Thank Goodness for (Most) New Screen & Stage Musicals

On this Thanksgiving Day when those of us in the United States traditionally count our communal and personal blessings, Reverend remains ever grateful for—in addition to many other things--the opportunities God continues to provide me in reviewing new movies and NYC stage productions. God knows they aren’t all perfect artistic creations, but I will always respect the effort (not to mention the money) it takes to bring a film, play or musical to life today.

Here are my mostly positive reviews of several works I’ve seen this past week: 

Wicked: For Good (Now playing in movie theaters)

AKA Wicked: The Movie Part 2, this is the cinematic second act of Jon M. Chu’s pretty darn overall masterful adaptation of the long-playing/-touring stage musical. The first act of both renditions, with their fundamental world-building and central-character development, is stronger than the second. Act II is also necessarily darker and the tone more solemn, with songs that are decidedly less bubbly than Act 1’s. That being said, Wicked: FG makes some definite improvements/needed expansions on the source material (noting the initial contributions of authors/creators L. Frank Baum and Gregory Maguire).

I am noting I’ve already used the forward slash / above much more than I usually do. But this seems unavoidable when one is dealing with a generations-spanning literary and pop culture phenomenon like The Wizard of Oz. Some “purists” who have responded negatively to Wicked in its various forms have done so because of perceived deviations specifically from the classic 1939 movie. I don’t disagree with some of these criticisms, but I am also apparently more willing to suspend disbelief that the Wickeds exist in an alternate storytelling timeline/universe. (Darn, there’s another / !)

Chu, the newer films’ director, is clearly conscious of these criticisms and tries mightily to reconcile them. Is he wholly successful? No. The most glaring and downright confusing discrepancy in Wicked: For Good regards the motive and process by which Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh, who has a few amusing moments with Ariana Grande’s Glinda but is pretty much one-note evil in Part 2) conjures the cyclone that brings Kansas’s Dorothy Gale to the Land of Oz. And the fact that Cho refuses to show the latest Dorothy’s face becomes irritating, simplistic political “pawn” though she may be in this telling.

Despite all of this, there is still plenty to recommend Wicked: FG. Grande and Cynthia Erivo as “wicked witch” Elphaba cement themselves in these roles for this and perhaps future generations. It was most telling—and accurate--during the screening I attended that a young boy seated nearby loudly declared “That was awesome!” at the end of the song “No Good Deed,” performed by Erivo with spectacular visual support from Elphaba’s flying monkeys.

I wasn’t thrillified—to utilize the movies’ vernacular—by Jeff Goldblum’s turn as The Wizard in Part 1, but he redeems himself in Part 2 with his visual gag-infused number “Wonderful.” His performance also makes a stronger dramatic impact here. Similarly impressive and even hotter than he was in the first half is out dreamboat Jonathan Bailey, recently christened “The Sexiest Man Alive” by People magazine, as conflicted hetero love interest Fiyero.

Visually, musically and dramatically—not to mention financially-- Wicked: For Good is a success. Even if it isn’t as strong an achievement as Wicked, I fully expect both chapters together will prove over time to be a cinematic classic.

Reverend’s Ratings: B+

Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York (Now playing at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre)

I wasn’t planning on seeing this new musical I knew nothing about when I did on November 19th, but another show I was committed to that day cancelled on me somewhat last minute. At the time, I was complaining privately but now I’m raving publicly about the multiple benefits of this fabulous London to NYC transfer!

A charming plot by co-writers Jim Barne and Kit Buchan focuses on two young antagonists turned protagonists who are thrown together by unlikely circumstances. The British Dougal flies to New York for the wedding of his father, who he has never met, only to fall in love with Robin, the sister of his father’s much younger fiancée (i.e. Dougal’s step-aunt-to-be). What starts as potentially creepy turns into a genuinely moving romance between two lost Generation Y-Z souls.

