***"The Nightmare Before Christmas" isn't totally a success. Let's face it. The heroine spends far too much time urging Jack not to do the creative, bold thing he wants to do. (We could call this the Laura Linney role. It's the part for the woman on the phone who has nothing to do but ask her man to take it easy. That's what Linney did in "Sully." It's actually also what Linney did in a parody of this very role--on "Inside Amy Schumer.")
Further, the abduction of Santa Claus seems to be treated too lightly. I know we're talking about a cartoon musical--but someone is kidnapped (by the hero!) and held against his will. In fact, Santa is almost killed. Given the high-stakes nature of this subplot, it seems to me that Jack Skellington gets off far, far too easily.
All that said, consider the riches! Sally needs to rescue a man, so she detaches one of her rag-doll legs and uses it as a lure! A skeleton delivers shrunken heads to children on Christmas! Snow falls all over Halloween Town--over vampires, ghosts, and headless horsemen--and there's a sense of newness and discovery. Lin-Manuel Miranda did not list "Nightmare" among his favorite movie musicals--but I will. It deserves inclusion.
***One of the real treats in Stephen King's slim new book is the illustrations. Critics have been mocking these pictures, over and over: There's the idea that cute cartoony interludes give King's work the feel of a picture book. But I beg to differ. Or, well, to ask: Who cares if there's a picture-book feel?
Thanksgiving seems--to me--to be a great time to regress. There's something plesantly nostalgic about King's pumpkin, and the turkey trot image, and the town-square Christmas tree that the illustrator throws in. Also, I want to reiteratre that King's achievement is not small: He puts more than one rounded character on the page. How difficult is this to do? Graham Greene couldn't pull it off in "The Quiet American." Maggie Gyllenhaal's current film--the widely-praised "Kindegarten Teacher"--actually has only one character, and the rest are props.
Take deft characterization where you can get it. You can get it in the work of Stephen King.
***"The Color Purple" became a movie. Then it became a musical (based partly on the movie). Now it will be a movie, based on the musical, which was based on the movie, which had been based on the novel. People are asking for Jennifer Holliday to play Shug. But let's have a restoration of sanity: There is only one Shug, and it's Heather Headley. Start the campaign. HEATHER HEADLEY NOW.
It's worth thinking about Alice Walker in reference to Jill Soloway. Soloway is in the news right now for her memoir, which is largely about broadening the scope of "what can be narrated." (Let's have storytellers who do *not* resemble Spielberg. Let's have protagonists who are *not* Seth Rogen.)
Though Walker doesn't come up in Soloway's memoir--Soloway's memoir is ABOUT SOLOWAY, ad nauseam--I'd wager that Walker had an impact on Soloway. One of the ways Walker began her own career was by finding Zora N. Hurston's neglected grave, and wondering, to herself, what kinds of stories Hurston, and Hurston's friends, did not get to tell. There was a sense of history and activism behind Walker's art--and there is the same with Soloway's art. I'd love to hear the two on a panel, someday, just FYI!
Further, the abduction of Santa Claus seems to be treated too lightly. I know we're talking about a cartoon musical--but someone is kidnapped (by the hero!) and held against his will. In fact, Santa is almost killed. Given the high-stakes nature of this subplot, it seems to me that Jack Skellington gets off far, far too easily.
All that said, consider the riches! Sally needs to rescue a man, so she detaches one of her rag-doll legs and uses it as a lure! A skeleton delivers shrunken heads to children on Christmas! Snow falls all over Halloween Town--over vampires, ghosts, and headless horsemen--and there's a sense of newness and discovery. Lin-Manuel Miranda did not list "Nightmare" among his favorite movie musicals--but I will. It deserves inclusion.
***One of the real treats in Stephen King's slim new book is the illustrations. Critics have been mocking these pictures, over and over: There's the idea that cute cartoony interludes give King's work the feel of a picture book. But I beg to differ. Or, well, to ask: Who cares if there's a picture-book feel?
Thanksgiving seems--to me--to be a great time to regress. There's something plesantly nostalgic about King's pumpkin, and the turkey trot image, and the town-square Christmas tree that the illustrator throws in. Also, I want to reiteratre that King's achievement is not small: He puts more than one rounded character on the page. How difficult is this to do? Graham Greene couldn't pull it off in "The Quiet American." Maggie Gyllenhaal's current film--the widely-praised "Kindegarten Teacher"--actually has only one character, and the rest are props.
Take deft characterization where you can get it. You can get it in the work of Stephen King.
***"The Color Purple" became a movie. Then it became a musical (based partly on the movie). Now it will be a movie, based on the musical, which was based on the movie, which had been based on the novel. People are asking for Jennifer Holliday to play Shug. But let's have a restoration of sanity: There is only one Shug, and it's Heather Headley. Start the campaign. HEATHER HEADLEY NOW.
It's worth thinking about Alice Walker in reference to Jill Soloway. Soloway is in the news right now for her memoir, which is largely about broadening the scope of "what can be narrated." (Let's have storytellers who do *not* resemble Spielberg. Let's have protagonists who are *not* Seth Rogen.)
Though Walker doesn't come up in Soloway's memoir--Soloway's memoir is ABOUT SOLOWAY, ad nauseam--I'd wager that Walker had an impact on Soloway. One of the ways Walker began her own career was by finding Zora N. Hurston's neglected grave, and wondering, to herself, what kinds of stories Hurston, and Hurston's friends, did not get to tell. There was a sense of history and activism behind Walker's art--and there is the same with Soloway's art. I'd love to hear the two on a panel, someday, just FYI!
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