Wolf Hall (2015,2024)

Almost a decade passed between the first series, covering the first two books of Hilary Mantel's trilogy and the second completing the trilogy. Perhaps most confusingly, some of the actors were switched out for new actors in season 2. But Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis are both superb, acting like no time has passed at all. Rylance plays Thomas Cromwell, a brilliant and ruthless political maneuverer, a commoner who rose up the ranks in King Henry VIII's court until his spectacular Shakespearean fall. Rylance plays him in an understated way very effectively. In contrast, Lewis plays the larger than life king, notorious for his six marriages. I perhaps didn't realize how his reign, and indeed the trajectory of British history, hinged so heavily on his consequential marriages. That's the birth of the Anglican Church and Cromwell is perhaps the biggest proponent of the English Reformation. The political intrigue is fascinating from a modern perspective and is executed really well. The music is similarly understated, kind of perfect for a period piece. The costumes and sets transport us to Tudor England. I visited Hampton Court a few years ago during a strike, which made it particularly difficult to reach the suburban neighborhood on the outskirts of London. Makes me want to read the books!

Salome (Opera) (2025)

Two straight hours of music, without applause breaks, the new Met Opera production of Salome boasts a large 100-person orchestra. Yannick Nezet-Seguin is at the helm, his music stand glowing in gold. The music, like everything about the opera frankly, is wild. Richard Strauss got some bizarre sound effects out of the orchestra. The music is undoubtedly interesting. There are bits of melody, but no such arias really. It has the drama of Wagner without the beauty. Not intro level opera. The singing role of Salome is extremely demanding and Elza van den Heever sings it powerfully.

The production design has two levels, the palace upstairs and the cistern downstairs. When the scenes transition like an elevator, it's quite a sight to behold. The cistern is stark, but has a steep staircase and ominous shadows. There are small children playing younger/inner Salome; they just sit on stage observing. It's traumatizing. The little girls will never forget the severed head. It's all super creepy like a nightmare. The projections shimmer tricking the mind as though the floor moves--which of course it does. Some of the characters wear rams heads rather inexplicably. For much of the first act, they remain in the background coming on and off stage bandying around a woman in a bikini. There is a ram-man statue that they actually smash to pieces! They have budget to irreparably break props performance after performance. 

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.