Review: The Scottsboro Boys

I went to see a musical last night and I left the theatre viscerally angry.

 

That's not a sentence you see very often is it? In fact it's not very often that I see anything at the theatre that makes me feel as angry, as outraged and as sad as The Young Vic's superlative production of The Scottsboro Boys did.

 

Written by Kander and Ebb (of Cabaret and Chicago fame) and directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman (one of my theatre heroines, probably most famous as the director-choreographer of The Producers on Broadway), The Scottsboro Boys tells the disgusting true story of a group of nine young black men arrested on a baseless charge of raping two white women on a train in 1930s Alabama. The group were thrown into jail, tried multiple times and always found guilty despite the fact they had done nothing wrong and one of the women admitting that the rape accusation was an outright lie. Eventually some of the group were released and all of them were finally - posthumously - pardoned this year. (There are obviously far more detailed histories of the story online and you should read one of them.)

 

Not an obvious choice for a musical right? But in the prodigiously talented hands of its creative team it totally works. The story is told in the form of a traditional minstrel show, subverted by having an all black - with one exception - cast playing both black and white roles. The set consists of a semi circle of chairs (traditional in a minstrel show) which the cast use to create all of the settings for the story from the train the group are arrested on to the prison cells they're held in. The staging is devastatingly simple and effective and the subversion of the minstrel show stereotypes done very cleverly to really highlight how insidious and hateful the racism the group faced was.

The songs, as you'd expect from Kander and Ebb, are universally excellent. From the heartbreaking ballad Go Back Home to the defiant and angry Nothin' every one is skilfully written to combine the very necessary point the song is making with a cracking Broadway tune. Nowhere is this done to better effect than in Electric Chair, which combines the horror of the youngest of the group's (he was 13, think about that for a minute) nightmares about his death sentence with an absolutely mind boggling tap number. It really shouldn't work, but it does.

But the most devastating moment of the piece for me is the final titular track which combines the traditional minstrel cake walk with the story of what happened to the group. It's performed in blackface make up - how was that ever acceptable? - and combines the hopes and promises that the group would be free and live fantastic lives with the reality of life as an emotionally scarred black youth with a criminal record in the 1930s Deep South. The way each member of the group lists off what happens to them isn't overplayed or overdramatised and as a result is horrifically effective.

 

The quality of the staging and material is enhanced by an utterly superb ensemble cast. Standout performances for me came from Adebayo Bolaji as the group's angry young man Clarence Norris and Kyle Scatliffe as Haywood Patterson, effectively the group's leader. Scatliffe has the majority of the heavy lifting acting and singing-wise and carries it off faultlessly. His raw anger at the injustice done to him is electric and permeates everything he said, did or sang. If there's any justice in theatreland then he'll be a huge star. Bolaji was equally assured as Norris - the angriest of the group to begin with, desperate to take violent revenge on the white authority figures surrounding him who is heartbreakingly broken by the end of the piece. Every member of the - very young - cast deserves some recognition though as there really isn't a weak link amongst them.

 

All in all, I think The Scottsboro Boys is the best thing I've seen in London this year. I'd implore you to get a ticket, but sadly the run finishes tonight. Hopefully it will come back at some point and if it does you'll find me at the front of the ticket queue.

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2013 in review: top 10 TV

Well everyone else in the world is doing 2013 review posts so I figured I'd join in. And TV is a great place to start because I love it.

I'm such a couch potato it's ridiculous. Generally, though, most of what I watch consists of either repeats or complete trash. Or both if I'm having a bad day. My current favourite things in the world are the sensationalised American crime documentaries that populate the ID channel (as I write I'm watching something called 'Manhunt: Search for a Serial Killer'). Not big, not clever, very entertaining.

Anyway, just occasionally I watch something that isn't awful. Here's a (largely spoiler free) list of my favourites from this year...

