On Friday night in New York City, Madonna, joined by Jon Batiste, his band and a small group of fans, gave an intimate cabaret performance in the basement of Marcus Samuelsson’s restaurant Red Rooster, before spilling out into the Harlem streets for a 2 a.m. parade set to “Like a Prayer.”
MADAME X will air on MTV Nederland tonight at 21.30. ViacomCBS Benelux has communicated that despite of the scheduled TV listings (21:30-22:00) they will be airing the full show.
Thankfully the correct running time has finally been added to the digital TV guide today, the new scheduled time is 21:30-00:00.
Unfortunately the show has been advertised in the physical Dutch TV guides as ‘Madame.’ without the X and no mention of ‘Madonna’, so hopefully the special won’t go completely unnoticed by the audience.
Last night Madonna performed an exclusive one-off set at the Red Roots bar in Harlem.
Madonna came out in the middle of the night before performing Dark Ballet (cabaret style), Crazy, Sodade, La Isla Bonita and eventually sang LIke a Prayer while exiting the bar and walking through the street to a church with fans and security surrounding her.
This film lays out the impressive staging of a dramatic tour but is intent on capturing its subject from only the best angles
This documentary opens with the old James Baldwin quotation about artists being here to disturb the peace, alongside a montage of the many controversies Madonna has sparked over the course of her career. There’s the quaint outrage she provoked in the Like a Virgin era; the Like a Prayer video with its flaming crosses, stigmata and snogging of a Black saint; the Sex book; the New York Post devoting its front page to an op-ed piece proclaiming her the “degenerate queen of sleaze” with the headline: “WHAT A TRAMP!”
MADAME X: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: “Artists are here to disturb the peace,” goes the James Baldwin quote, and Madonna seizes on that call to action — to testify, to bear witness, to force people to look — as the launch point for her Madame X stage show. As a video montage presents different versions of Madonna, her voice over posits the myriad roles of a woman in society: “dancer, professor, a head of state, a housekeeper, an equestrian, a prisoner, a student, a mother, a child, a teacher, a nun, a singer, a saint, a whore…a spy in the house of love.” And with that, the first sequence begins, a medley of the strident Madame X track “God Control” cut with “Human Nature” from the 1994 album Bedtime Stories. Marching, dancing cops with police shields are gradually replaced onstage by a group of women with raised fists (“I’m not sorry…”), a group that includes Madonna’s young twin daughters Stella and Estere, and the entire thing organically shifts into an a capella, audience-participating retelling of “Express Yourself” from 1989’s Like a Prayer. That’s a 30-year span of disturbing the peace in the space of 20 minutes.
An impressively designed production from a star hoping to convey the deep empathy she feels for pretty much every group suffering during these troubled times, Madonna’s Madame X showcases the eponymous album, in which she draws on new influences ranging from Colombian rap to Portuguese fado. An uncharitable observer might dub this The Appropriation Tour, aligning a star whose relevance has faded with both unimpeachably authentic music and the in-the-streets energy of social justice movements. But wherever one draws the line between supporting a group and co-opting it, X captures a night of solid performances and top-notch stagecraft. Just don’t show up if you’re looking to hear the old stuff.
Madonna’s experimental record “Madame X,” creatively inspired by her life in Portugal, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart but didn’t produce any hits.
Nor did her creation of the eyepatch-wearing secret agent Madame X gain much pop-culture traction outside of her devoted fan base.
But at this stage in her extraordinary career, Madonna is – and should be – doing whatever she damn well wants.
MADAME X may be a secret agent and a cha-cha instructor but she’s mostly an amazing live performer. Despite the fact the tour seemed cursed with the late starts, postponed dates and cancellations (which affected all of the shows I had booked) it didn’t take away any of the sheer magic Madonna delivered on stage each night. I was privileged to see the MADAME X screener by Paramount+.
MADAME X is not a documentary but a concert film so I am confused why it’s been labelled as such. It’s a musical journey from the start up until the uplifting and fitting end. The first thing many fans were concerned about were the fast cuts Madonna’s latest live releases have been criticized for. The MDNA Tour saw the start of a new way of directing and producing the concert film. To me the Rebel Heart Tour release was unwatchable. A new frame per each passing second made my head spinning, and no it genuinly wasn’t the alchohol. Sadly this affected experiencing the film as a live concert, and ain’t that what a live experience is all about?
Madonna covers the October 2021 edition of Czech RETRO Magazine
There are currently no plans for Warner Records to release a physical edition of MADAME X Music From The Theater Xperience, which is now available digitally.
Fingers crossed that those plans might change in the near future. After all Dua Lipa’s Club Future Nostalgia wasn’t planned for a physical release either, and that did happen eventually.
“I hope I have disturbed your peace,” a chatty, lightly polemical Madonna proclaims in between songs in “Madame X,” a new concert documentary that shares its name with her 14th album, from 2019. Coming to Paramount+ on Friday, the film captures the live show that the pop titan created for her “Madame X” tour.
Both on the album and in this staged rendition, Madonna challenges her audience to keep up with her itinerant musical interests. She sings in the Portuguese fado tradition; she recruits a Cape Verdean choir to back her on a batuque-inspired number; she duets with the recorded voice of the Colombian singer Maluma. Onstage, she renders these songs with typical flair, from pageant-y costume changes to elaborate choreography to stunts like auctioning off Polaroids to audience members.
Of course, she also saves room for her early-career hits. And because the “Madame X” tour barred phone use and photography, this new footage arrives unspoiled by fan recordings.
OLIVIA HORN
Read more at New York Times
Madame X Music From The Theater Xperience (Madonna’s first new release with Warner Records) was available to stream through Spotify, but is now also available to download through Apple Music and streaming through Deezer.
In celebration of her new “Madame X” documentary, Madonna appears on Thursday’s edition of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
An in-studio guest, the entertainment icon joins host Jimmy Fallon for an interview. She also participates in a new edition of the “Kid Theater” segment.
In addition to the Madonna appearance, Thursday’s “Tonight Show” features a visit from the four hosts of Peacock spin-off series “The Kids Tonight Show.” Later, Reba McEntire delivers a musical performance.
Ahead of the 11:35PM ET/PT broadcast, NBC shared a collection of photos from the taping. Videos will be posted below as they are made available.
Read full article at Headlineplanet
MADAME X Music From The Theater Xperience is available through Spotify now
Madonna‘s not ready to take off her crown as the queen of pop just yet. In her new concert film Madame X, which is now streaming on Paramount+, the pop star brings just as much charisma and energy while on tour for her 14th studio album as she did back in 1985.
Filmed in Lisbon, Portugal in January 2020—so just a few months before the world shut down thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic—the documentary captures the icon in her element: performing for sold-out audiences and touring around the world.
