Mallory's Hollywood East

Carole Mallory's blog consists of movie and book reviews and commentary on Hollywood. Mallory is an actress who portrayed a Stepford Wife in the original film and appeared in other movies such as Looking for Mr. Goodbar. A former supermodel, her writings are published in The Huffington Post and Hollywood's The Wrap. Her book reviews are published in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Norman Mailer was her mentor. Upon his death she sold her collection of writings with his edits to Harvard University.

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Review Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer is a meaningful film but too long and slow to tell the torturous journey of Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, a theoretical physicist who created the Atomic Bomb. In the beginning, caring about Dr. Oppenheimer portrayed excellently by Cillian Murphy is difficult due to the focus on technical scientific terms necessitated because of the topic of quantum physics. I do not enjoy the study of science, but this does not mean I do not honor its importance, so I’m not the best one to care about this topic, but I do care about the man and I would like to have seen more in the beginning about his character. By the end, your heart throbs for Dr. Robert Oppenheimer’s suffering and the role of the government in his attempted demise, but he triumphs if you can sit through the film. Director Christopher Nolan has made the sound a disturbing character. When the bomb created by Dr. Oppenheimer is dropped there is silence, which is not what are expecting. And throughout the film, there are bizarre moments where the sound actually drowns out the dialogue. The cast is aces and star-studded, and for some unknown reason looks older than most of the stars are today. Christopher Nolan does not like to light stars to look good At the beginning of the film Emily Blunt, a great beauty looks quite haggard and the list can go on and on. Matt Damon whose acting is always superb is a bit difficult to look at. Of course, his gain in weight doesn’t help. Kenneth Branagh in a smaller part and Remi Malek almost steal the film, and Robert Downey, Jr., excels in his role as Lewis Strauss, who turns against Dr. Oppenheimer and tries to destroy him due to Dr. Oppenheimer's fears of what he has created with the atomic bomb, and that it could destroy civilization. But I feel that director Nolan, who also wrote the film and has been nominated for five Academy Awards and six Golden Globes misses on this film. He uses black-and-white for the future and sound as a character, and special visual effects when the bomb is dropped therefore throughout the film, I felt manipulated when the real story is about a brilliant man, who cared about civilization and grew to be ambivalent about his creation of the atomic bomb once it was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Robert Downey, Jr., represents the government's, interest in creating the first nuclear weapons as part of the Manhattan Project, When Dr. Oppenheimer regrets the consequences of the possible end of civilization due to his creation of this bomb. Robert Downey, Jr., turns on Dr. Oppenheimer and tries to blacklist him as a communist to destroy his powerful fame and voiced fears about what Dr. Oppenheimer has created. President Truman (Gary Oldman) even says to his secretary after meeting with Dr. Oppenheimer,"Don't let that Sissy back in!" I enjoyed the film, but the length was a problem and the lack of focus on Dr. Oppenheimer's stellar character. It is an important movie due to its subject matter, but unfortunately does not sustain the interest that it should.

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

TRANSFORMERS THE RISE OF THE BEASTS

Transformers the Rise of the Beasts

Magic, pure magic. I had never seen a Transformer film and I deeply regret this after having seen Transformers the Rise of the Beasts

The juxtaposition of real life with the transformers created by CGI, and the help of an incredible artistic team, is shocking, stupendous, and mind-blowing.

The film starts with the Transformers in a three-minute introduction of them on their own planet. Then cuts to earth and introduces our hero, Antony Ramos, and heroine, Dominique Fishback

