Girls, I Am Telling You, This Is The Gay Summer Read!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    I am just a quarter of the way through Rona Jaffe's 1958 novel, "The Best Of Everything."   Sine many better know the 1959 film with Joan Crawford, Hope Lange, Diane Baker, and Suzy Parker, who, supposedly, was from my hometown of Highland Park, New Jersey, I am telling you, now is the time to give this novel a chance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    Dolls, I have not had as much of a literary blast since last re-reading "Valley Of The Dolls."  Not that it is explicit; actually, it is tamer than "Peyton Place."  But, girls, the world it conjures up!   One where a girl has to work in an office pool to find a husband.  Or, if living alone in New York City, holed up evenings in a small apartment, reading fashion magazines and book manuscripts.  Or trashy romance novels!!!!!!!!!!  I mean, this was the future????????????????????

                                        Or, how about living with your parents at home, if unmarried?

                                        Actually, it is a campy trip to an era when people dressed better, manners were more sophisticated, and civility ruled.  Oh, to be sure, there are power plays and sexual harassment, but hons, when hasn't there been????????????  Apart from all that, these people dress and behave better than in the workplaces of today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                          I simply cannot wait to get back to these girls' adventures, so I will leave you with this--

                                           Sometimes, retro is better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                     

                                    

So, Girls, Are We Going To See "Barbie?????????????????????????"

                              Darlings, how can I resist, when there is so much pink??????????????????

                               And already I have heard--are you ready?--Oscar talk for Ryan Gosling for his performance as Ken??????????

                               What I want to know is if this movie will have any substance at all.  Will it chronicle the rise of Barbara Millicent Roberts, from her birth on March 9, 1959, to the present day?  Or will it just be a plethora of pink????????????

                                  Not that I don't mind the color--darlings, it is one of my signatures--but I want an informative movie, as well.  But really, Oscar talk for Ryan Gosling?????????????

                                    This movie could be a home decorator's dream, and lead to some domestic redecorations!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      Just looking at that photo makes me want to paint one of our rooms flaming pink!!!!!!!!!

                                         You can bet this will be the movie for all us flamers.  Tres flambe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                          See you there, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                

Girls, Join Us All, Tonight At 8, When "Svengoolie" Presents "Ghoulies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                                  When this film was released in 1985, it captured the urban legend that so many alligators live in our sewers, one might come up and bite someone while sitting on the commode.  Please don't ask me to discuss the alternatives, darlings, they are just too disgusting.  And there is no room for disgust on this blog.

                                    Now, as cute as the little thing in the poster looks, one would not want to get bitten by him.  For a time, "Ghoulies" did for toilets, what "Jaws" did for going in the water.  Did it mark the return of chamber pots?  And who had the task of dumping them when done?  And kept under the bed--ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                  Offering up a cast like Peter Liapis, Lisa Pelikan, (What ever happened to her?) Jack Nance, (From the David Lynch repertory company!) and..... oh, my God!!!!!!!!!!!!, Mariska Hargitay????????  Enacting something else besides Olivia Benson????????  Can she do it, girls????????This may very well be the true test of the movie's horror!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    After "The Car," this should be a blast!  So join us all at 8PM.  Little Pippin is especially excited to see it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    And don't sit on the commode till after the movie is over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                     None of us here have ever seen the film, so we really don't know what to expect.  But I think it offers up more fun than last week's "The Car."

                                         Remember, flush, but don't sit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, Girls, How Was "The Car???????????????????"

                            When this film was theatrically released in 1977, I had graduated from college, was trying to make something of myself and outside of "Annie Hall," "Star Wars," and "The Turning Point," which could not be avoided, that was all I had on my mind.  So, this heap of trash went by me unnoticed.

                              Until last Saturday night, when "Svengoolie" aired it.  He said people had been asking for it.  Why???????????

                                 Poor Elliot Silverstein.  By directing this "Duel" rip-off, I guess he thought he was going to be the new Steven Spielberg!!!!!!!!!  See where it got him?  Nowhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                  Because he did not have a skilled cameraman, or knew how to create tension and suspense, nor did he have a dedicated actor like Dennis Weaver.  Instead, all he got was a cast of TV and movie has-beens who were just doing this for a paycheck.

                                   Darlings, it wasn't even campy!  Maybe had it been it would at least have been entertaining.  But, honestly, how could this piece of trash be taken seriously???????????????

                                   Not only do I not regret missing it, in 1977, I hope I never see it, again.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    "The Car" is crap, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      It deservedly should be consigned to the scrap heap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                 

The Best Show On Broadway Right Now Is Playing At The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

                          When Harold Prince and Stephen Sondheim first presented "Sweeney Todd" on Broadway, in early 1979, at the then Uris Theatre, they set the standard for the magnificence of the production.  Set in a meat foundry, with factory whistles, and a grotesque prologue involving a ghoulish looking white-faced undertaker and organist playing the Prologue dirge before the start of the show, the audience was instantly immersed in the world this story was about to tell.

