sidwich

Forman started his movie earlier, but the shooting took a while, and Frears completed his first, and "Dangerous Liaisons" was the earlier to be released. "Vamont" has a tendency to meander, but I think I like it a bit more. Forman commented at the time that no scene in the book actually appears in the film, and I think he's less inhibited by the parameters of the source material. I find the Frears film overly literal.

I'd take the nonagenarian Wilder over Pollack in a verbal smackdown any day of the week. I like "Sabrina." It's not Wilder's best film or most influential by any means, but it has its charming moments. I used to think that it was a good candidate for being remade, but Pollack's remake is so poor that it disabused me of that notion. Milos Forman's "Valmont" is worth seeing. Very different feel than Frears' film, although filmed almost simultaneously. And actually, I'd say there are at least 5 versions of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses." You're forgetting "Cruel Intentions," which is the story set among teenagers on the Upper East Side. An intriguing idea although very unevenly executed with some excellent moments and some cringeworthy ones.

'von Stroheim never completed "Queen Kelly," although I think some of his footage was eventually cut together with footage shot by other directors (which may be what's available now). Swanson had von Stroheim kicked off the film because shooting was taking so long. I think von Stroheim had shot about 4 hours worth at that point and was nowhere near completion. (von Stroheim turned in "Greed" at about 9 hours).

I like them both for different reasons. They're really concentrating on different things. Sirk's (as usual) using his color work and visual sense to underscore the emptiness of post-WWII society, while the earlier films to be much more focused on the social underpinnings of the story. I actually find all the characters much more three-dimensional in the earlier film, especially the African-American characters. When Delilah's daughter cries that she finds it infinitely preferable to be a white shopgirl rather than an African-American heiress, the film takes her claim seriously. I also find it interesting that the fate of the characters all seem to be much more in their own hands in the earlier film. Colbert and Louise Beavers go out to make their own fortune (which they do), while Lana Turner seems to trip along the second film with her maid along for the ride. Legend has it that Billy Wilder went up to Sydney Pollack after the premier of the remade "Sabrina" and said, "I hope you live long enough to see such an inferior remake of one of your own films." Mind full of razor blades, indeed! "Love Affair"/"An Affair to Remember" is an interesting case in that Leo McCarey remade his own film, and I've always wondered if he was just intrigued by the idea of casting Cary Grant. I think technological advances spurred Hitchcock to remake his own "The Man Who Knew Too Much." I don't think all remakes are bad, although in those cases, it's often that we've just forgotten the original. I was watching TCM one night and tripped across a film called "Princess O'Rourke" made in the 1940s about a princess from a small European country on a diplomatic tour who gets separated from her entourage and decides to take a bit of a holiday from her royal duties. It deteriorates pretty quickly into American propangandist pulp (albeit with Oliva de Havilland and a closetful of ravishing Orry Kelly couture), but I've often wondered whether Dalton Trumbo and thought it could be rewritten into something much better tha it was.

Well, the original had a bit of a tortured history, culminating in the end of the Wilder-Brackett writing partnership (Brackett envisioned the story as a screwball comedy, and Wilder saw it as... well, what it became). I had only ever heard that it was offered to Mary Pickford, who was quite a recluse by then and said to have been carrying one with a much-younger lover. She turned it down. Most felt it hit a bit too close to home. I always get a bit dizzy at the scene when Norma is watching the clips of "Queen Kelly." Never released, the film starred Swanson and sunk von Stroheim's actual directing career. Close may not be the best vocalist, but she's perfectly competent. I saw her in "Barnum" many years before she became a motion picture star, and she did fine with the Coleman/Stewart score. Personally, I don't think "Sunset Boulevard" really works as a musical. As Wilder himself said, it's really meant to be an opera.

It's a little bit of both. The seduction of Wilbur subplot is an addition to what was in the stage show, and I don't think much if any of her part was trimmed from what was onstage (I think almost everyone else's was trimmed a little bit to compress the story because of time constraint reasons). But much of it is that Michelle Pfeiffer is an actress who really can make her part important by sheer dint of her star quality. (Conversely, for me, Zac Efron's Link really shrank to the background to a surprising degree in a part that's usually pretty sizable. And as far as I could tell from the credits, everyone did their own singing. I finally saw the film over the weekend, and liked it a lot. It's not perfect, and I don't love all of the cutting that was done (I felt like there were a few jumps in characterization now), but by far the best musical adaptation I've seen in a while. I felt like Shankman really embraced the goofiness of the original and he didn't shy away from the musicalness in the way that I felt Condon did with "Dreamgirls." I felt like he trusted the material (which makes sense considering his dance and musical background).

