Any Favorite Tunes from Broadway musicals?

[leigh.bess.toad]

Would SOMEONE explain this video to me?

 

LOL. First, it's such a guilty pleasure, I'm not sure there is any reason to understand it. Just go with it. It is about 12 light years beyond campy. The movie has a permanent spot on the 10 worst movies of all time according to the Razzies. I really loathe the phrase "that's so gay", but in this case I think it really does apply.

 

But since you asked, here's the plot (and I use that term VERY loosely) description off of IMDB.

 

*****************************************************************************

 

Sonny Malone (Michael Beck) is a frustrated artist. He has tried to leave a job he hates--painting large display versions of record-album covers--but he shreds his efforts and throws them out the window. The pieces blow past a mural of nine dancing women. THE WOMEN GLOW INTO LIFE AND LEAP FROM THE PAINTING! They dance down the street and turn into streaks of neon light, with accompanying "whoosh" sounds. Sonny does not see this. He returns to his hated job. On the way there, he is kissed by one of the nine women (Olivia Newton-John).

 

At work, his co-workers lovingly chide him. His tyrannical boss orders him to paint just what he is told and nothing more. He seems beat down, but his next assignment is an album cover ... with the kissing woman on it! He asks around--who is the kissing album-cover woman? A guy behind the desk says she's not on the payroll. The photographer can't explain how she got into the shoot for the album cover--of a hundred pictures, she's in only one. A guy on a porch hasn't seen her (but tries to set Sonny up with one of his daughters). Sonny goes to look for her at the scene of the kiss. He hears a clarinet played by an older gentleman who sits on a rock by the ocean. The older gent is Danny McGuire (Gene Kelly).

 

One thing leads to another, Danny and Sonny become friends and decide to open a club together, and Sonny meets the kissing album-cover girl, who is named Kira. Sonny and Kira fall in love, but Kira reveals to him that she's a supernatural being, a muse. She's not supposed to fall in love with mortals. Rather, her purpose in the universe is to inspire people--men, it seems--to achieve a dream; then she moves on. So, sadly, she must leave. Sonny is glum, but Danny tells him not to accept this situation. Sonny finds the wall upon which Kira was, and is, a painting. He looks at the wall, then roller-skates quickly toward it and jumps into it! He crosses over into an unspecified but disco-y dimension and finds Kira. After politely protesting with Zeus about Kira's being separated from him, he is banished back to our mortal realm. In a big closing number with dancers galore, the club opens and Danny brings Sonny and Kira together.

 

********************************************************************************

 

 

The video is the big closing number.

 

Now if you want some fun, ready the reviews from people on IMDB. Some great one liners. So far, my favorite: "Xanadu is the gayest movie ever made that does not include men having sex with each other. And it's actually gayer than some movies that do include men having sex with each other. "

 

Of course, the movie did inspire the great one word review: "Xana-don't".

 

All I can say is that I hope that they do it again at Spurline when we are there in PS. 3 weeks from today. PS Weekend is fast approaching.

[+ FreshFluff]

Sonny Malone (Michael Beck) is a frustrated artist. He has tried to leave a job he hates--painting large display versions of record-album covers--but he shreds his efforts and throws them out the window. The pieces blow past a mural of nine dancing women. THE WOMEN GLOW INTO LIFE AND LEAP FROM THE PAINTING! They dance down the street and turn into streaks of neon light, with accompanying "whoosh" sounds. Sonny does not see this. He returns to his hated job. On the way there, he is kissed by one of the nine women (Olivia Newton-John).

 

At work, his co-workers lovingly chide him. His tyrannical boss orders him to paint just what he is told and nothing more. He seems beat down, but his next assignment is an album cover ... with the kissing woman on it! He asks around--who is the kissing album-cover woman? A guy behind the desk says she's not on the payroll. The photographer can't explain how she got into the shoot for the album cover--of a hundred pictures, she's in only one. A guy on a porch hasn't seen her (but tries to set Sonny up with one of his daughters). Sonny goes to look for her at the scene of the kiss. He hears a clarinet played by an older gentleman who sits on a rock by the ocean. The older gent is Danny McGuire (Gene Kelly).

 

One thing leads to another, Danny and Sonny become friends and decide to open a club together, and Sonny meets the kissing album-cover girl, who is named Kira. Sonny and Kira fall in love, but Kira reveals to him that she's a supernatural being, a muse. She's not supposed to fall in love with mortals. Rather, her purpose in the universe is to inspire people--men, it seems--to achieve a dream; then she moves on. So, sadly, she must leave. Sonny is glum, but Danny tells him not to accept this situation. Sonny finds the wall upon which Kira was, and is, a painting. He looks at the wall, then roller-skates quickly toward it and jumps into it! He crosses over into an unspecified but disco-y dimension and finds Kira. After politely protesting with Zeus about Kira's being separated from him, he is banished back to our mortal realm. In a big closing number with dancers galore, the club opens and Danny brings Sonny and Kira together.

 

 

Not sure about gay--is it because of the cheesy music?--but it sounds Plan 9 from Outer Space-level terrible.

[leigh.bess.toad]

Cheesy music, disco music, cheesy costumes, thrown together plot, roller skating, dialogue way below cheesy. And ONJ. What's not to love.

 

Plan 9 is another great film. I love that film. For all the same reasons. Except the music. Or roller skating. And no ONJ.

 

Just don't expect Hamlet or Othello, and go with the fun. Pure escapism.

[+ deej]

Netflix has Xanadu available for streaming.

 

There goes my evening.

[+ FreshFluff]

I should add Mary Poppins, Chim Chim Cher-ee.

 

Cheesy music, disco music, cheesy costumes, thrown together plot, roller skating, dialogue way below cheesy. And ONJ. What's not to love.

 

So is Grease a gay movie?

 

so the story ends well except for that pesky "Lonely Goatherd."

 

That was some pretty fancy animation work (assuming that was animation, like the Spoonful of Sugar scene.)

[+ deej]

So is Grease a gay movie?

 

Duh!

[+ FreshFluff]

That's the first I've heard of it. I thought gay movies were old ones with a strong, sassy woman character--like All about Eve.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot: Feed the Birds.

[+ deej]

I kid, but I'll bet the percentage of our membership that knows every word of every song (and most of the dialog) from memory is high.

 

Gays only have two official sports: dissing and musicals.

[bostonman]

That's the first I've heard of it. I thought gay movies were old ones with a strong, sassy woman character--like All about Eve.

 

If you're talking about Grease - both the stage musical and the movie have that woman in the character of Rizzo - who sings what I personally think to be the only worthwhile song in the entire score, "There Are Worse Things I Could Do."

[bostonman]

Odd side note: Yes, Rodgers & Hammerstein wrote "I'm in Love with a Wondererful Guy" specifically for Mary Martin in "South Pacific."

 

Just a few years earlier, Martin turned down the female lead in Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma"

because of a previous commitment to another musical that never made it to Broadway.

 

But Martin did say yes to Rodgers & Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music," so the story ends well except for that pesky "Lonely Goatherd."

 

Actually, you might be in the minority about "Lonely Goatherd" - I would think more people would have trouble with the three songs from the stage show that were not included in the film - "How Can Love Survive," "No Way To Stop It" and "An Ordinary Couple." I've actually met very few people who like "An Ordinary Couple" - supposedly even Mary Martin disliked it. Go figure - I happen to like it a lot. (And I certainly like it better than the song that replaced in in the film, which Rodgers wrote lyrics and music for - "Something Good" - a song I find to be embarrassingly maudlin, and much less specific to the moment than "Ordinary Couple" was in the show. And that lyric about "youth or childhood" has always bothered me - not only as to what Rodgers felt that distinction was, but WHY it mattered enough to sing about it, lol.)

 

And, I will say this - "Lonely Goathard" may not be the pair's greatest song, lol, but it serves its function well in the original stage show - to be a fun, loud song that will drown out the noise of the storm (almost) and keep the kids' minds off of it (almost). The problem for me is in the film, where the song in the storm scene is changed to "My Favorite Things" (which is fine, but a little less ballsy than "Lonely Goatherd" for its purpose; also, it takes away the original purpose of "My Favorite Things" as a way for Maria and the Abbess to bond - sharing that song strengthens their relationship) and "Lonely Goatherd" all of a sudden has no reason to be, so it's relegated to that marionette scene, which is fun to watch but has absolutely no bearing on anything.

