Da Vinci's Birthday

Last Saturday, April 15th, was Leonardo da Vinci's birthday, but there was barely a mention of it in the media. Google did not have anything on their home page. Why not, I wonder? Do they consider his work over-exposed? Then why not use one of his lesser known images, a drawing of a fetus or a machine perhaps? Seems like a strange omission. Da Vinci's coming into the world was a miraculous event, and should always be acknowledged, regardless of how often we've seen his work.
Shame on you, Google!

Musical Mania

American theatre producers seem to have a mania for turning hit movies into musicals. The latest productions in this genre are Groundhog Day, the Bill Murray movie, and Amelie, based on the popular French film of the same name. The skeptic in me just shrugs and says, “Yeah. Anything to make money.” But the admirer in me of classic musicals like Oklahoma, My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music is horrified. Ditto for the lover of such great modern musicals as Cabaret, West Side Story, and Chicago.  I loved Amelie, the movie, but I don’t think I would care much for the musical. The reviews have been tepid, but more importantly I just don’t think the magic created by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and his wonderful star Audrey Tautou can be replicated on the New York stage.  When it comes to the money-machine known as Broadway, nothing, absolutely nothing, is sacred. Mammon rules over artistic integrity in every way. They will turn anything into a Broadway musical if they think it will make them a pile of cash.

And the same is true for re-makes of great movies. There are some movies that are so perfect even the godless money men are keeping their dirty hands off them – great movies like Casablanca, Roman Holiday, Sunset Boulevard, (turned into a musical with Glenn Close, by the way), The Seventh Seal, and La Dolce Vita. (Perhaps they simply can’t get the rights to them – in which case I say BRAVO! to those who own them.) The great epic Ben-Hur with Charleton Heston, directed by William Wyler, was recently re-made with all the latest CGI tricks, and my artistic soul cried out, “WHY DON’T THEY LEAVE SUCH MASTERPIECES ALONE?” Do they think they’re going to improve them? Can you imagine someone trying to reproduce Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescos because they thought they could make them better? What an outrage! And what would be the point?