7 posts tagged “musical”

I had no idea that the love theme from The Godfather, ‘Speak Softly Love’, was originally used by the same composer, Nino Rota, for a 1958 film called Fortunella. Apparently, Mr Rota was nominated for an Academy Award for The Godfather and it was withdrawn when it was discovered the theme had already been used. (Strangely, he went on to win one for Part II and that had the same theme, and he did win a BAFTA for the first film.)
   I don’t think it’s uncommon to see composers reuse work but it is a little out of the ordinary. Monty Norman maintained that ‘The James Bond Theme’ was based on work he did for a musical; John Barry, who went on to compose and score most of the Bond films in the 1960s to the 1980s, reused a traditional tune from Zulu in Cry, the Beloved Country, and I understand a rejected theme for The Prince of Tides appeared in Across the Sea of Time. Then there are those confusing things like the Grange Hill theme on Give Us a Clue …
   Here is the Fortunella tune, which was interesting to hear—this would have been the first version some people heard of this theme, and the treatment is very different to that of The Godfather.

Found via Angie Blue Moon’s Vox, this is hilarious! Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Sienna Miller, Philip Glenister and Alan Carr star in a spoof of Mamma Mia! for Comic Relief 2009.

Still one of the most romantic scenes in the cinema, in my view. I keep threatening to perform this live if they can find me a Grace Kelly.
   I don’t know what won the Oscar for best song this year, but I believe this took home the award in its time.

PS.: A quick Google search indicates I was wrong that this song took home an Oscar. It was nominated but lost to Doris Day’s ‘Que Sera, Sera’ from The Man Who Knew Too Much.—JY

Not getting much done at work today. Some clever netizen took the Planet of the Apes: the Musical songs from The Simpsons and married them to clips from the film.

I thought bad Australian accents were the province of New Zealand comedies written by Billy T. James, but Kerry Butler might just take the cake for her role in Xanadu on Broadway—yep, she takes on Olivia Newton-John’s role as Kyra in the musical of the film. Unlike the film, the musical is a huge hit, and Miss Butler is taking the mick—plus this time, the cheese factor is intentional.
   Butler might need to read Let Stalk Strine a few more times but she does have a strong voice.
   I also think Cheyenne Jackson is very good in the Sonny Malone role—in fact, better than Michael Beck since he’s prepared to smile.

   I read that Olivia Newton-John and co-composer John Farrar were in the audience on opening night. I wonder what they thought.
   The 1980s are certainly back in fashion—this musical is set in 1980 itself, as was the original Universal movie.

In my opinion, Pierce Brosnan is a very good Remington Steele, a bad James Bond lumbered with terrible scripts, and an excellent thief in After the Sunset, which I regard as his best role. The older he gets, the better he acts. Enviously, the guy even seems to look better with age. But a singer he ain’t. This was the decider for my not seeing Mamma Mia!:

   Apparently, the criticisms were so harsh that ABBA’s Benny Andersson had to come out and defend the actor.
   I am no singer so my test is: can I do better than the actor? And in this case it is an emphatic yes. The same goes for Gerard Butler whom I could out-sing even with a cold.

A while ago, I raved about Avidiva, a girl group started by my friend Jennifer Hamilton. You’ll get to see how good they are for yourself this Friday on Good Morning, TV One. However, you won’t see me. I’ll blog more on the show after Friday, since it’s important you see Jen and the girls!