Seize the Stars

Last night I actually got back to work on my medieval dress! (Are the pigs flying yet?) Got the sleeves all pinned and was about to cut them out when I was interuppted, but hopefully I'll get back to it tonight. I've gotta finish this thing, if only so I don't have pieces of a half-made dress stewn all over my bedroom anymore!

I'm unaccountably distressed by the news that American Girl is retiring Samantha. I'm 21 (22 next week!) and I shouldn't care about the American Girl dolls any more, but it was such a big part of my childhood. Samantha was the first AG doll I got. And her clothes and accesories are the cutest, by far, now that they've changed Felicity's stuff to make it more modern, and all her new clothes are frou-frou historically inaccurate junk. And I always did hope to get Samantha's sailor dress and school dress someday, since they were from the original books, and so cute. And I desperately need her high button shoes. Or any shoes for her, since she came with those heinous plastic ones that are a)ugly and b)impossible to get on and off. And now I'm freaking out because if I ever want them I'll have to get them now. Oy. My birthday is coming up, so I could use that as an excuse to splurge on this stuff, but holy crap it's so expensive. Which is, of course, the reason I've put it off so long. Ugh. Couldn't they have retired Molly instead? Her clothes and accessories aren't as cute! And I don't want any of them! *cries*

Listening to more Broadway shows. Bloomer Girl is a show I've been curious about for a while, since it's by E.Y. Harburg, and such a radical female protagonist for a musical is pretty uncommon, for the 40's or now (at least for anyone but E.Y. Harburg!) It's sort of hard to judge it as a show, since the synopsis from the CD booklet is highly vague, and several of the songs are for characters not even mentioned, so there's not a lot of context to illuminate the songs. But some of them are quite good anyway; 'Evelina' being the best, with it's most beguiling melody. There's a very funny feminist number in 'It Was Good Enough for Grandma', and a standard 40's love song in 'Right as the Rain'. I really do wonder why there are two whole songs given to the character played by Joan McCracken, because for one thing her character is one not mentioned in the synopsis, but more importantly she can't sing. Whatever you might call the unattractive noise she makes in her two songs, you cannot call it singing. The rest of the cast is alright, however I really do wish it had been Nanette Fabray in the lead in the first place, since she's so awesome, and Celeste Holm, though adequate, hasn't got the same sort of charm. Apparently Barbara Cook did a TV version of Bloomer Girl in the 50s too, which I would absolutely kill to see, so I can only hope somebody puts it out on DVD someday!

Well, aside from that one day where the power went out in my whole neighborhood for several hours (while I was in the shower, no less, so you can imagine what fun that was... e__e) it's been a very good week, since I've been continuing my odyssey into Broadway musicals, and found some real gems.

First and foremost, She Loves Me. Wow. And more wow. It's from 1963, and it's a musical adaptation of the play by Miklos Lazslo that spawned The Shop Around the Corner, In the Good Old Summertime, and, much less felicitously, You've Got Mail. When I read the liner notes to the cast album before I listened to it, I thought to myself, 'nothing can possibly be this good' because everybody gushed about how amazingly wonderful it was; Barbara Cook went on about how when she heard the score she ran out of superlatives to describe how great it was. I thought she was just kissing up as actors are wont to do, but after I listened to it, I completely agreed with her. There really aren't enough superlatives to describe how great it is! Bottom line, you cannot be unhappy after you've listened to the cast album of She Loves Me. It's romantic, it's funny, it's sweet, and completely, genuinely heartfelt. All the actors are so perfect for their roles, and Barbara Cook has one of the loveliest voices I've ever heard. Just listen to her sing 'Will He Like Me?' and I dare your heart not to melt. The title song is one of the happiest love songs you'll ever hear, and though Daniel Massey is only a middling singer, he gets by on charm. All the supporting cast have pleasant numbers of their own; heck, even the uber-smarmy Jack Cassidy is good in this! It's just quality all around! All I can say is, if you love musicals, and you've never heard She Loves Me, you need to. As soon as possible. Go! Listen! Right now! ;-D

If you've foolishly not gone right now to give She Loves Me a listen, another recommendation I have would be Carnival. 1961, a musical adaptation of the film Lili, and a zillion times better than that movie. Stars Jerry Orbach and Anna Maria Alberghetti are superb, and though the score and story are a bit on the sad and melancholy side, they are also intensely beautiful. This is another must listen, trust me.

