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Growing Up In Naples

Gary Lucas — Sat, 12 Oct 2024 01:10:04 +0000

Growing Up In Naples Gary Lucas October 11, 2024 - 21:10

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My wife Caroline Sinclair and I got hooked on Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend quartet when they were first published in English in 2012, with a translation by Ann Goldstein. Caroline began reading the first book and urged me to investigate it.

I admit I was put off at first by the "Chick Lit/Romance" type covers they slapped on these books... but diving in, I quickly became addicted to Ferrante's prose and her fascinating insights into growing up female and feminist in impoverished Naples, from mid-century to (more or less) the present day.

Thus, we were delighted when this RAI TV television series first appeared in 2018 under the imprimatur of Italian director/producer Paolo Sorrentino (whom I met and hung out with at Emir Kusturica's Kustendorf Festival in Serbia a few years ago—a very nice guy who told me he originally wanted to be a professional guitarist but gave it up because "it was too hard").

The series is co-written by Ferrante herself, a famously reclusive author who writes under a pseudonym and has never once consented to a live interview. This is probably because the Italian press outed her in an A.J. Weberman-type garbage trawl as the translator Anita Raja, who purportedly writes the books with her husband. Never mind.

We're now nearly at the end of the TV series's fourth and final season—and it's as compelling as ever (especially as readers of the quartet know what is about to go down). Some may prefer the youthful incarnations of best frenemies Lila and Lena as portrayed in the first two seasons—but the current actresses, to me, are more than capable of delivering the heartbreaking denouement.

Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend was recently selected as the #1 book of this century in a NY Times poll, which, not having read most of the other books, I cannot knowledgeably comment on. But she sure has hit a popular chord worldwide—the books have struck a resonance, deservedly sold in the millions, and been translated into pretty much every language under the sun.

And after finishing the quartet (Caroline and I got His-and-Hers copies of Vol. 4 when it came out so as not to fight over who got first dibs on it), I duly read every other book of Ferrante's oeuvre available in English.

And they did not disappoint.

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Always, For The Nevers

Ian Alterman — Tue, 18 May 2021 16:07:01 +0000

Always, For The Nevers Ian Alterman May 18, 2021 - 12:07

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[SPOILER ALERT: Given the nature of this TV series (and its inherent foundational mysteries), almost the entirety of this review is a spoiler. So if you have not seen the series, and plan to, do not read this review at all. LOL. This review covers five of the first six episodes of the series.]

Sometime in the waning years of the 19^th century, an elegant alien spaceship glides slowly and quietly over London. As it passes, it gently rains down tiny "bulbs" of light. Some of these bulbs enter and remain in the bodies of people (mostly girls and women), giving them a variety of powers: from Superhero/X-Men-type abilities (breath that can turn anything to ice; a touch that can make any material shatter; a touch that can levitate any object; creation and control of fire or electricity) to "mental" abilities (vast increase in intelligence; ability to invent things seemingly at will) to even weirder things like physical size (one young girl is 10 feet tall), the ability to walk on water, and a bizarre form of glossolalia, in which a girl speaks in multiple languages (sometimes all at once), but no one can understand her. (My favorite is a woman whose mere presence acts like a kind of truth serum, getting people to happily share their most intimate secrets.) Those who receive these abilities are eventually labeled "The Touched," and are viewed with wonder, suspicion, or fear.

An extremely wealthy, sympathetic, wheelchair-bound widow (Lavinia Bidlow) opens a compound for them just outside the city so they can live without harassment. She puts the running of the compound in the hands of two women: Amalia True (enhanced combat abilities, and the ability to see the future, but only in the short-term, and only in sudden bursts), a brilliant and somewhat hard and aloof (but not unkind) woman, and her partner, Penance Adair (control of electricity, ability to invent), a quieter, more pious woman. Like two sides of the same coin, they complement each other perfectly, and have each others' complete trust and confidence.

