The new "Doctor Who" season's second installment, "The Devil's Chord," is the closest the show's come to a proper musical episode. Sure, there was that brief musical number in the latest Christmas episode, and that one song-based resolution in season 7, but we've never seen the show embrace the music quite like this one. There are multiple original numbers, including a battle where the villain's using floating notations like a cowboy swinging a lasso around. It's fun when "Doctor Who" goes full weird, and this episode is an exciting promise of more musical weirdness to come.
But judging the episode by proper musical standards, how does it hold up? Well, not great. There's the problem that "There's Always a Twist At the End" is the only genuine catchy banger in the bunch, but more importantly, we never really got to hear the Doctor and Ruby sing about anything that matters. Sure,...
But judging the episode by proper musical standards, how does it hold up? Well, not great. There's the problem that "There's Always a Twist At the End" is the only genuine catchy banger in the bunch, but more importantly, we never really got to hear the Doctor and Ruby sing about anything that matters. Sure,...
- 5/12/2024
- by Michael Boyle
- Slash Film
The actors from the current revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s “Merrily We Roll Along” have skyrocketed in Gold Derby’s combined odds for the 2024 Tony Awards nominations. The prediction center displays commanding leads for Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez and Daniel Radcliffe to win their respective categories. This is an understandable result considering this revival is the hottest ticket in town and this trio of performers has been ever-present in the media. But how often does a trio of actors from the same production pull off three separate acting victories at the Tony Awards?
It’s quite common for a musical to grab two acting trophies, but three awards is much rarer. To date, only 15 musical productions have earned three acting wins. The first time this feat occurred was at the 1956 ceremony, which was ironically the first time the Tony Awards ever announced a slate of nominees (previously...
It’s quite common for a musical to grab two acting trophies, but three awards is much rarer. To date, only 15 musical productions have earned three acting wins. The first time this feat occurred was at the 1956 ceremony, which was ironically the first time the Tony Awards ever announced a slate of nominees (previously...
- 3/14/2024
- by Sam Eckmann
- Gold Derby
Broadway will honor the late actor, dancer and singer Hinton Battle with the traditional dimming of marquee lights on March 12.
The lights will dim at Broadway’s Shubert, Marquis, St. James, New Amsterdam, Samuel J. Friedman, Circle in the Square, Hayes, Vivian Beaumont and Todd Haimes theaters for the traditional one minute at exactly 6:45 p.m./Et.
“The passing of Hinton Battle has had a profound impact within the Broadway community as we mourn the loss of a true theatrical legend,” said Jason Laks, Interim President of The Broadway League, adding that Battle’s family had been consulted about the tribute venues. “Hinton Battle will be remembered for his incredible array of roles on Broadway. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and fans.”
Battle died January 30,at the age of 67. A trained ballet dancer who studied at the renowned Jones-Haywood School of Ballet in Washington, D.C. and...
The lights will dim at Broadway’s Shubert, Marquis, St. James, New Amsterdam, Samuel J. Friedman, Circle in the Square, Hayes, Vivian Beaumont and Todd Haimes theaters for the traditional one minute at exactly 6:45 p.m./Et.
“The passing of Hinton Battle has had a profound impact within the Broadway community as we mourn the loss of a true theatrical legend,” said Jason Laks, Interim President of The Broadway League, adding that Battle’s family had been consulted about the tribute venues. “Hinton Battle will be remembered for his incredible array of roles on Broadway. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and fans.”
Battle died January 30,at the age of 67. A trained ballet dancer who studied at the renowned Jones-Haywood School of Ballet in Washington, D.C. and...
- 3/1/2024
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Hinton Battle, the Tony-winning performer who originated the role of The Scarecrow in Broadway’s The Wiz, has died. He was 67.
The actor died Tuesday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles following a lengthy illness. In a statement, a rep told The Hollywood Reporter that his family has no plans to disclose his cause of death.
