Woman Around Town’s Editor Charlene Giannetti and writers for the website talk with the women and men making news in New York, Washington, D.C., and other cities around the world. Thanks to Ian Herman for his wonderful piano introduction.
What should have been a day of celebration turned into a day of tragedy when two brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, planted bombs that exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Now, nearly four years after that attack, Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg produce a film that recreates, often in grisly detail, the aftermath of the explosion and how law enforcement, with the help of local citizens, come together to identify the killers.
Patriots Day follows a pattern that Berg/Wahlberg created for their previous film, Deepwater Horizon, also based on real events, in that case the explosion of a drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana that remains the largest ecological disaster in U.S. history. (Read the review.) With each film, we are pulled in as we learn about the people involved – good guys and bad guys – who will play a role as the catastrophe unfolds. Each time, we brace ourselves, knowing all too well what’s to follow.
With Deepwater Horizon, Wahlberg played a real life character, Mike Williams, an electronics technician who worked on the rig. In Patriots Day, he plays the fictional Tommy Saunders, a Boston police sergeant who because of transgressions that are not explained (although the way he barrels into any situation portrays him as a management nightmare), he is assigned marathon duty as punishment. He complains to his wife, Carol (Michelle Monaghan), about wearing the day-glo vest that makes him look like a clown. Saunders prefers to be at the center of the action and this inconvenient assignment will do just that – placing him near the finish line when the bombs go off.
While Saunders is perhaps a composite of the many police officers who served Boston at that time, the film’s other characters are based on real life figures. Christopher O’Shea and Rachel Brosnahan play a married couple, Patrick Downes and Jessica Kensky, who come to watch the marathon. During a bedroom scene in their apartment, the camera zeroes in on their legs, a foreshadowing of the devastating injuries they will suffer because of the blast.
Michelle Monaghan
Jake Picking plays the enthusiastic and fresh-faced MIT campus police officer, Sean Collier, thrilled when an MIT grad student agrees to go to a concert with him. Collier, refusing to give up his weapon, will be shot in his patrol car by Tamerlan.
During rescue operations, Steve Woolfenden (Dustin Tucker) is separated from his three year-old son, Leo (an adorable Lucas Thor Kelley). Father and son are later reunited at the hospital.
Our first glimpse into the Tsarnaev home shows Tamerlan and Dzhokhar relaxing in the living room watching TV, while Tamerlan’s wife, Katherine Russell (Melissa Benoist, in a chilling departure from her Supergirl persona), takes care of their little girl. Any semblance of normalcy, however, is dashed when the camera zooms in on Tamerlan packing a pressure cooker with metal parts.
Tamerlan is portrayed as the brains behind the operation, frequently bullying his brother into following his lead. The pair, Tamerlan wearing a black hat, Dzhokhar a white one, wind their way through the marathon crowds, finally depositing their lethal packages at two points and then leaving. Later, they watch coverage of the explosions from home, pleased with the carnage they have caused.
Video of the actual explosions played again and again on TV. In the film, however, Berg/Wahlberg go further, showing the aftermath, the injured runners and spectators, the blood-soaked clothing and pavement, even a sneaker-shod foot off to the side. The body of the youngest victim, eight year-old Martin Richard, is covered in a tarp, left for hours after the area has been cleared until crime scene specialists can gather forensic evidence from his body. Guarding the body is a lone cop, tears streaming down his face when the ambulance finally departs.
What the public didn’t see after the bombings was the incredible response by law enforcement. Shortly after the event, the marathon area was flooded with FBI agents, police officers, and local and state government officials, including Police Commissioner Ed Davis (John Goodman), and FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers (Kevin Bacon) who declares the bombing a terrorist event after examining bomb fragments. Taking over the investigation, he asks for a control center which is set up in the Black Falcon terminal on the South Boston waterfront. In that space, the marathon finish line area is meticulously recreated, with evidence collected after the bombing placed where it was found. Meanwhile, tech experts scroll through video of the marathon crowds and soon are able to isolate the Tsarnaev brothers as suspects. Wahlberg’s Saunders, who knows Boston’s streets, is called in to figure out which cameras should be checked for images of the bombers. Although DesLauriers is reluctant to release the brothers’ photos before they are confirmed as the bombers, he’s forced to do so when someone leaks the information to FOX-TV. Tamerlan and Dzhokhar are watching in their living room when they see themselves on TV. They know they have to flee if they are going to get to their next target, New York.
Kevin Bacon, Mark Wahlberg, and John Goodman
They carjack a Mercedes SUV belonging to Dun Meng (Jimmy O. Yang from HBO’s Silicon Valley), who manages to escape and alert the authorities. Cornered in Waterford, the duo exchange gunfire with a growing throng of police officers, including Waterford’s Sergeant Jeffrey Pugliese (J.K. Simmons). This shoot out is dramatic, showing how the brothers, armed with pipe bombs, continued to keep the cops on the defensive.
Tamerlan is shot and then run over by his brother who escapes in the Mercedes SUV. With Dzhokhar on the run, the Governor Deval Patrick (Michael Beach), closes down the city, asking people to shelter in their homes. The younger brother is discovered hiding in a boat in someone’s backyard and finally apprehended.
Berg splices in real footage from the marathon and several times we see the actual photos of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar flash across the screen. Alex Wolff (Dzhokhar) and Themo Melikidze (Tamerlan) are appropriately evil and creepy as the brothers bent on killing Americans. Particularly chilling, however, is Benoist as Tamerlan’s wife who converted to Islam and supported her husband’s efforts. She was never charged with a crime. Four people who were charged and sent to prison included Dzhokhar’s college friends who knew what he had done and never reported him.
Similar to what Berg/Wahlberg did with Deepwater Horizon, the real people involved with the event are interviewed at the end. The film ends with David Ortiz, along with police officers who were at the marathon, marching onto the field at Fenway Park, celebrating “Boston Strong.” The Boston Red Sox would go on to win the World Series, a well-deserved gift to a city that had seen too much tragedy.
The Victorian house featured prominently in Mike Mills’ new film, 20th Century Women, might serve as a metaphor for its inhabitants, a rumpled mis-matched group with great potential but still works in progress. Mills, who previously gave us Beginners, a film based on his father coming out gay at age 75 (Read the review), now tells us about his mother, played by a radiant Annette Bening.
Like Mills’ mother, Janet, Bening’s Dorothea Fields works as a draftsperson, but the film centers around the ramshackled home where she lives with her son, Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann), and her tenants, Abbie (Greta Gerwig), and William (Billy Crudup), a handyman who earns his rent by working on the house. A frequent visitor is Julie (Elle Fanning), Jamie’s best friend who, dodging her therapist-mom, often comes over to sleep in his bedroom, but insists on keeping their relationship platonic.
Lucas Jade Zumann and Annette Bening
Set in Santa Barbara, California, in 1979, the film looks back on the hippie-era 70s. There’s great attention to details, from the cars, including the Ford Galaxy that catches fire at the beginning of the film, and the aging VW defaced with graffiti, to the clothing, the Birkenstocks worn by Dorothea, and the hot pants worn by Abbie. Drives along California’s winding highways are lit up in psychedelic colors.
Dorothea is a free spirit, but where her son is concerned, she’s a control freak. When he participates in a crazy stunt which renders him unconscious for 30 minutes, she’s distraught and draws the net even tighter. Jamie responds by taking off with friends for a night in Los Angeles. Dorothea waits up, her black and white cat curled by her side, until he comes home safely.
