Tag: dance

Are They Fighting or Are They Dancing?

The Mask of Zorro

Another of the swashbuckling movies produced in the nineties, like Three Musketeers and Prince of Thieves and like those two, it’s very well done.  Stars Anthony Hopkins (a classic Welsh actor who is Odin in MCU Thor, famous as Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs [and I refuse to watch that movie, I do not need the nightmares], was Van Helsing in 1992’s Bram’s Dracula, was in A Bridge Too Far with the other great actors of that time) as Don Diego de la Vega, Stuart Wilson (an older Robin Hood in Disney’s Princess of Thieves) as Don Rafael Montero, Tony Amendola (Marco/Geppetto in ABC’s Once Upon a Time series amongst other TV series) as Don Luiz, Antonio Banderas (this is probably his most famous role) as Alejandro Murrieta and Catherine Zeta-Jones (who is actually Welsh, and married to Michael Douglas since 2000; this was her breakthrough role, and she went on to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2002’s Chicago) as Elena.  This is not the first appearance of the character Zorro; he dates to 1919 and was originally supposed to be a one-time character, then the popularity of the 1920 movie had the author create dozens of further stories.  However, this is probably one of the more well-known iterations.

The story begins in 1821 as Spain is leaving Mexico due to a rebellion led by General Santa Anna.  The last governor, Don Rafael Montero is ordered to leave, but has one last piece of business to take care of.  He gives his friend Don Luiz orders to distribute the Spanish land amongst themselves and pay taxes to Santa Anna, thereby maintaining their wealth.  Montero is planning to execute three innocent men amidst a protest.  Two boys are waiting for the legendary Zorro to appear and he does not disappoint.  The boys even save Zorro from a trap and in return, he gifts them with a medallion.  The crowd cheers for their hero and protects him from the guards.  He confronts Montero and marks his neck with a “Z”, three slashes for three men.  Montero would murder a hundred innocent men in order to kill Zorro.  But Zorro rides away.

There is a lair beneath his estate (the original Bat cave; in fact, Zorro is considered an influence to Batman); Zorro remarks to his faithful black steed that they are both getting too old for their activities.  Zorro without the mask is Diego de la Vega and he visits his infant daughter in her nursery and tells her stories about his escapades.  His wife, Esperenza joins the pair.  They are interrupted by Montero and his guards.  Montero has an inkling at this point that de la Vega is Zorro and pressing on his arm reveals a bloody scratch de la Vega received during the fight that day.  He attempts to arrest de la Vega as a traitor to both his country and his class, and oddly apologizes to Esperenza.  Turns out, Montero loves Esperenza and is upset that she married de la Vega; but now, he probably is thinking with de la Vega out of the way, he can claim Esperenza.  But Esperenza tries to protect her husband during his duel with Montero and a guard accidentally shoots her.  Montero dispatches the guard, and de la Vega goes for his crying daughter; a fire has started during the scuffle.  Montero knocks de la Vega out, puts him in chains, and claims his daughter.  Montero leaves with young Elena for Spain and de la Vega is taken away to prison to rot; Montero’s parting words to de la Vega: you must “live with the knowledge you have lost everything you hold dear,” and “your child should have been mine.”  (This of course, takes away the notion of Esperenza’s own choice; she seems very happy with de la Vega and aware of his secret, most likely meaning it was a love match, so no, Elena should have never been Montero’s child.)  de la Vega swears to Montero, “you will never be rid of me!”

Twenty years later: the Murrieta brothers have been caught…well, actually, they were in on their capture so they could steal the guard’s money and redistribute it to the poor (a la Robin Hood).  But there is a new Captain in town, Captain Love from Texas; he ends up shooting Joaquin and capturing Jack.  Alejandro escapes, but watches his brother shoot himself instead of being captured.  Alejandro collects his brother’s medallion, then tries to barter it away for a drink.  In the meantime, Montero has returned to California.  His first stop is the prison, in order to be sure that Zorro is dead.  Several prisoners claim they are Zorro (like the famous “I’m Spartacus” scene), but Montero doesn’t believe any of them.  He walks right by an old man with an eye patch, pauses for a moment, but dismisses him.  He deduces Zorro is dead.

Wrong.  That old man is de la Vega and he manages to free himself and get smuggled out of the prison by impersonating a dead body; meaning he then digs himself out of the grave.  He will exact his revenge on Montero.  He attends Montero’s official arrival the following day, where Montero plays to the crowd, insulting the other Dons so he can claim he works for the people.  Obviously, de la Vega knows better and starts to make his way to the former governor, until Montero’s “daughter” arrives, Elena.  This halts de la Vega.  He must rethink his plan.  On his way to his hideout, he comes across Alejandro and his old medallion as Alejandro prepares to barter it away.  He easily bests Alejandro in a fight, but offers to train the young man.

mask of zorroAlejandro is eager to start fighting, though his answer of “the pointy end goes in the other man, [sounding like Jon Snow or Arya Stark]” shows de la Vega that he must start with the basics.  The master has a new apprentice.  de la Vega has Alejandro bathe and trim his hair.  After disarming the old fox once, Alejandro figures he is skilled enough to capture a black Andalusian, like Zorro’s Tornado.  Alejandro, in a mask, encounters Elena and she is quite taken by the dangerous man.  When his plan goes a bit awry, Alejandro hides in the church and ends up hearing Elena’s confession, that she is starting to have thoughts about the masked man and her heart is too wild for her father’s liking.  Alejandro manages to escape before Captain Love appears, but he leaves the “Z” mark to let them know Zorro has returned.

de la Vega, expertly using a whip to extinguish candles (Hopkins could do that trick and was added into the movie), is not pleased with Alejandro; Zorro serves the people, not himself.  Alejandro is tired of the lectures and demands de la Vega duel him.  The older man holds up a spoon.  Alejandro must have the polish of a proper gentleman, and needs to spy on Montero.  The two men attend a gala held at the estate, de la Vega masquerading as Alejandro’ s servant, who goes by the title Don de Castilio.  Alejandro is properly presented to Elena, but his gentleman charm does not impress her, though he is impressing Montero.  However, when Alejandro has to stall Montero, he dances quite passionately with Elena (it is a wonderful and lively dance).  Alejandro gains an invitation with the rest of the Dons and Montero reveals his plan; he means for the Dons to claim California.  They will buy it from Santa Anna with gold from a mine on his own land that he is unaware of.  Santa Anna will take the gold because a war with the United States is expensive.  Montero shows off the mine the next day and Alejandro discovers that poor Mexicans who have gone missing have been taken to the mine.

Elena has a conversation with de la Vega the next day in the stables, only knowing him as Alejandro’s servant.  But de la Vega remarks that she looks like her mother.  Elena has been told that her mother was very proper.  And de la Vega’s voice is familiar.  Then, in the market, her former nursemaid makes a gift to her, recognizing her as the daughter of Esperenza de la Vega.  Elena tries to tell the woman she is mistaken and that she was born in Spain.  But she’s already encountered native Californian flowers she remembers the scent.  Montero’s tale is starting to unravel.

de la Vega gifts Alejandro with a proper Zorro mask and instructs him to sneak into Montero’s office; they need the location of the mine.  de la Vega sets a flaming “Z” on the hillside as a distraction, but Alejandro still encounters Captain Love and Montero and even duels them both.  he escapes through the stables and faces off with Elena, who is skilled in sword fighting as well (I love that she’s an action woman).  He does delicately cut her clothes off her as a way to stop her (her hair covers her top).  Alejandro still has hilarious issues with his new horse, but does demonstrate that he is a good rider.  de la Vega returns that evening to confront Montero and demands that Elena be brought out.  Montero’s tale fully unravels; the name “de la Vega” is a clue from the woman in the marketplace and the truth comes out.  She persuades de la Vega to put down his sword to save himself from being shot.  At this point, Elena must be wondering what did Montero do that he was able to take her from de la Vega and what truly happened to her mother.  Then she later frees him from the cellar he’s been thrown into and they race off to help Zorro.

zorro dance

Zorro sneaks into the mine and discovers the people are locked in.  Captain Love’s suggestion is to blow up the mine once all the gold is out and kill the people as well so there are no witnesses.  But when Zorro shows up, Love cuts the fuse so he has time to deal with the nuisance.  de la Vega confronts Montero again as Elena watches.  Montero seems willing to kill her to stop de la Vega, but he wouldn’t actually hurt the woman he views as a daughter, though it gives him the chance to shoot de la Vega.  Zorro dispatches Love, even after being stabbed and unmasked, then Montero is caught behind the wagon as it falls.  Elena goes to rescue the trapped people and the fuse has restarted.  Zorro helps her with the last cells and they save the day!  Alejandro holds de la Vega as he bids his daughter farewell; she has the same spirit as her mother.  He even blesses Alejandro and Elena, then passes away.  Elena mourns de la Vega; not Montero.

There must always be a Zorro; it is a destiny and a curse, for there is always another battle.  But both Zorros have loved Elena.  And now Alejandro tells the story to his son.

In 2005, there was a direct sequel to this film, The Legend of Zorro, bringing back both Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones to reprise their roles.  Rufus Sewell (Knight’s Tale, Tristan and Isolde, Victoria) joins as Armand, a former friend of Elena de la Vega’s when she grew up in Spain.  This film is not nearly as good as Mask of Zorro.  The premise is that California is voting to become part of the United States in 1850, but there is a secret organization attempting to block it.  Zorro is doing his best, but since he is gone often, his marriage is strained and he’s missing out on seeing his son grow up.  His secret is found out by mysterious men, who blackmail Elena into working undercover for them.  She divorces Alejandro and he must make a choice between being Zorro and saving his family.

Of course, several of the fight scenes are still good and Elena retains some of her action-girl status.  But there are several glaring errors.  California at that time was Catholic; divorce was not allowed and Elena’s status would have surely suffered.  Mentions of the Confederacy are inaccurate since it didn’t form until 1861.  The inclusion of nitroglycerin is just barely factual; it was invented in 1847 as an explosive, but to me, still seems a bit farfetched.  The overall feeling I get from the film is that they were trying too hard.  The villains are flat.   Of course, the son learns who his father is, and the marriage is put to rights.  I argue how could Elena say to Alejandro “we were never meant to be together?”  You married him knowing full well who he was and what he did.  That was what attracted you to him.  There was a more logical way to deal with the matter.

So, definitely watch Mask of Zorro, it is a classic.  Hopkins is excellent and I actually would love to see more of him in that role.  Antonio is charming and this is why Puss in Boots in Shrek is a takeoff on Zorro, since Antonio voiced the cat (despite the tale being French).  As I’ve stated before, I love a good sword fight.

Next Time: Top Gun

“The biggest word/ you’ve ever heard/ and this is how it goes!”

Mary Poppins

An iconic Disney musical.  And it so happened to have been on television both the night my brother was born, and the night I was born, twenty months later.  The original book series was written by P.L. Travers.  For the film, music was composed by the Sherman brothers and production was overseen by Walt Disney himself, as showcased in Saving Mr. Banks.  I have seen the film and it was an interesting look into how the film was created, though a bit sad as well.  Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson were excellent in it.  The classic movie stars Julie Andrews (Sound of Music, The Princess Diaries) in her first major movie role (though she was already experienced on the stage) as the titular Mary Poppins.  [And a note about that; Julie had starred as the original Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady on stage and had hoped to earn the role again in the film.  But it went to Audrey Hepburn.  Mary Poppins won the Oscar that year.]  Her co-star was Dick Van Dyke (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) as Bert, David Tomlinson (Bedknobs and Broomsticks) as Mr. George W. Banks, Reginald Owen (Bedknobs and Broomsticks) as Admiral Boom, and Arthur Treacher (yes, of the Fish and Chips restaurant line; he also appeared in several Shirley Temple films) as the Constable.

The establishing shots of the London skyline tell us we’re in England and we see Mary Poppins sitting on a cloud.  Bert is a one-man band, entertaining a crowd, until the wind blows by: “something is brewing/ about to begin.”  Then he addresses the audience, as we asked for directions to Number 17, Cherry Tree Lane.  We pass by Admiral Boom, who has rigging on the top of his home, as well as a canon to mark the time.  The world takes its time from Greenwich, but Greenwich takes its time from Admiral Boom.  There is an argument brewing at Number 17; seems Katie Nana has lost her charges, but blames them, so she is leaving.  Mrs. Banks arrives home from her Sister Suffragette rally, though it takes several tries to inform her that her children are missing.  She quickly puts her things away so as to not upset her husband.

