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Jeffrey Sanzel

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

Author Michelle Young

“Her job, her life calling, was about celebrating the beauty in art, and presenting it to the public, but now she was witnessing the wholesale theft and secreting of the world’s finest creations to unknown locations.”

The Art Spy [HarperOne] is Michelle Young’s account of Rose Valland’s heroic efforts in Paris of the 1940s to save some of the world’s most famous artwork from the Nazi invaders. Born in 1898, Valland earned degrees from the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts as well. She attained additional degrees from the École du Louvre and the Sorbonne. Overall, Rose spent nine years accumulating higher education and acquiring vast knowledge and skills. 

Even though she was a denizen of the “crazy” Paris of the 1920s, the closeted Valland struggled to overcome a serious demeanor, most likely rooted in her sense of being out of place. She was a blacksmith’s daughter in the art world. Opinionated and articulate, she could remain seemingly humorless in social situations. “Rose had a reputation for being overly serious and too blunt for her own good, but her unflappability had proven useful in the war. She had learned to play the role of a nobody to the Nazis — not important enough to notice, not congenially enough to be flirted with, and too grave to be easy friends with.”

While highly schooled and exceptionally intelligent, she faced misogynistic setbacks, forcing her to work at Paris’s Jeu de Paume Museum as a volunteer. It was here that she was able to take a stand. No hurdles stopped her from doing her work and eventually saving hundreds, if not thousands, of paintings and sculptures. 

Young’s thoroughly researched and engaging book follows Valland from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s in a world populated by the creations of luminaries like Salvador Dali, Max Beckman, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, and many others. The Art Spy traces the early days of World War II throughout Europe, the anticipation of the incursion into Paris, followed by the exodus, and the ultimately desolate and abandoned city. Grounding her descriptions in detailed research, she evokes the visceral tensions of the time.

The Art Spy is also the story of heinous oppression and vicious destruction at the hands of the most tyrannical regime in history, the Nazi party. The confiscation of great works of art is almost a minor crime in the pantheon of the evil that was the German government of World War II. However, the preservation of art speaks to universal humanity, just as the unlawful acquisitions reflect the dark and greedy nature of the perpetrators.

Young explores Hitler’s war on “degenerative art,” contrasting with the constant and unbridled theft by the Nazis. Among those Valland encountered on multiple occasions was Hitler’s second-in-command, the brutish Herman Göring, who, along with many Party members, stole untold numbers of paintings and invaluable works. Young gives insight into the destructive effect of authoritarianism on the freedom of art. 

The author presents evocative, detailed descriptions of art evacuations, depicting empty walls with frames leaning against them, and the titles of the removed paintings hastily scrawled in chalk in the blank spaces above. She is unflinching in her assessment of the collaborationist Vichy government and the many who took advantage on both sides to loot France’s artwork. And, always at the center, is Valland, whose world is one of curators, collectors, and artists, but simultaneously one of constant danger. (This includes the arrest and imprisonment of her partner, Joyce Heer.)

Young wisely introduces the French art dealer, Paul Rosenberg, and traces his fate along with his family’s, including the son, Alexandre, who served with the Allies in Africa. By doing this, she puts a face to the horrors of the looting of Jewish property and the oppression and destruction of an entire community. She juxtaposes tracing the confiscation and “re-distribution” of Jewish possessions with the mass arrests and deportations, most of them ending in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, the notorious Polish death camp.

“Never once in four years did Rose let any concern for her own safety override her commitment to her mission. Not once did she allow her emotions to get the better of her or cloud her judgment [….] At great risk to her own life, she spied and documented, stole information, was subjected to degrading searches, and was expelled from the museum on multiple occasions. Each time, she returned and skillfully convinced the Germans to let her back in. In a war where resistance took many forms, she and her loyal guards at the Jeu de Paume fought to retain the humanity of those whose possessions, family histories, identities, and sometimes their lives were violently stolen from them. She did it all, as she put it, simply ‘to save a little beauty of the world.’”

Valland worked tirelessly after the war, recovering artwork and restoring it to its proper owners and museums. To this day, many works have not found their way back to the proper people, but Valland fiercely pursued justice late into her life. 

“… No matter what atrocities take place, they’re always those who were willing to fight for what is right, no matter what the cost.” The life of Rose Valland—and Michelle Young’s important, astute documentation—is tribute to this powerful and necessary truth.

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Author Michelle Young is a former resident of Setauket and 2000 graduate of Ward Melville High School where she was the salutatorian. She now divides her time between New York and Paris, and is an award-winning journalist, author, and professor of architecture at Columbia University. The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland is available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.

