Haines His Way

Archives => Archive 7 => Topic started by: bk on September 07, 2006, 12:27:06 AM

Title: DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: bk on September 07, 2006, 12:27:06 AM
Well, you've read the notes, the notes have drained your cranium, and now it is time for you to post until the post-prandial cows come home.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: bk on September 07, 2006, 12:29:47 AM
And the word of the day is: GAZABO!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: George on September 07, 2006, 12:40:10 AM
Gazebo has always been a funny word to me. ;D
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: George on September 07, 2006, 12:40:53 AM
Gazebo and kumquat.  Kumquat is a funny word, too. ;)
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: George on September 07, 2006, 12:41:08 AM
Just had to share. :)
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: George on September 07, 2006, 12:41:46 AM
A Very Happy Birthday to DR William E. Lurie!!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: George on September 07, 2006, 12:50:18 AM
Well, I'm going to bed.  Good night, DakotaCelt!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Michael on September 07, 2006, 12:59:57 AM
A Very Happy Birthday to DR William E. Lurie!!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Michael on September 07, 2006, 01:01:11 AM
TOD
Water the best thirst quencher.

TOD
Something with chocolate. But I try (and it's hard to) avoid anything sweet these days.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Michael on September 07, 2006, 01:01:33 AM
What am I doing up so early????
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Michael on September 07, 2006, 01:01:54 AM
15 days and counting
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DearReaderLaura on September 07, 2006, 01:03:15 AM
In the Breaking News category: They may have captured the Baseline Killer in Phoenix, Arizona. This would be the second serial killer roaming our streets.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Michael on September 07, 2006, 01:05:26 AM
The Buster Keaton documentary A Hard Act to follow was the followup to the Unknown Chaplin documentary. I believe they did one more with Harold Lloyd as the subject.

One really doesn't see genius like those three gentleman anymore.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DearReaderLaura on September 07, 2006, 01:06:24 AM
TOD: If Diet Coke and water are not quenching your thirst, maybe some Gatorade would do it. It has the electrolytes and stuff that you need if you are dehydrated.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Michael on September 07, 2006, 01:06:54 AM
Just realized I hit the 4000 mark a few posts ago, but that that is small compared to BK and DR. Matt Hough who together are nearing 50,000 posts!!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Maria on September 07, 2006, 01:08:26 AM
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DR WILLIAM E. LURIE!

I do believe the word of the day is not "gazEbo" - but "gazAbo."

According to languagehat.com:

GAZABO

A slang term from the early part of the last century meaning 'guy, fellow' or (according to Howard N. Rose's 1934 A Thesaurus of Slang) 'a friend or companion.' Jack London in Valley of the Moon (1913) uses it thus: "By the sixth round the wise gazabos was offerin' two to one against me."

...From a poem by Edwin Honig, "The Gazabos":

I saw them dancing,
the gazabos, apes of joy, swains of
their pocket mirrors, to each a world:
a dancing, a gallumphing, a guzzling
of themselves...

And on that note (b-flat), good-night, Dear Gazabos.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: elmore3003 on September 07, 2006, 03:57:15 AM
Good morning, all!  I believe the gazabo should stay in the gazebo.

This afternoon's our first band reading for THE TRAGIC AND HORRIBLE LIFE OF THE SINGING NUN, and I am looking forward to it.  I have some time this morning in the recording office, and I hope there will be a few new scores to peruse.

A happy birthday wish to William Lurie.  I see him posting occasionally on the Cast Recording List, but I have no idea what other sites he may be frequenting these days.

Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: S. Woody White on September 07, 2006, 04:40:04 AM
And the word of the day is: GAZABO!
I have no anagrams for GAZABO, nor do any of my fellows.  Of course, since my fellows are all dogs, they don't give a dang about anagrams.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: S. Woody White on September 07, 2006, 04:44:00 AM
My thirst quenchers tend to be sodas, in flavors like black cherry and ginger ale.  Oh, and birch beer, which I much prefer over root beer.

I'm not much of a sweets fan.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: William E. Lurie on September 07, 2006, 06:26:05 AM
Thank you for the birthday wishes.  However I am not a FORMER Dear READER... I still readHHW daily.  However I don't have as much time to post as I used to.  But good times and bumtimes I'm still here!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 06:48:15 AM
Happy Birthday William E. Lurie!!!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 06:56:14 AM
Well, I THINK it worked.  It was almost strangely quiet in my bedroom last night.  Perhaps I had gotten used to the noise.  

The cats were fighting like cats and cats as I got ready this morning.  Man that irritates me...I separated them and made sure they had both eaten breakfast. They seemed to have setteled down when I left. I think me being tense about possible bat sightings has them a little wound up too.

Then I got to work and the secretary who refused to do my work just a few short weeks ago is now doing things I have told her I want to do myself. She's driving me nuts!!!! She's like a mother hen, she has a sinus infection and says that she really should be home etc...  Then go home!!!! However the investigator I really need to do some things for me is staying home with a sick kid for the second day in a row....I get so sick of it. Someone is gone everyday for at least part of the day for their kids.   I understand every now and then but not every day.  Of course these are the same people who thought it wasn't fair that I took time off....AHHHHH.

Ok, end of rant.  
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 06:58:02 AM
On another note, there is a beautiful clear blue sky out my window. The sun is shining and it looks like a beautiful day.   I've lost over 10 pounds now....things aren't so bad
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: FJL on September 07, 2006, 07:09:44 AM
An anagram for GAZABO is "BAZ' GOA" - a trade reference to the much-talked-about and probably in turnaround Baz Luhrmann opera production of A Madhouse in Goa.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: FJL on September 07, 2006, 07:11:57 AM
Favorite thirst quencher these days is iced green tea.  It hits the spot, and there's at least an illusion that I'm doing something good for myself when drinking it
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: FJL on September 07, 2006, 07:14:53 AM
Happy birthday to William E. Lurie!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Ron Pulliam on September 07, 2006, 07:29:17 AM
Happy Birthday, DR William E. Lurie
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Ron Pulliam on September 07, 2006, 07:29:52 AM
If actor Bo Hopkins moved to Israel and settled in a contentious area, he might be known as "Gaza Bo"!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Ron Pulliam on September 07, 2006, 07:30:24 AM
Yes, I'm up.


I'm already at work!


Don't ask me why.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Ron Pulliam on September 07, 2006, 07:30:40 AM
I said, "Don't ask me why!"
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Ron Pulliam on September 07, 2006, 07:35:58 AM
Big Brother7 -- SPOILER




Phase 2 of the HOH competition is done and Mike has won it.  Janelle is now out of the competition and must rely upon Erika winning Phase 3 (the final part) to continue in the game.  If Erika wins (it will be a mental challenge), she must then decide who to take with her to the final 2.

Smart money would probably be on keeping Mike, since Janelle poses a bigger vote threat to Erika.  And Erika has a romantic attachment to Mike, as well.  Still...she knows she's being played and Mike has pissed her off/hurt her over the past week.  It's anybody's guess at this point....and it won't be resolved until the final competition and the winner's choice.

If Mike wins, it will be interesting to see which of the women he feels he stands a better chance against.  He has said he's playing for 2nd place.  I don't think he believes that, but it appeases the ladies.  
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 07:36:40 AM
Good morning!

Loving these col mornings. I jsut wish the days would STAY cool instead of warming up. The A/C kicks in mid-afternoon which is better than running all day, but I long for fall when I can have fresh air all dayh long.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 07:38:23 AM
I really do think water is the best thirst quencher for me. Sometimes, I'll add a little lemon juice and some sweet and low to make a very weak lemonade, but generally, water by itself will do it.

I used to LOVE Crystal Light, but it got too expensive.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Ron Pulliam on September 07, 2006, 07:38:26 AM
Good morning!

Loving these col mornings. I jsut wish the days would STAY cool instead of warming up. The A/C kicks in mid-afternoon which is better than running all day, but I long for fall when I can have fresh air all dayh long.

The fog is thick here this morning...and the air is very chilled.

Brrrrrrrrr.

Wish I could share it with those in need of a change of pace.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 07:39:37 AM
I have here right now my favorite sweet tooth confection - frosted brownies. I get a double shot of chocolate (to which I am definitely addicted) in one convenient piece of food.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Ron Pulliam on September 07, 2006, 07:40:14 AM
Water is great, no doubt about it.

But I prefer a tiny kick...and I love my iced tea for the caffeine bounce it gives me!  An occasional squirt of lemon juice in it adds a nice zest that is also a change.

 
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Ron Pulliam on September 07, 2006, 07:40:56 AM
I just finished a banana/walnut muffin.  And I'm enjoying my daily cup of coffee.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 07:41:01 AM
I recorded BUSTER KEATON - A HARD ACT TO FOLLOW off TCM some years ago. Marvelous three part documentary that covers all phases of his career including his final years with interviews from the man himself. For a fan, it's not to miss.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 07:42:12 AM
The fog is thick here this morning...and the air is very chilled.

Brrrrrrrrr.

Wish I could share it with those in need of a change of pace.


And I'll bet the highs won't get to 70. We're having 82 today.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 07:43:55 AM
I have two more WILL & GRACE episodes on the second disc to get to today (the first two parts of FAGMALION, the four parter in which Will and Jack give "queer eye" type lessons to Dan Futterman).

Then, I'd like to rewatch that Leonard Bernstein documentary recorded off PBS last night.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 07:46:23 AM
I think I mentioned the other day that I checked out the transfer of THE TOAST OF NEW ORLEANS the other day to see how the color looked, etc. - marvelous.

I was surprised to see Rita Moreno billed. I haven't seen the movie in awhile, so I'm curious to see if she's the bayou lass he dumps when he falls for Kathryn Grayson. But I probably won't get to it until the weekend. I'll probably watch THE SEVEN HILLS OF ROME first.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Ron Pulliam on September 07, 2006, 07:55:24 AM
Misheard Lyrics:

Locked in the back room
With bacon face
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: MBarnum on September 07, 2006, 08:04:48 AM
TOD:

Water and dark chocolate
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Ron Pulliam on September 07, 2006, 08:37:46 AM
As for what satisfies my sweet tooth cravings:

Nothing is better than a nice, crispy Toll House cookie with pecans or walnuts.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 08:43:22 AM
Guess I'll jump off-line and start thinking about lunch preparation.