Mr. Banks arrives home cheerfully, it’s 1910, “King Edward’s on the throne/ it’s the Age of Men,” and he is pleased with The Life I Lead.  Everything is on schedule, his servants and family treat him with the respect he deserves as head of the household (noblesse oblige) and it takes several minutes before he realizes his children are missing.  The kindly constable brings them home and tries to encourage Mr. Banks to not be hard on them, but Mr. Banks dismisses him.  With the same tune, he has his wife take down an advertisement for a new nanny.  No-nonsense is the first requirement, “tradition, discipline, and rules/ must be the tools/ without them/ disorder, catastrophe, anarchy/ in short, you have a ghastly mess.”  Jane and Michael have their own advertisement and though their mother follows her husband’s commands, she does insist that they listen to their children.  Their first requirement is a cherry disposition, and a desire for games, all sorts.  After the children are sent to bed, Mr. Banks tears up the notice and throws it into the fireplace.  What he doesn’t see are the pieces float out the chimney.

There is a queue of nannies in the morning, but before Mr. Banks can begin interviewing there is a large gust of wind that blows them all away.  Mary Poppins gently floats down and lands at the door.  In her hand are the children’s qualifications, not Mr. Banks’ and so he wonders over at the fireplace what happened.  Mary gives herself the job, but Mr. Banks seems suitably impressed and takes credit for it when his wife asks.  Mary does the most extraordinary thing and rides the banister up.  She quickly takes control in the nursery, putting her things away, after pulling them out of an empty carpet bag (loved that part as a kid).  Michael thinks she’s tricky.  Jane thinks she’s wonderful.  Mary also pulls out her tape measure, to see how the children measure up.  Michael is extremely stubborn and suspicious, while Jane is prone to giggling.  Mary Poppins is “practically perfect in every way.”  Time for their first game, tidying up the nursery.  “In every job that must be done/ there is an element of fun/ you find the fun/ and snap, the job’s a game.”  A Spoonful of Sugar helps the medicine go down.  Snapping puts the toys and items laying about away, though it takes Michael several tries.  It gets a little out of hand and Mary Poppins puts an end to it, but the children eagerly join her for a walk afterwards.

Today, Bert is a street artist and the trio arrive.  He recognizes Mary Poppins and knows Jane and Michael from their adventures nearby.  He tries some magic to pop the children into a drawing, but Mary Poppins steps in to do it properly.  Now the children run off to a fair in new outfits and Bert remarks to Mary “it’s a Jolly Holiday…when Mary hold your hand/ it feels so grand/ your heart starts beating/ like a big brass band.”  Animated animals come up to them and even join in the singing [animation style reminds me a bit of 101 Dalmatians].  The pair end up at a cafe with dancing penguins (I love this part!)  Bert joins in the dancing and it’s wonderfully hilarious.  He is quick to insist “cream of the crop/ tip of the top/ is Mary Poppins/ and there we stop.”  They do join the children on a merry-go-round, but Mary has the horses jump off the carousel.  They join a fox hunt, with Bert rescuing the Irish fox and that leads to a horse race.  Mary’s manners lead her to the front and when the interviewers congratulate her, she reveals there is a word to use when one does not know what to say.  Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (just about the best song of all time).  “Even though the sound of it/ is something quite atrocious/ if you say it loud enough/ you’ll always sound precocious.”

Meeting Mary in Disney World in 2007

Rain ruins their day and they’re back in London in their regular clothes.  Mary shows further magic when her medicine changes color and flavor for each person’s preference.  When the children insist they are much too excited to go to sleep, Mary lulls them to Stay Awake.  Of course, they drift off, but are cheerful the next morning, to their father’s chagrin.  He feels Mary Poppins is undermining the discipline in the house; indeed, everyone is in a good mood except him.  But he goes off to work and Mary takes the children out on errands.  The dog, Andrew, barks he needs Mary’s help; so the children meet Uncle Albert.  Bert is already there, and oddly, Uncle Albert is floating near the ceiling.  I Love to Laugh, he declares, “loud and long and clear.”  “The more I laugh/ the more I fill with glee/ and the more the glee/ the more I’m a merrier me.”  Everyone joins him on the ceiling, though Mary simply floats up.  She raises the tea table, but a little later, insists they must get home.  And that is the secret to getting down; one must think of something sad.  Bert stays with Albert.

Mr. Banks confronts Mary Poppins at home about the nature of her outings.  He dislikes filling his children’s heads with silly nonsense.  If they must have outings, they should be practical.  Like taking them to the bank, suggests Mary.  She tells the children that she never puts notions in someone’s head; it’s just the logical following of what they were saying.  She urges the children to look for the bird lady at St. Paul’s Cathedral and to hear her cry of Feed the Birds (one of Walt Disney’s favorite songs).  The song lulls the children to sleep again.  They eagerly accompany their father, but he won’t let them use their money to feed the birds.  Instead, he shows them to the leaders of the bank; several old men who use financial terms that confuse the children.  The eldest, Mr. Dawes Sr (played by Dick Van Dyke as well) wants Michael to give his tuppence to the Fidelity, Fiduciary Bank.  One must think prudently, thriftily, frugally, patiently, and cautiously.  Of course, these all go over the children’s heads (and mine).  When Michael is a bit confused, Dawes Sr. grabs the tuppence.  So Michael shouts “give me back my money.”  The other customers hear and start demanding their money as well.  In the chaos, Michael and Jane run off.  It’s a bit scary for a moment and they run into a man covered in soot.  Luckily, it’s Bert.  He calms them down and leads them home.  Today he is a chimney sweep, “you may think a sweep’s/ on the bottom-most rung/ though I spends me time/ in the ashes and smoke/ in this whole wide world/ there’s no happier bloke.”  Chim-Chim-Cheree  “Good luck will rub off/ when I shake hands with you/ or blow me a kiss/ and that’s lucky too.”  At the house, Mrs. Banks is off for another rally and asks Bert to look after the children since it’s Mary Poppins’ day off.  The children are interested, until Michael shoots up the chimney when Mary walks in.  Jane quickly follows, so Bert and Mary join them.

They get a beautiful view of the rooftops of London and march about.  They run into Bert’s pals, all of whom are chimney sweeps as well and they entertain their visitors with a Step in Time (love this dance).  Mary even joins in with a rising spin [I wonder what effects they used to film the sequence, since it had to be safe for the dancers.]  Admiral Boom spots the dancers and has his assistant shoot firecrackers at them, chasing them off the roof.  They all end up in the Banks’ home until Mr. Banks returns.  After the exodus of chimney sweeps from his house, Mr. Banks gets a call from the bank; they want him to return later.  He has a conversation with Bert, who points out that it is admirable to want to provide for your family, but soon they will grow and he won’t know them.  Jane and Michael apologize to their father and Michael gives him his tuppence.

The board wants to dismiss Mr. Banks, for causing a run on the bank.  They invert his umbrella, tear his flower, and punch out his hat.  When they ask if he has anything to say, he recalls “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”  He even repeats the joke Michael taught him; for he’s seen what good Mary Poppins has done in his family and has made the decision that they are more important.  He gives the tuppence to Dawes Sr, who starts pondering the joke and then begins to laugh.  He laughs so much, he begins floating and his grown son cries out “Daddy!  Come back!”

Mr. Banks gives his family a bit of a scare; they’ve called the constable because they can’t find him, until he emerges singing from the cellar.  He’s mended the kite and asks Jane and Michael to join him.  Mrs. Banks adds a sash for a tail and they are all excited to Let’s Go Fly a Kite, an absolutely heartwarming number.  The wind has changed, and it’s time for Mary Poppins to go.  The children are sad at first that she’s leaving, but their father’s good mood cheers them up and Mary leaves once the family does.  Bert nods to her and she smiles at her friend.  Her talking parrot umbrella insists that Mary Poppins does love the children, but she states it is proper that they love their father.  “Practically perfect people never permit sentiment to muddle their thinking,” and she rises back to the clouds.

Mary Poppins is a lovely family film and is cherished in our home.  We did watch the late sequel, Mary Poppins Returns, which stars Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, with appearances by Dick Van Dyke, Angela Landsbury, Ben Whishaw, Julie Walters, Colin Firth, and Meryl Streep.  Did not like it.  It was trying too hard and didn’t have the charm that the original had; there’s just no repeating the magic.

Up Next: The last musical, The Sound of Music

“What we make do/ with an ol’ bamboo/ makes everyone applaud”

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Actually based on a book by Ian Fleming.  Yes, that Ian Fleming, the one who wrote all the James Bond books that the movies are based on.  Roald Dahl, the famous children’s author, was the screenwriter.  Desmond Llewelyn, famous as Q in James Bond, appears as Coggins in the beginning.  Gert Fröbe, aka Goldfinger, is antagonist Baron Bomburst.  The film also stars Dick Van Dyke (Mary Poppins) as Caractacus Potts and Benny Hill appears as the Toymaker.  The Sherman Brothers also wrote the music for this film, though it is not a Disney film (though we all kind of assume it is since it shares many elements).  This was another of my brother’s and mine favorite movies as young children; our mother didn’t mind too much, aside from the repeated watches and the long run time.

The film actually begins in the dark, with just car engine sounds, then reveals Edwardian car races.  The main car wins several Grand Prix races in Europe between 1907 and 1908, until it crashes and burns in its last race after swerving to avoid a child.  Now it’s a wreck on a lot, though two children are happily playing in it.  The junkman wants to buy it as scrap and seems to dislike children.  But they race home to tell their father he can buy it, though they narrowly avoid being run over by a young woman.  Truly reprimands them for running in the road, and not being in school, so she takes Jeremy and Jemima home.  Their father is Caractacus Potts is an inventor and we first see him trying to propel into the air with rockets.  His experiment doesn’t go quite according to plan and while the children laugh at their father’s antics, because they’re children and don’t quite realize the danger, Truly throws water on him to put him out.  He’s annoyed and is not at all bothered by the fact that his children were not in school.  Truly tries to reason with him, and is marginally impressed by his other inventions housed in his windmill workshop.

Potts uses a series of machines to cook sausage and eggs for dinner, sweetly telling his children that they are his reason for being.  “Someone to care for/ to be there for/ I have You Two.”  They’re joined by Caractacus’s father, who tries to bring his son’s head out of the clouds; though he is known to go out to a small shed and say he is off to India, or Antarctica.  Caractacus decides to try to sell his whistle sweets (they make noise through the holes when you blow in them) to a local sweet factory, run by Lord Scrumptious.  He’s aided by Truly, Scrumptious’s daughter.  Caractacus calls in invention Toot Sweets, “the candy you whistle/ the whistle you eat” and soon the whole factory joins in dancing.  But all that whistling has brought several dogs into the sweet factory.

Jeremy and Jemima are selfless children and offer their father their “treasures” as me ol bamboomoney for his inventions rather than their beloved car.  Their father sings the lullaby Hushabye Mountain to them to encourage sweet dreams.  Then he decides to try one of his inventions at the evening’s fair.  The haircut machine unfortunately fails and Caractacus is chased through the fair.  He hides amongst a dancing troupe and has to join in on Me Ol’ Bamboo (this is such a fun song).  He does well and is surprised by the tips that are tossed into his hat.  He surprises his children the next morning by bringing home their car.  Then spends the next several days closed up in his workshop, fixing the car.  And when it finally comes out, it is a sight to behold.

The trio go on a picnic and pick Truly up on the way when they accidentally run her car off the road into a pond.  Caractacus offers to carry Truly in her pristine white dress out of the pond and she is even intrigued by the car.  And the unusual sound its engine makes: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  “Oh you/ pretty Chitty Bang Bang/ Chitty Chitty Bang Bang we love you…near, far/ in our motorcar/ oh what a happy time we spend.”  All four spend a happy day at the beach.  The children are extremely fond of Truly and she seems fond of them as well.  Jemima comments that Truly’s name fits her well, Truly Scrumptious, for she had to be called something lovely.  Jeremy and Jemima wish together that their father would marry Truly.

Caractacus begins a story for his children about pirates, led by Baron Bomburst of Vulgaria, who has heard of the marvelous Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and wishes to have the car for himself.  And the story comes to life.  Chitty is in fact a magic car and air bags come out so Chitty can float away.  They stow as it drives back onto dry land, after avoiding the Baron’s ship.  The Baron sends spies ashore to capture the car, or Caractacus.  The family takes Truly back home and she sings on her estate how she has fallen in love with a Lovely Lonely Man.  (It’s a pretty song, but rather forgettable.  I just remember the swing at the end for some reason).  The spies do not do a good job of their mission, though they are rather funny.  They manage to capture Truly’s father instead of the family.  So the two spies pretend to be gentlemen to visit the Potts’ home and they come across the grandfather, thinking he’s the inventor.  They call in the Baron’s zeppelin and lift the small shed, with Grandpa Potts inside.  His family spot him and follow the zeppelin in Chitty.  Except they drive off a cliff, almost into the sea.

