Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly are two women locked away for crimes of passion, who fight over the lawyer Billy Flynn. All of this, in one of the most sucessful Broadway musicals, written by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, starring Manuel Bandera, Natalia Millán and Marcela Paoli. From November 27th, in the Teatro Coliseum.

Tanta pasión han puesto en reproducir al milímetro la obra “Chicago” del compositor John Kander que asistirá por primera vez al estreno del musical de Broadway. John Kander, de 83 años y autor de trabajos como “Cabaret” o del tema “New York, New York”, ha sorprendido a todos con la noticia.

La adaptación española se estrenará en Madrid esta semana, el Jueves 26 de Noviembre, en el Teatro Coliseum y está dirigida por Gary Chryst, un coreógrafo de sobrada experiencia (ya ha montado 22 producciones del musical) que contará con la colaboración de Nigel West como director asociado.

Chryst ha querido resaltar que los creadores de la obra (Fred Ebb y Bob Fosse) estarían muy orgullosos y satisfechos del resultado de la versión española de la obra inspirada de los años 20. Lo cierto es que el estreno de la obra será todo un acontecimiento donde las expectativas son muy altas y los detalles se han intentado cuidar al máximo para obtener una reproducción lo más fiel posible.

El musical estará protagonizado por la madrileña Natalia Millán (actriz, bailarina y cantante), el malagueño Manuel Bandera (actor ganador del concurso Mira quien Baila) y Marcela Paoli (bailarina que tuvo presencia en “Delikatessen Haus” y que ya interpretó a la Roxie Hart de Chicago en 2001).

También contará con la presencia de la productora Stage, implicada en otros musicales como “La Bella y la Bestia”, “Mamma Mía!” o “Cabaret”. Una producción que coincide con el décimo aniversario de la empresa, así como con las celebraciones del centenario de la Gran Vía madrileña.

Una muestra de que Madrid está inmersa en los musicales y que bien puede ayudar al centenario de la Gran Vía para respaldar el apodo con el que muchos ya nombran a esta calle: el “Broadway madrileño”.

I bought some DVD’s the other day. One of them was the 1979 movie All That Jazz, directed by Bob Fosse (Sweet Charity, Cabaret, Lenny). The movie is Fosse’s semi-autobiographical story about a director/choreographer/dancer’s life and career. The film was inspired by a period from Fosse’s life, when he tried to edit his film “Lenny” while staging his 1975 Broadway musical “Chicago”. It’s the story of Joe Gideon, a chain-smoking, workaholic choreographer and theater director who sleeps with all of his dancers. He wakes up everyday with Vivaldi blasting through his cassette player. He has his daily dose of Visine, Alka-Seltzer and Dexedrine and heads to work. His lavish lifestyle is taking him to an early grave, and even though his daughter and ex-wife try to pull him back from the brink, it seems to be too late. Gideon is already flirting with the angel of death, played by Jessica Lange. His condition gets worse and is admitted to a hospital with a severe case of angina. Gideon is bedridden, but it doesn’t stop the cigarettes, women or champagne from flowing. Gideon is playing with death until a massive coronary stops everything. The backers for the broadway play that Gideon is directing have to decide what to do with the production. They realize that the only way they could make a profit with the play is if Gideon were to die and they could cash the million dollar insurance.

All That Jazz is a 1979 American musical film directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Robert Alan Aurthur and Fosse is a semi-autobiographical fantasy based on aspects of the dancer, choreographer, and director's life and career. The film was inspired by Fosse's manic effort to edit his film Lenny while simultaneously staging his 1975 Broadway musical Chicago.

I love musicals. That didn’t sound right… I like musicals that are good. Some are not, and I don’t like them at all. My wife thinks I’m completely gay for watching musicals. I think it’s a genre like any other, and a movie isn’t judged buy its genre, but whether it is good or not. All That Jazz featured an amazing performance from Roy Scheider, great dance scenes, cool 70’s camerawork and… –Well, I can’t think of anything at the moment, but overall a great movie. My rating is a solid 3 out of 5 stars. Maybe even 4 stars. Two thumbs up, if that’s any easier to interpret. Let’s call it 7/10 points and a must see for anyone who likes Roy Scheider or musicals.

Jennifer Lopez as Jennifer Beals as Alex Owens; image courtesy of vh1.com

After last night’s assessment of Nine, I’ve still got screen musical adaptations on the brain tonight. So I thought I’d draw our attention to one more, and add music video that references screen musical stars from the genre’s golden era, and another that recreates an 80s blockbuster many believe to be a screen musical of sorts (and whose protagonist shares a version of my namesake).

If you want to note that all three of the artists are women of color and international pop sensations praised for their dancing and maligned for their limited vocal ranges, gold stars for you. If you want to weep over the slurred, siliconed mess Paula has become and hope that Glee does an all-Janet episode, shake your fists at FOX. If you want to posit what it means that these movies seem to have influenced the performers and may tap into their dance training and on-screen personae, let’s chat in the comments section.

First up is an oldie but a goodie from my youth. While I hadn’t seen Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz when Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted” started its rotation on MTV, it’s pretty clear that its takes its from the movie’s ”Take Off With Us” section. As if the direct mention wasn’t enough in the clip’s introduction, let’s compare the two. Warning: contents hot, and sexy.

Paula Abdul
“Cold Hearted”
Forever Your Girl
Directed by David Fincher

And here’s the source material, created by a director and choreographer who seems to have gotten women like Abdul, Madonna, and The Pussycat Dolls dancing (the last act going so far as to take cues from Sweet Charity’s “Hey Big Spender“ for “Buttons“). Also, something tells me warm nuts are served on this plane. (Rimshot) Acid probably is too.

