Media update
I am getting almost nothing done today, so I might as well give up and write something thoroughly non-academic *g*
Went to see Matilda (songs by Tim Minchin) a couple of weeks back. I only checked for tickets on the off chance, since it was about two weeks to opening, and I expected it would be pretty much sold out. And it was, but for some bizarre reason they appear to have held back the first three rows until the last minute! So I ended up scoring tickets in the third row, which was brilliant. The show was excellent, although more for the performances and the staging than the substance of the musical itself. I'm very fond of Tim Minchin, and some of the songs were gorgeous, but it lacked the "flow" and sung-through character development that I really love about a good musical - it was mostly a bunch of okay-to-excellent songs strung together with a couple of half-hearted reprises to show willing. That said, "Naughty" is brilliant in and of itself, and "When I Grow Up" and "School Song" were magical when combined with the choreography and staging.
What also made it such a great show was that the performances were pretty much fantastic all around - it was the children who really carried the production, and I think the thing with having a cast of children who only do two shows a week is that they're pretty much always bouncing off the walls with enthusiasm, unlike adults who can get a little, um, energy-conserving over the course of a run. But it was only the first week in, so the adults were pretty upbeat too *g*. The talent of the kids on stage was ridiculous - while the Australian theatre scene has always been small compared to the West End and Broadway, we have far fewer shows as well, and so you get a lot of amazing potential just sitting around waiting for an opportunity to show itself. I was really thrilled to see just how good they all were - particularly Matilda (I think we got Sasha Rose) who was not at all 'stagey' in the traditional sense (I'm thinking of some of the girls from Annie), but genuinely thoughtful. Even at curtain call, she looked pleased, but more like she was happy she'd done a good job rather than basking in the applause. The cast got a standing ovation - and I happily joined in. It's been a long time since I did that. I probably wouldn't bother seeing it again (don't hold me to that *g*), but much like Mary Poppins, it was very much worth seeing at least once.
Also saw Mr Holmes - I actually wasn't going to, but splix's review made me think it might be worth seeing - I suspect it was the mentions of Roger Allam and Nicholas Rowe that did it! I hadn't realised it was adapted from a novel (Mitch Cullin's A Slight Trick of the Mind), but that gave me a lot more faith, in the sense that they had a solid foundation to work with rather than just cashing in on the trend, so to speak. I ended up enjoying it very much - it was leisurely without ever quite descending into 'slow', which very much suited Holmes' time of life (he's in his 90s), and there was quite an emphasis on beautiful scenery, which didn't hurt.
The young boy was an appealing foil for Holmes, and the whole thing worked nicely (except for what felt like an overlong scene where the boy's mum talks to him about his late father - there is a payoff, but it didn't seem worth the emphasis). Anyway, there are several threads - Holmes' health is declining, and he's being looked after (somewhat reluctantly) by a housekeeper and her young son. He's just returned home, exhausted, from a trip to post-war Japan, where he's been in search of "prickly ash". He hopes taking it as medication will bolster his faltering memory, and help him write his own factual account of his last case - the one that pushed him into retirement. Watson wrote a sympathetic version that glossed over and outright misrepresented some of the facts; Holmes wants to set the record straight. It's a sign that I've spent way, way too much time in fandom when I had to actively struggle with the fact that Watson never retired to Sussex with him, even if only platonically *g* (Watson only appears in the movie as a shadowy presence, which I thought was interesting and worked well.)
