On Broadway

In between trip report, I'm going to start a series on something very dear to my heart - Broadway musicals. As I've said before, I was obsessed with Annie as a kid. I also really enjoyed Peter Pan, starring Mary Martin, which you cannot find on video anymore, which is a real shame. Mary Poppins was another favorite.

Living close to New York City, I've been very fortunate that I've been able to see quite a few Broadway shows in my life. Several more than once. The first show I ever saw was The Secret Garden. It was fourth grade, and we had just read the book in school. (Still love that book!) We went on a class trip, and I remember we sat in the mezzanine. And the song about the garden being a maze still pops into my head. I bought the cassette tape (this was the early 90's) and I used to play it a lot as a kid. I used to love the music, but I'm not quite as enamored with it anymore.

The second show I saw was Guys and Dolls. Nathan Lane was in it at the time. I believe we went for my dad's birthday, and I remember enjoying it, but I don't really remember specifics. Guys and Dolls is a great, classic show with several well known songs like "Luck Be a Lady" and "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat'. Why do I not own the soundtrack?! I haven't seen the whole movie, but I would like to sit down and enjoy the whole thing sometime soon. Frank Sinatra plays Nathan Detroit.

The third show I saw was Show Boat. And Oh. My. God. I was enamored. (I want the soundtrack so badly, but unfortunately it's now out of print.) The sets, the music, the story - Show Boat was the first musical that had song kind of story. And a dark story at that. It deals with interracial marriage. Pretty heavy stuff for 1927. I was in 8th grade and it was a class trip. This was the year I really started to get into musical theater, mostly because I was in my first show, but that's a story for another time. I would love to see a production of Show Boat again. It's a classic show - the kind that changed what people thought of when they thought of Broadway. Probably the most famous song from the show is the iconic "Old Man River". Great, powerful, song.

So what other shows have I seen? Well, this is a list of all the shows I've seen on Broadway. I've seen other shows in touring productions, community theater and dinner theater. (And since we're so close to Broadway itself, our dinner theater is pretty damn amazing and features Broadway talent.) But these are the shows I've actually see on "The Great White Way". I've seen shows with a * more than once.

And these are in noooo particular order. That would take forever:

Beauty & the Beast
1776
Les Miserables
Phantom of the Opera
Miss Saigon
Jekyll and Hyde *
Rent *
Aida
The Scarlet Pimpernel *
Ragtime
Kiss Me, Kate
Spring Awakening
The Producers
Civil War
The Full Monty
Little Shop of Horrors
Movin' Out
Spamalot *
The Music Man

I may have forgotten one or two. I haven't seen a Broadway Show in over a year, so I'm a having a bit of withdrawal!

I (heart) Netflix and Broadway

More trip report will be coming up in the coming days. But I needed to take a break from that for a bit.

I signed up for Netflix awhile ago, and after the free trial was over I kept it. I have the cheapest plan - one DVD and unlimited streaming. I use the streaming the most. Between the PS3 and our Netflix enabled Bluray, it's really handy to have so many movie and TV shows ready to watch whenever I want. The streaming library grows all the time - just today I discovered they have Into the Woods! Into the Woods!! Really?! That isn't exactly a common movie to have. When it comes to musicals their selection leaves a lot to be desired, but there are a couple of good choices and I'm sure there will be more as time goes on. (Where is Show Boat?! I know it's old as hell and probably never came out on DVD, but come on! Find a way!)

I've been on a bit of a Broadway kick lately, which is evident in what I've watched on Netflix streaming lately:

Stagedoor - A documentary about the musical theater camp in upstate NY. It was interesting, and a quick watch.

Life After Tomorrow - This was an interesting and slightly disturbing documentary about the girls who were in Annie during the 70's and early 80's on Broadway and on tour. (Including Sarah Jessica Parker - totally forgot she was in that.)

Broadway: The American Musical - this was a six part series that originally aired on PBS, I believe. Hosted by Julie Andrews, it chronicles the history of Broadway from the turn of the century until like 2004. Very interesting and entertaining.

Singin' in the Rain - Can you believe I had never seen this before? It was really good - Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor. Man. Stars don't have talent like that these days. And Gene Kelly was like 40 when that movie came out and he's dancing all over the place.

Besides being on a musicals kick, I'm also on a old movie kick. I plan to watch a bunch in the coming weeks... I'm sick of new movies. Most of them suck. Why can't people write a story any more? It seems to be we're just relying more and more on special effects and computers to tell our stories for us...which is impossible.

