Sun Valley Serenade

20th Century Fox, 1941

Starring Sonja Henie, John Payne, Lynn Bari, and Glenn Miller and His Orchestra

Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone

Music by Harry Warren; Lyrics by Mack Gordon

Our last review of 2021 takes us to Sun Valley, Idaho to hit the slopes with a genuine champ. Sonja Henie began skating at age 10 and won her first major championship at 14. By 1936, she won three Olympic gold medals and six consecutive European championships. Later that year, 20th Century Fox signed her on to what became a series of profitable musicals. By 1941, she was one of Hollywood's top stars. Fox paired her with another top favorite at the time, Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, for this smash souffle about a refugee who falls for a pianist at the famous resort. We start out in New York, where Phil Corey (Miller) and His Orchestra have a gig, and find out how palatable this confection is today...

The Story: Publicity manager Jerome "Nifty" Allen (Milton Berle) convinces Corey and his pianist Ted Scott (Payne) that sponsoring a refugee from Europe would be terrific press for the band. They're a lot less crazy about the idea when the "tyke" turns out to be Karen Benson (Henie), a young woman from Norway who lost her home when the Nazis invaded. Karen falls hard for Ted almost immediately, but he's already dating the band's singer Vivian Dawn (Bari). She's so smitten with him, she convinces Berle to take her to their Christmas gig in Sun Valley and pursues him on skis and at the Lodge. Ted's annoyed at first, but when they end up stranded together at a small ski cabin, he finds himself changing his mind about the charming Scandinavian. 

The Song and Dance: Berle has some funny moments, especially when Karen convinces him to take her to Sun Valley and while on skis, and he also gets a few amusing bits playing off Joan Davis as a woman collecting for charity. Payne is neither a skater nor a skier, but he works well enough with Henie and Bari and even gets to show off his piano skills with Miller. Some of the skiing sequences are amazing, with a lot of fast-paced chases and intricate moves. Sonja's stand-in for these sequences was another later Olympic gold medalist Gretchen Fraser, and she shows why she won that gold with her great run under Payne's legs. Glenn Miller and his band really heat up some of their best numbers, including the smash "Chattanooga Choo Choo."

I can see why this went over well with European audiences and many real-life refugees. The angle of Karen being a refugee is fairly original and interesting, and it does make sense for her to come into the US that way at this time. Karen is also refreshingly straightforward about her rather sad story and the death of her father. 

Favorite Number: We kick off with two of Miller's biggest hits, "Moonlight Serenade" and "In the Mood." The first full-scale number is "It Happened In Sun Valley," as Berle, Henie, and the Orchestra throw snowballs at each other and have a great time on their way to the lodge. "The Kiss Polka" has chorus dancers in Scandinavian costume doing kisses in time to adorable polka moves. It's so cute, Henie and Payne get in on it towards the end, to the annoyance of a jealous Bari. Later in the ski lodge, the two have another, slower dance to Payne's solo "I Know Why (and So Do You)." 

The movie is best known for it's major hit song and two big numbers. "Chattanooga Choo Choo" starts off with the Modenaires singing the initial vocals, but it really takes off when Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers emerge from that streamlined wooden choo-choo and show off their signature fancy tap moves. It ends with a gorgeously-shot skating number, with Henie whirling in a snow-white tutu on dyed black ice and the chorus waltzing around her. The headaches they went through to make that ice black was worth it. The wet ink under her skates makes her look like she's gliding across a pond on midnight, like she can skate across water. 

Trivia: There were to have been three more songs. "At Last" can be heard performed by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra after "In the Mood" and is used as underscoring in the skating finale, but the vocals didn't appear until Orchestra Wives. "The World Is Waiting to Waltz Again" for Payne and "I'm Lena the Ballerina" for Davis were recorded but not filmed. 

That skating number on black ice took three days to shoot. Humberstone wanted to reshoot the end after Henie fell and got covered in black dye, but studio head Darryl F. Zanuck said no. 

"Chattanooga Choo Choo" was nominated for an Oscar. The movie also got nominations for Black and White Cinematography and musical scoring.

Bari was dubbed by Pat Friday (and would be later in Orchestra Wives).  

What I Don't Like: Hoo boy. The story is straight piffle, and a little dull beyond the skiing and musical numbers. Neither leading lady come off especially well. Karen's utter determination to break up a man's relationship is more creepy than cute, and Bari is shrill and obnoxious. Bit surprised they don't make more use of Davis beyond her short gags with Berle, too. I kind of wish Henie sprang for the third skating number they planned, but didn't use. For one of her vehicles, the movie seems strangely lacking in trips to the ice beyond a short routine with her trying to show off for Ted and the big finale. I'm not entirely sure where the cinematography nomination came from, either, considering a big chunk of the film consists of actors pretending to ski in front of glaring rear projection. 

The Big Finale: Worth seeing for the terrific numbers alone if you're a fan of figure skating, Henie, Miller and his band, or big band music. 

Home Media: Not sure why this has never been released on disc in the US. It is easily found on streaming, including Google Play, Vudu, and Amazon Prime.

Amazon Prime

Google Play

Vudu

Cult Flops - The Ice Follies of 1939

MGM, 1939

Starring Joan Crawford, James Stewart, Lew Ayres, and Lewis Stone

Directed by Reinhold Schunzel

Music and Lyrics by various

As the US plunges into winter, we're bringing this year to a close with our first musicals with ice skating routines. The popularity of champion figure skater Sonja Henie at 20th Century Fox prompted other studios to create their own skating extravaganzas. Crawford hadn't appeared in a musical since Dancing Lady in 1933. MGM hoped to bolster her career by turning her into their own Henie, but...well, let's begin at a bottom-basement skating show as Larry Hall (Stewart), his partner Eddie Burgess (Ayres), and his girl Mary McKay (Crawford) and find out how far this one skids off the ice. 

The Story: Larry's crazy about Mary, actually marrying her after the show one night. Truth be told, Mary is a terrible skater. She keeps getting them fired. Larry won't leave her behind, though. He has this big idea for an "Ice Follies" skating revue, but no one will hear it. 

Hoping to earn some money and get her husband's ideas heard, Mary goes right to studio owner Douglas Toliver Jr. (Stone) and convinces him to hire her. She becomes a huge star, but thanks to her hastily-signed contract, has to keep her marriage secret. He finally takes off, tired of living in her shadow. Thanks to shady producer Mort Hodges (Lionel Stander) he does get the Follies off the ground...but it keeps taking him away from his wife. Mary's ready to give up show business to be with him, until she comes up with a solution that makes everyone happy, including Toliver.

