The holiday season is here and has been since oh, about August (judging by the Santa hats I saw next to plastic jack-o-lanterns). Even though you’re probably just recovering from indulging across the board — tamales, turkey, and of course, binge-watching — we’ve got some more binge-worthy news. This December, Amazon adds to its streaming content with Mozart in the Jungle, a web series based on the music world memoir by Blair Tindall. We’ve been following the show very closely from the pilot being streamed online back in February to it being greenlit for a full series in May, and now, finally, there is a release date for its first season.
The show stars everyone’s favorite everything, Gael García Bernal, as a virtuouso who wants to shake up the classical music world. Gael plays Rodrigo D’Souza, a conducting prodigy (inspired by Venezuela’s Gustavo Dudamel) who has saved underperforming ensembles around the world. It’s a role that could easily feel run-of-the-mill, but Gael just has so much fun with it: he flirts shamelessly and nods off during auditions, but he also has an incredible ear and more importantly, a vision for leading a world-class orchestra. He also discovers a secret weapon in Hailey (Lola Kirke of Gone Girl), an oboist who is our guide into the behind-the-scenes look at a fictional New York orchestra.
The overall plot feels a little too familiar, a kind of a mix of “stuffy opera aficionado” stereotypes with American Pie band camp stories. But the show eventually manages to strike a balance between the “wide-eyed transplant” tale and that of Rodrigo’s not-so-tortured genius story. The pilot episode is streaming right now for free at Amazon, and Amazon Prime members can stream the complete first season starting on December 23.
The first season of Mozart in the Jungle is available starting December 23, 2014 on Amazon.