From left, Ben Yang, Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio in a scene from 'Karate Kid: Legends.' Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

The Karate Kid was the sleeper hit of 1984, grossing $100 million in the United States and Canada. The film received mostly good reviews, was deemed a “feel-good” movie and made the film’s star, twenty-two-year-old Ralph Macchio, into an international teen idol. 

A scene from ‘Karate Kid: Legends’. Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures

The Karate Kid  spawned multiple sequels: The Karate Kid Part II (1986), The Karate Kid Part III (1989), The New Karate Kid (1994), and The Karate Kid (2010), a remake of the original. An animated series, action figures, video games, comic books, a board game, and even an unproduced Broadway musical (in the works in 2020) are just part of the Karate Kid’s descendants. The most interesting addition is Cobra Kai (2018-2025), a streaming series of sixty-five episodes that included original stars Macchio and William Zabka. The exceptional show picked up thirty-four years after the first film. Cobra Kai was a worthy successor and addition to the franchise legacy.

Unfortunately, Karate Kid: Legends, the sixth big-screen entry, is, at best, on the level of direct-to-video. The basic, well-worn plot concerns Li Fong (Ben Wang) moving from Beijing to the United States when his mother (Ming-Na Wen), a doctor, lands a position in a New York City hospital. Dr. Fong does not approve of martial arts due to the death of her older son, who was stabbed to death by thugs led by his defeated rival. Li has studied kung fu with Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) and now must abandon his training in the wuguan (dojo).

On his first day in the City, Li “meets cute” Mia Lipani (Sadie Stanley), daughter of Victory Pizza owner Victor (Joshua Jackson), who is in debt to loan sharks. Quickly, Li runs afoul of Conor Day (Aramis Knight), a karate champion who also happens to be Sadie’s ex. What follows is a simplistic yet somehow convoluted plot whereby Mr. Han arrives to prepare Li for a major tournament with a $50,000 prize. Mr. Han also recruits California-based Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) to co-train Li in a blend of kung fu and karate. The connection between kung fu and karate is part of a refrain of “two branches/one tree” from the prologue—a clip with Macchio and his teacher, Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), snagged from The Karate Kid II. 

Director Jonathan Entwistle does little with Rob Lieber’s by-the-numbers screenplay. Events are presented, but with little conflict, as the film meanders toward its predictable conclusion. The film relies on sitcom jokes and obvious montages, saccharine encounters, and often trite, strained dialogue. Peripheral elements of Chinese culture are given short shrift. Themes of guilt and responsibility barely register and then are quickly dismissed. 

The most delightful moment is the brief tag in the final minutes—a tease of what the entire outing could have been. Legacy only manages to achieve a level of “fine” because of the assembled actors. The cast is pleasant, and the performances are uniformly more than acceptable. Wang channels a Michael J. Fox vibe, making him charismatic and easy to root for. His chemistry with the likable Stanley is believable. Jackson plays her father like a low-rent George Clooney, but not without a certain appeal. 

Wen tries to find dimension in the grieving mother but is given few colors to play with and saddled with pedestrian lines: “You practice violence; you get violence in return.” The screenplay gives Knight’s sadistic bad boy zero background and no definition, flattening any possible wrinkle to the story: He is a stock psychopath, set up to be knocked over like a villainous bowling pin. Wyatt Oleff’s geeky tutor, Alan, seems like an afterthought.

Macchio, as always, owns Daniel and tries to bring both depth and lightness to the flabby proceedings. Chan is absolutely charming as the kung fu school’s shifu (master), and he and Macchio have an easy give-and-take that is the film’s highlight. Chan’s comic timing and smooth delivery enhance the underwhelming film.

It would be unfair to say the franchise is tired. Cobra Kai reinvented The Karate Kid surprisingly and engagingly, elevating and even surpassing the original films in many ways. Sadly, the Legends experience is cotton candy—but not in the festive carnival of memory and nostalgia. Instead, Karate Kid: Legends is muted and overly sweet, lacking substance and, ultimately, unmemorable.

Rated PG-13, the film is now playing in local theaters.

Reviewed by Heidi Sutton

Through June 21, the fairest of them all and her seven friends will take up residence at Theatre Three in Port Jefferson for a musical retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. 

Written by Jeffrey Sanzel and Kevin F. Story with additional material by Jeffrey Hoffman and Douglas J. Quattrock, the show features all of the elements of the original Brothers Grimm fairy tale with the evil queen, the magic mirror, the seven dwarfs, the handsome prince, the poisoned apple and, of course, the enchanting Snow White.

