Beef (2023)

I admittedly came very late to Beef. Everyone has seen it already but I've at least gotten to it before the strike-delayed Emmys. And it's a super quick watch, a ten-episode miniseries at about 30 minutes each. It's an easily digestible format you could get through in a day. It's a compact beginning-middle-end. 

Beef is both dark comedy and thrilling drama. It strikes a balance. Surprisingly, Ali Wong, who I really only know as a stand up comic nails the dramatic side of the role too. Steven Yeun (who sings adequately and plays guitar at a Korean church) plays her rival in a road rage revenge that spirals out of control. The escalations are so extreme and petty you can't help but laugh or gasp in shocked silence. They are two troubled souls entwined. In another life, or maybe simply by talking to each other, they could be kindred spirits. But they enrage each other so much, they end up sabotaging themselves every time they come close to achieving success or happiness. Broken people hurt people and need people.

The supporting cast is fantastic too. While the show features a plethora of Asian American characters, the show isn't really about being Asian. It even features culturally specific notes while not focusing on them as plot point, with the one exception of the Korean church. OK maybe also about Asians being bad at driving. But it's kind of refreshing to see Asians being temperamental, not just passive. Western therapy doesn't work on Eastern minds lol

Here We Are (The Shed) (2023)

Here We Are is Stephen Sondheim's final unfinished work. It is a long gestating adaptation of Luis Bunuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (they can't eat) and The Exterminating Angel (they can't leave), a combination of two brilliant surrealist fantasies.  I think Sondheim knew he wasn't going to finish it. You can see it in Act II. There are scenes that clearly left room for a song. There's a little bit of under-scoring. But Act II is virtually a straight play. And supposedly the cop out is that the nature of The Exterminating Angel doesn't call for music because they're trapped in a room, but I don't really buy that excuse. He just didn't finish it and they left it that way. Act II though has a phenomenal set. And I actually quite like the simpler set in Act I too with the banquette/signs that descend from the ceiling to form makeshift restaurants, along with the cool virtual grass on the sides of the stage.

I don't remember such an explicit eat-the-rich bent to the movie, but it works here and I think makes it relevant and modern. The music in Act I is extremely Sondheim. The wordplay, rhythm, and music are all reminiscent of his classics. I think my favorite was the patter song sung by a fantastic Denis O'Hare at the first restaurant. I didn't know his name but I recognized him from The Good Wife/Fight, though not until I saw him up close. Before the play actually starts, O'Hare and Tracie Bennette in their maid and butler outfits tidy the immaculate stage walls and mirrors. The other standout for me was David Hyde Pierce who essentially plays Niles form Frasier and has just the type of one-liners. It's a star-studded cast of theater vets paying homage to the legend. 

Aside, in a rather quiet moment of Act II there was a loud disruptive noise coming from what I can only guess was the HVAC system. I thought maybe it was part of the show at first, as the actors briefly paused but the show went cause they're professionals. Though the sound went on for quite a while.
 

Poor Yella Rednecks (2023) (Manhattan Theatre Club)

Qui Nguyen's play Poor Yella Rednecks is something of a sequel to his 2016 play Vietgone. It's independent enough that you don't have to have seen the earlier play but there is one direct reference in the dialogue, and many of the actors actually reprise their earlier roles in this play. Nguyen writes himself into this play about his mother's struggles and raising him in rural Arkansas after fleeing Vietnam as refugees. Though specific to the Vietnamese American experience, the themes will resonate with any immigrant audience. It's not exactly haha funny but there is some clever writing. Nguyen plays with the stage play as a form, writing his mother speaking Vietnamese in perfect English while writing the white characters speaking nonsense, the way his mother hears them. It's a clever inversion that works on stage where there are no subtitles. The play is actually delivered with several "songs" that are really more like slam poetry. The beats are somewhat generic, and the lyrics are kind of cheesy and don't all really rhyme, but the awkwardness is sort of endearing. I thought that it was maybe a one-off experiment, but apparently Nguyen played with this style before. It's only the closing song that has melody, the rest is pure spoken word rap, which you don't typically associate with Vietnamese refugees. The lead Maureen Sebastian is fantastic as the mother. She plays a romantic lead and a poor single mother at once and nails both tones. I also loved the set featuring the letters YELLA, the Americana signs framing the stage, and comic book style. There are two cool stage combat kung fu scenes. And the playwright as a child is played by a puppet who emotes and fights pretty realistically. I quite enjoyed the play, and would like to see Vietgone. More different Asian American stories and innovative storytelling on stage please.

