Monthly Archives: August 2020

Original Cast Album: Company (1970)

Posted on August 6, 2020 | 3 comments

Original Cast Album: Company
Directed by D. A. Pennebacker
1970/USA
IMDb page
Repeat viewing; Criterion Channel

 

Another chance to disapprove
Another brilliant zinger
Another reason not to move
Another vodka stinger
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!
I’ll drink to that — “The Ladies Who Lunch”, words and music by Stephen Sondheim

Geniuses attempt to capture the absolute best version of their just-opened Broadway hit. D. A. Pennebacker films the process.  The result is completely fantastic.

Broadway tradition has it that the original cast recording of a show is recorded on the Sunday following its opening.  This will be the definitive version of the musical for years to come.  Composer Stephen Sondheim, director Harold Prince, and record producer Thomas Z. Shepard meticulously coach the performers to bring the best out of them.

And then we are treated to excerpts from all the songs in the show sometimes with multiple tweaks.  The film concludes with the incomparable Elaine Stritch belting out take after take of “The Ladies Who Lunch” in the wee hours of the morning.

There was a period in my youth I could call the “Sondheim years” when my theater friends and I would listen to Broadway soundtracks over and over.  This one and Sondheim’s “Follies” soundtrack were my favorites.  This documentary lets you intimately into the production of those albums.  Fantastic to find a 1970 film that doubles as Lockdown viewing!  If you are interested in the topic, you are sure to love the film.

 

3 Comments

Posted in 1970, Lockdown Edition

Every Little Step (2008)

Posted on August 3, 2020 | 4 comments

Every Little Step
Directed by Adam Del Deo and James D. Stern
2008/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Kiss today goodbye
And point me toward tomorrow
We did what we had to do
Won’t forget, can’t regret
What I did for love — “What I Did for Love” – Lyrics by Edward Klebam

This film combines two of my first loves — documentaries and Broadway musicals.  So naturally it was perfect viewing for Lockdown.

The movie covers the eight-month exhaustive audition process for the cast of the 2006 Broadway revival of Michael Bennett’s A Chorus Line.  So it’s a movie about auditions for a musical about auditions for a musical.  It is a love letter to all those Broadway performers who dance their hearts out with little public recognition.

It’s about breaking into the business and trying to sustain one’s career once there.  Along the way, we get try-outs featuring many of the musical’s numbers performed by multiple candidates for the line.  We also get the back stories of the dancers as well as a chronicle of the creation of the original musical by Bennett and his fellow dancers.

I just loved this.  If you have similar tastes, you will too.

The cast of the Broadway revival, more than 10 years on, in a virtual performance (6 minutes) during quarantine can be found on YouTube by searching “A Chorus Line in Quarantine”.  It won’t let me link.  Inspiring!

4 Comments

Posted in Lockdown Edition