Old Friends (2025) (Broadway)

Stephen Sondheim's contribution to the American Songbook is incomparable. His music is harmonious and his lyrics witty. This posthumous tribute revue pulls all of the best songs from his musicals. They're great songs, divorced from the context of their shows. The comedy and drama of the songs don't land as impactfully as a consequence, but the music is beautiful nonetheless. Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga are two of the biggest divas on Broadway. Both are excellent. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that they're not in all the songs. They even cede the spotlight on some of the biggest numbers, The Ladies Who Lunch or I'm Still Here, songs made for divas. So I expected a little more of the two of them. I was surprised to find out afterwards that it was an unrecognizable Lea playing Mrs Lovett behind the cockney accent. 

Good way to spend a Wednesaday matinee off from work!

Mozart in the Jungle (2014-18)

Amazon took a chance on a niche show, a romantic comedy centered around the dynamic world of classical music. It is admittedly a pretty terrible show but it has its moments. I think the biggest problem was that it focused on the romance between Hailey and Rodrigo, which was decidedly less interesting than the relationship between the orchestra members. The show shone best just watching the inner workings of an orchestra, including the quirky musicians, the union issues, the funding issues, and their day-to-day struggles. Gael Garcia Bernal deserved all the praise he got, playing the Gustavo Dudamel-like conductor, a hard-to-handle musical genius. However, the protagonist was arguably Hailey, played by Lola Kirke. I found that I didn't really care about her story, which sort of revolved around the orchestra but was never within the orchestra. She eventually ditched the oboe for conducting and her conducting acting was entirely unconvincing. I understand it's hard, but she looked kind of spastic.

I binged the first three seasons within a couple days. Despite it not being great TV, it's very watchable, it goes by very quickly. It has its moments. There were some excellent episodes: Ichi Go Ichi E, The Rehearsal, You Have Insulted Tchaikovsky, and the Pilot. And there's some fun traveling episodes, in Mexico, Venice and Japan. It is a fun show, even if not a great one.