Sunday, December 7, 2014

Interiors

WHAT was he thinking?
For that matter, WHAT was he doing?

Ever question why someone would do or say something and wish you could get inside their brain for about 30 seconds? You know, get 'interior'. Case in point. Did anyone else struggle through the NBC adaptation of the Peter Pan LIVE the other night? I did. I wish I hadn't. That's 3 hours of my life I'll never get back! I usually love Christopher Walken, but... What the heck was he doing for his 180 minutes? Did he forget his lines? He was constantly looking for the teleprompter. A couple of times, closeups showed him with mouth open, moving but no words coming forth. Some very odd stares. He seemed to miss his marks. He can't sing. He surely can't dance. He put so little into his performance, and I use that term so very loosely here. I mean, Cyril Ritchard (the original Captain Hook) must have been flip-floppin in his grave. Why? How could he do this? Sad to say, he looked to be under the influence of something. Some catatonic state?

The character of Hook should be hilarious as he vamps his way back and forth across the stage. His make-up was atrocious! Was he doing 'whiteface'? His entire performance should have been title "Dazed and Confused". If I was writing the review for the show, the headline might would read, "Sadly, This Peter Pan Doesn't Fly!"
Solution?
More fairy dust, please!
*If that doesn't work, cast Birdman as Hook. 
He could do it!
... or at least take a chance with say, a Nicholson or a Shatner?
Hold on.
Oh-uh!
I think Mr. Walken just rang my cell.

Check out Ritchard doing "The Captain Hook Waltz".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlmWmGHZpHM

17 comments:

  1. I am not so sure I would like to see inside other people's brains: I would probably be scared or at least disappointed... And it happens all the times with movies and the likes: they are too often a waste of time!

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  2. I thought about watching it, but elected to continue reading a book instead. Sounds like the book was a good choice. :-)

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  3. Birdman's synopsis of Mr. Hook was right on.
    It was embarrassing.
    We had to watch the Mary Martin version the next morning just to clear our heads of the debacle we watched the night before.

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  4. the first few minutes played in the background while i was reading blogs that night. i didn't stick around long enough to see captain hook.

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  5. Strange , Walken is (was?) usually a good actor . Remember Dustin Hoffman as Captain in Hook? At least, he seemed to enjoy his part !

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  6. Peter Pan of any kind of pan - I can do without. But I did read some reviews and this thing was pretty much universally "panned." Fitting, I think.

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  7. No, sorry, I don't want to enter someone else's brain but I sometimes would like to see the world through someone else's eyes. Peter Pan's for instance.

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  8. Gosh, I'm glad I turned the channel when I did. I couldn't get past the first 30 minutes. I heard a few jokes made yesterday about Walkin but since I hadn't seen his performance or seen a review I wasn't sure what they were talking about. Now I know. I do remember thinking when I heard he was playing the role, why on earth would they choose him for that part.

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  9. There is no Peter Pan for me other than the Mary Martin version! I love it so much!!

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  10. I generally don't get musicals at all- for the most part, they're like fingernails on a blackboard to me. And I really don't understand the last two or three years of these live musicals turning up on television, particularly with actors not suited to musical theatre.

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  11. I think I'm in the Wm. Kendall camp. Not a big musical fan...nor television fan, for that matter. We can be more selective via Netflix.

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  12. This should be your shot of the year! Wonderful.

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  13. There's a better way to go about it. Check https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fce8QoPCIjk

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  14. I didn't see the performance and am disappointed to read that it wasn't good. I hoped that it was so good that it revived the idea of staging live drama on TV.

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  15. Obviously, I didn't see the performance but I heard a lot about it. Too bad this one was so poor. I like the idea of televising live theater. It's more uplifting than a new reality TV show.

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  16. Glad I did't see the production after your description and review.

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  17. Will bive this one a miss after that review Birdman :)

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