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Reviews
The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage! (2019)
What it says on the tin (and I love it)
I've been following this show since Chicago and seeing it on television felt like it brought closure to a long journey. I saw on Twitter that a lot of people said it was disrespecting Hillenburg by being released after his death, so I wanna make it clear that this show was greenlit by him and Nickelodeon years before his death, and I believe the filming rights were as well. TV seemed like a natural progression - Nick gonna cash grab, especially since SpongeBob is nearing the end of its 20-year-run.
The magic they preserved here made it stand out to me in a way unlike other proshots (i.e. Shrek, Newsies, She Loves Me). Yes, it's a corporate cash grab, but knowing the love and care that Tina and the cast put into this show for years made it a cash grab worth my watch. Ethan's at the forefront of this, and he's having a ball. Everyone is! Big highlights for me were Ethan and Wes, but everyone put their heart and soul into this and it shows.
At the end of the day, of course it's gonna suffer a little. Some of the problems have plagued the show from the start, like the mix of talent providing songs in pre-production holding the show back from ever evolving past needing those songs and leading songs like Daddy Knows Best and Chop to the Top feeling more like cabaret numbers than integral to the story. Others are new things that didn't translate from the stage, like the lack of the bicycle Rube Goldberg machine that was a really nice touch to the "boulder" scenes.
But in the end, do I care? No! I'm so, so, so happy that this show finally got the taping it deserves (and happy that I won't be stuck watching shaky bootlegs forever). As everybody moves on with their careers (go watch Indoor Boys season 3!!), I'm grateful that this milestone was immortalized for us to keep watching.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again (2016)
The Curious Case of a Remake with Potential
To kick things off, I'd first like to say that I'm a relatively young fan of Rocky Horror. I was deflowered to the culture at 15 and three years later I'm writing about a remake that, while shaky at some parts and surprisingly unsure of itself, is still a very valuable piece of musical history and a tale of what works on the silver screen to modernize transphobic media... and what doesn't.
The history behind Frank-n-Furter's casting alone for this movie is a case for Ortega's bold attempts to bring an outdated piece of culture into the 21st century. Many user reviews I've read criticize the casting of openly trans woman Laverne Cox in the role, but speaking as a trans man who always viewed Frank as the closest thing Richard O'Brien could find to 'nonbinary' in the 70s, Cox's casting brought a breath of fresh air to the many, many, MANY cis men in faux-drag that create a negative stereotype. Yes, Rocky Horror fans: trans people are real, and the reclamation of a transphobic role kicks the asses of the 40 year old white men at shadowcasts who have too often missed the entire freaking point of the movie by hurling slurs at the trans folk on stage and in the audience.
That being said, Laverne Cox is not a singer. She made an impressive use of her range, and she can carry a tune, but the lack of sincerity behind her voice at critical points of the show (i.e. I'm Going Home) kept her from transcending the written work and becoming part of the modern narrative. Annaleigh Ashford's Columbia isn't as annoying as Little Nell's, but her disingenuous rocker vibe ala Joan Jett from the New Broadway Cast in 2000 has little payoff and her character doesn't seem to ever find resolution. And I applaud Tim Curry for mustering up the strength to be in the show, but oh Lord, does he look sad. Let the man rest. Involve the other original cast members who wanted to join - if you must, let Bostwick, Sarandon, Quinn, and Little Nell tag team the narration.
Other than that, I have few complaints. Ryan McCartan is a stage actor, and by God, does it show. Victoria Justice is a preteen sitcom actor, and by God, does it show. Milian and Levan knock it out of the park as Magenta and The Usherette, respectively. Staz Nair was a welcome addition and one of my favorite parts of the movie. Reeve Carney is... okay. Ben Vereen is... okay.
The most crucial part for me was trying to treat the movie as a separate work from its predecessors, and once that clicked with me, I had a lot of fun. This movie is still near and dear to my heart, cueing why I wrote a review about it nearly two years later.
And yet... something was never quite "there". In my eyes, maybe it was that this never should've been a made-for-TV movie at all. Between the movie house idea and set design, elaborate costuming, and staging, the show felt like it would've done better as a stage show that was taped for TV (ala Legally Blonde or the RHS 2015 charity benefit). Or perhaps, it would make Fox's (or should I say Disney's) live-for-TV reel. I mean, come on. The audience participation was so heavily underused in Hairspray and Grease - this show may be a little too raunchy for primetime TV, but so was this remake, and it still aired at 8pm on a Thursday.
This remake ultimately became super powerful to me when I began to watch it the third, fourth, fifth time and recollect on what I liked and hated about the original 1975 movie and the following stage shows. Brad and Janet's bisexuality are legitimized without being played for laughs. A trans character reclaims a transphobic slur and turns the main character from a murderous child throwing a tantrum for two hours into a misguided den mother whose death speaks volumes about police brutality and the mass slaughter of black and brown LGBT+ youth. Queer love is respected. Queer love is legitimized.
And as a trans guy coming of age during one of the most volatile political times for LGBT+ love in our recent history, that gives me hope.