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.

Wicked Original Broadway Cast Album

Today's entry is the bonafide Broadway juggernaut of the new millennium. It's also succeeded in bringing in a whole new audience to the Broadway theater--no easy feat. It is the first entry in my Year with composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who got his feet wet in musicals with Godspel and Pippin, which I would qualify as "soft rock" musicals. With Wicked he has a more mature musical style that combines traditional Broadway styles with a pop music mentality.

You need to have a villain if you're going to have a hero. But does Wicked have a hero? Most in the audience would say that Elphaba is the hero, but the characters on stage certainly wouldn't agree. And Elphaba is not without fault, ego, or mistakes.

And with the two strong performances by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth in the original Broadway cast, the argument for who is the hero is further confused. Both Ms. Menzel and Ms. Chenoweth are singers that defy categorization (if not gravity). They have a "belt" mentality without the limitations of a belt range. They can choose their vocal placement to keep from having an obvious break in their ranges, unlike many belt singers. Perhaps this is by benefit of being among a generation of musical performers who have always used microphone amplification for their entire performing life.

I saw Wicked in the sit down production in Chicago with Ana Gasteyer in the role of Elphaba. The whole production was wonderful and the women in particular were great. Rondi Reed (who just won a Tony in a straight play) was Madame Morrible. I'm sorry I don't recall the actress who was Galinda. The complicated set was a bit of a puzzle to me. To me, it took away from the action on stage rather than added to it.

Wicked
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Book by Winnie Holzman
Based on the novel by Gregory Maquire
Original Broadway Cast recording
Released by Decca Broadway in 2003
Cast: Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel, Joel Grey, Carole Shelley, Norbert Leo Butz

The Fantasticks film on DVD

Well my musical education has truly been lacking, because I have never been in or seen a production of The Fantasticks. I knew the two most famous songs "Soon it's Gonna Rain" and "September", but that was about all.

This film version probably only gives a hint of how it must be on the stage. The production values are very high, which almost makes up for some very average singing. Again the duets/trio/quartets are the most fun, I think. Joey McIntyre and Jean Louisa Kelly portrays the young lovers. Since I live in a cave, I'd never actually heard New Kids on the Block, so didn't know Mr. McIntyre. The cave does have a television, so I recognize Ms. Kelly from some rather pedestrian sit-coms.

The DVD extras include longer versions of the songs, and the original Rape Song from the stage production which was watered-down for the film. It's a shame, because it's one of the few times that El Gallo Jonathon Morris comes alive in a musical number.

The Fantasticks
Music and Lyrics by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt
Book by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt
Released by United Artists in 1995
Cast: Jean Louisa Kelly, Joe McIntyre, Joel Grey, Barnard Hughes, Teller (without Penn), Jonathon Morris, Brad Sullivan