Fame or Famine

I will give Adam Carolla props for, well, his props. It’s great to see some circus arts on Dancing With the Stars (come to think of it, anyone remember “Circus of the Stars”? Not as good a concept, apparently).
Still, his actual dancing is clunky, stilted, and you never get the idea that he’s actually doing more than showing off for his buddies:

In contrast, let’s look at Marlee Matlin, who has more musicality and emotive skill in her little toe than Adam would if he cloned himself. Yet if you watch the preview, you see that she highly competitive; she wants …read more

Comments Off

It doesn’t even require talking about – Pilobolus is beyond words. But in another example of pop culture exposing us to the finer arts (see Dancing with the Stars and Alvin Ailey’s Revolutions for another example) here they are at the Oscars…

Comments Off

Perhaps TVGuide spoke too soon. In a review, it suggested that Season 6 of Dancing With the Stars was not going to have the drama of season 5, with family crises and stars fainting. In fact, Derek Hough, professional dancing partner of Shannon Elizabeth, had her sitting on the floor just in case she would faint.
However, today he’s the one in the hospital with a pulled neck muscle. Suddenly the drama begins! To be honest, I hope that they don’t make a big deal out of this injury. Exploiting other people’s misfortune shouldn’t be entertainment, should it?
Oh. Wait. This is …read more

Comments Off

This blog is a bit of a balancing act. I try to cover general performing arts, and that’s a wide spectrum; so you end up with one day me talking about plays in London, another day about popular culture like Dancing with the Stars, and another day about the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre celebrating its 50th anniversary.
And then you have days like today, when I can talk about how the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre performed part of its signature ballet Revelations on Dancing with the Stars. I have to say, this is one of the best …read more

1 Comment

I can’t be right all the time. In fact, apparently in this case I’m not right any of the time – I had thought that Penn Jillette would last longer than Adam Carolla, but it was not to be. Last night in the elimination round of Dancing With the Stars, Penn and his partner Kym Johnson ended up going home.
As much as I admire the man’s performing skills (seriously, he is one of my idols) I have to say that…they were right. It is not that he couldn’t learn to be a great and graceful dancer – it’s just that …read more

1 Comment

I realize that I may seem a little obsessed about Mary Poppins right now, strange during Dancing With the Stars season, but it is necessary. I’m crestfallen at Penn Jillette’s abysmal scores, his massive feet not as fleet as I’d hoped. There is some satisfaction at Adam Carolla’s similarly abysmal performance, but it doesn’t quite make up for it.
A Spoonful of Sugar
Which is why Broadway.com’s essay by Gavin Lee about his first two years on Broadway in the role of Bert makes me happy. A veteran of the London production, he reshaped the role for a Broadway audience and seemed …read more

Comments Off

Monday night is when the magic happened: Dancing With the Stars kicked off another season. I missed the premiere, but thanks to Dancewatcher I can catch the highlights. Even more detail is over at TVGrapevine, including profiles of the dancers.
Straight from the Dancer’s Foot
Why settle for second-hand reviews, though? Kristi Yamaguchi is blogging about the experience first hand, and it’s a pleasure to read her well-spoken perspective. For example, she talks about doing a slow, easy foxtrot…and all I can think about is “damn, foxtrot? Never could get that…“She’s very complimentary to her fellow stars, and seems sweetly excited about …read more

Comments Off

Season three finalist Mario Lopez has signed on with A Chorus Line on Broadway. How cool is that? Starting April 15 he’ll be in the non-singing role of Zach, the director, but in the stage version (unlike the movie, where Michael Douglas sat in the audience the entire time) he has to teach everyone the routines. So there will be a lot of dancing for the actor and host to learn.
Here he is dancing the paso doble on Dancing with the Stars:

Comments Off

What would I do without loyal readers to point out to me the error of my ways (or, at least, my writing):
Danica’s not the first.
“…actually, Janet Guthrie was the first woman to compete in Indy car races, back in the 1970s. See: http://www.janetguthrie.com/biofr.htm”
Thanks, Sandy, for pointing that out. My daughter and I talked about it some more yesterday, also. “I heard Danica Patrick is not that good,” she said, kind of embarrassed.
I looked at her. “From a male, I bet.” She nodded. “Well…does she come in last?”
“No…”
“So just because she’s not the best Indy driver out there (yet) that’s …read more

Comments Off

Just an amusing little sidenote to set off the morning – Danica Patrick has been a bit of a family hero since she has the same name as my 16 year old daughter. So when she popped up on the Dancing with the Stars radar, I had to take notice.
“It won’t be enough to do it now; you’ll have to win it,”
That was apparently her answer to the Indianapolis Star when they asked if she would be competing on the hit show, perhaps following in the footsteps of last years champion Helio Castroneves, a fellow racer who recommended her. Apparently …read more

1 Comment