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Actors don't get to choose how they break out. Obviously, given the dearth of opportunities, they're lucky to call themselves "working actors" in the first place. And when you're just starting out, the last thing you should do is refuse work -- unless there's something better and fully guaranteed on the horizon.

Consider the case of Tina Louise. Born in 1934, the beautiful young woman had a multitude of fashion modeling offers in the 1950s, but what she really wanted to do was act. Louise studied under the influential acting teacher Sanford Meisner in Manhattan, and she began booking Broadway gigs in 1952 starting with a role in the Bette Davis-led revue "Two's Company." She co-starred in the hit 1956 musical adaptation of "Li'l Abner" as Appassionata Von Climax, and made a splashy film debut in Anthony Mann's comedy "God's Little Acre." The latter earned her a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer,...

At this year’s Tony Awards “Suffs” managed to win prizes for Best Musical Book and Best Score, both of which went to Shaina Taub. Historically, winning those two accolades in particular would bode well for a show’s chances at Best Musical. Yet in a shocking turn of events, the top award went to “The Outsiders.” But this is not the first time something like this has happened.

SEETony Awards: Every winner (and nominee) in all 26 competitive categories

In 1978 “On the Twentieth Century” won Tonys for Best Score and Best Book (Comden and Green). It also won Best Actor in a Musical (John Cullum), Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Kevin Kline), and Best Scenic Design (Robin Wagner). Yet Best Musical that year went to Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby Jr.‘s revue “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” A tribute to the music of Fats Waller, it also won Tonys for Best...

“Chances are you’ve never heard of Preston Thomas Tucker; dreamer, inventor, visionary — a man ahead of his time.”

Chances are you’ve never heard of the movie made about him either. Like the car he had created in his name, it came and went in nearly the same breath. And yet, also like the car, the film’s legacy and staying power lies in the strength of its parts, as well as the personal passion put into it by its maker, Francis Ford Coppola. In fact, it’s hard not to watch his 1988 film “Tucker: The Man and His Dream” and discern a link between Coppola and the film’s eponymous character. Played by a still boyish Jeff Bridges with a glint in his eye and a manic energy that veers between zealous enthusiasm and fevered paranoia, Tucker is a man entwined with his dreams. Much like Coppola, he is driven by family,...

Maestro on Netflix tells the true story of Leonard Bernstein and explores his relationships, including his affair with David Oppenheim. David Oppenheim was an American clarinetist and classical music and television producer who was a close friend and sometimes lover of Bernstein. Oppenheim had multiple marriages, had children with different wives, worked in the music industry, and became the director of Columbia Records' Masterworks division. He later became the second dean of the New York University Tisch School of the Arts before his death in 2007.

Maestro tells the true story of American composer Leonard Bernstein and primarily focuses on his relationship with his wife, Felicia Montealegre. But the movie also explores some of the conductor's other bonds, like the one with David Oppenheim. Although his time in the 2023 Netflix biographical drama film is short, Matt Bomer stars as Oppenheim, and his character, like many others in the movie, is based on a real person.

Howard Rosenman made his way to a screening of Bradley Cooper’s Maestro at the Academy a few weeks back, and admits that before he took a seat, he really wanted to not like it.

The veteran producer (Father of the Bride, Call Me by Your Name) tried to sell a project based on the life and career of Leonard Bernstein years ago but says he “didn’t have the juice” to get it off the ground. But what Rosenman does have is close personal ties to the iconic composer, a man he says dramatically changed the course of his life — and then some. Instead of hating it, Rosenman, 78, tells The Hollywood Reporter that he was so floored by Cooper’s film that he couldn’t stop crying. “It’s a masterpiece,” he says.

The quick backstory. In 1967, Rosenman, who is Jewish, was in medical school in Philadelphia. Amid a rising conflict in Israel,...

Bradley Cooper is undoubtedly feeling the Bern. There’s something very endearing about Cooper’s star persona, not least the fact that, of all modern Hollywood leading men, the mere idea of a “star persona” is something he actually earns. He is charismatic, good-looking, talented (also showcasing talent some felt he didn’t have), and has pretty good taste. Though Paul Thomas Anderson hit on something deploying him for an edgier role as one-man hurricane movie producer and cad Jon Peters.

Maestro is not quite “the devil’s candy,” as author Julie Salamon famously described doomed prestige projects in her account of the making of Brian De Palma’s The Bonfire of the Vanities, but it’s undoubtedly a clasp for the brass ring. It’s about one of the greatest homegrown American musical figures, Leonard Bernstein, who made canonical contributions to the classical, musical theatre, and arguably pop worlds; Steven Spielberg himself,...

