Batman Humor That Went Over My Head as a Kid, Part 4

Catwoman is about to steal Clyde and Jeremy's
voices. Notice how they could just walk right
on stage with no one to to stop them.

The Cat's Meow/The Bats Kow Tow--This second season episode was chock full of real-life celebrities and 1960s cultural references. The main plot involves delicious Julie Newmar as the Catwoman stealing the voices of pop duo Clyde and Jeremy who also appeared as essentially themselves on The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Patty Duke Show. They broke up only two years later and Clyde pursued an acting career. (He appeared on Broadway in A Patriot for Me, The Importance of Being Earnest opposite Wendy Hiller, and in the Downton Abbey movie.) Also appearing are comedian/talk show host Steve Allen as Allen Stevens, Hawaiian singer Don Ho in the window cameo, and celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring as Jay Oceanbring (get it?) Catwoman and her crew are hiding out in Oceanbring's salon. The Dynamic Duo arrive and are attacked by Catwoman's henchman. Sebring delivers his only line, "Watch the antiques" as the combatants threaten to destroy his expensive furnishings. 

Sebring was a top hairstylist for Hollywood stars including Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra, Warren Beatty and Steve McQueen. He dated Sharon Tate. They remained friends after breaking up and Tate married Roman Polanski. He was murdered along with Tate by the followers of Charles Manson and was a character in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Ho appears in the window as Batman and Robin are climbing down from the British Ambassador's office. (BTW, the British Ambassador's dialogue references both My Fair Lady and Winston Churchill.) Also appearing in this episode is Joe Flynn, best known as the petty, incompetent Capt. Binghampton on McHale's Navy, as the manager of a dance instruction studio, again a front for Catwoman's nefarious operations. For some reason, Flynn and Allen were unbilled. 

Sinners Shatters Oscar Nom Record

Michael B. Jordan and Miles Caton in
Sinners, which now holds the
record for the most Oscar noms with 16.
Credit: Warner Brothers

Sinners, Ryan Coogler's vampire-horror film, broke the record for most Oscar nominations of any film with 16. The previous record of 14 was shared by All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land. Nominations were announced by Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman at the Academy's Goldwyn Theater on Thurs. morning Jan. 22. The awards will be presented on March 15 in a ceremony broadcast on ABC and Hulu, hosted by Conan O'Brien. Sinners' nominations include Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor and Actress, Original Screenplay, and the newly created categories of Best Casting. 

One Battle After Another which has won the vast majority of pre-Oscar awards including the Golden Globes, Critics Choice, National Board of Review and film critics' awards from NY and LA, follows with 13. Frankenstein, Marty Supreme, and Sentimental Value have nine each. Surprisingly, the big-budget sequel Wicked: For Good and the George Clooney vehicle Jay Kelly were frozen out.

Conventional wisdom has it that Battle will continue its winning trajectory to Oscar's top prizes with Sinners copping the consolation prize of Original Screenplay for Coogler, its director. But Battle may have peaked too early and Sinners' top nominations grab could move the needle in its direction. Charges of underreprestentation of the African-American community among Oscar winners may also play a role in voters' minds. 

A complete list of the nominees follows: 

Off-B'way Review: An Ark

An Ark.
Credit: Marc J. Franklin

Billed as a “new play with mixed reality,” Simon Stephens’ An Ark begs the questions “Is it theater?” and “Does the technology make up for a lack of conflict, character or clear purpose?” Audience members remove their shoes (although the reason for this is never explained) and enter an open space at The Shed. Folding chairs surround a large, illuminated globe suspended above the center of the room. You are shown to a seat and instructed by the friendly staff to put on a headset with goggles. The headset allows you to see virtual versions of four empty chairs. When the “play” begins, four actors or rather their video images, enter, sit down and advise you not to panic. They then deliver a series of verbal sensory images and fragments of memories in the second person, repeatedly asking us to savor what it’s like to be alive. At one point, we can hear raindrops. Perhaps that’s why it's called An Ark? After about three-quarters of an hour, we have been taken through a lifetime’s worth of touching and sensing. The headsets come off, we reclaim our shoes and return home. 

The quartet of virtual performers have soothing voices and speak their lines like tender lullabies. Ian McKellen, Golda Rosheuvel (Queen Charlotte from Bridgerton), Arinzé Kene, and Rosie Sheehy are all expert at keeping us calm and relaxed. It’s a thrill to see Sir Ian (or his avatar) who could make reciting the telephone book compelling and the other actors are proficient at conveying snippets of experience and feelings.