The next one is also from my youth, released at around the same time from a woman whose early video work Abdul choreographed. Janet Jackson’s “Alright” is an homage to the film musicals of Cyd Charisse, the Nicholas Brothers, and Cab Calloway. I especially love Janet in a zoot suit. Click on Ms. Jackson’s name and enjoy.

Janet Jackson
“Alright”
Rhythm Nation 1814
Directed by Julien Temple

And here are the pop star’s and music videos’ influences. The first one comes from Singin’ in the Rain, while the second one is from Stormy Weather.

Finally, we have a clip from former In Living Color fly girl and Jackson back-up dancer who makes an appearance in “That’s The Way Love Goes.” Jennifer Lopez’s “I’m Glad,” a song about her big feelings for then-boyfriend Ben Affleck, retells the entire story of Flashdance, focusing on four dance sequences from the movie, especially the climactic audition scene. Unlike the source material, which utilized two trained dancers (one male) as actress Jennifer Beals’s doubles, I believe all J.Lo does all the dancing. 

Jennifer Lopez
“I’m Glad”
This Is Me . . . Then
Directed by David LaChappelle

And here are the dance sequences in question.

The cast of "Nine"; image courtesy of newsinfilm.com

I saw Precious today and want to talk about it length, but need to process what I saw. I’d also like to get to Push, Sapphire’s book on which the movie was based at some point before the end of the year. For now, I’ll say this. I didn’t love it but I did like it, thought Gabourey Sidibe and Mo’Nique were great, was heartened that my matinee screening had a good and diverse turnout, and think you should see it. But you may want to see it with someone and encourage your local theater to have a safe space where people can go if the movie becomes too intense or touches on frought emotions or horrible memories.

For the time being, I thought I’d mention the preview of a coming attraction. Nine, Rob Marshall’s screen adaptation of Arthur Kopit, Mario Fratti, and Maury Yeston’s musical (itself an adaptation of Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2), comes out next week. You can view the trailer here.

So, I know very little about this musical. I only recently discovered the origins of its source material, which I haven’t seen (though, based on my less-than-enthusiastic viewings of La Dolce Vita and I Vitelloni don’t hold high hopes for it, unless Fellini allowed for self-deprication in his autobiographical film the way that Bob Fosse did in All That Jazz, a movie of a similar mold that I love). Beyond that, I knew Raul Julia starred in its Broadway debut back in 1982, the original production won many Tonys, and once heard someone sing “Unusual Way” at a family friend’s wedding, which is a really cryptic song choice for such a ceremony.

As for the film adaptation, I know the players. Rob Marshall directed Chicago and is at the helm here. Daniel Day Lewis plays Guido Contini, a tortured director. The women who populate his life are considerable — Marion Cotillard plays his wife, Penélope Cruz his mistress, Nicole Kidman his muse, Stacey Ferguson (aka Duchess Fergie Ferg) a whore he once knew, and Kate Hudson a fashion writer whose character has a song that was written for the movie. Oh, and Judi Dench is Contini’s costume designer and confidant.

So, I totally suspect a two-hour version of Julio Iglesias’s “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before” with generous dashes of love for the authorial presence of male film directors. Also, I think this trailer gives you virtually no insight into what this story is about.

That said, I totally want to see this movie because:

1) I’m always interested in film musicals, whether they are good, bad, screen adaptations of stage musicals, or screen adaptations of stage musicals of feature films. Yes, this means I saw Hairspray and didn’t hate it as much as many of my movie geek friends did. But those matters should be saved for another post. 

2) Unlike many people who hated Chicago (several of whom I suspect feel Marty or Roman got robbed out of a Best Picture Oscar for Gangs of New York or The Pianist), I actually enjoyed it. I felt the adaptation stayed true to the source material, deftly staged sequences that are actually going on in the protagonist’s mind, and felt like Catherine Zeta Jones, Queen Latifah, and John C. Reilly were great. I even enjoyed Renée Zellweger and Richard Gere, actors whom I otherwise would rather not watch in a movie. My only real complaint (which Jon Stewart shares), was that Bebe Neuwirth, who won a Tony for her portrayal of Velma Kelly was replaced by Zeta Jones. Otherwise, bring it.

3) Daniel Day Lewis can sing? The same guy who apparently prepared for There Will Be Blood by recording his character’s voice using early 20th century phonographic technology? I am there.

d) I’m fascinated by the presence of female pop stars in contemporary film musicals. As the golden age of film musicals has long since passed, it seems like the ones that do make it to the screen need a familiar face and voice, and they are almost always women with celebrated recording careers. Just as I wondered what Madonna brought to Evita, Queen Latifah brought to Chicago, and Beyoncé and Jennifer Hudson brought to Dreamgirls, so too am I curious what Fergie is going to bring to Nine. While detractors might snigger that it’s fitting for the woman who sang “My Humps” and “London Bridge” to play a whore, I’ll counter that she’s the only singer we hear in the trailer. Yes, that’s her singing “Be Italian.”

e) In the movie, I’m interested in seeing a whore play a teacher to our genius director protagonist man. In real life, I advocate the decriminalization of prostitution and would like sex workers to get worker rights and benefits.

f) While I worry that these women are going to be portrayed as long-suffering, one-dimensional objects of Condini’s affection, I want to see a movie that boasts so many actresses. I haven’t seen this many women in an ensemble since I saw Cruz in Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver (note: Cruz is also starring in Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces and I can’t wait for it to start playing in Austin). 

As an aside, the gossip enthusiast in me is also curious about Cruz and Kidman starring in a movie together. Ever since Tom Cruise split with Nicole Kidman and dated Cruz, I always wonder what their interactions are like every time they show up on a magazine cover together. It’s a catty curiosity, but a curiosity nonetheless. I wonder how they would be portrayed in a movie about Tom Cruise’s life, but want very much for this movie not to be made.

