It fooled me in the movie (which I saw years before I had any real interest in musical theatre). The Hearn/Lansbury taped production unfortunately has a Beggar Woman who appears way too satisfied to be on stage and ruins the effect by being annoying instead of sad.

I think it's a little unnecessary. By not giving the Judge a song, it creates a distance between him and the protagonists. I can see the thinking behind giving every character a musical moment, but the song isn't particularly good, and it doesn't really matter if it's there or not.

I'm fairly sure that the opening vamp for Colour and Light is a kind of tone row. Sondheim had this idea, which he later dropped, of matching tones to colours of George's palette; It's still there in the opening part. Not exactly atonal, but moving away from pure tonality a bit.

I'd say listen to the 2011 recording if you want to get a sense of the show (unfortunately, I think Bernadette Peters is awful as Sally, but it still works). To be honest, I mostly listen to the original cast recording though - especially now that I have the new re-mastered edition.

And the tension between Hal Prince and Michael Bennett. I also thought it was hilarious when he was talking about Yvonne DeCarlo's advances towards him. Even on paper he seemed like he was trying to weasel out of it.

Ok. I'll definitely try to watch it then.

I wasn't aware you could swat the ball over the dead-ball line in league. Not looking forward to the test series (though I will be going to the second one at the Basin), as we are almost certain to take a beating - maybe even a white-wash if things go really badly.

This is probably the first time I've ever posted in the Book thread. I'm a lazy reader, but this week I read both Pride and Prejudice and Everything was Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies. I liked both of them quite a bit, though I probably preferred the book about Follies.

I got pretty bored by Frankenstein, but I've seen chunks of Bride of Frankenstein (without sound because I was in a bar) that seemed really good. Is it worth watching?

On the movie front, I watched most of the Up series (I just finished 42Up now), as well as The Dark Knight Returns, 1941 and Lost in America.

Yes

Maybe having a different editor made things a little more difficult for him, and unable to see the bigger picture.

After Williamson got run out, I was sure we were going to lose. It's a good thing Guptill was able-bodied enough to club a few. On the plus side, Southee is finally back and seems to be in fine domestic form.

For a change, I actually watched quite a few movies this week.

On the movie front, I watched Mona Lisa. It was quite good, and it was interesting to see Michael Caine and Robbie Coltrane looking so young (while Hoskins looks about the same as he always has). I liked the slow unfolding of the story, content to take its time and establish the relationships between characters. The…

Exactly. It seemed way too easy for him to knock you off it.

Getting to that final level of Enter Electro was a real bitch.

Having missed last week due to moving to a new flat, I'll be posting stuff from both weeks. However, due to moving I didn't actually watch very much. On the movie front, I rounded out Whit Stillman's filmography by watching The Last Days of Disco and Damsels in Distress. Neither film was as strong as Metropolitan or Ba…

Villa Lobos is 20th century guitar music, but his music does tend to be exceptionally fun to play (and listen to). Continuing on the classical guitar thing, I also recommend Piazzolla, Barrios and Rodrigo.

I loved the third season (albeit not as much as the second) for its very apt demonstration of why musicals aren't as good as they used to be - a matter of opinion, I know, but one most would be hard-pressed to deny. Richard's interest in money over art is also clearly expressed in this arc.