While Dorothea purports to be a hands-on parent, she worries that Jamie, being raised without a father, needs other influences in his life. Yet she makes the bizarre move to enlist, not William, but the team of Abbie and Julie to help raise her son. Both women are handling their own problems. Abbie, recovering from cervical cancer, is told she probably won’t be able to have children. Julie has unprotected sex in the back of a car and worries she might be pregnant. Still, each woman takes on her assignment with a seriousness that will engage Jamie while alarming Dorothea. Abbie gives Jamie copies of Our Bodies, Ourselves with in depth discussions about a woman’s anatomy. Julie takes Jamie on an overnight trip up the coast, but he leaves their hotel room when she refuses to have sex with him.
Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, and Greta Gerwig
Dorothea has a way of rationalizing her actions. When Jamie attacks her chain-smoking, she says that she began smoking when it was romantic. When she’s challenged about not being happy, she responds: “Wondering if you’re happy is just a shortcut to being depressed.” Dorothea’s belongings are flashed on the screen, while Jamie in voice overs says that his mother was born in 1924, as if being a Depression era baby explains her behavior.
This is a brave, fascinating performance by Bening. She captures the contradictions in Dorothea’s personality without ever turning her into a cliché. Gerwig, her hair dyed fuchsia, literally throws herself into the role, dancing up a storm with Jamie when she takes him drinking at a club. Fanning’s Julie is a girl on the brink of womanhood who recognizes her appeal to men, but fails to see how she is torturing Jamie by keeping herself at arm’s length. As Jamie, Zumann is so natural as a 14 year old straining for more freedom, it seems like he’s not acting. Crudup, looking less buff than in previous films, seems to float in and out of the women’s lives, sleeping with Abbie, then kissing Dorothea. Although he’s the most obvious person to mentor Jamie, Dorothea rejects that idea, something that has less to do with William and everything to do with Dorothea’s views on men. She volunteers few details about her ex-husband who no longer calls her son. While she accepts a date with a co-worker, we never witness them going out.
Now that Mills has given us portraits of his father and mother, might stories of other family members follow?
Old friend It’s so nice to feel you hold me again No, it doesn’t matter where you have been My heart welcomes you back home again
“Old Friend,” Thom Bell, Linda Creed
Variety once described Phyllis Hyman’s voice as “sultry, sassy, and vocally surprising.” It was that voice that reached out to Jacqueline B. Arnold in songs like “Old Friend.” “Originally, her voice [drew me in],” Arnold explained. “Her haunted sounds. She always made me wonder what she was feeling when she recorded all these songs.”
When Arnold got older, she sought out more information about Hyman. “Listening and understanding the lyrics…peaked my curiosity about a person whose biggest wish was just to be loved,” she said. Hyman appeared in Sophisticated Ladies, a musical based on the music of Duke Ellington, which ran on Broadway from 1981 to 1983. She earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. Wider recognition, however, punctuated by a series of lost opportunities, eluded her. On June 30, 1995, Hyman committed suicide, hours before she was to perform at the Apollo Theater. On July 6, a week later, she would have turned 46.
Jacqueline B. Arnold
Now, Arnold is paying tribute to the singer, songwriter, and actress in An Evening with Phyllis Hyman, at New York’s Actors’ Temple Theatre, with six performances. (See the website for dates, times, and to purchase tickets.) Arnold brings her own considerable talents to this one-woman show. She has appeared in Broadway’s Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and in several National tours: Killer Queen in We Will Rock You, Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray, and Joanne Jefferson in Rent. She also had the privilege to tour with Bette Midler as a Harlette. Most recently, she created the role of Martha Wash in Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical.
Hyman’s story is a poignant one. She reportedly struggled with drug abuse and bipolar disorder. “Her mental illness really drew me to her in my adult years because it hit close to home,” said Arnold. “Like many of us, I know many people who suffer from mental illness. I believe telling her story on a public platform will bring even more awareness and hopefully will start a discussion within a community, specifically [among] the African American females who tend to not talk about it. We are told, `you will be ok’ or `suck it up’ or we don’t talk about it at all because we are embarrassed. I believe it is an important conversation to have, it can literally be life saving.”
