Thursday, June 02, 2005
Find of (last) month: OCR of The Littlest Revue, a 1956 Ben Bagley production that ran 23 performances on Broadway, despite the combined talents of Joel Grey, Tammy Grimes, Charlotte Rae, and Larry Storch, and songs mostly by Vernon Duke and Ogden Nash, but with contributions from Sheldon Harnick ("The Shape of Things," revived by Blossom Dearie), Charles Strouse and Lee Adams (of "Ballad of the Sad Young Men" fame), and an opening number credited to John Latouche, Kenward Elmslie, and John Strauss, a meta-curtain raiser consisting of descriptions/sections of elaborate production numbers that the cast won't be able to put on, these in turn being satires on typical modes of the day (very like the sort of thing the Comden/Green/Judy Holliday "Revuers" were doing in the '40s). For instance, there's a parody of the cloying adults-playing-children number "Penny Candy," from New Faces of 1957. I don't know anything about John Strauss, and the nature of the piece makes it hard to say who wrote what, but tell me you don't hear KE here:
"we don't have swimming pools or baby pink spots
we don't have Madame Dietrich or The Inkspots"
and so forth.
~~~
If you're interested in the Boston-deb-cum-Unsinkable Molly Brown star Tammy Grimes, here's a thorough overview, right down to her audiobook of Daisy Miller. (What this is doing on an emusic page for the 20th-c.-classical piano duo Quattro Mani, I'm not sure.)
~~~
Close second, the Wexner's bulky catalog for Helio Oiticia's photo and film work, marked down to $4.98 for a ripped outer cover.
~~~
Otherwise, just feeding off some SFJ recommendations -- Feist (w/ Blossom Dearie covers!), Oxford Collapse (along w/ Oranges Band, best could-have-been-on-Homestead act in years). And Annie's "Heartbeat," which is swell but not, I understand, a patch on the album.
"we don't have swimming pools or baby pink spots
we don't have Madame Dietrich or The Inkspots"
and so forth.
~~~
If you're interested in the Boston-deb-cum-Unsinkable Molly Brown star Tammy Grimes, here's a thorough overview, right down to her audiobook of Daisy Miller. (What this is doing on an emusic page for the 20th-c.-classical piano duo Quattro Mani, I'm not sure.)
~~~
Close second, the Wexner's bulky catalog for Helio Oiticia's photo and film work, marked down to $4.98 for a ripped outer cover.
~~~
Otherwise, just feeding off some SFJ recommendations -- Feist (w/ Blossom Dearie covers!), Oxford Collapse (along w/ Oranges Band, best could-have-been-on-Homestead act in years). And Annie's "Heartbeat," which is swell but not, I understand, a patch on the album.
