dirac

Thanks, sandik. It never did get broadly distributed to my vicinity, but at long last my local PBS stations have gotten around to showing it (instead of endless reruns of Jackie Evancho, grumble grumble). My knowledge of early Joffrey history not being as detailed as it should be, the first part of the documentary was especially useful in filling the gaps. The meat of the film is of course the dance excerpts, of which there could be more. The footage of The Green Table is smashing, as is the bits of Parade, with Gary Chryst as the Chinese Conjuror and the segments showing Massine and Joffrey in rehearsal, all of which were new and wonderful to this viewer. Also liked the contributions from the former Joffrey dancers, especially Trinette Singleton, still beautiful, and another whose name I'm sorry to say escapes me. Fantastic to see Singleton and Zomosa in Astarte. The film is diplomatic on the subject of Arpino's choreography, with Sasha Anawalt noting that ballet critics seemed to view it as their job to remind the untutored that Balanchine was a better choreographer than Arpino. Critics can be funny that way.

That's one of the recordings I was thinking of. I like the McGlinn "Show Boat," which features von Stade, Teresa Stratas, and the late Jerry Hadley greatly, but the Kern/Hammerstein score is something of a special case. Thanks for the heads up (and for chiming in), sidwich. Carousel is not a big favorite of mine but with such a cast it'll be worth watching.

It's certainly true that American Songbook songwriters are today regarded as a sort of light classical, but nevertheless they were/are popular songs sung with a style different from operatic singing (and still is, per some of those less-than-successful crossover albums). Yup. And it would be an unpardonable omission to fail to mention Eileen Farrell in this context. And much Broadway music had roots in operetta. Obviously it's untrue that no opera singers have ever essayed popular music forms successfully, only that, in my opinion, it sometimes doesn't work that well.

Thanks for posting anyway, pasdequatre. If you didn't like it, you didn't like it. The line between "true-life" drama and soap opera, or melodrama, can be quite thin. (The resemblance between Nijinsky/Diaghilev - The Red Shoes - Farrell/Balanchine is remarkably close.)

Thanks for starting the topic, abatt. Voigt in Wozzeck does sound a little iffy. Would like to see "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Show tunes are still pop (sometimes pop opera). No shame in that, either. Tastes in pop music have changed, although even today chart-topping songs from musical theater aren't entirely unheard of.( "Rent" was another kind of pop music - faux-rock, vaguely reminiscent of Blue Oyster Cult to this ear.) There is overlap. Certainly Rodgers & Hammerstein had opera in mind when composing "Carousel." Broadway songs like "You'll Never Walk Alone" were certainly popular songs, in every sense. (And in other pop styles. "You'll Never Walk Alone" was a hit for Gerry and the Pacemakers; The Beatles in very early days once did a cover of "Till There Was You" from The Music Man. I expect that most if not all opera singers who do crossover albums are genuinely committed to performing the songs with correct style and some certainly have more experience than others, but success is variable, at least for this listener.

Oh, it's never too late, Drew. Obviously the Oscar would have been a big boost for "The Invisible War," but it does seem to be getting attention all the same - there's now a series in the NYT on the long term effects of assault on former servicewomen, and it looks as if reporters are going to the makers of "The Invisible War" for comments. The timing of the film is also good, with the roles for women in the military expanding. The Independent Spirit Awards tend to be a fun broadcast.

Opera singers often have some background in musicals, but it's still rare for them to retain a true feeling for pop style after the rigors of classical training, as veteran listeners of crossover recordings know. Great review, vipa, thanks for sharing it with us. Fairchild and Peck, especially the latter, seems to be getting great notices in all departments.

I liked the Prada frock and still do, despite the darts aimed at the darts. But for God's sake, Anne, eat something.

Thank you for that link, sandik. As Quiggin noted, the standard defense of MacFarlane is that it’s wink-wink humor. When he says that Maya in Near Dark Thirty is proof that women are clingy obsessional psychos, it’s satire, don’t you know. By me it looks pretty close to what’s presumably being satirized. As West writes, the cumulative effect is stupefying. It’s not that the Oscar broadcast is any stranger to bad taste. This is tastelessness of a different kind.

The reference makes sense in context. I was more struck by the fact that O'Connor felt it necessary to explain for the reader that the Joads are characters in "The Grapes of Wrath." Of course, she's probably right to do so.

Finally got around to this one. StageRight's review is on the mark. Generally well written and well researched, often using Le Clercq's own words. O'Connor does point out that Le Clercq had relationships that O'Connor chose not to mention or emphasize, preferring to focus on the marriage. (She does make it clear that Le Clercq had a life apart from Balanchine.) True, the book is called “The Master’s Muse” and it’s a legitimate choice for a writer to make, but I agree it would have been nice to read on a bit more after the death of Balanchine and in fact the story seems to end rather abruptly. The book is actually quite careful and reticent as biographical novels go – O’Connor could have plunged in a little deeper. The occasionally difficult relations between Le Clercq and her mother aren’t really touched upon. The writing can’t conjure the distinctive Le Clercquian fizz and wit, but that would be tough for any writer. Her Le Clercq doesn’t always understand le mystère Balanchine, the "cloud in trousers," and O'Connor suggests that he was in some ways finally unknowable. Not at all the gloppy fiction I had feared. O'Connor's ballet judgments as expressed by "Le Clercq" in the first-person narrative can be doubtful. She has Le Clercq inform us that Balanchine emphasized women and Ashton emphasized men. Huh? Not a judgment a woman who worked with both men would have made. (Ashton liked to sleep with men, but his artistic preoccupations were another matter entirely.)

Hi, sidwich. Good to hear from you.

Yes, a sort of meta-raunch. You could argue it goes back further than that, to Lenny Bruce taking the kind of jokes that comedians did for each other and performing them for the broader audience.

It's hard to resist an invite to perform on the Oscar show. Some of the pre-publicity for this year’s broadcast seemed to say "The Oscars! Not just for women and gay guys any more!" MacFarlane and boob jokes were plainly part of that recipe (and several of the actors named in the song were recruited for the pre-recorded reaction shots, presumably as prophylactic, so to speak, against criticism which was no doubt anticipated). The Gay Men’s Chorus thing was just…weird. What was the joke? "We couldn't care less about your boobs but we got to see them anyway?" Ho, ho, ho. Thanks for the Lane link, I hadn't seen it. I agree with Lane that Adele, Streisand, and Bassey were the highlights of the night. (Jennifer Hudson got a standing O but I cannot think why – she was well below par.)

Not funny at all for this viewer. I did like the sock puppet version of "Flight."

He was even sporting his My Beautiful Laundrette haircut.

Thank you Drew and dirac, for the information about "The Invisible War". Just watched the trailer on the Oscar site and have it in my Netflix cue. So sorry it didn't work out for The Invisible War last night. I tend to put a curse on my favored nominees, so it's probably my fault.

My take was that the Academy wanted to reward Hathaway for putting up with James Franco. I thought her most poignant moment in Les Miz was the scene where she had to be sad because she was getting her hair cut, so that alone makes her a truly worthy star and victrix. They do. Virtually impossible to go wrong with men's evening wear unless you're named Downey or Tarantino.

I didn't think this broadcast was that bad as Oscar shows go, sandik. I assume they knew what they were getting when they hired MacFarlane. They could have done some work on the timing - you shouldn't have to wait thirty minutes into the show for the first award, and I thought the Shatner thing would never end. The John Wilkes Booth joke was a bit much. Also the repeated plugs for Chicago. As I've been whining about for some years now, the Fashion Police people have so intimidated the actresses that hardly anyone wears anything daring or even that interesting. I think this year was the most cautious I can recall. That said, I mostly agree with cubanmiamiboy's choices and I'd add Anne Hathaway's Prada number. I could have done without her faux modest ohgoshIwon speech. A trifle unbecoming given that she's been cleaning Sally Field's clock all season.

I'd forgotten that the late Marvin Hamlisch provided this score...

You're very welcome. A segment of the Piers Morgan show was devoted to the film and it just got noticed on the Times op-ed page, as well. All good signs. Tomorrow is the big night. I have this fantasy where a stunned and happy Joaquin Phoenix graciously accepts the Best Actor award while Daniel Day-Lewis sits looking as if someone hit him on the head with a polo mallet, but I realize this is unlikely.

Thank you for posting all this information, Kathleen. Very nice of Google. We also have two other threads dedicated to Gorey in this forum: 'The Strange Case of Edward Gorey' (only one post, but anyone should feel free to add something!) A thread on Gorey's book 'The Recently Deflowered Girl'

I’ve read some very good things about "The Invisible War" and am happy to root for it, sight unseen. It looks like the Administration is taking a few real steps to begin to address the problem. The documentarians don’t get the attention they deserve at the ceremonies, but at least they haven’t been shunted off to an auxiliary event like the special effects guys.

Barbra is going to sing! sing! sing!