PPAC's 2010-2011 season

The Providence Performing Arts Center has announced its 2010-2011 season and I think it's a pretty strong one. It's also a milestone for me - I've seen every show. Here's the lineup:

Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Nov. 12-28

South Pacific, Dec. 7-12

Mamma Mia!, Dec. 28-Jan. 2

In the Heights, Jan. 11-16, 2011

The Lion King, Feb. 1-20, 2011

Blue Man Group, March 4-6, 2011

Next to Normal, March 22-27, 2011

Monty Python's Spamalot, April 15-17, 2011

West Side Story, April 25-May 1, 2011

Things kick off - literally - in November with the Rockettes in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, which I saw in New York in 2008. It's a great show with some truly spectacular segments featuring those high-stepping dancers. And it'll definitely get you in the Christmas spirit. Here's my review.

Also on the PPAC schedule for next season are five musicals I really enjoyed on Broadway - South Pacific, In the Heights, The Lion King, Next to Normal and West Side Story. I can't say what the touring productions will be like but they're shows I'd see.

Honestly, I'm less enthused about Spamalot, Mamma Mia! and Blue Man Group.

The first two have stopped in Providence fairly recently. Mamma Mia! is a fun musical and I had a good time seeing it on Broadway. I was less enthused about Spamalot when I took in the tour at PPAC in 2008. And I saw Blue Man Group in Boston years ago. Different, but once was enough for me!

Of course South Pacific, West Side Story and The Lion King are classics that probably don't need an introduction from me. But theatergoers in Southern New England might not be as familiar with In the Heights and Next to Normal.

In the Heights, the 2008 Tony winner for Best Musical, refers to Washington Heights, a neighborhood at the northern end of Manhattan that's a Latino melting pot.

It's a sweet and heartfelt look at an immigrant community's hopes and dreams. I loved the choreography and the score that combines hip-hop and salsa with more traditional Broadway sounds.

Next to Normal is something so rare on Broadway, an original musical about a complex subject - a woman suffering from mental illness and the effect it has on her family.

People are divided on it but I gained a greater understanding of the devastating impact of mental illness and how difficult it is to treat. Plus, the vibrant rock 'n' roll score conveys so well what each character is going through. Tough to watch at times, yes, but utterly compelling.

A Mamma Mia sing-along

A Mamma Mia! sing-along is coming to select theatres nationwide on Aug. 29. According to the Playbill article: The sing-along edition of the film will feature the lyrics to every musical number on the screen.

I know this type of thing has been done before with other movies, but I'm not usually interested in audience participation. I mean, the actors are getting paid plenty. Let them do all the work. My job is to sit back and enjoy. Plus, I just can't see myself going to a movie dressed up as a character from The Rocky Horror Picture Show or The Sound of Music. I'd rather be in my own clothes, thank-you very much.

I do remember going to a showing of Casablanca once where people in the audience would shout out the dialog along with Humphrey Bogart. (It was usually part of a double feature with Play It Again Sam, a line that, of course, we all know Bogart never uttered). Casablanca is my favorite movie of all time, so it was awesome. My second-favorite movie is The Graduate, and it would probably work just as well for that.

Anyway, I totally want to do this. Only it would have to be in a very packed movie theatre where my voice would be obscured in the crowd, because I can't sing. Not a note. In fact, I think I'm probably tone deaf. But it sure sounds like fun. No word on whether we'll be able to get out of our seats and dance, but I would be up for that, too!

Another one to mark on my movie calendar: From Sept. 24-28, the stage version of Rent will be broadcast at theatres nationwide. The Aug. 20 performance at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre is being filmed, along with the musical's final performance, on Sept. 7. You can sign up at The Hot Ticket to be notified when more information becomes available.

Rent, which opened on April 29, 1996, is closing on Broadway after more than 5,000 performances. I'd only seen the movie, but in January, I had a chance to see the show on tour.

Despite the passage of 12 years, and the advances made in treating HIV and AIDS, the poignant stories of people falling in love and struggling with illness give Rent a timeless quality. I found it very life-affirming and I'm glad I had a chance to see it on stage. And I'm glad the live-on-stage version is being preserved on film.