 

Also interesting to note that there was a song written for South Pacific called "Suddenly Lucky" which was cut, and a few years later the lyrics were rewritten (but the tune retained) to become "Getting To Know You" in The King And I. There was also also a song originally written for Oklahoma (when it was still being called Away We Go in its tryout period in Boston) called "Boys And Girls Like You And Me" which was cut, but later appeared in stage versions of Cinderella and State Fair.

 

And a great little tidbit - lyrics, of course, can take some time to develop, and besides "trunk song" situations like the one I mentioned above with "Getting To Know You," lyricists also sometimes write what are called "dummy lyrics," which are sometimes silly lyrics quickly penned just to keep the melody/scansion/rhyme scheme in mind for what the lyric will eventually become. One of these honest-to-God true dummy lyrics penned by Hammerstein was:

 

"Cute little babies that fall out of swings,

These are a few of my favorite things."

 

I kid you not. ;-)

[Kevin Slater]

From Cops: The Musical, "Sensitive Song":

 

[video=youtube;LZQEULp7-Yk]

 

Kevin Slater

[leigh.bess.toad]

If you're talking about Grease - both the stage musical and the movie have that woman in the character of Rizzo - who sings what I personally think to be the only worthwhile song in the entire score, "There Are Worse Things I Could Do."

 

Actually, Rizzo's other song is one of my favorites. I would love to do it at karaoke sometime. "Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee". But it is awfully short. Under 2 minutes.

[skynyc]

Some of my faves...

 

Nine: Unusual Way

Drood: Moonfall Quartet

Is There Life After High School: Diary of a Homecoming Queen

A Little Night Music: The Glamorous Life, film version

1776: Yours, Yours, Yours

Chess: I Know Him So Well

Working: Millwork

The Music Man: Marion the Librarian

When Pigs Fly: Laughing Matters

Ain't Misbehavin': The Jitterbug Waltz

The Grass Harp: The Babylove Miracle Show

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown: The Book Report

70, Girls, 70: Yes

My Fair Lady: I Could Have Dawnced All Night

Grand Hotel: I Want to Go to Hollywood

Sunday in the Park with George: Sunday

and finally:

Dear World: The Tea Party...three crazy ladies each carrying on their own conversation...like me, alone, having breakfast at the diner.

[leigh.bess.toad]

Very bad baritone. Bad, bad baritone. I left off two of my favorites. Soliloquy from Carousel and Molasses to Rum from 1776. Of course the film version of Soliloquy is hysterical when you see the jets from Miramar fly through the scene very quickly while Billy is on the beach singing. Oops.

[bostonman]

Some of my faves...

 

Nine: Unusual Way

Drood: Moonfall Quartet

Is There Life After High School: Diary of a Homecoming Queen

A Little Night Music: The Glamorous Life, film version

1776: Yours, Yours, Yours

Chess: I Know Him So Well

Working: Millwork

The Music Man: Marion the Librarian

When Pigs Fly: Laughing Matters

Ain't Misbehavin': The Jitterbug Waltz

The Grass Harp: The Babylove Miracle Show

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown: The Book Report

70, Girls, 70: Yes

My Fair Lady: I Could Have Dawnced All Night

Grand Hotel: I Want to Go to Hollywood

Sunday in the Park with George: Sunday

and finally:

Dear World: The Tea Party...three crazy ladies each carrying on their own conversation...like me, alone, having breakfast at the diner.