Decided to do the complicated sleeves on the doll dress. It's a heck of a lot of work for something so tiny and I just hope it's worth it in the end. But I doubt it will be. *bites nails*

Listened to the original cast recording of Finian's Rainbow. Though there's no such thing as a bad version of FR in my opinion, I think it's actually my least favorite. The actress playing Sharon is Scottish, and she's trying to put on an Irish accent, but it ends up being an odd mixture of the two, and "Look to the Rainbow" ends up sounding like "Luke to the Rainbow". Also I prefer the sillier, livelier performances of Howard Morris as Og in the 1960 production, and Tommy Steele in the movie, to David Wayne's rather flat rendition. Besides, I grew up loving the movie version, and nothing could ever replace it in my esteem. Even if they did tone down some of the lyrics; was there a Republican administration in 1968? Nixon, I think? If so, I suppose it wouldn't have been politic to call the GOP 'misbegotten'! (Even though it's an apt description!) But it's got Fred Astaire, so what more could you ask for? :)

Still on my musical theater kick, I've been reading the books and lyrics for several musicals. I now really wish the library had the original cast recording for Baker Street because I read it and it was so cute, and the Sherlock Holmes freak in me is really curious to hear Holmes and Watson and Moriarty singing! I'll probably have to hunt it down at a store somewhere.

Also read On A Clear Day You Can See Forever and my suspicion was right, the original Broadway production was SO much better than the movie, which they changed a lot. They ruined everything that made the original so charming. But I suppose once they'd cast Barbra Streisand and Yves Montand the damage was already done! I cringe when I hear Montand destroy "Melinda", he makes a gorgeous love song sound like a bad cabaret act. I'd dearly love it if they'd make another movie version of On A Clear Day that stuck to the original, but I can't imagine where they'd ever find actor/singers as good as Barbara Harris and John Cullum were. ♥

Also watched a DVD of Sunday in the Park With George, which was good. This is probably my favorite of Sondheim's musicals, though I've never been a big fan of his; I tend to find his stuff a bit on the cold and cerebral side. I truly admire it, but I never quite get all the way to loving it.

Listening to the original Broadway cast recording of Brigadoon, I'm now utterly disillusioned; Andrew Lloyd Webber totally ripped off the melody for "Music of the Night" from "Come to Me, Bend to Me". The most beautiful melody he ever wrote was actually written by Frederick Loewe! My eternal love for PotO is now cruelly tarnished. At least, in consolation, "Music of the Night" is still the prettier song, I think.

Anyway, I have a new item to add to my life's to-do list: write the book and lyrics for a musical. I don't know why it never occurred to me before. Somebody has to write these things, and I'm a writer, and I love musical theater with every fiber of my being, so why not? Granted, I don't currently know any composers, nor am I involved with theater people in any way, but who knows what may happen in the future? There are a couple of stories I've wanted to tell for a while, but felt I couldn't do justice to as novels; maybe a musical would be the way to go. That's a fun possibility for the future. :)

Watched the 1971 version of Persuasion. Surprisingly, I really liked it a lot. The acting was more stagy then, but actually it wasn't too over the top, and I felt they captured the essence of the characters very well. It was almost 4 hours long, so they had time to develop the story and explore the characters fully, which I appreciated immensely. One of the things that bugs me about both other versions of Persuasion is that they were too short, so something was always sacrificed, either the characters or the plot, but the 70's version has both going for it. The sets and costumes of course, leave much to be desired; everything you see on screen screams 'made in the 70's'. Could they have made Anne Eliot's hair in the first episode any bigger if they'd tried? There were a handful of dresses that were actually pretty and reasonably accurate, but mostly it's a lot of electric green plaid and such like. And Kellynch Hall is furnished with hideous Victorian renaissance-revival furniture and green 70's wallpaper. But I eventually was able to forget about all that, and became completely engrossed in the story, which I think is a testament to the quality of the adaptation and the actors. I highly recommend it to all Jane Austen fans.

I've been feeling very Broadway lately, listening to all my favorite cast recordings, so I actually watched the Tonys a few nights ago. I like to catch the Tonys if I can, not because I actually care who wins, but because it's a convenient way for a Midwest girl like myself to catch up on all the new musicals every year. I must say, however, I'm disappointed. Xanadu? Really? That's the best they can come up with for a new musical? And they nominate it for awards no less? I'm terribly distressed by the way Broadway musicals have gone the past couple of years. Either it's modern urban stuff that sounds more like pop music, or it's really campy, commercialized stuff based on some movie. What happened to the old fashioned romantic musical filled with soaring melodies and beautiful lyrics? What happened to musical comedies that were innocent and warmhearted with songs you could sing along to in the car? Maybe I'm just terribly old-fashioned myself, but give me Cole Porter over Mel Brooks or John Waters, Lerner and Loewe over rappers, any day.

Been reading Agatha Christie lately. It's so funny that the latest Doctor Who episode should have been about Agatha Christie! And it was hilarious too! Loved it.