Two Strangers features only two actors: Sam Tutty (making his Broadway debut) and Christiani Pitts. Tutty is adorable as Dougal, although he initially risks wearing the audience down with his overly enthusiastic attitude. One can sympathize with Pitts’ Robin and her aversion to having much to do with him. However, with further character development, some great songs and a genuine chemistry between the two performers, Tutty wins over all but the hardest hearts.

I was very happy to see Pitts perform once again. The first Broadway production Reverend saw in 10 years after relocating to the northeast was 2018’s flop King Kong musical, in which Pitts played the classic Fay Wray role. She was very impressive acting alongside a massive gorilla puppet, and she gives another tough yet ultimately compassionate performance here.

I also have to give a shout out to the musical’s superb scenic design by Soutra Gilmour. It consists of two towers of luggage, with various suitcases ingeniously utilized at times as tables, chairs, a wet bar, beds, and more. The stage’s turntable is also used brilliantly by the designer, actors, and director-choreographer Tim Jackson.

There is no shortage of bigger, better-known shows now on Broadway clamoring for patronage. I encourage everyone to hear the call of this new, small-scale but big-hearted production.

Reverend’s Rating: A-

Chess (Now playing at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre)

Full disclosure for anyone born after the year 2000: this is not a new musical but rather the show’s first major revival since 1988. This allegorical tale depicting a chess match between the USA and the then-Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War (one can definitely argue whether we are in a new Cold War with Russia today) has had a checkered history. At the time, Chess’s greatest claim to fame was the song “One Night in Bangkok” that became a pop top 40 hit. The initial Broadway production closed after only two months and 68 regular performances. 

In the 37 years since, Chess has become a frequently re-worked cult classic subject to numerous video renditions and community theater mountings. I attended a quite good “theater in the round” production in my native Arizona approximately 25 years ago. Die-hard fans have been clamoring for a true Broadway revival all along and have finally gotten their wish. Too bad it isn’t much of an improvement on the original, especially according to a personal friend who saw both the original production and this one.

It didn’t take long for me to figure out that the musical’s current incarnation is a glorified concert staging. There is one set throughout with the band prominently displayed, a required chorus that incorporates occasional cheerleader-esque choreography, and the lead characters migrating downstage for their over-amplified soliloquies.

These lead characters are Soviet competitor Anatoly (Nicholas Christopher), his American rival Freddie Trumper (Aaron Tveit, a Tony Award winner for Moulin Rouge!) and Florence, the woman who comes between them played by Lea Michele of Glee, Spring Awakening fame. While they and the chorus members provide impressive vocals throughout, only Tveit gives a truly layered performance. Christopher and Michele are bland when they aren’t singing. Hannah Cruz (Suffs) makes more of an impression than the latter two in the supporting role of Anatoly’s wife, Svetlana.

I thoroughly enjoyed Tony nominee Bryce Pinkham (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder) in this production as the all-seeing Arbiter, a role which seems to have been expanded and modernized here. Though amusing, the character’s commentary on current political figures—much is made of Freddie’s unfortunate last name--and issues as well as Chess itself tends to undercut the show’s seriousness. Perhaps the musical’s ultimate rendition is yet to come? Or maybe they should quit while they are at least financially ahead, since this Broadway revival is proving to be a hit.

Reverend’s Rating: C 

Wishing all my dear readers/followers a happy and blessed Thanksgiving! I give thanks for all of YOU.

The Most Reverend Chris Carpenter is editor of Movie Dearest and chief contributor. He has been reviewing movies and theatre since 1996 and also contributes to Rage Monthly magazine (ragemonthly.com). He is a founding member and former Vice President of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Critics (galeca.com) and currently serves as a nominating/voting member of its New York-based Theatre Wing. Reverend Carpenter has been an ordained minister since 1995.

