I rarely have high expectations when I walk in to a movie theater, but for some reason I had set one for Nine.  Nine is about a movie director named Guido who is about to start filming his latest movie when he’s caught in a debacle because he hasn’t written a word of the script yet.  Guido is surrounded by a production staff that is working vigorously to make the movie come together while he runs around trying to “find” himself.
I had a hard time connecting with Nine.  It had many of my favorite aspects for a movie in it – talented performers and great music, so it shouldn’t have been so hard.  It wasn’t until the end that I really connected with the film.  The scene was with Guido setting up two actors in a scene in his latest movie that he wrote to win back his wife.  During the scene, people from his past are brought in behind him and his childhood self runs out and sits on his lap.  This all happens as he carry’s on normally, without notice.  It was touching to see everything that he struggled with throughout the movie finally serve as a sense of inspiration as he moves on with the “simple” outlook of a child.
Overall, I will stick to listening to the soundtrack rather then watching this. Â It seemed like a stretch to make this theatrical piece in to a movie but I believe it was well done for what there was to work with.
One by one, the big shows on Broadway are folding due to the great American economy. Right as Broadway could have been looked at as having a boom, it took a quick turn to the worse. What were once blockbuster shows that drew full houses are now scavenging to maintain 50% capacity. Altogether I do not believe it could be all that bad. The world is changing and so will all of the Entertainment that is deemed as a luxury. Broadway holds a special place in the hearts of many people. Now is the chance for those shows to travel across America and expose themselves to a greater audience. I know there are traveling shows and community groups that perform, but will we see a new model of “Broadway” across America? They can’t afford to be stationed in one location, expect for those to come out of town to view their productions, put hundreds of thousands of dollars in to it and then receive a return on investment. What I see is a lot more emphasis on bringing a production elsewhere.
