March 2013 Archives

Choose your pronunciation: The French say "to-tehm"; we say "totem." Either or either way, Cirque du Soleil's Totem is its best show in years. After two seasons of Zarkana and straining to see what's on Radio City Music Hall's megastage [unless you were in the first 20 rows], Montreal's famous entertainment export is back through May 21 where it's best seen: under its yello et bleu [yellow and blue] chapiteaux [tent], in Wiletts Point, Queens - erected in a Citi Field parking lot.

There're no totem poles, but you won't miss 'em; however, there're lots of Indian connections [even skating Indians! Who knew?], bodies of faux water, and styles of world music ranging from Native American, and Asian Indian, to Brazilian Indian [who knew they invented the samba]. 

In over two years and a half since its Montreal premiere, Totem has toured Canada, the Netherlands, the U.K., and played numerous U.S. dates. It's a shame we're getting this production so late in the game, but it's been worth the wait.

Cirque had long been famous for its Felliniesque productions with all sorts of spectacular imagery. Even that never clouded what really makes CdS world popular and worth the $85-$115 tickets: great daredevil artists from around the globe. Totem, with its far-fetched theme, is also visually stunning; but not to the point of drowning you in it. And the acts, from the opening parallel bar routines on The Cage [resembling a turtle] to the edge-of-your-seat "Russian Bars" finale featuring 10 amazing acrobats, are no disappointment.

Totem is inspired "by many founding myths traces the journey of the human species from its original amphibian state through ancient civilizations to the ultimate desire to fly, exploring through a visual and acrobatic language the evolutionary ties ... that bind Man to other species, his dreams, and his infinite potential." And, yet, it's still quite entertaining!

Impressive highlights among the 11acts and clowns are: Eric Hernandez, decked out in Native American best, displays amazing dexterity with hoops while dancing. Marina and Svetlana Tsodikova are the Crystal Ladies, who "emerge from the fiery bowels of the earth," using hands and feet in impossible positions to spin squares of glittering cloth in coordinated high-speed motion. Pavel Saprykin contorts his body atop an hourglass while balancing on his hands.

Then, there are the five amazingly-poised Asian unicyclists juggling golden bowls to their and each others' heads in synchronized agility, never once losing their beaming smiles. Not to be outdone, and in quite the seductive sequence, Massimilliano Medini and Denise Garcia-Sorta, in knock-out Sunday-go-to-powwow attire, spin and whirl at heart-stopping speeds atop a tiny platform shaped like a tom-tom in just-invented roller skates [we have much more to be grateful to the first Americans for than maize].

Totem is under the artistic direction of Cirque du Soleil's Guy Laliberté and Gilles
Ste-Croix; and written and directed by theater/opera/film director, playwright, and actor Robert Lepage. Carl Fillian is "director of creation" [production design]. Kym Barrett [The Amazing Spider Man, The Matrix] did the brilliant costume design. Make-up is by Nathalie Simard. Visa is the tour presenting sponsor.

You can get to Totem by driving [$20 parking fee] and MTA Flushing Line Train 7 to Willets Point [weekend repair work require transfers from Manhattan to the 7 from Queens Plaza [E, M, R] or Queenboro Plaza [N,Q] or Jackson Heights/Roosevelt Avenue [E, F, M, R].

For Cirque du Soleil's Totem tickets and show schedules, visit www.cirquedusoleil.com/totem

For a video preview of Cirque du Soleil's Totem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7zVQNZA2rk

ONE DROP special event to be streamed

In celebration of March 22 World Water Day, ONE DROP, the non-profit organization established by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté, will present One Night for ONE DROP. Tonight's one-night-only performance in Las Vegas features more than 230 Cirque artists and guest performers. A 90-minute special will be available for online viewing at ONEDROP.org for seven days, March 25 - 31, with a donation of $5 or more to ONE DROP, whose mission is striving to ensure that clean water is accessible to all. For more information, go to www.onedrop.org.

L. Frank Baum wrote 14 Oz-inspired novels. The classic 1939 film classic, The Wizard of Oz, was only the tip of the iceberg. Director Sam Rami (Spider-Man trilogy) and an assemblage of wonderful cinema wizards went back to the beginning and the result is the reportedly $200-million 3D-fantastical adventure Oz: The Great and Powerful (Disney/Roth Films), a prequel exploring the backstory of how the Wizard became the Wizard. Leading the production team is award-winning producer and former studio chief Joe Roth.

The film, which opens today, boasts a stellar cast that includes Academy Award nominee James Franco (Oscar Diggs, the predestined Wizard); Golden Globe  nominee Mila Kunis (a jilted romance who gets her revenge as witch Theodora), Oscar-winner Rachel Weisz (Theodora's older sister and the evil Emerald City witch Evanora), and three-time Oscar-nominee Michelle Williams (Glinda, the good witch).

Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Zach Braff (Oscar's assistant Frank, a salute to Baum, back in Kansas). He quite overshadowed by the CGI character he voices in Oz, Finley, the winged monkey, a sort of extension of Oscar's conscience who guides him in his journey to become great and powerful. Finley's not the only scene stealer. There's teenager Joey King voicing the fragile porcelain animated China Girl; and little person Tony Cox as munchkin Hnuck.

"To be engaging," states director Sam Rami, "and be something fresh, we went back to the beginnings and researched Baum's adventures and multitude of characters. Once we chose our direction, we brought our chosen characters into one concise story. It's how the Wizard came to be. How he evolves from a smalltime carnival magician to how he uses his magic to save the fantasia world he'll reign over."

Franco saw Oscar and the Wizard as flawed. "He starts off a bit rakish. He's part

goofball, fumbler, con man, womanizer, and vaudeville performer. When he ends up in Oz, all of the issues he wrestled with in the real world are made more extreme. My goal was to make his transition from magician to hero wizard uplifting."

To learn his magic illusions, Franco studied for two weeks with Las Vegas premier magician Lance Burton.

Franco appears to be having a good time, but he rarely seems to be acting. One might wonder how the part would have been played had Johnny Depp accepted the role when approached.

It might be surprising to find such celebrated actresses as Weisz and Williams in a Disney fantasy. Williams is, as she should be, all blonde beauty and sweetness.  Weisz says, "I was thrilled I got to be the bad girl. Evanora is never named by Baum, so I had a lot of leeway. I played her as wicked as they come." Weisz succeeds not only being bad but also evil and has a blast eating every piece of scenery that's not nailed down.

Kunis, as the stylish, innocent, and good witch Theodora is the first to encounter Oscar as his balloon crash lands in Oz. She believes he is the prophesied wizard that will save Oz from the wrath of Glinda. Oscar's smitten head-over-heels, woos and romances her, then breaks her heart by deserting her. Hell hath no fury like a witch scorned, and Theodora transforms from sweet to dastardly.

She proved to be a game trouper when it came to her flying sequences, which

she chose to do instead of using a stunt double.  No matter how fast Kunis was "flown" in her cable rigging, she asked to go faster.

Production on Oz... took place over six months starting in July at Raleigh Michigan Studios in Pontiac, which once housed GM's business campus and truck design plant. Seven soundstages were required for the 30 massive sets.

"The world of Baum's 14-ook Oz series has different lands, seas, tropical locales, and impassable deserts," explains Raimi, "so it's no surprise the film was done on a tremendous scale. However, since Baum didn't never fully realize some of Oz's unique denizens, including the Wizard, a lot of imagination had to be used.

"It was my first time shooting digital 3-D," he continues, "and I liked it because it takes audiences deeper into Baum's fantastical world with a great sense of dimensionality. In the 18-minute prelude in 1905 Kansas, I shot black and white, using the old flat screen ratio and mono sound of movies in the 40s into the late 50s. The 3-D is especially effective inside the swirling tornado. As Oscar lands in Oz, I wanted to present a powerful experience for audience. The screen opens wide with 7.1 Dolby sound."

 
The list of visual and creative credits is several minutes long on the end crawl. Rami's band of wizards included hundreds of CGI artists, award-winning cinematographer Peter Deming, two-time Oscar winning production designer Robert Stromberg (Alice in Wonderland, Avatar), Oscar-winning editor Bob Murawski,  Oscar-winning special effects designer Scott Stokdyk (Spider-Man trilogy), and costume designers Gary Jones (Spider-Man 2) and Michael Kutsche (Thor, Alice in Wonderland).  The outstanding make-up artists are Greg Nicotero and Oscar-winner Howard Berger (The Chronicles of Narnia series). For the film score, Raimi reunited with four-time Oscar-nominated composer Danny Elfman, after their falling out during Spider-Man 2.

Baum's novels are now in public domain. However, because Warner Bros. owns the rights to iconic elements of the M-G-M classic, The Wizard of Oz, including use of the ruby slippers [worn by Judy Garland] and the depiction of the Yellow Brick Road. Rami wasn't able to use them, nor any character likenesses - for instance, any close depiction of the green Wicked Witch of the West, so memorably played by the late Margaret Hamilton. Instead of Glinda having an army of menacing flying monkeys, there's an army of ferocious flying baboons. Subtle changes had to be made to that famous road, too. 

Of course, there're always loopholes and the film jumps through quite a few. There's some heavy borrowing from The Wizard of Oz, which, in the scope of things, was hardly unavoidable. In a memorable reminder of the original film, this Oz opens with the B&W prologue; then as Oscar flies into Oz on his stolen hot air Baum Brothers Circus balloon, color explodes everywhere.

After the prelude, the first 15 minutes of the much too long two hour and 10 minute film are a stunning blast of color and captivating images and vistas. A majority the CGI works, though you never suspect it's anything but CGI.

The catch praise "Now and Forever" should have been reserved for Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera instead of his other record-breaking musical Cats, now the second longest- running show. POTO is celebrating quite a milestone: 25 years - and counting - on Broadway - and in one theatre, the Majestic.
    The record-breaking Silver Anniversary was hosted by co-producer Cameron Mackintosh and multiple Tony-winning director, the legendary Hal Prince [due to back surgery, Lloyd Webber only participated by video]. The gala hosted former Phantoms and Christines, as well as several hundred former cast members.
     A highlight was an encore of one of the show's most memorable songs, "Music of the Night" by four former Phantoms; and an appearance by the original Christine and a star of the London production of Cats, Sarah Brightman, who went on to great acclaim as a classical crossover recording artist. She was also a former Mrs. Andrew Lloyd Webber.
     With a show as spectacularly successful as POTO, savvy marketing is involved. The name Andrew Lloyd Webber, of course, is known now worldwide, but the production was a collaboration with lyricists Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe. The musical is based on a world classic, Gaston Leroux's novel Le Fantôme de L'Opéra, which has been adapted for the screen several times.
     The production, with the indelible stamp of the late Maria Björnson stunning production design and Gillian Lynne's musical staging and choreography, has been meticulously maintained. But, says Macintosh, "We really wanted it to shine for this momentous and unprecedented occasion, so a few days before the anniversary performance all of Maria's gorgeous costumes were delivered brand new for the next 25 years."
     Stepping into this history are current stars Hugh Panaro (an off-and-on Phantom since 1992), Samantha Hill (Christine), Kyle Barisich (Raoul), Michelle McConnell (Carlotta), and Marni Raa, who portrays Christine at certain performances. Panaro, long a Broadway veteran, calls his role "career defining."
     Not surprisingly, over the years, appearing together eight times a week has led to romance between cast members, behind-the-scenes crew, and pit musicians. One result is that there've been 17 weddings.
    The show has won more than 60 major theater awards, including seven 1988 Tony Awards (including Best Musical) and three London Olivier Awards. The original cast recording, with over 40 million copies sold worldwide, is the best-selling cast recording of all time.  
     Director Prince says, "More than all the accolades and awards we've received, I'm proudest of the fact that Phantom has been the largest single generator of income and jobs in Broadway and U.S. theatrical history. Salaries have paid for new homes, cars, and sending children to universities."
     There've been11 actors following in the footsteps of Broadway's original Phantom, Michael Crawford, who originated the role in London. Crawford was far from an unknown, but his name wasn't on the short list of actors to play the role. Brightman, then Mrs. Lloyd Webber, went to her vocal coach and heard Crawford ending his session. "We greeted each other," she relates. "I found Michael to be so charming and his voice mesmerizing. When I returned home, I said to Andrew, 'You really need to set up a meeting.'" He did!
      Over 300 Phantom masks have been custom-made for actors in the role. Current Phantom, Hugh Panaro, has the second highest number of performances, having played it over 1,900 times. As a warm-up, he played Raoul almost 1,000 times.  
      In addition to its unprecedented longevity, Phantom is also the most successful entertainment venture of all time, with worldwide revenues higher (in excess of $5.6-billion) than any film or stage play, including Titanic, Star Wars, and far surpassing the world's highest-grossing film Avatar ($2.8-billion).
     The London production of Phantom, which opened in 1986, celebrated 25 years in October 2011. POTO became the longest-running show in Broadway history on January 9, 2006 with its 7,486th performance. It surpassed previous record-holder,  Cats, also co-produced by Mackintosh. In fact, Mackintosh, who's also the producer of another worldwide smash Les Misérables, may be the most successful producer in show business history.
      It's already been seen by 130 million in 28 countries. Currently, there're productions in Budapest, Manila, Tokyo, and a national tour throughout the U.K. Another will soon be mounted in Seoul. Mackintosh will begin a U.S. tour of a redesigned production in November.
      The New York production cost a record $8-million in 1988.  To mount the same production today would cost $18- million. Over 375 actors have appeared in the New York production. In all, 125 cast, crew, orchestra members, and house personnel are involved in each performance.     
    The Paris Opera chandelier features 6,000 beads and weighs one ton. In 25 years, it's traveled 3,999,960 feet, about 757 miles. The original for London was built by five people in one month.
    The Phantom's boat has taken over 20,800 trips through the fog- and candelabra laden route to the depths below the opera house. There's over 7,700 yards of fabric in the array of moving curtains, which have to be maintained and cleaned regularly. The replica of the elephant in the opening sequence is life-size.
     Follow Phantom at www.PhantomBroadway.com and on Facebook and Twitter.