B'way Update: Schmigadoon

The cast of TV's Schmigadoon.
Credit: Apple TV

Schmigadoon, the musical based on the spoofy Apple TV original series satirizing the Golden Age of Broadway musicals, is coming to its natural home, Broadway.  After a successful run at the Kennedy Center (before it became the Trump Palace of Low Culture), the musical will begin previews at the Nederlander Theater on April 4 with an opening set for April 20 for a limited run until Sept 6.  

Featuring a book and Emmy-winning score score by Cinco Paul (Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets), Schmigadoon follows a married couple trapped in the title magical town, where the residents burst into song at the drop of a hat. 

“Schmigadoon is a love letter to the Golden Age of movie musicals,” said producer Lorne Michaels. “It’s a little bit nostalgic and a lot of fun. We’re very excited to bring it to Broadway.” Casting and creative team will be announced at a later date.

B'way Review: Punch

Will Harrison (center) in Punch.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

It’s going to be very difficult to resist writing the obvious praise for Punch, James Graham’s hard-hitting British import presented by Manhattan Theater Club in association with Nottingham Playhouse on Broadway. Yes, it’s a haymaker, it’s a gut-punch, it will send you reeling and stunned out of the theater. But these accolades seem like hollow cliches compared to the visceral, emotionally rending experience of this show.

Based on Right from Wrong, the memoir written by Jacob Dunne the main real-life character in the play, Punch centers on the life-changing impact that a single blow struck in blind, unreasoning rage can have. Jacob (Will Harrison in a career-making Broadway debut) is an angry, working-class young man in England’s suffocating public housing jungle. During a marathon pub crawl, he punches a random stranger which results in a smashed skull, brain bleeding, and death. In cinematic terms, playwright Graham (who previously expertly covered Rupert Murdoch’s domination of the scandal press in Ink) and director Adam Penford explore the ramifications of the harrowing incident, both from Jacob’s point of view and that of Joan and David, the devastated parents of the victim (Victoria Clark and Sam Robards in heartbreaking, multilayered performances).

B'way Review: Waiting for Godot

Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves in
Waiting for Godot.
Credit: Andy Henderson

The biggest box-office hit of the new, startlingly sparse Broadway fall season is, surprisingly, a revival of Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett’s classic comedy-drama of existential despair. Well, maybe, it shouldn’t be such as a surprise since the production marks the reunion of Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, co-stars of three popular Bill & Ted film comedies, and the Broadway debut of Reeves (Winter appeared as a child actor in The King and I and Peter Pan.) In addition, this weighty work on the question of man’s purpose in the universe has been marketed as a Seinfeld-like comedy about nothing, and the director is white-hot Jamie Lloyd whose Sunset Boulevard, Romeo & Juliet, and A Doll’s House have been innovative and controversial. 

Is this Godot worth the wait and the hype? It depends on your expectations. If you want to see two of your favorite film stars recreating their goofy screen antics, you may be disappointed. If you are familiar with Beckett’s text and are anticipating a deep examination of why we are here with some slapstick thrown in, you will be somewhat satisfied. Lloyd’s production is clever and well-paced, mounting the challenges of Beckett’s difficult script, wherein, yes, very little happens. But his two leads Reeves and Winter fail to fully flesh out the iconic tramps Estragon and Vladimir who seek to find meaning in the futile task of waiting for the enigmatic Godot. Brandon J. Dirden as the pompous wayfarer Pozzo who briefly interrupts their vigil, is much more vibrant, so much so that this revival would be better named Waiting for Pozzo.  

Batman Humor I Did Not Get as a Child

George Sanders as Mr. Freeze #1

Batman (1966-8) was my favorite TV series when I was a kid. But I thought it was a serious action-adventure thriller. Turns out it was a campy spoof. In rewatching several episodes, I've discovered so many jokes and pop culture references that went over my head.

Instant Freeze/Rats Like Cheese--In the cliffhanger, the Dynamic Duo are frozen solid by the cool, cruel Mr. Freeze (George Sanders, one of the few Oscar winners to play a Special Guest Villain, and the first of three actors to play this role on the series). The second segment starts with Batman and Robin in a "de-icing chamber" where the temperature must be raised slowly to save them. The delicate operation is performed by a doctor referred to by Chief O'Hara as Vince who over-emotes. I now know this was a reference to the highly dramatic Vince Edwards who played the lead on Ben Casey, a popular medical drama which was just finishing a five-season run.

