11 June 2018 - Monday

[scenicdesign71]

Yay Band's Visit -- quite the Tony sweep!!

For some reason I haven't written much (at all?) about TBV -- but it's not for lack of enthusiasm.  Yazbek's score has been on heavy rotation on my computer for months now, and I've seen the show twice (and would gladly go again, though I'm sorry Tony Shaloub has already moved on... here's hoping they'll get him back at some point).  With its remarkable haul of awards last night, perhaps it'll power on through the summer and keep going for a while.  It's a deeply lovely little musical, and it has only grown on me more and more.

Ditto the movie on which it's based, by the way.  Various of TBV's winners last night thanked filmmaker Eran Kolirin in their acceptance speeches, and Katrina Lenk acknowledged the late Ronit Elkabetz, the great Israeli actress who created the role of Dina onscreen.  (I don't recall whether Shaloub or Ari'el Stachel likewise mentioned their filmic predecessors, Sasson Gabai and Saleh Bakri respectively).  But if you see the movie, you'll understand why they all gave it such love -- and also why producer Orin Wolf made it his mission to bring this tiny gem to the stage in the first place.

Lenk, I should mention, is extraordinary.  If you haven't yet seen Indecent on PBS or BroadwayHD, you should do so at once.

It was actually a very good year for design -- though I would have nominated Santo Loquasto's frequently-breathtaking set for Carousel in a heartbeat over Scott Pask [et al]'s merely-serviceable one for Mean Girls.  And I can't begrudge David Zinn his win for Spongebob -- indeed, his witty, eye-grabbing, cheerfully bonkers designs are (judging by photos) the only thing that might possibly induce me to someday see the show.  But I have to say that Pask's TBV set is simply gorgeous on its own more-modest scale; its nomination, at least, was well-deserved and a wonderful surprise.  For a story that is largely about music -- and about wonderful, intimate acting -- it can be startling to realize how unassumingly lovely both the original movie and its stage adaptation are to look at.