Showing posts with label musicals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label musicals. Show all posts

Sunday, November 25, 2012

The Problem With Movies

Here's a popular musical number from a remake (2003)



Here's the original:



The more modern version is racially integrated. It also has only pretty people.

There are plenty of pretty people in the 1962 version, but there are also what my wife calls 'faces'. That is to say non-pretty people with distinctive looks. In the modern version the mayor and his wife are youthful and very pretty. They are portrayed by Victor Garber and Molly Shannon, both of whom are quite good looking.

In the 1962 version, the mayor and his wife are played by Paul Ford and Hermione Gingold, neither of whom could be described as beautiful. What they did have were faces with character, distinctive voices (hearing Hermione Gingold say 'Balzac' is worth the price of admission) and serious comedic and acting chops.

Somewhere in the forty years between 1962 and 2003 Hollywood lost track of what character actors should bring to a movie and started casting pretty people exclusively.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Slaughter On Tenth Avenue



Starting out the work week with violence...

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Hamlet! the Musical!

Sally and I finally got back together with Sandy and John to go see Hamlet! the Musical! at the Shakespeare Tavern. Sandy and John are a neat couple and it's always a treat to see a show with them.

The Good: The new musical numbers are good. Bad (remix) was a showstopper. The actors were all in fine voice and the songs were sung clearly so my aging ears could hear the words. The performances were excellent as well. It helped that a fair number of the actors had played the same roles in the recent dramatic production of Hamlet. Jeff McKerley has amazing comic timing.

The Bad: The play doesn't work as a cohesive mass. Individual bits were excellent, but the setting just didn't gel.

The Indifferent: The old material has aged a bit. We saw Charm School a while back, which was also by Eddie 'Levi' Lee and it was even creakier. Or maybe I'm just jaded.

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Thursday, November 05, 2009

The Country's In The Very Best of Hands

For Clifford, who lacks faith. Why when those Chicago brainy types get through fixing things, we won't even reognize our own country.

;)

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Monday, July 20, 2009

Sheer Glee




"These dance points….too accurate for sandpeople. Only Imperial storm troopers are so precise."

Pure. Comedy. Gold.

From here.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Wasted Evening

When I found that Repo: A Genetic Opera was available on DVD I was genuinely excited. Sally and I both adore musicals. Our first date was to see "Space Puppies" at the now long defunct Evoteck theatre. So we especially like science fiction space operas. We like camp. "Carrie White: The Musical"is also a fave of ours. I have the soundtrack to "Evil Dead: The Musical" (I highly recommend it, by the way). The reviews for Repo were good at Amazon. So I ordered it.

It arrived today. We ordered Chinese delivery. We fed the cats. We settled in to the couch and prepared ourselves for a night's musical fun.

After having seen the musical, neither of us can think of anyone we dislike enough to give the DVD to. That's good. We've mastered our anger, jealousies and hatreds. That's also bad. We can't figure out what to do with the DVD. Turning it into a coaster really isn't a solution. I'd love to find it a good home, but no one I know would like it.

To be specific, it plays like a government funded production piece made for the Toronto stage. Which it likely is, oddly enough. It's slow, with unmemorable music and bad plotting. The dialog is pedestrian. The lyrics are pedestrian. The music is the sort written by overhormoned fifteen year old boys who like Rammstein.

The humour is nigh non-existent. The movie is so dark that even with the lights turned off, at night, we still could not see some of the sets. Did I mention the mediocre music? Which, since this tries to be an opera, is relentless and ubiquitous.

In some of the reviews over at Amazon, the reviewers mentioned that the distributor (Lionsgate) is not backing the movie with any money for publicity. I have been doubting the decision making ability of the powers that be over at Lionsgate but that news has restored my faith in them. In this matter at least, they are persons with keen powers of discernment.

I would say that it should have stayed in Canada, but I really don't dislike the Canadian people that much. If the Obama administration wants to abandon waterboarding, they may wish to consider playing this for the prisoners down at Gitmo instead.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Friday Palate Cleanser



There's something about Ann-Margret.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

More Inspiration From Broadway

Linda Eder sings 'I Don Quixote, Man of La Mancha'. This and 'Impossible Dream' qualify on the short list for rousingest anthems. There's currently quite the debate as to who sang better, Richard Kiley or Brian Stokes Mitchell. Linda Eder is here by way of a compromise. All three versions are terrific. And doesn't she have a wonderful voice?


Saturday, November 08, 2008

Theatrical Advice

So you have a church and you're putting on a play. In San Francisco. And you're aiming your production at mature audiences. From all that I've read, there is only one thing your production lacks for it to reach its full potential.

So here is my best advice:




H/T StandFirm

Monday, November 03, 2008

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Nunsense

Lest it be said that only Episcopalians run off the rails theologically, here is the heart warming story of a nun at the Democrat Convention and her fiery denunciation of the death penalty, the war in Iraq and Jesus' death and resurrection.

And just in case anyone came here looking for the musical, here is the intro:


Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Tuesday Afternoon Schmaltz




Err, Schwartz, Stephen Schwartz. Kristin Chenoweth singing "Lion Tamer" from the musical 'Magic Show'

Sunday, July 20, 2008

For St Gene, on the Occasion of his Prospective Martyrdom



He is scheduled to be fatally snubbed on July 22, 2008 around 2 pm GMT.

Snarky comment: Gene, baby, if you would like to deflect the criticism that well nigh all who know you think you are just a tad self-absorbed, you might want to consider having comments on your blog. If nothing else, the flood of 'death threats' will give that ever so hunky Rolf in your 'security detail' something to do.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Banner Day!

Not only is it Friday, but the second act of Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog is up! What a great start to the day.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

High Hat- Every Fred 'n Ginger movie in 8 minutes



I miss the old Carole Burnett show. They had some fiendishly clever movie parodies.