Latest news with #TheWizardofOz
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
How Christopher Gattelli crafted Broadway's 'Death Becomes Her' and made it a Tonys powerhouse
NEW YORK (AP) — When he was first asked to helm the Broadway hit musical 'Death Becomes Her,' director and choreographer Christopher Gattelli loved it, but refused to work on the big, splashy opening number. It was just too delicious. 'When they sent it to me, I was cooking and I burnt dinner because my mind was spinning," he says. "I was, like, 'This is a gift. I will never get an opening number like this again.'' So Gattelli worked out everything else about how to put Robert Zemeckis' 1992 comic cult classic onto a stage and only then turned to the big, brassy song, 'For the Gaze,' a winking valentine to gay men, punning along the way. 'I was able to do the show and then have my full brain on that number because I knew the potential of what it could be,' he says. What Gattelli crafted is an opening number for the ages, led by Megan Hilty: There are mid-song costume changes, dance breaks, chorus boys hoisting Hilty, spangly jumpsuits and tuxedos, high-kicking Vegas showgirls with feather headdresses, a body double doing somersaults, a rainbow flag of top-hatted dancers, and Hilty doing a Liza Minnelli cameo, all ending with the grand finale of Hilty as Judy Garland's Dorothy from 'The Wizard of Oz,' complete with a little stuffed dog. 'I heard the pocket in that song, and I was like, 'I know there's a giant laugh there. I can hear giant laughs, what's that giant laugh?'' says Gattelli. 'What's the biggest gay reference? Then I literally I just worked backwards.' That number telegraphs to the audience exactly what to expect for the rest of the night — a perfectly rehearsed, lushly costumed, silly, self-aware comedy. 'Once we hit 'For the Gaze,' the audience knows exactly what the show is," he says. "And then I think they're in for the ride.' A wheelbarrow of Tony nods The work on 'For the Gaze' has helped Gattelli see his show earn 10 Tony Award nominations, including one for his Broadway debut as a director and another for his choreography. The musical is based on the film, which starred Meryl Streep as a self-centered actor and Goldie Hawn as her suffering-in-the-shadows writer friend. Their mutual desperate measures for achieving eternal youth turn comically grotesque. Hilty plays the Streep role, while Jennifer Simard plays the Hawn one. 'It felt like just the perfect fit for what I do and what I love to do," Gattelli says. "I love comedy and I love to direct comedy and I love to do these big splashy numbers. It felt like everything I've been itching to do.' Gattelli — who was a dancer in the original 'Cats' — has been a mainstay on Broadway of late, able to choreograph such venerable works as 'The King and I' and 'My Fair Lady' but also irreverent musicals as 'SpongeBob SquarePants' and the jukebox variety, like 'The Cher Show.' He made his directing debut off-Broadway in 2011 with 'Silence!' a parody musical of 'The Silence of the Lambs,' complete with a chorus of dancing lambs running across the stage. Lowe Cunningham, lead producer of 'Death Becomes Her,' saw it in Los Angeles and later asked Gattelli about the experience, how he collaborated and his approach to the work. She was impressed by his openness to all ideas and his caring. 'I think first and foremost, his talent is clear and it's been out there in the world of choreography for a long time. He is innovative, he does things other people aren't doing, but the other thing is that he's renowned as being an incredibly kind human being,' she says. Gattelli, who won a 2012 Tony for choreographing 'Newsies the Musical' — one of his show-stopping moments was dancers sliding on newspapers — was brought in relatively late to 'Death Becomes Her,' only a year and half before opening on Broadway. 'It was a great lesson in trusting your instincts,' he says. 'They said, 'We want a lush, opulent, sexy, magical sparkling evening.' And we just started taking big swings.' It started with — of all things — the curtain. The audience filing into the theater is greeted by a purple, royal fabric. 'When people walk in, they immediately feel like that it's lush and sexy and mysterious.' The challenge of one scene The musical is filled with very funny special effects that are decidedly low-tech. At one point, the two leading ladies are replaced by two men duking it out in dresses and wigs. The audience roars at the deception and Gattelli even advised one of the male combatants not to shave his arm hair. 'The audience is in on the joke,' he says. 'I love that they go on that ride with us. They're laughing with us. We're all laughing together and it feels good.' One scene from the movie needed a lot of planning to make it on stage: The tumble down the elegant mansion stairs by Hilty's character. Hollywood CGI magic would have to be replicated by Broadway ingenuity. 'The people that know the movie and the fans especially are going to go, 'How are they going to do it?' It was keeping me up at night forever because we tried everything,' says Gattelli. The creative team — which also included set designer Derek McLane, lighting designer Justin Townsend and sound designer Peter Hylenski — decided to make it a dance punctuated by sound effects. Warren Yang — an actor with a gymnastics background — wears Hilty's outfit and a wig as he tumbles slowly, acrobatically and theatrically down the stairs, somersaulting as thunder sounds crash and we hear what seems like bones cracking. (The stairs were made of the rubber Neoprene for safety.) 'There are very simple techniques that make a big impact,' says Gattelli. 'I just went back to it's a beautiful, lush, gorgeous show, but, at the core, it's just theatrical magic and stagecraft.'
