A Gene Kelly double bill--his first and last for MGM

Completely unplanned by me, I find that I have sitting in my mailbox the films that feature Gene Kelly's first starring role for MGM and his last starring role for MGM. So I thought it might be interesting to watch them back to back and compare and contrast. While both For Me and My Gal and Les Girls are films with music, neither were produced on the stage, although the later features songs by Cole Porter. Separated by 15 years, these films are definitely products of their times and present incredibly differing sets of morals.

For Me and My Gal from 1942 stars Judy Garland and Kelly as vaudevillians making the circuit and trying to climb up the ladder to better acts, better theaters and better pay. Essentially, though, this is a war film, promoting the heroic efforts of our boys in uniform (depicting WWI, but playing to a WWII audience). Kelly is willing to make any choice to get booked into the Palace Theater (the height of the circuit) and when his draft notice threatens that, he makes a "coward's choice", which he nearly immediately regrets.

Les Girls from 1957 is also set on the show circuit, this time in Europe, and with Kelly again playing a bit of a cad who is looking out for his own interests. The story-telling here is much less linear than the earlier film, as the story is presented as flashbacks from several characters' differing viewpoints.

Gene Kelly is of course the quintessential musical film cad--good-looking in a slick way and likable, but not trust-worthy. I found it interesting this was his niche from beginning to end at MGM, although I haven't watched his entire filmography, so perhaps he ventured outside that niche at some point. With that scar on his left cheek, you just have to wonder how he got it.

Dancing styles had certainly been transformed in the years between these two films. The choreography in Me and My Gal is straight out of the vaudeville theater, very presentational, very two-dimensional, and broadly performed, despite being directed by Busby Berkeley. In Les Girls, dance numbers are much more lavish and emotionally charged. There are moving camera points, movable sets, and a looser, more sexually charged style of choreography.

The music in both films is rather forgettable, I'm afraid. The title song in the earlier film is a standard, but nothing else really reached out to me. Les Girls features "Ca C'est L'amour", which is a nice song, but with only five songs in the whole film (mostly presented in the "show within the film" setting) I can't really consider it a musical. I was interested to learn, though, through a DVD extra interview, that Porter wrote 12 songs for the film and only 5 were used.

For Me and My Gal
Music by several people including Roger Edens
Directed by Busby Berkeley
Released in 1942
Cast: Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Marta Eggerth, George Murphy

Les Girls
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Directed by George Cukor
Released in 1957
Cast: Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, Taina Elg, Kay Kendall

Richard Rodgers: Some Enchanted Evening stage concert on DVD

There is no other musical theater composer whose music I fantasize singing while standing in the bright spotlight of a packed Broadway house more than I do the music of Richard Rodgers. Perhaps that is because the first musical I was in was The Sound of Music ("I'm Friedrich. I'm 14. I'm a boy"). I've also been in Oklahoma!, and Carousel (twice). So Rodgers' tunes are what I most often hear in my head--and they often leak out.

So I was excited to watch this 2002 centenary celebration Richard Rodgers: Some Enchanted Evening. And there is much to like in this revue of Rodgers' music from his work with both Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein, filmed in a London performance for PBS broadcast. The enjoyment starts with listening to the on-stage orchestra play the overture. It is more and more rare that full string sections are used to play Broadway scores, and it is always a treat to hear them, along with winds, brass, and anything other than a synthesizer.

The line-up of performers is also first rate, although many names were new to me since they are London-based. Kim Criswell seems to be channelling Julie Andrews in her performance of "I Have Confidence in Me" from the film version of The Sound of Music. Dave Willets (do I have that name right?) sings the Carousel "Soliloquy" admirably. Along with the "usual" Rodgers fare--"Some Enchanted Evening" (sung by a woman?), "Getting to Know You", "Oklahoma", "If I Loved You" (sung as a solo--boo), and "You'll Never Walk Alone"--it's nice to hear at least a couple of songs Rodgers wrote with Hart-- "My Funny Valentine", and "Johnny One-Note".