And…Intermission!  Of course, Chitty saves them, because Chitty is magic and can fly.  Grandpa Potts is now not in immediate danger and rather enjoys traveling in Posh style.  The zeppelin does lose altitude, which gets Grandpa Potts a bit wet until they toss out the two spies.  It’s a long flight to Vulgaria, but Chitty knows the way.  A castle greets the Potts family (Neuschwanstein).  The Baron in turn is mainly a large child; he rides a toy horse to his meetings.  He demands Potts makes a car float.  Potts senior despairs, but the other tinkers locked in the basement cheer him up with The Roses of Success, “up from the ashes/ grow the roses of success…from the ashes of disaster/ grow the roses of success.”

When Chitty lands, the villagers are not terribly helpful and they stare at the foreigners.  Truly realizes there are no other children about.  A horn sounds and the villagers scatter.  A toymaker begrudgingly takes the family inside and hides them. And explains there is a law in Vulgaria that children are not allowed; the baroness hates them.  A creepy man, called the Child Catcher comes through the square, claiming he can smell children.  The Potts and Truly disguise themselves as Jack-in-the-box in the toymaker’s basement.  But Chitty is captured.  The toymaker takes Caractacus to view the castle’s defenses.  Truly is left in charge of the children, but she goes out to get food and orders Jeremy and Jemima to stay put.  But the Child Catcher comes back, gaily bedecked and claiming he has lollipops and ice cream.  And well, children are easily attracted to lollipops and ice cream; except his wagon is a cage.  Some of the villagers try to warn the children, but he makes off back to the castle with them.  That evening, the toymaker shows Caractacus and Truly where the villagers hide their own children underneath the castle.  Caractacus tries to give the children hope by singing them Hushabye Mountain, though Truly has to finish.  Now, he has a plan.

The next day is the baron’s birthday.  He starts with a visit to his wife, whom he actually can’t stand.  The previous day, he had gleefully aimed a shotgun at her full skirt when Chitty launched her into the air, only slightly claiming it as an attempt to get her down.  He does hit the skirt and she falls into the lake, unharmed, to his disappointment.  Today, she’s in some odd lingerie and very long braided pigtails.  To a child, their funny nicknames of Cootchie Face are cute and the baron keeps trying to kill the baroness, though as a kid, didn’t fully realize that.  His later celebration is full of elderly purple-wearing court members miserably dancing.  The baroness orders the toymaker in with a surprise; two lifelike dolls.  (Actually, Caractacus and Truly in disguise).  Truly is a Doll on a Music Box, Caractacus is a clown doll.  He eventually joins in with the harmony of Truly Scrumptious.  They distract the baron and the children sneak in.  A few drop a hook from the ceiling and lift up the baron.  A net is dropped, trapping the court and the children get a bit of revenge, even trapping the Child Catcher in a net.  Caractacus, Truly and the toymaker search for Jeremy and Jemima and get them out.  The villagers also enter the castle to save their children.  Baron Bomburst and his baroness try to escape, but are caught in the cage by the children.  Grandpa Potts emerges from the cellars and Chitty drives itself in to rescue its family.  The whole family flies out and Vulgaria is now a free country.

The family is on the beach again and Jemima and Jeremy eagerly finish the story that their father and Truly get married.  Caractacus doesn’t say much, just drives Truly home.  Then tries to pass his children’s notion off as silly and puts his foot in his mouth.  They discover Lord Scrumptious at the Potts home, happily playing with Grandpa Potts, who was his batman most likely during the Zulu wars (a batman was a solider assigned to a commissioned officer as his personal servant).  Lord Scrumptious offers Caractacus a contract to produce his “Toot Sweets” for dogs.  It will make him rich.  Before he signs the paperwork, Caractacus races out to find Truly, running her off the road again.  It’s now no longer ridiculous for him to marry Truly and she readily agrees, so he kisses her.  Grandpa Potts refers to his son as an eccentric, and has no idea where he could have gotten it from (hmm…).  Caractacus and Truly fly off in Chitty, passing over the house where their family waves to them.

chitty

I adore the theme song for this movie.  The car is magical and I just smile at it.  I see a lot of my brother and I in the Potts children (though we diligently went to school), but playing together and making up stories together.  They are sweet children and though Caractacus may not be the best father, he is kind and loving and is even potentially willing to put his own dreams on hold to take care of them.  I think the part in Vulgaria is funny; still nostalgic.

And interesting note: Peter Jackson owns one of the Chitty cars.  He showed it off on the set of the Hobbit when they were filming Old Took’s birthday scenes.  The young children were not interested, but the adults clamored to see it.  I would be one of them!  It’s revealed during the behind the scenes appendices…I forget at the moment if it’s with the extended edition or the theatrical edition.

Next Time: The beloved Mary Poppins

“Anything and everything/ a chap can unload/ is sold off the barrow/ in Portabello Road”

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

A Disney live-action film from 1971 that mixes in animation like Mary Poppins did.  It is based on a book by Mary Norton and is a beloved movie from my childhood.  It stars Angela Landsbury (the original Mrs. Potts and star of Murder, She Wrote) as Miss Eglantine Price, David Tomlinson (the father in Mary Poppins) as Professor Emelius Browne, and another Mary Poppins‘ alum is Reginale Owen; he played Admiral Boom in Poppins and General Teagler in Bedknobs.  The Sherman brothers also wrote the music for this film.  The 25th Anniversary Edition DVD release runs longer than the theatrical version; some songs had been cut and were now restored.  Oddly, the most recent Blu-ray release goes back to the theatrical version.  Sadly, there is no good soundtrack for the musical available; the most noticeable difference being in Portobello Road.

The opening credits run against a medieval tapestry backdrop, similar to the Bayeux Tapestry.  It takes place in 1940, during WWII, near the White Cliffs of Dover.  “Again – A time for valor.  A time of whispered events.  Now faded with the passing years.”  A town stands in the shadow of an old castle; they are currently taking care of the children evacuated from London due to the bombings (similar to the main characters in C.S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe).  We’re briefly introduced to the Soldiers of the Old Home Guard, led by General Teagler.  Miss Price shows up for her package and is forced to take three children.  She’s very busy with important work and does not traditionally get on well with children, but she’ll do her duty until more suitable arrangements can be made.  The local preacher fawns over Miss Price, though he flounces off when the postmistress points out he’s making moves because he admires Miss Price’s nice house and land.

Miss Price lives alone, aside from a black cat that came with the name Cosmic Creepers.  When the children are asleep, she takes her package to her workshop and unwraps a broom, from Professor Emelius Browne’s Correspondence College of Witchcraft.  She manages to successfully fly for a bit with a spell, until she topples over.  The children see her when they attempt to sneak out back to London.  Charlie thinks it is a wise idea to blackmail Miss Price, but he goes a little too far and she turns him into a white rabbit.  But her spells never last very long and he quickly turns back, after being pursued by Cosmic Creepers.  Miss Price lets them in on her secret; she plans to use magic to help the war effort.  And to win over the children, she charms a bedknob with a traveling spell.  Then persuades the children to go to London so she can get the last lesson from Professor Browne himself when he stops the course.  Charlie initially doesn’t think the bed will work and Miss Price remarks he is at the Age of Not Believing.

But the bed works.  Except they discover that Professor Browne is a street magician and self-admitted fraud and charlatan, though he does everything With a Flair.  Miss Price ends up turning Professor Browne into a white rabbit when she confronts him.  He is surprised that one of his spells worked; he simply put together words out of an old book.  He then takes Miss Price and the children to the abandoned home he is squatting in (it’s abandoned because there is an unexploded bomb in the front yard).  The children explore the nursery while he shows Miss Price the library.  Except, instead of getting the desired book for Miss Price, he wants her to join him in a stage show.  She’d be an assistant who could really do magic.  But Miss Price, who reveals her first name is Eglantine is determined to find the book.  She turns Browne into a rabbit again and he finally shows her the book, The Spells of Astoroth; of which he only has half.  And the five magic words for the substitutiary locomotion spell; an “ancient and mystic art of causing objects to take on a life force of their own” are missing.

Miss Price demands they find the other half of the book and Browne takes them to Portobello Road, “street where the riches/ of ages are stowed.”  This is one of my favorite parts of the film.  An impromptu dance party breaks out and features several music and dance styles from around the British empire.  They don’t have much luck finding the other half of the book until a slightly scary man leads them to the “Bookman.”  He in fact has the other half of the book and is looking for the same spell.  Except the book only states that the five words are written on the Star of Astoroth, worn by the sorcerer.  The Star is now on the fabled Isle of Namboobu.  The adults don’t believe such a place exists, but young Paul found a children’s book on it.  So the children, Miss Price, and Professor Browne are able to use the bed to escape the Bookman and travel to the Isle of Namboombu.  Well, the lagoon first and they are “bobbing along/ on the bottom/ of the Beautiful Briny sea.”  This is where the animation comes in, for the animals dress and talk like humans.  A bear catches the bed, but wants to throw the five humans back into the lagoon because the king has issued a “No Peopling Allowed” law.  Well, they want to see the king.

Professor Browne manages to ingratiate himself to the king (a lion; in fact, the animation is very similar to Robin Hood) when he offers to referee the soccer match [note how they refer to is as “soccer,” rather than “football” as Europeans call it.  You can tell it was produced by Americans despite most of the cast being English and the story taking place in England.]  My brother and I loved the soccer match as kids, Browne getting trampled by the animals throughout the game.  And they discover that the king wears the star.  Browne manages to pocket the star and they’re chased off the island.  Sadly, the star is of another world and cannot be brought back to ours; it simply disappears.  But Paul saves the day again; his book has an illustration of the star and the words for the spell (technically, would have been helpful to know that before, but, kids love the animation).  Browne suggests that Miss Price use the words “Tregura Mekoides Trecoru Satis Dee” with a flair.  And she’s got it!  She’s managed Substitutiary Locomotion!  This is another beloved part of the film.

The little domestic scene is broken when news arrives that another family has offered to take the children.  Miss Price has changed her mind and the children start to think of Professor Browne as a father figure.  That scares him off a bit and he starts to head back to London, but the trains are finished for the day.  Miss Price sings of Nobody’s Problems; she has it in her mind that she doesn’t want or need anyone else around, she’s quite comfortable with her life.  But we all know she misses Browne [this part was cut from the theatrical release].  Except there are more important things to worry about now; the Germans have made a landing.  They enter Miss Price’s house and stage their minor raid to induce panic and spread mischief.  Miss Price’s memory fails her and she can’t turn the commander into a rabbit, but Browne manages to get away and sneaks into the house.  He finds the spell and uses it on himself so he can get away again and find Miss Price and the children.  They’re being held in the old castle.

sub loc battle

Once he transforms back, he and the children convince Miss Price to use the substitutiary locomotion spell again.  And this is my brother’s and mine absolute favorite part.  The spell starts small, just the banners waving, but then a drums and horns start and the whole castle comes alive!  The knights and Redcoats are reanimated and join together.  Miss Price flies at the head of the army and they chant the spell.  The Germans don’t know what to make of the phenomenon in front of them; Scotsmen and bagpipes stretching across the cliff.  Their bullets only go through the empty suits of armor; they keep marching.  A few minutes later, the Germans start retreating.  The commotion has also woken the Home Guard and they rush to the coast.  But the Germans manage to blow up Miss Price’s workshop as she flies over; the army falls, un-animated now.  The Guard fires a few shots to warn the Germans and Miss Price is relatively unharmed.  She’s pleased she did her part of the war effort, but has always known she could never be a proper witch with the way she feels about poisoned dragon’s liver.

They are now all a family; the children will remain with Miss Price and Professor Browne has decided to join the Army.  The Soldiers of the Old Home Guard give him an escort to the station and he gives Miss Price a kiss farewell.  The children at first fear that the rest of the time will be boring now, but Paul still has the bedknob.

This is the first film I ever saw Angela Landsbury in.  I loved the children’s adventures and of course wanted to visit an island where the animals talk and play soccer.  And even as a child, I was excited to see these reanimated knights face off against the Germans.  And the budding dancer in me was fascinated by all the dancing in Portobello Road.  I think the movie is now a forgotten gem; overshadowed by Mary Poppins (though I absolutely adore that movie as well).

