Category: Favorites Friday

Favorites Friday: Phantom of the Opera

On By cherylmahoneyIn Favorites Friday8 Comments

This seems to be the month for anniversaries.  Yesterday, January 26th, was the 24th anniversary of The Phantom of the Opera opening on Broadway.  Just recently they had the 25th anniversary in London.  And I’m using the Broadway anniversary as an excuse to examine probably more versions of the Phantom than you ever knew existed.  Indulge me just this once.  🙂

I’m fascinated by all the different versions, by how different people and different mediums can start with the same story and tell it so many different ways.  And how they all interpret the character of the Phantom differently–terrifying or romantic, heartbreaking or horrifying.  I have read or seen at least twelve versions of The Phantom of the Opera (which is why I’m mostly keeping this brief!)  I don’t regret even the bad ones, because I’m interested to see HOW they did it.  So here we go–in chronological order, because that’s how my brain works.

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (1909) is the original, and I don’t think he quite knew what he had.  It’s a pretty straight-forward monster story, and the Phantom is an almost irredeemable, terrifying figure.  He’s the most interesting one in the story, but still terrifying, and completely off his head.  It’s a good read, but don’t expect it to much resemble the Webber musical.  If you do read it, try to find the version edited by Leonard Wolf; it’s a particularly good translation and has some useful (and sometimes amusing) footnotes. Continue reading “Favorites Friday: Phantom of the Opera” →

Favorites Friday: Shakespeare Plays

On By cherylmahoneyIn Favorites Friday8 Comments

I’m a Shakespeare geek, and I own to that.  I was in Shakespeare Society in high school, and many of my best memories from high school involve the Bard.  So, today, my favorite Shakespeare plays:

Much Ado About Nothing

My favorite Shakespearean comedy, featuring my favorite Shakespearean couple, the ever-sparring Beatrice and Benedick.  The play is enormously funny, with plenty of serious undertones too.  It’s a great gateway Shakespeare play, far less intimidating than many of his others.  And I can recommend the Kenneth Branagh movie.

The Taming of the Shrew

Kate is, of course, a wonderful character, and I love the ambiguous ending–is she tamed?  Or not?  My favorite filmed version is the Broadway Theater Archive, which was universally known in the Shakespeare Society as “the shirtless Petruchio version.”  🙂  But it really is a wonderful example of how Shakespeare can be fun, active, raunchy, romantic, subtle, and so very, very far from the dry droning that people sometimes think Shakespeare is.

Othello

There’s something I like about the outcast character who the girl nevertheless falls for (it’s that Phantom of the Opera thing again) even if it all goes horribly awry in the end.  I’m fascinated by the character of Iago too–I think he’s more tragic than usually acknowledged.  I read Othello, and found the last act to be a page-turner.  Even if you do have to get past Desdemona talking, after being smothered.  I haven’t seen any filmed versions of Othello–any suggestions?

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

The four lovers lost in the forest is probably my favorite scene in all of Shakespeare.  Everyone fighting with everyone else, complete mayhem and confusion, and Puck dancing around through it all…Shakespeare at his most hilarious.  I’ve seen several movies…1935 and 1999 are both good.  If you want a bizarre trip, try the 1968 version, featuring Judi Dench, Helen Mirren and Ian Holm, when they were very young.  Judi Dench plays an entirely green, mostly nude Titania.  It’s all rather odd…

Hamlet

There’s something about the tragedy of the Prince of Denmark…I don’t know if it’s the endless quotable lines, the mix of tragedy and farce, the many retellings, or just that it was the first Shakespeare play I read and understood on my own, but somehow I love Hamlet.  I’m rather attached to the Branagh version (be warned, it’s four hours) and I also enjoyed the 2009 version with David Tennant (Hamlet) and Patrick Stewart (Claudius).  Did you know IMDB gives you 73 results for Hamlet?

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

And I can’t not mention the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s brilliant presentation of all the plays of Shakespeare: 37 plays in 97 minutes, with three men bouncing around the stage playing every role, and doing a convincing show of making it up as they go along.  It’s brilliant, it’s hilarious, and it will actually teach you quite a bit of Shakespeare.  You also will never again be able to take a number of Shakespeare lines seriously, but it’s a small price!

A Few Favorites for Friday the 13th

On By cherylmahoneyIn Favorites Friday8 Comments

It’s Friday the 13th today, which makes me want to do a post somehow connected to disaster, mayhem, superstition and scary events!  Trouble is, I don’t read horror, and I don’t watch it in movies either.  Silence of the Lambs is at the top of my list of Academy Award Best Picture winners to NOT see.  But there are three directors who deal in shadows that I do quite enjoy.

First, Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense.  And that’s the key–I like his suspense movies, where nothing really horrible is happening but the suggestion that it could works you up to a fever of anticipation.  His (possibly) two most famous movies I don’t actually like very much: in Psycho and The Birds, horrible things really do happen, making them horror, not suspense.  I prefer Rebecca, with the terrifyingly creepy Mrs. Danvers; and Suspicion, where Hitchcock plays it all so deftly that Cary Grant, carrying a glass of milk, becomes the most sinister thing imaginable (and really, what could seem more harmless than romantic lead and ever-charming Cary Grant, with milk?)

Second, Rod Serling, best known as the creator of The Twilight Zone.  He wasn’t actually a director,  but he did seem to have creative control.  He’s an inspiration as someone who told stories about strange creatures and other-worldly technology, ghosts and telekinesis, and made them about something.  The Twilight Zone had episodes that are funny, terrifying, clever, tragic and very often deeply philosophical and biting commentaries on society and humanity.

Third, Tim Burton, rounding out the group as a modern director.  I tend to meet Tim Burton where he intersects with Johnny Depp, but along the way I’ve seen a lot of his movies.  Some are fantastically bizarre and funny, like Alice in Wonderland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; others are genuinely scary, like Sleepy Hollow; some are touching, like Edward Scissorhands (just not literally!)  The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse-Bride are funny and mildly creepy at the same time.  Oddly enough, one of my favorites is Sweeney Todd, about the demon barber from Fleet Street.  He slits people’s throats, and then his partner in crime bakes them into meat pies.  Highly disturbing, yet there are also wildly funny parts, soaring songs, deep tragedy, and (you have been warned) a vast amount of blood.  It’s a cathartic experience–by the end of the movie, you’ve felt everything there is to feel.

So if you feel like something a little bit shadowy and more or less creepy for Friday the 13th, pick your poison…but don’t walk under any ladders!

Favorites Friday: Christmas Movies

On By cherylmahoneyIn Favorites Friday5 Comments

I’m a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas movies.  Mostly I like the old ones–the warm, fuzzy, Frank Capra-type movies.  I already wrote about Charlie Brown and George Bailey, so here are a few other favorites.

White Christmas – This is a fun story about two army buddies who make it big in show business after World War II.  One Christmas, they have to use their musical talents to help their former commanding officer–while wooing two beautiful sisters.  Starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney, this is full of musical numbers, including Bing’s signature song.  And I love the end scene with the reunited troops singing “We’ll Follow the Old Man” to the General.

Holiday Inn – Bing Crosby seems to be the king of Christmas movies.  In this one, he’s in show business with Fred Astaire, until he decides to start Holiday Inn: an inn only open on holidays.  The movie actually covers the entire year, and Fred and Bing do musical numbers for every major holiday, in between vying for the same girl.  This movie has worked its way into my brain, and I find myself quoting the most random lines.  If you ever hear me say something will be as easy as peeling a turtle, I don’t know what it means either, but Bing Crosby said it.

You Can’t Take It With You – As far as I know, no one but me has ever connected this movie to Christmas.  And Christmas actually isn’t in it at all, but the feeling is right.  Lately I’ve been watching this while I wrap Christmas presents.  Like It’s a Wonderful Life, it’s directed by Frank Capra, and repeats half the cast.  Lionel Barrymore stars in a role so different from Mr. Potter, I didn’t recognize him the first time I watched the movie.  He presides as the kindly patriarch of a blissfully cheery and decidedly kooky family where everyone does just as they like–writing plays, dancing ballet, or designing fireworks.  Barrymore’s granddaughter falls in love with Jimmy Stewart, who comes from an uptight, big business-type family, and when the families come together, lifestyles clash with funny results.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas – The old, animated Grinch is so fun with the rhymes and the song and the familiar animation.  I won’t claim it’s a work of great art, but it’s one of those cozily familiar Christmas movies.

Joyeux Noel – By far the most modern movie on my list, this is about soldiers in WWI.  In opposite trenches one Christmas, the Scottish and French troops begin talking to the German troops, and the end up spending the day together.  When Christmas is over and everything is supposed to be normal, they can’t bring themselves to fight each other.  My favorite part is shortly after Christmas–the Germans get the word that the opposite trench will be shelled, so they go over to warn them, and invite them to stay in their trench for a while.  After it’s over, the French point out that their artillery will probably retaliate, so the Germans had better come over to their trench.  It’s so ridiculous and so beautiful!

I know there’s lots of other Christmas movies–what should I add to the list?

Favorites Friday: Christmas Songs

On By cherylmahoneyIn Favorites Friday6 Comments

I have a complicated relationship with Christmas music.  I like my Christmas music–I have several CDs I enjoy putting on this time of year.  On the other hand, there are some standards that have been so played into the ground, I can’t listen to them.  I blame the radio stations.  I have nothing personal against Andy Williams, but hearing him sing “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” makes me want to scream.

But I do like some Christmas music, so I thought I’d highlight a few favorite songs.  Continue reading “Favorites Friday: Christmas Songs” →