Haines His Way

Break a leg, Maya!  

It looks as though I'm in the minority, but I love "Moulin Rouge"!  I think that it's silly fun with great music and choreography, and though the camera angles make me a little dizzy, it's beautifully directed.  More importantly, it appeals to my generation (kids brought up on MTV after MTV stopped showing music videos!) and introduces them to musicals.  I can't tell you how many of my peers loved "Moulin Rouge" so much that they saw Luhrrman's "La Boheme", which they loved, so they went and saw more musicals.  Some even saw operas!  Creating an audience for musical theatre in young people is important, and any movie that makes an effort to do that is incredibly admirable.

The much mentioned "Chorus Line" is truly awful, as are all the recent made-for-TV musicals that have aired lately.  "Annie", "The Music Man", and "Bye Bye Birdie" all have wonderful film versions already, and I see no reason to remake something that is already done well (especially when the remake is crummy).  I'm also not fond of the movie of "Hedwig And The Angry Inch".  Though I never got to see the off-Broadway production, having read the script, it seems to me that the movie isn't true to the feel of the stage version.  Though the movie is fun and entertaining, it's not very funny and it's certainly not moving.  The music also just doesn't sound good in the film version.  I just find the movie to be really disappointing.

Jrand, can you post that pdf file in that thread?  That would be GREAT!

Maya, Break the proverbial.

I am not a member at FSM, but I will give it a shot!

I just read the interview....very nice!  And you may have commented on this before, MR BK, but did you mention the Tammy 45 incident to Ms Reynolds....and if so what was her reaction?

No, never mentioned it to Debs.  

Just register and you can post.  Pics attach the same way they do here.  The idiot just wrote me and is STILL saying it wasn't released until September - all because of the Schwann listing.  This is his MO - just because it's written somewhere he believes it and doesn't think that anything written could be in error.  I sent him your info as well as posting it, but the ad would be great - the final nail in his obnoxious coffin.

"Errant" and "truant" don't even cover it, I know.  Apologies!  See why I'm the world's oldest newbie?  Today's notes reminded me of a few of my favorite topics and questions.

Even as an admitted Lerner & Loewe fanatic it's hard to defend "The Little Prince" as the movie it turned out to be.  However, as an IDEA for a movie, and a SCORE for a movie, I'm actually quite fond of it.  Give the songs a chance!  "The Little Prince" -- ahem -- GROWS on you!

I can't remember if this has come up at HHW or not, but the long-lost demo tape of Lerner & Loewe themselves performing their "Little Prince" songs, as they intended them to sound, is now available on CD!  It's well worth hearing as a document not only of the complete, untampered-with score, but of the songwriters as well, since precious few recordings of Lerner & Loewe performing together exist.

Lerner's portrayal of all the different roles is charming, and Loewe's keyboard virtuosity is incredible, particularly for an arthritic septuagenarian.  Buy your copy NOW at www.frederickloewe.org, or www.bluedalmatian.com.  (End plug here.)

***

Mr. White mentioned "Goodbye Mr. Chips."  Reminds me of a question I ask now and then at various message boards.  Years ago, in ShowMusic magazine, I read about the long gestation period of the movie, during which several songwriting teams were engaged to write spec "Chips" scores, before the producer finally went with Leslie Bricusse.

The article mentioned that an LP (or was it a multi-LP set?) was put together by the producer and distributed to cast, crew & friends.  Does anyone have this set, or know what is on it?  Track listing please?

A recent Google search turned up a Petula Clark CD set called "I Love to Sing," which contains several rejected "Mr. Chips" songs by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent ("Downtown").  --Was this material included on the legendary rejected-demos LP?

***

All this talk of "The Pirate" reminds me of the "Be a Clown"/"Make 'Em Laugh" incident.  The story goes that when "Singin' in the Rain" was being prepped, a Donald O'Connor acrobatic/comedy number was needed , "something along the lines of 'Be a Clown,' from that other picture."

Well, it seems Arthur Freed & Nacio Herb Brown took the suggestion literally and turned in a near-ripoff of Porter's song.  The result, of course, is the legendary number for which O'Connor will always be best remembered.

But questions remain:

What the heck were Freed & Brown thinking?

. . . And which was the better song?

. . . And what did Porter think?

To quote Hugh Fordin, "Only a man of Cole Porter's tact and distinction would have chosen to ignore the existence of that song."

DR SIGERSON HOLMES I am chomping at the bit to hear those unused CHIPS songs....

Jennifer, have you heard the rumor that Omarosa and Sam were moles?

Where did you hear that?

I don't want to spoil anything for tonight's show.  But it was reported on all the entertainment shows that some past contestants would return.

OMG what a liar that witch is!

Jrand, if you e-mail it to me as a jpeg attachment, I'll post it.

Done and done MRBK!

Yes, DRSigerson....ALL OF THEM!

"Oh. So they added that 'We Got Annie' song for her?" Um, yes. So much for him knowing Broadway shows.

Of course, that song was indeed written for the stage version, but was subsequently "lost in Boston," only to be resurrected for the Huston movie.

I can't tell you how many of my peers loved "Moulin Rouge" so much that they saw Luhrrman's "La Boheme", which they loved, so they went and saw more musicals.  Some even saw operas!  Creating an audience for musical theatre in young people is important, and any movie that makes an effort to do that is incredibly admirable.

You make a very good point there, Jenny.  While I found sitting through Moulin Rouge! tortuous, I agree with you that if it interests a new generation in musical, it has done an admirable thing.

Welcome back, Mr. Holmes...

On Cole Porter's generosity in not suing those who'd stolen from him, Sheldon Harnick tells the story of being thrilled that Porter was considering the theft of his Begin the Beguine in Harnick's Boston Beguine, and said to the question of whether to sue: "Nah!"

I really like OLIVER! too, even more than FUNNY GIRL which came out the same year on film.

Yes, I know XANADU is a guilty pleasure for a lot of people, but I really don't like it at all. So that's one that I don't get.

Der Brucer and I will be off tomorrow, to sit upon his grandlads.

I hope they don't squirm too much.

 

Have a conundrum: We're trying to post the newspaper ad from jrand's post.  He's sent it to me and I've saved it on my computer.  However, the board over at FSM doesn't work like ours - there's a place to add an attachment for a photo but there's no browse button, just a place to put in an http:// url.  Does anyone have a clue how to get the photo from my computer to their board?