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shadowkatFinished watching the 1980 video of Pippin this afternoon courtesy of Netflix, complete with Bob Fosse's original choreography and staging.
To see a sample, go here: http://youtu.be/k1cZRnQ5ftg
The best thing about this was the dancing and music. Also Ben Vereen is amazing.
Here's two versions of the opening number Magic to Do, with Ben Vereen and the revival with Patina Miller. The first is more jazzy, with a magic show vibe, the second has a cirque de soliel or circus act vibe.
1st - 1977 Tony Awards - Pippin
Revival - 2013 Tony Awards - Pippin
But you really have to watch this video to understand: http://youtu.be/k1cZRnQ5ftg
The video is a marvelous satirical and clever critique of the drive for War. It's a feat of dance and song that few musicals come close to equaling.
The story itself is a simple and relateable one, it is about the son of Charlemagne who wants to find meaning in life, wants to accomplish something extraordinary, to find his corner of his sky. So he tries solidering, then the simple joys (hedonism), social justice and revolution, being emperor or ruler, and finally a simple land-owner, husband, and father. Bored to distraction, he leaves and the players attempt to convince him to do the last big magic act - set himself on fire and go out in a burst of flame. He refuses and chooses to go back to his life as a land-owner, with no costumes, makeup, flourishes, or lights. When asked if he feels like a coward or feels wonderful. He states, no just trapped, but hey since this is a musical comedy? Yay!
There some truly wonderful and timeless songs in it - including: War is a Science, Corner of the Sky, Magic to Do, Spread a Little Sunshine, Morning Glow, Simple Joys, and War is Glory.
Still want to see the revival, just not as badly as before. The book is witty in places and unlike HAIR, not dated.
2. Read an interview in EW this weekend with yet another Hollywood filmmaker, you may have heard of him? Joss Whedon? Here are some snippets:
For the complete interview - you can grab the EW magazine. The August 30th issue.
From a personal standpoint? I have, as you are no doubt aware by now, mixed feelings about this filmmaker - but that's true about all insanely successful Hollywood filmmakers and television writers. Think about how absurd their lives are for a minute. These people are making over 5 million a year at least. They vacation abroad at their family villas in Italy. They have estates, not houses. And what are they getting paid to do exactly? Put out fires? Save lives? Ensure people get from one place to another safely? Ensure our safety and security? Clean the environment? Save animals? Rescue people and animals? Educating the young? No. They make super-hero action flicks that you see in a crowded movie theater for $10 or rent via netflix. And they aren't even "great" films, it's not the Godfather or Lawrence of Arabia. How absurd is that? And that's not all...they have millions, no wait, billions of devoted fans - who send them gifts, flock to see them, defend them, kick anyone who would deign to use their names in vain, buy all their merchandise and work - ensuring they'll get even more money and again for what? Entertaining them with a movie.
Yet...historically this has always been the case. Good entertainers, the one's who consistently put a smile on our face and take us away from our worries have always been paid and treated like royalty. Just because for five minutes they've managed to make us forget we're Pippin. They are the Leading Player or Ben Vereen.. bringing the magic. Singing as they wiggle their hips oh so suggestively...to join them on a journey of mysticism and wonder, action and adventure, romance and intrigue... Flim-makers and all story tellers and artists are magicians. They magically sweep us away for five or twenty or 120 minutes, and when we return, we feel better. Less hopeless, less sad and weary. It's why we pay baseball players and rock stars - we are willing to pay a heck of a lot to be swept away, to escape our mundane lives and heads and worries for just a bit. More than we are willing to pay to get to and from work, to a play, teach our children or ourselves, or to put out a fire, save our cat, or feel secure.
It's not logical. But it does make sense...in a way.
Also, as an aside, after watching Pippin...I've come to the conclusion Joss Whedon is a lot like Pippin. A man who has everything he could possibly want, yet looks at the world and sees the bleak and the pain. Perhaps it's the media and the information age. Perhaps it's the fact he hasn't read his history - and doesn't realize in many ways we are better than before. More educated across the board. Yes, he is Pippin, but in a way, aren't we all?
Unfortunately, the more I read and see of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D - the less enthused I am. But that could change. I'll most likely check out the pilot at any rate.
To see a sample, go here: http://youtu.be/k1cZRnQ5ftg
The best thing about this was the dancing and music. Also Ben Vereen is amazing.
Here's two versions of the opening number Magic to Do, with Ben Vereen and the revival with Patina Miller. The first is more jazzy, with a magic show vibe, the second has a cirque de soliel or circus act vibe.
