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u/davidbmattingly

The Lost Boys
▲ 37 r/vampires

The Lost Boys

Tonight my wife and I saw "The Lost Boys" on Broadway at the Palace Theatre. It’s based on the 1987 film directed by Joel Schumacher—never one of my favorite directors. I’ve always said that if you’re going to turn a movie into a musical, pick a bad one. Most would agree "The Lost Boys" is a safe distance from masterpiece territory.

This production has many of the usual big-musical problems: it’s too long, packed with weak songs, and suffers from bloated staging. At two hours and forty minutes, it could easily lose the intermission and trim about 25% from the songs to land closer to a tighter, two-hour show. The score is mostly bland and repetitive—though I’ll give it this: it has one and a half good songs, which is more than some musicals manage. Shoshana Bean delivers a genuine showstopper with “Wild” and is consistently strong throughout. What a set of pipes.

What you really come for, though, is the spectacle—and here the show delivers. The wire work is jaw-dropping, with up to five actors flying across the stage at once. The rigging was so well hidden I couldn’t spot it, although we were in the back of the theater (and I was looking).

I rarely recommend shows for kids—take a 12-year-old to "Death of a Salesman" and , as great as that show is, you’re in for a long night—but "The Lost Boys" is an exception. There’s enough substance to keep adults engaged, and enough razzle-dazzle to keep kids entertained, even if they squirm through the songs.

I know I did.

u/davidbmattingly — 3 days ago
▲ 87 r/Broadway

The Lost Boys

Tonight Cathe and I saw "The Lost Boys" on Broadway at the Palace Theatre. It’s based on the 1987 film directed by Joel Schumacher who was never one of my favorite directors. I’ve always said that if you’re going to turn a movie into a musical, pick a bad one. Most would agree "The Lost Boys" is a safe distance from masterpiece territory.

This production has many of the usual big-musical problems: it’s too long, packed with weak songs, and suffers from bloated staging. At two hours and forty minutes, it could easily lose the intermission and trim about 25% from the songs to land closer to a tighter, two-hour show. The score is mostly bland and repetitive, though I have to admit that it has one and a half good songs, which is more than some musicals manage. Shoshana Bean delivers a genuine showstopper with “Wild” and is consistently strong throughout. What a set of pipes on that lady! It is worth seeing the show for her alone.

What you really come to this show for is the spectacle, and here the show delivers. The wire work is jaw-dropping, with up to five actors flying across the stage at once. The rigging was so well hidden I couldn’t spot it, although we were in the back of the theater (and I was looking).

I rarely recommend shows for kids, for if you take a 12-year-old to "Death of a Salesman," as great as that show is, you’re in for a long night, but "The Lost Boys" is an exception. There’s enough substance to keep adults engaged, and enough razzle-dazzle to keep kids entertained, even if they squirm through the songs. I know I did.

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u/davidbmattingly — 3 days ago
▲ 1 r/scifi

My first book cover

The first book cover I ever did was for A Wizard in Bedlam by Christoper Stasheff.

I was working at Disney Studios at the time, and I started sending out samples by mail. That was mainly work I had done in art school at Art Center College of Design. Don Wolheim, of DAW books, was the first to bite, and he sent me Stasheff’s manuscript. I did the cover and sent it in, but I didn’t understand there would be a long delay until the book was published. It was months of waiting, looking at the mail in anticipation every day. Finally, it arrived, and I was a REAL book cover artist!

I posed for the figure with the cravat, and my first wife’s father, Marty, posed for the giant holding the staff. I still think it is an alright cover, although I wish I had made the background ship more dimensional.

A Wizard in Bedlam has been redone by other artists many times. Since it was part of a popular series, it has remained in print all these years. Here is a sampling of the other covers done for the book. I generally love Darrell Sweet’s work, but this isn’t one of his better covers. I think Steve Hickman’s cover is the best of the bunch, with Gino D’Achille’s a close second.

I did 14 books for DAW in the early part of my career, including a number of covers for Jack Vance, one of my favorite writers.Don Wolheim and I had a falling out when I was put under contract by Del Rey. Don felt that Del Rey stole some of his best artists, including Michael Whelan, and I wasn’t sensitive enough to maintain both relationships. I owe a lot to Don, but since he died in 1990 before I had a chance to tell him, all that will remain unsaid.I loved working with Don. A funny story I have about him was when I visited him in his office in the 1980s. We were talking about what we were going to do over the weekend. Don mentioned he had tickets to see “Sugar Babies,” a hot Broadway show at the time. He pulled out the tickets with great pride, looked down, and announced they were for the previous night. He had missed the show.