Last year, Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle made a decadent hate letter to Hollywood, a film which dived into the seedy, salacious, and ultimately gruesome side of an industry that trades on fantasy and prefers to look at itself through glasses a shade of rose. Chazelle’s Babylon failed to set the world on fire at the box office, but it does have its admirers, including those enamored by an ending sequence in which a crucial character wanders into a movie house decades after his heyday in the silent era and early talkies. And he catches, as it so happens, Singin’ in the Rain during its original 1952 theatrical run.

The choice of ending a movie like that on a character watching Singin’ in the Rain is both obvious yet profound. On the one hand, Singin’ in the Rain is the textbook definition of a rose-tinted filter being cast across Hollywood’s...

When MGM’s Singin’ in the Rain, Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen’s musical valentine to Hollywood’s silent film era as it transitioned into the world of talkies, opened in the spring of 1952, it instantly won over moviegoers. Writing in The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther enthused, “Compounded generously of music, dance, color spectacle and a riotous abundance of Gene Kelly, Jean Hagen and Donald O’Connor on the screen, all elements in this rainbow program are carefully contrived and guaranteed to lift the dolors of winter and put you in a buttercup mood.” The movie went on to become a box office hit, ranking as the 10th highest-grossing film of the year in North America. The Writers Guild awarded Betty Comden and Adolph Green its prize for best-written American musical. The Directors Guild nominated Kelly and Donen for outstanding direction. And the Golden Globe Awards nominated it as best comedy or musical.

Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet, creators of the new Showtime series The Man Who Fell to Earth, talk to hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante about the movies that inspired them.

Show Notes:

Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary

Dirty Pretty Things (2002)

Amistad (1997)

Love Actually (2003)

Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)

Blazing Saddles (1974) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s Blazing Saddles Thanksgiving

Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Bad News Bears (1976) – Jessica Bendinger’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Airplane! (1980) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

The Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

Bambi (1942)

Singin’ In The Rain (1952) – John Landis trailer commentary

The Asphalt Jungle (1950) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Boy Friend (1971) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Yellow Submarine (1968) – George Hickenlooper...

(For nearly 30 years, Susan Haskins-Doloff was co-host and executive producer of the classic PBS TV show “Theater Talk,” featuring fascinating and witty interviews with the leading stars and other creators of Broadway’s greatest shows.)

Anyone who has ever seen “The Music Man” knows act 1 ends with the citizens of River City, Iowa anticipating and then celebrating in song the arrival of the Wells Fargo wagon, which is bringing to town musical instruments for the kids that Professor Harold Hill has conned their parents into buying. After the townspeople have sung two verses expressing their excitement, Winthrop Paroo, the younger brother of the show’s heroine, Marian Paroo, steps forward and sings a third verse of the song. The audience knows that Winthrop has a lisp which has made him hesitant to talk, but here he is so joyful, that he is sufficiently unselfconscious to express himself in song. As...

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Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Announces The Beloved Classic

Singin’ In The Rain To Be Released On 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray™

Acclaimed as one of the greatest Musical films of all time,

will Be Available For The First Time In 4K Resolution With High Dynamic Range (Hdr)

Burbank, CA, – To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the 1952 acclaimed and beloved film, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced today that Singin’ In The Rain will be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital on April 26.

Singin’ In The Rain is widely considered to be one of the greatest musical films in cinematic history. The musical romantic comedy was directed by choreographed by Gene Kelly (On the Town) and Stanley Donen (On the Town) and stars Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchel and Cyd Charisse.

The film was written by Adolph Green and...

It might have opened to muted applause, but the Gene Kelly-Stanley Donen dream team turned a 1952 also-ran into a classic

Singin’ in the Rain was not exactly conceived as a masterpiece. Arthur Freed, head of the musicals unit at MGM, had a back catalogue of songs – not all of them classics – that he’d co-written for various films at the studio between 1929 and 1939, and had the idea of stringing them together as a song score for a single new musical. Screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green were hired to cobble a story around the disparate tunes; Howard Keel, a stolid bass-baritone in the MGM stable who had acquitted himself respectably in Annie Get Your Gun, was pencilled in as the lead.

As a producer, Freed tended to alternate artistically ambitious prestige musicals – just one week before Singin’ in the Rain premiered, he picked up a best picture Oscar for Vincente Minnelli’s ravishing,...

Burbank, CA – To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the 1952 acclaimed and beloved film, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced today that Singin’ in the Rain will be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital on April 26.

Singin’ in the Rain is widely considered to be one of the greatest musical films in cinematic history. The musical romantic comedy was directed by choreographed by Gene Kelly (On the Town) and Stanley Donen (On the Town) and stars Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchel and Cyd Charisse.