Here Lies Love (Broadway) (2023)

After seeing the immersive staging of Guys and Dolls on the West End, I was very excited to see the transformation of the Broadway Theatre for Here Lies Love. I unfortunately came down with Covid for the second time just the August weekend I had bought tickets for. Morgan went in my place and saw Lea Salonga. Luckily I was able to see it still before the show closes at the end of the month. 

The marketing for this show has seemingly not reached the general public. Any time I tell someone I'm going to see Here Lies Love, they ask what's that and then give a dumbfounded stare when I say "the David Byrne immersive disco musical about Imelda Marcos". Yes, this show's very existence is kind of bizarre. The premise is that reportedly Imelda was known to have partied it up at Studio 54, and so they recreate the atmosphere of a discotheque. The music is by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, and I'll say it is recognizably in the weird/cool/kind-of-catchy style of The Talking Heads (American Troglodyte especially). None of the music, save for the title song, is especially memorable/hummable but it works. The immersion is cool, but I think not quite as well executed as Guys and Dolls. The stage doesn't rise and fall, rather it rotates and so the audience moves around clockwise with it. And it's quite crowded like a nightclub such that you can't move around as much. And there is actually a proper front where the stage would normally be since the balcony still has seats. It's not actually in the round. I did like the use of live footage though. The all-Filipino cast is beautiful--a wonderful Broadway first. The dance parts were fun too, maybe less so in a seat but I had a grand ole time. 

There is a valid question to ask about whether the show glorifies Imelda. I think it starts in a way that kind of does. The crowd cheers at the election of Ferdinand Marcos and decries Ninoy Acquino's dismissal of Imelda as being too tall (Also, I need a fact check on that because it's unbelievable that Imelda was courted by both Acquino and Marcos). But the show certainly ends on the right side of history. Ninoy Acquino dies a martyr and calls out the rampant corruption and horrors of martial law. And the show ends with two poignant songs: an elegy sung for Ninoy by his mother and an acoustic sung by the DJ to lyrics set to real accounts from the People Power Revolution. I think it's also interesting to note that the concept album dates back to 2010, predating the ascensions of Bong Bong Marcos and Rodrigo Duterte and Donald Trump. The show takes on a different urgency in 2023. It urges us to learn from history because we keep on forgetting.

How To with John Wilson (2020-3)

How To with John Wilson defies categorization. I struggle to explain to people what exactly the show is, let alone what makes it so great. But this show was consistently one of the most interesting on TV. So let me try here. Each episode is a video essay in the form of a how-to. It begins with one topic, but it inevitable meanders into something wholly unexpected. It is narrated by John Wilson, an anxious New Yorker who really seems to understand New York. His camera captures all sorts of random found footage. It makes you wonder whether the words are made to match the images or the vice versa. The matching is hilarious. The images are often independently funny but put to words they take on a whole different meaning that makes you chuckle. And somehow the essays always turn out to be poignant, even profound. He interviews the strangest people who let him into their homes. They'll say something wild nonchalantly and he'll say "wait, what?" and then they can expound upon some crazy tangent that becomes the new focus of the essay. He loves to attend niche conventions and travel to remote corners of the country. With that HBO money, he lets the wind take him where it will and he just runs with it. And in the end, in the final episode, he came to a similar conclusion as Executive Producer Nathan Fielder did in The Rehearsal Season 1...a childless middle-aged man contemplating fatherhood. 

Barry (2018-23)

Barry ushered in the era of the black comedy.  How do you pitch a comedy about a marine-with-PTSD-turned-hitman-turned-aspiring-actor? The premise is ridiculous but it works. Bill Hader is a tour de force. He is a good actor, playing a character who is a bad actor, improving as an actor. Yes, the Bill Hader from SNL known for Stefon. He does some serious acting. And as showrunner, he created a poignant existentialist story. And as a burgeoning director, he directed some of the series's best episodes. There are some masterful shots Hader directs himself. He's not just a sketch comedian. Henry Winkler is fabulous as the acting teacher Gene Cousineau. And my personal favorite is Anthony Carrigan who plays the gay Chechen mobster Noho Hank. His viciousness and sarcasm is matched with a heart of gold.