it is so shocking the change from Earth to the Transformers planet you kinda have to think for a minute what’s going on here? Is this reality or is it fiction or what the hell is this? But if you just sit a while and watch it, you will be absorbed into a fantasyland that is breathtaking. The plot is good and I won’t bore you with it because you have to see the film to experience it but basically, the bad Transformers are plotting to take over the planet Earth. Do they succeed or not you have to see the film. I recommend this also because the scenery is incredible. When they go to Peru the camera work is breathtaking and the filming in New York works because of the tensions and dynamics of the city, and of course, the star of the entire film is the crew who were able to create the Transformers who transformed them from cars to robots, from Tigers to robots from monkeys to robots from trucks to robots and on, and on and on. If you keep an open mind and allow yourself to fantasize and enjoy feeling like what it was when you were perhaps a teenager and this was something that you just had to see, it can take you back to your youth if you allow it. Steven Spielberg is the executive producer who told Michael Bay who is the line producer, not to make one more transformer film after the third. Bay did not listen, and Spielberg did not pay attention to what he himself had said and ended up working again on this seventh Transformer movie and apparently, there are three more in the works. You just gotta see this film.

Thursday, May 25, 2023

The LITTLE MERMAID. A TOUR DE FORCE

Run don’t walk to see The Little Mermaid a remake of the 1989 animated film. It is based on a Hans Christian Andersen story and is a musical that doesn’t quit, with CGI dancing urchins and sirens and of course, a beautiful mermaid played by Halle Bailey. The Little Mermaid keeps a smile on your face and your foot tapping. The acting is terrific, as is the script. For once we have a good combination of acting and writing and singing that all make for a good feeling when you leave. It is about a little mermaid who longs to be a human and of course her dreams come true. How it comes about is the theme of the film. Rather than spoil the story just see it. But when Ariel, the little mermaid, first sees humans and land through her new eyes of a human who develops legs, I was reminded of how I felt when I became sober. Everything looked so fresh, new, enchanting and it was as though I had never seen nature before. This is what sobriety did for me. I identified with the little mermaid. As a mermaid, she was raised to hate humans, but she fell in love with a prince, and he fell in love with her, and they lived happily ever after. If you want the details, see the film and magic before your eyes. Melissa McCarthy portrays a Seamonster and the prince is played by Jonah Hauer King. While the king of the underworld and the mermaids father, King Triton, is portrayed by Javier Bardem. Rob Marshall directed without losing I’ll beat. If you want to leave a film with your head held high and gratitude for having seen a couple fall in love while you fall in love with the film, see The Little Mermaid.

The Little Mermaid. A dream and a movie come true.

ake for a good feeling when you leave. It is about a little mermaid who longs to be a human and of course, her dreams come true. How it comes about is the theme of the film. Rather than spoil the story just see it. But when Ariel, the little mermaid, first sees humans and land through her new eyes of a human who developed legs, I was reminded of how I felt when I became sober. Everything looked so fresh, new, enchanting and it was as though I had never seen nature before. This is what sobriety did for me, and I identified with the little mermaid. As a mermaid, she was raised to hate humans, but she fell in love with a prince, and he fell in love with her, and they lived happily ever after. If you want the details, see the film and magic before your eyes. Melissa McCarthy portrays a Seamonster and the prince is played by Jonah Haver King. While the king of the underworld and the mermaid's father, King Triton is portrayed by Javier Bardem. Rob Marshall directed without losing I’ll beat. If you want to leave a film with your head held high and gratitude for having seen a couple fall in love while you fall in love with the film, see The Little Mermaid.

Monday, May 22, 2023

ABOUT MY FATHER

About My Father stars two-time Oscar winner, Robert De Niro, who steals the film, and frankly, there would be no film without him. The script written by Sebastian Maniscalco, is filled with forced laughter and a boring plot. De Niro plays an old-school, Italian father, whose son Sebastian longs to be engaged to the mega, wealthy daughter of a hotel magnet. The parents of the daughter are played by Kim Cattrall from Sex and the City and Bill Collins and while the acting is adequate, it is a writing that is pathetic. The audience seemed to like it, and it could be a hit, but for me, it was one bad joke after another. It is held together by De Niro, who is simply marvelous. So it’s worth watching just to see him. He plays the old-school, Italian father, who doesn’t want to let his son go and leave Chicago to live in Washington with his about-to-be fiancee played by Leslie Bibb, but it is really about a collision of values and that’s the best part of About My Father. You see a poor, steadfast hairdresser, De Niro, who has real values juxtaposed against the hoity-toity family his son wants to marry into who may have a lot of money, but they have shallow beliefs. So I see why De Niro agreed to star in the film because it was a good part for him, but it is not a good film. De Niro needs money. He needs alimony for his ex-wife. He has seven children including an infant with a new woman whom he must also support, therefore at 79 he's working his butt off. This is obviously a film he did for money but it was a good part and he is good in it. It is worth seeing About My Father just to see him. But if you're not a De Niro fan, I would forget it.