The Song and Dance: At the very least, this doesn't fall into the trap of Crawford's other vehicles and make both men fall for her. In fact, Eddie's not really fond of Mary and points out that she's taking away from their act. Stewart, Crawford, and especially an energetic Ayers do the best with the material handed them. Crawford also gets her only chance to be seen in three-strip Technicolor in the dazzling fairy-tale finale. She looks radiant, and the frothy pastels are gorgeous in the restored copy at TCM.

Favorite Number: It's all about the Ice Follies here. We don't see them until almost ten minutes in, but when we do, it's a lavish circus routine. The guy in drag and his partner skating to an instrumental "While Strolling Through the Park" were especially funny. After Larry gets the show going near the middle, we get a nifty precision dance routine with the Ice Folliettes in kilts skating to "The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lamond." As per Larry's promise of "stories told through skating and dance," we also get a more serious (and stereotypical) Indian duet with two skaters doing a lyrical routine while costumed as Natives.

The big one here is the color finale. MGM pulled out all the stops. Crawford is Cinderella, there's an adorable Little Red Riding Hood who gets an energetic solo, and Ayers even turns up as Cinderella's dull prince. The big finale to Crawford's "It's All So New to Me" is beautifully skated and romantic.

Trivia: The Ice Follies is a touring skating company founded by Eddie and Roy Shipstead and Oscar Johnson. They merged with Holiday On Ice in 1980 and are now mainly known for producing the Disney On Ice shows. 

What I Don't Like: Everything else. No matter how hard Crawford, Stewart, and Ayres try, they are not skaters and don't belong in this film. I have no idea what MGM was thinking. Couldn't they have gone back to the Dancing Lady well if they wanted to bolster Crawford's career with a musical? Or, if they had to do a skating musical, found actual skaters to appear in at least the female lead? Crawford is such a terrible skater, it's a joke in the finale. Also, while her vocals have improved since Dancing Lady, they're still not that great. The dialogue is corny, forced, and badly written, and the plot is cliches of the  dullest sort. 

The Big Finale: No wonder Crawford bought out her MGM contract a few years later and wouldn't do another musical until 1953. Only the biggest fans of Stewart, Crawford, or figure skating need to see this. All others would be better off staying away or looking up that Technicolor finale. 

Home Media: It's out of print on Warner Archives DVD; your best best is streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Merry Christmas! - A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa

NBC, 2008

Starring The Muppets, Nathan Lane, Madison Pettis, and Jane Krakowski

Directed by Kirk R. Thatcher

Music and Lyrics by Paul Williams

Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope you're all having a music-filled holiday. Having enjoyed Muppet Haunted Mansion back in October, I thought I'd take a look at an earlier Muppet holiday special. How does this compare to the earlier shows and later films? Let's start in the very real New York City, as the Muppets prepare to send their gift lists to Santa at their local post office, and find out...

The Story: After a mix-up at the post office, Gonzo (Dave Golez) discovers three letters ended up in his coat pocket. One is from his young neighbor Claire (Pettis), who is disappointed all her friends are going away for the holidays. Determined to make sure the letters make it to Santa, he recruits Kermit (Steve Whitmire) and Fozzie (Eric Jacobson) to help. 

The Song and Dance: Sweet special gets quite a bit of help from its surprisingly realistic production. The opening sequences in front of the post office was filmed in the real New York, and that's the actual mayor at the time, Michael Bloomberg, whom Piggy demands to make the line move faster. Uma Thurman and Nathan Lane have some very funny moments as a gorgeous airline clerk who sells the Muppets tickets to the North Pole and a bullying security guard who is on Santa's Naughty List. 

Favorite Number: Jesse L. Martin pops up as a postal clerk to sing about how important "Delivering Christmas" on time is for the post office...right before Gonzo accidentally speeds up the package conveyor belt. Gonzo, Kermit, and Fozzie each admit "I Wish I Could Be Santa Claus" when they're at the North Pole and learn they've missed Santa. The Muppets join Claire and her mother (Krakowski) at their home in the finale to realize that what Claire really wanted was "My Best Christmas Yet."

What I Don't Like: Short and cute...maybe a little too short. I actually wish they'd fleshed this out a bit more, maybe done more with their North Pole travels and when they arrived. Miss Piggy in particular only shows up at the beginning and the end and is sorely missed. The four songs are cute, but not especially memorable, and not even up to the ones in the later two Disney-backed films. 

The Big Finale: Not as memorable as some other Muppet programming, this is still enjoyable enough for Muppet fans and families to run before Santa arrives on Christmas Eve or as kids wait for dinner on Christmas Day. 

Home Media: The DVD is out of print, but it's easily found on streaming, including Disney Plus with a subscription.

DVD

Disney Plus

Musicals On TV - Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Musical Live!

NBC/Universal, 2020

Starring Mathew Morrison, Amelia Minto, Dennis O'Hare, and Booboo Stewart

Directed by Julia Knowles and Max Webster

Music by Mel Marvin; Lyrics by Timothy Mason

Christmas Story isn't the only familiar holiday property that's been adapted for stage and TV in the last decade. This is the fourth version of Dr. Seuss' beloved story about the green miser who tries to ruin Christmas Day for the holiday-loving Whos. How does this one compare to original animated short and the big-screen live action and animated adaptations? Let's start with an older Max the Dog (O'Hare) as he introduces us to his memories of Whoville long ago and find out...

The Story: All the Whos down in Whoville like Christmas a lot, but the grouchy Grinch (Morrison), who lives on Mount Crumpet, does not. His frisky dog Max (Stewart) thinks the holiday hoopla is wonderful, but all the Grinch hears and sees are Whos buying gifts and their children making too much noise. He's so fed up, he dresses himself as Santa and Max as a reindeer on Christmas Eve and goes down to the valley to steal the Whos' Christmas decorations and presents. It takes sweet little Cindy Lou Who (Minto) and the Whos celebrating the holiday no matter what to make him understand why "Christmas doesn't come from a store. Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."

The Song and Dance: Sweetly silly show is jammed full of songs, despite its relatively short running time. Minto is an adorable and funny Cindy Lou, and once again, we have terrifically talented kids having a great time playing with their noisy toys in the chorus. Gary Wilmot and Claire Matchin have a few amusing moments as perky Grandma and cynical Grandpa Who, especially during the "Thought That Counts" shopping sequence and right before the Grinch invades Whoville. And if nothing else, they make the Whos too mean-spirited or go heavily into an unnecessary backstory for the Grinch like the big-screen live-action adaptation did. 

Favorite Number: We open and close with "Who Likes Christmas?" as the Whos happily decorate for their favorite holiday. Old and Young Max recall why "This Time of the Year" is so beloved, and how it felt to share it with a grumpy Grinch. The Grinch grumbles about why "I Hate Christmas," first with Max on Mount Crumpet, and then with the kids when they play obnoxiously with their loud toys. The citizens of Whoville remind each other that "It's the Thought that Counts" when they go shopping downtown. The Grinch shows up incognito in cowboy gear, but he doesn't understand why they're having so much fun. Later, Max reminds him why he's "One of a Kind." 