Ted Lasso (2020-23)

Between CODA and Ted Lasso, Apple TV+ took over Hollywood. Ted Lasso became a reason to get Apple, at a time of death and destruction in COVID, people actively sought out the positive feel-good show about being kind and belonging amidst a sport Americans couldn't care less about. That's actually its other success--Ted Lasso has made soccer fans out of Americans who knew as little as Coach Lasso when he first arrived at Richmond. I suppose the other reason people flocked to Ted Lasso is because people were really invested at the time in Jason Sudeikis's divorce from Olivia Wilde. Ted Lasso has also made stars of its cast that was virtually unknown in the US, Hannah Waddingham and Bret Goldstein now in high demand. Amazingly, Goldstein was originally hired as a writer on the show and lucked his way into the role. 

Season 1 is really strong and funny. Season 2 takes the show in an entirely different direction. It does a decent job at pivoting from the relentless optimism to the depression hidden underneath the facade. It's a bit of a downer but it's an important message to normalize therapy and show an admirable non-toxic masculine figure. It is quite bold though to go against precisely what made the show so popular in Season 1. Season 3 I thought was just OK.  My biggest problem with the series is its treatment of Nate, played by Nick Mohammed. He is the only Asian character, and is portrayed stereotypically timid. He is the hidden genius who can't ask out the hostess at his favorite restaurant. But what you see in those restaurant scenes has nothing to do with sweet Nate's characterization because you're so distracted by the hostess's blatant racism. She refuses to seat Nate and his family at the table in the window. It has nothing to do with him being timid and everything to do with blatant prejudice. And yet he still wants her! Despite the disdain with which she treats him. And eventually he gets her. He also has this story arc where he becomes evil. Or maybe was always evil deep down. Either way, I didn't like making the only Asian character evil.The show otherwise does well to recognize homophobia and racism towards Black characters.

Romeo and Juliet (American Ballet Theater)

As far as story ballets go, the story can't be too complicated otherwise the plot has to be very well known. Dance just can't convey complex plot clearly. Fortunately, Romeo and Juliet is well known. I was able to follow this a lot better than Like Water For Chocolate. It runs nearly three hours, and I recognized only the five minutes of Prokofiev's Montagues and Capulets. That's one of the best sequences of the ballet. There were probably 40 dancers up on stage. I think that's the most impressive thing...synchronization. Kind of odd to me though is that the corp doesn't get to bow. The leads get their applause at the end. You would think that the company would get to come out together and bow like in a play, but they did not. Personally, I don't like that. They should all get their moment of recognition. Special shoutout to Mercutio.

Hamlet (The Public Theater) (2023)

In 2019, Kenny Leon staged a brilliant production of Much Ado About Nothing in the park. This year, he returns to the Delacorte (for one final season before it closes for 18 months of renovations) with Hamlet. Though the plays have nothing to do with each other, he stages it in the same affluent black suburb of alternate Atlanta, one in which Stacey Abrams ran for president in 2020. But this time, the Abrams banner is broken, the palatial estate is crooked, the American flag is at an angle, the car in a puddle, and at center stage a casket draped in an American flag. The set and costumes are fabulous. The Queen Gertrude is dressed in African regalia.  Like in "Much Ado", the cast is predominantly black and they infuse the play with hip-hop and gospel music. 

Ato Blankson-Wood is very good as the eponymous Hamlet. His "To Be or Not To Be" was breathtaking. I don't feel like he really got across though that he was faking insanity. The production definitely suggests that he's actually gone mad following the murder of his father. The father's ghost appears as an ominous voice who possesses Hamlet, and there are some spooky lights. In this way, Hamlet is portrayed as more of an anti-hero. But I remembered Hamlet being more justified in his anger. 

