Baron Dave Romm
Mary Poppins: The Play
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
Revivals, reimaginings and updating
The new Star Trek movie: Fun, but not Star Trek. JJ Abrams took everything that was memorable and mythic about the original series and reduced it to sex and explosions. This will work, of course. Descending to Lowest Common Demominator is a time-honored technique. Throw in a few iconic lines and drop a few names; no one will care much that you're thrown away the reason that the universe has been around for forty years.
Battlestar Galactica: The mini-series pilot was great, and it was all downhill from there. The original series is not remembered all that fondly by most (including me). The new series relied on the basic outline of the old show, and started to go astray when they had to explore new territory. The last season, certainly the last half-season, is one of the worst things ever. Tight, dark and well produced, but self-referential and self-indulgent. It made no sense whatsoever and threw away almost everything they had built up to.
Rebooting James Bond has produced one good movie and one lousy movie. Casino Royale is one of the better seried entries. Tough and snappy, it managed to maintain the stark contrast between good and evil of the cold-war Bond films while refusing to let the characters be stereotyped. Then Quantum of Solace throws it all away.
Other examples abound. Sequels, prequels and updates: Sometimes they work, mostly they don't. They are invariably compared to the original and rarely are then compared favorably.
Mary Poppins
And then there's Marry Poppins. The stories were popular in the 1930s and became a series of books. The 1964 Disney Mary Poppins movie, as I've written about before, is my favorite musical and the ultimate Boomer movie. The 2004 Broadway play has two major advantages over other attempts at reimagining: The PL Travers novels contain a great many more stories than were used in the Disney movie, and the Disney movie has iconic images and songs to work with.
I saw the play here in Mpls, with several of the major leads recreating their roles in London and/or New York. The acting and singing are wonderful. While Bert's accent is less over-the-top cockney than Dick van Dyke's, Mary is still Julie Andrews. The kids have a larger role in the stage play, and they rise to the occasion. No one can quite match David Thomlinson's Mr. Banks, but he's good. (Sorry for not looking up the actor's names; they didn't mean anything to me.)
One of the people in our group had seen the play on Broadway, and compared productions. The major difference is the traveling set vs. buidling scenery for a dedicated staging. A lot of the fun, for me, anyway, was watching how all the scene changes work. The play moves really quickly, especially in the beginning. The pacing seems too fast for Edwarding England, but does serve to get us past the movie and into the characters.
I read the PL Travers books, or some of the ones that were out at the time, right after seeing the movie in its initial release in 1964. My nine-year-old self was not impressed. Of that kind of literature, which we might now call Magical Realism or simply Young Adult, I preferred Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and Pippi Longstocking. But even they were mainly read because there wasn't that much good stuff for kids my age. Now, kids have Harry Potter. My faves at the time were Encyclopedia Brown and, eventually, Edward Eager. (Half Magic may still be my second favorite fantasy book, after LotR.) Since, there have been more Mary Poppins books, and updates of the old ones.
The Mary Poppins play draws on more of the adventures in the books, and tosses some used in the movie. As much as I love the movie, I can't fault them for their choices. Some sequences works spectacularly well in Disney animatronics or animation. Meanwhile, sloughing over the racial stereotypes from the 1930s, the play includes people of color! Indeed, the rushed play wasn't capturing the audience until the completely rebooted "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" number. From then on, the play works.
The books have no story arc. The first three have Mary Poppins (never just "Mary") arrive, go through a series of adventures, then leave. The next five don't even have the framing device. The Disney movie, as I wrote, is for Baby Boomers. The theme is "what it means to be a father". The play's theme is "what it means to be a family". On one hand, it's good that Mrs. Banks and Jane have more significant thematic opportunities, and we get to explore a little of what made Mr. Banks such an anal retentive fussbudget. On the other hand, the structure of the play suffers.
In the movie, "The Life I Lead" carries the theme. Mr. Banks sings about "a British bank is run with precision, a British home requires nothing less" which is echoed in "A British Bank" and then in the critical fulcrum of the movie, where Bert consoles Mr. Banks in "A Man Had Dreams":Mary Poppins is still running on Broadway and there are a number of touring companies. Highly recommended, with a few caveats: If you loved the movie but don't mind some wiggle room in a production forty years later, you will love the play. If you enjoy musical theater, the staging, costumes, singing, dancing and production are marvelous. Don't go if none of these things appeal to you or (heaven forbid) you didn't like the movie.