Reverend's Interview: I Was Born This Way

I was unfamiliar with the late Carl Bean until approximately 5 years ago. I had bought a new car that included Sirius XM satellite radio and I often listened to their Studio 54 channel. One day, they played a remarkably progressive, LGBTQ-positive disco era song I had never heard called “I Was Born This Way.” I subsequently researched it and Bean, who sang it.

He ultimately became Archbishop Carl Bean and founded the Unity Fellowship Church, the first large-scale LGBTQ+ ministry in the USA.  Having survived racism, homophobia and childhood trauma, Bean initially found his voice through song – first as a gospel singer in Harlem’s Christian Tabernacle Choir and later performing with his group, Carl Bean and Universal Love, on their 1974 album Universal Love. But it was his recording of the 1977 Motown hit “I Was Born This Way” that would earn him fame. The song was celebrated as the world’s first gay anthem. 

However, Bean eschewed a mainstream music career and instead chose a vocation in activism. He started the Minority AIDS Project in Los Angeles, serving a vital role for underserved populations at the height of the AIDS crisis. Established 40 years ago, it is still in existence and serving those in need today.

A fabulous new documentary, I Was Born This Way, celebrates the life and legacy of this unapologetic gay Black trailblazer. It is currently playing at the Laemmle North Hollywood Cinemas and will expand to additional cities/theaters soon. The film utilizes innovative rotoscope animation and features appearances by Lady Gaga, Questlove, Billy Porter, California state representative Maxine Waters, and the legendary Dionne Warwick.

Lead producer Wellington Love and co-director Daniel (Dan) Junge recently spoke with Reverend about the process of making their revealing, engrossing documentary. Note: Some questions and comments have been edited for space and/or clarity.

 Thank you both for your time! It’s a great film, so congratulations on it and the awards it has won at film festivals thus far. Let’s start with a question for each of you: How or when did you first become aware of Archbishop Bean?

DJ: I was researching a television series on social action and music, protest music essentially, and one of the episodes was going to be on sex. That made me think immediately of Lady Gaga and her anthem Born This Way, so in researching that I found out that her song was an homage to this earlier song and the man who sang it. I was enthralled and thought that would be an incredible part of the episode. Well, the series—like so many—didn’t happen but that story stuck with me. When I initially researched him I for some reason thought he was in the Midwest, but then I dug in and realized his church was in L.A., probably 2 or 3 miles from where I lived at the time. I thought this could be an amazing standalone film, so I reached out to him and was shooting within a month.

WL: I’m embarrassed to say I really didn’t know much of anything about him until 4 ½ years ago when I got a call from executive producer Josh Green while I was on vacation in Amsterdam. He called me and says “Hey Love, I’ve got this project about this guy named Carl Bean and we’re looking for a little money and maybe you can make a couple calls.” So Josh sent me an interview of Carl who, as you see in the film, was this incredibly charismatic, magnetic figure. It was 45 minutes of him telling his story and (afterward) I couldn’t call Josh back quickly enough to say “How can I help? What can I do to move this along?”

Daniel, in terms of interviewing him—and I don’t want to be morbid or anything—but how long after you interviewed him did Carl pass away?  

DJ: About a year later (in 2021) but he was already immobile and that’s why we’re playing a little trickery there in the film with the background. He was in his home, which was a mobile home near Compton, living in very humble circumstances, and he hadn’t moved from that chair (seen in the film). He was being assisted by members of his congregation. We didn’t want to place him in that world for the film, and that’s why we shot on bluescreen and put him in his church where we felt he belonged. He was as vibrant as ever at that point, you can hear how strong his voice is, but from the waist down he was unable to move. For the sake of the film it really works well because he seems as healthy as ever, but we knew that he was unwell and was very unwell within a few months of shooting that.

Well, that just tells me how providential the timing was that this project came together when it did and you were actually able to get him instead of it being all archival footage or retrospective. That’s great.

DJ: Yeah, I don’t believe in angels but if ever there were, there was one on our shoulder. Or maybe it was providential for him as well because he got a chance to use us as a microphone to amplify his message right at the end of his life.