Also in the mix are a small group of bad Touched, most of whom work for the Beggar King, a sort of uber-Fagin who controls the streets (and criminal activity); Lord Massen, a cold, hard ex-military man, who represents the ruling class and sees the Touched as not simply dangerous, but as a direct threat to the Empire; Hugo Swan, a member of the House of Lords, and a pansexual dandy who runs an underground club catering to the aristocracy, using Touched women as sexual "entertainment" (though not in a cruel or forced manner); Lavinia Bidlow's younger brother, Augie, who is, secretly, Touched (ability to control birds, mostly crows, including using them as living drones for spying, etc.); Inspector Frank Mundi, a former boxer and now Chief of Detectives, a no-nonsense man whose former wife was Touched, and who sang an unintelligible song that could both calm people and also identify Touched people, including to each other; and a variety of aristocrats and thugs. Also very much in the mix is a Touched woman named Maladie, a scary and dangerous sociopath, whose powers seem to be persuasion (particularly to do evil) and possibly near-immortality (pain only makes her stronger, and attempts to kill her, including by hanging, have failed).

As the various individuals and groups negotiate this new world and each other, situations and conflicts arise, leading to alliances, betrayals, and deaths. The one constant is that no one -- including the Touched themselves -- seems to know who the "aliens" were (though it seems that part of their ship crashed near London and is being secretly investigated by Ms. Bidlow and a private team of non-Touched people), or why these powers were given at all, especially mostly to women. Lord Massen sees it as a plot, the Beggar King and Lord Swan see it as an opportunity, and the Touched themselves experience it mostly as trouble (with some obvious benefits).

Among the broader issues involved are class and gender -- women are still second-class citizens, after all, which is one reason why Lord Massen is particularly suspicious that the powers were given primarily to women. But the most obvious -- made more so in some of the details -- is the idea of the Touched as "the other," particularly in subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) comparisons to the Jews. (At one point, a group of them is made to wear blue ribbons to identify themselves.) All of this makes for some occasionally heady and thought-provoking (and uncomfortable) moments.

The production values of the series are fabulous: from costumes to set/scenic design, from period details to set pieces, not a hair is out of place. The writing is also extremely good, and the direction has been perfect: despite several threads occurring at once, one never loses any of them or gets confused.

But it is the writing and development of the characters, and the acting, that really make this series sing. Despite having only six one-hour episodes, every character is fully-formed. There is no skimping here; even without much back story (since, in some cases, it would give away the game, or at least take away some of the mysteries as they unfold), even secondary characters come to life. And with the amazing Laura Donnelly (Amalia True) and the brilliantly understated Ann Skelly (Penance Adair) at its center, the acting is arguably even better than the material (which is nevertheless always absorbing). Also of note are Amy Manson (Maladie), James Norton (Hugo Swan), Ben Chaplin (Detective Mundi), Tom Riley (Augie Bidlow) and Pip Torrens (Lord Massen), all of whom help lift this series to a very high level.

I have only covered the first five episodes, because the sixth and final episode of the first season is an absolute mind-blower, beginning at the end and moving backward to the end of the fifth episode, answering some (but not all) mysteries in its wake, and creating great anticipation for the next season (apparently beginning in the Fall).

There are some clues that have not been explored yet, which I bring up for those who have seen the series, or parts of it.

The biggest one is that those with the special abilities are called "The Touched." Yet the series is called The Nevers, an appellation that is not used at all, and one that does not appear in any of the PR materials, descriptions of the series, or articles about it, except as its title. Hmmm….

Also, there is the overarching question of the aliens' purpose in imbuing (some, certain) people with these powers and abilities. We are not told whether this phenomenon exists anywhere else on the planet, so we must assume for the moment that it is only England. In this regard, Lord Massen's suspicion is just as rational and justified as any other: is it an attempt to undermine the social order of the Empire, conquering it, as it were, from within? Or perhaps the aliens are engaged in an experiment to see whether women would wield power differently from (and better than) men?

I, for one, simply cannot wait for Part II. And this, from someone who famously dislikes period dramas. Yet in this case, I would say, "The Nevers?" Always!

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“Pardon Me! Isn’t That My Sex Organ?”

Brandon Judell — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 14:00:00 +0000

“Pardon Me! Isn’t That My Sex Organ?” Brandon Judell August 10, 2020 - 10:00

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For quite a while, Tiresias was the only being who'd experienced sex both as a man and a woman. If you recall, for killing two copulating snakes, he was transformed into a female for seven years by the goddess Hera. (Having a vagina was a punishment back then.) Not satisfied, Hera later blinded the gent, which seemed rather harsh, although it did gain him a major speaking part in Oedipus Rex.