Cindy Lou makes that small heart of the Grinch's start to grow with the gentle ballad "Santa for a Day." "Where are You, Christmas?" and "Welcome Christmas" from the live-action and 1966 animated Grinch turn up at the end as songs for the Who family. They lament their lost gifts...then realize they still have each other. 

Trivia: Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The Musical debuted on Broadway as a limited holiday run in 2006. It's subsequent history is nearly identical to Christmas Story: The Musical. It too showed up at Madison Square Garden the following Christmas, turned up in traveling shows seen during the Christmas season through 2019, and is also popular with regional theaters.

It was supposed to have been filmed live, but was scaled back to two days of filming in England due to the COVID pandemic.

What I Don't Like: Morrison himself is the biggest problem. He's too fey and campy to be the mean and miserly Grinch. The makeup makes him look more like a long-haired green rock star than a character out of Seuss, even with the green face. In fact, the production looks rather cheap for a fantasy. The sets are likely supposed to be based after Seuss' artwork from the original book, but they're really boring onstage, and the colorful costumes more closely resemble a bargain-basement performance of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

Every version of The Grinch that clocks in at longer than a half-hour has trouble with padding. There just isn't enough for this simple story for even an hour-and-a-half musical. The "Thought That Counts" sequence is cute but completely unnecessary to the story, other than introducing the red rocking horse Cindy Lou wants so badly (and that the Grinch will take away). And this is the second live musical in a row I've seen with a narrator it doesn't need. Old Max is more annoying than funny, and his narration doesn't really add much more to the story than the older Ralphie's did. 

The Big Finale: In the end, I think Seuss is too whimsical to pull off in live-action, whether onstage or on the screen. I'm not a fan of the Jim Carrey Grinch from 2000, either. That one was too mean-spirited to be fun; this one is too flat, with an inappropriate Grinch and dull production. Only if you're a huge Seuss or Grinch fan or are desperately in need of something to show the kiddes while they wait to open presents on Christmas Eve.

Home Media: Seems to be a Peacock streaming exclusive at the moment. 

Peacock

Musicals On TV - A Christmas Story Live!

Fox, 2017

Starring Andy Walken, Maya Rudolph, Chris Diamantopoulos, and Tyler Wladis

Directed by Scott Ellis and Alex Rudzinski

Music by Benji Pasak; Lyrics by Justin Paul

Jean Shephard was a humorist best known for his home-spun reminisces of his childhood in Indiana in the 1940's on the radio and in print. His In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash became the movie A Christmas Story in 1983. It was a major flop in theaters, but the simple homespun comedy about one normal boy's quest for the ultimate Christmas present became a staple of cable and home video...so much, that TNT and TBS still run the original 24 hours from Christmas Eve through Christmas Day. How does this retelling of the stage musical from 2012 compare? Let's begin with an older Ralphie (Matthew Broderick) as he recalls Christmas the way it was when he was a kid and find out...

The Story: All Ralphie Parker (Walken) wants for Christmas is a Red Ryder BB Gun (with a compass and a stock and a thing which tells time). He first tries to ask his mother (Rudolph), but she's not big on the idea of guns to begin with. He then writes about it in a paper for his teacher Mrs. Shields (Jane Krakowski), but she gives it a low grade. Even Santa (David Alan Grier) seems reluctant to let Ralphie have his dream gift. His Old Man (Diamantopoulos) is too busy fighting with the neighborhood dogs and obsessing over his "major award" to pay much attention to Ralphie's desires...and Ralphie may not survive childhood pitfalls like bullies and accidentally blurting bad words long enough to make it to Christmas Day!

The Song and Dance: This was a lot more fun than I thought it would be from the reviews. The kids are the real winners here. Not only are they all amazing singers and dancers, but they seem natural as normal school kids in 1939 Indiana. Some of Ralphie's fantasy sequences featuring his classmates bring Bugsy Malone, another musical set in the 30's featuring a lot of talented kids, to mind. Walken and Wladis are just about perfect as the Parker boys; Sammy Ramirez and JJ Batteast are hilarious as Ralphie's best friends Schwartz and Flick, too. Terrific costumes and sets perfect recreate 1939 small-town Indiana, especially the huge one for Higbee's Department Store. 

Favorite Number: Ralphie, his family, and everyone in Hohman reveal their hopes and wishes for the holidays as "It All Comes Down to Christmas" and the revealing of Higbee's front window displays. Ralphie's father declares himself to be "The Genius of Cleveland Street" in a spoof of radio game shows when he enters a crossword contest. His wife is less impressed, especially when his "Major Award" turns out to be a plastic lamp shaped like a leg in a fishnet stocking. After dealing with the bullies, the kids explain that you have to be on your toes "When You're a Wimp." It's "Ralphie to the Rescue" in a drawn-out fantasy sequence where he saves his teacher from gangsters and his family and school mates from bandits. Ms. Shields leads the kids in the 30's movie musical spoof reminding Ralphie that "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" after he sees his grade. 

Mrs. Parker has two lovely solos, "What a Mother Does" as she shows us her many duties around the household, and "Just Like That" as she assures Ralphie after his fight with Scut Farkas that this will all pass, and he'll be fine. "At Higbee's" and "Up on Santa's Lap" is the big number with the kids trying - and frequently failing - to tell Santa what they want. Ralphie and Randy hope to settle their parents' quarrel by fixing the broken leg lamp themselves "Before the Old Man Gets Home." The Parkers finally decide it's been "A Christmas Story" for the ages in the heartfelt finale. 

Trivia: A Christmas Story: The Musical debuted on Broadway in 2012 as a limited run through November and December. It reappeared the next year at Madison Square Garden, once again in a limited run. To my knowledge, it hasn't been back to New York since, but the national tour has continued every holiday season, and it's popular with regional theaters around Christmas.

What I Don't Like: The adults don't work out nearly as well as the kids. Randolph's good as Mrs. Parker, but Diamantopoulos is less gruff than you'd like as Ralphie's old man. Krakowski's a bit too much of a ditz to be teaching a class full of kids who stick tongues on cold poles, too, and Grier overdoes the jerk Santa to the point of being annoying. Broderick's narration works better on the big screen, where you can't see him, than it does when he's doing it right there. And at three hours, this movie is way, way too long. Some of the musical numbers should have been trimmed, especially Ralphie's two big fantasy sequences. 

The Big Finale: It won't displace the the original, but it's a fun one-time watch on Christmas Eve for families and fans of the film with a spare two and a half hours on their hands. 

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming. 

