Oxford University Press has released Liza Gennaro’s Making Broadway Dance, which explores how musical theater choreography is created. Gennaro applies script analysis and movement research to provide a close-up look at the creative work of influential choreographers George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins, Katherine Dunham, Bob Fosse, Savion Glover, Sergio Trujillo, Steven Hoggett, and Camille Brown. “It’s important to understand that musical theater dance is not a monolith,” Gennaro said. “It is a multivaried dance expression that responds to the predetermined aspects of librettos — time, place, plot, and character — and employs dance to tell stories.” By considering influences from ballet, modern, post-modern, jazz, social, and global dance, Gennaro offers a rich understanding of how choreographers make Broadway move, and she challenges the perception that stage dance is often kitsch, disposable, or without artistic process. Her book is enlightening reading for theater students, artists, and fans.
Below is Gennaro on the American Theatre Wing’s Working in the Theatre epsiode “The Vocabulary of Dance: Choreographers 2010,” talking about recreating the dances of her father, Peter, who choreographed West Side Story and Annie.
New York critics have given generally positive reviews to the new Off-Broadway revue Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood, playing a limited engagement at the York Theatre Company’s temporary home (Theatre at St. Jean’s) through Jan. 2, 2022. The show is conceived, directed, and choreographed by Randy Skinner, with a book by Barry Kleinbort, music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, and music direction by David Hancock Turner. The creative team also includes Fred Lassen (vocal arrangements, orchestrations), Rob Berman (dance arrangements), James Morgan (sets), Nicole Wee (costumes), Jason Kantrowitz and Ken Billington (lights), Julian Evans (sound), and Brad Peterson (projections). The cast includes Phillip Attmore, Jeremy Benton, Victoria Byrd, Kaitlyn Davidson, Joseph Medeiros, and Melanie Moore.
DC Metro Theater Arts (Deb Miller): It’s a highly entertaining world-premiere tribute to the legendary composer and lyricist that dazzles with top-notch song and dance performances by a talented cast of six. … From their featured solos to duets and production numbers, they never fail to impress with their outstanding vocals and harmonies, superb movements and flawless coordination. … With the passing of Stephen Sondheim in November, it has become ever-more-timely to honor the immortal works of the great creators of unforgettable American musicals. The York has done that brilliantly with Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood.
Lighting & Sound America (David Barbour): Several decisions have gone into making Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood a cut above the standard songbook revue, all of them linked to one key question: How to deal with the sheer bounty of Irving Berlin’s catalogue? … Step one: Find an organizing point of view. Book writer Barry Kleinbort has narrowed his focus to Berlin’s career in Hollywood. … Step Two: Go into your dance. Berlin’s film musicals were dance-heavy. … Step three: Provide the inside story. Cheek to Cheek is loaded with amusing tidbits about Berlin’s career. … Overall, this is a fleet, effortlessly entertaining eighty minutes.
Talkin’ Broadway (Marc Miller): Well, what do you want from an Irving Berlin revue? Some familiar great old songs, to be sure. Maybe some less-familiar, less-great old songs. Some historical context in which to safely house those songs and explain when and why they were written. And a bunch of vocally and choreographically gifted young performers to sell them. All of these things are in abundant supply in Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood. … Exciting, innovative theater? Loaded with surprises? Not really. But pleasant? Pleasant dialed up to a “9.” … But you know what? It’s comfort food, a dish that suits both the holiday season and these difficult times. How welcome are 80 well-done minutes of Irving Berlin? How deep is the ocean, how high is the sky?
Theater Mania (Zachary Stewart): The revue begins at the birth of the movie musical in 1927, when audiences accustomed to silence from their screen stars were serenaded by Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer. And what was he singing? Berlin’s “Blue Skies.” Berlin was there from the very beginning. … Despite its propagandistic flourishes, Cheek to Cheek is a fine tribute to America’s most influential songwriter. Even if you don’t know his name, you know Berlin’s songs. … Now that Americans are no longer consuming the same mass culture, can there ever again be a songwriter like that again? It will certainly take someone as gifted and prolific as Berlin to step up to the task of bringing a disunited states of America together in song.
