Well, dear readers, I found a very interesting thing when I was cleaning out boxes a few weeks ago. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I found a very interesting thing when I was cleaning out boxes a few weeks ago and I intend to share it with you right now and offer up a challenge, the winner of which will get a fancy shmancy prize. Back in 1997, when Usenet ruled the World Wide Web, there was a newsgroup called rec.arts.theatre.musicals. I was a regular denizen there and posted under my then-moniker fynsworth@webtv.net. At some point, someone posted something about the Bells Are Ringing song Drop That Name, which, of course, has very dated references to then famous people. So, I immediately went to work and did an updated lyric – it was surprisingly hard to do because I had one rule – I had to conform to the exact meter and rhyme scheme of the original – no cheating allowed, not even by a syllable or a near-rhyme. So, here is what I came up with (amazingly, some of it still works and could be used today, while some people have sadly passed on or become non-celebrities) – I was very proud of it then and it got great comments:
Mike
Wallace
Stephen
Sondheim
Robert
Redford
Stephen
King
Kander
And Ebb
Claudia Schiff
Tom and Nicole, and Billy Joel
Senator Dole
And Mira Sorvino
Chevy Chase and Baby Face
Mary Kay Place
And then Al Pacino
Michael Caine and Nathan Lane
Madonna and Cher
Anthony Quinn
And Rin Tin Tin!
Charlton Heston, Maury Yeston
Roger Mudd
Charlie Sheen and Ben Vereen
And Ashley Judd
Calvin Klein and Adrian Lyne
And Larry King
Rosie O’D…
And Rin Tin Tee!
Patti Lupone and Sharon Stone
Mr. Stallone
And Marcia Gay Hardin
Tommy Tune and Debbie Boone
Jessica Hahn
And Christopher Darden
Demi Moore and Tipper Gore
And Madeline Kahn
Jean Claude Van Damme
And Rin Tin Tam!
Davis Gaines!
Rin Tin Taines!
Richard Gere!
Rin Tin Teer!
Bernadette!
Rin Tin Tet!
Daniel Massey?
Lassie!
That’s the way you play the game, drop that name!
And there you have it. Interesting what thirteen years does to an update. So, your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to update it to 2010 – again, you must be completely accurate to meter and rhyme scheme, with no mis-emphasis, no cheating of any kind. Good luck to one and all and also all and one.
We now return you to those thrilling days of yesterday. Actually, yesterday wasn’t exactly thrilling but it was a very nice day. I got up at six and announced the new Kritzerland title, then went back to bed and slept till ten. Then I answered e-mails and then moseyed on over to the engineer’s home environment, where we finessed the rest of the mixes. That took exactly two hours. Then I came back to the San Fernando Valley, where I did some banking, after which I had some lunch, a sandwich, a cup of chicken soup, and fries, all very yummilicious. Then I picked up two count them two packages, then came home. I began writing the patter for Wednesday’s Gardenia show, had a few telephonic conversations, and then I was so tired that I simply had to sit on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled The Sound of Music. First of all, I unabashedly love The Sound of Music film and have since the day I saw it at the Wilshire Theater in 70mm. In fact, I saw it five or six times during that original engagement and many times thereafter. The ways in which Ernest Lehman has transformed the stage show are brilliant – very simple things, and some bigger things, all of which work wonderfully. Robert Wise was the perfect director and his work is just stunning. The film is perfectly cast, too – Julie Andrews is beyond great – she’s in a whole other universe and she doesn’t make a phony or false move in the film’s entire three hours. Christopher Plummer was an inspired choice for Captain Von Trapp – it was a gamble that paid off incredibly well. The kids are great, Eleanor Parker is great, Richard Haydn is great, and the smallest roles, the nuns, the servants, the bad guys, are all perfect – I mean, when you’ve got Norma Varden as the maid you know someone knows what they’re doing. The score sounds luscious thanks to Irwin Kostal and team. So, the transfer – it’s been getting raves across the board and I will say it is, at times, a beautiful thing to behold, but there’s something about it that stops me from saying it’s perfect. Yes, it’s sharp, yes, the color is fine (albeit a bit too yellow in a few scenes, but nothing egregious), yes, yes, yes – and yet, it didn’t quite blow me away in the way I thought it would. Maybe I was just expecting the second coming, but it’s just short of that somehow, at least for me.
After the film, I did a mile and a half jog, then finished writing the patter. And that was my day and that was my night. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I am quite tired and need my beauty sleep and you all need to get to work on Drop That Name – 2010.
Today, I shall jog, I shall do errands and whatnot, and then we have our stumble-through rehearsal, after which I have a work session with The Singer – that should only last about an hour and then I’ll sup.
Tomorrow is, of course, show time. We have a sound check at two, then dinner at seven-thirty, then show at nine. I have no idea how well attended it will be, but I’m ever hopeful.
The rest of the week is filled with meals and meetings and a session listening to the finessed mixes with the composer of the show, just to make sure we’re all happy.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, do errands and whatnot, have a rehearsal, have a work session, have a meal, and then relax and watch a motion picture. Today’s topic of discussion: We’ve done it before, but not for a long time – what is your all-time favorite film musical – first, original for the screen, second, adapted from a Broadway show? When did you first see it, how many times have you seen it since, and what about it makes it your favorite? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we all play Drop That Name – 2010.