but it is still Garland at her peak and she is thrilling. She was robbed of that Oscar. She and Mason deliver timeless, great performances, maybe the best in any musical. Add in Cukor's great widescreen compositions and lots of savage humour, like Jack Carson's vicious PR man, and Charles Bickford marvellous as the studio head. That first "You Gotta Have Me Go With You" number is brilliantly staged too as the drunk Norman invades Esther's act on stage .... It is full of lovely moments, like the studio makeup men trying to decide on Esther's face and Norman then wiping all the gunk off, or Esther getting her new name Vicki Lester - "Go to L" or the "We can see your face" moment ..... it made no sense to cut the scene where she works in the drive-in burger bar and leave in Norman telling her to "think of a man eating a nutburger" ! The "Born in a Trunk" sequence too has some delicious moments .... 

Judy might well have started out with good intentions but she quickly fell back into her old undependable patterns and habits from her MGM days. George Cukor vowed never to work with her again he was so frustrated with her. Jack Warner lost interest in promoting Judy or the film for any Oscars after his disastrous dealings with her husband and the film's producer Sid Luft, and Judy, (he was also furious to discover they had furnished their house with furniture from the set) and the film was quickly cut to fit in more screenings.  
She did, indeed, burn her bridges with Warners, her last chance to prove that, with all her talent, that she could behave responsibly, professionally.  It irreperably damaged her career. Blame it on drugs or being bipolar or whatever. 

It was the same problem with her last film I COULD GO ON SINGING in 1963, when again she is marvellous, and its a great record of Judy then more or less playing herself, but as Dirk Bogarde related in his memoirs, the shoot was a nightmare with everyone quickly getting tired of Judy's dramas, wanting to sack the director, etc. Mel Torme wrote a book on the nightmare her early '60s tv shows had become. The films continue to fascinate though. More on them at Judy/Dirk labels.

French Can-Can

FRENCH CAN-CAN is a delicious pleasure from 1954 .... a visual delight by a major storyteller. This comedy drama from Jean Renoir chronicles the revival of Paris' most notorious dance as it tells the story of a theater producer who turns a humble washerwoman into a star at the Moulin Rouge.

Henri Danglard, proprietor of the fashionable (but bankrupt) cafe 'Le Paravent Chinois' featuring his mistress, belly dancer Lola, goes slumming in Montmarte (circa 1890) where the then-old-fashioned cancan is still danced. There, he conceives the idea of reviving the cancan as the feature of a new, more popular establishment...and meets Nini, a laundress and natural dancer, whom he hopes to star in his new show. But a tangled maze of jealousies intervenes...

Jean Gabin is in his element, Maria Felix is his fiery spitfire, and Francoise Arnoul is the new dancer she is jealous of. Edith Piaf appears too for a few moments, and sings. 1890s Paris is perfectly caught here, one imagines. The Moulin Rouge of course has fascinated movie-makers: John Huston's marvellous MOULIN ROUGE in 1953 as lensed by Oswald Morris; and Baz Luhrmann's 2001 version - theres also the 1960 film from 20th Century Fox: CAN CAN without a shred of period feel as Sinatra and McLaine go through their paces, with some energetic dance numbers. 

Renoir's version is simply wonderful, particularly that long dance sequence at the end, as Gabin dances the steps too backtage. Great movies just remain timeless. We  will have to return to Renoir's THE GOLDEN COACH from 1952 with Magnani, and finally see ELENA ET LES HOMMES with Ingrid Bergman in 1956, and his THE RIVER set in India and of course his earlier 1930s classics ...

Rita goes Zip

I hadn't realised how fabulous Rita Hayworth is in PAL JOEY, which I saw as a kid in 1957 and only saw bits of since, it was not on my radar as a top musical -- of course the stage show was so much better, including that London 1980s production with Sian Phillips mesmerising in Rita's role of the wealthy ex showgirl Mrs Simpson, whom Sinatra's Joey sets his sights on to fund his new nightclub ... until Kim Novak gets in the way ...

It is perhaps Rita's last good role - she is excellent but somehow out of place in SEPARATE TABLES in 1958, and she and the equally ageing Gary Cooper are touching (two of the 1930s beautiful people ravaged by time) in THEY CAME TO CORDURA in 1959. She was Claudia Cardinale's sad mother in the John Wayne circus extravaganza CIRCUS WORLD in 1964, and had a few scenes with her old co-star Glenn Ford in a forgotten thriller (it was a supporting movie here) and her later films are curious cult movies now ... but she symbolised the 1940s for many - as per this BFI 1940s season back in 1970 (as per label 1940s-A). 