Tony nominee Eddie Mekka died November 27 at his home in Newhall, Calif. Born Edward Rudolph Mekjian on June 14, 1952, in Worcester, Mass., Mekka graduated from Burncoat H.S. and attended Berklee College of Music. After college, he taught voice at Worcester County Light Opera, while he pursued a performing career.He made his Broadway debut in the Tom Stoppard play Jumpers (1974) and his musical debut as a replacement in The Magic Show. His third (and final) Broadway credit was the title role in the short-lived musical The Lieutenant (1975), which earned him a Tony nomination for best actor. Below you can listen to the show’s opening segment, including Mekka in the “I Want” song “Join the Army” (at 2:20).
Mekka moved to Los Angeles in 1975 to audition for television and film work, and quickly landed his breakthrough role of Carmine “The Big Ragoo” Ragusa in the Emmy-nominated Happy Days spinoff series Laverne & Shirley (1976-83). Below is a medley of Mekka in musical clips from his time on the show.
Mekka also played the recurring role of Joey DeLuca in another Happy Days spinoff, the short-lived Blansky’s Beauties (1977), as well as appearing as Carmine in two episodes of Happy Days itself, including “Joanie’s Weird Boyfriend” (1977), in which he introduced his character’s signature song, “Rags to Riches,” which you can watch below.
After Laverne & Shirley ended, Mekka made numerous TV guest appearances, including two reunion specials. He began getting more film work after his memorable scene-stealing dance with Madonna in A League of Their Own (1992), directed by Laverne & Shirley’s Penny Marshall, which you can watch below.
His recent musical stage work included a national tour of Grease (2000) with Laverne & Shirley’s Cindy Williams, a run in Hairspray (2006) at the Luxor in Las Vegas, and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof (2010) at Long Island’s Engeman Theater.
The NBC presentation of Annie Live!, a TV broadcast of the 1977 musical Annie, which is based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray, has received generally positive reviews from television critics. The creative team includes Thomas Meehan (book), Charles Strouse (music), Martin Charnin (lyrics), Lear deBessonet and Alex Rudzinski (direction), Sergio Trujillo (choreography), Emilio Sosa (costumes), Jason Sherwood (sets), and Stephen Oremus (orchestrations). The cast includes Celina Smith (Annie), Harry Connick Jr. (Daddy Warbucks), Taraji P. Henson (Miss Hannigan), Nicole Scherzinger (Grace), Tituss Burgess (Rooster), Megan Hilty (Lily), Jeff Kready (Bert), and Alan Toy (FDR). Below, Celina Smith leads the orphans in “Hard-Knock Life.”
https://youtu.be/p9gA-A_wmbk
Deadline (Valerie Complex): So how does it stack up among the rest? Well, it’s somewhere in the middle, with several positive elements and equally negative ones. … The Annie Live! ensemble is simply fantastic. They are the most exciting part of the show and the glue holding the production together. These talented people don’t miss a beat. … Overall, the closing song is the most resplendent number in the whole musical, but that’s how it should be. While Annie Live! doesn’t always fire on all cylinders, a story of hope and belonging is undoubtedly what the country needs right now. And for many Annie fans, this version will hit the spot.
Hollywood Reporter (Daniel Fienberg): With a couple of good performances, one can ignore that Annie is crazily front-loaded and just keeps doing reprises of its three best songs to kill time in its second act. … I also appreciated the lack of distracting stunt casting that has sometimes marred these NBC productions. It was “just” a solid ensemble, presumably plucking many performers off of Broadway as possible. … The audience in the venue was happy to be there and the audience at home was probably happy to have live TV musicals back. And when everybody is happy to be happy, Annie is right in its element.
New York Times (Noel Murray): [Annie Live!] did not radically reimagine or reinterpret the original show … but neither did this version disappoint in any significant way. If anything, after another hard year of Covid restrictions and political upheaval, it was a treat to watch a lot of talented people gather in one place to sing and dance. … Give a lot of credit to NBC’s two winning leads: Celina Smith as the wide-eyed waif Annie and the crooner Harry Connick Jr. as the bossy Daddy Warbucks. … Perhaps it was only proper that this musical about earnest, plain-spoken yearning arrived on TV in 2021. … This show may be dated by design, but when it’s clicking, it can still clear away the cobwebs and the sorrow.
