I do not know who it was recorded the symphonic dance version of WSS music in the early 60s (or maybe even late 50s); all I know is I wore out our record of it when I was a kid. I witnessed it live in a theater in SF in the early 2000s and blubbered away thru the entire thing.
And if you ever want 3 minutes of bliss, youtube the Dudamel-conducted version of Mambo with his kids monster orchestra (Simon Bolivar Symphony) - there's one from Caracas New Year's Eve 2007 that is severely over the top...but it's worth the price of admission...
My family had that album too. Pretty sure it was Bernstein and the NY Philharmonic, which would make sense, although a nagging voice at the back of my head says it was Ormandy and Philadelphia.
Or, for a change of pace, You Tune one of the many West Side Story medleys from Buddy Rich. Be warned that it's always the occasion of his longest and most show-offy drum solos--which I love, and is the reason I've watched it approx. 3,900 times.
Ok, sounds like a musical movie I could enjoy but I’m still holding out for George Lucas’ remake of “My Fair Lady” with AI scientist Henry Higgins teaching robot E-liza how to speak mid-Atlantic English and get a job at CNN.
A volcel, no? Hey, fuck Sherlock Holmes (or Company). Let's do a My Fair Lady where Higgins is gay and Pickering finds himself rather perturbed by the realization.
I like it as an inspiring example of how accommodations for the disabled don't have to lead to an inferior product, and can create something surprising and even better than business-as-usual.
In a sense, there has already been an AI remake of 𝘔𝘺 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘓𝘢𝘥𝘺—or at least of 𝘗𝘺𝘨𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯—in the form of Alex Garland’s 2014 film 𝘌𝘹 𝘔𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘢. Spoiler: it doesn’t work out well for Professor Higgins or, for that matter, Colonel Pickering.
Funny you should mention that -- just saw Torn Curtain for the first time, and was astonished by how thoroughly Hitchcock managed to make Julie Andrews and Paul Newman unsexy together.
That scene where they're in bed together EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE NOT MARRIED must have been risque for the times (compare it to anything Doris and Rock were doing) but you're right - not the least bit sexy. I don't think Julie Andrews did sexy til Victor/Victoria.
You should see her with James Garner in the criminally underrated THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY. “Careful, tiger, that’s a tailored shirt…” “Oh, shut up and let me kiss you.”
Wow, the first time? I saw that while living in (West) Germany. The whole Iron Curtain biz stuck my 10-year-old self as deadly fcking serious. That sequence with the buses has always stayed with me.
"....(the new orchestration for which, I notice, has more prominent guiro and claves)...".
Only you Roy, would notice or comment on that.
"...That’s what they ask of each other, and what the song asks of you — 'hold my hand and I’ll take you there'. I cried like a child at the song, at their fate, and at the whole thing, all over again. In my book that makes it a success."
Not only are the reviews witty and well-argued and evocative, but I love that I love so many of the same things as Roy even though he is, in my mind, a hard-bitten Raymond Chandler character whereas I am a person who enjoyed "Love Actually." And I love that he cries at movies too <3
I was in Lowe's the other day trying to return a can of paint. Turns out they won't take back paint over 30 days old. I was ready to go all Mamet on their asses but then I thought better of it. Maybe I'll save it for the school board meeting.
What a great review! You answered all pertinent questions and was very honest about how it made you feel. That being said, I hate West Side Story. I've only ever seen the movie. Between that and the Sound of Music , Robert Wise destroyed
Band Wagon is awesome, probably my favorite of the big MGM musicals. And I'll just leave it at that because I don't want to get into a fight this early in the morning.
Heh. I live in Lincoln Towers and have PR doormen so now I have to go see the new WSS for the ref instead of glimpsing its construction in the dance scenes in the old…
Had an insight just recently (a few months) about Officer Krupke: The number doesn't belong in the show. It's just too overwhelmingly witty, with the psychiatrist joke and all, and self-conscious in a good way. Including the music with the Prokofiev key changes. Those kids are not Jets, they're Jewish, i.e. not the same characters as the rest of the time. But it's such a great number you can't possibly cut it.
So (I'm thinking now) it presents the director with a serious problem, and maybe boxing it up in the police station helps by detaching it from the rest of the scenery.
The kids' alienation is a big part of the show ("That's the way we found it, Doc"). I think "Krupke" absolutely fits. As for the Jets' precocity, well, street kids can be pretty clever. (I note with interest the Jet playing the psychiatrist in this version does the same mittel-European accent as was employed in 1961, and which was a signifier for headshrinker since Freud.)
The type of do-gooders featured in the song ("I'm depraved on a account o' I'm deprived!") would seem dated in the modern version, wouldn't they? And isn't it the judge who wants to go easy on the kid? Can't imagine a modern audience buying that.
An alternative: it's not about their alienation, it's about their relative privilege, that they can mercilessly mock a cop without fear of being killed or locked up. Which leads to the simple explanation that they're the white gang, and then it all makes sense. The Sharks would never try it.
Sondheim lamented later that "I Feel Pretty" was too articulate for the character. Christ, at age 26 you'd think a fella would have noticed something like that.
