Girl Crazy at Encores!
I'm always grateful for Encores! and have made an effort to see everything they do from here on out regardless of whether or not I'm really interested in seeing it. Truth be told, while I have always enjoyed the 1992 revisal Crazy for You, I have never been that enamored with its predecessor Girl Crazy. The show opened on Broadway in 1930, and made stars out of both Ethel Merman and Ginger Rogers (remember them?). The admittedly politically incorrect script is ripe with exceptionally weak humor, things that were most likely barely passable back when it opened. However, the book emulated many other popular musicals of the era - the script was an excuse

"Five Minutes, Mr. Welles"
"What is your favorite film of all time?" (Spoilers ahead)Not the easiest question to answer. When I'm asked, an immediate list pops up in my head and from Vertigo to Gone with the Wind and The Godfather. However, I've found that when asked that question there is one particular film that always pops into my head: Carol Reed's 1949 The Third Man starring Joseph Cotten. A certain Mr. Orson Welles took part in the film, providing the unique character called Harry Lime, who makes one of the most famous entrances in film history. Cotten, who is drunk, is calling out to an unseen fig

Flop Revival
There was incredible excitement around some blogs and message boards yesterday because there was a private industry workshop reading of the legendary 1988 failure Carrie. It's the show so well known for its failure that it even inspired the title of a book on the subject of failed musicals (the essential Not Since Carrie by Ken Mandelbaum). Fans of flops shows have reveled in the bootleg audio and video recordings, marveling at what is good - there are some good moments, especially for Betty Buckley - and howling at some of the campiest material this side of Whoop-Up. (This is the show that featured "Out for Blood" with the lyric "It's a simple littl

Well, the soundtrack album cover gets a two.
While the purist in me has some obvious quibbles with the chopping away at the score, I am still intrigued and very much looking forward to the film adaptation of Maury Yeston's Nine. The movie musical, directed by Rob Marshall, is slated for release on Christmas Day. The soundtra

Mary Martin sings "The Sound of Music"
A fan put together this video and posted it on YouTube, I don't normally go for such things except that it features a rare recording of Miss Martin live in performance singing the iconic title song, accompanied by some great production shots. Enjoy.