Scores for Musical Shows

[carbro]

There's no rhapsodic lyricism in Avenue Q, but it's the funniest score I ever listened to, with wonderfully juvenile lyrics that are hilarious as well as raunchy, unlike Yazbek's reached-for and crude lyrics to The Full Monty. This was a big surprise, as I think I would thoroughly enjoy seeing Avenue Q, and did not expect to.

Yes, there were wonderfully funny moments in Avenue Q's score, and while the songs' unpretentious simplicity was a large part of the appeal, I didn't find them particularly memorable. But then, I heard them only once --during the performance I saw, thanks to visiting out-of-towners. Maybe a second (or third) listening will change my mind.

Grab any chance to see Avenue Q. It is pure delight!

[dirac]

A profile of area resident Bob Klineman in The Aspen Times. Nothing new, but I enjoyed reading it.

http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20071029/AE/71029020

And while the decade will forever be associated with the psychedelic experiments of the Beatles and the Grateful Dead, it was a fine time to be a lover of Bernstein and Rodgers & Hammerstein. As Klineman notes, four musicals earned the Academy Award for Best Picture in the '60s: "West Side Story," "My Fair Lady," "The Sound of Music" and "Oliver!" which won in 1968, the year America was roiled by assassinations, protests and riots.

That golden era wouldn't last, as fewer musical films were made and even fewer honored as notable achievements. Klineman points out two reasons for the decline. One was the union-driven costs for the immense amount of labor necessary to produce a musical. The other was the rise of grand-scale theaters in midsize cities across America, allowing touring productions of Broadway shows to compete with - and overwhelm - screened musicals. When "Chicago" earned the Best Picture Oscar in 2002, it had been a full 33 years since the last musical had been so honored, and 30 years since "Cabaret," the last musical Klineman could pinpoint as one of the greats of the genre.

[papeetepatrick]

When "Chicago" earned the Best Picture Oscar in 2002, it had been a full 33 years since the last musical had been so honored, and 30 years since "Cabaret," the last musical Klineman could pinpoint as one of the greats of the genre.

I liked reading the article, dirac, and these kinds of knowledgeable people on musicals are still talking about them at Fedora's restaurant in the Village, at the remaining Broadway haunts in Midtown, and I have a friend who gets upset every time I mention the film of 'Gypsy', etc., because Ethel didn't do it. With my project here, I've finally been able to throw off the spell of my 'old fogey' attitude about Broadway, although it's primarily only as of yesterday and hearing 'Avenue Q' and 'The Color Purple'. Those alone make me know that what is considered 'a better musical' now is not going to have to be be that machine-like sound of 'Light in the Piazza'. Even before that, though, I'd say that 'Hair' was a miracle of a movie musical, that Forman could pull that off half a generation after the hippies were over--and part of it is that unique score. That's 1978. But I also think that 'Yentl' is very special and unique, that's 1984. After that, I'm unsure I can think of anything American that comes up to that level, except that I really liked 'Hairspray' even if I think it is only good, but not great, material.

It was interesting about the opening of the 'grand theaters in smaller cities' affecting this. I wouldn't have guessed that this had happened, but I'd never have guessed that 'Chicago' would have such enormous appeal; even though I enjoyed the original production, in which I saw Ann Reinking, I never thought it was such a great show except for Fosse's dances; its success both as a Broadway revival and film astonishes me. Maybe 'Nine' will somehow come together as something special, though.

[papeetepatrick]

Keeping my 'study club' or DIARY or what-have-you going here, as The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle made me end up researching George M. Cohan's early shows from the 19 00's, continuing into the 19 teens, and even looking up all sorts of fascinating stuff about all the music and/or lyrics Nora Bayes wrote in many shows besides just 'Shine on, Harvest Moon.' Talk about necessary information for the business of living, Nora Bayes songs have got to be it! The Fred and Ginger movie made me finally concentrate on those very early 20th century songs like 'By the Light of the Silvery Moon' and 'Moonlight Bay' and 'Oh You Beautiful Doll' and 'By the Beautiful Sea', which have more or less gone the way of all flesh, even if they were revived in Doris Day 50s movies--they're not really standards in the sense of Gershwin and Porter and Rodgers and Hart. Speaking of whom, Ginger seems very much like Doris Day at the beginning of the 'Castle' film, which I like only for the numbers. Do sidwich or carbro or dirac or bart or anyone else know if those ballroom dances are the actual Castle dances? I realize I don't much care for Ms. Rogers as an actress, but do like her as a dance partner for Astaire. Also think that the talk of Fred looking like an 'ordinary guy' who therefore could appeal to ordinary American men is overrated--that's an amazing face, and there's nothing ordinary about it. Like a real leprechaun. Not handsome so much as 'bigger than life' in an almost inscrutable way, and therefore beautiful. No wonder the title song of On Your Toes says 'the dancing crowds look up to some rare male--like that Astaire-male'.