Meh. This is a dramatic form in which characters frequently and spontaneously break into song. My disbelief is already hovering comfortably up there among the overhead wires, and I’m going to cavil about lyrics?
If gang members get a set of dance moves that would earn them an audition at the Joffrey Ballet, I don't see how Maria doesn't get full access to all the wordplay Stephen Sondheim could supply.
Another kudo for this review. I was very leery when i saw this was coming, expecting bedazzled grit and "acting" instead of the Broadway play-to-the-balcony stuff in the old movie. Your review convinced me thats all in there, but even Speilberg couldn't ruin the deeply romantic story at the heart. I saw a version directed by my wife's uncle at a Jesuit college, and realized about halfway through that it was structured musically exactly as an opera. Show how dumb i am.
I was reading this aloud to my vision-impaired roommate this morning.
When I got to the line about just having to believe love is worth the risk, my voice cracked and my cheeks were suddenly damp with something that couldn't possibly have been tears in a gruff old fart like me.
FWIW, there’s only a couple of musical scores I really like — you know, enough to listen to — and WSS is one of them.
I do not know who it was recorded the symphonic dance version of WSS music in the early 60s (or maybe even late 50s); all I know is I wore out our record of it when I was a kid. I witnessed it live in a theater in SF in the early 2000s and blubbered away thru the entire thing.
And if you ever want 3 minutes of bliss, youtube the Dudamel-conducted version of Mambo with his kids monster orchestra (Simon Bolivar Symphony) - there's one from Caracas New Year's Eve 2007 that is severely over the top...but it's worth the price of admission...
My family had that album too. Pretty sure it was Bernstein and the NY Philharmonic, which would make sense, although a nagging voice at the back of my head says it was Ormandy and Philadelphia.
Yup, it was this one. https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/new-york-philharmonic-leonard-bernstein/symphonic-dances-from-west-side-story-symphonic-suite-from-on-the-waterfront/
Or, for a change of pace, You Tune one of the many West Side Story medleys from Buddy Rich. Be warned that it's always the occasion of his longest and most show-offy drum solos--which I love, and is the reason I've watched it approx. 3,900 times.
You TUBE. Although You Tune has possibilities.
Buddy played Happy Birthday to me (at my brother's request) BITD...was a little forbidding backstage but my brother the drummer made it all good...
Ok, sounds like a musical movie I could enjoy but I’m still holding out for George Lucas’ remake of “My Fair Lady” with AI scientist Henry Higgins teaching robot E-liza how to speak mid-Atlantic English and get a job at CNN.
If u wanted to go really dark, we could get HH (88, think about it) creating fembot Fox News presenteresses
This HH teaches elocution in exactly 14 words
Well, Henry Higgins really was the original incel.
A volcel, no? Hey, fuck Sherlock Holmes (or Company). Let's do a My Fair Lady where Higgins is gay and Pickering finds himself rather perturbed by the realization.
Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man?
Does Rex Harrison's lack of singing ability and the way his songs were written around that make him an early Spoken Work/Rap artist?
Yes! In fact, years ago Spy mag did a piece about the history of rap, and he was prominently featured.
I like it as an inspiring example of how accommodations for the disabled don't have to lead to an inferior product, and can create something surprising and even better than business-as-usual.
(As opposed to current practice, which is, what's the diff?)
I’m in!
In a sense, there has already been an AI remake of 𝘔𝘺 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘓𝘢𝘥𝘺—or at least of 𝘗𝘺𝘨𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯—in the form of Alex Garland’s 2014 film 𝘌𝘹 𝘔𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘢. Spoiler: it doesn’t work out well for Professor Higgins or, for that matter, Colonel Pickering.
Alicia Vikander is no Julie Andrews.
Funny you should mention that -- just saw Torn Curtain for the first time, and was astonished by how thoroughly Hitchcock managed to make Julie Andrews and Paul Newman unsexy together.
That scene where they're in bed together EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE NOT MARRIED must have been risque for the times (compare it to anything Doris and Rock were doing) but you're right - not the least bit sexy. I don't think Julie Andrews did sexy til Victor/Victoria.
You should see her with James Garner in the criminally underrated THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY. “Careful, tiger, that’s a tailored shirt…” “Oh, shut up and let me kiss you.”
S.O.B. and the nude scene was funny and sexy.
Hitch loved the iciness. Vertigo didn’t quite work relationship-wise, I think. Notorious, which I love so much, is the exception that proves the rule.
Wow, the first time? I saw that while living in (West) Germany. The whole Iron Curtain biz stuck my 10-year-old self as deadly fcking serious. That sequence with the buses has always stayed with me.
Audrey Hepburn/Marnie Nixon?
[HAL-9000 voice] Quit, Professor Higgins.
You mean the Fairlay-D robot series?
"....(the new orchestration for which, I notice, has more prominent guiro and claves)...".
Only you Roy, would notice or comment on that.
"...That’s what they ask of each other, and what the song asks of you — 'hold my hand and I’ll take you there'. I cried like a child at the song, at their fate, and at the whole thing, all over again. In my book that makes it a success."