a day ago
- Entertainment
How Christopher Gattelli crafted Broadway's 'Death Becomes Her' and made it a Tonys powerhouse
NEW YORK -- When he was first asked to helm the Broadway hit musical 'Death Becomes Her,' director and choreographer Christopher Gattelli loved it, but refused to work on the big, splashy opening number. It was just too delicious. 'When they sent it to me, I was cooking and I burnt dinner because my mind was spinning," he says. "I was, like, 'This is a gift. I will never get an opening number like this again.'' So Gattelli worked out everything else about how to put Robert Zemeckis' 1992 comic cult classic onto a stage and only then turned to the big, brassy song, 'For the Gaze,' a winking valentine to gay men, punning along the way. 'I was able to do the show and then have my full brain on that number because I knew the potential of what it could be,' he says. What Gattelli crafted is an opening number for the ages, led by Megan Hilty: There are mid-song costume changes, dance breaks, chorus boys hoisting Hilty, spangly jumpsuits and tuxedos, high-kicking Vegas showgirls with feather headdresses, a body double doing somersaults, a rainbow flag of top-hatted dancers, and Hilty doing a Liza Minnelli cameo, all ending with the grand finale of Hilty as Judy Garland's Dorothy from 'The Wizard of Oz,' complete with a little stuffed dog. 'I heard the pocket in that song, and I was like, 'I know there's a giant laugh there. I can hear giant laughs, what's that giant laugh?'' says Gattelli. 'What's the biggest gay reference? Then I literally I just worked backwards.' That number telegraphs to the audience exactly what to expect for the rest of the night — a perfectly rehearsed, lushly costumed, silly, self-aware comedy. 'Once we hit 'For the Gaze,' the audience knows exactly what the show is," he says. "And then I think they're in for the ride.' The work on 'For the Gaze' has helped Gattelli see his show earn 10 Tony Award nominations, including one for his Broadway debut as a director and another for his choreography. The musical is based on the film, which starred Meryl Streep as a self-centered actor and Goldie Hawn as her suffering-in-the-shadows writer friend. Their mutual desperate measures for achieving eternal youth turn comically grotesque. Hilty plays the Streep role, while Jennifer Simard plays the Hawn one. 'It felt like just the perfect fit for what I do and what I love to do," Gattelli says. "I love comedy and I love to direct comedy and I love to do these big splashy numbers. It felt like everything I've been itching to do.' Gattelli — who was a dancer in the original 'Cats' — has been a mainstay on Broadway of late, able to choreograph such venerable works as 'The King and I' and 'My Fair Lady' but also irreverent musicals as 'SpongeBob SquarePants' and the jukebox variety, like 'The Cher Show.' He made his directing debut off-Broadway in 2011 with 'Silence!' a parody musical of 'The Silence of the Lambs,' complete with a chorus of dancing lambs running across the stage. Lowe Cunningham, lead producer of 'Death Becomes Her,' saw it in Los Angeles and later asked Gattelli about the experience, how he collaborated and his approach to the work. She was impressed by his openness to all ideas and his caring. 'I think first and foremost, his talent is clear and it's been out there in the world of choreography for a long time. He is innovative, he does things other people aren't doing, but the other thing is that he's renowned as being an incredibly kind human being,' she says. Gattelli, who won a 2012 Tony for choreographing 'Newsies the Musical' — one of his show-stopping moments was dancers sliding on newspapers — was brought in relatively late to 'Death Becomes Her,' only a year and half before opening on Broadway. 'It was a great lesson in trusting your instincts,' he says. 