Happy 74th birthday to Liza Minnelli!
“New York, New York, Scorsese’s splashy, cynical, and masterfully-made postwar musical, was egregiously cold-shouldered upon its release, as was the singular star turn of Liza Minnelli, doing an adoring yet galvanizing variation on Mama Judy Garland’s legendary A Star is Born role. As Francine Evans, an aspiring 1940s singer who falls under the influence of De Niro’s callous, captivating saxophonist, Minnelli is perpetually in motion, propelled by an insatiable need to please audiences and lovers alike. Minnelli is, of course, a stupendous, show-stopping singer-dancer with a walloping and finely honed talent that decidedly belongs to the bygone studio era in which her mother rose to otherworldly stardom. Minnelli’s artistic mastery is startlingly reminiscent of Garland’s yet differentiated by the pure, jubilant passion she exudes at all times when performing; has any artist ever radiated more graciousness for an audience’s gaze than Minnelli, as if the enormity of her abilities didn’t already demand our undivided attention? But, more than anything else, it’s the actress’ tough-minded, deeply-felt emotionality—culminating in an elevator descent of tremulous, heartbroken stillness—that proudly places her Francine beside Garland’s Vicki Lester, Julie Andrews’ Maria von Trapp, Barbra Streisand’s Fanny Brice, and Minnelli’s own Sally Bowles in the eternal pantheon of preeminent, pitch-perfect musical performances.” — Matthew Eng
The 10 Best Female Performances in Martin Scorsese Films
(Source: TribecaFilm.com)
“In a conversation midway through the glossy yet frequently insightful Fosse/Verdon, Michelle Williams’ seen-it-all Gwen Verdon cozies up to Margaret Qualley’s innocent, in-over-her-head Ann Reinking and tells her that all of the philandering and incorrigible bad behavior of Bob Fosse is worth it for the career-making characters he allows them to play. Williams’ Gwen regards Qualley’s deeply affecting Ann with the fond but arch knowingness of a big sister, declining to cast her as a rival for the heart of the man they both love, perhaps knowing that his heart will always be hers no matter whose bed he resides in. But Williams, not impersonating an icon but appearing to live inside her, isn’t afraid to muddy the waters, to imprint something beyond the legend: her gleaming eyes and persuasive tongue make us keenly aware that Gwen is consoling Ann by selling her on a cycle of personal compromise and professional recompense, a form of artistic collaboration that sounds a whole lot like complicity.” — Matthew Eng
Memorable Moments from Great Performances of 2019
(Source: TribecaFilm.com)
“In Lincoln Center’s magnificent revival of My Fair Lady, Lauren Ambrose’s Eliza Doolittle sings “I Could Have Danced All Night” as though she’s nursing a fresh and private fantasy of self-fulfillment, not simply recycling the beats of giddy romantic infatuation that typically characterizes this song. She’s not envisioning a suitor but an entire world for the taking. When Ambrose steps away from this production’s mammoth and stately set mid-song, she modestly lays the foundation for Eliza’s final, breathtaking flight, showing that there is plenty of new and even radical life to be found in one of the American theater’s most venerated musical treasures.” — Matthew Eng
30 Memorable Moments from Great Performances of 2018
(Source: TribecaFilm.com)
“Garland, Kelly, and countless others paved the way for the song-and-dance tradition that Streisand would uphold in her first film appearance, which arrived in theaters some time after this distinctly American genre truly peaked. And yet what Streisand accomplishes in Funny Girl is at once a redefinition of what a musical star can look like as well as a reconfirmation of what so many of us return to the movies to find: pristine encapsulations of talent in motion. Such talent, as exemplified in Streisand’s performance and throughout her peerless career, is indeed, as Kael declared, its own form of beauty. But with the lights low and the screen bright, it can also be its own elusive form of magic, as pure and pleasurable as any ever captured on film.”
(Source: TribecaFilm.com)
The beguiling Jane Russell, born on this day in 1921, and the immortal Marilyn Monroe, awe-inspiring stars of Howard Hawks’ smashing Technicolor extravaganza Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, take a break on the set of the 1953 film. Take a look at these leading ladies in this lush, eye-popping musical comedy. 👠💎👠
“All of this fades away, however, when you actually watch Prince, especially in the wake of his loss. You forget about the antics, scandals, and notoriety and just see him, briefly shorn of any pretense, his pain in full display. You get the sense, through Purple Rain, that music was the only feasible way in which Prince could possibly unburden himself of such pain. He certainly wasn’t the only one to have relied on art as a release valve. But through such painful and profound expression, Prince, like The Kid, found power, not weakness. He found an armor with which to protect and preserve himself but also one which he could hide behind, leaving generations upon generations of fans to piece together his mystery as best they can.
Who knows if this is how Prince really felt. He could easily find all of this to be wildly off-base, but it almost doesn’t matter. There is a space that exists halfway between the man himself and the shadow of his legend and, within that space, there is something that in its own magical and magnificent way can only be true.”
(Source: TribecaFilm.com)
Today’s selected performer in our new Black Actress Canon is an inspiring musical star whose performance catapulted her from reality-show infamy to the stage of the Kodak Theatre.
Jennifer Hudson’s voice is a remarkably robust instrument, one that can create a character’s entire history and convey a lifetime’s worth of passion, pain, and hard-fought hope. In Dreamgirls (2006), Hudson cuts through the production’s glitzy stylization and carries her Effie White to glory.
The brilliant, charming, and manic screen artist Donald O'Connor, who passed away today in 2003, in maybe the most joy-inducing scene in all of American musicals: Singin’ in the Rain’s “Make ‘Em Laugh” number.
“To watch Funny Girl now is to witness a born performer not only basking in her spotlight but confidently using it to hone her craft and flex her abilities. There is no tentativeness, no betrayal of her admitted inexperience. Streisand may have been new to this more understated medium, but the camera never diminishes Streisand so much as it actually magnetizes her larger-than-life presence." — Matthew Eng
Funny Girl opened 49 years ago today. Here’s how the sensational Barbra Streisand innovated a new type of film star.