Honestly, I don't think anybody alive knows exactly how the songs were arranged in "Girl Crazy" as originally performed. It's pretty much been revised constantly since its original run, and the film's no exception. With the film, the obvious change is that the Ginger Rogers and Ethel Merman characters' songs were both given to Judy Garland, and the story is modified substantially and the songs rearranged to accomodate the change. Besides that, you have changes like the addition of the specialty singer (the young June Allyson) at the beginning of the film to do "Treat Me Rough," etc. That being said, I am very fond of this film, and find it terribly underrated. I don't think Judy Garland ever sounded better, and Chuck Walters who later graduated to director with "Good News" did a great job with the musical numbers. (It's just my opinion, but I don't think he ever got the credit he deserved throughout his MGM career). He is Garland's specialty partner in "Embraceable You," and it's probably one of my favorite pieces on film. Understated and elegant, it shows off the star and the song beautifully.

Well, Fosse cut the entire Herr Schultz and Fraulein Schneider subplot, and nearly all the songs that take place outside the cabaret. All told it's about six or seven songs, so not inconsiderable. It all contributes to the claustrophobic and surreal feeling of being in the cabaret, which is part of why the film works so well. As I said, it's a different vision than onstage. Yes, and another good example of editing and cutting the original material to work for the screen. Now, I sometimes find it jarring to watch it onstage because the changes that were made to adapt to screen make the material flow so much better, especially the changes with "Raindrops on Roses" and "The Lonely Goatherd." I do rather miss the two songs with the Baroness and Max that ended up being cut, but I can see how it was probably the right call. I actually prefer the recordings with Mary Martin in both "South Pacific" and "The Sound of Music" to the film soundtracks. I think the unique combination of warmth and power in her voice are perfect for the material (which is not surprising since both were written for her). The casting that makes the film of "South Pacific" work for me is actually John Kerr as Cable, dubbed voice and all. I do agree that Josh Logan's film is not nearly as bad as it's been made out at times, but I only find Mitzi Gaynor to be an average Nellie

I think it depends on the material. For example, "Cabaret" on film is quite a bit different than "Cabaret" on stage. Fosse's vision was substantially different than Prince's, and there are a number of changes in both plot and score (moreso plot) than reflect that vision, and it works in its own right as a work of art as opposed to the filmed reproduction of another work. Personally, my favorite stage to screen adaptation is the 1947 adaptation of "Good News." Even with the bizarro casting of Peter Lawford as a football star, it has a wonderful energy and vibrancy. It keeps some although not all of the original De Sylva/Brown/Henderson score, adds other songs, and wraps it all up in some very inventive staging by Bob Alton and Chuck Walters. I think it's an example that works well in its own right while keeping the spirit of the highly successful original.

Usually, when a musical is adapted to screen at least a few numbers are cut. Sometimes it's for time constraints. Sometimes it's for the inevitable tightening that occurs in screen adaptations (most movie musicals from the 1930's-1950's had between 5-7 songs while stage musicals usually had between 10-12 and sometimes more). Sometimes the reason for the song just didn't exist in an onscreen adaptations; for example, many older musicals included songs that were performed in front of a curtain while a scenery change occurred. A good example is "More I Cannot Wish You" in "Guys and Dolls" which occurs before the sewer tunnel scene onstage. With the magic of movie editing, it wasn't necessary and so it was dispatched. With a lot of the stage to screen adaptations during the 1930s and 1940s, oftentimes pieces were cut because they were considered too "intellectual" or "risque" for the middle America that movies were aimed at. Things that were acceptable to a New York audience weren't necessarily considered acceptable other parts of the country, either on the naughtiness scale or the braineness scale. "On the Town" with its Bernstein/Comden and Green score definitely fell victim on that front which had about half its score replaced, but so did "A Connecticut Yankee" which had its score completely replaced in the film adaption, and any number of other very interesting scores. "Pal Joey" had part of its score replaced by other Rodgers and Hart songs, and its dark underbelly ripped out. I actually haven't seen the film of "One Touch of Venus" in a while, but as I recall much of the score registers fairly high on the naughty and brainy scale (courtesy of the duo of Kurt Weill and Ogden Nash who probably gave some lucky film executive nightmares) and as result probably required some surgery. ETA: I don't think that judicious editing of the material is a bad thing with film adaptations. The adaptations that were done in the 1950s and onward, I often feel are almost too faithful, and take on an almost museum-like feel. They're nice as reproductions of the original, but I don't feel they take on an energy and life of their own.