                           Now, Thomas Kail is not Harold Prince.  But remarkably, he and his production team have managed to restore "Sweeney Todd" to the magnificent grandeur it should have whenever performed, but seldom does.  Starting with a full orchestra playing Jonhathan Tunick's orchestrations, this is the finest production since the original.  I feel privileged to have seen both in my lifetime, and I doubt the like of this will not be seen for some time to come.

                             Where to start?  With whom I have been raving about prior to this--Josh Groban and Ruthie Ann Miles.  Groban's voice is beautifully controlled and perfectly enunciated.  He gives such a deep emotionality to the songs, no matter the mood his character is in.  His "Epiphany" is heartbreaking, as is the final scene, played both by Josh and Ruthie.  As for Ruthie Ann Miles, she is currently giving the most heartbreaking performance on Broadway, as the Beggar Woman, since another Ruthie--Ruthie Henshall--sang Fantine in "The 1997 Tenth Anniversary Concert Of 'Les Misérables.' "  Some have played the role comically, but Ruthie is the first to tragically humanize her, so that when the big reveal arrives, it is even more devastating.  Steven Hoggett's choreography is more movement than dance, and it works well, especially in Act Two when actors and set merge to become Fogg's Asylum, where Johanna is then being kept.  When Josh and Ruthie are on stage, the show is at its best, and they simply walk off with it.

                                As for the rest, well there are a few axes to grind.  The silhouetted staging of "Poor Thing" does less for that number than it should, and many first timers may not understand what is going on.   As for Annaleigh Ashford, and Mrs. Lovett, well she dares not copy Angela Lansbury, nor could she, and while she makes the role her own, at times she garbles her words, especially in the final scene, where, if this score was not in my bloodstream, I might not have understood what was being sung.  Also, Maria Bilbao is a fine Johanna, but that is not good enough to do justice to a song like "Green Finch And Linnet Bird."  When her voice should soar, it becomes shrill, but, when she sings with Daniel Yearwood, as Anthony, their voices blend beautifully.  Back in 1979, when the brilliant Sarah Rice perfectly realized this role, I said that, had the show been done in the 1950's, Barbara Cook undoubtedly would have been Johanna.  That is the vocal quality needed for the role and while Miss Bilbao is good, she is not good enough.  Oh, and I wish Jamie Jackson had been more sinister as Judge Turpin.  He is no match for Edmund Lyndeck.  But John Rapson, as Beadle Bamford, demonstrates there are still some good countertenors out there.

                                Back to Mr. Groban.  His is one of the finest male performances I have seen on the musical stage, equaling Len Cariou in the original.  Groban plays a more sympathetic, broken-hearted Todd, and when he delivers the Act Two line that always restores me to my mother's death--"If only angels could prevail, we'd be the way we were."--it was as though he understood exactly how I felt.  And vice versa.  This is a killer role, sure to place demands on any actor, but Groban is more than up to it, as long as he takes good care of himself.  To give the performance I saw, he must be.

                                  Audiences will not see a 'Sweeney' this good till most of us are gone.  I urge those now, especially who have not seen it, to go witness this production, which is as definitive for 2023, as the 1979 staging was for its time.   And hosannas for Josh and Ruthie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    "Sweeney wishes the world away, Sweeney wishes for yesterday," goes a lyric in a refrain.  Audiences who see this will have theatrical wishes come true.  Those who don't will, indeed, wish for yesterday.

                                       I cannot anticipate a production I will come to praise more highly!!!!!!!!!!!!

Girls, THIS Is A Fashion Faux-Pas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                   Of course, it is perfect for Giulietta Masina in Fellini's 1954 film "La Strada," and in 1969, I am sure Bernadette Peters donned a similar outfit, when she starred in a flop musical version of the film, which opened on December 14, 1969, where it made history of a sort, by closing after its opening performance.

                                     For the purposes of the above, this look is fine.  But I happen to know someone, who shall remain anonymous, whose  look, in make-up, design and wardrobe, seems to be emulating this look, even though she has never seen the film, and I doubt she knows it.

                                         The poor thing has no awareness of how she looks, and to imagine her walking into meetings or job interviews, not to mention what ANNA would say is too incredulous to imagine!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                           Trust me, girls, unless going to a Halloween costume party, this is a look you do not want to adopt.  My most fervent wish for the person in question is someone sitting down with her and taking her to task, in a kindly way, with tactful but formative suggestions.

                                              My fear is she would ignore it.  She exudes confidence in the way she looks, and that is part of the game, but it does not seem to be eliciting the results she wants.

                                                 Here is my suggestion--if still wishing to emulate a Fellini film, stick to  1965's "Juliet Of The Spirits."  The make-up and costumes are stunning, and something to aspire to.

                                                  The "La Strada" look  would not even pass muster in a second rate Italian restaurant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Girls, No Home Should Be Complete Without A Nice Vase Of Tuberoses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                          Aren't these lovely, girls?  And they happen to be ANNA's favorite flower, so if you ever want to gift ANNA, these would be perfect.

                           I can think of several locations in our apartment where these would look perfect.

                            And, of course, my favorite flowers are flaming pink roses!  What else?

                           But, really, tuberoses are so elegant, yet understated.  Understatement has its uses, too, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                             Yet indulge!  Indulge yourselves in a floral bouquet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!