Vogue cover girls Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, and Kate Hudson; image courtesy of latimesblogs.latimes.com

Nicole Kidman and Penélope Cruz bookending Vanity Fair's 2001 Hollywood Issue cover; image courtesy of abc.net.au

Whether this movie is good or not remains to be seen. That said, I’ll see you at the multiplex.

LOVIN’ LAS VEGAS: Don’t know why I thought that Lily Tomlin and Sin City were not a natural fit. Turns out they are. La Tomlin premiered her new

TOMLIN & WAGNER: Viva Las Vegas

one-woman show, Not Playing With A Full Deck, at the MGM Grand, and reportedly loves Las Vegas! Lily’s partner and personal muse, the unabashedly brilliant humourist Jane Wagner, is the mighty pen behind her new show as well as such previous Tomlin megahits as The Search For Signs Of Intelligent Life In The Universe and Appearing Nitely. Lily’s new show is a mix of Greatest Hits – the characters her fans still can’t get enough of, like Ernestine and Edith Ann – and new characters, and

SHORT: Damages control

new technology. Tomlin’s new show ‘try-out’ played in MGM’s Hollywood Theater, which seats about 2,000 people at each performance. And when Tomlin isn’t hanging out with her Big Business co-star and Caesars Palace headliner Bette Midler (The Showgirl Must Go On) or trying to coax Jane (“it’s come down to begging, really,”) into writing a new Broadway show for her, she’s commuting to New York to shoot her scenes in the new season of Damages with Glenn Close. In it she plays the matriarch of a powerful family determined to destroy shady legal eagle Close. Assisting Lily in this mission are Martin Short as her high-powered attorney and Campbell Scott as her son. And yes, she confesses, she and Marty did misbehave one day on the set, when

MIDLER: The show must go ... off

she read her lines as Ernestine and he did his as Ed Grimley. “But never when the cameras are rolling!”

THE SHOWGIRL MUST GO OFF: P.S. for Vegas-bound Bette Midler fans: Your heroine ends her two-year residency at The Colloseum – aka The House That Céline Built – on January 31. Says Bette: “These legs have had such a great run in the desert, it may be time to haul them to places with more humidity and fewer slot machines.”

GET OUT YOUR HANDKERCHIEFS: Yes, it’s true, the latest YouTube sensation is a recent audition for Simon Cowell’s British talent show The X Factor. The singer is a 40-year-old cabinet-maker named Daryl Markham. Markham has his own website now, and is now a household

MARKHAM: YouTube sensation

name for millions of people all over the world. But can he sing? You be the judge. To see his now-historic audition, just click here.

NO BIZ LKE SHOW BIZ: Leave it to Reg Hartt to find a copy of the sumptuous MGM musical Kiss Me Kate, with Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel and young hoofers Bob Fosse & Tommy Rall competing for Ann Miller’s machine-gun taps., in — wait for it — 3D, its screen original format. Cineaste extraordinare Hartt unspools the classic Cole Porter musical this Sunday and next at 5 pm at his Cineforum HQ at Bathurst & College. Adds Reg: “Bring your own popcorn and we will zap it for you.”

WILLIAMS: ReelWorld decade

Hmmmm, wonder if Stratford’s Kiss Me Kate star Juan Chiorian, now on stage at the Factory Theatre in The Madonna Painter, has ever seen this version? … fan faves Colin Mochrie & Deb McGrath guest with Ron James tonight at 8 pm on CBC Television …  the Kate Rogers Band performs live tomorrow morning on CBC Radio One’s GO! Show. “Tickets are free and everyone is welcome!” sez Ms Rogers … speaking of tickets, you can still snag some for this weekend’s performances of the National Ballet’s spectacular Sleeping Beauty revival before it closes Sunday .. and can you believe that Tonya Lee Williams’ ReelWorld Film Festival, the little movie marathon that grew, celebrates its 10th anniversary next spring? Ms Williams, of course, is currently stationed in Washington, D.C. — on screen, at least — in The Border. And BTW, the ReelWorld call for submissions has already started. So if you have a feature, documentary, short, music video or animation from the Aboriginal, Asian, Black, Latino, Middle Eastern, South Asian or other multi-racial community, click here and fill out the submissions form.

Happy weekend!

-/-

http://reelworld.ca/

Cabaret on IMDB

I’m in the mood for a movie that touches my heart center.  The holiday season is almost here, and I need a jump start to help me balance the bad stuff in the news.  One of the reasons (one of about a million) that I love films is that a good one can reach us and resonate with all that is good and pure.  Here is one you may have seen years ago and forgot about it.  Or, if you haven’t seen it, you’ll smile for the rest of the day..or week. 

THE LITTLE PRINCE (1974)  is a musical adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s book.  A wandering chld from Asteroid-B612 and a pilot stranded in the Sahara Desert share encounters that remind us that life is indeed fun and enchanting and filled with discoveries.  Lerner and Lowe provide the musical score.  Gene Wilder’s interpretation of the fox is amazing, and Bob Fosse’s dance as the Snake is a signature performance.  Give yourself a little present and see this film.

The pairing?  Get the book.  If you took French in high school or college, you may have read the book in its original French.  If not , then be sure to get the Katherine Woods translation of this little gem.  I believe that you will underline quotations in the book or copy them on stickies and post them near your computer or on your bathroom mirror.  

I really hope I made your day a happy one.

Last night, while at Centre East in Skokie for Thodos Dance Chicago’s 2009 Fall Concert, I ran into fellow dance critic Sid Smith, who pointed me in the direction of Bob Fosse and Tommy Rail’s duet from My Sister Eileen. I’ve got to agree with him, it’s incredible — enjoy.

Kinda reminds you of this, don’t it?

Here’s a bit of dance trivia for you: the moonwalk was originated by tap dancers.