1st - 1977 Tony Awards - Pippin
Revival - 2013 Tony Awards - Pippin
But you really have to watch this video to understand: http://youtu.be/k1cZRnQ5ftg
The video is a marvelous satirical and clever critique of the drive for War. It's a feat of dance and song that few musicals come close to equaling.
The story itself is a simple and relateable one, it is about the son of Charlemagne who wants to find meaning in life, wants to accomplish something extraordinary, to find his corner of his sky. So he tries solidering, then the simple joys (hedonism), social justice and revolution, being emperor or ruler, and finally a simple land-owner, husband, and father. Bored to distraction, he leaves and the players attempt to convince him to do the last big magic act - set himself on fire and go out in a burst of flame. He refuses and chooses to go back to his life as a land-owner, with no costumes, makeup, flourishes, or lights. When asked if he feels like a coward or feels wonderful. He states, no just trapped, but hey since this is a musical comedy? Yay!
There some truly wonderful and timeless songs in it - including: War is a Science, Corner of the Sky, Magic to Do, Spread a Little Sunshine, Morning Glow, Simple Joys, and War is Glory.
Still want to see the revival, just not as badly as before. The book is witty in places and unlike HAIR, not dated.
2. Read an interview in EW this weekend with yet another Hollywood filmmaker, you may have heard of him? Joss Whedon? Here are some snippets:
Interviewer: You actually wanted to be a filmmaker more than a writer, which was how Buffy the Vampire film script came about. You wanted a script that you could direct.
Whedon: But nobody would [let me]. I was doing well in films, selling things, rewriting things. And then I'd say, "I'd like to direct," and they'd look at me like I'm saying "I'd like to give babies cancer."
Interviewer: Your dad was a TV writer, but what's so unusual is that your first position in the industry was as a staff writer on Roseanne - it's like applying for your first restaurant job and getting hired as a chef.
Whedon: I didn't study writing. I didn't write anything substantial until I got to California. "Oh I need a job, television is a job, I should try that out."Then I started and I was like, "Oh, this is the love of my life. I get it now." It took me a year and five spec scripts, but I got a job on what I considered the best show on TV, which is bonkers. I'm well aware that's bonkers - going from working at the video store on a Friday to Roseanne on a Monday.
Interviewer: You don't have a very teachable history.
Whedon: "What advice do you have for aspiring writers?" Well, first have your father and grandfather be in the industry so you know it backwards before you ever set pen to paper. "Oh, okay, thanks." I'm well aware when they fired the starting gun I was halfway down the track, but I still ran as fast as I could for 25 years.
Interviewer: You're associated with strong female characters and you credit your mother for that yet as a teenager you went to an all-male boarding school in England.
Whedon: Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a classic high school show; I assumed I knew what it was like. Who I was had been crafted long before I went to England. It was an extraordinary experience, and I was like the worst student in the school. It seems like I shouldn't have been.
Whedon: Dollhouse was the one time I looked around and said, "I don't know what show I'm making." It had sort of been eaten away from the center. I loved the show; we got to do some beautiful work. But it was the only time I felt like, "Am I steering this ship? Our ship? Are we the iceberg? I don't have a metaphor here!"
Interviewer: Because Fox was uncomfortable with exploring some of the basic foundations of the show - about a group of young women programmed to fill the needs of wealthy clients - in terms of sexuality...
Whedon: They were totally comfortable with it until [Fox owner News Corp's then president] Peter Chernin said, "This sounds like prostitution." Then Fox did an about face that was dazzling in its speed and precision.
Interviewer: Buffy along with a couple of other shows, pioneered the modern serialized drama. Do you feel it gets the credit it deserves?
Well, you just said that, so it's getting some! There are so many things that influenced what I was doing. The idea of wrapping up a story [each week] but keeping a thorough line for the characters involved - I don't think I came up with that. [He didn't - Hill Street Blues and St. Elsewhere, MASH, and Gunsmoke did it long before.] But every now and then you can't help [feeling like] bitter, petty people: "Oh, another metaphorical monster show about teenagers and their emotions. Well, fine." But honestly, if anybody should be paid royalties for things they didn't make, (the Silence of the Lambs author) Thomas Harris should probably be paid by every other TV show for the sexy serial killer concept.
Whedon: You go to movies to see people you love "suffer" - that's why you go to the movies[Pause] You looked like you didn't believe me when I said that.
Interviewer: No,no, it's just that - yes, characters are challenged in any drama. "Suffer" seems like a strong word.
Whedon: You don't go to a movie about a guy who already knows he has a wonderful life. We used to call Sarah Michelle Gellar "Jimmy Stewart". We realized every time we turned the screws on Buffy, the show got better.
