'Mozart In The Jungle' - One show that is meant to be huge is Amazon's new "Mozart In The Jungle." The reason? It's new, fresh and brings to the table something completely unexpected and apparently dead: classical music.
A lot of the latest shows have dealt with music as part of the main plot, but they've done it differently: "Glee" brought singing into the high school world, "Smash" showed the backstage of a Broadway production.
Still, there is one aspect that not a lot of people wouldn't have dared to explore before: classical music. "Mozart In The Jungle" bases itself on the backstage life and the dramas behind the members of a New York Orchestra.
It premieres on HDTV on Amazon today and it's another win for Amazon, from the looks of it. The NY Times mentioned how Amazon started off in the right track with "Transparent" and now is establishing itself strongly with "Mozart In The Jungle."
What is it that these two shows have, though?
"'Transparent' and 'Mozart In The Jungle' both stand out, in the first place, for what they're not; neither is about crime, politics or the supernatural." This statement is a true one.
Both shows stand strongly on personal stories and how these become relatable. Also, behind the show are Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and Alex Timbers as creators.
The three of them are rather new in the writing series arena and that may play in their favor, as they are showing to bring structural quirks which are interesting to see.
In addition, even if it is about the classical music world, "Mozart In The Jungle" shows the "real" and "human" side of the members from this orchestra. The classical music world is always seen as refined and delicate, pure in a way.
The show itself is based on a book written by Blair Tindall: "Mozart In The Jungle: Sex, Drugs and Classical Music," so that title gives already a pretty different idea of what would be related generally to classical music.
"I liked that we are going to the inside world of classical music and the fun aspect of it. [Classical musicians] all breathe and eat and fart like normal people, but onstage they are quite serious," said Gabriel Garcia Bernal to Rolling Stone, who plays Rodrigo, the new orchestra director who wants to "revive" classical music.
