It had a very serious story line and avoided the thing that annoys the heck out of me in most musicals. The part where people suddenly and impossibly break into song and dance for no reason that can be explained in any context. At least in Cabaret the song and dance, while really enhancing the plot, had context.
Okay, my favorites would be "Evita" (the original version with Patti Lupone) and "Jesus Christ Superstar" with all of the rest of the "classic" musicals following on as well....such as "Sound of Music," "Oklahoma," and "Fiddler on the Roof."
A musical would have to v-e-r-y bad for me to not like it.
I realize this is contrary to my usual cynical nature that I express now and then ;)
Musical theater, as well as good dramatic live theater, is an escape that I enjoy immensely.
That is an amazing scene, DBQ. I have never given Cabaret a chance, but I will.
I've only seen Fiddler once, in my late forties. The opening scene, where they're all rushing home to be in time for the start of the Sabbath is neat. When they keyed in on the window, with the mother lighting the candles and waving her hands over them in a sweeping gesture toward herself, I teared up. Other than that, I didn't care much for it.
Sound of Music is cute, but how my mom watched it over and over and over with my niece...they both loved it.
It varies over time. Now? Probably Assassins. Into the Woods is good if for no other reason than teaching us all the best thing musical theatre has ever taught us:
The production was not everyone's cup of tea, so to speak. Even Ms Lupone said it was arduous and required yelling lyrics at full force. Never the less, if you were in an audience hearing Patti Lupone sing, you were riveted to your seat.
Unfortunately, the Falklands War interrupted the run the of the show almost everywhere.
I grew up in southern Ohio and we had something come to Dayton every summer called The Kenley Players.
1960s
Over the course of the next half-century, Kenley’s summer stock productions blossomed into what Variety called the "largest network of theaters on the straw hat circuit". His Kenley Players company brought the great shows of the era to the stages of Ohio, in Dayton, Columbus, Toledo, Cleveland and Warren. Many of the shows would also travel to an associated theatre in Flint, Michigan. Kenley would often be seen riding his bike backstage in these giant old theaters. And when bored, he enjoyed putting make-up on his dog, Sadie. If a gimmick was needed to keep a company alive that long in a state 500 miles from Broadway, well Kenley came up with a winner. He gathered the great film and TV actors of the time to appear in his productions. While this type of star casting is commonplace today, Kenley was one of the first to embrace the concept. Not only were the shows wildly successful, it made for some intriguing cast lists. There was Jayne Mansfield in Bus Stop, Bobby Rydell in West Side Story, Merv Griffin in Come Blow Your Horn, Rock Hudson in Camelot, Karla DeVito and Robert Ozn (billed as Robert M. Rosen) in Pirates of Penzance and Robby Benson in Evita, to name just a few. More traditional Broadway stars also appeared regularly, such as John Raitt in Man of La Mancha, Ethel Merman in Call Me Madam and Tommy Tune in Pippin.
I saw Yul Brynner in 'The King and I' live from the fourth row of Memorial Hall. When I heard him sign (sort of) 'It's a Puzzlement', I fell in love with language.
Whenever I want to feel like a kid again, I watch it.
Not so much the story as the music. We had the songs on records that we played over and over, along with South Pacific and Sound of Music (which doesn't deserved to be damned with "cute" as long as "corny" and "sappy" aren't applied on the other two!)
Most Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals are totally major key, no dark notes; Carousel on the other hand has an element of the desperation of economically marginal New Englanders in it. Especially in the heartbreaking soliloquy/song that the Carousel operator, played by Gordon MacRae in the film version, sings anticipating the birth of his child and how is he possibly going to support him/her.
"I'll go out and make it, or steal it, or take it...or die!"
Saw An American in Paris this morning - that is pretty good.
Used to like West Side Story, still like the music from that one a lot - Lenny could slap some notes together, that's for sure.
Oklahoma is very good. Rod Steiger sings better than Marlon Brando in Guys and Dolls - which I saw for the first time the other day.
What can I say - TCM shows 'em, I watch 'em.
Speaking of Rod Steiger, saw The Pawnbroker for the first time last night - interesting. Music by what's his name. Next up was In the Heat of the Night - great theme song by Ray Charles, movie sucks, however. Filmed up north in Y*nkee land - feh!
I read once that Steiger suffered from major league depression for like decades. So doing The Pawnbroker took no acting at all for him. In the film Waterloo Steiger even made Napoleon into someone simultaneously suffering a stomach ache and constipation. The guy was the Michelangelo of suffering.
Two dvds I can watch over and over ,Singing in the Rain and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Both colorful and cartoonish fun. Bye Bye Birdie for the Nostalgia. Music Man and West Side Story, but only for specific scenes. Damn Yankees, if only to see what a great dancer Gwen Verdon was.
I liked Always Patsy Cline and Phantom of the Opera where the chandodlier xxxx chandlieerxxxx chandalierxxxx huge candle holding thing swings out above the audience, whoa, wasn't expecting that one.
And another one where three sisters in WWII are singing
doodle oodle oodle oodle doodle doo doo whaaaa
doodle oodle oodle oodle doodle doo doo whaaaa
doodle oodle oodle oodle doodle doo doo whaaaa
doodle oodle oodle oodle doodle doo doo whaaaa
And now the company jumps when he plays reveille He's the boogie woogie bugle boy of company B whaaaaa
And that one that goes, you have to sing this as pathetically as possible. A group of us were hanging out at a tiny cabin waaaaay out there inside doing dishes and Bart and I started singing like we thought slaves sound. Worn out and beat down and sad. But we didn't know the words so we kept singing slowly and wearily in a deep voice over and over
I gets weary, And sick of trying I'm tired of living, But scared of dying, That old man river, He just keeps rolling along.
Until we drove other people nuts and they go, "KNOCK IT OFF !
Those are the only words we knew and we didn't know where they came from.