WBBL.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Ron Pulliam on September 07, 2006, 08:47:55 AM
I just saw a news headline that read: "Northwest recalls idle flight attendants".

How nice of Northwest to remember those without jobs!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:48:39 AM
TOD: Water or Ice Tea and Chocolate
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:50:11 AM
Think I'm going to go home for lunch this noon.  I'm in a strange mood - maybe it's  the lunar eclipse today - going home will be a nice break
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Jennifer on September 07, 2006, 08:52:02 AM
Happy Birthday to DR William E. Lurie.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:52:32 AM
BB SPOILERS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~







Ron P -
Thanks for the BB update. I haven't had time to check Canoe since yesterday evening.  I think Janelle may be SOL, but Erika was pretty darned ticked at Boogie.  Still, if Erika wins she would be smart to take Boogie, I don't think he has much respect in this game at all.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: bk on September 07, 2006, 09:20:02 AM
I'm up, I'm up.  Must go get some more envelopes and then attempt to jog.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Maria on September 07, 2006, 09:29:06 AM
Just corrected my birthday greeting.

It's HUMID out. Saturday I'm having a garage sale (a number of houses on my street are doing it). It's supposed to cool down a bit by then. I sure hope so.

Sunday I'm volunteering for the Ovarian Cancer Walk at the CBS Radford Studios. Have to be there by 6 AM and sit at a table to check in the walkers. Again - hope it cools down or I'll melt. But I'll be melting for a good cause...
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DearReaderLaura on September 07, 2006, 09:37:01 AM
We had some rain during the night, which left the trails muddy. But it is COOL and cloudy and a wonderful day to go walking!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DearReaderLaura on September 07, 2006, 09:37:34 AM
Happy Birthday to DR William E. Lurie!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DearReaderLaura on September 07, 2006, 09:38:07 AM
And Happy Anniversary to ME! Twenty-seven happy years.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: MusicGuy on September 07, 2006, 09:53:40 AM
Dear Esteemed, drained, unsated, and craving BK --

The thirst thing is a hard one!  I get in those type of moods, and I try lemonade, and then ice water, and then caffeine-free Pepsi..........  I find that I feel more "quenched" if I have whatever the beverage is  poured into a tall glass with lots of ice.  It seems to be more refreshing, the colder it is.

As to the other TOD -- the 2 best sweet-treats for me would be some kind of really good ice cream creation (maybe we can go to C.C. Brown's when I'm over next :) ) or a genuine, properly made french eclair.

I'm glad the casting for The Brain is going well, and continued good luck!  And remember, you promised DP Kerry and I a certain homemade cooked treat at your house, if we came over to the Brain opening !  Yummy !!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: MusicGuy on September 07, 2006, 09:55:02 AM

Hi DR Laura ........Happy anniversary!  
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: MusicGuy on September 07, 2006, 09:55:47 AM

And, ..... a Happy Birthday Huzzah to DR Bill Lurie  
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 09:57:32 AM
Happy Anniversary DR Laura
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 10:00:30 AM
Coming home for luch was indeed a good idea. Cats have calmed down.  Callie has seemed a bit 'off' the past couple days.  She goes in for a scheduled check up tomorrow, so I'm not going to worry about it til then. It's always something, no?  

Better get back to work.  I have court in a couple hours...
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DearReaderLaura on September 07, 2006, 10:01:26 AM
Thanks, MusicGuy and Cillaliz.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: PennyO on September 07, 2006, 10:03:39 AM
Happy Anniversary, DearReader Laura!!! and many more.

And a happy birthday to our esteemed Mr. Lurie.

TOD - water, cold but no ice, piece of lemon. Very thirst quenching. On occasion, a cold caffeine-free diet coke or pepsi. That ZING! of battery-acid flavor is so crisp and thirst quenching!!

Sweet tooth is always satisfied by ice cream. Used to be something intense - like fudge or something - but I just can't eat that stuff any more.

In re: the notes -- that part of the female alien is such a great part!!! That's the role I fantasized playing when I came to the reading a few months ago. Trust me - anyone you might offer it to would jump at the chance!!! The song is SO GOOD!!! a real showstopper! The girl who played the character in the reading had some trouble with the song, and STILL stopped the show!!!! Can't wait to see the full staged version. Hilarious! Uproarious!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: PennyO on September 07, 2006, 10:06:12 AM
This feral cat is lying purring in my lap right now... when I got home last night, she was finishing a dinner of my last chipmunk. The tail is still on the porch this morning. She bats it around and jumps at it... Apparently, the Happy Meal came with a toy...
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: PennyO on September 07, 2006, 10:08:47 AM
I think she had her litter of kittens about 10 days ago - she vanished for a couple of days. When she showed up again, she was acting very strange, and her girth has steadily diminished. And she just hangs around here, mostly in the house. I think the babies must not have made it. Probably a good thing, with the cold weather starting.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: FJL on September 07, 2006, 10:10:25 AM
Happy anniversary, Laura!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: PennyO on September 07, 2006, 10:11:42 AM
Gotta cut back the last of the iris today, haul some brush, return the neighbor's wheel barrow, and start packing. The leaves have started turning red and gold, trees getting bare, raccoons and cats scarfing down mountains of food in preparation for a cold winter. Birds and PennyO preparing to head south to sunnier climes...
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Ben on September 07, 2006, 10:17:00 AM
Happy Anniversary Laura!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: FJL on September 07, 2006, 10:28:42 AM
Again, announcing an HHW get-together in NYC on Saturday evening, Sept. 30th around 8 p.m.

Place:  a restaurant in the theater district, to be determined once we know approximately how many people are coming

Finances: every person pays for his or her own food & drink

Reason for the get-together:  BK will be in town and at this particular get-together

If you can come:  Email me at my AOL address Dylan43rd  - ASAP, but let's pick a random date for RSVP'ing of Sept. 15th so that we'll have plenty of time to make a reservation
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: FJL on September 07, 2006, 10:29:39 AM
I had nothing else to say, so i decided to post that announcement again.  :)
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: FJL on September 07, 2006, 10:30:34 AM
And I got two posts out of it!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: FJL on September 07, 2006, 10:31:02 AM
Make that three psots, or is it now four?
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: FJL on September 07, 2006, 10:31:46 AM
The restaurant will most likely be Joe Allen's on 46th between 8th and 9th.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: bk on September 07, 2006, 10:48:42 AM
Back from the jog.  Now I'll go to Staples and get envelopes.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DearReaderLaura on September 07, 2006, 10:52:53 AM
Thanks, Penny, FJL, and Ben!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Jrand74 on September 07, 2006, 11:14:52 AM
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO DR WILLIAM E LURIE

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO DR LAURA....and you know of course that ANY place in Arizona that YOU are...is the prettiest place in Arizona
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Jrand74 on September 07, 2006, 11:15:58 AM
DR JANE - I will post more pics of Ms Blue Moon in a few weeks when I have some time to take some nice ones.

MOCKINGBIRD opens tonight to a nearly sold out house - and I am hoping we get through it without TOO many mistakes and TOO many L O N G  D R A M A T I C pauses.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Jrand74 on September 07, 2006, 11:17:58 AM
Glad you are Bat-Proof DR CILLA LIZ.

I was waiting to make an entrance last night and down the steps came hopping ... a BAT!  He couldn't fly, I guess, he was trying to get offstage, must have forgotten his lines....  He caused great consternation among those standing nearby.  Calpurnia had the answer - she said "He's hurt, step on him and kill him."

I said:  "I can't!"   Not sure what finally happened to him.  I think he made his way out the back door with the help of a broom.  On his way to Iowa, no doubt!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Jrand74 on September 07, 2006, 11:19:23 AM
Sounds like the PLANET X casting is superb....and of course the SONDHEIM cd's are eagerly anticipated across the NATION!!

MR BK - I think many DR's explained an answer song....one example not given was QUEEN OF THE HOUSE....a reply to Roger Miller's KING OF THE ROAD.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Jrand74 on September 07, 2006, 11:29:04 AM
Didn't Marie Curie discover dranium?
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 11:36:43 AM
 And remember, you promised DP Kerry and I a certain homemade cooked treat at your house, if we came over to the Brain opening !  Yummy !!

Pray it isn't Whacky Noodles!

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 11:38:49 AM
Then I got to work and the secretary who refused to do my work just a few short weeks ago is now doing things I have told her I want to do myself. She's driving me nuts!!!! She's like a mother hen, she has a sinus infection and says that she really should be home etc...  Then go home!!!! However the investigator I really need to do some things for me is staying home with a sick kid for the second day in a row....I get so sick of it. Someone is gone everyday for at least part of the day for their kids.   I understand every now and then but not every day.  Of course these are the same people who thought it wasn't fair that I took time off....AHHHHH.

Ok, end of rant.  

Are you sure you don't work at the U. S. Post Office?

der Brucer

Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 11:40:01 AM
Impulse orders from Kritzerland would be facilitated by a hot-link on this here site!

der very lazy Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 11:57:28 AM
We have the Candide, has anyone heard comments concerning the others?

Quote
A quartet of legendary Broadway musicals - Candide, The King and I, My Fair Lady and South Pacific - gets a fresh airing in Masterworks Broadway's restoration of four essential cast recordings never before been issued on CD.  Originally recorded in stereo and each a more complete representation of the show than its original cast recording, the four Masterworks Broadway titles have been remastered for this release from original analogue source tapes using Sony's Direct Stream Digital (DSD) System and SBM Direct to achieve the best in restored sound.  Candide, The King and I, My Fair Lady and South Pacific will be in stores August 29, 2006.

