Next time he took me to see Phantom Of The Opera. I hated it but marveled at the sets & costumes at least. I realized he enjoyed more Disney World Cruise kind of entertainment, nothing wrong with that, just not my taste.
I also don't care for The Phantom of the Opera. I think it appeals to a more general audience than to a more discerning one.
There's absolutely wrong with that, but the score is kind of boring to me.
My favorite Andrew LLoyd Webber score is the one for Sunset Blvd.
There's so much variety with the melodies that it seems like there were multiple composers.
You may get a change to see the Sunset revival. I think it may come to Broadway.
I saw an ALW flop that I liked, a few years ago: Stephen Ward, about the Profumo scandal. It was a hard sell. You can't expect tourists to bring their kids to a musical where Act I ends with an orgy and the whole show ends with the eponymous character committing suicide. It has a very good score.
Making a musical out of the British politician sex scandal of the 1960s certainly seems like an odd proposition. I recall that the 1989 film Scandal, about the same story, nearly received an X rating in the United States, and 5 minutes had to be edited out of the film to get an R. It did boast good performances from Joanne Whalley, John Hurt, and Bridget Fonda and also included this memorable Dusty Springfield song written for the film
Swithin wrote: ↑December 26th, 2023, 8:21 pm
I've seen these ALW musicals
A.L. Webber: the Spielberg of Broadway.
...Until he wasn't. His early ventures were all extraordinarily successful, but he's essentially had a 30 year run of bad luck on Broadway. Only the movie adaptations Sunset Boulevard and School of Rock ran, and originals such as Aspects of Love, By Jeeves, Bombay Dreams, and Bad Cinderella were gone in a flash.....
Re: I Just Watched...
Posted: December 27th, 2023, 2:13 pm
by Swithin
A very successful television miniseries about a British sex scandal was about the Jeremy Thorpe scandal. I remember when all this went down, in the 1970s. The series, starring Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw, was great. (The follow-up series focused on the Duchess of Argyll scandal. That was not so successful.)
Lorna wrote: ↑December 21st, 2023, 12:48 pmthis mentioning of WILLIAM HURT has reminded me of an amusing anecdote from my childhood in NORTH CAROLINA.
when I saw the title and newspaper ad** for KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, my heart skipped a beat.
Going off that title and florid little ad with THE LIPS and THE WEB, my warped little 8 year old brain envisioned the film to be something like a cross between a LIVE ACTION version of CHER'S ANIMATED VIDEO for the song DARK LADY and the SATAN'S ALLEY FINALE from STAYIN ALIVE.
YES!!!!!!
I saw The Cher Show on Broadway, featuring Stephanie J. Block in her Tony-award winning role.
One of the highlights of the show was "Dark Lady."
It was performed as a duet by Sonny Bono and Gregg Allman with a mesmerizing dance performance by a "fantasy Cher" and a group of chorus boys
I saw the pre-Broadway engagement of THE CHER SHOW in Chicago.
The "Dark Lady" number was indeed a highlight.
Jarrod Spector did a great job of capturing the essence of Sonny Bono's voice while still singing pleasantly.
I know there were a number of tweaks made after the Chicago try-out before the show moved to Broadway.
One was having a full performance of "If I Could Turn Back Time."
In the Chicago production, only a few lines of that song were sang.
Re: I Just Watched...
Posted: December 27th, 2023, 4:34 pm
by Allhallowsday
PLATINUM BLONDE (1931) late last night on TCM. I had never heard of ROBERT WILLIAMS !!! Poor guy died right after film's release. Out of respect, I'll say nothing about his performance. It's amazing LORETTA YOUNG and JEAN HARLOW star, but ROBERT WILLIAMS is what I'll take away...
Re: I Just Watched...
Posted: December 28th, 2023, 9:51 am
by Detective Jim McLeod
Bronxgirl48 wrote: ↑December 26th, 2023, 5:16 pm
Was totally depressed by the abbreviated 1955 television version of MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET. This charmless remake (practically word-for-word and with many of the same scenes) stars Teresa Wright, MacDonald Carey and Thomas Mitchell (as Santa), along with the child actress who plays that ant-traumatized little girl in the classic science fiction movie THEM!