I have seen two new movies lately - The Hangover and Zombieland. Both were good. The Hangover was amusing and entertaining but not the non stop laugh-a-thon people make it out to be. I only laughed out loud a handful of times. (I do, however, finally get what's so hot about Bradley Cooper. Yum.) So over hyped, but still good. Zombieland was amusing, the perfect length and not very gory for a movie about zombies.

That's about it for now - FYI, if you set up a station on Pandora Radio for Wicked (Original Broadway Cast) you mostly seem to get music from Rent, Disney movies and Glee. (And Wicked, of course!) That's what I've been getting with my latest station, anyway.

Back In the Day ~ Annie

I was obsessed with several movies a kid, but I have to admit this was probably the most influential:

My mom loves to recount the story of how I got up on a chair at a diner and started singing "Tomorrow". I believe I was 2. Luckily, I remember none of this. I have no idea what would have possessed me to get up in front of a crowded restaurant and start belting out show tunes. Sounds like a scene from some musical all by itself, doesn't it?

But yeah. Annie. My mom had taped it off TV and I watched it over and over again. As I grew up and heard people bash this movie I was horrified. How could anyone hate my beloved movie?

I don't understand it to this day. Maybe it's the memories clinging to me, but I still love this movie. What's to dislike about it? First of all, the movie has Carol Burnett, Tim Curry, Bernadette Peters, Albert Finney and Ann Reinking. Carol Burnett and Tim Curry alone are both amazing. (I have admit I always thought he was very good looking as Rooster - haha!) Add in Bernadette Peters and "Easy Street" is one of the best movie musical numbers ever - in my opinion anyway. Ha! How could you not love sliding down the banister while Rooster and Lily consistently leave Miss Hannigan to fall all over herself. And what about Rooster's sudden gymnastics? It's so much more than just dancing. If it entertains a 2 year old, you know it's gotta be pretty damn good.

Let's go back to Carol Burnett for a minute. I just love her. She is a legend for good reason. She plays Miss Hannigan with such a perfect mix of drunk and crazy without making her look evil. Then there's her duet with Albert Finney as Daddy Warbucks - "Sign". Another fantastic number. I'm embarrassed to admit my sister and I used to perform this for relatives when we were kids. (Guess who was Daddy Warbacks... Yeah...) Anyway, the song, which involves Miss Hannigan trying to seduce Warbucks until he points out all the dirt he has on her, has classic lyrics. Here are some of my favorites:

Hannigan: You ever been to "Bonas Ires"?
Warbucks: Where?

Hannigan: Buy me a ruby.
Warbucks: No!
Hannigan: Why shouldn't you be mine!?

Warbucks: You spend your ev'nings in the shanties
Hannigan: You had me followed?
Warbucks: Imbibing quarts of bathtub gin!
Hannigan: Bronchitis!
Warbucks: And here you're dancing in your scanties!
Hannigan: Great gams!
Warbucks: With some old geezer called Little Caesar.
Hannigan: He's an uncle!

Warbucks: You lock The orphans in the closet!
Hannigan: They love it!
Warbucks: You hock their Christmas souvenirs!
Hannigan: A drink?
Warbucks: You steal the funds you should deposit.
Hannigan: It's fresh.
Warbucks: You make them grovel, while you buy lavaliers.

What the hell are lavaliers? Per the dictionary: an ornament hanging from a chain, worn around the neck.

Anyway, while we're discussing classic numbers you can't forgot "Sandy" (how cute was that dog?) "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile", "It's a Hard Knock Life", and, of course, "Tomorrow", the pinnacle of classic.

I'll tell you what song and scene is my least favorite - "Let's Go to the Movies", which I always found way too long. And the movie they show, (Camille, from 1936) always tends to make me drowsy, so I don't blame Annie for falling asleep during it. Runner up: "We Got Annie". Too much dancing, and you can't say much for the lyrics to that one. ("We got Annie" x 1000. Okay. We get it.)

I love the whole ending scene where Annie gets away and Rooster chases after her (slapping his own sister in the face in the process.) and they climb up the bridge. In pure dramatic fashion, she's rescued by helicopter.

I guess for a little girl this movie had a lot to offer: orphans, a spunky girl, a dog, a mansion, singing, jewelry (I loved that broken locket), drama, and the ending - with the animals and fireworks - who could ask for anything more?

Annie will always have a special place in my heart for sure.