Annie

One of America’s favorite little girls from a film or play has to be Annie. This adorable orphan played by Aileen Quinn is a creative and tough little redhead who wants desperately to get out of the orphanage, find her parents, and have a real life. She is in constant trouble with the orphanage’s tyrannical ruler, Miss Hannigan, played by Carol Burnett. Despite her various escape attempts, she always winds back up in the orphanage. Until one day, the secretary of billionaire Oliver Warbucks (Ann Reinking) arrives and takes Annie away from the orphanage to spend a week in Mr. Warbucks’ mansion. Annie’s immense gratitude and charisma help work her way into the hearts of everyone at the mansion, including “Daddy” Warbucks (Albert Finney). Despite his heartfelt desire to adopt her, Daddy Warbucks instead helps Annie search for her real parents. Unfortunately, they are unaware of a nefarious scheme by Miss Hannigan, her brother, and his girlfriend to kidnap Annie for the reward money. Rooster and Lily (Bernadette Peters) dress down and convince Mr. Warbucks that they are Annie parents by the other half of Annie’s locket they have. Their plan appears to be a complete success until some of Annie’s orphan friends reach Mr. Warbucks. They reveal the evil plan and a rescue party is launched. Finally, Annie is saved, the bad guys are caught by the police, and everyone returns home. Annie learns of her parents’ death and then happily agrees to become Daddy Warbucks’ little girl. This movie is a classic musical that is sure to be watched for years to come.

My favorite songs in this musical are “It’s a Hard Knock Life”, “I Think I’m Gonna Like It Here”, “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile”, and “Easy Street”. I think everyone has seen this movie but if you haven’t, be sure to check it out. Look for the 1982 version and not the Disney remake. Enjoy!

Newsies

Today, I am presenting the most recent musical of all the posts I have done. Made in 1992, the fun-filled musical Newsies was filmed and produced. This musical is based on the true story of a courageous group of newsboys who group together to defend their rights against newspaper tycoon, Joseph Pulitzer. There are many familiar faces in this musical such as Robert Duvall, Ann-Margaret, and Christian Bale. Yes, the same Christian Bale who played Batman, his most well-known movie ever. Another familiar name might be Kenny Ortega. Ortega directed all three High School Musicals but Newsies is nothing like the High School Musical trilogy so don’t be scared away. This movie has incredible dancing and acrobatics all done by boys. There are no girls in the newsie group. Our story begins with Jack Kelly, the leader of the newsies with a dream of leaving New York for Santa Fe. He meets David Jacobs who is trying to earn money for his family after his father was laid-off because of a factory accident. Jack teaches David and his little brother, Les, how to be newsies. Soon afterwards, Pulitzer decides to raise the distribution price a tenth of a cent. This outrages the newsies who already scrounge for a living. They decide to go on strike. In order to gain more support, they invite all the newsies in the surrounding areas of New York to join them. However, their protest does not gain attention quickly or easily and they are up against the most powerful man in New York. Needless to say, they encounter some problems. One of these problems is Warden Snyder from “The Refuge”, supposedly a rehabilitation home for boys but more like a jail. He is chasing Jack, who we discover is really Patrick Sullivan and who has escaped from “The Refuge”. Another major problem is Pulitzer’s hired thugs who try hurt the boys in order to stop their strike. But the street smart boys overcome all. They reach out to working boys and girls all over New York. This presents a huge problem to the city of New York because it thrives on child labor. With this massive mob at his doorstep, Pulitzer has no choice but to give in to the newsies’ demands.
I love this story, especially all the dancing and jumping. My favorite songs are “Carrying the Banner”, “The World Will Know”, “Seize the Day”, and “King of New York”. My favorite line comes from Spot Conlon, the newsie leader from New York. As Jack’s newsies are battling a group of thugs, Spot and his gang appear on the rooftops to help.

Spot: Never fear, Brooklyn is here!

Spot and his crew then proceed to shoot marbles at the thugs with their slingshots and successfully help Jack and his boys force the thugs back. I really hope you can see this movie and enjoy it as much as I did. Be sure to check out my polls so I can get some ideas of what ya’ll would like to see in my blog. Leave me a comment and have a wonderful week!