Masterworks Broadway is a new imprint of Sony BMG Masterworks, showcasing the label's commitment to the great music of Broadway past and present.  Masterworks Broadway will explore the riches of its combined catalogue of show recordings, originally made for RCA/BMG Classics and Columbia/CBS Masterworks/Sony Classical, in addition to recordings of new musical productions, such as the current hit The Wedding Singer, the upcoming revival of A Chorus Line and a deluxe 10th-anniversary edition of Chicago.

All four recordings have been repackaged with original cover art, and each booklet is illustrated with rarely seen session photos from the Sony BMG Archives.

The two Rodgers and Hammerstein titles - The King and I and South Pacific - are recordings of lavish Music Theater of Lincoln Center revivals, which were cast and supervised by Richard Rodgers himself in 1964 and 1967, respectively.  Original cast recordings of both shows predated stereo recording, so these are the only stereo theatrical recordings that directly reflect Rodgers' famously specific ideas about how the scores should sound.  

For South Pacific - a recording produced by Edward Kleban, who would later become the lyricist of A Chorus Line - the composer cast the operatic bass Giorgio Tozzi for the role of Emile de Becque (Tozzi "ghosted" the songs for actor Rossano Brazzi on the soundtrack of the 1958 film version) and, as the irrepressible Ensign Nellie Forbush, Broadway veteran Florence Henderson, shortly before she entered the pop-culture pantheon as the mom on TV's The Brady Bunch.

The CD release of The King and I includes a brief track - "Western People Funny" - that was recorded at the original sessions but never released.  Opera's Risë Stevens and the late TV star Darren McGavin headline as Anna and the King of Siam, with richly sung supporting performances by Tony winner Patricia Neway (The Sound of Music) as Lady Thiang, Lee Venora as Tuptim and Frank Porretta as Lun Tha.  This musically impeccable interpretation - led by Stevens' gracious Anna and McGavin as a powerful but less domineering King than Yul Brynner - might well be taken as Rodgers' final word on the show.

The Candide recording captures the uproarious energy - dialogue as well as musical numbers - of director Harold Prince's iconoclastic reinterpretation of this problematic musical, first staged in Brooklyn in 1973 and transferred to Broadway the following year for a lengthy run that resulted in five Tony Awards and a special citation from the New York Drama Critics Circle.  With its cheerfully profane new book, some fresh Stephen Sondheim lyrics and zesty orchestrations, this Candide is a radical but hugely entertaining departure from the much grander original production, featuring infectious performances from Mark Baker, Maureen Brennan, Lewis J. Stadlen and June Gable.

The 1976 recording of Broadway's 20th anniversary revival of My Fair Lady gives a new lease on life to a show inevitably haunted by the voices of Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews and Stanley Holloway on the original cast recordings from New York and London.   Christine Andreas, who is currently starring in the national tour of The Light in the Piazza, had her breakthrough on Broadway as Eliza Doolittle in this production, opposite Ian Richardson's distinctive Henry Higgins and George Rose's Tony-winning portrayal of Alfred P. Doolittle.  The sumptuous recording includes "The Embassy Waltz," which did not make the cut on either of the show's original cast recordings.

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: bk on September 07, 2006, 12:16:35 PM
All packages have been addressed.  Whew!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 12:31:39 PM
Well, we had "answer songs", so now we get "answer films":

ABC's "The Path to 9/11" is an answer to Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11"

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 12:33:17 PM
All packages have been addressed.  Whew!

Does "all" include orders placed an hour or so ago :)

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Jrand74 on September 07, 2006, 12:46:30 PM
the intinerary of DR TOMovOZ and DP COLIN is divoon!!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Jrand74 on September 07, 2006, 12:47:10 PM
Off to the THEE-AY-TER
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Jennifer on September 07, 2006, 12:57:37 PM
Happy anniversary DR laura.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Jennifer on September 07, 2006, 01:03:09 PM
Big brother spoilers.

*
*
*























I am really upset at the results of the hoh (part 2).
For anyone who thought that janelle has been favored, she was totally thrown to the wolves this time. They had a physical challenge that required upper arm strength. And no woman could have beat a man (well unless it was george).

Really not happy about that. Even if it had been erika vs boogie, she would not have been able to win.

I don't think i'm just annoyed because i'm a janelle fan. I mean if there was no possible way she could win, what was the point.

I really hope erika wins part 3 because i want to know if she will keep her word to janelle. I originally thought she would, because she would not want to hand the money to boogie. But she doesn't know that he used her and can't stand her. So i think she will fall back under his spell.

If erika does win and takes boogie then i hope she gets what she deserves. I really cannot stand when people make promises at the end and then don't keep them. That is really low to me. Janelle saved her butt and she should keep her word. If she was guaranteed to win over boogie then perhaps i could understand her decision. But she will most likely lose to him. And for that reason she should not let him win.

Plus it will sicken me if i have to watch them in the F2.

Oh the reason i think E is turning on J is beause you can tell by the conversations. Erika told boogie a lot that janelle has told him (last night) and then she said she would take him to the finals. And then she didn't go back and tell janelle everything her and boogie talked about.  I hate that she is sucking up to him just because he's in power now. Yuck.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: bk on September 07, 2006, 01:13:10 PM
Break a leg, Jrand!

I'm on my way to LACC, after which I shall return.  I'll not be going to the Peckinpah screening as the film I want to see won't start until after ten, which is too late for the likes of me.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DearReaderLaura on September 07, 2006, 01:23:55 PM
Thanks, JRand and Jennifer!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Ginny on September 07, 2006, 01:44:53 PM
Thursday greetings!  I am late logging in here, because my day started very early this morning and just now stopped near a computer (at home).  Picked up my aunt at the sleep center, took her home & got her settled, headed for Columbus for a 3-hour meeting, and drove home.

Waiting for the family to gather so we can go out to dinner to celebrate DS Rob's 21st birthday.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Ginny on September 07, 2006, 01:46:08 PM
Happiest of birthdays to DR William E Lurie!

Happiest of anniversaries to DR DearReaderLaura!

Brokenest of legs to DR JRand and the cast of TKaM!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 01:47:57 PM
Anybody know a decent Federal Defense Attorney:

 Fargo Justice! (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,211060,00.html)

Quote
Defense Rests After Calling Just 1 Witness in N.D. Slain Student Trial
Tuesday , August 29, 2006
 
FARGO, N.D. — Attorneys for the man accused of abducting college student Dru Sjodin from a shopping mall parking lot and killing her rested their case Tuesday after calling just one witness.

Closing arguments in the trial of Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. were expected Tuesday afternoon, and U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson told jurors to expect to begin deliberations later in the day.

 DA's case (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119739,00.html)

Quote
The only defense witness was George Sensabaugh Jr., a forensic science professor from California who testified Tuesday that tests for sexual assault were not reliable.

Rodriguez, 53, a convicted sex offender from Crookston, Minn., has pleaded not guilty to a charge of kidnapping resulting in death. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if he is convicted.

ONE defense witness in a not-guilty capital case! Looks like any first-year law student will be able to write an appeal based on inadequate counsel!

der brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 01:49:37 PM
Happy Birthday to  William E. Lurie!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 01:49:50 PM
Advice from AOL:

Quote
Avoid wire hangers. They do hideous things to shoulders. Use wide, shaped plastic or wood ones instead.

Ms Crawford, are you listening!

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 01:51:15 PM
Good wishes for many broken legs to DR JRand on his opening tonight!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 01:51:49 PM
Happy Anniversary to DR Laura!!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 01:52:39 PM
Enjoyed several more WILL & GRACE episodes including one featuring the always hilarious Leslie Jordan and his "assistant" Benjy.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 01:53:45 PM
Also included on the third disc in the set was the Season 5 gag reel which contained some realy funny bloopers and other mistakes.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 01:54:43 PM
Spent the remainder of the afternoon watching the Leonard Bernstein documentary from PBS reshown last night. A pretty complete look at the man and his music and quite enjoyable.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 01:56:42 PM
There are two GREY'S ANATOMY episodes tonight, neither of which rings a bell in description so I must assume I haven't seen them. Looking forward to them very much.

The CSI rerun tonight was one of the more unusual ones from this past season as a camera crew follows the CSIs around for a day shooting a documentary. Watching the show in HD, the switches from standard definition (which I suspect is made even softer so as to point up the differences between the HD and SD) to high definition are startling.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Ron Pulliam on September 07, 2006, 02:01:55 PM
The day is finally waning.

I beat it to the punch, however....
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: George on September 07, 2006, 02:28:15 PM
And Happy Anniversary to ME! Twenty-seven happy years.

A Very Happy Anniversary to DearReaderLaura and her DearHusband!! ;D
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: George on September 07, 2006, 02:31:48 PM
I have here right now my favorite sweet tooth confection - frosted brownies. I get a double shot of chocolate (to which I am definitely addicted) in one convenient piece of food.

Chocolate...the Breakfast of Champions®!

;D
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 02:36:13 PM
I was absolutely astonished to read that Kenneth Branagh will be directing Michael Caine and Jude Law in a movie remake of SLEUTH, filming to begin in January. (BTW, Branagh is just a hired hand; it's Jude Law's production company who hired Branagh to do the job.)

Now, all three men are talented and wonderful at what they do, and the casting is apt, but this is going to bomb BIG TIME. I can't believe Michael Caine would agree to do it except that he gets the chance to play the other main male role and get to say that he played both parts on film in his lifetime.

But do they honestly think they can improve on the 1972 version? Is there a movie audience out there now who will sit still for such a literate theater piece on film, especially one in which the surprises are all now pretty much known throughout the world through the thousands of productions of the play and the film?
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: George on September 07, 2006, 03:03:01 PM
I was absolutely astonished to read that Kenneth Branagh will be directing Michael Caine and Jude Law in a movie remake of SLEUTH, filming to begin in January. (BTW, Branagh is just a hired hand; it's Jude Law's production company who hired Branagh to do the job.)

Now, all three men are talented and wonderful at what they do, and the casting is apt, but this is going to bomb BIG TIME. I can't believe Michael Caine would agree to do it except that he gets the chance to play the other main male role and get to say that he played both parts on film in his lifetime.