I would venture a guess that most people are not aware of the connection between the moonwalk and America’s only indigenous dance form-tap dance. It’s true, though. While Michael Jackson was the one who made the moonwalk memorable for today’s generation, scads of tap dancers had already been doing the move for years originating with the popularity of a movement in the dance form called “legomania”. Don’t believe me? Well, luckily this guy made a compilation of all these tappers doing some version of what we would eventually call “The Moonwalk”.

The fact is, Michael Jackson referenced dance forms and choreographers in everything he did.
From Bob Fosse…

…and Fred Astraire…

…to Jerome Robbins…

…Jackson was constantly nodding to the people before him while breaking ground ahead of him. I think this is the reason why all dancers have a special love for him. He was a dancer to be loved and a lover of dance himself.

But I digress…more about the influence of tap dance to come. In the meantime, see why the tap community is so fired up right now.

Por Noche de Cine

Inolvidable nuestra película de la semana… Hay tantos momentos que quedan grabados en la memoria de Cabaret, de Bob Fosse, que descubrirla fue pan comido para nuestros oyentes. Y cómo no, uno de esos momentos es éste…

Meghann Wilkinson, Hogan McLaughlin and Jeremy Blair in Punk Yankees. Photo by William Frederking.

Julia Rhoads‘ latest evening-length work bucks trends by embracing them. Before and after Punk Yankees — and during a brief intermission packed with enough stimuli to make me regret needing to use the restroom — a live feed of at-replies to Lucky Plush’s Twitter handle were met with instantaneous responses from the account as well as those of the piece’s eight performers. The transition from pre-show music by Girl Talk into a score only slightly less mashed-up similarly showed no fear toward new forms and boundary-testing of copyright law. What sticks about Yankees is how it turns a spotlight on aging notions about choreographic originality gone translucent from living in shadow.

A surprising and very funny opening scene gives way to a deluge of information recognizable to avid dancegoers (less-so to casual or novice audiences — more on that in a bit). Samplings of Ohad Naharin, Bob Fosse and Trisha Brown are fed to Lucky Plush’s ravenous grinder and made into sausages of new and old, classical and modern, obscure and iconic. Rhoads’ own repertoire is a primary ingredient throughout, satisfying to longtime followers of her company. For those that aren’t, it probably works just as well as a visual bonding agent.

The mood stays light throughout Punk Yankees but, huddled around each other murmuring and humming, the dancers suggest a séance, conjuring the spirits of dancemaking past. All the longer dance sections take on the quality of a primordial soup; although every movement has a distinct source, the broader statement is that, on a basic level, it’s all just a bunch of steps — it’s the individuals that give them life that should be treated as sacred. Surely, an uptight purist will never stand for the sunburst from Apollo being bookended by the macarena and a phrase from “Thriller,” but I found it much less questionable than, say, Tony Powell hollowly aping Forsythe or Ma Cong hawking his Duato knockoffs like fake Fendi handbags on Canal Street (somebody stop them, please).

Kim Larimore Goldman, Meghann Wilkinson, Jeremy Blair, Julia Rhoads, David Gerber and Lia Bonfilio in Punk Yankees. Photo by William Frederking.

Punk Yankees‘ referential layering is unabashedly optimized for dance-savvy audiences. And I found that refreshing — there’s a pride in how deeply Lucky Plush has dived into the hall of mirrors that is the last fifty-odd years of choreography. Desks with laptops come in and out of view along both sides of the stage, the company’s eight faces on webcam projected onto the upstage scrim in a Brady Bunch/Hollywood Squares grid. The computer screen is treated both as reflector and long-awaited steady stream of fuel for their appropriative jones; when Lia Bonfilio finds a choice YouTube link, Rhoads is instantly over her shoulder like a junkie saying, “Ooh, can you send me that? Send me that link.” Dancers not sucked into duets and trios of borrowed material pace restlessly in wait for their next fix.

Text in general, which is included in nearly every scene, is occasionally too obvious but often pleasingly open-ended. Lighting Designer and Technical Director Kevin Rechner walks nonchalantly onstage at the close of the first act, announcing “Screen coming in!” in a way that makes it as figurative as literal. Other times it’s succinct in framing what’s happening vocabularily: Rhoads and Kim Larimore Goldman clue us in to how a phrase was developed, similar to a game of telephone, making it logical and rewarding to watch the following section for subtle transpositions.

The best result of a show like this is the work it does in coaxing acknowledgment of influences out of the closet. Dance has a lot of catching up to do in this regard — the myth of the choreographer-as-singular-generative-force sits on a carpet of eggshells and conspires to keep the field woefully slow to adapt. Punk Yankees is a work of dance theater but, more importantly, it’s an invitation to a conversation.

Lucky Plush Productions’ Punk Yankees continues through October 31 at the Dance Center of Columbia College.

]]> http://escuchael66.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/de-nuevo-el-tango-del-pabellon/ Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:07:31 +0000 cosechadel66 http://escuchael66.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/de-nuevo-el-tango-del-pabellon/

