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Posted

You can rest assured that I'll be watching each-and-every episode of "Mozart In The Jungle." I don't care how "unrealistic" it is - I just watched the Pilot and loved it! The pilot features Malcolm McDowell, Bernadette Peters (whom I saw with Mandy Patinkin on Broadway in "Sunday In The Park With George"), and one heck of a lot of bawdy, wicked classical-musician humor. This is right up my alley, and I'm going to make sure Matt is sheltered from watching it!
 
"Classical Music As 'Jungle' Rings True - 'Mozart In The Jungle,' An Amazon Series" by Zachary Woolfe on nytimes.com

Season One (Dec 23, 2014)

Screenshot 2016-10-22 at 11.14.27.png -1.1 - "Pilot"

Directed by Paul Weitz (Academy Award Co-Nominee for Best Adapted Screenplay for Co-Directing "About a Boy", Co-Director of "American Pie")

Written by Alex ("Shiver Me'") Timbers (Multiple Nominations for Golden GlobeTonyDrama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, London Evening Standard, Off-Broadway Theater ("OBIE"), Lucille Lortel, and Emmy Awards), Roman Coppola (Academy Award Co-Nominee for Best Original Screenplay for "Moonrise Kingdom"), and Jason Schwartzman (Nominee for Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture for "Shopgirl")

Featuring:
Oboe (Hailey Rutledge) - Lola Kirke (Daughter of Simon Kirke, Former Drummer for "Bad Company")
Violinist Playing Tschaikovsky Concerto Op 35 (Joshua Bell) - Joshua Bell (Violinist in "Pearls before Breakfast")
Conductor, Retiring (Thomas Pembridge) - Malcolm McDowell (Alex "Alec" DeLarge in "A Clockwork Orange")
Cellist (Cynthia Taylor) - Saffron Burrows (Dr. Susan McAlester in "Deep Blue Sea")
Chairman of the Board (Gloria Windsor) - Bernadette Peters (25+ Nominations for Tony (2), Drama Desk (2), Emmy (2), Golden Globe (2), and Grammy Awards)
Conductor, Debuting (Rodrigo De Souza) - Gael García Bernal (Che Guevara in "The Motorcycle Diaries")
Dancer-Bartender (Alex Merriweather) - Peter Vack (Jason Strider on "I Just Want My Pants Back")
 
[Malcolm McDowell is a retiring conductor for a major New York symphony, being replaced by an obvious imitation of Gustavo Dudamel (played by Gael García Bernal) - a real-life character with whom you should familiarize yourself. Sex, drugs, and debauchery surround these talented, young musicians, and I can tell this is going to be one heck of a scare thrown into me as the potential parent of a college music major (give me back my *child*, damn it!). This will be the type of show where modern-day female sexuality is celebrated, and it will be a challenge to keep track of who's having sex with whom. Bernadette Peters plays a great role as the Chairman of the Board, but as the NY Times article cited above says, she's more like an "Executive Director," smitten with Rodrigo (the Dudamel character). This ten-episode series is going to be one heck of a ride, I can tell. It's easily rated R, so it isn't for children. There are so many important character introductions in this pilot that I didn't know who to show in the picture; instead, I showed the entire orchestra, plus Peters and Bernal, magically pulling out a rose (Gabriel Garcia-Marquez-type magical realism is supposed to abound in this series, although this is the only "moment" in the Pilot episode, and it could easily be explained by a clever slight-of-hand).]

Screenshot 2016-10-22 at 14.18.57.png - 2.2 - "Fifth Chair"
Directed by Paul Weitz (2), Written by Paul Weitz and John Strauss (Grammy Award Winner for "Amadeus")

Screenshot 2016-10-22 at 19.49.58.png - 2.3 - "Silent Symphony"
Directed by Bart Freundlich, Written by Mark Steilen

Screenshot 2016-10-22 at 19.38.00.png - 2.4 - "You Have Insulted Tschaikovsky"
Directed by Daisy von Scheler Mayer (Director of "Party Girl"), Written by David I. Stern

Screenshot 2016-10-22 at 19.02.49.png - 2.5 - "I'm With the Maestro"
Directed by Tricia Brock (Director of 3 Episodes of "The Walking Dead"), Written by Alex Timbers (2) and Nikki Schiefelbein

Screenshot 2016-10-22 at 23.18.26.png - 2.6 - "The Rehearsal"
Directed by Bart Freundlich (2), Written by - Story: Paula Yoo, Teleplay: John Strauss (2) and David I. Stern (2)

Screenshot 2016-10-23 at 01.44.46.png - 2.7 - "You Go to My Head"
Directed by Roman Coppola (2), Written by Adam Brooks (Director and Writer of "Definitely, Maybe") and Kate Gersten

Posted

I'm halfway through the first season of "Mozart in the Jungle," and I'm finding myself in an odd situation: I don't love this series nearly as much as I thought I would, and yet, I can't express in words why I don't.

Maybe it has turned from being something with a *lot* of potential into something that approaches a "silly comedy," with a shockingly weak character in Rodrigo De Souza, and most of the characters I'm finding to be cardboard-cutouts. But that statement isn't entirely accurate; I can't quite put my finger on this - does anyone else have any feelings about this series?

It's almost like a hypothetical mixture of a Coen Brothers film and Parks and Recreation ... except not. I should be enjoying this more than I am - I don't hate it, but I don't love it either.

---

ETA - As soon as I write this, I see episode six, and love it.

---

ETA: Episode seven is really good too - I'm getting into the flow of this series. :) And I feel like a baller because I knew the answer to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

Posted
25 minutes ago, dracisk said:

Every once in awhile I compare prices between Amazon Prime and Target. Usually Amazon Prime sells what I want for about the same price. Even if something I want is a couple of dollars more on Amazon Prime, I usually buy it there since it's worth the extra price not to make a special trip to Target only to be unable to locate what I'm looking for or to find that the item is sold out. I hate all the packaging that comes with Amazon purchases, but most of it gets reused or recycled. The only brick and mortar stores I visit regularly are Costco (because there's one 2 miles from me) and Giant. If Amazon Prime, Costco, and Giant don't have what I'm looking for I think long and hard about whether I really need the item.

I probably watch more Netflix than Amazon, but Amazon's original programming is indeed pretty good. I've heard great things about Mozart in the Jungle and Transparent, but I haven't watched either yet. My husband (and a lot of other people) loved The Man in the High Castle, but it wasn't really my cup of tea. I really enjoyed Bosch and Catastrophe. You don't have to pay for all movies on Amazon -- the ones designated as Prime are free to Prime members.

My brother is a big fan of Amazon Music. I haven't used it. My husband is the one with the Prime membership and I'm part of his "household." From what I understand, only the actual Prime member has access to certain benefits, and Amazon Music is one of those benefits that I don't have access to.

Google Dudamel before you watch SE1 EP1 of "Mozart in the Jungle" - even as a standalone episode, it's really good.

Posted
5 minutes ago, dracisk said:

I'm familiar with him, but I wouldn't have recognized him ... so thank you. :-)

Note also which symphony is playing during Rodrigo's introduction, and link that with who the retiring conductor is. :)

  • Like 1

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