One of the things we've really missed during the pandemic is seeing live music and live shows. I'm grateful that a number of shows I never got to see have come to the small screen.
"Hamilton," obviously, was a no-brainer. Though we were lucky to see the touring show in Charlotte and Richmond, we looped it over and over during the weekend it was released by Disney Plus. When the last chorus of "I'm willing to wait for it, wait for it" escapes my brain, we know it's time to watch again.
More recently, I've loved getting to watch shows I wished I'd been able to see live. We spent a night watching "What the Constitution Means to Me," Heidi Schreck's searing Tony-nominated play. I guess "play" is the right word, though the mostly-one-woman show feels much more urgent, much more personal. It definitely has some theatrical flourishes, but it seemed more like a memoir to me. And it definitely underlines what's at stake politically in this moment.
I watched the late, great Brian Dennehy chew the scenery in Arthur Miller's 1949 classic, "Death of a Salesman," which the Goodman Theatre in Chicago streamed free for just a weekend. I really wanted to see this production back in 1998. I settled for watching this filmed version on my laptop. Even on a small screen, though, Dennehy's Willy Loman is larger than life, howling and raging and hulking around the stage. In a play where death is omnipresent (heck, it's in the title!), it was hard not to miss Dennehy, who died earlier this year. Attention must be paid, indeed.
There was also more than a tinge of nostalgia while watching the "West Wing" special that's airing on HBO Max. It was great to spend some more time with Aaron Sorkin's wonderful characters, even in an episode that I basically know by heart. This special reworked "Hartsfield's Landing" into a stage show, directed by Tommy Schlamme. Sorkin is a love-him-or-hate-him kind of writer. Yes, he's strident, opinionated, a little too in love with himself, and maybe even a tad sexist, but I'll gladly eat anything he's serving. (I'm less enamored with him as a director. See: "Molly's Game" and "The Trial of the Chicago 7" -- both films I liked OK but wish had been directed by someone else.)
Finally, I landed on David Byrne's "American Utopia" on HBO over the weekend. And what a great tonic this show was. I was never a huge fan of Byrne, but you couldn't escape his music in the '80s and '90s. It was always there, a kinda weird background soundtrack. The stage show, filmed by Spike Lee, features some of Byrne's hits as well as tunes I wasn't familiar, and it is just joy.
Byrne and a troupe of musicians and vocalists fills the stage, all (mostly) barefoot and wearing identical gray suits. There's not really any storyline to hold the show together, but the fun being had onstage is contagious. It was weird and expansive and just a potent reminder of why music and performance is so great.
Now, I'm looking forward to “Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself,” coming to Hulu next year.