The Bookworm Turns--Jerry Lewis pops out of a window as Batman and Robin are scaling an abandoned factory. What is Jerry Lewis doing living in a factory? 

The Clock King's Crazy Crimes--In yet another window cameo, Sammy Davis, Jr. appears in yet another abandoned factory. But unlike Jerry Lewis, he at least has an explanation for being there--he's rehearsing his act and begins "Birth of the Blues" as he closes his window. A rehearsal studio in a closed-down factory that makes watches? (Clock King's hideout). Also in the episode Batman and Robin go on a wild goose chase seeking a female accomplice of Clock King--Thelma Timepiece--at a drive-in where they munch on Bat-burgers. 

The Dynamic Duo with Samantha's Dad

The Puzzles Are Coming/The Duo Is Slumming--This time the window cameo made a bit more sense. The Dynamic Duo are scaling an apartment building rather than an abandoned factory, so it makes sense someone would pop out of a window to see what weirdoes were climbing up their building. But it's Santa Claus (the episode aired on Dec. 22, 1966) played by an uncredited Andy Devine, veteran comic actor who appeared in everything from John Wayne films like Stagecoach to Jack Benny's radio show. Santa promises to bring the caped crusaders a present if they'll reveal the location of the Batcave. Adam West looks right at the camera and says, "If you can't trust Santa, how can you trust" and then promises to call St. Nick at the North Pole with the secret spot. 

Also in this episode the villain was the Puzzler, played by Maurice Evans, best known at the time for playing Samantha's father on Bewitched. But he was a Shakespearean actor (winning an Emmy for playing Macbeth opposite Dame Judith Anderson) and he constantly quoted the Bard. Now at least I recognize the quotes. This was originally going to be a Riddler episode, but Frank Gorshin was tired of playing the role, so they rewrote his part as the Puzzler. How ironic this great British stage star is remembered for his appearances on American TV sitcoms and as Dr. Zaius on Planet of the Apes.

Book Review: Someone Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory

(Bought at the Strand Bookstore): A funny, imaginative collection of short fiction from the creator of the Netflix series Bojack Horseman which I really should go back to (I finished the first season and part of the second). These pieces artfully combine fantasy with realistic love stories. A rock group gains superpowers when they consume alcohol. A couple's wedding is disrupted when they balk at sacrificing goats (a satire of what I call the wedding-industrial complex when the rituals are more important than the marriage). A presidential-themed amusement park is the site of genetic experimentation and doomed romance. A break-up story told from the boyfriend's dog's POV. There are also non-fantasy stories with ingenious twists. A woman sees her family life re-enacted on an Off-Off-Broadway stage. A paralegal deals with the aftermath of an office affair. All are witty and moving.

Off-B'way Reviews: Saturday Church; House of McQueen; Jamie Allan's Amaze!

J. Harrison Ghee and Bryson Battle in
Saturday Church.
Credit: Marc J. Franklin

While it feels a bit like an Afterschool TV Special, Saturday Church, the new Off-Broadway musical celebrating LGBTQ youth, is fun, infectious, and lively, and could very well follow the path of Rent, another New York Theater Workshop production, and make a Broadway transfer. The story is achingly familiar, but there is so much joy here, the predicability of the plot really doesn’t matter.

Based on the 2017 independent film with a cliched but compassionate book by the film’s screenwriter Damon Cardasis and Pulitzer Prize winner James Ijames (Fat Ham), Saturday Church employs the tried and true trope of an alienated outsider kid finding self-acceptance and community and delivers enough zest and zip to overcome its flaws. African-American teen Ulysses (a vibrant Bryson Battle) longs to join his church choir, but his starchy Aunt Rose (intense Joaquina Kalukango) forbids it, claiming his flamboyant mannerisms are “too much” for the congregation. At home, Ulysses is dealing with the recent death of his loving dad and the frequent absence of his hard-working mom Amara (tender, conflicted Kristolyn Lloyd), struggling to make ends meet as a nurse. 

In a parallel story, Ebony (a sizzling and buoyant B Noel Thomas) is grieving the suicide of her friend Sasha and feeling overwhelmed as the organizer of Saturday Church, a weekly gathering for trans and gay youth who are experiencing little if any family support. Serving as a sort of supernatural narrator is Black Jesus (played with sparkling panache by J. Harrison Ghee), a fabulous non-binary deity figure. In a clever case of double casting, Ghee also plays the conservative pastor of Ulysses’ church. Ghee was so convincing in both roles, I didn’t realize it was the same performer until the intermission when I checked the program.

