It’s been previewing since the Pleistocene, but “West Side Story” finally opens tonight on Broadway. I’m sure the reviews will be excellent. I saw an early preview and had mixed feelings. I thought the interpretation superficial and some of the live video annoying. But I was very moved by Isaac Powell as Tony. Terrific!
…I’d been old enough to see the late Zoe Caldwell play the title role in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” on Broadway. Friends who did claim that she was their favorite Jean. I’ll never be able to rinse my brain of Maggie Smith’s interpretation of the role. Not that I want to — Maggie was also supreme. Here’s Zoe’s obit.
The Guardian asks why the new movie adaptation of “Emma.” needs a period in its title and goes on to select other movie titles with odd punctuation. I’ve seen “Emma.” and it’s wonderful but the period makes it seem definitive which it isn’t.
She hasn’t released music in five years, but Adele has let slip she plans to drop a new album in September. The singer announced the news while taking to the stage at the wedding reception of her best friend Laura Dockrill at The Mason’s Arms pub in Battersea, south west London on Saturday.
Movies: “Fantasy Island” is the major release, but I want to see the documentary “The Times of Bill Cunningham,” about photographer Bill Cunningham…”Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is a lusciously visual story about two women in 18th-century France. TV/Streaming: I’m catching up on Amazon Prime with the French series “The Village,” about a small town in France during World War II. Not bad. Music: Why did Eminem finally perform at the Oscars? So his latest album would climb the charts. Strategy successful! Books: I’ve tried (and failed) to get into Daniel Kehlmann’s new, hyped novel, “Tyll.” Too phantasmagorical for me. Sports: It’s NBA All-Star weekend in Chicago. I like the slam-dunk contest. Finally: Presidents Day weekend reminds me how crucial it is that we oust our current one.
No new play this year interests me as much as Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt,” which has just opened in London and which concerns four generations of a Viennese jewish family. The reviews are varied. The Guardian says: ‘Stoppard keeps us at a considerable distance from his characters. The emotional drama builds up, but in the deep waters beneath the surface. However, the characters’ expositional history lessons are jarring, and at times puzzlingly simplistic and leaden.’ But The Telegraph calls the drama “unforgettable.”
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