Category: not a book

not a book, streaming, tv

Not A Book: Elizabeth Taylor documentaries

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There have been a couple of documentaries recently about Elizabeth Taylor – and I’ve watched them and I have thoughts! Golden Age and Old Hollywood is one of the areas that I’m always interested in reading about (fiction and non fiction) and watching documentaries about and it was interesting that two big productions about the same person popped up so close to each other at a time when there was no obvious anniversary to explain it.

The two documentaries in question are Elizabeth Taylor: the Lost Tapes and Elizabeth Taylor – Rebel Superstar. The former is an HBO documentary, the latter a three part series executive produced by Kim Kardashian. And given that they’re both about the same person, who only had one life (duh) they both cover fairly similar ground.

Rebel Superstar has more about her later business career and it also has the better talking heads – among them Taylor’s son Chris and granddaughter Naomi, Sharon Stone, Margaret O’Brien, Kim K herself and Paris Jackson (Michael’s daughter) and Joan Collins. And oh my it needs Joan Collins – she’s the only sharp voice in a documentary that is working hard to gloss over a few things and is basically a hagiography, such is the lack of critical voices and mention of less than flattering aspects of Taylor’s personal life.

The Lost Tapes has the advantage of recordings of Liz herself, made in the mid 1960s, which means that this focuses on that era and the time leading up to it and not later. You only get a very short section at the end on everything else – addiction and later marriages are skipped over, although her work in Aids activism at a time when there was a huge amount of stigma is given more of its due. You also get cine footage filmed on set with her by Roddie McDowell where you see her with James Dean, Montgomery Clift and Rock Hudson. But the interviewer doesn’t give her a lot of pushback or press her on what she’s saying in the tapes, and again we’re in haigography territory.

Neither of these would have got me writing about them on their own, because it’s not really a recommendation – both lack a bite in slightly different ways. If you’re only going to watch one, I’d make it the Lost Tapes – because it has those recordings of Elizabeth talking about her life and the lovely home movie footage, but neither of them give you the full picture of Taylor’s life. If you go in not knowing anything about her, you could come out missing some of the details – like the fact that both Burton and Taylor were married to other people when they started their relationship, or the entirity of her marriage to Larry Fortensky. But if you’re interested in Hollywood history then they’re worth a watch, but if you are a newbie who wants a more complete picture, you’re probably better with a book – or even her Wikipedia!

If you’re in the UK, Rebel Superstar is on the BBC iPlayer and The Lost Tapes was shown on Sky Documentaries and is now on Now. If you’re elsewhere you’ll have to have a dig around and see which platform or streamer has bought them up.

Have a great Sunday.

not a book, theatre

Not a Book: Operation Mincemeat

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It’s Olivier Award Sunday everyone and although I have everything crossed for Simon Lipkin in the Best Actor in a Musical category for his turn as Fagin in Oliver and for Ballet Shoes in some of the other categories, I thought today was a great opportunity for me to talk about last year’s Best New Musical winner Operation Mincemeat, which I saw in the West End in mid-March.

Operation Mincemeat is a comedy musical devised by the group Split Lip, based on a deception operation carried out by British intelligence during World War Two. The Allies want to invade Sicily, but the island is swarming with Nazi troops. So they need to come up with a plan to disguise the invasion plans. There is a five person cast who all play multiple roles across the course of the show, with quick changes coming out of your ears.

This got total rave reviews when it opened – but I’ll admit that their Olivier Award performance left me more confused than enthused. Add in a complicated ticketing policy and it’s taken me a while to get around to it which is a bit of a more fool me situation because it’s so good. It’s funny and clever and it’s going to point out a few issues going on with the plan as well as highlighting some of the people that tend to get forgotten about in the history books.

I saw the new cast – because the original team have just opened the show on Broadway (press night was actually the same week that I went to see it in London) and they’re all giving cracking performances in what must be quite indimisating circumstances- given that the original cast was the four creators and the winner of the Olivier award for best supporting actor for his role in the show.

This has just extended again in London – so there’s plenty of time to go and see it – and as I said they run a range of schemes for tickets. Find the details here.

Operation Mincemeat is at the Fortune Theatre in London

Side note: I thought that this was the only West Emd Theatre I hadn’t been inside – it was previously the home to The Woman in Black for about 30 years and I don’t do horror – but then I realised that I haven’t been to the new Soho Place theatre yet so I haven’t actually completed my set yet. Still at least it’s an excuse to go and see something else…

not a book, theatre

Not a Book: Dr. Strangelove

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It’s a theatre in your cinema pick this week – and I actually only saw this yesterday, but because there is a very small window to see these in cinemas I’ve bumped it straight to the top of the list.

