The Rake's Progress - A Bearded Lady and Satan, So, You Know, Your Typical Opera

Hello People of the Interwebs!

Today I will be reviewing an opera by Igor Stravinsky. The opera in question is "The Rake's Progress", based on a series of 8 paintings by William Hogearth. (The final is pictured below.) The specific one that I'll be reviewing is the production the recently played at the Metropolitan Opera House in 2015 on May 9th. I was given the ticket by a friend of mine.

Image Credit to Wikipedia

WARNING: Spoilers ahead!

The story follows a young man by the name of Tom Rakewell, who is told that he has inherited a great fortune from an unknown uncle by a man named Nick Shadow (subtle, right?). He moves to London with the promise to send for his love, named Anne Trulove, after his estate is in order. He soon tries to forget about her, and instead takes a bearded lady, named Baba the Turk, for a wife. Anne is heartbroken. In the end Tom confronts Shadow, who is actually Satan! He finally claims Tom's soul. What for? For giving him money and wealth, for Tom's uncle... never existed! Tom then defeats Satan in a game, and claims his soul, but alas! He places a curse of insanity upon Tom. Anne then visits Tom in an insane asylum. Tom believes that he is Adonis, Venus's lover, and that Anne is Venus. The very last scene is the actors who played Father Trulove, Anne, Tom, Shadow, and Baba telling the audience what the moral of the opera was.

The music is astounding.. Truly amazing. The grand sweeping tones are just gorgeous. It's fun to draw a parallel between the music and the story. The music is light spirited at times, and then sad at times, but there's always a feeling of hope in the music throughout. That is, until Tom goes insane. Then the music turns drudging, sad, hopeless. I was swept away by the score (I happen to be listening to it as I write).

The opera is quite satirical in nature. There are multiple cliches that seem to be mocked in it. The villain's last name is Shadow, and he has a baritone/bass range, which is enormously typical of opera. When the lovers say goodbye, Tom moves to go, and the music dwindles. Suddenly, it swells, and Tom goes back to Anne to say another goodbye. Those things and many more are what made me adore this opera.

It makes me very sad that "The Rake's Progress" had such a limited run at the Met. It is a beautiful, clever, and magnificent opera. If you ever find yourself coming upon a set of tickets for this opera at the Met ever again, go see it. It's truly extraordinary.

This is the Teenage Critic, signing off!

Like The Teenage Critic on Facebook here. You can email the Teenage Critic at criticteen1@gmail.com. Feel free to send me your suggestions for movies to review, or just to send me your opinions and fan mail. Follow me on Twitter, @Thomas_Pflanz

Pink Floyd The Wall (An AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL Tale Where Any Resemblance to Any Person, Living or Fictional, is Completely Coincidental)

Hello People of the Interwebs!

This week, I'm reviewing the 1982 film illustrating the 1979 album 'The Wall' by the band Pink Floyd. The film is "Pink Floyd The Wall"!

Image Credit to IMDb

The film (and the album itself) is about the lead singer of Pink Floyd, Roger Waters (or as he's known in the album "Pink"), and his descent into insanity. It follows his life from childhood to adulthood in a non-chronological, kinda mind blowing way.

The music is amazing. I've listened to The Wall many times before seeing this film, but the visuals in the movie make the songs have even more impact for me. Each song is packed with emotion and power. I-I can't really describe it all that well. My dad and sister were actually the ones who introduced me to The Wall. Am I ever grateful that they did!

The acting in this film is... surprisingly good. The most impactful performance for me was the performance from Bob Geldof as Pink. He says nothing the entire movie. But, his face and body say everything that needs to be said. His emotional performance going from bored rock star to insane maniac is brilliant. The rest of the actors support Geldof's performance perfectly.

The visuals are very interesting. It goes from war scenes, to Pink floating in a pool, filling with blood, to a flower eating another flower as a symbol of sex, to Nazi symbolism. There's some brilliant imagery, but also some very disturbing ones too.

All in all, this film is astounding. The story is beautiful and sad, the music is beautiful and sad, and the visuals are just incredible. Plus, any movie that can make me tear up because of a child playing with a toy airplane gets some respect.

This is the Teenage Critic, signing off!

Like The Teenage Critic on Facebook here. You can email the Teenage Critic at criticteen1@gmail.com. Feel free to send me your suggestions for movies to review, or just to send me your opinions and fan mail. Follow me on Twitter, @Thomas_Pflanz

Into the Woods

Hello People of the Interwebs!

Today, I'll be reviewing, 'Into the Woods', a musical that I saw as a part of the TRaC, or the Teen Reviewers and Critics, Program, run by Arts Connection. It's a great program, and they do it for completely free! Check them out here. Anyway, into the review!

