Friday, September 26, 2014

Lambeth Walks and Sudden Fortunes

Started out a beautiful day with Half A Sixpence. The Broadway version of the English musical brought over Tommy Steele in his original vehicle about an orphaned shop apprentice in the early 1900s who suddenly inherits a fortune. He originally wants to marry a society lady he met at a class, but finally settles on his long-time sweetheart...before losing said fortune. While some of the songs were quite charming  (especially the lovely "Long Ago" and the big wedding number "Flash Bang Wallop"), I suspect this loses something without the dances by Onna White that made this a big hit on Broadway in 1965. Steele can also be overbearing, particularly in larger numbers like "Wallop" and "Money To Burn. At least this seems to fit him better as a vehicle than Singin' In the Rain did. This is on CD and can be found for a fairly decent price on Amazon; charming and fun if you're a fan of Steele or fluffy boy-meets-girl musical comedies.

Work was busier than yesterday, but otherwise more of the same. People were rude and annoying yesterday and today. I thought it was the weather, but today was gorgeous, sunny, breezy, and in the mid-70s. I was so glad when my relief, one of the college boys, showed up early and I was able to get off quickly.

I got my schedule first. Looks like I'm back to having mainly weekends off now that the college kids are in school. On one hand, I have another 7-plus-hour day, this one Wednesday. Thankfully, it's only one this time, and not back-to-back. While it'll be a long wait for Friday and next Saturday off, I'm glad I'll have Saturday to myself tomorrow and next week.

I didn't really need a lot of groceries. Restocking brown sugar, cereal, whole wheat flour, and oatmeal were the big ones. I needed peanut butter and cooking spray, too. The Acme doesn't seem to have the Smart Balance sticks (again), so I bought I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.

When I got home, I made broccoli and pasta for dinner with the last of the baked chicken legs while listening to Me and My Girl. The version I have is the original 1985 London cast with Robert Lindsay and Emma Thompson as the title characters. I can't really tell what it's about; from the songs, I'm guessing it's another class-war tale. This was a blockbuster hit in the West End in the late 30s and early 40s. It's "Lambeth Walk" dance apparently became a craze; the sweet "Leaning On the Lamp Post" was also popular. The show was reconstructed and revived in the mid-80s. It was such a smash hit, it was the only comic musical imported from England during the height of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/epic European musical craze of the 80s and 90s. It did well enough in the US to have a Broadway cast album, apparently sans Thompson. The US cast is easier to find on this side of the pond, but you could probably pick up the London album for a decent price as well.

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