haines his way

07/26/2002:
"SHAKING OUR COLLECTIVE BOOTIES"

Well, dear readers, beat the drums, strike up the band, come blow your horn, tune the grand up, because we broke yet another record yesterday, in fact we shattered the fershluganah record from here to eternity and back again by having an astonishing 136 posts. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, we had 136 posts and isn’t that cause for a celebration? Isn’t that cause for us to put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons? Isn’t that cause for some cheese slices and ham chunks? Isn’t that cause for each and every Hainsie/Kimlet to get off their collective butt cheeks and dance the Hora or, at the very least, the Swim? Let us revel in our glory, ear readers. Did you see that? Did you see how I thought I’d typed “dear” but I was going so fast that it came out “ear”? I like that – “ear readers”. In any case, let us revel in our glory, ear readers. Let us swing our partners to and fro, a la man left with a dosey doe. Let us shake our booties at the world and say, watch out world, here we come, nothing can stop us now. Soon, I promise, soon, we will be the most popular site on all the Internet and people will look to us because we are with it, we are cool, man, cool, we are happening, we are now, we are today, this is the place, man, this is where the in crowd goes to be in and where the out crowd goes to be out. We are, in short, or in long, the grooviest place on the Internet planet.
We shall party all the livelong day and night, so bring your friends, bring your neighbors, tell the man on the street or the girl in the garage, and tell the whole damn world if they don’t happen to like it, deal us out, thank you kindly, pass us by. Well, today is short and sweet day, the day when these here notes are short and sweet because yesterday’s were long and long. We had one very late question which I’ll be happy to answer right here and now and also right now and here. Kerry asked who Annette O’Toole is currently married to. She recently married Lenny himself, Michael McKean.
Today is certainly a red letter day, isn’t it? And that red letter is “G”. Today is a day for a band to play, in my honest and/or humble opinion (IMHA/OHO in Internet lingo). In fact, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below, whilst shouting “ta rah rah boom deyay”? On the count of three, ear readers: “Ta rah rah boom deyay”!

My these notes have spirit and spunk, don’t they? These are just the spunkiest notes, they make you just want to get on the table and shout, hey look us over, lend us an ear. I don’t know about you, ear readers, but I can always use another ear, so if anyone would like to lend me one I shall treasure it for a short time and then return it in exactly the same condition it arrived in.
Last night I was out quite late. I joined a friend, Jane Lassner, who is someone who I went to high school with, and one of the few people from back then I’ve kept in touch with. She is still married to the nice fellow she met way back then. In any case, she was in town, and we went out for a late-night snack at Kate Mantilini’s in Beverly Hills. I asked her many probing questions about myself as a high-schooler and she was searingly honest in her responses. She said I was very nice but that I seemed to have a need to be the center of attention. Given what I remember of my obnoxious self back then, I’m sure that is correct. I’m quite certain that not only did I need to be the center of attention, but that I also needed to be the stage left and right of attention as well. She also told me a wonderful story which I had/have no memory of. She told me that soon after we met (I was ahead of her in school by two years), she asked me to take her to some ritzy dance. Apparently, I did take her and apparently I was quite charming and gentlemanly. And apparently, when the dance floor was totally empty, I grabbed her, took her on the floor, and waltzed her, and twirled her, and swung her around and we were suddenly the envy of one and all and also all and one. I take her at her word, but given the fact that as a dancer I’m about as graceful as a decapitated chicken, the story rather amazed me. A decapitated chicken? Did I just write a decapitated chicken?
Anyway, I did not arrive home until 1:45 in the morning, and then I had to read all your excellent posts, so I got to sleep very late indeed.
Well, I really must keep these notes short and sweet, but I will be back later to see how our party is progressing. Don’t forget, tomorrow is our handy-dandy Unseemly Trivia Contest, and Donald will have a brand-spanking new radio show up on Sunday evening. Also, we’ll have a brand spanking new Unseemly Interview up one week from today – with the delightful and slightly deranged (in a good way), Alison Fraser. I promise you, you will love it.
Well, ear readers, I must take the day, I must wipe the sleep from my eyes, I must get in my automobile and do things and then I shall return. Today’s topic of discussion: Some ideas seem like naturals in terms of making them into musicals. And then there are those ideas that are so off-the-wall that you sit there and scratch your various and sundried heads, thinking, what were they thinking, taking this idea and making it into a musical. So, what do you think is the craziest idea for a musical – and which of those crazy ideas actually worked and which of those crazy ideas didn’t? I’ll start – certainly if you’d said, “I’m going to make a musical about the Declaration of Independence” people would have looked at you askance. Oh, yes, they would have looked at you askance. And yet, a rather wonderful musical was made from just that seemingly impossible idea – 1776. On the other hand, Medea, another pretty weird idea to base a musical on was pretty much a total disaster in the guise of Marie Christine. Your turn.

