Profile for Someone in a Tree2

We saw a screening a week ago-- what a strange brew!

On the plus side, the soundtrack and sound editing is absolutely glorious-- a thrilling blend of singing voices and nature soundscape that envelops you in wonder! I have to applaud the staging and choreography as well-- truly borne of real musical theater understanding in how movement and dance can tell a story. Bravo to all responsible for making a musical film that really respected the musical arts!

But oh, this story..

Cool insight into the details of the OBC recording, Eric. Thanks for that.

And your guess is correct about the shortening of the "Somewhere" ballet-- no nightmare section, either in the choreo or the score. The staging in LA was pretty effective: Maria and Tony move from her bedroom set (one floor up from the stage) to the fire escape. From up there they watch the ballet dancers in the street below as Maria sings all of "Somewhere". Simple and ef

For purists of WSS, perhaps the greatest show of Broadway's Golden Age, LA Opera is now providing a magical opportunity to behold the show in its original shape, with splendid singers and dancers reanimating Jerome Robbins original choreography (recreated by Josh Bergasse). Who wouldn't want to go back in time to see what 1957 audiences saw?

Some caveats here: you won't get Oliver Smith's '57 set designs with their abstract doodles of red fire escapes (Peter Davidso

Actually “She’s a Woman” is most definitely in the film, and takes up a major slot of the score (it combines with “Her Name is Aurora” to fully introduce Jennifer Lopez’s character to Valentin and us, the audience.) Yet I agree with Eric that the emotions in the song could just as easily be those of a gay man who envies a woman her place on the highest pedestal in the world as Molina understood it; it need NOT be the song of a man who wants to sto

Eric, so nice to see your post, old friend. Yours is one of the voices I miss most when I see how few posters from the past still contribute to BWW these days. But I digress. 

Condon’s new film script makes quite explicit that Molina wants to not only fall in love with a man, but to fully become a woman if he could, so much so, that by the time we get to the finale of “Only in the Movies”, Molina appears as both a handsome man AND his fantasy of a glamor

I didn't get around  to discussing Diego Luna in my first reaction to the screening, but for an actor whom I admire greatly, I thought he was woefully miscast as Valentin. This is a character who grew from the mud and squalor of the slums into an impassioned revolutionary, but Diego just seemed so small and frankly effete. Plus he had neither the voice nor looks nor dance moves to pull off the matinee idol he's meant to play in the film-within-the-film. We really needed

‘Anything for him’ was absolutely thrilling on stage, I just can’t see the film working without it.

I agree completely, Rosscoe. That gap is exactly what I was referring to in condemning how Condon's script lamely lands the two men in bed together compared to the stage show.

Many of the missing songs do get glimpsed in different ways onscreen. Some become snatches of dialogue ("Dressing Them Up"), some are sung by background characte

We just caught the Academy screening in LA last night, followed by a terrific Q&A with Bill Condon, Lopez, Tonatiuh, plus DP, Prod Designer and Casting Director. 

First the fabulous: Jennifer Lopez is dazzling-- gorgeous legit voice, sparkling mid-Atlantic accent, great moves, stunning wearer of fashions (Colleen Atwood on the cheap). She embodies the full package of La Luna, which holds even more colors than the stage musical did. (For instance, a nod to the forced 5

In Mexico City in 2019, I saw an absolutely marvelous Spanish language production of HELLO DOLLY that recreated Gower Champion's staging to a tee. I also saw a LA CAGE AUX FOLLES staged by the same company that was absolutely appalling, so you just never know.

In Israel in 1971 HaBima staged a perfect facsimile of Broadway's THE ROTHSCHILDS in Hebrew that was spectacular, though I don't know if I would have been as entertained had they not reproduced John Bury's co