USA Today (Patrick Ryan): If you’re bringing back Annie, you’d better have a star who can shine like the top of the Chrysler Building. … Our skepticism dissipated minutes into the network’s Annie Live! on Thursday night, as young triple threat Celina Smith took the stage to sing “Maybe.” … But not everyone hit home runs. We adore Connick’s honeyed, husky croon, although his stilted acting made Warbucks more awkward than endearing. And while Hannigan is a delicious role … [Henson] swallows the whole proscenium in a shrieking, mugging turn. … What it lacked in style, Annie Live! ultimately made up for in heart, with indelible showtunes and a winning lead performance that left us grinning. And after all, you’re never fully dressed without a smile.
The International Press Academy has announced the nominees of its 26th annual Satellite Awards for film and television work from 2021, which will be presented during a ceremony at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles on Jan. 5, 2022. In the motion picture categories, the leading contenders are Belfast and The Power of the Dog, which both received 13 nominations, including best drama. The television nominees are led by the limited series Mare of Easttown, with five nods, and the drama series Succession, which earned a special achievement award for its ensemble plus four competitive nominations.
The leader among comedy and musical films is Tick, Tick … Boom!, which includes a special achievement award for Lin-Manuel Miranda plus nods for motion picture, director (Miranda), actor (Andrew Garfield), supporting actor (Robin de Jesús), cinematography (Alice Brooks), editing, and sound.
Three other musicals earned three nods each. Cyrano is up for motion picture, actor (Peter Dinklage), and costume design (Massimo Cantini Parrini); In the Heights for motion picture, actor (Anthony Ramos), and actress (Melissa Barrera); and Respect for motion picture, actress (Jennifer Hudson), and song (“Here I Am” by Jamie Alexander Hartman, Jennifer Hudson, and Carole King).
The other contenders for original song are “Be Alive” (Beyoncé, Dixson) from King Richard, “Beyond the Shore” (Nicholai Baxter, Matt Dahan, Siân Heder, Marius de Vries) from CODA, “Colombia, Mi Encanto” (Lin-Manuel Miranda) from Encanto, “Down to Joy” (Van Morrison) from Belfast, and “No Time to Die” (Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell) from No Time to Die.
https://youtu.be/wIB4CEeaCHs
Encanto is also among the nominees for animated film, as is the muscial Vivo. Vying for best documentary are the musical films Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road, Summer of Soul, and The Velvet Underground.
The original score nominees include Dune (Hans Zimmer), The French Dispatch (Alexandre Desplat), The Harder They Fall (Jeymes Samuel), The Last Duel(Harry Gregson-Williams), The Power of the Dog (Jonny Greenwood), Parallel Mothers(Alberto Iglesias), and Spencer (Jonny Greenwood).
Finally, the musical shows among the the television nominations include Mahalia, competing for made-for-TV film and actress (Danielle Brooks), and Genius: Aretha, competing for actress (Cynthia Erivo).
Film critics have given near universal acclaim to the 20th Century Studios film adaptation of the 1957 stage musical West Side Story, which opens in US and UK cinemas on December 10, the 60th anniversary of the release of the Oscar-winning 1961 film adaptation. The 2021 creative team includes Leonard Bernstein (music), Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), Tony Kushner (screenplay), Steven Spielberg (direction), Justin Peck (choreography), Janusz Kaminski (cinematography), Sarah Broshar and Michael Kahn (editing), Adam Stockhausen (production design), Deborah Jensen (art direction), Rena DeAngelo (set decoration), Paul Tazewell (costumes), Judy Chin (makeup), and Kay Georgiou (hair).
The cast includes Ansel Elgort (Tony), Rachel Zegler (María), Ariana DeBose (Anita), David Alvarez (Benardo), Mike Faist (Riff), Rita Moreno (Valentina), Corey Stoll (Lt. Schrank), and Brian d’Arcy James (Sgt. Krupke), with Kyle Allen (Balkan), Ben Cook (Mouthpiece), Kyle Coffman (Ice), Kevin Csolak (Diesel), Myles Erlick (Snowboy), John Michael Fiumara (Big Deal), Patrick Higgins (Baby John), Jess LeProtto (A-Rab), and Iris Means (Anybodys) as the Jets and Yassmin Alers (Lluvia), Andréa Burns (Fausta), Annelise Cepero (Provi), Ana Isabelle (Rosalia), Ilda Mason (Luz), Josh Andrés Rivera (Chino), Tanairi Sade Vazquez (Charita), and Jamila Velazquez (Meche) as the Sharks.