Replies: 62 Unseemly Comments

Oh darn. I was hoping that since it's Friday that it might be Meltz and Ernest Day. After all, Dear Reader Jason is so new that he hasn't had a chance to become acquainted with this groundbreaking song writing team!
I got a call from Dear Reader Sandra in Kansas this morning, and she and her dad are on their way to visit with Dear Reader Megan for the weekend and should arrive there this very evening!
Posted by Laura @ 07/26/2002 10:05 AM PST

Hurray! 136 posts! Just out of curiosity do you know how many different posters (people who posted, not ads for shows you hang on the walls) this represented? I posted 3 or 4 times and I know there were multiple posts from several others. Regardless, this is a record to be proud of and a record to be broken soon.
I'm looking forward to the Allison Fraser interview. Are you going through the entire cast of PRODIGAL before other interviews? Is Joshua Parks next?
Posted by William E. Lurie @ 07/26/2002 10:06 AM PST

I just listened to a live recording of Leslie Bricusse's "Say Hello To Harvey," and I must confess that "Harvey" is a bad idea for a musical and Bricusse demonstrated it handily. "Harvey" is about a charming, tipsy man in a world of deadly serious people. While it may make sense for Elwood P. Dowd to sing along with his invisible rabbit friend, it is highly inappropriate for his stuffy aunt and niece to be so musically inclined. This was certainly one play that should have been left alone.
Posted by Robert Armin @ 07/26/2002 10:09 AM PST

Therese Racquin might make a good musical if you set it in New Orleans... Then again... nyah.
Congrats on the record number of posts. Glad I could help -- although I risked starting WWIII, things worked out quite charmingly given the loveable cordiality of your sundried Hainsies/Kimlets.
Posted by Robert Armin @ 07/26/2002 10:12 AM PST

If all goes well, the new Radio Show for Sunday will be the first of our Listener's Favorite Showtunes shows....I'll be recording phone interviews with the 2 listners whose lists we chose this weekend and should be able to get one of the ready in time for launch on Sunday....if not, well, who knows what the show will be!
Posted by Donald @ 07/26/2002 10:31 AM PST

My reference to Elwood P. Dowd's relatives above should have said "sister and niece" rather than "aunt and niece." This correction is just my way of contributing to TODAY's record numbers.
Posted by Robert Armin @ 07/26/2002 10:37 AM PST

A perennial bad idea for musicals? Sequels! Has one ever worked? I mean, think about it - BRING BACK BIRDIE, BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE GOES PUBLIC, ANNIE 2... Thankfully, someone got to Andrew Lloyd Webber before he got around to writing that PHANTOM sequel. (Lord knows one is enough!)
To continue a thread from yesterday, you certainly couldn't come up with a worse idea for a musical than the murder of Mary Phagan and subsequent trial of Leo Frank, but they did, and - despite some naysaying critics - it works. PARADE may have its flaws, but it is a very moving musical.
Any list of bad ideas for musicals would have to include most of the shows by Stephen Sondheim, who seems to go out of his way to challenge the notion of what is and isn't musical. But most of the time, he is right, and the results are brilliant.
Of course, a bad idea that infamously did NOT work at all was CARRIE, the musical. Anyone who saw it or even heard the bootleg recordings that abound can certainly attest to that.
Here's a suggestion for tomorrow's topic of discussion: What seemed like a great idea for a musical, but - for one reason or another - did not work?
Posted by Dave @ 07/26/2002 10:54 AM PST

Just noting that if I start breaking down my more verbose postings into several separate posts, we might be able to set another new record!
Posted by Dave @ 07/26/2002 10:55 AM PST

Well, I have to mention Sondheim and Sweeney Todd. Murder in the barber chair certainly doesn't seem like a musical idea but he did it and, I think, beautifully, too.
I also think the idea of the opening of Japan by Admiral Perry doesn't sound like it would work but I think (and I know I'm in a minority here) Pacific Overtures is a brilliant show. It's one of my favorite Sondheim pieces. I get many looks of "are you crazy" when I say that. It's certainly not a "traditional" musical, whatever that might be, but I think it's beautiful and thrilling. I still get goose bumps every time I hear Someone in a Tree. On a list of 10 Sondheim songs that would be number 1 or 2 for me.
I never thought Saturday Night Fever was a good idea for a musical, or Footloose, or Hamlet (did anyone here see Rockabye Hamlet which played, as I remember, at the now disappeared theatre on the northwest corner of 42nd Street and 7th Avenue - aaahhh, I can't remember the name! I'm getting old!!!). Even though Footloose and SNF played for a long while (RH died a quick death) they did not work as stage pieces for me. I also have to say I don't think the upcoming Dance with the Vampire sounds like a great idea for a show (I'm not a big fan of Ann Rice and the vampire genre). We will just have to wait and see how that pans out.
Posted by Ben @ 07/26/2002 11:20 AM PST

One hundred forty posts yesterday, at last count.
Crazy ideas for musicals that did not work: Carrie, and Frank Wildhorn.
Posted by freedunit @ 07/26/2002 11:26 AM PST

Here's my first of, I'm sure, many contributions to today's posts. Oh! And let's give a great big WOOHOO for breaking the record last night. Ready? One...two...three: WOOHOO!
OK. Now that that's over, on with the topic of discussion. I've always felt that anything pertaining to soccer (or football, if you're non-American) was a terrible idea for a musical. And yet we have BEAUTIFUL GAME.
Then again, I'm on the recording of a show called POOP: THE MUSICAL, so I guess my credibility is shot. :-\
Posted by Jason @ 07/26/2002 11:38 AM PST

I actually enjoyed Annie 2 (at the last performance in D.C.) but Annie Warbucks was a very poor rewrite. Pehaps the biggest showstopper I've ever seen (after Merman's "You're Just In Love") was Dorothy Louden "I Go On," which became a tepid, minor number when given a new context in Annie Warbucks.
Posted by Robert Armin @ 07/26/2002 11:40 AM PST

Poop—The Musical sounds like an idea that only a coprophiliac could love, and surely coprophiliacs were pissed off by Urinetown.
Posted by freedunit @ 07/26/2002 11:43 AM PST

There is one song in Annie Warbucks that I love, sung by, among others, Jason Graae on his almost naked CD (the Charles Strouse You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile). It's "It Would Have Been Wonderful" The problem is, it doesn't sound like it belongs in Annie Warbucks. It's still a beautiful song, though
Posted by Ben @ 07/26/2002 12:25 PM PST

Sundried Kimmlets? I think I saw a package of those in a healthfood store. Either that or at the snack bar at the movie theatre.
I have got to ask: What is Poop: The Musical about? Does it have a plot?
Bad idea for a musical ,and which, in my humble opinion (IMHO in Internet lingo) did NOT work: "Kiss of the Spider Woman." I liked two of the songs, but I thought the show was... well, what were they thinking? There are SO many that fit into this category.
I think "Oklahoma" and "South Pacific" are odd ideas for a musical, but they worked. Same with "7 1/2 Cents" turning into "Pajama Game."
I finally got to read the interview with Kerry Butler. You're right: she is one of us!
Posted by Kerry @ 07/26/2002 12:33 PM PST

Unlike Ben, I am an ENORMOUS FAN of Anne Rice and her Vampire books...also her Witches of Mayfair books...and I even like her Roquelaire (sp?) trilogy!
As for stories that didn't seem like good ideas for musical treatment, I'd have to say "Pacific Overtures" seemed to have very little appeal. It is not among Sondheim's more successful works, but it was critically lauded, was it not!?
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 07/26/2002 12:37 PM PST

The idea of a musical about pogroms in a Russian shtetl seems a little farfetched, but that seems to have worked pretty well.
Yet a musical about dance marathons, which seems like a natural, didn't work that well. To the public. Personally, I loved STEEL PIER and saw it repeatedly during its brief life.
Posted by Stuart @ 07/26/2002 01:11 PM PST

One idea I wish would result in a Broadway musical is "Return to Oz" -- I think some of David Shire's gorgeous score screams out for lyrics -- there's a Dorothy/Ozma theme that would be a haunting duet!
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 07/26/2002 01:13 PM PST

POOP: THE MUSICAL: "The Life and Times of Thomas Crapper" is just that--the story of how Thomas Crapper, slimy creep of a man that he was, "borrowed" the toilet patent from a certain Albert Giblin. Eventually, the fame that Crapper acquired from the toilet began to be overshadowed by the fact that the name Crapper, more specifically Crap, was becoming synonymous with the actual act of doing a Number Two.
Some of the song titles include:
The Hard One That Hurts (A Love Duet)
Number Two (A Lament)
Toilet Paper (A Rousing Act One Finale)
You're Name Means Poop (A Clever Duet)
Please check out www.poopthemusical.com for more info.
Posted by Jason @ 07/26/2002 01:24 PM PST

George Bernard Shaw's PYGMALION as a musical? Nah.....
Posted by Arnold M. Brockman @ 07/26/2002 01:42 PM PST

Lolita, while a lovely ear reader, was a bizarre idea for a musical for the simple reason that the sheer eewww factor of the subject matter precluded any success in the supposedly frivolous context of a movie. Even though I've heard that it was really a quite strong show.
Gone with the Wind was a bad idea because it had way too much plot to fit into a one-night musical. If the movie took four hours, how could the musical wrap it up in 2.5?
Who am I, Ken Mandelbaum all of a sudden?
I've realized that Jason has probably racked up more posts in his few days that I have in months, just because he posts so many times a day.
By the way, would anyone like to hear my take on La Lupone?
Posted by Hoapgood @ 07/26/2002 01:47 PM PST

Or would the Freed Unit disapprove of my expressions of my contrary opinions?
Chorus Line was also a pretty odd idea for a musical.
Posted by Hapgood @ 07/26/2002 01:49 PM PST

Floyd Collins is certainly an
odd premise for a musical. I
mean, c'mon, a man trapped
and dying in a cave??? But,
IMHO, it worked quite
wonderfully. And need we
even go into Assassins (which
I also find simply wonderful)?
Posted by Jed @ 07/26/2002 02:08 PM PST

I'd LOVE to hear your take on PL. As for GWTW, I was in it (in Los Angeles) and it had interesting moments, but overall tried to do too much in too little time. Harold Rome was a lovely man, but probably the wrong choice for that particular book (even though he WAS David O. Selznick's original choice).
I love what Alan Jay Lerner and John Barry wrote for Lolita, My Love, but Lerner attempted to update the book, which was a mistake. I doubt the average audience will ever accept Lolita, but I'd sure like to redo the musical some day.
Posted by Robert Armin @ 07/26/2002 02:10 PM PST

And the Freedunit is a fair and noble Kimlet and welcomes all views expressed here.
Posted by Robert Armin @ 07/26/2002 02:13 PM PST

Hey, freedunit ! You're so darn
quiet tonight !!!
Needs some cake ?
Yeah ! We love y'all !
Posted by francois @ 07/26/2002 02:27 PM PST

I'm not sure whether or not to take offense to Hapgood's implication that I post too many posts. I just try to keep things going in here... :-) If it'll make Hapgood happy, I'll stop posting so often...and I'll just sit here and read the other ear reader's posts and wish they were mine and the group will be back down to 30 or 40 posts a day and then BK will start feeling unloved and then he'll shut down the website cause he'll think no one cares and THEN where will we be? Think about it...
Posted by Jason @ 07/26/2002 02:43 PM PST

I appeared in a production of ANNIE WARBUCKS a few years ago, and there are quite a few good songs in it. "It Would Have Been Wonderful" is probably my favourite, but there are several others.
I'm glad I'm not alone in enjoying STEEL PIER.
And I think that A CHORUS LINE is an obvious idea for a musical - an audition for a musical, where all the characters are singers and dancers?? It's a natural! What makes it unique is the manner in which it came about.
Posted by Dave @ 07/26/2002 02:44 PM PST

Don't worry, Jason. W'all love you.
Posted by Robert Armin @ 07/26/2002 02:47 PM PST

What is PL? Petty Losers? Picky Lamplighters? Posting Lunatics?
Robert Armin, I forgot to mention something when you brought up Gone With The Wind the other day (and again today) -would you like to know who my original leading lady was in Together Again, prior to Penny Peyser's joining the cast? Well, I'll tell you who my leading lady was because you worked with her in Gone With The Wind. It was Miss Udana Power, that's who it was. I remember auditioning her for the first original musical I ever wrote (called Start at the Top) but I ended up using the girlfriend of the leading man, Michael Burns, said girlfriend being an actress named Donna Baccala. Ah, sweet ephemera of life.
Posted by bk @ 07/26/2002 03:08 PM PST

Bruce, You are a wonderful guy. You even asked Ms. Kerry Butler what her favorite cake was!
Posted by Kerry @ 07/26/2002 03:10 PM PST

Well, I'm off to see a brand new metaphysical musical. yes, folks, you read me right: a METAPHYSICAL MUSICAL.
It is called SHADOW DANCER, and the book and the lyrics were written by Coni Congoli-Koepfinger, a recent graduate (at 44) of Carnegie-Mellon University. I've known Coni for a couple of decades, and I even sang the opening number, "Another Year" for a demo tape of SHADOW DANCER.
The script as it now stands, concerns a trio of misfits' search for "the truth;" i.e., the meaning of life.
The spiritual journey takes these characters from NYC on New Year's Eve to Sedona (Arizona? New Mexico?) where in a cave they meet up with a holographic priest who points them in the right direction.
Stephen A. Baldanzi did the music, the musical direction is by my long-time accompanist, Matthew Brown, and the production is directed by the gentleman who has produced my cabarets and directed my first full-length play THE END OF THE WORLD ON NEW YEAR'S EVE.
It is an obligatory viewing of this musical, which according to Ms. Congoli-Koepfinger, was written for me!
So, I will not be able to help break records here tonight, but, didn't I just describe a BAD IDEA FOR A MUSICAL?
Posted by td @ 07/26/2002 03:12 PM PST

Thanks for the scoop on "POOP."
Posted by Kerry @ 07/26/2002 03:19 PM PST

The universal need for cake could make a wonderful musical. But we won't discuss cake today. I won't even mention cake today. You won't hear the word cake issue from my lips. There will be no indication that there is even such thing as cake.
Posted by Kerry @ 07/26/2002 03:22 PM PST