The film was written by Adolph Green and Betty Comden and produced by Arthur Freed. The music is by Nacio Herb Brown and the lyrics are by Arthur Freed.

O’Connor won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and Betty Comden and Adolph Green won the Writers Guild of America Award for their screenplay, while...

Kristen Anderson-Lopez already has her Emmys dress ready to go. It’s actually what she’d hoped to wear to last year’s Golden Globes ceremony, which she didn’t attend due to her daughter battling a then-unknown respiratory illness she’d caught on a cruise ship. “She had Covid,” Anderson-Lopez told IndieWire. “We had Covid before we knew it was Covid.”

Thankfully, Anderson-Lopez and her family, including husband and songwriting partner Robert Lopez, made it through, but it only makes the two Emmy nominations the pair have secured for “WandaVision” all the more powerful. Fans and pundits the world over have discussed the role the Disney+ series played in helping them get through the uncertainty of 2020. For Anderson-Lopez, hearing the nomination alongside her daughters and their friends brought it full circle.

“[They] were so obsessed with ‘WandaVision’ every Friday in January and February. It was the thing that was allowing...

Lin Manuel-Miranda’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical “Hamilton” is a strong contender for multiple Emmy nominations including for Best Variety Special (Taped) and for performers Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Daveed Diggs, Philippa Soo, Jonathan Groff and Christopher Jackson. Filmed over three days at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway including two live performances in 2016, “Hamilton” premiered on July 4, 2020 on Disney + and was a real respite from the lack of live theater due to Covid-19. The acclaimed presentation has already received several honors including the Producers Guild Award, Critics Choice, Costume Designers Guild and Cinema Audio Society.

Though musicals have been popular on television since the earliest days of the medium, it’s rare that the original Broadway cast gets to reprise their roles such as Manuel and company did with “Hamilton.’ The first time was in 1955 when the cast of the hit Broadway musical “Peter Pan” reunited soon after...

A line-up of nearly 30 stars – from Glenn Close, Patti LuPone, Darren Criss, Kelsey Grammar and David Alan Grier to Jake Gyllenhaal, Joshua Henry and Phillipa Soo – will perform title songs from more than 20 musicals for a special livestreamed musical event next month benefiting The Actors Fund.

The event, called Show of Titles, will feature title songs of Broadway musicals spanning nine decades, from “Lady Be Good” to “The Light in the Piazza.” In addition to the above-mentioned performers, the line-up includes Annaleigh Ashford, Len Cariou, Santino Fontana, Isabelle Huppert, Norm Lewis, Rob McClure, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Melba Moore, Jessie Mueller, Eva Noblezada, Kelli O’Hara, Laura Osnes, Steven Pasquale, Michael Rupert, Ernie Sabella, Lea Salonga, Will Swenson, Aaron Tveit, Leslie Uggams, Vanessa Williams and Patrick Wilson.

Making special appearances will be Broadway Inspirational Voices, Candice Bergen, Danny Burstein, Bryan Cranston, Sheldon Harnick, John Kander, Angela Lansbury, John Lithgow, Lindsay Mendez, Phylicia Rashad,...

The Arthur Freed MGM musical unit gives this 1927 musical remake the old College Try! It’s a vehicle for the wartime sweetheart June Allyson, aided by Peter Lawford, who is quite good if not real musical material. The fun original tunes are joined by a couple of new ones, including an all-time terrific song & dance number staged by Robert Alton and performed by the incredible Joan McCracken. The new restoration does wonders with the 1947 Technicolor and the Wac adds hilarious, eye-opening musical excerpts from the crazy 1930 early talkie version with Penny Singleton. Good news indeed. With Patricia Marshall, Mel Tormé and Tommy Rall.

Good News

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1947 / Color / 1:37 Academy / 93 min. / Street Date January 26, 2021 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Joan McCracken, Patricia Marshall, Ray McDonald, Mel Tormé, Robert E. Strickland, Donald MacBride, Tom Dugan, Clinton Sundberg, Loren Tindall, Connie Gilchrist, Morris Ankrum, Tommy Rall,...

We told you. Remember the rules. You didn’t listen. Now we’re Back with an all new batch of guest recommendations featuring Blake Masters, Julien Nitzberg, Floyd Norman, Tuppence Middleton and Blaire Bercy.

Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Wild Angels (1966)

Spirits of the Dead (1966)

The Trip (1967)

Mooch Goes To Hollywood (1971)

Stalker (1979)

The Candidate (1972)

The Parallax View (1974)

Network (1976)

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Ace In The Hole (1951)

Margin Call (2011)

Death Wish (1974)

Death Wish (2018)

Seconds (1966)

Soylent Green (1973)

Rage (1972)

Assault on Wall Street (2013)

Repo Man (1984)

Elmer Gantry (1960)

The Train (1965)

Clouds of Sils Maria (2014)

Strange Brew (1983)

To Have And Have Not (1944)

Singin’ In The Rain (1952)

Easter Parade (1948)

The Band Wagon (1953)

Guys And Dolls (1955)

On The Town (1949)

Casablanca (1942)

The Dirt Gang (1972)

Back To The Future (1985)

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

The Big Sleep (1946)

Bomba, the Jungle Boy (1949)

My Man Godfrey...

This sublime 1952 movie musical, in cinemas again, puts the artistry of Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and co on full, joyful display

You can charm the critics but have nothing to eat! That’s the shrewd warning from Donald O’Connor’s character Cosmo Brown in his legendary song Make ’Em Laugh, in the equally legendary 1952 musical Singin’ in the Rain, written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and now being rereleased. Forget about the hoity-toity critics and the clueless highbrows, Cosmo proclaims: the real duty – and real artistry – lies in entertaining people.

To some extent, cinema’s crisis of self-doubt is part of what drives this incredible film. Kathy Selden, played by Debbie Reynolds, is the wannabe actor and stern ingénue who lectures Gene Kelly’s genially complacent silent movie star Don Lockwood about the superiority of the legitimate theatre over the movies when they meet-cute. Nobody really believes that – not even Kathy,...

Libi Staiger, who starred as show business legend Sophie Tucker in a 1963 Broadway musical and as one of two bickering sisters in Denny's commercials, died Wednesday in Austin, her daughter announced. She was 91.

Staiger made her Broadway debut in 1954 in the chorus of the original production of Wonderful Town, with lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by Leonard Bernstein and direction by George Abbott. (She also served as assistant stage manager to stage manager Hal Prince.)

She starred as Cleo in a revival of the Frank Loesser musical comedy The Most Happy Fella in 1959,...

Phyllis Newman, the popular Broadway actress who wore only a towel in her Tony-winning performance in the musical Subways Are for Sleeping, has died. She was 86.

Newman died Sunday in New York after a long battle with lung disease, her son, Vogue theater critic Adam Green, announced.

Survivors also include her daughter, Tony-nominated lyricist and composer Amanda Green (Hands on a Hardbody).

Newman was married to legendary lyricist, screenwriter and composer Adolph Green from 1960 until his death at age 87 in 2002. He and Betty Comden co-wrote the book and the lyrics for Subways Are for Sleeping.

The musical revolved around ...

Phyllis Newman, the popular Broadway actress who wore only a towel in her Tony-winning performance in the musical Subways Are for Sleeping, has died. She was 86.

Newman died Sunday in New York after a long battle with lung disease, her son, Vogue theater critic Adam Green, announced.

Survivors also include her daughter, Tony-nominated lyricist and composer Amanda Green (Hands on a Hardbody).

Newman was married to legendary lyricist, screenwriter and composer Adolph Green from 1960 until his death at age 87 in 2002. He and Betty Comden co-wrote the book and the lyrics for Subways Are for Sleeping.

The musical revolved around ...

"New York, New York, a helluva town!" So declare the lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, set to music by Leonard Bernstein, in On the Town (1944), and it applies equally well today to the city that will host Japan Cuts, the largest festival of contemporary Japanese cinema in North America. This year, Japan Cuts will get underway on Friday, July 19, showcasing Can't Stop the Dancing (aka Dance With Me) (Dansu Uizu Mii), the U.S. premiere of a comic, road-trip musical by director Yaguchi Shinobu. But that is definitely not all. In fact, the festival will premiere 26 features and 16 shorts across 10 days before concluding on July 28. Dustin Chang and Christopher Bourne, our indefatigable Featured Critics, have barely recovered from...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The Green Room 42 Broadway's newest intimate concert venue will celebrate its second birthday with the return of Tony Award winner Lillias White with a Valentine's Day show on Thursday, February 14 at 700 Pm. White opened the room on Valentine's Day in 2017 and returned last year for the club's special first anniversary. With music direction by Alvin Hough, Jr. The Color Purple and Once On This Island and direction by Will Nunziata Our Guy, Cy and Kander amp Ebb's The Act, the evening will explore the power of self-love through soul, sass, and song. Tunes include those written by Smokey Robinson, Cy Coleman, Alan amp Marilyn Bergman, William Finn, Hoagy Carmichael, Betty Comden amp Adolph Green, Stephen Flaherty amp Lynn Ahrens, and more.

Bit by bit, the cool, overlooked films of previous decades are finally being spruced up and released on Blu-ray. The most recent example comes from Lionsgate and is Francis Ford Coppla’s terrific Tucker: The Man and His Dream. Starring Jeff Bridges, it tells the story of Preston Thomas Tucker, a man who saw a different, better way to design, build, and sell cars. Many of his inventions attracted attention and were clearly ahead of their time.