Mamma Mia!

Okay, I've got to say this up front: I really enjoyed Mamma Mia! It's not a great work of art, but hey, that's not the point for me. I went to be entertained and stay cool on a hot day. And Mamma Mia!, with those very catchy Abba songs, in a movie theatre with the air conditioning cranked way up, definitely fit the bill - on both counts.

Plus, Meryl Streep is my dancing queen. She does a split, slides down a railing and leads a Greek chorus (of real Greeks!) singing and dancing along a path to the sea, to the tune of the title song. The woman turned 59 last month and she's amazing.

I saw Mamma Mia! on Broadway last summer and I thought it was great fun, with lots of humor and moments of real poignancy. The Abba craze must have passed me by, because I wasn't all that familiar with the songs. But they're very addictive. My foot was tapping pretty much the entire time.

It's true, there's not a lot of dramatic tension, and the show's paper-thin plot becomes even thinner on the big screen. But somehow, by actually showing us the picturesque Greek island where the story takes place, Mamma Mia! the movie takes on more of a dreamy, fantasy-like quality than the stage version. So what if it doesn't make complete sense?

Streep plays former pop singer Donna Sheridan, a hotel owner who's raised her daughter Sophie by herself and pretty much given up on love. Sophie (a very sweet Amanda Seyfried), is about to get married to Sky (Dominic Cooper, whose main job when he's on screen is to be awfully cute). She invites three of her mother's former lovers, the suave architect Sam (Pierce Brosnan), button-down banker Harry (Colin Firth) and rugged adventurer Bill (Stellan Skarsgard) to the wedding, in hopes of figuring out which one is her father. Christine Baranski and Julie Walters add great comic touches as Streep's ex-bandmates. Lots of hilarity, singing and dancing ensues.

As much as I liked the movie, I did miss the energy level that you only get from being in a packed house and watching the performers live on stage. You simply don't feel as connected in a movie theatre, where the performers are on a giant screen, larger than life. It's more difficult to totally lose yourself in the action. Still, it was great to hear the songs performed in a vibrant surround sound, and my foot was tapping again.

I loved the way the big musical numbers, like "Mamma Mia," "Money, Money, Money" and "Does Your Mother Know," were staged. Yeah, they were kind of silly, but they got my adrenaline rushing. Just like I did when I saw the show on Broadway, I got a little teary at Seyfried's "I Have A Dream." On the other hand, Brosnan doesn't really have a great voice, which must be why director Phyllida Lloyd had the background music turned up really loud when he was singing.

And I thought some of the shots were gorgeous, like the lighted, winding path up to a church perched on a cliff for the wedding scene, and the way Streep is framed with the sea in the background during "The Winner Takes It All." She's achingly beautiful at that moment and I think she does a great job with the song.

In a summer of animated movies and superhero movies and action movies, it's nice to have a movie for those of us who move to the beat of a different cinematic drummer. My audience was a mix of ages, with lots of young girls. People were laughing and clapping and enjoying themselves. I was pretty much smiling the whole time.

I'm sure I'll be getting my very own copy of Mamma Mia! when it comes out on dvd. On a snowy winter evening or another hot summer day, I'll pop it in the dvd player, fast forward to my favorite parts, and smile again. Maybe, in the privacy of my own home, I'll even sing along. Sadly, I will not be doing a split.

Mamma mia - it's here!

Some cinematic observations:

I don't think I'll be going to see the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Maybe I'll catch up with it in a few months, when it comes out on DVD. Maybe. It just looks too intense and violent for me. Plus, I'm not really a comic book fan. And when I see Heath Ledger's scary, twisted face as The Joker it just makes me cringe. I know his final performance is getting tons of praise. But it seems unbearably sad to watch someone so young on the big screen who's recently passed away, and in such tragic circumstances - from an accidental drug overdose.

It's finally here! Mamma Mia! opens nationwide today! I will be going to see the summer 2008 entry in the revitalization of the movie musical. It's only going to be about 95 degrees this weekend. Is there a better way to spend a couple of hours than sitting an air-conditioned movie theatre and being transported to a Greek island - with fun ABBA tunes? Plus, I'm sure there'll be another terrific performance from a singing and dancing Meryl Streep, arguably America's greatest living actress.

