sidwich

You'd think Michael was the same kind of civil rights leader as Martin Luther King, Jr.or Malcolm X. Sharpton is simply unspeakable.

I wouldn't go that far, but Sharpton is far from the only public figure who has been comparing Jackson to figures as Jackie Robinson. If you think back, prior to "Thriller," entertainment was still highly segregated, and Jackson broke that color barrier by being the first African-American performer to be featured on MTV. He opened a major door for African-American entertainers to walk through, and I think he does deserve credit for that.

Without Elvis, it's possible rock wouldn't exist.

Considering the work of Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, etc. (all of whom I think were significantly greater in terms of musical innovation than Elvis) I doubt rock wouldn't have existed at all, but I do think that Elvis made rock compelling to the masses in a way that they were unable to for one reason or another (Little Richard and Berry partly because they were African-American, Lewis largely because he made the disastrous decision to marry a 12-year old).

I hate to say it, as it's always tragic when someone dies so young, but part of me is relieved that the freak show that MJ became is being laid to rest.

To paraphrase, it is always sad when a great man passes, and even sadder when the greatness passes before the man.

Elvis was around when Rock'n'Roll was just being born, and as such had a greater influence on what it was to become.

I think in a lot of ways, Elvis created the persona of the modern rock star in the same way that Babe Ruth created the persona of the modern sports star.

By the time Michael became a solo artist, the genre had broken into a dozen or more subgenres. There is no way the younger's influence on his art could match Presley's.

I think art is always morphing. Rock itself is a subgenre of popular music, and by that reasoning you could might be tempted to say that Elvis' influence on his art could in no way match Benny Goodman's. I think that Jackson was there at the dawn of the music video era and was instrumental in the development of the music video and the music video star. (For example, compare the Rolling Stones' video of "Start Me Up" which is roughly around the same time as "Thriller"). In his own way, he was the Elvis of music video.

He has been compared to Elvis but he didn't have as comprehensive an influence. Eventually his fame turned to notoriety and possibly criminal behavior and that's how matters ended.

Although I think the influence is different, I think Jackson's is probably comparable to that of Elvis Presley. I think if Elvis was the first white man who could sing the so-called "black music" and become a star, then Michael Jackson was the first black man to crossover and become a superstar and sex symbol to both white and black audiences. I think you also have to give him credit for having the vision to see the possibilities of the music video form, and expand the vocabulary and grammar of what is possible with music videos.

And although I wouldn't call his songwriting as artful as the Beatles, Brian Wilson or Barry Gibb, he put out some very good records, and has been a direct influence on a huge segment of performers today. Although Elvis is a undeniable titan of the recording industry, I honestly don't think he was nearly as interested in the actual production of his recordings or even the nature of his material as the Beatles, Wilson, Gibb (as examples) or Jackson. Honestly, Elvis made a lot of schlocky movies and recorded some very weak songs, but he redeemed them on the basis of his magnificent vocal talent.

Sadly, like with Elvis, talent and the subsequent fame on that scale does seem to twist a person's psyche.

Though during the time this could have happened, it would have proven very difficult for a coloured young man to be accepted in the world of classical Ballet. When you consider Carlos Acosta. having made it, Michael Jackson, could well have succeeded had he been given the opportunity.

I think this is an intriguing possibility, but I can't imagine the likelihood of his success as an African-American male classical ballet student in the 1970s.

So your remark leads me to observe also that the songs for Hello Dolly! were not written for Streisand, unlike those for Funny Girl--and they also really cannot be sung a la Streisand, that is to say songs like 'Dancing' or 'Put on Your Sunday Clothes' can't (but there again, she has that rousing 'All aboard! All aboard1!' in the latter....

I think part of what is interesting about Streisand in "Hello, Dolly!" is that it's really the only role in which she succeeded a major star and would be compared to. Dolly really is Carol Channing's role, and Streisand has been compared unfavorably to her in one way or the other ever since.