Friday, May 5, 2023

BOOK CLUB--THE FIRST CHAPTER

Book Club--The First Chapter works. Finally a film about gutsy women, but Italy is its star. Stunning photography of Venice and Rome’s splendor Four beautiful women celebrate their senior years and make them fun, sexy, and raucous. It's worth seeing Jane Fonda, who can steal a scene when she wants to, Candice Bergen, whose acting is perhaps the best, Mary Steenbergen who has a natural delivery which is incomparable, and Diane Keaton who is her usual charming self with her usual hat and usual glasses, and la de da manner, but I wish she would stop hiding her natural beauty behind props. Nevertheless these women work together and their unity makes a strong film when the writing doesn’t make it silly and forced Writing is weak in spots especially in the dull beginning.

Once the women arrive in Italy, the film begins to sail. Don Johnson has a small part but, of course, is competent, and handsome, but wearing makeup that is reminiscent of Donald Trump. Too much bronzer, baby, too much! Andy Garcia, Craig T. Nelson, and Giancarlo Giannini are the backdrop for these women with balls who command these men with their assertiveness and cunning. This feminist dominance is the great strength of Book Club, The First Chapter. It is about women who do not need men, but appreciate male charms when it is convenient for them, but do not need a stud to feel whole. This is not just another silly girlie comedy like the horrific 80 for Brady, but a serious romantic comedy about the importance of independent women. The ending which is predictable is the asterisk addressing this point as the film could almost be the biography of Jane Fonda, but due to the stellar direction of Bill Holderman, this film works!

Hugh Quarshie, the black male star whom I had never heard of, almost steals the show when he sings Gloria at an Italian dinner for the women bachelorettes. He is handsome beyond belief and sings with genuine sensuality. We must see more of him.

Sometimes Fonda’s acting is a bit carved out or stiff. But when she lets herself go she sails above all the others. The writing is the problem. Sometimes corny, but when it is funny, it is funny. Book Club The First Chapter is a film the world needs to see. It addresses marriage and its folly juxtaposed against marriage and it’s joy I recommend the film. And God bless Jane Fonda who at 85 is walking and moving like a goddess though she has had cancer, hip surgery, knee surgery and we all know about her facial surgery because she’s so honest and bless her for it. She is a warrior and this film is about warrior women! Do try to see it!

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Don't listen. Just watch. CGI is MARVELous. The story is silly, but you really won't care. Much. The creatures. Characters. And technical aspect of this ridiculous story will keep you in your seat while you stuff your ears with cotton. BTW Michael Douglas appeared to be wearing a hearing aid as well, but I suspect this was meant to be his means of communication with the ants or some other monster. But he more or less steals film when he--as a total human --leads the giant ants to save the day and picture which by now you are hoping will end sooner than later. Michelle Pfeiffer is terrific and terrifically beautiful as she does not appear to age. Paul Rudd is charming and facile as always as is Evangeline Lilly. Again it is Bill Murray who comes to the rescue when plot lags which it does throughout the film. The cast is great in the acting department, but the absurd premise makes their acting even more than adequate. I have not seen the previous Ant-Man sagas, but I suspect there will be another sequel as the ending implies. The audience is massive for this franchise as hoots and hollers were heard before the credits began to roll. While I was wondering why? And I never found out.

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

80 FOR BRADY

8O FOR BRADY

Shame on Jane,

80 for Brady was much better than I thought it would be. Because it is about four women sharing their journey to the end of their lives, and smiling all the way. But why Jane Fonda, took such a mindless part after she has such a body of work boggles my mind. She has won two Oscars, seven Golden Globes, fought causes like Vietnam, and began her successful gyms for Tom Hayden to support his anti-war movement, however, I’m afraid her values have disintegrated. She is far above the mediocrity of this material. Her part was so mindless. She did not need the money I suspect, but this kind of cheap publicity and attention is so beneath her. Her glamorous man-eating part allowed Sally Fields to steal the film because of Field's sincerity and genuine moments. 80 for Brady is an endless attempt at humor, silly jokes, dumb situations celebrating the NFL, and slapstick eating contests, but the love of four women held the film together, not the writing, which was really abysmal. Lily Tomlin improved as her part had some meat to it which she met with aplomb. While Rita Moreno at the age of 90 held her own against the other stars that were once shining but tarnished by this film

And as far as Tom Brady, whose final words were, "Why quit when you still got it?" Well, the reason he should quit is he has two children and an incredible wife who wants him to live. His wife left him due to his gargantuan ego and need for a stadium's attention. Sad. He is 45 and could suffer a concussion any minute, broken bones, and severe brain damage. but his ego and need to be hero-worshiped keep him back on the field when he is too old to play. His values have him back on the field because he’d rather have the attention and the roar of the crowd than his wife and children. Double shame on Tom Brady. So to make a movie around the hero worship of Tom Brady is wrong.

I don’t really care that it’s a true story because I find four women worshiping a football player in their 80s is banal and absurd. Mindless. When you go through life and you reach 80 you have a lot of wisdom or you should. Apparently, these four women lack wisdom. Instead, they worship and are amused by a pigskin being thrown around a stadium with brutality and violence being the focus of the game. This is sad and empty. I wonder what kind of lives these women led if they enjoy so much brutality and testosterone on the loose. They are turned on by the outside of a man, his brawn, and muscular strength, instead of his mind. Almost like teenagers. When we grow older, I would hope we learn to respect the mind over the body. I had an affair with a fat old man, and he was terrific, because he had a great mind, and I enjoyed those years with him more than the All-American football player to whom I was engaged who became a coach for the Steelers who won two super bowls because I could not talk to him.

And as far as brain damage and its relationship to football. I’ve been there. I have hydrocephalus, water on the brain, and could’ve gotten it from being beaten by a man I thought I loved. And you can get water on the brain from football by being beaten by a player for a sport you think you love. Going through a brain operation is not fun. Not being able to walk afterward for a long time is not fun. Aviciis's song Wake Me Up was the first song I was able to dance to when I first was able to walk and I'll never forget it. These football players are going to go through brain injuries, concussions, and possibly brain operations. I don’t find the sport fun. I don’t find a movie about this sport fun. I value my health, and I value the health of the players, and I hate to see them beaten up for sport. Shamefully I admit that when I was a cheerleader, one of our favorite cheers was, "Hit 'em again harder. HARDER!" And this is what football is about-- beating each other up. This is not a sport. This is savage abuse and making a movie about it, absurdly a comedy-- where you hero-worship a player-- in my opinion is pathetic.

Thursday, December 1, 2022

BABYLON

If you enjoy seeing a fat man eat a rat or an elephant defecate into the mouth of a fat man or a woman urinate on a fat man, you will love this film. I didn't.

Babylon appears to be about the birth of silent films, the birth of talkies, the birth of color, and the birth of technicolor while illustrating the sadistic death of actors who lived through these times. Well, one of the actors who becomes a mogul (Tobey Mc Guire) loses his mogul-dom and is reduced to selling videos and various discs in a record shop by the time we journey to the fifties. The fictionalized star( Brad Pitt) at the height of his career praises the charm and importance of Hollywood, but when his fame fads he shoots himself. The starlet (Margot Robbie )who claws her way to stardom develops a gambling addiction and after her glistening star fades, dies mysteriously in her thirties. It is implied that she is murdered by the mob to whom she owes big bucks

The message is that Hollywood pumps and dumps its denizens seeking fame and fortune in apply named Tinsel Town. In other words, stay away from Hollywood if you do not want to be a victim of its system.