Battle made his Broadway debut in the original production of Broadway’s The Wiz and then won three Tonys — all in the category of featured actor in a musical — for his work in Sophisticated Ladies (1981), The Tap Dance Kid (1984) and Miss Saigon (1991). An NAACP Image Award winner, the actor, director, producer and choreographer was also a SAG and Critics Choice nominee, honored for his work as part of the ensemble of 2007’s movie musical Dreamgirls.
Born in 1956, Battle studied at the prestigious Jones Haywood School of Ballet in Washington, D.C. and...
The actor died Tuesday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles following a lengthy illness. In a statement, a rep told The Hollywood Reporter that his family has no plans to disclose his cause of death.
Battle made his Broadway debut in the original production of Broadway’s The Wiz and then won three Tonys — all in the category of featured actor in a musical — for his work in Sophisticated Ladies (1981), The Tap Dance Kid (1984) and Miss Saigon (1991). An NAACP Image Award winner, the actor, director, producer and choreographer was also a SAG and Critics Choice nominee, honored for his work as part of the ensemble of 2007’s movie musical Dreamgirls.
Born in 1956, Battle studied at the prestigious Jones Haywood School of Ballet in Washington, D.C. and...
- 1/31/2024
- by Abbey White
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hinton Battle, a three-time Tony Award-winning actor who first brought to life the role of Scarecrow in Broadway’s The Wiz, has died. He was 67. His passing was confirmed by his friend, actor and choreographer Debbie Allen, who shared the news on her Instagram page. “Today I honor Hinton Battle, my dear friend who left us to dance and sing in God’s Ensemble last night,” she wrote. “He fought this battle to live and be creative impacting audiences and young people across the globe.” She continued, “Let us always hold him high in our hearts and in our mind’s eye and forever speak his name.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Debbie Allen (@therealdebbieallen) A cause of death has not been revealed at time of writing. Battle was born on November 29, 1956, in West Germany, part of the Baumholder Army Military Community, and raised in Washington,...
- 1/31/2024
- TV Insider
Hinton Battle, a three-time Tony Award winning actor who originated the role of Scarecrow in Broadway’s The Wiz, died yesterday. He was 67.
His death was confirmed by his friend, the actor and choreographer Debbie Allen. A cause was not disclosed.
“Today I honor Hinton Battle, my dear friend who left us to dance and sing in God’s Ensemble last night,” Allen wrote on Instagram today. “He fought this battle to live and be creative impacting audiences and young people across the globe. Let us always hold him high in our hearts and in our mind’s eye and forever speak his name.”
Launching his Broadway career in The Wiz (1975), Battle would go on to appear in such celebrated musicals as Dancin’, Sophisticated Ladies, Dreamgirls, The Tap Dance Kid, Miss Saigon and the longrunning revival of Chicago. He won Tony Awards for Best Featured Actor/Musical for Sophisticated Ladies...
His death was confirmed by his friend, the actor and choreographer Debbie Allen. A cause was not disclosed.
“Today I honor Hinton Battle, my dear friend who left us to dance and sing in God’s Ensemble last night,” Allen wrote on Instagram today. “He fought this battle to live and be creative impacting audiences and young people across the globe. Let us always hold him high in our hearts and in our mind’s eye and forever speak his name.”
Launching his Broadway career in The Wiz (1975), Battle would go on to appear in such celebrated musicals as Dancin’, Sophisticated Ladies, Dreamgirls, The Tap Dance Kid, Miss Saigon and the longrunning revival of Chicago. He won Tony Awards for Best Featured Actor/Musical for Sophisticated Ladies...
- 1/30/2024
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
In “Subspace Rhapsody,” the penultimate episode of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” second season, a mishap involving a recording of Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes” and a “subspace fold” causes what the franchise’s technobabble labels an “improbability field:” a glitch in reality that forces the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise to behave like they’re in a musical, bursting into song at inopportune times. Immediately after the big stage-setting ensemble number, Captain Pike (Anson Mount) holds a meeting to figure out what happened, and security officer La’an (Christina Chong) rolls her eyes and asks “What’s next? More improbability, or will we suddenly just poof into bunnies?”