Next Time: Another beloved childhood favorite of mine, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

“Jellicle cats come out tonight/ Jellicle cats come one, come all/ the Jellicle moon is shining bright/ Jellicles come to the Jellicle ball”

Cats

This was the first musical I ever saw on stage; my mother was a chaperone on my brother’s class field trip and I went with them.  Heck, I even remember what I wore that day because I was so excited.  And I distinctly remember listening to this soundtrack from a young age; we had the record [before vinyl came back ‘in’].  We named one of our cats “Tugger” after this show.  I know these recordings so well, that I can pick out the difference in sound between the London Cast and the Broadway Cast, and I am enough of a nerd that I have a preference [Broadway]; and it is another soundtrack that I know almost every word.  The show is based on T.S. Eliot’s poetry book, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats; which I have a copy of (somewhere) and did dramatic readings from for speech club in high school.  It is the second-longest running musical in Broadway history, behind only Webber’s other famous musical Phantom of the Opera.  Note; I am basing this off of the 1998 staged production, which stars Elaine Page as Grizabella [she replaced Judi Dench when she was injured to star on the West End], filmed in London; NOT the recent film version.  I have heard too many poor reviews and the bits I have caught do not make me want to watch it.  My mother and I were very excited when it was first announced, but by the time we saw the trailer, we knew it was not what we wanted.  Quick note to those who created the recent movie: we are theatre people, we don’t mind seeing people dressed up like cats; no need for that CGI business.

Onwards!

The prologue are cat eyes falling into the background; and the center of the eyes are dancers posed.  Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats explains what Jellicle cats are, such as “are you mean like a minx/ are you lean like a linx?”  There is a beautiful chorale section in the middle, until they break apart again to dance.  But “there’s a man over there/ with a look of surprise…a man who’s not heard/ of a Jellicle cat.”  And they explain the Naming of Cats.  There are three names that a cat has; the “sensible, everyday” name that the family uses, then “a cat needs a name that’s particular/ a name that’s peculiar/ and more dignified,” one that has never belonged to more than one cat.  And finally a secret name that “no human research can discover,” and cats ponder it often “his ineffable, effable, effanineffable/ deep and inscrutable/singular name.”  [I remember having to look up was ‘ineffable’ meant when I was younger: too sacred to be spoken.]  Munkustrap explains that Jellicle cats congregate once a year for the Jellicle ball, when the Jellicle leader will make a choice on which cat ascends to the Heaviside Layer and be reborn.

rum tum tuggerDifferent cats get their own solo pieces, like Jennyanydots, The Old Gumbie Cat.  She’s known to “sits and sits and sits and sits/ and that’s what makes her a gumbie cat.”  “But, when the day’s hustle and bustle is done/ than the gumbie cat’s work is but hardly begun.”  She teaches mice skills and orders beetles about, and there’s a fun tap dance routine.  Then Rum Tum Tugger bursts onto stage [a favorite].  He’s a “curious cat,” quite contrary.  If you give him one thing, he wants another.  “For he will do as he do do/ and there’s no doing anything a-bow-wow-it,” and struts about like Mick Jagger.  Grizabella, The Glamour Cat skirts by and the rest of the cats shun her, pulling younger cats away.  She’s a fallen cat, a pale shadow to who she once was.  Things cheer up when the cats remark about Bustopher Jones, “who is not skin and bones/ in fact, he’s remarkably fat.”  Police sirens go and the cats worry about Macavity.

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer sneak out; a pair of thieves that the family can’t always tell the difference between, “or could you have sworn/ that it might’n be both?”  “And there’s nothing at all/ to be done about that!”  The Jellicle leader, Old Deuteronomy comes out next.  “Well of all things/ can it be really/ yes oh a high a my eyes;” he “lived a long time/ he’s a cat that has lived/ many lives, in succession.”  All the cats, even Rum Tum Tugger respect him and Mr. Mistoffelees very fond of him.  Munkustrap entertains the gathered cats with the tale of the Peakes and Pollicles; actually various dogs that get into a fight, until the Great Rumpus Cat comes out and scares them away.  It’s rather humorous to see “cats” dress up as “dogs.”  The cats hide when they think Macavity is about, but emerge again to joyfully dance at the Jellicle Ball, reiterating that Jellicle cats are black and white, and rather small.  When they’re lazy, they “are reserving our terpsichorean [dancing] powers!’ and “resting and saving/ ourselves to be ripe/ for the Jellicle Moon/ and the Jellicle Ball!”  The dance is wonderfully choreographed.

Grizabella reappears and Old Deuteronomy notices how she is treated and how she tries to remember her old moves.  He remarks on the Moments of Happiness.  Gus, the Theatre Cat is brought out; he’s old and frail and can just remember when he used to be a star.  Some stage productions will include Growltiger’s Last Stand here as one of his old roles; the recording did not.  Skimbleshanks, the Railway Cat pounces in next; he is in charge “of the sleeping car express,” keeping everything in order.  But Macavity strikes again, stealing away Old Deuteronomy.  Two female cats remark on what they know of Macavity, the Napoleon of Crime (typically refers to Professor Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes; note the similarity in names).  Whenever the police get to one of his crime scenes, he’s not there.  It looks like he returns Old Deuteronomy, but it’s really Macavity in disguise and he fights Munkustrap before he escapes, shutting down the lights.  Rum Tum Tugger cheers everyone up with Mr. Mistoffelees, “the original conjuring cat.”  “Oh well, a never was there/ ever a cat so clever as/ magical Mr. Mistoffelees!” (another of my favorite songs)  [It has been noted that his name is similar to Mephistopheles, another name for the devil, but note the different spelling, and Mistoffelees is a sweet cat]  His coat lights up and he brings back the lights on stage; and even Old Deuteronomy.

When Grizabella appears again, she finally sings all of Memory, recalling her days in the sun.  She waits for each new day, letting night pass away, and hoping that each day will get better.  “Touch me/ it’s so easy to leave me/ all alone with the memory/ of my days in the sun/ If you touch me/ you’ll understand what happiness is.”   Some of the younger cats finally get close to her and touch her, and the rest of the Jellicles accept her.  Munkustrap leads her to Old Deuteronomy and the leader takes her to a tire that rises to a descended stair.  She Journeys to the Heaviside Layer, “up, up, up past the Russell Hotel/ up, up, up, to the Heaviside layer/ Up, up, up, past the Jellicle Moon/  up, up, up, to the Heaviside layer.”  Old Deuteronomy sums up the evening on The Ad’dressing of Cats; remember, they are not a dog.  Treat them with respect.

This is another musical that I would dance around our living room too.  Rum Tum Tugger, Macavity, and Mr. Mistoffelees were my favorite.  As a singer, I’d love to perform Memory (which does not have a corresponding poem; Webber composed it for Sunset Blvd then repurposed it for Cats).

Next Time: 1776

“The world and I/ we are still waiting/ still hesitating”

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

Wow, that’s a mouthful; I typically refer to it as simply Joseph.  Andrew Lloyd Webber’s first big musical, based on the Bible story of Joseph from Genesis.  It originated as a much shorter production for a school performance and is still widely performed by schools in the U.K. and that is how it is framed in the film.  Donny Osmond leads as Joseph (he has already been performing the role on stage for several years).  The teachers were also the main characters, including the headmaster (I believe) who was also Jacob, played by Richard Attenborough (Jurassic Park, and 1994’s Miracle on 34th Street).  If Pharaoh looks a bit familiar, he’s played by Robert Torti, the father in Suite Life of Zack and Cody.  So the students file into the auditorium and their presenter arrives, introducing the story as a “dreamer like you,” encouraging “you are what you feel.”  Donny enters, explaining Any Dream Will Do and the students even join in.  The narrator hands him his coat and the story begins in earnest.  Jacob and Sons are the beginning of the nation of Israel; Jacob has twelve sons (the original twelve tribes), ranging from Rueben to Benjamin; the last being Joseph, “Jacob’s favorite son,” being the son of his favorite wife [Biblically, Benjamin was also that wife’s son and younger than Joseph].

dreamcoat

Joseph’s brothers were not pleased with his status as their father’s favorite and hurt when their father treated Joseph to an amazing multi-colored coat.  Kids stream on stage to help count off the colors, their uniforms changing to fun colored play clothes.  Joseph’s Dreams have got his brothers’ goat; guileless dreams where their eleven ears of corn all turn and bow to his.  Or eleven stars in the heavens bow to his.  They declare “the dreamer’s got to go.”  The show also mixes song styles, so Poor, Poor Joseph starts a bit like a rap, with the brothers planning to throw Joseph into a pit and steal his coat.  Then, some “hairy Ishmaelites,” come riding by and they sell their brother as a slave, “off to Egypt/ where Joseph was not keen to go.”  The brothers then tore the coat, attacked a passing goat, and dipped the coat in “blood and guts and gore.”  With Joseph gone, the brothers give the news to their father, there’s One More Angel in Heaven, in a Western theme.  There’s even a hoedown dance break.  Jacob is crushed; the brothers and their wives are pleased.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, Joseph was bought by a man named Potiphar.  Joseph came to like his job and “liked his master/ consequently worked much harder/ even with devotion.”  Potiphar made him leader of his household, “maximum promotion.”  Potiphar’s wife, beautiful but evil, and sought a lot of men against their will.  She liked Joseph as eye candy and “every morning beckoned/ ‘Come and lie with me, love!'”  Joseph refused, but Potiphar’s wife had her way, instructing her other companions to take off Joseph’s shirt.  Potiphar investigated the rumpus and found a compromising situation.  He throws Joseph in jail.  He muses in his cell, Close Every Door to Me [one of my favorite songs from the show]; but he’s still hopeful, “for we [children of Israel] know we shall find/ our own piece of mind/ for we have been promised/ a land of our own.”  A while later, he is joined by two other prisoners, a butler and baker from the Pharaoh.  They have had dreams they don’t understand and ask Joseph for help interpreting  The butler crushed grapes to wine, gave the cup to Pharaoh, who drank.  This means he will soon be free.  The baker on the other hand, had birds who ate all his bread.  Sadly, that means his execution date is set.  The rest of the prisoners cheer him on, Go, Go, Go Joseph, emerging in colorful sixties’ clothes [this is my favorite part].

“Strange as it seems/ there’s been a run/ of crazy dreams,” including the Pharaoh.  Poor, Poor Pharaoh, whatchu gonna do?  His butler recommends Joseph.  The Pharaoh explains (a take-off on Elvis) about the Seven Fat Cows who are eaten by seven skinny cows.  There are also seven full ears of corn that are consumed by seven skinny ones.  He’s all shook up and asks Joseph for his answer.  Joseph explains that the dreams foretell seven years of bumper crops, followed by seven years of famine.  And what Pharaoh needs is someone to be in charge.  Well Stone the Crows!  Pharaoh frees Joseph and appoints him, though he has to periodically tear him away from the fangirls.

But what has happened to the family Joseph left behind?  Those Canaan Days full of plenty are gone, now they’re starving (they did not ration like Egypt).  Simeon adopts a French accent for the song and encourages to “raise you berets.”  Desperate, the brothers decide to go to Egypt for food.  And discover Joseph!  Except “not a brother among them/ knew who he was” and Grovel, Grovel to Pharaoh’s Number Two, proving Joseph’s dreams from years ago correct.  Joseph plays with them for a minute, disbelieving their tale and they beg.  He eventually gives them food, but when they go to leave, he stops them.  For he hid his golden cup in Benjamin’s sack and all the brothers wonder Who’s the Thief?  When Benjamin is arrested, “each of the brothers/ fell to his knees/ ‘Show him some mercy/ oh mighty one, please/ He would not do this/ he must have been framed/ Jail us and beat us/ we should be blamed’.”  They further plead their case with Benjamin Calypso, arguing that “Benjamin is straighter than the tall palm tree” and “honest as coconuts.”  Joseph knew that his brothers had learned their lesson and reveals himself.  “So Jacob came to Egypt/ no longer feeling old/ and Joseph came to meet him/ in his chariot of gold.”  Joseph reprises Any Dream Will Do and the cast joins on Give Me My Coloured Coat.  The soundtrack includes the Joseph Remix.

I know some adults find this show cheesy; I think it’s good family fun.  I know practically all of the words and think it would be fun to be the Narrator (except I  knew I would never get it in our local theatre production).  I do happily recall days dancing around the living room when I was little to this soundtrack, making up my own dances.

