The Many Saints of Newark.

"The Many Saints of Newark" Forgetaboutit !

Let me start off by summing up "Saints" in a few words: Terrible. Awful. Horrible. Horrendous. It's fourteen years since we saw "The Sopranos" go off the air so what better time than now to make a film about The Sopranos? The movie, a prequel, is so confusing that one had to keep asking... what the hell is going on here. I cannot begin to tell you what this movie is about. The movie was billed as how Tony Soprano became Tony Soprano. Unfortunately, the movie never comes close to explaining this. Two problems come right to mind why this movie is a failure: the first is that Michael Gandolfini, the real- life 20- year old son of the late James Gandolfini, as young Tony. Michael never comes close to his father, not by way of charisma nor pathos. The second problem is that David Chase co-wrote this flee bitten dog.

For the most part, this movie is not about Tony, it is more about Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola), father to Christopher Moltisanti, Tony's nephew in the series. But why Christopher? Dickie was not a looming figure in the series, and in "Many Saints, he is too generic and not inspiring to be a lead character in this movie. His character, like the whole movie, makes no sense.

the movie in a good way shows how times changed from the 60's into the 70's. the Newark race riots was a good touch to the movie; it would have been better, however, if it would segway into a better plot than the one Chase gives us. Instead of showing better footage of the riots, better cinematography, we get weak unlearned history about what really happened in Newark during the riots. Instead Chase brings us Leslie Odom Jr. who was a street runner for the Italians and then becomes a member of the Islamic Malcolm X radicals suddenly backed by Frank Lucas the biggest Harlem drug dealer that there ever was. He now competes with Dickie in the numbers rackets and he also for his woman.

Vera Farmiga who plays Livia Soprano is by far the best actor on this sinking ship .But even she has trouble being believable from the show's series where Nancy Marchand owned that role. If the scene where Tony's mother makes him a hamburger and she is in a good mood , Tony says something that she takes the wrong way and she goes off on him. Marchand was more believable in the series as the series was more orderly in its scene making. Here the movie is a mish mash of confusing events. Why is Tony, as a young boy interested in anti- depressants? Why was each scene so staccato?

In no way does this movie feel like the Sopranos series. It is like comparing the" Batman" T.V. series to "Batman" the movie; they are two completely different animals. Why does Chase give Silvio's father the same mannerisms as his son? "Many Saints" is nothing more than a choppy episode of the Sopranos and I am not even sure you can equate it at all with the Sopranos as most of the movie is unrecognizable to the series.

As Broadway opens, I saw "Six" today and thought it a very entertaining show. Although on the glam side, "Six" gives us a relief from the agony of the last eighteen months. Based on the premise of the Queens who were married to King Henry VIII and what it was like living under his tyrannical rule. The show has terrific singing and dancing and the lighting is uplifting and awe consuming.

Not for the serious theater goer but non the less a fun show to be at. If you like good choreography, Carrie-Anne Ingrouille does an amazing job in keeping these ladies moving throughout the ninety minutes of non stop extravaganza. Adrianna Hicks, Abby Mueller and Anna Uzele are superb in this upbeat comedy-musical.