{"id":2098620,"date":"2025-10-17T20:59:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T20:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2098620"},"modified":"2025-10-17T20:59:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T20:59:43","slug":"ethan-hawke-is-unrecognizable-and-transfixing-in-sad-witty-broadway-tale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/ethan-hawke-is-unrecognizable-and-transfixing-in-sad-witty-broadway-tale\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethan Hawke is unrecognizable and transfixing in sad, witty Broadway tale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2025%2F10%2Fnewspress-collage-bhsuj29id-1760732437381.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall%261760718096\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--review alignleft\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n\t\t<span class=\"inline-module--review__eyebrow subsection-heading-semi__label\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tmovie review\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"inline-module--review__title subsection-heading-semi\">\n\t\t\tBLUE MOON\t\t<\/h2>\n<div class=\"rating\">\n<div class=\"rating__stars\">\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--filled\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--filled\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--filled\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rating__star rating__star--half\"><?php \/**\n * Review star.\n * \n * @package nyp-editor\n *\/\n\n??><\/p>\n<style><![CDATA[\n\t.review-block-star {\n\t\t--review-block-star--empty-color: #585858;\n\t\t--review-block-star--fill-color: #000;\n\t}\n]]><\/style>\n<p><svg class=\"icon-star review-block-star\" stroke=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\" fill=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\" stroke-width=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 16 16\" height=\"13px\" width=\"13px\">\n\t<defs>\n\t\t<lineargradient id=\"half-gradient\">\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"50%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--fill-color)\"\/>\n\t\t\t<stop stop-opacity=\"1\" offset=\"0%\" stop-color=\"var(--review-block-star--empty-color)\"\/>\n\t\t<\/lineargradient>\n\t<\/defs>\n\t<path d=\"M3.612 15.443c-.386.198-.824-.149-.746-.592l.83-4.73L.173 6.765c-.329-.314-.158-.888.283-.95l4.898-.696L7.538.792c.197-.39.73-.39.927 0l2.184 4.327 4.898.696c.441.062.612.636.283.95l-3.523 3.356.83 4.73c.078.443-.36.79-.746.592L8 13.187l-4.389 2.256z\">\n\t<\/path>\n<\/svg>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Running time: 100 minutes. Rated R (language and sexual references). In theaters.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>If when you hear the words \u201cPal Joey,\u201d you think fondly of your friend Joseph, Richard Linklater\u2019s new film \u201cBlue Moon\u201d might leave you bothered and bewildered.<\/p>\n<p>As for Broadway buffs and lovers of old New York, the witty, hilarious and haunting movie starring a totally transformed Ethan Hawke as musical-theater lyricist Lorenz Hart will have them utterly bewitched.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you ever think of your entire life as a play?\u201d <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/17\/entertainment\/how-ethan-hawke-bobby-cannavale-prepped-for-sardis-set-blue-moon-drinks-with-patti-lupone\/\">Bobby Cannavale\u2019s all-ears Sardi\u2019s bartender<\/a> asks Hart, who wrote \u201cPal Joey,\u201d \u201cBabes in Arms\u201d and \u201cThe Boys from Syracuse\u201d with Richard Rodgers, and is doing his darndest to not pound down whisky.<\/p>\n<p>Good question. Richard Linklater has directed \u201cBlue Moon,\u201d from a stunningly smart screenplay by Robert Kaplow, almost as if it is one.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The movie ventures to just a few places: the seats of a theater, the bar at Sardi\u2019s, its dining room and coat room. Sharp, clever monologues abound. There\u2019s a piano player. It would make a fantastic play.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter\">\n<div class=\"inline-module inline-module--more inline-module--columnist inline-module--more--thirds\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n<h2 class=\"inline-module__heading subsection-heading subsection-heading--single-line \">\n\t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"subsection-heading__sub\">Johnny Oleksinski<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Staginess on screen usually annoys me. Not so here. Not only is the subject matter an ideal fit for the cheat-out approach. But if you\u2019ve ever encountered a theater vet on a barstool \u2014 full of juicy behind-the-curtain stories, catty jokes and, as the night goes on, inevitable sadness \u2014 you know they\u2019re always performing for a packed house.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Even when nobody else is there.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Andrew Scott and Ethan Hawke respectively play Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart in \u201cBlue Moon.