Up Next: Cats

“In sleep he sang to me/ in dreams he came/ that voice which calls to me/ and speaks my name”

The Phantom of the Opera

The longest running musical in history; it premiered in 1986 and celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2011, only one year after Les Mis.  The most well known Andrew Lloyd Webber production, it is based on a French novel which has undergone numerous other iterations, including a black and white film from the twenties.  Michael Crawford was the first Phantom, chosen by Webber, though he originally thought Webber meant him for Raoul (I know someone who insisted that Colm Wilkinson was the best Phantom; I say let Colm have Les Mis and allow Michael Phantom), and Sarah Brightman was the first Christine (and married to Webber at the time; the part was essentially written for her…considering she is one of the few women to hit those high notes).  I knew the music of this show long before I fully knew the show or saw a rendition of it.  My mother is a fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music and played them for my brother and I at a very young age.  I can recall hearing an instrumental version of Music of the Night playing in the background at the school library in fifth grade, and knowing it.  I did get the Original Cast recording, which includes a libretto and I learned the storyline that way.  In high school, my friend planned an impromptu party and took me to see the movie after a break-up.  It was actually perfect, since I already loved the show, though I have not seen it on stage.

A film was made of the famous stage show in 2004.  Gerard Butler was cast as the Phantom (not the best casting choice), Emmy Rossum (a child opera performer with the Metropolitan Opera) was Christine, Patrick Wilson was Raoul, Miranda Richardson (Rita Skeeter in Harry Potter) was Madame Giry, Ciaran Hinds (Aberforth Dumbledore, Amazing Grace, and Macne Rayder in Game of Thrones) was Firmin, Simon Callow (the Duke of Sandringham in Outlander, Shakespeare in Love, Charles Dickens in Doctor Who, and would later appear in The Man Who Invented Christmas) was Andre, and Kevin McNally (Mr. Gibbs in Pirates of the Caribbean) was Buquet.

The opening of the film appears in black and white; an auction at an old Parisian opera house in 1919.  An old gentleman bids on a monkey music box.  Then lot 666 (rather ominous) is next, a repaired chandelier which featured into the famous “Phantom disaster;” a mystery never fully explained.  As the chandelier rises, the iconic organ blares and the film moves into color as lights flicker on.  We are taken back to the same opera house in Paris in 1870.  Everyone is preparing backstage at the opera house, rehearsing a production on Hannibal.  Carlotta is the star soprano.  Rehearsal stops for a moment when the two new owners are introduced; the previous owner is retiring.  They also have a Vicomte as their patron.  One of the ballet dancers recognizes the Victomte as her childhood friend, Raoul.  Carlotta is a true diva; she stops production again and threatens to leave when the owners take more notice of the dancers than her, including young Christine Daae, the orphaned daughter of a well-known violinist.  Her friend, Meg’s mother is Madame Giry, in charge of the dancers.  The owners quickly learn to grovel to Carlotta.  She will sing the aria Think of Me.  Then a backdrop nearly falls on her.  The cast blames the accident on the mysterious Phantom of the Opera.  This time, she’s leaving.  Madame Giry recommends Christine can perform the role; “let her sing for you, monsieur; she has been well taught.”  And she indeed has a lovely singing voice.  She is transformed from chorus girl to the star of the show.

The Vicomte now sees her and recognizes his friend; she certainly has changed. (I have always considered Think of Me as Christine singing to Raoul: “We never said/ our love was evergreen/ or as unchanging as the sea/ but please promise me/ that sometimes/ you will think of me.”)  Christine earns a standing ovation and a deep, unseen voice also congratulates her.  Meg looks for her later amongst the celebrations.  She finds her friend in the chapel and inquires where Christine learned to sing.  Christine calls him her Angel of Music, promised to her by her father.  Really, she believes that it is her father’s spirit, though she is a bit frightened by him.  Raoul visits later and wants to take Christine to dinner to celebrate, but her Angel is very strict.  A mysterious black-gloved hand locks her door.  Then she hears music and a figure in the mirror.  She is drawn forward.  Raoul hears the voice through the door, but cannot enter.

original phantomThus begins the titular Phantom of the Opera (and most famous track of the entire show).  The Phantom, Christine’s Angel of Music, draws her down below the opera house to an underground lake.  He poles a boat across to his quarters, where there is a shrine to Christine.  But she is still transfixed, the Phantom’s “power over you/ grows stronger yet.”  The Phantom asks Christine to sing and she progresses higher and higher (eventually hitting an E two octaves above middle C).  The Phantom further seduces Christine with his voice in the darkly romantic Music of the Night [my favorite piece].  As an adult, you realize how creepy the Phantom truly is, declaring that young Christine belongs to him.  “Close your eyes/ and surrender/ to your darkest dreams/ purge your thoughts/ of the life/ you knew before.”  He shows her a mannequin of herself, decked out in a wedding dress.  She faints and the Phantom lays her on his bed; reminder, she is in her undergarments and a robe.

Above ground, Meg looks for her friend and even finds the passage, but her mother stops her.  Madame Giry also stops Buquet from telling the cast a scary story about the magical lasso.  She warns to keep your hand at the level of your eye.  Christine does awake and takes the mask off the Phantom.  He keeps a hand over his face and yells at Christine; now she cannot ever be free.  This whole experience is Stranger Than You Dreamt It.  The Phantom feels he is a gargoyle who burns in hell, yet secretly yearns for heaven.  He urges Christine that fear can turn to love (yep, really creepy).  She returns the mask and the Phantom returns her.

The following morning, Firmin and Andre discuss the previous evening; Firmin is certain that any publicity is good and will earn them money, “gossip’s worth its’ weight in gold.”  Andre is more cautious.  And they both have notes from the mysterious Phantom, demanding a salary and giving critique on the performance.  Raoul enters with a note as well, telling him to stay away from Christine.  Carlotta enters as well with a note warning her against replacing Christine; she figures Raoul sent it, obviously Christine is sleeping with him.  Madame Giry reports that Christine is home, sleeping.  And another note; the Phantom instructs Christine to play the lead in the next production and Carlotta will play the silent role.  Carlotta is upset and the owners are wondering why they are constantly hearing about Christine now.  The characters all sing over each other, and the owners now have to grovel to the Prima Donna again, insisting that her public needs her.  Carlotta is the definition of a diva.  And everyone knows it.

The next performance features Carlotta in her lead and Christine as the secondary role.   During the show, Buquet spot the Phantom and goes to investigate.  The Phantom’s deep voice echoes throughout the entire theatre demanding that Box Five was to be kept open for him.  Christine on stage says she knows it’s the Phantom.  Carlotta snidely remarks “your part is silent, you little toad.”  That gives the Phantom an idea.  During their pick-up of Poor Fool Carlotta begins croaking (we did see her voice spray bottles switched earlier; in the show that does not happen; the Phantom has magical powers).  She runs off in terror and the owners declare Christine will take on the role after a short break.  For now, a distraction, the ballet from Act Three.  Buquet continues to chase the Phantom, until he is chased by the masked man.  A noose is wrapped around his neck and he drops to the stage, dead.  Girls scream and Christine finds Raoul, claiming the roof will be safe.  She is now truly frightened of the Phantom; he has proven he will kill.  Raoul vows to protect her.  All I Ask of You, Christine says, is for Raoul to love her.  “All I want is freedom/ a world with no more night/ and you, always beside me/ to hold me and to hide me.”  The couple kisses.  But the Phantom is hidden and overhears everything.  He is angry that Christine is refusing him and seeking another man.  He shouts, “you will curse the day you did not do/ all that the Phantom asked of you!”  In the show, we return to the stage and the Phantom drops the chandelier at Christine’s feet.  In the movie, the couple simply exit the roof.

masquerade pair (2)The second half of the performance begins with a Masquerade.  The cast celebrates several months of relief and peace from the Phantom.  In the movie they are dressed in black and white, though they are in colorful garb in the show.  Christine and Raoul have secretly gotten engaged.  But the Phantom appears to ruin their fun.  Why So Silent, did you think I had left for good?  He has written a new opera, Don Juan Triumphant, along with more notes.  Carlotta must be taught to act, Piangi must lose some weight, and Christine must return to him for further instruction.  He hisses to her that she belongs to him and steals her ring.  Raoul follows the Phantom through a trap door, armed with a sword, but disoriented by a ring of mirrors.  Madame Giry rescues Raoul and takes him to her room to reveal the truth of the Phantom.  Years ago, when she was studying to be a ballerina, there was a traveling fair.  One of their exhibits with the “Demon’s Child,” a young boy who usually wore a bag over his head in a cage.  Until he was beaten and the bag removed, showing a disfigured face.  Giry felt bad for the boy, so even after she sees him strangle his tormentor, she helps him escape and leads him underneath the opera house.  And that is where he has stayed.  She claims he is a genius.  Raoul argues it has turned to madness.

Raoul has taken to sleeping outside Christine’s door, but she sneaks past him to visit her father’s grave.  The driver is hit over the head and replaced, but he comes to in time to tell Raoul where the young woman has gone.  Christine pleads Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, desiring guidance from her father.  Then the doors of the mausoleum begin to open and a voice calls to her, “come to me angel of music.”  Raoul warns that is not her father.  The Phantom leaps out and duels Raoul with a sword [where did he learn to do that?].  The Phantom gets a strike in, but Raoul beats him back.  Christine stops him from killing the other man; “not like this.”  [Not the smartest idea; would save yourself a whole lot of trouble if you just let him.]  The Phantom curses, “now let it be war upon you both!”  (There’s a difference in order between the movie and the show and this part happens a little later in the show)

Raoul has a plan.  It involves using Christine as bait, but he will have the opera house filled with arm police and they will be armed.  They will apprehend the Phantom and all will be well.  Christine is frightened and does not want to do it; worried that the Phantom will take her and she will never be free.  Twisted Every Way, should she risk her life in order to win the chance to live?  Can she betray the man who did inspire her voice?  But she cannot refuse him now, even if she wants to.  Don Juan Triumphant begins, dark and syncopated.  The Phantom takes over Piangi’s role and sings to Christine.  She realizes who it is and signals Raoul with her eyes.  They’ve come Past the Point of No Return.  Christine plays along with the Phantom, rather convincingly because Raoul has tears in his eyes, fearing that his love has actually given into the villain.  The Phantom is certainly trying to seduce Christine, but she wakes up and tears off his mask [okay, in the movie, his disfigurement isn’t that bad; it’s most likely played up on stage].  The Phantom is furious and drops the chandelier into the stage, starting a fire while he makes off with Christine through a trap door, Down Once More.  Carlotta finds Piagni dead.  Raoul, followed by Madame Giry take off after the Phantom.  The rest of the cast bands together to Track Down This Murderer.

Madame Giry leads Raoul so far, but she cannot go further.  Her final advice is to keep his hand at the level of his eyes.  Raoul removes his coat and vest and continues.  He drops into a pool and bars begin to descend.  He manages to open the release valve and pushes forward.  Meanwhile, Christine has changed into the wedding gown for the Phantom and asks if he will enjoy the pleasure of the flesh now.  He agrees that he had been denied that all his live, along with most human compassion.  His face has poisoned her love, he declares.  She retorts the distortion lies in his soul, not his face.  Raoul is captured and demands the Phantom show compassion to Christine (note that the men’s costumes are very similar; the Phantom is most likely attempting to appeal to Christine by mimicking Raoul).  As he ties Raoul to the bars, the Phantom tells him he will not harm Christine; he loves her.  He offers Christine a deal; if Christine agrees to remain with the Phantom, he will let Raoul free.  If she denies him, Raoul dies.  Christine is angry now; any tears she had for the Phantom’s predicament have turned to hate.  The Phantom places a noose around Raoul’s neck.  Really, who does he expect her to choose?  The man who is closer to her age and a childhood friend?  Or the older guy who is very possessive, has murdered at least three people that we know of, has pretended to be her father and wants to sleep with her?  Christine finally comes forward and kisses the Phantom.  He cries.  Then lets Raoul go and orders them to leave; they can hear the mob approaching.  Christine does reappear to the Phantom for another moment to give him the engagement ring (which he stole from her, then gave back in order to marry her, so I’m not sure why she’s giving it to him, since Raoul bought it).  The Phantom smashes the mirrors; one of which reveals another secret passage.  A curtain drops to hide it once he’s gone.  Meg does find his mask; but no Phantom.

The film ends back in 1919 with Raoul placing the monkey music box on Christine’s grave; showing she died two years previous.  Also on the grave is a rose with a black ribbon and the ring.  A pop of color as the rose turns red.