You would do well to skip.
I never saw that one but there was a 1973 TV remake which was also disappointing. Sebastian Cabot was good as Kris Kringle but the rest of the cast was all wrong. The Maureen O'Hara and John Payne roles were filled by Jane Alexander and David Hartman. They had zero chemistry together and don't even kiss at the end! The little girl was played by Suzanne Davidson, who appeared on some soap opera around the time. She was very stiff and affected, had none of the natural charm of Natalie Wood.
Re: I Just Watched...
Posted: December 28th, 2023, 12:14 pm
by Lorna
I’m away from my PC and using my phone and it’s AGONY to try replying without cluttering things up, so you’re just gonna have to wait til the 31st before I reply to the MANY ABOCE POSTS
also you see how easy typos are.
Re: I Just Watched...
Posted: December 28th, 2023, 12:19 pm
by Lorna
I will say that the place I’m staying at in the mountains has Max, but they have the kiddie protection lock on it, nonetheless, I watched BATMAN MASK OF THE PHANTASM (1993) and even though I am a huge fan of the animated series, I had never seen this before and…meh.
It means well, but it comes off like a somewhat middling episode of the series, and even though the film is about an hour and 19 minutes long, it feels longer even though it feels at the same time as though it could be a 26 minute episode of the series.
What ironic thing I have to mention is that this film came from a time when Warner Bros. saw their properties as valuable assets and not tax write offs or items to be dangled on a string on streaming services. In fact, the studio was so impressed with the results of the animated series, that this film that was supposed to go directly to video, ended up being a feature, unfortunately – and again, ironically – I think that does affect the overall quality of the end result because they had to really rush to get this thing ready and to fit cinematic aspect ratios. (no one size fits all digital back then.)
MARK HAMILL’s JOKER Is the high point, I was *not* impressed with the voice acting of Dana Delany, ABE VIGODA- the C AUBREY SMITH of the second half of the 20th century has a small role, I think he was probably 118 when he filmed this, so good for him.
Please understand that I don’t mean to sound elitist when I say this, but if you do not foresee the twist at the climax of BATMAN MASK OF THE PHANTASM by the 45 minute mark, then you need to check for gas leaks, and if that’s not the issue, then make an appointment to see someone and get a CAT scan.
THE SCORE is good, but not as good as the series, BATMAN TAS has the best score of any animated show I can think of.
I also don't care for The Phantom of the Opera. I think it appeals to a more general audience than to a more discerning one.
There's absolutely wrong with that, but the score is kind of boring to me.
My favorite Andrew LLoyd Webber score is the one for Sunset Blvd.
There's so much variety with the melodies that it seems like there were multiple composers.
You may get a change to see the Sunset revival. I think it may come to Broadway.
I saw an ALW flop that I liked, a few years ago: Stephen Ward, about the Profumo scandal. It was a hard sell. You can't expect tourists to bring their kids to a musical where Act I ends with an orgy and the whole show ends with the eponymous character committing suicide. It has a very good score.
Making a musical out of the British politician sex scandal of the 1960s certainly seems like an odd proposition. I recall that the 1989 film Scandal, about the same story, nearly received an X rating in the United States, and 5 minutes had to be edited out of the film to get an R. It did boast good performances from Joanne Whalley, John Hurt, and Bridget Fonda and also included this memorable Dusty Springfield song written for the film
Mandy's in the papers.
She tried to go to Spain.
She'll soon be in the dock
And in the papers once again . .
Dusty Springfield's recording of "Nothing Has Been Proved" is fantastic!
It was written by Pet Shop Boys (Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe) for the movie SCANDAL with Dusty in mind for the singer.
It was a track on Dusty Springfield's REPUTATION album (with most tracks produced by Pet Shop Boys and Julian Mendelsohn), which revived her singing career.
It's one of my favorite albums of all-time from one of my favorite singers of all-time.
Re: I Just Watched...
Posted: December 29th, 2023, 7:33 am
by Lorna
I also tried watching HOWLS MOVING CASTLE, but checked out 45 minutes in.
