MB wrote:

Too bad about the [world of] trad[itional] musicals -- that world is full of all kinds of dynamic, talented performers just bursting with personality. I wish they had more and better shows to be part of.

Benjamin Hemric:

I find it sad also.

Just imagine if Fred Astaire (with his incredible talents for ballroom and tap dancing and his modest, but brilliantly utilized, singing voice) were born in 1959 instead of 1899. All that incredible talent would have probably gone to near total waste: who would be around to write the proper material for his particular talents?; where would he have been given the opportunity to work on and perfect his particular talents?; and, given our society's current likes and dislikes, would the general public really appreciate such a performer if the performer were a contemporary -- and not someone to watch in a free late night movie or a inexpensive DVD?

- - - - - - -

MB wrote:

Have you ever been a revue fan yourself?

Benjamin Hemric writes:

"Yes" and "no."

I genuinely like all kinds of music -- to a degree -- but basically the music closest to my heart is that of the "classic American songbook": Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, the Gershwins, Rodgers & Hart, Dietz & Schwartz, Jule Styne, etc. And although all these songwriters did in fact write songs for Broadway revues -- particularly Irving Berlin and Dietz and Schwartz -- this was before my time. (The most celebrated of all revues is probably the "Bandwagon" which was Fred Astaire's last appearance, I believe, on Broadway.)

However, I've recently been buying CD's of some of their famous revues and I can really see myself enjoying them.

One of my favorites is "Two on the Aisle" (1951) -- perhaps the last of the great Broadway revues. It was by Jule Styne and Comden & Green and starred the great comic Bert Lahr (the Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of Oz) and singer/actress Dolores Grey (I think she starred in the movie version of the musical Kismet). Although it's a short CD (the material was originally recorded for vinyl), it's really a lot of fun -- like being at a great party where the partygoers really know how to sing, really know how to put over a skit and have lots of clever, funny material (both spoken and sung) to work with.

Some other favorites that I've gotten on CD are "Pins & Needles" (a clever pro-labor revue by Harold Rome), "Ziegfeld Follies of 1936" (music by Vernon Duke), "This is the Army" (songs by Irving Berlin), "Call Me Mister" (a returning GIs revue by Harold Rome), "New Faces of 1952" (various). ("Pins & Needles," "This is the Army," and "Call Me Mister" all had a special "gimmick": they were all performed by amateurs -- labor union members, members of, or recently ex-members of, the armed forces.)

Such revues were once a staple of Broadway, and I think the best way to think of them is as a on-stage version of "Saturday Night Live" but with the top comedians, top musical performers, and top writers, etc. of a different era. (Also, they generally had more dancing than "Saturday Night Live" has.)

I suppose I'm not attracted to more contemporary revues because 1) I doubt I'd share the sensibility of the performers, writers (what they find funny, etc.), choreographers, etc. and 2) I would probably prefer experiencing the music of theirs that I do like on CD where it's less expensive to hear, more easily replayed and where I can turn the volume down and hear it without audience participation.

Posted by: Benjamin Hemric on January 14, 2006 1:51 PM

Yamdallah mentions how much he likes Scrubs in his post! I concur. Best. Medical. Show. IMO.

(I never use things like IMO. I wonder what moved me to do that today?)

Scrubs seems more realistic to me than those other doctor as madonna/whore or hero/saint/jerk shows like ER or House or that horror of horrors, Grey's Anatomy (actually, I liked ER for the first two or three years. Georgie boy, of course. And I've never seen Grey's Anatomy, I just liked that horror of horrors line....)

Anway, I slightly disagree with Yamdallah about King Kong - it was so awful that I found myself enjoying it for the sheer awfulness).

Posted by: MD on January 14, 2006 5:18 PM

Oh, I just tried reading that whole metrocon thing. Er, this reminds me of Rod Dreher's whole crunchy conservatism schtick. Do you know that there are conservatives that buy there food at Whole Foods? And buy organic? OOOOOhhhhhhh.

Whatever.

Posted by: MD on January 14, 2006 5:26 PM

Aaargh, their not there. I give up.

*How is it that my brain remembers all these medical facts perfectly ( I can close my eyes and see the images sharp as day), but I can never, never, never spell? I don't get it. I even try to preview and everything.

Posted by: MD on January 14, 2006 5:31 PM

Michael: "Being part of the media world myself, in my worker-bee way, what strikes me most isn't how white it is, it's how Ivy League, female, and gay-male it is. (Incidentally, there are reasons why this is the case.)"

He said coyly.

Well for gosh sakes, don't leave us hanging like that! Tell! Tell!

Posted by: Brian on January 15, 2006 8:44 AM

Mr. Benjamin Hemric:

You might have a point. As I like rock, I was predisposed to like the music in "Little Shop." (The film version still didn't get me at the time - it took the live play.)

But I also love works that know how to exploit (in the positive sense) their medium.

"Little Shop of Horrors" on the stage KNOWS it's on the stage, and part of the wink wink nudge nudge is their knowing how nifty it is to pull off the image of a man-eating plant on stage.

Another example of this is the film "Fight Club." Though it adheres to the original novel pretty well, Fincher, the director, goes all "meta" in the mechanism of the film (re: the plane crash and the sex scenes - not to mention the brilliant use of subliminals), which take the material to another level, and hence its cult status.

Posted by: Yahmdallah on January 17, 2006 4:34 PM






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