YAY for “Finian’s Rainbow”! I actually have the OBC cassette in my car right now, and I love it. Can't wait to see it live!
David walked into the valley
With a stone clutched in his hand
He was only a boy
But he knew someone must take a stand
There will always be a valley
Always mountains one must scale
There will always be perilous waters
Which someone must sail
-Into the Fire
Scarlet Pimpernel
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
What a bull**** season. With all of the titles perfect for encores; On the Town which gets a revival or concert every six minutes and Finian's Rainbow that just was seen in a wonderful production in NYC. What crap choices. Fine shows but not really in the spirit of Encores. A few just coming to mind that are long overdue:
Mack and Mabel Dear World The Happy Time Funny Girl Say, Darling Fanny Golden Apple Superman Hallelujah , Baby! Raisin
I love On The Town and I like Finian's Rainbow, but they are both done ALL the time, in various productions. If this is truly the season, I'll be very disappointed. I'd rather see any and every one on BobbyBubby's list first.
Music in the Air was the first musical I saw ever, back in 1953, at the old Lambertville Music Circus. I've always bemoaned the fact that it's never had a good recording, as it has some of Kern's loveliest music. This will be a true trip down nostalgia lane for me and, with some kind of luck, maybe even generate a recording.
BobbyBubby: I second your choice of FANNY which opened in 1954 and ran for 888 performances. To my knowledge, it has never been revived, but it deserves to be--starting with Encores! and then moving to Broadway. It had some book problems, but the score is ravishing, especially the title song as sung by Marius as played by William Tabbert who was the original Lt. Cable in SOUTH PACIFIC. Florence Henderson, Ezio Pinza, and Walter Slezak round out the original cast and all have great songs to sing. The music and lyrics are by the under-rated Harold Rome. Get the CD if you can.
^^ Huh. There was the chance to hear the title song from that (Fanny) at the April BBTY when Sean Palmer hurt his leg and the dance number got cancelled so he did a solo instead. Sadly, they put him off-mic for it and you couldn't hear him at all in the rear balcony (nor could my friend who was in the rear orchestra). Most boring segment of the show...though I'd like to hear what it's supposed to sound like.
Experience live theater. Experience paintings. Experience books. Live, look and listen like artists! ~ imaginethis
LIVE THAT LESSON!!!!!!
Gotta agree with BobbyBubby...Encores seems to be losing sight of its mission. Could it be that audiences are so very much expecting the next CHICAGO or WONDERFUL TOWN that when they do something genuinely flawed and challenging, like JUNO, that audiences are turned off? What a pity.
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
~ Muhammad Ali
Oh god. Apart from the trashy numbers in Mr. President (like "Washington Twist" and "Secret Service" and "The Only Dance I Know,") that score and show is a complete bust.
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
I completely disagree. "Is He The Omly Man In The World?" "Don't Be Afraid Of Romance" are lovely. "They Like ME" is a hoot. and "This IS A Great Country" os a wonder finale/anthem.
Updated On: 5/12/08 at 10:20 AM
I've never had the chance to see any of these shows, and am very excited about them.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
While Finian was just Off-Broadway, it was only with a couple of musicians. To hear it with a full orchestra and original orchestrations will be thrilling. And I would a gree with On The Town, but they're doing it becuase of the Bernstein celebration (wish they would do 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue instead).
I see what ENCORES is doing. They want subscibers to buy so they suck them in with familar titles and throw in one lesser known piece (MUSIC IN THE AIR. Show fans know it by name but with no complete authentic recording of the score it is a "lost" title.) Ideally ENCORES would surround it with the likes of JENNIE, ME AND JULIET et al. but that would not attract enough subscribers.
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks." Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com