This has been fun to survey and keep at it, because I now end up an almost-completist of Richard Rodgers, only to find that my favourite score of his by far is On Your Toes, which I never imagined would be the case--not only because of 'Slaughter', but also because it really has as many well-known tunes as any Rodgers and Hammerstein show--without all that heavy solemnity. I hadn't, at last posting heard the early 80's version as well, and although surely the biggest thrill of seeing the show must have been Makarova doing the Balanchine, the delight on the CD is Dina Merrill's Peggy Porterfield. When she sings 'Dear old mother was as wise as ten folks...and she knew her way around the men folks...' and 'Muuu....thah...told me...there's no use asking why...she loves he and he loves she...the heart beats quicker than the eye..' and 'Dear sweet mother...was careful and so sly...but my dear, you see I'm here...the heart is quicker than the eye.' Delightful in every possible way, so that you get to meditate on Mrs. Meriwether Post ALL YOU WANT! Who else could possibly do this song and it be so amusing? Ms. Merrill has always been one of the most gorgeous women in the world, and she even has a style that is so warm that you get an idea of what Park Avenue can be at its best--besides just the money and Sister Parrish living rooms. And I've been going around singing the title song all week, I never get tired of it.

Also heard Do I Hear a Waltz? where Rodgers collaborates with Sondheim, but the result is not impressive, but does explain where Sondheim derived some of his own compositional habits, and how his lyrics informed Rodgers to some degree; good singing by Sergio Francchi. No Strings is far less interesting still, except that the famous 'The Sweetest Sounds' really is beautiful and wonderfully sung by Diahann Carroll. The lyrics are pretty clumsy by Samuel Taylor, with whom I'm not familiar. I dread listening to Two by Two, with Rodgers collaborating with his own lyrics. [edited to add: No, that's Martin Charnin, and some of it's pretty good, even though a bit much to do Noah's Ark, even though by way of Clifford Odets. But there's a song called "An Old Man", that is touching, especially given that Rodgers is pretty senior by then.] [Edited yet again to add that No Strings is the one with Rodgers's own lyrics, and they are the least impressive of any. Interesting.]

So much for my ignorance of Molnar. After managing to get Ohio Light Opera's beautiful CD of the real Chocolate Soldier score, which was based on Shaw's Arms and the Man, I find that the tedious Eddy-Stevens movie was based on The Guardsman, which does not seem ridiculous in the gorgeous film with the LUNTS--I just didn't know about it. This is onscreen-theater in the best possible sense, and the silliness is run out the door by the brilliance of the leads, of Zasu Pitts as a weird sort of domestic, and Roland Young as dapper as any London Man could be. The Lunts were both nominated for Oscars for this.

I appreciate Ballet Talk for letting me do this research project here in part. I have ended up finding that my all-time favourite scores are On Your Toes and Urinetown! which I have both fallen in love with. I think Urinetown singlehandedly saved Broadway, and has saved me much money on shows whose scores I find vastly inferior without exception.

[dirac]

Also heard Do I Hear a Waltz? where Rodgers collaborates with Sondheim, but the result is not impressive, but does explain where Sondheim derived some of his own compositional habits, and how his lyrics informed Rodgers to some degree; good singing by Sergio Francchi.

Rodgers and Sondheim didn’t get on and neither one of them had much good to say about the show – I think Sondheim once called it a well formed dead baby. I still like the score, though, and I love the title song. (I also admire ‘We’re Gonna Be All Right,’ sung by Jennifer and Eddie in the second act, when it’s clear that they’re not gonna be all right. Rodgers threw out Sondheim’s original lyric for the song without any ceremony whatsoever. He had a good point, actually -- but, still.)

