Musicals On TV - Alice In Wonderland (Or What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing In a Place Like This?)

ABC, 1966

Voices of Janet Waldo, Allan Melvin, Howard Morris, and Daws Butler

Directed by Alex Lovy

Music by Charles Strouse; Lyrics by Lee Adams

Though Hanna-Barbara is mainly known nowadays for their shorts and TV shows revolving around goofy animal characters like Yogi Bear or for sitcoms like The Flintstones, they made a far wider variety of programming than comedies and funny animal cartoons. This is one of their lesser-known ones, a take on Alice In Wonderland with an all-star cast and music by Broadway vets Strouse and Adams. How does this very modern Alice's travels through Wonderland look today? Let's begin with Alice (Waldo) outside, playing with her dog Fluff (Don Messick), as her father (Melvin) calls her inside to do homework and find out...

The Story: Alice would rather be playing with Fluff, but when she throws the ball one last time, Fluff follows it into the TV set. Alice jumps in after him and finds herself in a very unique Wonderland, populated with two-headed cave-caterpillars (Mel Blanc and Alan Reed), glamorous Hungarian Queens of Hearts (Zsa Zsa Gabor), and scatting hipster Cheshire Cats (Sammy Davis Jr.). All Alice wants is to find Fluff and get home, but the White Rabbit (Morris) is too obsessed with games to help her, the White Knight (Bill Dana) is too shy, and the Mad Hatter (Harvey Korman) and March Hare (Daws Butler) too involved with hats and tea to be of much use. Alice first has to deal with being on trial for her life after the Queen lies about her taking tarts, and then escaping prison with the help of Humpty Dumpty (Melvin).

The Animation: Typical of the Hanna-Barbara cartoons in the 60's, it doesn't really look so hot nowadays. There's some minor effects with the Cheshire Cat's quick changes and Hedda Hopper and her hats, but it generally looks as cheap as it is. The characters move well enough, but there's little detail on the backgrounds, even in Wonderland. This isn't helped by the washed-out copy currently on YouTube, which makes this look a lot less colorful than it likely was.

The Song and Dance: The music and some funny performances carry the day here. Waldo is a charming and adorable mid-60's Alice, especially dealing with the White Rabbit and his games and point system known only to him. Reed and Blanc are a riot as Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble, the only familiar characters who appear, as a two-headed caterpillar singing "They'll Never Split Us Up." Charles and Adams created a decent score, too, with the opening number "Life's a Game" also standing out. 

I also appreciate the relative fidelity to the story. This is one of the few Alice adaptations that limits additions from its sequel Through the Looking Glass to Humpty Dumpty showing up at the very end in prison. Otherwise, it's a pretty decent condensed, modernized version of the first book. 

Favorite Number: We open with that "Life's a Game" number, as the White Rabbit explains to Alice why he treats everything like a game, including finding Fluff. Sammy Davis Jr. sings "What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing In a Place Like This?" as he separates into two, disappears, and appears again. Two-headed caterpillar Fred and Barney do their vaudeville hat and cane routine as they explain to Alice why "They'll Never Split Us Apart." Alice tries to show the gloomy White Knight that "Today's a Wonderful Day" as she romps with small animals around a lovely meadow. Hedda Hopper talk-sings about how different and special all her "Hats" are. Alice despairs of ever being able to say "I'm Home" in the end.

Trivia: There's a record retelling of this story, with Scatman Crothers taking over as the Cheshire Cat, Don Messick as the White Rabbit, Mel Blanc as the March Hare, Daws Butler as the Mad Hatter, Henry Cordon as Fred Flintstone, and Janet Waldo as the Queen of Hearts along with Alice. Apparently there was a one-sided soundtrack with the original cast as well, sold in limited quantities at the drug store chain Rexall that sponsored the show.

What I Don't Like: You can't get much more mid-60's than this. This was likely supposed to be a spoof of TV in 1966, with voices by familiar celebrities of the time...but it's dated rather badly. Of the celebrities and voice actors heard here, Davis, Korman, and to a degree Gabor are probably the only ones even mildly recognizable to audiences today. Fred and Barney are the only familiar characters, making it all the more ironic that their one number pretty much steals the show. Waldo is the only one who gets anywhere near them. 

The Big Finale: Really cute way to pass an hour if you're a fan of the Flintstones or want to see a really different Alice In Wonderland retelling.

Home Media: Never on disc or streaming, the only place you can currently find this one is in a washed-out copy floating around online that admittedly does include the original animated plugs for Rexall and Coca-Cola. The copy on Dailymotion is better, but lacks the plugs.

