I Want To Go To Cassie Camp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                        After seeing the video with Robyn Hurder, who I saw do Cassie at City Center several years back, I really wanted to step into the studio and go through the number with Baayork.  But first I would have to do her Boot Camp, maybe even a slower one, because I cannot even get the opening, "Step, Kick, Kick, Leap, Kick, Touch" right.  I have no idea what I am doing wrong.

                         Anyone who has seen "A Chorus Line" wants to do Cassie.  On the aforementioned video I mentioned, I heard Baayork talk about the "Cassie Curse," which is that after playing Cassie one dees not get much work for a while.

                           All I want is the stamina to do the scene--the lines I know, the lyrics I know--and to be able to do the back bend, where I touch the floor.  I am not sure about those head rolls though.  Hey, no one does those like Donna McKechnie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                             Someone take me and mold me into the best Cassie I can be.

                              What should I wear?  All I know is to dress entirely in red!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What Is It With The Midwest And Grottos?????????????????????????????

 

                            One of the more fascinating moments in "The Straight Story"--so fascinating I had to give it its own post--comes early on when Alvin is driving along and sees a sign that says "Grotto 5 Miles."

                            I questioned what was going on.  This was nowhere near Lourdes or Fatima.  I was fascinated by the grotto used in the film, which is the Shrine Of The Grotto Of The Redemption, located at 208 1st Avenue, NW, West Bend, Iowa, 50597, USA.  I mean, what a sight!  I would love to go see it.  And when I was researching this post, I discovered there are grottos like this all over the Midwest.

                              Someone tell me, what is the reason for the presence of all these things?  Is the Midwest heavily Catholic?  I always thought of it as a enclave of American Protestantism, so if someone out there could explain this phenomenon to me, I would appreciate it.

                               I would certainly love to go and see one of these!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                As stated, I thought his whole journey had a spiritual quality and this visit and shot of the grotto enhanced it.

                                  Then there was the shot of this truck delivering a gigantic replica of a corn on the cob!

                                   One never knows what is out there in America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                              

Walt Disney And David Lynch?????????????? Who Would Have Thought????????????????????

 

                                          When "The Straight Story" came out in 1999, I did not pay it much heed.  A film about a man driving across state?  And David Lynch did this?  David Lynch????????  The film kept getting good notices and I was still skeptical, even when Richard Farnsworth, a fine actor, received a Best Actor Oscar nomination.   He was beaten out by Kevin Spacey in "American Beauty," another fine performance that offered for me another skewered view on suburbia.

                                           "The Straight Story" is perhaps David Lynch's most accessible film.  Even if you are not studying the Lynch canon, as I am, the film is worth seeing.

                                               And its basis is truth.  In 1994. an elderly man named Alvin Straight (the film's title has a double meaning with Straight being both the family name and the path he seems to embark on) sets out from Laurens, Iowa to his brother's home in Mt. Zion, Wisconsin.  The brother had a stroke, the two have not spoken in ten years, and Alvin, a recovering alcoholic, wants to set out to make peace.

                                                Farnsworth is perfectly cast as Alvin.  He is elderly, has poor vision, and diabetes.  He is not allowed to drive but wants to make this journey.  His daughter, Rose, who, as discovered from Spacek's radiant performance is a functional special needs woman who lives with him, and loves him fiercely, disapproves, as I would, but he is determined   He sets out with just a riding lawn mower, and a small trailer attached, for storage and sleeping quarters.  Enroute, the mover breaks down, and he has to go back home, where he now buys a tractor, and with this makes the journey.  Along the way he meets friendly people who come to his aid, a pregnant young woman, and a hysterical woman who accidentally hit a deer, which Alvin cooks for dinner; he is that rugged and rustic.

                                                  Now, how does all this fit in with the world of David Lynch?  Well, it is kind of like "Blue Velvet" in slow motion.  Lynch reality is discarded for earth reality, but trademarks of his pop up now and then, like truly artistic shots of the farmlands, cloud formations in the sky suggesting the opening credits of "The Wizard Of Oz," and most importantly, recurring shots of fire, whether it is an abandoned barn burning down or lighting a cigar, or an evening campfire.  That element, a key in all of Lynch's films, is ever present.  So is the idea of a road trip, which harkens back to "Lost Highway," "Wild At Heart," and even the 'joy ride" Frank Booth takes Jeffrrey Beaumont on midway through "Blue Velvet."

                                                   Yet, for all this, "The Straight Story" is inspirational to the point of being almost spiritual.  Though Harry Dean Stanton barely says a word as sibling Lyle, his performance is transporting, and the sight of them sitting on Lyle's porch--his house looks like something out of 'L'il Abner"--is tranquilizing and the film ends on tis note.

                                                      Kudos must also go to Freddie Francis'  excellent cinematography, which perfectly falls in with Lynch's visual concepts and conceits.