Image Credit to Roundabout Theater and Joan Marcus
Fiasco Theater in 'Into the Woods'

The story follows a baker and his wife, and some classic fairy tale characters. These characters include Cinderella, Jack (of the beanstalk), Rapunzel, and Little Red Riding Hood. They each have a wish, and go out to try to fulfill that wish. The story does some clever things, like how the first act ends with a "happily ever after", and then the second act shows that "happily ever after" isn't always forever. But enough with the story!

This show was put on by a theater company called 'Fiasco Theater'. I'm not gonna do any PR fo them right now, but here's their website for you to explore: http://www.fiascotheater.com/. These actors are quite good. They do well with switching between characters in a flash, and they all have pretty decent singing voices. 

What really struck me was HOW it was performed. The set was complicated, with a rope pattern on the back wall, and piano casings on the walls. There were tables, chairs, boxes, lamps, etc. all over the place. The cast used these minimal props amazingly. They used a ladder as a tower, shadows as a giant, stick horses as real horses, sheet music as birds, and all sorts of other clever things. There's just something about this type of theater that really gets me. It reminds me of PigPen Theater Company, and their show "The Old Man and the Old Moon", which I reviewed a few months back. (You can check it out here) There's just a feeling of whimsy that comes from this style of performance.

There's not much more that I can say about it. It's just a beautiful performance. Definitely go see it! You can buy tickets here!

This is the Teenage Critic, signing off!

Like The Teenage Critic on Facebook here. You can email the Teenage Critic at criticteen1@gmail.com. Feel free to send me your suggestions for movies to review, or just to send me your opinions and fan mail. Follow me on Twitter, @Thomas_Pflanz

iOW@ (I Got Lost On The Way To Oklahoma)

Hello People of the Interwebs!

Today, I'll be reviewing 'iOW@' (Iowa), a musical that I saw as a part of the TRaC, or the Teen Reviewers and Critics, Program, run by Arts Connection. It's a great program, and they do it for completely free! Check them out here. Anyway, into the review!

Image Credit to broadwayworld.com and Jessica Fallon Gordan Photography

Cast of iOW@

The story follows a 14 year old girl. She has to deal with moving with her mother (so that her mother can marry a man she met on Facebook), being in love with her 40 year old, balding math Teacher, and not having friends.

Most of the musical is utterly pointless. There, I said it. What I mean by that, is that the primary story/character development could have been covered in a 10-15 minute play. Instead, we are "treated" to an hour and 45 minute musical. The songs, while fun with witty verbal humor, have no relevance to the plot. They are entirely random tunes and lyrics. In fact, there's a TEN MINUTE song about... life's problems as sister wives? Or something? And there's even a song sung by a pony/man where he sings about how ponies are never in committed relationships; they can only ever sleep around. Simply stupid and pointless.

Then, there are the pointless monologues. In the first scene, the mother character has a 15, maybe 25? minute rant. No, not rant. A ramble. About everything from Jesus the Janitor, to Sex Ed, to Islam, to Lesbians. And it just goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and... And while it advances the story somewhat, it could do so while being much less boring.

A lot of the show seems to be going for laughs by using non-sequiturs. And while a few of them are funny (I heard my new favorite joke), most of them aren't. There's the running gag with the pony, which has nothing to do with the plot, and there's a monologue by a cheerleader who's talking about how "cheerleaders are people too". And while that's true, I don't need to hear it said over and over again. wjlb ehifbeilgbfegfbhyefgbegfbulfgbufgbfugfiiqewvfio (That was me emphasizing the point by smashing my head into my keyboard.)

One last thing about the story, and then I'll move on. The main character's best friend: She starts out as a decent character. She's from a broken home. She's abused at home. She's bulimic. Pretty good start for a powerful and moving character arc. Except, not. That amazing potential is wasted by the mother "fixing" her at first attempt by saying that she "looks bulimic" and "could be in Auschwitz", and boom! she's fixed! Yeah. A Holocaust joke. Not funny.

Now, onto the acting. I actually like the acting and singing. All of the actors do what they can with this utterly garbage story and these utterly garbage characters. And the singing is really good. I enjoy all of the actors' voices. That's all I can really say about that.

And the music is good. Surprisingly good. The tunes are catchy, the instrumentals are beautiful, and the lyrics are oftentimes clever and witty. Though it would be better if the songs were, you know, actually RELEVANT to the story. 

All in all... No. Just, no. Don't go to see this. I know that sounds harsh. Especially considering how positive I've been about bad movies in the past. But no. This is inexcusable. I've seen better storytelling from a group of 14-17 year old playwrights! Other than a few funny moments, this is a horrible musical. One of the worst I've ever seen, hands down.