The other day (I blame TMC, I swear!) I tried to watch Chitty Chitty etc., again and made it past the Toots Sweet number, which is where I found the off switch last time, up to the part where the children are singing that they find Ms. Scrumptious truly scrumptious. That struck me as odd, no, more like creepy. Why are these children proclaiming, in song, that they find an adult woman scrumptious. I didn't hang around to find out.
But that was one fine looking automobile, I will grant you that - especially prior to being "fixed" by DVD's character. Very nice looking ride.
There is nothing better than going out for a drink then going to the theater and having a great meal afterward on Restaurant Row. It is something a "Real New Yorker" would do at least once a year.
I used to work close to Times Square and drank in many of the joints around the theater district. Sardi's was always good for a few pops and I knew the bartenders. Broadway types where in there all the time and you could be throwing back shots with the likes of Bernadette Peters and John Cullum on any given night.
But the best joint bar none was "Jimmies Corner." Owned by fight trainer Jimmy Glen it was always filled with boxing people, Broadway riff raff and locals. Best ginmill in Times Square.
DBQ, yes about Gene Kelly. I'd seen Singing in the Rain a few times as a kid, but it wasn't until a few years ago, in the 'dream' dance scene that I realized how handsome and virile he was.
Oh, CCBB has more going for it than most people realize...first of all, an Ian Fleming original. Second, non-Disney; third, the actors: Benny Hill, Lionel Jeffries, & the guy who played Goldfinger as cameos. Even D. van Dyke is good at what he does. And Sally Anne Howes -- she never looked better did she?
Truly scrumptious. ;) I do get Sixty's creep factor, but I think that is in the context of today. As a youngster, it was innocent awe of a beautiful woman.
I used to go on sensitive dates in college to a place west of Madison: Spring Green (That's where FLW lived and worked). There is an outdoor theatre there (note the spelling) and a resident troupe called the American Players Theatre. They did a lot of Shakespeare.
The real problem with Broadway shows are that the seats are too small. Most of the theaters were built in the 1920's and people were a lot smaller then. Shorter and skinny. You are jammed in with you knees up in you face if you are over six feet like me so I always have to get an aisle seat.
deborah said... Much Ado with Emma Thompson and Kevin Branaugh was excellent also.
It is odd what makes people like of dislike things. I didn't like this version. No idea why, maybe a bit too stagy. The Joss Wheedon version was more like TV, the medium I have spent most time with. That is why my wife didn't like it.
Yes, how about you make a thread to get suggestions on Shakespeare plays, choose one that we can all rent on Amazon for a couple dollars, and then discuss?
Depending on how geeky I'm feeling, either Chicago, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, or Into the Woods. But I'm not really a big musicals guy... I probably haven't seen more than ten minutes put together of the old Rodgers & H[n] musicals. Hell, only reason I've seen Into the Woods is that somebody showed the American Playhouse version at an anime club meeting at CMU I sat in on in the late Nineties.
And I keep meaning to see Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, but there just isn't enough time in the day...
Rodgers & Hammerstein are to musicals what ABBA and the Beach Boys are to rock music. The R&H musicals are undeniably great, but you don't feel special for liking them. I like the Rodgers & Hart music much better. Hart had far more bite and wit to his lyrics, and he didn't aim for moral uplift.......I like the Weil/Brecht music,but I can't recommend sitting through one of their shows. Never play a Weill/Brecht musical immediately after Rodgers/Hammerstein. The vortex caused by the conjunction of matter and anti matter can rip the space time continuum apart.....I like Jerome Kern. He wrote some lovely melodies, but he was ill served by his lyricists. When P.G. Wodehouse writes the lyrics to your best love ballad, then you know you're in trouble.
'Oliver' is my favorite. South Pacific is OK except for the song lyrics of 'You have to be carefully taught'. It's not true. People naturally favor their own family and their own kind. They don't have to be taught at all. It's true that children don't notice the difference in people until they are older. At about puberty, they do notice. That's when the trouble starts. We don't want those others getting our women or men.
Black women hate white women who go with black men. They don't have to be taught to do it.
You know a lot about composers and lyricists...I really don't at all. But you me think of Gilbert and Sullivan. May we call the operettas musicals? I don't know much about them at all, but I like this song a lot:
Grrr, let's try this again, this time without the freakin' cell phone auto correct.
Deborah, Into the Woods is Sondheim. He has done a lot of great musicals, but they often have limited appeal. Really, a musical about John Wilkes Booth talking Lee Harvey Oswald into murdering a president? Crazy, man! He also did the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsey.
That man can WRITE songs that flay his character's spirits on stage for your entertainment. For example "Ladies Who Lunch" from Company. I'll find a YouTube link to an Elaine Strich performance when I have access to an actual keyboard later.
Not sure how good this performance is, I'm in too much of a hurry to watch it.
All That Jazz, with Roy Scheider, is an interesting biopic about Bob FOSSE, who was another very masculine and straight male dancer/choreographer/director. (Although oddly, he is the populizer, maybe inventor, of one of the gayest dance moves ever: Jazz Hands!) Not strictly a musical, but interesting. You will never see one actor smoke more cigarettes in one movie. Plus, Sandahl Bergman naked and lithe.
I really shouldn't, but it is Kenneth Branagh, not his brother Kevin, and Bob Fosse who is the subject of All That Jazz, not Gower.
Fosse, in real life, was the choreographer of Damn Y*nkees, and he even dances in one sequence in the movie version of that musical.
Three words why musicals suck these days - Andrew Lloyd Webber. Notice no one mentioned Cats as a favorite.
A woman took me to see Les Miserables - I have no idea who wrote the music for that mess, but they should have been arrested or something - imagine my disappointment, after a lifetime of watching operas and operettas seeing a cast of horrible 3rd rate singers, using mics, singing songs what were among the worst ever written. Go ahead, think of a tune from that abomination. Just try to get an earworm from that show. It can't be done. The music was forgotten the minute you stopped hearing it.
Well, there you go - I knew I shouldn't have mentioned it. Sometimes I just need to shut off the Fosse.
