No Cherry for Cheri

Based on the 1920s novel by French writer Colette, Cheri is a tragic comedy love story set in Paris in the early 20th Century. A time considered the twilight of the ‘Belle Époque’, literally the ‘beautiful era’.

Directed by Stephen Frears, (The Queen), screenplay by Christopher Hampton, (Atonement) and starring, Michelle Pfeiffer, (Hairspray), Kathy Bates, (Fried Green Tomatoes) and Rupert Friend, (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas).

So it’s a cast and crew with lots of talent, in fact Frears, Hampton and Pfeiffer all worked together on 'Dangerous Liaisons' in 1988. Unfortunately they do not recreate the magic in this offering, somewhere in the mix things get a little lost.

The film is beautifully shot and sumptuously dressed but doesn’t quite work as the tragedy/comedy it sets out to be. Sure there are some awfully good individual moments but too few of them to make an entire film.

The plot is simple enough; aging courtesan Lea de Lonval, (Pfeiffer), is considering retirement she agrees to help her former colleague and sometime rival Madame Peloux, (Bates), by taking Peloux’s 19 year old son Fred aka Cheri, (Friend), under her wing and save him from a life of louche hedonism. For six years Lea teaches Cheri the art of love and life and they settle into a life of easy domesticity. Just as Lea seems prepared to make a commitment Cheri is married off to the daughter of another courtesan. Cheri and Lea who have unwittingly fallen for each other must now come to terms with their lives being lived apart.

Pfeiffer handles the role of Lea with a sense of style and class, allowing us, every now and then, to peak through the veneer of world weariness and see the vulnerability beneath as she confronts her lost love and lost youth.

Bates, as Peloux, is conniving, manipulative, vengeful and petty, her performance is both over the top and larger than life. Aware that her looks and figure have long since departed she has retreated into a world of venality. Clearly she must have been a hit as a courtesan because she looks as if she has eaten her way through many a fortune.

Friend, (Cheri), is the weakest character. Frears has chosen one of those mop top almost androgenous man/boys that England seems to produce by the bucket load, think ‘Twilight’ and ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’, to play the part of the ‘beautiful youth’ who has seen it all, done it all and been bored by most of it. Friend doesn’t excite, in fact he is so wet and annoying that I found it hard to understand why Lea, a sophisticated woman in need of intellectual stimulation would have put up with him for so long. Leaving aside this one major flaw, it’s an easy film to watch and luxuriate in.

One unkind critic, not me, summed it as, “A cougar catches a twink, loses a twink and then tries to catch him again.”

There are some extremely camp moments and if awards are ever handed out for ‘chewing the scenery’ then surely the two older ‘women’ playing cards will win hands down.

The voiceover that moves the story forward and then wraps up the rather tragic and unseen ending is spoken by an uncredited Stephen Frears.

Cheri will be in general release from July 23.

Poor Boy

Seven years ago on the night that ‘Jem Glass’, (Jed Rosenberg/ Nicholas Bakopoulos-Cooke), was born something happened; an event that would link two families through time, ‘Danny Prior’ (Mathew Newton), died. He was run down as he crossed a pedestrian crossing and left to die. His mother, (Sarah Peirse) and his wife, (Abi Tucker), have never really moved on from that night.

Jem Glass is about to celebrate his seventh birthday, the cake is made the candles are lit but Jem passes out before the family can celebrate. When he comes to he’s not who he once was. Jem arrives at the Prior family home claiming to be their long dead son, Danny. He knows all there is to know about his ‘new’ family and nothing about his ‘old’.

One family has to let go while the other has to embrace someone they thought they had lost forever.

What happens when one soul needs to complete with the family left behind? What is a soul? These are just two of the really big questions that ‘Poor Boy’ attempts to answer. Pretty heady stuff you would imagine, questions that some of the great minds have been struggling with for centuries.

Strong performances across the board from the cast with the standouts being Linda Cropper as ‘Viv Glass’ and Sarah Peirse as ‘Ruth Prior’.

It’s the staging that grabs your attention, on a multi level set designed by Iain Aitken the players of this family drama try to come to terms with reincarnation and excise the demons of deeds past.

To use an old fashioned term, this is a lavish production. It’s theatrical, expertly staged and what a luxury to have the band on stage, on hydraulics, and what a cracking band it is, directed by Ian McDonald.

But here’s the rub; does the ‘work’ stand up as well as the staging? There are some really great moments in this production but there are some truly cringe worthy bits as well – the rebirth of the Flame tree made me groan, the affectation of the zebra head, as much as I loved the head, in the end, how much did it really move the story forward?