This is the stage version of Stanley Kubrick’s movie Dr. Strangelove, with Steve Coogan in the starring role as not one, not two, not three but four different characters. If you haven’t see the original movie, it’s a political satire and very black comedy about nuclear war, when a general goes mad and orders a preemptive nuclear strike on the Soviet Union and the efforts to try and stop the attack happening.

It’s been a long time since I saw the movie – when I was at uni I think – but despite the fact that this is set in the Cold War, there’s a lot about this that feels quite applicable to the world we live in today. And the staging is really well done too, with a clever use of screens to create various different things including the iconic big board in the war room. As well as Steve Coogan, this also has Giles Terera who I first saw back in Avenue Q days but has now had a long career with plenty of dramatic roles as well has his Olivier award winning performance in Hamilton.

It’s basically a really solid two and a bit hours of theatre with good performances and a clever adaptation of a movie classic. Definitely worth a look if it’s coming near you.

concerts, not a book

Not a Book: Patti LuPone

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Happy Sunday everyone, and I’m back in the theatre for this week’s post. And I’m writing this a few weeks after the actual concert, but as it was a sold out, one night only type thing, this is more a reflection on a night out than anything else.

Patti LuPone, for those of you who have never come across her, is somewhat of a legend of the theatre. If you’re not a theatre fan, but you are a Marvel fan, you will have recently seen her in Agatha All Along but trust me when I say that she’s Broadway icon. She has three Tony Awards, two Oliviers and a couple of Grammys. She was the original Eva Peron in Evita on Broadway, the original Fantine in Les Miserables when it started at the Barbican and the original Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. She’s played Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, Rose in Gypsy and Joanne in Company. She’s also in her mid-seventies now, so you don’t know how many more chances you’ll get to see her sing live. So of course I bought myself a ticket for this as soon as it went on sale.

Now I saw her do a concert in London more than a decade ago – with Seth Rudetsky playing the piano and in conversation with her and I was interested to see how this show differed from that one. In fact, I still have the set list from that Leicester Square Concert in my phone – where she did the big hits from her career – including for the first time in nearly 20 years some Sunset Boulevard in London (which was a whole thing given how badly that ended) and which I still can’t believe that I was witness to. A Life in Notes does still have songs from the musicals that she’s been in, but is mostly Patti singing songs that are important to her or make her think of a moment in her life. Now some of these were a little obscure for me – and could potentially have used a little more explanation – but I would have paid the whole ticket price just to for the songs from the musicals – which included Some People, On Broadway, Don’t Cry for Me Argentina, I Dreamed a Dream, Anything Goes and The Ladies Who Lunch.

She’s still in great voice – probably in better shape vocally than Bernadette Peters, although you could argue that Bernadette’s voice was quirkier to start with – and when she does talk she’s witty and fun. It was a totally sold out crowd at the Coliseum – more than two and a half thousand of us turned up for it, including a few celebs, although probably not as many as if it hadn’t been the same night as the Baftas. But I spotted her Company co-star Mel Giedroyc in the foyer along with Marianne Elliot. And once again it was a delight to be at a concert where there were no queues for the ladies – although there were for the mens! All in all I had a ball even if it did make me wish she’d do another show in the West End soon.

Happy Sunday – as a treat before I go, here’s a recording (not mine) of the Sunset Boulevard from that 2013 concert. Totes Emosh.

not a book, streaming, theatre, tv

Not a Book: Dancing Back to the Light

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Happy Sunday everyone, I’ve got a documentary recommendation for you this week, and I’ve bumped it to the top of the list because it was only on TV on Friday night – and so it’s on iPlayer now, and it’s important for arts documentaries to get viewing figures for us to get more of them. And this is a really good one.

Steven McRae is a Principal at the Royal Ballet – and in 2019 his Achilles tendon tore in the middle of a performance, leaving him lying on the stage in agony, thinking his career could be over. Dancing Back to the Light is the story of his rehabilitation and return to the stage in 2021. It’s a long and gruelling process, and as well as following him at work in the dance studio and the gym we also see him at home with his wife, herself a retired ballet dancer with the Royal Ballet, and their three young children.

