Wicked

From Richard Howells

Has anybody else been to see “Wicked”? I ventured forth last night…

The original production was a smash on Broadway; this London version opened recently at the Apollo Victoria Theatre with the original Tony-winning star, Idina Menzel, in the leading role.

“Wicked” is a musical “prequel” that tells the story of the witches from the Wizard of Oz before Dorothy (and her little dog, too) came along. Essentially, it tries to explain why Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West was so –well- wicked.

You’ll be surprised to learn that Wicked Witch of the West was in fact a misunderstood “other”, who was unpopular at school because she was green. She then went on to become an outcast animal rights activist who was the victim of a media smear campaign in an increasingly Fascistic Munchkinland…

I’m still mulling over the socio-political implications of all this –to say nothing of the character’s cult appeal among adolescent girls on both sides of the Atlantic. But I was unhesitatingly impressed by Idina Menzel’s performance in the leading role. She has an incredible voice and a truly professional command of the stage. It was great to see a Tony-winning musical star at the very top of her game. Last night the audience whooped and hollered at the end of every number: Menzel got a standing ovation. She’s only playing here until the end of December, so if you want to see her get on with it. And it you want her autograph, there are crush barriers erected nightly outside the stage door. Apparently some people almost believe she is her character: it really is a cult phenomenon.

Meanwhile, I’m asking my students to ponder the ideology of even the (seemingly) silliest products of contemporary popular culture….

The Prestige

From Richard Howells

People who have been to my Visual Culture lectures won’t be surprised that I’ve been to see “The Prestige” (dir. Christopher Nolan, USA/UK 2006). Starring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Michael Caine, it’s about reality and illusion, set in the world of professional magicians in turn of the century London. I particularly enjoyed the characters’ musings about the way in which an audience wants to be deceived; to know that what they see is an illusion and yet still be enthralled by it.

The “prestige”, in case you were wondering, is a professional term for the final “act” of a magic trick –the part in which (for example) the vanishing lady re-appears.

What I can’t do here is discuss my central concern about the (complex) plot without spoiling the twist –so I won’t! So, if anyone wants to talk with me about this, let’s do it off-blog. In the meantime, I do recommend the film (which is on a general but fairly limited release), subject to this one major reservation.

Oh –and look out for a very good cameo appearance from David Bowie.

Recommendation – Odysseus unwound

Odysseus unwound

It is a great opportunity to discover opera in a enjoyable production, with very fun ideas that makes it close to musicals. The orchestra is really good, the score sometimes sounds like having some Tex Avery’s effects, although the music in itself remains contemporary and you may be prepared to a long end. As it is 10 pounds for entrance, I would not urge you to go, cause it is not that cheap, but it is still a good and challenging show!

The exhibition has been introduced to me as “The Approach“, by John Stezaker. I have not seen it yet, but it is said to be excellent!
Paul Y Vialard

Review/Recommendation for “Caroline, or Change” at the National T.

A Nice Change – “Caroline, or change” at The National Theatre (Lyttelton)

If you want to see a musical that is slightly different from the commercial razzmatazz of the standard West End blockbusters, take a trip over Waterloo bridge and head to the National and see “Caroline, or change”. It is refreshingly different musical which I found very enjoyable.

This a review of it (that I wrote of it for another purpose) which I hope gives you a feel for the piece:

“Such a simple story and yet all that surrounded it, its thorny context (especially following Hurricane Katrina), acting and staging makes this new musical worthy of all the accolades that come its way.
The fact that the hidden weight behind the story was communicated so clearly through a simple everyday dilemma is testament to the show’s direction. The complex realities of the strong supporting cast’s personal stories could have appeared a mess of unrelated asides, but thanks to George C Wolfe’s careful direction they were clearly communicated in support of the central storyline. The audience followed step by step on the undulating morale journey that Caroline takes thanks to the understated, yet exceptional, Tonya Pinkins. The design complimented the situational complexities of this dynamic story well, although was over-intricate at times. Musically a refreshingly vibrant and imaginative score faultlessly performed, affirms the importance and unquestionable quality of this production.”

If anyone goes, I would be interested to know what you thought. If you go and don’t enjoy it, then you didn’t get the recommendation from me!

Sam

P.S. For cheap tickets buy your tickets on the day of the performance, then you can get a stand-by ticket which gets you some money off the ticket (I paid £18 pounds). It may be worth phoning the box office before to find out when their less busy days are and hence these are the days when you are most likely to get a stand-by ticket so that you don’t turn up before the show to be told they are sold out! (Stand-by tickets usually go on sale 2 hours before the show).

Film Festivals…

Greetings everyone:

I’m still getting flashbacks of all the great films I saw last week at the 50th annual London Film Festival, one of the premiere cultural events here in town. Thought I’d briefly run down some highlights, especially since some of these films were recently restored by the British Film Institute and the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and will be released on DVD in the coming months.

