Author Archives: Sekenbanashi

Nothing Sacred

Posted on by
  • Nothing Sacred

6/29/17 (Thurs), DVD

I’m not always a fan of screwball comedies, which often seem to be trying too hard. But I loved Carole Lombard in her immediately preceding My Man Godfrey, so I thought I’d give it a shot.

A flailing newspaper reporter Wally Cook seeks to make his name with a human interest story on a small-town girl named Hazel Flagg who is dying of radium poisoning. Unbeknownst to him, Hazel has discovered that she was misdiagnosed and is not dying after all, interrupting her plans to whoop it up for her final weeks (she moans about being “brought to life twice – and each time in Warsaw”). She thus jumps at the chance when the reporter offers her an all-expense-paid trip to New York to help her enjoy her short remaining life – that is, he wants to exploit her to sell papers, and she wants to exploit him to see the big city. Her initial enthusiasm for the city fades quickly when she finds herself the object of pious pity everywhere she turns, including from Wally himself. As the double double-cross proceeds, he makes the mistake of falling for her. Hazel tries to sneak away and fake a suicide, after which she hopes to vanish, but is caught at the last minute by Wally – and she starts to fall too. An examination by eminent European doctors finds her fit as a fiddle, but by this time too many people are invested in the story to risk exposure. So they come up with a ruse…  Continue reading →

The Threepenny Opera (NT Live)

Posted on by
  • The Threepenny Opera (NT Live)

6/21/17 (Tues), Tokyo

A dark sleaze-fest by Rufus Norris. There was no papering over the cruelty or cynicism of the show, though I could have done without the unnecessarily crude rendering of the lyrics in English by author Simon Stephens (lots of shits and fucks). Vulgarities abound in the book as well, such as the fingers up the butt and a line about cheese that I wish I could forget. Macheath remains the two-, three- or more-timer who has made Polly his latest wife, raising the wrath of (1) her parents, who want him dead (he was also shtupping her mother), (2) his other wife Lucy (he tries to convince her that he wants Polly only for her brains), and (3) Lucy’s father, Inspector Tiger Brown, who as Mack’s former collaborator (and apparently lover) feels betrayed. Another lover Jenny is bribed to give away his whereabouts, and the situation deteriorates from there. The show and its focus on London’s low-life were conceived by Brecht basically as an excuse for his anti-capitalist screed, which remains hard to take seriously as social critique. But it’s good fun to watch.  Continue reading →

London (June 2017)

Posted on by

London (June 7-15)

  • Lettice and Lovage, 6/7/17 (Wed), Menier
  • Love in Idleness, 6/8/17 (Thurs), West End
  • Half a Sixpence, 6/8/17 (Thurs), West End
  • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child I & II, 6/11/17 (Sun)
  • Kiss Me, 6/12/17 (Mon), Trafalgar Studios
  • Life of Galileo, 6/13/17 (Tues), West End
  • Tristan and Yseult, 6/14/17 (Wed), Globe
  • The Philanthropist, 6/15/17 (Thurs), Trafalgar Studios
  • Incident at Vichy, 6/15/17 (Thurs), Kings Head Theatre

Continue reading →

Diversity again

Posted on by

Diversity again. Over the past week, Actors’ Equity has released a survey of diversity in US theater, while the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which votes on the Oscars, has sent out a record-setting number of invitations for membership that include a notably large proportion of women and non-whites. I’ll reserve comment on the latter other than observing that many of the invitees would not appear remotely qualified by the objective standard of their film industry credentials, which will ultimately raise questions over the organization’s credibility. I’m more interested in theater.

I live in a country where diversity (as defined in the US) is not a big concern. With rare exception, casts in local productions here are 100% Japanese (note: not “Asian”), even in musicals – The King and I and Miss Saigon come to mind – where some need for ethnic diversity is built into the show. So I’m probably not overly sensitive to the issue.

Nevertheless, I seem to be missing something in the Actors’ Equity survey. Continue reading →

Hello, Dolly!

Posted on by
  • Hello, Dolly! 

5/13/17 (Sat), Broadway

Bette Midler as Dolly – how perfect is that? In her last Broadway musical back in the 1960s, Fiddler, she was singing to a matchmaker; now she’s become one. The excitement level was very high for this show; it’s easily the hottest ticket in town next to Hamilton, and she’s already extended the limited run into December, which quickly sold out. The audience cheered at the opening bars of the overture, at the title song in the overture, at the opening of the curtains, at Bette’s first appearance, at the opening of her first song and on and on. Let’s face it: we weren’t there for the sets. She carried a tremendous store of good will, and the energy in the audience could have lit the theater. My only worry was the memory of the last time I saw the show, when Carol Channing was treading gingerly through it at an age way too old for the role. We applauded at the staircase scene in sheer relief that she made it down safely. Bette isn’t too much younger (she’s 71), but the word out there is very good. So it was hard not to get caught up in the enthusiasm.  Continue reading →

New York (May 2017)

Posted on by

New York

  • Indecent, 5/9/17 (Tue), Broadway,
  • Groundhog Day, 5/10/17 (Wed), Broadway
  • A Doll’s House Part 2, 5/10/17 (Wed), Broadway
  • The Emperor Jones, 5/11/17 (Thurs), Off Broadway,
  • The Golden Apple, 5/12/17 (Fri), Encores!
  • Oslo, 5/13/17 (Sat), Lincoln Center
  • The Great Comet, 5/14/17 (Sun), Broadway
  • Sleep No More, 5/14/17 (Sun), Off Broadway

Continue reading →

The Rat Burglar (鼠小僧)

Posted on by
  • Kabuki: 鼠小僧  (The Rat Burglar)

3/6/15 (Fri), film

I managed to get myself switched to an All Nippon Airways flight to New York when my United flight was suddenly cancelled. One advantage was a good selection of Japanese films, and I was surprised to see some Kabuki selections. I had avoided this particular 2003 production before since I didn’t want to spend money on Noda Hideki, who wrote and directed it. But it was a big hit, and I figured it wouldn’t hurt to know what was out there. And at free, the price was right.  Continue reading →

Kabuki: Bancho Sarayashiki, Kurozuka (番町皿屋敷, 黒塚 )

Posted on by
  • Kabuki: 番町皿屋敷, 女暫、黒塚 (Bancho Sarayashiki, Onna Shibaraku, Kurozuka)

1/16/15 (Fri), Tokyo

Bancho Sarayashiki is based on a famous ghost story where the evil samurai Aoyama Harima, having been rejected by his young servant Okiku, tricks her into thinking that she has lost one of the family’s ten valuable Korean dishes, a capital crime. She frantically counts over and over, but only finds nine. He then murders her and throws her down a well. She comes back as a ghost to haunt him, always counting up to nine and then shrieking. That story was evidently adapted into Bunraku puppet theater, where the cruelty factor was upped considerably, and that version was then turned into a short-lived Kabuki piece.

The version this month, though, is a New Kabuki adaptation by Okamoto Kido in 1916, which takes a significantly different approach to the ghost story – for one thing, it has no ghosts. Continue reading →