Shakespeare's longest play, Hamlet usually runs more than 4 hours but this production is an abbreviated 2 hours 45 minutes. There are subplots removed which has the effect of accelerating the main plot. It makes the pacing kind of weird. And by the time everyone dies at the end, it feels sort of unearned. In conclusion, not as good as Much Ado About Nothing, but maybe I also am just not a big fan of the tragedies.

Like Water for Chocolate (American Ballet Theater) (2023)

Christopher Wheeldon's adaptation of the classic Mexican novel runs three acts, nearly three hours. My main qualm is the medium. I'm all for dance, but it's not really an effective way of communicating plot. And it's very plot heavy for interpretive dance. You need to read the synopsis in the program to really appreciate it. And yet I felt like there were too many scenes that didn't have enough dance.  What you'd call 'book scenes' in a musical, they convey plot without songs; well here they "convey plot" without dance which is to say nothing. I've mostly in the past seen just vignettes, independent scenes, not really a whole plot ballet. Even The Nutcracker is lighter on plot, and full of irrelevant Arabian/Chinese/etc dances. The dance scenes are fabulous though. Act II features the most dance. The music by Joby Talbot is beautifully cinematic. It sounds like a movie score--I thought it might have actually been from the movie adaptation. But it's original for the ballet. The final pas de deux features a soprano solo too, the first spoken words of the whole ballet, just at the very end. I also loved the instrumentation with the guitar solo. The show has the sound and look of Mexico. The production is beautiful. The final image of the lovers set aflame in the air is breathtaking.

Dark (2017-20)

The first season of the German-language series Dark was unlike anything else on TV. It was high-concept sci-fi show, a time travel drama.  And in the beginning it was manageable to follow.  I quite liked season 1--I actually watched 8 episodes straight to catch up to Philip and Nancy and David in a lazy day. But come season 2 and 3, when they started to introduce alternate worlds, it was nearly impossible to comprehend. And we watched it a lot more slowly, so we forgot things. Not to mention the huge cast of actors playing the characters at several ages that were easy to forget. I've never known a show so complicated to require a dynamic family tree, courtesy of Netflix. And there were many details that were found on the tree that I never quite caught in the show.Whoever was writing this show had an incredible grasp on the characters, recurring themes, objects, places, times and all that to keep it straight. Every episode ended on a crazy cliff hanger. The show legitimately made me go WTF constantly. They do know how to keep you hooked even when you can't make sense of it. After much reading, I think the ending is pretty satisfying but I wouldn't have got it all on my own.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017-23)

At the best of times, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was the funniest show on TV.  I think Amy Sherman-Palladino was well aware of the criticism often levied against it by the New York Jewish viewers. It leaned heavily into Jewish stereotypes, and as the show progressed, it got more and more extreme. She said yes and doubled the ante. The parents were especially overbearing. But they were such genuine characters. And they were hilarious. It's a supremely winning cast.

The final season takes a daring narrative turn. We see several flash forwards, showing us where the characters end up. The rest of the season fills in the gaps to show us how they got there. Similar to Insecure, we see how a tight friendship dissolves. The ending has 3 endings: a televised set, a flashback to a restaurant scene with Luke Kirby, and a flash forward to Midge and Susie. The last one was sweet but I think I could've done without it. It might've been more poignant to end on Wo Hop. Luke Kirby tenderly played Lenny Bruce, a real life legendary comedian. There is a beautiful scene in which he performs All Alone on the Steve Allen show, word for word, beat for beat. It's funny and sad and poignant and perfect. I know Midge and Susie's relationship is the heart of the show, but Lenny is the real history behind the show. It gives the show some more heft above a standard comedy.

The look of the show was gorgeous. The costumes and set design transport you to the glamour of the 60s. It filled that Mad Men sized hole on television. The music drops too were very well done. I think the best arc on the series was when they went to the Catskills, aka the Borscht Belt. Takes you back to Nevele.

Succession (2018-23)

For quite a long stretch of time during the golden age of TV, Succession was the best show on air.  From the beginning, it spoke to our nightmare times. The Roy family was most closely modeled on the Murdochs but there is something undoubtedly Trumpian about it all, isn't there? It's so painfully realistic, it's terrifying at times. Succession was the perfect balance of comedy and (Shakespearean) tragedy. And it wasn't just clever writing. It was the comedic performances and the hilarious cameraman controlling the zoom lens. There are so many iconic moments that have entered the culture. I'm talking "L to the OG", boar on the floor, two safe rooms, crack some greggs to make a Tomelette, etc. Really any scene with Cousin Greg. 

The final season was announced ahead of the season premiere. Succession ran a tight four seasons, left us wanting more, rather than overstaying its welcome. There was a clear series arc that the showrunner Jesse Armstrong had clearly thought out.  And it took a bold swing in Season 4 Episode 3 that paid dividends. The final 3 episodes were excellent. I feel like they really stuck the landing. The final season leans more tragedy ("You are not serious people") than comedy, but it has its moments, like "it's not that lemony" and Connor arguing with Roman about ambassadorships. 

And how about that opening song by Nicholas Britell!

Camelot (2023) (Broadway)

Camelot has some issues with the book, in that there's too much book and not enough songs. All the songs are nice and pretty but there aren't that many of them and they don't really advance the plot. They sing about the weather (Camelot) and months (The Lusty Month of May) and seasons (If Ever I Should Leave You), which is weather and months combined. Also they cut Follow Me, and the whole character of Nimue. It could use more ensemble numbers. The end of Act I and the beginning of Act II need songs. Philippa Soo is excellent as Guenevere (totally robbed by the Tonys committee). Her voice is so crisp and pure. Just too much talking scenes. Jordan Donica is good too but not as extraordinary as he was in My Fair Lady though he rightfully is Tony nominated. I think If Ever I Should Leave You isn't as perfect for his voice as On the Street Where You Live. We unfortunately didn't see Andrew Burnap as Arthur, but his understudy was pretty good. I know it's mostly straight acting but Arthur has a couple songs and the understudy probably had more musicality anyways considering Burnap has never done a musical. The set and costumes are wonderful. It feels like you're really transported to Camelot. They make use of projections on the back wall and on the cathedral-shaped eaves.  

Plot wise I could see why Aaron Sorkin wanted to do this. It's about a benevolent leader trying to create his idealized world where people are good. And everyone wants him to fail. Everyone doubts him, and they ultimately bring about his downfall because they can't accept the goodness of people. That's how Arthur loses his war against human nature. Is it foolhardy? Or righteous? Act 2 is much darker as Camelot crumbles from the inside. Act 2 introduces critical new characters that I did not care for: Mordred and Morgan Le Fay (a scientist and Mordred's scorned mother in this production who tells Arthur it can't last). The changes are not all sensible as they're often arguing about nothing.

I think you also can't talk about Camelot without mentioning Jackie Kennedy. She may have made it all up. I, for one, kind of find it hard to believe that JFK liked to listen to the soundtrack. It's a nice story. For one brief shining moment, there was this ideal society. Reality of course is that JFK never achieved that. And if anyone really believed he would they were kidding themselves--maybe I'm the cynical knights. Maybe she was trying to say something about adulterers being burned at the stake.

Guys and Dolls (West End)

Guys and Dolls might just be the most fun I've had at the theater ever. It genuinely put a smile on my face. Despite standing for 3 hours, after spending the whole day walking around the British Museum. Staged in the round, the standing floor audience is literally in the thick of the action. They're the best seats in the house for just 39 quid. The stage is made up of several rising platforms that the audience is encouraged to encircle by several stagehands with the toughest job in the room, managing a moving stage and shepherding the audience. The cast also interacts with the audience and stands among them. In the Havana scene, they're encouraged to dance along and create a party atmosphere. Sky Masterson threw a sweaty towel in my direction, and right on cue, we shimmied out of the way. Even closer than if you were sitting in the front row, we're literally up at the edge of the stage looking up at the action. Big Julie is very tall. There's nothing necessarily about the play that calls for immersive staging but it creates an exciting atmosphere. It's a kinetic production with wonderful staging.