Entrada originalmente publicada el 18-2-09

En el video, extraido de “Chicago” (Rob Marshall, 2002), 6 asesinas convictas nos cuentan como y sobre todo porque hicieron lo que las ha llevado a estar allí. Como dice la canción, “no hemos sido, pero si lo hubiéramos hecho, ¿quién podría decirnos nada?“. El cinismo de la obra original de la que fue destilándose poco a poco este musical ganador del Oscar a la Mejor película en 2002 (primero obra teatral en 1926, película en 1927, luego musical en 1975 y por fin la versión que nos ocupa) es el leiv-motiv de la historia. Y nos demuestra que es adaptable a cualquier época o lugar. Lo importante no son los crímenes, es su apariencia, o la de los asesinos, lo importante es vender periódicos o libros. Lo importante son los focos de los periodistas o del cabaret. Poco importan los asesinados, o las víctimas inocentes. La verdad es que me suena mucho, y no precisamente de Chicago o de los “felices” 20. La película fue durante mucho tiempo un proyecto de Bob Fosse, y esa influencia se deja notar tanto en el estilo visual como en la coreografía, en la película (incluso hay una nota de agradecimiento en los créditos), que tiene más de uno y dos parecidos razonables con la obra maestra de Fosse. “Cabaret“. Esta influencia se deja notar de manera intensa en el corte que he escogido, mi preferido de la película. Me encanta la música, pero no se si más la descripción de los crímenes: “ya se sabe que hay gente que no sabe tolerar el arsénico…”

Editor’s Note: Today at Appy Place we are delighted to welcome guest blogger Michael Mayhew, a pivotal member of the Appy team, who is responsible for the product videos you’ve seen here and on our YouTube channel.

Michael Mayhew directs the Appy Newz video shoot

So. I’m the guy who directs and edits the video ads that Appy releases whenever they have a new app. A while back Chris (“The Ulm”) asked me to write a blog about the process. Specifically, he was hoping I could explain “What’s it like for a normal person to have to deal with the Appy guys?”

(It tells you a lot about the mindset at Appy that they would think a guy who has never once held a regular salaried job, who has spent his entire adult life in the world of movies — who essentially has joined the circus — would qualify as “normal.”)

Here’s what I noticed about Appy:

Upstairs at Appy’s Secret Worldwide Headquarters (let’s just call it ASWHQ – which I guess is pronounced “ass-whack”) is a cramped, sweaty attic space, where the Appy guys plot and scheme their deviously brilliant apps. Running along one wall is a continuous whiteboard, covered in notes, sketches, brainstorms, graffiti, flow charts, mad ideas, Venn diagrams, and what appear to be incantations in a lost language.

Sarge writes “incantations in a lost language” on the upstairs whiteboard

What struck me about the whiteboard were two things: first, there is one spot on the far end which is never erased, because it contains the business plan, which spells out exactly what is and is not an Appy app. It’s their founding document, their Magna Carta, their Declaration of Independence. It says:

An Appy app is:

Easy – Easy to try, easy to buy, easy to share

Fun – Fun to play, Fun to watch

5/500 – you can play it in five minutes, and enjoy
500 replays

Innovative, Integrated, Inexpensive – “The 3 I’s”

Social – the user brings part of the content, they
help make the fun.

Mischievous – Appy apps are funny and sly.

The second thing I noticed was that the whiteboards aren’t actually whiteboards. They’re sheet vinyl, of the sort that you buy at Home Depot to line a shower stall, bought for something like ten bucks a sheet and grommeted onto the wall.

The first thing told me that these guys are serious about their work, they have a plan, and I could use that plan to help them make ads.

The second thing told me that these guys are both inventive and cheap. And by “cheap” I do not mean any kind of insult. When your entire product line sells for a buck a throw, you learn to have a keen appreciation for every dollar you spend.

APPY NEWZ

The first ad we made was for Appy Newz. Keeping in mind the idea that an Appy product is both mischievous and highly social, we came up with a collection of revenge scenarios for when someone might want to turn somebody else into an Appy Newz front page, and then share it. At the same time we decided to have a little fun with Apple’s iPhone commercials – take that basic iPhone ad format and then make it as nuts as possible.

We wanted to emphasize that Appy Newz worked well with the iPhone’s mail and photo applications, so each spot begins with an arriving email with a photo attached. The photo is quickly turned into a funny headline with Appy Newz, and is then emailed back out again.

The choice to riff on the iPhone ads was partly us being a bit naughty, but mostly about saving money — which leads us to “The Bob Fosse Principle.”

Bob Fosse, director and choreographer of Cabaret, All That Jazz and Sweet Charity is rather famous in theatre circles for taking his weaknesses as a dancer and turning them into a celebrated style. Fosse the dancer wasn’t particularly good at giant leaps and tossing ballerinas into the air, so as a choreographer he created a style all about very tiny, very controlled movements — a finger snaps, a hat is lifted a certain way, and so on.

It’s a very useful mindset when you’re making things on a micro-budget — don’t fret about what you don’t have, find a way to celebrate what you do have. Which is different then just being low budget. So many videos for apps boil down to either 1) a really fast montage of game-play, which is meant to convey that the game is terribly exciting, but which almost always looks just like every other really fast game montage, or 2) just pointing a camera at an iPhone while some poor game designer, in a voice that sounds like he’s hasn’t slept in three weeks, mumbles his way through an explanation of what may very well be a cool app — but who can tell? So cheap, yes, but not much more then that.

The Bob Fosse principle means doing your best to take your limitations and give them enough personality that they actually have style. You can’t afford actors? You can only afford to shoot an iPhone and a pair of hands? Well, grab a piece of white foam core for the background and riff on iPhone ads, and while you’re at it, how about putting an Appy-branded band-aid on one of the fingers? And then, once you’ve homaged the iPhone style, smash it with as many whack zooms, jump cuts, effects and distortions as you can think of.

(And at this point someone in the crowd is saying, “Hey, Mayhew, did you just compare your cheap-ass app ad to the work of Bob Fosse?” Ah, no. Please keep in mind that I’m talking about the Bob Fosse principle here, not the Bob Fosse equivalency.)

So that was the approach on the first ads. And as we worked we kept asking: is it clear how the app works, and is the ad funny? Anything else was gravy.