Ever see a Tucker Torpedo? Not a surprise the answer is a no since only 50 true Tuckers were ever manufactured. Tucker (1903-1956) was an inventor and engineer, including auto racecars, a combat car and gun turret during World War II, and even aircraft. Once the war ended, he was determined to build cars, dreaming of models, as Detroit’s Big Three were content with the models form 1941.

The 1988 film shows how Tucker was...

Aug. 25 marks what would have been the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein, the subject of two competing films that will star Jake Gyllenhaal and Bradley Cooper. That shouldn’t be a problem: Bernstein had enough going on in his life to fill at least four movies plus a few miniseries.

Bernstein is best known as the composer of “West Side Story.” A month before its Broadway debut, the show played in Washington D.C. on Aug. 27, 1957, and Variety’s reviewer raved that the musical “has success stamped all over it. It has excitement, timeliness, sock choreography and a fine offbeat score.” While Broadway was always star-driven, the review noted that the show’s program featured four names printed considerably larger than the lead actors’: director-choreographer Jerome Robbins, composer Bernstein, lyricist Stephen Sondheim and book writer Arthur Laurents. The critic added, “That is the way it should be, for ‘West Side Story...

Lively stars, good music and Bob Fosse-grade dancing favor Columbia’s forgotten-yet-rediscovered original musical remake, which turns the adventures of two sisters in Manhattan into an all-romantic gambol. Janet Leigh and Jack Lemmon are young and fresh, but MGM alumnus Betty Garrett steals the show.

My Sister Eileen

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 108 min. / Street Date June 19, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Janet Leigh, Jack Lemmon, Betty Garrett, Bob Fosse, Kurt Kasznar, Dick York, Lucy Marlow, Tommy Rall, Richard Deacon, Kathryn Grant, Queenie Smith.

Cinematography: Charles Lawton Jr.

Film Editor: Charles Nelson

Choreographer: Robert Fosse

Songs: Jule Styne, Leo Robin

Original Music: George Duning

Written by Blake Edwards, Richard Quine from the play by Joseph Fields, Jerome Chodorov, from stories by Ruth McKenney

Produced by Fred Kohlmar

Directed by Richard Quine

The making of a fun movie musical was rarely as easy as jumping up and shouting,...

Soap and daytime soap opera actor Robert Mandan died on April 29 in Los Angeles after a long illness, his friend, playwright and screenwriter Gary Goldstein, told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 86.

Mandan had worked on such soap operas as From These Roots (as David Allen), The Doctors (Mike Hennessey/Mr. Tabor), The Edge of Night (Nathan Axelrod) and Search for Tomorrow (Sam Reynolds) when he was hired to play Chester, a conniving Wall Street stock broker, on the ABC primetime comedy Soap.

Susan Harris created the sitcom, which aired for four seasons, from 1977-1981. The show, always a critical darling, was a top 10 hit in its first season but suffered in the ratings as it was moved around the schedule.

Mandan and Helmond reunited for two episodes of her next series, Who's the Boss?, and for a 2002 production of "A Twilight Romance" at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank. He also...

New York is the city that never sleeps, and with so many events and activities each week across all five boroughs, it can be hard to know what’s actually worthwhile. Here are the events New York City actors should have on their radars this week. “Downton” exhibit arrives stateside.Do you still mourn the loss of “Downton Abbey”? If so, you will certainly not want to miss “Downtown Abbey: The Exhibition,” beginning Nov. 18 at 218 West 57th St. A direct transfer from across the pond, this will be the exhibit’s North American debut, and will include everything fans loved about the PBS drama, specifically, the couture and culture. (Tickets: $30) Carnegie Hall pays tribute to female composers.Two of Broadway’s current mainstays, Betsy Wolfe of “Waitress” and Adam Kantor of “The Band’s Visit,” will take a night off from their respective shows to sing to a different house.

A few weeks ago, we spoke with cast members of The Lion King to explore the family that has been built over the show's 20-year history and today we get a chance to hear from the folks off-stage who keep the show looking better than ever. This episode features interviews with Kjeld Andersen, Elizabeth Cohen and Doc Zorthian who manage the costumes, make-up and overall management of The Lion King's 10 productions around the world.

What a Way to Go!

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1964 / Color B&W / 2:35 enhanced widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 111 min. / Street Date February 7, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Dean Martin, Gene Kelly, Robert Cummings, Dick Van Dyke, Reginald Gardiner, Margaret Dumont, Fifi D’Orsay, Maurice Marsac, Lenny Kent, Marjorie Bennett, Army Archerd, Barbara Bouchet, Tom Conway, Peter Duchin, Douglass Dumbrille, Pamelyn Ferdin, Teri Garr, Queenie Leonard.

