Carousel film on DVD

Carousel has to be my favorite of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals; I've seen the film version many times and actually been involved with three stage productions of it. I am very biased, but I think it has the best score of any R&H show. The music really reaches a new level, and the way the book leads right into the lyrics is masterful. If the story is a bit far-fetched at times, I don't mind when I get to hear "If I Loved You" or the "Soliloquy." Even the character songs like "When I Marry Mister Snow" and "When the Children Are Asleep" are high and away better than your average show's best songs.

The filming in Cinemascope works well in this film, with blocking and sets designed to take advantage of the wide angle, allowing for two-shots that don't seem static. And it shows off more beautiful wooden sailboats in the harbor, which is almost as important to me as the show itself!

Dance again is a big part of this show, which was originally choreographed by Agnes de Mille. The dream ballet works the best, but the chorus dancing is demanding stuff for the musical's chorus.

Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones are paired again as they were in the film version of Oklahoma! Rather than a happy ending, as in their first film, Carousel has a much darker side to its love story. If the perennially perky Jones doesn't give the most nuanced performance, I'll forgive her because her singing has just the right balance of legato in the more lyrical portions of the score. And later in her career, Jones will prove her acting chops in Elmer Gantry, for which she won an Oscar. I like to think that her efforts in Carousel lead to a more successful result in the later film.

Robert Rounseville as Enoch Snow is an interesting performer, who played quite a bit on Broadway as well as on more "legit" stages. He originated the role of Candide in Bernstein's operetta, and well as being in the original casts of Babes in Arms (Rodgers & Hart), Knickerbocker Holiday (Weill), and Man of LaMancha (Mitch Leigh). Not a bad career by that list of credits, and this doesn't even count his New York City Opera performances. Do cross over performers like that exist today? Maybe Audra McDonald?

Carousel
Music by Richard Rodgers
Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
20th Century Fox Film from 1956
Directed by Henry King
Cast: Shirley Jones, Gordon MacRae, Barbara Ruick, Cameron Mitchell, Robert Rounseville

The Unsinkable Molly Brown film on DVD

I didn't know Meredith Willson wrote a musical other than The Music Man! Well, The Unsinkable Molly Brown was his follow-up. The music for Molly doesn't reach the same level as Music Man. Mainly I miss the group numbers--not just chorus numbers, but also songs for smaller groups. And the leading lady doesn't even get a big 11 o'clock number for herself.

This 1964 film version of the 1960 stage musical stars perky Debbie Reynolds as the titular floater. Ms. Reynolds is not one of my favorite performers, but is the right balance of bubbly and brassy for this role. Harve Presnell makes his screen debut as John Brown, a role he originated on Broadway. Mr. Presnell has a robust and agile baritone voice that I very much like.

I was surprised by how much dance there is in this film. And it was choreographed by Peter Gennaro, a Broadway hoofer and choreographer from the 50s through the 70s. He danced in the original casts of Pajama Game, Bells Are Ringing, and Guys and Dolls. He choreographed Molly Brown on Broadway, Fiorello!, and won a Tony for Annie, as well as being co-choreographer for the original production of West Side Story. His choreography for Molly is lively, and appropriate for character/time/place/etc. without being over-the-top.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Music and Lyrics by Meredith Willson
Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Harve Presnell

Strike Up The Band film on DVD

Well, this 1940 MGM film may share its title with the 1930 Gershwin musical, but that's about all Strike Up The Band has from the original. A follow-up to the box office bonanza Babes in Arms, this vehicle for Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland doesn't deserve the Gershwin name.

I've actually seen the original stage version performed in a Encores-like semi-staging. I can't recall a thing about it, but in comparing the song list of the stage and film versions, only the title song appears in both. This seems to be due to Roger Edens, who is credited with writing most of the music in the film. After butchering Bernstein in On The Town, and now Gershwin in Strike Up The Band, I'm starting to dislike Mr. Edens. Perhaps there is a back story that needs to be uncovered to understand what happened.

I have to say, I do like the fruit orchestra sequence. I wonder if this is one of the earliest examples of stop-action photography, or whatever film technique is used.

Strike Up The Band
One song by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin
The rest of the songs by Roger Edens
MGM film from 1940
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, June reisser, Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra, Larry Nunn, Ann Shoemaker

Ghost Light Monday--Chris and Don: A Love Story

Intriqued about Christopher Isherwood from my recent thinking about Cabaret, I went to see the film documentary Chris and Don: A Love Story about the 30+ year relationship between Isherwood and Don Bachardy.