This is the Teenage Critic, signing off (in an absolute huff)!

Like The Teenage Critic on Facebook here. You can email the Teenage Critic at criticteen1@gmail.com. Feel free to send me your suggestions for movies to review, or just to send me your opinions and fan mail. Follow me on Twitter, @Thomas_Pflanz

The Liquid Plain

Hello People of the Interwebs!

Today, I'll be reviewing 'The Liquid Plain', by Naomi Wallace, a play that I saw as a part of the TRaC, or the Teen Reviewers and Critics, Program, run by Arts Connection. It's a great program, and they do it for completely free! Check them out here. Anyway, into the review!

Image Credit to signaturetheatre.org

WARNING: Spoilers ahead!

This play was absolute perfection.

This is the Teenage Critic, signing o-

Fine. I'll write a bit more. The story of this play follows two runaway slaves, Adjua and Dembi, who have been working in Rhode Island to make money for... something. They find a dead body under the docks that they live on, and they strip his body. Unfortunately, the body is not dead. I can't say much more without spoilering the entire show. So I won't.

What struck me first was the set. If you have a show with no curtain, you can say a lot with the set. The set was a steel structure in the back, and a simple wooden dock. This allows for such a versatile usage of the space, where you can switch between settings easily, without making drastic set changes. The show opens with a single wooden chair in the center of the stage. Then, after a little while, probably 10 minutes before the show starts, a woman, dressed in white and with her shoulders and face covered in a white powder, comes onstage and sits next to the chair, almost statue-like. Even before you know what that means, you're struck with a powerful feeling.

The actors complement the story and writing very well with their performances. You can see the full cast list here.

There's a lot that I love about this play. But there aren't enough words that capture my true feelings about it. All I can really say now is that this play's quality is on the same level as Patrick Stewart's and Ian McKellan's 'Waiting for Godot' and 'No Man's Land'. I highly recommend that you go to see it; it's worth so much more than the ticket price. Absolute brilliance. Check out the website here to buy tickets!

This is the Teenage Critic, signing off!

Like The Teenage Critic on Facebook here. You can email the Teenage Critic at criticteen1@gmail.com. Feel free to send me your suggestions for movies to review, or just to send me your opinions and fan mail. Follow me on Twitter, @Thomas_Pflanz

A Sudden Realization!

Hello People of the Interwebs!

WARNING: There has been no critical editing of this post. Beware of grammar and punctuation errors!

Welp, I didn't notice it. I should have. But I didn't. What am I talking about? I've been posting reviews for over a year!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!

I'm pretty excited. I was hoping to a 1 Year Anniversary post, reviewing a very special movie, but that has passed. I just looked back to my previous posts, to see what was posted on that day. Well, here' what I found!

My first review was of 'The Prince of Egypt', on February 4th, 2014. Link here.

For my technical '1 Year Anniversary' post, I posted this review. Welp. What a review to celebrate on!

Here's to the next few years of reviews!

This is the Teenage Critic, signing off!

Like The Teenage Critic on Facebook here. You can email the Teenage Critic at criticteen1@gmail.com. Feel free to send me your suggestions for movies to review, or just to send me your opinions and fan mail. Follow me on Twitter, @Thomas_Pflanz

(P.S. I'm at over 1,500 Page Views! Yay!)

Bright Half Life: Brilliance Incarnate

Hello People of the Interwebs!

Today, I'll be reviewing 'Bright Half Life', by Women's Project Theater, a play that I saw as a part of the TRaC, or the Teen Reviewers and Critics, Program, run by Arts Connection. It's a great program, and they do it for completely free! Check them out here. Anyway, into the review!

Image Credit to http://www.theatermania.com/

WARNING: Spoilers Ahead!

The story follows two women, as we see out of order snapshots of their life. For the first third of the play, I was extremely confused. Then, as we got further in, things started to come together. Scenes that seemed random before, became clarified and beautiful.

The actors, Rebecca Henderson and Rachael Holmes, are phenomenal. As an actor myself, I know that it is enormously difficult to switch between two emotions in under a second. Yet, somehow, these two actresses make it seem effortless. The emotions were so raw and powerful, and they were played amazingly.

The play talks about love, loss of love, children, acceptance, and care. The messages are beautiful, the acting is beautiful, and the entire thing is absolutely magnificent. To buy tickets, check out the website here. I highly recommend going to see it. I don't know how long it'll play, so see it before they leave!

This is the Teenage Critic, signing off!

Like The Teenage Critic on Facebook here. You can email the Teenage Critic at criticteen1@gmail.com. Feel free to send me your suggestions for movies to review, or just to send me your opinions and fan mail. Follow me on Twitter, @Thomas_Pflanz