Cinematography: Leon Shamroy

Film Editor: Marjorie Fowler

Original Music: Nelson Riddle

Written by: Betty Comden, Adolph Green story by Gwen Davis

Produced by: Arthur P. Jacobs

Directed by: J. Lee Thompson

Want to know what the producer of Planet of the Apes was up to, before that milestone movie? Arthur P. Jacobs was an agent for big stars before he became a producer, which positioned him well for his first show for 20th Fox, What a Way to Go!

Debbie Reynolds died Wednesday afternoon as a result of a stroke, a family source confirmed to Deadline. She was 84 and had been taken to Cedars Sinai Medical Center complaining of difficulty breathing, just a day after her daughter Carrie Fisher died at 60 after a heart attack.

A teenage beauty queen, Reynolds had moved to MGM after some unproductive years at Warner Bros., where her only film of note was The Daughter Of Rosie O’Grady. She will forever be remembered as Kathy Selden, the fledgling actress of serious intent who wins the heart of Gene Kelly’s Don Lockwood in the 1952 Freed Unit classic Singin’ In The Rain. The infectious musical comedy tracked the end of the silent film era and the emergence of sound through the romance between Lockwood, who makes the transition effortlessly, and Kathy, who ends up voicing Don’s erstwhile co-star, Jean Hagen’s New Yawkish-pitched Lina Lamont.

It’s appropriate that theatergoers take a down escalator to enter the Circle in the Square, the underground venue where the new musical “In Transit” opened Sunday. After escaping the subway to get to the Circle, you then confront a replica onstage of the Lexington Avenue line. That feeling of discomforting familiarity never fully leaves. “In Transit” is not the first subway musical to grace Broadway. The more provocatively titled “Subways Are for Sleeping,” written by Jule Styne, Adolf Green and Betty Comden, opened in 1961, enjoyed a very brief run, and tells the story of a journalist reporting on the.

When MGM was almost a ghost town, the Arthur Freed unit hit one last 'special' factory musical out of the park with this strangely melancholy ode to faded ambitions. Gene Kelly, Cyd Charisse, Dan Dailey and Michael Kidd put in great, memorable work, while the glorious Dolores Gray is practically a living Tex Avery cartoon. And it's designed in wide, wide CinemaScope. It's Always Fair Weather Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date November, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey, Cyd Charisse, Dolores Gray, Michael Kidd Cinematography Robert Bronner Art Direction Cedric Gibbons, Arthur Lonergan Film Editor Adrienne Fazan Original Music André Previn Written by Betty Comden & Adolph Green Produced by Arthur Freed, Roger Edens Directed & Choreographed by Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Back in the late 1980s, I first became aware of the future of home video when Criterion introduced...

“Getting involved is so… so… involving.”

On The Town screens at St. Louis’ fabulous Hi-Pointe Theater this weekend as part of their Classic Film Series. It’s Saturday, September 10th at 10:30am at the Hi-Pointe located at 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, Mo 63117. The film will be introduced by Harry Hamm, movie reviewer for Kmox. Admission is only $5

Three sailors on a day of shore leave in New York City look for fun and romance before their twenty-four hours are up. That summary to the beloved 1949 musical On The Town should be sung to the tune of “New York, New York,” the most famous song to come from this rollicking adaptation of the Broadway musical. There’s nary a dull moment as we watch Gene Kelly search desperately for Vera-Ellen, Frank Sinatra play a young and naive sailor (!) who tries to resist going up to Betty Garrett’s place but eventually gives in,...

Today in 1985, Singin' in the Rain opened at the George Gershwin Theatre, where it ran for 367 performances. Singin' in the Rain is a musical with a book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, lyrics by Arthur Freed, and music by Nacio Herb Brown. Adapted from the 1952 movie of the same name, the plot closely adheres to the original. Set in Hollywood in the waning days of the silent screen era, it focuses on romantic lead Don Lockwood, his sidekick Cosmo Brown, aspiring actress Kathy Selden, and Lockwood's leading lady Lina Lamont, whose less-than-dulcet vocal tones make her an unlikely candidate for stardom in talking pictures. Directed and choreographed by Twyla Tharp, the cast included Don Correia as Don, Mary D'Arcy as Kathy, Peter Slutsker as Cosmo, and Faye Grant as Lina.