I haven't seen Lupone (yet) as Mama Rose, but of the ones I have seen live, Daly remains my favorite. Hands down one of the most frightening creations I've seen in the theatre, and she filled the Dorothy Chandler in Los Angeles with her presence in the pre-Broadway run. From what I understand, she was suffering quite a bit vocally by the time the production reached Broadway, though. Peters was terribly miscast and I don't think Sam Mendes' direction did her any favors. I think her voice has deteriorated considerably in the last few years, as well. Her renditions of pieces from "Gypsy" about 20 years ago were quite thrilling, in a way she was unable to match in the recent production.

I was trying to get to the Lane/Cornejo debut, but circumstances prevented me. On the fortunate side, I was able to make the Wiles/Hallberg/Part martinee performance and was able to witness the Part performance as the Lilac Fairy. I must admit, I was never really on board the Veronika Part train until I saw her Nikiya at the Met this summer when she completely blew me away with her presence and musicality. Her Lilac Fairy was all graciousness and warmth, underscored by her ability to luxuriate in every movement. Otherwise, I very much enjoyed Wiles and Hallberg as Aurora and Desire. Wiles had a very shaky Sylvia in OC last year, and this was a much better performance. I felt like both were still in a work-in-progress stage with their performances, especially Wiles but the development under the tutelage of Gelsey Kirkland is palpable. (And for sheer fairy tale couple appearance, Wiles and Hallberg cannot be beat.)

The partners are all mixed up at the midpoint of the competition which is now. Danny is as likely to get any of the female dancers as Jamie. I don't think Danny comes across as arrogant, but to me, he does come across as remote when dancing in other genres, at least on television. I don't feel like he's thrown himself fully into the persona of other genres yet. Jessica, the ballet dancer from last season, had similar difficulty and was constantly picked on for her "lack of personality." (On the flip side, the ballroom dancers tend to come across as plastic and "mugging" when their dancing is blown up in close-ups on television.) Personally, I don't think Danny and Jamie would be a strong partnership at all for purposes of the show. Jamie tends to come across as vacuous and immature, and I don't think the combination would balance each other out. (A Danny-Lacey partnership could be intriguing, though...) This is all through the distortion of television, though, and not a commentary on how any of the dancers actually come across live.

Much of the reason for the City Center run is because Arthur Laurents and Patti Lupone finally "kissed and made-up," so to speak and Laurents not only consented to the casting but will be directing Lupone in the production. He had refused to give his consent to Lupone playing Rose in a major production, and now that he's not only given his go-ahead but signed onto the project, no one is really going to sit around on it. After all, quite frankly, Laurents isn't getting any younger. With an all-star supporting cast, I guess City Center is selling it as a variation on their popular "Encores!" concerts. And yes, while I've thoroughly enjoyed Bernadette Peters in many things (including concert renditions of songs from "Gypsy") she was miscast in the last revival and Mendes was not the director who could make it work.

