Real Housewives Recap

Real Housewives of Dallas kiss and make up after feisty fight

Real Housewives of Dallas Tiffany Hendra

You don't want to mess with Tiffany Hendra.

Photo courtesy of Bravo

A whole lot of carny kid spilled out of LeeAnne Locken in the opening moments of this week’s episode of Real Housewives of Dallas on Bravo.

LeeAnne grew up working the carnival circuit — as we’ve been reminded in every episode so far — and sometimes her carefully tended glossy veneer as Dallas charity do-gooder slips just enough to see her tough and ornery side.

Continuing from last week’s cliffhanger, LeeAnne is seen stalking angrily out of the all-ladies cocktail party at the now-closed Stephan Pyles restaurant, with bestie Tiffany Hendra close behind. What ticked off charity maven LeeAnne were some uncharitable remarks by ginger spitfire nemesis Brandi Redmond.

Champagne was thrown, ruining the pricey print frock of snooty nose-and-boob-job nurse Cary Deuber. (And not even coming in a close fourth to any of the top three wine tosses in Housewives history.) Calling Brandi “a little piece of trash,” LeeAnne, in a striped jumpsuit, hit St. Paul Street ready for war. “I have two choices: kill the bitch or start crying,” she hisses.

Tiffany misjudges LeeAnne’s mood in this scenario. Instead of calming her friend down, Tiffany gets right in her face and screams, “Don’t you [F-word as a gerund] talk to me like that!”

“I’m done!” LeeAnne screams back.

Now get this: Not a foot away from Tiffany and LeeAnne on the otherwise empty downtown Dallas sidewalk in the dusky light of evening, a small man can be seen making a call on his cellphone. He doesn’t seem to notice the cameras or the two heavily blush-dusted women about to throw down right in front of him. He’s this week’s uncredited cameo, a silent leprechaun who had to make a call right then and there. (Maybe he was dialing 911 in case blood was spilled. Maybe he was calling Uber to get a ride back to actual reality.)

The fight then escalates to non-injurious poking and shoving between the ladies. LeeAnne runs over and whacks the camera capturing footage of this scene. (If there’s anything you don’t do as a TV “real housewife,” it’s make viewers aware that there are cameras rolling.)

Then in a bit of inspired, spontaneous choreography, LeeAnne steps off the curb and is almost flattened by the downtown Dallas trolley. She reacts by punching the trolley, kicking off her shoes and padding barefoot to the other side of the street.

At this point, the soundtrack from Carmina Burana would have been perfect.

Instead, we cut to domestic drama unfolding on some other day at Brandi’s mansion, where her hubster is off on another biz trip while she’s arranging an awkward family reunion for her mother, her long-estranged grandfather, and his wife. All this stuff is boring as bejeebers to watch until, at the reunion backyard barbecue, Brandi’s husband arrives late and drunk and ignores all the company.

The Redmonds’ marriage is in the red zone.

Brandi’s friend Stephanie Hollman, on the other hand, lives in a dream world inside her palatial mansion. Stephanie is a wispy blond who speaks in a sing-songy baby voice, drawing out vowels. Her seventh anniversary date with hubby Travis is “gonna be so romaaaaaantic. Like we’re in caaaaaah-lege.”

For the date they ride in a gold Rolls-Royce to de Boulle jewelers, where Steph picks out a $70K diamond bracelet. “The most beautiful distraction I’ve ever received,” she says.

Later Brandi gets weepy hearing of yet another perfect moment in Stephanie’s perfect marriage. Brandi’s husband bought her french fries and 29 other food items when she turned 30, she recalls. Brandi wants carats, not carrots.

Back to LeeAnne and Tiffany, who resolve their tiff after frosting each other at a clothing drive for Legacy Counseling Center. They meet for lunch and swap kisses and apologies. “We’re gonna sit down and come to Jesus together,” says LeeAnne.

Tiffany explains her angry outbursts toward her friend of 25 years by reminding her that she’s half Japanese and half Native American. “I will scalp you and go Mr. Miyagi,” Tiffany says. Hands up if that offends. Yeah, thought so, too.

We end this week back at Brandi’s, where she’s at the kitchen counter, sawing away on a fresh tomato with a dull knife. She and the not-the-sharpest-knife-in-the-drawer have a lot in common.

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Real Housewives of Dallas airs at 9 pm Mondays for the next five weeks on Bravo.

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Movie Review

Long-awaited Wicked movie adaptation lives up to the hype

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-Butera in Wicked.

The musical Wicked is indisputably the biggest Broadway smash of the 21st century, having grossed more $1.6 billion in New York alone and achieving the rare feat of running for over 20 years. All of which is to say that the long-awaited movie adaptation of The Wizard of Oz prequel will most likely be a massive success whether it lives up to what longtime fans envisioned or not.

Part one — yes, this 2 hour and 40 minute film is merely the first act of the musical; part two arrives a year from now — introduces Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), the green-skinned witch who goes on to become Dorothy’s nemesis, and G(a)linda (Ariana Grande-Butera), the pink-garbed “good” witch, as they meet at Shiz University in Oz. Glinda is the ultra-popular one with sycophantic hangers-on, while Elphaba is shunned by almost everyone, sometimes including her disabled sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode), who’s desperate to make her own space away from Elphaba.

Her mistreatment by others leads Elphaba to get angry, which manifests itself in uncontrollable magic. Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) notices this and takes a personal interest in her, giving her one-on-one instruction in hopes of harnessing her power. In the meantime, Elphaba and Glinda attempt to go from forced roommates to actual friends, although Glinda’s entitled personality is more of an obstacle than anything else they encounter.

Directed by Jon M. Chu and written by original book writer Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, the film does a great job of distinguishing itself from the stage version while still remaining true to what made it so beloved. As Chu showed in his last film, In the Heights, he has an innate feel for how to tap into the essence of the source material while expanding it into something befitting the scope of a blockbuster movie.

In this case, he finds a way to give even greater emphasis to the bigotry that Elphaba faces simply because of her green skin; the fact that she is being played by a Black woman drives home the point even more. The story remains light and fluffy for the most part, but the ostracization/otherness that Elphaba feels is delivered in a powerful way, as is her empathy for talking animals like Dr. Dillamond (voiced by Peter Dinklage), who are facing their own persecution.

Of course, the highlight of the film is Stephen Schwartz’s music, and while not all of the songs are equal in impact, they still make for a cohesive whole. The number of songs and order they appear in the first act is identical to the stage musical, with the standouts remaining “The Wizard and I,” “Popular,” and “Defying Gravity.” While there is some superfluous action and cutaways added to certain numbers, it’s not enough to distract from what makes the songs effective.

Oddly, the progression of the friendship between Elphaba and Glinda works better on stage when the timeline is accelerated, but Erivo and Grande-Butera make up for this slight lack with their fantastic performances. The emotion each brings to their characters fits them almost perfectly, and there’s simply no denying the strength of each of their voices. Bode, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Ethan Slater as Boq, and more make for a solid supporting cast.

The well-known ending of the first act of Wicked is a huge high point that is so good that it almost makes up for the fact that audiences won’t see the second film for a long time. But if part one is any indication, part two should turn out to be another great musical theater adaptation in a decade that has already seen its fair share.

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Wicked opens in theaters on November 22.

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