FACEFIGHTER

By the time that FaceFighter was ready for the app store, we’d learned a few things. Namely, that pricing on apps is a race to the bottom, where volume is everything. To paraphrase S.J. Perelman, apps are a tough buck. In practical terms, that meant we had even less money to make commercials then we’d had before — so even a minimal camera crew was not in the cards. The question became, what kind of video can we make with only the things we already have on hand? And underlying that question was, once again, how do we turn our limitations into a style? It became like the scene in The Princess Bride where the three heroes are about to storm the heavily guarded castle: “What are our assets?” “Your brains, Fezzik’s strength, my steel.” “That’s it?!” But in the end of course they storm the castle.

So what were our assets with FaceFighter? Well, of course there was the app itself (which almost perfectly fit the definition of an Appy game written on the upstairs white board). We had some screen-captured game play, the original artwork that was created to build the game, and some sound effects. There was enough money to buy some stock pictures to demonstrate how the game can turn any face into an opponent, and a drop of money for music. Everything else had to be done with editing.

Fortunately these days you can do a lot in post. You can resize images, add camera moves, use filters to create effects, and you can even composite in a pair of fingers (with an Appy band aid, natch’) to demonstrate how the app works.

But the thing that helped the most was actually the simplest, something that we’d done almost inadvertently on the Appy Newz ads, which was adding simple title cards — just white text on a black screen — short, wry posts to “talk” the viewer through the game. These cards became a sort of branding device, and they were the essential tool for clearly communicating what the game was about.

ZOMBIE PIZZA

By the time we were making ads for Zombie Pizza, there was actually a distinct feeling to an Appy ad: simple title cards, a mischievous attitude, clarity about how the app works, and a willingness to break an app’s visual frame to get more interesting compositions. And the guiding principles remained: think like Fosse, turn limits into assets, and always ask ourselves is it clear how the app works, and is the ad funny?

Of course there are probably limits to this approach. At some point sticking to a style can be an awful lot like being in a rut. Sooner or later we’ll have to get a bit more ambitious. But in the mean time Appy can grow and better establish itself as a first-class maker of games. By the time we really need to make fancier ads, we’ll be in a position to afford them.

You might wonder how important I think these videos are in the larger context of Appy’s sales. My instinct is that the videos matter to sales like a good resume matters in a job interview. In my experience a resume is basically supporting evidence which is secondary to recommendations, the quality of work that you can show, and whether or not you look shifty-eyed in a face to face conversation. These videos play a similar support role. People buy apps because their friend had it and it looked fun, or because they saw it recommended on the App Store, or even because it got a got a good review. If someone is already interested, the video might seal the deal.

But deal sealing is a great business to be in. As long as the Appy guys are interested, I am happy to lend a hand.

(And we are fortunate to have you, Michael! Thanks for your tireless effort and insight!)

It’s that time of year again.  The leaves are changing, Jack-O-Lanterns are on display, and college girls around the country are trying to come up with what “Slutty” something-or-other they will be this Halloween.  Which is what prompted this article.  I love Halloween.  So it goes without saying that I love an in-depth creative costume choice and loathe a generic, simplistic one.  Below are some 2009-centric ideas that I would LOVE to see out in the public domain this Hallo-day.

1. George Lukas and Steven Spielberg raping Indiana Jones, or a stormtrooper.

2. Shakira writhing around in some form of epileptic interpretive dance, as referenced in her She Wolf video.

3. Kanye West-run around all night interrupting people’s conversations with a mic in hand.  Bring a Taylor Swift with you to further interrupt.

4. The Mighty Boosh-Vince, Howard, Naboo, Bollo, and Bob Fossil in some form or other.  Bonus points for going as one of their more elaborate side characters, like the band from the episode, The Priest and the Beast.

5. Kate from Jon & Kate Plus Eight toting eight babies all tied to a single rope, sans-Jon.

6. A plethora of Lady Gaga’s all fighting for attention and leadership in that poor girl’s clearly multiple-personality-driven head.  It would have to be a group outing, but it would COMPLETELY be worth it.

7. I would LOVE to see the entire cast of The Office simply to see if it could be pulled off correctly.  As Michael Scott and crew have fairly uniform appearances, it would take quite the striking resemblance of ALL characters involved to pull this one off.  If done properly, however, it could be FAMAZING.

8. Christian Bale (who I still love) constantly attacking a lighting guy as he sets up his rig in the middle of the street.  This would obviously require two people, and some sort of lighting rig, but with an uncanny Bale look-a-like and a slipping Welsh accent, it could be kind of fun.

9. Fox Studios Destroying Wolverine-This one is VERY high concept but probably my favorite one.  Dress up clearly as Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine and then spend the rest of the night demolishing toy helicopters (as Jackman does in the film), crappy Deadpools with stitched-up mouths, and comic books in the symbolic act of Fox destroying everything sacred about Wolverine, The X-men, and Marvel Comics.

10. Zombieland-Go with me on this one, I know it sounds generic, but just think, if you and three friends dress as the characters from Zombieland (which was AMAZING, by the way), complete with weaponry, you can spend all night running around interacting with people who dressed up as zombies!  Namely, killing them, but that’s not the point.

Bears With Sparklers

#2!

Okay, I’m slightly obsessed over MIA’s “Paper Planes” mixed with Gwen Verdon performing the Bob Fosse choreographed “Mexican Breakfast”. This is even better than the “Walk it Out” version.

If you need a little smile for the day, this will do it!

You know what? If Kristen Chenoweth, Lea Michele, and Liza Minnelli were in the periphery of yesterday’s Scarjo post, let’s make today’s post be all about them and their awesome pipes.

Kristen Chenoweth as April, hoping for that strike; image courtesy of tvovermind.com

Lea Michele's Rachel, striking gold at the bowling alley with glee clubber Finn; image courtesy of stayinginwithvlada.com

So, if you’re watching Glee, you might have been so excited to see a TV show that closed with a rousing rendition of Queen’s “Somebody To Love,” getting at least one person closer to her goal of seeing it performed by an entire dramatic ensemble like the “Wise Up” scene in Magnolia. 