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It\u2019s just Hart and his barman at Sardi\u2019s on the March 1943 opening night of \u201cOklahoma!,\u201d the first musical his former collaborator has written without him. He ducked out early, claiming to have hated it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny title that feels the need for an exclamation point, you need to steer clear of,\u201d pretentious Hart snipes.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s also a prophetic, nervous sense that his career \u2014 and life \u2014 are coming to a close. He has a drinking problem, and \u201cOklahoma!,\u201d much to his chagrin, is an obvious smash. Rodgers and Hammerstein become enduring household names. Hart, meanwhile, would die of pneumonia seven months later at age 48, after being found drunk and shivering outside a bar on 8th Ave.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve written a handful of words that are going to cheat death,\u201d he says, praying it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBlue Moon\u201d brilliantly imagines that frustrating night, before and after the \u201cOklahoma!\u201d party arrives at Sardi\u2019s. Hart hurls insults, tells outrageous tales, hits on anyone with legs and begs his former partner Rodgers (Andrew Scott, anchored and sophisticated) to work with him again.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s transfixing and pathetic.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Hawke transforms as the lyricist of\u201dPal Joey.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>And \u2014 you could\u2019ve fooled me \u2014 he\u2019s Ethan Hawke. Yes, Hawke looks nothing like himself thanks to prosthetics to create a receding hairline, makeup and scenery that makes him appear just five feet tall. However, it\u2019s just as much his extreme shift to a flamboyant attitude, nasal voice and neurotic manner leaves him completely unrecognizable.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The add-ons don\u2019t get in the way of the character\u2019s humanity and Hawke doesn\u2019t showboat, even when Hart does. It\u2019s a tricky balance that the actor nails.<\/p>\n<p>Not needing to transform much at all is Cannavale, who is unsurprisingly perfect as a 1940s Midtown bartender.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Just one section of the movie gets windy. Margaret Qualley plays Elizabeth Weiland, a young Yale student Hart was enamored with and charmingly then creepily slobbers over. She regales him with a naughty-ish story, it would seem, to give a desperate man a thrill. It\u2019s oddly sweet, and Qualley is very good. Everybody sparks with Hawke actually. The speech is just too long.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s just one small bump in an otherwise pleasurable ride that\u2019s intellectually intoxicating and alcoholically intoxicated.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Margaret Qualley plays Elizabeth, a Yale student Hart is enamored with. <span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Broadway figures aren\u2019t explored much onscreen. \u201cWest Side Story\u201d composer Leonard Bernstein recently was in <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/10\/03\/maestro-review-bradley-cooper-chews-scenery-as-bernstein\/\">Bradley Cooper\u2019s awful \u201cMaestro,\u201d<\/a> but that film conveniently forgot to express what made the man such an ingenious artist.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>No part of Hart is eclipsed in \u201cBlue Moon\u201d: His jealousy, charisma, woe, longing and impeccable flair for words.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s both enlightening and hard to believe that the creative Broadway minds who make us howl with laughter, openly cry and leap to our feet could be spending entire nights sitting by themselves, wallowing in depression at a watering hole.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s Hart\u2019s lyrics to the classic song \u201cBlue Moon\u201d that speak the loudest: \u201cYou saw me standing alone, without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>movie review BLUE MOON Running time: 100 minutes. Rated R (language and sexual references). In theaters. If when you hear the words \u201cPal Joey,\u201d you think fondly of your friend Joseph, Richard Linklater\u2019s new film \u201cBlue Moon\u201d might leave you bothered and bewildered. As for Broadway buffs and lovers of old New York, the witty, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2098621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[345013,21741,312614,345004,304995,21912],"class_list":["post-2098620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-bobby-cannavale","tag-entertainment","tag-ethan-hawke","tag-margaret-qualley","tag-movie-reviews","tag-movies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Ethan-Hawke-is-unrecognizable-and-transfixing-in-sad-witty-Broadway.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2098620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2098620"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2098620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2098622,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2098620\/revisions\/2098622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2098621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2098620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2098620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2098620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}