Sometime last year I stumbled across the work of Kate Micucci, a young actress and comedian who also performs original songs as half of the satiric musical duo Garfunkel and Oates. Onscreen, she has a odd but striking presence, her otherwise diminutive features marked by a pair of enormous and expressive dark brown eyes. Watching her is like watching a children’s book character come to life.
Reinforcing that feeling is the tiny instrument she is often seen cradling to her chest: a ukulele. But if your mental image of the uke involves Hawaiian vacations or backyard tiki parties, Micucci’s songs will set you straight—she first grabbed my attention with a sweet-toned paean to lovemaking called “Screw You.” (That was the TV version, performed on an episode of Scrubs; the original title used a less broadcast-friendly verb.) Fresh and fun, she uses the ukulele as an extension of herself: a seemingly delicate thing that packs an unexpected wallop.
And as the new film Mighty Uke—playing at Pleasant Street Theater in Northampton on Thursday, Oct. 28—shows, she’s not alone. Right now, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole—who died over a decade ago—is topping German music charts with his ubiquitous uke version of “Over The Rainbow,” and YouTube is lit up with everything from Pachelbel’s Canon in D to songs from The Ramones catalogue. In short, the instrument, first brought to Hawaii by Portuguese immigrants, is undergoing a full blown renaissance that recalls the heyday of the uke, when Broadway produced ukulele musicals, Hollywood had ukulele movie stars, and every radio poured forth the distinctive twang of the instrument’s four strings. For their film, directors Tony Coleman and Margaret Meagher traveled from New York to London, Tokyo and beyond to interview the enthusiasts, schoolteachers and community orchestras that are making the revival more of a reinvention.
As an added bonus, filmgoers who arrive early will get to hear the revival on a local level, when musicians Joe Blumenthal, Jeanette Muzima and Frances Blasque perform a live concert before the film. Blumenthal, who runs the music shop Downtown Sounds right next door, will surely be glad to help find you a uke of your own.
*
Also this week: In honor of the Halloween holiday, some area theaters are mounting special screenings of classic films both spooky and campy. Thursday night in Hadley, Cinemark Theater presents RiffTrax LIVE: House on Haunted Hill, a showing of the 1959 Vincent Price creeper accompanied by the comic riffing of a trio of wisecracking hosts. The feature—remade to disastrous effect in 1999—has Price inviting five people to spend the night in a haunted house for a $10,000 payday; they just have to stay alive until morning to cash out.
Over at the Academy of Music in Northampton, midnight screenings pop up on both Friday and Saturday night. First on the scene is Repo! The Genetic Opera, a cult musical set in 2056. When an epidemic of organ failure turns transplants into a thriving business, Repo Men are dispatched to deal with deadbeats who don’t pay their bills, taking back their new organs. Doors open at 9:30 for an autograph signing with co-writer and star Terrance Zdunich.
On Saturday, camp classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show comes to town. Both films will be accompanied by a live stage show, and both will benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Jack Brown can be reached at cinemadope@gmail.com.