If you watch musicals from the '30s through the '50s you will see jazz hands. They probably predate jazz. But if I mention where I think they originated I will summon he who bears the mark of the beast.
All That Jazz was a favorite of mine for a long time. Jessica Lange as Death - how cool and enticing is that?
Oh, and you people looking to watch Shakespeare productions on film: Skip Titus Andronicus. From Wikipedia:
It is Shakespeare's bloodiest and most violent work and traditionally was one of his least respected plays.
It is insanely violent. As in, Quentin Tarantino can only dream of being that violent. Julie Taymor (best know for the stage production of The Lion King, which really is quite a spectacle) directed Anthony Hopkins in a movie version called Titus in 1999. It was such a miserable experience that Hopkins vowed to never act again, though he changed his mind later, obviously. But it is one nasty piece of work, best unseen.
Sixty, my wife mentioned it to me, and if she hadn't you or someone else should have. The right/write thing was bad enough, but Gower/Fosse was just plain wrong and needed correcting.
My wife has a history with musical theater, and is a big fan. My mother was too. So I've been hearing musicals of all different kinds all my life.
Branaugh's Hamlet was (and probably still is) the only major film version to do the ENTIRE play. (With one minor edit.) It's very long, but worth it. Kate Winslet is in it, and therefore she wins deborah's actress question.
That version showed that Billy Crystal COULD do Shakespeare, and that Jack Lemon was too American to do Shakespeare. Charleton Heston KILLED it as the Player King.
I'd recommend the Ian McKellan version of Richard III. An interesting take, visually. (Branaugh's Hamlet is amazing for the visuals, too.) Also, I prefer it to Olivier's version. Damn it, the play needs to START with
deborah said... You know a lot about composers and lyricists...I really don't at all. But you me think of Gilbert and Sullivan. May we call the operettas musicals? I don't know much about them at all, but I like this song a lot:
I grew up listening to Gilbert and Sullivan. My great-aunt was the secretary of a Gilbert and Sullivan society and every six months she dragged us along to see a new production. I think my mother was very disappointed when we became old enough to go and greatly relieved when we became to old to go.
I generally enjoyed them and the whole evening out.
deb - never saw that - in fact never heard of it before just now.
This, on the other hand, captures how Fosse saw Fosse. I see a kid in a candy shop vibe from Schneider's expressions (the way he looks at the blonde twins is impressive). Victoria Porter - she knows the deal.
"That's how you get a job."
And George Benson was never better.
I liked Baz Lurhmann's Romeo + Juliet, but that's just how I roll. Also liked Branagh's As You Like It - thought that was very entertaining.
I have had the great good fortune to see a number of Shakespeare's plays on stage, and a few operas, too. What can I say - Rent is no La Boheme, that's for sure. The ability to write good music seems lost these days.
All That Jazz is a 1979 American musical film directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Robert Alan Aurthur and Fosse is a semi-autobiographical fantasy based on aspects of Fosse's life and career as dancer, choreographer and director. The film was inspired by Bob Fosse's manic effort to edit his film Lenny while simultaneously staging the 1975 Broadway musical Chicago. It borrows its title from the Kander and Ebb tune All That Jazz in that production. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival
The film wasn't altogether kind to the Fosse character, either. At least I didn't think so.
Also saw the original cast of Ragtime on Broadway. The big takeaway there was Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell before they became the giants of Broadway that they now are.
Saw Stokes Mitchell in the DC trial runs of Man of Lamancha back in the early 2000s. Interesting sets, not really a great play, but my God that man has awesome stage presence.
Also in DC saw the Royal Shakespeare Company put on a production of As You Like It. We were in the first row or two, and that was an amazing experience close up. Don't skip the British doing Shakespeare - they've had a lot of practice getting it right.
The stage play of The Producers is just bloated. Skip it and watch the original movie instead. Wilder and Zero own those roles in perpetuity.
We saw Barbara Cooke do a one woman show at the Kennedy Center. (Times were good for us back then.) That was a treat despite her advanced age.
When I was a boy, back in the 1970s, I got to see a production of Brigadoon several times, including once from the orchestra pit. I loved it at the time, though I can't remember hardly anything about it now. My piano teacher at the time and her husband were members of the local symphony and also worked as musicians on plays like that.
(There are two things in life that are always most helpful: Money and connections.)
And right now I'm blanking on which of the older musicals I like. I was with a choir as a boy (yeah, I know) and we did both Oklahoma and Oliver. I wanted a solo on Oliver because a girl I liked was doing the other part, or at least that's what I remember. Maybe it was Oklahoma instead.
Cabaret and Chicago are both great. The movie version of Chicago with Zellwegger and Gere has its problems, though, namely that for many of the dance sequences they don't show the dancers' feet. (!!) The movie version of Cabaret is superb.
Into the Woods is about what happens after the "... happily ever after" in fairy tales.
Assassins is about, uh, assassins. Specifically about people who tried or succeeded in murdering US Presidents. Victor Garber is incredible as John Wilkes Booth. I seem to remember a concert production of this for PBS one year with him reprising the role. I'd definitely recommend that.
Sunday in Park with Georges about a painting by George Seurat. Mandy Patinkin at his Mandy Patinkinist.
I wrote "Schneider" - that should have been "Scheider".
The Kennedy center is awesome - I saw a lot of stuff there. Saw Don Giovanni there - well, tried to. Left after the first act - the stinkin' union musicians were on strike (get a grip, you idiots - you are being paid to play music - enjoy, don't whine).
Also saw an awesome version Orff's Carmina Burana there - that was unforgettable - what a remarkable work. Three choirs, three sets of tympani, several pianos and a full orchestra - the stage was packed and we had seats just off the the right, looking down on the whole mess of 'em. What a night.