B'way Update: Let the Good Times Roll

Scott Davidson, Carmiña Monserrat, Tre Moore,
Miciah Lathan, and Gina Guarino in 
Let The Good Times Roll: A New Orleans Gumbo 
Credit: Billy Hardiman

After a run at the Phoenix Theater Company in Arizona this past summer, Let the Good Times Roll: A New Orleans Gumbo, will transfer to Broadway during the 2026-27 season. Conceived and written by Jack Viertel, the jukebox musical employs songs associated with the Louisiana city and such artists as Bessie Smith, Harry Connick, Jr., Dr. John, Randy Newman, and others. Six characters tell their stories and that of the city itself from the Great Flood of 1927 to Hurricane Katrina. Sara Edwards directs and choreographs. Music supervisor Sonny Paladino is responsible for the arrangements and orchestrations. 

“It was hugely satisfying to be given the opportunity to do this world premiere with the great folks at The Phoenix Theatre, and with Sara and Sonny. The results were beyond anything I could have imagined,” said Viertel in a statement. "We set out to create a joy machine, a human story and a piece where New Orleans itself would become a principal character. But the amount of joy the audience took from it every night was no doubt the best part of all. I’m excited and thrilled that we are moving on to New York and look forward to getting back in a rehearsal room full of wonderful people.”

Book Review: Rehab: An American Scandal

(Ordered from Amazon) "In America's uniquely profit-driven healthcare system, unethical business practices thrive," writes investigative journalist Shosahna Walter in her piercing new book Rehab: An American Scandal. The opioid crisis was depicted in two TV mini-series and Walter covers the aftermath. As a result of the tidal wave of addiction, rehabilitation entrepreneurs cashed in, but their facilities had very little, if any, regulation. As a result, too many clients relapsed or even died due to inappropriate treatment or lack of supervision. Walter focuses on four individuals caught in the web of the rehab industry. Chris is trapped in a rehab which farms out its patients as essentially slave labor for profit. April is caught in an endless cycle of drugs, prostitution and homelessness (This section hit me hard because April finds herself in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia where my dad grew up in the 1930s, but which is now the most notorious drug and crime-infested section of the City of Brotherly Love.) Wendy has lost a son in one of the rehab centers and crusades to bring the owners to justice, even to the point of getting herself arrested. Dr. Larry, a recovering alcoholic, runs a rehab facility and runs afoul of federal agencies. It's a compelling and heartbreaking study.

B'way Review: Art

James Corden, Neil Patrick Harris,
and Bobby Cannavale in Art.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

On our way out of the Music Box Theater where the revival of Yasmina Reza’s Art is currently playing, my female theatergoing companion remarked, “It was very funny, but men don’t really talk to each other that way. They don’t discuss their feelings so much.”

“But these are French men, not Americans,” I replied. “Ooooh,” she said. My friend may have correct in her assessment. The comedy in Reza’s easy, tightly-constructed wind-up toy of a play derives from the rapid-fire interchanges between a trio of longtime pals and the conflicting emotions which arise from the purchase of a ludicrously expensive, seemingly meaningless painting by one of them. Their initial reactions of wounded pride on the part of the purchaser and shock and bewilderment from the other two soon give way to long-buried resentments and everyone’s entrails are metaphorically spilled all over the stage. American males usually keep their guts and feelings safely bottled up (maybe Europeans are generally more expressive), and that’s what makes the play so funny: seeing the characters test the limits of their friendship and letting their emotions explode after holding them down for a hour before the final 30 minutes. The play doesn’t have anything particularly insightful to say about art or elitist culture itself, but this slick, sleek, well-polished production is a pleasurable diversion.

Reza’s sharp and amusing play in Christopher Hampton’s idiomatic and highly accessible English translation is given a fast, shiny staging by Scott Ellis and provides a rigorous acting workout for its three stars, Bobby Cannavale, James Corden and Neil Patrick Harris. After smash-hit runs in Paris and London, Art opened on Broadway in 1998, winning the Tony Award for Best Play and running 600 performances, a respectable run for a non-musical. The slim play is not quite as deep or daring as Reza’s other Tony-winning work God of Carnage which borrows a bit from Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? But Art is riotously funny, puts across a few noncontroversial positions about art (it’s all in the eye of the beholder), and will keep you amused for an hour and a half.