The joke, in the context of the episode, feels slightly random and out of step with the show’s typical sense of humor. But for anyone who has ever watched “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the reference to bunnies instantly...
The joke, in the context of the episode, feels slightly random and out of step with the show’s typical sense of humor. But for anyone who has ever watched “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” the reference to bunnies instantly...
- 8/4/2023
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
To many Buffy, the Vampire Slayer fans, season 6 was a letdown. After Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) sacrificed herself to defeat Glory at the end of season 5, her return left some fans wanting. The show also moved from The WB to Upn for season 6 and 7, but even decades later, fans still criticize season 6.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Buffy, the Vampire Slayer Season 6.]
‘Buffy, the Vampire Slayer’ Season 6 ad for Upn | CBS via Getty Images
They’re wrong. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer Season 6 actually rules and here are four reasons why.
‘Buffy, the Vampire Slayer’ Season 6 villains are as relevant as ever
Season 6 saw Buffy, the vampire slayer go up against the Trio. Warren (Adam Busch), Jonathan (Danny Strong), and Andrew (Tom Lenk) had all appeared in previous seasons of the show. At the beginning of season 6, they decide to take over Sunnydale. The joke was that they were incompetent nerds dabbling in magic, but that made them dangerous.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Buffy, the Vampire Slayer Season 6.]
‘Buffy, the Vampire Slayer’ Season 6 ad for Upn | CBS via Getty Images
They’re wrong. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer Season 6 actually rules and here are four reasons why.
‘Buffy, the Vampire Slayer’ Season 6 villains are as relevant as ever
Season 6 saw Buffy, the vampire slayer go up against the Trio. Warren (Adam Busch), Jonathan (Danny Strong), and Andrew (Tom Lenk) had all appeared in previous seasons of the show. At the beginning of season 6, they decide to take over Sunnydale. The joke was that they were incompetent nerds dabbling in magic, but that made them dangerous.
- 2/21/2023
- by Fred Topel
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
The ne plus ultra of Japanese maverick Nobuhiko Obayashi’s work as a surrealist and staunch anti-war advocate, the cult “House” director’s dizzying and frequently dazzling final feature is told through the adventures of four young people who are magically transported into the movies themselves. Opening with a riotous bombardment of sound and image that risks confusing and losing some viewers even as it sends others into rapturous delight, “Labyrinth of Cinema” then makes sense of the chaos and emerges as
It’s something of a miracle that “Labyrinth of Cinema” exists. After being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2016, Obayashi completed “Hanagatami” (2017), the final chapter in his anti-war trilogy that included “Casting Blossoms to the Sky” (2012) and “Seven Weeks” (2014). Defying a prognosis that gave him just months to live, Obayashi then co-wrote, directed and co-edited this three-hour feature while undergoing treatment. He survived to see its world premiere...
It’s something of a miracle that “Labyrinth of Cinema” exists. After being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2016, Obayashi completed “Hanagatami” (2017), the final chapter in his anti-war trilogy that included “Casting Blossoms to the Sky” (2012) and “Seven Weeks” (2014). Defying a prognosis that gave him just months to live, Obayashi then co-wrote, directed and co-edited this three-hour feature while undergoing treatment. He survived to see its world premiere...
- 10/29/2021
- by Richard Kuipers
- Variety Film + TV
By Susan King
Audra McDonald is the most lauded Broadway performer winning a whopping six Tony Awards in both musical and dramatic categories. And she may be receiving her seventh for the revival of “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair du Lune” when the 74th annual Tonys take place Sept. 26th at the venerable Winter Garden Theatre.