But do they honestly think they can improve on the 1972 version? Is there a movie audience out there now who will sit still for such a literate theater piece on film, especially one in which the surprises are all now pretty much known throughout the world through the thousands of productions of the play and the film?

Maybe they're going to do what was done for the remake of "Psycho" and just film the original script and recreate all the original shots while thinking that they're doing something special. :-\
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 03:15:47 PM
Going to clean the bedroom areas now, and then on to some DVD/TV watching.

WBBL.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: S. Woody White on September 07, 2006, 03:40:09 PM
I was absolutely astonished to read that Kenneth Branagh will be directing Michael Caine and Jude Law in a movie remake of SLEUTH, filming to begin in January. (BTW, Branagh is just a hired hand; it's Jude Law's production company who hired Branagh to do the job.)

Now, all three men are talented and wonderful at what they do, and the casting is apt, but this is going to bomb BIG TIME. I can't believe Michael Caine would agree to do it except that he gets the chance to play the other main male role and get to say that he played both parts on film in his lifetime.

But do they honestly think they can improve on the 1972 version? Is there a movie audience out there now who will sit still for such a literate theater piece on film, especially one in which the surprises are all now pretty much known throughout the world through the thousands of productions of the play and the film?
Sorry, DR Matt, but I have to disagree, mainly because I believe your thesis that the film and play are so well known is off.

For a great many of today's filmgoers, which basically means those in their teens and twenties, a film is not significant unless it was made during their lifetimes - even more specifically during the time they would have been going to the movies.  Sleuth was released in 1972, back when I was in college.  I am now two to three times the age of the new target audience.

Could they have seen it on television?  Perhaps, if they were attracted to films that are that "old."  Maybe they could have seen it on DVD.  Again, it's that "old" business that defeats that arguement.

And who in their right minds goes to the theater?  Look around at the audience next time you go to see a play - if it isn't being staged at a local college, the odds are the majority of those seated will be in their forties or older.

So, yes, the time is right for a remake of Sleuth.  The casting and choice of director sound right.  I'm hoping they don't mess around with the script very much, either holding themselves to a few corrections as far as updating it to the present or deliberately setting it in it's original era.

By the way, if you doubt that the younger generation would not have heard of Sleuth before, consider the following:

When Poseidon was released a few months back, one of my fellow cashiers was stunned to learn that it was a remake.  She had never heard of Shelly Winters, much less her zaftig aquaballet.  And she looked at me with wide-eyed wonder when I told her that the song "There's Got to Be a Morning After," which plays daily on our muzak system, was from the original film and had won the Oscar.

Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DearReaderLaura on September 07, 2006, 03:47:01 PM
Thanks Ginny, MattH, and George!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DearReaderLaura on September 07, 2006, 03:47:28 PM
I have been trying to take a nap. And the phone keeps ringing.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: bk on September 07, 2006, 03:49:48 PM
Back from LACC and shall now have a sandwich.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: S. Woody White on September 07, 2006, 03:54:25 PM
Back from LACC and shall now have a sandwich.
And shall now have a sandwich do what, exactly?

Inquiring minds, yadda yadda.

 ::)
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: elmore3003 on September 07, 2006, 03:55:22 PM
Thanks Ginny, MattH, and George!

DR Laura, add me to the list of well wishers!  Have you any plans for the festivities?
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: elmore3003 on September 07, 2006, 03:58:19 PM
I'm back from a long but good band rehearsal.  We got about 3/4 through the first act, but Monday's rehearsal has to get through the rest of the show.  The players are young, enthusiastic - Chris on drums, and Masae on keyboards - and love playing the score.  I'm beginning to get excited about it, but first I have to fix the spots where I screwed up.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: S. Woody White on September 07, 2006, 04:01:00 PM
I have been trying to take a nap. And the phone keeps ringing.
Are you certain it isn't your DH trying to call?

Best wishes to you both!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: MBarnum on September 07, 2006, 04:29:22 PM
DearReaderLaura, happy, happy anniversary to you and the DH!

(http://i22.ebayimg.com/05/i/07/17/0b/17_1.JPG)
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: jhvw on September 07, 2006, 04:45:30 PM
In the Breaking News category: They may have captured the Baseline Killer in Phoenix, Arizona. This would be the second serial killer roaming our streets.

That's good to hear, I'm considering moving there at the first of the year.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: jhvw on September 07, 2006, 04:49:37 PM
Happy anniversary to DearReader Laura, and Happy Birthday to all those celebrating today.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: jhvw on September 07, 2006, 04:51:40 PM
I called in sick today, it was horrible all morning but I feel better now. They're a little upset with me there but they will get over it. Does give me some good time to get stuff done around here. I'm recording all the stuff of my DVR I want to keep to my pc before I take it back. Right now I'm in the middle of a drum core competition I taped for my band director friend. I've never watched one before and it's kinda cool. Wish it was over already though, I have this documentary about 2 male prostitutes in a 3rd world country I want to copy too. *sigh* Here's to taking a day for yourself.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: jhvw on September 07, 2006, 04:53:18 PM
Cilla - hope your bat problem is over. You could send them down here to eat some of the mosquitos that have set up home in our complex. I can't enjoy sitting on my patio watching the cute boys in the pool while I'm getting eaten up by mosquitos. Humm..what to do for 45 more minutes.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: TCB on September 07, 2006, 05:12:41 PM
And Happy Anniversary to ME! Twenty-seven happy years.


And how many unhappy ones?
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DearReaderLaura on September 07, 2006, 05:22:46 PM
Thanks, Elmore, SWoody, MBarnum, and jhvw.

We went on a weekend away, but after the tire blew, we decided to just come home.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DearReaderLaura on September 07, 2006, 05:23:44 PM
No unhappy ones, TCB. I'm very fortunate to have picked a swell guy when I was young.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: TCB on September 07, 2006, 05:30:20 PM
(that was a joke, DearReaderLaura)


Seriously,


HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
[/color][/b]
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: elmore3003 on September 07, 2006, 05:31:01 PM
I forgot to comment this morning on a post from yesterday, a rebuttal to "I'm looking over a four-leaf clover":  "At least it is not as bad as the largo from Bizet's Carmen."

I have on occasion on this site, and often in public, been shot down deservedly when I foolishly or unwisely commented on something of which I have limited or no knowledge, so I'm going to shoot here since I consider Bizet's CARMEN score one of the most brilliant in the pantheon of composition for its wit, artistry, and style.  I would kill for the talent to have composed its brilliant Act Two Quintet or any number of glorious passages in this great score.  I can sing nearly every bar of this opera, but I do know one thing as well as I know my social security number, my age, my Mother's maiden name:  there is nothing in CARMEN referred to as a Largo!!!!!!!!  

In fact, the only piece I can think of referred to a "Largo" in its orchestra guise is Handel's aria "Ombra mai fu" from XERXES.

I hope this disclosure puts Carmen, its misinformed critic, and "I'm Looking Over a Four-leaf Clover" into perspective.  I will now climb off my classical music soapbox.

Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: TCB on September 07, 2006, 05:31:55 PM
And a very, very,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WEL!
[/color][/b]
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 05:36:21 PM
Glad you are Bat-Proof DR CILLA LIZ.

I was waiting to make an entrance last night and down the steps came hopping ... a BAT!  He couldn't fly, I guess, he was trying to get offstage, must have forgotten his lines....  He caused great consternation among those standing nearby.  Calpurnia had the answer - she said "He's hurt, step on him and kill him."

I said:  "I can't!"   Not sure what finally happened to him.  I think he made his way out the back door with the help of a broom.  On his way to Iowa, no doubt!

You have to be really careful of the ones who don't fly or look sick. They are often rabid
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 05:37:30 PM
Are you sure you don't work at the U. S. Post Office?

der Brucer



Well I do work for the federal government...
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: elmore3003 on September 07, 2006, 05:38:30 PM
I finished reading THE RUINS by Scott Smith today.  I loved the author's  A SIMPLE PLAN, and I didn't know what to expect from THE RUINS.  It's quite terrifying and unsettling.  I'm not sure I would call it science fiction or gothic horror, but all hell happens to its characters and I recommend it.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 05:46:53 PM
Anybody know a decent Federal Defense Attorney:

 Fargo Justice! (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,211060,00.html) DA's case (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119739,00.html)ONE defense witness in a not-guilty capital case! Looks like any first-year law student will be able to write an appeal based on inadequate counsel!

der brucer

Sometimes you don't have anyone to call as witnesses. It could be that they have more in store for the penalty phase of the trial. It's usually bifurcated.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DearReaderLaura on September 07, 2006, 05:49:03 PM
(that was a joke, DearReaderLaura)


Seriously,


HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
[/color][/b]

I know. Thanks. (And I really am fortunate.)
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 05:53:02 PM

MUSICAL NEWS   MUSICAL NEWS   MUSICAL NEWS   MUSICAL NEWS!



The Little Mermaid, the new Disney musical based on the 1989 animated film of the same name, will make its world premiere in June 2007 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts' Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Francesca Zambello will direct.

Disney Theatrical Productions President Thomas Schumacher told Playbill.com that the creative team for the musical's pre-Broadway tryout will also include Olivier Award-winning choreographer Stephen Mear, scenic designer George Tsypin, costume designer Tatiana Noginova and Tony Award-winning lighting designer Natasha Katz. Pulitzer and Tony Award winner Doug Wright — of I Am My Own Wife fame — has written the book for the The Little Mermaid, which will feature songs by Alan Menken, Glen Slater and the late Howard Ashman.

Casting for the production will begin shortly.

About the decision to launch Mermaid at the Denver Center, producer Schumacher says, "We've taken every one of our shows — except Tarzan — out of town, although we had done some out-of-town workshopping on Tarzan. But Beauty [and the Beast] started in Houston, The Lion King started in Minneapolis [and] Aida had two starts — a regional theatre production in Atlanta, after which we did a creative overhaul, and then [we] did our out-of-town tryout of the Broadway version in Chicago. [Mary] Poppins started in Bristol, so we have a long tradition of going out of town.

