Six Delightful DVDs
Just because you missed a show on Broadway — or Las Vegas, Los Angeles or London — no longer means your chance to see it has come and gone. More and more performances are being preserved on DVD — some after being televised. Here, TheaterMania looks at six recent releases that are definitely worth a first — or second — look.
The Pee-wee Herman Show on Broadway
This DVD of last season’s Broadway hit, which was filmed for HBO, is an excellent replication of the show that played at The Stephen Sondheim Theatre, and perfectly captures all of its humor and eye-popping colors. But more than just the production itself, the DVD includes a fascinating commentary track featuring actors Paul Reubens (Pee-wee), Lynn-Marie Stewart (Miss Yvonne), John Paragon (Jambi), and the rest of the company, which provides listeners with an inside look at the development of show from its original production in Los Angeles in the 1980s to now. Equally notable are Reubens’ thoughts on what it took to create something that would please the legions of longtime Pee-wee fans while still being a satisfying work of theater.
Wishful Drinking
Fisher’s delightful one-woman show about her life and career was edited down from two hours to slightly over 75 minutes, but not much feels missing in this version taped for HBO. At any length, Fisher’s acerbic humor and abrasive delivery will have you howling with laughter. As a bonus, the DVD contains three of the segments that were deleted from the broadcast and a nearly hour-long, tell-a-lot interview with Fisher’s mother, Debbie Reynolds, who doesn’t hold much back when talking about her life as a movie star, her multiple marriages, and Carrie’s illness, fighting back tears (staged or not) multiple times.
Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On
The DVD release captures the HBO presentation of the superstar’s longtime show at The Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. While the show itself looks fabulously glitzy, with elaborate costumes, beautiful showgirls (The Harlettes and the Caesar Salad Girls), a 13-piece band, and a game Midler in excellent voice, the small screen doesn’t really capture Midler’s magic. Still, her peerless showmanship, and her terrific renditions of her hits “From a Distance,” “Wind Beneath My Wings,” and “The Rose” make up for what the DVD lacks — any bonus features or deleted sections of the show.
Forever Plaid
The DVD of this Off-Broadway and regional favorite, filmed in honor of its 20th Anniversary, captures the intimacy of the stage revue, and features pleasant vocals and endearing performances from the four-member cast (Stan Chandler, David Engel, Larry Raben and Daniel Reichard). However, every number features far too many cuts and sweeping pans. While the idea was probably to make the material seem less static, the result is a major headache.
Memphis the Musical (Broadway Worldwide)
Award-winning television director Don Roy King has done an extraordinary job of translating Joe DiPietro and David Bryan’s Tony Award-winning musical into a beautiful HD film, which was assembled from five live performances of the show. He and his editors have managed to retain the exuberance in Sergio Trujillo’s eye-popping choreography without hundreds of frenetic cuts, and have even fixed some of the pacing problems in Christopher Ashley’s production. The performances by Montego Glover, J. Bernard Calloway, James Monroe Iglehart and the rest of the company are nicely calibrated, although Chad Kimball’s Huey comes off as distractingly large.
Anna Nicole: The Opera
Dutch soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek is marvelous in the title role of Mark-Anthony Turnage and Richard Thomas’ compelling and poignant opera about the life and death of American model Anna Nicole Smith. Richard Jones’ grandiose, neon-colored production for the Royal Opera, with extraordinary costumes by Nicky Gillibrand, is nicely directed for the screen by Francesca Kempe, who captures the electricity of Westbroek’s heartbreaking Anna Nicole, a woman seemingly destroyed by the prying media and her enabling lawyer.