Happy Birthday, Charles Strouse Strouse's first Broadway musical was the 1960 hit Bye Bye Birdie, with lyrics by Lee Adams, who would become his long time collaborator. Following this was Golden Boy 1964, also with Adams, starring Sammy Davis, Jr. and It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman 1966, based on the popular comic strip which introduced the song 'You've Got Possibilities' sung by Linda Lavin. In 1970, Applause starring Lauren Bacall, with book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and lyrics by Adams won Strouse his second Tony Award. In 1977, Strouse adapted another comic strip for the stage, creating the hit Annie, which garnered him his third Tony Award and two Grammy Awards. Other Strouse musicals include Charlie and Algernon 1979, Dance a Little Closer 1983, with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, Rags 1986, Nick amp Nora 1993, and An American Tragedy 1995, with lyrics by David Shaber.

Today in 2001, the first Broadway revival of Bells Are Ringing opened at the Plymouth Theatre now the Gerald Shoenfeld Theatre, where it ran for 68 performances. Bells Are Ringing is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story revolves around Ella, who works at an answering service and the characters that she meets there. The original Broadway production, directed by Jerome Robbins and choreographed by Robbins and Bob Fosse, opened on November 29, 1956 at the Shubert Theatre, where it ran for slightly more than two years, and starred Judy Holliday as Ella and Sydney Chaplin as Jeff Moss.

Jack F. Lee born John Francis Lee, beloved musical director of both stage and screen, passed away peacefully on March 2, 2016 in his home at the age of 86. Mr. Lee was one of Broadway's leading conductors and musical directors who worked with composerslyricists John Kander amp Fred Ebb, Cy Coleman amp Dorothy Fields, Jule Styne, Richard Rogers, Stephen Sondheim, Charles Strouse, Alan Jay Lerner, Maury Yeston, Robert Wright amp George Forrest, Sandy Wilson, Bob Merrill, Betty Comden amp Adolph Green and Harvey Schmidt amp Tom Jones.

Today in 1991, the second Broadway revival of Peter Pan opened at the MInskoff Theatre, where it ran for 48 performances. Peter Pan is a musical adaptation of J. M. Barrie's 1904 play Peter Pan and Barrie's own novelization of it, Peter and Wendy. The music is mostly by Mark 'Moose' Charlap, with additional music by Jule Styne, and most of the lyrics were written by Carolyn Leigh, with additional lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The original 1954 Broadway production, starring Mary Martin as Peter and Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook, earned Tony Awards for both stars.

Today in 1991, the second Broadway revival of Peter Pan opened at the MInskoff Theatre, where it ran for 48 performances. Peter Pan is a musical adaptation of J. M. Barrie's 1904 play Peter Pan and Barrie's own novelization of it, Peter and Wendy. The music is mostly by Mark 'Moose' Charlap, with additional music by Jule Styne, and most of the lyrics were written by Carolyn Leigh, with additional lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The original 1954 Broadway production, starring Mary Martin as Peter and Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook, earned Tony Awards for both stars.

Greta Garbo movie 'The Kiss.' Greta Garbo movies on TCM Greta Garbo, a rarity among silent era movie stars, is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” performer today, Aug. 26, '15. Now, why would Garbo be considered a silent era rarity? Well, certainly not because she easily made the transition to sound, remaining a major star for another decade. Think Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, William Powell, Fay Wray, Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, John Barrymore, Warner Baxter, Janet Gaynor, Constance Bennett, etc. And so much for all the stories about actors with foreign accents being unable to maintain their Hollywood stardom following the advent of sound motion pictures. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer star, Garbo was no major exception to the supposed rule. Mexican Ramon Novarro, another MGM star, also made an easy transition to sound, and so did fellow Mexicans Lupe Velez and Dolores del Rio, in addition to the very British...

If anyone loves the theater...it’s theater folks! Over the years creatives have written some incredible musicals and melodies about what it’s like to be in this business. Here are 10 (in no particular order) that you should add to your Broadway playlist! “Applause” from “Applause”Believe it or not, this Betty Comden/Adolph Green musical has yet to be revived on the Great White Way—but its grandiose number “Applause” lives on! What performer doesn’t thrive from the sweet, sweet sound of audience cheer? Notable LyricsWhen I was 8I was in a school playI’ll never forget itI had one line to sayMy big moment came, I said, “What ho, the prince!”My sister applaudedI’ve been hooked ever since “As If We Never Said Goodbye” from “Sunset Boulevard”A show-stopping number from this Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, “As If We Never Said Goodbye” is just one...