"You're looking for a lot of things when you go out of town with a show," Schumacher adds. "You're looking for, literally, a city you can get to — that has air service. Ideally, you want a theatre that has a slot available at the right season for you, and then you want a theatre that's fantastically well-equipped. . . . It has to be able to accommodate building new costumes, building new scenery. It has to have a crew that can handle changes, and then you want an audience that's a real theatre-going audience.

"We've had all of our shows in Denver. We launched our national tour of Lion King in Denver, so we have a history with [the city]. . . . Francesca and I talked about a lot of cities, and each has advantages, and then you weigh them against each other. Francesca likes Denver a lot, I like Denver. . . . It's a good audience, smart."

Zambello — whose directorial credits include the Bregenz Festival's production of West Side Story, the Metropolitan Opera's staging of Les Troyens and the Disney theme park version of Aladdin — will be making her Broadway debut with Little Mermaid. Schumacher first saw her work when his long-time friend, opera singer Lauren Flanigan, appeared in the San Francisco Opera's production of Prince Igor in 1996.

"It was so fantastically staged," says Schumacher, "[and] at the party afterwards I met [the opera's director] Francesca. Over the years we've kept a dialogue going. I actually asked her to do a workshop for me of [Carnival] that we ultimately didn't produce. . . . We were talking about doing something together, and she said, 'I have an idea, a way into Mermaid that I would like to try.' We had a number of meetings about it, and we just started working on it, and we began to develop the idea together. I had her meet Alan Menken, who, of course, is my partner in crime on this show."

Menken, who penned the film's five songs with the late lyricist Howard Ashman, has written several new tunes for the stage production of Mermaid. "Some of [the film's songs] were cut back in the movie and shortened," explains Schumacher, "and we expand those songs back out again. In some cases there are some reworking of lyrics done by Glen Slater because the songs have some tiny new elements in them, and Alan and Glen together have written a bunch of new songs."

When asked how the stage design will communicate the underwater experience, Schumacher says with a laugh, "Effectively! . . . Our job isn't to reproduce the movie because you can go watch the movie. Our job is to use stagecraft. We're not the first people to have ever told 'The Little Mermaid' story, [but] we're the first people to go to a kind of exotic universe.

"What I can tell you is it's big — physically. It has scale because [scenic designer] George Tsypin works with scale." Tsypin's work was seen on Broadway in the 1993 revival of In the Summer House. He also designed the sets for Julie Taymor's The Magic Flute and worked with director Zambello on her production of West Side Story.

"[Tsypin] was an architect, and he comes at things from a very structural point of view," says Schumacher. "It's a pretty aggressive design sense, which is great. I knew of him through the opera world through Julie [Taymor]. It's his first Broadway musical. It's Francesca's first Broadway show. And, [Tatiana Noginova], who's doing the costumes, it's her first Broadway show. Francesca and I went through a number of costume designers. We looked at a couple of portfolios of different people, and then she showed me Tanya's. And I loved it. Tanya was here working at the [Metropolitan Opera], and she came over and we met, and that's [how she became involved]."

To date, Disney's Broadway offerings include Aida, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Tarzan; the latter three are all still running in New York. Mary Poppins — a co-production between Disney and Cameron Mackintosh — begins previews at Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre Oct. 14 with an official opening Nov. 16. Little Mermaid's arrival on Broadway would bring the current Disney count to five.

Single tickets for The Little Mermaid are not yet available. For more information visit the Denver Center for the Performing Arts at www.denvercenter.org.
   
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 05:54:43 PM

Happy birthday, Mr William Lurie!

Happy Anniversary, DR Laura!

Loads of happiness wishes to both of you on this special day!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: elmore3003 on September 07, 2006, 05:55:19 PM
Oh, joy!  All we need on  Broadway:  another tasteless children's musical.

Call me Crabby Appleton tonight!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 05:55:20 PM
Cilla - hope your bat problem is over. You could send them down here to eat some of the mosquitos that have set up home in our complex. I can't enjoy sitting on my patio watching the cute boys in the pool while I'm getting eaten up by mosquitos. Humm..what to do for 45 more minutes.

I'm hoping that it's over too. So far so good. I'll tell them to head south!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 06:01:55 PM
Hi Crabby Appleton tonight....aka elmore
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matthew on September 07, 2006, 06:22:57 PM
Hi HHW'ers, just stopped in to say hi.  No excuse for not being here other than work has started again and "Miss Saigon" is heading quickly toward tech week.  I'm excited about Sunday eve as it's the orchestra read through.  I've spent the last month or so programming both intense keyboard parts (kybd 3 is not that intensive) and have learned a lot in the programing.  I've been able to create a few of the asian instruments needed, I'm not happy with the sound I created for the "Doc Huyen" but it's hardly heard anyway, so it won't be missed.

Off to rehearsal.  Glad to see everyone is ok, celebrating b-days and anniversary's and being their jovial HHW self.  I'll try and check in more often.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DearReaderLaura on September 07, 2006, 06:36:43 PM
Thanks, François.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DearReaderLaura on September 07, 2006, 06:51:51 PM
Here is Phoenix's top news story for today:
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: bk on September 07, 2006, 07:03:44 PM
Oh, elmore, didn't you say you were starting to work on a certain musical this week?  And I think it was about a Brain not a Nun.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: bk on September 07, 2006, 08:02:20 PM
One hour sans posting?
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 08:05:36 PM
POSEIDON was also a colossal box-office flop which, I fear, will be the fate of SLEUTH for whatever the reason.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 08:08:06 PM
I finished the third disc from the WILL & GRACE set. There was only one episode left, the second of Gene Wilder's two guest appearances on the show during Season 5.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 08:09:57 PM
I watched about 30 minutes of SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW waiting for network TV to kick in. This is the third time I've seen the film, and there are certainly pleasures to be had from it.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 08:12:25 PM
The first of the GREY'S ANATOMY episodes tonight seems to have been the second season premiere (I'm guessing since the episodes have been randomly presented this summer jumping back and forth in time.) This one had George going above and beyond the call of duty trying to find a way the bar owner from across the street could afford to have the necessary surgery without losing everything he had ever worked for.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 08:14:23 PM
The second GREY'S ANATOMY episode was much closer to the end of the season with Meredith's first date with Dr. McVet where they assisted in the delivery of a horse.

Very involving episode with the tying of the woman's tubes in one story and Denny's portable devices being rigged up in another.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 08:15:28 PM
And the CSI rerun was indeed the episode featuring the camera crew filming the CSIs in action. This one had Jack Noseworthy as a suspect. I was just reading his interview on PLAYBILL-on-Line today in which he mentioned being on the show.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:21:09 PM
I was out for awhile. Paul wanted beer I wanted a hot fudge sundae, so we went to the Green Gables. The best hot fudge sundaes ever..and they serve beer, so we were both very happy
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 08:21:38 PM
Guess I'll head for bed now.

Good night!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:23:54 PM
The Illusionist is finally going to be here starting tomorrow and Hollywoodland is here as well. So I'm hoping to hit 2 movie matinees this weekend. Plus I have 2 art openings to go to.  So, I'll be out and about....
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 08:23:57 PM
Page Six Snow White Dance!!!


Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Matt H. on September 07, 2006, 08:24:29 PM
And now, good night for real!  :)
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:24:38 PM
Page 6 Dance.....how about a go-go dance!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:31:08 PM
Hmmm what to say what to say???
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:32:16 PM
Had a good day in court. I had fun and my client had a favorable outcome. Can't beat that!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:33:06 PM
Tomorrow should be a great catch up office day. I like those. Unfortunately things often get crazy and I don't actually catch up...but I'll try.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:35:36 PM
Well, that's about all I can frenzy. I'm already getting tired of all the 9/11 shows and they haven't even really started yet. Think I'll turn off the tv and go read a book
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:36:29 PM
Hey...it looks like I'm not alone anymore....how wonderful!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:38:29 PM
Hi FJL, HI MBARNUM
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:38:55 PM
Hi MattH if you're still really here.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 08:40:18 PM
Trivia! What else from little me!

In Ray Kroc's autobiography (GRINDING IT OUT, Contemporary Books 1977) is the following paragraph:

"My parents objected strenuously, but I finally talked them into letting me join up as a Red Cross ambulance driver. I had to lie about my age, of course. In my company, which assembled in Connecticut for training, was another fellow who had lied about his age to get in. He was regarded as a strange duck, because whenever we had time off and went out on the town to chase girls, he stayed in camp drawing pictures. His name was Walt Disney."

However that is not the end of the story. Years later in 1954, Kroc wrote to Disney:

"Dear Walt, I feel somewhat presumptuous addressing you in this way yet I feel sure you would not want me to address you any other way. My name is Ray A. Kroc...I look over the Company A picture we had taken at Sound Beach, Conn. many times and recall a lot of pleasant memories... I have very recently taken over the national franchise of the McDonald's system. I would like to inquire if there may be an opportunity for a McDonald's in your Disneyland development."

Walt responded with a warm letter informing Kroc that his request had been sent to the Vice President in charge of Disneyland concessions because Walt confined his activities to the creative side. So there could have been a McDonald's when Disneyland opened if that Vice President had followed up on the offer.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: FJL on September 07, 2006, 08:42:23 PM
Just discovered one of the world's greatest invention.  They're called Dibs, and they're made by Edy's, and I just sampled the cookies and cream variety.  Only about 15 calories each, but then I ate about 20, but who's counting?
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: bk on September 07, 2006, 08:43:32 PM
I'm going out for an impromptu snack with Mr. Kevin Spirtas, after which I shall return and hopefully will find a frenzy or three.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: FJL on September 07, 2006, 08:43:41 PM
On this day when we're discussing foods that hit the spot, a fine new one from Edy's.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:43:49 PM
Hi Francois!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: FJL on September 07, 2006, 08:44:58 PM
Where's Francois when we need a frenzy?
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:44:59 PM
That hot fudge sundae with the mini pitcher full of hot fudge, wonderful nuts whipped cream and a cherry on top hit the spot for me!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: FJL on September 07, 2006, 08:47:33 PM
I'd better say goodnight.  I haven't slept enough the past two nights, so I've got to make up for it.