As an artist, Arnold is devoted to making positive change through the arts, especially working with young people to help them grow into healthy and happy adults. She has been an instructor, counselor, and mentor to youth, specializing in those with depression and self-esteem issues. “I love their innocence and thirst for knowledge,” she said. “It is so fun to make a difference in a young person’s life through art. Building confidence or polishing a skill they have is so rewarding. It truly brings me joy to see kids dancing and singing.”
To prepare for her role as Hyman, Arnold did her research, reading Jason A. Michael’s Strength of a Woman: The Phyllis Hyman Story. “It was a great chronological resource for facts, meaning it was a great place to start,” she said. “Luckily, we live in an age of information at our finger tips. Being able to watch footage of her live performances, interviews, and get to see her facial expressions and hear her voice really helped. I also was given the chance to speak to people who knew her and got to hear stories first hand of who she really was.”
Jacqueline, center, with the cast. Also pictured are producer Sheryl Lee Ralph (bottom row, left) and the show’s creators Kendrell Bowman and Anthony Wayne (bottom row, right).
Included in the show are a collection of Hyman’s biggest hits, those that were said to be her favorites and most memorable. “Funny enough I have always had a deeper toned voice, even when I was young, which made it natural to play someone with those same tones,” Arnold said. “I have always connected to people with similar voices and loved singing their songs, Phyllis Hyman, Anita Baker, etc. The research and learning about who she really was is enabling me to channel her and meld her with my talents.”
Last year marked 20 years since Hyman died. Her recordings are still available and sought out by a loyal base of fans. Her videos on YouTube have millions of hits. But, according to Arnold, Hyman’s legacy is about more than just music. “I believe a legacy is what people would want to leave behind, or what people would want to be said about them,” Arnold reflected. “Her biggest message is even if you appear to have it all, you could still be alone and have nothing, not even yourself. I can only imagine she would want more for those who loved her, both those who knew her and those who did not, her fans. I hope her legacy and memory shines a light on mental and emotional illness.”
Arnold’s wish is that audiences will not only enjoy An Evening with Phyllis Hyman, but be inspired. “As a performer, I always hope they have been thoroughly entertained,” she said. “I always say there is a bonus if you leave with wanting to have a discussion about what you watched. For this show, wanting to talk about being in love, out of love, mental illness or being alone. As long as real conversations are happening, I feel that I have done my job.”
Top photo: Jacqueline B. Arnold-as Phyllis Hyman in An Evening with Phyllis Hyman. Photo Credit: Iconic.jpg.
When a door closes, a window opens, is a phrase I live by. So, when the cozy and quaint and welcoming site where I conducted writing workshops was sold, I was a little letdown, but then elated. Here was my opportunity to arrange a larger writing workshop, in a new space, and put into use all the facets of a successful event. It was like the universe was telling me that I was ready for the big time. Another phrase I live by is “don’t put off joy.”
After a successful writing career that began in high school (circa 1970s), I authored two books, helped a handful of writers get their books completed, and joined the writing staff at Woman Around Town. I began hosting writing workshops in 2008. I had no idea where they would lead me, which is part of the fun. During that time, I met wonderful writers who have great stories to tell; some have completed their books, others are battling the typical struggles of a first-time writer: their own doubts, too many unknowns, negativity from those around them, and on and on. All of this can encourage the writer to put their draft in a drawer, rather than letting it out into the world. I know. I’ve been there. That’s why I am committed to providing inspirational workshops for the new writer, or the established writer who needs a little reinforcement.
The Hudson Valley Writer Fest was born. It’s a daylong writer event (or even for those interested in the writing process, who just love books) with two pros in the industry: Jacquelyn Mitchard, columnist, and author of numerous fictional books, one of which catapulted her into the limelight and became a much-loved movie with Michelle Pfeiffer: Deep End of the Ocean. Our other special guest is WAT’s own Charlene Giannetti! She has amassed a truly impressive resume including magazine editing, writer, and publisher, not to mention collecting seven New York Press Club awards. These two talented writers will provide morning keynote addresses. After a lunch break with some networking opportunities, Jacquelyn will host a writer workshop on planning the story’s plot. We break for a snack while the room gets divided into two where two concurrent workshops will be offered: what every writer needs to know, and how to use social media to increase your sales. But, no worries, there will be a report at the conclusion so that everyone knows what went on in the workshop they did not attend. And, of course, a writer fest isn’t a real fest if you don’t have book signings, and meet and greets.