'They said, 'We want a lush, opulent, sexy, magical sparkling evening.' And we just started taking big swings.' It started with — of all things — the curtain. The audience filing into the theater is greeted by a purple, royal fabric. 'When people walk in, they immediately feel like that it's lush and sexy and mysterious.' The musical is filled with very funny special effects that are decidedly low-tech. At one point, the two leading ladies are replaced by two men duking it out in dresses and wigs. The audience roars at the deception and Gattelli even advised one of the male combatants not to shave his arm hair. 'The audience is in on the joke,' he says. 'I love that they go on that ride with us. They're laughing with us. We're all laughing together and it feels good.' One scene from the movie needed a lot of planning to make it on stage: The tumble down the elegant mansion stairs by Hilty's character. Hollywood CGI magic would have to be replicated by Broadway ingenuity. 'The people that know the movie and the fans especially are going to go, 'How are they going to do it?' It was keeping me up at night forever because we tried everything,' says Gattelli. The creative team — which also included set designer Derek McLane, lighting designer Justin Townsend and sound designer Peter Hylenski — decided to make it a dance punctuated by sound effects. Warren Yang — an actor with a gymnastics background — wears Hilty's outfit and a wig as he tumbles slowly, acrobatically and theatrically down the stairs, somersaulting as thunder sounds crash and we hear what seems like bones cracking. (The stairs were made of the rubber Neoprene for safety.) 'There are very simple techniques that make a big impact,' says Gattelli. 'I just went back to it's a beautiful, lush, gorgeous show, but, at the core, it's just theatrical magic and stagecraft.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How Christopher Gattelli crafted Broadway's 'Death Becomes Her' and made it a Tonys powerhouse
NEW YORK (AP) — When he was first asked to helm the Broadway hit musical 'Death Becomes Her,' director and choreographer Christopher Gattelli loved it, but refused to work on the big, splashy opening number. It was just too delicious. 'When they sent it to me, I was cooking and I burnt dinner because my mind was spinning," he says. "I was, like, 'This is a gift. I will never get an opening number like this again.'' So Gattelli worked out everything else about how to put Robert Zemeckis' 1992 comic cult classic onto a stage and only then turned to the big, brassy song, 'For the Gaze,' a winking valentine to gay men, punning along the way. 'I was able to do the show and then have my full brain on that number because I knew the potential of what it could be,' he says. What Gattelli crafted is an opening number for the ages, led by Megan Hilty: There are mid-song costume changes, dance breaks, chorus boys hoisting Hilty, spangly jumpsuits and tuxedos, high-kicking Vegas showgirls with feather headdresses, a body double doing somersaults, a rainbow flag of top-hatted dancers, and Hilty doing a Liza Minnelli cameo, all ending with the grand finale of Hilty as Judy Garland's Dorothy from 'The Wizard of Oz,' complete with a little stuffed dog. 'I heard the pocket in that song, and I was like, 'I know there's a giant laugh there. I can hear giant laughs, what's that giant laugh?'' says Gattelli. 'What's the biggest gay reference? Then I literally I just worked backwards.' That number telegraphs to the audience exactly what to expect for the rest of the night — a perfectly rehearsed, lushly costumed, silly, self-aware comedy. 