Off-B'way Review: Galas

Carmelita Tropicana and 
Anthony Roth Costanzo in Galas.
Credit: Nina Westervelt

The worlds of camp and opera collide deliriously in the revival of Charles Ludlam’s 1983 Galas in a spectacularly silly outdoor production at Little Island directed with fizzy abandon by Eric Ting and starring the magnificent countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo. Ludlam’s spoof of bio pics and grand opera profiles a larger-than-life diva not unlike the legendary Maria Callas. The playwright-drag artist assumed the role when it was first presented with his Ridiculous Theatrical Company. In a stroke of casting genius, Costanzo not only transforms himself into the demanding bitch goddess parody of the iconic prima donna but he also delivers several dazzling, spot-on renditions of arias from Callas’ repertoire (Costanzo is credited with “Additional Music Selections” and kudos to Tei Bow’s excellent, resonant sound design).

Callas is a natural choice for a drag artist. She was imposing, demanding and led an offstage life as outsized as any of the tragic heroines she portrayed. She battled with the establishment at Milan’s La Scala, left her devoted husband for the millionaire Aristotle Onassis only to be dumped in favor of the recently widowed Jacqueline Kennedy, and commanded loyalty from a legion of fans who acclaimed her as the greatest opera singer of all time. Who could resist such a role?

Anthony Roth Costanzo in Galas.
Credit: Nina Westervelt

Costanzo bites into Galas with relish and abandon. He attacks the part without restraint both musically and dramatically. Ludlam’s goofy script is loaded with excess and Costanzo goes whole hog. He manages to create a glorious monster, but also a believable woman. Here is the incarnate, egotistical star who declares, “I don’t love music. I am music.” Costanzo captures Galas’ vulnerable side as well. After her voice and her lovers have deserted her, she stands alone in the midst of Mimi Lein’s suggestively opulent set. Costanzo slowly removes Jackson Weiderhoeft’s tasteful dressing gown and even Amanda Miller’s perfectly coiffed wig to stand semi-naked, exposing her battered soul beneath the make-up and artistry. 

B'way Update: John Lithgow in Giant

John Lithgow and Romola Garai
in Giant in London.
Credit: Manuel Harlan

Tony, Olivier and Emmy winner John Lithgow will return to Broadway for the first time since 2019 in Giant, the play by Mark Rosenblatt in which he starred in London's Royal Court and then the West End. Previews begin March 11, 2026, at a Shubert theater TBA for a limited 16-week run. Lithgow won an Olivier Award for playing author Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) facing a confrontation with his publishers for penning an allegedly anti-Semitic article. The 1983 article voiced Dahl's denunciation of Israel and support for Palestinians during the 1982 Lebanon War. Tony winner Nicholas Hytner directs and Bob Crowley repeats his London designs. The reminder of the cast will be announced at a later date.

"My debut play GIANT was written on spec in my kitchen with no assurance it would ever get produced at all,” said playwright Mark Rosenblatt. “So, to have it premiere at London’s mighty Royal Court Theatre before transferring to the West End was truly life-changing. And now, to open on Broadway, led again by the peerless John Lithgow, is truly the stuff of dreams - I can’t wait to share GIANT and Nick Hytner’s exceptional production with New York audiences.”

 "Being a part of GIANT from its inception has been the most challenging and exciting stage experience of my career,” said John Lithgow. “I play the central character of Roald Dahl, a man of dizzying complexity, on a day of crisis in his life. The story takes place forty years ago, but it resonates powerfully with events of our present day. No play I’ve ever been in has had such an impact on audiences. I am so proud and honored to play this part."

Off-Broadway Review: The Wild Duck

Alexander Hurt and Nick Westrate in
The Wild Duck.
Credit: Gerry Goodstein

The Wild Duck (1884) is the red-headed step-child among Henrik Ibsen’s classic plays. It seems every time a high-powered actress best known for her film or TV work wants to establish her stage chops, we get a fresh production of A Doll’s House or Hedda Gabler, or sometimes Ghosts. In fact, Duck has not flown over Broadway since 1967 when it was part of Ellis Rabb’s legendary APA repertory. This is probably because Duck is an ensemble work while the previously mentioned Ibsen dramas provide Tony-bait female star-vehicle opportunities. (I’ve only previously seen Duck in a BBC TV staging.) This is a shame because the play is a shattering naturalistic depiction of the effects of illusion on a downtrodden family, prefiguring American treatments on the subject such as Miller’s Death of a Salesman and O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh. Ibsen displays compassion for the Ekdal household which manages to struggle decently along despite deeply hidden secrets and deceptions. The most destructive character of the piece turns out to be a well-intentioned, but misguided idealist whose insistence on exposing the family’s hidden truths leads to tragic consequences.