Haha, I got back from a quick trip to NYC to visit friends a few weeks ago, and while there, I did have a chance to catch up a bit (a very little bit) on my theatre going. Of the relatively recent scores, I've liked Sondheim's "Passion," Coleman and Zippel's "City of Angels," William Finn's "Falsettoes" (and its various incarnations), and Simon and Norman's "The Secret Garden." A little older, but I also adore "Sweeney Todd." Less well-known, but I also like "Romance/Romance" and "I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking it on the Road." And although it's relatively musically simple (because of the limitations of its original star), I think Kander and Ebb's score for "Woman of the Year" is underrated. What I've heard of Strouse and Lerner's "Carmelina" I like a lot. Going back into the flowering of book musicals post "Oklahoma!", favourites include Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel," Bernstein and Comden/Green's "On the Town," Weill and Lerner's "Love Life, Lane and Harburg's "Finnian's Rainbow," Porter's "Kiss Me, Kate," Meredith Wilson's "The Music Man," Loessor's "Guys and Dolls," Merrill's "Carnival," and Styne and Sondheim's "Gypsy." Although it never really worked, I'm also very fond of some of the music in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Pipe Dream" and I actually like the score from "On a Clear Day..." a lot (although the libretto is problematic). And "West Side Story" and "My Fairy Lady" are so iconic I tend to lose perspective on them. The scores from the jazz era don't often hold together as a whole very well, but some of the ones I like pretty much from top to bottom are Rodgers and Hart's "The Boys from Syracuse," "Pal Joey," and "Babes in Arms," the Gershwins' "Girl Crazy" and Porter's "Jubilee." Otherwise, many of the scores from that period have a few hits, filled out with other songs of varying quality. That's what I can think of at the moment, although I'm sure there's more.

Actually, as I thought about it more, I don't think the women celebs would benefit from wearing flat/flatter shoes in the competition and what it boils down to is the "picture and frame"/"stem and flower"/insert your favorite metaphor here difference in the parts and choreography of Ballroom and Latin dances. So much of the female part in Latin (somewhat in Ballroom, but moreso in Latin) is all about the presentation of the woman's leglines and feet, and the Latin sandals are designed to optimize that presentation and effect. They help. A lot. Flatter shoes do not give anywhere near the same effect, and the look of the leglines and feet are nearly always the first thing that anyone whether layperson or expert sees with a female dancer. On the show itself, even in Laila's Quickstep (not a Latin dance), all I could think with the flat sandals was "Ugh! Her feet are awful!", but even with great dancers, the flat shoes cut off the leglines and give a very imcomplete impression. Fair or not, it just doesn't look "right." I don't think the show precludes the celebs from wearing any shoes they choose. Personally besides Laila's sandals, I've seen celebs wearing both street sneakers and dance sneakers without the shoe police coming after them, so I don't think there's any reason why the female celebs couldn't wear "coaching shoes" (lower heeled shoes that are made for training that look somewhat similar to the men's shoe) in the competition if they wanted, but I don't think anyone has gone there, and I would guess that (and the fact that most pros encourage their beginner female students to wear the heels to develop more consciousness of the feet) is a big reason why. If this were a competition where the choreography that the contestants had to perform was the same or similar, I'd probably feel differently, but the requirements (besides the shoes) are really inherent in the Ballroom and Latin dances themselves (you generally don't see that many men killing themselves to snap out multiple revolutions in the blink of an eye either but it's routine on the female competitive side). There are dances where women and men generally wear the same or very simlar shoes (for example, Lindy Hop, West Coast Swing, Carolina Shag and other forms of swing), but the emphasis in those dances tends to be different (less about the legs, more about the footwork) which makes sense.

Skinny they are (well, some of them are... it depends on the shoe), but they're actually quite stable as long as you keep the lifts in good shape. They're actually made to be stable and well-balanced. I say this as someone who barely ever wore high heels before I started dancing. They're made to feel like an extension of the foot with maximal feel for the floor and combination of slide and grip. The well-made ones are actually pretty comfortable. (And although I don't know how the shoes on the show are supplied, it's just as easy to order a pair with any type of heel you want, so you can lower/widen/flare the heel, etc. It's not hard to get a pair of 2" heel shoes if you choose to do so. Really.) And my point is not that men's shoes and women's shoes are a one-to-one comparable, but that men's shoes have relatively high heels compared to men's street shoes (which you can see if you ever go to a ballroom competition and see men walking around in both). While most women are used to wearing 3" heels and they're generally wearing 2- 2 1/2" (Ballroom shoes) to 2 1/2-3" (Latin/Rhythm shoes) on the show, men generally aren't used to heels at all. So as far as DWTS goes, I don't really have a problem with the shoe thing, since as I said in my first paragraph, the male celebs aren't completely out of the shoe thing and it's not unusual for male beginners to have problems with the shoes. Which is not to say that I don't think that the show needs to support its female celebs more (I just think the shoes are up there with Laila's perceived "size" as a non-issue). The judges routinely gloss over fundamental technique issues and substantively empty routines, and I think the male celebs have benefitted disproportionately. For example, the judges never addressed Joey Lawrence's lack actual frame or leading ability for example while at the same time they rarely gave much feedback on how much more technically advanced Monique Coleman's choreography or how much more fundamentally sound her technique was. Emmitt Smith's choreography at the end last year was really dumbed down, but you'd never know it by the comments the judges gave. Those things bother me a lot, actually.