I actually think the Funny Girl score is as good as that for Gypsy, but the comparison ends there. Was interested in what you wrote about 'Cornet Man' and would like to know more specifically how she 'Streisandized' it

As stand-alone songs, I think "Funny Girl" may be as good as "Gypsy" but I think as the overall score for a show, "Gypsy" still works better. "Gypsy" also benefits from having a better book, though.

Someone upthread compared Streisand to an opera singer, and I think that's a very good comparison. Streisand is very focused on the creation of the sound coming out of her mouth and the effects that she can create with it. For example, she has this very unorthodox habit of vibratoing through her consonants, which she uses to some really interesting effects in songs. As a consequence, she doesn't let herself get all bogged down by things like consonants.

So for example on "Cornet Man," there's a line that goes ".... silver-plated wah-wah mute..." Streisand apparently doesn't feel like being constricted by the hard "t" consonant of "mute" which would cut off any drawing out of the line or vibrato she might want to use. So what does she do? If you really listen to what she is singing on the Original Cast Album, you will find that she makes it into a "...silver-plated wah-wah mule...." Which obviously doesn't make any sense, but she makes it sound great!

So... what does that mean for anyone in a future time staging a ballet about sleeping beauty, when disney supposedly has this trademark on "princess aurora"?

This is not my area of expertise and this does not constitute legal advice, but in very general terms, I doubt there would be much of an issue unless there is "likelihood of confusion" that the Princess Aurora is a Disney product, Disney-endorsed or otherwise connected with Disney's Princess Aurora. As I mentioned upthread, trademarks mark a company's product or services. If there is no or minimal likelihood of confusion, there shouldn't be an issue.

I’m no expert, but as one of the commenters notes, if they were seeking a copyright on the name “Disney’s Princess Aurora” or something along those lines it would indeed be narrow enough. But “Princess Aurora” alone seems unnecessarily broad and potentially troublesome, especially since Disney plucked name, character, and story out of the public domain in the first place.

I just want to clarify something. Disney has filed a trademark application on Princess Aurora. That is very different from registering a copyright.

A trademark is a mark which indicates a person/entity's products or services. For example, "Google," "Porsche," "Duncan-Hines" are all word marks. There are also symbol marks such as Mercedes-Benz' star within a circle or Disney's Sleeping Beauty's castle symbol. For performers, a name can also be a mark. For example when Ben & Jerry's released the ice cream flavor "Cherry Garcia," they received a very nice Cease and Desist letter from Mr. Jerry Garcia's attorneys (obviously, this was settled).

Almost all corporations (not just Disney) are insanely protective of their marks for many reasons, among them that if they do not guard their marks it may weaken the mark and they could eventually lose the mark altogether. (For example. if you started a website with a url of ILovePorsches.com just see how long it takes you to get a C&D letter from their trademark counsel).

A copyright is a protection of expressed work. In the United States, registration is not required for a work to be copyrighted (for example, as soon as I am done with this post, it will be considered copyrighted). There may be some overlap between trademark and copyright, but they are not the same thing (for example, drawings of Mickey Mouse would be copyrighted, but "Mickey Mouse" is also a mark of the Disney Corporation.

I am very cynical on these so-called reality shows. Surely, Alex would have asked "permission" from the company even before auditioning. Otherwise , how could he participate in the competition for several weeks without being absent from the company.It would have been exciting if he "allowed " to join.

I am as cynical about reality TV as anyone (probably more, since I used to work on a reality show). But I think it is actually pretty likely that there is a legal difference between the audition rounds and the main competition. I'm not familiar with the Miami Ballet's contract or the SYTYCD contract, but from my understanding on "American Idol" (which is produced by the same company), once the contestants are through the audition rounds are into the top 10 (maybe 12), legally they are considered paid performers, and are subject to SAG rules, etc. which is not true in the earlier rounds. It may be the Mr. Wong's contract does not restrict him from auditioning for other work (assuming it does not conflict with his work at the company), but does have some kind of restriction on what kind of paid work he is allowed to accept.

sidwich and dirac, do you have any idea why this happened? Did this crew just let Babs do whatever she wanted to, or did they just decide we'll go the commercial vehicle, never was that great a show anyway? Am I just being beastly, and you think it's a good or decent movie? Because Hello, Dolly did end up as a very good film, and Babs works in it beautifully, even if people wanted something else, not someone so young.