                                                      I think Lynch tapped into his Midwestern background to show the beauty that exist6s beside the underbelly he is always going after to expose.  Credit must be given to all the actors, and what Lynch elicits from each; extra credit for Farnsworth, who shot this while battling cancer, which led him to end his life a year later.

                                                          The film is some kind of legacy to both Lynch and Farnsworth.  It is not to be missed, and I want to see more Criterion Closet visitors choose this.

                                                              David Lynch usually blows the viewer away with the underbelly of reality.  Here he achieves the same results with actual reality.

                                                                 The man had more range than one knew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                          

This Is How I Would Like To See "A Chorus Line" Staged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      Now, don't get your knickers knotted, darlings.  Having seen this show at least 40 times, I am not about to criticize it.  But I would like to send this suggestion out into the blogosphere, in the hope someone may listen.

                                          The other day I saw on YouTube a program about the 50th Anniversary of "A Chorus Line," held in the Bruno Walter Auditorium of The New York Public Library Of The Performing Arts.  To be sure, I tried to get tickets to this event so I could be there in person, but I was not successful. Seeing it on YouTube at least gave me an idea of what went on, and I will have something to say about that.

                                            On stage, representing the show were Original Cast members Baayork Lee,  Donna McKechnie, Priscilla Lopez and Kelly Bishop.  The moderator was this pretentious twit named Richard Jay Alexander, and my reaction to him is "What an A-hole!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  He kept interrupting the ladies whom the audience would rather hear, and not his feelings, adulations or life changing experience as a result of this show.  I mean, the guy has never danced a step, and he was so stupid he never got the facts right.  Priscilla Lopez graciously corrected him about the title of the song "What I Did For Love," which he kept referring to as "Kiss Today Goodbye."  Again, what an A-hole!!!!!!!!! I should have moderated the discussion because I know more about "A Chorus Line" than most people and certainly more than, again, this A-hole.

                                               I have read all the books seen most of the footage and am most fascinated by the workshop process and the show in its earliest days at The Public.  I did not see it until it moved uptown to the Shubert, where I saw it on October 25, 1975 with my father.  I was just 20.  It was a life changer for both of us.  I knew the story about Cassie never getting the job, and how that upset people, how different people were chosen each night and no one knew who it would be, and Kelly Bishop as Sheila never got the job, which was a big surprise to me, because, next to Cassie, Sheila, despite her attitude, which I just love, darlings, was the most accomplished of the dancers.  Kelly said she and Donna would exit the stage, and out of public hearing, she would say to her, "Let's go get a drink."  I would love to go for a drink with Donna and Kelly.

                                               All of this caught my eye.  But it was something Kelly said that really blew me away.  She said, in the early days at The Public, the show would end with those who got the job reacting--one reaching for the sky, as the lights came down slowly.  Then three was complete darkness for seconds as the audience applauded, and then, like magic, the lights came up and the stage was empty, with only the white line showing.

                                                 Kelly said she wished the show had been done this way, and I agree.  Because the show begins in blackness, and it should end in such.  I understand why Bennett created the finale; the performers needed to be acknowledged, and it was a brilliant feat of staging.  I love when they form a circle and the audience goes wild.

                                                     Nevertheless, at my age, I still feel I have a few more "Chorus Lines" in me.  I would love to see one of the productions staged this way.  It is so magical.  Will I have to stage it myself to get this?  I would love to take a crack at it, but I don't dance well enough to be a choreographer, so I would need one.  Anyone interested?  I wonder if Michael Bennett was alive what he would say to this?

                                                         Which brings us to the reason I am writing this post.  The first show he did after "A Chorus Line" was "Ballroom," in 1978.  Hopes were high, but he did not have another mega hit until "Dreamgirls," three years after that, in 1981.  The cast included, among others, Dorothy Loudon, Vincent Gardenia, and veteran Marilyn Cooper.  The ballroom dancing was magnificent, and hypnotically staged.  This was a musical version of a TV Movie entitled "Queen Of The Stardust Ballroom," first aired on CBS on February 13, 1975.  The script was by Jerone Kass and was based on information he discovered about his own mother after she had passed.  In the movie, the lead character, Bea Asher, played by Maureen Stapletonn dies, which I disliked; it was like the writer having to punish the woman because she was having relations with a married man, albeit unhappily spoused.  But what about him?  He does not die?  Why should Bea?  But the networks were still prudish, so she had to be the one punished for allegedly committing adultery, though I am not sure the relationship was intimate; it was only at the Stardust Ballroom that the couple really shined.

                                                              When musicalized in 1978 as "Ballroom," Bennett staged and choreographed it, Alan and Marilyn Bergman did the lyrics, and Billy Goldenberg did the music.  Jerome Kass, who wrote the TV movie, was brought in to do the show's book.    Bea did not die in this version but has a sensational 11 o'clock number called "Fifty Percent," where she vocally decides that she would rather have what she and Al Rossi have at the Stardust than not have anything at all.

