Monday, January 05, 2009

Happy New Year everyone.

For the Husband and I the actual New Year was quiet – just the two of us, in fact. Both the Stepdaughter and Stepson were spending the evening with their own friends – which was as it should be, given that they are 26 and 22 respectively and have their own lives.

Since then we’ve been waiting for the bitter cold weather to go as it has been too cold to leave the house for any length of time. The cold weather shows no sign of dissipating – we woke this morning to snow that has shown no sign of disappearing all day.

I’ve not mentioned though that we are having a quiet time. Because we are not. Before Christmas the Husband taught two evenings of his music classes on Hollywood musicals of the 30s and 40s, playing song and dance numbers to demonstrate the best of each period. Tomorrow evening he is doing Hollywood Musicals of the 50s and is busy going through all the DVDs of Musicals of the period that we own to work out what to include and what, reluctantly, to exclude. We have a lot of Musicals on DVD. So plugged into our television are currently two DVD players, one DVD recorder and two video players – so we now have cables all over the carpet we are trying not to fall over.

I love the film musicals of the period and have a passion for the music. So whenever he plays – over and over again – songs and dance numbers from the Bandwagon, Silk Stockings, GiGi, Annie Get Your Gun, Calamity Jane, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers and High Society I love listening and watching them. However, into every life a little rain must fall and some of the films from the period, especially Singing in the Rain and An American in Paris, I am less than enthusiastic about or perhaps it is just the one “Actor” in them. Gene Kelly has never been a favourite of mine. He is a good dancer, I fully admit, but I’ve never thought his voice the strongest and his acting, well let’s face it, his overacting, is terrible. I’ve always preferred Fred Astaire whose dancing, singing and sheer professionalism in every film he has appeared in to my mind far exceeds Gene Kelly’s.

Tomorrow evening the Husband undertakes his class. And then he returns all of the electronics back to their usual places. Tonight, of course, we pack up all the Christmas decorations away for another 11 months. And then the household returns to normal for the new year.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Adele--Ah, your taste in musical parallel's my Hunky Husband's taste more closely than it does mine. None of your listed musicals was one that I truly enjoyed. Oh, well. We weren't cut out by cooky cutters, were we?
I agree, however, with your preference for Astaire over Kelly. I am normally turned off by guys who have too much musculature in their upper bodies. Not only do there clothes look awful on them, but such guys seem to think a bit highly of themselves. Yes, Kelly can dance, but Astaire is so much more enjoyable. (I don't think that either of them can sing worth a toot!)
Cop Car
P.S. Wish I could be in on the classes.

Adele said...

CopCar,

Whicha re the musicals you prefer? I love several of the musicals I mentioned but not all. The ones I mentioned are, of course, from the 1950's. Some of the musicals from the 1930's and 1940's are excellent. Especially the Busby Berkley numbers in some of the earlier musicals.

I must admit that the amount of musculature on Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire had never occurred to me. I chose Astaire because I love his style, his ability to deliver a song so well and his wonderful dancing. Yes, and I agree with you that Kelly thinks too much of himself and his abilities. One of the books the Husband read in preparing for his classes states that Kelley's best dance numbers are on his own or with props, rather than with a partner - I think I agree with that book (grin).

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm...in no particular order (I'm not even sure that some of these have been made into movies, but I liked the stage versions that I've seen.) -
South Pacific
Jesus Christ, Superstar
Honk! (A light version of the Ugly Duckling story.)
Student Prince
Camelot
My Fair Lady
Cats
Grease
HAIR
Chicago
Porgy and Bess
The Unsinkable Molly Brown
Auntie Mame
Hello, Dolly
Yentl
Fiddler on the Roof
Kiss Me Kate
The Wizard of Oz
Man of La Mancha
Godspell
Gypsy
Can-Can
West Side Story
The Sound of Music
Evita
Carousel
Cabaret
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Once Upon a Mattress


Hunky Husband's all time favorite: Oklahoma! I tolerate it. (I had to sing the title song each school morning, when I attended primary school, in Tulsa.)
Cop Car

Adele said...

CopCar,

Most of these musicals you have listed I know and love. Rogers and Hammerstein's music in particular I love ( although some of their plots leave something to be desired). However, virtually all of the musicals you have listed started life on the stage and the Husband's remit for his classes were musicals that started their lives in Hollywood, so that any ones that first were on the stage were immediately excluded from his list. At first I protested that so many good musical films were being excluded from his list but he had to start somewhere and he had only a limited amount of time to cover Hollywood musicals of the 50s, especially as he was showing dance and song sequences to explain the points he was making.

I know and enjoy watching virtually every film on your list. Two I don't know, however: Honk or Once Upon a Matress.

Anonymous said...

Honk!, as I explained, is the story of the Ugly Duckling while Once Upon a Mattress is the story of The Princess and the Pea. Honk! and Once Upon a Mattress are comedic, musical versions of the classic children's tales.

Thanks for clarifying the parameters under which your Husband constructed his course. He did a nice job of reducing the insurmountable task to a manageable one.
CC

Adele said...

CopCar,

The Husband complained vociferously that he needed a while term of lessons adequately to do justice to the material. However, he had less than one two-hour class for each decade. He managed somehow but he had to leave out a tremendous amount.

Having said that he thoroughly enjoyed himself preparing the classes.

Adele said...

Or even a Whole term of lessons....

Adele said...

Thanks, CopCar. I'll pass onto the Husband what you said.