While no one views Hollywood as a noble toddling town, Babylon makes the viewer of its scatological, sadistic, decadent, over-the-top orgies and vulgar "let's laugh while a fat man eats a rat' the victim.

The acting is good, solid, while the script is chaotic and the film needs major editing After three hours of counting how many nipples are exposed and how many penises are displayed and is there public hair showing in the orgy, I felt like I was in an add for Lume that offers a deodorant for body odors in any part of the body, any crevice.

Yes there are a few good scenes where the actual chaos and faux pas around a set is humorous and does happen, but this film is too long and too obsessed with pushing the envelope of vulgarity;

Jean Smart is a stand-out gossip columnist who explains to the fading and downtrodden star Brad Pitt how the grinding Hollywood machine enjoys pulverizing stars and creates a downfall that the star is helpless to protect himself against.

All in all, three hours of a film budgeted at 78 million that is not worth paying 50 cents to see, is a massive waste of time. Time is our most valuable universal treasure which we all must respect, not Babylon

Sunday, October 9, 2022

AMSTERDAM REVIEW BY CAROLE MALLORY

Amsterdam is a train wreck. It is about the importance of democracy, but writer-director David O.Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) needed to relinquish his control and listen to those who said gore is not funny. No laughing here. This script is deadly serious. But the confusion from ha ha to help help shown in Christian Bale's character shows the ambivalence David O Russell had in his point of view. Chaos is not plot or so Norman Mailer taught me. And Mr. Russell should have heeded Mr. Mailer's advice if he had had the opportunity. This film is about the power of agents to get a stellar cast to be a part of mediocrity. Agents read script, and sold stars on the idea that this story was an important part of today's political scene with Maga and Trump promoting violence, promoting corporation tax cuts, promoting fascism. Ah ha! the stars said, "Add me to the cast!" And so you have Bobby De Niro playing a character who could be our President. Since he is far left, he wanted the opportunity to point out the importance of voting and voting for a candidate with morals. Unlike we have recently witnessed. De Niro steals the film. You could skip the first hour and get on board for De Niro's dynamic performance. Margot Robbie is refreshing in her excellence as minimally sexy while portraying a character who fights for justice. Taylor Swift begins the film in a terrific cameo. One only wishes she had a larger part, Chris Rock is also in a too-small part but steals all scenes. His timing is impeccable. Mike Meyers is adequate in unfunny scenes and sadly his comedic talents are wasted. Zoe Saldana is again in a part that you wish were bigger to match her appeal. And Rami Malek playing the evil corporate tycoon, But with a cast like this and a subject as important as any could be in our current climate of dare I say espionage how could David O. Russell lose? Well, he did! Scratch Amsterdam off the 'to see" list.