Directed by Colleen Britt with choreography by Kiernan Urso, the show opens with the queen asking the Mirror for the umpteenth time who the fairest in the land is. When the Mirror replies Snow White, the queen summons Witch Yvonne to give her a makeover. When that goes horribly wrong, the jealous queen flies into a fit of rage and orders the Huntsman to take Snow White into the forest and dispose of her. 

Of course the Huntsman doesn’t have the heart to do that so he lets her escape. Snow White comes upon the cottage of the seven dwarfs and the adventure begins. 

Julia Rose Albino is perfectly cast as the sweet Snow White who infuriates the  queen, played to the hilt by Cassidy Rose O’Brien, because she “is sooooo nice!” Indeed, every time Snow White enters the room you hear birds sing — a nice touch.

Although the names are different, the dwarfs — played by Louisa Bikowski, Ginger Dalton, Steven Uihlein, Sophia DelCarmen, Kaitlyn Jehle, Yashaun Harris, and Ryan Van Nostrand — have the same personalities of the original Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy and Dopey. Special mention must be made of Bikowski as Iggy (aka Dopey) who can’t remember what happened three seconds ago, and Van Nostrand as Froggy (aka Doc) who has the patience of a saint.

Kyle Breitenbach is the handsome Prince who is on a quest to save a damsel in distress when he meets Snow White. The chemistry between Breitenbach and Albino is adorable to watch as they hide their identity from each other when they first meet, instead posing as Principal Marco Polo and Blanche Snowkowski.

The song and dance numbers, accompanied on keyboards by Douglas Quattrock and Jeffrey Hoffman, tie everything together. Albino’s rendition of “I Love It All” and O’Brien’s follow-up “I Hate It All” in the beginning of the show set up the storyline perfectly and Uihlein’s rendition of “I’ve Got Those ‘I’m-Just-a-Mirror-on-the-Wall’ Blues” is wonderfully executed. 

Breitenbach and VanNostrand’s duet, “Someone,” shows off some dance skills and Breitenbach and Albino’s duet “I Think I’m in Like With You” is absolutely charming. “Hand in Hand” by the entire company is the perfect finale.

Costumes by Jason Allyn are colorful and fun and wait until you see the incredible special effects! This fairy tale production is not to be missed. Meet the entire cast in the lobby after the show for a group photo.

Theatre Three, 412 Main St., Port Jefferson presents Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs through June 21. All seats are $12

Children’s theater continues with The Fantasmix: A Superhero Journey Begins! from July 11 to July 26 with a sensory friendly performance on July 13 at 11 a.m.; and The Frog Prince from Aug. 1 to Aug. 9. All seats are $15. 

For more information or to order, call 631-928-9100 or visit www.theatrethree.com.

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Photo by Peter Lanscombe/Theatre Three Productions, Inc.

PRINCESS TEA PARTY WITH SNOW WHITE!

Calling all little Princes and Princesses! Join Theatre Three, 412 Main St., Port Jefferson for a magical morning of fun at a Princess Tea Party with Snow White on Saturday, June 21 at Griswolds Cafe from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. immediately following the closing performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs! The royal event includes craft time, tea time with cookies from Curtain Call Confections, and a meet and greet with Snow White.

Tickets for the Princess Tea Party are $12. For more information or to order, call the box offie at 631-928-9100.

 

 

 

Reviewed by Julianne Mosher

“Who wants to see that?” is the second song performed in Theatre Three’s latest mainstage production of Half Time. Well, after you read this review, you’ll definitely want to see it, too. Celebrating its New York premiere, the show tells the story of a group of nine senior citizens who audition, and get into, a hip-hop dance troupe for a New Jersey basketball team. 

Based on a true story documented in the 2008 film, Gotta Dance written, directed and produced by Dori Berinstein, the 2015 stage adaptation premiered at Chicago’s Bank of America Theatre and retitled itself in 2018 for its East Coast premiere at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey. With a book by Chad Beguelin and Bob Martin, music by Matthew Sklar and Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Nell Benjamin, audiences of all ages will fall in love with the story and its characters.

Directed by Jeffrey Sanzel, the show starts off with the ensemble as the New Jersey Cougars (Julia Albino, Will Logan, Melina Piervencenti, Isabella Scarpa, Michelle Shapiro, Katy Snair and Ryan van Nostrand) — which was loosely based on the NJ Nets basketball team. They’re young, they’re hip and they can dance. But then, the group opens up to feature nine sassy seniors who tried out for the team’s latest publicity stunt — a dance troupe called “Nifty Shades of Grey.”

Marci Bing (Muriel), Lisa Greene (Joanne), Mary Ellin Kurtz (Estelle), Denise Lardi (Fran), Phyllis March (Mae), Linda May (Bea), Candace McCready (Dorothy), Nikki Sislian (Camilla) and Jack Seabury (Ron), each bring humor and immense talent to the stage.