'Once we hit 'For the Gaze,' the audience knows exactly what the show is," he says. "And then I think they're in for the ride.' A wheelbarrow of Tony nods The work on 'For the Gaze' has helped Gattelli see his show earn 10 Tony Award nominations, including one for his Broadway debut as a director and another for his choreography. The musical is based on the film, which starred Meryl Streep as a self-centered actor and Goldie Hawn as her suffering-in-the-shadows writer friend. Their mutual desperate measures for achieving eternal youth turn comically grotesque. Hilty plays the Streep role, while Jennifer Simard plays the Hawn one. 'It felt like just the perfect fit for what I do and what I love to do," Gattelli says. "I love comedy and I love to direct comedy and I love to do these big splashy numbers. It felt like everything I've been itching to do.' Gattelli — who was a dancer in the original 'Cats' — has been a mainstay on Broadway of late, able to choreograph such venerable works as 'The King and I' and 'My Fair Lady' but also irreverent musicals as 'SpongeBob SquarePants' and the jukebox variety, like 'The Cher Show.' He made his directing debut off-Broadway in 2011 with 'Silence!' a parody musical of 'The Silence of the Lambs,' complete with a chorus of dancing lambs running across the stage. Lowe Cunningham, lead producer of 'Death Becomes Her,' saw it in Los Angeles and later asked Gattelli about the experience, how he collaborated and his approach to the work. She was impressed by his openness to all ideas and his caring. 'I think first and foremost, his talent is clear and it's been out there in the world of choreography for a long time. He is innovative, he does things other people aren't doing, but the other thing is that he's renowned as being an incredibly kind human being,' she says. Gattelli, who won a 2012 Tony for choreographing 'Newsies the Musical' — one of his show-stopping moments was dancers sliding on newspapers — was brought in relatively late to 'Death Becomes Her,' only a year and half before opening on Broadway. 'It was a great lesson in trusting your instincts,' he says. 'They said, 'We want a lush, opulent, sexy, magical sparkling evening.' And we just started taking big swings.' It started with — of all things — the curtain. The audience filing into the theater is greeted by a purple, royal fabric. 'When people walk in, they immediately feel like that it's lush and sexy and mysterious.' The challenge of one scene The musical is filled with very funny special effects that are decidedly low-tech. At one point, the two leading ladies are replaced by two men duking it out in dresses and wigs. The audience roars at the deception and Gattelli even advised one of the male combatants not to shave his arm hair. 'The audience is in on the joke,' he says. 'I love that they go on that ride with us. They're laughing with us. We're all laughing together and it feels good.' One scene from the movie needed a lot of planning to make it on stage: The tumble down the elegant mansion stairs by Hilty's character. Hollywood CGI magic would have to be replicated by Broadway ingenuity. 'The people that know the movie and the fans especially are going to go, 'How are they going to do it?' It was keeping me up at night forever because we tried everything,' says Gattelli. The creative team — which also included set designer Derek McLane, lighting designer Justin Townsend and sound designer Peter Hylenski — decided to make it a dance punctuated by sound effects. Warren Yang — an actor with a gymnastics background — wears Hilty's outfit and a wig as he tumbles slowly, acrobatically and theatrically down the stairs, somersaulting as thunder sounds crash and we hear what seems like bones cracking. (The stairs were made of the rubber Neoprene for safety.) 'There are very simple techniques that make a big impact,' says Gattelli. 'I just went back to it's a beautiful, lush, gorgeous show, but, at the core, it's just theatrical magic and stagecraft.'