As dirac mentioned, "On a Clear Day..." has always had problems, and Lerner was continually revising the show. The versions on Broadway, the road, the movie, etc. were all different. In fact, although City Center's Encores usually goes to great pains to reconstruct the opening night versions of the shows it stages, when they did "On a Clear Day...", the version they performed back in 2000 was also something of a mish-mash. I don't think it's ever been clear what Lerner and Lane's final definitive version of the show is.

Probably has to do with Gene Kelly, whose performing credentials may have been something she didn't feel she could argue with, she may have been in awe of him, whereas I don't know what Minnelli was thinking; anyway, he wasn't a performing star. But somehow or other, Kelly got her to be a part of the goings-on, instead of that always breaking-away, somewhat overly narcissistic thing that happened. Of course, that works very well in 'Funny Girl', because she's really the whole show, and it has never had a life of its own after the early days (as far as I know.)

I have a less favorable opinion of Kelly's "Hello, Dolly!." But I do think the overall material in "Hello, Dolly!" is better than "Funny Girl" which is mostly remembered for Streisand's performance in it, and that may have restrained her a bit. Actually, out of all the directors that I've heard Streisand speak about, the one she is most worshipful of seems to be William Wyler who directed "Funny Girl."

And even though Streisand was always so potent at the time she was often over-the-top in Funny Girl and Hello, Dolly, she did stay reasonably within the songs of a SHOW, instead of tearing them apart and making them into 'Streisand material'. There seems to be no control over much of anything in this grotesque travesty--and the early scenes in Montand's office are ENDLESS. And 'What Did I have that I Don't Have', which is the only one that would lend itself to Streisand's exaggerations, also has no focus to it, although she does push it even here.

I think Streisand has always had a tendency to Streisandize her material. Seth Rudetzsky who is the host of BC/EFA's Broadway Box as well as being a fine musical director in his own right, has a hilarious analysis of Streisand's liberal interpretation of material dating all the way back to the Original Cast Album of "Funny Girl." Who knew that that's what the lyrics of "Cornet Man" actually are?

sidwich, have you been watching?

Yes, I've been watching, but it's been such a nice, relatively controversy-free season that I haven't really felt any need to comment. I don't think any of the celebs have been really outright awful, even the ones that exited early.

Other than that, the celebs have generally been where you'd expect considering the circumstances. Melissa's feet and frame are very week (very characteristic of Tony), Gilles' Ballroom side is underdeveloped (typical for Cheryl), and Ty really had problems moving his body (I understand he'd had both hips and a shoulder replaced because of injuries-yipes!).

Shawn's technique is very good probably due to a combination of her gymnastics training and Mark's teaching (which tends to be pretty well-rounded). I just wish he could bring out the dance diva within.

Considering the short shift that Ballroom gets on the show, I was pleasantly surprised that the finalists for the guaranteed pro spot for next year are both Ballroom specialists. I almost cried when I saw Anna demonstrating the true closed hold position. Kym and Chelsie are fine Ballroom dancers, but it's no comparison, and Cheryl, Karina and Lacey (although think they're excellent in their specialties) make me cry for other reasons.

Other than that the judges, as usual, mark very little sense from any real adjudication perspective. Oh, and I've really enjoyed them bringing back Louis for some of the choreography and performances. To me, that's what is most worth the price of admission.

Haven't seen this yet, but I've largely heard mixed-to-negative reviews on it due to a combination of the casting and direction.

