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.
 

Devs (2020)

There are some really beautiful things happening in Alex Garland's miniseries Devs. What it has to say about humanity is kind of profound. How it gets there though is a rather heady theoretical physics sci-fi lesson. And I didn't really follow it all the way through. I barely understood enough to get the ending. The show overall is extremely slow. I don't think they really needed 8 episodes. Kenton is really absolutely necessary to the core plot; he's more of a distraction. The acting is also really robotic, probably intentionally so. Nick Offerman is certainly cast against type in a dramatic role; it's didn't quite work for me just because we know Ron Swanson and I can't dissociate him from that character.  It's all really unsettling--the sound design, the set, the giant statue of Amaya that never really plays a part but to show how weird this place is.