Actually, the men don't completely escape the shoe issue. Their shoes, especially the ones made for Latin/Rhythm, are also on a raised heel. I think the ones for Latin/Rhythm are usually around 1.5-2 inches. As with women, it's to help push the weight forward and extend the legline. Since the men are much less used to wearing high heels, I think the shoe issue is a toss up on DWTS. (And through the seasons, I think there has been a fair amount of grumbling among the male celebs about the shoes). You can see close-up pictures of shoes here: http://www.worldtonedance.com/ Incidentally, if you ever have the yen to take up Ballroom or Latin, WorldTone is the best place for shoes around. An absolutely phenomenal selection. Generally, I think Ballroom/Latin shoes are much more comfortable than street shoes, at least well-made ones. I wouldn't go hiking in them for three hours, but they're not comparable to run-of-the-mill heels, either.

I think Apolo is a very worthy Season 4 champ. To me, he's clearly the celeb who has come closest to becoming a well-rounded beginner. If he were to continue, I'd say that he would definitely have to work on his control and not falling out of his steps (the one major beginner weakness I see in his dancing), but even that I think he was getting somewhat better at. This is just my opinion, but I really don't think that Laila's size was nearly the issue with this that people perceive. There are any number of "tricks" that are very doable by partners of similar size or even partnerships with an airborne partner being of greater mass, as long as the technique is there. I think the problems were twofold: 1) her frame and core/center are very weak, and 2) she doesn't trust Maks with her weight. They're the same problems that she had had with her dancing throughout the season but with aerials/lifts the issues are exacerbated by the physics involved. I don't think so, but for some reason the producers are having a much harder time finding viable female contestants who are willing to do the show. I think the most recent female contestant with a real shot at winning was Sara Evans. I think if Jonathan Roberts ever got a female celeb with an even semi-decent fanbase and decent sense of coordination, he could be the one to beat. He's one of the best in the country, perhaps the best, at pro-am competition which DWTS most closely resembles. The other thing is that honestly, I would guess 90% of the television audience has minimal knowledge of dance generally, and 98% have less knowledge of the difference between a ChaCha and a Samba than Carrie Anne Inaba (who already can't tell the difference). And because of the nature of Ballroom/Latin Dance where (sigh!) the traditional metaphor is "the lady is the picture, and the man is the frame," the traditionally female part is a much flashier part than the male part which is much more about providing structure and support (and just as important if not more so). It's much more obvious to most people that there is a difference in dance quality between Karina Smirnoff and say, Paulina Porizkova, than the difference in dance quality between the male contestants and the male pros, especially with the choreography that the better pros design for their celebs. To Joe Schmoe, it's obvious that Paulina is having difficulties with certain things but it's less obvious with say Joey Lawrence who is just standing which looks like the same thing that the male pros are doing. They have a much harder time seeing the complete lack of leading skills that Joey developed over the course of last season. Also, with the nature of television, the lack of genuine lead/follow gets somewhat obscured since it is much more difficult to see the differences in speed and power which are obvious live.