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a wonderful musical about a backwoods family of seven brothers and their clumsy and creative ways of finding a bride. This unusual film was released by MGM in 1954. Well-known actors (such as Howard Keel, Jane Powell, Julie Newmar [Newmeyer], Russ Tamblyn, and Jeff Richards) helped increase the film’s popularity and success. This movie is filled with laughs and songs that are certain to keep you entertained. It all begins when Adam Pontipee comes to town with the intention of taking home a wife. During his wife-hunt, he meets Milly, a hardworking young woman, and she agrees to marry him despite knowing nothing about him! Milly looks forward to her home in the mountains, away from town, with only one man to care for. However, Adam has conveniently left out his six other brothers! After Milly meets all the brothers, she sets about turning them into proper gentleman and correcting their horrendous habits. Their first test and social engagement comes at a barn-raising. There, they meet six lovely young ladies and the brothers fall in love. But these lovesick brothers fail their first test when they respond to the taunts of the jealous suitors and start a huge fight. Back home, they grieve for the girls they can’t have until Adam encourages them to go get the girls and carry them off in a similar fashion to what the Romans did to the Sabine women. They sneak down to the town, kidnap the girls, cause an avalanche, and bring them back to the farm. Milly gives all the men a terrible scolding, forbids them to see the girls, and exiles them to the barn. Adam is greatly upset by Milly’s anger and leaves the farm to spend the winter in the trapping cabin. While the winter goes on, the brothers get Milly’s permission to court the girls and they all have a glorious time till spring. By now, all the snow has melted and the townspeople are making plans to get their daughters, sisters, etc. back. Adam returns and decides the girls should be returned after thinking about his own daughter, Hannah, who Milly had in Adam’s absence. However, the girls don’t want to leave. What follows is a hilarious misunderstanding and chase of the girls, brothers, townsmen, and suitors. Eventually, the girls marry the brothers in a shotgun wedding and everyone is happy. This movie is an absolute must-see! From the alphabetical and biblical names of the brothers (Adam, Benjamin, Caleb, Daniel, Ephraim, Frankincense, and Gideon) to the creative dancing duel at the barn-raising, this musical is filled with laughs and smiles at every turn.
Although all the songs in this musical are good, my favorite songs are “Going Courtin’” and “Sobbin’ Women”. The first song is sung by Milly and the brothers during her attempt to explain the concept of “courting” to these backwoods men. The second song is sung by Adam and the brothers as Adam tries to inspire them to do something about their girls which ultimately leads to the kidnapping. Although I could probably find lots of my favorite lines, I will use one from the beginning. As Milly is being introduced to the brothers, Daniel and Ephraim come up at the same time.

Milly: Which one is Daniel and which is Ephraim?

Both: Me!

I hope you can watch this movie sometime. I first saw it as a play, which is equally amusing, but you really need to see the movie. If you have seen this movie, let me know about it! Leave a comment. See you next time!

My Fair Lady

My Fair Lady is a well-known musical based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. This musical was not easily created. Even the genius of Rodgers and Hammerstein II struggled and gave up on this seemingly impossible story. Finally, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe succeeded in overcoming the impossible. My Fair Lady became a Broadway play in 1956 and set a new record for the longest run of a major musical theatre production at that time. As for the major roles in the play, Professor Higgins was played by Rex Harrison, who also starred in the film version, and Eliza Doolittle was played by the newly discovered Julie Andrews. Later, the play was converted to a film starring Audrey Hepburn as Eliza rather than Julie Andrews. Although this caused much controversy, Julie Andrews was believed to be too inexperienced for film because she had only been “discovered” a short time ago. The film won eight Academy Awards: Best Picture, Directing, Best Actor (Rex Harrison), Best Cinematography, Sound, Original Music Score, Best Art Direction, and Costume Design. The plot of the story centers around a young Cockney girl named Eliza Doolittle. She meets Professor Henry Higgins and begins to take lessons from him to improve her English so she can be a “lady in a flower shop”, or basically, find a better job. Soon, Professor Higgins makes a bet that he can pass her off as a lady at the Embassy Ball in six months. As Eliza learns under the professor’s strict instruction, she not only learns phonetics but proper manners as well. When the time arrives for her test, Eliza convinces everyone at the ball that she is a Hungarian princess with the help of a sneaky phonetician named Zoltan Karpathy. After the bet is won, Eliza finds she is quite independent now and no longer needs the domineering professor. Despite his previous disgust and harshness, Professor Higgins has become “accustomed to her face” and is affected by her leaving. At the very end, she returns to find him listening to a phonograph with her voice recorded on it. In spite of his obvious joy and delight at her return, he resumes his gruff attitude in one question. The movie ends and leaves the ending wide open as to what follows.
My favorite songs in this movie are “I Could Have Danced All Night”, “On The Street Where You Live”, “Show Me”, “A Hymn To Him”, and “Without You”. My favorite one-liner comes from Professor Higgins. He is astounded that Eliza has bolted and is talking about it with Mrs. Pearce and Colonel Pickering. In the conversation leading up to this line, Professor Higgins is remembering everything that happened the night before in an attempt to understand Eliza’s flight and Colonel Pickering has responded several times by saying, “I’m dashed!”

