& Juliet
We took in the second show in the Broadway Pittsburgh Series last night, & Juliet. The show is a reimagining of Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet" with the idea that Juliet does not die at the end. What comes next for her? The story is told by Shakespeare himself and his wife Anne Hathaway. He thinks the play is perfect as he has written it. She thinks that better story can be told with Juliet surviving. The whole thing is presented in Jukebox Musical fashion using contemporary songs from artists like Katie Perry, Brittney Spears, Pink, The Backstreet Boys, and others.
The show is colorful, loud, and funny, and Linda and I loved it. The actors playing Shakespeare and Anne have terrific dialog in their interactions and thoughts on this "new" play, and they keep the story moving along . One of her great lines in the show to him is "Oh, will you just quit quoting yourself." And there is a line at the end of their final number had me laughing out loud. I won't write it down here. You'll need to see the show yourself.
When I get home from seeing these shows I always go through the Playbill and read about the actors we have just seen, and I am always amazed at the talent and the credentials of these performers. Foremost in this case was Rachel Simone Webb, pictured above, who played Juliet. She could belt out a song like you wouldn't believe (Katie Perry's "Roar", for example) and is an absolutely terrific dancer. Teal Wicks, the actress who played Anne, made her Broadway debut playing Elphaba in Wicked, and was an original cast member on B'way of The Cher Show and Finding Neverland. Cory Mach, who played Shakespeare, appeared earlier this year in Merrily We Roll Along, a show that won a little thing we like to call a Tony Award.
Four Stars from The Grandstander.
Conclave
"Conclave" is the first movie that we have seen thus far that can be classified as an "Oscar bait" movie. The movie takes place in the present time, and it opens with the death of the Pope in Rome. We then follow the conclave that takes place thereafter where the College of Cardinals convenes to elect a new Pope. Those of us educated in Catholic schools know that when a conclave takes place, it is the Holy Spirit that descends upon the voting Cardinals and guides them as they make this momentous choice. While the movie acknowledges this precept, it also shows us the these same Cardinals are human beings with human ambitions and foibles, and that the Catholic Church is every bit a political body as it is a spiritual one.
The story can be described as a political thriller, and the acting is tremendous, led by Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini. I expect that this movie will get a slew of Oscar nominations including Picture, Director (Edward Berger), and acting noms for Fiennes for sure, and probably Tucci and Rossellini as well.
Interestingly, when I went on the Google machine getting a picture for this post, I saw a couple of articles with words to the effect of "Catholics, you should not see this movie!" Which is probably an excellent reason why you actually SHOULD see this movie.
Three and One-Half Stars from The Grandstander.
The Hitchcock Hotel
Alfred Smettle is strange sort of fellow, a devotee of filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock who runs a Hitchcock-themed hotel/B&B in the small college town in Vermont where Alfred went to college. On the one year anniversary of the opening of his hotel, he invites his five friends from his college Film Club for the weekend at his Hotel, all expenses paid. The six pals have not been together since they left college sixteen years before.
We learn early on that Alfred is a bit of a weirdo, that something bad happened among the six pals during their senior year, and we are left to wonder (a) what was that "something bad", and (b) if it was so bad, just why in the hell do all five of these people show up for Alfred's little get together?
As you might expect, someone dies in this one. Was it an accident, or a murder?
What follows is an Agatha Christie-like "and then there were none" type of story. Who had motive to do such a thing? What are each of these people hiding from each other? And what's with Danny, that weird old lady head housekeeper who is always hanging around?
As a whodunit, the premise here is pretty good, but the author Stephanie Wrobel's exposition of the motivations is revealed way....too....slowly. The allusions to Hitchcock and his movies that are laced throughout the book are fun, though, and it makes for an interesting plot device. Example: on the grounds of the Hitchcock Hotel is an aviary that houses fifty crows. Subtle, huh?
Two Stars from The Grandstander.