But what’s the point here? There is very little drama or conflict. The one moment of potential confrontation arrives when one of the characters (Kene) confesses he was at the wheel during an automobile accident resulting in the death of his passenger. Sheehy objects to his being present and he walks out of the frame in shame. He returns a few minutes later but with no change to his demeanor or evidence that the confession has changed him. This is the only hint at character development. Sarah Frankcom is listed as director, but her contribution is difficult to judge with so little action.

Audience members at An Ark.
Credit: Marc J. Franklin

The piece’s raison d’être seems to be that with the goggles, the characters appear to be talking directly and intimately to each individual audience member. The same experience could have been achieved in a movie theater or in one’s own home through streaming on your TV. So what makes this strange event theater with no live actors? Viola’s Room, a similar experiment with no people in the cast told its tale through sets, lighting and sound at The Shed a few months ago, and was more engrossing. Unlike An Ark, it had a story to tell.

Technology in service of riveting material can enhance the theatrical experience. But An Ark feels like an example of tech for its own sake.

The cast of An Ark:
Golda Rosheuvel, Ian McKellen, Rosie Sheehy,
Arinzé Kene.
Credit: Rachel-Louise Brown

Jan. 21—March 1. The Shed and Tin Drum at The Shed, 545 W. 30th St., NYC. Running time: 47 mins. with no intermission. theshed.org.

State of the Oscar Race

Timothee Chalamet is the frontrunner
for Best Actor in the Oscar race.

After the GGs, CCs, SAG and Independent Spirit noms, BAFTA long-list, and critics' awards from NY, LA and national groups, the Oscar race is solidifying. (Nominations will be announced on Jan. 22.) One Battle After Another is the favorite to win Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay (both by Paul Thomas Anderson). Sinners will probably take Original Screenplay. The leading actress and actor awards will probably go to Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) and Timothee Chalamet (Marty Supreme). Supporting Actor and Actress are up in the air since each major award has gone to a different person. In the Supporting Actress category, Amy Madigan of Weapons won the Critics Choice while Tayana Taylor of One Battle won the GG. Stellan Skarsgaard of Sentimental Value won the GG but Jacob Elrodi (Frankenstein's monster) took the CC. Benicio Del Toro was awarded the majority of the critics' groups' accolades. 

We saw Marty Supreme last night. Timothee was intense and charismatic as the narcissistic table-tennis hustler. There was also some interesting casting with Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary, filmmaker Abel Ferrara, Fran Drescher, Sarah Bernhardt, Penn Jillette (who I didn't even recognize), and David Mamet in supporting roles.

Oscar contenders seen:

Frankenstein (Netflix)

Nuremberg (Kaufman-Astoria)

Blue Moon (Kew Gardens Cinema)

One Battle After Another (Amazon Prime)

Train Dreams (Netflix)
Wicked: For Good (Regal Union Square in 3D, 4DX)

Hamnet (Kew Gardens Cinema)

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (Amazon Prime)

Sentimental Value (Angelika Cinema)

Jay Kelly (Netflix)

Sinners (HBO Max)

Familiar Touch (Amazon Prime)

Marty Supreme (Kew Gardens Cinema)

Off-B'way Review: The Disappear

Hamish Linklater and Miriam Silverman in
The Disappear.
Credit: Jeremy Daniel

People who make movies and write novels are terrible at relationships. What’s more they don’t give a hoot about the environment or climate change unless their more mature teenage kids force them to. That’s the take-away from Erica Schmidt’s dark comedy The Disappear, presented by Audible at the Minetta Lane Theater. There are some funny moments in this Virginia Woolf wanna-be, but the entire evening feels like a sitcom version of Noah Baumbach’s 2019 film Marriage Story which handled basically the same material--a show-biz couple splitting--with more subtlety and depth. Schmidt deserves credit for clever dialogue and a few insightful observations on art versus reality and our narcissistic culture, but the characterizations are too often inconsistent and the plot feels overly familiar and forced.