Now, 2449 years later, Revry, the self-proclaimed "queer virtual cable TV network," is showcasing a New-Zealand-based situation comedy, Life is Easy, that explores what it’s like to suddenly have a non-surgically transformed crotch. Although we're not quite sure where J.K. Rowling stands on this concept, we've found the end result, while not quite on the same laugh level as Schitt$ Creek and Little Britain, often quite amusing with a genuine knee-slapper now and then.

The first 15-minute episode begins in 2006, the year Google purchased YouTube, Pluto lost its planet status, and a whale swam up the River Thames.

Far away from all of that activity is Curtis (Cole Jenkins), an awkwardly closeted Aukland teen, who's standing on a school bench to peep into the boy's shower room while pleasuring himself. Suddenly, Jamie-Li (Chye-Ling Huang), a rather loud young lass with purple hair and a garbage bag full of used tampons, catches him in the act. Peeping in herself, she finds the sight before her rather amusing.

However, the showering lads suddenly appear so to avoid the wrath of the queer-bashing bullies, the pair fake the act of cunnilingus. Afterwards, they discover they have the same birthday. What a basis for a long-lasting friendship!

Jump head 13 years to their 25^th birthday. On that early morning, Jamie-Li phones her pal.

Curtis: Can I help you?

Jami-Lie: Hi! I want to report a crime. My pussy got murdered last night.

Curtis: Sorry for your loss.

Jaimie-Li: I'm not.

Curtis: That good, was he?

Jamie-Li: All right.

This lively, self-centered couple are a pair who neither watch their words -- nor the words of others.

Jamie-Li, who now works for an advertising company, has grown up to be a lively, caustic, serial fornicator with a loving, hard-working mom and a "dead" Asian father.

Curtis, a lux furniture salesman with a very fem, touchy-feely boss, is finally out of the closet himself. Saddled with a sexy, sane, perfect boyfriend, our hero, still a bit uptight, really wants to queen it up and possibly not be as monogamous as he is.

[Please note that if you put the two lead characters' names together you get the star of Halloween.]

Well, due to a metaphysical occurrence on their B-day night and some drugs and alcohol, they wake up in each other's body the next morning in a swimming pool. You can imagine how unsettling it is to open your eyes and see yourself gesticulating at yourself.

After the initial shock and fruitlessly trying to find out if there's any info on the internet for folks whose bodies have just been swapped, Jamie-Li and Curtis start exploring their new physicalities.

Curtis (in Jamie-Li's body): Will you stop touching my penis?

Jamie-Li (in Curtis's): It's so squishy. Where do you put it?

Curtis: Keep your legs apart. . . . Stop touching my penis.

Jamie-Li: Well, you can touch my vag.

Soon the two are respectively reaching their first female and male orgasm. After that, of course, the complexities mount, the couplings compound, and eventually each changes the other's life from haircuts, to jobs, to parental interactions.

What the show especially gets right is the inclusion of numerous Asian characters in major roles, the delineating of what it is to be a woman or queer man in modern Kiwi society, and the slow realization of how we are leading our lives, a perception that can only be perceived by stepping outside of ourselves and viewing what've we've been doing through others' eyes.

There is, of course, an over-the-topness to the whole series that is co-written by its two affable stars, who apparently know they own strengths. Maybe a little bit too much. There's a whole lot of mugging that might have bore more fruit if restrained an iota. However, balancing the scenes that are too loud, too busy, and somewhat obvious are the many on-the-up-and-up moving moments that argue quite persuasively that "life is not all that easy."

(Life is Easy can be found on Revry Queer TV (https://revry.tv/), which is free, unless you want a connection to all of the channel's content. Then you have to shell out a little bit.)

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Broadway Musical World Comes to Network TV

Jim Miller — Tue, 22 May 2012 21:47:09 +0000

Broadway Musical World Comes to Network TV Jim Miller May 22, 2012 - 17:47

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I probably speak for most theater fans in saying I was excited when I read about Smash before its premiere on NBC in February. The idea of a weekly network series depicting the development of a new Broadway musical was irresistible. The fact that so many theater people -- both on and off camera -- were involved in the show added to the anticipation. Executive producers included Craig Zadan and Neil Meron who, among other things, have produced film versions of Broadway hits Chicago and Hairspray, along with television movie adaptations of The Music Man, Annie, and Gypsy. Original songs were written by the team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who won the Tony award for their Hairspray score, and also wrote the fine score for last year's Catch Me If You Can. Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening and American Idiot) directed the pilot. And, while not a theater name, the legendary Steven Spielberg is one of the executive producers.