“Distant Voices, Still Lives” (1988) was a bittersweet and moving examination of Scottish working-class life in the 1950s, and is now seen as a British classic. I also got to meet and chat for a few minutes with the film’s writer/director Terence Davies. Speaking of British classics, every frame of David Lean’s “Great Expectations” (1946) was sumptuous and beautifully executed – it’s probably the best of all the filmed adaptations of novels by Charles Dickens (or, as I prefer to call him, “Chuck D”). Another favorite, and a film that I could see using in my Film and American Culture course, was “A Walk In The Sun” (1946). It’s probably the best American World War II film I’ve seen produced at the time of the war, showing the camaraderie, boredom and sudden violence facing American troops in the Italian theater. The characters are vivid, and really stick to you after you leave the theatre. Also screened a couple superlative new music documentaries: “Scott Walker 30 Century Man” (I won’t comment on this since Ralph has already done an insightful job of doing so) and “Love Story,” the story of Love, the influential but short-lived Los Angeles band of the 1960s. They’re worth checking out: I would suggest their best album “Forever Changes” (1968) or the 22-track compilation “The Best of Love,” both on Rhino. At this last screening, I also got to chat with the film’s directors and Johnny Echols, one of Love’s original members. These film fests are a great place to meet people in the industry who are not accessible otherwise.

There are a couple of great free film series here at Kings as well, both curated by Mark Betz, a senior lecturer in Film Studies. One is “British Film Since 1950,” and it runs on Monday nights. This coming week, the 1963 Oscar winner for Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay, “Tom Jones,” is showing. The other series is a general film survey on Tuesday nights that aligns with a course Mark is teaching. In two weeks, “Bad Education” (2004) will screen, a recent film from Pedro Almodovar, for my money the best writer/director working in the world today. This coming week, they feature “The Big Sleep” (1946), a Bogie and Bacall classic directed by John Huston (who’s currently the subject of a retrospective at the National Film Theatre across the river from us). “The Big Sleep” is one of my favourites of all time, probably in my top 10, and even though I’ve watched it 4 or 5 times, I will probably attend anyway – it’s so hard to resist seeing it on real celluloid in the best movie theatre on campus. Here’s the URL for the two KCL film series:

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/filmstudies/scree.html

–Harvey Cohen

Borat!

Posted by Richard Howells

Quite a number of people have been asking me about the new Borat movie on the strength of the article I published on Ali G over the summer. I gather it also came up in discussion in Ruth Adams’ class today.

Although my article is essentially about Baron-Cohen’s previous comic incarnation, many of the issues (together with the background biographical information) are essentially the same: who is laughing at whom, why, and with what effect?

The full citation for this article is:

“‘Is it Because I is Black?’ Race, Humour and the Polysemiology of Ali G” in the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television Volume 26, Number 2, June 2006, pp. 155- 177. ISSN 0143-9685.

It’s also available through the Internet as a downloadable PDF file. Follow the links from:

http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com/(ft24r0f0kov5ej45hcz0xen5)/app/home/linking.asp?referrer=linking&target=contribution&id=X0U7181181M843U3&backto=contribution,1,1;issue,1,11;journal,3,36;linkingpublicationresults,1:102216,1

I know that’s a very long link, but it works from my office PC at least.

“Jagshemash!”

Richard Howells

Book review – Edward St Aubyn ‘Mother’s Milk’

(Posted by Kate Rosser)

Fantastically written, easy to read and was a strong player for the
Booker Prize, though sadly, it missed out.

A subtly witty story about a man’s mid-life crisis.

Definitely give it a go, if you have some free time.

Scott Walker

(Posted by Ralph)

I saw the new documentary about Scott Walker at the NFT yesterday (part of the London Film Festival). Highly recommend that you try and catch this when it comes out on general release in maybe Jan/Feb. For those who don’t know, Scott is one of the greatest and most distinctive recording artists of all time. He became famous in the 1960s as part of a band called the Walker Brothers (who weren’t brothers, and none of them were called Walker). They inspired almost as much screaming adulation as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. But then the band split and Scott proceeded to release a series of hugely admired and influential solo albums – lush, moody, melodramatic arrangements of Jacques Brel songs and other pieces that mixed the French chanson tradition with Broadway and his own unique sensibility of tortured sophistication. Scott always felt uncomfortable in the limelight and now only very rarely releases records. He hasn’t performed live for decades, and hates giving interviews. So this film is an amazing achievement. It features some great archive footage and interviews with people like David Bowie (who is the film’s ‘executive producer’), Jarvis Cocker (who was produced by Scott), and various people who worked with Scott in the 60s and 70s. Pity I had to leave the cinema for a meeting half-way through the film….