Review Of The Sound Of Music

In this article we're going to review one of the great musicals of our time, which is actually a true story, The Sound Of Music.

The Sound Of Music is based on a very true a heroic story about the Von Trapp family. Briefly, since this article is really about music and not history, the Von Trapp family lived in Austria just prior to World War II. As Hitler took control of the country the family, totally against Hitler's annexation, fled the country and eventually settled in the United States. They were able to do this from the money they made as the Trapp Family Singers, and thus the focus of the musical.

Before The Sound Of Music hit Broadway with Mary Martin in the lead role that was made popular by Julie Andrews, it was first made into a very lavish movie in 1965. Julie Andrews had earlier gained her fame as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and was a natural for the part of Maria in this musical.

The words and music were written by the one and only team of Rogers and Hammerstein. The music in this production is some of the most popular music ever written for a musical. During the period when the movie was released there probably wasn't one school spring concert production that didn't feature songs from the movie.

The great music may have, in a sense, done the story a disservice. The truth is, the story is indeed a great one in itself, one of a family's fight for freedom. And in most cases a movie based on this theme would have been able to stand on its own merits. But the music was so fantastic that, in a sense, it overshadowed the story.

And if you want to take irony to an even higher level, the actual true musical highlight of The Sound Of Music was not even a song sung by Andrews or The Von Trapp Family themselves. It was a tune called "Climb Every Mountain" which was sung by the Mother Superior of the Convent that Maria came from. This song itself was probably one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, sung by a character who was hardly seen.

Yes, the story of how Maria wormed her way into the hearts of the family, especially the Baron, played brilliantly by Christopher Plummer, was beautiful and heartwarming. To see a man who was so against music in his home, because of the death of his first wife, transform into a man who made music and Maria his life was enough to bring out the tissues all by itself. Add to that the children who so grew to love Maria for giving them a reason to smile again and you have a story that you'd have to have the heart of a tree sloth not to love.

Oh and yes, there are the great tunes like the title track, "My Favorite Things," "Do-Re-Mi," and of course the tear jerker "Edelweiss" which when the Baron tried to sing at the family's farewell concert just before they defected, got all choked up and Maria had to help him get through it. Yeah, you had to be there.

If you haven't seen this great movie, please rent the DVD for a weekend and watch it. Really watch it. It's one of those rare treats that won't disappoint.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Entertainment

Review Of My Fair Lady

In this article we're going to review the Broadway production of one of the most popular musicals in the history of Broadway musicals. Actually, My Fair Lady did not originate on Broadway. It was first performed in England in 1956. Since that time though it has been seen all over the world with a number of revivals, the most recent in 2001 at the Lyttelton Theater.

The original play featured Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison in the lead roles as Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins. Unfortunately, when they made the movie in 1965, Andrews was unavailable and Audrey Hepburn was cast in the role of Doolittle. Hepburn was a great actress but was no singer, so the vocals had to be dubbed in.

The story of My Fair Lady actually comes from the play Pygmalion about a professor of English who makes a bet that he can turn an ordinary street girl with the manners of a cat into a lady. Needless to say, Higgins wins the bet and at the end, in spite of a long and rocky road between beginning and end.

But My Fair Lady, as a musical, is more than just the story of street girl Doolittle turned into a woman of breeding. As a musical it featured some of the most beautiful and wonderful songs that ever hit the stage and screen.

The music was written by the very talented Frederick Lowe with the lyrics penned by an equally talented man by the name of Alan Jay Lerner.

The opening overture sets the tone for the play, showcasing bits and pieces of the show's main songs. The first tune, sung by Doolittle, is "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" where she sings about how wonderful life would be just to have a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air. Just one enormous chair. This song sets the tone for how simple a woman Doolittle really was.

Higgins on the other hand was rather pompous and full of himself, which he showcases in songs like "Why Can't The English" where he questions why English people speak so horribly while everyone else in the world (even Hebrews who speak it backward) speak correctly.

Well, Higgins finds Doolittle and takes on his project. Over time she begins to see what a pompous ass he really is and really lets him have it in a powerful song titled "Without You" where she tells Higgins that the world will do quite nicely without him in it.

Eventually, after Doolittle leaves, Higgins realizes how much he misses her with the incomparable "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face."

But at the end Doolittle returns to Higgins when she realizes that she really does love him. The music at the end where the orchestra plays "I Could Have Danced All Night," one of the show stoppers, could just break your heart if you've got one.

My Fair Lady is not just a musical. It's a masterpiece of art that everyone should experience at least once before they leave this world. And there's no need to go to the theater to do so. Just pick up the original London Recording with Harrison and Andrews.

You'll never hear anything like it again.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Entertainment

What Makes A Musical?

