You can’t escape this winter’s hottest entertainment trend.
But it’s not ornate British costume dramas or midseason lawyer procedurals. It’s neither biopics nor boffo comic-book capers. The buzzy movies and shows hoping to put butts in seats right now are, weirdly, stories about Stockholm syndrome.
Yes, the psychological state that causes hostages to eventually feel the warm and fuzzies for their captors is having a major moment onstage and on-screen.
The live-action remake of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” wherein a bookworm is held prisoner by a snarling royal and a dinner set, comes out March 17. “Fifty Shades Darker,” the second chapter in the tale of a college student who becomes the sex slave of a randy Seattle business magnate gags, whips and hits theaters on Friday.
And Thursday night, a revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s luscious musical “Sunset Boulevard” opened on Broadway, directed by Lonny Price and starring a spellbinding and luminous Glenn Close as Norma Desmond, an aging silent-film star who ensnares a poor, young screenwriter in her Los Angeles manse.
These intense yarns, often sweepingly romantic, have a mysterious pull that captures the popular imagination. Unlike planet Earth, on Planet Hollywood, solitary captivity is an enticing proposition.
Many little girls would happily share a waltz with the Beast as a porcelain Angela Lansbury croons on the periphery. On Thursday, at least 500 gay men in the Palace Theatre were dreaming Close would force them to live out their days in her guest room. And, as far as the fantasies of “Fifty Shades” fans go, well, this is a family publication.
What keeps Belle a long-term tenant of the Beast’s castle? Being padlocked inside and, eventually, deep love. Why won’t Anastasia check out of Christian Grey’s sex dungeon? Lust and, eventually, deep love.
However, in “Sunset Boulevard” — the greatest story ever about Hollywood — Joe Gillis’ reasons for not kicking himself to Norma’s curb are much more complex. The entrancing magnetism, vulnerability and desperation in Close’s brilliant performance go a long way toward explaining her character’s unusual draw.
“With one look, I could break your heart,” she sings softly, when she first meets Joe. Close breaks our hearts over and over again — the young writer’s, too — by grabbing her audience by the soul and forcing us to confront our own ticking clocks. Nobody wants or deserves to be forgotten, as Norma has been by her flaky fans eager to move on to the next hot, young thing. Joe stays with her because he knows that if he leaves, she fades away forever.
The thrillingly bombastic musical has been made all the more poignant by the real passage of time for its star. Close first played this role on Broadway 23 years ago, and her fans — clad in Norma Desmond T-shirts, wearing out their old LPs, yelling “Yasss, girl!” at the end of ballads — are making certain nobody forgets the actress’ most extraordinary turn.
Amusingly, when Close leaves the stage and the burden falls to her younger co-stars to drive the show, the drama suffers. Proof that there will always be a next hot, young thing. But there’s only one Glenn Close.
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