Guardian (Peter Bradshaw): Leonard Bernstein’s score and Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics blaze out with fierce new clarity. … This new West Side Story isn’t updated historically yet neither is it a shot-for-shot remake. But daringly, and maybe almost defiantly, it reproduces the original period ambience with stunning digital fabrications of late-1950s New York whose authentic detail co-exists with an unashamed theatricality. On the big screen the effect is hyperreal. … West Side Story is contrived, certainly, a hothouse flower of musical theatre, and Spielberg quite rightly doesn’t try hiding any of those stage origins. His mastery of technique is thrilling; I gave my heart to this poignant American fairytale of doomed love. 5 out of 5 stars.
Indepdendent (Clarisse Loughrey): Until a week ago, I’d argue that there was very little point in such a pristine replica of a classic. And then we lost the man who could write about love so fluently. … Spielberg’s film is a final tribute to Sondheim’s work. If it achieves anything, let it remind us of exactly who the world lost when the composer died last Friday. … Justin Peck’s choreography recognises that there is no West Side Story without the finger snaps and balletic sweeps, but still finds its very own rhythm, captured by Spielberg’s camera with an elegant dynamism. … All those technical triumphs only complicate what feels like an unanswerable question: how can a film look this good, feel so moving, and still come up lacking? 3 out of 5 stars.
Telegraph (Robbie Collin): West Side Story is, I believe, Spielberg’s finest film in 20 years, and a new milestone in the career of one of our greatest living directors. … Rather than follow in its 1961 forerunner’s gravity-defying steps, Spielberg and his screenwriter Tony Kushner have stripped down its story of feuding gangs and yearning lovers to its parts, then rebuilt it with new colour and dynamics. … The result is miraculous: a film which fuses the colour and euphoria of a Golden Age movie musical with the teeming, dirty-fingernailed grandeur of a classic American immigrant epic. … Spectacle and sentiment aren’t vying powers here, but complementary forces, each propelling the other to bewitching new heights. 5 out of 5 stars.
Time Out (Phil de Semlyen): How do you outdo a film that won ten Oscars? Here’s how. There’s a substrata of genius-level artists at work here: from Spielberg himself, who delivers his best film in nearly 20 years, to the late, great Stephen Sondheim (lyricist), Jerome Robbins (choreographer), Leonard Bernstein (arrangements) and William Shakespeare (most of the rest of it) — and you can really feel it. … So what are the flaws? Well, as always with a source story in which Tybalt is far more badass than Romeo, the lovie-dovie central couple feel underpowered compared with the live wires around them. … You need a pretty high tolerance for finger-snapping, too. Beyond that, everything sings. 5 out of 5 stars.
USA Today (Brian Truitt): Steven Spielberg worked wonders with a shark before, and he makes magic with a bunch of Sharks and some Jets, too. For the first time, the Oscar-winning director puts his stamp on a movie musical. And he doesn’t disappoint. … Spielberg’s take doesn’t stray too far from the original 1957 Romeo & Juliet-inspired Broadway musical or the 1961 best picture winning-film, but is rather a more authentic, dynamic and thoughtful revamp. … The director’s been around the block enough to not mess with greatness, instead touching up the paint on a classic narrative and leaning into a love story as relevant as ever. 3-1/2 out of 4 stars.
Vanity Fair (Richard Lawson): Leonard Bernstein’s early blares — of glorious arrival and ominous warning — are so familiar, so enshrined in cultural memory, that it seems entirely unnecessary to re-create them on film. Why bother, when the old thing still feels so definitive? … To, I must admit, my great surprise, they pretty much pull it off, creating a West Side Story for new generations to thrill to, and giving purists only a few reasons to haughtily sniff in its direction. … Spielberg and Kushner have done justice to what Bernstein, Robbins, and the quite recently late Stephen Sondheim made all those years ago — not subverting its enduring value, but rather, with fire and grace, doing so much to earn it.
The tributes continue apace, as many of us in the theater community turn to the written word (ours and Sondheim’s) to express our feelings of losing an important artist, mentor, and fellow theater lover. As numerous as his artistic accomplishments are, his personal ones are just as large. Laura Collins-Hughes underscored that point in today’s New York Times. “As a mentor, as a letter writer, as an audience member who showed up far beyond Broadway to witness new work,” she wrote, “he quietly, faithfully nurtured generations of theater makers.”