DVD

Amazon Prime

Animation Celebration Double Feature - The First Christmas & Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey

The Little Drummer Boy is probably the most popular Rankin-Bass special based around the birth of Christ, but it's not the only one they made. We dive into the vaults for two of the company's less well-known stop-motion shorts, one an original story, the other based after country holiday song. How do these simple tales of faith and hope look today? Let's begin at a seaside abbey with a group of nuns painting Christmas scenes and find out...

The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow

Rankin-Bass/NBC, 1975

Voices of Angela Landsbury, Cyril Ritchard, David Kelley, and Dina Lynn

Directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass

Music by Maury Laws and others; Lyrics by Jules Bass and others

The Story: Sister Teresa (Landsbury) and the nuns at an abbey by the sea find a young shepherd struck by lightning during a storm. They take him in and give him shelter with his sheep in the stable. Poor Lucas (Kelley) was struck blind by shock and has no place to go. Sister Teresa wants him to stay, but fussy Father Thomas (Ritchard) worries that he might be better off in an orphanage. Meanwhile, Teresa explains snow to Lucas, who's never seen it, and lets him join the angel choir in the school pageant. Three boys tease him when they make the sheep run away, but regret it after Lucas and the sheep get lost.

The Animation: Paul Coker Jr. was designing the specials by this point, and it shows in the round heads and large, expressive eyes and mouths on the characters. Everyone, from the kids to the nuns to the dog, has wide saucer eyes that crinkle upwards when they're happy or become triangular when angry. There's a slightly more realistic vibe on this one, especially the nuns; the abbey and stable backdrops are appropriately cozy and intimate.

The Song and Dance: Landsbury and Ritchard are the thing in this unusual tale, one of the most unique to come from Rankin-Bass. She's warm and thoughtful, he's fussy and fun. I also appreciate that this may be the only Rankin-Bass special with no real villain. Father Thomas and the three bullies are set up to be, but the priest is just worried that the abbey lacks the resources to take care of Lucas and his wooly charges properly, and the kids immediately realize what they did was wrong and help find the sheep. 

Favorite Number: Sister Teresa describes a real white Christmas to Lucas as she recalls a song her father taught her, "Christmas Snow Is Magic," while Lucas wonders what a real "White Christmas" would feel like. Father Thomas admonishes the kids and nuns to "Save a Little Christmas" for later in the season when they try to put up the tree too early.

What I Don't Like: As much as I like Landsbury, she does seem a bit miscast as a nun. This isn't one of their more exciting or campy specials. The story is pure melodrama, with the lightning strike and the blinded orphan, and a bit of a muddle. The entire sequence with the bad kids and the missing sheep seems more like padding added to fill out the middle.

The Big Finale: Not one of their major specials, but it's charming enough if you love Landsbury or are looking for something short and sweet to show kids around Christmas. 

Home Media: Easily found on DVD; turns up often on AMC during the holiday season. 

DVD

DVD - 4 Kid Favorites: Merry Masterpieces

Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey

Rankin-Bass/ABC, 1977

Voices of Roger Miller, Shelly Hines, Brenda Vaccaro, and Paul Frees

Directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass

Music by Maury Laws and others; Lyrics by Jules Bass and others

The Story: Spieltoe (Miller), the donkey who works with Santa at the North Pole, tells the story of his ancestor Nestor (Hines). Nestor had very long ears that made him the laughingstock of the stable in Scandinavia where he lived with his mother (Linda Gary) and the bane of the owner Olaf (Frees). Roman soldiers came to take the young donkeys for their troops. They throw back Nestor when they see his ears, accusing Olaf of tricking him. Olaf angrily throws Nestor out in the snow. His mother follows him and sacrifices herself shielding him from the storm. 

Nestor's devastated by the loss of his mother until he meets Tilly (Vaccaro), a cherub. She tells him his ears will let him do wonderous things and he'll save another, as his mother once saved him. They end up on the outskirts of Bethehem, when Nestor winds up in another stable. He's about to give up when a certain Mary (Taryn Davies) and Joseph (Harry Maurice Rosner) love his "gentle eyes" and buy him to take Mary to Bethlehem.

The Animation: Same deal here, with almost the same animators. The designs are slightly cartoonier and more exaggerated, as befitting a story featuring a cherub and a little donkey with excessively long ears. The sandstorm sequence with the cherubs towards the end is especially well-done.

The Song and Dance: This is such a sweet story. Simpler and a bit rougher than the similar Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, it may be even more charming. Vaccaro is especially funny as the endearing and eager Tilly, who shows Nestor the first respect he's seen in his life outside of his mother. 

Favorite Number: Country star Roger Whittaker starts us off with the title number, as he tells us why the elves' version of the donkey in the manger is inaccurate. He also admonishes the animals of the frozen north "Don't Laugh and Make Somebody Cry" as Tilly and Nestor travel to Bethlehem. Only Nestor's ears can "Follow the Song of the Angels" and hear a cherub choir in a sandstorm.

What I Don't Like: Like the song it's based on, it's obvious this is a religious version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It even begins and ends with Santa. Nestor himself is a bit of nonentity besides his ears and doesn't actually do much until that sandstorm. In fact, Tilly's so much fun, I really wish she was in more of the special. She's barely there for five minutes and the one number. Miller doesn't really have much to do besides narrate, either.

The Big Finale: Adorable but derivative; once again, best for major Rankin-Bass fans, fans of Miller, or those looking for religious holiday programming for kids. 

Home Media: Your best bet on DVD is the big Classic Christmas Favorites set that includes everything from the Grinch to The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold; it turns up frequently on AMC as well. 

DVD - The Year Without a Santa Claus

DVD - Classic Christmas Favorites

Musicals On TV - Skinflint: A Country Christmas Carol

NBC, 1979

Starring Hoyt Axton, Mel Tillis, Lynn Anderson, and Larry Gatlin

Directed by Marc Daniels

Music and Lyrics by Norman Sacks and Aaron Schroder

Country music was big business in the 70's and early 80's. It's down-home flavor made a refreshing contrast to more urban musical genres at the time like jazz, disco, and funk. Stars like Tillis, Axton, Barbara Mandrell, and The Statler Brothers were everywhere, from the Grand Ole Opry and Hee Haw to The Lawrence Welk Show and American Bandstand. This country-fried version of A Christmas Carol is a reflection of the genre's popularity at the time...but how does it look nowadays? Let's start in a small town in Tennessee as the residents gear up for the holidays and find out...

The Story: Flint City is more-or-less owned by Cyrus Flint (Axton), who owns and runs the town's largest bank. His assistant Dennis Pritchitt (Tillis) has a sick son TJ (Steven Lutz) who needs to see a doctor in Dallas, but he and his wife Laura (Anderson) don't have the money for the trip. Laura's hoping to win a big songwriting contest that'll be just enough to send him. Hoyt doesn't care about that, or that his nephew Roger (Gatlin) asks him over for Christmas dinner every year. He only cares about money...until the ghost of his former partner Jacob Burley (Tom T. Hall) and the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Martha Raye), Present (Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass) and Future (David Bond) show what made him the way he is, and what will happen if he doesn't change his ways.