[Edited yet again to add that No Strings is the one with Rodgers's own lyrics, and they are the least impressive of any. Interesting.]

I don’t think Rodgers’ lyrics are bad at all, actually.

Speaking of whom, Ginger seems very much like Doris Day at the beginning of the 'Castle' film, which I like only for the numbers. Do sidwich or carbro or dirac or bart or anyone else know if those ballroom dances are the actual Castle dances?

Without stopping to look it up, my recollection is that the Castle Walk is closely modeled on the original and adapted somewhat for Fred and Ginger. They also do a Turkey Trot and I think a foxtrot, which the Castles did much to popularize. I don’t know offhand if the waltz they do at the end was done by the Castles, although it has a period feel. The John Springer Astaire book and Arlene Croce’s book on Astaire-Rogers will have the relevant details. Sidwich?

Irene Castle was a technical adviser on the picture. She and Rogers did not get on, either – Rogers refused to cut her hair as short as Irene’s bob had been, for example, and her costumes did not follow the originals as closely as Irene would have liked, etc., etc. I think she also made the point that the Castles' loyal valet was black (he was played by the very non-black Walter Brennan).

[sidwich]

Without stopping to look it up, my recollection is that the Castle Walk is closely modeled on the original and adapted somewhat for Fred and Ginger. They also do a Turkey Trot and I think a foxtrot, which the Castles did much to popularize. I don’t know offhand if the waltz they do at the end was done by the Castles, although it has a period feel. The John Springer Astaire book and Arlene Croce’s book on Astaire-Rogers will have the relevant details. Sidwich?

I actually did a reconstruction of the Castle Walk in a performance in college as part of a vintage dance ensemble, and as I recall, what is in the film is accurate. I haven't seen the film in a while and I'm not as familiar with most of the other dances depicted so I can't speak to those.

Rodgers and Sondheim didn’t get on and neither one of them had much good to say about the show – I think Sondheim once called it a well formed dead baby.

Rodgers and Sondheim did not get along at all. Actually, from what I understand most of the creative team didn't get along with Rodgers and nicknamed him "Godzilla," although to be fair, he was quite ill from cancer (I think in his jaw?) at the time.

I would also give a listen to "Rex." It's pretty heavy, and Henry VIII is not really great musical inspiration, but Penny Fuller is wonderful and a some of the score is lovely. "Away From You" deserved to be in a better show.

I hadn't, at last posting heard the early 80's version as well, and although surely the biggest thrill of seeing the show must have been Makarova doing the Balanchine, the delight on the CD is Dina Merrill's Peggy Porterfield.

I saw the 1983 revival with Makarova, and she was smashing. I also saw a nice revival last year here in LA. The show does not hold up very well, but it is always a showcase for the songs and fine dancers. Even with the Balanchine choreography and Vera Zorina, the film suffers from casting the non-dancing Eddie Albert as the lead.

Edited to add: also listened to Bloomer Girl, which I found the least interesting of all major Harold Arlen scores I've yet heard. One song 'The Eagle and Me', which is reprised, has something of what you hear in the more earthy type of subject matter Arlen seems more comfortable with, but I much prefer St. Louis Woman, Jamaica (Lena Horne), and House of Flowers is one of the greatest of all musical scores, which was done by Encores! a few years ago, Joanne Woodward one of its big boosters and 'shakers'. Bloomer Girl was obviously following up the recent and continuing success of Oklahoma! and Arlen was not the same kind of musical-maker as Rodgers & Hammerstein, and it sounds as though he tried in this case; and of course, Celeste Holm follows up Ado Annie with Evalina. It was successful, but rarely revived.

I don't think Arlen was at his best in the theater. He seemed better to suited to writing for films, revues and Tin Pan Alley where his musical ideas could flow freely. He seems almost inhibited by the musical theater form and writing songs for specific characters. I've seen the Encores! productions of "St. Louis Woman" and "House of Flowers" and generally, I like the music in the scores much better than "Bloomer Girl" but the books are barely intelligible at all. They're very difficult to watch and make almost no sense.