I read a lot of books about ballet dancers when I was a child (and still re-read them now as an adult to be honest) and often wished that I had learned ballet. This will give you an unflinching portrait of the effort and sacrifice that goes into being at the top of your game in the modern ballet world, and how even the best dancers can have bad habits and be powering their way through in unhealthy ways. McRae is Australian and his childhood teacher always had the ambition for him to go to the Royal Ballet school – which seemed out of reach for a kid from a Sydney suburb on the other side of the world But 17 he flew to Switzerland to participate in the Prix de Lausanne and as he tells us in the documentary he won first prize – and a scholarship to the Royal Ballet. As that Instagram caption for the trailer says; he’s also a fabulous tap dancer – this is his tap solo from that competition:

McRae is very articulate and honest about what’s going on inside his head and how he’s had to rebuild the way that he dances and his every day routine as a result of the injury. He’s a dancer who has been incredibly acclaimed for his talent and dancing style – but it’s such hard work to be as good as he is. There are various jobs that I’ve seen described as being like a swan – serene on the surface but pedaling away madly underwater and ballet seems to be very like that – for the three hours of perfection you see on stage, there is untold dedication behind the scenes as well as whatever pain or injury the dancer might be carrying with them on stage at any given time. I think even if you’re not into ballet it’s worth a watch, because like so many documentaries about sports people it shows someone fighting to get back to the peak of their powers to try and make the most of their talent and passion while they can, but also about listening to your body and taking the time you need to do things properly.

If you’re in the UK, you can watch Steven McRae: Dancing Back to the Light on iPlayer here. It’s been broadcast as part of the Arena strand of documentaries. If you’re not in the UK, this has had a cinema release in France, and I’m sure it will be popping up on streaming platforms at some point.

streaming, tv

Not A Book: Boyzone No Matter What

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Happy Sunday, this weekend I’m back with a post about another documentary series.

I am of the age that I lived through the peak of the early boyband era and so the crop of documentaries that have popped up about them recently have been a total boon for me – even if the reality that the members of the bands that I loved wasn’t the shiny happy experience that we thought they were having when we were watching them back in the day. And we have had a run of them – BBC Two had Boybands Forever just before Christmas which looked at the whole crop of bands that came through starting in the 90s and now Sky has done this three part look at Boyzone.

So if you are unfamiliar with Boyzone, they were five young men from Ireland – Ronan, Stephen, Mikey, Shane and Keith, who were formed a public auditions by Louis Walsh later went onto manage Westlife and also to be a judge on the X factor. They really came to prominence after the demise or split of Take That and had a clean cut, wholesome and youthful image – Ronan for example wasn’t even out of his teens when the band came through. What I didn’t realise at the time was that they were from very working class backgrounds and from quite a rough area of Dublin and that’s a big theme of how the experience affected them. When I went to the launch event for Reach for the Stars a couple of years ago, Nicola Robers from Girls Aloud was the special guest talking to Michael Wragg, and one of the things that she talked about was the fact that TV talent shows were a route into the music industry for working class kids and the challenges that that presented, and although Boyzone were not a TV talent show group, I think a lot of the things that she spoke about also applied to them – not really having lived away from their parents before, a lack of knowledge about how the industry worked, a dependence on the management companies who were in charge of them but who didn’t necessarily have the best interests of the band members at heart.

Unlike Take That who had the hit machine that was Gary Barlow, Boyzone had no real songwriter – they were put together by Louis Walsh, boyband svengali and future X Factor judge, who it should be noted very much gets the villain edit in this – although I don’t think it took much editing to do that – a clip that’s been doing the rounds since the show went out shows him admitting that he told the press that the boys had been in a plane crash (they hadn’t) and then didn’t tell their families, leaving them to find out in the press that their loved ones had supposedly cheated death. Anyway, Boyzone were best know for a string of hit cover version of songs by people like Tracy Chapman and the Bee Gees. If you’ve only heard of one Boyzone song, it will likely be No Matter What – an Andrew Lloyd Webber composition that came from his musical version of Whistle Down the Wind that they released as a single to coincide with the launch of the musical in the West End, or their Comic Relief single* When the Going Gets Tough

After a couple of hugely successful years, they went on hiatus “for a year”, Ronan went solo and one year turned into more – until a hugely successful first reunion tour and then the death of Stephen Gately at the age of just 33. I still remember exactly where I was when I heard that Stephen had died, and that loss of Stephen is the bit of their story that is obviously tragic, but it turns out what was going on behind the scenes was something that has clearly left all four remaining members with a lot of issues. Mikey – or Michael as he is captioned throughout – was always the member of the band that was the easiest to forget about, but in this documentary he probably has the most to say about the impact being on the band had – and still has on him and how hard he’s had to work to build himself into the person that he is now.

It’s not exactly a cheerful watch – but it is fascinating. And when combined with Boybands Forever, you get a real picture of the damage that fame can do to young people when they find themselves in the limelight and at the centre of a press scrum (particularly the sort of press scrum that was going on in the late 1990s and early 2000s) without people properly looking out for them. I wish I could say that lessons have been learned and that emerging stars are better looked after, but I’m not sure that the evidence suggests that they are.

