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.
When making movies about the long history of sins visited upon Black people in the United States, a good instinct by filmmakers is to keep the story small. In telling a personal tale, as is done in Nickel Boys, the larger systemic issue can be exposed without getting lost in the enormity of the wrongs done to everyone who’s similar to the central characters.
What makes this film unique, though, is that writer/director RaMell Ross and co-writer Joslyn Barnes adapted Colson Whitehead’s novel in a way that is as personal as you can get: By giving it a first-person perspective. For the first half of the film, the audience sees the world of Elwood (Ethan Cole Sharp as a child, Ethan Herisse as a teenager) through his eyes, with the character only appearing in reflections or photos.
Through this technique, the impact of the turbulent 1960s hits even harder, as — among other things — Elwood sees the rise of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and becomes a high-achieving student against the odds in Tallahassee, Florida while living with his grandmother, Hattie (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor). On his way to attend a college that would help him achieve his dreams, he is waylaid in a traffic stop and taken to a reform school against his will.
As he tries to adjust to what amounts to an imprisonment, he makes friends with Turner (Brandon Wilson). From that point on, Ross shifts the perspective back-and-forth between the two boys, as well flash-forwards to an adult Elwood, as each deals with the innumerable injustices that they experience at the school. Their friendship is the thinnest of ropes that keeps them tethered to any hope that they will be able to leave one day.
While the first-person perspective could be viewed as a gimmick, in the case of this film it underscores the bewildering circumstances in which Elwood finds himself. Instead of being privy to information that Elwood or Turner might not know, we can only see what they see, a viewpoint that serves to increase the harrowing nature of their plights. Ross shifts the camera slightly to behind Elwood’s head in future scenes, a subtle move that helps the audience understand where in time they are, and give more information on the man that he has become.
While showing overt racism in films remains a powerful reminder of the evil that can exist in the world, many movies fall into a trap of making the racists one-dimensionally vile. Ross and Barnes make sure to flesh out characters like teacher Spencer (Hamish Linklater) and other adults, making their mistreatment of the Black kids at the school even more horrific.
Although the unusual camera placement prevents them from receiving the full star treatment, both Herisse and Wilson are able to demonstrate their talents well. The fleeting glimpses of their faces helps to understand the strength of the work they do off-screen. Ellis-Taylor puts in another award-worthy performance, projecting heart and desperation in equal measure as Hattie fights to get Elwood back.
While not strictly a historical film (the book is a fictional story that takes inspiration from real events), Nickel Boys holds enough truths in it to be completely gripping. The first-person perspective draws the viewer in, and then the story clobbers them with events that make the central characters indelible.
