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Reviews
The Gallant Men (1962)
A correction and a comment..
Just a quick correction to one of the other comments....The Gallant Men took place in Italy, not in the Pacific. Combat was set in France.
I was nine when this show aired...and the son of a WWII vet....and loved the show. Not as much as Combat....but well enough. During those few years...8 to 11 or so....I would join my pals of the same age group on weekends....and all thru the summer....and "play army"in the woods across the street....with stuff we got at the War Surplus store....or got from our dads'.....and back then..toy stores sold the most amazingly realistic toy weapons...I had a very detailed plastic replica of the Thompson submachine gun...as well as a replica of the old Springfield rifle. We were inspired by both Combat and The Gallant Men to play the most realistically detailed "war games"....as only innocent 10 year-olds can...today was Normandy...next week...the French hedge rows....in winter..The Battle of The Bulge...in the heat of summer... Guadalcanal ...we had a blast.
That was 1962-3-4......
In a few short years...by 1968...war was no longer a game for us....but but a real event on TV every day...that we had to begin to reckon with.
As sobering as that turn of history was....I will never forget the the thrill of our games....perhaps because we aspired to be like our dads'...til life changed for all of us.
Brigadoon (1966)
A terrific show...
I saw this in 1966..I was 13...just discovering my love for the theatre...and for a girl in my 8th grade class. A very heady collision. I have since seen the film...(ouch)...seen the 1980 B'way revival...(excellent!!)!...been in the show...and directed it as well. This was a fine accounting of the show. Goulet was at the top of his game..the last of the 60s leading men..Peter Falk was the PERFECT Jeff...and Sally Anne Howes was lovely...It played on TV like a real theatre piece...not as a film...and it prospered by that..it was cut severely...but judiciously....retaining the best of the show...(though its full text is wonderful)...the arrangements were altered a bit for Goulet's style...such as Almost Like Being in Love...which has a strict, even tempo as written.....this version pushed the tempo quite a bit...and it worked.... but..you won't find a better accounting of There But For You Go I...
I watched it....and wanted to be Tommy Albright..at 13...and now..at 51...I have finally found my Fiona..and I adore her.
Also: I still have the LP..somewhat worn....in 1966..you could buy it at any Armstrong Flooring outlet...for....$1!!!..as a promo for the TV show.
Jekyll & Hyde: The Musical (2001)
Serial killer of the modern musical
This appalling mess represents the final bullet in the head the modern musical...the lethal "sung thru" concept started by Lloyd-Weber... aided and abetted by the Les Miz guys ...with the fatal shot fired by Wildhorn....respectable plots mauled by phoney emotion...bogus "now feel this" orchestrations.....lyrics that cannot sit on the music in any way that reflects intelligent speech.....or music that is warped into a tuneless series of notes just to serve the amateurish and predictable lyrics. I know these theatre atrocities are astonishingly popular..and incredibly profitable.....but so is K-Mart. You want "sung-thru"...with giant themes...soaring emotions...brilliantly-crafted lyrics...real melody...and real class?...look to the grown-ups: Loesser's MOST HAPPY FELLA...Flaherty and Ahrens' RAGTIME...and of course...the very show this JEKYLL AND HYDE rips off....Sondheim's SWEENEY TODD...OK...rant over...write me if you want to argue.