The very dated Mary Poppins franchise was revived after the 1964 movie, and eventually the ethnic stereotypes were watered down. The play may not get kids tossing Harry for Mary, but should keep some imaginative children's stories around for longer.
Should the GOP survive? pt 2 and other very short takes
Pottymouth Joe Wilson had his Macaca Moment, where rudeness and boneheaded stupidity raising a great deal of money for his challenger. Will this make a difference in the next election? Who knows. But it has given me a new rhetorical technique. Whenever a right winger is droning on about politics, I can should "You lie!" and they can't legitimately complain. (They'll complain, but I will just laugh.)
I used to watch King of the Hill regularly. But with Trivia on Sundays and football screwing around with the tv schedule, it fell off my attempts at recording. Yesterday as you read this (9/13/09) is the series finale. Okay, time to see the whole series on Netflix.
I regularly keep track of Heartland Perverts, those on the right who insist that others conform to some sphincter conservative pseudo-morality... that doesn't apply to them. See Baron Dave's March 23, 2009 column and others. The right's moral relativism would be amusing if it didn't hurt so many innocents. I keep putting off a longer column catching up, but the list keeps growing. You probably know more. Feel free to send me examples (with links) of sex scandals involving Holier Than Thou politicians (doesn't have to be goppies).
And lastly: The Vikings won! Journeyman Brett Favre, on his third team in as many years, had an adequate performance. The defense looked porous and the front line was hardly dominant. But good plays abounded and Adrian Peterson had a great day without any real flash. Not an impressive win against a poor team, but a win nonetheless and they showed some oomph.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog maintains a Facebook Page, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Rebecca Liss: An Unlikely Hero (slate.com)
The Marine who found two WTC survivors.
Rosanna Greenstreet: "Q&A: Thomas Keneally" (guardian.co.uk)
Q: How often do you have sex?
A: Need I explain that all Australian men between 18 and 80 have sex at least twice a night? We are, however, confused by the total amnesia women harbour about this statistic.
Q&A: Michael Palin (guardian.co.uk)
Q: What is the worst thing anyone's said to you?
A: "Be funny."
Massive Attack: 'Phantom funk? Who said that?' (guardian.co.uk)
Sometimes the spliffs cause Massive Attack to forget what they've said in the past. But they say the gap between albums is the result of too much work, not too many drugs, writes Alexis Petridis.
Interview by Nosheen Iqbal: "Michael Ball: 'I really am a bit odd'" (guardian.co.uk)
The musical megastar on his 25 years in the business, superstitions and unlikely cover versions.
Interview with Gunnar Nelson (thecelebritycafe.com)
Music has always been a part of the Nelson brother's life. Gunnar and his twin brother Matthew are the sons of Ricky Nelson. NELSON has sold over 4 million albums world wide and is still continuing to make music. TheCelebrityCafe's Stephanie DeLuca spoke with Gunnar Nelson about his upcoming projects.
Lawanda Johnson: Interview with Thom Bierdz (thecelebritycafe.com)
Thom Bierdz plays Phillip Chancellor III on 'The Young And The Restless.' He is also an accomplished artist (considered the next Andy Warhol by IN magazine) and is the author of 'Forgiving Troy.' TheCelebrityCafe.com's Lawanda Johnson spoke with Thom about his life on and off screen, his art, and coping with the murder of his mother.
'Does nobody ever believe anything I do?' (guardian.co.uk)
'It's Alan Bennett and I behind glass in some forgotten old cupboard - I don't like it at all' Dame Judi Dench tells Kira Cochrane what she really thinks about being a national treasure.
Chuck Barney: Could Jay Leno kill TV drama? (Contra Costa Times)
Jay Leno seems like a nice enough guy. Hard worker. Warm personality. He's even amusing on occasion. So why, then, am I rooting for him to fail?
Tom Alderman: "Vampires: Why Here, Why Now?" (huffingtonpost.com)
If fiction often reflects a nation's culture, why, oh-why-oh, do we have so many vampires, in so many places, sucking up so many entertainment dollars with such blazing success today?
