Kevin Klawitter
Location: MN
“The Show Must Go On”
Directed by: Woody Allen
Written by: Woody Allen
Executive Producers: Jack Rollins, Stephen Tenenbaum
Produced by: Woody Allen
Director of Photography: Darius Khondji
Editor: Alisa Lepselter
Production Designer: Jim Clay
Art Directors: Diane Dancklefsen, Jan Spoczynski
Cast:
Kenneth Branagh: Tim Hoskins
Tom Hiddleston: William Johnston
Woody Allen: Gary Smelt
Scarlett Johansson: Cindy Stevens
Jude Law: Johnny Grange
Rebecca Hall: Susan Anchorage
Sir Christopher Lee: Sir Cecil Branstrom
Jamie Bell: Richard Smelt
Tagline: It could have been worse
Plot Summary:
Woody Allen’s backstage comedy set on London’s West End is a wonderfully structured and fun piece of work that is sure to bring back the memories and fears of any viewers who have taken part in acting on the stage. Allen plays Gary Smelt, a nebbish American director who feels he might have finally found his stride directing a West End production of the family drama “Back in the Middle Again”, written by the legendary British writer Sir Cecil Branstrom. One day while rehearsing, Smelt hears from his agent that the notoriously reclusive Branstrom (Sir Christopher Lee) has heard the play’s good reviews, and has decided to come to that night’s production! Hearing this seems to shatter Smelt’s confidence immediately, but his star, the famous actor Tim Hoskins (Kenneth Branagh), convinces him that they can put on a good show, one that Sir Cecil will not just admire, but genuinely enjoy.
That night, while the audience is filing in, Sir Cecil briefly talks to Gary, telling him that he hopes his presence at that night’s performance isn’t putting too much pressure on him (Gary, almost visibly shaking, denies any pressure) and assures him that that much of his pleasure in watching performances of his stage shows comes from seeing how they are interpreted by the director. With that, Sir Cecil leaves to take his space in a balcony seat and Gary, with a slightly renewed vigor, goes backstage to give his cast a pep talk and finds he has to break up a dispute between two of his actors, Will and Cindy(Tom Hiddleston and Scarlett Johansson) who are having a romantic quarrel (Cindy wants to go back to Broadway and do a musical, but Will doesn’t want her to because the director is her ex). After the fight is calmed by Gary and Tim, Gary throws himself into a rallying speech for his cast, talking about how this performance in front of Sir Cecil Branstrom will be the biggest night of their lives and could well define their entire careers. Everybody’s spirits are lifted and they begin the play, with all of them (but particularly Tim) throwing themselves into their parts.
After completing his first big scene, a seemingly wired Tim goes back to his dressing room to rest before his next entrance, as Will and Cindy share the first of their scenes on stage (playing Tim’s adult children). As the scene goes on, it becomes more and more apparent to Gary that the normally dependable Tim isn’t ready for his cue, so he sends his son Richard (Jamie Bell) backstage to get him. Inexplicably, Richard discovers that Tim had died in his dressing room, and immediately informs his father, which puts Gary into a panic. He tries to signal to Will and Cindy that there is a problem, and they are forced to improvise their part further (their own romantic tension finds itself leaking into their banter, which creates an odd feeling for the audience, since their characters are supposed to be siblings). Meanwhile, Gary works with the other cast members (Jude Law and Rebecca Hall) to try and create a story to explain Tim’s disappearance, and also sends Richard to Sir Cecil’s private box to try and enlist his help. Sir Cecil doesn’t seem interested in helping work out a new story (“The play’s been done the same way for 25 years! This is much more interesting”), but he finds himself talking with Richard about his relationship with his father and his own ambitions (he is himself an aspiring playwright) as they watch the show unfold.
The show does go on, albeit with more than a few awkward pauses and stiff moments of improvisation, as Gary Smelt comes closer and closer to having a full-blown panic attack (having to deal with the hospital workers taking care of the dead body of Tim at the same time doesn’t help matters), and everything comes to a head when the climax of the show comes, a moment originally meant for a big, heartfelt monologue from Tim, when nobody has any idea what to do. Eventually, and with seemingly nothing else to lose, Cindy breaks into a musical number, singing and dancing to classic show tunes as the rest of the cast joins in and the sound and music techs try to keep up.
The curtain falls, and the cast comes forward to take their bows as the audience shuffles off, some in tears, some thoughtful, and some who seem to have no idea what they just witnessed. The tension between Will and Cindy is gone (“I never want to do another musical number again!”), Richard has gotten the inspiration to finish his first play, and Gary rushes over to the slowly exiting Sir Cecil to apologize profusely for the show, and (inevitably) to ask what he thought of the production. After a small pause, Sir Cecil Branstrom sums his feelings up in a single sentence:
“It was interesting.”