Rita of course will always be GILDA ... but she is perfect here too and plays Mrs Simpson with a nice teasing quality - love her shower scene!. The film at least captures One-Take-Frank at his 1950s zenith, while Kim in lavender as the vulnerable showgirl looks edible  1957 was a great year for musicals: FUNNY FACE, LES GIRLS, THE PAJAMA GAME, SILK STOCKINGS etc, PAL JOEY while fun is not quite as good. 
John Kobal wrote a terrific book on Rita: "The Time, The Place and The Woman". 

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).

Into the woods with the foxcatcher ...

Is Stephen Sondheim on a roll or what, after all these decades ? INTO THE WOODS has been in the cinemas and is due on dvd; ASSASSINS recently finished its London run, I enjoyed it a lot at the perfect Menier Chocolate Factory venue with a friend from Ireland; and its off to that terrific new GYPSY next week with Imelda Staunton as Mamma Rose, and there are TWO productions of SWEENEY TODD currently on in London, the hot ticket being the Emma Thompson-Bryn Terfel one. There is a new Concert FOLLIES coming up here too, with Christine Baranski among the cast (I will have to dig out that dvd of the 1985 Concert with Lee Remick, Elaine Stritch, Barbara Cook, Mandy Patinkin etc).  We also saw the dull movie they made of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC in 1977 (as per review - Musicals label). At least when I saw the National Theatre MUSIC over a decade now - the Judi Dench one - the great man was sitting one seat away from us at the preview, scribbling furiously. He is still going strong now, in his mid-80s, attending all these openings. I must play my SIDE BY SIDE BY SIDE (saw that twice in the '70s) double CD again ....

INTO THE WOODS is a modern twist on the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tales in a musical format that follows the classic tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel - all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife, their wish to begin a family and their interaction with the witch who has put a curse on them. 

This is a show I did not know apart from Streisand's versions of some of the songs on her Broadway albums. I did not have too much high hopes for Rob Marshall's film (after his NINE and CHICAGO, the less said the better) from James Lapine's screenplay.
The eclectic cast work hard: another star turn from Streep, and fun to see Christine Baranski, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen as the two princes, Lucy Punch, Tracey Ullmann, Simon Russell Beale, Frances De La Tour, Annette Crosbie, and er, James Corden - at least he can't swamp this production. Johnny Depp seems out of place too as The Wolf .... Lilla Crawford plays Little Red Riding Hood as an obnoxious little brat. but on the whole, its a muddle as it plays fun with the fairy tales, and looks a little too dark. It seems the stage version breaks down "happily ever after" and teaches us a  lesson about loss and how gray the world really is - which most of the negative reviews did not get as it was a Walt Disney. However, I was fairly pleased.

Less so with FOXCATCHER - or RATCATCHER as I slipped into calling it. This weird drama - a true story it seems - from Bennett Miller (CAPOTE) has an intriguing story and top notch performances from an unrecognisable Steve Carrell and Mark Ruffalo, while Channing Tatum excels as well - as in CAPOTE his lead actors excel and transform themselves. Then there's Sienna Miller and Vanessa Redgrave for a few minutes as Carrell's controlling mother, but one keeps wishing it would end. 

FOXCATCHER tells the dark and fascinating story of the unlikely and ultimately tragic relationship between an eccentric multi-millionaire and two champion wrestlers. When Olympic Gold Medal winning wrestler Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) is invited by wealthy heir John du Pont (Steve Carell) to move on to the du Pont estate and help form a team to train for the 1988 Seoul Olympics at his new state-of-the-art training facility, Schultz jumps at the opportunity, hoping to focus on his training and finally step out of the shadow of his revered brother, Dave (Mark Ruffalo). 
Driven by hidden needs, du Pont sees backing Schultz's bid for Gold and the chance to "coach" a world-class wrestling team as an opportunity to gain the elusive respect of his peers and, more importantly, his disapproving mother (Vanessa Redgrave)  - so the scene is set for the final tragedy. It has some cringe-inducing moments, but the actors give it their all. One cannot say too much about the outcome, but if you don't know, it will keep you guessing, the world of wrestling seems heavy with supressed homoeroticism here ....