@deb: I came to Gilbert & Sullivan late in life. It was a wonderful discovery. So many haunting melodies with such witty lyrics--none of which I had ever heard before. It was like discovering gold coins in your deceased grandfather's old cardigans. Stacks of great lp's that I had never heard before, The Mikado is generally counted as their masterpiece, but I have a special fondness for Patience........At a certain point in time, you stop keeping up with current music and start going backwards and sideways......I think Sondheim's talent as a lyricist far outweighs his gifts as a composer. I saw the PBS documentary on him. He was kind of sniffy about catchy music, possibly because he can't write a catchy tune........Maybe he should turn his gifts to writing new lyrics for Kern melodies. Has there ever been a lovelier melody matched with a more banal lyric than Kern's Smoke Gets in Your Eyes?
The classiest thing I've seen in person is the Richmond Ballet's Nutcracker a few years ago. It was nice. I'd like to see it and also find a Messiah singalong every year.
William, ARM, thank you. I am inspired to explore Gilbert and Sullivan. I think I'll start with the music on car trips so I can listen to whole scores, and not just choose favorites.
I think Sondheim's talent as a lyricist far outweighs his gifts as a composer.
I'd agree with that.
And sorry, rcommal, my battery died completely.
Oddly enough, looking at the notes from that old sixth grade paper we were talking about, I now own some of the works I cited in that paper. Don't own any Galbraith, however. But otherwise I'm practicing your line of thinking, about books anyway.
Also (since I'm taking the conversation to another fora entirely, and this no doubt means squadouche to anyone here), I can DOWNLOAD audio books from my library. What the Hell am I supposed to do with that if I don't put it on something with decent audio output features? I could sit in front of my laptop and listen to whatever, but that's a bit of a mess, yes?
115 comments:
The sound of music.
I know I guess that makes me a retard.
Cabaret
It had a very serious story line and avoided the thing that annoys the heck out of me in most musicals. The part where people suddenly and impossibly break into song and dance for no reason that can be explained in any context. At least in Cabaret the song and dance, while really enhancing the plot, had context.
If you can watch this without getting chills. Tomorrow belongs to me
It's a toss up between The Sound of Music and Fiddler on the Roof.
Double retard.
Okay, my favorites would be "Evita" (the original version with Patti Lupone) and "Jesus Christ Superstar" with all of the rest of the "classic" musicals following on as well....such as "Sound of Music," "Oklahoma," and "Fiddler on the Roof."
A musical would have to v-e-r-y bad for me to not like it.
I realize this is contrary to my usual cynical nature that I express now and then ;)
Musical theater, as well as good dramatic live theater, is an escape that I enjoy immensely.
That is an amazing scene, DBQ. I have never given Cabaret a chance, but I will.
I've only seen Fiddler once, in my late forties. The opening scene, where they're all rushing home to be in time for the start of the Sabbath is neat. When they keyed in on the window, with the mother lighting the candles and waving her hands over them in a sweeping gesture toward herself, I teared up. Other than that, I didn't care much for it.
Sound of Music is cute, but how my mom watched it over and over and over with my niece...they both loved it.
I've never seen Evita. Or Sweeney Todd.
I like Cabaret too. I saw it on stage in Longmont of all places. Local theater group. It was fantastic.
Fiddler on the Roof. The best songs ever.
It varies over time. Now? Probably Assassins. Into the Woods is good if for no other reason than teaching us all the best thing musical theatre has ever taught us:
"Nice is different than good."
Deborah...a bit of "Evita"...
A New Argentina
The production was not everyone's cup of tea, so to speak. Even Ms Lupone said it was arduous and required yelling lyrics at full force. Never the less, if you were in an audience hearing Patti Lupone sing, you were riveted to your seat.
Unfortunately, the Falklands War interrupted the run the of the show almost everywhere.
Evidently I like really dark themed musicals
Chicago two court room scenes. Don't watch if you haven't already seen the movie!!!!
Razzle Dazzle
Tapping around the witness
I really enjoyed "Sweeny Todd" with Patti Lupone where the cast played their own instruments.
I have to go with "Jersey Boys."
Although "Pajama Game" with Harry Connick Jr. was excellent as well.
I grew up in southern Ohio and we had something come to Dayton every summer called The Kenley Players.
1960s
Over the course of the next half-century, Kenley’s summer stock productions blossomed into what Variety called the "largest network of theaters on the straw hat circuit". His Kenley Players company brought the great shows of the era to the stages of Ohio, in Dayton, Columbus, Toledo, Cleveland and Warren. Many of the shows would also travel to an associated theatre in Flint, Michigan. Kenley would often be seen riding his bike backstage in these giant old theaters. And when bored, he enjoyed putting make-up on his dog, Sadie. If a gimmick was needed to keep a company alive that long in a state 500 miles from Broadway, well Kenley came up with a winner. He gathered the great film and TV actors of the time to appear in his productions. While this type of star casting is commonplace today, Kenley was one of the first to embrace the concept. Not only were the shows wildly successful, it made for some intriguing cast lists. There was Jayne Mansfield in Bus Stop, Bobby Rydell in West Side Story, Merv Griffin in Come Blow Your Horn, Rock Hudson in Camelot, Karla DeVito and Robert Ozn (billed as Robert M. Rosen) in Pirates of Penzance and Robby Benson in Evita, to name just a few. More traditional Broadway stars also appeared regularly, such as John Raitt in Man of La Mancha, Ethel Merman in Call Me Madam and Tommy Tune in Pippin.
I saw Yul Brynner in 'The King and I' live from the fourth row of Memorial Hall. When I heard him sign (sort of) 'It's a Puzzlement', I fell in love with language.
Whenever I want to feel like a kid again, I watch it.
And...The corn is as high as an elephant's eye!
O K L A H O M A!
Not so much the story as the music. We had the songs on records that we played over and over, along with South Pacific and Sound of Music (which doesn't deserved to be damned with "cute" as long as "corny" and "sappy" aren't applied on the other two!)
Camelot, My Fair Lady, Oliver, Music Man....
1776, West Side Story, Funny Girl. The opening number in Chicago.
Nice to see your station back online, Deborah.
