Netflix thinks I’ll like Macbeth because it knows I like Monty Python’s Flying Circus. But it doesn’t mention, say, Strindberg in the context of me liking Bergman.
What does Monty Python have to do with Shakespeare? Well, John cleese appeared in a TV production of The Taming of the Shrew, and the Python show was stylistically beholden to one of the most influential stage shows of the past 60 years, Beyond the Fringe. One of the founding members of Beyond the Fringe was Jonathan miller, who directed a bunch of the bard’s other plays for the bbc.
Every once in a while I dip into the New Arrivals section of Netflix to see what’s of special appeal to the the theater-minded. Here are 30 such titles:
Alleged: A more family-friendly, and more historically accurate version of Inherit the Wind, with Brian Dennehy as Clarence Darrow.
American—The Bill Hicks Story. 2010 documentary about the iconoclastic stand-up heir to Lenny Bruce, who proved it’s still possible to provoke and shock a live audience with concepts, not just blue language.
The Arbor: Experimental biographical film based on the experimental work of playwright Andrea Dunbar, in which actors lip synch to interviews with Dunbar’s family.
Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey. Documentary about Kevin Clash, who also published a muppety memoir last year.
The Black Power Mixtape—1967-1975: Archived meditations on the Black Power movement as it happened, featured some of the great speakers of the century, plus Broadway heavyweight Harry Belafonte.
Blank City—New Cinema No Wave New York: Doc about the underground film movement of the 1980s, a lot of which came out of the Off Broadway and performance art scenes.
The Captains: The Star Trek captains, that is, in a documentary directed by the first of them, William Shatner. Most of these actors have impressive theater backgrounds, especially RSC member Patrick Stewart.
Certifiably Jonathan: Jonathan Winters plays his contemporary unhinged self, obsessed with becoming a famous painter.
Circo: A modern real-life save-the-family-circus saga.
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop: The live stage side of the writer-turned-talk-show-host. Sidekick Andy Richter, of course, first hit it big Off Broadway as Alice in the Brady Bunch Live.
Doctor Who: The Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant versions (aka Doctors Nine and Ten). Both Eccleston and Tennant have long British stage resumes, and Tennant even interrupted his film career at its height in order to play Hamlet and other roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Dumbstruck: documentary about ventriloquism.
Eating Out—Drama Camp: Queer frolics at Dick Dickey’s Drama Camp, with the comic emphasis on Camp, Drama, and dick.
Limelight: The decline of a legendary New York nightclub owner.
Magic Trip: Lest we forget that the impetus for Ken Kesey’s cross-country bus trip was a discussion which began when he came to New York to see the Broadway production of the stage version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It notes right off the bat that Kesey wanted to be an actor, magician or ventriloquist rather than a writer.
Memphis the Musical: Last year’s filmed performance of the Broadway show, which screened for a few days as a special cinema event.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: The 1996 Adrian Noble version, well-spoken but slow, and low-budget.
The Perfect Host: The creepy side of David Hyde Pierce.
Phil Ochs—There But for Fortune. Just last week, a friend opined that Ochs was overdue for one of those jukebox biomusicals. This 2010 documentary will have to suffice for now. Ochs’ best songs had a stand-up comedy pacing and a confrontational theatrical style. Who could ever play him?
Queen to Play: Kevin Kline as a chessmaster.
Rango: Johnny Depp as a cultured chameleon in the Wild West who, in a crisis, screams: “Burn everything! Except Shakespeare!” and converses with an ill-fated armadillo dressed like Don Quixote.
Reel Injun: Documentary about film stereotypes of Native Americans, caricatures inherited from decades of similar caricatures in literature and stage.
Rescue Me: Seven seasons. Denis Leary was a working actor in Boston before his MTV stand-up bits typed him as a comedian. With this show, he found the middle ground and pulled a lot of fine stand-up comics/actors in with him.
Saturday Night Live: The 2010s. The final “s” in the title is unnecessary. Only the 2011 season (Season 36) is included. Elton John, Helen Mirren and Paul Rudd are among the hosts.
Spork: Teen comedy about a high school dance showcase.
To Die Like a Man: A drag queen in despair finds an enchanted forest.
The Topp Twins—Untouchable Girls. The musical comedy sister act from New Zealand is profiled.
The Trip: Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as actors on a gourmet food tour, like Sideways with drama and food instead of literature and wine. Director Michael Winterbottom, as ever, brings a sense of looseness and improve to the endeavor. Worth it for the dueling Michael Caine impressions.
United States of Tara: Would Toni Collette’s quickchange personality transformations be more interesting as a live stage exercise? I find this show to be an actor’s vanity exercise and little else.
The Wavy Gravy Movie—Saint Misbehaving: The Woodstock mascot and performance artist/poet/clown gets a documentary.