Random notes on Week 8: I have to say I actually was rather encouraged by this week. I think almost all the celebs genuinely tried to improve their weaknesses this week in a major way, in at least one of the dances. Even with the too-long intros, I think between the waltz and the jive, there was more substantive partnering in Laila's two dances this week than there has been in all her other dances this season put together. It made obvious what I've suspected for several weeks (that her frame and partnering are very weak relative to the rest of her dancing) and the judges called her out for it, but I was glad to see that she and Maks made the effort. Apolo actually (mostly) stayed on beat with the Paso. I also thought this was overscrored considering he was still swirling the cape/tying the skirt for a full 4 eights of music (after the music started), and they missed their opening which through them off for the very beginning. But I thought this was a marked improvement. I do have to agree with Len that the Tango didn't really work. I felt like all the footwork was an effort by Julianne to disguise the fact that Apolo still lacked the control to perform a competent Tango basic, and the result seemed to all happen at one level with no real dynamic. It really lacked the "stalking around the floor" character of Tango. I was glad to see Joey performed a straight-up waltz, with pretty good posture, body contact, rise and fall, etc. The mambo needed some help. If "Jessie's Girl" is too fast for an optimal Tango, Joey and Kym's Mambo music felt too slow for a good Mambo which I think accentuated Joey's problems with the dance (heavy steps, too much weight on his rock steps, etc.). The Mambo is a "spot" dance, that is, it's not supposed to move around the floor. But in the Mambo, Joey is planting his feet when he leads some of the underarm turns (which is actually the same problem Apolo had in his Jive). He's using far too much of his arm, and not enough of his hip weight to get Kym around. First, I hate Cheryl's Foxtrot choreography. I think I feel that way every season. Cheryl's Latin choreography almost always looks much better than her Ballroom, and Foxtrot seems to be her weakest dance by far. It almost always seems to devolve into mediocre showdance, and I think Ian's Foxtrot may have had the least substantive content of all the Foxtrots so far this season, and I'm counting Billy Ray's (although Billy Ray's was executed much more poorly). Second, I think my thing with Ian is that he just doesn't seem to be comfortable in his own skin when he's dancing. I love Ian, and I feel like I'm reliving all my issues when I was first learning to dance with him, and I really think he may have just plateau'd on this for a while. I don't know that there's anything anyone can really say to him until he really starts to accept who he is when he dances. Yes, there is a "character" to each dance, but personally, I think the only way to really portray the character effectively to to portray yourself in that character. He needs to embrace his inner diva.

Unbeknownst to myself, one of my university roommates is in charge of our reunion and about a month ago, I was conscripted into attending. (Having my priorities straight, I will be attending both the Part and Vishneva performances of "Bayadere" that Wednesday before steeling myself for three days of self-congratulatory cocktail parties throughout Manhattan). That weekend is extremely difficult, but after A LOT of research, I found the Pod Hotel in midtown East offering rooms for as low as $150/nt and with some more research, I found it listed on a discount site for $120/nt. That was the best that I could do for an actual hotel (not a hostel) that I wasn't too worried about telling my mother about. Most of the places I stay in Manhattan (usually in the $100/nt range) have been booked for months apparently.

More random notes on Week: I liked Julianne's choreography a lot, but Apolo's had a lot of problems with controlling his foot-to-foot weight changes, especially while partnering and especially during the slower-tempo dances like waltz. I was wondering what Julianne was going to do for the rhumba, but they got an American Rhumba with a very generous tempo (International Rhumba tempo is somewhat slower) and Julianne very cleverly minimized how many weight changes he had to do by using the chair. If you watch his feet closely when he actually gets out of the chair, he still has a tendency to fall into his steps. I think John is being targetted to exit. That was a very wickedly fast mambo for any beginner, but especially one of his age. Both he and Billy Ray were being backled by their partners for most of their routines. And I just don't know what to say with Heather. I feel like the judges are taking on this air of "Oh, poor little crippled girl!" which I don't really appreciate, and I don't think Heather does either. I still feel like there are major problems with Laila's frame. I appreciate that they're actually doing partnered work at this point, but most of it is still very far apart. The closed work that they are doing is very weak with a very collapsed frame and Laila looks like she's fighting him a lot. The one underarm turn that they performed (I think it's the first they've attempted and it's only SIX weeks in), was very poor. She lets her connecting arm go ALL the way behind her body which is a major no-no, no connection at all. I thought Joey's samba was not bad. His hips are still hit and miss, but I think his posture has improved a lot, and I generally see improvement from him week to week. Samba walks were non-existent, not that any of the celebs have performed them well, but they were weak. I do appreciate that they attempted the samba rolls. I do feel like one problem with this dance may have been that Kym is not a very good samba dancer, either, because her samba walks didn't look that spiffy either. So some good moments, and some not-so-good moments in this one for me. I do feel like Joey's competitive side is starting to take hold, though, so I'm interested in how he progresses. You know for me, Ian's best moment in this show this season was during the mock-fight with Joey during the swing. His personality, humor and playfulness came out, and I feel like that's something that's been missing during his performances this year. And strangely, much of Cheryl's strength during the past two seasons has been in bringing out her partners' personalities on the dance floor. She just hasn't seemed to be able to accomplish that with Ian this year, and I'm not sure why. The choreography she's done this year is totally competent, but it hasn't seemed very individualized to Ian, and I'm not sure if it's a question of fatigue or if she just hasn't been able to connect to anything in his personality to bring out. As much as I harp on the technical issues that Apolo, Laila and Joey have as dancers, I feel like I have a feel for them as dancers, and I don't really with Ian.

