Well, dear readers, the heat wave has given me a neat wave – it was 107-degrees yesterday and I refused to leave the home environment and go out there in that oven. No, I stayed inside, had the air on for a good portion of the day and even that didn’t cool the house down as much as it should have. Speaking of cool, I did watch a motion picture last evening that contained the heat wave/neat wave lyric – that must mean I watched the marvelously marvelous motion picture version of the Broadway musical entitled Flower Drum Song, starring Miss Nancy Kwan, Miyoshi Umeki, James Shigeta, Jack Soo, and Juanita Hall. Let me first say that Flower Drum Song is my favorite Rodgers and Hammerstein score – sorry Oklahoma! and Carousel and The King and I, it just is. It contains my favorite Rodgers and Hammerstein ballad, Love, Look Away, one of the most heartbreaking of all theater songs. I love all the songs people don’t love, especially Chop Suey and Grant Avenue and Fan Tan Fanny. But we also have the gorgeous You Are Beautiful, the funny The Other Generation, the delightful Sunday, the hilarious Don’t Marry Me, the stunning and brilliantly constructed I Am Going to Like It Here – Hammerstein really at his best, taking the second line of every verse and making it the first line of the next verse – genius lyric writing. I know it’s all the rage to rag on the original book of the show, but it’s based on a novel and that novel, like the show, takes place in the 1950s. You can’t change history, you can’t ignore history, and you certainly cannot rewrite history. But no one would touch the original book with a ten-foot pole – except me that is. It’s charming, funny, endearing, and has great characters. It is of its time and reflects its time. The rewritten revisal, for me, doesn’t work well at all and, at times, is actually worse than anything in the original. The only thing I thought that worked well in the revisal was the opening. Otherwise, I just didn’t care. And that’s the thing about the movie – you CARE about the Miyoshi Umeki character and the James Shigeta character and others. Umeki’s performance should have been nominated for an Oscar – she brings so much humor and pathos to the role that she originated on Broadway. Kwan is terrific, as is Jack Soo, James Shigeta is a handsome leading man with a lovely voice, and Juanita Hall is a treasure. The most surprising thing about the original show is that it doesn’t open with the number that SHOULD open it – it opens with You Are Beautiful – in the film, that song comes towards the end, where it works really well. The first song in the film is the first song in the revisal – A Hundred Million Miracles. And what a song, what a sentiment. We can all use a hundred million miracles and if you look at things in the right way, they are happening every day, despite the 107-degree temperature. So, let’s have us a hundred million modern major miracles and sooner than later, shall we? Anyway, it’s big and brassy and fun, and the Alfred Newman arrangements/orchestrations are much better than the original Robert Russell Bennett charts for the show – I love him dearly, but I found his orchestrations for both Flower Drum Song and Bells Are Ringing a bit ordinary and interestingly both film versions outdid his work. Russell Metty’s photography is great, the Kino Blu-ray looks really lovely, and oh what I wouldn’t give to own one of the Dong Kingman title paintings. I wonder what ever happened to them? Did Ross Hunter keep them? Universal? Where the HELL are they. Anyway, I love Flower Drum Song and I don’t care who knows it.
Otherwise, yesterday was perfectly okay. I only got seven hours of sleep due to our lovely next door neighbors having tree people do their thing and making enough noise to wake two neighborhoods. Once up, I answered e-mails, had some telephonic conversations, followed an online book auction, which was fascinating – you could tell the exact moment several dealers showed up and started bidding every single item up, because that’s what they do. Prior to their arrival, most things were going at very reasonable prices. I was happy to see a few books I own do very well.
I decided to make faux chicken stroganoff again, since I had leftover chicken, but this time I had it over bow tie pasta. I couldn’t finish it – it’s really too heavy over pasta. But it was good. I did some work on the computer, and then watched the movie, and here we are.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll definitely go pick up the second important envelope no matter HOW hot it is, and then I’ll make a deposit in the ATM. Then I’m having dinner with a friend and after that I can watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I have a work session at one, Sunday is a ME day, and then we’re into the Kritzerland rehearsal week, so busy, busy, busy.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, pick up the second important envelope, bank, eat, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray/streaming player? I’ll start – CD, who knows? Blu-ray, I have a hankering for Sundays and Cybele. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping for a hundred million miracles to be happening every day in every way.