Yeah, Jason, stay with us!
I got a great kick out of your
comments about your
"frustrated" life in NYC
yesterday, because I run into
the same situations in Good
Old Paris; so, people are the
same everywhere, I guess.
Like, there's always someone
who will get out off a metro --
subway here -- car and just
STAY THERE, like so much
fish, wandering where to go
next and preventing you from
exiting the damn car.....
The other day, while climbing
up the exit stairs someone just
stopped to light up a cig and
had me bump into him !!!
Life is fun in big cities, but I
feel like I'm surrounded by
zombies....
Jason, your sense of humor
fits right in and is greatly
appreciated, sacrebleu !
Posted by francois @ 07/26/2002 03:25 PM PST

Merci, Francois...tu est un bon ami.
Kerry: You're welcome for the scoop on POOP.
Posted by Jason @ 07/26/2002 03:30 PM PST

I just had some cake!
A couple of folks in my agency are retiring next week and we had cake and speeches and giving of cards and gift certificates.
There were actualy two cakes: A carrot cake (sheet cake; and a party (white) cake (sheet cake) with gorgeous flowers piped all over the top.
I had one piece of the party cake and it was yummy. When I got back to my office, I had some packages awaiting me just in time for the weekend:
On DVD, "North by Northwest" and "White Christmas" (I needed a Rosemary Clooney fix and it had to include "Snow").
On CD: The Mason Williams Phonograph Record, Mason Williams: Music 1968-1971, Unsung Musicals, Unsung Musicals II, Unsung Musicals III, Unsung Irving Berlin, Cinderella: Songs from the Classic Fairy Tale, and Juno.
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 07/26/2002 03:31 PM PST

"Wuthering Heights".Bad idea twice.
"Beautiful Game"
A musical about baseball should be a non-goer as well. I have only seen the movie version of DY but I suspect it worked!
Despite the beautiful score "The Baker's Wife" was not a good idea - no tension in the plot to start with. (With which to start).
"Apects Of Love" Too tacky and how can you really care for any of the characters.
Kerry. "I loved "Spider Woman" - thought it really worked well. I would love to have seen "Steel Pier".
Posted by Tom from OZ @ 07/26/2002 03:31 PM PST

Michael S. Are you OK. You are missed.
Where is our Japanese kimlet?
Posted by Tom from OZ @ 07/26/2002 03:34 PM PST

Oh Jason, I was not trying to imply that you posted too often! I love your posts. I was actually commenting on my errantness and truantness in posting infrequently, even on subjects on which I had opinions. I am glad that you are here to up our post total with your comments.
My take on Patti LuPone: She is an excellent actress. She was very funny in Noises Off, and is excellent even in smaller parts. She played Howard Cosell's wife in a TV movie with John Turturro (which I believe was called Monday Night Madness) and packed years of marriage to this amazing and complex individual into here face and her few lines.
That being said, I dislike her singing voice. Strongly. It is often strident, the diction is pretty bad, she does really strange things to vowels. Her interpretations verge from alright to really weird. Worst of all, she has no warmth. This is why she was perfect for Evita, who was a completely unsympathetic character, and Dotty in Noises Off, who was a caricature. But I can't imagine her in a part where you have to like her, or even understand her. Her Mrs. Lovett, for example, was painful. And I cringe to think of what she will do to Desiree at Ravinia. This may explain why she rarely does musicals any more. I think that her talents best served by appearing in plays and movies.
Posted by Hapgood @ 07/26/2002 04:00 PM PST

td -- Sedona, Arizona
Tom from OZ -- Michael Shayne had surgery a couple days ago. Hmm, and our Japanese Kimlet is missing, too?
Posted by Laura @ 07/26/2002 04:02 PM PST

Hey, folks!
Just read that Brent Barrett's
The Alan Jay Lerner Album is
coming this fall !
Ain't that great news ?
Posted by francois @ 07/26/2002 04:24 PM PST

Francois---
Don't believe it. The label that must not be named has been pushing back and changing release dates since they left CA for NY. GRAND TOUR has been delayed so many times I wonder if they really have the rights.
They are more interested in Hot Bachelor Matt Snarley than in offering the service to show tune fans the label used to be noted for.
Posted by William E. Lurie @ 07/26/2002 07:54 PM PST

William,
You are right; to complete my
collection, I ordered "Little Me"
and received "Little By Little"
instead, which I already have.
I informed them by email of the
boo-boo, and I'm still waiting
for them to react; that was two
weeks ago !!!
Bruce, I guess I've been
"punished", hey ? Well, I
happen to like Faith Prince
and YOU produced the album
of Little Me, right ?.....
BTW, where's everybody
today????????
At a Matt Snarley concert ?
The London production of
KISS ME, KATE with Brent
Barrett is closing August 25:
it's too darn sad !
Posted by francois @ 07/26/2002 08:48 PM PST

Laura: Thanks for Sedona.
H & S's: all this talk about "the label which must not be named" has a certain Harry Potter quality to it...
SHADOW DANCER - a thousand times better this time around, running just under two hours (the first production - 1996 - ran THREE AND A HALF!)
It is soon to be workshopped in L.A., and then, who knows?
A lot of the music is glorious, heavenly and starry-eyed optimistic. A lot of the lyrics are trite and hackneyed, but less so than the previous edition.
I saw some excellent talent doing some very nice work, as well as some very talented people not being given anything to do. Ah, well.
I spoke to the lyricist & book writer on the phone following the show, and she would like me to commit to the workshop and any future engagements. We shall see what we shall see. I don't know if this has happened to anyone here before, but, I gotta say that it was quite alarming to hear my vocal intonations and quirks coming out of a stanger's mouth; when Coni said that that particular character was written FOR ME, she neglected to tell me that she actually WROTE >>ME<<.
Posted by td @ 07/26/2002 08:50 PM PST

Yes, the posts were flying fast and furiously and then they seemed to stop dead in their tracks.
I guess the weekend began. No matter how much our Hainsies and Kimlets might seem to be homebodies, they're really party animals. No doubt some are out to a fine dinner with an eye for "cake" for dessert!
Any Disney fans on this board? Disney music legend Buddy Baker has passed. He did a lot of fine work during his lifetime!
I'm preparing for another new episode of "Farscape." If someone you don't know what the frell I'm talking about, I'm afraid I won't be able to explain.
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 07/26/2002 08:53 PM PST

And, if some "of you" don't know what the frell I meant above, perhaps you now do.
Posted by Ron Pulliam @ 07/26/2002 08:54 PM PST

No, freedunit (at MGM?) I did
NOT write KISS ME, CAKE !
--I'm trying, I'm trying.....--
Embrasse-moi, Mon Chou à la
Crème.
Posted by francois @ 07/26/2002 08:55 PM PST

Buddy Baker: wonderful
composer and arranger.
His score for FOX & HOUND is
glorious! Worth checking!
Another artist who is going to
be missed....
Posted by francois @ 07/26/2002 08:58 PM PST

Yes, Francois, mon ami, of course I produced the Little Me album and I'm quite partial to it - the production didn't really work for a variety of reasons, but on disc it's a lot of fun in my opinion (IMO, in Internet lingo), especially Marty Short - we included a bunch of comedy snippets because that's the only way you really know how funny the actor playing all those roles is.
As to the new Brent Barrett album, I'm sure it will come out, and Brent is really wonderful on it - we had the best time doing it, and I'm very proud of the work we all did on it - Brent, his musical director, Chris Denny, Lanny Meyers' orchestrations and our special guest Lauren Bacall, who I adored. It was a lot of fun to produce it and it sounds really good, I think, thanks to the usual superb work of Vinnie Cirilli.
Posted by bk @ 07/26/2002 09:00 PM PST

Bruce,
Thanks for staying with the
happy few !!
I met Lauren Bacall once
when I worked for Disney
(Florida) some 14 years ago
and found her cold and
snappy.... but then I don't know
her like you do...... She speaks
very good French btw....
I also met Brenda Vaccaro,
who happens to be married to
a French gentleman, and she
was warm and funny...
Impressions de France, the
impressive little film shown at
the France Pavilion of EPCOT
(Walt Disney World, Florida)
has music by famous French
composers all arranged and
selected by Buddy Baker....
Now, our croissant break....
Posted by francois @ 07/26/2002 09:20 PM PST

Please excuse the ignorance of one who has just encountered this website, but why must you not name the label that must not be named?
This particularly puzzles me because I got here by clicking on an ad THERE, if you get my drift.
Oh,yes. Though I suppose someone has mentioned it before (or possibly not) Dracula's daughter would like to say "Please stop talking about that CAAAAAAAAAKE!"
Only much louder.
This conversation interests me strangely. I'd like to drop by again.
Posted by Baron Wasteland @ 07/26/2002 10:01 PM PST

Baron: I LOVE that bit of Lily Tomlin's, and I am tempted to scream such things many, many times.
Yes, do drop by, and next time, bring your yacht.
Posted by Kerry @ 07/26/2002 10:15 PM PST

Here I am, my heart breaking, forced to glitter, forced to be gay.... and better late than never, I suppose.
Okay, who would have thought that anyone could screw up Sunset Boulevard? Okay, Sondheim knew it, but I really didn't and they DID.
On the other hand, who would write a musical about a guy who chops people up and his sexually frustrated girlfriend, who makes them into meat pies? Well, Sondheim knew that, too.
So I'll just be quiet.
Posted by Lolita @ 07/26/2002 10:30 PM PST

Speaking of shows where a guy chops people up...what about one where he feeds the bodies to a giant plant that takes over the world? Nah...It'll never work.
Yes, Dear Readers, I have strayed from the board this evening, I fear. Actually, what happened is this: I laid down for a nap at around 7:15 this evening (EDT, of course) and at 3A.M. here I am, wide awake and finally eating my dinner (a bowl of corn flakes with a banana). Damn those naps and DAMN my messed-up sleep pattern!!! Damn them all to hell!
Posted by Jason @ 07/27/2002 12:17 AM PST

You are not alone Jason. It is saturday night here. 8.30. What can you do on a Saturday
night alone? (actually I'm not but my partner is watching a football game on TV so it's much the same.) I have just been listening to OLC "The Good Old Bad Old Days" and re-living a 1973 trip to London. Mr Newley is an acquired taste but I acquired it in about 1960 when he was a pop person. Welcome to the fun site. New blood is good. Sweeney's or Audrey II's!
Posted by Tom from OZ @ 07/27/2002 03:33 AM PST

Sidney Howard's THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WANTED as a musical? Nah...
Posted by Arnold M. Brockman @ 07/27/2002 07:26 AM PST

Oooh! Just thought of this one...
Friedrich Durrenmatt's THE VISIT as a musical? It had the potential to work, and it almost did, but there was just something a little off about it. I saw the show in Chicago last fall. I think with a few changes it could work, but I doubt that it'll ever make it to New York. :-(
Posted by Jason @ 07/27/2002 07:41 AM PST

Just read the New York Times this morning (11:52am here) and saw the obit for Clark Gesner, the creator of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Sad day. But his wonderful little creation will live on.
Posted by Ben @ 07/27/2002 08:48 AM PST

And also that the Russian Tea Room is closing.. very sad news as well...
Posted by Craig @ 07/27/2002 09:15 AM PST

One of my favorite CDs is a silly thing by Clark Gessner called "The Jello is Always Red."
Posted by Laura @ 07/27/2002 09:23 AM PST

Patti LuPone is warm and the best. Chocolate cake is the only way to go. A Chorus Line is a great musical based on an inspired concept. The Visit was a good idea for Angela Lansbury, but terrible in execution with Kander & Ebb and Chita Rivera, the poor, talented folks. Lansbury bowed out not because of her husband, but because of the score. The show was D.O.A. and could be retitled The Visit to the Morgue. You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown is a delightful musical, and it is sad to learn of Mister Gesner passing.
Posted by freedunit @ 07/27/2002 10:46 AM PST

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