I would guess that that Selya has been cast as the lead dancer in the ensemble for the choreography-heavy "Luck be a Lady" and some other parts. Scott Wise was the lead dancer in the 1992 revival, and I think he may have walked away with the Astaire award that year.

If ABT under Kevin McKenzie couldn't muster the resolve to save Tudor's Romeo and Juliet during the sixteen years for which he has been artistic director (but could find the resolve to stage, say, Within You Without You and The Pied Piper and their gaudy Sleeping Beauty and on and on and on), then I doubt he'll find the resolve to save it now -- savings or no savings. That's why this is a negative story -- because the gift unintentionally reveals that ABT would rather go chasing after every major, minor and played-out trend in the dance world than revel in the greatness of its own past.

While I would love to see a restoration of Tudor's "Romeo and Juliet," I'm not sure this is an either/or situation. As gifts go, I think this is a rather thoughtful one. With such a pressure on companies to keep mounting full-length story ballets with name-recognition, I would be surprised if ABT's funds for new works isn't one of the areas that needs shoring up in the budget.

Having grown up in a university setting, I can tell you, universities love "blank check" gifts, but it's not like any non-profit is going to turn down any money that comes down their way. In the end, it's not like gifts to undergraduate financial aid are taking money away from endowed professorships, cancer research or overseas studies.

And after all, Tudor's R&J was itself a new work not so very long ago, that may itself have benefitted from a gift such as this.

As Nina's final performance is sure to be packed, if you need to rent the Met's binoculars, I would recommend that you go early. The last time I tried to rent from the Met, they were sold out. (The gentleman staffing the booth that night was kind enough to lend me his own pair, but I wouldn't count on the kindness of strangers.)

Sad, but not unexpected. The pundits have been calling GL's demise for the last 15 years are so, based on the declining ratings and the expense of keeping the show going. Soaps have large casts and crews to manage and relatively high operating costs relative to the ratings. They've been going down one by one for the last 20 years.

I always have had a soft spot for GL, though. It was the only soap I ever watched with any regularity. My roommate in school was also a GL-watcher, and I remember meeting her for lunch one day some years later, and blurting out "Vanessa's in jail!" Her boyfriend who was in tow for the day, was aboslutely appalled. "You know someone in jail!?"

The one thing I do wonder about is the drying up of a fertile training ground for young talent. For decades, a lot of young (and not-so-young) talent have used soaps as a launching pad to fruitful careers, and the casting directors at GL and "As the World Turns" have been long been known as having particularly keen eyes for picking out talented actors and giving them a start.

I would spend the $10 million on arts appreciation and education for elementary school children.

Besides providing a component of what I think should be included in good basic education and nuturing young potential talent, I don't think you can really expect to have any real critical mass of adult audience for the arts without exposure early. Most people are not going to be any great talents, but I think almost anyone can enjoy the arts whether recreationally or as an audience member given some exposure and a bit of education.

Sidwich, who are you referring to here?

Actually, I was referring to the Logan Echolls character. Some have posited that if Veronica is the female version of the noir hero/anti-hero, Logan is the analog of the femme fatale, the damaged/amoral character to whom that character is irresistibly attracted against their better judgment.

I don't think of Lily as the femme fatale of the story. Veronica Mars is unmistakably told from Veronica's point of view and in her voice, and to Veronica, Lily is first and foremost her best friend, champion and confidante. Perhaps if this were Aaron's story, she would be the femme fatale.

I waited over four hours for standby tickets to see Ms. Richardson in the revival of "Cabaret" when it was still at the tiny Henry Miller theatre. Her luminous performance and graciousness to the theatre students to the theatre students who were waiting for her made it a very worthwhile expedition.

My heart goes out to the family.

Actually, Melissa was pretty good. You can see she has had ballet training. Plus she is a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader.

Melissa from the waist up was pretty good. From the waist down, she was shaky and the connection in hold was really non-existent which caused a number of problems. Like Holly Madison, the choreography tailed off at the end which I'm sure was due to lack of time to really develop the choreography and practice.

