South Pacific

We took in the Broadway revival of South Pacific last night. Very handsome production, though I wish I'd seen the original cast. I've never been a big fan of the musical but I have to blame that on the stiff movie version and the subsequent TV version because, like most of Rodgers & Hammerstein's work it's pretty solid from song to song to song. This is why modern musicals are so often not wonderful, as they usually have to rely on one or two killer songs/hooks to get them through two plus hours. You need at least four or five!

Mitzi Gaynor sings in outside the shower

If you're an overachiever like West Side Story, you don't take any chances and only allow superlative classics into your song score. Literally any of those numbers could carry entire lesser musicals through long rough patches.

I thought the recent TV version with Glenn Close was close to unwatchable. Not sure why I had that reaction, but I did. Maybe it's all the icky dated romantic stuff? I mean, I love "Carefully Taught", one of the most succinct and potent songs ever written about racism and prejudice. But then that beautiful message gets all bogged down in weirdly creepy 50s sexual politics. Like My Fair Lady, South Pacific ends with such a conservative 'a woman's place is in the home' worldview that it's hard to really get behind. And that's not the half of it.

The second tier romance in the movie/play is more troubling. The big romantic ballad "Younger Than Springtime isn't as quite as creepy as Gigi's "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" but it's just as emphatic about women being desirable only if they're young. [Have you ever heard Annie Lennox's retro skewering of this mentality? So fun]

Lt Cable has a thing for young Asians: film version (John Kerr),
current B'way (Andrew Samonsky), TV movie (Harry Connick Jr)
and original B'way cast (Matthew Morrison from Glee. Yay!)

Even though the show is morally right-on about love being color blind, it's still asking you to swoon for two complicated and one ethically questionable romance. The lead romance involves a much older man who lies (or at least hides the truth) to a young woman he'd like as the mother of his two children. The secondary romance involves a man and younger woman who can't even communicate (but for hot sex)... and she's basically been pimped by her entrepreneurial mother! You're definitely supposed to think that Lt. Cable scored by getting a girl that's "younger than springtime". Creepy!

Have you seen any versions of South Pacific and do you find it easy to ignore the politically sexually questionable politics in old movies/classics? Do you wash those memes right out of your hair?
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1984 Jams and Starman

I blame the T-800 model for my sudden 1984 enthusiasm. Don't worry, I think it's a 24 hour bug. It'll pass. See, I was watching The Terminator again yesterday (a few posts coming your way to lead up to Terminator Salvation). So, I started researching 1984 and if these old movie songs have to be stuck in my head today, they should also be stuck in yours.

I believe in sharing.




I often forget how long Diane Lane (Streets of Fire, the second clip) has been rocking the movie screens, don't you?

On the other hand, I do remember Jeff Bridges (Against All Odds, third clip) circa 1984, both bearded and un. He made quite an, um, impression in Starman. That's still one of the weirdest Oscar nominations ever for Best Actor. I love that he was nominated for his alien role but I didn't realize it was at the expense of another performance that I've always been furious missed the shortlist, Steve Martin's comedic genius in All of Me. According to my bible Inside Oscar both Clint Eastwood for Tightrope and Jeff Bridges for Starman were campaigning hard that year. Steve Martin was considered to be way ahead of them in the race for his NYFCC winning comedic role in All of Me. Who knew?

It states

Jeff Bridges journeyed through America, visiting Boston, St. Louis, Denver, San Francisco, and, on three separate trips, New York, in order to remain in the public eye after starring as a sweet-natured extra-terrestrial in Starman. The head of publicity for the film noted, "He's wonderful to look at and friendly to talk to and the press likes him." So did Hollywood. "Within the movie industry," commented New York magazine, "Bridges is thought of as a hard-workding, untemperamental actor."

Despite their self-ballyhooing, Eastwood and Bridges remained long shots, so columnist Marilyn Beck checked in on a sure thing: "Steve Martin, anxiously awaiting tomorrow's announcement of Academy Awards nominees, reports, 'Three months ago I wasn't even thinking I'd be included, but now so many people are talking about it, they've got me all worked up.' "

Poor Steve. It must be especially rough to be the one everyone thinks will make it that gets snubbed... especially if you've never been nominated for your acting (see also: Dennis Quaid, Far From Heaven in 2002). I'm confident that history will continue to smile on Martin's early and midcareer work. If you ask me he should have Robin Williams' Oscar tally rather than his own.

Uma & Annie

Something I never thought I'd see. Or, rather, something I never thought to imagine seeing -- Annie Lennox and Uma Thurman dancing together at a Nobel event in Norway. Two of my favorite people in one of my favorite places. It's like a message from the cosmos to cheer up... or maybe boogie down.

[image source]

Aside: Can't QT give Uma a cameo in Inglourious Basterds? She needs him now more than ever post Accidental Husbands & Super Ex Girlfriends...

What do you suppose they're dancing to? Annie's "Sisters are Doing It (For Themselves)"? Uma's "If You Got It, Flaunt It"? Annie's "SexCrime" (on account of Uma's it-ought-to-be-illegal sex appeal?) Your guesses are welcome in the comments. If you ever danced with UMA what song would you request for soundtrack accompaniment? That's something you can think to imagine.