Paying A Film VisitWant to know what one of my greatest entertain-ment pleasures is aside from seeing live theatre?
It's seeing some of the stage's greatest talents on the silver screen. Every now and then, a film comes along that surprises with the number of decidedly un-Hollywood actors in them.
In 2007, for example, it was the
Steve Carell comedy/drama "
Dan In Real Life" that surprised with an exciting cross-section of today's top talents known primarily for their work treading the boards, including
Norbert Leo Butz,
Alison Pill and
Matthew Morrison, alongside several actors who have successfully straddled the seemingly widening gulf between stage and screen:
John Mahoney,
Dianne Wiest,
Amy Ryan and
Juliette Binoche. Not incidentally, the Rhode Island-based flick also features such names from live theatre as
Frank Wood and
Jessica Hecht.
Yesterday, in an effort to catch up on some of the most talked about flicks from 2008, I finally saw the tender little New York City-based gem called "
The Visitor," for which
Richard Jenkins has earned an Academy Award nomination. What an absolute delight to see cameos from the likes of
Marian Seldes as a bluntly honest piano teacher,
Michael Cumpsty as Jenkins' university colleague and
Richard Kind as an exuberant next door neighbor.
The moving film itself is an examination of an unexpected friendship that develops between a less-than-hardworking college professor and Muslim émigrés over a shared loved of music. Broadway itself also makes a surprising cameo as one of the characters expresses a desire to see
The Phantom Of The Opera -- placing that 21 year old tuner in the most touching light I've seen it in years.
I've often lamented the fact that more American films don't feature more of the great stars of the Great White Way. But thankfully, every now and again, the stage actors and actresses we've come to love have their chance to shine for the whole world to see. "The Visitor" certainly provides one of those rare opportunities.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Alison Pill, Broadway, Dan In Real Life, Film, Hollywood, Marian Seldes, Matthew Morrison, Michael Cumpsty, Norbert Leo Butz, Richard Kind, The Phantom Of The Opera, The Visitor
Did Critics Think There Is Nothing Like South Pacific?Looks like critics collectively had some enchanted evenings (and matinees -- just like
I did) as they're rhapsodic in their praise this morning for the very first and long overdue Broadway revival of
Richard Rodgers and
Oscar Hammerstein II's
South Pacific, which opened last night at
Lincoln Center's
Vivian Beaumont Theatre. Directed by
Bartlett Sher, the first-ever revival stars
Kelli O'Hara,
Paulo Szot,
Matthew Morrison,
Loretta Ables Sayre,
Danny Burstein and
Li Jun Li.
Praising Sher and
Christopher Gattelli for having "reinvigorated the concept of the organic musical, in which song feels as natural as breathing,"
The New York Times'
Ben Brantley, who saw the very same performance as I, is effusive: "There’s not an ounce of we-know-better-now irony in Mr. Sher’s staging. Yet the show feels too vital to be a museum piece, too sensually fluid to be square.... It’s as if a vintage photograph had been restored not with fuzzy, hand-colored prettiness but with you-are-there clarity.... [I]n a superbly shaded portrait (O'Hara) gives the character a troubled, apprehensive guardedness as well.... When (Szot) delivers 'Some Enchanted Evening' or 'This Nearly Was Mine,' it’s not as a swoon-making blockbuster (though of course it is), but as a measured and honest consideration of love."
Proclaiming this a "gorgeous revival,"
Elysa Gardner of
USA Today offers four stars: "[D]irector Bartlett Sher and a gifted, great-looking cast fully engage both the challenges faced by these and other characters and the romantic sweep of Rodgers and Hammerstein's ravishing score. Led by Brazilian baritone Paulo Szot and the increasingly wondrous Kelli O'Hara.... When she kicks up her heels and does cartwheels while performing 'A Wonderful Guy,' O'Hara summons the spiritual buoyancy that makes a certain kind of American musical uniquely transporting. Such spine-tingling moments ensure that this
South Pacific doesn't just float; it soars."
"Simply wonderful!" raves
New York Post's
Clive Barnes in his rare four-star review: "Where Sher and Yeargan have been especially effective is in their sense of period, and, more important, a period filtered through the perspective of history. (Interestingly, although the races are carefully kept apart, the show updates the integration of the US Navy by a couple of decades.) This
South Pacific is not a faded photograph, but a modern etching. Except in one delicious respect: O'Hara, who gives a totally different reading from the role's great originator,
Mary Martin, offers an uncannily precise re-creation of her 'Honey Bun.' Charming! Otherwise, O'Hara delivers Nellie on her own terms and in her own deliquescent persona. If you've never seen a 'deliquescent persona' before, that's just another good reason to rush to the Beaumont."