In addition to musicals, I'm a huge documentary fan, and I just read about a new blog devoted to the genre called Docsider. It's written by Mark Rabinowitz, one of the founders of Indiewire, which provides news and networking on the subject of independent films. So far, Docsider has only a few posts, but as someone who likes to keep track of what's going on in the documentary world, including upcoming releases, it could be a great resource.

And finally, Marc Shaiman is pretty high up on my list of personal musical theatre gods. There's just something about the catchy pop tunes that he and Scott Wittman wrote for Hairspray, the way they captured America in the early 1960s, that I find irresistible. A few weeks ago I saw South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. It really was hilarious, a great satire, and I loved Marc's songs. So I'm happy to hear that he's writing the score for a new movie, Bob: The Musical, about a thirtysomething self-proclaimed musical theatre hater who wakes up one morning to find out that his whole life has become a musical. Sounds like fun!

Getting out my dancing shoes

It's a Broadway musical. No, it's a movie musical. Wait, it's a Broadway musical and a movie musical - at the same time! Last summer, it was Hairspray, and now Mamma Mia! gets a chance to make the transition to the big screen, while still playing on Broadway and just about everywhere else.

The movie Mamma Mia! doesn't open until July 18, but the soundtrack goes on sale today. If you want to join me in giddy anticipation, you can check out the Web site, watch clips, read interviews and put on your dancing shoes. Oh, and don't forget your bathing suit, a floppy hat and some sunscreen.

The film magazine Empire has a report from last week's British premiere. The movie's stars, including Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Julie Walters, Stellan Skarsgard, Dominic Cooper and Amanda Seyfried, were there. Christine Baranski was otherwise engaged on Broadway, in Boeing-Boeing. (Speaking of Broadway, I would absolutely love to see Meryl Streep on stage.)

For the uninitiated, Streep plays former pop singer Donna Sheridan, who owns a hotel on a Greek island. Her daughter Sophie (Seyfried), is about to get married to Sky (Cooper). Sophie invites three of her mother's former lovers (Brosnan, Firth and Skarsgard) to the wedding, in hopes of figuring out which one is her father. Baranski and Walters play Streep's ex-bandmates. The whole thing is set to songs by the 1970s Swedish pop group Abba. Got that?

Here's the lineup for next week's talk shows:

July 14 Pierce Brosnan, The Late Show with David Letterman
July 15, Colin Firth, Live with Regis and Kelly
July 15, Meryl Streep, The Late Show with David Letterman
July 16, Meryl Streep, Live with Regis and Kelly
July 16, Meryl Streep Late Night with Conan O'Brien
July 18, Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, The View
July 18, Pierce Brosnan, Live with Regis and Kelly

In this interview with The Guardian, Streep talks about singing, dancing and doing splits for her role. "I just did the splits on instinct. That's what always happens with my acting. As an actor, you're not allowed to think."

Streep's introduction to Mamma Mia! occurred when she took one of her daughters and some friends to see the Broadway musical a month after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"They walked in and they sat there with their heads in their hands,'' Streep said. "Dimmed is the word - they were sad all the time, you know? The first part was really wordy, and then Dancing Queen started up. And for the rest of the show they were dancing on their chairs and they were so, so happy. We all went out of the theatre floating on the air. I thought, 'What a gift to New York right now'."

The show, which opened in London in 1999, had its first Broadway preview at the Winter Garden Theatre on Oct. 5, 2001. Last week, it played to a capacity audience in New York of 101.5 percent, with an average ticket price of $74.77. I tried to find out how many productions are playing worldwide, and it's a lot. Too many for me to count on both hands.

Judy Craymer, the producer who brought Mamma Mia! to the stage, talks to the Times of London about the show's origins. She was 23 and working for Tim Rice on Chess when she met half of ABBA, and had a hunch that their songs would work in a musical. “It won over the cynics, and people who don’t see themselves as Abba fans. They enjoy the story and being taken on a fun journey to the Greek islands.”

A New York Times article notes that "with the worldwide success of the original show, the appealing and high-profile cast, and the international, multigenerational Abba fan base, Mamma Mia! would seem to have huge box-office potential." But despite the recent mini-surge of movie musicals, there have been hits (Chicago) and misses (The Producers).

As popular as the musical has been, I think the movie could improve on it by opening up the dance numbers and adding some breathtaking scenery to the mix. Hey, when it's 90 degrees outside, I could spend a couple of hours in an air-conditioned gigantiplex listening to some ABBA tunes and being whisked away to a sun-dappled Greek island.

Speaking of ABBA, the group's official Web site has a story about bringing Mamma Mia! to the big screen, and the reservations early on that a movie would cut into the show's audience.

“It used to be that one wouldn’t make a film until ‘the stage musical has had its run’,” said band member Bjorn Ulvaeus, “but that rule has been abandoned these days. There doesn’t seem to be a particular timing that is exactly right, but there is plenty of evidence that the stage version benefits from a film version, no matter what kind of business the latter does."

The four members of ABBA - Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog - attended the movie's premiere in Sweden. (By the way, Ulvaeus and Andersson have cameos).

Sadly, there's no chance of a reunion tour. "We will never appear on stage again," Ulvaeus told the Telegraph newsapaper. "There is simply no motivation to re-group. Money is not a factor and we would like people to remember us as we were, young, exuberant, full of energy and ambition."

Life after Mamma Mia!

I had a wonderful time in New York City last summer, and a highlight was my musical theatre marathon. I saw seven shows in five days, starting things off on a very lively, enjoyable note with a Saturday matinee of Mamma Mia!

Ok, it's not the most profound piece of musical theatre, and I can't imagine how parents explain the plot to their young children: "Mommy, why doesn't she know which man is her daddy?" But it's a lot of fun, it has great pop tunes, and I'm glad I went. (Besides, as I work toward my goal of seeing a show inside every Broadway theatre, I can cross the Winter Garden off my list.)

An actress named Carey Anderson played Sophie, the young woman who invites three of her mother's former lovers to her wedding on a Greek island, hoping to find out which one is her father. Anderson gave a really sweet and spirited performance, and I swear I was tearing up a little by the end. (Although the blond-haired Anderson looks nothing like the raven-haired woman in a wedding dress pictured on the gigantic marquee.)

Anderson left the cast of Mamma Mia! on June 1, and I've been wondering what she'd do next. She was replaced by Carrie Manolakos, who is making her Broadway debut after playing Sophie on the musical's national tour. Well, I was happy to read this morning that Anderson will be back on Broadway next week. She's joining the cast of Avenue Q starting July 8, playing the roles of Kate Monster and Lucy.

I have to admit, I haven't had a great desire to see Avenue Q, but hey, it's a long-running show, it's on Broadway, and it'll pay the bills. Plus, I think it would be interesting to see Anderson tackle another part. Now that I'm going to the theatre regularly, it's fun to compare and contrast my favorite performers as they take on new roles. And I'm hoping someday, she'll get to create a role of her own.

My summer movie preview

I used to subscribe to Entertainment Weekly, but the magazine seemed to get thinner the reviews and stories flimsier, so I gave it up. But I still buy it at least a couple times a year, for the all-important summer and fall movie preview issues. Some of the summer's most anticiapted, including Indiana Jones (May 22); Sex and the City (May 30); Get Smart (June 20); and Mamma Mia (July 18); are at the top of my list.

But I can always find something interesting in the movies that haven't gotten as much attention, or weren't even on my radar, the ones that get summarized in a sentence instead of a two-page spread. For example, I didn't realize that Emma Thompson was starring in a remake of Evelyn Waugh's 1945 novel Brideshead Revisited, scheduled for a July 25 release.

I loved the 1981 British series with Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews as two young men from different ends of the social scale who become friends at Oxford in the 1920s. It aired in the United States in 1982 as part of the PBS series Great Performances. I even visited Castle Howard, in Yorkshire, where much of it was filmed. Matthew Goode, who was in Match Point, and Ben Whishaw, from Perfume, play the roles in the new version. Thompson is Lady Marchmain, a role played by Claire Bloom in the original.

