David Foster and Katherine McPhee at Luther Burbank Center

David Foster is a musical genius known for composing, producing and arranging music for a multitude of A list recording artists you probably didn't realize. He's earned 47 Grammy noms. 3 Oscar noms. and sold over 4 billion albums. Katherine McPhee is a recording artist who first rose to fame on American Idol as the runner up. She's starred on Broadway and television series. For those unaware, Foster and McPhee are married and have a young son, Ronny. McPhee is Foster's fifth wife and Renny, his first son. He has 5 daughters from previous marriages. These tidbits aside, Foster sauntered on stage after a brief video of illustrious superstars he has collaborated with including Whitney Houston, Natalie Cole, Barbara Streisand, Celine Dion, Earth, Wind & Fire*, Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban to name a few. After playing a quick medley of songs on a Yamaha concert piano he simply announced, "Ladies & Gentlerewmen, Katherine McPhee". She  came onto the stage wearing a shimmery gold gown with her long brown locks, loose down her back. She came out singing "Cry me a River". The subject of their marriage became a flirtatious banter between them.  Their 30 year age difference, Foster joked "is hard for Katherine to keep up with me." Katherine said "We first met 20 years ago when I was a contestant on American Idol and sang "I Have Nothing". Simon told me never to sing that song again." Foster pronounced Simon, "a dick. He got that one wrong." Katherine redeemed herself with her rendition and her beautiful, velvety voice.  Accompanying the pair on stage were John Robinson regarded as the most recorded drummers in history and Peter Cetera on bass ("Chicago" band member and award winning arranger). The evening was filled with Foster's crowd pleasing music and deserved hubris. This was a concert that was a hit from start to finish. In-between Foster asked for singers from the audience who think they sing better than Celine and Groban, "You don't. You've just heard your friends and family tell you that." However, Carlos from the audience sang a Bocelli operetta hit that was stupefying. Foster had to qualify that Carlos was not a plant but "He was great with the song I wrote, not Andrea.) An added bonus was acclaimed American tenor, Daniel Emmett, who sang Groban's hit, "You Raise Me Up," arranged for Groban by Foster. Emmett sounded very much like Groban. Foster quipped, "Don't get excited. You're not getting Josh at the prices you {the audience} paid," The price I paid was $100/seat in mid-orchestra which is on the high end for LBT but an amazing bargain for an evening of entertainment from a musical genius and his talented wife, During the finale, McPhee danced in the aisle with audience members including a man in a wheelchair, a 10 year old boy and back on stage with their son. This was Foster and McPhee's first time performing in Santa Rosa and I certainly hope not their last. (Hopefully, their collaboration will be an everlasting love** for both.) 

* ("After the Love is Gone" wrriten/arranged D Foster)

** (arranged by D Foster)

WE LIVE IN TIME with Andrew Garfield/Florence Pugh is Out of Sync

The 2024 film WE LIVE IN TIME now screening on Apple+ is a love story starring Andrew Garfield ("Spiderman") and Florence Pugh ("Oppenheimer"). Both actors are wonderful on screen and together but the structure of the film jumps around in time too much so that it becomes frenetic and disruptive to the emotional impact of the story. Almut (Pugh) is a chef who inadvertently "runs over" Tobias (Garfield) in a scene that looked deadly but brought the two together in the hospital hallway. (Why he isn't in a bed recovering is just one of the minor enigmas that mount into a stupefying placement of scenes that are somewhere between the couple's auspicious beginnings to Almut's infertility struggles and pregnancy, to their breaking-up, to Almut's burgeoning career, her two bouts with cancer and to giving birth in the convenience store's crapper.  Some of the scenarios are ridiculously lame as in the later, but some are very touching as well as when the two discuss Almut's option whether to pursue more treatments or the shaving of Almuts scalp aided by Tobias and their adorable daughter. The montage of celebratory moments at a carnival riding the carousel and bumper cars is delightful. However, the movie is plagued by its confusing structure intended at being clever by inferring life's momentous events are relived in our non-chronological memories. Furthermore, some superfluous scenes should have been edited out all together, as in the first family dinner where it was revealed Almut was an olympic figure skater or the pregnant belly laden with chocolate biscuits bobbing in the bathtub. The movie was entertaining thanks to the charms of Garfield and Pugh who were easy to watch and root for. The director of WE LIVE IN TIME should've entrusted their appeal and not have bandied about the movie fraught with its misfirings of scattered sequences in time. 