This is another intense musical; it is primarily sung and since it features sopranos, there are several really high notes.  I am not fond of Gerard Butler as the Phantom, not after listening to Michael Crawford all my life.  Emmy is sweet, but doesn’t quite have the full quality in her voice that Sarah Brightman has.  Sarah can still pull off the airy tones, thirty years later.  Patrick Wilson as Raoul is very cute; good casting!  The church I grew up in has a magnificent pipe organ and I have wanted us to perform at least a concert of Phantom of the Opera for years; it would sound incredible!  And if I could have any role, I’d want Christine…aside from those high notes.  Think of Me is a sweet song, but few pieces can ever match the power of Phantom of the Opera.  Music of the Night is seductive and Josh Groban performed it when Andrew Lloyd Webber was honored by the Kennedy Center…I simply melt.  I did help with a rehearsal of Prima Donna when the church did another cabaret presentation of Phantom of the Opera, as Carlotta, meaning I did manage to hit some of those high notes.  It was exhilarating.  I just have to be really warmed up.  For that performance, I did Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again; and I made people cry (in a good way!)  That was also wonderful to hear.  I love singing.  I love singing this music.  Which I can enjoy in the comfort of my car, or shower, or room (and if I miss a note, no one will know!)

All I Ask of You is a lovely duet and Masquerade is just plain fun.  I adore Christine’s and Raoul’s costumes in that scene.  As I’ve gotten older, I have new respect for the tone of Past the Point of No Return.

Up Next: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

 

“I know that there’s a place for us/ for we are glorious”

Greatest Showman

A more recent film based “loosely” on the life of P.T. Barnum. It’s actually not the first musical to be created about Barnum; there is a show entitled “Barnum” that had circus performers outside the door on Broadway. The film version starred a young Michael Crawford. The new 2017 movie stars Hugh Jackman (X-Men, Australia) as Phineas Taylor Barnum, Zac Efron (High School Musical) as his eventual partner, Phillip Carlyle, and Zendaya (Spider-Man: Homecoming and Far From Home, after she was on the Disney shows K.C. Undercover and Shake it Up). It features Rebecca Ferguson (Elizabeth Woodville in The White Queen) as Jenny Lind [her singing was dubbed for the film since her singing chops were not quite what was needed]. Oh, and Charity’s father, Mr. Hallett is played by Frederic Lehne (Azazel/ The Yellow-Eyed Demon in Supernatural, and he was in the episode “Heart of Gold” in Firefly…so no one ever nice).

The film opens with The Greatest Show, Barnum in the middle of a circus ring, but it fades away to reveal the scene was a daydream; a young Phineas is standing in front of a red coat, waiting for his father. He accompanies his father to a large mansion outside of New York City where he makes a young Charity Hallett laugh. Her father reprimands him, but he quickly befriends Charity later, after she sneaks out. They explore an abandoned mansion, dreaming about the world they’re going to make with A Million Dreams. Through the song, life happens. Phineas’s father sickens and dies, Charity is sent to boarding school. Phineas is out on the street and has to steal to survive; he’s caught, but a malformed woman shows him kindness. The two children send letters to each other; but Phineas eventually leaves to make his fortune working the railroad. He returns when they’re grown to marry Charity. She eagerly accepts, but her father warns Phineas that she’ll return home; Phineas will fail and she’ll leave him. The duet dancing between Phineas and Charity is lovely. Phineas wants to give Charity a lavish life, but struggles to hold a job. They have a small apartment that leaks and he is dismissed from an accounting firm when it declares bankruptcy when its fleet of trading vessels all sink.

The Barnums have two adorable daughters, Caroline and Helen. Charity joins in their make-believe adventures. Phineas quickly cobbles together a “wishing machine,” a spinning lantern for his daughter’s birthday and the girls reprise A Million Dreams, which gives him an idea. He uses the document on the shipping vessels as collateral at the bank to buy a museum of oddities. It’s a rough start, until Helen and Caroline suggest he needs something “alive.” Phineas begins gathering acts, like the dwarf Tom Thumb, and the bearded lady, Lettie. There are the trapeze siblings, W.D. and Anne Wheeler, a tattooed man, a fat man, a giant, a “dog boy.” Phineas plays up their oddities to make them “sensational.” “They don’t know it yet, but they’re going to love you.” Patrons start pouring in, “dreaming with your eyes wide open,” and the show starts to Come Alive. Phineas dons his red coat. The show transforms from a museum to a circus, the word courtesy of a critic.

greatest show

The profits allow Phineas to purchase the old mansion he and Charity explored and gift Caroline with her dream ballet slippers. Young girls can be harsh, and look down on Caroline for her father’s business. She wants to quit. Phineas also wants to attract a higher clientele for his show and approaches young Phillip Carlyle. Phillip has the name and reputation amongst the upper-crust, but drinks to forget his horribly produced plays. Phineas takes the young man to a bar to offer him a job on the Other Side and a life of freedom. “But you would finally live a little/ finally laugh a little/ just let me give you the freedom to dream a little.” Phillip eventually agrees and will gain ten percent of the profits. He considers himself a junior partner; Phineas calls him an overcompensated apprentice. And Phillip is instantly taken by Anne.

With the success of his circus, protestors gather. Those who gleefully pointed out the freaks for Phineas now demand they get off the stage. Phillip counteracts this by getting the circus an audience with Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace. There, Phineas meets Jenny Lind, a world-famous opera singer. Still aiming high and hoping for even more renown, he convinces her to tour America. She stuns crowds with Never Enough. Though with the upper-crust about, Phineas doesn’t want his circus family visible; he shuns them to the back standing room for the performance. Phillip briefly takes Anne’s hand, until he is spotted. Anne walks away. And Charity sees the awe that her husband stares at Miss Lind with. After the show, he refuses to let the performers enter the reception, after he’s embarrassed himself with Charity’s parents.

Instead of taking the back way out to the street, the circus family lets themselves be seen by the fancy patrons, declaring This is Me. They deserve love just like everyone else. But Barnum sees none of it. He decides to take Jenny on tour, despite the fortune it will cost, and leaves Phillip in charge of the circus. Phillip tries to make up his faux pas to Anne by taking her to the theatre. Then his parents spot him and try to shame him for being seen with a dark-skinned woman. If that is his place, to shun her, he wants none of it he tells his parents. He catches Anne readying to practice her trapeze act and declares they should Rewrite the Stars; “nothing can keep us apart.” But Anne knows what it will be like for them, the looks and derision they will have to endure and at the end, walks away.

While her husband tours with Jenny, Charity wonders if anything will ever be enough for Phineas. She warns Phineas that he doesn’t need everyone to love him; just a few good people. She muses she’s walking a Tightrope and we see how everyone tries to get along without Phineas as he lives the high life. Charity still plays with Caroline and Helen; Caroline continues her dance lessons. Phillip tries to take center stage, but has already told Phineas that the audience comes for his craziness. And Phineas has finally reached the top; public acclaim. And now, there is nothing holding him to Jenny Lind. He wants to leave the circuit and return home. Jenny threatens to quit; it won’t hurt her reputation if she leaves, but it will leave Phineas in financial ruin. “If you’re careless with other people, it will bring ruin on yourself.” She cries a bit during her performance of Never Enough and at the end, kisses Phineas on stage, cameras flashing. It’s her goodbye.

At the circus, the protestors are back and refuse to leave. W.D. backs Phillip and a fight breaks out; the whole circus crew facing off against the protestors. One throws a lantern backstage and starts a fire. Phineas arrives to greet his girls and sees the fire engines race to the circus. Phillip is trying to get everyone out, but no one has seen Anne. He races back into the flames. Anne runs out from around back. Phineas runs in after Phillip and the roof collapses. For one horrifying minute we fear the worst. Then Phineas emerges with Phillip in his arm; the young man is taken to the hospital. Anne follows and murmurs the refrain from Rewrite the Stars.

Sitting in the ashes, the critic admits to Phineas that the people loved his show, even though it was not to his taste. And sadly has to inform Phineas of Jenny officially quitting the show, and the scandalous kiss on the front page. At home, Charity is returning to her parents; the bank forecloses on their house. She’s not even terribly upset about Jenny; it’s the fact that Phineas didn’t make the decision with her. The circus family joins Phineas at the bar and urge him to not give up on them. He brought them out of the shadow and gave them a place, gave them a family, a home. They want that home back. From Now On, Phineas will be different; he won’t take what he has for granted. He returns to the Hallett’s mansion to face his father-in-law, who once again tries to keep the showman from his daughter. But Caroline and Helen helpfully point out that Charity is at the beach. The couple reconciles; all Charity has ever wanted is the man she fell in love with. She doesn’t want or need the fancy life Phineas envisioned. Phillip also wakes up in the hospital, slightly surprised to find Anne sitting at his bedside. But she happily kisses him. In front of the whole room.

Unfortunately, the bank will not loan Phineas money to rebuild. But, Phillip was wise and kept track of his earnings and will lend Phineas the money. Except now they are full 50/50 partners. Even though he no longer has a claim or inheritance, he has joy and love in his life and work he adores. Instead of buying more real estate, Phineas figures they just need land, and a tent. The Greatest Show is back! During a quick break, Phineas hands his top hat off to Phillip. The young man is in charge now; Phineas will be watching his girls grown up. Phillip eagerly enters the ring and Phineas rides an elephant (always has to make an entrance) to his daughters’ recital (Helen is a tree while Caroline is the star). Phillip ends the show by kissing Anne.

The show, as is the norm with Hollywood, is not historically accurate. Phineas Taylor Barnum was not really a champion for outcasts. And quite honestly, he was a conman. But we don’t want to see that. Actually, from the trailer, I imagined a bit of a different storyline; I thought they would show Phineas championing for the outcasts. There are times I want to smack him in this story; mainly for his actions with Jenny Lind. He has a wonderful, supportive wife at home, and two girls who adore him and he leaves them. I was annoyed at first by the romance storyline between Phillip and Anne, but I’ve come to see that it’s a nice counterpoint to Phineas’s actions. Phillip tries to hold things together. And yes, he makes a few missteps, but he really wants to have a relationship with Anne despite society’s views.

And I absolutely adore the music for this film. I listen to the soundtrack and I want to choreograph a performance (I have ten years’ dance experience, but no real choreography experience, aside from what I fool around with in the privacy of my room). Greatest Show is an upbeat and fun introduction and conclusion. A Million Dreams is sweet within the show. Come Alive is another upbeat song. I love The Other Side with its underlying rhythm and how it was choreographed involving tables and chairs. Never Enough has its place, though I object that they had it dubbed. There are plenty of talented actresses who could have sung that part. And for an “opera singer,” the style is definitely not opera. Which I get, goes with their aesthetic to use more popular styles of music.

oscars this is me

This is Me is just about the best song ever. Keala Settle is amazing. She originally did not want to play the role for the film, figuring they could hire someone else and she would help with rehearsals. But Hugh convinced her. Check out the behind the scenes videos of the first run through. And her performance on The Graham Norton Show. And the Oscars (seriously, this song should have won; they got robbed). It’s become an anthem for those who don’t feel like they fit in with society. “I am who I’m meant to be/ this is me.” (I have felt like that). I want to perform this song.

I’ve never been a huge Zac Efron fan, but I liked his performance in this film. Rewrite the Stars is a wonderful duet and the trapeze elements were beautiful. And Piano Guys do a beautiful cover featuring cello and violin; the violinist being Steve Nelson’s wife, Julie. They also do a piano cover of Million Dreams (watch the videos; they’re heartwarming). Tightrope is alright. And I like the chorus of From Now On and the dance that starts up. It’s performers having a good time.

I have read several fanfiction stories and the general consensus is to make the circus, the Barnums, and Phillip one big family; I am a sucker for family stories. And we like to pick on Phillip. There aren’t any that I specifically recommend; I think the fandom is new enough that nothing truly serious has developed yet. But they’re worth checking out.

Up Next: Les Mis

“Pulitzer may own the world/ but he don’t own us/ Pulitzer may crack the whip/ but he won’t whip us.”

Newsies

This was the movie that spawned the idea of doing a blog. Though released in 1992, I didn’t see Newsies until I was in junior high, about ten years later. My music teacher, Mrs. Ellenberger put it on in class for a few days. I remember my friends liking it; I believe the rest of the student populace didn’t really care. We thought the actors were cute; I know Spot Conlon was a favorite, the newsie from Brooklyn. We learned a choral arrangement of one of the main songs Seize the Day as part of junior high choir. Later, in college as part of my Historical Development of the English Language course, I did a paper on the accents in Newsies (because yes, I am that big of a dork and always tried to incorporate films and stories I loved into class projects. I referenced Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean in separate papers in my Intro to Writing course).