Best in Show: Boardwalk Empire
If this were Crufts, some minor royal would be handing Steve Buscemi a big trophy and a rosette. I love Boardwalk. I love everything about it - the writing, the cast, the acting, the way it's shot and lit, the music, the costumes etc etc etc. It's the most consistently brilliant thing on TV and series four is fantastic. Top, top stuff.
Top moment - Michael K Williams' Chalky White vs Jeffrey Wright's Dr Valentin Narcisse is by far and away my favourite Boardwalk rivalry since Steve Buscemi's Nucky Thompson vs Michael Shannon's Agent van Alden in series one.

Best for the lolz: Parks and Rec
One of the inumerable reasons I love BBC4 is that it introduced me to Parks and Rec, and this year I've got properly into it watching the first three series back to back over a series of very happy weeks. Another case of great writing and a fabulous ensemble cast combining to make something lovely. And lovely is the right word for Parks and Rec - it's funny without being mean, well observed without being cruel and incredibly optimistic in outlook. Now to start watching the next few series...
Top moment - anything said or done by Ron Swanson

Most improved lolz: Veep
I watched series one of Veep and found it a bit meh. Series two is so much better and as a result completely hilarious. It feels like the writers have really hit their stride and focused in on giving the fantastic cast some amazing one liners. And the second great comedy on my list whose lead character is female, which is more noteworthy than it should be.
Top moment - so many fantastic quotes and insults to choose from, but as a cheese lover I particularly enjoyed Gary's vaguely psychotic girlfriend declaring "quit being so hot, you're melting my cheese".

Best for epicness, nudity and dragons: Game of Thrones
I adore the Song of Ice and Fire series of books and, so far, Game of Thrones has been a fantastic and (more or less) faithful adaptation. Probably the best ensemble cast on TV at the moment with amazing effects and great writing, it's the grand and sweeping scale of GoT that makes it so spectacular. And all the nudity. Gotta love the nudity.
Top moment - loved the addition of Diana Rigg to the cast, but the highlight for me has to be The Red Wedding. What's that song I hear?

Best for gore (and hotties): The Walking Dead
A good, old fashioned post-apocalyptic zombie yarn, The Walking Dead is definitely more than the sum of its parts thanks to some fantastically well constructed characters, great writing and uniformly excellent big set pieces. Another great cast too, particularly Andrew Lincoln's Rick (good hotty) and David Morrisey's The Governor (psycho hotty).
Top moment - the excellent mid-season finale showdown between Rick's group and The Governor's. Gory, exciting and heartbreaking in equal measure with a couple of great twists and a fantastic cliffhanger. Can't wait to pick the series up again in February.

Best old fashioned thriller: The Tunnel
English language adaptations of European crime thrillers are rarely great (the superlative Wallander aside) but Sky's take on Scannoir murder mystery The Bridge was really well done. Stephan Dillane and Clemance Posey were fantastic leading a British-French hybrid production in this well written, dark, funny and unpredictable drama about a serial killer with a grudge and a point to make. The Bridge has just been renewed for a second series. Hopefully The Tunnel will follow suit.
Top moment - the incredibly tense sequence with the (ultimately fake) bomb in cretinous tabloid journalist Danny Hillier's car in episode one set the scene and the pace really well. I was hooked from then on.

Saddest goodbye: Borgen
The fact that there's no more Borgen, ever, makes me sadder that it reasonably should. I love this series mostly because I love the characters and I'm genuinely sad to say goodbye to them, especially Birgitte. A believable, rounded and strong female politician character is so achingly rare, as indeed is a believable and rounded depiction of politics in general, and I'll miss Borgen's take on both so much. Bring on the box set!
Top moment - I have two (beware spoilers ahead): the moment when Bent follows Birgitte to the New Democrats and the moment when Nete - who I loved - is revealed to be the one leaking information to the Moderates. The former made me cry happy tears, the latter made me viscerally angry. I love that TV can do that.

Best one off: Burton and Taylor
Dominic West as Richard Burton and Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth Taylor - need I say more? Well if you insist: fantastic central performances with a great script and did I mention Dominic West as Richard Burton?
Top moment - the hotel room workout flashback scene was adorable. But my favourite scenes were the 'I love you but we can't be together' finale. Heartbreaking stuff.

