March | 2012 | Amusing the Zillion

Archive for March, 2012

ATZ Review: Love Never Dies in a Phantasmal Coney Island

Posted in film, video, tagged Andrew Lloyd Webber, Coney Island, Love Never Dies, musical, Phantom of the Opera, review, theater on March 7, 2012| 3 Comments »

The Beauty Underneath from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies, Australian Production. Photo via Facebook.com/LoveNeverDiesAU

In 2010, when Love Never Dies premiered in London and was expected to open in New York, our first thought was the sequel to Phantom of the Opera would bring tourists to Coney Island, where the musical is set. Imagine people coming out of a Broadway theater humming “The Coney Island Waltz” and being lured out to the real, live Coney to trace the Phantom’s footsteps. It could still happen, thanks to a new film version of the successful Australian production of the musical. According to the recently debuted Facebook page Love Never Dies: Broadway, “It is destined for Broadway, so stay tuned for news!”

ATZ went to see the first-ever U.S. showing of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies on the big screen last week. The film of the critically acclaimed Melbourne production will be shown again in theaters across the U.S. on Wednesday, March 7th at 7:30 pm and a DVD will be released on May 29.

The musical is set in 1907, ten years after the fire at the Paris Opera. As the impresario of “Mr Y’s Phantasma,” a vaudeville extravaganza in the heart of Coney’s Electric Eden, the Phantom commands a phalanx of gorgeously costumed–okay, we’ll say it–phreaks! A trio of them are sent to greet Christine, who has traveled from Paris with her husband Raoul to sing an aria for Phantasma’s closing show of the season. What she doesn’t know is that it is the lovesick Phantom who has paid a fortune for the command performance.

Bathing Beauties from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies, Australian Production. Photo via Facebook.com/LoveNeverDiesAU

The Phantom fled here with the help of Madame Giry and her daughter Meg, the ballerina turned “Sweetheart of the Midway.” Meg is delicious in “Bathing Beauties,” a saucy stereoview card brought to life. She also has one of the best Coney lines ever: “Well, here’s the way it works on Coney Island: They make you pay for every little crumb.” But we can’t tell you why without giving away the ending. The twists and turns of the story are over the top, but the haunting melodies, high-caliber performances and lavish costumes and sets kept us entranced.

The set design is a marvel of catwalks that resemble roller coaster tracks and a tent that reveals a whirling carousel. One of our favorite scenes is “The Beauty Underneath,” in which the Phantom takes Christine’s 10-year-old son on a tour of his phantasmagorical world. Set to the throb of electronic rock, the song asks “Have You Ever Yearned To Go, Past The World You Think You Know? Been In Thrall To The Call Of The Beauty Underneath?” Human curiosities writhe inside glass prisms as the lights of Luna Park-like towers and rides glimmer in the background.

Exclusive: Goodbye Flea Market, Hello “Steeplechase Park”

Posted in amusement park, tagged BK Festival, carnival, Cha-Cha's, Club Atlantis, Coney Island, flea market, Steeplechase Park on March 5, 2012| 10 Comments »

On Sunday, a sign appeared on the fence at the Thor Equities lot on Stillwell Avenue leased to the BK Festival announcing the opening of “Steeplechase Amusement Park.” We’ve known for several weeks that rides and amusements were planned for the former flea market this summer, but details were pending.

Will McCarthy, event director of the BK festival, tells ATZ that the flea market didn’t mesh with the Coney Island location and this season the BK Festival will bring in rides and amusements in addition to a smaller number of vendors. The flea market is expected to continue until the rides debut in May. Among the old school carnival flat rides confirmed for the event are a Himalaya, Ring of Fire, Trabant and Cakewalk. There will be also be a climbing wall, McCarthy said. Additional rides and amusements will be announced soon. The BK Festival’s partners went to the carnival convention in Gibsonton, Florida, last month to recruit ride operators for Coney Island.

Why did they choose the name Steeplechase Park? “We want to bring back a lot of things that used to be on the property,” says McCarthy. “It’s a tribute to Steeplechase Park.”

And why not? Coney Island’s three grand amusement parks of the early 20th century were Steeplechase, Dreamland and Luna Park, and the names of the last two are already taken. When Joe Sitt brought carnivals to his property in the summers leading up to the 2009 rezoning, he called it Dreamland Amusement Park. Zamperla named their park after Thompson and Dundy’s Luna Park. Although the new parks bear very little resemblance to the originals, the familiar names evoke memories and exert a powerful pull. We’re just happy the BK Festival, which has a three-year lease, will not be a flea market this summer. We wish them well. Evidently one person wasn’t thrilled with this iteration of the Funny Face. The sign, which has a couple of unfortunate misspellings, was almost immediately defaced.

The park will be the third Steeplechase. In 1967, Norman Kaufman leased part of the Tilyou’s Steeplechase site from Fred Trump and called his park Steeplechase Park, according to Charles Denson’s Coney Island: Lost and Found. The Jumbo Jet, Cortina, Bumper Cars, Go Karts, Batting Cages and a Miniature Golf Course were among Kaufman’s attractions over the years. Kaufman’s Batting Range and Go Kart City was on this piece of land until he was evicted by Thor Equities in 2007.

Another sign on the fence announced “Cha Cha’s Club Atlantis Opening Soon,” setting the stage for two clubs with the same name. Cha Cha, one of the Coney Island 8 evicted from the Boardwalk by Zamperla, is opening a restaurant on Surf Avenue as well as a reincarnation of his Cha Cha’s Club Atlantis. His former Boardwalk location, which will become Tom’s Restaurant, was the site of the original Club Atlantis. Across the way, the former Steve’s Grill House and Beer Island are set to become Zamperla’s Club Atlantis. Last month, Zamperla CEO Valerio Ferrari told the NY Post that a new beach bar called Club Atlantis would offer beer, wine and dancing.

Saturday Matinee: Bluto & Popeye, Kings of Coney’s Mardi Gras

Posted in video, tagged amusement park, Bluto, cartoon, Coney Island, James Taylor, Mardi Gras, Popeye, roller coaster, Shocked & Amazed!, sideshow on March 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Coney Island had a Mardi Gras celebration every September until 1954, but ATZ had no idea that Popeye the Sailor Man and his rival Bluto were once part of it! Many thanks to sideshow historian James Taylor, publisher of Shocked & Amazed! On and Off the Midway, for sharing this fun find.

In this 1935 cartoon, Popeye and Bluto perform duelling sideshow acts against the backdrop of Coney’s rides and amusements. “Oh, I’m King of the Mardi Gras, in fact I’m the whole bloomin’ show,” sings Bluto as he struts onstage in front of his awesome banner line.

I run the whole works here at Coney, What power supreme I enjoy!
Hey, speaking of kings,
I’m one of those things.
In fact I’m the real McCoy!

A few steps away, Popeye blusters on a makeshift stage and steals Bluto’s audience by resorting to dirty tricks.

“So the message is that, if you screw with a guy’s act, you’re the hero of this thing? Jeez,” writes Taylor on the Shocked & Amazed! Facebook page. “Still, how often you get to see Popeye AND sideshow together?” The sideshow acts and roller coaster climax are well worth the price of a ticket.