I suspect that this broadcast is greatly edited from its stage version. Apart from truncated spoken introductions, some numbers must have been cut also. I can't believe that Judy Dench only performed her one comic number. On the DVD, Gillian Anderson only appears in the opening spoken introduction; she must have reappeared at some point in the stage version.

It was nice to see the "Kansas City" song and dance from the cast of the London Oklahoma! In her introduction to it, Maureen Lipman (Aunt Eller) makes some funny jokes about the full London cast not being invited along with Hugh Jackman to be in the New York production.

While the television direction is good and offers a balance between close-ups and full stage shots, I suspect the staging viewed in the theater was very static. It seems hardly anyone moves, which was particularly noticeable in the duets. Why were duet partners on opposite sides of the stage so often? They weren't doing the twin soliloquies from South Pacific.

Richard Rodgers: Some Enchanted Evening
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein, and Richard Rodgers
Presented in London in 2002
Filmed for broadcast on PBS
Cast: Kim Criswell, Ruthie Henshall, Judy Dench, Lesley Garrett, Maureen Lipman, Claire Moore, Brendan O'Hea, Graham Bickley, Jimmy Johnston, Sally Burgess, Dave Willets

Ghostlight Monday: Milk--film at the multiplex

What exactly is a plex and do you need more than two to make it a multiplex? My grandmother lived in a duplex for a while, did she show films there?

Anyway, I shelled out my 9 dollars to sit in a crowded but incredibly quiet movie theater to see the latest gay-themed film making the circuit. Gay films are notoriously bad, but I always like to see them in the theater, because you never know when you might get lucky--I mean with the quality of the film, of course.

Well, I got very lucky with Milk.

This is much less a gay film than it is a political film. Yes, all the primary characters are gay men (and one token gay woman), but the struggles of these characters are more about how to organize themselves and others to their cause. And therein lies the strength of the film. This is a universal theme; we've seen a version of this story in films about Black civil rights, Gandhi, Mexicans, Cubans, the Irish, Suffragettes (which has to be the most sexist way to refer to someone struggling for political power), labor unions, Canadians, disabled people, even cartoon animals, so why not the gays?

Rather than that universality hurting the cause, it helps this movie and--one hopes--the appreciation for the struggles of all special interest groups seeking equal rights under the promise of "one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Milk

Film release of 2008
Directed by Gus van Sant
Cast: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emil Hirsch, James Franco

Sweeney Todd in Concert--PBS broadcast on DVD

There are so many versions of this show that I could have chosen from, perhaps more than any other musical theatre piece. There are opera versions, Broadway versions, concert versions, a film version, and studio cast versions. What is it about Sweeney Todd that elicits such a desire to produce and record it?

Well, the strength and variety of the music in the show may be the first reason. There are many memorable songs and musical moments in Sweeney, but I was struck in watching this concert version how much music between the big numbers I didn't remember, and how good and interesting is that connective music. This version may make more of the music than many others as the score is played by a top-notch symphony orchestra. Vocally, this version is also strong across the board, as you might suspect from an orchestral production. However, most of the performers do not come from the opera house or the concert stage, they come from the Broadway tradition.

George Hearn and Patti Lupone are particularly well matched vocally. Both are firmly from the Broadway tradition and are willing to let "vocal beauty" be subordinate--when appropriate--to characterization. I was particularly struck with the ability of George Hearn to stand on equal vocal footing with Timothy Nolen, an operatic baritone who portrays Judge Turpin. I've seen Mr. Nolen live on stage in this role, at the Lyric Opera where Sweeney was sung by Bryn Terfel. Nolen can hold his own with anyone and I believe it is the strength of both Messrs Nolen and Hearn that they can morph their vocal style to match not only the character and the moment, but also their colleagues.

Props must be given to the production team for this concert version, too. This is an ambition take from a production standpoint for an orchestra in a orchestra hall. The staging is detailed, the script and music memorized by the performers, there are costumes, furniture, some props, many light and sound cues. It must have really pushed the limits of the capability of Davies Hall.