ANORA-A Dark Comedy that Shines with Mikey Madison as Its Star

ANORA is not your typical heroine, nor your typical comedy. It's atypically disarming with Mikey Madison in the lead as Ani, an exotic dancer who gets romanced by a young Russian, Ivan. Ivan (Mark Eydelsheyn) the prodigal son of wealthy oligarch parents meets Ani at the topless strip club where she works. Ani gets assigned to entertain Ivan because she speaks Russian. Luckily for her, Ivan is a big tipper and she happily agrees to see him outside of work. Ani arrives at his home and thinks she hit the jackpot with a wealthy client who can't seem to get enough of her. The two negotiate a rate for spending a week with him (not unlike "Pretty Woman"). Unlike "Pretty Woman" Ani has a lot more going for her than just a dazzling smile. Madison's portrayal should've earned her the Golden Globe. Ani is more than just a street smart sex worker. She's totally captivating and heartbreaking. When Ivan proposes marriage on their Vegas spending spree we watch her fairytale romance become a nightmare. Ivan's extravagant lifestyle and hard partying dazzled Ani, as did the 3 carat ring and sable coat. The appeal wears thin as she realizes Ivan, her spouse after a quick Vegas wedding, is a louse and has no interest outside of sex and video games. The honeymoon is definitely over when Ivan's parents get wind of this whirlwind marriage and send their lackey Priest and Russia thugs to end it. Ivan makes a break for it when the Russians barge into the home. Ani gets tied up by the bumbling Russian mob but not before Ani lands a few blows. The movie takes an energetic turn for the better as the battered thugs along with Ani, head out to find Ivan. The Russians, to end their marriage and Ani, to prove their marriage is the real deal. Their search takes them on an excruciatingly funny and exhausting escapade over night through Brooklyn haunts. They locate an inebriated and in-flagrant Ivan who they drag him to meet his furious parents. The parents have just landed in their private plane and commandeered their son and the situation. With the light of day Ani sees things clearly but she will not go quietly into the night. Madison's tour-de-force performance portrays a tough broad with unabashed intensity that when her carapace finally cracks, we're ambushed by her vulnerability and emotional pratfall. The biting, social parody of the wealthy and entitled assuming a given sovereignty is hilarious. Even so, the affecting power of ANORA is a quiet alliance that forms between those being exploited. ANORA is at times annoying but more often alluring thanks to an incredible performance by Madison which is sure to be noted. 

Demi Moore THE SUBSTANCE-More Crap DON'T PARTAKE Big Mistake

Demi Moore just won her first acting award, a Golden Globe for THE SUBSTANCE which is a film that is full of crap. Whether Moore or her co-stars, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid do an admirable acting job is not questionable. It's just inconceivable how something this terrible ever made it to the big screen. There's no substance of merit to mention. I won't bother to belabor how laborious it was to watch.  I watched it on fast forward and it was still horrid. I will not waste anymore time on this disastrous mistake. Please, don't make the same mistake - forsake THE SUBSTANCE, it's shit!

Community Narrative Night at 222 in Healdsburg

Who comes out on a Sunday night during the NFL playoffs and the Golden Globes? Almost no one. The community narrative night, which is open mic and free to the public, offers the opportunity for writers to share their craft in an intimate setting. There were only four courageous souls who showed up to share for only two attentive audience members (myself included). One woman shared her writing of a contemplative hike she took through somewhat muddy and treacherous trails. "The wind swept the side of indeterminate distance that marked the curve - Every step must be taken carefully." I found the presenter an appealing raconteur with a melodic and expressive voice that was pleasing to the ear. Her syntax was simplistic,  "I look down, I look down. How much further to go?" She ran into some inclement weather although she found herself "a cozy spot, till it stops." But, perhaps that was more a metaphor for life as the next day she received news of a close friend in ICU in a coma. "Can I go on? Make it back? "

Another woman. Erin shared her affinity to caring for a black crow, Joey Crow, that she nursed back to health. Unfortunately, she wasn't as successful with other birds she took under her wing. Her grief with the bird who flew off, those never able to and the children she reckoned she would never have were inconsolable. "It's hard to love something knowing how much you need them." I found her reading very intimate and brave. 

A 60 something gentleman shared a writing on his lifelong desire to become an underwater photographer. His childhood ambition began as a fan of Lloyd Bridges' TV show from the 60s where he was a scuba diver. His childhood dream took a backseat to his teens but resurfaced in midlife with a wife and child and construction business. I found his traversing life and passion for tuba diving diverting and inspiring. I was taken aback by a harrowing experience on the beach where a man in scuba gear was rushed on shore and his instructor ran to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation until emergency workers took over. His instructor told him, "I hate sucking face with a deadman." 

Bravo to all those who shared and the two (one is me) who cared to listen.

ONCE UPON a MATTRESS with Sutton Foster-The Show that Should R.I.P,

Sutton Foster is your triple threat theatrical star who can sing, dance and act to some degree but she is not reason enough to sit through this tired, silly musical whose appeal has long since dried up. I saw this show at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles at it's closing Thursday matinee performance. Matinees typically bring out the grey haired set and perhaps the precocious preteen theater kids and this matinee's demographics leaned heavily to both ends; over 75 and under 12. For the minority of attendees in the majority age range, it was a tedious musical to wallow through with little to do but grin and bear it. The talents of Foster in the lead as the likable, laughable Princess Winnifred wishing to marry Prince Dauntless (Michael Urie, "Shrinking") were well cast but alas, they were not able to breath life into this dated show derived from a Hans Christian Anderson tale. This Anderson tale had appeal only for the fairytale fan club. The original music for the Broadway production which opened back in 1959 was by Mary Rodgers, the daughter of legendary composer Richard Rodgers. It did not need to be revived for Broadway or any other large scale theatrical release. The campiness, cartoonish characters and slapstick humor were all long in the tooth and short on charm. The Queen (Ana Gasteyer,  former SNL cast member) makes those wishing to marry her son pass impossible tasks thereby holding onto her reign of her kingdom. The humor is inane throughout. The childlike King is mute due to a wicked spell. He tries to explain the birds and bees in a ridiculous pantomime to his dolt of a son. The other parallel love story between a nitwit knight and a lady in waiting, waiting to marry him, belabors the moronic storytelling. Watching ONCE UPON a MATTRESS was onerous for most of us who attend the theater intending to be entertained.