Wonderful Town (Encores!) (2025)

Wonderful Town is a lesser known Bernstein musical. It's no West Side Story.  It's no Candide. Or even On the Town. The music is fine. It's sort of all over the place. It spans multiple genres. It's not just the music, but the whole show that is sort of incoherent. And frankly, the show is kind of boring. It put me to sleep. Kind of like On the Town, it's a show about New York. Two sisters move to Greenwich Village from Ohio to live a "Bohemian" life and strike it big in the big city as an actress and writer. The plot doesn't really go anywhere though. Nothing special.

Sunset Blvd (Broadway) (2025)

Jamie Lloyd's revival of Sunset Blvd is extraordinary.  His stripped down play could be described only as live cinema, if there is such a thing. He makes use of high quality cameras to project on a big screen the action happening on-and-off stage. And so it's not just blocking on stage, but actually live cinematography. The framing is stunning. The camera rig is used to imitate a car, camera the steering wheel. And of course they take the action outside at the start of Act 2, singing Sunset Boulevard in Shubert Alley, halting traffic, rain or shine. There's one scene in particular that I loved, where Joe and Betty are talking to each other, and visually Norma separates them on camera, while on stage you see them actually standing in a triangular formation and they move around each other. There's a lot of staring pensively on camera fading to someone else staring. And lots of close-up head shots so clear you can see the pores on Nicole Scherzinger's face.  After the big opening number, there's actually opening credits and it's thrilling. After all, we're watching a cinematic adaptation of a classic movie. True to its noir roots, everyone wears black and white. The theater is very dark and foggy (and sleep-inducing). The lighting is only for the camera to shine on the actor's face, but it's otherwise so dark that you can't see any of the audience behind them. Film noir loves shadows. There is no set to speak of, occasionally a chair, that's it and yet we can still envision it perfectly.

Nicole Scherzinger is phenomenal.  Her voice is so powerful and haunting. I daresay her renditions of With One Look and As If We Never Said Goodbye are better than Glenn and Patti and all the rest. It's a little slower, she luxuriates in the melodies and takes her time. It's all the more spine tingling for it. I think she's too young to play Norma but she is so good. Tom Francis, too, is excellent. His voice is well suited for the title song. The music has grown on me. It's kind of weird that you have really dramatic orchestral music juxtaposed with more ridiculous circus-type music as if from a completely different show. The big group numbers though are kind of fun though. 

And then there's closing credits!

The Penguin (2024)

The Batman directed by Matt Reeves was a fantastic entry into the Batman universe, establishing a gritty, crumbling Gotham. You don't necessarily need to have seen it to follow The Penguin. The Penguin stands alone as a limited series that takes place shortly after the events of The Batman. The caped crusader doesn't make an appearance nor does he really need to. The Penguin is a far more interesting character. He's Tony Soprano, complete with the sick mother. And HBO gave us the best gangster drama character study since The Sopranos. Colin Farrell is completely unrecognizable under all that makeup with his old timey Queens accent. He's ruthless and scrappy.  He's vicious. And the series in later episodes goes back to show us what happened to make him this way a la Wicked. The plot and subplots are all devastating. It's a lot to handle. Not a show to binge in one sitting. He's not even necessarily the worst character. Cristin Milioti is maybe even more devious as Sofia Falcone. She is phenomenal. Love good dark storytelling. Surpasses The Batman.

Redwood (Broadway) (2025)

Redwood has a marquee star at the helm, Idina Menzel, belting out song after song. I don't think the show does her a lot of favors unfortunately. The songs are mostly forgettable, many of them solos, but the best one is not even Menzel's number, but the son's. The sound in the Nederlander theater is dialed up way too loud to be able to understand any of the lyrics. I did kind of like the bare set. There are screens all along the back and sides of the stage, going all the way up to the boxes. The projections have the effect of transporting us to a forest, aided by the only setpiece: a giant tree trunk that rotates to reveal a screen on the opposite side. The stage is quite steep and for most of the show they're rigged up to climb up the tree. Menzel even gets a Defying Gravity-type solo as she ascends.

It's the musical equivalent of Wild, that Reese Witherspoon movie with the walking lady.  It's about connecting with nature in the face of personal strife and grief as a means of finding oneself. All to say, it's a little boring. And Menzel's protagonist Jesse can come off as a bit of a Karen. She is not qualified to climb Redwood trees. And she is incessant in insisting people break protocol for her sake. And ultimately she gets her way. 

Oh, Mary! (Broadway) (2025)

Oh, Mary! is the most raucous time on Broadway since Book of Mormon. It's perhaps even more unhinged thanks to the twisted mind of Cole Escola. It combines lots of physical comedy and revisionist history and uncensored gags. It answers the question: how soon is too soon? I, for one, can't wait for the day that we can satirize the assassination of a certain president (who might be gay and whose first lady is a drunk who just wants to sing at the cabaret). It's hard to talk about the wildest jokes without mentioning spoilers. But the whole theater was laughing out loud. So 160 years is definitely long enough. I did not see the ending coming. It's frankly a perfect ending. And then there's one final hilarious scene to put the cherry on top.

