The 2005 version is good and worth seeing; the 1968 version is great and is a must-see.
Read More »Tag Archives: Broadway
DVD Review: Red Hot + Blue – A Tribute to Cole Porter
Even with the shortcomings of some of the videos, still a very worthwhile disc with messages that still need to be spread.
Read More »Theater Review: A Jew Grows In Brooklyn
Ehrenreich represents both the now-vanished Catskills scene and the assimilated Jew as creator (and performer) of pop culture.
Read More »Interviews With Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach — champion of an elegant but inviting pop sophistication — joins WFUV Music Director Rita Houston for a performance and interview on her The Whole Wide World show over the airwaves in the NYC area and worldwide via the Internet on Friday, November 18 at 8:00 PM. Bacharach, …
Read More »59th Annual Tony Awards
The American Theatre Wing’s 59th Annual Tony Awards show, from NYC’s Radio City Music Hall, will be aired on CBS from 8:00 to 11:00 p.m. (ET/PT), Sunday, June 5, 2005. Stage and screen star Hugh Jackman, a Tony winner himself for The Boy From Oz, will host for the third …
Read More »Rod Stewart – Stardust: The Great American Songbook Volume lll
The value of Rod Stewart’s third entry in his Great American Songbook series is purely a function of how you look at it, or, technically, listen to it. The point of a renowned, veteran singer taking on the Great American Songbook — the loose canon of 20th century standards recorded …
Read More »“Start spreading the news” – Lyricist Fred Ebb Dies
The big brassy strut begins – everyone knows this means the end. I wore out three copies of the single (bigger sound, brighter mastering) of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York,” putting the final exclamation point on literally thousands of parties in ’80s and ’90s. When Frank came in, the …
Read More »Musicians Feel Threatened by Orchestration Machine
This is a very profound and philosophical debate touching upon where our priorities lie as a culture. It sounds like just another turf war between jobs and technology – between Paul Bunyan and the power saw – but it is also about our means of valuation of entertainment and art. …
Read More »Grease: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
Grease was a great movie not – the 1978 film version of the wildly popular stage musical starring John Tavolta and Olivia Newton-John squeezed a faux-’50s worldview and musical sensibility through a 20-year filter of wishful thinking that made Happy Days look authentic. This bizarre, mildly bawdy pastiche actually had …
Read More »Burt Bacharach: Elvis Wishes
I find myself inexplicably in the company of Elvis Costello cultists – you know who you are. Now please don’t get me wrong (a nice Pretenders song, by the way), Elvis is a major talent in every category, belongs absolutely in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and will …
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