The focus of the film is really on Bachardy as he reminisces about the life that Isherwood opened up to him. It deals very little with Isherwood as a literary figure, although does mention most of his significant works. Excerpts from Isherwood's diaries are read by Michael York, continuing his doppleganger position from Cabaret.

The film is enjoyable. While referring to the 30 year age difference between the two men, the film doesn't dwell on it. Nor does it make a big deal about the sexual intimacy of the relationship. But it serves up a big dose of the emotional intimacy between Isherwood and Bachardy, which included a father-and-son-like fostering of Bachardy in the early stages of the relationship, and a parent-child-like care-taking of Isherwood in the late stage of his life.

I had never heard of Bachardy prior to seeing this film, and knew nothing of Isherwood's personal life beyond his early days with W. H. Auden and Stephen Spender in England and Germany. Perhaps I'll now read some of Isherwood's later diaries (if they are published) or his seminal Christopher and His Kind.

Chris and Don: A Love Story
Documentary Film by Tina Mascara and Guido Santi
In limited release currently
Cast: Christopher Isherwood, Don Bachardy, Michael York, Leslie Caron, Liza Minnelli

On The Town film on DVD

New York, New York, it's a Wonderful Town. And this is a Wonderful Film! Deservedly a classic musical picture with a star-studded cast. The stage show of On The Town has some music that didn't make it to the film, most notably for me is "Lonely Town", a ballad which Gabey sang in the original Broadway production. It's a great song and I miss it. I also miss "I Can Cook, Too" which Nancy Walker sang in the stage version as cabby Hildy. The songs that Roger Edens wrote for the film, aren't all that special when compared with Bernstein.

With Gene Kelly as star and co-director, it's not surprising that dance plays a big role in this film, as it must do in the stage version, too, since the show originated as an idea for a Jerome Robbins ballet with music by Bernstein. As the theatrical trailer, which is about the only DVD extra, states--"It's twice as gay as 'Anchors Aweigh' " and boasts "A Torrent of Talent and Tunes."

I wonder if there is a more accurate version of On the Town on film, perhaps a taping of a stage production.

On The Town
Music by Leondard Bernstein
Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Screenplay by Comden and Green based on their stage play
Additional music by Roger Edens
Directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
Cast: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Jules Munshin, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller, Vera Ellen.

Cabaret film on DVD

My Year now has two musical films in a row directed by Bob Fosse. Let's compare and contrast Sweet Charity with Cabaret.

Both films feature standout performances by lead women.

Both lead female characters are alone and searching for something.

Charity is looking for a quiet life with a husband and baby.

Sally is looking or the wild life of fame and fortune and avoids getting a husband and baby.

Both leading characters are eternal optimists.

Both feature a chorus line of women from the wrong side of the rail.

Clearly, the Mr. Fosse of Cabaret owes a lot to the Mr. Fosse of Sweet Charity. In Sweet Charity he was trying out various cinematic techniques; with Cabaret, Mr. Fosse has a much stronger sense of his cinematic vision for telling the story. The camera tricks are used much more sparingly and don't get in the way of the story, but help us see it more clearly. In Charity there was an Overture and Intermission, mimicking how people experienced the stage version of musical. With Cabaret, that convention is thrown out.

Fosse's choreography seems to have evolved as well. The isolation moves are still there, but they are much less constraining--perhaps fitting in the looser environment of Weimar Berlin.

The movie loses some of the music of the stage show and really only presents musical numbers that are in the setting of the Cabaret. So Brian and Fritz and Natalia and Fraulein Schneider don't sing. I think this probably heightens the contrast between the cabaret-world and the "real" world of fascism, hate crimes, and violence. However, it prevents us from knowing some of the inner thoughts of the characters, which a good ballad would give us. I've never seen the show on stage, so I don't know for certain what's missing.

Michael York seems the perfect embodiment of Christopher Isherwood, on whose Berlin Stories this stage show and film are based--young, thin, beautiful, blond, with a swoop of blond hair that makes him look like he just left the campus of Eaton.

There is an independent film out right now called Chris and Don: A Love Story, that is about Isherwood in Hollywood. Perhaps it will soon add some insight to my musical thinking.

Cabaret
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Book by Joel Masteroff
Screenplay by Jay Presson Allen
(a woman, who is also the playwright of Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Tru)
Directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse
Cast: Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Joel Grey, Fritz Wepper, Helmut Griem, Marisa Berenson.