Maaike Laanstra-Corn, David Patrick Kelly,
Nick Westrate, Melania Field and 
Alexander Hurt in The Wild Duck. Credit:
Gerry Goodstein

Simon Godwin’s staging in a co-production from Theater for a New Audience and Washington DC’s Shakespeare Theater Company (where Godwin is artistic director), is a refreshing and intense take on this neglected classic, which strikes the perfect balance between humor and pathos. There are no high-tech concepts or gimmicks in the staging which, along with first-class acting, humanizes all of the characters. There are no villains or heroes here, just flawed, earnest human beings trying to cope the best way they can in difficult circumstances. Godwin allows us to laugh at their foibles, and this makes their sad ends all the more devastating. David Eldridge’s lucid translation, which premiered at the Donmar Warehouse in 2005, blows the dust off Ibsen’s play and makes it speakable and contemporary.

Book Review: Vegas: A Memoir of a Dark Season

(Bought at the Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn): "His office was downtown, near the courthouse, on the ground floor of the parking garage, two rooms and the smell of small tragedy and petty defeat, of insignificant adultery and unpaid bills." I love that sentence from John Gregory Dunne's bizarre memoir of his blighted sojourn in Sin City in the 70s. He clarifies that this book is a mix of fact and fiction, chronicling a mental breakdown when he leaves his wife and daughter in LA and holes up in Vegas to clear his mind, I guess. The crisis which brings his departure about is never clearly explained. He spends his time gathering material for a profile of the gambling mecca and pals around with a private dick (whose office is described in that sentence above), a second-tier comic, a prostitute, and a bail bondsman. He explains these people are fictional; I think they are probably composites of people he encountered. He insightfully explores and lays out the workings of the city from the hotels, the casinos, the day-to-day patterns of life in a community founded on chance, luck, and skirting around the law. I've never read Dunne before, but I have read books by his wife Joan Didion and it's interesting to compare their styles.

Perhaps most shocking is the casual racism, homophobia, and misogyny exhibited in the attitudes and speech of the Las Vegas residents. African-Americans, gays, Jews, Italians, women are called every slur in the book that Archie Bunker used to employ and nobody thinks anything of it. If anyone spoke that way today they'd get slapped down. Dunne does not endorse such language, but he is showing the bigoted, oppressive culture of America in the 1970s and how Vegas exemplifies it. 

Dunne acts as a sort of neutral confessor to the denizens of Sin City. He wants to be with people who won't judge him and therefore he won't judge them. It's a colorful, intoxicating journey into a neon-lit Dante's inferno.

Polly Holliday: Not Just Flo

Like her Alice co-star Linda Lavin, Polly Holliday, who passed away yesterday, was best known for her role--and an annoying catch phrase--on the long-running sitcom. She is remembered by most consumers of pop culture as the sassy Southern waitress Flo who would erupt with "Kiss My Grits!" whenever Vic Tayback as Mel, the diner's owner, would give her any lip. But, like Lavin, she was much more than a stock sitcom stereotype. She gave Flo dimension and depth on Alice and the short-lived spin-off series Flo. There was one episode with Forrest Tucker guest starring as her long-absent, estranged father. She registered anger, disappointment, and finally understanding and forgiveness. What few fans realize is that she was an accomplished stage actress (like Lavin). I saw her on Broadway twice (in two classic American plays Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Picnic) playing mothers of the protagonist. She was not just a supporting character, but conveyed her own objectives and convictions. Off-Broadway she was memorable in a revival of The Time of the Cuckoo as a dithery tourist and in two plays by John Guare--Chaucer in Rome and A Few Stout Individuals, playing Julia Grant, the troubled wife of retired president US Grant, in the latter fascinating historical drama. She was heartbreaking as Rose's newly blind sister on The Golden Girls (but was never mentioned again on subsequent episodes.) I also remember her in The Shady Hill Kidnapping on PBS's cherished American Playhouse series. Gone are the days when PBS presented original American dramas by major authors (this one was by John Cheever.) Hopefully, PBS will continue despite Trump's efforts to destroy it.

