#The minutes studio 54 movie

Darko Tresnjak’s direction fails to disguise the book’s many flaws, but he keeps the story moving even when it takes one of many wrong turns.The Broadway premiere of The Minutes has found a new home at Studio 54, after playing a run of previews at the Cort Theatre ( now undergoing renovations) prior to the COVID-19 shutdown.Īs previously announced, the Tracy Letts play will return in March 2022, with an opening night now set for April 7. Here and there, bits of dialogue move the muddled story along, and while one misses following Chad/Rake’s story beyond what Mark Christopher gave us at the movies, the good news is that Trask and Yanowitz’s score is never far away. I know that my cheeks will be streaked with mascara.” So there you have it folks, end of an era. When The Artist reveals that Studio 54 is closing (“If you make a building out of lights, when you turn them off, it disappears”), Kennedy’s character mockingly sing-talks, “Mmmm. She plays a craven publicist turned craven talk show host who is part Joan Rivers, part Peggy Siegel, part Jeanine Pirro.

Take, for example, the wonderfully devious Chilina Kennedy. Not in “This Ain’t No Disco.” The wordplay in these sung-spoken moments never fails to dazzle. Thankfully, “Disco” is almost nonstop singing, and Trask and Yanowitz show a true gift for melody, one you’d never guess they possessed from having heard “Hedwig.” They’re calling their new musical “a rock opera.” I missed the rock, but did hear some very fine ballads, patter songs, bubblegum, rap, and, yes, disco.Īnd much better than fine is their brilliant recitative work.Īlso Read: 'Sugar in Our Wounds' Theater Review: The Earth Grandmother Steals the ShowĪs most operagoers know, the recitative is when you catch a quick nap. “This Ain’t No Disco” is that classic example of a problematic book working mischief on an excellent score. In act two, Chad essentially sticks around only to hold Sammy’s hand when fame gets to her and, like a deux ex machina, a big bottle of pills enter the picture to land her in the hospital. For a moment, it seems we’re watching Keith Haring but without the talent. Rake, is a joke in the art world, although it’s never firmly established what kind of art he’s trying to promote. No wonder they call him The Artist and not Andy Warhol.īy the end of act one, Sammy is a star and Chad, a.k.a. With spangles and a lotta leg.Īlso Read: 'Othello' Theater Review: Corey Stoll Makes Iago a Mesmerizing Villain She’s a singer, and not a punk singer like Poly Styrene or even Patti Smith, but rather Donna Summer. Sammy begins as a kind of female Jean-Michel Basquiat, a person with punk ambitions who is denied entrance to Studio 54 because of her black porkpie hat. Naming the character The Artist rather than Andy Warhol saves the book writers some problems when the man in the silver wig begins to promote the singer Sammy (the slightly pompous Samantha Marie Ware), a character that almost derails the show. The pop artist’s floating Silver Clouds from the early 1960’s also make an appearance. They’re the team that also gave us “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” and they share the book credit on “Disco” with Rick Elice (“Jersey Boys”).Īlso Read: 'Trainspotting' Theater Review: The Needles Are Real, the Other Stuff Is NotĪlso Read: 'Girls & Boys' Theater Review: Carey Mulligan Says the Kids Aren't All RightĪlthough the time frame is 1979-80, set designer Jason Sherwood envisions The Warehouse as The Factory looked a decade earlier, with lots of Mylar. Peter Laprade effectively fills Phillippe’s shorts in the role of the young and unquestionably gay twink-on-the-make Chad in the new musical by Stephen Trask and Peter Yanowitz. Occasionally, Christopher’s original cut, if Miramax doesn’t prevent it, shows up at LGBT film festivals around the country.įor those who missed the original “54,” there’s the new musical “This Ain’t No Disco,” which opened Tuesday at the Atlantic Theater Company. By the time Weinstein finished with the movie, Phillippe’s character had no identifiable sexuality and the plot no longer made sense.

#The minutes studio 54 movie

Before Harvey Weinstein had his movie butchered in the editing room, Mark Christopher wrote and directed a cautionary tale titled “54,” about a young white gay guy (Ryan Phillippe) who thinks wearing tight satin trunks and working as a server for Studio 54’s Steve Rubell (Mike Myers) will make him a star.