Even if you don't have a little girl or a 'tween who has a crush or wants to be like her, you have to know who Hannah Montana is. After all, when the "Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus Best of Both Worlds Concert" opened across the country, shows sold out within a half hour, and parents were exhibiting all sorts of crazy behavior just to try to snag tickets--something we really haven't seen since the Beanie Baby and Cabbage Patch Doll madness. Tickets were reportedly going for as much as a thousand dollars, and radio stations held all sorts of promotions to basically see just how far parents were willing to go in order to please their little Disney princesses. And if you couldn't get a ticket, well, you could stand in line again when the film version of the concert opened over Super Bowl weekend and set a new record by pulling in $29 million. She's a phenomenon, really, and when you listen to Miley Cyrus sing or talk behind the scenes and realize how much it echoes the Jonas Brothers, who opened for her on this arena tour, you begin to understand that this is all part of the grand Disney princess philosophy. Miley talks about how grateful she is to Disney and fans for "allowing me to live my dream," while the Jonas Brothers are always talking about "livin' the dream." But in so doing, and emphasizing in their music and their appearances what a fine line separates them from their audiences, they're also selling the dream, in a way. They're rock princesses and princes, and boy, are the commoners adoring.
"Hannah Montana" is really a well-done television show, and so I had high hopes for this concert as well. Cyrus's dad, Billy Ray ("Achy Breaky Heart") seems like a down-to-earth guy and the whole family seems pretty well grounded. The TV show didn't feature overprocessed or dubbed singing, and so I was hoping the same would hold true here. And amazingly, it does. What we see is Miley, without too much make-up and singing her own songs, not just lip-synching. After some particularly athletic strutting, jumping, or dancing she's as out-of-breath as anyone, and takes a few shortcuts on the songs to make allowances. Yet, her voice doesn't falter. She's got that Tennessee twang, but she's proud of it, and the songs in this concert stay well within her natural range, affording her a comfort zone that really goes hand-in-hand with her down-home personality.
The stage is massive, with a runway that goes into the crowd and two ramps that go up toward the back of the stage on the left and right, and a giant monitor in the middle. Surprisingly, Cyrus's band is considerably older than she, including background singers Candice Accola and Kay Hanley, but maybe that's part of the Cyrus family plan for keeping her grounded and out of trouble. Stacy Jones handles drums and acts as musical director, Jamie Arentzen and Jaco Caraco do a nice job of playing a lively guitar that complements rather than competes with their star's singing and choreography, Mike Schmid is on keyboards, and former Billy Ray Cyrus bassist Vashon Johnson completes the band. Three arenas are thanked in the credits: Energy Solutions Arena, Scot Trade Center, and the Honda Center.
But make no mistake about it: the audience for this concert is 'tweens and younger. Parents will find it's not so bad to watch it with their kids, but it's not designed for them. Still, if you consider that pop icons are role models, there are far worse ones to have than Miley Cyrus. This is a tame and squeaky clean concert that still manages to be frenetic and fun. Kenny Ortega ("High School Musical") had the idea for this concert and did the choreography, and unlike the Vanity Fair spread, everything here is done in good taste. There's nothing your eight-year-old aspiring rock-star couldn't see or try herself.
Even as far as the glitz goes, it's kept pretty basic. Yes, there are a few pyrotechnics, but nothing like we often see in major arena concerts, and there's no attempt on Cyrus's part to vamp it up. After all, Mom and Dad are in the audience. Half of the songs she performs with her Hannah Montana blond wig, while the rest are with her natural, long curly hair. Curiously, there's no persona split and no recognition of the two "characters." It's as if the Hannah look were just part of the costume changes.
Though the Jonas Brothers opened for her, they appear on this film in the middle, brought onstage to do one song with Miley ("We Got the Party") and then taking over while she grabs some air backstage, doing "When You Look Me in the Eyes" and "Year 3000" with their own band. The rest is all Hannah/Miley onstage, intercut with behind-the-scenes footage that shows here interacting with family, the Jonas Brothers, and the extraordinarily large number of crew members backstage that help to put on a major show like this. There are a few nice moments, where we see Miley freaking out over a moment when guys almost drop her and she wants to abandon the routine, while her mother stands firm and says it's not going to happen again, trust your dancers, Ortega has made the necessary adjustments so their hands are on you at all times. Or we see her snapping photos of herself and various cast, just like any young girl might have done if they had gotten to wander those backstage corridors. We also see Ortega teaching her a microphone trick, and later, when Joe Jonas does the same trick she turns to Kenny and says, "You taught him that trick????" We see her father talking about how he likes her music because it's "real," with the example being a song she wrote about her grandfather who passed away, a song she performs in the concert. But perhaps the best clip shows fathers decked out in high heels and competing in a race to win four tickets to the concert. That could have been a bonus feature all by itself.
As far as the song list goes, there's not really a stinker among them, and that includes the choreography as well as the musical performance. Here's a rundown on the songs, some of which appear in clips rather than onstage:
"We Got the Party"
"Rock Star"
"Pumpin' up the Party"
"Mickey"
"I Got Nerve"
"Let's Dance" (Miley co-wrote this one)
"Ready, Set, Don't Go" (Billy Ray's song about his daughter)
"Life's What You Make It"
"Just Like You"
"Old Blue Jeans"
"Nobody's Perfect"
"Best of Both Worlds"
"Who Said"
"We Got the Party" (with the Jonas Brothers)
"When You Look Me in the Eyes" (Jonas Brothers only)
"Year 3000" (Jonas Brothers only)
"Start All Over"
"See You Again" (Miley co-wrote)
"Right Here" (Miley co-wrote)
"I Miss You" (Miley co-wrote)
"Girls Night Out"
"If I Were a Movie"
In one of the songs Cyrus pays a kind of mild tribute to Madonna, where she dances with people dressed in Spanish attire. But that down-home look holds true here too, with Cyrus eschewing the high heels other dancers wear for the number and sporting athletic shoes. She does, after all, need them in a concert like this. In perhaps the most fun number, she and the backup singers and female dancers come out in Fifties'-style jackets and knee socks and skirts, looking a bit like roller derby queens, as they belt out "Girls Night Out." But all of the songs will have young viewers up and dancing along. It's a solid concert, and a solidly edited production that does a nice job of incorporating behind-the-scenes footage so that it comes at a time when Cyrus would be taking a natural breather and her band would maybe do a song without her. It all feels pretty organic, rather than an interruptive blend of documentary footage and concert tape. For that, credit director Bruce Hendricks. Nice job.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
BY JAMES PLATH
FIRST PUBLISHED AUG 9, 2008
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