Hamilton

It really is as good as they say. Even better than Book of Mormon. Everyone please go listen to the cast recording. But it would be best to not do it in a public place because of the LAUGHTER and TEARS.

For the record, I have loved Hamilton since I was in high school, I loved him before he was cool, I will tell his story. ;__;

Venus in Fur

Since following the fandom reaction to the Hannibal finale and opening all these fic tabs (although I can't watch the show because it's too gory), I came across Hugh Dancy's Venus in Fur.

Here's the link to the cam, and I used Downthemall to download the video. Very interesting and hot show.

This is now a theater blog

Back when I was in the deep throes of my Alan Cumming phase, I was watching Cabaret on youtube. I looooove all versions of Cabaret, and it is so great to see this one. But my God, Natasha Richardson was the best, no one can top her.

Anyway of course that led down a deep youtube musical hole, of which Legally Blonde and Evil Dead were the standouts. They're so much fun!

Spamalot and Jerry Springer are great too.

I did finally see Book of Mormon last month, which was hilarious. But I'm dying to see Hedwig on stage, I love the film so much. And I wish I could see the Lord of the Rings musical because it looks beautiful.

Ant Man, I Guess

I saw Ant Man a few weeks ago, and I keep meaning to post about it, but it was just so bland it didn't really make an impression.

I absolutely agree that Hope (or Janet!!! I love Janet!) should have been the Wasp protagonist and Scott the specialty sidekick. But that brings me to my main plot point confusion: what exactly is Scott's skill? The movie seems to say that he was a one-time computer hacking thief who got carried away and drove his boss's car into the pool. But then he suddenly knows parkour? And safe-cracking techniques?? How did his electrical engineering degree teach him those things? And why did Hank think he was good enough for the heist to contact him in the first place?

Oh, Paul Rudd. He's very likeable. But I just didn't buy that he was as stupid as the lines he says. He doesn't seem hapless - he's too polished. I needed more of a human disaster Clint Barton vibe to buy some of his stupidity. Like I would absolutely buy Simon Pegg saying to police "Wait I didn't steal anything! I was returning something I stole!" but when Paul Rudd said it it seemed like a line. Michael Pena, on the other hand, was a joy and delight and 100% believable. I wish we could have spent the entire film with Scott's friends.

The fight with Falcon was fine and so was the old timey intro (with fabulous CGI youthification of Michael Douglas), but if that's what Edgar Wright left over, it definitely wasn't worth losing him. Some of Edgar Wright's influence survived: The "Baskin Robbins don't play," the quick cuts of Hank's roundabout way of getting Scott to break in, the dog-sized ant at the end. Those were the humor high points, and I wonder what it would have been like if he'd stayed.