I saw a matinee of
Gypsy yesterday with my mother. Patti
Lupone. She was amazing, but kind of underwhelming; her voice isn't as layered and lovely as it once was. But it was incredible, incredible performance.
Gypsy seems
unique for a musical in that it is psychology complex, about unhappy, unsatisfied, dysfunctional relationships. In fact, much of the humorous moments or gags left me cold, seemed to be getting away from what is so gripping in the story. I felt that Patti
Lupone's Rose could have been slightly more unlikeable or something. Even though Louise kind of triumphed, Rose basically ruined her daughters. But I didn't feel pulled into the melodrama, felt distracted by the musical numbers and the hamming. Also, the sound quality was off -- it was kind of hard to hear a lot of the lines.
I watched Sidewalks of New York last weekend but forgot to post about it. It's really crap. Pretentious crap. Adopting a cinema verite style that made no logical sense, it follows a bunch of intertwined New Yorkers and explores their romantic relationships. It's very nothingish but tries to be deep and funny and it's just crap. I hated it.
I saw a matinee of Gypsy yesterday with my mother. Patti Lupone. She was amazing, but kind of underwhelming; her voice isn't as layered and lovely as it once was. But it was incredible, incredible performance.
I just finished reading this engrossing novel, Helpless by Barbara Gowdy, about a girl who is abducted. The novel explores the subjectivities of many of the characters and is well written and sensitive. I particularly liked the girlfriend of the abductor. However, the end was abrupt and seemed like a cop out.
Winged Migration wasn't easy for me to get into from my desktop. I think it would be better as a captive audience with the big screen. However, I'm really, really glad I watched it. It is incredibly beautiful, amazingly filmed. It follows all these different flocks of migrating birds and provides very little narration. You are just watching birds fly. And it's incredible. They are so fascinating and intense. The cinematography was really awe-inspiring. No special effects were used and the whole thing seemed kind of fake because it was so other-worldly and surreal. There were some sad narrative moments, too, when birds got caught in sludge or were shot down by hunters.