So, how do I feel now, with Smash recently completing its fifteen episode first season? Like many a network series trying to find its footing, Smash has had its ups and downs. It started with a very good pilot episode, followed by two weak outings. Things picked up in episode four but remained inconsistent until the last couple of weeks and ended with a fine finale, the best Smash we have seen since the opening show. During that period, the show's creator and show runner, Theresa Rebeck (who authored the play Seminar, which recently closed on Broadway), stepped down, although she will remain with the show as a writer and producer. She will be replaced as show runner by Joshua Safran, who has been executive producer of Gossip Girl. The show's narrative line has yet to find its voice. Some of its subplots have worked, some have not; Smash is at times a behind-the-scenes drama about the making of a Broadway musical and, at other times, pure soap opera. That mix can work, but it is not there yet. So far, Smash has yet to be the guilty pleasure or quality drama that I hope it can ultimately become.

As might be expected, viewers have had divergent reactions to Smash. Some theater fans have complained that the show lacks realism. They point out that the workshop and the out-of-town tryout of Bombshell, the musical being created in Smash, all came together much too quickly. That is true. Musicals now take years to be written, financed, and ultimately mounted. The musical depicted in Smash seemed to take only a few weeks to fall into place. In the pilot, we see the writers, played by Debra Messing and Christian Borle, come up with the idea of a musical about Marilyn Monroe. They bring the idea to producer Eileen Rand, played by the wonderful Anjelica Huston, and before we know it, a workshop is being put together even before the musical's book has been written. Before the first season is over, we're already watching the opening of the out-of-town tryout. That could never happen, but that dramatic license is necessary for a television series and does not particularly bother me.

One of the pleasures of Smash for a theater fan is seeing so many Broadway performers being showcased on a network television series. In addition to Borle, who currently is shining on Broadway in Peter and the Starcatcher, Smash stars include Megan Hilty, who recently starred in the Encores production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, successfully recreating a role originated on Broadway by Carol Channing and on film by none other than Marilyn Monroe. Another Smash star is Brian d'Arcy James, a veteran of multiple Broadway musicals. Supporting and guest roles have been played by theater performers, including the legendary Bernadette Peters, Will Chase (who plays Joe DiMaggio in the musical depicted in Smash), Leslie Odom, Jr. (Leap of Faith), Ann Harada (Avenue Q), and Wesley Taylor (The Addams Family), to name a few. We have seen cameos from theater columnist Michael Riedel, producer Manny Azenburg, and many others. It is fun for a theater fan to watch. The series has had its strong moments, including the lovely rendition of "September Song" by Anjelica Huston in the second last episode. That song was introduced on Broadway in 1938 by Walter Huston -- Anjelica's grandfather -- in the original production of Kurt Weill's and Maxwell Anderson's Knickerbocker Holiday.

Could Bombshell succeed on Broadway? There actually has been a musical about Monroe: Marilyn: An American Fable ran for just seventeen performances back in 1983. Based on what we have seen, it is hard to tell whether Bombshell would do better. Shaiman and Wittman have written several first-rate songs for it, and Smash has done a good job repeating these songs in multiple episodes so viewers can become more familiar with them. The new finale for Bombshell, introduced in the last episode, sounds like another fine song. There look to be some splashy production numbers in the musical. But we have seen only snippets from Bombshell and, without knowing more about the book or the storyline, we cannot really judge the show. Broadway musicals may be best known for their stars, music, and production numbers, but it is hard for a musical to work without at least an adequate book.

Smash was first developed for Showtime in 2009. When Robert Greenblatt, who ran programming for Showtime, moved to NBC, he brought Smash with him. Greenblatt also knows something about producing a Broadway musical, as he developed and produced the stage version of 9 to 5, which ran for several months in 2009 and included Megan Hilty in the role created by Dolly Parton in the movie. While ratings on NBC have dropped after a strong opening, the show has done better than most of NBC's dramas and has been renewed for a second season.

Overall, I've enjoyed watching Smash, and I would not want to miss an episode, even though I am hoping for more, in terms of drama, from the series. The first season ended on a high note; here's hoping that continues when Smash returns next season on NBC.

