Stevecorp
Don't listen to the negative reviews
Beanbioca
As Good As It Gets
Kailansorac
Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.
tedg
I have some trouble adapting to stage musicals when I see them on the stage. There's something about the fact that the audience is there for pure — absolutely pure — entertainment in the form of singing and dancing, and somehow need a narrative to make it palatable. Opera is even worse for me in this regard. Oh, I know that the narrative can set up the emotional context for a song, so that it can be more effective, but the whole construction seems to reflect some fundamental flaw in our makeup, like our affection for sugar.When a stage musical is filmed, the problem gets worse. Most of these simply take what works on stage and tries to recapture it using the same techniques and values. "Seven Brides" is my touchstone for this. The result is bunch of clumsy stagecraft that does not translate to cinema, combined with those radical shifts from the story to the songs. Usually the older shows have this problem, because the later ones though made for stage are informed by cinema.This avoids all that, by reimagining one of the old horses in a new mold. Apparently, it was quite an effort because the "Foundation" that has a stranglehold over how the material is used had to negotiate every nit. This idea that some survivors of an artist should benefit from something they had no hand in is vile enough; that they can smother its very artistic soul by legal means is worse.Anyway, what we have here is stage presentation reimagined for modern tastes. That means solving the integration of the songworld and the stageworld. The extras explain how this was nurtured, essentially by honing the show by forcing the actors to speak the lines. There's some clever thinking about the dances along the same lines.Then that is restaged for the camera. It pretends to be a performance in front of an audience, as shots from a real performance are spliced in. But the (valuable) extras reveal the rework to bring it to the camera. This is about as good as it gets unless we have something born out of the camera like Taymor has done.I came to this because "Australia" is sticking with me. I learned that Hugh Jackman (unknown to me) is famous for his musical stage presence. Even though this is quite old in this context, I searched it out and was rather amazed. He sings, he dances. He has presence. In fact, his presence is so strong, he gets away with being not excellent in those areas. Presence.That's what he brought to "Australia" that mattered; it seems to be indicative of the national character. The very same scope of presence as Wolverine grates, because it is a substitute. There is some considered colorwork here too.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
Sara Wilson
I saw this without knowing who Hugh Jackman was, and I was blown away by his performance. He really shines as Curly and his presence is second to none. His singing is certainly some of the best in musical theater. It was only after seeing this that I found out that he was Wolverine, so I was able to just soak it all in. Maureen Lipman is a wonderful Aunt Eller. The actors do all their own dancing, even in the dream sequence. Jimmy Johnston is a very good Will Turner and does some amazing dancing. Vicki Simon is the perfect Ado Annie and extremely funny. It is filmed on a stage set designed to look like the set at the Royal National Theater. It also captures the spirit of the show beautifully. It is a positively classic. See it.
the_musical_gal
I have never seen the old version of "Oklahoma" but I know a pretty good bit about it. I saw "Oklahoma" put on by a church in my town when I was about six, but I don't remember much about it.I really enjoyed this version, the British know how to do musicals! I loved how they made Laurey a tomboy in the beginning to show us how strong and willful she is. Josefina Gabrielle is like a younger, brunette Shirley Jones. She has a beautiful singing voice, she is a beautiful dancer, and a great actress. Did I mention that she's beautiful? I really liked how the actors did their own dancing in the Dream sequence.I thought Hugh Jackman was amazing. To think that this is the guy who plays Wolverine!!!! This man is is an amazing actor. He's good-looking (very), he can sing, he can dance, and he can really act. He does a very good southern accent. He's also a very believable romantic hero.Jud was great. That voice...oh my gosh! Such a rich voice, it's like "Lonely Room" was written for him. And Aunt Eller....oh I looove Aunt Eller. She steals the show. She's perfect.I have nothing bad to say about this show. It's well-done. I just wish Hollywood and Broadway could do more things like this. I got the DVD for Christmas, by the way.
emilygracey
However, my one setback is that everyone is too busy praising Hugh Jackman to the sky (Not that he doesn't deserve it) but no one really says a word about Shuler Hensley, who I thought was the best thing about the entire show! He took someone who I thought I would never feel sorry for and did just that. He reminded me a lot of Lennie from 'Of Mice and Men.' Basically, not the sharpest tool in the shed (which is pretty ironic considering that's where he lives :P) I enjoyed most of the cast, with the exception of Vicki Smith who just annoyed the crap out of me as Ado Annie. I really liked Maureen as Aunt Eller too! She was so cool! Little old lady with a ton of spunk :DI'm excited that it's released on DVD here in the states and can't wait to go and buy it!10/10
