Musical Mondays Week 41 Hello, Dolly!

[Cam Bert 8145]

Jesus, look how hard those engineers are working.

 

My daughter is badgering me to watch 'Phantom' (of the Opera, not of the Paradise) - "when can we watch the Christine musical, daddy?" - and I know the easiest viewing experience for her will be the film version, but I can't quite bear the idea of sitting through that awful thing again. I'm leaning towards the Royal Albert Hall 25th Anniversary filmed stage version, unless anyone has any better tips?

I believe the only film versions of the musical are the Albert Hall and the Gerry Butler one. I remember watching the Charles Dance one many years ago but I think that was just a adaptation of the novel and nothing more.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

He may be the original but he wasn't the best Phantom, right?

Reminds me of Russell Crowe in Les Miserables. Not "bad" but not a real singer.

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[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

Reminds me of Russell Crowe in Les Miserables. Not "bad" but not a real singer.

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I remember seeing the casting announcement for Crowe and thinking 'oh totally, makes sense', but then seeing him in the movie, there was just... nowhere... for him... to hide. Talk about out of your depth.

 

Hey, someone pick Les Mis one of these weeks! We will have a grand old time tearing that down!

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

I believe the only film versions of the musical are the Albert Hall and the Gerry Butler one. I remember watching the Charles Dance one many years ago but I think that was just a adaptation of the novel and nothing more.

[tomspanks 9039]

My daughter is badgering me to watch 'Phantom' (of the Opera, not of the Paradise) - "when can we watch the Christine musical, daddy?" - and I know the easiest viewing experience for her will be the film version, but I can't quite bear the idea of sitting through that awful thing again. I'm leaning towards the Royal Albert Hall 25th Anniversary filmed stage version, unless anyone has any better tips?

 

Take her to this.

 

According to Amazon trivia, the producers wanted to dub Crawford's singing voice, but Gene Kelly fought to keep it.

 

So, for a musical that features so much dancing, the 2 leads do so little, which isn't too different from the stage version I guess. But I thought it was funny that Walter Matthau's "choreography" mainly involved marching in place.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

Not to be indelicate, but until I hear some alternate takes on him from this period, Walter Matthau sounds like a complete cock.

From TCM's page:

"Years ago Carol [Matthau's wife] talked Walter into going to Dachau [a Nazi death camp]. They started fighting on the train about something or other. They went through Dachau, still not speaking. They were still arguing when they got back to the hotel. When they got up to their rooms, Walter said to her, absolutely straight-faced, 'I just want you to know that you ruined my trip to Dachau!'

[tomspanks 9039]

Something else that's been bothering me - why did Irene end up with Cornelius? We all saw Cornelius was smitten with Irene at first sight, but I didn't think Irene was. Yes, she did sing about wanting to attract a man with her fancy hat, but I didn't think she meant someone like Cornelius. I might have missed it, but what was Irene's "moment"?

[Cam Bert 8145]

Something else that's been bothering me - why did Irene end up with Cornelius? We all saw Cornelius was smitten with Irene at first sight, but I didn't think Irene was. Yes, she did sing about wanting to attract a man with her fancy hat, but I didn't think she meant someone like Cornelius. I might have missed it, but what was Irene's "moment"?

The only thing I can think of was that in the song "It Only Takes A Moment" she says that when he held her she says his arms felt safe and strong. Up to that point I guess she's just having fun with him. They go to the Harmonia Gardens which is very expensive and swanky. She knows full well that he can't afford it yet strings him along before revealing "Oh, I can afford it and I will pay because it's been such a fun night." Where was the fun? Cornelius and Barnaby spent the majority of the dinner trying to run away.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

The only thing I can think of was that in the song "It Only Takes A Moment" she says that when he held her she says his arms felt safe and strong. Up to that point I guess she's just having fun with him. They go to the Harmonia Gardens which is very expensive and swanky. She knows full well that he can't afford it yet strings him along before revealing "Oh, I can afford it and I will pay because it's been such a fun night." Where was the fun? Cornelius and Barnaby spent the majority of the dinner trying to run away.

What do you think they were doing while Barnaby was looking at the whale?

[EvRobert 1684]

I'll have thoughts later tonight but I found this interesting

 

from my Facebook Memories from today

 

Theater Friends, what do you think? I had an interesting thought...three of the most famous "classical" musicals take place in the same time period and yet in three different locations. Oklahoma! (arguably the first musical of it's kind and the one all others have kind of taken their cue from) takes place sometime between 1905-07...Fiddler On The Roof takes place in 1905...and The Music Man takes place in 1912.

And while my personal favorite (and the longest running off Broadway musical in history, spanning 4 decades), The Fantasticks, takes place in an unidentified time period, the argument could be made that it also takes place at the turn of the century. I wonder what it was about the early 1900s that inspired so many authors and musicians to set their stories there. Was it the sudden almost industrial clash as the world was changing (the song "Kansas City" in Oklahoma! definitely addresses the technology changes of that time..."Tradition" in Fiddler can be looked at the changing of the times) . Is it a romantization of a by-gone era? Thoughts?

 

Hello Dolly was brought up as well, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers, Show boat, Carousel, and Wizard of Oz. The main consensus was that this was a time frame of great changes (radio becoming more popular and used, agricultural to industrial, etc) that kind of romanticized writers who grew up in that era.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

What do you think they were doing while Barnaby was looking at the whale?