Broadwaybox.com continues to have discount codes for "110 in the Shade" (as well as other productions). www.broadwaybox.com. I saw Marin Mazzie (of the freak of nature voice with no break) perform this at the Pasadena Playhouse last year, and she was stunning. (Unfortunately, despite his glorious voice, Jason Danieley was a bit of a letdown as Starbuck.) I'm really looking forward to seeing Audra MacDonald perform this when I'm in New York next month. It's been one of my favorite lesser-known scores for a while.

As weak as he is, I think Billy Ray has as good a shot as Apolo, Ian or Laila at being in the final. The country music contingent has proven to be a formidable fanbase in the past, and he also would have support from the "Hannah Montana" fandom. In terms of dance quality, I would say that Joey, Apolo, Ian and Laila are probably much better than the rest of the pack, but what I find interesting in contrast to past years, is that I don't really see one serious frontrunner in terms of dance quality (this is totally divorced from who I think is going to win on the basis of the combination of fandom, dance pro, choreography, etc.) All of those four have good points (for a beginner dancer) and serious weaknesses. And absolutely none of them got the required hip action right for their assigned samba/rhumba (which is not surprising. Neither of them are really a beginner level dance.) Apolo put forward the overall strongest effort on Monday night with the most balanced and overall cleanest program. I was very impressed with the attempt at partnering, lots of very advanced lead/follow for a beginner for a couple of months. He still has difficulty with maintaining the rhythm at times especially when he's partnering. If you watch his feet carefully, they will very clearly start deviating from the samba rhythm when he's trying to lead her. (He actually cleaned this up considerably in the encore.) Still, very, very impressive for a beginner and light years ahead of where he started with the cha cha. Concerned as to how he'll do in slower dances, where this problem becomes obvious. Which brings me to Laila. The rhumba should totally be in her wheelhouse, being a sensual dance with not a lot of speed, but the slooowwww tempo also magnifies all flaws. And in Laila's case, it magnifies the non-coordination of her hip action. She's not controlling her hip to work in opposition to her knees, and she swings her hip through too quickly. I do give her points for finally having some partnering work in her dance, although it's much simpler than any of the other contenders most of whom have already been attempting underarm turns for weeks and about at the same level as Clyde and Billy Ray (although better executed). (Still hate Maks' choice of the long skirt which he did with Willa as well, since it obscures the hip and leg lines of his partner, but perhaps that's the point). Joey is totally inconsistent with his hips. Now you see it, now you don't. And although his posture is better, it's not great and some of his positions are less than aesthetically pleasing. However, call me crazy, but he's one of the few (perhaps the only) who is managing to consistently picking up his feet and putting them down in time with the both the rhythm of the dance and the tempo of the music, and that scores major points with me. It's actually the first thing I notice both when I'm dancing with a partner and when I'm watching someone dance. Kym needs to clean-up a ton of things with Joey, but he's actually been improving a lot in the recent weeks. I don't think this is a dance that comes naturally to him, I can see how the rhumba could have gone very badly, but it doesn't. I hate to say this, but I agree with Carrie Ann. I think Ian needs to learn how to breathe. And not just in a metaphorical sense. I think he's literally holding his breath through his performances. And I have to say that out of all of the contestants I identify by far the most with Ian, because when I started out I would start thinking about what I was doing too much and forget to breathe and then fall over my own feet (actually, I still do all of that still, but that's another story....). He's not a natural dancer like Joey, and he's not naturally coordinated like Laila or Apolo, but it's in him to break through the plateau that he's reached. I'm just not sure he'll be able to learn to trust himself enough to do it during the length of the show.

