Category: Film (Page 15 of 15)

Unfortunately I did not get to go to the Pasadena Playhouse and see the musical resurrection of the movie Mask. I only had one friend who was willing to go with me and then only with half-price tickets which were available but I was in France for most of the show’s run and then my friend had to go to New York during the last week of the run. So no cookies for me. Or "I Ride With Rocky" buttons which were allegedly available in the lobby.

I was curious to hear the new songs written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (who have done Barry Manilow songs I have loved before). The musical also promised to flesh out the story a bit more with a longer running time. Unfortunately, the reviews weren’t all that great.

Sean Mitchell of the LA Times made these points:

“When a play or musical derives from a popular movie, even one more than 20 years old, it is hard — if not impossible — to put the film out of your mind, certainly when staged within commuting distance of Hollywood.”

“Allen E. Read, a young actor with a wonderful, emotive tenor, makes Rocky every bit as vivid and touching as Stoltz did. In the other two roles, however, the actresses tend to remind us of how good Cher and Dern were on-screen.”

“The main set, by Robert Brill, provides a painterly evocation of the Southern California suburbs, with a hazy sky dominated by power lines, dark palms and the crests of the San Gabriels. It is humble Azusa, to be precise…”

“A biker clan revealed as an unexpected cradle of homespun values is a hard sell, but it’s the sort of transaction made possible through the wiles of Hollywood and musical theater.”

Mitchell actually liked the Mann and Weil music, but didn’t feel the cast pulled off the energy needed to perform them successfully. I was surprised to hear that the character Dozer had some lead vocals. Wasn’t he was mute in the film? He sings "Close to Heaven,"

“describing to Rocky the transcendent experience of cruising the Black Hills of South Dakota on the way to an annual bikers’ convention.” (Mitchell)

We can picture Cher there at that convention, no? Other songs include:

• "Look at Me" sung near those fun-house mirrors.
• "I Can’t" with Rusty singing about drug abuse. Mitchell describes this number interestingly as “her cathartic Act 2 explanation to the Tribe (during an intervention) that her drug abuse is all about enduring the tragedy of her misshapen son. And for some reason, she bestows on Rusty an intrusive Brooklyn accent.”
• "It’s a Beautiful World" sung at blind camp when Rocky teaches Diana about colors.
• "Planet Vulkturn" a song which Mitchell describes as “Rocky’s stoically defiant response to being rejected by Diana’s parents.”
• "Do It for Love" with Rocky singing about The Trojan War in history class.
• "A Woman So Beautiful" lovingly sung by Gar about Rusty.
• "Every Birth" which Mitchell says is “describing every mother’s hope for her newborn, slide projections reveal photographs of Rocky as a normal-looking adorable baby, followed by clinical pictures of his later, slowly emerging freakishness. Ouch. Try adding music to that.”

Overall Mitchell felt the musical was too long, a bit mawkish and not cohesive enough, even though the book was written by the screenwriter, Anna Hamilton Phelan, and the film’s makeup man Michael Westmore was also involved but couldn’t “rescue this overwrought idea from itself.”

Full review: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-mask24mar24,0,7180256.story

Another review on Blogcritics written by Robert Machray described the original film this way:

“The tearjerker was a highly successful vehicle for Eric Stoltz, Laura Dern, and the inimitable Cher.”

Inimitable. I love it. It means not capable of being imitated.

He goes on to say,

“Despite the fact that the story was based on real people, it was not the easiest movie to sit through despite its stellar cast and uplifting message. Add music to the mix, and believability is stretched too far.”

Like Mitchell, Machray likes the bike anthem “Look At Me” and “Planet Volturn” (these two reviews spell it differently…I always thought Cher was saying Planet Voltron, myself). But overall Machray says,

“The problem is that several of the numbers are delivered down center, as in a concert, doing nothing to further the action and serving only to tell us more about the character. This can make the show drag, especially at its staggering two hour and 45 minute length. The acting is also a mixed bag. While the principals are all quite good, the chorus is often, well, chorusy. The scenes in the classroom are quite obnoxious…”

However,

“The sets by Robert Brill evoke California’s gorgeous sky, power lines, palm trees, and the San Gabriel Mountains.

