Oz Down Under
By Steve Herte
Things
worked out nicely this week. I had to reschedule my dinner and a
movie night to slot in a reunion of my Barbershop quartet, The
Majestics. It’s difficult enough to get this group together when
one lives in Cos Cob, Connecticut, one in Yonkers, one in Queens, and
the fourth in Eastern Long Island. But it’s such a joy singing with
them and we don’t limit ourselves to the standard Barbershop style.
We sang some Gospel, some Jazz and touch of Rock and Roll and some
Doo Wop. It seems we were making really good sounds in the Atrium in
White Plains between Whole Foods Market, Morton’s Steakhouse and
the Cheesecake Factory. I heard, “You guys are awesome!” at
least seven or eight times. We felt it too. Just to give you an idea
of what kind of songs we sing, we went from “How Great Thou
Art” to “Battle Hymn of the Republic” to “My
Juanita” to the Beatles’ “Blackbird,” to “This
Joint Is Jumpin’,” to “Old Saint Louie” and “Stardust.”
This
is just a sampling of our over 100-song repertoire. Our “Danny
Boy” makes Irishmen cry. Our “This Is The Moment”
and “Music of The Night” have Broadway fans on their feet
applauding. The highlight of the evening was when this charming young
lady asked us if we could sing “Happy Birthday” to her Dad
as a surprise for his 79th birthday. We agreed and when he came out
of Morton’s with the family he had no idea what was waiting for
him. They were amazed and asked for another song. We instantly
responded with a swinging version of “Slow Boat to China”
and he danced to it with his wife. Passers-by stopped to watch and
listen. It was great. Then we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory,
and entertained more people there. At the end of the evening we
always finish with a Barbershop standard, “That Old Quartet of
Mine” because it makes us realize how special our group is to make
many people happy. One of the most poignant lines in this song
is, “And if someday we ever meet again, I will smile and stand
in line, just to sing one song, just one more time, with that old
quartet of mine.” Kind of makes you misty, doesn’t it?
This
re-scheduling made Thursday my night out and it was a good move. The
movie was a big surprise and the restaurant a place that would be
packed on a Friday night, but wasn’t when I was there. Enjoy!
Legends
of Oz –
Dorothy’s Return (Clarius Entertinment,
2014) - Directors: Will Finn, Dan St. Pierre. Writers: Adam Balsam &
Randi Barnes (s/p), Roger S. Baum (novel). Voices: Dan Aykroyd, James
Belushi, Kelsey Grammer, Lea Michele, Tacey Adams, Michael Krawic,
Martin Short, Bernadette Peters, Randi Soyland, Oliver Platt, Patrick
Stewart, Hugh Dancy, Brian Blessed, Megan Hilty, Douglas Hodge, Debi
Derryberry, & Randy Crenshaw. Animated, Color, 92 minutes.
When
the trailers did not give away the whole story and made the film look
silly to me, I initially had no intention of seeing this one. But
it’s a good thing I did see it, as it was very well done. The tale,
from a novel written by Roger S. Baum (great-grandson of L. Frank
Baum), picks up where the Wizard of Oz leaves off.
Dorothy (voiced by Michele) wakes up in her tornado-wrecked house and
sees the damage the funnel cloud inflicted on her neighbors. She,
Aunty Em, Uncle Henry and Toto are OK, as are the rest of the people
living in her area, but the houses and barns all around are broken in
various ways. There is also a sleazy, fast-talking “real estate”
appraiser (Short) handing out condemnation notices to everyone and
telling them to move out. Of course, Dorothy is outraged.
Meanwhile
in Oz, the Jester (also Short), brother of the Wicked Witch of the
West, has stolen her broomstick from the Emerald City and topped it
with a crystal ball, making it into a magic scepter and giving him
power to imprison all major characters in Oz as his marionettes,
including Glinda (Peters). The Scarecrow (Aykroyd) fires up a
“Rainbow Portal Generator” to call Dorothy back to Oz to help
battle the Jester but as it sweeps up Dorothy and Toto a troop of
winged monkeys attack. He, the Tin Man (Grammer), and the Lion
(Belushi) are captured and flown to the Jester’s castle. The
rainbow drops Dorothy and Toto off in the middle of a spiral garden
somewhere in Oz she’s never been and she’s lost. The Yellow Brick
Road is nowhere in sight.
