... and the, IMHO, dull most overhyped of musicals "J C Superstar".
Today at work, no computer again! And I have rehearsal tonight, so I will not be home until very late. I will probably barely beat the WHAT IF crowd back to the computer screen. *Sigh*. But I am making money. In fact I am making $1000 more per year than I thought I would be. So in just 100 years, that would be an extra $100,000!!!!
I like the idea of coming attractions for Broadway Shows - and in fact I think it will be even funnier "live".
What was the first non-American musical you remember seeing
Trivia Question: What B'way show sorta/kinda had a coming attraction at the end of the first act for the second?
...He hated the job until he was assigned to the TKTS booth where he lives happily ever after. The play --- really a monologue --- suffers from the fact that its author is also the performer and he has all the stage presence of a box office treasurer. Still it has its enjoyable moments, mainly in the lines he (allegedly) heard from various customers. My favorite: "Is WONDERFUL TOWN and URINETOWN the same show?".
"
It's like a camp for adults where people come from all over the world to learn, in a forest setting...
Still it has its enjoyable moments, mainly in the lines he (allegedly) heard from various customers. My favorite: "Is WONDERFUL TOWN and URINETOWN the same show?".
If memory serves, A Day In Hollywood had a sneak preview of A Night in the Ukraine before intermisison.
I love that song...I love that song. I saw THE PAJAMA GAME movie first as a small child when it was shown by Miss Frances Farmer on her afternoon movie program. And I went around singing the songs for days, until I was at last able to buy the Pajama Game soundtrack on extended 45's! Still have it, still play it....still love it!
I just thought it would be neat
to be part of Scarlet Street.
Yes, Noel beat me to the answer by a few minutes. As A DAY IN HOLLYWOOD/A NIGHT IN THE UKRAINE is one of my all-time favorite revue/musicals, I thought of the coming attractions when I was reading BK's note this morning.
I just swept the "roof" of my little balcony. There were all sorts of tiny critters in the crevices up there. Now they're in my hair.
Another one of my favs, too, DR Matt. I still laugh when I think of the late great Peggy Hewitt lugging out that huge saxophone and whomping out "On the Good Ship Lollipop" on it.
Those who've read Kritzer Time know very well what my first non US musical was: Stop the World.
I heard about this girl
So wash your hair, now! Before it's too late!
As for us musical theatre campers, at some point in the week we went skinny-dipping, and the moment that DH Noel dropped trou and jumped into the pool was the moment I knew he was the man for me.
You subscribe to "Urban Legends Review"?
As for us musical theatre campers, at some point in the week we went skinny-dipping, and the moment that DH Noel dropped trou and jumped into the pool was the moment I knew he was the man for me.
here in New York, but every time I see the buses with the "Remember your first time?" ads for it, I think about that first time in DC.
My question for ASK BK day - do you live near any of the Frank Lloyd Wright or son Lloyd Wright homes in LA or do you drive by them? And do you have a favorite?
Dear BK (and other DRs):
Continuing on a theme brought up yesterday...
What was the first non-American musical you remember seeing (in otherwords, the first import, produced on shores other than American, not the first anti-, because that's an entirely different subject)...
And what do you remember most about it?
I would say THE BOY FRIEND was probably the first non-American musical I saw in a summer stock tour when I was just barely a teen-ager.
DR DtM - i love urban legends like that!!! Spiders in the hair....yuck.
No DRMBARNUM....it was a true story! If you have a new cactus in your home that begins acting thusly....take action.
Legend: A cactus explodes and spews baby tarantulas everywhere
…
[Collected on the Internet, 1997]
My cousin claims that she knew a women, through a close friend, who had been vacationing in Arizona. She decided to dig up a cactus to take home with her. When she arrived home she potted her new cactus and placed it in her living room. She was admiring it one morning only to find that the cactus was "breathing". Puzzled, the women called the local branch of the Dept of Agriculture in her area. She was told to shut all windows and doors and get out of the house immediately. It turns out the cactus had baby tarantulas inside and burst open just a few moments after the women escaped unharmed.
…
Variations:
The plant is a cactus or a yucca, and it begins to shake, whine, or hum.
In rare versions, scorpions are said to come spewing out of the plant.
Sometimes the authorities manage to contain the damage, either by destroying the cactus before it explodes, or by dragging it out of the house before it lets loose. In other versions the plant owner escapes her home just in the nick of time; as she clears the front door, the cactus goes kaboom. Occasionally, the cactus lets loose its horde of creepies in the dead of night. In one particularly chilling version, newlyweds awaken to find thousands of baby tarantulas crawling on their faces. Though they survive the incident, the wife has to have her lips amputated because of the number of bites on her mouth and can never kiss again.
...
Origins: Legends about spiders nesting in cactuses or yuccas imported from Central America surfaced in Scandinavia and Great Britain in the early 1970s.
In 1985 an outbreak of "Spider in the Yucca" lore featured a plant supposedly bought from Marks & Spencer, a leading British department store.