The actor Andrew Richardson plays Sky Masterson, the Marlon Brando part, in what I could only describe as a Bobby Cannavale-esque way.  He's really good. Celinde Schoenmaker plays Sarah, a role I could see Jessie Mueller in. The actor I'd really call out though is Cedric Neal who plays Nicely Nicely. He absolutely kills it in the showstopper "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat". I unfortunately chose to move to the opposite end of the stage for Act II, which was the back of the scene. He puts it all out there, belting and stomping. The audience gave them 3 encores to repeat the chorus, even the music director and band took a bow. It literally stopped the show. Not to mention that Neal performs with a doo-wop group in the intermission in what is probably the second best scene. After the final bows, there's a literal dance party with the cast and audience together to disco versions of the soundtrack. I would've stuck around if we didn't have to rush to a late dinner.

Witness for the Prosecution (West End)

I had seen the Marlene Dietrich movie adaptation of the Agatha Christie play, and I remembered that there was a twist though I didn't fully remember what the twist was. Agatha Christie is very popular on the West End, The Mousetrap still going strong, and actually coming to Broadway. But I chose this one instead for its innovative staging in London County Hall. London is full of formerly government buildings that retain their beautiful architecture and find new life as theaters or hotels or condos, etc. But what a great idea to stage a courtroom drama in the gorgeous chamber. We bought the cheapest full view seats, and while they're technically full view if you sit forward and to the side, in any comfortable position the huge structural column obstructs the view of the bench and jury box. The jurors are actually audience members who paid a premium. And they are furiously taking notes on something throughout the performance. And one of them was designated foreman and announced the not guilty verdict. They have lines! Center stage is the defendant's box. And the defendant is mostly silent save for the occasional outburst. Up in the gallery though, there was an actress who yelled out right next to us. At the end of the play, when the twist is revealed, the audience was audibly shocked. There was actually so much audience awe that people were getting shushed. And it is a damn good twist.

 

We Own This City (2022)

We Own This City has been described as a spiritual sequel to The Wire, which ran from 2002-2008. David Simon is the great chronicler of the American city. Simon and George Pelecanos return to Baltimore to follow up on the state of the police and the effect the killing of Freddie Gray. had on our beloved city. It's a damning critique of the Baltimore Police Department as an institution and the War on Drugs that bred it. It may come off as preachy at times, but that's because they're willing to speak the hard truths that no one else will. And yes, sometimes they need to be said out loud. It manages to be both aggravating and absolutely devastating. It makes you feel defeated, that the problems we face in this country are just so insurmountable under the weight of our broken and corrupt institutions.

Jon Bernthal gives a career best performance as Wayne Jenkins. There's something about him that just screams dirty cop. He has the brashness and charisma and bro-eyness. It's spot on casting. And his bawlmer accent is excellent. The time jumping is a little confusing, but it allows all the angles to unfold at once: the police, the FBI investigation and the DOJ consent decree. We see the police stops happen in flashback, and then relive them as the FBI investigates them, and then again as the DOJ gathers evidence for its own work. You can't look away; the miniseries is transfixing.

The Wife of Willesden (2023)

The Wife of Willesden is being staged at BAM Strong in collaboration with American Repertory Theater. It runs just an hour and forty minutes but it feels very long. That's because the prologue runs about an hour itself. And the prologue is almost straight monologue masquerading as open mic. Clare Perkins plays the titular wife with gusto but she can only do so much with what amounts to a rather boring play. It's all very one-note. I fell asleep in the second act. And I think it's not as shocking as it intends to be. It's 2023 after all. It's very frank. And it chastises the audience for slut shaming but who's saying anything? The best part is the sumptuous set, an upscale North London pub spanning the length of the entire stage and even spilling over to the audience who sits at tables, joining the action. I'm not entirely sure why Zadie Smith puts herself in the play. It creates a meta storytelling device, but it's unnecessary and there's a weird apology from Smith over her ability.

White Girl in Danger (Off-Broadway) (2023)

I've never had this experience before but we got free tickets from Culture Pass and got "General Admission" tickets". What that meant was that we got whatever empty seats were left right before curtain. Somehow there are empty seats, at what I think is an otherwise sold out performance. But here's the tricky part, if the ticketholder with your seat shows up, then they can kick you out at intermission, at which point you'll get "refunded". But that means this person who showed up late has to wait an hour and a half for intermission--who's going to wait that long? Anyways, we're lucky we got seats in the front row and got to stay the whole show. 

