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k2daisy1. China Beach is at last available. I have not signed up for the Howdy channel yet but I probably will next month. I've been putting it off a little bit; what if it's not as good as I remember it? No, no, I am sure it will be fine; Marg Helgenberger will have her original beautiful face, and honestly she's the whole reason I want to watch it again.
2. Stacy and Clinton have a new show on...Prime, maybe? Anyway, it's called Wear Whatever The F You Want. I know after their first show they got a lot of grief for being so strict about fashion rules, but the people on that first show were clueless slobs, they needed the rules to know what to do on their own. I loved the show, and never understood the backlash. That said, their new show really caters to finding each person's individual style in unexpected ways. They are having fun, and so are the clients. So far it's been a lot of people who are kind of oddballs to begin with, and while I have enjoyed all the flamboyant outfits they choose, I would really like to see someone more like me on it -- overweight middle-aged white ladies represent!
3. A Chorus Line story
My mom loved musical theater and movie musicals. As a teenager, she worked as an usher at the local live theater so she saw lots of shows. She was always singing to/at us, in the house or store or car. We assumed they were Girl Scout songs, but we eventually learned they were bits of old musicals. We watched a lot of Gene Kelly or Busby Berkeley movie musicals on Saturday afternoons on the New York TV station (Wonderama was on in the morning) together. But we never went to New York to see anything. I don't think my mother went to a Broadway show once. I don't know why not, except that going to New York wasn't something we ever did, even though it was only a couple of hours away on the train. Growing up, it might as well have been Los Angeles, it was that far away from our lives.
That said, she took me once to A Chorus Line somewhere in Connecticut when it was on its original tour in 1976. I LOVED it so much. I loved the sad girls in At The Ballet, and the cute boy who stole his sister's dance shoes, and the naughty one who got a new tits and ass. I was like, eight. I got the album and I played it a million times for years. I still know every song by heart, I still sing them in my car sometimes, like my mom always did with her favorite show tunes.
When the movie came out in 1985, of course I watched it, but it wasn't the same. Because I was so devoted to the album, losing Music and The Mirror and the full rendition of Hello Twelve was very disheartening. Where was Richie hustling out "gimme the ball gimme the ball gimme the ball YEAH"?? I mean, the movie was my only link to the only musical I ever really saw and enjoyed "to the bottom of my soul", so I didn't hate it. But I didn't love it as much as I wanted to.
Anyway, I bring this up because I watched the movie again over the last couple of nights, and had the same reaction as when I saw it the first time. Some parts are thrilling and take me right back; I still love the cute boy who steals his sister's dance shoes, At The Ballet still makes me teary, and I so admire Diana's Puerto Rican spunk. I even like the girl in green who had the breakdown before the audition. And I still keenly miss the songs they pulled or changed.
I also did some Googling to see where all the actors are, and if they had successful careers, etc. Sadly, the actor/dancers who played Mike (the cute boy), Richie, and Al (the one who married the ingenue) all died at young ages from various cancers. The rest are all alive, in their 60s and 70s, and many kept dancing or got into choreography. But for most of them, this was their biggest part.
Anyway, there really hasn't been another live musical that captured me the way that A Chorus Line did. I do love Hair the movie, but have never seen the live musical. Not interested in doing so. I even tried watching Hamilton on streaming last month, and it didn't pull me in. And of course now with my hearing gone there is no point to seeing anything live; I won't get anything out of it without closed captioning. I go to L's shows but that is to see *her* perform.
But I have been humming bits from A Chorus Line all morning. My mom would be proud.
2. Stacy and Clinton have a new show on...Prime, maybe? Anyway, it's called Wear Whatever The F You Want. I know after their first show they got a lot of grief for being so strict about fashion rules, but the people on that first show were clueless slobs, they needed the rules to know what to do on their own. I loved the show, and never understood the backlash. That said, their new show really caters to finding each person's individual style in unexpected ways. They are having fun, and so are the clients. So far it's been a lot of people who are kind of oddballs to begin with, and while I have enjoyed all the flamboyant outfits they choose, I would really like to see someone more like me on it -- overweight middle-aged white ladies represent!
3. A Chorus Line story
My mom loved musical theater and movie musicals. As a teenager, she worked as an usher at the local live theater so she saw lots of shows. She was always singing to/at us, in the house or store or car. We assumed they were Girl Scout songs, but we eventually learned they were bits of old musicals. We watched a lot of Gene Kelly or Busby Berkeley movie musicals on Saturday afternoons on the New York TV station (Wonderama was on in the morning) together. But we never went to New York to see anything. I don't think my mother went to a Broadway show once. I don't know why not, except that going to New York wasn't something we ever did, even though it was only a couple of hours away on the train. Growing up, it might as well have been Los Angeles, it was that far away from our lives.
That said, she took me once to A Chorus Line somewhere in Connecticut when it was on its original tour in 1976. I LOVED it so much. I loved the sad girls in At The Ballet, and the cute boy who stole his sister's dance shoes, and the naughty one who got a new tits and ass. I was like, eight. I got the album and I played it a million times for years. I still know every song by heart, I still sing them in my car sometimes, like my mom always did with her favorite show tunes.
When the movie came out in 1985, of course I watched it, but it wasn't the same. Because I was so devoted to the album, losing Music and The Mirror and the full rendition of Hello Twelve was very disheartening. Where was Richie hustling out "gimme the ball gimme the ball gimme the ball YEAH"?? I mean, the movie was my only link to the only musical I ever really saw and enjoyed "to the bottom of my soul", so I didn't hate it. But I didn't love it as much as I wanted to.
Anyway, I bring this up because I watched the movie again over the last couple of nights, and had the same reaction as when I saw it the first time. Some parts are thrilling and take me right back; I still love the cute boy who steals his sister's dance shoes, At The Ballet still makes me teary, and I so admire Diana's Puerto Rican spunk. I even like the girl in green who had the breakdown before the audition. And I still keenly miss the songs they pulled or changed.
I also did some Googling to see where all the actors are, and if they had successful careers, etc. Sadly, the actor/dancers who played Mike (the cute boy), Richie, and Al (the one who married the ingenue) all died at young ages from various cancers. The rest are all alive, in their 60s and 70s, and many kept dancing or got into choreography. But for most of them, this was their biggest part.
Anyway, there really hasn't been another live musical that captured me the way that A Chorus Line did. I do love Hair the movie, but have never seen the live musical. Not interested in doing so. I even tried watching Hamilton on streaming last month, and it didn't pull me in. And of course now with my hearing gone there is no point to seeing anything live; I won't get anything out of it without closed captioning. I go to L's shows but that is to see *her* perform.
But I have been humming bits from A Chorus Line all morning. My mom would be proud.
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I love that connection to and memory of your Mom. My love of musical theater also comes from my parents (I still have their original cast album of Camelot), but we never went to any shows either, when I was growing up. All the love came from records. Funny how that worked.
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I would actually go to a revival, if one were in my area. I really miss the full, original experience.
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https://porchlightmusictheatre.org/events/a-chorus-line/