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Dailymotion

Evita (1996)

Hollywood Pictures, 1996

Starring Madonna, Jonathan Pryce, Antonio Banderas. and Jimmy Nail

Directed by Alan Parker

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber; Lyrics by Tim Rice

Let's switch things up a bit with our last biography of the week. Though Eva Peron began as an actress and dancer, she's best known as the wife of Argentinian lieutenant general Juan Peron. Eva was even more beloved with the much-abused lower-classes of Argentina than her husband, due to her own lower-class background and her ability to speak directly to and relate to them. Even now, the Perons and their years ruling Argentina are highly controversial in and out of South America. 

Andrew Lloyd Webber released a concept album revolving around her reign in 1976. It became a full-fledged musical in 1978 and was a hit in productions around the world. It took almost 20 years to bring Evita's story to the big screen, with the production running through multitudes of directors and scriptwriters. How does it look nowadays, with the world and politics once again in upheaval? Let's begin in 1952 just as the owner of a movie house in Buenos Aires, Argentina announces the death of beloved political figure Eva Peron and find out...

The Story: After our narrator Che (Banderas) decries all the media hype around Evita's death, he takes us back to her beginnings in 1934. Eva Duarte (Madonna) is determined to get out of Juanin and find her destiny in Buenos Aires. She hitches a ride with tango dancer and writer Agustin Magdali after she meets him at one of her shows, but once she's in the city, she doesn't stay with him for long. Every lover she falls in with is another step up the ladder, from model to radio star and movie actress. 

She first meets Juan Peron (Pryce) at a charity ball for the devastating 1944 San Juan earthquake and is immediately taken by him. They have a similar background, with him also coming from humble beginnings, and share the same desire to elevate the ignored common man in Argentina. Evita even goes on a "Rainbow Tour" of Europe. Spain adores her, but Italians are still wary of Fascism and attack her car. The English won't even see her. 

Eva is not in good shape when she finally returns home. She does start a fund for the poor and gains Argentinian women the right to vote, but she's seen less and less, and becomes more and more tired. Che asks her what she's really done with her life, before it slips away, making both of them wonder if it was really for the people...or for her own glory.

The Song and Dance: Madonna spent over a decade begging for this part...and she was right. She's a wonderful Eva, coquettish enough to make you understand why all those men fall for her, yet tough and ambitious enough to capture Juan Peron's attention. Pryce and Banderas more than match her as the general who becomes dictator with the help of his devoted wife and those who adore her and the "common man" who sees all, sings all, and knows even more. 

Disney spared no expense on the production, too. Thousands of extras hang onto Eva's every word. There's gorgeous gowns and luxurious furs that show Eva's lavish lifestyle, filming in Budapest to stand in for Buenos Aires, and enormous sets representing other landmarks in Argentina like the Casa Rosada where Evita gave her famous speeches to the public. 

Favorite Number: We open with the people mourning in "A Cinema In Buenos Aires, 1952" and the instrumental and chorus "Requiem for Evita" as people around Argentina cry for one of their own. Che decries the mass hysteria surrounding her death in "Oh What a Circus." He finally takes us back to the young Eva, as she remembers when she first met Agustin ("On This Night of a Thousand Stars"). She's warned "Eva Beware of the City," but she's so happy to be leaving Juanin, she doesn't really care. She's on the train to "Buenos Aires." 

She rapidly works up the ladder, using powerful men and common men alike to get herself out of the gutter and into a place of power. It's just "Another Suitcase In Another Hall." "Goodnight and Thank You" has Banderas singing about the 1942 coup and how Eva switched from pursuing photographers and directors to politicians. "Hello and Goodbye" and "I'd Be Surprisingly Good to You" introduces Juan Peron to Eva, who becomes "Juan's Latest Flame." Even after he's arrested, she still promises "A New Argentina" if he's made president.

After Juan is elected president, Eva gives her famous speeches "On the Balcony of the Casa Rosada." In between, she tells her country "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina." Che reminds her at a government ball that she's now "High Flying, Adored," but those who fly too fast and too hard often fall even faster. Eva thinks she's on a "Rainbow High," but as Che points out, her famous "Rainbow Tour" isn't as successful as the government paints it. Che thinks "The Actress Hasn't Learned the Lines (You Want to Hear)" as Eva spends money trying to woo the aristocracy, who aren't impressed with her donations to the poor. After all, "And the Money Kept Rolling In (and Out)." 

"Pardito Feminista" shows Eva's work for the poor as Juan insists "She's a Diamond." Even as Eva realizes just how sick she is, she imagines herself swirling with the scolding Che in a "Waltz for Eva and Che." As Che reminds her, "Your Little Body Is Breaking Down." Eva is more worried about how her husband will react to her cancer in the Oscar-nominated ballad "You Must Love Me." "Eva's Final Broadcast" takes place shortly before her death in a reprise of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina," while she and Che end with a "Lament" that she wasn't able to do more.