Goodnight, Cilla
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 08:52:29 PM
THE FAMILY HOUR

Fox's new sitcom, "'Til Death" jumps the shark at 8:07 with the memorable line: "china rhymes with vagina!"

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:52:50 PM
BB7 SPOILERS









DR Jennifer, I bet you're hopping mad about the Final 2.... I don't mind it so much. I'm really curious how it will turn out. I can see people not liking Boogie and Erica actually winning.  I would like that. Then at least she has the money and didn't get treated like crap by him and lose to him.  
I know one thing, I'd never go to his restaurant!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 08:57:13 PM
Hi Francois!

Hi, Cill!

When are you going to publish:

MY LIFE WITH CATS AND BATS?. ;)
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 08:57:30 PM
It's usually bifurcated.

Please, this is a family site!

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 08:57:55 PM
Where's Francois when we need a frenzy?

Sorry, I only can supply... a frenchie! ;D
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 08:58:11 PM
I'd better say goodnight.  I haven't slept enough the past two nights, so I've got to make up for it.

Goodnight, Cilla
Yes, make up really helps when you haven't slept for 2 nights
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 08:58:41 PM
I'd better say goodnight.  I haven't slept enough the past two nights, so I've got to make up for it.

Goodnight, Cilla

Bonne nuit, Fred!  (from Ginger?!)
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 09:00:32 PM
Hi, Cill!

When are you going to publish:

MY LIFE WITH CATS AND BATS?. ;)

LOL, I practically have already just by posting it in installments
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 09:02:04 PM
Night Fred
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Cillaliz on September 07, 2006, 09:05:09 PM
I must sign off and go see if the cats have done permanent damage to each other. the sounds coming from upstairs are not good!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: Charles Pogue on September 07, 2006, 09:12:01 PM
Regards the SLEUTH remake with Michael Caine and Jude Law, I agree with Woody.  The movie is ancient history to many now (older than, say, Casablanca and Citizen Kane were when I was in college) and unless the younger audience is a fan of mysteries or old movies, the reveal will not necessarily be known.  

Also the film, while wonderful in all aspects, follows the play very closely (in fact, it is almost a filmed play...the opening up is quite minimal...most, if not all, of the text stays intact).  And several actors made their mark in the play before Olivier and Caine essayed the roles.  Anthony Quayle and Keith Baxter were a huge hit in it on Broadway.  I saw George Rose acquit himself quite memorably in the older role on tour.

Unlike Alfie or Psycho, one-off films, even though I know the story, I'd go see the Caine and Law do this, because I think they'd both be great in the respective roles.  What I'd object to is if they attempted to substantially try to change the play or Anthony Shaffer's wonderful dialogue.

Remake of Psycho failed because it was an iconic film and merely repeated each scene shot-for-shot.  The recent Alfie failed because times have changed and they apparently made the mistake of trying to make Alfie too likeable and not the cad he is in the original film.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 09:19:49 PM

In fact, the only piece I can think of referred to a "Largo" in its orchestra guise is Handel's aria "Ombra mai fu" from XERXES.


How 'bout Dvorak's New World, Second Movement

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 09:40:29 PM
Oh well! Let's them make all those stupid (to me!) remakes! We don't have to go and see them do we?! We're not the "young generation" anymore and that "young generation" has to have "their" version with "their actors" (Wonder why they still use Mr Caine! He's old! I guess he's "bankable"! Ah!)

They even do PREquels and SEquels to "old" movies! So why not!
We have to live with our times! And we do know that "our times" provide so much imagination in all forms!
Anyway, we still can get those "old" masterpieces at our supermarkets, along with the carrots and the food for the pets or.... the National Inquirer... (though not here, but we publish the same crap, do not worry!)
Ah, modern times.... and I am not talking (Talking!)about that vintage black and white film, bien sûr! BLACK & WHITE???? Pooh!
Could I be "complaining"?!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: MusicGuy on September 07, 2006, 09:41:25 PM
Dear Esteemed BK --

I just wanted to pop in for a minute and say good night to you and the assorted H/Ks that might be around.  I hope all is well in the Living Room, and that casting continues to go well.

May your latke never droop!

And by the way, I think you made a hell of a classy looking WAC !!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 10:08:58 PM
I'm just a lonely boy, lonely and blue
I'm all alone with nothin' to do
I've got nothing, not even the host
But all I want is someone to post

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 10:15:18 PM
I'm just a lonely boy, lonely and blue
I'm all alone with nothin' to do
I've got nothing, not even the host
But all I want is someone to post

der Brucer


Go to the Post Office; it's usually full of people who want to post! :D
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 10:20:56 PM

http://www.laughingplace.com/News-ID510700.asp

Friday May 12 will certainly go down as one of the most surreal days in the life of this writer. The morning began with a picturesque drive into Westchester County, NY to visit with an eight time Oscar winner (who has also received ten Grammys and seven Golden Globes) and concluded with a white knuckle race back into the City to the Peninsula to meet with a “drummer who can sing a bit” (in his own humble words) who has sold over 100 million records worldwide (and also happens to have eight Grammys and an Oscar).

There is an old London adage that you wait ages for a bus and then two come along at once. Over the past two years of writing for Tales I have not had an opportunity to interview an Oscar winner and therefore jumped at the chance to hear Alan Menken’s new music and interview the Disney Legend in his rural studio. I scheduled the interview for Friday morning at the end of what I knew was to be a very long week covering the new Tarzan musical in New York City.

On arrival in the city at the start of the week I was amazed that Phil Collins wanted to meet as he had enjoyed the Tom Schumacher interview in the spring issue of Tales. The discussion was initially scheduled for Thursday afternoon but was later bumped to Friday. My heart sank when this news was passed to me as thoughts began to race in my head as to whether I could get back to Midtown in time. To cut a long story short I was on schedule as I attempted to travel cross-town. Big mistake. A block every five minutes was going to make me late and I couldn’t risk that. Just ahead I saw an empty parking space perfectly bathed in bright sunlight like a beacon. Instinctively I pulled into the slot, grabbed some change, pumped the meter and ran five blocks to the hotel. By hook and by crook I had made it with literally seconds to spare. I tried to catch my breath as I ascended to the Presidential suite where Phil was wrapping up a television documentary interview in his spacious home-from-home.

Phil’s association with Disney pre-dates Tarzan by several years. “Chris Montan [Walt Disney Records boss] called me in about ’92 to ask if I would record a version of If I Can’t Love Her which was a new Beauty and the Beast song for the Broadway musical,” Phil reveals. “I agreed and Chris sent me a rough demo and the music. I listened to the music but there were so many chord changes and as I don’t read music I took the ones that I understood to help record a skeleton demo. I recorded the song as a moody In the Air Tonight sample and was pretty happy with it but when Chris heard it he called and said “You’ve cut all the good material out!” I told him that I couldn’t read that stuff! Ultimately the project never happened as my record company intervened for the first time in my career because they sensed Disney would be a soft move for me. It really annoyed me.”

Just two years later Chris Montan called again with a more substantial offer. Phil had grown up with Disney in his house due to his two siblings. “My sister was an ice skater in Wembley on Ice shows like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” Phil recalls. “In fact we even had Kenny Baker [R2D2 in the Star Wars movies] staying with us for a while as he was playing Dopey in the same show. Also my older brother was a cartoonist and his idols were the legendary Disney animators like Marc Davis, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. I remember having posters of the classic Disney movies up in our bedrooms. However it felt strange to be asked to become a member of a club that you would never have thought possible as you know the importance of the music in Disney animated movies.”

At that time Phil had just come off of touring his Both Sides Now album for fourteen months, a marriage break-up and the move to Switzerland. The creative team of Tom Schumacher, Bonnie Arnold, Kevin Lima, Chris Buck and Chris Montan flew to Geneva to convince Phil to accept the Tarzan project. “My concern was that I couldn’t be Alan Menken or Howard Ashman. I didn’t think I had it in me to write comedy stuff,” Phil admits. “I also didn’t feel I was orchestral enough for Disney. However they told me that they didn’t want that otherwise they would have approached their usual musicians and lyricists. Tom said ‘We want you to be you’. I still wasn’t convinced that I could pull it off so Tom suggested this young new writer called David Zippel [Hercules] who could help me.”

Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 10:22:02 PM

Although still racked with reservations Phil invited Zippel to his home studio to work on the Tarzan songs. However the collaboration was not productive for Phil as he felt he was producing material that wasn’t typical of his work. “I still accepted the role and I was told to do nothing,” Phil says. “I spent two weeks working on my own in the studio spit-balling tunes as I wanted to be ahead of the game. I knew the ‘Greatest Hits’ of the story but had not read the book so the Studios sent me a copy which I read and annotated throughout thinking ‘they are bound to use this and that’. I then wrote and recorded some songs and I’d say about ninety percent of them have ended up in the movie or musical. It was a really productive two weeks for me.”

After receiving the tape Chris Montan flew back to Europe with the first treatment of the script to brain-storm ideas with Phil. “The treatment was only three or four pages but Chris pointed out where they were thinking of having a song,” Phil recollects. “I had nothing to look at so had to rely on instinct the whole time. I didn’t even use computers at the time so had to keep re-recording the whole song every time there was a revision as I couldn’t edit the piece at all. I finally got one for Brother Bear as Chris said the process would kill me if I had to do it again! However the Tarzan team really fell in love with the way I was writing the music.”

Tom Schumacher has insisted to me on several occasions that Walt Disney Feature Animation (WDFA) had always planned for Phil Collins to sing all of the songs in the movie but Phil says that this was never communicated to him: “I had assumed that I was writing for character like all of the movies since The Little Mermaid but it seems that the creative team had the strength to change the way they did things for Tarzan by adding a narrator. They didn’t like the idea of Tarzan singing anyhow.”

At the London premiere of Tarzan WDFA President Tom Schumacher pitched the idea of Brother Bear to Phil but weeks before Tom had begun to sound out another project to Phil. “Between Tarzan opening in the United States and Europe we automatically said that we should take the movie onto the stage,” Phil calls to mind. “The Lion King had recently opened on Broadway and proved that you could interpret animated movies in a three-dimensional way. However the bad news for us was the need to discover a way to represent the animal world in Tarzan differently as a musical. No-one had any idea so we put the suggestion on the backburner. Then out of the blue in ’02 Tom called me and asked me to fly to London to meet Bob Crowley and if he liked me and I liked him we had a show.”

For Phil it was a never a question of whether he had the credentials to write melody for musical theater. “I began my career as the Artful Dodger in Oliver! in ’64 and I always felt that theater ran parallel with everything I did despite the fact that, like everyone else, I was listening to The Beatles, John Coltrane and even Motown at the same time,” Phil says. “Broadway doesn’t feel alien to me and I feel well-versed in shows as I have the likes of West Side Story, My Fair Lady and even Wicked in my listening dictionary. I knew the kind of thing that works in theater by watching other shows. The only thing was that I didn’t know the psychology behind it.”

An example of the theatrical approach that Phil has learnt over the past four years is evident in the history of the ballad Everything That I Am that anchors the second act. “Tom said to me that ‘we need an 11 o’clock song’,” Phil remembers. “This is the pivotal moment when Tarzan decides that he is really a man and must leave his adopted family. I wrote down the words ‘need to decide’. I really felt the pressure of having to deliver that moment to the audience. You begin to question yourself and you need to lift your game. That song was originally called I Need to Decide.”

Tarzan directors Kevin Lima and Chris Buck hit many hurdles developing the lead characters for their movie over the course of production but none more than Kerchak the patriarch silverback of the troop. Supervising animator Bruce W. Smith saw his creation on the editing room floor with each new cut of the movie as every time he opened his mouth he became more despicable as a character. “Kerchak is so miserable throughout the movie that the audience starts questioning why Kala stays with him,” Phil acknowledges. “She is a good-looking gorilla she could find someone else! Joking aside it was going to be impossible to make Kerchak likeable as he is going to dump the kid [Tarzan]. As the male of the group he knows what is going to happen when Tarzan grows up and doesn’t want to risk the safety of his family. So we tried to get the audience to understand his motives so I took the music from a song I had written for Kala and altered it to explain why he had to do what he had to do. That became No Other Way in Act I.”

“However Kerchak still wasn’t likeable at all even with that song. You keep questioning why Kala sticks by him,” Phil concedes. “We needed another song to help us see beyond his actions. I had been told that other musicals had done similar things. Someone pointed out that Fiddler on the Roof has a number called Do You Love Me? which I’m told is about the old couple who have gone through life raising their family but never really looked at one another and questioned why they are still together. I have seen Hairspray though which had an excellent song where the two leads are just standing in front of the curtain with no staging at all and expressing their love for each other. I knew we needed that type of moment and in the last few months of the rehearsals I wrote Sure As Sun Turns to Moon. As I had written it in my hotel room it was unformed so it actually fell to the performers to do more. Shuler [Hensley, Kerchak] and Merle [Dandridge, Kala] really add an emotional interpretation to the song that is amazing.”

In fact it was the character of Terk that became the Kerchak of the musical production. “We had to work hard to avoid the Nathan Lane comparison as it seems the bigger the hit, the more cliched the side-kick becomes,” Phil recognizes. “Although Rosie [O’Donnell] said that her version of Terk was a different take on the side-kick by being female many people were not aware that the character wasn’t male because although she has a crush on Tarzan she is also a tomboy figure. We wanted to avoid all of that and so we tried to write Terk as a new character for the musical.”

Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 10:22:41 PM

Initially the crew used reference points from the movie to create a song for Terk. One incarnation was conceived as a drag number where all of the apes stole dresses from the human camp and performed a torch song. “However that song fell by the way side like so many others,” Phil answers. “Other songs that we eventually ditched included What Kind of Animal Does He Think We Are? that Terk sang about Tarzan and a fun number called I Rest My Case that was designed as a witness for the prosecution number where Terk sat all of the animals down with Tarzan in the witness box. I envisaged the scene to be a Charles Laughton-type performance with Terk in a flour wig like English court judges! The first song I wrote for the character was called I Don’t Think So and that got canned very early in the process.”

“We were in rehearsals and I was about to go home to Switzerland for my son’s birthday and during a reading Chris Montan said that he felt we needed some musical energy in the second act from Terk. At that time we had I Believe in You and a reprise and I was planning on just replacing the reprise as I thought that number was going to stick,” Phil continues. “It suddenly dawned on me that a Motown number would work as it always brings a smile to your face when you hear that rhythm. In fifteen minutes I came up with this chord sequence and played it to each of the production team individually. The consensus was that they liked it. So I got on the plane for Europe and thought about the piece some more. On the return leg I wrote the lyrics to the song. As I went to the rehearsal it almost felt as if I had slipped into some grainy black-and-white newsreel as I walked down the aisle, gave the music to the pianist Jim Abbott [who is also conductor of the Tarzan orchestra] with the instruction ‘You play it and I’ll sing it’. That is how I expected the whole process to unfold as if on Opening Night the director would hate a song, rip up the sheet music and you would have to write a new number then and there! It actually happened that time. The final song Who Better Than Me? was perfect for Chester [Gregory II] and the end result is that he sings the number in the first act with Young Tarzan and then reprises it with Josh [Strickland, Tarzan] in the second.”

In all five songs return from the original movie soundtrack although each had segments that were cut from the movie reinstated for the musical numbers. Compositions like Strangers Like Me were continually tweaked during the creative process fluctuating with additional lines and subsequent curtailments. In addition Phil Collins has provided nine new tunes although he personally tallies the count as ten: “If you include Jungle Funk there are ten new melodies. As a drummer I regard that percussion piece as a song but Tom said to me ‘that theater goers won’t think of it as a song!’” Phil jokes. “However it was a really tough number to compose as I had never created a harmony for dance. It was also difficult as choreographer Meryl Tankard lives in Sydney, I was in Geneva and the Disney folks were in New York! I needed an idea of what she was expecting for this scene and she couldn’t choreograph without music! So Meryl played me some numbers that she liked from other composers and we would constantly send material backwards and forwards as we tried to settle on a final arrangement. Trashin’ the Camp yielded a similar problem for me and it was actually the most complicated number to write in the movie. I had to ask the animators to tell me what the apes would be smashing! It seems so simple but I needed to know what objects they were drawing for the scene in order to create the rhythm that would become the groove. Jungle Funk became very fluid as Meryl would write back that she wanted the melody doubled in length and then Tom would say ‘In your dreams!’ and we would have to hone it down again. Meryl would come back saying can we have another four bars in this section and so on. It was an arduous process for me.”

Many of the creative talents I had met that week in New York had indicated that the lengthy rehearsal process had been emotionally and physically draining as they spent six days a week and sixteen hours a day stuck together in the Navy yards in Brooklyn. However for Phil the process came at an appropriate time in his life. “I was in another personal crisis in my life with my marriage collapsing,” Phil admits. “We began rehearsals on December 27 and on that first day as we gathered in Brooklyn Tom made everyone in the space stand up and explain who they were. I was the first chosen and just told the cast that if they didn’t like what I had written for them to come and talk to me about it. I was looking for friendship at the time and wanted to become part of the furniture so to be pushed so hard both creatively and emotionally was perfect for me. I never had time to think. It was a dark period for me but a lot of sunshine was provided by the cast and crew of Tarzan.”
 
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 10:23:59 PM

So what are Phil’s plans for the future? Having worked tirelessly to prepare the show for the Great White Way the creative team of Tarzan is collaborating again on a production for Amsterdam for ’07 (and possibly a touring show for the same production company in Germany). It also seems that this internationally renowned pop star has been bitten by the theatrical bug. “I have bought a place in New York City now and I plan to split my time between here and a new home in Switzerland so I can be close to my young kids,” Phil concludes. “I want to do more of this although there are no other firm plans yet. I have been talking to Rick Ellice and Marshall Brickman [the writers of the hit musical Jersey Boys] about working together in the future and Susan Stroman [director of The Producers] has become a good friend. I’m hoping to catch just one ball and hope it lights on fire! My manager keeps trying to get Genesis back together but I keep trying to educate him that I’m happy creatively right now and content just doing this one thing.”

As the interview concluded there was a palpable sense of relief in the room as Phil’s hectic week promoting the musical came to an end. However the relief was not the result of freedom from the constant interviews and media requests that week but having devoted over a decade of his life to bringing Edgar Rice Burroughs’ creation to life musically Phil is ready for the next challenge in his life. This is the story of how a drummer returned to his theatrical roots.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 10:26:07 PM
Go to the Post Office; it's usually full of people who want to post! :D

Do youngsters in France play "Post Office"?

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 10:35:58 PM
Do youngsters in France play "Post Office"?

der Brucer

I'm too old to know!

"Play "Post Office"?! Is that a crypted expression?!

http://www.leskerr.com/postoffice1.htm

They might "play Tarzan" though!

Had a lady guest from Oz the other day who introduced me to a friend at the hotel desk!

"This is Jane!"

"And I'm Tarzan" said I!

I know it's silly but they giggled!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 10:37:36 PM

http://www.funtrivia.com/trivia-quiz/World/Lets-Play-Post-Office-82568.html
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 10:37:59 PM

Do they have a game called "Let's play White House"?!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 10:39:05 PM

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/nttidb/lessons/nh/postnh.html
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DakotaCelt on September 07, 2006, 10:43:20 PM
And Happy Anniversary to ME! Twenty-seven happy years.

