Oklahoma! - In thinking about the timeline, I wonder if I've always been wrong in crediting South Pacific with being my first movie musical. There's a vague hint of a memory telling me I was taken to this one sometime during its first release in Columbus, possibly by my grandmother who took my sister and me to several things of this nature. This could mean I saw it at the glorious Ohio Theater in its roadshow engagement. Unfortunately, I was too young to truly appreciate either of these things. I'll have to do some research.
Over the years I liked Oklahoma! well enough, but I was more interested in the other shows. Fast-forwarding to present day, I was blown away by the quality of the film, every single element of it, two years ago when Robert Harris screened the Todd-AO DCP for a small audience at the Bedford Playhouse while they were still completing renovations in the rest of the building. Blown away, I tell you. Ideal presentation in every way, blah blah blah. Seen properly, that thing is a masterpiece. Actually, it even shows up well at home in comparison with the CinemaScope version. But in a real theater? A miracle.
Carousel - I don't remember my first contact with it. I know I had the soundtrack recording at home. Later I was very much into the RCA Lincoln Center revivals and thrilled to that one before ever hearing the original cast. I then saw the tour with John Raitt in Miami. I did enjoy the film version back then, but I haven't watched it in many years.
The King and I - Never saw this one on stage in my early years. Just the film, which I loved, and - again - I played that soundtrack recording many times up to when the Lincoln Center one was issued, and that was a game changer, for the general production and for the inclusion of the "Small House of Uncle Thomas" ballet. Many years later I enjoyed listening to the studio cast recording with Julie Andrews which uses the film orchestrations -- one of the few times that's ever been done.
I talked about my South Pacific history just a week or two ago, so I'll leave that one alone except to say the Lincoln Center production was a marvel to these eyes and ears. As a side note, this was later in the run when Laura Osnes was playing Nellie Forbush, and I was enchanted - to the point that when the telecast came around and Kelli O'Hara was back in the role, it just seemed rather ordinary. Oh, shame on me.
The Sound of Music - After years of wrestling with this conflict, I've come around to seeing both the stage and film versions as ideal in their respective places. Having grown up on the original cast recording and seeing a few local stage productions, when I saw the movie in its roadshow engagement, the changes in treatment came as a shock, however visually beautiful it was. So it took me some years, but now I'm right there with anyone who finds the film version a work of genius in its own right.