 

Great list...and I'm actually going to add a song or two from each of your show suggestions:

 

Nine: Unusual Way - and the Overture, and My Husband Makes Movies

Drood: Moonfall Quartet - and Don't Quit While You're Ahead, and A Man Can Go Quite Mad

Is There Life After High School: Diary of a Homecoming Queen - and The Kid Inside, and Nothing Really Happened

A Little Night Music: The Glamorous Life, film version - and A Weekend In The Country, and Now/Later/Soon

1776: Yours, Yours, Yours - and But, Mr. Adams, and Momma, Look Sharp

Chess: I Know Him So Well - and the original version of the Quartet (A Model Of Decorum)

Working: Millwork - and Just A Housewife, and If I Could've Been

The Music Man: Marion the Librarian (I'll second that and include the dance music, not on the original cast recording but mostly included in the film) - and Ya Got Trouble, and all the Quartet's music

When Pigs Fly: Laughing Matters - and Light In The Loafers (great visual gag, as that's what most of the show depends upon)

Ain't Misbehavin': The Jitterbug Waltz - well, my choice here has to be that stunning, haunting arrangement of Black And Blue, which never fails to get me teary-eyed, and which is capped by that wonderful fast-paced finale medley. Perfection.

The Grass Harp: The Babylove Miracle Show - and Dropsy Cure Weather

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown: The Book Report - and Happiness, and The Kite

70, Girls, 70: Yes (and it's a shame that the quintet arrangement of "Yes" from "the World Goes Round" was left unrecorded - it's a great vocal arrangement.)

My Fair Lady: I Could Have Dawnced All Night - and Just You Wait, and A Hymn To Him, and I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face (through the the very end of the show)

Grand Hotel: I Want to Go to Hollywood - and Love Can't Happen, and Roses At The Station

Sunday in the Park with George: Sunday - and the entire Putting It Together sequence, and It's Hot Up Here

and finally:

Dear World: The Tea Party - and Kiss Her Now, and I've Never Said I Loved You

[+ FreshFluff]

Actually, Rizzo's other song is one of my favorites. I would love to do it at karaoke sometime. "Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee".

 

Yeah, I like that one too, as I'm very much a Sandra Dee myself.

 

And BMan, you're right about Mostel. Hard to believe that Topol was only 34 when the movie was shot in 1970.

 

If you're talking about Grease - both the stage musical and the movie have that woman in the character of Rizzo

 

"I'm gonna go get my kicks--while I'm still young enough to get them."

*Climbs out window*

[+ deej]

If you're talking about Grease - both the stage musical and the movie have that woman in the character of Rizzo - who sings what I personally think to be the only worthwhile song in the entire score, "There Are Worse Things I Could Do."

 

When Stockard Channing (Rizzo) was on "The West Wing" I kept hoping they'd suddenly hit her with a spotlight and have her burst into song.

[Phil_musc]

Since some of you have zero in on Grease - the movie, whenever I listen to it, "Since I don't have you" always requires several playbacks in succession - she just sings the hell out of it, I think.

[jackhammer91406]

Blessings

 

Guys, what a treat to find all of these you tube links to songs I have always enjoyed and some I have never heard until now..

Thanks

[Guest]

Has anyone mentioned "Bali Hai" from South Pacific yet?

How about "Many a New Day" from Oklahoma?

I also like "Chop Suey" from Flower Drum Song, "Sleepin' Bee" from House of Flowers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V64Mcy28t5o&feature=related

I like good dance songs such as "Shipoopi" from The Music Man:

and "Big 'D'" from Most Happy Fella

and "The Farmer and the Cowman" from Oklahoma!

and I have to admit I like "Master of the House" from Les Miserables...

[Guest]

Here's Diahann Carroll's version of Sleepin' Bee:

[Guest]

Of course, who could forget the Family Guy version of Shipoopi?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkXnYzlGzVw&feature=related

[+ FreshFluff]

Cheesy music, disco music, cheesy costumes, thrown together plot, roller skating, dialogue way below cheesy. And ONJ. What's not to love.

.

 

So how about this famous number? Is it considered gay? If not, is it because AM is too conventionally attractive and Rydell too bland?

 

[video=youtube;rS38PiZ2]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS38PiZ

[EZEtoGRU]

Per normal, my response is somewhat non-traditional:

 

From Nine:

- Nine

- Grand Canal

 

From Chess:

- You and I

 

From Love Never Dies:

- Til I Hear you Sing (Ramin Karimloo)

 

From Blood Brothers:

- Tell me it's not True

[+ FreshFluff]

Here is the video I was trying to post earlier. My question is, given that it satisfies many of LBT's criteria, is this considered gay?

 

[video=youtube;rS38PiZ2-RA]

 

Also, For Now from Avenue Q.