                                                                   I saw the show, at the Majestic Theatre, shortly after it opened.  I thought it was terrific except for one thing--the book scenes outside the ballroom got in the way of the show.  I saw it on a Wednesday matinee, and as I was leaving the theater, who should I see standing in the back, talking to someone, but Michael Bennett.  I so wanted to go up to him sand say that the show could be fixed if staged conceptually just inside the ballroom.  I wonder what he would have said?  I could have worked on it with him to fix it.  Hell, if anyone decides to do "Ballroom," call me.  I would love to make the show as it should be fully realized.

                                                                       But back to "A Chorus Line."  For me, it is arguably the most perfectly structured musical ever created, which is why I am so devoted to it.  I wish some production would raise the perfection just a bar higher, by staging it the way Kelly referenced in its early days at The Public.

                                                                           The things we do for love, darlings!  

                                                                           And the things I write about for love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                    

                                                    

This 1958 Film Lives Up To The Poeticism Of Its Title!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                       One could start with the stunning opening shot of Jeanne Moreau talking on the phone to her lover., Julien Tavenier, played by Maurice Ronet.  They are plotting to kill her husband, but the film goes from there to a kind of "Comedy Of Errors."  The humor is understated but the Parisian visuals are cream- colored and luscious.  Moreau's wandering through the night rain is one of the highlights of the film, as she searches for her lover who, in his incompetence, has gotten himself stuck in an elevator.  Meanwhile, two crazy kids, Louis (Georges Poujouly) and Veronique (Yori Bertin) have taken off in Tavenier's car--he left his keys in the ignition? how stupid--and end up at a sleazy motel, where they end up killing a German couple.

                                         The most important thing I learned from this film is that even France has sleazy motels.  I thought they were just indigenous to America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                            Had this been an American film, it would have been a farcical comedy.  But Malle, who was smart to start his film career with a very narrative film is going for something more understated and gets it.  The mismatch of murder charges, the revelation of the real crime by indiscreet photos; as for the teenagers, Veronique and Louis stage an attempted suicide but survive to awaken in the hospital where they are arrested by police.

                                             So, justice is meted out, but not without a bit of comic irony and a lot of cream-colored noir.  The irony is especially in pay when Tavenier is stuck in the elevator; at that point, the title flashed into my head.  Yes, he really is taking an elevator to the gallows.

                                               This film proves Louis Malle could create cohesive narrative cinema, unlike the crap he lowered himself to with 1981's "My Dinner With Andre," 23 years later.

                                               Within the annals of both film noir and foreign cinema, "Elevator To The Gallows" is pretty much forgotten.  It should not be, as its quality is much higher than might at first be expected.

                                                  I loved it, darlings!  But if I were to go out at night, I would want to look just like Jeanne Moreau.  Even in the rain, her hair is perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"On A Picnic Morning, Without A Warning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

                                          Yes, darlings, it is that sad time of year--Labor Day, which is called the unofficial end of Summer, but for all intents and purposes is.  When I was growing up in New Jersey, the tradition, on Labor Day Saturday, was for ABC to show, on its late movie, the 1955 film version of William Inge's play, "Picnic."

                                           This is the one with Kim Novak in her pink gown, William Holden a little long in the tooth, Betty Field being controlling, and Susan Strasbeerg and Rosalind Russell being hysterical.  Oh, and Aruthur O' Connell being sedate, which netted him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor of 1955.

                                             Girls, it is so Fifties, but that is why we love it.  And William Holden going shirtless back then was pretty provocative.  And when he and Kim Novak dance to "Moonglow......." wow!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                               Alas that was then.  Anyone who wants to see "Picnic" had best order a DVD of it, because I am certain by now it is pretty much a forgotten movie.

                                                 So, preserve those Labor Day memories by watching this classic.

                                                  To add to it, I will try to provide the McGuire Sisters' song.

                                                  Here it is, girls!  Happy Labor Day and enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Girls, Join Us Tonight At 8PM, As "Svengoolie" Presents His First September Offering, "They Came From Beyond Space!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                                          Face it, girls, nothing could top "Trilogy Of Terror," so why try?  I can't blame Svengoolie for starting the month with this crap, which looks like it was done on the budget of "Santa Claus Conquers The Martians," but, as I have never seen this 1967 offering--though I have heard of it--all of us here are going to tune in.

                                            There is one actor of note in it, Michael Gough.  He must have really needed a job and money to do this.  Hopefully this will be humorous enough to be considered camp.  I cannot guarantee this, darlings, because I am going into this wide-eyed an uninformed.

                                              The saying goes "take a chance on love."  I am taking a chance with             tonight's "Svengoolie" offer, because who knows it could be a surprise.  Though there are no guarantees, like Adrienne Barbeau, with "Swamp Thing."

                                                So, join us at 8 tonight, darlings.  If anyone of us should fall asleep, who can be blamed?

                                                 September is not shaping up to be a great "Svengoolie" month!!!!!!!!!!!!