Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog on DVD

Okay, I admit that I am way behind the curve on getting into this Internet serial musical. Over the weekend I saw the whole 40-minute story of Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog on DVD with its plethora of DVD extras. I was surprised to find it among the PBS and BBC DVDs at my local library.


This is a warped and wonderful story, that never hesitates to make the most obvious joke or poke fun at its own genre, itself or anything else--just as Joss Whedon did with the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer years before. The music is all very hummable, even if the structure of it is flawed. I like my songs to be verse-chorus-verse-chorus numbers.

The best singing is by Neil Patrick Harris. Nathan Fillion lets his bravado overcome any vocal deficiencies. Felicia Day has a light soubrettish voice that was only slightly annoying at times.

What struck me about this musical was that it would never work on stage. The array of musical styles and the tremendous vocal ranges required would tax any performer in an eight-shows-a-week set-up, and the quick changes between singing to another character versus singing about another character would be confusing without the camera focus to direct our attention.

Still it's another new and entertaining way to tell a musical story. I hope the format catches on.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog
Music, Lyrics and book by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, Zack Whedon
Cast: Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day

Ghost Light Monday--Into the Wild

I have wanted to see Into the Wild for a while--since I first saw and liked Emile Hirsch in Milk about a year ago. I knew some general stuff about the story of Into the Wild, but not nearly enough to realize what a beautifully photographed and acted film this is, and what a disturbing, yet somehow heart-warming story this is.

Firstly, Hal Holbrook must be now granted not only the status of national institution, but also the position of grandfather of all the most subtle, effective, and nuanced film acting. Mr. Holbrook is on screen for maybe 10 minutes of this film, but he is so heart-wrenchingly wonderful that you forget that he's on screen with someone else.

That sounds like a dis against Emile Hirsch; it is not intended as such. Mr. Hirsch owns this film and deserves every bit of praise it has afforded him. There are other effective performances here, too, from William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden and particularly from Jena Malone who does wonderful work with her voice-overs.

The only aspect of the film that I took a bit of issue with was the use of quotes written over the screen as if they were handwritten. I realize that this relates to the diary we see Alexander/Christopher keeping while living in the Magic Bus, but I thought the technique a bit obvious and got in the way more than it helped. Luckily for me, the practice was not continued in the later part of the film.

Classical Monday--Gounod's Faust at Lyric Opera

It's not actually Monday, but I saw this opera on Monday night and it's been weeks since I've posted anything, so I thought I'd better get this down.

I had never seen Gounod's Faust before, so when I was offered a ticket by a friend, and I realized that Rene Pape was singing Mephistopheles, I was happy to take the ticket off my friend's hand. There are several arias that are excerpted for recitals and discs often--particularly Marguerite's "Jewel Song", which must be the idea that Leonard Bernstein spoofs in "Glitter and be Gay"--but I had never heard the whole work before. The music is lovely and vrai francais. Even the recitative sections are melodic. Fortunately, the music was front and center in this production with a strong international cast under the music direction of Sir Andrew Davis.

That said, I felt a lot of potential in the physical production was missed. I have no idea how old the sets and costumes for this staging are, but even if they are only a couple of years old, they represent staging ideas from a couple of centuries ago. While there were some sections of active staging, a lot of the time it was the "park and bark" style of presentation. If you're not familiar with that phrase, it means to plant yourself center stage and sing at the top of your lungs. I particularly wanted some more from Mr. Pape as Mephistopheles. While the Bass exudes suavity and charm--although not to the same degree as Samuel Ramey, the Mephisto I heard in Boito's Mephistopheles--I felt that attribute could have been played up more, particularly in the garden scene when the devil is getting into the details of seducing and then being put off by the attentions of Marthe. This production was staged by Frank Corsaro, a familiar name in opera direction. And the production had a lot of familiar opera touches, most of which fell flat, like the pyrotechnic flash Mephisto sets off in the final scene of the opera; it added nothing, revealed nothing, was an obvious, dated trick, and seemed cheesy.

The singing was all good, though not often excellent. Rene Pape was obviously the most mature singer in the cast--a complaint I've often had recently with Lyric Opera productions, there is some star power in the cast, but the people who sing opposite them are not of the same caliber or experience. Pape has sung in all the major houses in the world--Ana Maria Martinez (Marguerite) and Piotr Beczala (Faust) have sung in one or two major houses at this point in their careers. With the Civic Opera House (where Lyric performs) holding more than 3,600 seats, you need an accomplished singer and performer to reach the audience.

Not that I had any trouble hearing anyone. Volume was not the issue--color was. None of these singers, including Pape, seemed to have the right vocal color or style for French music. Tenor Beczala, while having all the clarion high notes you could ask for, seemed vocally strident at times, and more a Verdi tenor than a Gounod one.

Clearly, I haven't grown much in my quest to outgrow the bitterness that has crept into my theater-going experiences. With the resumption of the fall theater and opera seasons, I need to see if I can shake that off.

Faust
Music by Charles Gounod

Rene Pape, Ana Maria Martinez, Piotr Beczala, Lucas Meachum
Continues at Lyric Opera through November 7