Though at times this story has slipped past the watchdogs of the mainstream media and been reported as a news story, it's never been true. There has never been a spider-spewing exploding cactus, and there never will be. You see, the tale is impossible.
Read all about the cactus legend here:
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/insects/cactus.htm
My first "Broadway" musicals were actually West End shows. I didn't see New York until after I graduated from college, but while I was a sophomore in college my mom took me to London. We saw Sunset Boulevard WITH Patti LuPone, thank you very much; Les Miserables; Crazy for You; Blood Brothers; and Miss Saigon. Also, in high school I saw POTO at the Kennedy Center.
As for us musical theatre campers, at some point in the week we went skinny-dipping, and the moment that DH Noel dropped trou and jumped into the pool was the moment I knew he was the man for me.
Ah, GREAT!
Next you'll be telling us there's no Easter Bunny or Santa Claus!!!
Der Brucer, I am so with you on the de-bunking thing. I love to de-bunk a good legend or e-mail.
But what about the Easter Santa Bunny?
I trust you have shared your appreciation of these "Euro-masterworks" with DH. ;DIt is a discussion that comes up about once a year or so. While I no longer have an appreciation for, as DH calls them, "Eurotrash" musicals, I do understand the draw they have for many people. Having once been a RABID ALW fan, I know how it feels to love POTO and its cousins Jekyll & Hyde, Miss Saigon, etc. etc. etc. (to quote a musical for which my love has not waned with maturity and experience -- that's saying something, don't you think?).
der trouble-making Brucer
OH! Now that I have thought about it for a few... I'm guessing it was Cats. The "Skimbleshanks" number still occasionally gets caught in my head because of the odd meter. 10/8, 11/8, 13/8 - I can't seem to remember right now - and my fingers won't tap it out properly - brain is still waking up.
As for us musical theatre campers, at some point in the week we went skinny-dipping, and the moment that DH Noel dropped trou and jumped into the pool was the moment I knew he was the man for me.
Ew! Ew! Ew! MY MIND'S EYE! MY MIND'S EYE!
;)
How many people have friends of friends who were on staff in the ER the infamous night of Gere and the gerbil? Yes, Virginia, they saw it with their very own eyes. That must have been the best staffed ER in Los Angeles!
How many people have friends of friends who were on staff in the ER the infamous night of Gere and the gerbil? Yes, Virginia, they saw it with their very own eyes. That must have been the best staffed ER in Los Angeles!
Wow - DRPANNI - there were as many people working in the ER that night as saw ANYONE CAN WHISTLE on Broadway....and/or were at Woodstock.....or were in the ER the night they ordered pizza and somebody jizzed on it, and they just happened to test the jizz and it tested positive for AIDS!!!!
Ew! Ew! Ew! MY MIND'S EYE! MY MIND'S EYE!Yeah, I know, he almost poked my eye out, too. ;)
;)
That's a good question for today, actually: Can you name modern musicals that are well-constructed and intelligent, but still managed to appeal to the masses?
Can I start shopping for prom dresses for her now?
Debunking the legends can be fun; however, spending many too many hours squashing the eternal string of frantic Email messages from "good friends" spreading the latest Virus Hoax warning is indeed a toil and a tribulation (thank you Tim Rice).
der Brucer
By the way, my first "foreign" show was IRMA LA DOUCE. I would love to see it revived today. One of the big mysteries of movie-making is why all the songs were cut from the film except one snippett of "Dis Donc". (The same could be asked of "Fanny").
...and Follies being another. I do love the Follies album, but it is simply substandard in terms of its production and, man, that could have been one of the greatest cast albums ever recorded with a little TLC.
Yeah, I know, he almost poked my eye out, too. ;)
My back is SO sore from writing. I think I'll pause for lunch and a stretch.
It would be easier if you typed with your hands instead.
;D
It would be easier if you typed with your hands instead.
;D
"Ragtime" jumps first to mind. Also "1776" and "Shenandoah".
Then one of my favorite "musical shows" is one in which "music" plays a starring role, but none is performed on-stage - "Amadeus".
der Brucer (who thinks throwing animated films like "Hunchback of Notre Dame" into the mix might be interesting)
(I've been pushing THE RINK, too, without success).
PG is also one of my favorite musicals
PENELOPE:.. This is a simple minded play about men who enjoy killing, and men who don't.
HAROLD: I am Harold Ryan , her husband. I have killed perhaps two hundred men in wars of various sorts -- as a professional soldier. I have killed thousands of other animals as well -- for sport.
Der Brucer, have you heard the German cast recording of Hunchback? I don't speak any German (even though my mother is German) and I love it. Just listening to the songs and seeing the pictures (and NOT having "cute" gargoyles) really makes me think that this could be such a great show in English...if Disney would let them end it with Quasimodo and Esmerelda dying. From what I have been told, that's how Menken and Schwartz ended the stage version.