Sweet Charity film on DVD

I seem to be in a DVD rut at this point in my Year. But if they are all as good as Bob Fosse's film version of his stage production of Sweet Charity, then I'm fine by it. Shirley MacLaine has exactly the right balance of bravado and vulnerability, eternal optimist and perennial victim. And she is the perfect embodiment of Fosse's choreography. The music is at the same time bubbly and specific to time/place/character.

This was Bob Fosse's first job directing a film and there is an interesting DVD extra about his efforts to translate his stage production to film. He uses a lot of various cinematic techniques in telling the story and presenting the music and dance. Sometimes they feel a little dated and slow down the story-telling, but I give him points for looking outside the box.

The men get short-changed in terms of musical numbers in this film, which cuts several of the songs from the stage show. But there is a good ol' fashioned Stubby Kaye chorus number.

I found myself mesmerized by the portrayals by some notable musical theater performers in smaller roles in the film, which I think is a positive comment on their watch ability. Chita Rivera is front and center on the rail during the "Big Spender" number, and finally gets the dance on the roof she was denied when Rita Moreno was cast in the film of West Side Story. The afore-mentioned Stubby Kaye is the dance hall manager. Ben Vereen appears in the night club dance scene. And I think I can totally get behind any religion that has Sammy Davis Jr. as its apostle!

Sweet Charity
Music by Cy Coleman
Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Screenplay by Peter Stone (of 1776?) based on the book of the stage musical by Neil Simon
Directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse
Cast: Shirley MacLaine, Chita Rivera, Ricardo Montalban, Stubby Kaye, Sammy Davis Jr., John McMartin

Finian's Rainbow film on DVD

I always thought the Rankin and Bass version of Fred Astaire in Santa Claus is Comin' to Town was a tremendous exaggeration of his long face and strong jaw, but some shots of Mr. Astaire in Finian's Rainbow prove that the claymation version is not overly exaggerated.

This film version was produced in 1968, 20 years after the stage musical premiered, and is the final film lead for Mr. Astaire. According to the movie database, the racial satire in the story had to wait for a more liberal time to be made into a film. From the opening chorus number, the inter-racial cast is a clue that this is not a typical musical of the 1940s, and some of the racial humor is hysterical even 40 years after the film was made. At the same time, the casting of Petula Clark and Don Francks as romantic leads Sharon and Woody clearly make this a film of the 1960s.

I had heard the songs "How are Things in Glocca Morra" and "Look to the Rainbow" before and liked their folk-song style in the context of the story. But there are lots of styles of music in this show-including a rousing gospel-style chorus about buying things out of the Sears-Roebuck catalogue! Other songs have a more contemporary feel to the era of the musical's creation and feel a little dated now. "Old Devil Moon" feels very much like a big band era song, especially in the orchestral arrangement in the film.

Finian's Rainbow
Music by Burton Lane
Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg
Book by E.Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy
Warner Bros. film release directed by Francis Ford Coppola!
Cast: Fred Astaire, Petula Clark, Don Francks, Tommy Steele, Keenan Wynn, Al Freeman Jr., Barbara Hancock

Paint your Wagon film on DVD

Points given to Lee Marvin for at least trying, which is more than some seem to do in this 1969 film version of Lerner and Loewe's 1951 Paint Your Wagon.

Alan Jay Lerner is the producer of the film, and it must be due to his efforts that the show was put on film 18 years after its stage debut. I've never seen the stage version, so I don't know how they compare.

This show and story and score have not passed the test of time. "They Call the Wind Maria" is the only song I previously knew from the score. "I talk to the Trees" might be a pretty tune, but it's lost in delivery. And Elizabeth's song "Behind the Door" and Ben's "I was Born under a Wanderin' Star" might be pretty, too, if they were written in a real vocal range, rather than in the key of basement husky. There's some fun choruses for men--lively and raucous--but nothing that really moves the story along. On the whole there are better "frontier" musicals that I look forward to hearing and seeing as my Year progresses.

Paint Your Wagon
Music by Frederick Loewe
Lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner
1969 Film version
Cast: Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, Jean Seberg, Harve Presnell, and Ray Walston with the worst red hair and accent of his career.