Saturday Morning Super-Heroes, Part 4: Superfriends

 

"You have reached the Superfriends. Please listen carefully as our options have changed. Press 1 for Superman. Press 2 for Wonder Woman. Press 3 for Batman and Robin. Press 4 for Aquaman. Press 5 for the Wonder Twins. If you wish to speak with Wendy or Marvin, they have gone back to school. If this is a criminal matter, please hold and a hero will be with you shortly. If this is an Earth-shattering life extinction crisis, please hang up and kiss your ass goodbye." I used to imagine that would be the automated response you would get if you called the Hall of Justice, the headquarters of the Superfriends.

This animated hour-long series began on ABC in 1973 and ran under various titles until 1985. The Justice League had been adapted in animated form as part of the 1967 Superman-Aquaman Adventure Hour on CBS with Superman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and the Atom as featured members. For some reason, Aquaman was not a part of this combo even though he had his own series produced by the same company, and Aqualad was a team member of the Teen Titans which rotated in the guest spot of the show. 

This series, produced by Hanna-Barbera, took a decidedly different tone at first. Instead of interplanetary mayhem and supervillains, the superheroes dealt with "timely" issues such as pollution and overpopulation and their antagonists were not evil but well-intentioned and just a bit mixed up. Instead of battles, the episodes always ended with a civilized discussion on the proper way to deal with the problem at hand. (Yawn!) The Superfriends were accompanied by "junior" superfriends--sort of summer interns--Wendy, Marvin and the canine Wonder Dog who spoke like other Hanna-Barbera mutts Astro and Scooby Doo with an R in front of every word.

Wonder Twin Powers Activate!

The New Super-Friends Hour saw the departure of Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog--I guess their internship was up and they had to go back to school--to be replaced by the Wonder-Twins, a pair humanoid aliens with actual superpowers, and their useless pet monkey, Gleek. (Even more annoying than Blip on Space Ghost.) The girl Jayna had a legitimately cool ability to transform herself into any animal she chose, but the boy Zan had the lame power of changing into different forms of water. How much times can you make yourself into an ice-bridge?

Challenge of the Super-Friends moved away from Afterschool Special territory and back into comic-book land. Less learning and more bashing. Gone were the Wonder Twins and that obnoxious monkey. The core five--Superman, Batman and Robin, Aquaman and Wonder Woman--were joined by JLA members from the comic books Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman and Hanna-Barbera created DEI hires Apache Chief, Samurai, Black Vulcan, and El Dorado (Note: I am in favor of DEI.) Their conflicts now centered on the Legion of Doom, 13 supervillains, mostly from the DC comics headed by Lex Luthor and including the Riddler, Scarecrow, Bizarro, Cheetah, Black Mantis, Solomon Grundy, Giganta, and Toy Man, not to be confused with the Toyman who appeared in the Filmation Superman cartoon in 1966-7. The Legion holed up in a spaceship in a swamp and always managed to get away at the last minute.

All this time Olan Soule and Casey Kasem did Batman and Robin's voices, but for the final iteration Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians, Adam West returned to his role after the cancellation of CBS' The New Adventures of Batman. Kasem continued to voice Robin. I wonder how Soule felt having to relinquish a role they had played for almost a decade. The Wonder Twins rejoined the group who were now mainly occupied with Jack Kirby's Darkseid, his nephew Kalibak and henchman De Sade (voiced by Tony winner Rene Auberjonois, later of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Benson. Side note: In the 1986 Tony Awards salute to all the Best Play winners, Auberjonois read the excerpt from the 1966 winner, Marat/De Sade.) An interesting sexual twist was provided in this series of episodes. Darkseid was obsessed with Wonder Woman and wanted to abduct and marry her. Oh, and Firestorm and Cyborg were slipped in here as teen Super Friends to add to the youth appeal. (Olan Soule switched from Batman to voicing Prof. Stein, half of Firestorm's secret identity.)

Saturday Morning Super-Heroes, Pt. 3: Spider-Man

DC's Superman, Batman, Aquaman and other members of the Justice League found their way onto Saturday morning TV screens in the late 1960s and so did Marvel's Spider-Man. Before that in the earlier 60s, there was a syndicated series of Marvel-based shorts starring the Mighty Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Sub-Mariner and the Hulk, which I recall used to be broadcast on Sunday afternoons on our local Philadelphia NBC affiliate. These were poorly animated shorts resembling the comic book pages they were based on with little movement. The ABC Spider-Man series was a vast improvement, telling two stories per episode and employing more sophisticated animation. The music helped providing exciting background to Spidey's adventures as he battled villains such as Electro, Dr. Octopus, Mysterio, the Green Goblin, and the Rhino while working as Peter Parker, freelance photographer for tyrannical publisher J. Jonah Jameson's Daily Bugle. In this series, he had graduating high school and there was no sign of Aunt May. 

Speaking of music, the theme song was certainly catchy, but the singers should have articulated more. There was one lyric which made no sense to me: "Welcome, friends, he's a yourd/Action is his reward" What the hell's a yourd, I thought. It wasn't until decades later that I finally heard the correct words. Patrick Page who was playing the Green Goblin in Julie Taymor's misbegotten Broadway musical version of the web-slinger's exploits, was singing the theme song in a night club and he pronounced the words correctly: "Wealth and fame, he's ignored/Action is his reward." 

The second season of the ABC Spider-Man was taken over by Ralph Bakshi, future director of Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traffic, and the series went downhill. Everything turned dark and the storylines were much weaker. The backgrounds and most of the action shots were repetitive and the characterization fell flat. This ideration of Spidey disappeared after that.

Firestar, Iceman and Spider-Man

Spider-Man re-emerged in 1981 with an NBC cartoon series title Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, narrated by Stan Lee himself. This version relies heavily on the Marvel comics universe and in addition to Spidey's new crimefighting friends, Iceman and Firestar, there were regular appearances by other Marvel characters such as Capt. America, Dr. Strange, Thor, and the X-Men. The premise was Peter Parker, now in college, is rooming with two other super-powered young people Bobby Drake (Iceman) and Angelic Jones (Firestar) in the home of Peter's Aunt May (voiced by June Foray of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame). There's also an annoying little dog called Ms. Lion. (Never mind that Iceman was previously a member of the X-Men in the 1960s and should be much older by now.) They called their team the Spider-Friends, presumably to compete with ABC's Super-Friends based on the DC heroes. As with Batman, there were several other Spider-Man cartoon shows, but this one caught my attention. There was lots of fun action and Lee's hyperbolic narration lent a comic-book aura. Watching the episodes felt like reading old comics. 

Unlike Batman and the DC heroes, Spider-Man was conflicted about his status as a super-hero and he was not seen by the authorities as a legitimate agent of the law, but as a dangerous outsider. That's what made him more complex and interesting. There have been other Spider-Man cartoons, but I never got into them. I've also seen many of the movie adaptations, but not the most recent ones.

Book Review: Angels and Insects

(Borrowed from a friend's house in Mexico) While visiting friends in Mexico, I borrowed this volume when I finished all the books I had brought along. I had seen the beginning of the 1995 film based on the first of the two novellas set in the Victorian era and was intrigued. A.S. Byatt's pair of shorter novels is elegantly written and thought-provoking, but I enjoyed the first one, Morpho Eugenia, far more than the second, The Conjungial Angel. Morpho formed the basis of the film starring Mark Rylance and Kristin Scott Thomas, and concerns a natural scientist who specializes in insects marrying into an aristocratic family with deep, dark secrets. I hadn't gotten to the end of the film, so fortunately I didn't know the surprise ending. The plot was fascinating as Adamson, the scientist, delves deeper into the lives of insects and parallels are drawn between insect society and the Alabasters, his wife's family. Debates on evolution, religion, class and morality come into play. The Conjungial Angel was not as satisfying for me. A group of mediums and spiritualism enthusiasts meets on a weekly basis to contact their dear departed. Byatt goes deep inside each of the characters but I got confused as to who was related to whom, who was dead and who was related to the poet Alfred Lord Tennyson. The whole work is beautifully written, but I had a hard time relating to the second piece.

Saturday Morning Super-Heroes, Part 2: Batman Cartoons

In 1968, there were many national tragedies such as student riots, Vietnam and political assassinations. Not as momentous, but devastating to me at the time--when I was nine--was ABC's cancellation of the Batman series after three seasons. Granted the show was running out of steam with Batgirl being brought in to bolster the ratings. Plus the number of episodes per week was cut down from two to one with the cliffhanger element eliminated. Sharp viewers might have noticed that interior scenes not taking place on existing sets such as Stately Wayne Manor, Commissioner Gordon's office or the Batcave, took place in black voids with no walls to save building costs. To add insult to injury, NBC was ready to pick the show up for a fourth season, but ABC had destroyed the expensive Batcave set. The Peacock Network balked at spending $100K to build a new set and passed, thus condemning the campy adventure series to oblivion. I read somewhere that they planned to send Robin/Dick Grayson to college and eliminate Chief O'Hara to save on expenses, leaving only Batman, Batgirl, Alfred, and Commissioner Gordon as the regular cast. Aunt Harriet (Madge Blake) was cut after the second season. Part of the appeal of the series was Bruce and Dick were grown-up boys living in an adolescent fantasy club house (Wayne Manor/the Batcave) with Aunt Harriet as a sort of dithering house mother. Batgirl's introduction in the third season introduced a weird dynamic with the dynamic Daredoll as a possible female mate for Batman. She was unlike the threatening villainesses of previous seasons such as Catwoman and Marsha, Queen of Diamonds. Batgirl was a "nice" girl and not a dangerous vamp. But anyway, I digress.

