Saturday, April 30, 2022

Musicals On a Sunny Day

Got a quick start this morning with breakfast before hurrying out. I couldn't believe how gorgeous it was. The wind finally settled down, and while it remained fairly strong, it was nothing like earlier in the week. The sun was out, and there wasn't a cloud in the searing blue sky. 

Maybe that's why we were so quiet today. It was slightly busier than yesterday, but still nowhere near overwhelming. Audubon had a lot of events going on, too, including their Town-Wide Yard Sale. Not to mention, this is the last day of the month, and we're between holidays. It died so quickly and we had so much help by 2:30, I was able to leave with no relief and no need for one.

I'm furious about my schedule next week. A lot more hours...but I don't have my next day off until Friday! My last day off was TUESDAY! And it's all 6 to 8 1/2 hour shifts. One of the cashiers had family trouble and had to take off, and now we're even more short-handed. When am I going to get anything done? 

Took the long way home via Nicholson Road, as I did yesterday. It was busy with Saturday shoppers around the mall, but otherwise wasn't too bad. Even the White Horse Pike could have been worse. Most folks were likely either still at local events or at the Shore. At least everything is really gorgeous now. The leaves grow fatter and fatter on the trees; the gardens glow with pansies and tulips.

Went straight upstairs and into Match Game '78 while I changed and had a snack. Jon "Bowzer" Bauman made his first appearances on the show in these episodes, along with the only appearance in the original show of Rhoda regular Nancy Lane. They added a great deal of New York flair to the week, from Nancy's jokes about New Jersey to Bowzer showing off his 50's greaser look.

Watched A Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song while going through papers on top of my printer and dusting the rooms. I go further into the third entry in this series at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.


Worked on writing for a while after the movie ended. White King Gene and Queen Helen are being held prisoner on their own thrones. They know what's going to happen - their memories work forwards and backwards, too - but the Red King still threatens King Gene with being stripped of his "muchness" if he doesn't give up his move to him. 

Broke for dinner at 7. Threw on PAW Patrol while I ate. The Pups are on vacation out west when the robotic dinosaur a diner owner keeps to advertise his wares suddenly walks off with his trailer and his wife. The "Pups Save a Robo-Saurus" and manage to get his wife back in time for her to watch her favorite show. "Pups Save a Film Festival" when Daring Danny X's overdone stunts keep interrupting everyone's attempts at making a movie for the local outdoor screen, including their own.

Finished the night with something unique at YouTube. I'd seen bits and pieces of the first Musical Comedy Tonight before, but I never found the full show until tonight...and never knew there was more. Sylvia Fine-Kaye, the witty songwriter wife of Danny Kaye, introduces us to the history of the Broadway musical, from the college-themed show Leave It to Jane in 1919 to Company in 1970, performed by major talent. 

In the first concert, we get to see Ethel Merman bray the title song from Anything Goes that made her a star in 1934 and be ecstatic when handsome Rock Hudson joins her for "You're the Top." Bobby Van and Bernadette Peters make a charming couple singing about how "The Best Things In Life are Free," while a redheaded Sandy Duncan is the perfect flapper leading the chorus through "The Varsity Drag" from Good News. John Davidson sings about "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" and leads the chorus through the rousing title song of Oklahoma!, and we get to hear Agnes DeMille narrate her famous ballet. Carol Burnett is a hilarious Aldo Annie singing "I Can't Say No." She, Duncan, and Peters return for Company. Duncan gets "Another Hundred People," while Peters joins Richard Chamberlain, whose legendary charm will certainly keep her from leaving for "Barcelona." Burnett gets to practice her drunk routine with "The Ladies Who Lunch."

The third entry focuses wholly on older shows. Beth Howland of Alice explains why she admires "Cleopatterer" in the big comic song from Leave It to Jane, while Broadway star Christine Andreas leads the chorus through the title song. Peter Noone and Clive Revell make odd choices for a brief excerpt from The Mikado, and Show Boat is represented by the 1936 Universal movie with Irene Dunne and Paul Robeson rather than a recreation. 

Other shows come off better. Florence Henderson sings a gorgeous "They Didn't Believe Me," Jerome Kern's first major hit. Patti LaBelle starts a "Heat Wave" with the chorus in a sequence from the Irving Berlin revue As Thousands Cheer. Donna McKechnie joins Dick Van Dyke for "Thou Swell" from the Rodgers and Hart A Connecticut Yankee and "This Can't Be Love" from The Boys from Syracuse. Elaine Stritch reveals what Morgan LeFay does "To Keep My Love Alive" in the last song Rodgers and Hart wrote together. Kaye Ballard joins McKechnie and Roberta Peters as they "Sing for Their Suppers" and reveal why "Falling In Love With Love" is a bad idea. 

Honestly, if you love older musicals like I do, this is highly recommended for the numbers recreating rarely-seen older shows like Connecticut Yankee and Good News alone. (And I hope the full second special shows up online soon - it apparently can only be found at the Paley Center in New York at the moment, though the Lady In the Dark sequence with Danny Kaye and Lynn Redgrave is on YouTube.)

No comments: