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Telegraph
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
As a fan of The Who, this wretched ‘mod ballet' makes me want to weep
'Where's Matthew Bourne when you need him most?' This sad thought kept ricocheting around my mind on Tuesday evening as this slick, well-meaning, wretchedly anodyne dance-theatre version of The Who's marvellous 1973 album – which became an even more marvellous film in 1979 – played out. The mod-ish moves, the hormone-driven mayhem, the fabled mid-Sixties setting – oh, to think what fun he and his designer Lez Brotherston could have had with it all. For all its grandiosity, that 1973 'rock opera' is packed full of cracking music, and it was put to perfect use in Franc Roddam's work-of-art movie, a confection that positively bubbled over with teenage swagger, insecurity and take-no-prisoners tribalism – as well as sex, drugs and (yep) rock'n'roll. Do watch it if you can; there's nothing quite like it. The fundamental problem with this new 'mod ballet', though, is that all the sharp or exciting edges of the album's narrative – so cleverly exploited and amped up on the big screen – have been either completely filed off or at least sanded down to an unthreatening shine. The album's story is essentially there: Jimmy (the lithe Paris Fitzpatrick), a young mod living in 1965 London, wars with his parents, fights rockers in Brighton, tries to keep up with his pals and win the heart of Mod Girl (Leslie Ash in the film, and here by Serena McCall), all the while looking up to the ultra-cool, Sting-like Ace Face (athletic Dan Baines). But excitement is absent and the fundamental elements don't add up. The entire thing is swamped by almost invariably syrupy, bombastic orchestral arrangements of The Who album by Martin Batchelar and Rachel Fuller (aka Mrs Townshend) that are both typical of the problem and a fatal part of it. One terrific bar scene aside, director Rob Ashford – who has done high-octane work in the past with megastars from Diana Ross to Prince – seldom seems to get fully under the skin of the mod-ish dance moves of the era, and tends to resort to a one-size-fits all contemporary vocabulary that very rarely surprises. Sometimes, it even stumbles into unintentional comedy, especially with the strange, soaring lifts in what is supposed to be a brutal seaside clash. (The same, sad to say, is true of the will-this-never-end climax.) Even the usually exhilarating Royal Ballet principal Matthew Ball, cameoing as Jimmy's rock-star hero, blamelessly comes across as bland. As for Christoper Oram's sets and uber-designer Paul Smith's costumes, these, too, seem to fall oddly in and out of the era. Some of the outfits, and one or two of the less video-dominated sets, fit the bill crisply, but there's an overwhelming sense of lip service being paid to the 1965 setting, without ever making you feel as if you're there. So much, then, for the rock'n'roll – what about the sex and drugs? Jimmy's frustration comes across loud and clear, and the masturbation scene is present and correct, but without packing any sort of illicit, desperate or tragic punch. As for the uppers, there is, to be fair, a character actually called 'Drugs' (played by the aptly seductive Amaris Gilles), decked out in azure to, I'm assuming, reflect that Jimmy's amphetamine of choice is the so-called 'blue'. At one point, he even takes to the air like The Snowman as a high hits him. But again, there is no real menace; no thrill of the forbidden or sense of a downward spiral. The conceptual oddness of Drugs is continued in the quartet of characters who intermittently accompany Jimmy, depending on the situation – one, I gather, for each of The Who's four members. There's the Tough Guy (Roger Daltrey), the Lunatic (Keith Moon), the Romantic (Townshend) and the Hypocrite (purely, I must stress, by process of elimination, John Entwistle). But these amount to nothing more than dramaturgical affectation, watering down Jimmy's sense of gnawing isolation and leaving you scratching your head because it is never clear which one is which; you just wish they'd scarper. What is so particularly sad about this show – endorsed by Townshend, conceived with love, and with all performers doing their level best – is the disappointment that lies in wait not for people who already know the music and the film, but for those who don't. The uninitiated could well come away from this wondering what the big fuss is, not only about Quadrophenia but about one of the most skin-prickling rock bands of all time – and it makes me want to weep.