The senior troupe is coached by another aged out dancer, Tara (Tina Ann Aurora), who was fired by her boss, Alison (Colleen Britt) for being too old. Alison is also behind this PR stunt. She thinks it’s a joke and wants to humiliate the group because who would want to see a bunch of old folks dance to hip-hop? Tara believes in them, though, and with the help of Jenny (Cassidy Rose O’Brien) and Kendra (Anna Moceri) of the young Cougarettes, they transform the group into sizzling seniors who can pop, lock and drop it. 

What’s also fun about the show is we learn the backstories of each dancer. May does a great job playing Bea, who’s also Kendra’s grandmother. She’s spunky and opinionated, especially when it comes to Kendra’s relationship with one of the star players, Anthony (Yashaun Harris). They talk about this power dynamic during their car rides and in the song, “Princess.”

The seniors become friends with the younger troupe, too, especially when they are all invited to Hell, the local nightclub. There, we learn that Dorothy has an alter ego, Dottie, who is a confident hip-hop star and idolizes legends like Tupac and Biggie Smalls. McCready does a fantastic job playing the shy kindergarten teacher who ends up being one of the best break dancers on the team. 

But to counteract Hell, the old folks invite the youngins to a sock hop the following week to show them how they used to dance. Ron, who’s the only male member of the team, shows off his skills in “The Prince of Swing” and how he used to attract all the ladies in his youth. This fun number shows off Seabury’s great dancing as he partners with everyone on stage to show off his moves. 

We also learn about Mae’s personal life. One of the older members of the team, her husband is terminally ill and in an emotionally beautiful song, “The Water’s Rise,” she leaves the audience with tears in their eyes by the end.

Adding to the list of swing, tap and hip-hop dancing, Camilla’s “Como No?” brings salsa to the stage. In this number, Sislian lights up the room in her tight red dress singing about her half-her-age lover in an anthem that reminds everyone that age is only a number.

Other highlights include the costume design from Jason Allyn who strategically kept the color scheme of red and black prominent throughout the whole show and the bare set by Randall Parsons that allowed the actors to get their groove on with nothing in the way.

The show impressively closes the theatre’s 54th mainstage season with jokes that will have you laughing from start to finish. For a half-time show, there is a whole lot of talent, so don’t miss this one.

Theatre Three, 412 Main St., Port Jefferson presents Half Time through June 22. Tickets are $40 adults, $32 seniors and students, $25 children ages 5 to 12, $25 Wednesday matinees. 

After a brief hiatus, Theatre Three kicks off their 55th season with the family favorite musical Annie from Sept. 13 to Oct. 19. For more information or to order, call 631-928-9100 or visit www.theatrethree.com.

From left, Lorraine Bracco, Talia Shire, Brenda Vaccaro and Vince Vaughn in a scene from 'Nonnas'. Photo by Jeong Park/Netflix

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

At Enoteca Maria we celebrate cultural diversity by serving cuisines from around the world, but we do it in the most uniquely authentic way possible. Real grandmothers from every country across the globe are invited and hired as chefs to cook the recipes handed down to them that they cook at home for their families, that make up the fabric of the culture they were born and raised in. We aspire to build cultural connections through the universal language of cooking […].

Culture is a resource worth preserving. After all a tree can’t grow and change without its roots. 

— from the Enoteca Maria website

In Nonnas, Netflix offers a highly fictionalized but loving celebration of Joe Scravella’s Staten Island restaurant, Enoteca Maria. Novelist-turned filmmaker Stephen Chboksy leaves his edge behind in directing Liz Maccie’s by-the-numbers screenplay and presents a heartfelt but wholly predictable salute to family and food.

The film opens with young Joe (Theodore Helm) and a Sunday dinner in Brooklyn, watching his mother and grandmother in the kitchen, while the extended clan eats, sings, and dances in the living room. Observing his grandmother add ingredients to the sauce pot, the boy asks, “How do you know how much to use?” His grandmother responds: “You feel it in your heart. You put in your heart.” The rest of Nonnas’ two hours fall along the same line in simplicity and intent.

The story fast forwards several decades. The grown Joe (Vince Vaughn) has lost his mother to cancer. Saddened and more than a little broken, he stares into the emptiness stretching before him. After some emotional struggle, he uses the two hundred thousand dollars inherited from his mother’s insurance policy to open a restaurant to honor her memory. His concept is simple: he will hire “nonnas” (Italian grandmothers) as chefs.