Carousel
Most Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals are totally major key, no dark notes; Carousel on the other hand has an element of the desperation of economically marginal New Englanders in it. Especially in the heartbreaking soliloquy/song that the Carousel operator, played by Gordon MacRae in the film version, sings anticipating the birth of his child and how is he possibly going to support him/her.
"I'll go out and make it, or steal it, or take it...or die!"
One of my favorite movies is more like Cabaret in having the music part of the actual story, as the lead is a poor folk singer: Once.
It's now a musical, but I haven't yet seen it.
Fiddler on the Roof.
Though, I liked the Muppet Movie reboot too (the one from a few years ago, not the recent one)
Singin' in the Rain.
Saw An American in Paris this morning - that is pretty good.
Used to like West Side Story, still like the music from that one a lot - Lenny could slap some notes together, that's for sure.
Oklahoma is very good. Rod Steiger sings better than Marlon Brando in Guys and Dolls - which I saw for the first time the other day.
What can I say - TCM shows 'em, I watch 'em.
Speaking of Rod Steiger, saw The Pawnbroker for the first time last night - interesting. Music by what's his name. Next up was In the Heat of the Night - great theme song by Ray Charles, movie sucks, however. Filmed up north in Y*nkee land - feh!
I read once that Steiger suffered from major league depression for like decades. So doing The Pawnbroker took no acting at all for him. In the film Waterloo Steiger even made Napoleon into someone simultaneously suffering a stomach ache and constipation. The guy was the Michelangelo of suffering.
Pawnbroker was interesting.
Heat of the Night was good because of Steiger, but the story seemed to much a northerner's view of the South. Too cartoony.
Singin' in the Rain
OH YEAH. I forgot about that one.
This scene always makes us laugh
Gene Kelly. What a great dancer. Manly, athletic and graceful. I could watch him for hours.
I only like one musical, West Side Story, so this is an easy one for me.
This scene always makes me laugh.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Mr. O'Connor needed medical attention upon completion of that bit.
Two dvds I can watch over and over ,Singing in the Rain and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Both colorful and cartoonish fun. Bye Bye Birdie for the Nostalgia. Music Man and West Side Story, but only for specific scenes.
Damn Yankees, if only to see what a great dancer Gwen Verdon was.
fags
Damn Y*nkees - we were taught that was one word.
Titus reminds us why the musical has largely died out for hetero men as a NYC thing-to-see.
Women and gay men remain.
I liked Always Patsy Cline and Phantom of the Opera where the chandodlier xxxx chandlieerxxxx chandalierxxxx huge candle holding thing swings out above the audience, whoa, wasn't expecting that one.
And another one where three sisters in WWII are singing
doodle oodle oodle oodle doodle doo doo whaaaa
doodle oodle oodle oodle doodle doo doo whaaaa
doodle oodle oodle oodle doodle doo doo whaaaa
doodle oodle oodle oodle doodle doo doo whaaaa
And now the company jumps when he plays reveille
He's the boogie woogie bugle boy of company B whaaaaa
And that one that goes, you have to sing this as pathetically as possible. A group of us were hanging out at a tiny cabin waaaaay out there inside doing dishes and Bart and I started singing like we thought slaves sound. Worn out and beat down and sad. But we didn't know the words so we kept singing slowly and wearily in a deep voice over and over
I gets weary,
And sick of trying I'm tired of living,
But scared of dying,
That old man river,
He just keeps rolling along.
Until we drove other people nuts and they go, "KNOCK IT OFF !
Those are the only words we knew and we didn't know where they came from.
Showboat.
And commies.
I have never seen Cabaret or Sweeney Todd. I will rectify that.
I will watch any old musical. My first thought was Brigadoon. Makes my heart sing. But then I remembered Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
What about Robin and the Seven Hoods? Heh. I could go on all day.
Love all of the musicals listed so far as well. I sing "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" often on my drive to work.
Okay. Gonna throw one more out there. No, two, because I will never grow up: The Wizard of Oz and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Oh dear god, Sweeny Todd. I can't call it a musical. It's a psychosis with singing. Which makes it all the more psychotic.
Music Man/Showboat. Music Man/Showboat. Music Man......Damn, now I have earworms!
The other day (I blame TMC, I swear!) I tried to watch Chitty Chitty etc., again and made it past the Toots Sweet number, which is where I found the off switch last time, up to the part where the children are singing that they find Ms. Scrumptious truly scrumptious. That struck me as odd, no, more like creepy. Why are these children proclaiming, in song, that they find an adult woman scrumptious. I didn't hang around to find out.
But that was one fine looking automobile, I will grant you that - especially prior to being "fixed" by DVD's character. Very nice looking ride.
lol
Going to a Broadway Musical doesn't make you gay.
There is nothing better than going out for a drink then going to the theater and having a great meal afterward on Restaurant Row. It is something a "Real New Yorker" would do at least once a year.
I used to work close to Times Square and drank in many of the joints around the theater district. Sardi's was always good for a few pops and I knew the bartenders. Broadway types where in there all the time and you could be throwing back shots with the likes of Bernadette Peters and John Cullum on any given night.
But the best joint bar none was "Jimmies Corner." Owned by fight trainer Jimmy Glen it was always filled with boxing people, Broadway riff raff and locals. Best ginmill in Times Square.
Titus said...
fags
Hey, I think you can like one musical without being called a fag. These other guys I'm not so sure about.
Hey, leslyn! Good to see you.
I've only seen the movie versions, but I agree w you on both Music Man and Sweeny Todd, tho I kinda liked it despite all that.
Nevah seen no Showboat.
Believe it or not I deteste Broadway and Show Tunes.
The songs are so corny.
tits.
I can't get enough of Lana Del Ray Ultraviolence though. It is the anthem of the summer time summer time summer time.
She is very Nancy Sinatra but in 2014 which makes her cool.
She's fucking hot too-
tits.
LDR has no singing ability whatsoever.
"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"
It's the Ian Fleming/Albert Broccoli connection.
Thanks for the lifeline, chick. :)
Yes, 1776 is good. My favorite scene is the 'Sit Down, John!' number.