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'So Says Michael' Edition
Capitalism is evil. That is the conclusion U.S. documentary maker Michael Moore comes to in his latest movie "Capitalism: A Love Story," which premiered at the Venice film festival Sunday.
Do you agree with his assessment? (No need to respond, SallyP(al), we KNOW what you think!... Well, OK, go ahead... But, try keeping it to no more than novella length, eh? LOL...)
Send your response to
Results tomorrow
wrote:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Check out
Link from RJ
The Pygmy Goat
Hi there - no posts recently - busy time at work!
Finally this one for you to take a look at!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, but much cooler. And I'm not complaining.
Set To Be Released
Muntazer al-Zaidi
Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi reporter who became famous worldwide when he threw his shoes at then U.S. resident George W. Bush, is thought likely to get a hero's welcome if he is freed from jail, as expected, on Monday.
In December 2008 Zaidi's actions toward Bush during the president's farewell visit to Baghdad captured many Iraqis' feelings of resentment following more than six years of bloodshed triggered by the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Condemned by the Iraqi government for his "barbaric act" during the news conference Bush held with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Zaidi was sentenced to three years in jail for assaulting a visiting head of state. The jail term was later reduced, and Zaidi's family expects his release on Monday.
Millions of people across the world have watched Zaidi hurl his shoes at Bush and call the man who started the war in Iraq a "dog," both great insults in the Middle East.
At the start of his trial in February, Zaidi said Bush's smile as he talked about achievements in Iraq had made him think of "the killing of more than a million Iraqis, the disrespect for the sanctity of mosques and houses, the rapes of women."
Muntazer al-Zaidi
Wants To Adopt
Elton John
Look out, Madonna and Angelina Jolie - pop star Elton John has decided he wants to join the ranks of A-list celebrities with adopted children.
But it's not clear if John, 62, will be able to adopt, and the Rocket Man star has not yet started formal proceedings, which are often long and complicated.
John and longtime partner David Furnish are interested in trying to adopt a Ukrainian toddler named Lev they met during an orphanage tour there.
The singer told reporters in Ukraine on Saturday that Furnish has long wanted to adopt a child but that he was reluctant until he met Lev at an orphanage where many of the children's parents have died from AIDS.
Elton John
Tops UK Charts At 92
Dame Vera Lynn
The Forces' Sweetheart has trumped the Fab Four in a battle for the top of the charts, as Dame Vera Lynn becomes the oldest living artist in the world to have a number one album.
Dame Vera's debut offering, We'll Meet Again - The Very Best of Vera Lynn, hit the top spot, meaning the 92-year-old has now usurped Bob Dylan as the oldest artist to grace the premium position.
Her album outsold artists including the Arctic Monkeys, Jamie T and The Kings of Leon, as well as The Beatles' much-hyped remastered editions.
It is 70 years to the month since Dame Vera, who was then 22, visited the Decca studios and first recorded We'll Meet Again, in 1939.
Dame Vera Lynn
Stiff Upper Lip
Queen Mother
Britain's late queen Elizabeth the queen mother revealed in a letter published on Sunday how she and her husband king George VI came close to being killed during World War II in a German bombing raid.
The bomb exploded in the grounds of Buckingham Palace and three servants were injured in the attack, the queen wrote to her mother-in-law.
The king and queen refused to leave Britain during the war, against Foreign Office advice, a move that won them affection across the country.
The letter, dated 13 September, 1940 and published in several British newspapers Sunday, was released by Buckingham Palace ahead of the publication this week of the first official biography of queen Elizabeth.
Queen Mother
Italy Grapples With Sex Abuse
Priests
It happened night after night, the deaf man said, sometimes in the priest's bedroom, sometimes in the bathroom, even in the confessional.
When he was a young boy at a Catholic-run institute for the deaf, Alessandro Vantini said, priests sodomized him so relentlessly he came to feel "as if I were dead." This year, he and dozens of other former students did something highly unusual for Italy: They went public with claims they were forced to perform sex acts with priests.
