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

Barnum DVD of 1986 London Cast

How I have never seen this musical before? Barnum is right up my alley! Bold, loud, brassy, but still keeping the show-off tricks in service of the story. Or at least within the world of the story.

Well, my Netflix account has caught up with my musical thinking by getting to the queue of 70 musical films I added to my list at the beginning of this week.

I knew little about Barnum before. I'd heard the song "The Colors of My Life", but that was about it. I'm very glad I sawing this taping of a staged production, rather than just listening to the cast album; the music is infectious, but I think it would have been lost on me without hearing it in context of the production. This is one of those productions you hear war-stories about from performers who twist ankles, sprain wrists, count bruises, etc. I wonder how long it played.

I was skeptical about Michael Crawford in the title role, but he completely won me over--every bit the showman the role called for, and very daring in this athletic production. I loved the Humbug patter song of the second act. The Broadway database says Crawford was born in 1942, that would make him 44 when this production was filmed--impressive at any age. Hard to imagine it was before he was a household name with Phantom of the Opera, which would come next for him.

It's not a cast of singers. How could it be with all the acrobatics required? But then most of the music doesn't require a lot of vocal acrobatics--except the Jenny Lind role, and even that is not particularly coloratura. But since I saw the physical requirements of this show, I'm completely forgiving of some of the singing. A good lesson for me to remember--musical theater is sometimes more about the theater than the music.

Barnum
Music by Cy Coleman
Lyrics by Michael Stewart
Book by Mark Bramble
DVD of 1986 London Cast
Produced by Water Bearer Films
Available through Netflix
Cast: Michael Crawford, Eileen Battye, Michael Heath, Christina Collier, Sharon Benson, Paul Miller