And it's directed by Julian Jarrold, who made the funny and warm-hearted Kinky Boots, about a drag queen, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, who helps save a troubled shoe factory. (I'm not doing justice to the plot, really. It's a great little movie).

I'm also looking forward to Diminished Capacity, scheduled to open on July 4. It's directed by Steppenwolf Theatre Company cofounder Terry Kinney. Here's the plot description: "A man, who suffers memory loss after getting hit on the head, takes a trip with his high school sweetheart and his Alzheimer's-addled uncle to a memorabilia show, as the group concocts a scheme to sell a rare baseball card." I love all road movies, and this one stars two actors I really like: Matthew Broderick and Alan Alda.

In addition to British movies and road movies, I'm also a big documentary fan, especially if they tell me something about people or places or events that I don't know much about. So I'm looking forward to Guy Maddin's offbeat, dreamlike portrait of his hometown, My Winnipeg (June13); Trumbo, about the blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (June 27); and Alex Gibney's Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (July 4). Gibney won the Oscar this year for Best Documentary for Taxi to the Dark Side.

Finally, I've always been a big Woody Allen fan. Annie Hall is one of my all-time favorite movies. Although my enthusiasm has waned over the past decade or so, I did like the two films he made in London, Match Point and Scoop. Maybe the change of scenery has been good for him. Now, he's moved on to Spain, and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Aug. 29), a romantic comedy with Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson about a painter who's involved with two American college students. The cast sounds great, and I'm willing to give it a try.

Empty seats

Chris Caggiano at Everything I Know I Learned from Musicals follows the Broadway box office the way baseball fans follow box scores, so I can count on him to keep me updated on the latest trends.

I was shocked to read on Chris' blog that attendance at my beloved Curtains fell below 50 percent last week. David Hyde Pierce playing in a half-filled theater? Oh the unfairness! What happened to the other half of the audience? Even more puzzling was the fact that the same week, Mamma Mia! played to nearly 70 percent capacity. Sounds like a case for the character he plays in Curtains, Boston police Lt. Frank Cioffi.

On one level, I guess I understand. As Chris points out, February is the cruelest month on Broadway. It's not a great month for tourism, and tourists fill most of the theater seats. Mamma Mia! has an international reach. It's played all over the world, so the story and music are more familiar to visitors who come from other countries.

I loved Mamma Mia! but Curtains stars Hyde Pierce in his Tony-winning role, and the show still has most of its terrific original cast. It's got a fun murder mystery plot, memorable characters, wonderful songs and great choreography. It deserves a bigger audience, even in the depths of winter.

So to get you in the mood, here's a sweet video interview of David Hyde Pierce answering questions from fans, including the one on everyone's mind: which musical would be the perfect vehicle for him and his Frasier costars Kelsey Grammer and John Mahoney?

Can't stop the musicals

This has been an especially great couple of years at the movies for fans of musical theater, starting with last winter's "Dreamgirls," then "Hairspray!" over the summer, and now, "Sweeney Todd."

While the cinematic version of "Sweeney Todd" is too intense for my tender sensibilities, there's no question that I'll be heading to my local multiplex on July 18 to see the next stage-to-screen production, "Mamma Mia!"

I've seen the trailer, (thanks to Chris for the link) and it's gotten me pretty excited. One of the things I liked about the movie version of "Hairspray" was the way director Adam Shankman opened up some of the numbers, like showing Nikki Blonsky's Tracy Turnblad making her way to school in "Good Morning Baltimore." He really brought the song to life. I'm hoping the same will happen with "Mamma Mia!"

I'm really looking forward to watching Meryl Streep, America's greatest living actress, singing and dancing on a sun-drenched Greek island - a perfect combination! Not to mention costars Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Julie Walters.

In the Telegraph, Charles Spencer has an interview with three of the creative forces behind "Mamma Mia!" Judy Craymer, the producer who had the idea of turning Abba's hits into a stage show, Catherine Johnson, the writer, and Phyllida Lloyd, the director.