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Elvis earned a fifteen-minute standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival.   Directed by Baz Luhrman, Elvis (Austin Butler) is about the murder of The King of Rock n’Roll’s spirit and soul by his manager Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) an addict. Parker’s addiction to gambling fueled by his debts resulted in his hooking Elvis Presley to pills. Parker needed Elvis to perform a grueling five-year contract in Las Vegas to pay for his debts. Elvis was physically destroyed by this cruel schedule due to Parker’s greed.   This tortuous performance schedule ended in Elvis’s death due to his addiction to pills that he felt he needed to take to perform resulting in an overdose. He died at age 42.
When Presley’s mother (HelenThomson) died of alcoholism, his father asked Colonel Tom Parker to step into the role of comforting guidance that Elvis’s mother filled. In turn, Elvis’s manager Colonel Parker, who was not a colonel, not even a Parker, his name and identity had been manufactured, appointed Elvis’s father (Rufus Sewell) as the financial manager of Elvis’s career. Parker had been a carnival barker. Manipulation was his true vocation. He used to paint sparrows yellow and sell them as canaries and sell dancing chickens after he had forced them to dance on a hot plate.
Parker as Elvis’s manager took 50% of his earnings and hooked Elvis so that Elvis came under his total control. Elvis’s entourage called Parker the “Snowman”. Elvis knew Parker was manipulating him, but he could not break away from him, though he repeatedly tried.
Each attempt Elvis made to free himself from the shackles of Tom Parker, Parker would come up with a new money-making scheme, but Parker always presented this new scheme as though it was in Elvis’s best interests.
For me, the movie Elvis begins when Elvis first sings. All of the audience was waiting on the edge of their seats for this moment and it was paydirt.   “You ain’t nothing but a Hound Dog,” Austin Butler belted as the audience cheered.
Austin Butler sang all of Elvis’s songs though, towards the end, Butler’s and Presley’s voices were blended. Austin Butler will be a star because of his performance in Elvis. From unknown to superstar.
Addiction aside, one of the main plot lines is the influence black music of the fifties, especially Little Richard, had on Elvis. This was the height of racism. Elvis adopted the gyrations and pelvic moves from the blacks whom he worshiped. When Martin Luther King died, he was devastated, but rocked on. Colonel Parker wanted Elvis to stop his sexual physical moves as the police and political hierarchy wanted to jail Elvis if he continued to be so sexual. Women took off their panties and threw them on stage.   A defiant Elvis would put these panties on his head and sing on while the police scowled.
A young Elvis is shown singing gospel in black churches and being baptized. His love of blacks helped heal racism in America that was ugly.
I remember going to all-black gatherings outside of Atlantic City in the early 5o’s just to hear the Negroes sing. These gatherings were near the swamplands of Ocean City, New Jersey.
Don’t miss this film. While addiction is the drum beat throughout the film, the singing, the editing, the acting, the make-up, the dialogue, and the split-screen images all make for a standing ovation. Hanks's acting improves as does this movie’s spirit as it sprints along while the plot thickens and racism stirs the pot and almost kills Elvis as much as addiction. See it. Enjoy. And listen a la Dolby sound to great music filling your ears while a top-rate cast and script burn into your hearts.

Friday, May 22, 2020

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Well, I finally saw Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and thought it was a mess.
Glad they did not show Sharon Tate’s murder. The period look was off in beginning. Terrible I was there and know. He handled the Mansion family well, but the beginning was slow, choppy, scotch-taped together. Brad Pitt made it and Leonardo was a close second. But the portrayal of the Manson family was riveting.. Your scene should have been longer to have meaning. The good news was you were not there that night. And LIVED.

I thought Tarantino portrayed Sharon unkindly and like a bimbo. Was she really that dumb and self-involved? And Roman was dismissed and treated disparagingly. I had the privilege of knowing him and he has great charm and a very rich character who was abused by a faulty justice system.If I were Roman I would have blocked film. Public figure rights make it hard. Tell me Sharon was not that empty-headed and star struck. Al Pacino was excellent as usual in a small part as was Bruce Dern. It’s obvious Tarantino used his weight to get celebrities though he had an inferior production company and script. Editing was asleep at the wheel. Scenes went on so long that once they made their points it was as though a sledgehammer was the editor. This definitely was not Oscar material except for PItt. Booo to Tarantino.

Rocketman

Review: Rocketman.
Heart, Elton John has heart. Always had it but didn't know it which is theme of Rocketman. Slow beginning. A set up to a brilliant journey of self-awareness. An old fashioned musical clothed in a tribute to the rock n roll legend. Oh my, what trip. I almost tuned out in beginning but so glad I stayed with it. The music is perfectly injected to tell Elton's story in lyrics written oddly enough by Bernie Taupin but the rhythm is pure Elton John. 1975 he began his drug and alcohol-fueled life and today is sober 28 years A miracle. His body and mind had had enough of bad values and hedonistic living. The lacing of the lyrics tells of Elton's pain and triumphs. His parents are minefields of abuse and handled with care by the screenwriter but it is clear that Elton was never given love by either one. Only a grandmother. And she did matter.
Elton got sober in 1990, I became sober in 1980. I remember when he entered the program and watched his growth with joy. I had dated rock n roll stars in my alcoholic bottom and like Elton had had enough meaningless sex. The kind devoid of love. His transforming is filled with a serenity one would never think a rock n roll star would value. Don't miss this one And do not walk out on a boring beginning. It's only a set up to a life led with pain, pathos, and understanding of the meaning of forgiveness.