He first recruits his mother’s best friend, the irascible Roberta (Lorraine Bracco). He then runs an ad in Craig’s List, garnering a “retired” nun, Teresa (Talia Shire), and Antonella (Brenda Vaccaro), the neighbor of Joe’s high school prom date, Olivia (Linda Cardellini). His mother’s hairdresser, Gia (Susan Sarandon), rounds out the staff, serving as pastry chef. His childhood friend, Bruno, with a touch of strong-arming from Bruno’s wife, Stella (Drea de Matteo), reluctantly serves as contractor. 

Nonnas follows this rag-tag crew as they benignly bicker and quickly join forces to open the restaurant. They face predictable challenges—code issues, building violations, a kitchen fire (from an incinerated sheep’s head used for Capuzzelle), opening in a thunderstorm to no business, a snobbish food critic (Campbell Scott), etc. The problem is that the hurdles feel artificial; therefore, nothing plays on two levels—whether grief or goals. No point is allowed to simmer; everything must come to an immediate boil, then taken off the stove. There is a brief food fight, a makeover montage, and a vague drinking scene with personal revelations, but no surprises.

The dialogue is a string of clichés and aphorisms: “The tomato is the heart of your dish. If you don’t have heart, you don’t have nothin’.” “You make the food. People eat the food. You make people happy.” “Food is love.” “Age is not a disease.” And, stated more than once, “One does not grow old at the table.” 

Vince Vaughn is not plumbing any depths; his performance falls into his long line of likable everymen. But his wide-eyed charm and easy earnestness hold center. The same is true of the entire cast. The quartet of kitchen cooks play to type but are delightful as they do so. Cardellini’s widow is just the right romance-light that Joe—and the story—needs. Everyone seems to be in on the celebration and having a terrific time. 

While Nonnas could easily be accused of overly sentimental (tipping occasionally into saccharine), its genuine sincerity comes through. The combination of food-porn-with-a-point and making the family you need synthesize in this Italian Valentine. Borrowing from another culture’s cuisine, Nonnas is pure schmaltz.

Enoteca Maria opened in 2007 and, unlike as portrayed in its cinematic counterpart, was an immediate success and continues to thrive. If Nonnas is not quite art, it cannot help being a boon for the restaurant and its mission.

Rated PG, the film is now streaming on Netflix.

See trailer here.

 

The cast of 'Miss Austen'. Photo courtesy of PBS

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

The following is based on viewing Part One of Masterpiece’s presentation of ‘Miss Austen.’

Jane Austen’s correspondence was vast, with an estimation of her penning thousands of letters: Only 160 remain. For reasons unknown, years after Austen’s death, her sister, Cassandra, burned the bulk of Jane’s letters.

Gill Hornby’s intriguing and entertaining Miss Austen: A Novel of the Austen Sisters (2020) speculates why. Hornby’s fictional explanation captures Jane Austen’s style, tone, and diction, with Hornby remarkably echoing Austen’s sly wit and keen observations. Hornby’s book could be seen as a seventh novel in Austen’s sadly small canon. 

A scene from ‘Miss Austen.’ Photo courtesy of PBS

Played in two timelines, the story follows the older Cassandra, in 1830, traveling to Kintbury on the pretext of helping Isabella Fowle, who is mourning her father’s death. However, Cassandra’s true motivation is retrieving the letters written by Jane and herself to Eliza Fowle, Isabella’s mother. Hornby uses Cassandra’s discovery and reading of the cache to flashback to the late 18th and early 19th century. 

In the teleplay, Andrea Gibb puts Isabella’s father, Reverend Fowle, on his deathbed (flickering candles and soft focus), imparting Cassandra a dying wish for Isabella. In this moment, the series sets itself at odds with the source—darker and leaning into the drama (or even melodrama)—rather than the edgier, droller, but more inspired world of the novel. Both touch on the themes of women in society, family obligations, and the pressure for marriage and children. But the approaches are distinctly different, with Gibb’s version trodding heavily, highlighting the romantic elements. The teleplay’s tone (and Aisling Walsh’s direction) departs from Hornby, and in essence, Austen: the author’s brilliance was balancing heartbreak with humor, satire with a sense of humanity. Lacking these vital elements, the filmed version seems bleached and untextured. 

Keeley Hawes is particularly effective as the older Cassandra, conveying thought with subtlety and presenting the older Austen sister as a woman missing nothing but keeping her own counsel. Synnøve Karlsen easily matches her as the young Cassandra, giving an equally rich performance. Patsy Ferran makes Jane quirky and likable and easily drops the few bon mots expected of the witty writer. However, along with Madeline Walker’s pleasant Eliza Fowle, the relationships feel more Little Women than Mansfield Park. 

Rose Leslie’s Isabella is lovely if reinvented as a more traditional heroine. Jessica Hynes’ waspish sister-in-law, Mary, is more ominous than necessary due less to her choice than the approach to her plotline. The same is true of the always wonderful Phyllis Logan, who plays matriarch Mrs. Austen. The book’s Mrs. Austen possesses more than a few shades of Mrs. Bennett; instead, she is given a less colorful portrait to create. Mirren Mack, in her brief appearance, manages the right blend of “respectful impudence” as the Fowles’ maid, Dinah. As for the men, they do little but respond or spout platitudes. 

Ultimately, the major point is legacy. When clergyman Mr. Dundas (Thomas Coombes, in a delightfully wicked cameo suggesting Pride and Prejudice’s unctuous Mr. Collins) suggests to Cassandra that the world is lacking a definitive biography so the public could know the real Jane Austen, she rebukes him. “Everything one needs to know about Jane Austen is to be found in the pages of her novels. There is nothing more.” In essence, this is the thesis. Jane’s life should be defined only by what she offered the public, and her private life and thoughts should remain just that—private. 

Miss Austen offers an interesting—if fictional—glimpse into one of the great literary figures of all time. That said, it is clearly the old saw: “The book was better.” 

The four-part series streams Sundays on PBS.org through May 18.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

The prolific Ellen Meister’s tenth novel, Joyride, offers a fascinating portrait of the (almost) unflagging optimist Joybird Martin, whose desire to help leads her to create a hybrid of Uber and life coaching. The unique premise—and Joybird’s dream—is more than a gimmick. Her genuine drive to heal is a passion rooted in her history. 

Author Ellen Meister

Joybird’s parents divorced when she was a child. Her father, Sid, moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a television writer, and she remained in Brooklyn with her mother. When she was eight, her mother died, and Joybird spent a short time living with Sid on the West Coast. After the cancellation of his television show, he and Joybird relocated to his family home in Connecticut. With a career turnaround, he moved back to L.A., leaving her with her maternal grandparents in Queens, where she remained until she left for college. After his third marriage collapsed, he failed to keep in touch.

When Joyride opens, Joybird is thirty-one and living alone in Brooklyn. Due to an implied #MeToo incident, Sid shows up jobless and homeless. Simultaneously abrasive and hyper-sensitive, Sid devolved into a perpetual victim, incapable of self-care. He has moments of acerbic reflection—“like most barbarians, I have strong opinions”—but remains a work in progress.

Like her pale-blue Honda Accord, Joybird is “earnest and dependable.” She is easily judged by her perpetually upbeat outlook. “People underestimate[ed] her because of her cheerfulness. But it was her philosophy that you don’t have to be stupid to be happy.” Her father lives in direct contrast. “Sid Marcus had been quick to feel victimized, insisting that life dealt him a crappy hand, skimming the best cards for someone else.” His long-rooted cynicism dates to his earliest days in Hollywood: privileged Connecticut-born John Martin changed his name to Sid Marcus because he felt it was the only way he could get ahead in the entertainment industry.

Equity analyst Devon Cato, an Uber rider, inspires Joybird to embark on a mobile office. He quickly becomes smitten with her, creating a romantic triangle with a Bohemian poet, Noah Pearlman. The contrast between Cato and Pearlman is not as simple as it initially appears, and Meister wisely lets the dueling relationships unfold throughout the narrative.

Among her clients are the catfished Althea and the fifteen-year-old Riley, the latter struggling with indifferent parents and teenage angst. Again, Meister chooses not to shy away from easy roads or facile solutions. Guiding Joybird as a voice of reason is the upstairs neighbor, the youthful septuagenarian Betty, whose perfume “was an old-fashioned scent that made Joybird think of movies from the 1970s and big hoop earrings.” Betty functions as a friend and mother figure, advising the impossibility of always making people happy: “That’s a burden no one should have to carry.” The simple statement resonates deeply as Joybird’s newfound career presents unexpected landmines.

Meister weaves Joybird’s efforts to reunite Sid with his high school crush and her own romantic challenges, along with the trials of her clients. She writes with the ease and brightness of Armistead Maupin, giving her New York and its boroughs a vibrant energy. Her characters are not standard “quirky” but richly detailed and fully realized. 

Like with her protagonist in Take My Husband (who settles her nerves with an initials word game), Meister fleshes out Joyride’s ensemble with textured, believable personalities. Whether describing the dress of one of Sid’s wealthy clients—“indigo jeans with cognac-colored loafers and no socks”—or the fragrance of a dissipated cologne that leaves Joybird with a “lingering undertone of regret”—Meister possesses an evocative, visceral sense of detail. 