The Story: If you love the country music from this time, this will be a major treat for you. Axton's certainly having fun as the meanest miser in Tennessee. He's especially cute with the kids in the end, when Flint realizes the error of his ways. Raye is an odd choice for the Ghost of Christmas Past, but she does so well with her number and playing against Axton's gruffness, it's hard to complain. 

For all that they add, I'm impressed with how equally well this sticks to the original Christmas Carol. Some lines are lifted directly from the actual Dickens text, especially during the Past and Present sequence. 

Favorite Number: We open with the cast's faces superimposed over the townspeople's holiday activities as they introduce us to what we're about to see with "A Country Christmas Carol." The Pritchitts and Larry and his wife Joan (Julie Gregg) each sing about how "Christmas Is Just Around the Corner" and there's so much to do. Axton sings the title number to explain why he prefers to keep his money in the bank and not spread it around at Christmas. 

"Honey In the Hive" is the big square dance for Flint's former employer Mr. Abbey (Bryan Webster), his wife (Carol Swarbrick), and their employees. It takes pretty Emmy (Barbara Mandrell) to drag him in with the rest of the festivities.  Emmy's not as happy with him later, telling him "You're Free to Go" when she explains how much he's changed. The Ghost of Christmas Past scolds Flint for giving up on Emmy by reminding "Sonny, You're a Dummy." 

"Over the River" is the spiritual number for Roger and his family at their home during his Christmas dinner. Tillis sadly performs about his son's "Empty Chair" after he's died in the future segment. "A Dilly of a World" is the other big dance routine in the finale, as Flint joins the town in celebrating the holidays dressed in colorful sweaters and scarves.

What I Don't Like: Obviously, if you're not into country music from the late 70's, forget it. Raye's number is the only non-country song in the bunch...and as funny as she is, it and her performance do stand out like sore thumbs among the actual country stars. Speaking of, most of them are singers first and don't do nearly as well when they're called on to actually act. Mandrell is lifeless in a thankless role, Davis makes a dull Ghost of Christmas Present, and Tillis and Anderson have trouble handling the darker side-plot with the Pritchitts and their ailing son. 

While the copy currently on YouTube is in better shape than Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood or Evening Primrose (and still exists in color), it's still obvious this is a cheap made-for-TV production. The sets are cardboard and look like they're leftover from whatever soap opera was being filmed earlier in the day and the costumes were probably pulled off the rack at Grand Ol' Opry. 

The Big Finale: Sweet but unspectacular, this is only recommended for really big fans of 70's-80's country music, Raye, or those with fond memories of its sole broadcast in December 1979. 

Home Media: This can only be found on YouTube at press time, with some of its original commercials. 

YouTube

Musicals on TV - The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood

ABC, 1965

Starring Liza Minnelli, Cyril Ritchard, Vic Damone, and The Animals (Eric Burdon, Chas Chandler, Dave Rowberry, John Steele, and Hilton Valentine)

Directed by Sid Smith

Music by Jules Styne; Lyrics by Bob Merrill

Stephen Sondheim wasn't the only major songwriter in the 60's who lent his talents to a TV musical. This was actually Styne and Merrill's second shot at a holiday musical extravaganza, their first being the animated Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol in 1962. Does this wacky fairy tale spoof reach the heights of the Magoo special, or should it be tossed into the Big Bad Wolf's (Ritchard) stew pot? Let's begin at the zoo, where the Big Bad Wolf tells what he considers to be a tragic tale, and find out...

The Story: Lillian (Minnelli) is a naïve teen living in the forest with her mother. She's disappointed when her mother gives her a blue cloak, until she turns it inside out and wears the red lining. She loves it so much, she calls herself Little Red Riding Hood. On a day when her mother sends her to Granny's house to bring goodies, she encounters the Wolf on the road. He's already been made fun of by the younger wolves in his pack (The Animals) for not being aggressive enough and tries hard to snare her, but she's terrified of wolves. She does no better with a handsome woodsman who believes he's an enchanted prince (Damone). It isn't until she encounters the Wolf in drag at Granny's house that she realizes what he's really after...and he proves he's not so "refined" after all.

The Song and Dance: Charming satire has a lot of fun goofing on familiar fairy tale tropes, from the horny wolf to the clueless enchanted prince to the heroine who is too impossibly sweet to get by on anything but sheer luck. Richard does the best playing the role of the erudite canine who thinks he's too smart for the woods, especially when he throws on Granny's dress and camps it up with Minnelli towards the end. Some of the score isn't bad, especially "We Wish the World a Happy Yule" in the finale. Liza has a great time going to town with Ritchard on "Ding-a-Ling" at Granny's, too. 

Favorite Number: Lillian sings happily to her mother about why she loves "My Red Riding Hood" - it allows her to stand out. The Big Bad Wolf laments with his pack The Animals about how he's "Snubbed" by the other wolves for not being scarier. The woodsman tries to sing to Lillian why she should have someone help her "Along the Way," even as he continues to split a log. Lillian tells the wolf how "I'm Naïve" and will believe whatever she hears. The Wolf in drag joins Lillian for an energetic "Ring a Ding" while he's trying to get her in the stew pot. The show ends with the entire cast back in the woods, singing "We Wish the World a Happy Yule."

Trivia: Like Evening Primrose, this was original broadcast in color, but the masters have since been lost. 

The Animals were a popular British rock group in the mid-60's. Their biggest and best-known hit is probably "House of the Rising Sun."

What I Don't Like: The presence of the Animals alone dates this badly. Their solo "We're Going to Howl Tonight" is the least-interesting number in the show, and other than tease Ritchard a bit, they don't have that much to do. There's a lot of references that those who don't know their mid-20th century history may not get, including Ritchard's line about "people needing people" from the Styne-Merrill hit Funny Girl. This is a flat-out wacky comedy, more like an American version of the pantomimes that are popular in the United Kingdom during the holidays. It's probably a little too goofy and weird for those expecting a darker fairy-tale ala Into the Woods, especially the silly and cheap animal costumes.

And...other than the opening and closing at the zoo and Lillian bringing her granny Christmas goodies, what does any of this have to do with the holidays? It could have been set at any time of the year without missing a beat. Not to mention, the prints currently available are dim black and white, watchable, but not even as good as the ones for Evening Primrose. 

The Big Finale: Worth checking out once for really big fans of the stars, Styne and Merrill, 60's rock, or families looking for the closest we'll likely get to an English pantomime in the US.

