This is a movie I would very much enjoy owning to watch again from time to time. It of course is the Stephen Sondheim musical. (Also James Lapine who did the screenplay.) The set is dark, as the woods are dark. Meryl Streep portrays the witch. She is hard to recognize before she regains her youth. This is really a good cast. Johnny Depp has a cameo as the wolf. The Baker is played by James Corden, his wife by Emily Blunt. Cinderella is played by Anna Kendrick. Jack and Red Riding Hood are Daniel Huttlestone and Lilla Crawford. I enjoyed the music, and the acting and the story more than I thought I would. Kids did the first act in middle school, and the second act is where things get more depressing and the Giant's wife starts killing people. However this was even entertaining and well presented.
I have a favorite song, 'Children Will Listen." My only regret is the Baker was providing dialogue over the song, and the song was soft and hard to hear. SO here are the lyrics in their entirety:
Careful the things you say,
Children will listen.
Careful the things you do,
Children will see.
And learn.
Guide them along the way,
Children will glisten.
Children will look to you
For which way to turn,
To learn what to be.
Careful before you say,
"Listen to me."
Children will listen.
Careful the wish you make,
Wishes are children.
Careful the path they take-
Wishes come true,
Not free.
Careful the spell you cast,
Not just on children.
Sometimes the spell may last
Past what you can see
And turn against you...
Careful the tale you tell.
That is the spell.
Children will listen...
Chris Pine portrays one prince, who turns out to be charming but not sincere, and Cinderella leaves him. The other prince (Billy Magnussen) ends up with Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy.) He turns out to be both charming and sincere.
I must admit I stayed for all the credits as wanted to listen to the orchestration. I noted not all of the actors sang their songs; but most did.
Very well done Disney.
Showing posts with label James Lapine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Lapine. Show all posts
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Movie Musical Review: Passion (Stephen Sondheim)
This musical I found on Your Tube. Stephen Sondheim music and lyrics. Book James Lapine.
Being about passion, it has a scene that is inappropriate at the start, but other than that it tells its story well. This remind me of what Federico Garcia Lorca would write. We are introduced to to Giorgio (Jere Shea) and Clara (Marin Mazzie) who are madly in love, though Clara is married to a different man. Our lovers must part however, as Giorgio is a Captain in the military, and has orders to a different assignment.
Giorgio meets a new group of men, including the Colonel, his ranking officer, whose cousin, Fosca (Donna Murphy) lives with him, as her parents have both passed away. Turns out her story is truly tragic. She was married, but only to a man who took his dowry, and then borrowed more from her parents, and left her parents broke. He did not love her. In fact, he was already married.
She was crushed and defeated, and now she is sick, and has nervous convulsions.
However, when Giorgio arrives, she is intent on making him her lover. For her part, she loves him from the moment she sees him from the window. This has the feel of an obsessive lover. She follows him, and he wants to leave her. In fact he takes a four-day leave to be with Clara, and writes a letter explaining his affections are elsewhere. Fosca takes this as a rival, but does not give up.
The doctor, who also treats Fosca, asks him to reconsider, and placate her, as it would be good for her health. This he does, but she still carries things too far. She forces him to write a letter, and dictates the words. A love letter.
Giorgio finally gives in. He realizes he has never been loved like this before. However it is too late. Fosca's health is going. And Giorgio's mind cracks under all the pressure.
This musical, like I said, has a Lorca feel. In Lorca it seams things never turn out right. That is true her as well. Sometimes, love is hard.
What is the meaning of true love. This play concludes with Giorgio singing to Fosca
No one has ever loved me
As deeply as you.
No one has truly shown me
What love could be like until now:
Not pretty or safe or easy
But more than I ever knew.
And Fosca responds, To die loved is to have lived.
Being about passion, it has a scene that is inappropriate at the start, but other than that it tells its story well. This remind me of what Federico Garcia Lorca would write. We are introduced to to Giorgio (Jere Shea) and Clara (Marin Mazzie) who are madly in love, though Clara is married to a different man. Our lovers must part however, as Giorgio is a Captain in the military, and has orders to a different assignment.
Giorgio meets a new group of men, including the Colonel, his ranking officer, whose cousin, Fosca (Donna Murphy) lives with him, as her parents have both passed away. Turns out her story is truly tragic. She was married, but only to a man who took his dowry, and then borrowed more from her parents, and left her parents broke. He did not love her. In fact, he was already married.
She was crushed and defeated, and now she is sick, and has nervous convulsions.
However, when Giorgio arrives, she is intent on making him her lover. For her part, she loves him from the moment she sees him from the window. This has the feel of an obsessive lover. She follows him, and he wants to leave her. In fact he takes a four-day leave to be with Clara, and writes a letter explaining his affections are elsewhere. Fosca takes this as a rival, but does not give up.
The doctor, who also treats Fosca, asks him to reconsider, and placate her, as it would be good for her health. This he does, but she still carries things too far. She forces him to write a letter, and dictates the words. A love letter.
Giorgio finally gives in. He realizes he has never been loved like this before. However it is too late. Fosca's health is going. And Giorgio's mind cracks under all the pressure.
This musical, like I said, has a Lorca feel. In Lorca it seams things never turn out right. That is true her as well. Sometimes, love is hard.
What is the meaning of true love. This play concludes with Giorgio singing to Fosca
No one has ever loved me
As deeply as you.
No one has truly shown me
What love could be like until now:
Not pretty or safe or easy
But more than I ever knew.
And Fosca responds, To die loved is to have lived.
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