The 'Not as good this year but still pretty fucking ace' award: The Great British Bake Off
Basically, I really didn't like any of the final contestants, didn't care who won and found all the tabloid nonsense really tiresome but Bake Off is still one of my favourite shows. And as long as Mary, Paul, Mel and Sue are still involved I'll always love it. The contestants and baking are kind of peripheral at this point.
Top moment - custardgate. Poor Howard.

The 'this is basically porn' award: Paul Hollywood's Bread and Pies and Puds
Pretty self explanatory really. Any show that involves a lot of old blue eyes is going to feature on my list. Several of my lists actually, but the others aren't for public consumption.
Top moment - all the close ups of his hands. Don't even care how creepy that is.

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Back in business (don't all cheer at once)

Well it's been knocking on for two years so I thought I'd better have another crack at this whole blogging thing. Who knows maybe I'll even stick with it this time. Third time lucky etc etc.

A few things have changed in the 20 months plus since I last posted. Here's some headlines...

Vital issues of the day first, Dominic West has been supplanted at the top of my man-obsession tree (best tree ever) by Paul Hollywood. Never let it be said that I have a type.

What else? Oh yeah, I got made redundant, was unemployed for six months, got a new job and moved 250 miles down the country. A genuinely horrible experience, unemployment, that changes your perspective on life and the people around you a fair bit. The feeling of uselessness is something I won't forgot in a hurry. It's something that really shows you who you can rely on too. I have an amazing family and some awesome friends, and the ones who turned out to be less awesome aren't a loss. But that experience is thankfully in the past and I'm fantastically happy in my new job (doing campaigns for an animal welfare charity) and new adopted home in Horsham, West Sussex. It's small, it's leafy and it's fabulously middle class. My kind of town.

I'm mad into baking now. Possibly this is related to point one above. More than that though it was a bit of a lifesaver when I was unemployed. It started out as something to do, y'know, a way to fill the day. I quickly realised how much it was making me feel better - there's something about the sense of accomplishment you get from baking that's instantly therapeutic. Plus you get cake/bread/biscuits and cake/bread/biscuits is always good. Expect to see a fair few 'look I baked a thing!' posts from now on.

My newfound proximity to London means I'm doing a lot more cultural stuff now, especially theatre trips, and seeing a lot more of a wider group of friends. Expect lots more theatre reviews and general London shenanigan posts now too.

There's a whole lot of other fun stuff I've done, seen and eaten this year, but I'll save all of that for later. Don't want to use up all my A material in one go after all. There's really not that much of it to begin with.

Style crush du jour: Jennifer Lawrence

I'll confess I don't really know much about latest It film The Hunger Games. I know it's based on a book. I know male lead Liam Hemsworth is hot (not as hot as his brother Chris, of Thor fame, though). And, I know female lead Jennifer Lawrence is a) a great actress, b) gorgeous and c) one of the best dressed people around at the moment.

That last point is the one that's impressed itself on my mind the strongest. Her wardrobe for the promotional tour has been jaw droppingly good. Let's take a walk through some of the best bits (to date).

Starting strong:

At the world premiere of the film in Prabal Gurung. I think the word I'm looking for is fierce.

Still going for gold:

Same colour, totally different style. Ladylike in Ralph Lauren at the UK premiere.

And now for something completely different...

Looking completely sultry in Tom Ford at the Paris premiere. Proof that the right LBD is just as effective as the most extravagant evening gown. Love the poker straight hair and crimson lips too. Smoking hot!

But, y'know, sometimes you do just want to wear an extravagant gown. Enter Marchesa.

If you're going to go for extravagant then who better than Marchesa to provide it? Love the matchy matchy red shoes too.

Time for my personal highlight. The next three beauties were worn on the same day. (I want her life.)

1) Keeping it simple in Raoul for an appearance on Letterman. The perfect LBD strikes again.

