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.

Freestyle Love Supreme (Broadway) (2019-21)

 I snagged two center orchestra tickets from work. Amex sponsors Freestyle Love Supreme. They were giving out tickets to colleagues who volunteer. I actually missed the deadline given in the email because I was in Maine and off work. But luckily they still had tickets available. And alas there were some empty seats at the performance. The theater was full of Amex colleagues and so they made a bunch of Amex jokes; play to your audience. 

I'm not going to give this a rating because it's a different show every night. I don't know if Broadway has ever seen anything quite like this. Freestyle hip hop, essentially improv comedy in the form of hip hop. Like watching Whose Line Is It Anyway? There are two keyboards, a beat boxer, and three freestyle rappers who also sing melody.  They're very good at what they do. And they're lots of fun. Aneesa Folds is especially funny, definitely the standout member of the cast. The show is short, 90 minutes without intermission. Would have been great if they had a special guest appear but I guess they don't do that when no one in the house paid for tickets.

Hamilton (Broadway) (2015)

I finally got to see the sensation that is Broadway and it is really that good. One thing that struck me was how fast it is. I feel like the tempo is faster than in the cast recording. Keep in mind these are songs that have very complex lyrics and rhythmic patterns that are already very fast. It is literally non-stop, the songs flow into each other, and there are no dialogue parts between songs. The talking is in the song. You have to concentrate really hard to appreciate the genius of the writing. The songs are brilliant (I don't need to tell you how brilliant the show overall is). There are so many double meanings in the lyrics, some of which are not obvious the first time around. The internal rhymes and repeated words (Aaron Burr, sir) are so well done. The themes, musical and otherwise, recur to great effect. And the counterpoint is amazing. I was pretty familiar with the soundtrack but there were some songs that have a different meaning when seeing it staged. I think Satisfied is the best example. The song has totally different meaning in the show than just listening to the music. The set is simple so as not to distract. The lighting is excellent. The cast was obviously not the original, but James Monroe Iglehart is playing Lafayette/Jefferson. He is great, he looks like he's having so much fun. We got an understudy Hamilton and the whole cast seemed really happy for him. He's the only one that his own bow. But he's not the sole lead. If you really think about it, he's a co-lead with Burr, and even with Eliza. These are all meaty roles. Their story lines are all complete. They each have something profound to say about history. That's what you get from an excellent historian like Ron Chernow. He really understood these characters and it shows in how richly developed they are.

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

I don't often give hearts to a movie I rate 4 stars, but this movie tugged all the right strings for me, even if it didn't quite hit all the right notes. The movie is packaged in such a whimsically charming way that gives me joy. The visuals are exciting (the animation and live action mix is even more seamless with 2018 visual effects), the pace is leisurely, and the plot is perfectly sentimental. I do believe in the power of nostalgia and the enduring magic of Mary Poppins. Derivative isn't an accurate description when the movie is done well to nostalgic effect. After fifty years, I don't think anyone was really asking for a sequel, but I'm so glad it's here.

The biggest fault of the movie (and it's a big one) is the music. It is...just fine. In most situations, it would be sufficient. But this is Mary Poppins. The music from the original is iconic. The new music simply is not that catchy. Musicals have to have memorable music, moreover Disney musicals have to have singable music.

But I can overlook that because the rest of the movie is so much fun. Emily Blunt is amazing, really making the quintessentially British nanny her own. She is the epitome of elegance. Special call-outs for Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ben Whishaw too. Meryl Streep makes a cameo appearance that does not really advance the plot. And I didn't even see her in the end in the balloon scene. They probably should have cut out that scene.One last note on Rob Marshall. He can't resist the Chicago-esque scene when Lin and Emily dance and sing on stage about book covers. Mary Poppins even wears a Catherine Zeta Jones-esque hairpiece. Don't get me wrong, it's a great scene but the wig looks so out of place for her that you can't help thinking it.

Moana (2016)

In Lin-Manuel Miranda's first post-Hamilton project, he pens some catchy songs that, for me, are the stars of the show. They are unmistakably his, with the unique cadence and clever wordy melodies. Even the Rock can sing, who knew? The animation is beautiful, including a very impressively realistic ocean. Just look at how far animation has come since Finding Nemo. Maui's body tattoos provided comedy but were themselves beautiful. They probably could've sustained their own short film. And let's not forget how important that the protagonist is a woman of color. She takes her destiny in her own hands and becomes a hero. She has real problems that do not revolve around a love interest. She is her own character, fully developed, likable and complex. She's not your typical Disney princess and here's to more characters like Moana.