SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2013 The New John Kander Musical’s for People Who Don’t Like Musicals

ohn Kander is calling his new musical “The Landing,” but it comprise “The Landing,” characters seek to create a family eled, better dressed, and neater than either of them. Suffice to could just as well be called “Andra” or “The Brick,” which outside the one they were born into - but they do so with the say it plays like a vintage episode of “The Twilight Zone,” and Jare the titles of the two other short musicals that comprise same desperation and fervor that characters sought the spot- Seratch’s pulls off a transformation near the end that’s down- this triptych on the making of one’s own family. light in all those Kander & Ebb shows. right scary. “The Landing” works well as an umbrella title, however, The title “Andra” refers to a constellation that a carpenter “The Brick” is the very, very wild card sandwiched between precisely because it makes no promises to be a musical. In fact, (Paul Anthony Stewart) and a young boy (Frankie Seratch) find “Andra” and “The Landing.” A woman (Murney) falls in love “The Landing,” which opened Wednesday at the Vineyard in the sky. Right off the bat, Kander and Pierce break a few car- with a brick from the wall of the St. Valentine Day’s Massacre, Theater, sounds like the title of a short story published in the dinal rules of Broadway musicals: There’s no production num- and her attachment to it results in dire consequences for her New Yorker, and that kind of understatement is what you get ber to establish that it’s a musical, there’s no big “what I want” husband (Stewart) and nephew (Seratch). David Hyde Pierce on stage (for at least two-thirds of the evening). In other song to drive the hero’s quest. Amid the dialogue, Kander plays the brick, attired in gangster stripes, spats and fedora; words, “The Landing” is definitely not destined for Broadway, throws out the occasional motif for lines like “beta-carotene and anyone who has ever accused him of only playing varia- and from what’s evidenced on this Off Broadway stage, that will save your eyes from all those books,” in this case, sung by tions on his neurotic “Frasier” nerd needs to see this “Dick lack of commercial intent is what this show’s creative team the mother (Julia Murney). Tracy” cartoon come to life. wants. When the songs finally arrive, they intrigue more than they Greg Pierce’s lyrics are comprised of easy rhymes, but Is this the same John Kander of “Chicago” and “Cabaret,” grab our attention. The carpenter’s stories are not unlike those they’re always insightful and often funny. Kander’s signature and more recently “Curtains” and “The Scottsboro Boys,” all of told by the father in Broadway’s current “Big Fish.” But director riffs and easy melodies are very much in evidence - the under- which he created with his longtime lyricist Fred Ebb, who Walter Bobbie trusts Kander and Pierce’s material, not the scoring throughout is gorgeous - but the music now serves passed away before the latter two titles were first staged? scenery and costumes, to do the talking. We never get to meet the dreams of very private people. It’s a brave departure for Kander & Ebb defined razzmatazz, and at their heart, their essential characters like the boy’s father and the carpenter’s this revered composer, and it’s good news that he and Greg musicals (even the one about black men falsely accused of daughter. And what exactly are those pink dots on the back of Pierce are “working on several new projects,” according to the rape) are about showbiz. the kid’s neck? Playbill. — Reuters Kander now has a new book writer and lyricist, Greg Pierce, Like so many great short stories, “Andra” doesn’t really and “The Landing” (their first collaboration) heralds a whole come into focus until the final, startling revelation. new, exciting direction for the composer. Family has replaced “The Landing” is the third piece, and is more conventional. the third-rate vaudevillians, cabaret singers and other hang- Two gay men (Stewart and David Hyde Pierce, who narrates ers-on of the theater, and in each of the three musicals that “Andra”) adopt an adolescent boy (Seratch) who is more trav-

NEW YORK: Actor Alec Baldwin and wife Hilaria Thomas attends the “Seduced And Actors Nichole Galicia, left, Jamie Foxx and La La Anthony attend the global premiere of Canon’s “Project Abandoned” New York premiere at Time Warner Center in New York City. — AFP Imaginat10n” Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall, in New York. — AP

Johnny Knoxville’s ‘Bad Grandpa’ Ready to Bring Down ‘Gravity’

ho’d have thought a sleazy codger in a shopping cart Karger. “We haven’t seen such excitement for an R-rated comedy Most of Knoxville’s posse from the TV show and earlier films are could blow the doors off Sandra Bullock and George since ‘We’re the Millers.’ I wouldn’t be surprised if you see a few sitting this one out, though Oscar-nominated director Spike Jonze WClooney in a rocket ship? 86-year-old Irving Zismans at Halloween parties this year.” returns and is a producer, along with Knoxville, director Johnny That’s the most likely scenario, say the analysts, who predict “Bad Grandpa” won’t match the numbers put up by “Jackass Tremaine and Derek Freda. the 3D space blockbuster “Gravity” will fall back to Earth after 3D,” which opened to $54 million two years ago, but with a $15 Paramount has found a nice slot for it. “Bad Grandpa” will be three weekends atop the box office - at the hands of “Jackass million production budget it will be a moneymaker for the studio. the first broad comedy to hit theaters since “The World’s End” in Presents: Bad Grandpa.” Johnny Knoxville’s latest celebration of The “Jackass” franchise, drawn from creator and star Knoxville’s August, and it will be in more than 3,000 theaters. self-destructive stupidity will open north of $30 million for 2000-2001 MTV show, has been a goldmine for Paramount. The The marketplace has been dominated by mature-skewing Paramount and could well go higher, they predict. first three movies, also produced on the relative cheap, have Oscar hopefuls, with “Gravity” and “Captain Phillips” topping the That should easily top “Gravity,” expected to land with around brought in $335 million. box office the past two weeks and “12 Years a Slave” and “All is $20 million in its fourth week, and the week’s other wide opener, This one is a departure, and the studio is calling it an original. Lost” rolling out in limited release.—Reuters Fox’s R-rated Ridley Scott legal thriller “The Counselor,” which is But they’re projecting an opening of $20 million, too. In “Bad looking at a soft $10 million debut. Grandpa,” a hidden camera follows Zisman (Knoxville) on a “Bad Grandpa” was the top seller for the weekend as of “Borat”-like journey across America with his eight-year-old grand- Wednesday, according to online ticket broker Fandango. “The son Billy (Jackson Nicoll). Along the way, they bump into male hearty ‘Grandpa’ sales prove that audiences are craving a good strippers, crash a child beauty pageant, trash a funeral and hit a raucous comedy,” said Fandango “Weekend Ticket” host Dave biker bar. R-rated stupidity and hilarity ensue.