THEATER

James (12), Cousin Abigail (10) and Sister Lily (9)  pose before the venerable marquee of the St. James Theater. Photo: Hal Drucker

The lovely and talented Kate Baldwin is Sharon McLonergan and her Dad Finian McLonergan is portrayed by the irrepressible Irish actor Jim Norton. Photo: Joan Marcus.

On the Subject – Rainbows.
What is it about them that made Yip Harburg millions? Finian’s Rainbow is back- I guess we’ll find out.

Finian's Rainbow
St. James Theater
246 W. 44th St.
212-239-6200
Have you noticed something similar between The Wizard of Oz and Finian’s Rainbow? That’s right, they each take place somewhere over the rainbow, where magic is real and everything is perfect (sort of).

Well, if you travel somewhere over the rainbow and take a sharp right, you’ll reach the new Finian’s Rainbow at the St. James Theater. Missitucky comes to life on stage again, as Og, Susan, Finian, Woody, and of course, Sharon - team up to lead Harburg’s masterpiece to a new stardom.

Best Actor goes to Chuck Cooper as African-American Bill Rawkins, who leads “The Begat” in the way all the hopefuls out there can only dream of doing. But the rest of the cast is almost as good. The numbers, the same as the original, are amazing - Broadway “can’t hold a candle” to their “razzle-dazzle.” What is the Great White Way without a leprechaun hiding somewhere deep within it?

If I had magic, I’d give Finian’s Rainbow ten thumbs up, but unfortunately I don’t. So for now I can only say that missing this show is like missing a holiday- you’ll always miss it if you don’t experience it.

Get going! The crock is waiting, not to mention the fact that the seats are going fast.

MOVIES

Max Records and a Wild Thing.

Where the Wild Things Star
Maurice Sendak’s classic tale goes to the big screen.

It’s a well-known fact that Maurice Sendak, beloved writer of such books as In the Night Kitchen and illustrator of the likes of the Little Bear series, created his children’s classic Where the Wild Things Are, based on the antics of his older Jewish relatives, who would come to dinner weekly, squeeze his face, and say “I’ll eat you up, I love you so!” (Though if the Wild Things’ faces were those of Maurice’s relatives, one could wonder how he ended up with anything reminiscent of good looks.) Now, Sendak has produced a Spike Jonze film that will probably be as immortalized as the book has been - the Where the Wild Things Are film.

Max Records stars in this heart-wrenching, beautiful film composed entirely of the kind of emotional turmoil any movie writer needs in a script. So dark and yet so amazing, so depressing and yet so pleasing is the film, that the moviegoer cannot leave without standing, stretching, and announcing, “Phew! That was great!”

The only animated areas of the film are the Wild Things’ faces; the rest was performed with puppets on an island off the coast of Australia. The film is so neat to look at that it’s a struggle to focus on the incredible acting and puppeteering at once. (Best Actor is a dead tie between Max Records, who plays Max, the main character, and James Gandolfini as Carol, the Wild Thing with an artistic streak but a passion for finding the worst in everything.) But you’ll get it after a while - the balance of the film is so perfectly executed that I could call this the best movie of the year.

The score is a combination of guitar solos and classical music, which is definitely good with me. Spike Jonze must have had his hands full with the action - puppets jumping six feet in the air, crushing trees, throwing dirt balls. Catherine Keener is a superb Mom, as well as co-producer. In short, you can’t go wrong if you go to this film.

In each of us is a critic. In each of us is a movie lover. In each movie, there is one Wild Thing, but this one has six. What could be better?

On the left is Flint Lockwood, resident inventor of Swallow Falls (Bill Hader), and on the right is Sam Sparks, big city weathergirl (Anna Faris).

A Hilarious Front Moving In From the Southeast.
Was the book ever this good? Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is artwork.

Delicious! You will never see another movie like this.

Sony Pictures Animation elaborates the story of the classic children’s book from just a bedtime story into the tale of Swallow Falls, a town which resident inventor Flint Lockwood (SNL castmate Bill Hader) inadvertently makes famous when he mistakenly shoots a food-water converter into the clouds. The machine causes it to rain food, and the mayor (Bruce Campbell), overjoyed with the new tourism possibilities, renames the town Chewandswallow and schedules a grand reopening day in a month. During the time, however, the machine develops a mind of its own and Flint and his partner and love interest Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) must stop it before it engulfs the world in a food storm.

My question is, why can’t every movie be like this? A comedy with a storyline that makes sense that’s fun for the whole family- it might sound like an oxymoron, but think again. My recognition of the actors from live-action films during the credits almost made me laugh with happiness. I couldn’t believe those guys had consented to do the movie. Best Actor goes to Bill Hader. Rarely do I say this about a main character, but HA!

It’s genius with great animation with a star-studded cast (including Andy Samberg, James Caan, and Neil Patrick Harris) and a heartwarming story along the way. You can’t be disappointed after you see the rethinking of the Jell-O sunset, the pancake storm, and the sanitation machines. You won’t stop laughing the whole way through.

And there can’t be a more powerful message: never play with your food (or anything that makes food), as it might just revolt and threaten the existence of the world.

MUSEUMS

"Several Circles" January–February 1926. Oil on canvas by Vasily Kandinsky. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

Composition 8, 1923; Kandinsky

Peel the Onion in Several Circles
Kandinsky’s works find their way to the Guggenheim.
1071 5th Ave. @ 89th St.
(212) 423-3500
Through Jan. 13.
Of course, there is no definite way to tell exactly what constitutes a work of art. But when the free-flying artistic genius of Vasily Kandinsky is posted in Frank Lloyd Wright’s greatest work, you might say the good folks who run the museum have created a double helix of a masterpiece.

It’s best to start your viewing at the top, of course - less traffic, and a better perspective. The slightly vertigo-inducing trek down hosts the paintings of Kandinsky in a way no one has ever seen them before - complemented by the perfect light arrangement of the Guggenheim, bursting with color and feel. Kandinsky saw the world in a different way, as a place where you could define feelings with shapes, sounds with shades, and depth with geometric figures which bounce and reach out like springs.

If not for Kandinsky, go for Wright - the experience of the Guggenheim cannot be matched by any museum in the world. One generation before me, my mother skipped into the white building, astounded, but speechless only for a couple of seconds. She bounded up to a painting, looked at the plaque suspiciously, and recognized her uncle’s name (The Linda and Morton J. Collection, filling the museum at the time). Overcome with the spirit of the place, she announced to the confused-looking stranger sitting on a bench near the painting, “That’s my uncle!” Bemused, the stranger asked if the artist was her uncle. “No!” my mom said disdainfully. “My Uncle is Morton J.” After the stranger nodded curtly, my mother began to appreciate not only the beauty of her uncle’s collection, but also the building itself.

You will never see a canvas quite like “Several Circles,“ a black background headed by circles painted so as to make you assume they are naught but a shadow or reflection. You will never view a skyscraper as you would the Guggenheim - curling up into the air like an enormous cinnamon roll, seeming to wink down at you, shining in the sun.

Don’t miss this collection- you will take home with you, not only one of the incredible souvenirs the shop has to offer, but the memory of the day you have had.