Ghost Light Monday -- Brideshead Revisited at the cineplex

I suppose every gay man of a certain age recalls fondly the British miniseries, Brideshead Revisited. Between the stately house, the attractive cast, and the kindly look on boyhood homosexuality, the Brideshead miniseries holds a sacred spot for many.

So it was with some trepidation that I went to the cinema to see the new film version of Brideshead. Fortunately I found a very likable telling of the story, beautifully filmed with a wonderful cast. I've never read the Evelyn Waugh novel, so I can't compare the film to that. It is, however, a very different slant to the story than the miniseries.

From the opening of the film, we realize there is a strong connection between Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) and Julia Flyte (Hayley Atwell) which will be the core of the story. The relationship between Charles and Sebastian (Ben Whishaw) is treated more as an antecedent to his relationship with Julia.

The Catholic morality of the story is also much more strongly emphasized in the film version. I saw a connection between the Flytes' Catholicism and the family's declining aristocracy that I hadn't seen in the mini-series. Emma Thompson as Lady Marchmain is equal to the task of haughtiness that Claire Bloom had in the miniseries, but also manages to imbue a little softer, human side to things. Michael Gambon as Lord Marchmain isn't given enough in the film to offer a comparison to Lawrence Olivier in the miniseries.

Matthew Goode is very capable as Charles, while his performance and delivery do seem to channel Jeremy Irons at times. Ben Whishaw's Sebastian is asked to make a much quicker descent into alcoholism than was Anthony Andrews in the miniseries, and there was perhaps not enough of fun Sebastian to understand why Charles is drawn to Sebastian, before the ugly drunken scenes showed us the somber side of their relationship.

Is there a musical version of Brideshead? I can't believe that no one has at least tried!

Brideshead Revisited
2008 film release
Directed by Julian Jerrold
Cast: Matthew Goode, Ben Whishaw, Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon

The Little Prince opera for television on DVD

I'd earlier thought about the Lerner & Loewe Little Prince for television, which got me curious about a newer musical version of the story with music by Rachel Portman. This version is much more operatic and stars New Zealand opera baritone/hunk Teddy Tahu Rhodes (seen right, in the opera Dead Man Walking) as the Aviator with a cast of British opera singers and a children's chorus.

If this version has much of a life in the opera house, I would be surprised. At least this production is clearly designed for television and the editing it allows. Well, in reading more about the opera, I discover that it has had quite a life on-stage--this television version being an adaptation of the work that premiered with Houston Grand Opera in 2003. I find the whole thing rather static though--both visually and musically--which makes me wonder if this is really an opera to bring children to. It's full-length, roughly two hours, with an intermission. I didn't sit still for much of the production on video tape! If there are leit motifs, I couldn't discern them or any real musical structure. While the music is tonal and at times very pretty. I didn't find a whole lot to keep me musically interested. It seemed atmospheric--in keeping with Rachel Portman's experience as a film composer.

Mr. Rhodes is an attractive presence on screen and if his text is not always the most understandable, his singing certainly is better than most. If you're curious about Teddy "Bear" Rhodes, I might suggest a fellow blogger who tracks the careers of many of today's hottest baritones--or barihunks as the terms has been coined for eye-candy who sing. One of Mr. Rhodes signature roles is the convict in the operatic version of Dead Man Walking. So sinister. So hot.

The Little Prince
Music by Rachel Portman
Libretto by Nicholas Wright
Based on the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Directed for television by Francesca Zambello
Bor BBC in 2006
Cast: Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Joseph McManners, Mairead Carlin, Willard White, Lesley Garrett, Tom Randle, Timothy Robinson, Rchard Coxon, Richard Suart, Aled Jones, Gweneth-Ann Jeffers

Peter Pan 1998 Broadway revival production taped for television

Okay, Cathy Rigby is really good. Even if she weren't so athletic in the flying sequences, I think she would be really good as Peter Pan. And the flying sequences are exciting even in televised version; they must have been spectacular in person. I seem to remember Ms. Rigby doing the "I'm Flying" song for the Tony Awards one year and kind of performing the fairy dust out of everyone else and then flying halfway into the house at Radio City Music Hall.

And here is the use of Stomp-like percussion in the service of the story, with the Indian and Lost Boy celebration dance! Am I prescient or what?

Well, this 1998 taping of the stage production for A&E seems to capture a lot of the magic of the show. Ms. Rigby sings admirably, although it does look like she's lip-synching to some of the songs on this telecast.