The author, Matt Cameron, describes ‘Poor Boy’ as a play with music by Tim Finn, (pictured). Sure new songs have been written for the production but other songs most noticeably, ‘I Hope I Never’, have been worked into the script, not always successfully.

The show doesn’t quite live up to the staging.

Having said all of that at the end of the performance the audience was very vocal and energetic in its approval.

It’s at times like that, when I’m seeing a play or a piece of theatre and everyone around me is so entranced and taken up by the whole experience that I start to wonder, “Why am I not as moved or involved as the others. What is it about me that stops me from experiencing the same amount of joy that everyone else seems to be.” I sat in the theatre and listened to the cheers and the applause for the show and thought, “Have we all just seen the same piece? Sure it was good but it wasn’t great.” Immediately I began to doubt my own critical abilities.

I have prepared myself to be shot down in flames by the rest of the audience.

‘Poor Boy’ opened July 9, at the Sydney Theatre and runs until August 1.

'Every Little Step' - stumbles but it's worth the trip

May 21st, 1975, off Broadway, at The Public Theatre the first professional performance of ‘A Chorus Line’ was staged; Michael Bennett’s Pulitzer Prize winning show about the dancers, (Gypsies), who perform behind the star.

After a year of taped workshops in which dancers told their stories the format for the show was set. From all the diverse characters that gathered together for Bennett’s workshop a theatrical event was born. A show that proved to be the forerunner for the reality TV shows that fill screens today: ‘So You Think You Can Dance, Australian Idol’ to name just a couple.

The plot for the show is simple; seventeen dancers audition for eight roles, four male and four female, in an upcoming Broadway show. Through the audition process the audience learn that the dancers are not just distractions to keep you entertained while the star changes into yet another, brighter and bigger costume, but that each one of these ‘Gypsies’ has a story and that these stories deserves to be told.

‘A Chorus Line’ grabbed the heart of New York and indeed the world. It transferred from Off Broadway to the Schubert Theatre. It went on to be the longest running show on Broadway running for 6,137 performances. A record since broken by 'Cats' and 'The Phantom of the Opera'.

‘Every Little Step’ is a documentary about the restaging of the show in 2006 on Broadway. Using flashbacks of the original cast and sound clips from that first workshop the filmmakers attempt to link the two audition processes together.

Unfortunately, while the documentary is hugely entertaining, thanks mainly to a superb audition piece by Jason Tam that had the Producers and the audience in tears, and the hunt for Sheila, the film misses, not by much, but enough to leave you wanting something a little more organic from the film makers.

The main problem for me is that there is not enough reference to the past and not enough engagement with the present.

We’re all used to the ‘Reality’ format of such TV shows as the previously mentioned ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and ‘Idol’, shows that encourage you to become emotionally attached to particular performers throughout the competition. 'Every Little Step' for the most part leaves you feeling slightly distanced from those auditioning.

Don’t get me wrong by the end of the film I was an emotional wreck but still left with a feeling that something was missing.

The show ‘A Chorus Line’ succeeds because the audience is invited in to the world of the dancer and we experience the struggle, pain and heartache that they go through to try and achieve their goal. We are seduced by their stories.
‘Every Little Step’ misses because we're not as invested in the people auditioning.

However with all those reservations it’s well worth spending 90 minutes in a darkened theatre and allow this piece of American musical history to take you away.


‘Every Little Step’ is playing at Palace Cinemas – check your local paper for session times.

When Shi Isn't She

In other news today, July 6th, Shi Pei Pu passed away possibly aged 71.

Shi, (pronounced Shuh), was a Chinese national who taught the French diplomats wives Chinese in Beijing. Shi may or may not have been a singer with the Chinese Opera. Shi also had an affair with a very minor French diplomat named Bernard Boursicot.

Boursicot believed Shi was a singer with the Chinese Opera and female.

They met in Beijing and the affair continued on and off for almost twenty years. Shi convinced Boursicot that their union had produced a male child, Shi Du Lu, (Bertrand). Believing that Shi’s safety was in jeopardy Boursicot agreed to pass documents to the Chinese secret service.

Boursicot was instrumental in getting Shi and the child out of China to Paris in 1982, where they lived as a family until their arrest in 1983.
The affair, when it was discovered ruined Boursicot and he became a laughing stock in France. He and Shi were tried for treason in 1986, both receiving six year sentences and both being pardoned a year later.

Boursicot never knew that Shi was male until they were arrested in 1982. He explained that their sex had always been rather hurried, frantic and always in the dark. When he found out the truth he tried to commit suicide by slicing his throat with a razor blade.

The affair between Shi and Boursicot spawned the Broadway show and movie M. Butterfly.

Boursicot now lives happily with his longtime partner, (male).

Shi is survived by his son Bertrand who also lives in Paris, but has no contact with Boursicot.