Musicals When You're Quarantined!

This weekend, Andrew Lloyd Webber will release a filmed version of "The Phantom of the Opera"--for the quarantined world. Not the Hollywood movie version. A filmed version of the stage musical.

So, to prepare you, some notes:

*"Phantom of the Opera" is, obviously, a huge and startling commercial success. There can't even be a Broadway revival--as there have been revivals of "Evita," "Cats," "Jesus Christ Superstar," and even "Sunset Boulevard"--because the damned original production has never, never closed.

*Judy Kaye won the Best Supporting Actress Tony--as the diva--and of course Michael Crawford won for the title role. But the big scandal was that Christine--the iconic Christine--wasn't even nominated. (Best Actress that year went to Joanna Gleason, for "Into the Woods.")

*I don't really fully remember the plot of "Phantom"; I'm not sure I ever totally digested it, even as I listened, and listened, in childhood. Christine is a sort of talentless chorus girl, but a crazy phantom--victim of an acid-on-face mishap? or something dating all the way back to childbirth?--falls in love with Christine and, via supernatural powers, changes Christine's destiny. Christine becomes a superstar. The resident diva--Carlotta--discovers a permanent frog in her throat. But then the phantom feels sad because Christine has another boyfriend, and this naturally leads to the phantom contemplating homicide, but then he changes his mind and just disappears into the mist. Maybe? He comes back for a sequel, a treat I haven't (yet) viewed.

To a prosperous year! To a new chandelier!

I'm excited?

GET READY!!!!!

https://broadwaydirect.com/the-shows-must-go-on-to-air-the-phantom-of-the-opera/

Comments

How to Host a Baby

-You have assumed responsibility for a mewling, puking ball of life, a yellow-lab pup. He will spit his half-digested kibble all over your shoes, all over your hard-cover edition of Jennifer Haigh's novel Faith . He will eat your tables, your chairs, your "I {Heart] Montessori" magnet, placed too low on the fridge. When you try to watch Bette Davis in Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte , on your TV, your dog will bark through the murder-prologue, for no apparent reason. He will whimper through Lena Dunham's Girls , such that you have to rewind several times to catch every nuance of Andrew Rannells's ad-libbing--and, still, you'll have a nagging suspicion you've missed something. Your dog will poop on the kitchen floor, in the hallway, between the tiny bars of his crate. He'll announce his wakefulness at 5 AM, 2 AM, or while you and another human are mid-coitus. All this, and you get outside, and it's: "Don't let him pee on my tulips!" When...

Joshie

When I was growing up, a class birthday involved Hostess cupcakes. Often, the cupcakes would come in a shoebox, so you could taste a leathery residue (during the party). Times change. You can't bring a treat into a public school, in 2024, because heaven knows what kind of allergies might lurk, in unseen corners, in the classroom. But Joshua's teacher will allow: a dance party, a pajama day, or a guest reader. I chose to bring a story for Joshua's birthday (observed), but I didn't think through the role that anxiety might play in this interaction. We talk, in this house, quite a bit about anxiety; one game-changer, for J, has been a daily list of activities, so that he knows exactly what to expect. He gets a look of profound satisfaction when he sees the agenda; it doesn't really matter what the specific events happen to be. It's just about knowing, "I can anticipate X, Y, and Z." Joshua struggled with his celebration. He wore his nervousness on his f...

Josh at Five

Joshie's project is "flexibility"; the goal is to see that a plan is just an idea, not a gospel, not a guarantee. This is difficult. Yesterday, we went to a restaurant--billed as "open," with unlocked doors--and the owner informed us of an "error in advertising." But Joshie couldn't accept the word "closed." He threw himself on the floor, then climbed on the furniture. I felt for the owner, until he nervously made a reference to "the glass windows." He imagined that my child might toss himself through a sealed window, like Mary Katherine Gallagher, or like Bruce Willis, in "Die Hard." Then--thank the Lord!--I was able to laugh. The thing that really has therapeutic value for Joshie is: a firetruck. If we are out in public, and he spots a parked truck, he wants to climb on each surface. He breathlessly alludes to the wheels, the door, the windows. If an actual fire station ("fire ocean," in Joshie's parla...

Liars and Saints

Search This Blog