Peter Pan
Music by Mark Charlap
Lyrics by Carolyn Leigh
Book by James Barrie
Additional music by Jule Styne with lyrics by Comden and Green
Filmed for television based on the 1998 Broadway production
Cast: Cathy Rigby, Paul Schoeffler, Drake English, Chase Kniffen (who names these people?), Barbara McCulloh, Elisa Sagardia,

Ghost Light Monday -- Dark Knight

I don't think I've seen any of the Batman movies in the theater, but all the hoopla surrounding Dark Knight brought me out to see the latest incarnation of the rubber suit and the last incarnation of Heath Ledger.

What's with the voice of Batman? Is there a reverb devise built into the suit? I liked Christian Bale until I saw this film--where he seems to have the inner life of a housefly. And for all the rave reviews for Heath Ledger, who does give a good performance, it's not all that! Can someone tell me where Michael Caine's accent is from?

I need to watch a sunny, funny musical--quick!

Funny Girl film on DVD

The hair, the voice, the nails, the comedic timing, the nose. It's hard to separate this show from Barbra Streisand. I actually did this musical in high school (obviously without Ms. Streisand), and I do wonder whatever happened to Lisa who played Fanny. She was the closest thing to a triple threat my high school produced. A good comedienne and a great dancer. I honestly don't remember much about her singing voice, but she must have had one.

I could have the gay mafia after me for this comment, but Funny Girl is not one of my favorite musicals, and there are parts of the film and its performances which don't sit well with me. It's so obviously a star vehicle, which runs contrary to the ensemble atmosphere that I like best about doing theater. The chorus has very little to do in this show (and even less in the film, which cuts the big chorus number "Henry Street"). No good duets either. How about a love song? The closest we get is the seduction song "You are Woman, I am Man." And the memorable numbers from the show sound very 1960s rather than very 1910s--much like Ms. Streisand's hair, nails and costumes.

Still it's hard not to be thrilled as the helicopter shot zooms down toward the tugboat as Fanny in mink hat belts out "Rain on my Parade".

Funny Girl
Music by Jule Styne
Lyrics by Bob Merrill
Book by Isobel Lennart
1968 film released by Columbia Pictures
Cast: there are really only two that matter.

Mamma Mia! first-run film at the multiplex

It's the mother of all juke-box musicals, and while I hadn't seen Mamma Mia! on stage I was looking forward to the film for what I thought would be an infectious, silly time accompanied by ABBA music.

I was more than a bit disappointed.

The women in the cast hold up there end of the bargain much better than the men. Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried are good as mother and daughter. Christine Baranski and Julie Walters give exactly what's needed as the goofy friends of the bride's mother.

Colin Firth holds his own as befuddled potential father number 1. Stellan Skarsgard is alright as number 2. Pierce Bronsan looks great as number 3, but really should never have opened his mouth--especially to sing.

My main disappointment is in the music. I love ABBA music, but it doesn't work as something character-driven, or plot-moving, or with chorus. Perhaps my disappointment was augmented by seeing Hairspray so close to Mama Mia--Hairspray is much better and even manages to provide some character growth and address some societal issues.

Mama Mia!
Music by Benny Andersson and ABBA
Lyrics by the same
Cast: Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, Pierce Brosnan, Dominic Cooper

Hairspray film on DVD

When I saw Hairspray at the multiplex a little over a year ago, I remember smiling from ear to ear during most of the film, so it was a pleasure to watch it again and have the same reaction.

So much of the infectious fun jumps off the screen, mainly thanks to the bubbly newcomer, Nikki Blonsky and the pastiche tunes of Marc Shaiman. "You Can't Stop the Beat" has got to be one of the funnest closing numbers in all of musical theater. And who knew James Marsden could sing? He could have a career as a crooner, if he wanted. I even like Michelle Pfeiffer as the over-coiffed villain, although she does seem at times to be drifting.

I've never seen the show on stage or the 1988 John Waters film the show is based on, but I think I need to see both.

Is it just me, or do musicals of the "third millennium" seem to focus on women leads taking the reigns of their lives and bucking conventionality? Wicked, Hairspray, Legally Blond all follow that formula. Well if there's one way to a gay man's Broadway heart, it's to have an unconventional woman win.

Hairspray
Music by Marc Shaiman
Lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman
Directed by Adam Shankman
Based on the story by John Waters
Released in 2007
Cast: Nikki Blonsky, John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, Allison Janney, James Marsden, Michelle Pfeiffer, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron, Queen Latifah