Must-Have DVDs: “Company” and the upcoming Blue Man Group “Megastar”
“Company”
Last night’s presentation on Great Performances was as good as promised. Anyone who has ever liked Seinfeld or Sex and the City will appreciate it – in fact, you might think the play was a rip-off of those ouvres until you realized that Sondheim wrote it in the 70’s. The music is also melodic enough that I was able to appreciate it more than the wandering tunes of Sweeney Todd, and included one of my favorites: “Not Getting Married“, a hilarious patter song sung by a nervous bride on her wedding day.
Raul Azara had an understated elegance to being the lead, content to be the lens through which the ensemble could explore their talents of acting, singing, and playing instruments (there’s something quite hilarious about a wide-eyed flight attendant with perfectly-coiffed blonde hair puffing away on a baritone in the middle of a large number). He really let his talent shine in the final number, though, “Being Alive“, and “Marry Me…a Little“.
One of the more difficult challenges in any production like this is the translation of the play from the intimacy of a theatre – an immersive experience – to a tiny screen in a living room. The directors met this challenge beautifully – the lighting, focusing our attention, giving dimly- seen presence to the ensemble at times, as well as the choreography of the camera served to augment the script and acting rather than simply documenting it. And you were able to see Stephen Sondheim interviewed at the end and it really brought home the ground-breaking nature of this musical.
So I’m relieved to see the DVD is available through PBS.ORG, and I plan on purchasing it soon. It’s something I can see coming back to and enjoying again and again.
Blue Man Group: How To Be A Megastar LIVE!
Not much to say about this, except that the bridge between the fine arts and the young new kid on the block, Performance Art, is Blue Man Group. Not just the music, but the entire commitment of their performances to this identity of alien-yet-familiar forms. So the idea of a DVD-CD-Book set coming out on March 25th, 2008 is pretty damn cool. The fact that this avant-garde group was performing in Dallas, TX, in front of over 40,000 Blue Man fans is even more astonishing – a great example of how cutting-edge art can support himself.
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