Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews
Posted on November 29, 2009 at 8:09 am
A wonderful clip from one of the greatest concert specials in television history:
Posted on November 29, 2009 at 8:09 am
A wonderful clip from one of the greatest concert specials in television history:
Posted on December 17, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Thanks so much to my dear friend Lilah Lohr for showing me Andy Ihnatko’s wonderful blog Celestial Waste of Bandwidth and especially his Amazon Advent Calendar. I love his tribute to the classic musical “The Band Wagon,” which he bravely asserts is the best ever.
Okay, “The Band Wagon.” You need to know two things about this movie: One, that it is indeed “The Band Wagon” and not “The Bandwagon.” Getting it wrong is a rookie mistake and the true film snobs to whom you were so shabbily attempting to ingratiate yourself will see to it that you’ll never get into a Max Ophuls film festival in this town again.
Secondly, that it is the single greatest musical ever made.
I would not call it the best ever, but “The Band Wagon” is simply sublime and Ihnatko’s commentary is delightful. If you have not seen “The Band Wagon,” take a look — I promise you will say at least three times, “That song is from THIS movie?” It includes standards like “A Shine on Your Shoes,” “Dancing in the Dark,” and, yes, “That’s Entertainment” plus one of the most deliriously silly musical numbers ever filmed, “Triplets” and the song Ihnatko loves, “By Myself.” And it has the wicked and brilliantly danced satire, “Girl Hunt.” It also has a better book than most of the musicals of its era, with a shrewd insider’s take on artistic pretension and a frank acknowledgment of issues of aging and risk-taking in work and in life, and one of the most gorgeously romantic dance numbers ever, with Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse dancing in the dark, waltzing in the wonder of why we’re here. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Posted on June 12, 2008 at 7:58 am
Salon’s Mark Schone wrote the most purely delightful article about finding clips of high school productions of Broadway musicals on You Tube. It includes everything from a German production of “West Side Story” to an Oklahoma production of…”Oklahoma.” The clips are all endearingly sincere and open-hearted. I love the way they put as many kids as possible on stage and everyone seems to be trying hard and having fun. Take a look — it’s a guaranteed smile.
And if you have some clips of your own school performances, send me the links!