Volatile film director Benjamin Braxton (appropriately obnoxious Hamish Linklater) and his wife, artistically successful novelist Mira Blair (complex Miriam Silverman) are at each others’ throats. He feels belittled, frustrated and desperate for fresh passion after 20 years of marriage while she barely tolerates his selfishness and obliviousness to household duties. Their frayed union is hanging by a thread. The only thing keeping them together seems to be their environmentally-conscious young daughter Dolly (multi-faceted Anna Mirodin) and Mira’s tenacious belief in long-term matrimony. While working on his latest project, Benjamin has become obsessed with flighty actress Julie Wells (Madeline Brewer in a total switch from her submissive Janine on The Handmaid’s Tale). But when hot young star Raf Night (sexy Kelvin Harrison Jr.) signs on to co-star with Julie, he makes Mira’s collaborating on the screenplay a condition of his participation. 

Of course, the husband and wife’s working together spells disaster. Their clashes form the meat of the play, but their go-rounds soon become repetitious. In addition, Schmidt’s direction emphasizes broad comedy and screaming matches with little room for nuance. There is a furious onstage sexual encounter between Benjamin and Mira which offers insight into their love-hate bond (kudos to Intimacy Director Alison Novelli), but it’s not enough to make clear why these two have stayed together if they make each other so miserable. Plus the characters’ motivations and objectives shift radically depending on the latest plot twist. Julie is portrayed as an eccentric dimwit, but changes to a take-charge, self-determined feminist by the final curtain. Early in the play, acerbic British producer Michael Bloom (valuable Dylan Baker) angrily claims no one but him will finance Benjamin’s films or put up with his erratic behavior. Later he argues that Benjamin is a genius and must be given his space. 

B'way Update: The Fear of 13 with Adrien Brody, Tessa Thompson

Adrien Brody in The Fear of 13 in London.

Double Oscar winner Adrien Brody (The Pianist, The Brutalist) will make his Broadway debut in The Far of 13 by Olivier nominee Lindsay Ferrentino (The Queen of Versailles), following a run at London's Donmar Warehouse. The play, based on the documentary by David Sington, focuses on the true story of Nick Yarris who spent more than two decades on Death Row for a murder he insists he did not commit. Yarris was the first person to be sentenced to death in Pennsylvania to be exonerated by DNA evidence. Co-starring is Golden Globe nominee Tessa Thompson (Hedda), also making her Broadway debut. Tony winner David Cromer (The Band's Visit) directs in a staging different from that of the London production. This is Cromer's third show this season after Caroline and Meet the Cartozians Off-Broadway. Fear of 13 begins previews at the James Earl Jones Theater on March 19 prior to an April 15 opening. 

Brody lost the Olivier Award to John Lithgow of Giant which will also be opening on Broadway this spring. So we will likely see a rematch at the Tony Awards.

Batman Humor That Went Over My Head as a Kid, Part 3

In honor of the 60th anniversary of the premiere of the Batman series (on Jan. 12), here are some more Bat episodes with humor than went over my head at 6 years old.

Ceasar Romero with Kathy Kersh,
later Burt Ward's wife.

The Practical Jokers/The Jokers' Provokers: This episode was ABC cross-promotion night! Bruce and Dick are settling into watch The Green Hornet, another William Dozier comic-book series, when the Joker interrupts to give Batman and Robin a clue to his next caper. Then when the Dynamic Duo are scaling yet another building, Howard Duff appears in a window. Duff was starring in ABC's Felony Squad (1966-69) and he appears in character as Sgt. Sam Stone. Interestingly, Ben Alexander of Dragnet was also a regular on this series and had earlier made a Batman cameo. (His commitment to Felony Squad prevented him from recreating his Dragnet role on Jack Webb's reboot of the series on NBC.) Duff would appear as the Special Guest Villain in Season 3 with his wife Ida Lupino. They played a pair of hippie-slang-spouting alchemist-scientists types Dr. Cassandra and her hubby Kabala. Interesting that Felony Squad has disappeared without a trace and its only remnant is the star appearing in a window on Batman for a few minutes. There are Felony Squad episodes of YouTube. I watched one for a few minutes. God, it was cliched and boring.

The obligatory gun moll in this episode was played by Burt Ward's later wife, Kathy Kersh, possibly the worst actress to play a villain's love interest/assistant. Terry Moore was pretty bad too as another Joker girl--Venus in The Zodiac Crimes three-parter. Kersh was hired for her gorgeous looks and figure, not her dramatic skills. Unlike Gail Hire (Egghead's Miss Bacon), Leslie Perkins (Minstrel's Octavia), Diane McBain (The Mad Hatter's Lisa), and many other more competent actresses, Kersh gave no depth to her character, the vain Cornelia. Ward divorced her after a few years and married two more times.