Having been mentored by Oscar Hammerstein II, Sondheim paid it forward in programs like Young Playwrights Inc. and the Dramatists Guild’s Jonathan Larson Fellowship. In 1997, I joined the Guild as coordinator of its fellowship and as editor of its magazine, The Dramatist. Sondheim encouraged not only the fellows but also me. When the magazine published an interview with him, Sondheim called me to praise my editing — and to ask me to work with him on a new book he was writing, which became Finishing the Hat. Another affirmation from Sondheim was the recommendation letter that I took with me when I left the Guild in 2007.
A highlight of my performing career was singing for Sondheim at the March 19, 2005, celebration of his 75th birthday at Symphony Space. (In the photo at left, I’m the one directly above Barbara Cook’s head.) With the Juilliard Choral Union, I sang a medley of “Merrily We Roll Along” and “The Hills of Tomorrow” (from Merrily We Roll Along), accompanied by Jason Robert Brown on piano, and “Sunday” (from Sunday in the Park with George), conducted by Paul Gemignani, which you can hear below from the CD Wall to Wall Stephen Sondheim.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, one of the numerous writers whom Sondheim mentored, led a Broadway community group sing of “Sunday” this past weekend on the red steps of the TKTS booth in Times Square, which you can watch below. As the Dramatists Guild wrote in their tribute to Sondheim, “His memory and work are already a blessing. May his life be an example to us all.”
Classical Hollywood era star Arlene Dahl died November 29 in New York. Born Aug. 11, 1925 in Minneapolis, Dahl was active in theater at school. After graduating from Washburn H.S., she briefly attended Univ. of Minnesota but soon moved to Chicago, where she modeled for Marshall Field’s store, before relocating to New York, where she continued to model while pursuing theater work. She made her Broadway debut in the short-lived 1945 musical Mr. Strauss Goes to Boston, which led to her getting the lead in the 1946 play Questionable Ladies. The play closed in Philadelphia during its out-of-town tryout, never making it to Broadway, but she was seen by movie exec Jack Warner, who invited her to Hollywood. Dahl had an uncredited bit part in Life with Father (1947) but was soon promoted to leading lady in Warner’s musical biopic My Wild Irish Rose (1947).
The biopic led to a long-term contract offer from MGM, and she soon began attracting notice for her work in that studio’s film noir and Western movies, though she really wanted to make musicals. Dahl finally got her chance with the biopic Three Little Words (1950). The highlight of her performance is “I Love You So Much,” originally written for the 1930 film The Ramblers, accompanied by a chorus of top-hatted men.
Dahl left MGM after two B-movie flops in 1951 and began writing the beauty column “Let’s Be Beautiful” for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, which she continued to do for 20 years. She would later also write a syndicated astrology column as well as books on both beauty (1965, 1980) and astrology (1983). She worked at Paramount on a series of forgettable adventure movies before returning to musical comedy with the studio’s 1953 Bob Hope vehicle Here Come the Girls.
In 1953, Dahl also returned to Broadway as Roxane in a revival of Cyrano de Bergerac with José Ferrer, reprising his Tony-winning performance, and began hosting The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse TV anthology series. In 1954, she made her TV acting debut in the Lux Video Theatre adaptation of Casablanca as Ilsa, which she recreated for a 1958 edition of Co Star: The Record Acting Game, and launched Arlene Dahl Enterprises, marketing cosmetics and lingerie. Dahl reunited with Hope for his 1966 NBC-TV variety special, The Bob Hope Show, appearing in the “Leading Ladies” comedy segment. Dahl enters about 23:30 in the video below and begins her rendition of “I Believe in You” (from How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) at 24:44, in which she is joined by Rhonda Fleming and Marilyn Maxwell.