You're my favourite movie reviewer.
TIG (Today I Googled) tombé, guiro and claves. Thinking I should be getting college credit for this.
Before this, if you'd asked me about "guiro and claves", I would have guessed the latest Latin-inflected cop buddy movie.
Great idea!
I think you can get MOOC credit for that
+1
Not only are the reviews witty and well-argued and evocative, but I love that I love so many of the same things as Roy even though he is, in my mind, a hard-bitten Raymond Chandler character whereas I am a person who enjoyed "Love Actually." And I love that he cries at movies too <3
Thank you, Rebecca, but doesn't everyone cry at movies?
I.....don't know? Did everyone sob uncontrollably for 20 minutes at the end of Bad Santa, or just me? Talk about catharsis, yeesh.
I cry when he beats those kids up.
I was in Lowe's the other day trying to return a can of paint. Turns out they won't take back paint over 30 days old. I was ready to go all Mamet on their asses but then I thought better of it. Maybe I'll save it for the school board meeting.
What a great review! You answered all pertinent questions and was very honest about how it made you feel. That being said, I hate West Side Story. I've only ever seen the movie. Between that and the Sound of Music , Robert Wise destroyed
American Musical film.
(Except for Bob Fosse.)
What can I say? I'm a
"Band Wagon" kind of guy.
So “Mamet” is a transitive verb now!… won’t wonders never cease
Who among us hasn't had an urge to go all Bobby Dupea on some waitress?
THANK you
And Mehmet is an Oz, Lewis Carroll much?
Is “vaudvillification” a word? (‘cos it oughtta be)
Band Wagon is awesome, probably my favorite of the big MGM musicals. And I'll just leave it at that because I don't want to get into a fight this early in the morning.
(Have to admit I don't hate West Side Story; I just find Natalie Wood unwatchable. In anything. Maybe I'll try this version.)
Noticed a "Blue Lives Matter" cross on my neighbor's balcony & was wondering exactly when there will be "Blue Lives Matter" xmas cards...
Derek Chauvin was imprisoned for your sins.
Excellent review
thanks!
Heh. I live in Lincoln Towers and have PR doormen so now I have to go see the new WSS for the ref instead of glimpsing its construction in the dance scenes in the old…
I wouldn't trust anyone who doesn't cry at "There's a Place for Us".
Lovely. Really makes me want to go.
Had an insight just recently (a few months) about Officer Krupke: The number doesn't belong in the show. It's just too overwhelmingly witty, with the psychiatrist joke and all, and self-conscious in a good way. Including the music with the Prokofiev key changes. Those kids are not Jets, they're Jewish, i.e. not the same characters as the rest of the time. But it's such a great number you can't possibly cut it.
So (I'm thinking now) it presents the director with a serious problem, and maybe boxing it up in the police station helps by detaching it from the rest of the scenery.
The kids' alienation is a big part of the show ("That's the way we found it, Doc"). I think "Krupke" absolutely fits. As for the Jets' precocity, well, street kids can be pretty clever. (I note with interest the Jet playing the psychiatrist in this version does the same mittel-European accent as was employed in 1961, and which was a signifier for headshrinker since Freud.)
The type of do-gooders featured in the song ("I'm depraved on a account o' I'm deprived!") would seem dated in the modern version, wouldn't they? And isn't it the judge who wants to go easy on the kid? Can't imagine a modern audience buying that.
An alternative: it's not about their alienation, it's about their relative privilege, that they can mercilessly mock a cop without fear of being killed or locked up. Which leads to the simple explanation that they're the white gang, and then it all makes sense. The Sharks would never try it.
Sondheim lamented later that "I Feel Pretty" was too articulate for the character. Christ, at age 26 you'd think a fella would have noticed something like that.
Well... nice song anyways.
Meh. This is a dramatic form in which characters frequently and spontaneously break into song. My disbelief is already hovering comfortably up there among the overhead wires, and I’m going to cavil about lyrics?
YOU MONSTER
If gang members get a set of dance moves that would earn them an audition at the Joffrey Ballet, I don't see how Maria doesn't get full access to all the wordplay Stephen Sondheim could supply.
Thank you Roy!👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Another kudo for this review. I was very leery when i saw this was coming, expecting bedazzled grit and "acting" instead of the Broadway play-to-the-balcony stuff in the old movie. Your review convinced me thats all in there, but even Speilberg couldn't ruin the deeply romantic story at the heart. I saw a version directed by my wife's uncle at a Jesuit college, and realized about halfway through that it was structured musically exactly as an opera. Show how dumb i am.
This is the only remake I'll ever need:
https://youtu.be/zpVYhH9ITvo
Dammit, Roy, you got me again.
I was reading this aloud to my vision-impaired roommate this morning.
When I got to the line about just having to believe love is worth the risk, my voice cracked and my cheeks were suddenly damp with something that couldn't possibly have been tears in a gruff old fart like me.
Once I finished, she insisted on hugging me.
Hmmph. Hmmph, I say. And harumph, too.
Thank you so much for telling me.
sorry for the nitpicking, but sixty, not fifty years since the 1961 film