I've seen "Bloomer Girl" a couple of times in revival as well as the TV telecast which had most of the original cast and choreography, and it does make some basic sense. The music's in and of itself does not soar to the heights of "St. Louis Woman" or "House of Flowers" or Harburg's great "Finnian's Rainbow" but it does work better as a theater piece, although Harburg's radical liberal leanings do make it ponderous at times. I think the Arlen/Harburg team's best work is "The Wizard of Oz," though.

[bart]

Really interesting discussion. I'm in awe of how broad (as in Broadway) your collective knowledge is.

Makarova also did On Your Toes in London, where I bumped into it one summer in the 80s. I assume after she closed in New York. Makarova was clearly the star -- name above the title and full-length photo of her as the long legged Striptease Girl on posters all over town. I can't remember who did the hoofer, though he was no Ray Bolger. Makarova was pretty darn good, as I recall. Well, when she was dancing anyway. I wonder how she compared with Tamara Geva in the original. Vera Zorina is quite alluring in the film.

Balanchine is said to have loved the Slaughter on Tenth Avenue musisc from the very first time he heard it. The NYCB revival/restaging for Suzanne Farrell was not successful. Some said the choreography was dated even though Balanchine had reworked the choreography. (Such was the enormous cultural distance between 1941 and 1968.) I liked Arthur Mitchell a lot, but he too was no Bolger. Farrell was, if not actually sexy, seductive in a witty and knowing way. (Mitchell seemed to bring these qualities out in her.) I remember wishing that I liked it more than I actually did. Did anyone see it? Was it ever revived after the first year?

Papeetepatrick, I wish I could share your enthusiasm for the On Your Toes score. The last time I heard excerpts it came across as a a charming a period piece. Whatever edge it had in 1941 had been worn away. In London -- and this is 20-plus years ago -- I had the feeling that the audience was waiting tolerantly but a little impatiently for the parody Princess Zenobia ballet and for Slaughter on Tenth Avenue.

The only other part of the score that stays in my memory is the title song. "Up on your toes! Up on your toes!" A catchy upbeat little melody, with wonderfully silly lyrics, that encapsulates so much of the feel of Broadway in the 30s and 40s. I like it better than "Small Hotel."

[papeetepatrick]

Thanks, sidwich and bart, all of these details are delicious!

Here's a CD I just listened to about half of, it's marvelous: Romberg's The Desert Song and The New Moon recorded at the Drury Lane Theater, London, in 1927 and 1929 respectively, and The Blue Train of Robert Stolz recorded at the Prince of Wales Theater 1927. Both with Prince of Wales Orchestra. There is beautiful singing here, with Harry Welchman and Edith Day in Desert and Evelyn Lay, Howett Wroster, and Ben Williams in New Moon. Will listen to Blue Train later. As has often been the case in this survey, I find songs whose origins I had not known. I had no idea 'Lover Come Back to Me', so often a jazzy standard, especially as done wonderfully by Streisand back on the 'People' album (I think that's the one). I knew 'Stouthearted Men' was Romberg, and that, again, we have Ms. Streisand doing a lounge version of it on 'Simply Streisand' (of course, that was not representative, but I disliked it quite as much as her version of 'My Lord and Master', all sluttish, tramplike seduction that might as well be used by Carmela Soprano, I guess--or one of her young rivals...). But Romberg's operetta scores are very beautiful music, much better than I had ever given them credit, and some of the ones like 'Romance... a playboy who is born each spring' are best sung by a pure soprano, as it is done here.

I also watched Alexander's Ragtime Band the other day, forgot that to get a Merman version you look to recordings, although I like Alice Faye in this more than I usually do. Still, Ethel steals the show later on with a terrific 'Blue Skies'.

Bart--I think the Balanchine/Suzanne Farrell 'Slaughter on Tenth Avenue' enjoyed some success, and I saw her do it with Joseph Duell about a week before he died. I believe Helene said she remembered this too. But while I thought she was perfection in it, I imagine Makarova is the better casting--there are some areas in which emphasizing the elegant and tasteful may work, but still may not be the truth of a...striptease artist, and Makarova knows a lot more about that sort of overt thing than Ms. Farrell does. I also saw it at NYCB a few years ago, and can't remember who was in it. It's always a crowdpleaser, full of clowning. We're talking about the same thing, aren't we?