Anyway, the movie was very satisfyingly done - the thing I probably liked most was the structure of it, in which Holmes' retirement, the plight of his housekeeper and her son, his last case, and his trip to Japan are all beautifully tied up together at the end. I also loved the bees, who play a significant role in the story. McKellan was great - I don't have particularly strong feelings about him, not being an LoTR fan or an X-Men fan, but he made an excellent Holmes. It was also delightful seeing Roger Allam (although I couldn't help hearing him as Douglas) and I squeed internally at Nicholas Rowe. Oh, god. (He played Young Sherlock Holmes on film... and here he's a... somewhat older Sherlock Holmes. On film. I adored seeing him so very much, but the meta, it burns *g*)
Have mostly stopped reading fanfic in favour of concentrating on other things, but I did celebrate finishing my WIP by tearing through splix's If You Can't Move Heaven, Raise Hell over a few days (a massive Johnlock casefic featuring the delightfully kinky "Ian Adler" in the notional body of Tom Hiddleston). She did write it in *cough* 2012-2013, but it was still an excellent read. Especially since I expect my latent Tom Hiddleston affections to be rekindled by Crimson Peak and Highrise (not sure about the Hank Williams thing, though) *g*
Also just started watching Humans, which is a British reworking of the Swedish series Äkta människor (Real Humans). It envisages a future where humanoid robots, or "synths", are part of society - picking up rubbish, working as servants, doing sex work. The story is more complex than I can be bothered explaining, but shows a variety of interactions and attitudes between humans and synths - as housekeepers, caregivers, prostitutes - with a larger arc centered around a group of synths who have been corrupted by their creator so that they actually have feelings. Some of them have been dispersed into society, their core programs reset, but are still not quite like normal synths, and the son of their creator is trying to find them again. I did try the first episode of the Swedish series and loved the premise, but found it a bit bloodless (no pun intended). I'm enjoying the British series a lot more because it's a bit more colourful, and relatable, I guess, especially since the cast list is a roll call of familiar faces. Gemma Chan (aka Soo Lin Yao) plays the synth Anita, who is hired as a housekeeper for a family, creating divisions among them. Katherine Parkinson (aka Kitty Riley) plays the career mum in the same family, who feels threatened by Anita's 'perfect' housekeeping skills and deepening bond with her youngest child. And Jonathan Aris (aka Anderson) has a thoroughly obnoxious cameo as well *g*. I'm also very fond of William Hurt, who plays an ageing scientist who once worked on the synth programs and is now burdened with a bossy carer synth he doesn't want. Anyway, it's a great series that I hadn't heard a thing about!
Thoroughly enjoying all the Hamlet squee and reviews, too, needless to say. I'm not... entirely sure about what they've reportedly done with the production, but it's interesting?
Went to see Matilda (songs by Tim Minchin) a couple of weeks back. I only checked for tickets on the off chance, since it was about two weeks to opening, and I expected it would be pretty much sold out. And it was, but for some bizarre reason they appear to have held back the first three rows until the last minute! So I ended up scoring tickets in the third row, which was brilliant. The show was excellent, although more for the performances and the staging than the substance of the musical itself. I'm very fond of Tim Minchin, and some of the songs were gorgeous, but it lacked the "flow" and sung-through character development that I really love about a good musical - it was mostly a bunch of okay-to-excellent songs strung together with a couple of half-hearted reprises to show willing. That said, "Naughty" is brilliant in and of itself, and "When I Grow Up" and "School Song" were magical when combined with the choreography and staging.
What also made it such a great show was that the performances were pretty much fantastic all around - it was the children who really carried the production, and I think the thing with having a cast of children who only do two shows a week is that they're pretty much always bouncing off the walls with enthusiasm, unlike adults who can get a little, um, energy-conserving over the course of a run. But it was only the first week in, so the adults were pretty upbeat too *g*. The talent of the kids on stage was ridiculous - while the Australian theatre scene has always been small compared to the West End and Broadway, we have far fewer shows as well, and so you get a lot of amazing potential just sitting around waiting for an opportunity to show itself. I was really thrilled to see just how good they all were - particularly Matilda (I think we got Sasha Rose) who was not at all 'stagey' in the traditional sense (I'm thinking of some of the girls from Annie), but genuinely thoughtful. Even at curtain call, she looked pleased, but more like she was happy she'd done a good job rather than basking in the applause. The cast got a standing ovation - and I happily joined in. It's been a long time since I did that. I probably wouldn't bother seeing it again (don't hold me to that *g*), but much like Mary Poppins, it was very much worth seeing at least once.