I didn’t realize at the time that it had several well-known stars among its cast, not the least of which is Christian Bale (Batman in Christopher Nolan’s ‘verse; as well as voicing Thomas in Pocahontas and a list of other movies) in the starring role of Jack Kelly. Kenny Ortega directed and was one of the choreographers of the movie. Yes, the same man who directed High School Musical, which took over my same group of friends when we were in high school. The music is composed by the great Alan Menken. Ann Margaret (Carol’s mother in Santa Clause 3) appears as vaudeville star Medda Larkson; Bill Pullman (Lonestar in Spaceballs, famous for the Independence Day movies, he’s also the commander in Disney’s Tiger Cruise original movie) is Bryan Denton, a reporter; and Robert Duvall (General Robert E. Lee in Gods and Generals and over a hundred other films) is the evil Mr. Joseph Pulitzer. One of the other newsboys, Mush, is played by Aaron Lohr who was Portman in The Mighty Ducks franchise, part of the “Bash Brothers,” and also in RENT as Steve and voiced Max in A Goofy Movie (I recognize him more from Mighty Ducks, a favorite movie of mine when growing up)

The premise of the story is based on the 1899 newsboy strike in New York City, claiming to be “based on actual events.” “Based,” yes. Historically accurate? Not so much. Carrying the Banner explains the life of the newsboys. They’re out in the elements every day, hawking newspapers for bigwigs like William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer for a few pennies. “We need a good assassination/we need an earthquake or a war. How ’bout a crooked politician? Hey stupid that ain’t news no more!” Jack Kelly is the leader of this group of newsies; he protects the smaller and weaker newsies and is well respected by the rest. At the distribution center for the World newspaper, owned by Pulitzer, brothers David and Les Jacobs join the newsies for the first time. Les is in awe of Jack, nicknamed Cowboy. David (who looks like the kid from Growing Pains, but is not) agrees to a partnership with Jack to learn to sell “papes,” though he is disgusted by the spit handshake. Jack’s first piece of advice is “headlines don’t sell papes, newsies sell papes.”

On their whirlwind first day, David and Les follow Jack running from the warden of the local refuge, Snyder. Jack escaped from the refuge previously and Snyder is out to put him behind bars again. They also learn that Jack wants to get out of New York and once he’s saved enough, he’ll take a train out west to Santa Fe “to be a real cowboy,” as Les eagerly puts it. We meet Medda, the vaudeville star and friend of Jack, and the boys eagerly listen to her serenade the crowd with Lovey Dovey Baby. David invites Jack over for dinner where the rough and tumble newsie puts on his best manners for David’s parents and sister. Turns out, David and Les are only working as newsboys while their father is off work due to injury; once he gets his job back, the boys will be back in school. (Cue the looks exchanged between Jack and Sarah.) Jack declines staying overnight and croons Santa Fe, wistfully thinking about the freedom out West; “I want space/ not just air/ let ’em laugh in my face/ I don’t care.”

When the newsies return to work the next day, they’ve found out that overnight, Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, owners of the newspapers have decided to up the price the newsies pay for papers by ten cents a hundred, so they, the owners will make more money. When one of Pulitzer’s advisors argues that it would be rough on the boys, Pultizer fires back that “they will view it as a challenge,” and be grateful for it. No, as Racetrack comments, Pulitzer is just a tightwad and the man even admits he wants to know how to get more of the money off the streets.

The boys argue amongst themselves that it’s unfair and they have no rights. Then they get the idea to strike from a local trolley strike that had been dragging on for weeks. As Jack pumps up his friends; are they going to take what they’re given, or are they going to strike? First, they have to organize. If only a handful decide they aren’t selling, other newsies could simply come in and take their work. “Even though we ain’t got hats or badges/we’re a union just by sayin’ so,” Jack (taking the more educated David’s words) tells the boys. There’s a lovely play on words during The World Will Know; world in the traditional sense versus the New York World newspaper owned by Pulitzer; they occasionally throw in references to the New York Journal owned by Hearst. “We’ve been hawkin’ headlines/ but we’re making ’em today…now they’re gonna see/what ‘stop the presses’ really means.” “And the world will know/ and the world will learn/ and the world will wonder/ how we made the tables turn/ and the world will see/ that we had to choose/ that the things we do today/ will be tomorrow’s news.”  The dancing has an element of fight to it, which is fun and interesting to watch. So, hurrah, the Manhattan newsies are going on strike; they still have to spread their plan to the rest of the newsboys in New York.

Enter Spot Conlon, leader of the Brooklyn newsies, and makes other newsies “nervous.” Jack, David, and another newsie, Boots, trek out to Brooklyn where there’s Irish music in the background and boys diving off the piers…just because (or maybe it’s to show off their toned physiques…teenage girls did appreciate it). Spot’s voice holds power amongst the newsies of New York and he wants proof before he throws his lot in with Manhattan. And the rest of the boroughs are waiting for Brooklyn’s backing before they join.

newsies

They get their opportunity to prove themselves the next morning, David urges them to Seize the Day (probably the most famous song from the film) before facing off at the distribution center again. “Wrongs will be righted/ if we’re united/ let us seize the day…proud and defiant/ we’ll slay the giant.” The police arrive and most escape, except for Crutchy. One adult has been paying attention to the newsies efforts; Bryan Denton, reporter and previous chief war correspondent [the Spanish-American War that ended the previous year, since they never tell us specifically] for the New York Sun. We’re shown the refuge that evening when Jack attempts to break Crutchy out. The boy was beat pretty badly and refuses to be carried. Jack explains to David that the more orphans Warden Snyder has in his refuge, the more money the city sends him, the more he puts in his pocket (hmm, we know corruption when we hear it).

Another day, another fight at distribution led by a reprise of Seize the Day. This time, the World is aided with thugs. Racetrack calls out to Jack, “it’s the Crib!” The gates have been locked and the police are keeping people away. The “bad guys” are almost winning, until back up arrives. Pretty much everyone’s favorite line in the movie: “Never fear, Brooklyn is here!” The newsies beat back the thugs and topple the newspapers. Denton writes a front page article for the Sun which features a photograph of Jack, David, Les, Spot, and several other leaders. Denton treats the boys to a celebratory lunch and the boys eagerly share what being on the front page means. It means they’re famous. Racetrack spouts that being famous means you get whatever you want, “that’s what’s so great about New York!” These boys are King of New York, “fortune found me/fate just crowned me” and they give credit to Denton and feature a bit of tap dancing.

But bad news; Snyder sees the article and picture of Jack (slightly aided by Cructhy giving him Jack’s name) and goes in search of the boy. The other newsies and the owner of the lodge house help keep Jack out of sight, but he chooses to safely sleep on the roof of David’s apartment. Sarah wakes up early and gives him breakfast and we get the only bit of romantic development in the whole movie. Jack isn’t used to having people care whether he stays or goes.

While the newsies plan a big rally to keep their strike going, Pulitzer wants an example made of the boys, especially Jack. Hearing that Jack is a wanted criminal, he pressures the Mayor to send police to break up the rally and further sweetens the deal with the promise of a poker game with the other newspaper owners. The newsies hold their rally at Medda’s hall and David urges the boys to stop hitting the other boys who continue to sell the newspapers; it’s playing into the adults’ hands. Jack simplifies by saying “we’ve got no brains,” and no respect. Spot agrees and Medda cheers everyone up with High Times, Hard Times. Snyder and the police arrive and it’s chaos. Everyone is trying to protect Jack, they’re leader; David even urging him to go once they’ve gotten Sarah and Les to safety. Denton even tries to help, but a well-placed punch sends Jack into the arms of officers and he’s carried out.

The boys appear in court in the morning, Spot jokingly objects “on the grounds of Brooklyn,” and they’re saved from a fine or jail time by Denton. But Jack is tried separately and Snyder convinces the judge (again, more corruption) to incarcerate Jack until he’s twenty-one (he’s now seventeen). Furthermore, Jack Kelly is an alias. His real name is Frances Sullivan; his mother is dead and his father is imprisoned in a state penitentiary. The judge rules in favor of Snyder. Denton meets with the rest of the newsies and informs them that he has been reassigned; his old war correspondent job. The Sun didn’t print the story on the riot, meaning in essence, the riot didn’t happen (what really happened what Pulitzer pressured the owner of the Sun during their poker game). David is mad. New plan; they break Jack out tonight and no longer trust anyone.

But Jack has been taken to Pulitzer, who offers him a deal. Jack works for him until the strike dies, which is will, particularly without him. And then Jack can leave, with money in his pocket; more than he’ll ever make as a newsie. And a lesson on power of the press; Pulitzer holds the power and newspapers being the main way anyone found out about anything in that day, he tells them what to think. Jack realizes Pulitzer is scared; Jack threatens Pulitzer’s power. And he won’t take the deal. Until Pulitzer threatens David’s family. The man sends the teenager to think about it and Jack runs off with David for a minute, but sends his friend away. He won’t say why, only refrains Santa Fe to himself as his mulls over his choices.

Come morning, we all discover he has taken Pulitzer’s deal. The newsies are furious, especially David. He calls his friend out and declares he has found the guts to attach his name to his words (instead of using Jack as a mouthpiece). Sarah finds Denton’s article and tries to give David hope, but her brother storms away. Les thinks Jack is spying and the older boys don’t have the heart to tell him the truth. Then the Delancy brothers, who have always picked a fight with Jack, go after Sarah and Les on the street. David jumps in, as does Jack when he hears Sarah’s yells. The brothers are about to completely knock David out when Jack breaks it up. He can’t be something he ain’t; smart. The teenagers go to Denton. His article tells how the city thrives on child labor; lots of people make money that way. And they’re worried that the newsboy strike will spread. Well now they have a plan. They use Pulitzer’s old press, which Jack knows about, and print their own newspaper, Once and for All. They get the newsies to deliver it to all the kids in the city; “can you read? Read this.”

“Joe, if you’re still countin’ sheep/ wake up and read ’em and weep/ you’ve got your thugs/ with their sticks and their slugs/ but we’ve got a promise to keep…This is for kids shining shoes on the street/ with no shoes on their feet everyday/ This is for guys sweatin’ blood in the shops/ while bosses and cops look away/ This is to even the score/ this ain’t just newsies no more/ This ain’t just kids with some pie in the sky/ this is do it or die/ this is war!”

Denton recruits the governor. The boys wait. So far no one has shown up and without everyone, they’ll lose. All the boys have forgone their put-together looks, all down to their undershirts even David. They reprise The World Will Know, and they are joined by a million voices. All the child laborers are marching. Spot leads Brooklyn. Jack is shown to Pulizter, with David. David points out to the man that he’s losing money every day with the strike; it’s costing him more than the tenth of a cent he’s trying to squeeze out of the newsies. Jack opens the window so Pulitzer can hear all the kids. The man shouts for them to “go home!” A lot of them don’t have homes. And they’re not going away. This is real power of the press. Jack cheekily answers Pulitzer when asked that they used his machines to print their paper. The previous leaders of the distribution center are led out in shame and Jack yells, with Les on his shoulders, “we beat ’em!”

The warden is driven into the crowd and Jack starts to make a run for it, but Denton cautions him he never has to run from the likes of Snyder again. The boys from the Refuge are released and Snyder is locked into the police wagon. Crutchy reunites with Jack and cheerfully tells him that the Governor came storming into the Refuge [previously, the Governor had toured the Refuge and the truth had been hidden; that is how Jack had escaped, underneath his carriage]. The Governor being none other than Theodore Roosevelt, whom Denton had befriended covering the war. And now Roosevelt is thankful to Jack and is offering to take him anywhere he’d like. Such as the train station. Jack rides off cheerfully and David and his family are sad to see him go. But David is now head of the newsies and takes his hundred papes as the reprise of Carrying the Banner starts. But a commotion: the carriage is back. As is Jack (and the score of Santa Fe). The boy thanks Roosevelt for his advice; he still has things to do and a family in New York. He greets David, who responds with a spit handshake and echoes “headlines don’t sell papes, newsies sell papes.” And Sarah gets a big kiss from Jack. Everyone is happy now and dances their way out (Spot hitches a ride back to Brooklyn with Roosevelt).

The film did not do well at the box office when it was released and Christian Bale has remarked he’s been embarrassed to admit he was in the movie musical. But it gained a cult following when it hit video (like my friends and I) and Disney decided in 2012 to transform it into a stage show. It did so well that way, they took it on Broadway and ran for two years and won two Tony awards. I did watch the performance when it was on Netflix. Several changes were made; such as switching Denton to a female reporter, Katherine Plumber [SPOILER: she’s Pulitzer’s daughter], cutting the role of Sarah and making Katherine Jack’s love interest. That story line is better developed than in the film, but I still don’t see the need for a romance. It’s also slightly awkward when there is a lot of “bromantic” undertones in the film and the stage show. Yeah, Jack reacts badly to Crutchy being in the Refuge in the show. And there are hints between Jack and David in the film (supposedly intentionally put there). I was not fond of the changes in lyrics in the stage show; I know the film soundtrack nearly word-for-word and I got attached. I will admit, it’s a good show and does follow the history of the actual strike better. But the film kicks up my nostalgia.