For two days, it was a great effort, but I always get concerned for Tony's students since they rarely ever seem to progress very much.

Cheryl does look much improved. It looks like she's taken some time to heal some injuries, and return to working on her technique.

I think Mary Harron is on to part of it.

The classic femme fatale does require a degree of fetishization of Woman and sexuality. If you look look at the camera techniques that went into shooting the classic femme fatales there is a high degree of portraiture style camera work, backlighting, etc. creating this extreme glamour goddess feel to the characters. The perception is that the character is not really human but an objectified creature of sexuality which enthralls . At it's most extreme you end up with Laura in which Dana Andrews' detective becomes infatuated with the portrait, and doesn't even meet the actual human character of Laura until halfway through the movie. The tabloidization of the media is part of it, but I do think there is a reluctance to use such heavily stylized filming techniques in contemporary film.

But I think it's difficult to really have a true femme fatale without something approaching true noir, and I don't think that it's a prevalent genre at the moment. In some respects, it's like asking why aren't there true movie song and dance men anymore, and it's because there are so few musicals being made (outside of Disney). Noir really grew out of the disillusionment of the forties and particularly the post-WWII era, with a helping hand from the colony of displaced European filmmakers like Fritz Lang and Billy Wilder. Those films were making a statement about the ugly underbelly of society, of which the femme fatale was one element, the desired woman who becomes deadly.

I think the closest we have come to something like the classic femme fatales have been in neo-noirs like "L.A. Confidential," "Body Heat" and "Brick." For an interesting twist on the femme fatale, Rob Thomas's neo-noir high school in "Veronica Mars" featured a character that some have posited is a homme fatale.

And why was Philip Seymour Hoffman wearing that dumb hat indoors?

For what it's worth, Mr. Hoffman has said that his hair is cut for a film he's currently shooting, and felt better prepared to deal with the hat jokes rather than the hair jokes.

Angelina Jolie -- I know she polarizes the audience like Moses parting the Red Sea but I loved the juxtaposition of the "simple" black dress with the contrasting green/emerald earrings.

I would have liked a little more color in her face. I didn't like the choice of the nude lips with the emerald earrings (which were stunning).

Luhrmann, shown on camera after the number, did not look pleased. I'm not sure if this is because he saw how lame it was, or whether he felt the sub-talent had ruined his artistic vision.

It was a mess. I know Jackman loves musicals, but it was awful. And really, if they were going to use the HSM and "Mamma Mia!" kids for the ratings, I think they should have let them actually do something besides wave their arms with the chorus boys and girls.

Yes, The Goldwyn Follies was George Gershwin's last score, although I think it's pretty well known that Vernon Duke did some work to finish "Our Love is Here to Stay."

Although it's not on DVD, "On Your Toes" comes on Turner Classic Movies from time to time. Although it suffers from the miscasting of Eddie Albert, it still features the Princess Zenobia ballet and "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue." Looking over the credits, Balanchine is in some very starry company with James Wong Howe as cinematographer and Orry Kelly providing costumes.

True, sidwich, but I think there was a time when there was a pretty clear distinction between Best Supporting, which was where the Fay Bainters and Walter Brennans got their recognition, and Best Actor and Actress. (I can think of examples such as Olivia de Havilland in Gone with the Wind, who was probably better known than Vivien Leigh to US audiences, winning Best Supporting. On the other hand, Melanie is clearly a supporting role.)

I think you are on to something. I do think that this distinction was probably much easier to make under the studio system where most films were built around a star in a leading role, and otherwise populated with featured players and character actors. I think it's much more difficult to make the distinction in many of the indie/ensemble films that are popular today.

De Havilland in GWTW is a bit of a special case. I think a number of actresses had refused the role of Melanie, and De Havilland very smartly accepted it as a way to transition away from being the Warners' favorite damsel in distress and into being a respected actress. (I think she lost the award to Hattie McDaniel, though).