Saturday, January 7, 2017

The Nutcracker at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music Meets Baryshnikov

01/06/2017 06:08 pm ET

Carole Mallory Author, Actress, Critic, malloryhollywoodeast.blogspot.com

Innocence, young love, pastels of youth, the magic of Nutcracker Suite under the artistic direction of Angel Corrella at the Philadelphia Academy of Music is masterful. The last time I had seen the Nutcracker was in the late nineties at New York City Ballet as a guest of Mikhail Baryshnikov who had performed to a standing ovation. Misha became a friend when I had the privilege of interviewing him for Parade.
Boy, I wanted to see what the Pennsylvania Ballet would do with Balanchine’s choreography of the Nutcracker and the lyrical music of Tchaikovsky’s and recall those days I would frequent the New York City Ballet. Once I was following Misha around when he was about to go on. “You are not allowed on stage, Carole,’ he said as he smiled his pixie grin and danced off to please an eagerly awaiting audience.
But today I was going to see Pennsylvania Ballet founder and Balanchine protégé Barbara Weisberger’s production of the Nutcracker with good friends, Diane and Tom Reed and my sister, Elmira Batson who had studied ballet as a child, Tom and Diane who own Tom’s Pet Outlet had sold me the love of my life, Herbert, my five lb. Maltese.. We were all excited and exchanged stories about when we had last seen this romantic vision where the balletomanes dance trippingly on their toes with children under their wings, in dresses, lying in beds, flying off over a crescent moon at the end and waving goodbye to an awestruck audience.
But would the tree rise from the floor suddenly in the middle of Act One as it had in New York some eighteen years earlier. Or was that just a big city bit. Would it rise and rise and dwarf the sleeping princess and all her friends. Would it? Probably not, I thought.
This was Philadelphia and while I had read excellent reviews, I needed to see if this tree would rise. The opening sparkled as the party the night before the dream was about to happen.
Teary-eyed,I listened to the overture and to the Philadelphia Boys Choir as I recalled my 95 -year -old mother by my side, wheel chair bound, and how cultured she was. Of German descent she taught me to value the arts. Piano lessons, classical music and while she had been a Pennsylvania Deutsch farmer, her appreciation of the fine arts was reminiscent of high German culture.
Misha was always kind to my mother, “How do you do, Mrs. Wagner,” he would say as he shook her hand and feigned a mock but polite curtsy. Misha adored his mother who had committed suicide. Mothers meant a great deal to him
But this was the past and the magic of the Nutcracker is how it evokes fond memories as everyone wonders, “When was the first time I saw the Nutcracker.
But would the tree rise? I still pondered.

The opening party in which Marie and her Prince share their magical gifts and then are transported into battles between soldiers and mice to a glistening snow covered forest and land of sweets was so delicate and empowering. Oh my, then the princess falls asleep and wakes up and as the tree does. And the tree rises. Yes it grows. Just like it had in New York, but better! Better because the lights on the tree had movement which gave depth to the tree. Dimension. A rhythmic quality. And it went up and up and the lights twinkled and went from blue to red to yellow back to blue and all in time with the music and it was, oh, so magical. I was thrilled to see the originality of the Pennsylvania Ballets sets and this vision of the stunning Nutcracker.

