Well, dear readers, our very first Unseemly Live Chat in our very own Unseemly Live Chat Room was a sparkling affair, and if you missed it you simply must not miss it again. It began promptly at six and while half the folks left after about an hour, the rest stayed until after eleven Pacific Mean Time. A few people had trouble logging in at first, but eventually everyone got in. Mr. Mark Bakalor told us that for chats, in coming to the site you must use www. before haineshisway.com, even if your browser will get you here without doing so. There should be no problem if you log into the site that way for the chats.
I have finished listening to the new Original Cast Recording for the Flower Drum Song revival and I must say that while it has some nice things it is a bit of an ordeal to listen to. The sound, while crystal clear (they used ProTools) is a bit harsh on the ears. Lea Salonga has a gorgeous voice but I don’t love her interpretation of the role or the songs. She plays the part very strongly and almost angrily and so poignant songs like I Am Going to Like it Here lose their poignancy. Interestingly, from the first time I saw a workshop of the revival, I thought Sandra Allen as Linda was vocally weak, and even microphones in the theater don’t help her that much. But I said at that workshop that she’d record beautifully and indeed, she’s the best thing on the album. I actually loved her in the show, too, she’s just vocally weak on stage. On record, she shines. Everyone else comes off fine. While there are some interesting things in David Chase’s new arrangements (orchestrated rather pedestrianly by Don Sebesky – at least in my opinion – IMO, in Internet lingo – and I’m a huge fan of Mr. Sebesky) I’m afraid the album is more about him than Rodgers and Hammerstein. I don’t really like Robert Russell Bennett’s orchestrations for the original either, but these arrangements, with their Chinese food accompaniment and off-rhythms and sometimes-changed harmonics are just show-off things and do not service the score as well as they should. Especially wrong is my favorite song in the show, Love, Look Away. Lea, of course, does it angrily, but the tempo is medium rather than slow, and then suddenly in the middle it goes into a 2/4 bouncy C, like a Jerry Herman “show tune”. I think that was a new addition since I saw the show in LA, but it is horrid, a terrible artistic misstep that ruins the song. The most successful arrangements are the night club numbers, and Randall Duk Kim, who is a wonderful actor, comes off terrifically in those. The booklet has nice notes and photos but is of the accordion style which I don’t care for. The best news is that they cut The Next Time It Happens, which was in the workshop and the LA production. I’d like to think that my bitching about it relentlessly to Ted Chapin of the R&H Organization and to Mary Rodgers had something to do with it, but thank goodness sanity prevailed.
What am I, Ken Mandelbaum all of a sudden? Last night I was in a strange mood so I watched Psycho. Not the original, mind you, but the Gus Van Sant redo. I recommend it whenever one is in a strange mood. There is no stranger experience than watching this most peculiar of peculiar films. It’s like watching Psycho, the shell of Psycho, and everything is the same except nothing is the same. It’s got the wrong actors (and I mean the wrong actors), it’s in color, the music is mixed so low in the murder scenes that it’s almost a joke, and the 2% difference in shots that can actually be attributed to Mr. Van Sant are so weird that the whole thing just boggles the mind. It’s like a faithful revival of Hello, Dolly with Mr. Champion’s exact staging, but with a bad cast and some extra directorial touches which make no sense. Strangest of all, in the shower murder, the curtain is ripped aside and there is silence for four seconds before the music kicks in. That sort of ruins the scene and as long as Mr. Van Sant was copying the original shot-for-shot why didn’t he just copy that exactly? The one thing that still works is the script, which is wonderful. These actors, especially Vince Vaughn and Viggo Morgenstern, can’t pull it off. In fact, Viggo Morgenstern gives one of the most annoyingly amateurish performances it’s ever been my displeasure to see. He makes John Gavin seem like Olivier. In any case, it’s not nearly as good as Meltz and Ernest’s musical version of Psycho – they at least brought something totally fresh to it.
What am I, Ebert and Roeper all of a sudden? BTW (by the way in Internet lingo), the merry searchers were with us over the weekend – I do hope they’ll return soon because they will be getting a lot of bang for their buck in upcoming weeks – I shall say no more, but just keep searching merry searchers because we aim to please, merry searchers-wise. Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below before I review something else.
If you missed any of the fun and frolic over the weekend, do use the Unseemly Archive Button to catch up. Many interesting factoids were revealed, including the title of the new Benjamin Kritzer novel, and some Nudie Musical information.
Also, Donald has a brand spanking new radio show up and of course you must hear it. Donald was even at our chat last night, his first time visiting us.
The divine Michele Pawk has joined our merry troupe of players for the Tourette’s Syndrome benefit. I’ll keep you posted on further additions.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must go hither and thither and even yon, I must compile Meltz and Ernest songs, I must figure out when I am coming to New York and so forth and so on and also so on and so forth. Today’s topic of discussion: Starting with the 20s, what is your favorite musical from each decade right up to now? Second topic: What is your favorite symphony? Post away, my pretties, and I’ll be back in a bit to see your choices.