Just as in her outstanding Farewell, Dorothy Parker, Meister writes with wit and warmth, creating complex characters whose ability to change is through a combination of adversity, choice, and personal reflection.  

Ultimately, Joyride addresses a world where one must navigate between support and exploitation. 

“Joybird knew exactly why she hadn’t seen it — her sunny faith in people sometimes blinded her to bad behavior. But she shrugged it off as a small price to pay for the privilege of living her life in the bright, white light of optimism.” Ellen Meister’s Joyride is an engaging, brisk, humorous, and satisfying journey of a person who genuinely believes “we all deserve a chance to become our best selves.” 

Pick up a copy of Joyride at your local bookseller or online at www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com. For more information, visit ellenmeister.com.

Actor Laura Dern, center, with 'Common Ground' directors Rebecca Harrell Tickell and Josh Tickell.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

According to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, regenerative agriculture “describes holistic farming systems that, among other benefits, improve water and air quality, enhance ecosystem biodiversity, produce nutrient-dense food, and store carbon to help mitigate the effects of climate change. These farm systems are designed to work in harmony with nature, while also maintaining and improving economic viability.” Regenerative agriculture includes practices like no-tillage, planting cover crops, reducing chemical use, and planned grazing. 

In 2017, Josh Tickell published Kiss the Ground: How the Food You Eat Can Reverse Climate Change, Heal Your Body, & Ultimately Save Our World. The book purports that climate change is reversible through changing diets based on harvests from soil-nourishing, regenerative agriculture. 

Tickell (along with Rebecca Harrell Tickell) produced and directed the documentary Kiss the Ground (2020), which explored the issues raised in the book. The film shares interviews with farmers, scientists, and environmentalists. The focus is the power of healthy soil and its healing powers for humanity and the earth as a whole. Narrated by Woody Harrelson, the film features the well-known {model/ U.N. Good Will Ambassador Gisele Bünchden, NFL quarterback Tom Brady, etc.) along with authors and environmentalists. Kiss the Ground was lauded for its good intentions but received criticism for an often simplistic approach to the solution, especially concerning climate change. 

The follow-up, Common Ground, which launched globally on Amazon Prime on April 22 in honor of Earth Day, covers some of the same territory, with a spotlight on preservation of the soil. Again, central is the importance of properly cultivating the soil through regenerative agriculture. 

Common Ground opens with a letter “written” by various celebrities. Each is presented with a sonorous voiceover steeped in gravitas. The letter ends with, “It’s a matter of life and death.” If the information presented in Common Ground is even twenty percent accurate, this dark statement is harbinger of long-term and perhaps irrevocable damage. The film begins with a detailed explanation of regenerative agriculture, comparing it to the other less environmentally-friendly approaches. 

The film is most interesting and effective when it addresses agribusiness issues driving the market. Following the money trail exposes the private sector’s influences on government and education, with money filtered through land grant universities. Larger corporations have suppressed scientists and pressured the USDA, influencing the Farm Bill and driving subsidies into soy, wheat, and corn—all commodity crops. Agribusiness possesses the largest lobbying industry with twenty-three registered lobbyists for every member of Congress.

An exploration of the rise of industrial farming in post-World War II highlights the uses of chemicals in the forms of pesticides and toxic herbicides, labeled “the Green Revolution.” Most notably, Monsanto Company’s glyphosate product, Roundup, led to the 1980s genetically engineered crops—“ready grains”—that could resist Roundup. Gradually, revelations held Roundup responsible for damaging the health of thousands, leading to multiple successful lawsuits. (Monsanto sold the company to the German Bayer AG for sixty-three billion dollars.)

Common Ground gives a bleak picture of the small farmer who lives in hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. The Farm Bill Cycle of Debt is a cyclical trap of the system dictating what (and how) to grow, boosting corporate profits, consumer illness, and farmers’ debt. Suicide rates among farmers are five times higher than the general population. Additionally, Common Ground touches on the racial disparity in farming, with the system showing an overwhelmingly biased preference towards white people. The discriminatory nature of the industry has only increased over the years.

While the film emphasizes much of the negative, it celebrates those who have succeeded in abandoning industrial farming. The alternatives are shown to have health and economic benefits—all linked back to regenerative agriculture.

The tone and style—and much of the documentary—shift from dark shadows to pastoral sunshine to peripatetic imagery. At times, Common Ground feels like clumsy public service announcements; at other points, it plays with the jarring cuts of a music video, with blaring, on-the-nose lyrics. The “behind the scenes” look at the stars — Laura Dern, Jason Momoa, Woody Harrelson, Ian Somerhalder, Donald Glover, Rosario Dawson, and many others recording their narratives is oddly and ineffectively “meta.” But Common Ground is well-paced and presents a clear path to transformation. 