Gizmodo
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
‘The Phantom of the Paradise' Might Find New Life as a Stage Play
The Phantom of the Paradise, the vastly underrated horror-tinged rock opera from the minds of Brian De Palma (Carrie) and Paul Williams (The Muppet Movie), might be getting a new musical adaptation. Movie Maker reports that Williams and Sam Pressman, whose father Ed Pressman produced the 1974 cult film, are currently developing it as a stage production. 'I'm excited about having a chance to deliver what fans have been suggesting for years… POTP as a stage musical,' Williams said in a statement to MovieMaker. 'I think its time has come!' American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis has been approached to pen it (please, no), but he's not committed according to the report. If you've never heard of The Phantom of the Paradise, get thee to a revival theater screening or rent it online—especially if you're a Muppets fan. I know it seems weird to draw a line from 'Rainbow Connection' and 'no cheeses for us meeces' to a glam and gory '70s riff on The Phantom of the Opera, but stay with me for a moment. Not only did the De Palma and Williams musical predate Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway take on the Gaston Leroux novel, but it inspired so many artists we know and love today. After its release Williams went on to become the Muppetational mind behind the music of The Muppet Movie and The Muppet Christmas Carol. Meanwhile, De Palma continued to genre hop from horror to mob movies and started the Mission: Impossible franchise. The Phantom of the Paradise loosely adapts The Phantom of the Opera by way of Faust with a dash of The Picture of Dorian Gray but re-imagined into masterful musical mayhem. It follows a lowly composer named Winslow Leech who chases a deal with the devil in the form of music producer Swan, played by Williams in a tasty turn for the multi-hypenate. (He later also played the Penguin in Batman: The Animated Series.) Thanks to his association with Death Records, Leech's musical talents are ripped away and pressed just like his face into records that don't give him credit for his songs. This includes the tunes that transform Leech's crush Phoenix, the ingenue played by Jessica Harper (Suspiria), into a pop star. Vowing revenge he becomes the Phantom of the Paradise and violently haunts every artist Swan tries to give his music to, until they enter a deal that Leech's music will only go to Phoenix. And from there things get real messy and bloody, but man, the needle drops are legendary. So legendary that the film, much like its creative minds behind it, also inspired artists across mediums too. Guillermo del Toro is a vocal fan of the film and has been instrumental in making sure it stays in the horror zeitgeist. He even has one of the Phantom's helmets in his Bleak House collection, which I totally didn't imagine pulling a heist for at the LACMA when it was on display there. The film has also become a touchstone for other musicians. One that really struck me personally was finding out that My Chemical Romance was heavily inspired by the film. I didn't see it until I was an adult, which I deserve a shame circle for as a Phantom of the Opera Universal Monsters and original novel fan—but I knew MCR's The Black Parade. The no-skips album is essentially a rock opera and it made total sense to find out Gerard Way was heavily influenced by Phantom in its creation. If anything, Way should write the book for Williams' upcoming staging and star in it too. Another act that's come under Phantom's spell offers an even more fun realization: Daft Punk. Down to the helmets, aesthetic, and sound of the Phantom, that movie really gave us the greatest electronic duo to ever spin. Williams actually appeared on Random Access Memories track 'Touch,' which sounds like it was yanked from a time machine as a Phantom of the Paradise B-side. The Phantom of the Paradise was ahead of its time and the announcement of its stage musical gives me hope it will find its audience. If they modernize it, I wouldn't hate it because I see the vision. The themes are timeless even in our digital age where content creators with talent who try to build a following get ripped off by artificial influencers with clout. That can be very Leech/Phantom versus Swan-coded for sure. Williams is a stone cold legend and his music mastery is a gift that's still giving—he headlined Coachella this year with Yo Gabba Gabba! While the report mentioned De Palma has been approached about the staging, he's not an announced part of it. 'We certainly want Brian to feel honored,' Pressman said in the article. 'I went to go see Brian last fall, to talk about the dream. Phantom was an early and significant film for him and I'd say the favorite film of my father in his career. I think the chaos and originality of the whole experience was deeply inspiring.'