More importantly, you might have been won over by Chenoweth and Michele’s duet on “Maybe This Time.” (BTW, thanks Neesha for making me think to spotlight this scene.) Followers know the cruel irony of this song’s inclusion in a series as deceptively sad and desperate as this one. Chenoweth’s April Rhodes is a washed-up former glee clubber with a surprising amount of Jerri Blank’s warped charm. Michele’s Rachel Berry is a talented, go-gettin’ ingenue who is just barely hiding how profoundly lonely she is. 

You may also recognize the show’s not-so-secret gift of making the sheer cathartic power and physical release of a pop song or musical number to make both the singer and the spectator transcend to a higher plane (for a more abstract example of how the corporeality of singing can reinvigorate both parties, I’ll point you toward the Patrick Daughters-directed music video for Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks,” wherein the four-piece are so overjoyed by the power of singing, their heads catch on fire as I get goosepimply).

If we dig a little deeper, the Minnelli reference comes in. “Maybe This Time” was originally written for Bob Fosse’s film adaptation of Kander and Ebb’s stage musical, Cabaret, which Rachel is starring in (and a real high school would almost certainly never stage, even though I begged our choir director for us to do it). The musical, adapted from Christopher Isherwood’s novel Goodbye to Berlin, involves the doomed romance between Cliff, an American journalist, and Sally Bowles, a blindly determined British showgirl who makes the decision to stay in 1930s Berlin just as Hitler is starting to get a chokehold on Germany while her partner flees back to the states. In the movie version, Bowles is American, and played with put-upon worldliness and brittle vulnerability by Liza Minnelli, who won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance.

Admittedly, if the song Glee had chosen was “Cabaret,” which was in both the stage and film versions, Liza’s version of it would add another layer of readability, as it’s impossible for me to hear this version of the song, which is performed right at the moment when Bowles’s personal life is going to hell, and not think of Mama Judy Garland. 

But I think these twin versions of “Maybe This Time” speak to a few key issues particularly poignant to women and girls’ relationship to musical theater and to the outside world: the gendered masquerade of happiness for the sake of upholding spectacle, the ability to stop time and transmorph because of the aural spectacle of your own voice, and the strength your voice has to keep you persevering. Because the push you’re looking for to get through the next set of insurmountable odds might be found by landing that high note.

O lume murdara, ingusta, perfida, injusta, anormala, o lume care te neaga sau o lume care iti face pieptul sa se sparga de exaltare, o lume in care te gasesti sau te pierzi, o lume in care poti schimba sau o lume care iti cere sa te schimbi, o lume obsedata sau o lume care te face obsedat, un drog sau o pasiune, vocatie sau nevroza….

Un film realist in unicul mod in care se poate vorbi despre arta spectacolului: in pasi de dans, note musicale, actorie, praf, metafore, simbol, reverie , minunat si minune, halucinatie, derizoriu, satisfactie, incrancenare, revelatie….

“All That Jazz” iti intoarce adevaratul chip al unei magii pe care o cunosti doar pe scena sau ecran, o lume amara si trista dincolo de cortina.

Filmul este autobiografic( insusi regizorul, scenaristul si coregraful filmului), adevarat si sincer, povestea unui artist de geniu pentru care realitatea spectacolului e singura pe care o cunoaste.

O fosta sotie, numeroase amante si multe posibile viitoare aventuri, o fiica iubitoare si talentata, dependenta pastile si tigari, multi fani, un film de lansat, multe repetitii si o imensa dragoste pentru arta sunt tot ce detine un regizor intr-un moment in care ele inseamna doar prea multa presiune.

Jazz si fum, balerine, dansatori, picioare lungi, reflectoare, lumini, culori, costume si trupuri filiforme.

Intalnirea pasionala a unui artist cu propria moarte, un dialog dezarmant….furie, negare, negociere, depresie si acceptare in fata mortii.

Pentru ca un artist moare urcand muntele,  Joe Gideon moare frumos intr-un splendid musical al mortii.

Roy Scheider, un actor care face toti banii si o capodopera cinematografica: all that magic…all that jazz.

USA,1979

Regia: Bob Fosse

Scenariu: Robert Alan Arthur si Bob Fosse

Distributie: Roy Scheider, Jessica Lange, Leland Palmer, Ann Reinnking, Cliff Gorman, Ben Vereen si multi altii.

Coregrafie: Bob Fosse

Soundtrack: “On Broadway”- George Benson

“Take off with us”- Anthony Holland

“Everything old is new again”- Peter Allen, etc

Premii: Opt Oscar-uri si un premiu BAFTA pentru scenariu, scenografie, costume, muzica si alte multe premii si nominalizari.

Gen: Musical

by Lauren Pabst

On Sunday, at the MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift’s sweet, fluttery, flattered acceptance speech for “Best Female Video of the Year,” boldly proclaiminig that he was happy for Taylor but that Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! It seemed like a desperate play for the affections of either Beyoncé, her fans, his own egotistically loved personal opinion or (less likely) aficionados of the work of choreographer Bob Fosse (Beyoncé’s “Put a Ring On It” video dance routine was almost entirely cribbed from Fosse’s 1969 “Mexican Breakfast” combination. The proof is in the YouTube).

He definitely had an unnecessary outburst. But really, who the heck knows what it was all about?

It was RUDE, everyone agrees. An offended Jay Leno even seemed reluctant let Kanye apologize (probably a huge ratings draw) on the premiere episode of his 10pm talk show Monday night. After hearing his seemingly sincere apology, Jay pulled some kind of kindly old principal rank on a stunned Kanye, chastising him, and even asking him what his mother – who passed away a few years ago and Jay had met once – would have thought of the embarrassing, probably drunken, incident.