Fred Astaire ca. 1935. Fred Astaire movies: Dancing in the dark, on the ceiling on TCM Aug. 5, '15, is Fred Astaire Day on Turner Classic Movies, as TCM continues with its “Summer Under the Stars” series. Just don't expect any rare Astaire movies, as the actor-singer-dancer's star vehicles – mostly Rko or MGM productions – have been TCM staples since the early days of the cable channel in the mid-'90s. True, Fred Astaire was also featured in smaller, lesser-known fare like Byron Chudnow's The Amazing Dobermans (1976) and Yves Boisset's The Purple Taxi / Un taxi mauve (1977), but neither one can be found on the TCM schedule. (See TCM's Fred Astaire movie schedule further below.) Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals Some fans never tire of watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing together. With these particular fans in mind, TCM is showing – for the nth time – nine Astaire-Rogers musicals of the '30s,...

Carol Burnett – comedic trailblazer, actor, singer, dancer, producer and author – has been named the 52nd recipient of SAG-aftra’s highest tribute: the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. Burnett will be presented the performers union’s top accolade at the 22nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, which will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016 at 8 p.m. (Et), 7 p.m. (Ct), 6 p.m. (Mt) and 5 p.m. (Pt). Given annually to an actor who fosters the “finest ideals of the acting profession,” the SAG Life Achievement Award will join Burnett’s exceptional catalog of preeminent industry and public honors, which includes multiple Emmys, a special Tony, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and both a Kennedy Center Honor and its Mark Twain Prize for Humor.

In making today’s announcement, SAG-aftra President Ken Howard said, “Carol Burnett is a creative dynamo and a comedic genius.

Today in 1985, Singin' in the Rain opened at the George Gershwin Theatre, where it ran for 367 performances. Singin' in the Rain is a musical with a book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, lyrics by Arthur Freed, and music by Nacio Herb Brown. Adapted from the 1952 movie of the same name, the plot closely adheres to the original. Set in Hollywood in the waning days of the silent screen era, it focuses on romantic lead Don Lockwood, his sidekick Cosmo Brown, aspiring actress Kathy Selden, and Lockwood's leading lady Lina Lamont, whose less-than-dulcet vocal tones make her an unlikely candidate for stardom in talking pictures. Directed and choreographed by Twyla Tharp, the cast included Don Correia as Don, Mary D'Arcy as Kathy, Peter Slutsker as Cosmo, and Faye Grant as Lina.

Today we continue the brand new 5 Songs By... series with an intriguing and informative new entry with a bit of a twist, legendary Golden Age songwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green penned a sparkling score for their multi-award-winning 1978 musical On The Twentieth Century and Green's own accomplished daughter, Amanda Green, supplied new lyrics and approved some useful tweaks to the score that have been implemented for the brand new Roundabout Theatre Company revival of the Jazz Age tuner and she opens up about the process in an exclusive chat, highlighting some of her contributions as well as shedding a light on some of her own favorite moments in the acclaimed and adventurous operetta-based show.

Tony Awards co-host Kristin Chenoweth did double duty as she also led the cast of her hit show "On the Twentieth Century" in a rollicking medley of merry tunes. This is the first rialto revival for the 1978 tuner, with music by Cy Coleman and lyrics from Betty Comden and Aldoph Green, who based their book on the 1932 farce by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur ("The Front Page"). -Break- Join the fiery debate over the Tony Awards going on right now in our red-hot forums Among those also showcased in these performances of “Life Is Like A Train,” “On the 20th Century,” “I’ve Got It All” and “Babette,” is Featured Actor nominee Andy Karl. He lost as did Chenoweth with the show going 0 for 5 in all.

Stage vet Tony Yazbeck scored the first Tony nomination of his career for his rousing portrayal of a sailor on leave in the revival of "On the Town." This triple threat handled the songs of Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green with aplomb, mixed athleticism and grace in the dances and acted his socks off. -Break- Join the fiery debate over the Tony Awards going on right now in our red-hot forums Yazbeck led the cast in spirited renditions of “Lucky to Be Me,” “New York, New York” and “Times Square Ballet.” He lost his Best Actor (Musical) bid as the show went 0 for 4 at the Tony Awards.

Happy Birthday, Charles Strouse Strouse's first Broadway musical was the 1960 hit Bye Bye Birdie, with lyrics by Lee Adams, who would become his long time collaborator. Following this was Golden Boy 1964, also with Adams, starring Sammy Davis, Jr. and It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman 1966, based on the popular comic strip which introduced the song 'You've Got Possibilities' sung by Linda Lavin. In 1970, Applause starring Lauren Bacall, with book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and lyrics by Adams won Strouse his second Tony Award. In 1977, Strouse adapted another comic strip for the stage, creating the hit Annie, which garnered him his third Tony Award and two Grammy Awards. Other Strouse musicals include Charlie and Algernon 1979, Dance a Little Closer 1983, with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, Rags 1986, Nick amp Nora 1993, and An American Tragedy 1995, with lyrics by David Shaber.