Home Media: Only on DVD from Jef Films

DVD

Family Fun Saturday - Annie (1999)

ABC/Disney, 1999

Starring Alicia Morton, Victor Garber, Kathy Bates, and Audra Ann McDonald

Directed by Ken Marshall

Music by Charles Strouse; Lyrics by Martin Charnin

Annie Live! wasn't the show's first television adaptation. Flush with the runaway success of Cinderella on The Wonderful World of Disney in 1997, Disney scouted around for other appropriate projects. Rob Marshall's choreography in that movie so impressed the producers, they convinced him to direct this one. They were very right. This proved to be almost as big of a hit as Cinderella, the second most popular Wonderful World of Disney special ever. What made it such a success then? Let's start back at the orphanage in New York, as one little girl gazes wistfully out the window for her parents, and find out...

The Story: Annie (Morton) is determined to run away and find her parents. Though she does adopt a dog she names Sandy during her latest attempt, she's still returned to mean, abusive Miss Hannigan (Bates). Grace Farrell (McDonald), secretary to billionaire Oliver Warbucks (Garber), comes to the orphanage to adopt a child for a week. To Miss Hannigan's horror, she admires Annie's spunk and chooses her.

Annie's delighted to spend time in Warbucks' huge mansion and live in more luxury than she's ever known. Warbucks doesn't know what to make of her at first. He finally warms up to her, to the point where he wants to adopt her. When Annie says she's waiting for her parents, he offers a 50,000 dollar reward for anyone who can find them. Miss Hannigan, her con artist brother Rooster (Alan Cummings), and his ditzy blonde girlfriend Lily St. Regis (Kristin Chenowith), overhear the radio show and come up with their own scheme to get their paws on Warbucks' loot.

The Song and Dance: Terrific performances and a somewhat closer fidelity to the show make all the difference here. Morton's a charmingly tough Annie, McDonald radiates warmth as Grace, and Garber is a perfectly gruff Warbucks (and has a gorgeous tenor to boot). Bates has an absolute ball as the meanest Miss Hannigan in any version of Annie. She's so mean, she's the only screen Miss Hannigan to not be reformed or merely lose her job. She's relishing every boozy minute and makes me wish she did more musicals. Chenowith and Cummings are appropriately sleazy as the criminal duo who would do anything for a buck, including double-cross each other. Love the gorgeous costumes and sets too, both of which are fairly lavish for a TV musical in 1999. 

Favorite Number: The little girls get a vibrant "Hard Knock Life" as they clean up their bedroom and wish for better things. There's also a short reprise when the orphans cheer Annie's escape that I've never heard anywhere but here. They also have an absolute blast with their kickline for "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile." "Tomorrow" is given two touching performances, by Annie on the snowy streets with Sandy after she finds him and Grace near the end when she assures Annie that her new parents will be just fine. 

"NYC" makes its screen debut with Warbucks, Grace, and Annie happily pelting each other with snowballs and enjoying all the delights that the city has to offer, including a show and a giant teddy bear for Annie. Rooster, Miss Hannigan, and Lilly really get into their delightful "Easy Street," happily strutting on those Manhattan sets. Warbucks' "Something Was Missing" and his "I Don't Need Anything but You" with Annie are just gorgeous, with Garber really ladling his instrument into the former in particular. 

Trivia: Andrea McArdle, the "Star to Be" in the Broadway show during "NYC," was the first Annie in the original 1977 production.

The sets for the Broadway show in "NYC" were inspired by "The Broadway Ballet" in Singin' In the Rain. 

What I Don't Like: Despite them wanting this to be closer to the stage show than the 1982 Annie, it still loses the chorus numbers "We'd Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover" and "A New Deal For Christmas." Much is simplified to fit the two hour run time. President Roosevelt doesn't come in until the last ten minutes, Annie doesn't attend a Cabinet meeting, and her time among the hoboes is limited to them making a few wisecracks at a cop before he shoos them along. The first version of "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile" is only heard by the orphans over the radio, not seen. I suspect Miss Hannigan plays the "mother" role in Rooster's scheme only because Bates was the bigger star at the time. 

Oh, and there were some complaints at the time about Warbucks giving Grace an engagement ring at the end. Not only is this the only version where they do this, but there's been debates about how likely it was for a white man to marry an African-American woman in the 30's and whether they actually could have. 

The Big Finale: A great starter Annie for families with younger kids, fans of the stars, or those who have fond memories of when this debuted. 

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming. It's on Disney Plus with a subscription. 

DVD

Disney Plus

A Salute to Arlene Dahl - Here Come the Girls

Paramount, 1953

Starring Bob Hope, Rosemary Clooney, Arlene Dahl, and Tony Martin

Directed by Claude Binyon

Music by Jay Livingstone; Lyrics by Ray Evans

Red Skelton wasn't the last comedian Dahl played opposite in a Technicolor romp. She made her final appearance in a musical as one of Hope's leading ladies in this comic thriller. Musicals don't often dive into mystery/thriller turf, and it's even rarer to see one played as a fairly typical nostalgic musical comedy. How does that work out nowadays? Let's begin at a theater in Jersey City, just as the show-within-the-show Here Comes the Girls is concluding, and find out...

The Story: Stanley Snodgrass (Hope) claims to have "greasepaint in his veins," but after 20 years of pounding theaters, he's still in the chorus. His girl Daisy Crockett (Clooney) stands by him no matter what, but producer Harry Fraser fires him after he causes leading lady Irene Bailey (Dahl) and Allen Trent (Martin) to take a spill onstage. His mother (Zamah Cunningham) also stands by her song, but his stepfather Albert (Millard Mitchell) is fed up with giving him money and demands he works in his coal business. 

Jack "the Slasher" Bennett (Robert Strauss) is obsessed with Irene Bailey and will kill anyone she's in love with. After he attacks and wounds Allen, policeman Dennis Logan (William Demarest) suggests Stanley be used as bait to trap the murderer. Stanley's thrilled to accept a room at the Waldorf and the role as Irene's leading man. Daisy's jealous at first, until she finds out how Stanley really got his big part. She tries to convince him he's in danger, but it's not until knives are flying onstage that he realizes what's really going on. Now he has to dodge that crazed lover, before the curtain comes down on his show for good!

The Song and Dance: While this is hardly the first time Hope was involved with a mystery in one of his movies, it is rare to see a mystery-thriller crossed with comedy and backstage shenanigans. It's even rarer for movie musicals to subvert the "chorus member makes good" trope and not have the promoted extra come back a star. Hope's ever-determined mama's boy Stanley is backed by a great cast and a delightfully lavish production that beautifully recreates New York and Jersey City in the early 20th century. Clooney and Dahl also come off well as the woman who really loves Stanley, and the one who wants to use him to save her lover. Cunningham and Mitchell have a few nice moments as his overbearing mother and frustrated stepfather. 