The
only character in view is an enormously fat owl named Wiser (Platt)
whose chest feathers look like an argyle vest and who talks
incessantly (and admits it). He knows approximately where the Yellow
Brick Road is and joins her on her quest. Their journey takes them
through Candyland and Wiser warns Dorothy to obey the signs. However,
the Jester has already changed them from “Do Not Eat the Candy”
to “Please Eat the Candy,” and the two go on a binge (along with
Toto). They are arrested by chocolate soldiers under the leadership
of Marshall Mallow (Dancy) a man made up completely of (can you
guess?). They are led into town and taken to the court to be tried by
Judge Jawbreaker (Blessed). Just when it seems they are sentenced to
death it is revealed that she is Dorothy Gale, the witch-slayer, and
their sentence is commuted.
Marshal
Mallow cannot leave their side because he’s under orders from
General Candyapple (he doesn’t know the Jester’s already captured
the General), and he accompanies them on their journey. This takes
them to an extensive wall of delicate teacups and towers of fine
dinnerware, which causes Wiser to exclaim, “What a Great Wall of
China!” (There are several moments like this.) The gate, however,
is locked and the gatekeeper will not allow them to have an audience
with the China Princess (Hilty) because she’s interviewing suitors.
After Dorothy convinces the guard that Marshall Mallow is a suitor,
they gain access. In the throne room the princess is turning down one
suitor after another until Mallow steps up. At first he stammers
nervously and she mocks him. Then he starts singing his proposal in
an incredibly rich-toned voice and she’s stunned into silence and
admiration.
The
Princess won’t let the travelers go through her kingdom unless she
joins them and they are forced to agree. They come to a huge gap in
the Yellow Brick Road where a bridge once spanned the river that
flows to the Emerald City and decide they must build a boat. But the
trees won’t let them have the wood (especially remembering the
apples Dorothy stole from their relative the last time she was in
Oz). One old, gnarled tree however agrees to supply his wood and,
after a marvelous production number becomes the Tugg (Stewart), the
boat that takes them to the Emerald City.
From
there it’s a battle to get the scepter from the Jester and bring
things back to normal and send Dorothy home again. Legends of
Oz – Dorothy’s Return is a beautifully animated movie.
The characters are three-dimensional (even when not in 3D) and their
movements smooth and natural. Particular attention was paid to the
China Princess, who in close-ups reflected light off of her china
skin, a very nice special effect. The only character to suffer from
the designer’s pen was Glinda: Her comical hair-do and ridiculous
gown detracted from her believability and actually “flattened”
her. In general, the eyes of all the characters were a little too
large for my tastes. I would imagine to make them endearing.
Frozen must
have set a standard however, because for the third time in a row of
three animated films, the music blew me away in its grandeur,
back-tempos, harmony and orchestration. The music department includes
Bryan Adams as one of the songwriters and it shows. My personal
favorite song, “Even Then” written by Tift Merritt is poignant,
haunting and lavishly arranged and sung with great feeling by Hugh
Dancy, Lea Michele and Megan Hilty.
Bring
the kids to this one! The jokes they don’t understand you will, and
the visuals are bright enough and comically varied enough to keep
their attention.
Rating:
4 out of 5 Martini glasses.
Flinders
Lane
162
Avenue A (11th Street), New
York
“Modern
Australian Cuisine” was the hook that drew me to this two-month-old
boȋte at the beginning of Alphabet City. This cozy little place is
decorated in dark wood, with shades of silver, black and grey. Single
bulb swags hang from the ceiling and a well-stocked bar is on one
wall; an impressive wine rack on the opposite wall, and tables
separated by a brick wall in between. I sat at one of the three
circular marble-topped tables in the front windows choosing the bench
rather than the chair because it had a cushion. The young man at the
tiny Captain’s Station warned me that the seat rocked a bit but I
found no problem when I sat down. I discovered later what he meant,
for every time the front door opened, the bench leaned back a little
bit. Quaint, I thought, but endurable.