It’s all taking place on Saturday, April 22, 2017 in historic Goshen, Orange County, in the Hudson Valley, a place that’s just stunning in Spring time. The place? Another historic spot. The Harness Racing Museum on Main Street where the racing sport was born and where a delightful collection of artifacts is on display. I’ve been assured that the museum will be open and during any down time, attendees can wander at their leisure. I believe the event itself will be historic as well since there’s a good chance a whole new slew of books may be written because of this day.
So, whether you have a book in you, are a fan of Jacquelyn Mitchard (who also teaches creative writing around the country, when she’s not writing bestsellers), want to hear about the world of publishing with Charlene Giannetti, ask oodles of writing questions, learn about social media, get a book signed, I invite you to check out the event website: hudsonvalleywriterfest.com, and register before the limited number of tickets are gone.
You’ll be fed, provided with all the water, coffee and tea that you need, and will leave ready to start your own bestseller. Hope to see you there.
There will always be debate when a play or musical is adapted for film. What seemed like a powerhouse story on a small stage may lose steam on the big screen. Despite its star power and award nominations, 2014’s August Osage County, with Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, took in less than $40 million at the domestic box office. This season’s play-to-film offering, Fences, is positioned to do better, having raked in more than $32 million after opening in wide release on Christmas Day.
There’s been much anticipation over this film, adapted from August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Wilson, who died in 2005, thwarted previous efforts, holding out for an African-American director. Enter Denzel Washington, who had starred in a 2010 Broadway revival, which, like the film was also produced by Scott Rudin. (Rudin is one of a handful of people who has won an Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and Oscar.) With Washington as director and star, filming began in April in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, the working-class neighborhood where Wilson grew up.
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Denzel Washington, and Jovan Adepo
Denzel’s Troy Maxson and his best friend, Jim Bono (Stephen McKinley Henderson), are sanitation workers, hanging off the back of the truck, wondering why only white men are used as drivers. Troy has registered a complaint with his superiors, a move that could get him fired. Instead, management honors his request and makes him a driver, although that move will lead to a separation from Bono, one of the few people who manages to keep Troy grounded.
Russell Hornsby and Mykelti Williamson
On the surface, Troy seems content. He has a job, a home, and a wife, Rose (Viola Davis), he says he loves. But as he sits in the back yard drinking, first with Bono and later with his older son, Lyons (Russell Hornsby), his story turns out to be much darker. As an adolescent, he killed a man in a robbery and spent time in prison. (That was where he met Bono.) After being released, he played in the Negro Baseball League and still hoped for a career in the majors. He continues to blame racism rather than his age for never advancing in the sport. And when his younger son, Cory (Jovan Adepo), is being scouted by college football teams, he refuses to meet with the recruiter or sign the necessary papers. While he justifies his stand by telling Cory that football, too, is racist, he seethes with jealousy that his son might succeed where he failed. Relations with his older son are no better. An aspiring musician, Lyons often turns up on Friday, payday, to borrow money from Troy, but what he really wants is his father’s attention. Instead, Troy refuses to go to the club to see Lyons play and continually disparages his career choice.
Mykelti Williamson
Troy frequently shouts that he’s the boss and the house Rose and Corey live in is his, something that’s not quite true. Troy’s brother, Gabe (Mykelti Williamson), has a medal plate in his head, the result of a war injury. Gabe received $3,000 from the government for his mental impairment, which Troy used to buy the home. Although Gabe moved out, he lives nearby but spends most of his time wandering around the neighborhood, a tarnished trumpet tied around his neck.
