THENEWYORKER, SEPTEMBER 2, 2019 9
ILLUSTRATION BY LEHEL KOVÁCS
There’s one more chance this summer to spend an evening at the Dela-
corte, home to Shakespeare in the Park—but you’ll need a taste for both
Disney and democracy. From Aug. 31 to Sept. 8, Public Works, the
Public Theatre’s ambitious community-based initiative, is staging a free
seven-night run of “Hercules,” based on the 1997 animated film, with a
few new songs by Alan Menken and David Zippel (who collaborated on
the movie) and a new book by Kristoffer Diaz. There are some familiar
Broadway names in the cast—James Monroe Iglehart, Roger Bart, Krysta
Rodriguez—but they’ll be far outnumbered by an ensemble of some
two hundred nonprofessional New Yorkers. Under Lear deBessonet’s
direction, the program aims to break down the boundaries between
performers and patrons and reconceptualize theatre as an open-door
jamboree.—Michael Schulman
IN THE PARK
the teen-age sensation Austyn Tester from his
early days of cultivating an online persona
as a sort of motivational speaker out of his
mother’s house, in Kingsport, Tennessee, to
his amped-up status on a tour under the aegis
of a Houston-based manager. Glib, engag-
ing, stylish, and, as his brother says, “kind
of motivational,” Austyn earns the devotion
of tween girls who scream Beatlemaniacally
while taking selfies with him at his public ap-
pearances, but he has trouble bringing his tal-
ent to the next level: monetization. Mandelup
has found a fascinating story; she’s also part
of it, but she elides her role in the action and
avoids addressing the transactional value of
her presence for Austyn and other participants
in his endeavor. What’s more, in expanding
the scope of the film to include various players
in the influencer business, and in pressing
Austyn’s ambitions into a large dramatic arc,
she rushes from clip to clip, from sound bite
to sound bite; the results are superficial and
frustrating.—Richard Brody (In limited release
and on Hulu.)
Once Upon a Time...
in Hollywood
Sooner or later, Quentin Tarantino will work
up the nerve to confront the present day, as
he did in his earlier films. For now, however,
garlicky white beans, fresh fruit—and there are
no bad bites.—Maya Phillips (Through Sept. 7.)
Moulin Rouge! The Musical
Hirschfeld
Baz Luhrmann’s pop-fuelled film fantasia is
now a musical, directed by Alex Timbers, and
the new form fits like a cancan dancer’s glove.
In 1899, Christian (Aaron Tveit), an American
romantic in Paris, falls in with an amiable
group of Montmartre artists, who recruit
Satine (the wonderful Karen Olivo), the pre-
mier courtesan of the Moulin Rouge, to star in
their new play. It’s love at first sight for Chris-
tian, but the club’s impresario, Harold Zidler
(Danny Burstein), has promised Satine to the
evil Duke of Monroth (Tam Mutu), whose
lucre Zidler needs in order to keep the lights
on and the absinthe flowing. Tveit’s Christian
is adorable, the Duke louche and slinky, but we
are here for the music—hits from Elton John to
Beyoncé and Lady Gaga that roll through the
audience in wave after wave of dopamine—and
for the glorious glitz: arrive early to see the
actors begin to appear in their corsets and
codpieces on Derek McLane’s appropriately
maximalist set.—Alexandra Schwartz (Reviewed
in our issue of 8/5 & 12/19.) (Open run.)
Summer Shorts: Series B
59E
The one-act format suits Neil LaBute—his
punchy style and his taste for dialectical skir-
mishes work best in short bouts—which is why
he’s a regular contributor to the annual “Sum-
mer Shorts” festival, and usually among the
best. In his play “Appomattox,” the pièce de
résistance of this year’s Series B, two friends,
one black (Ro Boddie) and one white (Jack
Mikesell), discuss reparations. How do you put
a value on a person’s life? Wouldn’t it be easier
to move on? The other pieces in the evening fail
to make much of an impact. Nancy Bleemer’s
“Providence” is a lightweight riff on “women are
from Venus, men are from North Providence.”
“Lucky,” by Sharr White (“The Other Place”),
shows ambition as it attempts to look at the
trauma of returning from war, but its snail-like
pace feels not so much evocative as self-con-
sciously ponderous.—E.V. (Through Aug. 31.)
1
MOVIES
Brittany Runs a Marathon
The title is a spoiler. Brittany (Jillian Bell)
lives in New York, parties too heavily, and
frets about her weight. A doctor recommends
exercise, and she takes his advice; soon she is
running with her annoyingly fit neighbor (Mi-
chaela Watkins) and a supportive gay friend
(Micah Stock). Brittany also lands the lazy
person’s perfect job, dog-sitting in an upscale
house; there she meets Jern (Utkarsh Ambud-
kar), who is, if anything, an even more skillful
slacker. Bell, dishing up her deadpan lines in a
splendidly flat tone, is better than the movie
around her. “I just hate it when people, like,
pity me,” Brittany says, yet the film, written
and directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo, pities
and supports her at every turn. It also encour-
ages other characters to recite their own issues
and woes, and, toward the end, lays aside its
comic obligations in order to cheer the heroine
on.—Anthony Lane (In limited release.)
Good Boys
Few things are more reliable, as comic fodder,
than the youthful rite of passage, with its mis-
haps, its gross-outs, its nervous premonitions,
and its easy epiphanies. Gene Stupnitsky’s new
film provides them all. Max (Jacob Tremblay),
Lucas (Keith L. Williams), and Thor (Brady
Noon) are the Three Musketeers of sixth grade,
rarely apart and ready to face any challenge.
Four consecutive sips of beer? No sweat. The
prospect of a kissing party, however, is too
daunting even for Max. So he and his pals
decide to train for the big event, by sending a
drone to spy on a next-door neighbor (Molly
Gordon). Naturally, the plan goes awry. The
kids are affable and energetic, with Williams
excelling as the most conservative of the trio,
but the way in which the movie mocks their
innocence, notably in regard to drugs and sex,
gives the whole affair an unappealing hint of
exploitation.—A.L. (Reviewed in our issue of
8/26/19.) (In wide release.)
Jawline
Going behind the scenes of social-media ce-
lebrity, the filmmaker Liza Mandelup follows