Michael R Jackson's new musical is a lot. It's a satire on classic white people soap operas. It's imaginatively about a "blackground" character trying to make it in an "all-white" show--Jackson sticks with the meta concept. It was over 3 hours. The first act, a full hour and 40 minutes. And the 15 minute intermission also has content playing on the projector. And there's content playing before curtain. They film these hilarious cheesy, bad green screen, commercials. It felt like watching Atlanta spoof public access TV. He also kind of leans into the Tyler Perry-esque mannerisms that he berates in A Strange Loop (Atlanta does it too). But it's really long. Especially compared to the tight A Strange Loop. They probably need to cut a full half hour at least. It's funny but it kind of rambles. The songs are pretty hit or miss--the highlight is the opening title song. A few of them kind of lack melody. They're not really Sondheim-esque but y'know they also don't have a hummable tune. It's also very profane. A Strange Loop was too, but I feel like this was even more extreme. The gay sex scene in this one is a lesbian sex scene and there are multiple sex toy props. Definitely not family friendly. 

Tarra Conner Jones steals the show as Nell. This is her Off Broadway debut. She literally has a showstopper. There was a standing ovation for her in the middle of the show for her big number. Those are always cool moments.

95th Academy Awards (2023)

It's a landmark year for Asians in the movies. Sure we had Minari, The Farewell, Crazy Rich Asians, Parasite won it all in a memorable surprise. But the arrival of Everything Everywhere All at Once, both a indie box office smash and now the prohibitive front runner, signals a new era. The movie boasts no fewer than 4 acting nominees, three of whom are of Asian descent, including Ke Huy Quan who returns to the screen after two decades unable to find work in front of the camera in Hollywood. The legendary James Hong got a moment of glory at the SAG Awards too. And let's not forget Hong Chau nominated for The Whale. The NYT even ran a feature on the unprecedented number of Asian nominees across the board. It has been a long time since the front runner for Best Picture has been such a popular film, and I don't know that the nominees have ever included so many box office successes--it's an exciting year.

Tyler's Top 10:

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
2. Tar
3. Decision to Leave
4. The Fabelmans
5. Armageddon Time
6. Petite Maman
7. Triangle of Sadness
8. The Northman
9. Aftersun
10. Turning Red
    

Honorable Mentions: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Top Gun: Maverick, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, The Quiet Girl, Fire of Love, Living, Navalny, Avatar: The Way of Water, Puss in Boots:The Last Wish, Vengeance

Best Picture (prediction):

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
2. The Fabelmans
3. Top Gun: Maverick
4. All Quiet on the Western Front
5. Avatar: The Way of Water
6. The Banshees of Inisherin
7. Tar
8. Triangle of Sadness
9. Elvis
10. Women Talking

Best Director
Will Win/Should Win: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Honorable Mention: Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans

Best Actress
Will Win/Should Win: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Honorable Mention: Cate Blanchett, Tar

Best Actor
Will Win: Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Should Win: Paul Mescal, Aftersun

Best Supporting Actress
Will Win/Should Win: Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Honorable Mention: Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin

Best Supporting Actor
Will Win/Should Win: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Honorable Mention: Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans

Best Adapted Screenplay
Will Win: Women Talking
Should Win: Living

Best Original Screenplay
Will Win/Should Win: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Honorable Mention: Tar

Best Cinematography
Will Win: Elvis
Should Win: Empire of Light

Best Costume Design
Will Win/Should Win: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Honorable Mention: Babylon

Best Film Editing
Will Win/Should Win: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Honorable Mention: Top Gun: Maverick

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Will Win/Should Win: The Whale

Best Production Design
Will Win: Babylon
Should Win: Avatar: The Way of Water

Best Score
Will Win/Should Win: Babylon

Best Original Song
Will Win: Naatu Naatu, RRR
Should Win: Lift Me Up, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Best Sound
Will Win/Should Win: Top Gun: Maverick

Best Visual Effects
Will Win/Should Win: Avatar: The Way of Water

Best Animated Feature
Will Win: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
Should Win: Turning Red

Best Documentary Feature
Will Win: Navalny
Should Win: Fire of Love

Best International Film
Will Win: All Quiet on the Western Front, Germany
Should Win: The Quiet Girl, Ireland

Best Animated Short
Will Win: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Should Win: Ice Merchants