Despite that record, it took a long time for Black artists to be acknowledged by the Tonys, which were first handed out in 1947. It wasn’t until 2004 that a Black actress won for a lead performance in a play: Phylicia Rashad broke this barrier with her win for a revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun.” Hansberry was the first Black artist to be nominated for Best Play in 1960 for the original production of “A Raisin in the Sun” as were its director Lloyd Richards and stars, Sidney Poitier and Claudia McNeil.
Audra McDonald is the most lauded Broadway performer winning a whopping six Tony Awards in both musical and dramatic categories. And she may be receiving her seventh for the revival of “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair du Lune” when the 74th annual Tonys take place Sept. 26th at the venerable Winter Garden Theatre.
Despite that record, it took a long time for Black artists to be acknowledged by the Tonys, which were first handed out in 1947. It wasn’t until 2004 that a Black actress won for a lead performance in a play: Phylicia Rashad broke this barrier with her win for a revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun.” Hansberry was the first Black artist to be nominated for Best Play in 1960 for the original production of “A Raisin in the Sun” as were its director Lloyd Richards and stars, Sidney Poitier and Claudia McNeil.
- 9/3/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
The late Ann Reinking is being honored with a scholarship in her name.
The $5,000 grant from Off the Lane will be awarded annually to a young dancer moving to New York City to help them in their artistic endeavors. Reinking herself moved from Seattle to New York City to pursue dancing.
Reinking died in December at age 71. She got her acting start in a Seattle Opera House production of “Bye Bye Birdie” in 1965. She is best known for playing Roxie Hart in 1977’s “Chicago,” replacing Gwen Verdon. She reprised the part for musical’s 1996 revival.
“I believe Annie would have loved having her name on the Ann Reinking Scholarship Program,” Reinking’s husband Peter Talbert said in a statement. “Like so many young dancers coming to New York, she struggled to find a foothold in a strange city. Short of money and friends, Annie persevered and found her way forward,...
The $5,000 grant from Off the Lane will be awarded annually to a young dancer moving to New York City to help them in their artistic endeavors. Reinking herself moved from Seattle to New York City to pursue dancing.
Reinking died in December at age 71. She got her acting start in a Seattle Opera House production of “Bye Bye Birdie” in 1965. She is best known for playing Roxie Hart in 1977’s “Chicago,” replacing Gwen Verdon. She reprised the part for musical’s 1996 revival.
“I believe Annie would have loved having her name on the Ann Reinking Scholarship Program,” Reinking’s husband Peter Talbert said in a statement. “Like so many young dancers coming to New York, she struggled to find a foothold in a strange city. Short of money and friends, Annie persevered and found her way forward,...
- 3/4/2021
- by Marc Malkin
- Variety Film + TV
Festival and new school form part of strategy to grow entertainment industry in Okinawa.
Japanese comedy Reon and China’s In Pursuit Of The General were presented with the audience awards at the close of the 10th Okinawa International Movie Festival on Sunday night.
Directed by Renpei Tsukamoto, Reon follows a female office worker and an autocratic male CEO whose bodies are switched after a car accident. Teng Junjie’s In Pursuit Of The General, a film version of a popular Peking Opera, won the audience award for a foreign-language film.
Reon played as part of Oimf’s Special Screenings section,...
Japanese comedy Reon and China’s In Pursuit Of The General were presented with the audience awards at the close of the 10th Okinawa International Movie Festival on Sunday night.
Directed by Renpei Tsukamoto, Reon follows a female office worker and an autocratic male CEO whose bodies are switched after a car accident. Teng Junjie’s In Pursuit Of The General, a film version of a popular Peking Opera, won the audience award for a foreign-language film.
Reon played as part of Oimf’s Special Screenings section,...
