Mozart in the Jungle: first review

Anne Midgette comes down hard on the Amazon-made TV series based on Blair Tindall’s memoir of an oboist’s life on the New York freelance beat.

Her plot summary of the first episode: The conductor calls an audition! He hires Hailey on the spot! She messes up, so he makes her his assistant instead! This leads us, within a couple of episodes, to a fictional world with a strong similarity to The Devil Wears Prada.

Anne adds: It is remarkable to me that no one bothered to run the script by anybody who could point out its significant divergences from fact or, at the very least, show (Gael Garcia) Bernal how to hold a violin (there are close-ups of him “playing” one, bow high up on the fingerboard).

It’s odd, because the show seems to have ambitions and glimmerings of quality, and the acting, outside of the toe-curlingly awful dialogue, is not bad at all. Peters and Bernal, in particular, can almost convince you through sheer magnetism that you’re watching something credible.

The show airs on Amazon Prime from Tuesday. Not sure if it’s available outside the USA.