My Fair Lady is fun. And yes, Seven Brides. One of the best dance scenes ever.
I didn't know we were talking stage musicals. This is snippet of my favorite, from Team America: link
DBQ, yes about Gene Kelly. I'd seen Singing in the Rain a few times as a kid, but it wasn't until a few years ago, in the 'dream' dance scene that I realized how handsome and virile he was.
Darcy said...
Thanks for the lifeline, chick. :)
Oh, CCBB has more going for it than most people realize...first of all, an Ian Fleming original. Second, non-Disney; third, the actors: Benny Hill, Lionel Jeffries, & the guy who played Goldfinger as cameos. Even D. van Dyke is good at what he does. And Sally Anne Howes -- she never looked better did she?
Truly scrumptious. ;) I do get Sixty's creep factor, but I think that is in the context of today. As a youngster, it was innocent awe of a beautiful woman.
P.S. The Child Catcher!
Chick, you're so sensitive and artistic...you rock.
If Sixty only watched that far, he never made it to Vulgaria.
I know! Heh.
deborah said...
Chick, you're so sensitive and artistic...you rock.
Well, I've never been to a Broadway musical, but that's my impression of most of them as an outsider.
Neither have I.
What I'd like to do is see all of the Shakespeare plays. Just by local groups, college productions, etc. I think that'd be neat.
omg Megyn Kelly is now going to interview Bill Ayers, part 2.
I used to go on sensitive dates in college to a place west of Madison: Spring Green (That's where FLW lived and worked). There is an outdoor theatre there (note the spelling) and a resident troupe called the American Players Theatre. They did a lot of Shakespeare.
What I'd like to do is see all of the Shakespeare plays.
Failing that, I'd like a list of the best versions of each available on Netflix.
That could be a group project/suggestion fest.
deborah said...
omg Megyn Kelly is now going to interview Bill Ayers, part 2
Why give him O2 now? Has he done something different?
:)
Ratings and to gin up the election. He looks completely skeezy. Hoop earrings in each ear.
The earring statement: stylized grenade pull-rings. Don't pull me or I'll explode again.
Hmmmm.
chickelit said...
What I'd like to do is see all of the Shakespeare plays.
Failing that, I'd like a list of the best versions of each available on Netflix.
That could be a group project/suggestion fest.
I loved Joss Wheedon's Much Ado About Nothing (2012). My wife hated it.
The real problem with Broadway shows are that the seats are too small. Most of the theaters were built in the 1920's and people were a lot smaller then. Shorter and skinny. You are jammed in with you knees up in you face if you are over six feet like me so I always have to get an aisle seat.
Plus they often have vermin.
Not the Disney ones. The ones on the side streets where the smaller productions can be found.
ARM, I'm planning on watching the old masters in the films, too. Much Ado with Emma Thompson and Kevin Branaugh was excellent also.
I think Mel Gibson's Hamlet was badly panned, but I'd like to check it out.
deborah said...
Much Ado with Emma Thompson and Kevin Branaugh was excellent also.
It is odd what makes people like of dislike things. I didn't like this version. No idea why, maybe a bit too stagy. The Joss Wheedon version was more like TV, the medium I have spent most time with. That is why my wife didn't like it.
Well, I'll check out the Wheedon one. Didn't even know there was one.
I would have no idea what plays to see if I made it to NYC.
Don't any of you homophobes like Rent??? West Side Story is my favorite. Jersey Boys is damn good too. Saw it in Vegas.
phx, thank you, it's good to be getting back in the swing :)
@ARM & deborah: Thanks for the suggestions. Perhaps I'll turn your suggestions into thread to gather others' recommendations.
Suggestions could also reflect on which Shakespearian actor looks best in tights, or which Shakespearean actress cuts the best hourglass.
Of course Lem will vote for Patrick Stewart in all categories.
Oh and it's good to see WLEM AM back on air.
@Spinelli: Why would anyone want to see a play called "Rant"?
Where is modern day Arthur Miller? Writing great plays and hooking up with the hottest women?
Answer: They're all writing screenplays in Hollywood.
Thanks, chick :)
Yes, how about you make a thread to get suggestions on Shakespeare plays, choose one that we can all rent on Amazon for a couple dollars, and then discuss?
Depending on how geeky I'm feeling, either Chicago, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, or Into the Woods. But I'm not really a big musicals guy... I probably haven't seen more than ten minutes put together of the old Rodgers & H[n] musicals. Hell, only reason I've seen Into the Woods is that somebody showed the American Playhouse version at an anime club meeting at CMU I sat in on in the late Nineties.
And I keep meaning to see Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, but there just isn't enough time in the day...
You're the second person to mention Into the Woods. Never hoid of it. I'll have to check it out.
Hey, Whedon's Much Ado is free on Amazon Prime.
Rodgers & Hammerstein are to musicals what ABBA and the Beach Boys are to rock music. The R&H musicals are undeniably great, but you don't feel special for liking them. I like the Rodgers & Hart music much better. Hart had far more bite and wit to his lyrics, and he didn't aim for moral uplift.......I like the Weil/Brecht music,but I can't recommend sitting through one of their shows. Never play a Weill/Brecht musical immediately after Rodgers/Hammerstein. The vortex caused by the conjunction of matter and anti matter can rip the space time continuum apart.....I like Jerome Kern. He wrote some lovely melodies, but he was ill served by his lyricists. When P.G. Wodehouse writes the lyrics to your best love ballad, then you know you're in trouble.
'Oliver' is my favorite. South Pacific is OK except for the song lyrics of 'You have to be carefully taught'. It's not true. People naturally favor their own family and their own kind. They don't have to be taught at all. It's true that children don't notice the difference in people until they are older. At about puberty, they do notice. That's when the trouble starts. We don't want those others getting our women or men.
Black women hate white women who go with black men. They don't have to be taught to do it.
