TOD: I think the late Peter Howard was the last of the great Broadway dance arrangers, so nearl;y any show with his work is tops in my book, especially Hello Dolly!'s "Dancing" and "Waiter's Galop." These days the dance arrangers seem to write for the most part rinky-dink mickey-mouse crap.
Trude Rittman, beautiful lady and the greatest of the greats:
CAROUSEL: Louise Ballet and the Hornpipe for "Blow High, Blow Low," in which she makes music from fragments of that song and "You're A Queer One, Julie Jordan"
THE KING AND I: The Small House of Uncle Thomas, which is maybe 10% Rodgers and 90% Rittman
FINIAN'S RAINBOW: the polonaise beginning "When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich"
PAINT YOUR WAGON: "Lonely Men" and "Another Autumn"
CAMELOT: "The Lusty Month of May" and Morgan le Fay's Court
Trude was responsible for giving Frederick Loewe and Kurt Weill the layouts for BRIGADOON and ONE TOUCH OF VENUS and they both have great dance music
MY FAIR LADY: Trude's big number was the Act One "Decorating Eliza" ballet cut after the New Haven opening; I'd love to hear it
GENEVIEVE PITOT
LI'L ABNER: Sadie Hawkins Ballet
CAN-CAN: Quadrille, surprisingly, her big Garden of Eden ballet isn't very good
KISS ME, KATE: all of it, so good, especially the Tarantella and Pavane
I just heard her work on HIGH BUTTON SHOES and iot's great fun but the rumor isd the big Mack Sennett ballet is by Styne himself
JOHN MORRIS
WILDCAT, the excerpts on the cast recording are fantastic
BYE BYE BIRDIE, I am disappointed in the Big Shriners' Ballet and has anyone heard "100 Ways To Kill A Man"?
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: the dances are the best part of a mediocre score missing all of Jane Austen's wit
LEONARD BERNSTEIN: ON THE TOWN