Professor Higgins: “For God’s sake, Pickering, stop being dashed and do something!”

I love watching this musical because it makes me laugh and I notice something new every time I watch it. I hope you enjoy it too. Leave me a comment and I will talk to you again next week! Thanks!

The Sound of Music

One of the most world-famous musicals of all time is The Sound of Music. This beloved tale originated from the true story of Georg Ritter von Trapp and Maria Augusta von Kutschera. Georg Ritter von Trapp was born on April 4, 1880 to August Ritter von Trapp and Hedwig Wepler. Following in the footsteps of his father, Georg became a naval officer in the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1902. He had a fascination with submarines and while in command of three (a U-5, a U-6, and a U-14), he sunk eleven cargo vessels totaling 45,669 tons, sunk the French armored cruiser Leon Gambetta and the Italian submarine Nereide, captured one cargo vessel, and had nineteen war patrols on his wartime record. However, after the end of the First World War, Austria no longer had a coast and he lost his position. Georg’s first wife was Agathe Whitehead, the granddaughter of Englishman Robert Whitehead, inventor of the torpedo. Married in January 1911, Georg and Agathe had seven children. Their names were Rupert (11/1/1911), Agathe (3/12/1913), Maria Franziska (8/28/1914), Werner (12/21/1915), Hedwig (7/28/1917), Johanna (9/7/1919), and Martina (2/17/1921). Agathe Whitehead von Trapp died of scarlet fever in September of 1922. Maria Augusta von Kutschera was born on January 25, 1905. Because her mother died when she was two years old, Maria was raised by an elderly cousin of her father in a little cottage on the outskirts of Vienna. During her college years, Maria heard a sermon by Father Kronseder that dramatically changed her life. She joined the Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg to become a nun. However, while she was there, it was decided that she would be sent to the Trapp Villa for a year to work as a governess for the captain’s daughter, Maria Franziska, who was confined to bed with rheumatic fever. Maria never went back to the abbey. She married Georg Ritter von Trapp on November 26, 1927. Not too long after, they had three more children: Rosemarie (2/8/1929), Eleonore (5/14/1931), and Johannes (1/17/1939). Because of the economic pressure in Austria, the von Trapps had little or no money. To provide them with a livelihood, Maria arranged singing engagements for the family. Although they didn’t really flee from a Nazi order, the family did leave Austria in 1938 and go to Italy. From there, they toured in America for eight months and then went to back to Europe to tour in Scandinavia in 1939. Finally, they came back to the United States and lived in Pennsylvania briefly before settling down in Stowe, Vermont in 1941. The von Trapps bought a 660-acre farm and made it the Trapp Family Lodge. Georg died in 1947 of lung cancer and Maria passed away in 1987. Of the von Trapp children, five have died and five remain living.

The Broadway musical opened for the first time in November 1959. It was directed by Vincent J. Donehue and choreographed by Joe Layton. Sadly, this was the last musical written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, the famous musical pair. Oscar Hammerstein died of cancer nine months after The Sound of Music premiered on Broadway. But the Broadway musical is not the most well-known version of The Sound of Music. For most people, it is best remembered as the film starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. Made in 1965, this film met with overwhelming success. However, the story line was not completely accurate and some changes were made, such as the children’s names. Despite these inaccuracies, The Sound of Music won the following five Academy Awards in 1965: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, and Best Scoring of Music-Adaptation. This beloved story has been adapted for nineteen other countries, making it world-famous.

My favorite song from this musical is “Edelweiss”. Sung by Christopher Plummer as Captain von Trapp, “Edelweiss” symbolizes the loyalty of the Austrians to their country. However, I pretty much like all the songs in this musical! As for my favorite one-liner, the line I remember the best happens in a conversation between the Captain and Maria after she and the children return from their afternoon out of the house and are dumped in the river. Maria is arguing with the Captain concerning all the little things he is missing with his children and he is denying it. As she goes on and on, he has finally had enough.

