On Screen: “Blue Moon”
Blue Moon
Set on March 31, 1943, Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon” recalls the opening night of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s landmark, genre-redefining musical “Oklahoma!” — specifically the celebratory after-party at Sardi’s restaurant on West 44th Street in Manhattan’s theater district.
The film is nominated for two Oscars: Ethan Hawke for Best Actor and Robert Kaplow for Best Original Screenplay.
Diminutive, deeply troubled lyricist Lorenz Hart (Hawke) — who collaborated with composer Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) on many hit musicals including “Pal Joey,” “By Jupiter,” “Babes in Arms,” and “Jumbo” — commiserates with amiable bartender Eddie (Bobby Cannavale) and author E.B. White (Patrick Kennedy), while extolling the virtues of his current crush, much younger Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley), whom he calls his protégé.
In this character-study, bisexual, alcoholic, insecure Lorenz knows that Elizabeth is coming primarily because she wants an introduction to Richard Rodgers. But it isn’t until they share a ‘confessional’ in the Sardi’s coat closet that he realizes that, while she treasures his friendship and truly loves him, “just not that way.”
Passing through, there’s an enlisted Army pianist whom Lorenz calls Knuckles (Jonah Lees) and jovial Oscar Hammerstein II (Simon Delany) accompanied by ‘Little Stevie’ (Cillian Sullivan), a precocious teenage Sondheim.
Making the most of Robert Kaplow’s sardonic screenplay, based on letters written between droll, self-deprecating Lorenz and Elizabeth, an ambitious Yale student, actor Ethan Hawke and director Richard Linklater capture the tragically wistful essence of Lorenz Hart who was found dead just eight months later at age 48.
Yet his songs — like “My Funny Valentine,” “The Lady is a Tramp,” “Manhattan,” “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” “This Can’t Be Love,” and the titular “Blue Moon” — live on.
FYI: Instead of filming at the real Sardi’s, the legendary restaurant was authentically recreated in Ireland by Dublin production designer Susie Cullen from a series of walk-through videos, including the celebrity caricatures that line the walls.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Blue Moon” is a melancholy 7. Distinguished by Hawke’s masterful performance, it’s streaming on Hulu, Prime Video and Apple TV.
Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures. Her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M.
As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O’Brien, and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism.