Stage Door: "Prince of Broadway"

by Nathaniel R

Though I don't cherish the form I've seen quite a few jukebox musicals in my day. Sometimes they take the biographical route like Jersey Boys. Often they'll sift through the lyrics of some artist's catalogue hoping to yank out phrases and threads from which they can stitch together a frankenstein story. Mammia Mia is either the apotheosis or the nadir of that latter form, depending on your perspective. But what if the jukebox isn't beholden to one composer? Prince of Broadway, which just opened at the Samuel Friedman in NYC, is devoted to the producer Harold Prince who did not write music. So what you have is a greatest hits of, uh, dozens of different composers from a wide range of musicals. If this were a CD it might be called "Now That's What I Call Broadway, Vol. Whatever"

Prince backed a TON of über famous shows in his illustrious career including Phantom of the Opera, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret... you name it! None of the musicals sound alike so there's little hope of cohesion in the show. Wisely Prince of Broadway  doesn't try to create a "story" from these disparate musicals in a career that stretches all the way back to 1950 (Prince is 89 years old and directed this production).What they've come up with instead is much less intrusive even if it doesn't totally work...

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Review: "Ingrid Goes West"

By Spencer Coile 

Following the death of her mother, Ingrid Thorburn (Aubrey Plaza) is in a rut. With no one to turn to, she scrolls through Instagram in hopes of finding her ideal friend. She soon finds Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen), a California-based social media influencer -- and Ingrid's latest muse. Captivated by Taylor's seemingly glamorous life, Ingrid packs up her life in Pennsylvania and heads to the sunny West Coast, in hopes of befriending Taylor and catching a glimmer of social media stardom. 

Written and directed by Matt Spicer, Ingrid Goes West is the latest in a long line of films that demonstrate the pervasiveness of technology and the influence social media has on our lives. If you find yoursevles rolling your eyes at that comment, fear not. Ingrid is far more interested in exploring our relationship with the likes of Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, etc., rather than merely demonizing its usage. Oh, and it is hilarious. 

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Beauty vs Beast: Hercules or Hades?

by Nathaniel R

Jason is on vacation so I'm stepping in for this week's episode of Beauty vs. Beast. Post Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast Disney seems to be greenlighting live-action retreads of virtually all of their animated films. How long until casting news on Three Caballeros? I kid I kid... but will second or third tier stuff get this treatment... like, say, 1997's Hercules? Make your case as to who should reign victorious in the comments

Last week's battle pitted The Truman Show's Truman (Jim Carrey) against his fake sugary screen wife Meryl (Laura Linney).

For once, a man emerged victorious in a gender split battle. Endearing baffled Truman took 64% of your votes, though y'all felt disloyal for turning on The Lovely Laura Linney!

I think Tom spoke for most of you when he said...

This may be the only time I don't vote for Laura Linney"

Review: Must-see Sundance hit "Beach Rats"

This review was originally published in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad. It is reprinted here with their permission.

‘I can’t see you,’ potential hook-ups keep telling him as he cruises them online from his dark room. Could he turn on a light? Frankie, this Brooklyn teenager in the dark, begrudingly obliges still trying to shield himself with a baseball cap. He takes endless torso and body-part selfies. They’re revealing but only of his flesh, depersonalized thirst traps for the older men he cruises. Some people don’t want to seen.

Or aren’t ready to be...

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The Furniture: Reframing the Legend of King Arthur

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail.

King Arthur, the character, is listed by IMDb as appearing in 149 films and TV shows. That’s more than Dracula. I’m not going to go through all of them, obviously. But circumstance has given me a good excuse to compare two examples: Knights of the Round Table (1953) and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017). The latter just came out on Blu-ray. The former will serve as a bit of a tribute to Mel Ferrer, whose centennial was this past Friday.

The most obvious difference is between Ferrer’s version of Arthur, noble and even a bit meek, and the ever-hulking Charlie Hunnam. But this isn’t a physique column. Instead, I want to take a brief look at how Hollywood’s presentation of the loosely defined Arthurian Age has changed...

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