In this article we're going to try to explain just what it is that makes a musical a musical and go over the more technical aspects of the form.
By technical definition, musical theater is a form of theater that combines music, songs, dancing and spoken dialogue. It is actually closely related to opera, while purposely avoiding many of the conventions of opera in order to have a more general appeal.

The musical components of a musical is called the score. The sung lines are called lyrics as opposed to plain spoken dialogue which is simply called dialogue. Usually the person writing the lyrics to the musical is not the same person who has written the actual story. An example of this would be "Wicked" where the songs were written by Stephen Schwartz, the script by Winnie Holzman and the book that it came from by Gregory Maguire. This is not uncommon in musical theater.

A musical can be anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours long. The average running time for a modern musical is about two and a half hours with an intermission about half way through the play. Some musicals however do run straight through if they aren't too long. The intermissions, when they are present, are about ten to fifteen minutes long. An average musical will have about twenty to thirty songs. Some will be very short pieces and others can be quite long. Most musicals usually start with an overture which highlights several of the songs that will be heard throughout the play and set the mood for what is about to come. Some musicals, like "Tommy" can be sung through from beginning to end, which can really blur the fine line between a musical and an opera. As a matter of fact, Tommy is actually considered a rock opera more than it is considered a musical.

Usually the highlights and most dramatic moments of a musical are done in song. The reason is because these are the moments that the creators want you to remember the most and it is much easier to remember a well done three or four minute song than it is to remember three or four minutes of spoken dialogue. If the emotion that needs to be conveyed is too strong even for song then in those cases dance is added to or even put in place of singing. A perfect example of this is the fight scene in "West Side Story" which was done entirely in dance.

Finding a balance between spoken dialogue and song is not easy. On top of that the writers must be careful to write songs for each character that actually fits the character. For example, a character who is an evil villain is not going to sing songs about being happy and in love.
Also, it is difficult to establish the drama in a musical because a five minute song has fewer words in it than five minutes of spoken dialogue. When an hour and a half of your musical is actual music, this makes it very important that the writers make very good use of the lyrics for each song as this will be the vehicle for telling most of the story.

Musical theater is a truly unique and wonderful form of entertainment. If you haven't had the pleasure of going to see a modern day musical or even a revival of an old musical, you owe it to yourself to do so. It is an experience you will not soon forget.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Entertainment

Review Of Mary Poppins

In this article we're going to cover one of the most unusual musicals of our time, the part human, part animated Mary Poppins.

Mary Poppins. It's probably the one musical responsible for making Julie Andrews a household name. But Mary Poppins was more than just that.

The musical movie, made in 1964, was probably the crowning achievement in Walt Disney's career. It was his first feature to mix real people with animated characters. At the time, this was some pretty cool stuff. And Disney made sure that everything for this movie masterpiece was just right. He hired one of the best songwriting teams of the time, the Sherman brothers, Robert and Richard. The score for this movie is still to this day considered the teams best ever. The movie itself was nominated for 13 Oscars. It won 5 of those nominations, including Best Actress, Julie Andrews, Best Musical Score, and Best Song, "Chim Chim Cher-ee."

But Mary Poppins was more than just great music. It was a purely delightful story of two children in desperate need of their father's love. Ultimately it took Mary Poppins to make the father realize that it wasn't a nanny that the children needed but their father. As the movie goes on we get to see this man, who at first is only concerned with the bottom line figures at his bank, transform into a loving father who takes his children out to fly a kite. Ultimately, Poppins, who the children had grown to love almost as a mother, drops out of the picture at the end realizing that the children belong with their father and that she would only be in the way. The ultimate sacrifice one would say.

Musical highlights in this one are numerous. There is of course the ever popular "Spoonful Of Sugar" which Poppins sings to the children in order to get them to take their medicine after an outing in the rain. Then there is the classic "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" which was sung during the animated horse race that Poppins, Bert the chimney sweeper and the children attended. And if you want to hear one of the most beautiful songs ever, and sung by an angelic voice, there is "Feed The Birds." This is probably the highlight of Andrews' vocal performances. Aside from that, the story of the old lady feeding the birds is one that only a soul without a heart wouldn't cry to. Of course you can't leave out the Oscar winning tune "Chim Chim Cher-ee" which was sung during Poppins', Bert's and the children's moonlight walk on top of the buildings of the city.

The great music just goes on and on. There isn't a bad tune in this movie. The final tune "Fly A Kite" where the father and children are finally doing something together as a family is really what the whole thing is all about. Yes, a lot of this musical is pure fantasy. But the lessons taught are lessons that every parent in this world should long remember. Children need their parents, not a nanny.