Whedon: What's going on in this country, and in many countries is beyond depressing. It's terrifying. Sometimes I have to remember who I'm talking to. I'll say something about climate change, how terrible things are, and meaningless, and the world is headed toward destruction and war and apoocalypse. And at one point my daughter goes, "Hey! I'm 8!" She doesn't want to hear that stuff. But I can't believe anybody thinks we're going to make it before we destroy the planet. I honestly think it's inevitable. I have no hope.
Inteviewer: That's surprising, because your work isn't bleak. Bad things happen, there's pathos, favorite characters die. But it's not the fifth act of Hamlet.
Whedon: No. My stories do have hope because that is one of the things that is part of the solution - if there can be one. We use stories to connect, to care about people, to care about a situation. To turn the mundane heroic, to make people really think about who they are. They're useful. And they're also useful to me. Because if I wrote what I really think, I would be so sad all the time. We create to fill a gap - not just to avoid the idea of dying, it's to fill some particular gap in ourselves. So, yeah, I write things where people will lay down their lives for each other. And on a personal level , I know many wonderful people who are spending their lives trying to help others, or who are just decent and kind. I have friends who are extraordinary, I love my family. But on a macro level, I don't see that in the world. So I have a need to creat it. Hopefully that need gets translated into somebody relating to it and feeling hope....
For the complete interview - you can grab the EW magazine. The August 30th issue.
From a personal standpoint? I have, as you are no doubt aware by now, mixed feelings about this filmmaker - but that's true about all insanely successful Hollywood filmmakers and television writers. Think about how absurd their lives are for a minute. These people are making over 5 million a year at least. They vacation abroad at their family villas in Italy. They have estates, not houses. And what are they getting paid to do exactly? Put out fires? Save lives? Ensure people get from one place to another safely? Ensure our safety and security? Clean the environment? Save animals? Rescue people and animals? Educating the young? No. They make super-hero action flicks that you see in a crowded movie theater for $10 or rent via netflix. And they aren't even "great" films, it's not the Godfather or Lawrence of Arabia. How absurd is that? And that's not all...they have millions, no wait, billions of devoted fans - who send them gifts, flock to see them, defend them, kick anyone who would deign to use their names in vain, buy all their merchandise and work - ensuring they'll get even more money and again for what? Entertaining them with a movie.
Yet...historically this has always been the case. Good entertainers, the one's who consistently put a smile on our face and take us away from our worries have always been paid and treated like royalty. Just because for five minutes they've managed to make us forget we're Pippin. They are the Leading Player or Ben Vereen.. bringing the magic. Singing as they wiggle their hips oh so suggestively...to join them on a journey of mysticism and wonder, action and adventure, romance and intrigue... Flim-makers and all story tellers and artists are magicians. They magically sweep us away for five or twenty or 120 minutes, and when we return, we feel better. Less hopeless, less sad and weary. It's why we pay baseball players and rock stars - we are willing to pay a heck of a lot to be swept away, to escape our mundane lives and heads and worries for just a bit. More than we are willing to pay to get to and from work, to a play, teach our children or ourselves, or to put out a fire, save our cat, or feel secure.
It's not logical. But it does make sense...in a way.
Also, as an aside, after watching Pippin...I've come to the conclusion Joss Whedon is a lot like Pippin. A man who has everything he could possibly want, yet looks at the world and sees the bleak and the pain. Perhaps it's the media and the information age. Perhaps it's the fact he hasn't read his history - and doesn't realize in many ways we are better than before. More educated across the board. Yes, he is Pippin, but in a way, aren't we all?
Unfortunately, the more I read and see of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D - the less enthused I am. But that could change. I'll most likely check out the pilot at any rate.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-26 08:15 am (UTC)I'm not interested in his Marvel series either. Was bored by the Avengers movie, think SHIELD are a bunch of neo-fascists etc. However, J August Richards is in it, so, since I do have the chance to watch it without having to make any effort (one of the terrestrial channels over here has bought the show, much to everyone's surprise) I'll probably at least watch the eps he's in.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-26 10:20 pm (UTC)But overall, I agree with you. It's hard to get excited about it. Was never a fan of the Avengers or SHIELD.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-26 08:30 am (UTC)I'm glad he thinks so too! Interesting interview.
I'm just sick to death of super-hero films so I have zero interest now in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, however, once upon a time I would have said I had zero interest in a TV series set in an American high school about vampires! I'll probably give it a go but it will have to work quite hard to grab me.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-26 10:18 pm (UTC)Unfortunately, he's not exactly the show-runner, his kid brother and the kid brother's wife are. So, I'm ambivalent.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-26 11:58 pm (UTC)