Trivia: Evita began as a concept album by Webber and Rice in 1976. It went over well enough for them to do a fully-staged version of the show in London in 1978 and on Broadway a year later. Both shows were hits, with the London version running six years, and the Broadway show four. The 2006 London revival didn't go over well. It went slightly better on Broadway in 2012, running over a year. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, like most of Webber's big epic rock operas, this is not a feel-good musical. It's a dark, dark story about one of history's most controversial leaders. It's also not for families. We see all the violence going on in Argentina with all the coups and strikes before, during, and after Peron's regime, not to mention the insinuated sex with Eva's constantly changing partners and the talk of politics, Fascism, and South American history. Argentinians were so incensed with the depiction of one of their most beloved historical figures, they put out a government-sanctioned film that dove further into Evita's life around the same time. 

This is also a very long movie, over two hours. Not to mention, it's a through-sung opera with no dialogue. That would be a hard sell for even for a more upbeat movie. It's also a huge movie, with tons of extras, an epic story spanning three decades and a major war. It's not for those who prefer their musicals simpler or fluffier. There's also the simple fact that, while Evita and her controversial reign is still much-discussed in South America, she's not as well-known in the northern half of the world. I'd never even heard of her myself until I read about this show. 

The Big Finale: Powerhouse performances from the three leads and the breathtaking production makes this worth checking out for adult fans of Madonna, Webber and Rice, or Banderas, those with an interest in world history, or folks who like their musicals on the bigger side. 

Home Media: In print on DVD, but fairly expensive at the moment. Between the current price and the length, you might be better off streaming this one.

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Amazon Prime

Selena

Warner Bros, 1997

Starring Jennifer Lopez, Edward James Olmos, Constance Marie, and Jon Seda

Directed by Gregory Nava

Music and Lyrics by various

Our next tragic singer has a lot in common with Richie Valens. Selena Quintanilla-Perez was even more popular in the early-mid 90's, especially among Spanish-speaking audiences. She too became a huge crossover star with the world at her feet, she also came from a large supportive Mexican-American family,  she started her career even earlier than Valens...and her death after  being murdered by her own manager was even more horrific and senseless. How much more? Let's start at one of Selena's (Lopez) last concerts in February 1995, shortly before her death, and find out...

The Story: Selena begins her career at the age of 9, when her father Abraham (Olmos) notices what a wonderful singer she is and how much she gets into the music. Abraham once had a music group in the early 60's, but they were attacked for not singing Mexican music and for not being American. He promotes Selena as the lead singer, with her brother A.B (Jacob Vargas) on bass and sister Suzette (Jackie Guerra) on drums. The kids would rather be out playing and protest this at first, until the discover that they actually like making music together.

At first, Abraham starts them playing Mexican restaurants and carnivals. It doesn't go over until Selena adds dancing and her own sparkling personality. They continue playing local fairs through 1989, when Selena displays her midriff during a performance, to her father's horror. He's even more upset when she falls for Chris Perez (Seda), a hard rock guitarist she and A.B talk her father into hiring. He tries to fire him after his former band mates trash a hotel room, but his children beg to keep him for the upcoming Mexican tour. Selena doesn't speak a word of Spanish, but her winning personality finally wins the Mexican people over, especially after she manages to calm a crowd that nearly causes the stage she performs on to buckle.

By 1994, Selena is riding high. She and Chris get married after Abraham refuses to accept their relationship otherwise, and EMI Latin wants her to record an English-language album. She even starts her own designer boutique and asks her fan club president Yolanda Salvidar (Lupe Ontiveros) to run it. Salvidar proves to be less-than trustworthy when paperwork and money for her fan club and boutique go missing, but Selena's attempt to confront her about it has tragic consequences.

The Song and Dance: Once again, a well-chosen cast is highlighted by a break-out performance. Jennifer Lopez, who went on to become a superstar in her own right, is a wonderful Selena. She beautifully captures her vivacity and energy onstage and her tender naivety off of it. She even makes a believable teenager. Olmos and Seda more than match her as her strong-willed father who is determined his daughter will find the spotlight that was denied him due to prejudice and the soft-spoken guitarist who is willing to change his life for this beautiful girl.

Thanks to the cooperation of the real Quintanilla-Perez family, this comes off as authentic as possible at the time. The music is mostly real recordings of Selena's concerts. The costumes Lopez wears are based after her actual designs. The concerts were filmed at venues where she performed. This time, the cast is almost entirely Mexican-American, or at least Latina. Even little Rebecca Lee Meza, who plays the young Selena, is a delight, showing us a little girl who loves singing, but also just wants to be a kid who enjoys playing and dancing to Donna Summer.

Favorite Number: We open with that early 1995 concert as Selena vivaciously performs a medley of "I Will Survive," "Last Dance," and "On the Radio." Jumping back to 1961, we learn that her father and a couple of his friends formed a singing group called the Dinos, mainly performing "We Belong Together." An American cafe rejects them out of prejudice, and Mexicans nearly cause a riot when they don't find their smooth sound right for dancing. 