2) Back in Prabal Gurung to leave Letterman. The gold lace on this is lush.

3) Flashing a bit of flesh but keeping it classy in gorgeous green Calvin Klein. The cut and colour of this dress are so perfect for her shape and colouring. Also? Boob envy. Just saying.

And I'm sure there are more to come, but that's for another blog post. Let's just hope the film is as good as her wardrobe!

Disney, I'm annoyed with you

(And now I'm also annoyed with Blogger/myself for deleting the original version of this post when I tried to correct a typo in it. This version is better though, promise.)

 

So John Carter is going to go down as one of the biggest movie flops in history. As HuffPo reports, it's set to lose parent company Disney around $200million. That's a big number. Mickey Mouse is going to have to shift a lot of Dole Whip* to make that up!

Now I saw JC over the weekend. It was a good film; not great but not awful and certainly not the turkey these numbers make it out to be. Visually, it was stunning - the landscapes, the effects, the CGI creatures were all brilliant and that's before I even get to the aesthetic appeal of the largely topless/otherwise half naked cast! (In my chart of hot villains, Dominic West's Sab Than is somewhere near the top. Mmmmm... I digress.) Although leading man Taylor Kitsch left me cold - and I hope he only got the part after Zac Efron turned it down, he would've been much better - the supporting cast was fab. All in all it was exactly what that sort of sci-fi-come-action film should be: an entertaining couple of hours.

So it's not the quality of the film I'm annoyed with, it's the marketing campaign. According to that HuffPo article $100million was spent on the John Carter marketing campaign. Really?! On what?!

I'm a geek. I'm a Disney loving geek. I'm a Disney loving, sci-fi-come-action film loving geek. I should've been the target of this alleged marketing campaign. So how did I find out about JC? Trailer in the cinema? TV spot? Print advert? Viral campaign online? No. I find out about it whilst stalking casually browsing Dominic West's IMDB page. Even the last minute, panicky push out of clips, trailers and interviews didn't appear on my radar until sites like Den of Geek wrote about them in the context of the general mess that the JC marketing became. If I wasn't noticing this stuff then who the hell else would be?

Compare and contrast with other recent, and less good (for my money), Disney offerings like Pirates of the Caribbean 2-4. I literally lost count of the number of adverts of various types I saw for POTC4. And that was a well established franchise with a well established fan base that, frankly, would probably have done fine without any advertising at all.

Part of me wonders whether Disney is prepared to take the hit on John Carter because it knows it will surely make the loss back with its share of mega franchise The Avengers which is out later this spring (and which I know all about thanks to some decent marketing). If that's true I'm even more annoyed.

Anyway, if you get the chance do go and see John Carter. As I said it's a good film that deserves to find an audience - and really is worth seeing on the big screen. I especially recommend it if you're a fan(girl) of Dominic West and/or James Purefoy both of whom are scene stealingly excellent in it. And half naked. I may have mentioned that already.

*This is an in joke for Disney World fans. If you don't get it then you clearly need to visit WDW, stat.

Style crush du jour: Sam Cam and Mrs O

There's no point lying about this: I fangirl over Michelle Obama as much as I do her husband. Often more so. 

I do not fangirl over David Cameron. This is just not a thing that happens in my life for a number of reasons. I have a lot more time for his wife, though. Anyone who's had a successful career in fashion (especially as an accessories designer) is something of a girl after my own heart. 

One of the things I like about both Sam Cam and Mrs O is the way they use their wardrobes to promote the fashion industries of their respective countries. And let's face it, they both look damn good doing it. Both of them have long being style crushes of mine.

With the Camerons currently on a state visit to the USA all eyes - including mine - have been on the two First Ladies fashion choices. Both have stuck to their signature styles and local designers, and both have looked consistently brilliant for doing so. They've provided a case study in how to combine high fashion and high politics which, as a fashion obsessed politico, has made me very excited indeed.

