(This is the first part of a two-part column. The second part will appear next month.) Warning to my fellow voyagers: This boat ride may take our rickety vessel through some deep and turbulent waters. If the situation makes you queasy, please bear in mind that I am only your guide: I neither built the…
Beyond
Ratatouille: The Rat In The Hat Strikes Back
★★★★☆ The Tik Tok generation cooks up a streaming tribute to a Pixar classic of their youth
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: August Wilson Hits the Screen Singing
★★★★★ Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman star, George C. Wolfe directs from Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s adaptation
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: A Perfect August in December
★★★★★ Wilson’s Chicago-set 1920s play gets a magnificent, melodic Netflix transfer
This Is Who I Am: A Cup of Flour, a Pinch of Pain
★★★★☆ A father and son prepare a real dish, while they really dish and heal
Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce…Pandemic!: ‘Tis The Season To Be Sassy
★★★★☆ A self-described “holiday public access show on LSD” is more sentimental than subversive
Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce…Pandemic!: Silver Bells and Sequins, Tidings of Dysfunction and Joy
★★★★☆ The restless multihyphenate revisits the season, virtually
Meet Me in St. Louis: The Classic Film Crammed Into the Small Screen
★★★☆☆ The Irish Repertory Theatre’s Charlotte Moore directs, with Shereen Ahmed as The Girl Next Door
An Evening With Audra McDonald: Online Gala Reveals Star in Top Form
★★★★★ The exceptional entertainer brings her superb concert act onto your screen
Wild Mountain Thyme: John Patrick Shanley’s Entrancing Play Transfer
★★★★☆ The prolific playwright directs Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan in this film adaptation of his 2014 play “Outside Mullingar”