Happy Anniversary DR Laura!!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DakotaCelt on September 07, 2006, 10:43:56 PM
Happy Birthday DR William Lurie!!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 10:44:15 PM
François, great article. Thanks!

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: François de Paris on September 07, 2006, 10:46:04 PM

The MountainEars Chapter of the National Fantasy Fan Club announces that in Seattle, in November, a display of Disney musical materials (the likes of which the public has never seen in one place) will be unveiled at Experience Musical Project (EMP). The exhibit – Disney: The Music Behind the Magic -- will run for a year, but a lightning rod of excitement is focused on the first weekend.

Marni Nixon, Tony Baxter, Leonard Maltin, Stacia Martin and scores of others are expected to be on hand to kick off this one-of-a-kind event. Such Disney music legends as Richard Sherman, Phil Collins and Alan Menken will appear in taped presentations. As many as 50 Disney representatives, to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of Disney Records, are due. More about that in a moment.

The centerpiece of all the excitement will be the exhibits, and the exhibits will be breathtaking. They are being supplied by the Disney Archives, present and former Imagineers, and collectors.

"As far as I know," said EMP archivist Jasen Emmons, this "is the first museum exhibit to explore how music has been the foundation of Disney's success in everything from animation, live-action film and television to Broadway and the Billboard charts."

In addition to numerous videos of interviews prepared just for this show by EMP's Emmons, here is a small sample of the exhibits:

    * Numerous items related to Annette Funicello's musical career, including the record jacket for her debut album, Annette, plus a record review of "Tall Paul" and the robe she wore in Babes in Toyland.
    * Similar treasures related to Davy Crockett, including Fess Parker's personal copy of the original song music, the 45-rpm single of "Ballad of Davy Crockett," and appropriate snapshots of kids in their Davy Crockett outfits.
    * The score and theater program for "Steamboat Willie," along with materials from "The Gallopin' Gaucho" and "Karnival Kid."
    * Original soundtrack, notebook and lobby card from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
    * Sound-effects items used in Snow White, Bambi, The Rescuers and to make the sound of Mickey's car. (The latter is four connected glass bottles.)
    * A bevy of goodies from the Broadway version of The Lion King, including costumes and headdresses.

Most of Disney's other epics and big stars will be represented. The list is a fraction of the artifacts included. As November approaches, more details may be available at EMP's Web site, http://www.emplive.org/ .

For those able to take a fall weekend off and get to Seattle Nov. 3-4-5, Emmons has scheduled at least nine separate events for the weekend. Lest anyone question Emmons' credentials, he has mounted EMP exhibits for Bob Dylan and The Beatles, among others.

At an April meeting of the MountainEars (Washington state's chapter in the National Fantasy Fan Club), Emmons created enormous excitement in discussing his plans. He showed part of an interview with legendary songwriter Richard Sherman that will be one of a score or more that will be included at EMP. In addition to interactive exhibits, visitors will get an audio-visual walk through Disney music history.

Weekend highlights:

    * Friday, Nov. 3, 7:30 p.m.: Emmons will share excerpts of great artists talking about how their Disney music came to life.
    * Saturday, Nov. 4, 3:15 p.m.: Disney music trivia contest; 4 p.m., being an  Imagineer, by Imagineer Joe Herrington; 5 p.m., sound-effects game; 5:30 p.m., Greg Ehrbar, author of the new and acclaimed book MouseTracks, moderates a panel featuring Disney Records producer Randy Thornton, Disney historian/artist Stacia Martin, and Disney voice artist Ginny Tyler; 7 p.m., live Disney songfest.
    * Sunday, Nov. 5, 11 a.m.: Emmons moderates a panel of producers Randy Thornton and Les Perkins, Disney historian Paula Sigman Lowery, and Jeff Kurtti, author and creative director of the Walt Disney Museum; 1 p.m., Marni Nixon (who was the singing voice for such stars as Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn) talks about her Disney recordings and autographs her new memoir, I Could Have Sung All Night.

The Seattle show will be a homecoming for some presenters. Marni Nixon, now a New York dweller, was raised in the Seattle area. Jeff Kurtti, a resident of the Los Angeles area, grew up in Seattle. Ginny Tyler, long-time Disney voice, resides in the Seattle area.

As spring turned into summer, Emmons was still working to enhance the exhibits and expand the weekend lineup. His hopes included filling a star-studded program with even more big names. Stay tuned.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DakotaCelt on September 07, 2006, 10:48:00 PM
TOTD:

Beverage: For thirst quencher I like water... I like tea, especially green tea and chocolate milk...

Sweet treat: CHOCOLATE!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 10:49:31 PM
Post Office- party game: a children's game in which one player gives another a pretend letter and is given a kiss in return.

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DakotaCelt on September 07, 2006, 10:50:15 PM
Anybody know a decent Federal Defense Attorney:

 Fargo Justice! (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,211060,00.html) DA's case (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119739,00.html)ONE defense witness in a not-guilty capital case! Looks like any first-year law student will be able to write an appeal based on inadequate counsel!

der brucer

There is a lot more to that story than they are reporting... It is quite the heated story here in Fargo.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DakotaCelt on September 07, 2006, 10:51:37 PM
Chocolate...the Breakfast of Champions®!

;D

No George, It is its very own food group!!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DakotaCelt on September 07, 2006, 10:52:15 PM
Break a leg Jrand!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 10:56:14 PM
TOD:

When in need, I can usually be satisfied with a milk shake made with chocolate ice cream and spiked with generous quantities of Brandy, Rum, and Creme de Cocoa.

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DakotaCelt on September 07, 2006, 10:56:52 PM
Sometimes you don't have anyone to call as witnesses. It could be that they have more in store for the penalty phase of the trial. It's usually bifurcated.

Cilla, have you been following this case at all...

Despite the press gag we have heard some things..

It has been downright entertaining at times. The penalty phase has started.  The judge is allowing the jury to view some pictures of the scene and the body that were not allowed in the original trial.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 10:58:26 PM
Does jhvw have insomnia again?

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DakotaCelt on September 07, 2006, 10:59:26 PM
The Illusionist is finally going to be here starting tomorrow and Hollywoodland is here as well. So I'm hoping to hit 2 movie matinees this weekend. Plus I have 2 art openings to go to.  So, I'll be out and about....

WE dont have either yet. With the luck we have here, it will probably only come out on DVD.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DakotaCelt on September 07, 2006, 11:01:00 PM
Just discovered one of the world's greatest invention.  They're called Dibs, and they're made by Edy's, and I just sampled the cookies and cream variety.  Only about 15 calories each, but then I ate about 20, but who's counting?

Those are good FJL!!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: George on September 07, 2006, 11:02:42 PM
No George, It is its very own food group!!

Yes...you are quite correct! ;D
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 11:06:48 PM
WE dont have either yet. With the luck we have here, it will probably only come out on DVD.

They are both showing in Fargo!

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 11:09:37 PM
The bed, George, under the bed George, clean under the bed, George... (A Sunday reference)

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: bk on September 07, 2006, 11:14:20 PM
Back from my impromptu snack - I ate way too much.  Had it been my only meal o' the day it would have been fine, but I'd already had a Subway Club earlier.  Still, I can splurge once a week, and that will be my once this week.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: bk on September 07, 2006, 11:14:39 PM
Notes may be a teeny bit late as I need to sit and relax for a moment.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: George on September 07, 2006, 11:23:15 PM
The bed, George, under the bed George, clean under the bed, George... (A Sunday reference)

der Brucer

D'oh!  In my defense...I was at my sister's and she was reading through the condo inspection report.  Right now, I'm writing an e-mail to my realtor about what I actually want to ask (request/demand?) the seller to fix, based on the report.  So, I may not actually be "cleaning" right now, but I'm doing important work for the overall move process.

And I don't know if I mentioned this specifically, but anything that needed to go to storage has been put into storage.

;)

Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 11:26:12 PM
..anything that needed to go to storage has been put into storage.

Swell, now we can all sleep a little bit esaier ;)

der Brucer
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: George on September 07, 2006, 11:28:08 PM
Swell, now we can all sleep a little bit esaier ;)

der Brucer

As can I. ;D
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: George on September 07, 2006, 11:48:52 PM
Okay, I know it's not Ask BK (or anyone) Day, but I have a question:

WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING??

(Details upon request.) ;)
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: DERBRUCER on September 07, 2006, 11:58:28 PM
Okay, I know it's not Ask BK (or anyone) Day, but I have a question:

WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING??

(Details upon request.) ;)

I'll bite!
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: George on September 08, 2006, 12:14:41 AM
It's nothing bad, I assure you!  Anyway, with all the cleaning and packing and moving that I'm doing, I'm pretty busy.  Well, yesterday (Wednesday), I got an e-mail from my friend Kim saying that a local theater group that she's done shows with is having auditions and that I should audition.  I haven't performed in public in about four and a half years!  
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: George on September 08, 2006, 12:16:20 AM
Anyway, on a whim, I went down and auditioned!  Some people had auditioned the night before and tonight was just another chance to be seen (I guess).  The director is a friend of mine named Pug (well, her real name is Charlotte, but she goes by Pug).  She's a wonderful person and a very good director, although I've never been directed by her.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: George on September 08, 2006, 12:17:48 AM
The audition was first, a little singing.  We were given the lyrics to one song and had to sing along with the soundtrack to the original movie!  I don't even know if they have the music to the score or if they were just assuming that people didn't know how to read music, but they really didn't seem to care about how well we sang.
Title: Re:DRANIUM OF THE CRANIUM
Post by: George on September 08, 2006, 12:20:41 AM
After that was the dance portion of the audition (I'm still a little achy from it ::)).  Most people were adequate, no one was horrible and no one was fabulous, but everyone had a lot of fun with it...which, I'm sure was what the auditioners wanted.  

Oh, I should mention that the audition was held in a space that was probably only 20 feet wide and maybe 50 feet long...that's not the size of the room, that's the size of the entire building!  It's a very small space, but the actual performance space will be a brand new (one year old, I think) performance space at a local community college.