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
How Christopher Gattelli crafted Broadway's ‘Death Becomes Her' and made it a Tonys powerhouse
NEW YORK (AP) — When he was first asked to helm the Broadway hit musical 'Death Becomes Her,' director and choreographer Christopher Gattelli loved it, but refused to work on the big, splashy opening number. It was just too delicious. 'When they sent it to me, I was cooking and I burnt dinner because my mind was spinning,' he says. 'I was, like, 'This is a gift. I will never get an opening number like this again.'' So Gattelli worked out everything else about how to put Robert Zemeckis' 1992 comic cult classic onto a stage and only then turned to the big, brassy song, 'For the Gaze,' a winking valentine to gay men, punning along the way. 'I was able to do the show and then have my full brain on that number because I knew the potential of what it could be,' he says. What Gattelli crafted is an opening number for the ages, led by Megan Hilty: There are mid-song costume changes, dance breaks, chorus boys hoisting Hilty, spangly jumpsuits and tuxedos, high-kicking Vegas showgirls with feather headdresses, a body double doing somersaults, a rainbow flag of top-hatted dancers, and Hilty doing a Liza Minnelli cameo, all ending with the grand finale of Hilty as Judy Garland's Dorothy from 'The Wizard of Oz,' complete with a little stuffed dog. 'I heard the pocket in that song, and I was like, 'I know there's a giant laugh there. I can hear giant laughs, what's that giant laugh?'' says Gattelli. 'What's the biggest gay reference? Then I literally I just worked backwards.' That number telegraphs to the audience exactly what to expect for the rest of the night — a perfectly rehearsed, lushly costumed, silly, self-aware comedy. 'Once we hit 'For the Gaze,' the audience knows exactly what the show is,' he says. 'And then I think they're in for the ride.' A wheelbarrow of Tony nods The work on 'For the Gaze' has helped Gattelli see his show earn 10 Tony Award nominations, including one for his Broadway debut as a director and another for his choreography. The musical is based on the film, which starred Meryl Streep as a self-centered actor and Goldie Hawn as her suffering-in-the-shadows writer friend. Their mutual desperate measures for achieving eternal youth turn comically grotesque. Hilty plays the Streep role, while Jennifer Simard plays the Hawn one. 'It felt like just the perfect fit for what I do and what I love to do,' Gattelli says. 'I love comedy and I love to direct comedy and I love to do these big splashy numbers. It felt like everything I've been itching to do.' Gattelli — who was a dancer in the original 'Cats' — has been a mainstay on Broadway of late, able to choreograph such venerable works as 'The King and I' and 'My Fair Lady' but also irreverent musicals as 'SpongeBob SquarePants' and the jukebox variety, like 'The Cher Show.' He made his directing debut off-Broadway in 2011 with 'Silence!' a parody musical of 'The Silence of the Lambs,' complete with a chorus of dancing lambs running across the stage. Lowe Cunningham, lead producer of 'Death Becomes Her,' saw it in Los Angeles and later asked Gattelli about the experience, how he collaborated and his approach to the work. She was impressed by his openness to all ideas and his caring. 'I think first and foremost, his talent is clear and it's been out there in the world of choreography for a long time. He is innovative, he does things other people aren't doing, but the other thing is that he's renowned as being an incredibly kind human being,' she says. Gattelli, who won a 2012 Tony for choreographing 'Newsies the Musical' — one of his show-stopping moments was dancers sliding on newspapers — was brought in relatively late to 'Death Becomes Her,' only a year and half before opening on Broadway. 'It was a great lesson in trusting your instincts,' he says. 'They said, 'We want a lush, opulent, sexy, magical sparkling evening.' And we just started taking big swings.' It started with — of all things — the curtain. The audience filing into the theater is greeted by a purple, royal fabric. 'When people walk in, they immediately feel like that it's lush and sexy and mysterious.' The challenge of one scene The musical is filled with very funny special effects that are decidedly low-tech. At one point, the two leading ladies are replaced by two men duking it out in dresses and wigs. The audience roars at the deception and Gattelli even advised one of the male combatants not to shave his arm hair. 'The audience is in on the joke,' he says. 'I love that they go on that ride with us. They're laughing with us. We're all laughing together and it feels good.' Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. One scene from the movie needed a lot of planning to make it on stage: The tumble down the elegant mansion stairs by Hilty's character. Hollywood CGI magic would have to be replicated by Broadway ingenuity. 'The people that know the movie and the fans especially are going to go, 'How are they going to do it?' It was keeping me up at night forever because we tried everything,' says Gattelli. The creative team — which also included set designer Derek McLane, lighting designer Justin Townsend and sound designer Peter Hylenski — decided to make it a dance punctuated by sound effects. Warren Yang — an actor with a gymnastics background — wears Hilty's outfit and a wig as he tumbles slowly, acrobatically and theatrically down the stairs, somersaulting as thunder sounds crash and we hear what seems like bones cracking. (The stairs were made of the rubber Neoprene for safety.) 'There are very simple techniques that make a big impact,' says Gattelli. 'I just went back to it's a beautiful, lush, gorgeous show, but, at the core, it's just theatrical magic and stagecraft.'