Favorite Number: We kick things off with a spectacular parade of showgirls in huge plumed headgear and gauzy costumes as Martin sings the title song and Hope can't figure out where he's supposed to be. This is the big number Stanley ruins, thanks to a chair landing on his foot. Stanley and Daisy remind each other on the ferry to New York that they may not have the best theatrical training, but "Ya Got Class." 

"It's a Torment" for Irene when Stanley makes a hash of their big Spanish-themed number. The chorus boys get so fed up with his bumbling, they literally toss him offstage! Clooney croons the bluesy ballad "When You Love Someone" after Stanely's promoted and she thinks she's lost him to Irene. "Ali Baba (Be My Baby)" is the Arabian Knights satire where Stanley has such a hard time remembering his lines, the stagehands have to walk by him with them written on props to remind him.

Trivia: Millard Mitchell's last film. 

Was likely planned for 3-D, given all the knives and other props often thrown at the screen.

What I Don't Like: First of all, if you're not a fan of Hope, forget it. He doesn't dominate it to the extent of some of his vehicles, but he still gets most of the best moments. Second, while some of the musical numbers are well-staged, the songs themselves aren't that memorable. I'm also not sure why this is set in the early 1900's. They don't really do much with the background besides Stanley's father running a coal-delivery business. 

The Big Finale: Worth checking out for major fans of Hope, the two leading ladies, or the big musicals of the 1950's if you can find it. 

Home Media: To my knowledge, the only place this can currently be found is YouTube. 

YouTube

A Salute to Arlene Dahl - Three Little Words

MGM, 1950

Starring Fred Astaire, Red Skelton, Vera-Ellen, and Arlene Dahl

Directed by Richard Thorpe

Music by Harry Ruby; Lyrics by Bert Kalmar and others

For our first two reviews this week, we salute red-headed beauty Arlene Dahl. She's nowadays mainly known for her television work, but did do movies as well from the late 40's through the early 70's. At this point, she was still an ingenue with MGM who was occasionally farmed out to low-budget studios for bigger parts. This was her second role in a major musical, having debuted in the biography My Wild Irish Rose. How does she look here, alongside three of the biggest names in musicals at MGM? Let's begin onstage at a vaudeville theater with dance partners Bert Kalmar (Astaire) and Jessie Brown (Vera-Ellen) as they give us our first number, and find out...

The Story: Kalmar really does love performing, but he's also a big fan of magicians. His attempt at a magic act is disrupted by a clumsy, baseball-loving stagehand (Skelton). The stagehand is Harry Ruby, who's looking for help with a song he wrote. Kalmar finally joins him when he hurts his knee and can't dance. They seem to do well, but Kalmar walks out when he realizes Ruby was the one who ruined his act. Ruby has the song published anyway, and it becomes a big hit. 

The two continue as songwriters, even doing Broadway shows. Ruby helps bring Kalmar together with Jessie, while they try to keep Ruby from consorting with the wrong women. It's when Ruby convinces a backer to withdraw from Kalmar's not terribly good play that Kalmar really blows his top and the two split. It's up to Jessie and Ruby's lady Eileen Percy (Dahl) to reunite them.

The Song and Dance: The simple story and small cast makes this a refreshing contrast to the previous MGM composer biographies 'Till the Clouds Roll By and Words and Music. Cameos are limited to Gloria DeHaven playing her mother Mrs. Carter DeHaven and Debbie Reynolds as (and with the voice of) Betty Boop inspiration Helen Kane. The emphasis is right where it should be, on the four talented leads. 

Astaire and Skelton put some of their best performances as the feuding songwriters whose hobbies sometimes clash with their work. Astaire won a Golden Globe; he would later say this was one of his favorites of his movies. Keenan Wynn has a few good bits as their energetic agent too, especially when he gets drunk and spills the beans about Kalmar's play.

Favorite Number: We open with a delightfully simple tux-and-cane soft shoe duet for Vera-Ellen and Astaire, "Where Did You Get That Girl?" "Mr. and Mrs. Hoofer at Home" is an instrumental non-vocal parody of what happens when dancers marry, with Astaire and Vera-Ellen performing some fairly dexterous moves as they depict a dancing domestic scene. The duo get two even better romantic duos later, "Nevertheless" onstage when Jessie and Bert reunite, and the gorgeous "Thinking of You" in the world's most massive cruise ship room. 

Gloria DeHaven looks every inch the Broadway beauty her mother must have been as she introduces what's now likely Kalmar and Ruby's best-known song, "Who's Sorry Now?" Reynolds gets to have her own fun when she "boop-oop-a-doops" as Kalmar and Ruby work on their latest song...and they're so impressed, she ends up doing "I Wanna Be Loved By You" with a nervous Carleton Carpenter onstage. Dahl's solo is "Love You So Much," and she's radiant strutting down that staircase in bubble gum pink and waving a huge feather fan among the boys. Vera-Ellen's big number "Come On Papa" is a French spoof with her in scanty costumes that's also done with an appreciative male chorus. 

Trivia:  Kalmar and Ruby were good friends of Astaire's from their vaudeville days. Kalmar died in 1947, after giving MGM permission to make the film, but before filming began. Ruby lived until 1974 and was a consultant on the film. 

The song "Three Little Words" was actually written for the 1930 film Check & Double Check. 

"Thinking of You" and "Nevertheless" were huge hits after this came out, as was the movie itself. 

For all that was fabricated, Ruby really was a huge baseball fan, and Kalmar was indeed a magic aficionado. Kalmar did have a bad knee injury that ended his vaudeville dancing carrier and forced him to turn to songwriting. 

What I Don't Like: Like the other musical biographies of this era, this is complete fiction. Kalmar and Ruby were friends all their lives. They did occasionally work with other partners but never had a dramatic split like the one depicted here, and certainly not over their hobbies! They didn't discover Helen Kane booping on the sidewalk, either. She'd been doing that routine for years when she sang "Wanna Be Loved By You" in the Broadway show Good Boy. Ruby didn't invade Kalmar's magic act, and he never sabotaged Kalmar's play. 

They could have done more with the ladies. Vera-Ellen does have some fun bits with Astaire (I love her expressions when he takes credit for her ideas or keeps going on about magic), but Dahl doesn't appear until the second half and has very little to do beyond "Love You So Much." Oh, like the other MGM composer biographies, there's no historical accuracy whatsoever. It looks like 1950 for the entire movie. 