[bart]

Bart--I think the Balanchine/Suzanne Farrell 'Slaughter on Tenth Avenue' enjoyed some success, and I saw her do it with Joseph Duell about a week before he died. I believe Helene said she remembered this too. But while I thought she was perfection in it, I imagine Makarova is the better casting--there are some areas in which emphasizing the elegant and tasteful may work, but still may not be the truth of a...striptease artist, and Makarova knows a lot more about that sort of overt thing than Ms. Farrell does. I also saw it at NYCB a few years ago, and can't remember who was in it. It's always a crowdpleaser, full of clowning. We're talking about the same thing, aren't we?

I don't know the performance history, but I assume we are talking about the same number. I remember hearing that Balanchine had made changes from the version that appeared on Broadway. Maybe someone who knows the history can help us out with what actually occrred.

I love your comparison of the 2 women. Makarova does seem to be quite "knowing" at time -- a quality of face or attitude which makes her Odile wonderful. There's an interesting combination of innocence and shadiness in On Your Toes.. The Slaughter ballet makes fun of the latter. As you suggest, Farrell's history and personality probably did not give her much of an acquaintance with the louche side of life.

I wonder what was going on in Balanchine's mind when he cast two of his wives in this role -- and then revived it as as vehicle for his idealized Dulcinea.

[dirac]

Well, he had hot pants for his idealized Dulcinea for one thing, and there were those who said he was crazier for Zorina than any other woman before or after. (On the other hand, the original Slaughter was also a job of work for him.)

Arthur Mitchell said that Balanchine brought Ray Bolger in to coach him, so some continuity was clearly intended. The coaching sessions didn’t quite work out, Mitchell added, because Bolger’s style was unique to him and essentially untransferable, which sounds plausible, and so the choreography for Mitchell is probably not that close to the original. Going by what I’ve seen of this piece in clips, it’s no big deal, as this stuff was hardly Balanchine’s finest hour.

Farrell looks pretty hot in the bits that were shown in ‘Elusive Muse,’ and regardless of what did or didn’t happen in her private life, as a performer I have the impression of a sexy lady who was well aware of the fact and used it in performance without being crude about it. Mitchell says in the movie that she had a little trouble at first with the shake-your-booty concept, but it looks as if she got into the swing of things.

I think she also did it with Robert La Fosse when it was revived after Balanchine's death, possibly because of her hip injury?

(Mitchell seemed to bring these qualities out in her.)

That was Balanchine's intention also, I suspect. The ballets he made on the two of them seem to have a blunter sexual charge than was customary.

I also watched Alexander's Ragtime Band the other day, forgot that to get a Merman version you look to recordings, although I like Alice Faye in this more than I usually do.

Faye wasn’t the most exciting performer but I love her voice. I prefer her version of 'My Man' to Streisand's, in fact. Tyrone Power was impossibly handsome in those days.

[papeetepatrick]

Farrell looks pretty hot in the bits that were shown in ‘Elusive Muse,’ and regardless of what did or didn’t happen in her private life, as a performer I have the impression of a sexy lady who was well aware of the fact and used it in performance without being crude about it. Mitchell says in the movie that she had a little trouble at first with the shake-your-booty concept, but it looks as if she got into the swing of things.

Farrell definitely did and was all those things (and good point that she definitely knew it), and after I wrote the previous to Bart I was outside and kept remembering when she first came out on that runway--gorgeous beyond describing and those eyes never bigger and more exotically catlike. Even so, I imagine it's Makarova's role, because that touch of the outrageous doesn't hurt here, and especially must have sometimes been celestial after about 2 years of performing it: She had a way of totally entering her roles as if they had never been danced before, and to do that with Odette, as I thought she did (and I hadn't really been paying attention, all of a sudden I was transfixed), she has not only some talent but some nerve.

[papeetepatrick]

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=...amp;oref=slogin

Well, I never had seen 'Call Me Madam', so it seems I'm getting to most of the things I like best--very recently, exception of the score for 'House of Flowers'. I agree with everything this NYTimes reviewer wrote about Ethel and this movie, given that I couldn't have seen the stage version myself. I can't think of a screen musical I've ever enjoyed more than this, it's hilarious, not least of which it seems like Ethel Merman and Addison DeWitt for awhile, and then you think this surely is like 'Giorgio Tozze is the singing voice of Emile de Becque', but no! That really is the Voice of Addison DeWitt! and it sounds great! And Donald O'Connor and Vera-Ellen are fabulous, 'Something to Dance About' is amazing. This NYTimes review is perhaps the most enthusiastic rave I've ever seen for a performer, and I have to say that, even with 'Singin' in the Rain' and 'the Band Wagon', which were made for the screen, I didn't enjoy them quite as much as this one. But an adaptation possibly surpassing the original version? I don't know if I've ever heard that said before. Ethel's singing is unbelievably uncanny here--and in the review you find something I've never heard a single time before: She's said to be even better in the movie than she had been onstage. This must surely be unique in all annals of anything American musical comedy-wise. The opening 'Hostess with the Mostess' is so infectious you are almost dumbstruck when she starts singing about 'my White House clee-en-tele..' The sheer joy she clearly has in doing this number is yours at once, and somehow this electricity and energy lights up the film all the way to the end. Sidwich? dirac? anyone?

[dirac]

That really is the Voice of Addison DeWitt! and it sounds great!

Yes, George Sanders had a real voice. I read that he was once invited to sing Scarpia at San Francisco Opera and I think he did a pop recording once. He used to sing at home for his Uncle Sasha when he was a boy, to which practice he attributed the development of his voice. Almost did South Pacific, but got spooked at the last minute.

It is awkward to admit but I have never seen Call Me Madam. I will rent at once, it’s an inexcusable omission......

[papeetepatrick]

Thanks, dirac, you will love it. But it is an excusable admission, actually--for a very weird reason: People just don't talk about it that much. I thought for a moment maybe I just had horrible taste getting so totally bowled over, but the old review did hearten me; at least some had felt the same way. It's really slightly miraculous, this film.

Also have listened to the old 'Tree Grows in Brooklyn' original cast album, with main attraction Shirley Booth, even though she's in a supporting role. I'll put up the NYTimes review of the 2005 Encores! production which explains what some of the problems were--but the score, by Arthur Schwartz and Dorothy Fields, is top-notch, and I regret that I didn't know about that production. But Shirley Booth's 'He's Got Refinement' is just stupendous and totally Brooklyn. Yes, here is the 2005 review, which has good history: http://theater2.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/the...ews/12enco.html

And thanks, sidwich, for telling me about the Sally Ann Howes/George Lee Andrews clips from 'A Little Night Music'. I can't link to them here, but 'You Should Meet My Wife' and 'Send in the Clowns' are both definitely worth hunting up. Ms. Howes is exactly right for Desiree to my taste, a true full-blooming rose of a cocotte as she is costumed and groomed here, and one hears it sung beautifully; I prefer it to any other version of the song I've heard. I'm not a huge fan of the show, but 'You Should Meet My Wife' is also a wonderful song, I've got to admit, despite having certain idiosyncrasies that I find irritating.

[Anthony_NYC]

It is awkward to admit but I have never seen Call Me Madam. I will rent at once, it’s an inexcusable omission......

Actually, dirac, it's completely excusable. For reasons unknown to me, the movie was for years completely unavailable. I'm not sure it was ever even on videocassette. Perhaps somebody here knows the story behind that. Anyway, it is now on DVD, and it is a delight. I especially love the dance numbers Donald O'Connor and Vera-Ellen have, just a joy to watch.

[dirac]

It is awkward to admit but I have never seen Call Me Madam. I will rent at once, it’s an inexcusable omission......

Actually, dirac, it's completely excusable. For reasons unknown to me, the movie was for years completely unavailable. I'm not sure it was ever even on videocassette. Perhaps somebody here knows the story behind that. Anyway, it is now on DVD, and it is a delight. I especially love the dance numbers Donald O'Connor and Vera-Ellen have, just a joy to watch.