Thoughts on Disney's German Cast Recording
by Edward R. Cox
The highest compliment for the musical art form, IMHO (in my humble opinion), is when another artform embraces it and creates a satisfying experience. Such was the case of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The highest compliment for both of these, is for the animated feature to be rethought, and presented live on the musical stage, the original home for such works. With it's soul soaring melodies by award-winning Alan Menkin (Little Shop of Horrors, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin), and perfectly matched character-driven lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Children of Eden, Prince of Egypt), this version of the classic tale by Victor Hugo, finally gave singing voice to characters and situations that have been embraced the world over.
I don't get to go home when the day ends - I AM home. Therefore I never get to finish working. Sigh...
(The good part is that if in the middle of the day I feel like going out for a walk or an ice cream or simply lying down and reading a book - I CAN.)
Funny Frogs
We have been having busy days in the Funny Frogs classroom. We are getting used to our daily routine and memorising each other's names - quite a big task ! We have Ami, Emi, Mason, Will, Erik, Zander, Martin, Dodo, Robi, Dávid and Kevin to remember every day!
We have been painting, gluing, playing with play-dough and puzzles. During circle time we read books and sing our morning songs. We have been enjoying the sunny days outside on the swing, see-saw and in the sandpit building sand castles!
We are looking forward to spend a fun-filled school year together.
Réka Váradi
Hi! I am Réka Váradi from Gyöngyös. I lived in the United States for almost 6 years. I received my degree in Elementary Education from D'Youville College, Buffalo, New York.
I have been working with children for almost 7 years and this is my 3rd year of teaching.
My favourite activities are: constructive language activities and drama with children. I am really looking forward to having a wonderful year with my Funny Frogs! In my free time I like running, reading and hiking.[/size]
The „HAPPY KIDS” academic program is based on an international early childhood curriculum developed specifically for international schools worldwide.
In addition to the basic subjects we offer the teaching of both english and hungarian languages to native and non native speakers.
As information technology and the Internet become more and more an essential part of daily life – both at home and in the workplace – the use of computers and the Internet for the 21st century will be as common place as pen and paper.
Recognising this fact, each classroom has its own „technology center” using the latest age appropriate learning software and computer assisted language learning programs. Children will not only see the computer but also be able to ue it as a daily part of their activity program.
My question of the day is: Where in the Sam Hill are DRs Jason and Kerry?? Whatever is keeping them away from HHW lately, I hope it is something good and not something bad!
By the way, this is Brandon, the lighting technician and sound board op for the show. Hi to you all.Hello, Brandon!
For anyone else:
Does anyone know if the DVD release of The Owl and The Pussycat is the original version released to the theaters or the edited version done for the release. In other words does it have the line. Do me a favour fellas and just f**k off!"
Those who've read Kritzer Time know very well what my first non US musical was: Stop the World.Well, this counts as an oops.
And now I have a question for BK and everybody else:This explains the "No Dogs Allowed" clause in the contracts for Jessica Simpson's concert apperarances. The howling would be too much competition.
What IS it with the five-and-a-half octave range claim? The entire canon of opera music, from basso profundo to coluratura, only encompasses about four and a half octaves. So how is it that Jessica Simpson's father/manager can claim that she has a five-and-a-half octave range? If she can go from a C below middle C to the C above high C, that would be an extremely wide range, and possible (although it wouldn't be pretty), but that is only four octaves. It is just not possible, and even if it WAS possible, she would never record anything that encompassed that range. Not even close. The widest range any pop singer, excluding Mariah Carey with her whistle tones, is probably about two and a half. So what gives?
I hang my head in shame, DRs. It turns out that I had the date wrong. Abie's birthday is on August 14th NOT the 4th. :PAHA! Abie's birthday is during Birthday Week! (Der Brucer's is August 8th, mine the 17th, the week between is what we call "Birthday Week," and it's amazing how many friends/acquaintances of ours have their birthdays during that time! Abie being one of them just makes life more complete.)
Btw, in the paper today there is an article about grilling fruits. It says peaches are really good to try. Now I must do this.I'm now picturing Joe Friday and Bill Gannon playing bad cop/good cop with "Peaches," demanding she tell them everything she knows about Harry the Horseradish, and where she gets that shade of lipstick because the wife would sure love it.
I am sorry to report that actress Virginia Grey passed away on Saturday.
DRs JRand53, TD, and Robin are all likely very familiar with her as she starred in many 1940s Universal horrors, 1950s low budget sci-fi, and 50s/60s Ross Hunter soapers.
Not for nothing folks, but I am an uncle again. DP John's sister-in-law just gave birth to Kate Marie.It's amazing how you both are gonna wear the same size! Especially in mink!
The first girl in a family of 4 sons (of which my DP is one) and 3 nephews, spread over two of the 4 brothers.
Boy is she gonna be spoiled!
Can I start shopping for prom dresses for her now?
Now my chance for Dramatic Glory are gone...I might still be able to pull off Harold Ryan in "Happy Birthday Wanda June...If you play Harold Ryan, can I play "Looseleaf" Harper?