Fortunately, the Caped Crusaders continued in animated series. Since these shows took on the format and general tone of the Batman 66-8 series, we can regard them as unofficial fourth and fifth seasons. The Adventures of Batman premiered on CBS in September 1968 on Saturday mornings after the ABC live action series was cancelled. These seven-minute segments, often in two parts with a cliffhanger like the ABC series, were part of the Superman/Batman Hour. Olan Soule provided Batman's voice (the veteran character actor had appeared on ABC's Batman as a newscaster during a King Tut episode) and disc jockey Casey Kasem was Robin. Thirty-four segments were produced by Filmation Studios. In addition to Batman, Robin, Alfred the butler, Commissioner Gordon, Chief O'Hara and Batgirl, recurring characters included the hold-over supervillains Joker, Penguin, Riddler, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze and the Mad Hatter. Ted Knight, later of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, supplied most of the villains' voices as well as that of the narrator. Larry Storch of F Troop did the Joker. Jane Webb was Batgirl and Catwoman. There were more team-ups with super-villains since they had to pay fewer actors. Penguin, Joker, Ridder and Catwoman often joined forces and in one memorable episode, the Joker was elected (unfairly) Mayor of Gotham City and Penguin and Riddler joined him in the city's new crime-first administration. Donald Trump took a leaf from the Joker's book, if you catch my drift.

Should US Citizens Be Fleeing the Country?

The Marseillaise scene from Casablanca.

Nine months into Trump's second term and the big question is should sane, liberal people be planning to leave the US or would that be an overreaction? This has been a source of controversy and conflict between me and close friends. I don't believe my safety and freedom are in danger, that we're headed for a Third Reich or that becoming an expat is our only means of survival. But those close to me who disagree think we are in the equivalent of the Weimar Republic or the early days of Hitler's dark reign. They say it's only a matter of time before all our rights will be taken away and those who publicly disagree with the Orange Fascist will be rounded up and sent to El Salvador, South Sudan or Uganda. 

An American friend who lives in a foreign country recently received a call from a friend of his in a panic, expressing desperation about the need to leave the US as soon as possible. He knows of another couple who are planning to move to Panama from the US. We had a debate on whether these people are legitimately concerned or being hysterical. My expat pal pointed out people were being snatched off the street by masked ICE agents and John Bolton, a former high-ranking official, had his home raided by the FBI. Jews in 1930s Germany were having the same conversation we were and look what happened to them. I said yes, undocumented immigrants with no criminal records were being harassed and detained and the former National Security Advisor who had criticized Trump was the subject of unfair investigation. But I said that doesn't mean US citizens are going to be disappeared just because they are Jewish. The conclusion both parties reached was that there was not going to be a Nazi-like Holocaust. But that Trump is a threat to our democracy.

If you wanted to leave the country as a protest because you don't like the way Trump is running the government, that's an understandable, if somewhat extreme action, but I don't think we're not going to turn into 1930s Germany. Yes, undocumented aliens and people with visas are in trouble whether they have a criminal record or not (in the supermarket recently I heard a radio commercial with Kristi Noem, dog-murderer and Secy, of Homeland Security, touting the harsh immigration policy and urging all undocumented residents to turn themselves in for deportation and MAYBE they could return some day. It sent chills down my spine.)  But I don't think white, well-off US citizens should be panicking and packing their bags.

On a related note: On a recent airplane flight, I watched Casablanca for the 100th time and my eyes actually started to tear up during the singing of the Marseillaise. I started thinking about what's happening in our country and how Trump is trying to take over not just the government, but our cultural, medical and social life. While we are not in danger of winding up like the refugees fleeing the Nazis and waiting for a precious exit visa in Rick's Cafe, we must keep on singing our equivalent of the Marseillaise in defiance. His reign will end and we will still be here.