- 4/23/2018
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
We all know that February is Black History Month, but did we all take a moment to reflect and celebrate Well we did just that, Broadway-style, at Sessions on February 23rd. Not only did we invite a starry roster of Broadway's best and brightest to share music representing the influence, importance and impact of African American legacy on Broadway, but we also paid homage to some Broadway trailblazers like Diahann Carroll, Ben Vereen, Stokes and more. We even challenged our audience to name that African American Tony winner,which of course gave us the opportunity to bask in the glorious voices of Melba Moore, Hinton Battle, Heather Headley, Ted Ross, Jennifer Holiday and many more. Check out these amazing performances by Aisha de Haas, Kenita Miller, Daisy Hobbs, Imari Hardon, Zurin Villanueva, Ta'Rea Campbell, Marcus Paul James, Nora Schell, T. Oliver Reid, Charity Angel Dawson and more...
- 3/6/2017
- by Ben Cameron
- BroadwayWorld.com
On Tuesday June 3, Hinton Battle unveiled a new chapter in his career when 54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club presented Something New, a performance introducing his soon to be released new CD, by the same name. With his unique take on classic tunes, Battle pays tribute to the genius of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis and honors the memory of some of his dance contemporaries and legendary tap dancers that have influenced his career.
- 6/4/2014
- by Walter McBride
- BroadwayWorld.com
Tony nominee Kate Baldwin Big Fish, Giant, Finian's Rainbow two-time Tony Award winner Katie Finneran Annie, Promises Promises three-time Tony Award winner Hinton Battle The Tap Dance Kid, Miss Saigon, The Wiz three time Tony-nominee Dee Hoty The Will Rogers Follies, Footloose Tony Award winning producer, singer and actor Tamara Tunie producer of Spring Awakening, performed in Broadway's Oh Kay and Tony Award winner Leslie Uggams Hallelujah Baby, On Golden Pond all gathered last week to preview their upcoming shows at 54 Below. BroadwayWorld was there for the sneak peek event and you can check out photos below...
- 5/13/2014
- by Walter McBride
- BroadwayWorld.com
Two contemporary music giants - multi-platinum recording artist and 16-time Grammy nominee, Brian McKnight and the fiercely gifted, three-time Grammy nominee Angie Stone have signed on to play lead roles in the national tour of the award-winning musical, Hinton Battle's Love Lies. The play debuted last summer at the Midtown International Theatre Festival, garnering nine Mitf nominations and picking up several awards.
- 3/1/2013
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Hinton Battle is known to theatre audiences as an extraordinarily gifted performer and recipient of three Tony Awards. Battle now adds playwright, to his growing list of accomplishments. Hinton Battle's Love Lies Treat Her Like a Lady, the musical he conceived and debuted this summer at the Midtown International Theatre Festival Mitf in New York, is scheduled to begin a national tour of key cities at the start of 2013.
- 12/12/2012
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The nominations have been announced for the Planet Connections Theatre Festivitys 2012 Awards Gala, taking place tonight, July 29 at 730pm at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 405 W. 55th Street. Among the nominees are three-time Tony Award-winner Hinton Battle for directing amp choreographing What We Do for Love or Other Desperate Measures and recent Tony Award-nominee Patti Murin for her performance in La Strega.
- 7/29/2012
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The nominations have been announced for the Planet Connections Theatre Festivitys 2012 Awards Gala, taking place on Sunday, July 29 at 730pm at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 405 W. 55th Street. Among the nominees are three-time Tony Award-winner Hinton Battle for directing amp choreographing What We Do for Love or Other Desperate Measures and recent Tony Award-nominee Patti Murin for her performance in La Strega.
- 7/2/2012
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
When will all this 3D news stop?! This is nothing more than a genuine gimmick - I guarantee that. ScreenDaily has posted an interesting article today that mentions that producer Don Carmody is trying to get the cult classic theatrical play Evil Dead: The Musical translated to the big screen in unglorious 3D. As much as I love the Evil Dead movies, this news is absolutely painful to hear about. I missed seeing Evil Dead: The Musical on stage, but I'm not dying to see a gimmicky 3D version on the big screen. It was a genius idea conceived for the stage that featured a "splatter zone" and so much more and it should stay there. As far as I know, this has nothing to do with Sam Raimi's rumored fourth Evil Dead movie anyway. Apparently the original directors of the stage version, Christopher Bond and Hinton Battle, are...
- 9/9/2008
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Producer Don Carmody wants to bring his musical adapation of Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead to the big screen in 3D. The musical’s original director, Christopher Bond, and choreographer, Hinton Battle, are set to co-direct the film. Carmody wants Raimi in on the musical film version of The Evil Dead, but no word as to whether or not he’s signed on permanently. Evil Dead: The Musical is set to start shooting for the silver screen early next year in Toronto with the original cast. In the vein of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a popular audience participation segment known as the “splatter zone” will be among the scenes of the stage-to-screen adaptation to be filmed in 3D. Carmody, who has produced musical-to-film [...]...
- 9/8/2008
- by Tessa Petrocco
- ShockYa
Idlewild is an entertaining mess. It blends together musical styles and dances, historical periods with howling anachronisms, coy, almost childish gimmicks with R-rated sex and violence and The Cotton Club with Six Feet Under. Think of it as a 1930s remix. The movie has a "let's put on a show" casualness, yet choreography and music can't be slicker. But an entertaining mess is still a mess.
Fans of OutKast probably won't care. The film stars Antwan A. Patton and Andre Benjamin, aka Big Boi and Andre 3000 of OutKast, who also serve as music supervisors. The film's writer-director is Bryan Barber, OutKast's frequent music-video director. This oddball concoction has sat on a shelf for nearly two years while Universal figured out how to sell it. Idlewild may just sell itself thanks to the stars and a hot soundtrack. But it won't satisfy sticklers for historical correctness. For instance, how do you feel about 1930s hip-hop?
The story revolves around a nightclub/whorehouse in Idlewild, Ga., circa 1935 whimsically called Church. Club manager Rooster (Patton) must confront a vicious gangster (Terrence Howard) who controls the flow of liquor to the club, while keeping girlfriends out of sight of his rightly suspicious wife Zora (Malinda Williams).
Rooster's childhood buddy Percival (Benjamin), a mortician by trade, plays piano at the club. He gets drawn out of his shell by the otherworldly beauty of the club's new and mysterious singer Angel (Paula Patton), forcing him to choose between her and his domineering father (Ben Vereen).
The filmmakers focus on the music as much as possible. Indeed most of the contrived plot makes little sense. Nor does the film make any attempt to examine how black culture existed and flourished in the Jim Crow South. This is a period piece with no period; all sense of history is banished.
The film is overloaded with cutesy gimmicks such as a flask that talks back to its owner, music sheets whose notes act as cartoon characters and a scene in which the mortician sings to an exquisite female corpse. Yes, he does.
The movie prides itself on a "retro-modern" look and sound. Its dances are a freestyle fusion of swing, hip-hop and break dance. The music jumps off from the R&B stylings of Cab Calloway and Bessie Smith to contemporary urban sounds. In other words, everything in the movie is subservient to the fact its soundtrack is an OutKast album.
At least Benjamin and Patton don't Take That approach as actors. They play genuine characters with shadings and nuances. The big news, performance-wise, is Paula Patton, reminding you somewhat of a young Whitney Houston, whose lovely voice is equaled by her beauty. Vereen is fine as the troubled father. Howard, of course, is smooth as silk as the sadistic villain. Making much too brief appearances are Macy Gray, Cicely Tyson and Patti LaBelle.
Barber oversees top-notch contributions from a behind-the-camera team that includes Pascal Rabaud's gymnastic camera work, Hinton Battle's eye-catching choreography, Shawn Barton's colorful costumes and Anne Goursaud's rhythmic editing.