While Troy thinks of himself as the head of the family, the one holding everything together is Rose. She puts up with his drinking and his ill-conceived plan to build a fence around the house. In Troy’s mind, the fence is more than just a way to enclose his property. Mentally, he’s hounded by the Grim Reaper and believes that the wooden barrier will keep evil at bay.
Washington opens up the film somewhat, with a few scenes shot in the street and in a bar. But for the most part, the action happens in Troy’s house and the backyard. Within that small space, the drama feels even more intense, brought home with close ups showing the emotions on the faces of the actors. While this is the story of an African-American working family, the themes resonate across socio-economic lines. Dreams die hard and often there is collateral damage.
Viola Davis and Jovan Adepo
Washington, in virtually every scene, has never been better. This is a dialogue heavy film and Washington alternates between delivering some lines like poetry, others like a diatribe. His Troy is not a sympathetic character, yet, at times, we feel sympathy for him, the result of Washington’s visceral performance. Troy is his own worst enemy, and as he builds his fence, this world closes in on him.
The real star of the film, however, is Davis. This actress seems to be at the top of her game no matter what she does. She continues to wow critics and fans with her role as Professor Annalise Keating on ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder. No doubt, her star power will be one reason Fences does well at the box office. Her Rose is one for the ages, a performance that will be called out again and again. Watching Davis’ face as she registers the magnitude of Troy’s betrayal is painful to watch. She makes a difficult choice, one that has less to do with forgiving Troy and more to do with stopping others from suffering. It’s an heroic gesture, one that too few would have the courage to make.
This novel is the first one that I’ve read written by Katherine Reay. Now, I’m eager to read others. If A Portrait of Emily Price is an example, Reay has a talent for creating characters who have interesting jobs as well as interesting backstories. Emily is an art restorer and would-be artist, while the man she marries, Benito Vasallo (Ben) is a chef. We learn a great deal about Emily’s work while we salivate reading about the dishes turned out by Ben. The story begins in Atlanta, but soon we are transported to a small town in Italy, where the settings come alive with Reay’s descriptions.
At the heart of Reay’s story is the romance between Emily and Ben. Emily meets Ben while working for Ben’s brother, Joseph, who runs an art restoring facility in Atlanta. Ben has temporarily relocated to the states to rescue Piccollo, a restaurant owned by his aging aunt and uncle, who hope to sell the place, but need to increase business first. Ben is determined to help his relatives, but there’s another reason for his exile in Atlanta. He will eventually run his family’s restaurant, Coccocino, in Montevello, taking over from his father, who is now in poor health. Even though Ben worked for many years as his father’s sous chef, his mother maintained control of the kitchen and questioned any changes he wanted to make. Ben is hoping that his experience in Atlanta will give him the confidence he needs to return to Italy and show his parents he’s ready to take over Coccocino.
While the physical attraction between Emily and Ben is immediate, on the surface, they seem too different to ever come together as a couple. But they do have one thing in common – challenging relationships with their siblings. Emily’s sister, Amy, has been drifting, spending a lifetime living in Emily’s shadow. “I don’t need you to fix everything,” Amy tells Emily. “I don’t want you to anymore.” Joseph, meanwhile, has not been back to Italy in quite some time. Ben’s efforts to uncover what’s troubling his brother are rebuffed.
After what can only be termed a whirlwind courtship, Emily and Ben are married and head for Montevello. I have to admit at this point, I was holding my breath for Emily. Not being Italian, or even Italian-American, she had no idea what she was in for and I marveled at her bravery. The course of true love never runs smooth, particularly when an Italian family is involved. Most members of Ben’s family are quick to embrace Emily, particularly Ben’s father, Lucio, who is soon sharing afternoons and books with his new daughter-in-law. Ben’s mother, however, is a tough nut to crack. When Emily takes it upon herself to give romantic advice to Ben’s sister, she sets off a firestorm that threatens her relationship with everyone in the family.
