Thursday, January 28, 2010

O, Jay

Jay Leno was on with Oprah Winfrey this afternoon for a chat. Ms. Winfrey has the habit of pressing her guests to discuss their lives and feelings in her terminology and in very simple terms...the kind of pop psychology wherein you can summarize a human's complete emotional profile in one sentence. Which is fine if that's how they see their lives or if they can distill it all down to Oprah shorthand. I felt like on the deeper, personal questions — why Jay didn't walk away at certain points or express hurt or anger — she and Leno didn't connect. I don't think Leno was being evasive or obtuse. I think the guy just doesn't view his world in those terms. His attitude is that you bury hurt feelings and you don't look for love or sucking-up from your employer; you just take the opportunity you think will work best and go with it.

On the matters of who did what and promised what, Jay laid out his case pretty well. If you're inclined not to like the guy, you won't buy it...but he said it about as well as he could, considering that he couldn't really emphasize the point of how weak Conan's ratings were. That's the heart of this whole problem but Leno would have looked bad for making an issue out of how, for example, O'Brien's Tonight Show went from first place to third in about a week. (One thing Jay could have mentioned, if only because Oprah didn't seem to know this, is that this did not happen with The Jay Leno Show as its lead-in. Jay's 10 PM show didn't come on for several months. Conan lost with the same kinds of lead-ins that Jay had when he was in first place.)

A much better case for Leno was made by Oprah herself in a post-show discussion group that I think is only available on the Internet at this link. It's about 40 minutes and some parts of it are kind of silly. Oprah's main goal seems to be to get the Leno-detractors in her audience to admit that the interview she conducted with Jay changed their minds. Most in her little focus group don't know anything about the TV business or the players in this drama so it's a little frustrating to hear their opinions on both. But then there is Oprah, who does know the industry (and Jay and Dave...), explaining how things are and how she doesn't see how Jay could possibly be the Bad Guy in it all. I suppose that's the best endorsement Leno's likely to get until he's back on The Tonight Show and all of America votes on whether they still like him.

• Posted at 10:00 PM · LINK

Over on Huffington...

My one-time writing partner Dennis Palumbo has some wise words for writers about the virtue that is known as Patience.

And my pal Bob Elisberg, thanks to this blog, uncovers a bit of seeming plagiarism. You'd think, in the age of the Internet, people wouldn't try this kind of thing.

• Posted at 9:57 AM · LINK

If I Loved You...

Last evening, Carolyn and I attended opening night of the new Reprise! production of Carousel up at the Freud Playhouse at UCLA. Reprise!, as you may know, revives classic musicals and stages them with a minimum of production values and a maximum of talent. This was true of Carousel, which is expertly sung and danced and performed. It would all be impressive if they had unlimited rehearsal time but as it happens, they throw these things together in like a week or ten days.

The cast features Robert Patteri as Billy Bigelow, Alexandra Silver as Julie Jordan, M. Emmet Walsh as the Starkeeper and Jane Noseworthy as Carrie, with other roles filled by James Leo Ryan, Victoria Strong, Andy Taylor, Eydie Alyson, Seth Belliston, Bradley Benjamin, Jessica Carter, Blake Ewing, Christopher Guilmet, Chris Holly, Tracy Lore, Kim Mikesell, Gregory North, Candy Olsen, Allison Paraiso, Jo Patrick, Sean Smith, Leslie Stevens, John Todd and Scott Weber. The show was directed by Michael Michetti, choreographed by Lee Martino and it features musical direction by Darryl Archibald.

So all that's great. I have nothing but praise for the cast and creative talent and everyone there. And yet, I'm trying to think...I know there was something I didn't like. I'm trying to remember what it was...

Oh, I know! I didn't like the show.

By that, I mean I didn't particularly like what Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers did...and yes, I know it's a classic. The original production ran on Broadway forever and came back several times. The show has been revived and restaged, and it's performed constantly all around the world. I seem to remember seeing it once before and I didn't like it but I thought, "Oh, this must just be a bad production." Well, last night I saw what was obviously a good production and apart from about four grand songs, I sat there thinking, "I don't care about this story...I don't care about these people." Most of them are not very bright and several are not very nice...and I've never seen the play it was based on, Liliom, but I have to wonder what it has that the musical version doesn't. There must be something to make up for the absence of those four songs.

There's something very cold for me in all the Rodgers and Hammerstein shows I've seen. (I haven't seen them all.) The characters and their problems always seem distant to me. I didn't care if Anna fell in love with the King of Siam. I didn't care if Nelly Forbush fell in love with Emile de Becque. And last night, I didn't care what happened to Billy Bigelow and Julie Jordan. There were emotional moments in all those shows but they were in the songs, not in the context.

I guess this is still a recommendation for the Reprise! production, which is there through February 7. I mean, if you ever want to see Carousel, this may be as fine a version as you'll ever see...and there is much to enjoy in the sheer performances. Putting that many talented people on stage with good music is never a waste of time. Here's a little preview that will show you how lovely it all is when they're not talking...

• Posted at 2:17 AM · LINK