IDLEWILD
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures and HBO Films present a Mosaic Media Group/Forensic Films production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Bryan Barber
Producers: Charles Roven, Robert Guralnick
Executive producers: William Green, Robin O'Hara, Scott Macaulay
Director of photography: Pascal Rabaud
Production designer: Charles Breen
Music: John Debney
Costumes: Shawn Barton
Editor: Anne Goursaud
Cast:
Percival: Andre Benjamin
Rooster: Antwan A. Patton
Angel: Paula Patton
Trumpy: Terrence Howard
Ace: Faizon Love
Zora: Malinda Williams
Mother Hopkins: Cicely Tyson
Taffy: Macy Gray
Percy Senior: Ben Vereen
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 121 minutes...
Fans of OutKast probably won't care. The film stars Antwan A. Patton and Andre Benjamin, aka Big Boi and Andre 3000 of OutKast, who also serve as music supervisors. The film's writer-director is Bryan Barber, OutKast's frequent music-video director. This oddball concoction has sat on a shelf for nearly two years while Universal figured out how to sell it. Idlewild may just sell itself thanks to the stars and a hot soundtrack. But it won't satisfy sticklers for historical correctness. For instance, how do you feel about 1930s hip-hop?
The story revolves around a nightclub/whorehouse in Idlewild, Ga., circa 1935 whimsically called Church. Club manager Rooster (Patton) must confront a vicious gangster (Terrence Howard) who controls the flow of liquor to the club, while keeping girlfriends out of sight of his rightly suspicious wife Zora (Malinda Williams).
Rooster's childhood buddy Percival (Benjamin), a mortician by trade, plays piano at the club. He gets drawn out of his shell by the otherworldly beauty of the club's new and mysterious singer Angel (Paula Patton), forcing him to choose between her and his domineering father (Ben Vereen).
The filmmakers focus on the music as much as possible. Indeed most of the contrived plot makes little sense. Nor does the film make any attempt to examine how black culture existed and flourished in the Jim Crow South. This is a period piece with no period; all sense of history is banished.
The film is overloaded with cutesy gimmicks such as a flask that talks back to its owner, music sheets whose notes act as cartoon characters and a scene in which the mortician sings to an exquisite female corpse. Yes, he does.
The movie prides itself on a "retro-modern" look and sound. Its dances are a freestyle fusion of swing, hip-hop and break dance. The music jumps off from the R&B stylings of Cab Calloway and Bessie Smith to contemporary urban sounds. In other words, everything in the movie is subservient to the fact its soundtrack is an OutKast album.
At least Benjamin and Patton don't Take That approach as actors. They play genuine characters with shadings and nuances. The big news, performance-wise, is Paula Patton, reminding you somewhat of a young Whitney Houston, whose lovely voice is equaled by her beauty. Vereen is fine as the troubled father. Howard, of course, is smooth as silk as the sadistic villain. Making much too brief appearances are Macy Gray, Cicely Tyson and Patti LaBelle.
Barber oversees top-notch contributions from a behind-the-camera team that includes Pascal Rabaud's gymnastic camera work, Hinton Battle's eye-catching choreography, Shawn Barton's colorful costumes and Anne Goursaud's rhythmic editing.
IDLEWILD
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures and HBO Films present a Mosaic Media Group/Forensic Films production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Bryan Barber
Producers: Charles Roven, Robert Guralnick
Executive producers: William Green, Robin O'Hara, Scott Macaulay
Director of photography: Pascal Rabaud
Production designer: Charles Breen
Music: John Debney
Costumes: Shawn Barton
Editor: Anne Goursaud
Cast:
Percival: Andre Benjamin
Rooster: Antwan A. Patton
Angel: Paula Patton
Trumpy: Terrence Howard
Ace: Faizon Love
Zora: Malinda Williams
Mother Hopkins: Cicely Tyson
Taffy: Macy Gray
Percy Senior: Ben Vereen
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 121 minutes...
- 8/20/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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