Living in LA, I would have loved to have seen their depictions of the Inland Empire, which is the main thing that struck me after watching the movie Mask for the first time after moving here.

Full review: http://blogcritics.org/archives/2008/03/27/122433.php

The run ended on April 13 and wasn’t extended. Of Mice and Men is playing there in a few days.

  Because last week we did so many 60s and turn-of-the-70s Cher clips, I wanted to post a mid-80s piece to be refreshing, specifically one of the scenes cut from the movie Mask: Cher and Eric Stoltz singing a duet. Another Cher duet, can you believe it? No wonder the paparazzi thought they were dating.  Unfortunately the clip was removed “for user violations” from that meany-poo video website that shall not be named.

We’ll have to drown our sorrows with these:

• a news clip after Cher’s award win at Cannes
• And the Siskel & Ebert review of Mask. Look at their outfits! I love it when Ebert exclaims about Cher: “where did she come from! She was a has-been singer and now suddenly she’s one of our best dramatic actresses!” and then Siskel says “and picking interesting projects” and Ebert agrees. Amazing encapsulation of her success at the time, and interestingly what is so frustrating about the last two or three movies, they’re not as interesting as those first five or six. You get the feeling that Cher agreed to do those more heavy stories because she felt she had no choices. Then, when she did have more clout to choose, she picked stories the rest of us don’t find so compelling.

  Another interesting point Siskel and Ebert make is how the movie broke down each of their guards against “heart-wrenching movies.” Testament to the movie’s restraint, surely. I’d argue it’s Cher best movie; although her performance in Jimmy Dean might top it. However, that movie’s story had structural challenges. Read more elaborate movie reviews on Cher Scholar.

  There’s also a very passionate argument against the marketing strategy for this movie, an argument made by Siskel, specifically the strategy of not showing Rocky’s face in the trailers. What are your thoughts about it?
     

So it seems Mask has gone Broadway like Witches of Eastwick and become a musical. Except not on Broadway, at the Pasadena Playhouse. I don’t have high hopes though. I saw a terrible California-ized Shakespearean play there a few years ago.

Tickets range from $48 to $66 and previews start March 12 with the official opening set for March 21 through April 20. For more information call (626) 356-PLAY or visit www.Pasadenaplayhouse.org.

But alas…I could be wrong. The music was written by our friends Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. They wrote "Holy Smoke," as you remember from my previous blog.  And other Cher tunes of the late 70s, as well as the 60s hit "You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling" and the 80s hit  "Somewhere Out There."

Anna Hamilton Phelan, who as you know did the Mask screenplay, is involved again in this project. Did you know she also did the scripts for Gorillas in the Mist and  Girl Interrupted. Tony-Award winner Richard Maltby (creator of Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Fosse, and the co-creator of Miss Saigon) directs.

Playbill On-Line has more info: http://news.yahoo.com/s/playbill/20080222/en_playbill/115299

…including this good quote from Phelan (from the production notes):

"When I was researching the screenplay for ‘Mask,’ I entered the world of The Tribe. After the  release of the movie in 1985 I remained friends with them, especially Rusty. As the years passed Rusty became more open about her feelings, especially about being Rocky’s mother. When I told her I was going to tell the story again, but this time as a musical play, she was thrilled. My subsequent visits with her in her trailer in Azusa unearthed a treasure of rich material as she continued to share her memories with me. I also learned that biker clubs as far away as Missouri had ‘adopted’ Rocky as a kind of mascot. Some had his initials painted on their bikes.

"The last time I spoke to Rusty was a few weeks before she died in October 2006 at the age of 70. She was driving her chopped, three-wheeled motorcycle to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. One of the back tires fell off, she was thrown and hit a curb. I’m sure she was saying to herself, ‘What a bitchin’ way to go!’

"I regret she won’t be in the front row at the opening as we had planned, but I know she would have been grateful, as I am, to the Pasadena Playhouse for giving me the opportunity to tell this story a second time”

So maybe there will be more insight now with an expanded story.