After closing her company in 1967, Dahl joined the ad agency Kenyon & Eckhardt, before serving as director of beauty products for Sears from 1970 until 1975, when she founded the short-lived fragrance company Dahlia. Her musical work in the 1970s included her 1972 return to Broadway as Margo Channing in Applause and her 1976 recording of “Mad About You Manhattan” (from the Off-Broadway musical Be Kind to People Week) as one of the celebrities in Skitch Henderson’s Million Dollar Chorus. In 1981, Dahl declared personal bankruptcy but rebounded with a recurring role on One Life to Live (1981-84) and TV guest roles. She ended the decade with an appearance at the London Palladium in Stairway to the Stars (1989), in which she performed her signature song,“I Love You So Much,” and the duet “Bosom Buddies” (from Mame) with Jane Russell.
Dahl’s last film role, after a hiatus of more than two decades, was in Night of the Warrior (1991), which co-starred her son Lorenzo Lamas. Her final film appearance was in the 2003 documentary Broadway: The Golden Age, which you can watch in its entirety below. (Dahl’s brief interview occurs at 1:22:17.)
British critics have given generally favorable reviews to the Manchester revival of The Wiz, the 1975 Tony-winning musical retelling of L. Frank Baum’s classic children’s novel The Wizard of Oz, being presented at Hope Mill Theatre through January 16. It’s the first professional UK staging of the show since Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s 2011 revival. The creative team includes William F. Brown (book), Charlie Smalls (score), Matthew Xia (direction), Leah Hill (choreography), Sean Green (music supervision), Ehsaan Shiviarani (music direction), Simon Kenny (production design), Simisola Majekodunmi (lights), and Tony Gayle (sound).
The cast includes Cherelle Williams (Dorothy), Tarik Frimpong (Scarecrow), Llewellyn Graham (Tinman), Jonathan Andre (Lion), Cameron Bernard Jones (Wiz), Anelisa Lamola (Addaperle), Bree Smith (Aunt Em / Glinda), Kofi Dennis (Lord High), and Ashh Blackwood (Evillene), with Andile Mabhena, Shayna McPherson, Dylan Gordon-Jones, Samantha Shuma, Marisha Morgan. Below is Williams singing “Soon as I Get Home.”
The Independent (Holly Williams): Matthew Xia’s production bills itself as its own “radical” retelling of The Wiz, promising a contemporary black British update on the African-American original. This also sounds smart — but the interventions are often too small to properly register. … More successful is Sean Green’s inventive re-scoring. Don’t worry: there’s no scrimping on the tasty funk and soul grooves of the original. … But Green updates the toe-tapping score, too, deliberately drawing on different genres from across the African diaspora. 3 out of 5 stars.
Telegraph (Mark Brown): In 1974 came the premiere, in Baltimore, Maryland, of The Wiz … so successful that the show transferred to Broadway. … However, it has not enjoyed the status that it deserves here in the UK. That may well be about to change, courtesy of this superb co-production by Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre and Ameena Hamid Productions.. … However, it cries out for the kind of resources, and the big stages, that are enjoyed by West End musicals, many of which are frankly miles behind this show in terms of quality, talent and sheer entertainment. 4 out of 5 stars.
Theatre Reviews North (Richard Evans): This is a thoroughly exciting show, with a cast full of energy, enthusiasm and rhythm. … Of course, the story is iconic for good reason, with its message of finding within yourself all that is necessary to overcome any challenge. … There is a nuance here that speaks about Oz not being the land of golden opportunity we think, and that “home” has its merits. … This musical has never made it to the West End, but after a performance like this, that can only be mystifying. 4-1/2 out of 5 stars.
What’s On Stage (Matt Barton): It opens, like the classic 1939 film, in black and white. … We’re uprooted in an arresting tornado of visual effects and flurrying movement. … The magic of this spectacle is let down by clunky, gratuitous choices. … The show finds vibrance when it breaks out of this. When each of Dorothy’s companions is introduced, their songs are nicely inflected with character details. … These moments can lift you up like the Wiz’s hot air balloon, but overall the production feels lacking a little soul of its own. 3 out of 5 stars.