Boyzone: No Matter What is available to stream on Now TV and they’re showing all three parts back to back on Sky Documentaries next weekend.

*Truly having the Comic Relief single was a massive deal in the 1990s – Boyzone came in a run that went Pet Shop Boys; Chrissie Hynde, Cher, Neneh CHerry and Eric Clapton; the Spice Girls; Boyzone; Westlife; Gareth Gates andbMcFly; and if you don’t remember the era of singles sales you may not quite understand and I feel so old just typing that.

book adjacent, theatre

Book Adjacent: Oliver!

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In case you don’t know, Oliver! is the musical by Lionel Bart, based on Charles Dickens’s novel Oliver Twist. It’s a while since I read the original novel, but from my memory the plot of the musical is somewhat simpler, and the character of Fagin is less evil, more sympathetic and comedic than the book. It’s a mainstay of school productions (I was in one at my primary school, the friend I went to see it with was in one at his secondary school) and the movie adaptation (it won six Oscars!) is a mainstay of Christmas television schedules. The casting of the role of Nancy for a revival of the show in 2008 was the subject of a Saturday Night TV singing contest. I don’t know how you can exist in this country without knowing at least one of the songs from this show. And this is the point where I will admit that it is not my favourite musical by any means, and that it would not usually be high on my list of shows to see. However…

And the however is that not only has this production – a sort-of transfer of one that ran in Chichester last summer – had pretty good reviews, but but it also has Simon Lipkin, who is getting the sort of rave reviews actors dream of. If that name sounds familiar that’s because he’s in that original cast of Avenue Q that I went to see in the anniversary concert in November, and then also a late night show the next night with his friend (and fellow Q star) Jon Robyns. And I’m one of the few that saw him not once, but twice in the doomed X Factor musical I Can’t Sing, which was actually way better than the length of run suggested*. That is to say, I’m a fan and so I will brave Oliver to see him giving what one reviewer called a “career defining performance”.

And I’m really glad I did. It’s absolutely cracking. It’s directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne and designed by his regular collaborator Lez Brotherston and even from our cheap seats at the back of the stalls it looked amazing. We missed a bit of action on the catwalks (can’t be sure how much unless I go and see it again from better seats, which to be fair isn’t out of the realms of possibility). The orchestrations are good, it all whips along faster than I remember it doing, and – wonder of wonder – the child actors barely annoyed me once. But Lipkin really is the star turn. You find yourself waiting for him to reappear – a Pied Piper of pickpockets, dancing and weaving his way across the stage. He’s menacing when he needs to be, but he also cares (in his way) about his gang of children. Plus he’s a man in guyliner and we all know that that’s strongly my thing in musicals. One review described him as a piratical dandy and I would go with that. Here’s the show’s section from the Royal Variety performance – if you just want a taste of Fagin, skip to 3’40…

Anyway, this is rightly selling out all over the place and has just extended until 2026. Who knows how long this original cast will last though – they’ve all been doing it since Chichester so they’re already nearly a year into their commitment at this point and it’s worth seeing – not just for Lipkin, but for Shanay Holmes as Nancy too, and Aaron Sidwell as the very evil Bill Sykes. There aren’t a lot of family musicals in the West End at the moment that aren’t based on Disney shows, so it’s good to have one that is – and if you are thinking of taking kids, the shows at the start of the week start at 7pm (rather than 7.30) so you’re out of the theatre by quarter to ten.

Have a great Sunday!

Oliver! is at the Gielgud Theatre on Shaftsbury Avenue, and booking until March 2026.

*I Can’t Sing was definitely better than the Spice Girls musical Viva Forever, which opened around the same time, lasted slightly longer, got similarly bad reviews but remains the only show I’ve ever been to where the audience didn’t know it had finished until the actors jogged back on clapping for bows.

book adjacent, theatre

Book Adjacent: Ballet Shoes

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Ballet Shoes is a new adaptation of the beloved children’s novel (and one of my favourites) by Noel Streatfeild. The book tells the story of three sisters – Pauline, Petrova and Posy – who are adopted by an eccentric traveller who brings them home to his great niece Sylvia and her former Nanny, Nana. They live in Gum’s (Great Uncle Matthew) house in London while he is away, but after he fails to return from an expedition, their money starts to run out and the household starts to take in boarders to make ends meet. These include (fortuitously) a pair of tutors who take over the girls education when Sylvia can’t afford the school fees anymore, and a dance teacher who arranges for the girls to take classes at a theatre school. And thus begins the girls theatrical careers and another vitally needed income stream for the family.