As to Tchaikovsky’s opinion of the Nutcracker, he was less satisfied with it than with Sleeping Beauty and was hesitant to write it. But eventually he wrote to a friend that he was becoming daily more attuned to his task. Written in 1892, it was not until 100 years later that the complete ballet achieved great popularity. And grateful fans witnessed in February 2016, the Pentatonix winning a Grammy for an acappella arrangement of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.” And so Tchaikovsky lives on winning awards in our popular culture.
Outstanding performances were Amy Aldridge as the Sugarplum Fairy and her Cavalier, Ian Hussey. But it is the professionalism and joy of the many children that tears at your heart as performed by Claire Smith as the Little Princess and Aidan Duffy as the Little Prince.
While seeing the Nutcracker Suite recalls the innocence and naiveté of youth and all its charming trappings, storm clouds often loom on the horizon with age, but a visit to the Academy of Music and its fine production of Tchaikovsky’s score and Balanchine’s images performed through December 31, puts all that sadness to rest and replaces it with fond, joyful memories for celebration of a traditional Christmas Season with one’s remaining family and friends.

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This Blogger’s Books and Other Items from...

Picasso’s Ghost (A Love Story)

by Carole Mallory

Loving Mailer

by Carole Mallory

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carole-mallory/movie-review-petes-dragon_b_11434830.html

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

REVIEW. hEATHER MAC RAE ELECTRIFIES IN HAIR REVIVAL AT 54 BELOW

THE BLOG

Heather Mac Rae Electrifies In Hair Revival at Feinstein’s 54 Below

07/27/2016 04:18 pm ET | Updated 5 hours ago

Carole Mallory Author, Actress, Critic, malloryhollywoodeast.blogspot.com

In the seventies the basement of Studio 54 was a rundown cavernous hiding place where I did coke with one of its owners. On a separate occasion in the above disco my hair caught fire while in the throes of being chic with the rich and famous.
Today this run down cavernous hiding place of yore has been converted to a glamorous Broadway Supper Club at 254 W. 54 called Feinstein’s 54 Below which BTW has delicious food. It was a shock to see this disco through sober eyes In 1980 I got the message.

On July 24 along with friends I had the privilege of hearing 54 Sings Hair featuring Natalie Mosco, Marjorie Lipari, Dale Soules who is so magnificent in Orange is the New Black, Allan Nichols who wrote and starred in Robert Altman’s great films— the Wedding, A Perfect Couple, Nashville-- and Heather Mac Rae. And when Heather Mac Rae sang Sheila’s song Easy to Be Hard, during the second show the audience hooted and hollered and gave her a standing ovation for five minutes applauding “the voice.” Heather has her father’s voice. He was the musical superstar Gordon- OKLAHOMA! - Mac Rae.

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Photo by: Bettina Cirone

Tears came to my eyes to see and to hear my dear friend sing a song that was catapulted to fame in 1968. Heather says, “I think the music of Hair is amazing and people never tire of listening to it. I never get tired of singing Easy to be Hard. It just gets better with age. Like us.”
James Rado, who wrote Hair with Jerome Ragni and who is pictured below, stood and applauded along with the audience. Rado, as you would expect, was down to earth and charming beyond belief and happy to see his creation revived. In the original Hair Diane Keaton was the understudy to Lynn Kellogg and Heather replaced Keaton.
The show, was sold out for two performances. Scott Coulter, a cabaret and concert artist, asked Heather, “Do you think you could get some of the original cast members to perform at Feinstein’s 54 Below“ And voila! Heather helped to round up the cast for the hour and a half show filled with the top tunes from Hair and some original cast members.

I drove from Philadelphia to New York just for this event. My good friend, Diane Reed was my companion. She owns Tom’s Pet Shop and sold me the love of my life, Herbert, a five lb. Maltese. We met celebrity attorney Robert Hantman, Esq, who has been honored by the Navy Seals.

The evening ended too soon as Robert walked Diane and me to my red VW EOS convertible where we put the top down and drove back to Philadelphia under the stars when I learned on Sirius’s Hits that Mike Posner’s I took a pill in Ibiza made it to number one on the charts which pleased me but not as much as the thought of greeting Herbert and his paws which I longed to embrace.