Maria: I am not finished yet, Captain.
Captain von Trapp: Oh yes, you are, Captain! … Fraulein.

He makes a mistake by calling her “Captain” instead of “Fraulein”, which is a German courtesy or title for an unmarried woman. However, the best part of the conversation including that line is the rapid exchange between the two actors and the expression on Maria’s face. I encourage you to watch this musical on your next free weekend or rainy day. It is a little lengthy. It is definitely the most popular movie musical of all time. But don’t just take my advice, see for yourself. Thanks for reading my post and feel free to leave a comment or post. Until next time… enjoy!

Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof is a classic musical that first appeared on Broadway in 1964 and was later adapted to the popular film in 1971. The story centers on the life of a poor Jewish milkman, Tevye, and his attempts to maintain his family and religious traditions while the world is changing around him. His three oldest daughters, Tzeitel, Hodel, and Chava, are married throughout the course of the story each one challenging the ancient traditions in different ways. Set in Tsarist Russia in 1905, the play showcases the Jewish lifestyle and beliefs as opposed to the Russians. In the beginning, the Jews and Russians live peacefully together but problems arise for Jews in their small village of Anatevka until finally they are evicted from their village by the Tsar’s edict. This musical draws the audience in with its unparalleled orchestrations that combine the original music of the Middle East with the grand resonance of Broadway. Of course, the most musical element is the actual fiddler. He appears several times throughout the story, mainly interacting with Tevye. Fiddler on the Roof has all the best and essential ingredients for a classic Broadway musical.
The original production opened on September 22, 1964, at the Imperial Theatre. From there, it moved to the Majestic Theatre in 1967 and finally to the Broadway Theatre in 1970. Names like Zero Mostel, Maria Karnilova, Herschel Bernardi, and Gino Conforti dominated the cast list. Fiddler was first run of a musical in history to exceed 3,000 performances, setting a record of 3,242 shows total. Nominated for ten Tony Awards, the Broadway hit won nine, including Best Musical, score, book, direction and choreography. Fiddler on the Roof enjoyed its position as the longest running musical for ten years until it was surpassed by Grease. However, it holds the title of Broadway’s fourteenth longest-running show in history.
The movie is equally impressive. It was no surprise that the film won three Academy Awards, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, and Best Sound, with arranger/conductor John Williams and director Norman Jewison. Played by Chaim Topol, Tevye is the most lovable and interactive character in the film. Occasionally, he will break the theatric “fourth wall” by talking to the audience or to the heavens (God) for the audience’s benefit. Best of all, the actual songs in the musical are what make it phenomenal. The most popular songs are “Matchmaker, Matchmaker”, “If I Were a Rich Man”, “Far From the Home I Love”, and “Sunrise, Sunset”. The last song, “Sunrise, Sunset”, is my favorite. This song is sung by Tevye (Topol), Golde (Norma Crane), Perchik (Paul Glaser), and Hodel (Michele Marsh) at the wedding of Motel and Tzeitel. I love to sing this song; in fact, I sing all the parts, not just the girls. I wish I could sing this as a duet (or quartet) with someone but that might be hard because it’s the parents singing about their daughter, Tzeitel, and how time has passed so quickly. But that doesn’t stop me from singing it at home and in the car! This musical is the epitome of classic and never grows old for me.
The things I love most about this musical are Tevye’s conversations with God, his dancing, his creativity, etc. Basically, I love Tevye’s whole character! He is determined to honor the traditions of old and show his devotion but he slowly and gradually integrates some more modern ideas through the actions and decisions of his three eldest daughters. He shows a familiarity with God through his entertaining and comical prayers. Incomparable, his dancing skills just add to his lovable and original character. Finally, he displays a quick and creative mind as he “dreams” up a story to tell Golde, his wife, to get her to accept Motel and Tzeitel’s marriage. He also has the best one-liners in the play. My favorite quote is an exchange between him and Perchik.

Perchik: Money is the world’s curse!
Tevye: May God strike me with it! And may I never recover!!!!

I hope I have convinced to you watch this musical again or perhaps for the first time! Leave me a post about your favorite parts or songs. Till next time, enjoy!

First Quote on Saturday

Dear followers,

I will have my first musical review post set up on Saturday evening. Look forward to some video clips, lyrics, and one-liners!