Sweeney Todd
In Concert with the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus
Conducted by Rob Fisher
Directed by Lonny Price
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Aired on PBS in 2001, released on DVD in 2002
Cast: George Hearn, Patti Lupone, Neil Patrick Harris, Timothy Nolen, Davis Gaines, Lisa Vroman, John Aler, Stanford Olsen, Victoria Clark

The Seven Deadly Sins--film on DVD

I have had a love affair with Kurt Weill for most of my life, ever since I was in a production of Threepenny Opera my freshman year of college. It was wonderfully dark, and really appealed to my inner goth, which rarely appeared from underneath my outer Preppy. I'm not certain when I first discovered Weill's Seven Deadly Sins, but I have several recordings of it at this point. I've never seen it performed live, although I believe it has been performed at Orchestra Hall in Chicago sometime in the last decade. Imagine my thrill at realizing that there is a version of the work on DVD.

Sins comes from Weill's Wiemar era. Created five years after Threepenny Opera, it was Weill and Bertold Brecht's final collaboration. The creators call this piece a sung ballet, and while it may not be obvious what the piece is by those words, that is a pretty accurate description of it. More theatrical than a cantata. Not opera, although some of the singing needed is on that level, but a different sort of music theater. The cast includes a male vocal quartet, a singing woman (soprano or mezzo, as the work exists in two different keys), and a female actor/dancer.

While this production was co-produced by The Lyon Opera, this is clearly a version for television or film. There is much outdoor film footage edited in between scenes of the theatre piece. And while the theatre section of the work may be based on a stage production, it is filmed with too many close-ups to be a stage work in this version.

Director Peter Sellars obviously had many ideas about this work and its meanings, and he puts every one of them into this video version. I found the whole thing too cluttered with images and messages to take away much of anything. The editing is very quick, and all the performers are presented almost exclusively in close-up. Nora Kimball seemed underutilized as Anna II. I wanted to see her actually dance.

For me, this work is a discussion of whom is allowed the luxury of a virtuous life. Weill and Brecht clearly felt that only the rich could afford to steer clear of sinning. With a scene dedicated to each of the seven sins (sloth, pride, wrath, gluttony, lust, greed, envy), we see Anna I and Anna II--really a singer version and a dancer version of the same person--go from city to city trying to feed themselves and send something back home to the family.

The singing is first rate. Stratas (who became a bit of a Weill specialist in her later career) is particularly good--musical and still emotional. The male quartet sings very well, although is asked to do some ridiculous action. There are parts of the libretto that are funny for Americans to read. Neither Weill or Brecht had been to America, but each scene in Sins is set in a different US city, as the Annas make their way in the world.

I just read that there is a translation of the libretto by WH Auden. I must check that out.

Music by Kurt Weill
Text by Bertold Brecht
First performed in 1933
Lyon Opera television production created in 1993
Directed by Peter Sellars
Conducted by Kent Nagano
Cast: Teresa Stratas, Frank Kelley, Nora Kimball, Peter Rose, Howard Haskin, Herbert Perry

The Pirates of Penzance stage production on DVD

Someone needs to help me find some Gilbert and Sullivan productions on DVD that will capture the fun I remember doing these shows back in the day. I've struggled through pedantic BBC television production, an Australian Opera G&S that seems stellar by contrast, and now an Australian television taping of a stage version of Pirates of Penzance which continues to have me scratching my head asking "Don't some good versions of G&S exist"?

This version of Pirates has a lot going on, and some of it is not without positive attributes. My primary beef is that is too much going on with this production--too many jokes, too many asides, too many liberties with text and score.

The music-making seems undervalued and continually sacrificed for the sake of a joke. This starts with the "orchestra" consisting of perhaps four synthesizers, rather than actual instruments. I want my operetta with something other than keyboard accompaniment, even if that keyboard is imitating, strings, or brass or woodwinds. Yes, I am an old bitty.