For decades, a culture of silence has surrounded priest abuse in Italy, where surveys show the church is considered one of the country's most respected institutions. Now, in the Vatican's backyard, a movement to air and root out abusive priests is slowly and fitfully taking hold.
The implications of priest abuse loom large in Italy: with its 50,850 priests in a nation of 60 million, Italy counts more priests than all of South America or Africa. In the United States - where the Vatican counts 44,700 priests in a nation of 300 million - more than 4,000 Catholic clergy have been accused of molesting minors since 1950.
The Italian cases follow much the same pattern as the U.S. and Irish scandals: Italian prelates often preyed on poor, physically or mentally disabled, or drug-addicted youths entrusted to their care. The deaf students' speech impairments, for example, made the priests' admonition "never to tell" all the more easy to enforce.
Priests
Fears Restitution Of Stolen Vermeer
Kunsthistorisches Museum
Three years after a Vienna museum had to restore five Klimt paintings stolen by the Nazis to their Jewish owners, the city's art museum is fearing the same fate for a piece by Vermeer.
Austria's culture ministry admitted last weekend that it had received a request for the restitution of "The Art of Painting" by 17th-century Flemish artist Johannes Vermeer, which has been on display at the Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM) since 1946.
The painting was bought in 1940 by Adolf Hitler himself for his planned Fuehrer's Museum in the northern Austrian city of Linz.
The painting, which had belonged to the Czernin family since the 19th century, was officially sold to Hitler in 1940 by Jaromir Czernin for 1.65 million Reichsmark.
Kunsthistorisches Museum
Disney World Facelift
Fantasyland
Disney executives are planning the largest expansion in the history of Walt Disney World in central Florida.
The development will nearly double the size of Fantasyland and include a new, lavish ride based on the Little Mermaid. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo made the announcement Saturday.
Disney also plans to update Star Tours, the Star Wars-themed ride in Disney's Hollywood Studios. It will debut in 2011. The Fantasyland overhaul will be complete by 2013. Disney declined to say how much it will spend on the projects.
Disney's parks contribute about a third of the giant entertainment company's revenue.
Fantasyland
Most Likely to Graduate
High School Students
Parents: Stop fretting so much about which high school your youngsters attend or how they score on the SATs. If you want your student to make it to a bachelor's degree, it's far more important for him or her to earn at least B's in high school and reach for the best possible college. Oh, and saving a few thousand bucks by sending your kid to a community college could turn out to be an expensive mistake.
In the new "Crossing the Finish Line," William Bowen, a former president of Princeton University, argues that so many undergrads are dropping out (44 percent) that the country is in danger of losing its competitive edge to other nations.
He and coauthor Michael McPherson, former president of Macalester College, warn that America is likely to fall even further behind in the educational race because coming crops of high schoolers are filled with the kinds of low-income and minority students who tend to have the least educational success. In fact, despite billions of dollars in financial aid and scores of government and private efforts, the college graduation rate for low-income Americans who are the first in their families to go to college has been falling. "We're not doing as good a job as we should of creating genuine opportunity. We haven't continued to make progress the way other places have," Bowen said in an interview.
High School Students
Weekend Box Office
'I Can Do Bad All By Myself'
Being bad is good for Tyler Perry, whose latest movie, "I Can Do Bad All By Myself," opened at the top of the box office this weekend with more than $24 million.
It's Perry's second film this year to open at No. 1. In February, "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail" debuted at the top spot with $41 million, which stands as the biggest opening of his eight films.
Coming in second was the dark, animated "9" from Focus Features, which made $10.9 million this weekend, according to Sunday estimates. Since its Wednesday opening - on 9-9-09 - the movie has made about $15.3 million. The voice cast includes Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Christopher Plummer and Jennifer Connelly as hand-stitched dolls who represent the last vestige of humanity after a war between man and machine.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Tuesday.
1. "Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself," $24.03 million.
2. "9," $10.9 million.
3. "Inglourious Basterds," $6.5 million.
4. "All About Steve," $5.8 million.
5. "The Final Destination," $5.5 million.
6. "Sorority Row," $5.3 million.
7. "Whiteout," $5.1 million.
8. "District 9," $3.6 million.
9. "Julie & Julia," $3.3 million.
10. "Gamer," $3.15 million.
'I Can Do Bad All By Myself'
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