Best Documentary Short
Will Win: Stranger at the Gate
Should Win: Haulout

Best Live Action Short
Will Win/Should Win: Le Pupille

Update: 17/23, just enough to win my Oscars pool.  I hosted a little Oscar party with a themed menu. It was a big hit, if I do say so myself. It was a great ceremony with lots of memorable wins for Asians/Asian-Americans, including Judy Chin for Best Makeup and Hairstyling who went to middle school with mom. EEAAO came away with a record six statues above-the-line, and A24, no longer the indie upstart, won all six of the top awards. Hopefully we can expect to see more of these beautiful, wonderful, diverse, niche movies being made.

Hercules (Paper Mill Playhouse) (2023)

We weren't able to get tickets to the one-week run at the Delacorte Theater back in 2019, but now Hercules is back at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ. It's a quaint town about an hour from Manhattan driving, though NJT also goes there for future reference. 

I realize that I've never actually seen the movie Hercules, though we probably have it somewhere on VHS. I kind of know the broad strokes just because it's Hercules. Plot wise, the beginning is kind of slow. It's a lot of exposition. I found myself resting my eyes a bit. And we don't even meet teenage Hercules nor Meg nor Phil until pretty far into the show. I think it's actually one of Alan Menken's best soundtracks. I like the gospel-y, motown-y touches. It of course has no business in ancient Greece, nor do the Roman jokes, but it's super catchy, even Hades's songs. I Won't Say (I'm in Love) needs to be higher up the Disney rankings. The first time I heard that song was when Ariana Grande did the ABC sing-a-long during the pandemic and slayed all the parts herself. It's a great song, but unfortunately Isabelle McCalla's singing voice as Meg was a little thin. Alan Menken also wrote some new music for the stage, and To Be Human, sung by Hercules at the climax of the show is totally wrong. All the music had been so upbeat and fun, and at the climax for some reason he wrote a downbeat song. I liked Bradley Gibson as Hercules. He kind of hams up the acting, in a way that could be annoying but screams Disney musical. The costumes and the sets were delightful. The muses really steal the show. I lost count at how many costume changes they had, but every outfit was fabulous. The puppets are also really cool, I wish we got to see more of them. The titans are pretty far back on the stage, but they really should be center stage to showcase their artistry.
 

His Dark Materials (2019-22)

I found His Dark Materials very difficult to follow.  I know the books were written for children but for some reason I just couldn't understand what was happening. Even after 3 seasons, I'm still not sure what the heck dust is. I'm still not sure if Mrs Coulter and Lord Asriel are evil. I don't know why Lyra is so obsessed with Roger when she's got this hunk Will. I chalk it off to the writing. And I found the child actors Dafne Keen and Amir Wilson are very ok. I honestly found them to be kind of annoying. I thought there would be more Lin Manuel Miranda, but he's a pretty minor character. Ruth Wilson is probably the highlight. The subtext of the plot though is fascinating reading about it afterwards. The critique of the Catholic Church is spot on. And I thought the final episode was a stand out. The denouement following the climax of the penultimate episode is quite beautiful. It kind of comes out of left field, but it's a great tie up. The second season was super boring. I nearly stopped watching. And I'm not sure if it was worth finishing but here we are.

Atlanta (2016-22)

This one leaves a pretty large hole in the television landscape. Atlanta was a landmark. It was experimental. It spent whole episodes without a glimpse of our main characters. It pulled stories from real life. It was raucous and poignant. It had something to say about the black experience in America. And then in its penultimate season they go to Europe and speak to the black American experience abroad. It bravely portrayed white people in a way no other show dares to. Its bizarre-ness is explained in its final episode with a not wholly original but brilliantly executed meta sensory deprived dream. It went from a black Justin Bieber to a white Teddy Perkins to a trannsracial man being interviewed on a Charlie Rose type talk show.

Donald Glover can do just about anything and everything. Brian Tyree Henry is now a highly sought after actor, who I apparently saw on stage in Book of Mormon years before Atlanta, and who stole the show in the excellent If Beale Street Could Talk. I think Hiro Murai also gets a lot of credit for the look and dreamlike feel of the show. And I don't know who the music supervisor is, but they're first rate.