Even if she can talk to animated creatures

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Entertainment

Musical Guide - A Brief History Of Musicals

In this article we're going to present a brief history of musical theater from its early beginnings right up to the present day.

Musicals actually started with the ancient Greeks who put on plays with songs. While they weren't called musicals at the time, that is indeed what they were. The music was crude by today's standards and the stories were not very well done, again by today's standards, but this was the early beginning of what was to become the modern musical.

In the 1700s there were many stage entertainments, though again they were not called musicals. The first English language work that had any lasting value was The Beggar's Opera which was done in 1728. It was a satirical spoof of the times. This was typical of the type of entertainment one would find up until the 1800's.

Musicals, as we know them today, started in the 1800s with the French and Viennese Operettas. The works of Offenbach and Strauss were the first musicals to achieve international popularity.

The contemporary Broadway musical, as we know it today, took its form from these operettas and was done in what we call Minstrel Shows. These eventually gave way to a new form of musical known as Vaudeville.

It wasn't until 1860 with the success of The Black Crook that the American musical really began to take off. During this time we were treated to the great works of Gilbert and Sullivan from 1871 to 1896.

During the early 1900s, composers like George M. Cohan and Victor Herbert gave musicals a new sound and style that is still popular to this very day. This style was then updated by composers such as Jerome Kern, Guy Boulton and P.G. Wodehouse.

By the 1930s the American musical had reached popularity the like of which it had never seen before, with composers such as Rogers and Hart and Cole Porter dominating the era.

By the 40s and 50s we were treated to some of the greatest musicals in what was called the modern era. These musicals included such classics as Oklahoma, Annie Get Your Gun, Kiss Me Kate, The King and I, My Fair Lady, and the list goes on for miles.

In the 1960s we saw such great musicals like Hello Dolly, Fiddler On The Roof, and Hair, which was the first musical in the United States to feature nude actors.

By the 1970s musical theater had become pretty extravagant with the advances in technology and design. The 70s brought us such great shows as A Little Night Music, A Chorus Line, No No Nanette, Sweeney Todd and Evita.

But the hits kept coming and would continue to come, many from Britain. In the 80s we saw such great shows like Cats, Les Miserables and Phantom Of The Opera.

In the 25 years since, literally hundreds of musicals have hit the stage. Some great, some not so great. But what was once a humble beginning is now one of the major forms of entertainment, not only in the United States but all across the world.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Entertainment

Entertainment - Theater

The history of the theater is a long and illustrious one. We're not going to bore you with the historical time line of what show came out when and who stared in it. You can get that info just about anywhere. What we'd like to do in this review of one of the most wonderful forms of entertainment is touch on some of the greatest moments and how they have forever changed how we look at the world of entertainment itself. The theater has had a great impact on our lives and the many things we do in our lives. Let's face it, there is just nothing like seeing performers right up there on stage, live, right before your eyes. If you think that's an overstatement then you've obviously never been to the theater.

You can go all the way back to the mid 1950s when a young girl by the name of Julie Andrews made her debut in the London production of "My Fair Lady", a play based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. Her electrifying performance as Eliza Doolittle, the poor Cockney gal who couldn't speak proper English if her life depended on it, made her a household name overnight and began a career that would span over 40 years until she sadly lost her voice due to serious throat problems.

Looking for something a little more recent? How about the very first legitimate musical of the 1960s to feature nudity? We are of course talking about the 1969 production of "Hair". This was a play that literally changed pop music altogether. Never in the history of Broadway has one play had as many hit pop records as "Hair". This play featured such great hits as "Hair", "Easy To Be Hard", "Good Morning Starshine" and the number 1 song of 1969, "Aquarius". Because of the great music in this play, careers for "Three Dog Night", "The 5th Dimension", "The Cowsills" and "Oliver" were launched into orbit. Talk about an impact on the music world.

Then of course there was the amazing rock opera of the Who, "Tommy". This play was an epic of a musical masterpiece itself and not only put the Who firmly on the map as future rock and roll hall of famers, but also set the stage for a number of recording stars to capitalize on the success of "Tommy" itself. As great as the Who's version of "Pinball Wizard" was, who could ever forget the late 70s remake by Elton John? Tommy will always be one of the greatest moments in theater history ever.

But if you want a single defining moment in theater history that chilled an entire world and put a single man on the map as a living legend, one need go no farther than Michael Crawford's haunting rendition of "Music Of The Night" from "Phantom Of The Opera". This is said to be one of the greatest musical performances of all time. And rightly so. To this day it has been said that nobody played this part like Crawford.

These few examples only scratch the surface of a form of entertainment that has captivated and mesmerized us for many years and will no doubt continue to do so for many more years to come.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Entertainment