Yeah, he got to tell his story firsthand. That’s awesome. Love, as the producer can you talk about your role in wrangling or supporting this project?

WL: Initially I came on to help raise much needed funds and when the film was meant to be a 40-minute short. Soon after I came on board, we realized that we couldn’t do Carl’s story justice in that time so we had to recalibrate, open up the film, bring in more talent, raise more money, and think about what other elements we could include in order to really do justice to his life. As a producer, part of your job is to keep it moving, not only the money side but the spirit or the morale so we could keep going. Thankfully, Dan is a real force and we made a good team in terms of making sure, even in the low moments, how important it was to get this right not only to help bring in talent like Questlove and Billy Porter and Lady Gaga, but also to be responsive and responsible to the community whether it be the LGBT community, AIDS activists or the black community. So part of my role was being there to support everything that Dan and (co-director Sam Pollard) needed to do to make sure that this got done as best we could make it.

Who was responsible for reaching out to the talent involved, like Billy Porter?

DJ: We both did but Wellington was really the primary impetus for reaching out to Billy and working with Billy. Wellington, you can fill in more there but I think that’s a critical element for the film.

WL: Obviously, one of the things that we wanted to do in the film was to bring Carl’s story forward, to make it relevant to what’s going on now, and Billy was the perfect sort of ambassador or advocate or embodiment of that in so many ways: being an out, black person of faith; he’s been very open about his HIV status; his musicality and how important that was to embrace that as part of your art. I think that was something that Carl was so adamant about since he was a kid. He was unapologetic about being this gay kid who had this voice, and so Billy was a critical part of that and then obviously—without revealing too much of the film—the recreation of the Liberation song and to make that a point of continuity and moving things forward. Certainly, when Dan started this and I came on board, we had no idea that the film would arrive at this moment when we need these messages more than ever.

DJ: Chris, it’s worth mentioning because of your background (as an out gay clergyperson) that in the Venn diagram where black civil rights and LGBTQ rights overlap, we can probably name a lot of people there and we know there’s a strong history there. Also, there’s some conflict there as well. But in the Venn diagram where you bring Christianity into that, that’s a very small sliver—I won’t say it’s a miniscule sliver—but it’s unknown and not often spoken of.

Yes indeed. Jamie Lee Curtis is listed as one of the film’s executive producers. How did she get involved?

DJ: Thankfully, I had made an earlier documentary with her called Hondros, about a war photographer, so I knew her through that and had an immediate point of contact with her. Also, she has a trans daughter and has been a very strong advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. 

WL: To add to that, one of the things we want to highlight with the film is how much we need allies, and Jamie has been so supportive of the film in many respects and also just in terms of promoting it. As Dan said, she has a trans daughter so she has a vested interest in making sure that this work lives and can get out into the world.

There are so many messages, so many inspirations that people can get out of your film and out of Carl’s story. If there is one thing that each of you most hope or want people to take away from viewing this film, what would that one thing be?

WL: You know, Carl talks about God is love; love is for everyone. Love is for everyone! I think that is an increasingly hard thing to remember and to embrace. We need to be compassionate. We need to think about other people, remember to love other people. That would be it for me.

DJ: I would only add that, in times like these, we have to remain hopeful. Carl had an indomitable spirit and was always hopeful. We hope the film sees a wide audience and that his spirit gives people some hope in this era. It’s just dark days, as you know.

Amen to that!

For more information, visit iwasbornthiswayfilm.com.

The Most Reverend Chris Carpenter is editor of Movie Dearest and chief contributor. He has been reviewing movies and theatre since 1996 and also contributes to Rage Monthly magazine (ragemonthly.com). He is a founding member and former Vice President of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Critics (galeca.com) and currently serves as a nominating/voting member of its New York-based Theatre Wing. Reverend Carpenter has been an ordained minister since 1995.