Also saw Mr Holmes - I actually wasn't going to, but splix's review made me think it might be worth seeing - I suspect it was the mentions of Roger Allam and Nicholas Rowe that did it! I hadn't realised it was adapted from a novel (Mitch Cullin's A Slight Trick of the Mind), but that gave me a lot more faith, in the sense that they had a solid foundation to work with rather than just cashing in on the trend, so to speak. I ended up enjoying it very much - it was leisurely without ever quite descending into 'slow', which very much suited Holmes' time of life (he's in his 90s), and there was quite an emphasis on beautiful scenery, which didn't hurt.
The young boy was an appealing foil for Holmes, and the whole thing worked nicely (except for what felt like an overlong scene where the boy's mum talks to him about his late father - there is a payoff, but it didn't seem worth the emphasis). Anyway, there are several threads - Holmes' health is declining, and he's being looked after (somewhat reluctantly) by a housekeeper and her young son. He's just returned home, exhausted, from a trip to post-war Japan, where he's been in search of "prickly ash". He hopes taking it as medication will bolster his faltering memory, and help him write his own factual account of his last case - the one that pushed him into retirement. Watson wrote a sympathetic version that glossed over and outright misrepresented some of the facts; Holmes wants to set the record straight. It's a sign that I've spent way, way too much time in fandom when I had to actively struggle with the fact that Watson never retired to Sussex with him, even if only platonically *g* (Watson only appears in the movie as a shadowy presence, which I thought was interesting and worked well.)
Anyway, the movie was very satisfyingly done - the thing I probably liked most was the structure of it, in which Holmes' retirement, the plight of his housekeeper and her son, his last case, and his trip to Japan are all beautifully tied up together at the end. I also loved the bees, who play a significant role in the story. McKellan was great - I don't have particularly strong feelings about him, not being an LoTR fan or an X-Men fan, but he made an excellent Holmes. It was also delightful seeing Roger Allam (although I couldn't help hearing him as Douglas) and I squeed internally at Nicholas Rowe. Oh, god. (He played Young Sherlock Holmes on film... and here he's a... somewhat older Sherlock Holmes. On film. I adored seeing him so very much, but the meta, it burns *g*)
Have mostly stopped reading fanfic in favour of concentrating on other things, but I did celebrate finishing my WIP by tearing through splix's If You Can't Move Heaven, Raise Hell over a few days (a massive Johnlock casefic featuring the delightfully kinky "Ian Adler" in the notional body of Tom Hiddleston). She did write it in *cough* 2012-2013, but it was still an excellent read. Especially since I expect my latent Tom Hiddleston affections to be rekindled by Crimson Peak and Highrise (not sure about the Hank Williams thing, though) *g*
Also just started watching Humans, which is a British reworking of the Swedish series Äkta människor (Real Humans). It envisages a future where humanoid robots, or "synths", are part of society - picking up rubbish, working as servants, doing sex work. The story is more complex than I can be bothered explaining, but shows a variety of interactions and attitudes between humans and synths - as housekeepers, caregivers, prostitutes - with a larger arc centered around a group of synths who have been corrupted by their creator so that they actually have feelings. Some of them have been dispersed into society, their core programs reset, but are still not quite like normal synths, and the son of their creator is trying to find them again. I did try the first episode of the Swedish series and loved the premise, but found it a bit bloodless (no pun intended). I'm enjoying the British series a lot more because it's a bit more colourful, and relatable, I guess, especially since the cast list is a roll call of familiar faces. Gemma Chan (aka Soo Lin Yao) plays the synth Anita, who is hired as a housekeeper for a family, creating divisions among them. Katherine Parkinson (aka Kitty Riley) plays the career mum in the same family, who feels threatened by Anita's 'perfect' housekeeping skills and deepening bond with her youngest child. And Jonathan Aris (aka Anderson) has a thoroughly obnoxious cameo as well *g*. I'm also very fond of William Hurt, who plays an ageing scientist who once worked on the synth programs and is now burdened with a bossy carer synth he doesn't want. Anyway, it's a great series that I hadn't heard a thing about!
Thoroughly enjoying all the Hamlet squee and reviews, too, needless to say. I'm not... entirely sure about what they've reportedly done with the production, but it's interesting?