Flinders
Lane in Melbourne, Australia, is similar to our Greenwich Village;
it’s a place where artists and avant-garde types go to dine and
meet. Here, graffiti is an art form, with several walls covered in
brightly colored scenes. The restaurant has a photomural on one wall
to illustrate this.
My
waiter, Alan, brought me the menu and wine/drink list (basically a
sheaf of papers stapled together) and asked if tap water was my
preference. I told him yes. I saw two Australian beers on the drink
menu and decided to try the James Boag’s Premium Ale. It
had a full flavor, a good head of foam and made for a refreshing
start without being too heavy.
Alan
listed the specials of the day by simply reading them from the
blackboard over the bar, making side comments on each, and leaving me
to my thoughts. The menu is a single page entitled “Food” with no
subtitles or divisions. The dishes are listed in order of size rather
than purpose and Alan helped me discover where the dividing line was
between small, medium and large. From the wine list I chose the 2012
Innocent Bystander Pinot Noir from Australia, a semi-dry ruby red
table wine whose fruity flavor accented but didn’t interfere with
any of my dishes.
As
is my wont I chose three dishes and Alan approved with raised
eyebrow. First on my list was Oysters Kilpatrick – served on the
half-shell with Chinese pork sausage, garlic, chives and
Worcestershire dressing. It was a little messy to eat but an
explosion of flavor when you were able to get all of the ingredients
onto the tiny oyster fork and into your mouth. In fact, the flavor of
the oysters themselves was almost masked by the dressing.
My
next dish was my way of helping Australia to diminish its “pest”
problem (Alan chuckled at this excuse). The Tandoori Rabbit –
sliced with pickled green mango, Peshawari Nan (a Pakistani
flatbread) and spiced yoghurt – tasted as if it genuinely came out
of an Indian Tandoor oven, but Alan assured me it was grilled. The
chef has a knack for creating this illusion and it was tender and
delicious.
I
told Alan that no one is going to believe me when I say I had a soup
(essentially) as a main course. The Curry Laksa – a wonderful
Southeast Asian fusion of flavors in a Thai curry coconut broth, with
grilled shrimp, bean curd, lemon grass, rice noodles and Vietnamese
Cilantro – was like having a party in my mouth. The spices tingled
while the coconut soothed and the net effect was the flavor of
butter. I commented on this in my wonder knowing there was no butter
in it at all. The shrimp was a large one and served with head on, so
if you order this dish take into consideration a necessary
decapitation.
With
absolutely nothing left on any of my plates it was dessert time. Alan
listed the available selections commenting that the last one was
typically “English.” I stated that I did not come to Flinders
Lane to be “English” but to be “Australian” and chose the Ice
Cream Sampler.
The four scoops were arranged on a plate and Alan
explained which was which and where to start. The first was a light
lemon sorbet, refreshing and very cold. The second was a “cookies
and cream” ice cream, chocolate based, very good. The third was
definitely an Indian Kulfi – an ice cream without ice or cream.
It’s made with evaporated and sweetened condensed milk, bread and
little cardamom, wonderful. The last was the most intriguing of all –
a homemade ice cream with the delicate flavor of Myrtle (Yes the
flowering bush! I was astounded). It tasted like eating a forest in
springtime - a delicate, green flavor much lighter than green tea ice
cream. What an experience!
Then
Alan became the tempter. Deducing from what I’ve ordered he
suggested an after-dinner drink, Pineau Des Charentes – a French
“vin de liqueur” from the Cognac region of western France. It was
sweet, strong and a delightful finish to my meal. It was fortunate
indeed that I had to change my schedule this week. Alan told me that
if I tried coming on a Friday the restaurant would be packed with
customers. Keeping that in mind I will time my return visit to
Flinders Lane accordingly.
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