When Stephen Sondheim was in Houston for the Houston Grand Opera production of Sweeney Todd in the 1980s, he barely spoke to those outside his inner circle at parties around town. But when he recently returned to participate in a conversation with New York Times columnist Frank Rich at Jones Hall, the iconic Broadway composer couldn't have been nicer. He seemed genuinely touched by the outpouring of affection from Houston fans who attended a private backstage reception hosted by Society for the Performing Arts and engaged in long conversations with several admirers.
Everyone might have been in good spirits because Ziggy Gruber of Kenny & Ziggy's had a table load of deli food at the reception. Gruber said business at his Post Oak deli had jumped 50 percent since his September appearance on the Food Channel show, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
Sondheim and Rich got a standing ovation from the audience when they walked onstage for An Evening with Stephen Sondheim. But the cavernous symphony hall was not conducive to an intimate conversation. Sondheim also mumbled a lot, so it was hard to understand everything he said during the 90-minute program. But he did impart a few nuggets of wisdom to aspiring Broadway composers.
He told the audience the opening number can make or break a show. He cited A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, where he turned a flop into a hit by coming up with a new opening number, "Comedy Tonight."
"If you have the first right first five minutes, you can coast, " he said.
Actor Rose Byrne had a banner year in 2025, getting her first Oscar nomination for her starring role in If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You. Although she came up short in that race, she’s getting another chance to prove her acting bona fides in the new film, Tow.
In the “inspired by a true story” movie, Byrne plays Amanda, a down-on-her-luck woman who lives in her car and can’t find a job. Living in Seattle, she tries to stay in touch with her daughter, Avery (Elsie Fisher), who lives with her dad in another city, but circumstances sometimes limit their communications, especially when her car is stolen.
The good news is that her car is found relatively quickly. The bad news is that the tow company is charging her to get her car back, money she can’t afford. Now truly homeless, she does everything in her power to right the wrong, even taking the company to court. Without much luck, she has to start staying in a women’s shelter run by Barbara (Octavia Spencer), where she makes friends with Nova (Demi Lovato) and Denise (Ariana DeBose), among others.
Directed by Stephanie Laing and written by Jonathan Keasey and Brent Boivin, the film has relatively low stakes going for it and never really tries to make the story feel deeper than it is. The situation Amanda finds herself in is clearly a tough one, and any empathetic person would feel for her and want her to overcome her plight. But the filmmakers keep things light and never try to up the drama in any significant way.
The issue Amanda is dealing with, being price gouged by a predatory towing company, is one with which many people can relate. But aside from helpfully underscoring Amanda’s frustration by showing the increasing number of days she is without a car, they never establish why they felt this particular story was one worth telling. Her personal issues, including a growing estrangement with her daughter, fail to conjure any big emotions.
The filmmakers are very loose with their storytelling, especially when it comes to side characters. The presence of the women she meets at the shelter, and Kevin (Dominic Sessa), the young lawyer who offers to help her, never makes full sense other than a need for her to have other people with whom to interact. A tighter focus on what Amanda was going through would’ve helped both her and people around her feel more important.
Byrne is a dynamic performer who’s shown great skill at both drama and comedy, but there’s nothing special about her performance here. Hampered a bit by a blonde wig and false teeth, she feels out of sorts for much of the film. The unusually high-powered supporting cast — both Spencer and DeBose are Oscar winners — makes things interesting on first blush, but none of them outside of Sessa is given much to do, so they’re mostly wasted.
Tow will be a disappointment for anyone hoping to see more great stuff from Byrne. While she remains a fine actor, her performance and the story as a whole are nowhere near the level shown in her previous film. The real life predicament shown in the film also never rises to the level of being of something worth showing to the masses.