Thank you for the information, Anthony_NYC, I feel better. I'm looking forward to seeing it. O'Connor is always fun to watch, and although I suppose Vera-Ellen wasn't the world's most charismatic performer I enjoy her dancing.

[sidwich]

Actually, dirac, it's completely excusable. For reasons unknown to me, the movie was for years completely unavailable. I'm not sure it was ever even on videocassette. Perhaps somebody here knows the story behind that. Anyway, it is now on DVD, and it is a delight. I especially love the dance numbers Donald O'Connor and Vera-Ellen have, just a joy to watch.

As Anthony_NYC noted, that's not unusual at all. The Berlin Estate kept a tight fist on the rights to the film musicals adapted from Berlin's Broadway work, and it was nearly impossible to see "Call Me Madam" outside of special screenings or museum showings until very recently (I think I originally saw the film of "Call Me Madam" at a showing at LACMA many years ago.) The same was true of the film adaptation of "Annie Get Your Gun," as well as "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and a couple of others.

I like the film a lot, and I like the choreography by Bob Alton for Donald O'Connor and Vera-Ellen quite a bit. I think Donald O'Connor always noted it as his personal favorite of all his films.

It's not a show that would do well in a revival, but the Encores! concert with Tyne Daly and Melissa Errico several years ago was quite charming.

Also have listened to the old 'Tree Grows in Brooklyn' original cast album, with main attraction Shirley Booth, even though she's in a supporting role. I'll put up the NYTimes review of the 2005 Encores! production which explains what some of the problems were--but the score, by Arthur Schwartz and Dorothy Fields, is top-notch, and I regret that I didn't know about that production.

"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is considered one of the loveliest scores not widely known. It was an excellent choice for Encores! a couple of years ago because it was a score that really deserved to be heard again.

I think it's a difficult show to pull off in a lot of ways. It really needs a strong actor and singer who can pull off the charming loserness of the father character, or else the show starts falling apart. (Jason Danieley wasn't really a strong enough actor to do it in the concert, although he gave a first-rate vocal performance as always).

[papeetepatrick]

http://home.nyc.rr.com/jkn/nysonglines/28st.htm

Sidwich recently spoke of Tin Pan Alley when we were talking about Irving Berlin, and I found it was a real place, and went there twice. It was quite thrilling to see the old buildings still there, including the one where Gershwin was a song-plugger for the Astaires (at least according to this 'songlines' link), even though I could find no sign that would let one know that 'Sweet Adeline' or any of the others were born there. By now, the block, on W. 28th Street between Broadway and 6th Avenue, is quite derelict, but with a combination of some Garment District and Flower District business. The very oldest of the buildings, where several music businesses operated, look very much as though they won't last that much longer--that they have failed the Historic Landmarks test for some decades now.

There's a pretty good CD called 'The Sidewalks of New York' which is all Tin Pan Alley classics, 'In the Good Old Summertime', 'Castle Walk', and the one I most like, Kern's 'They Didn't Believe Me', which is also very effectively used in 'Oh What a Lovely War'. I have the original London cast recording, which I like very much, and it makes me think the show must have been very special on stage; as it is, there is much worthwhile in the film, made in 1969, only a few years later than its modest run in New York.

If you look at the link, pull down from 12th avenue, and all these wonderful legendary places are described that still exist as structures, and then were constantly used as models for film musicals with Judy Garland and others trying out songs. I went there about 6 weeks ago, and it's pretty dreary right now, but maybe that kind of ghostly effect is what seeing a place like that is all about.

[dirac]

Belated thanks for the link above. Interesting.

[papeetepatrick]

My pleasure, Dirac. Also have watched films of 'Mame' and 'Carmen Jones' and the 50's version of 'Anything Goes', all of which I'll try to find the time to report on later. In the meantime, I'd be interested to hear what you and others think. 'Mame' has bad things in it, but not nearly the disaster I'd expected and heard it to be. The 50s 'Anything Goes' I only got halfway through, not worth it to me.