Check it out:

At the state dinner last night, Sam Cam went for a slightly quirky high neck Alessandra Rich gown with Mrs O in teal Marchesa with a statement necklace from Tom Binns. A lesson in grown up glamour from both.

Earlier in the day, Sam Cam is in plum Victoria Beckham. In my fantasy world, this dress is the cornerstone of my work wardrobe. Well jel.

At the official welcome at the White House, Mrs O chose a gorgeous Zac Posen dress and jacket (love the detailing on the jacket) and Sam Cam a Roksanda Ilinic dress accessorised with an Emilia Wickstead belt and LK Bennett shoes.

But the gorge colour block dress wasn't Sam Cam's first Ilinic look of the trip. The day before she stepped out in this fab combo: an Ilinic top (cinched in with the same Emilia Wickstead belt) teamed with Jospeh cigarette pants and her trusty LK Bennett heels. Mrs O went for chartreuse L'Wren Scott on top teamed with cream wide leg trousers. And they both look way to good to be in a sports hall.

Whoever said politics and fashion don't mix? They were clearly an idiot.

Awesome thing of the day: Dominic West on Googling himself

First off, 'Googling himself' is not a euphemism. Although, this post would be a billion times more awesome if it were...

Sorry, I'll stop that.

The Telegraph's Tom Chivers has the story (reporting comments from a Radio Times interview, to be fair):

"Obviously I loved Dominic West with a confusing passion already, but today he has made the breakthrough into all-time hero. The Old Etonian and erstwhile star of The Wire has cheerfully confessed in this morning's paper that he regularly Googles himself. Better still, he often gets involved in the comments on the articles he finds, as well: 'I like to have chats about myself with people – mainly putting forward the case for the defence in forums. I use my own name but nobody ever believes me.'"

There's nothing confusing about my passion for Dominic West (I'm doing it again. Sorry.) but I do love this story. As Chivers goes on to say:

"It's brilliant; I love the image of Jimmy McNulty tapping away one-fingered at the tired old BPD computer, truculently seeking a row on Holy Moly about his acting skills: "What the f**k did I do? If you don't like the Brechtian method, that's your problem, pal." It's pleasing to hear someone in the public eye say this without going on about how Googling yourself is narcissistic, or getting involved in online discussions is lonely and sad....But best of all it's West's sense of humour about the whole thing. Compare it to Reese Witherspoon on a similar topic: “Only in very, very dark moments – moments of pure self-loathing – do I type my name into Google. You never read anything positive. You’re fat, you’re ugly, you’re tired, you’re worthless, you don’t have a career any more, you’re a bad actor. It’s just an affirmation of every horrible feeling you have about yourself.” Well, if you seek out the horrible stuff, obviously, although I bet that Ms Witherspoon will find plenty of things calling her talented and beautiful as well, if she looks. But Dominic West knows what to do: you go and find the people who've called you a fat talentless hack, and you argue with them about it. "I may be talentless, but I am NOT FAT." It requires a thick skin, and can take up too much of your day, and it may be rather different for global celebrities than obscure bloggers on newspaper websites, but it's good fun."

Admit it: we've all done this. If you put my (real) name into Google, the top results are an American model and actress and a Guardian journalist. I know which one I'd rather be (hint: it's not the Guardian journalist). Google's autocorrect feature suggests I might be a volleyball player at Stanford University (I still prefer this to working for The Guardian).

Incidentally, if you happen upon a copy of the Radio Times - or can read it off the rack like I did - it's worth reading West's interview in full. It's very funny - and reassuring to find out that even he isn't immune to the questionable charms of Extreme Makeover. I also fell (a bit more) in love with him owing to the number of times 'I was drunk and this happened' appears as part of an answer. There are few things I find sexier than a posh boy with a bit of an edge. (And I've given up booze for lent so frankly anyone talking about/partaking in alcohol is an instant object of lust for me at the moment.)

I'm also enjoying the irony of blogging a story about someone Googling themselves that I found through a Google Alert about that person. I win at the internet.