On Wednesday it was a cold, wet and miserable day. So in the afternoon decided to watch a film I had been looking forward to.
Leonard Bernstein has been a musical hero of mine for many years. As a conductor he got every ounce of emotion out of works, as a composer he gave us some incredible music in many different genres from show and ballet to opera and much more. Above all it was how he made music accessible and his sheer boundless energy that has always attracted me. He was actually born Louis Bernstein but his parents always called him Leonard which poses the question why he wasn't named that on the first place. At the age of 18 he officially changed his name to Leonard. Those of you who don't know Bernstein will certainly know his music for West Side Story if nothing else. I love his overture to Candide and his Chichester Psalms. I suppose in many ways the English equivalent of Bernstein is Benjamin Britten. I listened to quite a bit of Britten before Christmas and was amazed at the sheer variety of his work.
But back to Bernstein. I was looking forward to Maestro on Netflix, a biopic about him. To say it was a disappointment was an understatement, but it has received universal praise. I found the portrayal of Bernstein weird in not a good way. Bradley Cooper's portrayal was of a very strange human being and not somebody I have always looked up to.
The film is as much or maybe more about Bernstein's relationship with his wife as the music. It's about the slow disintegration of that relationship alongside Bernstein's penchant for young men.
I found the dialogue at times trite, as if it was unscripted and the actors were making it up as they went along. There was little insight into Bernstein as an artist and I found Cooper's portrayal as both annoying and disturbing. But of course it seems as if I am alone in these feelings.
There was one line in the film delivered by Carey Mulligan as Bernstein's wife which summed it up for me when she says: "There's a Chilean saying. Never stand under a bird that is full of shit." So says me, how about you?
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The second of the programmes I mentioned before as wanting to see was Nolly. Now this one I really enjoyed. The acting was first class and at times deliberately over the top. At times it was very funny as of course was Crossroads, albeit unintentionally.
I did find that it helped knowing and recognising all the characters in the drama.. it might not have been so enjoyable if I had gone to the drama cold. As I usually do I looked up certain things after the drama. The real Tony Adams who played Adam Chance in the TV drama is still very much alive and living in Wales, aged 83. I wondered what he would think of the drama but then found he makes a cameo appearance in it so he must have approved of the script.
As I watched the drama all the characters names came back - Miss Diane, Benny, Sandy, Jill, Shughie McFee, David Hunter, Adam Chance, Stan Harvey etc etc. The sad thing is I can also remember the real names of the actors as well.
Oh and I once opened the door to a department store in Great Yarmouth for Amy Turtle (Ann George).
Amazing how time flies. Many of the actors are now dead and those still alive are around 80. Noele Gordon died way back in 1985 when she was just 65 years of age. Today she would be 103.
Where will I regress to next I ask? Howard's Way anyone?