You know a lot about composers and lyricists...I really don't at all. But you me think of Gilbert and Sullivan. May we call the operettas musicals? I don't know much about them at all, but I like this song a lot:
Modern Major General
(That last post was for William.)
omg Ice. I had no idea. Must check out Sondheim!
I've never seen Oliver, ken.
Maybe it is not being 'taught,' but it is being transmitted culturally. But more and more, I see things changing for the better.
Grrr, let's try this again, this time without the freakin' cell phone auto correct.
Deborah, Into the Woods is Sondheim. He has done a lot of great musicals, but they often have limited appeal. Really, a musical about John Wilkes Booth talking Lee Harvey Oswald into murdering a president? Crazy, man! He also did the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsey.
That man can WRITE songs that flay his character's spirits on stage for your entertainment. For example "Ladies Who Lunch" from Company. I'll find a YouTube link to an Elaine Strich performance when I have access to an actual keyboard later.
LINK
Not sure how good this performance is, I'm in too much of a hurry to watch it.
All That Jazz, with Roy Scheider, is an interesting biopic about Bob FOSSE, who was another very masculine and straight male dancer/choreographer/director. (Although oddly, he is the populizer, maybe inventor, of one of the gayest dance moves ever: Jazz Hands!) Not strictly a musical, but interesting. You will never see one actor smoke more cigarettes in one movie. Plus, Sandahl Bergman naked and lithe.
I really shouldn't, but it is Kenneth Branagh, not his brother Kevin, and Bob Fosse who is the subject of All That Jazz, not Gower.
Fosse, in real life, was the choreographer of Damn Y*nkees, and he even dances in one sequence in the movie version of that musical.
Three words why musicals suck these days - Andrew Lloyd Webber. Notice no one mentioned Cats as a favorite.
A woman took me to see Les Miserables - I have no idea who wrote the music for that mess, but they should have been arrested or something - imagine my disappointment, after a lifetime of watching operas and operettas seeing a cast of horrible 3rd rate singers, using mics, singing songs what were among the worst ever written. Go ahead, think of a tune from that abomination. Just try to get an earworm from that show. It can't be done. The music was forgotten the minute you stopped hearing it.
Thanks for the memory.
Well, there you go - I knew I shouldn't have mentioned it. Sometimes I just need to shut off the Fosse.
If you watch musicals from the '30s through the '50s you will see jazz hands. They probably predate jazz. But if I mention where I think they originated I will summon he who bears the mark of the beast.
All That Jazz was a favorite of mine for a long time. Jessica Lange as Death - how cool and enticing is that?
Oh, and you people looking to watch Shakespeare productions on film: Skip Titus Andronicus. From Wikipedia:
It is Shakespeare's bloodiest and most violent work and traditionally was one of his least respected plays.
It is insanely violent. As in, Quentin Tarantino can only dream of being that violent. Julie Taymor (best know for the stage production of The Lion King, which really is quite a spectacle) directed Anthony Hopkins in a movie version called Titus in 1999. It was such a miserable experience that Hopkins vowed to never act again, though he changed his mind later, obviously. But it is one nasty piece of work, best unseen.
Sixty, my wife mentioned it to me, and if she hadn't you or someone else should have. The right/write thing was bad enough, but Gower/Fosse was just plain wrong and needed correcting.
My wife has a history with musical theater, and is a big fan. My mother was too. So I've been hearing musicals of all different kinds all my life.
And Rent is just tedious as Hell.
Branaugh's Hamlet was (and probably still is) the only major film version to do the ENTIRE play. (With one minor edit.) It's very long, but worth it. Kate Winslet is in it, and therefore she wins deborah's actress question.
That version showed that Billy Crystal COULD do Shakespeare, and that Jack Lemon was too American to do Shakespeare. Charleton Heston KILLED it as the Player King.
I'd recommend the Ian McKellan version of Richard III. An interesting take, visually. (Branaugh's Hamlet is amazing for the visuals, too.) Also, I prefer it to Olivier's version. Damn it, the play needs to START with
Now is the winter of our discontent ....
Ice, check my link @ 7:46 :)
Sixty, thanks for the correction. Here is your reward:
from A Simple Wish
I'll bet a nickel you've watched it on TMC ;)
deborah said...
You know a lot about composers and lyricists...I really don't at all. But you me think of Gilbert and Sullivan. May we call the operettas musicals? I don't know much about them at all, but I like this song a lot:
I grew up listening to Gilbert and Sullivan. My great-aunt was the secretary of a Gilbert and Sullivan society and every six months she dragged us along to see a new production. I think my mother was very disappointed when we became old enough to go and greatly relieved when we became to old to go.
I generally enjoyed them and the whole evening out.
Oops, missed the link!
I don't think I've ever seen that on TCM. I've mostly just heard the cast recording over and over again. (Like I said, my wife loves this stuff.)
Incidentally, it is Sondheim that Sally Field's character raves about in Smokey and the Bandit.
You know who I feel has really revolutionized American musical theater?
About a minute in. Always worth watching some Smokey and the Bandit!
And pretty much anyone in musical theater since about 1970 sounds just like that when discussing Sondheim.
A partial list of his works (music and lyrics by Sondheim unless otherwise noted):
West Side Story (1957) (music by Leonard Bernstein; book by Arthur Laurents; directed by Jerome Robbins)
Gypsy (1959) (music by Jule Styne; book by Arthur Laurents; directed by Jerome Robbins)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962) (book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart; directed by George Abbott)
Anyone Can Whistle (1964) (book by Arthur Laurents; directed by Arthur Laurents)
Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965) (music by Richard Rodgers; book by Arthur Laurents; directed by John Dexter)
Company (1970) (book by George Furth; directed by Hal Prince)
Follies (1971) (book by James Goldman; directed by Hal Prince)
A Little Night Music (1973) (book by Hugh Wheeler; directed by Hal Prince)
Pacific Overtures (1976) (book by John Weidman; directed by Hal Prince)
Sweeney Todd (1979) (book by Hugh Wheeler; directed by Hal Prince)
Merrily We Roll Along (1981) (book by George Furth; directed by Hal Prince)
Sunday in the Park with George (1984) (book by James Lapine; directed by James Lapine)
Into the Woods (1987) (book by James Lapine; directed by James Lapine)
Assassins (1990) (book by John Weidman; directed by Jerry Zaks)
deb - never saw that - in fact never heard of it before just now.