Emily is asked by Lucio to uncover a fresco in the local church. After the priest gives her permission to begin the work, Emily spends whatever free time she has slowly removing layers of paint to reveal what’s underneath. Lucio asks her not to tell anyone in the family what she’s doing, not even Ben. She’s astonished with what she finds. The painting depicts a familiar scene from the Bible, but one that also has a lot to do with all those Vasallo family secrets.
This Is Us is being hailed as the only breakout hit for the networks of the 2016 fall TV season. It’s been nominated for three Golden Globes – Best Drama, and Mandy More and Chrissy Metz, for Best Supporting Actress. So one rainy afternoon, I decided to watch the first episode using my cable service’s on demand feature. Three hours later, I had to turn off the TV, but returned over the next few days to take in all 10 episodes. It’s that addictive.
The show will be on hiatus until January 10 when it returns to tell us whether one of the show’s popular characters will be killed off. You have time to catch up before those new episodes air.
This Is Us is quality TV, something all too rare on the networks these days when reboots (MacGyver, Lethal Weapon), super heroes (Supergirl, Marvel’s Angents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), and sci-fi fantasies (Timeless, Genius) dominate. Shows about families often are comedies, like Modern Families. Or they veer into melodrama. This Is Us manages to introduce issues faced by many families without delivering lectures. We’re left to figure it out for ourselves after watching another family confront its challenges.
The performances are some of the best we’ve seen this season, even taking in shows on HBO and Netflix. But it’s the writing that takes This Is Us to another level. Series creator and writer, Dan Fogelman, centers the story on the Pearson family, father Jack, played by Milo Ventimiglia, and Rebecca, played by More (and yes, she does get to sing in some of the episodes.) In the pilot, Jack is celebrating his 36th birthday when Rebecca goes into labor. She’s pregnant with triplets, but only two of the babies – a boy, Kevin, and a girl, Kate – will survive. Gerald McRaney plays the wise doctor who helps the couple handle both the joy and sorrow of the delivery.
Through a twist of fate, Jack and Rebecca will go home with three babies. An African-American baby boy is in the nursery, having been left at a fire station. Jack is drawn to the baby and Rebecca agrees they should adopt him. Yet what seems like an obvious solution, can’t help but create future complications. Rebecca still grieves for Kyle, the baby she lost, and has difficulty bonding with Randall, the baby she has. When she does, however, Randall quickly becomes her favorite, something her other son, Kevin, can’t help but notice.
The “twins,” Kate and Kevin, have always been close. Kate claims to feel pain when Kevin does. Randall, on the other hand, has struggled to fit in with his siblings. As adults, all three children have “issues,” and with flashbacks we begin to understand how these challenges have come to define them as adults. Randall, who as a young child was found to be gifted, is a successful trader, married with two little girls. While he loves his adoptive parents, he’s constantly searching for his birthparents. Although Kevin is a famous TV actor (he plays “The Manny,” an au pair in a sitcom), he hates the show and feels like a failure. And Kate constantly struggles with her weight.
There is no one “star,” but an ensemble where even the minor characters leave an impression. Ventimiglia and More make for a believable couple, warts and all. Fogelman takes us back to their courtship in Pittsburgh. While watching the Steelers in the Superbowl, they argue about having children. (That becomes a moot point when the triplets are conceived in a bathroom during the game.) The adult children are played by an appealing trio: the nominated Metz (My Name Is Earl, American Horror Story – Freak Show); Justin Hartley (The Young and the Restless, Revenge); and Sterling K. Brown (nominated for a Golden Globe for playing Christopher Darden in The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story).
Fogelman’s test will come with the new season. Will he be able to keep up the momentum the series has created? There are still many family secrets to be revealed. Expectations will be high.
Top photo from Bigstock: “This is Us” Cast at the PaleyFest 2016 Fall TV Preview – NBC at the Paley Center For Media on September 13, 2016 in Beverly Hills, CA. From left: Chrissy Metz, Mandy More, Justin Hartley, Sterling K. Brown, and Milo Ventimiglia.