This is the question of the day, no doubt. He's so hung up on that whale and then by the time they get to dinner he's seen it! Surely a better arc for him is his rising frustration that they did all this stuff and didn't get to see the whale? And while Cornelius plants a (arguably non-consensual - consent is ongoing, Cornelius) kiss on Irene, Barnaby doesn't get to fulfill their destiny that "we are not coming home until both of us kiss a girl". What about Barnaby? He has Minnie there and they seem pretty tight, but no kiss. Can we just confidently jump to the idea that Minnie is his beard (a la Season 5 of Arrested Development) and he's just hanging out with her to pine over his real love, Cornelius, getting married?

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

Hey, what is everyone's take on Dolly's 'Mary Poppins'-style qualities? Partly I mean the glamour that she seems to have placed on all of New York, who falls at her feet even though she's clearly a scam artist (and black widow, question mark), but also her magical business cards. Do we think that every single card she handed out in 'Call on Dolly' was personalized to each of those random strangers?

 

Any suggestions on what good things might be on those cards?

 

Card 1: Mrs. Dolly Levi, toenail fungus removed

Card 2: Mrs. Dolly Levi, assistance offered in dumping a body

Card 3: Mrs. Dolly Levi, will drive you to the airport for a 6am flight

Card 4: Mrs. Dolly Levi, used waterbeds sold

Card 5: Mrs. Dolly Levi, dancers taught how to paint

 

[EvRobert 1684]

Is Dolly The Master to Mary Poppins Doctor?

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

Is Dolly The Master to Mary Poppins Doctor?

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

From TCM's page:

I missed part of the copy-and-paste. Here's the full part (just for completeness).

"Years ago Carol [Matthau's wife] talked Walter into going to Dachau [a Nazi death camp]. They started fighting on the train about something or other. They went through Dachau, still not speaking. They were still arguing when they got back to the hotel. When they got up to their rooms, Walter said to her, absolutely straight-faced, 'I just want you to know that you ruined my trip to Dachau!'

"Now that's funny. And I'm sure underneath, whether Walter was serious or not, he knew it was funny." --Jack Lemmon to Jess Cagle in Entertainment Weekly, January 28, 1994

[EvRobert 1684]

At some point Mattheau got over his loathing of Babs as he was seen in her 1986 special.

 

Also, this may have mentioned, but Streisand also apparently clashed with Gene Kelly.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

At some point Mattheau got over his loathing of Babs as he was seen in her 1986 special.

 

Also, this may have mentioned, but Streisand also apparently clashed with Gene Kelly.

He seemed to get along with Michael alright. Years ago I remember reading or hearing an interview with Michael where he said Gene would call him up in the evening. Gene would then drive for one or more hours to Michael's house just to go over an idea Gene had for a dance step!

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

That darn Jacques Demy infects everything. We've now done three of "his" musicals: Umbrellas of Cherbourg, La La Land and Hello, Dolly!.

 

From Hello, Dolly! is still looking swell on the big screen

When the ensemble number “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” carries Barbra Streisand’s Dolly and ensemble en route to New York, Kelly and Kidd dare portray their spiffing-up and traveling by referencing the middle-class family ceremony in Minnelli’s Americana masterpiece, Meet Me in St. Louis. At the Yonkers train station, where the song reaches its peak, they evoke the infectious “Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe” number that highlighted George Sidney’s The Harvey Girls. This is total movie modernism—a reverence for Hollywood history in the manner of Wilder’s “Preface” (“The spectator through lending his imagination to the action restages it inside his own head.”) For me, these homages felt as au courant as the French New Wave. Kelly’s cinematic giant stage is consonant with the outsize way Jacques Demy paid homage to Hollywood musicals in Lola, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and The Young Girls of Rochefort. Hello, Dolly!’s formal complexity barely conceals Kelly’s expertise and Wilder’s imagination. This highly anticipated blockbuster boasted of its own form—virtually begging for appreciation, a very modernist thing to do—then delivered on spectacle and emotion.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

That darn Jacques Demy infects everything. We've now done three of "his" musicals: Umbrellas of Cherbourg, La La Land and Hello, Dolly!.

 

From Hello, Dolly! is still looking swell on the big screen

Hmmm... pure speculation on my part, but I wonder if those references to American musicals like The Harvey Girls with Judy Gardland are hints that Gene Kelly wanted Garland for the title role, or at least had her in mind at one point. They had been collaborating since 1942, so maybe this film was originally conceived very differently....

 

[tomspanks 9039]

Hey, what is everyone's take on Dolly's 'Mary Poppins'-style qualities? Partly I mean the glamour that she seems to have placed on all of New York, who falls at her feet even though she's clearly a scam artist (and black widow, question mark), but also her magical business cards. Do we think that every single card she handed out in 'Call on Dolly' was personalized to each of those random strangers?

 

Any suggestions on what good things might be on those cards?

 

Card 1: Mrs. Dolly Levi, toenail fungus removed

Card 2: Mrs. Dolly Levi, assistance offered in dumping a body

Card 3: Mrs. Dolly Levi, will drive you to the airport for a 6am flight

Card 4: Mrs. Dolly Levi, used waterbeds sold

Card 5: Mrs. Dolly Levi, dancers taught how to paint

 

My favorite (and most applicable?) was when she said to call her if you need cheese imported. That would be my card.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

 

My favorite (and most applicable?) was when she said to call her if you need cheese imported. That would be my card.

Can you share that card with Mr. Wensleydale?

[tomspanks 9039]

Can you share that card with Mr. Wensleydale?

 

Don't know him

[Cam Bert 8145]

Can you share that card with Mr. Wensleydale?

Possibly my all time favourite Python sketch.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

Can you share that card with Mr. Wensleydale?

 

Don't know him

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[Cam Bert 8145]

I want to thank you all for watching Hello, Dolly! Not the best movie, but a good one to check off the list.