The Big Finale: I'm going to agree whole-heartedly with Astaire on this one. This is my second-favorite Astaire movie at MGM after The Band Wagon. Highly recommended for fans of the four leads, dance nuts, or someone looking for a lower-key MGM show.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Family Fun Saturday - Annie Live! (2021)

NBC/Sony, 2021

Starring Celina Smith, Harry Connick Jr, Taraji P. Henson, and Nicole Scherzinger

Directed by Lear deBessonet and Alex Rudzinski

Music by Charles Strouse; Lyrics by Martin Charnin

Live TV musicals made a tentative comeback at the end of 2020 with a live-action version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (which we'll look at later this month). NBC went with Annie, which given its family-friendly pedigree and Christmas settling, was a perfect fit for their next project. Is the fourth time the charm for the beloved 1977 musical? Let's begin onstage at Bethpage, New York, as a group of girls prepare one to play the ultimate orphan, and find out...

The Story: Annie (Smith) is an orphan in 1933 Manhattan who is determined to find her birth parents. She's constantly escaping from the orphanage where she lives, but the police always find her and bring her back to drunk and abusive Miss Hannigan (Henson). Shortly after one such incident, Grace Farrell (Scherzinger), the secretary of billionaire Oliver Warbucks (Connick Jr), comes to the orphanage looking for a child to live with Warbucks for the holiday. She's taken with Annie's spunk and chooses her.

Warbucks, who wanted a boy, is a bit reluctant at first, but he too eventually warms up to Annie and even tries to adopt her. Annie insists that her parents are still out there, prompting Warbucks to launch a national search to find them. Meanwhile, Miss Hannigan's con-artist brother Rooster (Tituss Burgess) and his girlfriend Lily St. Regis (Megan Hilty) come up with a scheme of their own that'll get their hands on Warbucks' cash.

The Song and Dance: We get a real "new deal" with a show that's tailor-made for a small screen family audience. Smith is a charming and sassy Annie, Henson's an especially wacky Miss Hannigan, and Hilty and Burgess are appropriately oily as the conniving criminal couple. (And Hilty was a last-minute replacement for an ailing Jane Krakowski.) The costumes beautifully convey both the uptown mansion glamor and downtown squalor of Manhattan in the early Depression era. 

I also appreciate that this is the first airing of the full stage score, including the chorus numbers "We'd Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover" and "A New Deal for Christmas" that were dropped from previous screen versions. We even get the two best numbers written for the 1982 film, "Sign!" and "We Got Annie." 

Favorite Number: "It's a Hard-Knock Life" gets a terrific run-through early on as the girls make their beds and do silly imitations of Miss Hannigan to start their day. Annie wanders among hobos and fruit sellers displaced by the Depression who bitterly claim "We'd Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover" for destroying their way of life. Henson gets "Little Girls" even as they drive her crazier. Warbucks shows Annie how wonderful "NYC" is as he and Grace explore the town with her, even as a "star to be" (McKenzie Kurtz) claims she'll soon be famous. 

Burgess, Henson, and Hilty really get into "Easy Street," while Scherzinger makes the most of her two big chorus numbers with Warbucks' staff, "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" and "We Got Annie." The second version of "Tomorrow" as Annie leads Congress (including real-life polio survivor)  Connick Jr. hits the piano for the ballad "Something Was Missing," and the little girls have a ball with their adorable kick line to "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile." 

What I Don't Like: There's a few technical gaffs; the kids are sometimes hard to hear, and it's pretty obvious that the tall New York sets means some audience members can't see the show.  Connick sings and plays well (his "Something Was Missing" is lovely), but otherwise lacks the gruff authority needed to put over a mercurial businessman. Everything moved a little too fast, especially in the beginning, skipping past needed information (like how that cop caught Annie) and barely leaving time for the cast to catch their breath, and went on for a little too long. The finale made up for the lack of big action sequences with at least three endings too many, including how Sandy comes back.

The Big Finale: Some critics complained about this playing it too safe, but that might be what people need right now. While I still prefer the 1982 film, this is miles above the 2014 modernized remake and is probably on par with Disney's 1999 TV version (which we'll also see later this month). 

Home Media: To my knowledge, this is currently exclusive to NBC's website. 

NBC.com

A Salute to Stephen Sondheim - Evening Primrose

ABC, 1966

Starring Anthony Perkins, Charmain Carr, Dorothy Stickney, and Larry Gates

Directed by Paul Bogart

Music and Lyrics by Stephan Sondheim

Even as Funny Thing debuted on the big screen, home viewers got their own taste of Sondheim with this special made for the anthology ABC Stage 67. Anthony Perkins isn't the first guy you'd think of in a musical, but he was a good friend of Sondheim's. He even went on to pen the mystery film The Last of Sheila with him. In a way, though, this very strange and eerie tale of a man who falls for a girl living with elderly people hiding in a department store is rather fitting for a man best known for the Hitchcock movie Psycho. How does this eerie tale look nowadays? Let's start just outside of Stern Brothers' Department Store in New York as a young man enters with the crowds and find out...

The Story: Charles Snell (Perkins) is a poet who has fled the problems of the outside world by hiding in a department store. Turns out he's hardly the only person with that idea. He's discovered by a group of elderly people who have lived in the store for years, headed by seemingly kind Mrs. Monday (Stickney). Ella (Carr) is her gentle servant who was abandoned in the store as a child and has never seen the outside world. Charlie will take her there...if they can evade a disapproving Mrs. Monday and the "dark men" who turn humans into mannequins...

The Song and Dance: Weird little musical does have its charms. Perkins is a better singer than you might think; he and Carr are an especially sweet and sensitive couple. Stickney makes a subtly menacing grand dame, too. Some good songs in Sondheim's score, along with a haunting background score that nicely reflects the odd story. The faded black and white copies currently available actually go a long way to making the low-budget show seem spookier than it actually is. 

Favorite Number: The show kicks off with the driving "If You Can Find Me, I'm Here" as Charles explores the store and reveals why he's there. "I Remember" is Ella's touching solo as she recalls her childhood in the outside world. Charles wonders "When?" he can see Ella again, as Mrs. Monday and the other people living in the department store try to keep them apart. Ella wants Charles to "Take Me to the World" in an outdoors display but Charles isn't sure...until they do finally attempt escape. 

Trivia: Was originally broadcast in color, but the masters have since been lost. 

Bogart wanted to film in Macy's, but they pulled out at the last minute. He ended up filming during the early morning hours in the now-defunct Stern's Department Store in Manhattan instead. Some footage of Perkins outside of Macy's in the opening does survive. 

What I Don't Like: This is one strange musical. I give them credit for the unique plot, based after a short story, but...people living in an underground community in a department store? It's more like a musical Twilight Zone episode and isn't as scary as it would like to be. Bogart's indifferent direction and the cheap and dull production don't help matters. And yes, the horror aspects make this relatively dark, especially for TV in the mid-60's. It's not really for kids, or for people looking for something sunnier and more upbeat. 

The Big Finale:  Worth checking out at least once if you love Sondheim, Perkins, or are looking for a small-scale musical with a fairly dark plot.

Home Media: Out of print and expensive on DVD. Streaming is by far your best bet.

Amazon Prime