Girls, I Am Telling You, Shirley Stoler Steals The Show As "Fat Martha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                                Darlings, you have just GOT to see this film; it is hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                 It takes on something serious in a campy way.  Between 1947 and 1949 an obese nurse named Martha Beck hooked up with a loser grifter named Raymond Fernandez.  Don't ask me why, but Fernanadez was attracted to Beck.  I get what she saw in him, but her??????????

                                  Anyway, they scheme to pose as siblings and a caretaker and insert themselves into the lives of either widowed or unattractive spinster women and rid them of their money.  Eventually, the scheme works itself up to murder.

                                   Perhaps the most disturbing moment for me is when Martha is shown on screen slapping an 8-year-old girl in the face!  Bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I would have smacked her back!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                     But, really, between Stoler's obesity and deadpan performance, coupled with Tony Lo Bianco's phony accent, the film is a riot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      It is filmed in almost documentary style, and looks less like the Forties, and more like 1969.  It plays fast and loose with the actual facts, but who cares, when one is having such a good time watching these actors put through their paces, by director Leonard Kastle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                       The scene where Martha tries to drown herself is campy but key.  You see, Martha was as lonely as the women she went after, and I am sure Fernandez knew it.  He used that to his advantage, but Martha's jealousy of other women got the best of her, and while the film has her turning herself in, they were actually caught thanks to neighbors of their recent victims, the Downings, who had not been seen in a while and aroused suspicion. The police were notified and the couple was apprehended in front of the Downing house.  They were both executed at Sing Sing on March 8, 1951.

                                         They were not the first ones to attempt this scheme, nor will they be the last.  But forensics and other technology would make it more difficult for criminals like these.

                                          Darlings, just settle back and have some fun with this campy classic!

                                           Baby Gojira just LOVED it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                             And watch those dress sizes, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

                                             

                                     

                                 

".....Where Rocking Horse People Eat Marshmallow Pies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                          Oh, girls, wouldn't you just want to enter this Technicolor world and stay?  Floating down a magical river with marshmallow pies while reading a book, drifting lazily, and musing about the vagaries of life.  No wonder these lyrics from "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" keeps coming back to me

                            The colors are ravishing; at the very least wouldn't one want this picture on their wall?

                             Say what you want but I think 'Lucy' was drawn a lot from Lewis Carroll.  After all, The Beatles were British boys, and who, by the age of ten does not at least know Alice or Lewis Carroll?

                               I am always looking to go to Wonderland, girls.  So, if you can book David and I a flight, please do.

                               Meanwhile, we will have our own Wonderland fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Girls, This Is Probably Mel Brooks' Best Film, But If You Have Already Seen It, You Can Skip It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                             A little Mel Brooks goes a long way with me, but for those never having seen "Young Frankenstein," the casting and cinematography cannot be equaled.

                                              The black and white images really create the atmosphere of the early Universal Frankenstein films.   And the casting is perfect, especially with Cloris Leachman's scene stealing performance.

                                                On an initial viewing it cannot be missed.  But repeat viewings only get wearisome because Brooks' crass brand of humor can get tiring.

                                                Still, "Svengoolie" is starting his show an hour early, so to be sure it will be shown uncut.

                                                 For those on their first viewing, it is the perfect post Halloween antidote, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"The Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                              I always loved this lyric, every time I heard The Beatles sing "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds."  I always wondered what such a person would look like.  This is the best design I could find, though if I drew it the eyes would be even more colorful and kaleidoscopic.

                              We need color in this world, darlings, but I hope I do not end up with this after my cataract surgery.  Not with all the reading, writing and film viewing I have to do.

                                 Better to hold up an actual kaleidoscope to your eye and see for yourselves.  They are still pretty amazing.

                                   But do we want real kaleidoscope eyes, girls???????????  No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Girls, There Is Nothing Like It!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                 The Holiday Season is really rushing in.  The Radio City Christmas Tree arrives Saturday, and yesterday David and I took in the very first performance of The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular.  And it lived up to its name.

