Arts Kaleidoscope Eyes: A Perfect Escape from a Heat Wave
Last night I spent a dreamy evening at the Northwest Film Forum, where the thoroughly air-conditioned main theater is hosting Kaleidoscope Eyes, a series of 16 film segments directed and/or choreographed by cinema genius Busby Berkeley, scored with new songs written by the beloved-and-acclaimed Seattle composer (and first Stranger Genius award winner for Theater) Chris Jeffries. For the show, Jeffries sits at a piano below the screen alongside a small chorus of singers, many of them esteemed Jeffries’ vets, who deliver their songs from behind music stands.
The show’s not perfect, but it’s totally worth seeing. There are some klunky moments and a couple numbers feel extraneous, but on the whole, it’s delightful, and its best moments are near-transcendent. Jeffries’ deep love of Berkeley’s work is clear, and in the best numbers, the amazing screen images mesh with Jeffries’ Stephin Merritt-meets-show-choir songs in dazzling and hilarious ways.
Also, sitting in a deeply air-conditioned room watching 50 identically beautiful women plunge one after the other into a vast cool pool on a black-and-white screen is the most effective heatwave-escaping maneuver this side of suicide.
Go.
Oh, it was okay, but there were several moments where I found myself wishing they'd just shut up and let the scenes roll. And in a couple of sequences -- the WWI/Depression number (That Man of Mine, originally) -- the film score is so much superior to the new versions that it's tragic.
Also, what was up with that last number? Fisherman, fisherman, look how far we can pee? Was that really necessary?
It was just so Tom-Lehrery. Was there really no one else who could have looked at these scenes and *not* thought of show tunes?