This has been lightly modernised and a few bits of the plot have been simplified – for example the two tutors are down to one, it’s a single man with a car not a married couple and there are less plays that the girls are in – but it’s still very much the same story. Financial troubles and orphans are a staple of books from this era – for adults and children (see Miss Buncle and all the parentless girls at the Chalet School) but it’s also a found family with a sprinkling of showbiz glamour which is one of the reasons why the book still works today – and why it translates so well to the stage. There is comedy and tension and plenty of excuses for dancing and fun. It’s full of excellent performances, the set is beautiful and time just flew by. And the changes worked so well I found myself re-reading the original book this week to check that I wasn’t misremembering that it wasn’t always like that!

It’s only on for another two weeks – so if you’re in London and have a free evening it’s really worth trying to see it. I saw an understudy playing Sylvia – who was wonderful but I would happily use that as an excuse to go again and see Pearl Mackie play her, but I’m not sure I have an evening that works for it.

Ballet Shoes is at the Olivier at the National Theatre until February 22.

streaming, tv

Not a Book: Jonathan Creek

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I did go to the theatre this week, but given that I’m going again next week and that show is on a much shorter run that this week’s one, I suspect we may be back at the theatre again next weekend, so I thought I’d mix it up and go with a retro TV series this week. I have to say I did struggle to get a video for this post because my favourite era of the series is from the pre-YouTube era…

Jonathan Creek is a mystery drama series that started in the late 1990s on the BBC. The titular character played by comedian and current QI stalwart Alan Davis and is a designer of magical illusions who is dragged into solving crimes by pushy investigative journalist Maddie Magellen, played by Caroline Quentin. Maddie is willing to lie and be devious to get what she wants, Jonathan is not. Jonathan also works for stage magician Adam Klaus who is flamboyant and often provides comedy subplots. Over the course of the nearly 20 years covered by the original series and then the subsequent specials, Maddie is replaced by ambitious TV exec Carla Borego (Julia Swalha) and then Joey, a paranormal investigator played by Sheridan Smith and finally Sarah Alexander’s Polly.

Although at the start of the series Jonathan is pretty antisocial and reclusive, over the course of the early series he gains in confidence and social skills to become fairly witty and charming in an offbeat sort of way – which continues in the specials. However, there is not a lot of running plot strands in this – they’re basically murder of the weeks, where the emphasis is on the actual mechanics of the crime being investigated. There is a will they won’t they with Maddie in the early years, but it’s never anywhere near the main focus of the series.

There are a few bits that haven’t dated that well – and if you’re under 30 the fact that at least one of the plots involves a video recorder is going to be novel to you. But the mysteries are tightly plotted and very hard to work out when you watch the show first time around. But at this point I’ve seen all of the early series a couple of times and they still hold up even when you know the solution. And they have the advantage of having a lot of interesting guest stars – the writer is David Renwick who has as long and storied history in British comedy and that brought in people. And so there are a few Easter Eggs here if you’ve watched a lot of British TV over the years – but also if you watch the pilot episode you’ll see that Adam Klaus was originally played by Anthony Stuart Head – who couldn’t continue with the series as he got a role in a little American show called Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Jonathan Creek is on the iplayer if you’re in the UK, and if you’re abroad it’s also available on various streaming service.

Have a great Sunday.

comedy, concerts, not a book

Not a Book: Bill Bailey

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It’s been a bit of a run of theatre the last few weeks, but this Sunday it is comedy – but at a theatre (not a club or a stadium) as I had a last minute trip to see Bill Bailey’s residency at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket this week.

If you haven’t come across Bill Bailey before (which I find hard to believe if you’re in the UK because he’s won Strictly) he’s a stand up comedian and musician who is also known for acting in the TV comedy Black Books and the movie Hot Fuzz among other things. I was trying to count how many times I’ve seen him live and I think this is the fourth or fifth time – and he’s always incredibly funny and inventive.

I am a pretty mediocre musician – when I was at my best I was about Grade 6/7 but music theory is my bete noire, so I really enjoy the way that he deconstructs how music works and makes it funny. But it’s not all music theory, some of it is just funny – in the current show he’s got some bluetooth music balls that are set up to make drum noises, and a laser harp. What’s not to like. He’s also got a new Kraftwerk parody – and the original one was one of my favourite skits on the Part Troll DVD that I rented from LoveFilm back in the day – so I’ll finish up today by posting that original.

Bill Bailey: Thoughtifier continues at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket until the 15th February.