I saw a couple of new plays and movies recently, which I would highly recommend.
I saw Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” on Friday. The American accents sported by the Aussie actors grated at first till I got used to them. The performances and singing were excellent. What struck me was how I knew most of the songs, but am hearing them for the first time in the context that they were written. It was quite a revelation. “Ladies Who Lunch” and “Being Alive” finally made sense. I must admit that “Being Alive”, sung by the 35 year old single character as he contemplates committing to a relationship, hit a major chord with me.
Saw “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” a few weeks back. This musical was inspired by the movie “Spellbound”, which featured kids preparing and competing in the spelling bee. The show was light and very funny. The songs were not particularly memorable, but they were effective. The actors did a very good job of playing kids. This can be annoying and irritating if done badly, but luckily for the audience, the actors were excellent. A nice fun show to make you forget the worries of the day.
On a rainy Sunday afternoon, Peter and I went to see the French movie “La Vie En Rose”. This is a biopic of Edith Piaf. Reviews of the film criticized it for not telling the story in chronological order. One review described it as a “jigsaw puzzle”. I thought this was going to bother me, but I was pleasantly surprised. Actually, it worked really well, because the film avoided the predictability of most movie biopics. The movie was gripping, dramatic and engrossing. I enjoyed it, and was very impressed with Marion Cotillard, who portrayed Piaf. The movie is worth seeing just for her gut-wrenching performance.
I also caught “Stranger Than Fiction” on DVD. It was about this guy, who discovered he was a character in a book and was about to be killed off by its author. It was implausible, but it somehow worked. I found myself totally charmed by the performance of Will Ferrell in the lead. I was in tears several times as I watched the character try to save himself from extinction in this bittersweet story. I think, once again, I identified with this very solitary character.
I saw Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” on Friday. The American accents sported by the Aussie actors grated at first till I got used to them. The performances and singing were excellent. What struck me was how I knew most of the songs, but am hearing them for the first time in the context that they were written. It was quite a revelation. “Ladies Who Lunch” and “Being Alive” finally made sense. I must admit that “Being Alive”, sung by the 35 year old single character as he contemplates committing to a relationship, hit a major chord with me.
Saw “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” a few weeks back. This musical was inspired by the movie “Spellbound”, which featured kids preparing and competing in the spelling bee. The show was light and very funny. The songs were not particularly memorable, but they were effective. The actors did a very good job of playing kids. This can be annoying and irritating if done badly, but luckily for the audience, the actors were excellent. A nice fun show to make you forget the worries of the day.
On a rainy Sunday afternoon, Peter and I went to see the French movie “La Vie En Rose”. This is a biopic of Edith Piaf. Reviews of the film criticized it for not telling the story in chronological order. One review described it as a “jigsaw puzzle”. I thought this was going to bother me, but I was pleasantly surprised. Actually, it worked really well, because the film avoided the predictability of most movie biopics. The movie was gripping, dramatic and engrossing. I enjoyed it, and was very impressed with Marion Cotillard, who portrayed Piaf. The movie is worth seeing just for her gut-wrenching performance.
I also caught “Stranger Than Fiction” on DVD. It was about this guy, who discovered he was a character in a book and was about to be killed off by its author. It was implausible, but it somehow worked. I found myself totally charmed by the performance of Will Ferrell in the lead. I was in tears several times as I watched the character try to save himself from extinction in this bittersweet story. I think, once again, I identified with this very solitary character.