The singing is sometimes good. Helen Donaldson as Mabel has a small voice, but is able to do all the coloratura, which is nice to hear. Simon Gallaher as Frederick also has the full range to sing this role. Jon English as the Pirate King and Derek Metzger as the Major-General do more joke-making than singing, and I tired quickly of both performances. Mr. English seems to be a sort of star in Australia as a rock musician and musical theater performer with credits in Jesus Christ Superstar, Blood Brothers, and several G&S productions. He has much of that 70s hair band look down. Of course, that was 20 years before this show was filmed and age is not often kind to 70s rockers.

I liked the physical production of this show. The set looks like it could be in some English rural town hall production (which I mean in a charming way), and the costumes are first-rate. I don't know exactually why the chorus of women is only allowed to be three (I guess the Blendettes, or whatever their name is only gets to be three), but I think it's cheating. You need a daughter for every pirate, or someone's going to be off in a corner at the end, or off with another pirate (hmmm).

The endless encores of "With Catlike Tread" made me want to throw something at my television. Ditto, the "Hooked on Pirates" medley that accompanied the bows. Parts of this production show up on YouTube and if I had been smart enough to see those bits, I would have skipped the whole show. Believe me, I'll tread cat-like before I watch another G&S production from this team.

Pirates of Penzance
Music by Arthur Sullivan
Libretto by William Gilbert
Premiered in 1879
This productions filmed for Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1994 based on the touring production of the same year.
Directed by Peter Butler
Cast: Simon Gallaher, Jon English, Helen Donaldson, Toni Lamond, Derek Metzger

Classical Monday--Verdi Requiem live with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

It may have been the coldest weather in Chicago in something like 15 years, but I had the hottest ticket in town this weekend. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, chorus, soloists and conductor Riccardo Muti (left) performed the Verdi Requiem in three performances.

This is a monumental work, and while it is often performed, it is often performed poorly. It takes a good orchestra with fantastic wind players, a regiment of capable choristers, four top flight soloists, and mostly a conductor who knows how to keep everyone working toward the same thing. Fortunately, many of those elements were in place for the CSO performances. Maestro Muti is the CSO music director designate and will come on board with the orchestra starting with the 2010-11 season. This is Muti's first appearance with the CSO since being named to the post. The Music Director position has been vacant since Daniel Barenboim left in 2006, I think it was.

But on to the Requiem. This is a choral work, primarily. And while the soloists and the orchestra have their moments in the sun and would detract from the work if not fully capable, it is the chorus that decides whether this piece succeeds or fails. The CSO Chorus made this work a success. Able to morph their sound from full-throated fortes to hushed unisons, the 150-voice group made nary a misstep.

Likewise, the instrumental soloists were spot on. This work calls for 8 trumpets, four on-stage and four off (or in the balcony as was the case for this performance). There are five horns. Legendary principal horn Dale Clevenger handled his delicate solo magnificently. All the woodwind moments were delightful.

I had never heard any of the vocal soloists sing either live or in recordings. Soprano Barbara Frittoli is a big recording and opera star, whose repertoire includes all of the lead roles in the Verdi canon. Mezzo-soprano Olgo Borodina also has many recordings and a distinguished opera career. Tenor Mario Zeffiri and bass Ildar Abdrazakov were completely new names to me. While all four were very able in their singing, the stand out for me was Ms. Borodina; she was both a powerhouse and musical. All four solo parts are incredibly rangy, calling for secure high notes and robust low notes--Ms. Borodina was particularly exciting throughout all registers.

In a rare opportunity, I also had the chance to attend the final rehearsal of the work, which I found very interesting. I had never been to a CSO rehearsal; it was not like the final dress rehearsal at Lyric Opera; Maestro Muti stopped and started many times. While I couldn't always hear what he was saying to the orchestra or chorus, it was clear there was a lot of respect given the maestro by players and singers. Muti seemed to focus his comments on the articulation of the wind players and the articulation of consonants by the chorus. He wanted very strong final consonants--sometimes too strong for my tastes.

But then I'm not Italian.

Requiem Mass
Music by Giusseppe Verdi
Text from the latin
Presented by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Chorus
Conducted by Riccardo Muti
Soloists: Barbara Frittoli, Olga Borodina, Mario Zeffiri, Ildar Abdrazakov

Sorry but the final performance has already taken place