Movie Reviews- The Nutcracker and Into the Woods

 I've been having a grand time at home for the holidays - Santa even brought me a wireless keyboard to go with my tablet!  Blogging from home, what a grand idea!  Just to try it out, I thought I'd jot down a few thoughts about a couple of movies I dragged my mom to see.  Not surprisingly, I'm still having issues with attaching photos - we'll see how it goes.  I got the production shots off the internet and will remove them if asked.

When I was at Wild  before the holidays, I saw a poster for a Fathom event of the Bolshoi Ballet's The Nutcracker.  I thought if I couldn't get to BAM this year to see ABT, maybe my family would want to go to the movies to catch some holiday ballet.  Thankfully, my mom thought it would be fun to see it with me.  The rest of my family politely declined...

When my mom realized we would be seeing a live broadcast from Russia, she was even more interested in watching The Nutcracker.  She and I had seen the NYCB version many years ago, and she loves Tchaikovsky's music.  Interestingly, before the ballet began, there was a lovely hostess, Katya Novikova, who spoke in several languages to introduce the ballet to us.  We got to see shots from backstage of dancers preparing and stagehands getting set pieces in the right spots.  It was very cool.  We also enjoyed taking a look at the fashions of the Russian audience (oh, and the Bolshoi Theatre was glorious).

The ballet itself was terrific.  The scenario is a little different from the ABT/Ratmansky version, but the story is always pretty easy to follow.  The music was beautifully played and sounded great in the surroundsound movie theater.  Anna Nikulina was a spectacular Marie, so ethereal and gentle, with a lovely quality to her acting.  Her dancing was light and quick and oh so gorgeous.  Her Nutcracker prince was Denis Rodkin and he was wonderful, so gallant and handsome with wonderful lift in his jumps and gentleness in his partnering.  In this particular version, all of the dances in the second act are pas de deux and they were all beautifully done.  Everything was beautifully staged and the Russian audience applauded the dancers rapturously, especially Nikulina.  The rhythmic clapping kept going for quite some time.  My mom and I just loved it all.

I was surprised that a small movie theater in a small town in Ohio was pretty full for a viewing of The Nutcracker, but I was also glad.  It's nice to see my hometown folks getting into a little culture.  And if I couldn't see the live version, I'm happy I got to see a pretty terrific film instead.

Ever since it was announced that Into the Woods would have a Christmas Day opening, I've been telling my family that I wanted to go that very day.  Last year (I think) we saw Les Miserables, so why wouldn't everyone want to see Into the Woods with me?  Well, the rest of my family really didn't want to, but my mom didn't want to disappoint me, so she took me last night.

We loved it!  We did not love our seat neighbors, who talked through the ENTIRE MOVIE.  At first, they were using their outdoor voices - I made it through maybe half of the first song before I shushed them, then they whispered the rest of the film.  I not understand people who talk the whole time.  Don't you go to the movies to be quiet?  Oh, and they left before the end.  About ten minutes before the end.  Grrrrrrrr.  Ugh.  Moving on.

I saw quite a few little children in the crowd, which made me nervous, because I don't think this is a show for the preschool set, but all of the children were very well behaved.  Most of the adults were, too, thankfully.  And I was again surprised that the theater was so full.  Hurray for my small town!

Into the Woods is not my very favorite Sondheim, but it's up there.  I just love the themes of family and community and resilience, and the lyrics are simply brilliant.  I think director Rob Marshall did a very good job at translating this somber-ish story to the big screen.  It was excellently cast, with very good actor-singers, and the storytelling was clear and crisp.  I admit I did miss a couple of the cut numbers, most especially "No More," which can bring me to tears immediately.  Even hearing the tune underscoring a scene choked me up and I desperately wanted even a snippet, but I do understand why it was cut.  I didn't mind any of the plot changes and the last 20 minutes made me cry, as always.  So I was very satisfied with this film adaptation - I definitely want to see it again in a New York big theater, though, and hopefully my seat neighbors will show a little more restraint.

I especially loved Meryl Streep, of course, I thought she showed great humor and pathos and sang terrifically well.  I was also really taken with James Corden and Emily Blunt as the Baker and his wife.  But everyone was very good, they were all believably human and also rooted in the fairy tale.  The balance was fantastic.

As a special bonus, my mom has accidentally had HBO this whole time I've been here, and last night they showed the recent Sondheim documentary Six by Sondheim.  It was fantastic and I loved spending more time with the brilliant musical mind of Sondheim.  My mom didn't think she'd be interested in the documentary, but wandered in when Yvonne de Carlo was singing from Follies and sat down to watch the rest.  Hurrah!  I'll get my mom on board the Sondheim bandwagon by the end of this vacay!