Film critics have given generally favorable reviews to the Walt Disney Animation Studios musical fantasy Encanto, the story of the Madrigal family who live in a magical house in a Colombian mountain town. The creative team includes Byron Howard (direction), Jared Bush and Charise Castro Smith (direction, screenplay), Lin-Manuel Miranda (songs), Germaine Franco (score), Alessandro Jacomini, Daniel Rice, and Nathan Detroit Warner (cinematography), Jeremy Milton (editing), Ian Gooding (production design), Camille Andre, Mehrdad Isvandi, and Bill Schwab (art direction), and Alberto Abril (animation supervisor).The cast includes Stephanie Beatriz (Mirabel), María Cecilia Botero (Alma), John Leguizamo (Bruno), Diane Guerrero (Isabela), Jessica Darrow (Luisa), Angie Cepeda (Julieta), Wilmer Valderrama (Agustín), Carolina Gaitán (Pepa), Mauro Castillo (Félix), Adassa (Dolores), Rhenzy Feliz (Camilo), Ravi-Cabot Conyers (Antonio), Maluma (Mariano Guzman), and Alan Tudyk (toucan Pico).
Associated Press (Mark Kennedy): Mirabel is extraordinary, in that when it comes to her family, she is totally normal. That’s the set-up for Disney’s absolutely charming new animated musical Encanto, which flips the typical children’s movie script. … It’s only appropriate that Encanto — fueled by eight original songs by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda — turns into that most special thing of all: A triumph in every category: art, songs and heart. … Encanto is a film about the pressure of living up to high expectations and the fear of revealing imperfections. … Behind all that is also a cheer for immigration and how we need to lend our gifts to the community. It is the Thanksgiving movie we need in 2021. 4 stars out of 4.
Chicago Sun-Times (Richard Roeper): Disney’s 60th animated film is one of the most beautiful in the long and storied history of the catalog and a surefire contender for best animated feature of 2021. … Encanto is a magical and warmhearted journey with lovely messaging about the importance of family, some genuinely funny set pieces and those stunning visuals that fill every corner of the screen. If you could hug a movie, this is the kind of movie you’d want to hug. … Blending just the right mixture of comedy, heartwarming family drama and thrilling adventures, this is one of my favorite movies — animated or otherwise — of the year. 4-1/2 out of 5 stars.
CNN (Brian Lowry): Encanto reflects a more recent tradition, in a movie about what makes us special, seriously enlivened, again, by Miranda’s musical gifts. … The main departure, and it’s an interesting one, is the lack of a traditional villain, an absence that’s felt but mostly overcome by the warmth and energy behind the execution. … Encanto compensates for the dearth of traditional conflict with a colorful world filled with powers and an abundance of music. “I will never be good enough for you,” an exasperated Mirabel says at one point. Happily, Encanto is plenty good enough for families seeking a sprinkle of that Disney animated magic.
The Guardian (Peter Bradshaw): This musical, boasting a lively voice cast and original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, has been promoted as the 60th “canonical” film from Walt Disney Animation Studios. But however well-meaning, this milestone movie could almost represent a creative crisis for Disney — it feels like yet another step down the cul-de-sac of bland, algorithmically generated entertainment. … There are some nice moments and sweet show tunes, but Encanto feels like it is aspiring to exactly that sort of bland frictionless perfection that the film itself is solemnly preaching against, with a contrived storyline that wants to have its metaphorical cake and eat it. 2 out of 5 stars.
New York Times (Maya Phillips): For better or worse, Disney has always been in the business of making magic. We all know the worst: the unimpressive secondhand sorcery of formulaic plots, flavorless songs and lifeless animation. But the best — well, that’s the kind of magic that gets passed on for generations. So it’s not unlike the magic of Casita, the living house of the Madrigal family in Disney’s brilliant new animated film Encanto. … Instead of on a journey, the action unfolds in and around the Madrigal home. But that’s because Encanto is most interested in the love and struggles of family, without silly side characters or romantic leads. … If home is where the heart is, my heart’s with Casita.
Oxford University Press has released Liza Gennaro’s Making Broadway Dance, which explores how musical theater choreography is created. Gennaro applies script analysis and movement research to provide a close-up look at the creative work of influential choreographers George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins, Katherine Dunham, Bob Fosse, Savion Glover, Sergio Trujillo, Steven Hoggett, and Camille Brown. “It’s important to understand that musical theater dance is not a monolith,” Gennaro said. “It is a multivaried dance expression that responds to the predetermined aspects of librettos — time, place, plot, and character — and employs dance to tell stories.” By considering influences from ballet, modern, post-modern, jazz, social, and global dance, Gennaro offers a rich understanding of how choreographers make Broadway move, and she challenges the perception that stage dance is often kitsch, disposable, or without artistic process. Her book is enlightening reading for theater students, artists, and fans.