This, on the other hand, captures how Fosse saw Fosse. I see a kid in a candy shop vibe from Schneider's expressions (the way he looks at the blonde twins is impressive). Victoria Porter - she knows the deal.
"That's how you get a job."
And George Benson was never better.
I liked Baz Lurhmann's Romeo + Juliet, but that's just how I roll. Also liked Branagh's As You Like It - thought that was very entertaining.
I have had the great good fortune to see a number of Shakespeare's plays on stage, and a few operas, too. What can I say - Rent is no La Boheme, that's for sure. The ability to write good music seems lost these days.
From Wikipedia about All That Jazz:
All That Jazz is a 1979 American musical film directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Robert Alan Aurthur and Fosse is a semi-autobiographical fantasy based on aspects of Fosse's life and career as dancer, choreographer and director. The film was inspired by Bob Fosse's manic effort to edit his film Lenny while simultaneously staging the 1975 Broadway musical Chicago. It borrows its title from the Kander and Ebb tune All That Jazz in that production. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival
The film wasn't altogether kind to the Fosse character, either. At least I didn't think so.
"It's show time!"
Oh, I saw Robert Uhrich in a traveling company version of Chicago. He played the lawyer, and he was phenomenal - much better than Richard Gere.
Also saw the original cast of Ragtime on Broadway. The big takeaway there was Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell before they became the giants of Broadway that they now are.
Saw Stokes Mitchell in the DC trial runs of Man of Lamancha back in the early 2000s. Interesting sets, not really a great play, but my God that man has awesome stage presence.
Also in DC saw the Royal Shakespeare Company put on a production of As You Like It. We were in the first row or two, and that was an amazing experience close up. Don't skip the British doing Shakespeare - they've had a lot of practice getting it right.
The stage play of The Producers is just bloated. Skip it and watch the original movie instead. Wilder and Zero own those roles in perpetuity.
We saw Barbara Cooke do a one woman show at the Kennedy Center. (Times were good for us back then.) That was a treat despite her advanced age.
When I was a boy, back in the 1970s, I got to see a production of Brigadoon several times, including once from the orchestra pit. I loved it at the time, though I can't remember hardly anything about it now. My piano teacher at the time and her husband were members of the local symphony and also worked as musicians on plays like that.
(There are two things in life that are always most helpful: Money and connections.)
And right now I'm blanking on which of the older musicals I like. I was with a choir as a boy (yeah, I know) and we did both Oklahoma and Oliver. I wanted a solo on Oliver because a girl I liked was doing the other part, or at least that's what I remember. Maybe it was Oklahoma instead.
Cabaret and Chicago are both great. The movie version of Chicago with Zellwegger and Gere has its problems, though, namely that for many of the dance sequences they don't show the dancers' feet. (!!) The movie version of Cabaret is superb.
From Sondheim:
Into the Woods is about what happens after the "... happily ever after" in fairy tales.
Assassins is about, uh, assassins. Specifically about people who tried or succeeded in murdering US Presidents. Victor Garber is incredible as John Wilkes Booth. I seem to remember a concert production of this for PBS one year with him reprising the role. I'd definitely recommend that.
Sunday in Park with Georges about a painting by George Seurat. Mandy Patinkin at his Mandy Patinkinist.
I wrote "Schneider" - that should have been "Scheider".
The Kennedy center is awesome - I saw a lot of stuff there. Saw Don Giovanni there - well, tried to. Left after the first act - the stinkin' union musicians were on strike (get a grip, you idiots - you are being paid to play music - enjoy, don't whine).
Also saw an awesome version Orff's Carmina Burana there - that was unforgettable - what a remarkable work. Three choirs, three sets of tympani, several pianos and a full orchestra - the stage was packed and we had seats just off the the right, looking down on the whole mess of 'em. What a night.
"My name is Inigo Montoya - you killed my father, prepare to die!"
@deb: I came to Gilbert & Sullivan late in life. It was a wonderful discovery. So many haunting melodies with such witty lyrics--none of which I had ever heard before. It was like discovering gold coins in your deceased grandfather's old cardigans. Stacks of great lp's that I had never heard before, The Mikado is generally counted as their masterpiece, but I have a special fondness for Patience........At a certain point in time, you stop keeping up with current music and start going backwards and sideways......I think Sondheim's talent as a lyricist far outweighs his gifts as a composer. I saw the PBS documentary on him. He was kind of sniffy about catchy music, possibly because he can't write a catchy tune........Maybe he should turn his gifts to writing new lyrics for Kern melodies. Has there ever been a lovelier melody matched with a more banal lyric than Kern's Smoke Gets in Your Eyes?
I saw the Ice Capades once.
The classiest thing I've seen in person is the Richmond Ballet's Nutcracker a few years ago. It was nice. I'd like to see it and also find a Messiah singalong every year.
William, ARM, thank you. I am inspired to explore Gilbert and Sullivan. I think I'll start with the music on car trips so I can listen to whole scores, and not just choose favorites.
I think Sondheim's talent as a lyricist far outweighs his gifts as a composer.
I'd agree with that.
And sorry, rcommal, my battery died completely.
Oddly enough, looking at the notes from that old sixth grade paper we were talking about, I now own some of the works I cited in that paper. Don't own any Galbraith, however. But otherwise I'm practicing your line of thinking, about books anyway.
Also (since I'm taking the conversation to another fora entirely, and this no doubt means squadouche to anyone here), I can DOWNLOAD audio books from my library. What the Hell am I supposed to do with that if I don't put it on something with decent audio output features? I could sit in front of my laptop and listen to whatever, but that's a bit of a mess, yes?
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