Awards Campaign:
Woody Allen returns to London with this madcap behind-the-scenes comedy sure to strike a nerve with anybody who has been part of a play. Even before the Kenneth Branagh character dies, the movie perfectly captures the atmosphere, tension, and joy of working in theatre, as all of the problems and tensions, both minor and major, feel as if they could cause the collapse of the entire enterprise.
At the script level, Allen finds himself participating in a screenwriting triathlon. While he might eschew the massive ensembles and fantasy elements that have been part of his recent work, he still succeeds in creating an incredibly funny, layered, and even heartfelt script that manages to 1.) create a cast of believable characters, all with their own personalities and problems, 2.) an authentic-sounding family drama play for the characters to act out, and 3.) a middle and conclusion to the play seemingly improvised by the characters, and reflective of their own lives and attitudes towards one another, all while maintaining Allen’s distinctive big characters and stylized dialogue. The final part is particularly impressive, because aside from a few clues dropped here and there, even we don’t know how the play was supposed to end, and yet we can completely follow where the characters are coming from, where they’ve been, and where they expected to be.
Allen’s direction is wisely tuned this time around to mostly serve his actors and to create a realistic theater atmosphere and with less frills and stylistic indulgences. The cast is uniformly excellent, with Kenneth Branagh playing Tim Hoskins as a warm and big-hearted star who can rally the cast and crew around him despite adversity, Tom Hiddleston and Scarlett Johansson are very funny as a feuding couple who try (and fail) to keep their frustrations about each other beneath the surface while they are on stage, while Sir Christopher Lee, even though he has a relatively small part, gets some of the biggest laughs in the film simply from his reaction shots. Woody Allen acquits himself well to his usual Woody Allen-esque part, and Jamie Bell also shines as his son, who is in many ways the heart of the film due to his having to constantly run back and forth between many different panicking people.
The Show Must Go On is a funny and exciting movie, done with Woody Allen’s usual panache, and a real treat for lovers of the theatre. Unlike the theatre piece at the center of his plot, this one never goes wrong, and we find ourselves laughing like crazy even when the suspense as to whether or not this crew is going to pull the performance off becomes nearly unbearable. You are unlikely to find a cast as funny as this all year, and as the writer/director, Woody Allen proves yet again that even as he gets older, he hasn’t missed a beat in the art of filmmaking.
Best Picture
Best Director - Woody Allen
Best Screenplay - Woody Allen
Best Actress - Scarlett Johansson
Best Actor - Tom Hiddleston
Best Supporting Actor - Woody Allen
Best Supporting Actor - Jamie Bell
Best Supporting Actor - Kenneth Branagh
Best Crew
Location: MN
“The Show Must Go On”
Directed by: Woody Allen
Written by: Woody Allen
Executive Producers: Jack Rollins, Stephen Tenenbaum
Produced by: Woody Allen
Director of Photography: Darius Khondji
Editor: Alisa Lepselter
Production Designer: Jim Clay
Art Directors: Diane Dancklefsen, Jan Spoczynski
Cast:
Kenneth Branagh: Tim Hoskins
Tom Hiddleston: William Johnston
Woody Allen: Gary Smelt
Scarlett Johansson: Cindy Stevens
Jude Law: Johnny Grange
Rebecca Hall: Susan Anchorage
Sir Christopher Lee: Sir Cecil Branstrom
Jamie Bell: Richard Smelt
Tagline: It could have been worse
Plot Summary:
Woody Allen’s backstage comedy set on London’s West End is a wonderfully structured and fun piece of work that is sure to bring back the memories and fears of any viewers who have taken part in acting on the stage. Allen plays Gary Smelt, a nebbish American director who feels he might have finally found his stride directing a West End production of the family drama “Back in the Middle Again”, written by the legendary British writer Sir Cecil Branstrom. One day while rehearsing, Smelt hears from his agent that the notoriously reclusive Branstrom (Sir Christopher Lee) has heard the play’s good reviews, and has decided to come to that night’s production! Hearing this seems to shatter Smelt’s confidence immediately, but his star, the famous actor Tim Hoskins (Kenneth Branagh), convinces him that they can put on a good show, one that Sir Cecil will not just admire, but genuinely enjoy.
That night, while the audience is filing in, Sir Cecil briefly talks to Gary, telling him that he hopes his presence at that night’s performance isn’t putting too much pressure on him (Gary, almost visibly shaking, denies any pressure) and assures him that that much of his pleasure in watching performances of his stage shows comes from seeing how they are interpreted by the director. With that, Sir Cecil leaves to take his space in a balcony seat and Gary, with a slightly renewed vigor, goes backstage to give his cast a pep talk and finds he has to break up a dispute between two of his actors, Will and Cindy(Tom Hiddleston and Scarlett Johansson) who are having a romantic quarrel (Cindy wants to go back to Broadway and do a musical, but Will doesn’t want her to because the director is her ex). After the fight is calmed by Gary and Tim, Gary throws himself into a rallying speech for his cast, talking about how this performance in front of Sir Cecil Branstrom will be the biggest night of their lives and could well define their entire careers. Everybody’s spirits are lifted and they begin the play, with all of them (but particularly Tim) throwing themselves into their parts.