Phillip James Brannon plays President Lincoln. Honestly, in a post-Hamilton world, it's not even notable that the white president is played by a black actor. And if given the opportunity, I would go back to see Titus Burgess play Mary for a very limited 3-week run. Betty Gilpin was so good at the physical comedy and the high-octane yelling (and the cockney scene) but Titus is going to blow the roof off that cabaret.

97th Academy Awards (2025)

This Oscars season has been a wild ride. It was only in the last few weeks that a real front-runner emerged. There were probably up to six nominees that had the lead at some point this month. Notably, the most nominated movie (an inexplicable 13!) Emilia Perez no longer stands a chance thanks to the stunningly vitriolic comments from its star Karla Sofia Gascon. I'm not hosting an Oscars watch party this year because my friend Chelsey beat me to the punch, and she has rented out a bar so it's getting serious. I will be attempting to bring the least transportable thing possible: ice cubes, molded in the shape of the Oscars statue. I've spent the last several days making ice. Hopefully they don't all melt by the time I get there.

My Top Movies

1. Dune: Part Two
2. Challengers
3. Sing Sing
4. Problemista
5. Hit Man
6. Anora
7. A Real Pain
8. Nickel Boys
9. Exhibiting Forgiveness
10. The Brutalist
11. Robot Dreams
12. La Chimera
13. Between the Temples
14. Close Your Eyes

Best Picture

1. Anora
2. The Brutalist
3. Conclave
4. A Complete Unknown
5. Wicked
6. Dune: Part Two
7. Nickel Boys
8. Emilia Perez
9. The Substance
10. I'm Still Here

Best Director
Will Win: Sean Baker, Anora
Honorable Mention: Brady Corbet, The Brutalist

Best Actress
Will Win: Demi Moore, The Substance
Should Win: Mikey Madison, Anora

Best Actor
Will Win: Timothee Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
Should Win: Colman Domingo, Sing Sing

Best Supporting Actress
Will Win/Should Win: Zoe Saldana, Emilia Perez

Best Supporting Actor
Will Win/Should Win: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain

Best Adapted Screenplay
Will Win: Conclave
Should Win: Sing Sing

Best Original Screenplay
Will Win/Should Win: Anora
Honorable Mention: A Real Pain

Best Cinematography
Will Win/Should Win: The Brutalist

Best Costume Design
Will Win/Should Win: Wicked

Best Film Editing
Will Win: Conclave
Should Win: Anora

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Will Win: The Substance
Should Win: A Different Man
Probably the tightest Makeup and Hairstyling category there's ever been, with all 5 nominees featuring especially distinctive makeup.

Best Production Design
Will Win: Wicked
Should Win: Dune: Part Two

Best Score
Will Win/Should Win: The Brutalist

Best Song
Will Win: The Journey, The Six Triple Eight
What better time to finally honor Diane Warren than right now to deny the win to Emilia Perez, a musical without any good songs or really any melody to speak of.

Best Sound
Will Win: Wicked

Best Visual Effects
Will Win/Should Win: Dune: Part Two

Best Animated Feature
Will Win/Should Win: The Wild Robot

Best Documentary Feature
Will Win: No Other Land

Best International Film
Will Win: I'm Still Here
I haven't gotten a chance to see The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which I suspect would've been my pick if for no other reason the enormous sacrifice that Mohammad Rasoulof made for his important art.

Best Animated Short
Will Win: Magic Candies

Best Documentary Short
Will Win: The Only Girl in the Orchestra
Should Win: Incident

Best Live Action Short
Will Win/Should Win: A Lien

Results: 15/23 was good enough for third place at Chelsey's wonderful Oscars party at Halyards. Loved being able to celebrate the Oscars with a few dozen other movie lovers who hooted and hollered throughout the ceremony. Lots of people happy with the Anora sweep, and pleasantly surprised by Mikey Madison. Conan O'Brien killed it as expected--give that man a show! The opening Oz medley was brilliant. And lots of moments to bring tears to your eyes: LA montage, No Other Land, Zoe Saldana, Paul Tazewell, etc. Most of the speeches were great, shoutout to Kieran Culkin. Adrien Brody droned on too long and there was some weird mansplaining in the Animated Short category. Weird that they chose to sing 3 Bond songs but couldn't find time for the actual Best Song nominees. And who would've guessed we'd get two songs from the Wiz?! And Queen Latifah, who doesn't really sing much anymore.

Death Becomes Her (Broadway) (2025)

Death Becomes Her is camp dialed up to 11. The jokes come a mile a minute. The leads (Megan Hilty and Jessica Simard) are fabulous at belting out their numbers, though the music is kind of forgettable. Rather refreshing is that the book scenes are actually really good. They're funny and they're uncensored.  There is one scene in particular with some unbelievable slow-motion acrobatics that puts the magic of the theater on full display. I also like the tromp l'oeil depth of perspective in the set. The costumes and production design are lots of fun. 

And what a year for older stars in showbiz clinging to their youth. The plot heavily mirrors The Substance. And it's not exactly without body horror, as much as you can disfigure someone on stage. But what lengths will people go to for a chance to reclaim their glory days. The Last Showgirl, Sunset Boulevard, etc. None of those are comedies though, and that it takes this theme more lightly is all the better. Even tragedy doesn't have to end so tragically.