I think there's always been some difficulty though. As I recall the supporting categories only came into being after Franchot Tone was passed over for the award for "Mutiny on the Bounty" when there was still only "Best Actor/Actress." His role would have been considered a supporting role today, and I think the Academy correctly realized that it was unfair to try to try to compare roles of such disparate size.

I remember when, I think it was, Jane Alexander won best supporting actress for "All the President's Men" with less than a 5 minute scene; now best supporting can be half the movie as with Philip Seymour Hoffman (who deserves every award made).

Unfortunately, there's often not a whole lot of rhyme or reason on the Leading/Supporting distinction. On the flip side, Frances McDormand won her Best Actress Award for "Fargo" when she was on the screen for less time than William H. Macy who was slotted into the Supporting Actor category.

Most of the time, names are submitted in the category that it's felt the performer has the best shot even if it doesn't really make sense otherwise. I think there's no question that the part of Effie is the lead and Deena is the supporting in "Dreamgirls" but it was felt that Jennifer Hudson had a good shot at an award as a newcomer in the supporting category and I think there was some serious ego-stroking for Beyonce Knowles.

In the old days, there was even less sense in the old Tony Award system. The Leading categories were limited to stars who were billed above the title, and everyone else was considered featured no matter how large a role they played. So for example, when Yul Brynner won his Tony for "The King and I" it was for "Featured Actor" because the only person billed above the title was Gertrude Lawrence. (After the original run, I think all of Brynner's Anna's only received featured billing).

History question: are Pitt and Jolie the first married couple to be nominated in the Best Actor/ Best Actress category in the same year?

Although not exactly the same, I think Diane Keaton and Woody Allen were a couple when they were nominated and won for Actress and Director (respectively) for "Annie Hall." Allen and Mia Farrow had the passel of kids but I don't remember Farrow ever being nominated for an Allen picture, and neither seemed to seek or receive the attention of the photographers like the Jolie-Pitts.

I don't think anything has come close to the spectacle of the Jolie-Pitts since the days of Pickford and Fairbanks, though. They (and Mr. Pitt's now-ex-wife) have milked the tabloids for all the publicity they are worth. And to tell the truth, I'm not sure they each would have received those nominations without the tabloid fanfare surrounding them.

"Chungking Express" is one of my favorite recent Asian films. I think the image of Faye Wong dancing around Tony Leung's apartment is really iconic. A lot of the film really walks that fine line between totally random and sublime. And Doyle's work in "In the Mood for Love" is stunning.

One of foreign language films that I really admire is Fritz Lang's "M." Even if I'm just flipping channels, I get completely mesmerized by how Lang captures the total despair of Berlin during the Depression. It really makes you appreciate the depths to which the country had sunk when the Nazis came to power.

Although I really like "Cinema Paradiso," I've never really been able to look at it the same way since I saw the director's cut (which was the cut originally released in Italy) a few year's ago. The Weinstein's recut the film, trimming about 40 minutes, when it was released in the U.S., and the whole tone and thrust of the film is very different, much more melancholy than the U.S. version. Both versions are good, but yes, different.

Hi, sidwich. Good to hear from you. Robbins did co-direct, didn't he, so Wheaton wasn't completely off base.

No, Robbins did co-direct, so he's not entirely off-base. I just laugh because it's Musical Theatre 101 to use the choreography in "Pajama Game" as an example of early Fosse, the real beginnings of the "Fosse style." (That and the fact that "Steam Heat" seems to be dragged out and dusted off for every event honoring Fosse, "Evening of Fosse, " "Remembering Fosse," etc. anywhere).

The Robbins name isn't usually associated with "Pajama Game" like it is with "West Side Story," "On the Town," "Peter Pan" or "Fiddler on the Roof" or even less-known works like "Bells are Ringing."

And to think, all these years I thought Bob Fosse choreographed "The Pajama Game"....