Trumpeting this as "ravishing theatre,"
Variety's
David Rooney heaps on the praise: "The keynote to Sher's approach is restraint. Nothing is pushed too hard in this naturalistic presentation, stripped of Broadway bravado, whether it's dramatic scenes, comedy or even the seemingly effortless vocals.... All that quiet restraint serves to make the stealth-like, cumulative emotional power more overwhelming..... Possibly the most accomplished young actress in American musical theater today, Kelli O'Hara's creamy vocals are perfection.... The strength of character, quiet masculinity, kindness and mellow intensity Szot brings to the role are all channeled in his velvety voice. His 'Some Enchanted Evening' is more measured than the usual impassioned declaration but all the more stirring for it, and his escalating regret in 'This Nearly Was Mine' delivers chills."
Practically wishing "It should easily play for at least 1,925 performances," Bloomberg's
John Simon also offers huzzahs: "Pretty Kelli O'Hara is deliciously girlish, with prance in her movements and glints in her glances.... The Brazilian baritone Paulo Szot is surely the best Emile ever.... Sher restored material cut from the original script that deals compellingly with racism. He has excelled at getting mute, peripheral characters to scurry about or linger atmospherically to perfection (note two distant, sunbathing nurses), and in making first-rate use of an airplane and all sorts of military equipment.... Most important, Sher has retained the cinematic flow, naturalism and suggestive use of
Trude Rittman's brilliant underscoring."
Concluding that Sher's "spring '08 creation is top of the line,"
Joe Dziemianowicz of New York's
Daily News has also fallen for the revival: "What makes this impeccably acted and designed production so extraordinary is Bartlett Sher's meticulous and dramatic direction.... The show is filled with fantastic and familiar songs that are presented here like musical conversation, making them sound fresh and exciting. Characters are played with such intimacy you practically hear hearts flutter as people fall in love.... O'Hara is just plain wonderful.... (Szot's) version of 'This Nearly Was Mine' thrills."
Lauding it as "the finest Rodgers and Hammerstein revival since
Nicholas Hytner's epochal
Carousel of 1994,"
The New York Sun's
Eric Grode is unequivocal: "Director Bartlett Sher has risen to the challenge, crafting a crisp, sumptuous, unabashedly emotional revival that finds an almost perfect balance between severity and opulence.... Mr. Sher is seemingly incapable of creating a stage picture that is imprecise or unattractive.... And just as his abundantly charismatic stars, Paulo Szot and the wonderful Kelli O'Hara, each show an acute sensitivity to dynamics as the conflicted lovers Emile de Becque and Nellie Forbush, Mr. Sher finds room for emotions of all shapes and sizes, folding everything from chaotic burlesque to piercing naturalism within
Michael Yeargan's inviting sets...."
Suddenly, there's a real race in the Tony category of Best Revival of a Musical. Will the overflowing praise for
South Pacific result in a well-earned extension for its limited run? We'd better hope so since it's currently scheduled to close on the very June afternoon that the Tonys will be awarded.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:South Pacific (The SOB Review) (April 4, 2008)
South Pacific: Some Enchanted Opening Night (April 3, 2008)
Is Johansson's South Pacific Journey Just Happy Talk? (March 14, 2007)
Will Broadway's First-Ever South Pacific Revival Provide Some Enchanted Evenings? (December 19, 2006)
Labels: Bartlett Sher, Broadway, Critics' Capsule, Kelli O'Hara, Matthew Morrison, Musical, Oscar Hammerstein II, Paulo Szot, Revival, Richard Rodgers, South Pacific
South Pacific: Some Enchanted Opening NightAlmost exactly 59 years to the day after
Richard Rodgers and
Oscar Hammerstein II's landmark
South Pacific first opened at Broadway's
Majestic Theatre -- and a little more than 54 years after that same production
closed at the
Broadway Theatre -- the classic World War II musical based on
James Michener's "Tales Of The South Pacific" is finally set to open again on a Great White Way stage.
Directed by
Bartlett Sher, the first-ever revival of
South Pacific stars Broadway's current leading lady
Kelli O'Hara as Ensign Nellie Forbush and opera's
Paulo Szot as Emile De Beque. Other castmembers include
Matthew Morrison as Lt. Joseph Cable,
Loretta Ables Sayre as Bloody Mary,
Danny Burstein as Luther Billis and
Li Jun Li as Liat.
Back when
South Pacific first appeared a scant four years after World War II was won, it was revolutionary in its dignified depiction of mixed race couples, as well as in its revulsion over bigotry. The musical would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize and ten Tony Awards, including for Best Musical, Best Actress in a Musical (
Mary Martin) and Best Actor in a Musical (
Ezio Pinza).
Will critics want to wash this show right off of Broadway or will they provide some happy talk? Find out tomorrow as I provide my critics' capsule, along with my own SOB Review. Given that
The New York Times' Ben Brantley attended the same performance I saw, I'll be very interested to compare notes.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for tickets.Related Stories:Is Johansson's South Pacific Journey Just Happy Talk? (March 14, 2007)
Will Broadway's First-Ever South Pacific Revival Provide Some Enchanted Evenings? (December 19, 2006)
Labels: Bartlett Sher, Broadway, Danny Burstein, Kelli O'Hara, Matthew Morrison, Musical, Opening Night, Oscar Hammerstein II, Paulo Szot, Revival, Richard Rodgers, South Pacific
Paying A Film Visit