After completing his first big scene, a seemingly wired Tim goes back to his dressing room to rest before his next entrance, as Will and Cindy share the first of their scenes on stage (playing Tim’s adult children). As the scene goes on, it becomes more and more apparent to Gary that the normally dependable Tim isn’t ready for his cue, so he sends his son Richard (Jamie Bell) backstage to get him. Inexplicably, Richard discovers that Tim had died in his dressing room, and immediately informs his father, which puts Gary into a panic. He tries to signal to Will and Cindy that there is a problem, and they are forced to improvise their part further (their own romantic tension finds itself leaking into their banter, which creates an odd feeling for the audience, since their characters are supposed to be siblings). Meanwhile, Gary works with the other cast members (Jude Law and Rebecca Hall) to try and create a story to explain Tim’s disappearance, and also sends Richard to Sir Cecil’s private box to try and enlist his help. Sir Cecil doesn’t seem interested in helping work out a new story (“The play’s been done the same way for 25 years! This is much more interesting”), but he finds himself talking with Richard about his relationship with his father and his own ambitions (he is himself an aspiring playwright) as they watch the show unfold.
The show does go on, albeit with more than a few awkward pauses and stiff moments of improvisation, as Gary Smelt comes closer and closer to having a full-blown panic attack (having to deal with the hospital workers taking care of the dead body of Tim at the same time doesn’t help matters), and everything comes to a head when the climax of the show comes, a moment originally meant for a big, heartfelt monologue from Tim, when nobody has any idea what to do. Eventually, and with seemingly nothing else to lose, Cindy breaks into a musical number, singing and dancing to classic show tunes as the rest of the cast joins in and the sound and music techs try to keep up.
The curtain falls, and the cast comes forward to take their bows as the audience shuffles off, some in tears, some thoughtful, and some who seem to have no idea what they just witnessed. The tension between Will and Cindy is gone (“I never want to do another musical number again!”), Richard has gotten the inspiration to finish his first play, and Gary rushes over to the slowly exiting Sir Cecil to apologize profusely for the show, and (inevitably) to ask what he thought of the production. After a small pause, Sir Cecil Branstrom sums his feelings up in a single sentence:
“It was interesting.”
Awards Campaign:
Woody Allen returns to London with this madcap behind-the-scenes comedy sure to strike a nerve with anybody who has been part of a play. Even before the Kenneth Branagh character dies, the movie perfectly captures the atmosphere, tension, and joy of working in theatre, as all of the problems and tensions, both minor and major, feel as if they could cause the collapse of the entire enterprise.
At the script level, Allen finds himself participating in a screenwriting triathlon. While he might eschew the massive ensembles and fantasy elements that have been part of his recent work, he still succeeds in creating an incredibly funny, layered, and even heartfelt script that manages to 1.) create a cast of believable characters, all with their own personalities and problems, 2.) an authentic-sounding family drama play for the characters to act out, and 3.) a middle and conclusion to the play seemingly improvised by the characters, and reflective of their own lives and attitudes towards one another, all while maintaining Allen’s distinctive big characters and stylized dialogue. The final part is particularly impressive, because aside from a few clues dropped here and there, even we don’t know how the play was supposed to end, and yet we can completely follow where the characters are coming from, where they’ve been, and where they expected to be.
Allen’s direction is wisely tuned this time around to mostly serve his actors and to create a realistic theater atmosphere and with less frills and stylistic indulgences. The cast is uniformly excellent, with Kenneth Branagh playing Tim Hoskins as a warm and big-hearted star who can rally the cast and crew around him despite adversity, Tom Hiddleston and Scarlett Johansson are very funny as a feuding couple who try (and fail) to keep their frustrations about each other beneath the surface while they are on stage, while Sir Christopher Lee, even though he has a relatively small part, gets some of the biggest laughs in the film simply from his reaction shots. Woody Allen acquits himself well to his usual Woody Allen-esque part, and Jamie Bell also shines as his son, who is in many ways the heart of the film due to his having to constantly run back and forth between many different panicking people.
The Show Must Go On is a funny and exciting movie, done with Woody Allen’s usual panache, and a real treat for lovers of the theatre. Unlike the theatre piece at the center of his plot, this one never goes wrong, and we find ourselves laughing like crazy even when the suspense as to whether or not this crew is going to pull the performance off becomes nearly unbearable. You are unlikely to find a cast as funny as this all year, and as the writer/director, Woody Allen proves yet again that even as he gets older, he hasn’t missed a beat in the art of filmmaking.
Best Picture
Best Director - Woody Allen
Best Screenplay - Woody Allen
Best Actress - Scarlett Johansson
Best Actor - Tom Hiddleston
Best Supporting Actor - Woody Allen
Best Supporting Actor - Jamie Bell
Best Supporting Actor - Kenneth Branagh
Best Crew