The animation was gorgeous, and it was wonderful to hear Jean Simmons and Lauren Bacall voice their characters in what were probably two of their last roles, but holy s*** this movie was WWWWWeeeEeeIiiiIiiirrrrrrrd.
Re: I Just Watched...
Posted: December 29th, 2023, 2:07 pm
by Allhallowsday
SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY (1971)
Re: I Just Watched...
Posted: December 29th, 2023, 3:48 pm
by HoldenIsHere
“The Voice Of Christmas”
THE BRADY BUNCH
Season 1
Directed by Oscar Rudolph
Witten by John Fenton Murray
Originally aired December 19, 1969
This episode (the only Christmas episode from the series) has become part of my annual winter holiday viewing. It’s the one where Mrs. Brady loses her voice days before she’s supposed to sing a solo of “O Come All Ye Faithful” at a Christmas church service. Watching it reminded me of just how much is packed into a single episode of this show. Besides the main plot, there are scenes featuring the Bradys hiding Christmas presents (Bobby asks his brothers if he should eat the present if he’s caught). Six-year-old Cindy (this is one of the episodes where the age of one of the kids is explicitly stated) tells the department store Santa Claus that the only present she wants from him is for her mother to get her voice back by Christmas. Awww!!! When Mr. Brady finds out, he chastises “Santa” for making promises he can’t keep.
DeVol’s musical score for this episode incorporates traditional Christmas melodies, including “Good King Wenceslas,” “O Christmas Tree,” “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear” and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” A somber arrangement of the latter underscores Greg, Marcia, Peter and Jan as they gather at the foot of the stairs to commiserate about how awful Christmas is this year because of Mrs. Brady’s predicament. Since this is a first season episode, Frank DeVol’s theme song (featuring the lyrics by series creator Sherwood Schwartz that tell the story of “a lovely lady” and “a man named Brady”) is sung by The Peppermint Trolley Company. Beginning in the second season, it would be sung by The Brady Bunch Kids.
Favorite moments:
• Alice convincing Mrs. Brady to wrap the cloth soaked with her grandmother’s smelly home remedy for laryngitis around her neck
• Mr. Brady’s response when Alice’s ribbon tying goes wrong
• The little boy in line with Cindy to see Santa, sporting a neckerchief that one would expect to see as part of Paul Lynde’s wardrobe
Slow Horses is based on a series of novels about rejects from MI5, destined to live out their careers in "Slough House," so named because it's so far from the main MI5 headquarters that it might as well be in Slough. The theme song (sung and co-written by Mick Jagger) offers a good summary of the plot:
"Surrounded by losers
Misfits and boozers
Hanging by your fingernails
You made one mistake
You got burnt at the stake
You're finished, You're foolish, you failed.
There's always a hope
On this slippery slope
Somewhere a ghost of a chance
To get back in the game
And burn off your shame
And dance with the big boys again."
I enjoyed the series, though the constant insults and shtick from the rejects' boss (played by Gary Oldman as a big fat slob who farts a lot) become tedious after a while, as do the demeaning ways in which the rejects talk to each other. Jack Lowden, whom I've seen on stage several times, is particulary good as one of the main characters, all of whom are itching to do something useful. They get involved in some serious cases (a kidnapping of a Muslim comedian by a right-wing group who threaten to chop his head off), and, in the second series, a rather complicated mix-up with Russian spies. There is a right-wing politician played by Sam West, and the MI5 "Number Two Desk," played by Kristin Scott Thomas. Although the "slow horses" are, to some extent, blundering idiots, they do help to solve the major cases, although everything needs to be covered up at the end, which is annoying. There are also loose ends and silly plot devices that don't always make sense. Jonathan Pryce is very good in a supporting role. The series has been renewed for more seasons.
Here's Mick singing the theme song:
Christopher Chung is brilliant as a foul-mouthed computer geek
Freddie Fox, Kristin Scott Thomas as the "big boys."
Just finished watching Series 3 of Slow Horses. I liked it even more than the earlier two series. The verbal swordplay between Ingrid Tearney (Sophie Okenedo) and Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) is a highlight. I think there's even more violence and more humour in Series 3. Certainly Gary Oldman farts even more. Looking forward to Series 4, which will drop in late 2024.
also you see how easy typos are.
