Yes I am a sucker for a musical. I have no idea why but maybe it is something to do about that feel good factor that most musicals tend to give you at the end. There are many that I like for different reasons -- Calamity Jane for the fabulous Doris Day and the way she goes from Tomboy to Lady and then realises she can't be the lady she wants to be. A great swashbuckling singalong.
One of my favourite musicals of all time has to be the Sound of Music. I know it's a bit cliched but it was the defining moment for Julie Andrews having been overlooked for My Fair Lady she bagged TSOM and Mary Poppins to be one of our best loved musical singers.
She was also a little bit controversial when she starred with James Garner in Victor Victoria - the one where she was a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman. The whole homosexual thing was quite funny and pretty well dealt with.There is one other I adore and will watch whenever I am feeling down - High Society. The cast of Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby is pretty impressive and yet again the whole tale of who she is in love with at the time when everyone is in love with her and how she ends up with her one "True Love" makes for a great rainy day in with choccie and a bottle of wine. Plus Grace Kelly is gorgeous in it.
In more recent times the theatre musicals have stayed strong and remained in the theatre. Les Miserables celebrated 25 yrs this year with a major concert at the O2 arena. This musical isn't the happy bouncy 50's style it is gritty with some tough songs and very strong characters fighting through France during the revolution. The one thing that defines this musical is that the songs given to the women in this production are some of the strongest and most powerful songs ever - "I dreamed a dream".
You might be asking why I am writing this well there are too many musicals these days based on TV programmes or films - Sister Act, Dirty Dancing, Shrek and many more but one has made an appearance in the UK which I saw off Broadway about 10 years ago. It is touring some of the smaller venues and I hope that it makes London pretty soon.
I have sneakily inserted one of my favourite songs from this and yes it is the better for the fact that it is a blonde and a brunettes singing together -- take your pick.(Yes it is the Hoff playing Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde). PS there is one other that I have to watch annually and you may well laugh at this one but it is what is known as a classic -- White Christmas has to be watched when wrapping presents and writing cards!! If you are also a musical fan then let me know your favourites.
4 comments:
Thank you for posting this, Ali! I absolutely adore both Calamity Jane & Victor/Victoria! There are some you mentioned I haven't seen and others not here that I have but cannot recall everyone who starred in them. This will get me thinking so I can get back to you. In the meantime, one does come to mind I'll post for you above! :)
Thank you for an interesting personal survey of the modern musical Auntie. In some cases we have similar tastes, in others I have made a mental note that I need to expand my repertoire. I suspect one way of looking at modern musicals from an historical perspective is that in fifty years from now a handful of these will have been elevated to the status of ‘classics’ and be sat up there alongside Madame Butterfly?
My Fair Lady and South Pacific are two of my favorites. I'm often caught singing the tunes to the both of them. awkward:)
Interesting read thank you.
Post a Comment