She Served Us Well

Robert Cochrane — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 12:49:13 +0000

She Served Us Well Robert Cochrane July 11, 2009 - 08:49

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Mollie Sugden, star of the British sitcom Are You Being Served? (1972-85), died on July 1 of natural causes. Her five-decade acting career made her a beloved figure in her native England and, surprisingly, in the U.S. as well.

Are You Being Served? was set in a department store, a dying breed even in the Seventies. Sugden's Mrs. Slocombe was the doyenne of ladies underwear, a role mirrored in menswear by Mr. Humphries, whose airs and graces she deplored, probably because they got in the way of her own array of affectations.

As the series progressed, the outrageous hues of Slocombe's hair rinses veered from the subdued to the eye-splitting. It was, however, her tribulations with her much loved cat, her sole companion who became a constant conversational prop, that endeared her character to millions.

As she innocently regaled those who were interested, though most were not, about the mishaps of her pussy, the smut piled up, as a saucy seaside postcard became flesh. That Sugden delivered her lines like a cut-price Lady Bracknell, imperious and oblivious, made her telling of her pussy standing up in fright all the more hilarious. Since the audience never got to witness this splendid feline, the entire conceit became all the more beguiling.

Sugden played Slocombe with incredible pathos. She saw her as an essentially lonely woman, who had resorted to adding yet another layer of slap as her looks deteriorated. Her ample defenses were equally evidence of her vulnerability. Mrs. Slocombe obviously felt that life had dealt her an impoverished hand, and this -- coupled with a certainty that her customers were an irritant, and always wrong -- created a monstrous but strangely endearing character.

She wasn't the only matriarch that Sugden brought to life; in a long and glittering career, she specialized in ladies of all classes, from pure brass to high class, and what fell between these polarized extremes. That two such sublime extremes of English oddness, the late John Inman as the outrageously camp Mr. Humphries and the recently deceased Mollie Sugden as the haughty Mrs. Slocombe, should have conquered American hearts so completely, suggests an affinity of taste one would consider entirely improbable.

Although little else from Sugden's career translated into American, her career, despite being defined by Mrs. Slocombe, was long, fascinating, and at times surreal.

Her role in Come in Mrs. Noah, where she was a housewife marooned in space, encapsulates her ability to harness unlikely roles, and she became a regular fixture on British television screen from the '60s to the '90s, a sitcom familiar, always with an air of mischief and a twinkle in her eye, usually wearing a ridiculous and impractical hat.

Her talent to amuse meant she was rarely given the serious roles she was equally capable of harnessing. Mollie Sugden was born in Keighley, West Yorkshire on July 23, 1922. Her aptitude for acting emerged at Sunday School, and on leaving Keighley Girls Grammar School, and after a stint in a munitions factory, she attended the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London.

After almost a decade in Rep, she got her first major break via the legendary Thora Hird and the writer Walter Greenwood, casting her as an amorous widow in a play in Blackpool. This resulted in her first television success opposite Hugh Lloyd and Terry Scott, where she played a snooty neighbor.

She is also fondly remembered as the regular Coronation Street sparring partner of the redoubtable Annie Walker (Doris Speed) when she played Nellie Harvey, landlady of the Laughing Donkey.

She was also the terrifying mother of Nerys Hughes in the '60s BBC success The Liver Birds. Although poor health meant little was seen of her in recent years, her name was borrowed and lent to laughter via Little Britain mavericks Matt Lucas and David Walliams. One of their characters, Walliams in drag, is constantly going on about having been Mollie Sugden's bridesmaid, but then has imperious hissy fits once the subject is referred to by the poor waiter she has been trying to impress. That skewed tribute neatly betrays the level of affection in which the actress was held by the British public.

Some roles confine one's career in the public mind. The actress Frances de la Tour will forever be Miss Jones, the desperate spinster of Rising Damp fame; although she has never discussed the role publicly since, and has a long and established career as a stage actress, she is remembered, and rightly so, for the comic mastery of that creation.

That Mrs. Slocombe was regularly watched by 15 million viewers, the series even spawned a movie in 1977, and then became an unlikely success Stateside, tied Slocombe to Sugden forever.

Mollie Sugden's ghost will long continue to haunt the world of British comedy.

She flitted from sitcom to sitcom with such effortless ease, her surname as synonymous with characterful characters as with the name of her most famous creation. Few can lay claim to such a status. An accolade as elusive as that legendary cat.