She probably wouldn’t have liked it, Kanye West agreed, appearing flabbergasted as much as ashamed.

[I had a crazy flash that maybe Jay Leno was trying to demonstrate to Bill Cosby and Barack Obama how he thought black boys should be disciplined by their absent male role models that we hear so much about. But Kanye West is a grown man over 30!]

Kanye West was being a pop star boy behaving badly. Wait, that sounds familiar.

When Justin Timberlake snatched off the clothes of Janet Jackson at Superbowl XXXVIII in 2004, it was Janet who apologized in the immediate aftermath. It was a “wardrobe malfunction” Janet claimed, a move that went wrong. Timberlake – who had played the very active role of “ripper of bustiers” within the incident – kept mum, that is, until CBS threatened to ban him and Janet from performing at the Grammys unless they made public apologies to the network and copped to the fact that the whole thing was not a mistake. Timberlake acquiesced but Janet refused and was barred from the ceremony.

In context, Kanye’s outburst – though rude to Taylor Swift – was a pretty Chicagoland, John Hughes-style tortured insider/outsider making a move for the pretty girl by interrupting the prom queen, utterly corny maneuver. Kanye West seems to think that the MTV Network is the school administration and he is the Judd Nelson character pumping a fist. (But Kanye, take it from this fellow cheesy Midwesterner and onetime 80’s aficionado, the 80’s are way over.)

In the past few years, Kanye has made a habit of making a spectacle of himself at awards shows, showing bad sportsmanship and egotism. His lyrics have turned towards the sexualized and shallow (“She love my big, (hahaha), Ego” – on his latest collabo with, hm, Beyoncé). When he does dig deep (like on his brooding, autotune-heavy latest LP “808s and Heartbreak”), it’s about his own emotions and relationships. It seems superstardom has been weird and hard on the goofy kid from Chicago who broke onto the scene by providing infectious beats for Jay-Z then sing-songily rapping on his 2004 debut “The College Dropout” about self-consciousness, materialism, discrimination at the Gap, family reunions, car accidents and Luther Vandross.

Things seemed to take an obnoxious turn after the fascinating events of 2005. In 2005, Kanye had just put out a song about diamonds from Sierra Leone (Where? The kids found out, hopefully, when the song caught on) and spoke out boldly on another live television event.

On an evening at the beginning of hurricane season, they stood side by side in the telethon television studio: Mike Myers, Austin Powers, Wayne’s World himself was somber, talking of needing money for relief efforts in New Orleans. Kanye West seemed stoic and frantic at the same time as he poured out a series of thoughts about the stranded, hungry, hunted poor Black people in New Orleans that he saw on TV that culminated with “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people,” before the live feed was cut.

(He could have gone even farther; George Bush doesn’t seem to really care about many people except maybe other people named George Bush.)

That was probably the last outburst of quality from Mr. West to date. With all that’s around to burst out about, last weekend’s display from Kanye was boring at best, cringe worthy at worst.

But it got the news cycle churning with fresh gristle; the info-tainment and enter-mation shows chewed on this eagerly like cud for 24 hours until the sad death of “wrong-side-of-the-tracks” love affair movie icon Patrick Swayze.

The liberating, juvenile, giddy admissions of confusion that have made about ½ of his songs so loveable and interesting now seems muddled by the muck of fame. In a business that rewards egoism, it’s not hard to see why Kanye has embraced this aspect of himself that he has seemed to wrestle with on earlier tracks.

It’s not too late for Kanye (still young, though not young enough to be scolded so by Jay Leno).

So I was watching the video of the controversy at the MTV Video Music Awards (where Kanye West was his usual immature douchebag self and disrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech), and I realized that Beyonce’s video for “Single Ladies” bears a striking resemblance to a spoof music video I’d seen online a year or so ago. It’s for a song called “Mexican Breakfast” from the 1960s, performed by Gwen Verdon (who just so happens to be the wife of Bob Fosse!). Compare for yourself:

Pretty similar choreography, right? Time for the mashup!

Beyonce has since admitted that “Mexican Breakfast” served as inspiration for “Single Ladies”, which won her the 2009 MTV awards for Best Editing, Best Choreography, and Video of the Year award.

Lenny is the story of the controversial and infamous comedian Lenny Bruce whose wild antics and crude humor lead to his rise and ultimately his fall. This film though takes the risk of being shaped in a documentary-esque design. Watching the opening minutes of the film worried me that this film would retreat into itself rather than expand in the so many aspects in which it actually did.

Lenny is portrayed with extraordinary and edgy depth by Dustin Hoffman. For me and I’m sure for many, this film sets into stone that Dustin Hoffman is truly a first rate actor. The range shown here by him from beginning to end is astounding. Not in his portrayal in the change of his personality, but rather the drastic but slow transformation in his mental and psychological state which is rare to capture in a film such as Lenny did. The range of the cast in general is quite commendable in the brief stints in the film in which they are shown to be interviewed individually reflecting on the life of Lenny Bruce.

With this unique style of film making, much credit should be given to Bob Fosse who brings an original yet very involving visual experience. Also, the screenplay by Julian Barry increasingly demands the concentration and attention of the viewer making it very engaging. The black and white cinematography by Bruce Surtees greatly suits the tone and pace in which the film runs on. Instead of taking away from the experience and viewing of the film, it enhances it in a very stellar and intriguing way.

I would definitely recommend this film but it requires some patience and maybe even a bit of an open mind. There is a lot of weight in some issue that is carried by this film and it would be advisable to take sometime to reflect on it after done viewing. In my opinion though, this movie is another fine and shining example of the revolutionary style brought on to film making during the 1970s. Lenny might be one of the most courageous American films ever made and it certainly reaches its full potential.