Two new bios on Ethel Merman just came out, haven't read either one of them, but did read Geoffrey Mark's very good one from 2006. Quite a life as well as career, and many surprises in there. Artistically, we owe her for the Styne/Sondheim score of 'Gypsy', as it was only at her insistence that Styne did the music instead of Sondheim. There would never have been the extroverted sound that Styne gives to 'Everything's Comin' up Roses', which is surely one of the great theater songs ever written, and reluctantly I have to admit that, even though Patti Lupone did succeed in selling 'Rose's Turn', nobody but Merman has ever really sung 'Everything's Comin' up Roses'. It's her song even more than 'People' or 'Don't Rain on My Parade' is Streisand's. Sondheim can write an equally exciting electric song like 'Another Hundred People', but it's automatically more introverted and melancholy. I don't think Styne has really been surpassed--the Mark book is very funny and most vulgar in a charming way, and Merman turned out to be very upset that Jule Styne found a more suitable love interest in Sandra Church, who was the original Louise/Gypsy.

As for other sightseeing of old musical-comedy landmarks, I found out from Mark's bio that the house Merman lived in with her adoring parents in Astoria is long-gone, as is the street itself.

[papeetepatrick]

CAROUSEL lovers owe it to themselves to see 'Liliom', a beautiful poetic movie by Fritz Lang, starring Charles Boyer (before Hollywood) and Madeleine Ozeray as Julie. The play is the basis for 'Carousel' and Molnar is said to have liked the musical treatment of his work. I do, too, but I like this even more, and think this is one of the most wonderful films I've ever seen. Boyer is phenomenally handsome and sexy and Ms. Ozeray (with whom I'm not familiar) is exquisite as the wounded, fragile, birdlike Julie. This had made me watch a lot more Fritz Lang movies, all of which are excellent, and his versatility is fairly astonishing: 'Scarlet Street' and 'Clash By Night' (Stanwyck as stupendous as ever, but also Monroe in an early role, Paul Douglas in a much quieter tone than what I'd associated him with, and also Robert Ryan and Keith Andes), seem very different from 'M' and 'Metropolis'. 'Liliom', in fact, reminds me very much of Marcel Carne. There's a fascinating part for Antonin Artaud, the troubled writer and actor, as the Knife-Grinder in 'Liliom'. He appears twice, only ephimerally, but it's a crucial role. I believe this is supposed to be by far the best filmed 'Liliom', and it is indeed a great work of art.

[Moved the 'Dreamgirls' comments to the old Dreamgirls thread] -- dirac

Edited January 28, 2008 by dirac

[dirac]

nobody but Merman has ever really sung 'Everything's Comin' up Roses'.

It's sort of off topic, but I always think of that story Sondheim and Styne used to tell on Jerome Robbins. The first time Robbins heard the song title, he drew a total blank: "Everything's coming up Rose's what?" He received assurances that nobody else was going to construct it that way.

Jule Styne found a more suitable love interest in Sandra Church, who was the original Louise/Gypsy

Lovely girl.

[dirac]

The musical version of “The Lord of the Rings” is closing after losing a fortune. Sign of the times?

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/theatre/2008/0...isnt_every.html

However, this could spell the end of the age of the musical behemoth. Theatre audiences can be equally content with the more modest virtues of good stories that are well told. Just around the corner from Drury Lane is one of the West End's most instructive examples: The Woman in Black, now in its 20th year. The show was first produced at Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre. Director Robin Hereford, who commissioned its adaptation when he was acting artistic director there, said at the time: "I only had a very small amount of money left in my production budget and enough wages to pay only four actors."

[bart]

dirac, and how about this quote from the article you linked.

With The Lord of the Rings set to close early at Drury Lane in July, it will enter the record books as not just one of the West End's most lavish productions but also one of its costliest failures. That follows the show's early closure in Toronto, where it had set an interesting precedent for theatrical investment. The Ontario government put forward some $2.5m towards its reported budget of $23m, on behalf of their 12 million citizens. (The chief executive of the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation, Sandra McInnis, said at the time: "We've never done anything like this. But this is one of the largest productions ever to come to Toronto, and we have a vested interested in seeing it's successful.")

This production certainly deserves a as well as nominations for Most Implausible Spending by a Government Entity and Most Astonishing Reason to Put Millions into a Theatrical Project.

[sidwich]

Someone (maybe Jim Steinman?) is working on Spider-Man: the Musical. I haven't quite gotten over it.