Tom's Guide
2 days ago
- Health
- Tom's Guide
I did the scarecrow dumbbell every day for a week — here's what happened
It's only when you spend some time in a gym or dive deep into the murky online world (bring a rope so that you can find your way back) that you see how many dumbbell exercises there are. This is, generally, a good thing, as the more moves you can do with one set of weights, the better. I had never heard of the dumbbell scarecrow before my editor set me the challenge of doing it every day for a week, but once I looked it up, I thought, 'Oh yeah, that makes sense. In fact, I now wonder why I did not consider this before.' I often have such conversations with myself. I'm not sure if they're helpful. Or healthy. This move (also known as the dumbbell scarecrow, which seems more judgmental) primarily works the shoulder muscles, specifically the side and rear deltoids, which wrap around the top of the shoulder. It also hits the trapezius, the large upper back muscle that extends across the shoulders. You'll be using your core to maintain stability and form, but that's a given. Because of its complexity and the wide range of motion it offers, the shoulder is extremely easily damaged, so if you feel any pain in the area, stop this exercise immediately. Shoulder injuries can take weeks or months to heal. In short, you create a goalpost with your arms and, from there, move them up and down. I've never seen a scarecrow in this position, but I'm not from a farming background, so my exposure to them has been limited to The Wizard of Oz and horror movies. Here's how you do it: I'm not one for admiring myself in the mirror, not even while I lift weights, but it can be useful to observe form as you come to grips with certain moves — this is one of them. Your body will automatically make an exercise as easy for you as possible (it means well, even at the expense of doing something right). In this case, you may think you are creating a 90-degree angle with your arms, but take a look in a mirror: There's a good chance your forearms will angle slightly in, towards your head, which makes the move easier, or they may lean the other way, away from you, which is asking for trouble. Similarly, you may raise your upper arms too high at the beginning of your sets, or they may drop as you tire. This is a very specific move, and everything has to be in the right place to maximise the effect and ensure you don't hurt yourself. Another thing to watch for (and you don't need a mirror for this) is your shoulders remaining in a slightly forward position at the top of the move, so your forearms are not in line with your head. This is natural with tiredness, but correct it if you see it. Form is everything. I began the week with 11lb dumbbells, and I stuck with them, except when I tried a variation. You do not need big weights for this move. In fact, try it with no weights if you're concerned that your shoulders are not ready to lift. You will feel a burn after several reps. On day one, I did two sets of 20 and one of 15, and felt it across my shoulders and through my upper arms. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Do this one slowly to ensure good form — movement is limited, but a lot can go wrong. I've already noted the danger to the shoulder if you load on the weight, but the same holds for the wrist. If your dumbbell is too heavy, you may find your wrists tilting in or out at the top of the move. By the end of the week, I was up to three sets of 25 with little difficulty. One thing I noticed in the gym was that the narrower handles on their dumbbells made the move more difficult. That said, the wide, full-length mirror made it easier to keep an eye on my form. Of course, a wide, full-length mirror is also mercilessly unforgiving, so it's a trade-off. I've seen a few variations on this, so I thought I'd try a couple. One involves doing the move with a hinge in the hips. The angle of your upper body means you have to work harder to raise and lower the weights with control — thanks, gravity. The other variation I tried was to hold my arms by my sides, palms facing back, with only a slight bend in my elbows. From here, using lighter weights, I raised my arms about eight inches before returning to the start position. This did not work for me at all. I felt a sharp pull in my triceps, which suggested I was continuing to bend my elbow as I raised my arm. This is one sure way to strain a muscle. If you are going to try this advanced variation, be sure you already have strong, stable shoulder and upper arm muscles, and use a lighter weight. After a week, you know if an exercise suits, and this one just didn't hit the spot for me. It does target the shoulders, but there are plenty of other moves that do the same. It could be argued that it specifically hits the lateral delts (which help give the shoulders their rounded profile), but so does the lateral raise, a move that likely will be more familiar than the scarecrow dumbbell. Dumbbell shrugs are another option, and they also hit your trapezius muscles. And if you really want to bring your core into play, try the floor-seated dumbbell shoulder press. As with any of these challenges, I recommend you try it out. Who knows, it may fit you like an old, shabby set of clothes. Or you may not care two straws for it.