Don was his own art director, and he was an artist’s favorite. I don’t think Don ever asked for a change in a cover in all the years I worked for him. When I submitted sketches, he would choose one, and not ask for changes in the sketch or final. Many art directors ask for changes, in both the sketches and the finals, but rarely make the final better. Keeping your hands off the artist’s vision makes them feel trusted by the publisher, and not micro managed. It seems like the bigger the company, the more changes they would ask for. Independent publishers, like Don Wolheim and Jim Baen, would let the artists “do their thing,” and both companies had better covers for it.

I loved DAW’s yellow spines. People made fun of them, but it made the books instantly recognizable on the shelves. Unfortunately, when Don’s daughter took over the line after his death she abandoned them. Now DAW books look just like all the others on the shelves. DAW also had a numbering system, so each book had the DAW logo on the cover, and a number. I thought that was a clever way to build loyalty, since as a kid I wanted to have all of them. That too was abandoned after Don died.

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u/davidbmattingly — 9 days ago
▲ 43 r/Broadway

The Balusters

Last night my wife and I saw “The Balusters” at the Manhattan Theatre on Broadway. It is a one set drama, performed straight through without an intermission. I knew nothing about the show going in, and only decided to go when I saw an ad in the New York Times. It is a comedy, pointing out some of the hypocrisy of our woke culture. I’m about as woke as they come, and my politics are left leaning, but even I could laugh at the jokes in this show. It didn’t dig too deep into the obvious social inequities throughout our society, but did poke fun at well to do liberals who haven’t experienced most of the things they take a stand against. It all takes place in a well-to-do suburb where folks are well separated from the sort of suffering we see in the rest of the world.
I loved the show, but I had a few quibbles. My main issues were with the sound and lighting design. The show takes place over an unspecified period of time, and the characters have to change clothes. I guess the director thought we couldn’t sit through a costume change without some entertainment, so during the costume changes there was some VERY fancy lighting. I found it distracting, intrusive and unnecessary. I can live through a costume change without dancing lights.
Also, I disliked the loud sound. It may be a sign of me getting old, but I don’t love jets engine loud music used throughout the performance. I also didn’t understand the rational for why music was used. Sometimes it is useful to establish an era or set a mood. I didn’t think the music did either here.
However, the play itself was wonderful! It is an ensemble piece with no real lead, but there were a couple of standout performances. Richard Thomas, best known and John Boy on “The Waltons”, gave an astounding performance that led to an explosive climax. Marylouise Burke, as Penny, lit up the stage with a perfectly timed comic performance. It was wonderful to see an older actress get such a meaty role.
“The Balusters” is old fashioned theatre, without a lot of money thrown at it, and no big stars. It triumphs through outstanding writing, and razor sharp performances.

u/davidbmattingly — 12 days ago
▲ 9 r/Broadway

Tonight my wife and I saw “Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes” with Hugh Jackman and Ella Beatty at the Minetta Lane Theatre in the West Village. It is a two person play in a very small venue, and a remarkable chance to see Hugh Jackman up close. My first question after hearing Hugh Jackman would be performing in a relatively small, 400 seat, venue was “why would he do it?” After all, Jackman is a huge star and could command much larger forums, such as the Broadway version of “The Music Man” which he most recently helmed. After seeing this show, I think I can understand Jackman‘s decision. He divorced his longtime wife last year, and I suspect he has a deep personal connection to the material. It is also clear he is trying to extend his range as an actor. “Sexual Misconduct” would be a challenge for any actor as he is front and center for almost all of the show.
There is one other actor on the stage, Ella Beatty, and it would be easy to overlook her with Jackman’s star power evident. Jackman is magnetic, and it is hard to tear your eyes off him, but he is only as good as the other actor with him. Ms. Beatty is magnificent, and does some interesting voice work that lowers as she gets older in the show.
Jackman has such a command of the audience that when a cell phone rang in the middle of one of his dramatic monologues, he stopped, cocked his head, and waited until the ringing ended. Then he launched right back into his monologue.
The show closes June 18th, so if you want to see it you will need to hustle

u/davidbmattingly — 20 days ago