Nearly a decade after the musical Titanic docked in New York’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, Arlington’s Signature Theatre brings to the stage a production that is everything the original was not. Although it won the Tony Award for Best Musical, the Broadway production earned lackluster reviews. Nevertheless, Signature’s Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer remained a fan. “I’ve always loved the musical Titanic and I have felt that Signature should reinvent this musical for our audiences in an exciting new way,” he has said. With creative staging, an uber-talented cast, deft direction by Schaeffer, choreography by Matthew Gardiner, and an outstanding 17-piece orchestra (conductor, James Moore, musical coordinator, Jon Kalbfleisch), Signature has given new life to this musical.
Signature’s “ship of dreams,” is a three-story set in the center of the MAX Theatre with metal stairways rising from the stage to the rafters. Paul Tate Depoo III’s innovative scenic design arranges seats on all four sides of the stage so that the audience is never far from the action. While the story is well known – an ocean vessel that was regarded as a technological marvel meets a disastrous fate due to human error – Schaeffer manages to keep the tension high.
Sam Ludwig and Stephen Gregory Smith (Photo by Christopher Mueller)
As the passengers begin to file in, there are looks of amazement on their faces as they glimpse the Titanic’s majesty. In“How Did They Build the Titanic?”, Sam Ludwig as third class passenger Frederick Barrett, runs down the amazing stats for the ship. Forty-six thousand tons of steel/ Eleven stories high! /She’s a great palace, floating… /Quiet as a lullaby There’s no attempt to outdo the lavish sets that dominated James Cameron’s film version. With one crystal and gold chandelier showcasing the ship’s elegance, much is left to the imagination. It works.
Stephen Gregory Smith, Katie McManus (Photo by Colin Hovde)
The social makeup of the cast is on full display thanks to costume design by Frank Labovitz and wig design by Anne Nesmith. We meet the famous names in first class – the Astors (Matt Conner and Jamie Eacker) – as well as those below, like third class, celebrity- obsessed Alice Beane (an amusing performance by Tracy Lynn Olivera). Christopher Bloch plays the captain, who plans to retire after the ship reaches New York. While he’s an experienced navigator, he succumbs to pressure from J. Bruce Ismay (Lawrence Redmond), chairman of the White Star line, which owns the Titanic, to increase the ship’s speed in order to arrive in New York ahead of schedule. That move, of course, would prove to be the first of many mistakes made that doomed both the ship and its passengers.
The cast of Titanic (Photo by Paul Tate DePoo III)
Kevin McAllister conveys military bearing as one of the ship’s officers, going so far as to take responsibility for the ship hitting the iceberg. Christopher Mueller and Sean Burns are touching as young members of the ship’s staff who show incredible courage as they continue to serve the passengers who remain behind. There’s a touching moment in the ballad, “Still,” when Ida Strauss (Florence Lacey) refuses to board the lifeboat, opting to stay behind with her husband, Isidor (John Leslie Wolfe).
Christopher Bloch, Nick Lehan, Lawrence Redmond, and Bobby Smith (Photo by Christopher Mueller)
Bobby Smith, a Signature regular who last dazzled audiences in La Cage aux Folles, plays the ship’s designer, Thomas Andrews. His emotional lament is heartfelt in “Mr. Andrews’ Vision” – Just a cursory look at the blueprints here/ Shows the weaknesses that we have missed/ How the water poured in/A three-hundred-foot gash/And caused the bow to flood and to list.
The special effects that dramatize the sinking and the fate of those who died in the water are simply stunning. Who needs CGI when you have the brilliant minds behind this production?
While there are more than two dozen songs in Titanic, Maury Yeston’s musical score failed to produce even one hit. The strength of the Signature production is the large cast’s impressive vocal talents, on full display in the ensemble numbers at the beginning and, thrillingly, at the end of the show.
Top photo: The cast of Titanic, photo by Colin Hovde
Titanic Signature Theatre 4200 Campbell Avenue Arlington, VA 703-820-9771 Through January 29, 2017