                                   The Rockettes Falling Soldiers Routine is still an impressive showstopper.  But the icing on the cake, is the Living Nativity.  I am telling you, when the angel descends from the sky, singing, and The Nativity appears, with even the Baby Jesus being a real baby, I don't think the real thing could have been better staged.  There was, however, a lamb, downstage left, who looked directly at the audience.  Maybe it was his first time on stage, or maybe he just wanted extra attention.  But all the animals were fabulous. 

                                       This show is equal opportunity.  It gives audiences a secular, colorful, commercialized look at Christmas, with songs aplenty.  But when it goes spiritual, look out.  I mean, this is on par with "The Song Of Bernadette," darlings, and you had better be sitting up straight in your seats.

                                          The 90 minutes flew by, with everyone getting their fill.  This is one of the most satisfying of all Christmas entertainments in NYC.  And for those who value unison dancing, look no further than here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                             The Holiday Season is upon us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Girls, After Viewing "Parasite" I Still Do Not Know What To Expect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                        I had always wanted to see this 2019 film, the first foreign language film to win the Academy Award for "Best Picture."  But when I did, it was far from what I expected.  What I did expect was a light, Korean take on the comedy of social manners, where a poor family envies a wealthy one, and tries to interject its way into it.  That element is there, but the results are far from comic.

                                            It is hard to explain.  There is also the matter of a group of squatters living in a hiding space of one house, and how they function while the owners go about their business. This was when I got confused and just settled back and watched.

                                              Bong Joo Ho knows about convoluted plotting and great camera shots capturing the sprawl of Korean suburbia in a manner that almost replicates America.  Sunshine surrounds one, but darkness is hiding underneath.

                                                   And when it erupts, oh, my God!  What starts out as a child's birthday party turns into a massacre worthy of an 80's slasher film, when some homeless guy with a machete comes onto the property and starts killing everyone in sight.  This sequence goes on for almost too long, and leaves a blood bath in its wake, unlike any I have seen, and that would be plenty.

                                                       Ho asks who the parasite is, or who are the parasites?  Is it you?  Is It I?

                                                       The film leaves viewers to figure this out for themselves.

This Has NOTHING To Do With Tennessee Williams, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                  When I hear the name of Elysian Fields, I think of Stanley and Stella Kowalksi.  Isn't that where they lived, or at least nearby?  Imagine my surprise, when I heard it in this new musical, that the name comes from Homer's "The Odyssey" (which I have not read since high school) and refers to a place at the West end of Earth where men can inhabit freely.  Sounds good to me.  At one time, Manhattan seemed to be that.  But now...............

                                     Alas, if only I could dwell on the above and not have to talk about this new musical, also titled "Elysian Fields," and written by Steve Fisher and Marc Fliedner.  It played in the John Cullum Theatre at the American Theatre Of Actors, and this was its closing performance.  They have come up with an interesting premise--what if Abraham Lincoln had a gay relationship with Joshua Speed, meanwhile following two present day gay men named Abraham and Joshua.   It is a great idea, but like many great ideas it fails to work, not because of lack of the librettists' talent, but because they have tried to cram too much, musically and dramatically, into this show.

                                        Had the show been split into two acts, one centering on Lincoln and Speed, the other on Abraham and Joshua, this could have been a good show.  The composer and lyricist have a sense of musicality and melodic structure that gives the show some potential.  But the show is mired down in the concept of time travel, which I never fully grasped, and want to cover present day issues like civil and gay rights.  One could build shows on those issues alone.  Here, too many ingredients cause the soup to boil over.

                                          Cut, cut, cut, that is what the show needs.  Refigure it into the two-act concept I suggested, get rid of the ensemble, so Andres Coopman can provide more varied choreography and cohesive direction, and center it on the story of the two sets of Abrahams and Josuhas.

                                             By the way, the actors playing those roles, Harrison Drake and Casey A. Johnson are amazingly good.  Centering on them would give them more talent to display and keep this show on track, which it badly needs.  Drake is the hottest Abraham Lincoln I have seen, and that helps a lot.  Johnson as Joshua is cute-ish, but I wonder how the relationships would work.

                                             In any case, there is hope. "Elysian Fields" was a workshop production, an Equity showcase, so more work can be done on it.  If my suggestions are followed, the show could be on its way to a moderate success.

                                              Oh, and three hours is much too long, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!