Documentaries habitually select their focus as the greatest existential threat. Whether AI, plastics, water pollution, corporate manipulation, or conspicuous consumption, each sees its topic as the direst and the most important to be solved. Many point to the destruction of the environment, but each selects a different “demon” as the most dangerous. Common Ground is no different in this respect, and therefore, even in its specificity, it lands as a generic call-to-arms (or farms, as the case may be).

“The quality of what you eat determines the quality of your health. And a living soil is where it all begins.” While it might not convert the doubters, Common Ground is another reminder that through commitment and collaboration, environmental change is possible. 

The documentary is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

On April 27, Theatre Three, in collaboration with the Greater Port Jefferson Arts Council, held a screening of Gotta Dance, the documentary which is the basis of their upcoming production Half Time The Musical, in its New York premiere. The evening opened with the cast of Half Time  presenting “A Number,” the opening of the show. Following the documentary, Artistic Director Jeffrey Sanzel led a talkback with the documentary’s producer/director Dori Berinstein.

From the creators of The Wedding Singer, The Drowsy Chaperone, The Prom and Legally Blonde, Half Time is based on the incredible true story of ten determined dreamers who audition to dance at halftime for a major basketball team. They have three things in common: they love to dance, they have something to prove, and they are all over 60 years old! Only after making the cut, do they learn they won’t be dancing tap, salsa or swing – instead they will bring down the house with hip-hop!

Theatre Three, 412 Main St., Port Jefferson presents Half Time on the Mainstage from May 24 to June 22. Tickets are $40 adults, $32 seniors and students, $25 Wednesday matinees and children ages 5 to 12. To order, call 631-928-9100 or visit www.theatrethree.com.

By Julianne Mosher

SomeBUNNY should go see the most perfect springtime show now playing at Port Jefferson’s Theatre Three right away. The Adventures of Peter Rabbit might be geared for kids, but audiences of all ages will smile from ear to ear by the end of the hour-long show. 

Written by Jeffrey Sanzel and Brent Erlanson, the musical opened last week during Spring Break and will run through May 10. With original music by Kevin F. Story, the musical is based loosely on the beloved characters from The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.

The show starts off in the cute and cozy cottage home of Mrs. Rabbit (Elizabeth Ladd) and her three adorable bunnies — Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-Tail (Cassidy Rose O’Brien, Julia Rose Albino and Katy Snair). There is, however, a fourth bunny, Peter (Ryan Worrell), who is a bit of a troublemaker, especially if he gets together with his cousin Benjamin Bunny (Ryan Van Nostrand). 

The two boys can’t stay away from the next door farm of Mr. and Mrs. McGregor’s garden (Louisa Bikowski and Liam Marsigliano), which is full of all of their favorite veggies to eat (or steal). Soon enough, Mr. McGregor, who’s “a meanie with a temper like a bear,” spies Peter and Benjamin sneaking tastes of lettuce, cucumbers and carrots and begins to plot his revenge. 

Interactive and exciting for the little ones in the crowd, there is always something to look at. For example, you may see Peter, his three sisters and their cousin run through the aisles, take a seat in the audience and even chat with you throughout the show. 

Colleen Britt directs a small cast of eight, but with a large level of talent. Worrell and Van Nostrand shine in the comedic roles of Peter and Benjamin. O’Brien, Albino and Snair are great additions with their timely, goody-two-shoes one liners and, of course, Mrs. Rabbit is equally as lovable. And even though they’re the antagonists as the farmers, you’ll still have a soft spot for Bikowski and Marsigliano, too. 

Plus, all of the songs and dances, with special mention to “Run Peter Run” and “Peter’s Socks,” are charming with Douglas J. Quattrock and Jeffrey Hoffman on the keyboards. The final number incorporates all of the songs in a super mega-mix extravaganza.

Costumes by Jason Allyn, from the bunnies’ spring dresses in pink, purple, green and red to their bunny ears and tails, are the carrots on the cake. And wait until you see the lighting and special effects!

Souvenir bunnies in various colors will be sold before the show and during intermission and the entire cast will be in the lobby after the show for a meet-and-greet and photos.

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Theatre Three, 412 Main St. Port Jefferson presents The Adventures of Peter Rabbit at 11 a.m. on April 26, April 27 (sensory-friendly performance), May 3 and May 10. Children’s theater continues with Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs from May 13 to June 21. All seats are $12. To order, call 631-928-9100 or visit www.theatrethree.com.