Craymer talks about getting Meryl Streep for the movie: "She saw the show on Broadway and wrote us a fan letter saying what a great time she'd had. And it all happened rather fast. We spoke to her agent, her agent spoke to her, and apparently she said: "Mamma Mia!?? I AM Mamma Mia!?" and the next thing we knew, we were on a plane to see her, like over-excited teenagers."

Lloyd says that Streep threw herself into the project. "She told us she thought the role would really stretch her - it gave her a chance to be a singer, a rocker, a mother, and to use her looney-tunes farce skills."

And Johnson adds that she's pleased she got to keep the sole writing credit on the movie. She tells Spencer, "I kept expecting to be replaced at any moment by David Mamet or somebody."

I saw the stage version of "Mamma Mia!" at Broadway's Winter Garden Theatre in July and I had a great time. It was the first show in my sumertime musicals marathon - seven tuners in five days.

You know how sometimes a little snippet of music just pops into your head? Well, although I was never a huge ABBA fan, the songs have definitely stayed with me - every once in awhile I'll find myself humming a verse from "I Have A Dream," "Dancing Queen" or "Honey Honey."

"Mamma Mia!" is sweet and charming and funny with very likable characters. At the core of the story is the relationship between mom Donna Sheridan, a singer turned tavern owner played on Broadway by Carolee Carmello, and daughter Sophie, played by Carey Anderson. Sophie invites three of her mother's ex-flames to her wedding, in hopes of discovering which one is her father. Carmello and Anderson bring lots of energy heart to their roles.

(I have to say, though, that no one in the show looks like the dark-haired bride pictured on the original cast recording and posters).

And the show has had incredible staying power, spawning productions around the world. "Mamma Mia!" has played more than 2,500 performances since opening on Broadway on Oct. 18, 2001, and manages to fill nearly 90 percent of its seats every week - without resorting to stunt casting. It's one of those shows that appeals to theatergoers of all ages, and from what I could tell, all nationalities.

Although I do wonder how parents explain the plot to young children - a woman who invites three men, one of whom is likely her father, to her wedding. What happens when they ask, "Why doesn't she know which one is her daddy?"

Broadway's back

Ok, I've been reading all the stories about how Broadway has geared itself up, dusted itself off, gone over its lines one more time, and reopened after the 19-day stagehands' strike. The merchants, the actors, the crew, the fans are all back.

I found a couple of interesting tidbits from The New York Times:

This paragraph sounds hard to believe: As an aspiring actor and a practicing bartender at Smith Bar and Grill on Eighth Avenue, Daniel Cardona had dual cause to celebrate. The theatergoers who often duck into the bar for a quick drink during intermissions will be returning, he said. And, he added, “I’m going to go see a couple of shows myself now.”

I don't doubt that Mr. Cardona said, it but do people really leave the theater at intermission to go to a nearby bar and have a drink? I mean, there's not that much time. Can't they just have something at the bar in the theater or wait until afterward?

And from another Times story: producers deployed more than the normal number of people to the TKTS booth in Times Square answer questions. Among them: “Which is better, ‘Mamma Mia’ or ‘Hairspray’?”

I saw "Mamma Mia!" on Broadway in July, and I really enjoyed it. It's a lot of fun and the music is great. You'd definitely have a good time. I've only seen "Hairspray" on tour. Like "Mamma Mia!" it's fun and the music is wonderfully catchy.

But in my humble opinion, "Hairspray" simply has the better songs, the better story, the more interesting characters. Plus, it makes an important moment in American history come alive in such an engaging, joyous way that's not at all dry or preachy. So if you're trying to decide between the two, "Hairspray" is the one I would pick.

Also, I've noticed a lot of people have found this blog by searching for "The Farnsworth Invention" or "August: Osage County." Just in case ayone is trying to decide between the two, here's my two cents.

While I enjoyed "The Farnsworth Invention," again, there's no comparison. "August: Osage County" is amazing. It's so well written and well acted. You will recognize something of yourself and your family in it.

Sorry Aaron Sorkin, but Tracy Letts has written a witty, heartbreaking, true-to-life, searing portrait of an American family. "August: Osage County" is definitely the one to see.