Overall, the film is fun, especially the music. I don’t know why Disney doesn’t show it more; it’s got Batman in it! Though they don’t show a lot of their older films, unless it’s part of the animated collection. It think it’s fun that it’s almost an entirely male cast, which brings a different element to the dances. As I pointed out, there’s a bit of a fight element; I don’t mind the rough and tumble bits. And yes, as a teenage girl, most of the boys were cute in this movie.

I have read a couple fanfictions on Newsies; there’s a trio of stories For Brooklyn by AmbrLupin that spotlights Spot Colin. Another is The Brooklyn Version, also about Spot by WinterhartZahneelCalina. His little “birdie” is actually a girl.

Next Time: Another New Yorker, The Greatest Showman

“You can dance, you can jive! Having the time of your life!”

Mamma Mia

Based on the music of ABBA, which I grew up listening to.  I have been to New York City once; my choir in college was chosen to help premiere a piece at Carnegie Hall (yes, it was very cool).  And as choir kids, we all wanted to hit Broadway.  Most wanted to go to Avenue Q; I was not keen, but if it was the only chance I had to seen a show on Broadway, I’d do it.  Then someone suggested Mamma Mia and I was in.  So much fun.  Student seats are not the greatest; we ended up behind speakers, which didn’t block our view that much, but we certainly knew when each act started.  And we were close enough to the stage that at the end of the show, when a lot of the audience is singing along (including me) the cast could see us; I swear the one guys smiled at us.

The film has an all-star cast.  Amanda Seyfried (was in Mean Girls but this really made her a star, then had a lead in the big Les Miserables movie, and the lead in creepy Red Riding Hood and happier Letters to Juliet) is Sophie, Meryl Steep (Aunt March in the most recent Little Women, Devil Wears Prada, the witch in Into the Woods, amongst dozens of other roles) is her mother, Donna, Christine Baranski (Leonard’s mother in Big Band Theory, the stepmother in Into the Woods)  and Julie Walters (Mrs. Weasley!, Mrs. Austen in Becoming Jane, Mistress Quickly in the Hollow Crown’s Henry IV and Henry V, and she voiced the witch in Brave)  are Donna’s friends Tanya and Rosie.  Dominic Cooper (The Duchess, Howard Stark in Captain America and Agent Carter) is Sky, Stellan Skarsgård (Bootstrap Bill Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean, Dr. Erik in Thor) is Bill, Colin Firth (Mr. Darcy in the longer version of Pride and Prejudice, What a Girl Wants, Nanny McPhee, The Last Legion, among many other roles) is Harry, and Pierce Brosnan (Remington Steele, James Bond, the late nineties Thomas Crown Affair, opposite Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire and several other roles) is Sam.

The film opens with Sophie singing I Have a Dream and mailing three letters.  Next, she is greeting her two best friends who have arrived for her wedding.  She has a secret that she hasn’t told anyone…she has invited her dad.  She found the diary her mother kept the year she was pregnant with Sophie; there are three possibilities, Sam, Bill, and Harry and Sophie sent invitations to all of them.  She reads her mother’s diary to her friends; they giggle to Honey, Honey.  Sophie has not told her mother the three men are coming, nor has she told her fiancé.  We see the three men try to catch the ferry; Harry and Sam miss it, but luckily Bill is there with a boat.

Next Donna’s friends Rosie and Tanya arrive, eager to see Sophie.  They’re also worried about Donna.  Sophie and Sky have plans for the rundown hotel and bring in business via the Internet.  But it’s been rough for Donna being a single mother and running a business.  She complains that Money, Money, Money would solve a lot of problems.  She is however, over men.

Yeah, and the three men that made her life complicated have just arrived on the island, unbeknownst to her.  Sophie takes them to a secret room and order them to hide; Donna does not know and she does not want Donna to know…until it’s too late.  But Donna stumbles across them and reminisces to Mamma Mia.  She literally falls through the roof (and oh boy, they are hilarious-looking as young men) and freaks out.  She orders them away, then runs off.  Rosie and Tanya attempt to cheer her up with Chicaquita.  They get the truth out of Donna; the men are here and Donna worries it will upset Sophie (don’t have to worry about that).  And Donna herself does not know which is Sophie’s dad.  Her mother’s disapproval is brought up.  As Rosie comments; “it’s all very Greek.”  Tanya and Rosie cheer Donna up further with Dancing Queen and all the women on the island join in [there is a cameo by Benny Andersson of ABBA as the piano player].

dancing queen

Sophie tracks down the men and bonds with them over Our Last Summer and begs them to stay.  She then meets up with Sky; they are utterly devoted to each other and Lay All Your Love transitions into Sophie’s bachelorette party, after a hilarious dance by the men in flippers.  Donna and the Dynamos make a one night appearance and sing Super Trouper.  The men interrupt the party; even Sky and his buddies crash the party for Gimme Gimme Gimme a Man After Midnight.  Sam counsels Sophie to pursue her dream before settling down; the women tie Bill up; and Harry tries to hide.  But each comes to the conclusion they are Sophie’s dad and promise to walk her down the aisle.  Voulez Vous raises the anxiety and Sophie faints.

Rosie and Tanya decide to distract the men the next morning for Donna; Tanya attempts boating with Harry, but he swims away.  Rosie is attracted to Bill and his treated to his naked butt.  Donna tries to talk to Sophie and thinks she wants to call off the wedding.  No, Sophie is just confused and brings up her dad situation, but can’t tell her mother she is the one who brought the three men to the island.  Sam talks to Donna about Sophie and makes the pitch that Sophie shouldn’t get married right away.  If Sophie felt Donna was taken care of, she’d venture out on her own.  But Donna can handle herself; this is not an S.O.S. (Pierce sings well in this number).

One of Sky’s buddies tries to flirt with Tanya, but she quips Does Your Mother Know That You’re Out, highlighting the age difference.  Harry hands Donna a check and scampers away and preparations begin for the wedding.  Sophie comes clean to Sky and while he still loves her, he’s frustrated that she thinks she needs to know her father.  She has a family without him and finding him won’t complete her; she has to do that on her own.  And was this the whole reason for a big wedding?  Sophie asks Donna to help her dress and they reminisce through Slipping Through My Fingers.  Sophie is sincere when she asks her mother to give her away.

Sam catches Donna again, but she doesn’t want to talk how The Winner Takes it All.  She’s a bit late, but walks her daughter down the aisle.  Then admits before the ceremony that Sophie’s dad is there.  Sophie says she invited them.  Well, Donna doesn’t know which one.  Happily all the men are pleased to have even one-third of Sophie.  Then Sophie turns to Sky and calls off the wedding; they should just travel, like he wanted.  But there won’t be a wasted wedding; Sam proposes to Donna.  He is a divorced man.  Yes, he had been engaged when they met twenty years previous and yes, he had gone home…but to call it off.  Then he came back for Donna, only to find out she was off with another guy.  Donna says I Do, I Do.  Sam croons Here’s to Us at their reception.  Rosie makes a move on Bill and asks him Take a Chance on Me.  Everyone is dancing and cheering; the men are shirtless [Pierce still looks good] and the legendary fountain of Aphrodite bursts through the concrete courtyard.

Sophie sails off with Sky to a reprise of I Have  Dream.  Donna and the Dynamos come out for the credits and Dancing Queen.  Then the whole cast, in sparkly 70s garb [I laugh every time] shows up for Waterloo [and there is another cameo by Björn Ulvaeus in the Greek gods that appear].

first credits

A sequel, Here We Go Again came out ten years after the first movie and is filled with more ABBA music.  It adds Lily Davis (live action Cinderella, Downton Abbey) as young Donna and tells the story of how Donna met Bill, Harry, and Sam.  It is graduation at Oxford in 1979; Donna thrills everyone with When I Kissed the Teacher [Björn is one of the teachers].  Relaxing with Tanya and Rosie afterwards, Donna tells them she is going to travel; mainly to keep away from her mother.  She starts her adventure in Paris and runs into Harry, a very awkward man.  He is instantly attracted to her, but tries to talk the long way around holding her hand and wants to sleep with her, because this will be their only opportunity.  Waterloo charms her [Benny is again a piano player and I liked that the scene was inclusive for everyone, including a woman dancing in a wheelchair].  Donna agrees but we can see she was not impressed.

Her next stop is Greece.  She misses the ferry, but a young Bill is there to sweep her away on his boat.  They happily flirt to Why Did It Have to Be Me and then rescue a man in the water so he can be with his true love.  Bill leaves Donna the next day on the island and will return for her.  She wanders around and gets caught in a storm.  She finds shelter, and a horse in trouble.  Donna runs out to find help and discovers Sam [they cast really good looking men for these roles; especially Sam].  They make a deeper connection; Sam is running from his predestined life and Donna has no plan, but they’re happy.  Though we can see that Sam wants to tell her something.  Donna gains a job in town to sing at a local bar, auditioning with Adante, Adante after the bar owner performs Kisses of Fire.  Donna is thoroughly in love with Sam and sweetly sings What’s the Name of the Game…until she finds a picture of Sam’s fiancée.  She orders him away without giving him much of a chance to explain, venting Knowing Me, Knowing You.

young mamma miaDonna’s friends arrive to perform and to cheer her up.  She discovers Mamma Mia inside herself and is even happier when Bill shows up.  Rosie is jealous because Donna has already had Sam and now she gets the other cute guy as well.  While Donna is out with Bill, Sam stops by, but a local woman informs him that he was cruel to Donna and does not deserve her.  She is already out with another man and Sam leaves again.  That same woman offers the farm house that Donna is staying at to her; she can live rent free as long as she fixes it up.  Donna eagerly agrees.  Then discovers she’s pregnant.

Alternatively, a story is told five years after the first movie; Donna has sadly passed, but Sophie and Sky have fixed up the hotel and are planning a Grand Opening.  Except Sky is in New York City learning the hotel business and has just been offered a permanent job.  Sophie wants to stay with her mother’s hotel.  They can’t make a decision and One of Us will have to give something up.  Rosie and Tanya luckily arrive for the celebration, but Bill and Harry are busy.  Sam lives nearby and misses Donna just as much as Sophie.  He encourages her however that the Grand Opening is a time to celebrate. 

As the storm hits in 1979, a storm hits the set-up for the Grand Opening.  And has messed with airlines, so now they have no party.  Sophie fears she is letting Donna’s memory down.  Everyone tells her she isn’t and Rosie and Tanya offer support about Sky.  Sophie still loves him and considers his Angel Eyes.  However, Bill and Harry are on their way and meet up once again at the ill-timed ferry.  They’re rescued this time by the man Bill and Donna saved years ago.  And with him they bring boat-loads of people singing Dancing Queen for the celebration, and Sky.

When they have a moment, Sophie tells Sky she is pregnant.  And this experience is connecting her with her mother; they’re in the same place.  And while Sophie has Sam and Sky; Donna had little Sophie inside her.  Then everyone starts congratulating Sophie on her pregnancy; while she wanted to keep it secret and had told Sam, Sam told Bill.  Bill told Harry.  And Harry told many, many people.  And an odd noise comes over the party; a helicopter lands and out steps, “grandmother” (Cher).  Ruby Sheridan has finally decided to embrace being a “grandmother.”  And serendipitously, she discovers Sophie’s manager is her lost love, Fernando (Andy Garcia).

Sophie further connects to her mother, singing You Delight Me with Rosie and Tanya.  We see the birth of Sophie.  Everyone reconvenes nine months later for the baptism of Sophie and Sky’s son.  Sophie really wishes Donna was there and sees her spirit in the church.  All three women croon My Love, My Life (brings me to tears).  There is a party afterwards, Cher treating everyone to Super Trouper, but Meryl Streep returns, as does the rest of the cast; the younger counterparts teaming up with their older selves.  (Sky is the main young man who can pull off those deep cut suits.  I laugh at this as well).

second credits

Personally, I don’t think Cher added anything to the movie aside from being a big name; the tone of her voice doesn’t suit the music. I knew most of these songs before the show and movies, having heard them while I was growing up. I like Pierce’s dynamics with Meryl in the first movie and with Amanda in the second; definitely agree with the Donna x Sam pairing. And the Bohemian style in the second film; the flashback to the seventies, is really cute. Overall, they’re a fun pair of movies.

Up Next: Moulin Rouge