Random notes on Week 4: Interesting choreography choice by Maks this week. I've been suspecting that Laila had some serious partnering issues since Week 2 since Maks been pretty obviously minimizing any substantive partnering in their routines since the beginning, and he blatantly broke the DWTS "rules" last week to do so. And while she is both gorgeous and charismatic, none of Laila's movements have ever been either big or dramatic. She has a natural sensuality to her movement which works beautifully for many dances, but doesn't really work for Paso which is not about sensuality. (I'll go out on a limb now and say that she'll probably also have problems with the Jive.) I thought it was really curious this week since I think Paso is a much easier dance to minimize the partnering than the Tango (which is all about partnering) that Maks chose to put so much in since Laila was so obviously struggling with it. I couldn't decide whether he just couldn't figure out anything to highlight as a strength (if it's a dance that's just not suited to her. Which does happen sometimes) or if Laila had insisted on "playing it by the book" and so he choreographed a textbook paso regardless of the problems she was going to have with it a la Brian. Dunno. I think if Tony could just get Leeza connected to her knees, she would just be SO much better. She would get better coverage across the floor, it would help her open up her movement, and it would go a long way towards helping her look that small and anxious look. She couldn't seem to bend her knees at all last night, and it was like watching alternating toothpicks cross the stage. I feel like she's going to be gone. I wasn't sure that he'd be able to help Heather with the Waltz, but Jonathan certainly minimized the obviousness of Heather's leg issues. He is a genius. (I will say, though, that I think it's conspicuous that Heather is the only remaining contestant who hasn't been required to do one of the Ballroom dances in DWTS's semi-International style so far. I think everyone else has either gotten Tango or Quickstep). Len's rant on Clyde (and the other contestants) was so totally scripted and probably a precursor to one of DWTS' redemption arc. I feel like the judges are going to be applauding X celebrity in a few weeks, "See what these poor celebs can do if they really work at it!" I think the producers are going for a feel-good arc this season after the fauxmances last year, hence the limitation on rehearsal time this year. (I'm not really convinced it's going to work, though. In real terms, a few months is not that long to really learn how to dance.) And I still have a hard time with Carrie Ann going on about respect for the dance and putting time in, when she couldn't recognize a samba if it hit her with a two by four. If you put Ian and AAO together, I think you'd have the beginnings of one pretty-good beginner. AAO is actually fairly decent at keeping body contact with his partner, and he has good performance chemistry with her. His waltz footwork was ALL over the place, though. As much as Julianne tries to hide it with runs and syncopations, he is not keeping to the waltz 3/4 time at all. On the other hand, Ian is not bad at keeping to the waltz time, but when he and Cheryl dance together, it's like there's a grand canyon of gapping between them. AND he's stiff and has performance issues. As much as I roll my eyes at Carrie Ann's comments most of the time, she does occasionally get it right, and I think it probably would help if he remembered to breathe sometimes (which is a common beginner mistake). I think a fire got lit under Joey a couple weeks ago. I don't know if it was the judges' score or seeing the first couple of performances on tape, but I didn't really feel like he was trying very hard until the Starr Wars Tango. Honestly, he seemed content to coast the first couple of weeks. But love it or hate it, the Tango was the first dance in which I really felt like he geniunely tried to improve from the week before, and I felt like he improved again this week with the Paso. Kym's comments on the B-roll are noticeably more focused on appreciating his desire to improve and less about his ability to focus. He can be good at this if he chooses to be, and I think he's finally chosen to apply himself. Tony and Melanie were great performers. They had some really good competitive choreography, work that didn't make you cringe outside of the competitive context. Tony's also a very fine coach (I've never seen Melanie teach so I don't know how she is). You know, that's such a truism, but I think there's some question as to whether that is actually true now, although that's often what is taught. With the Latin/Rhythm and social dances like Lindy, if the hips are slightly off-center backwards it gives the lead/follow much greater usage of the hip weight (it's kind of like if you're trying to unstick a door or if you're trying to push heavy furniture). Lindy, in particular because of its roots in African dance, I find the hips are usually off-center, giving the lead/follow its characteristic "spring." I have to run the disclaimer that this whole idea that the hips are supposed to be off-center completely rocked my world when it was introduced because it completely went against everything I had ever been taught. But I have found that it makes for much greater facility in lead/follow, more focused direction with much less effort. In Ballroom (Waltz, V. Waltz, Foxtrot, etc.) dances, the hips usually release backwards for certain figures. Just a little, but it's extremely difficult for most people to do the leg swings backwards otherwise (because of the shape of the hips).