Years later, 9-year-old Selena joins her father playing "We Belong Together."  He's so impressed, he convinces the kids to take up the drums and bass and turns them into a group, Selena and the Dinos. "Over the Rainbow" works at his wife's Mexican restaurant, but carnival attendants have no interest in "Blue Moon." After Selena's mother (Marie) encourages her to add more dancing and let her vivacious personality shine, Selena becomes a big hit, singing "No Me Quea Mas" even as her mother defends her right to wear a bustier in her act. We get a medley of her playing larger clubs in increasingly sexier costumes to the tune of "Balia Esta Cumbia."

"Como La Flor" is the song that gets so hot and has so many people crowding around the stage to catch a glimpse of her, the stage nearly buckles until Selena slows things down and encourages people to move away from the stage. We hear "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" as her performances, venues...and confidence...grow even larger. After she's drafted to make her first English-language album, we see her recording what would become one of two huge hits from that album, "I Could Fall In Love." She finishes up that show we saw her performing in the beginning with "Is It the Beat?" She starts to sing the other major hit from that English-language album, "Dreaming of You," until we see a rose thrown at her feet...and a montage of her tragic death and its aftermath.

What I Don't Like: Even more than La Bamba, this movie leans heavily on the sentimental side. It was heavily made with the approval of Selena's family, so there's not a lot that's negative about her. Keep in mind too that this was made just two years after her death, and the events were still fresh in people's minds then. There's also the fact that she was a huge superstar at the time who was worshiped by many, including her own family. The movie does get a little soap-opera-ish, especially in the second half that has more emphasis on Selena's relationship with Chris.

The Big Finale: Actually, this would make a nice double feature with La Bamba if you're a fan of Latin rock, Lopez, or Selena herself. 

Home Media: Easily found on disc and streaming; currently free at Tubi with commercials.

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Tubi

La Bamba

Columbia Pictures, 1987

Starring Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Danielle von Zerneck, and Rosanna DeSoto

Directed by Luis Valdez

Music and Lyrics by various

This week, we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with three biographies of famous Latinos whose lives ended tragically. Richie Valens was on the cusp of a major career when he was among those who lost their lives in the 1959 plane crash that also claimed the lives of Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. Valens was the youngest of the trio at 17 when the crash occurred, with two huge hits roaring up the charts in "La Bamba" and "Donna." He was only a teen with his life ahead of him, but fate had much sadder plans. How well does this movie capture his life and the events leading up to the crash? Let's begin with a nightmare, as Richie (Phillips) recalls his best friend's death after debris from a plane crash fell on his school, and find out...

The Story: Richie Valenzuela lives with his mother Connie (DeSoto) and his younger siblings in Northern California. He works as a farm hand to make money for the family after school, but his heart is really in the brand-new world of rock and roll. When his older brother Bob (Morales) gets out of prison, he encourages all of them to leave the farm and move south to the San Fernando Valley with him and his girlfriend Rosie (Elizabeth Pena). 

Their lives aren't much easier in Southern California. Even as Richie falls for sweet Donna (von Zerneck) at school, Bob becomes an alcoholic and abuses Rosie. Richie joins a local band, the Silhouettes, and starts playing gigs. He eventually moves up to leader of the group after the original singer is voted out. Unfortunately, Bob continues to make trouble, starting a brawl at one of the parties they play at. Fortunately, producer Bob Keane (Joe Pantoliano) is impressed with Richie's playing anyway and offers him a contract. 

Richie becomes a smash success with hits like "Come On, Let's Go," but things aren't going as well elsewhere in his life. Bob is jealous and resentful of the attention he gets from their mother, and Donna's father (Sam Anderson) won't let her date a Mexican-American. Richie writes "Donna" in the hope of convincing her father he's worthy of her. He's even able to conquer his fear of flying and appear on American Bandstand. He's excited when he's asked to join the Winter Dance Party tour with Buddy Holly (Marshall Crenshaw), the Big Bopper (Stephen Lee) and Dion and the Belmonts. He even manages to make up with Bob the night before he's hoping to finally conquer that fear of flying by riding in a small plane with Holly and the Big Bopper to their next tour date...

The Song and Dance: This one is all about the music and Phillips' raw and open performance. He became a star after this came out, and it's not surprising. Despite being at least seven years older than Richie was when he died, Phillips beautifully captures the ambitious teenager's energy and rebellious spirit. Morales and DeSoto are also excellent as his resentful, troubled older brother and the mother who loves her sons but seemingly favors Richie. Location shooting in California adds to the feeling of intimacy. There's some terrific cameos, too. As a long-time Brian Setzer fan, his short but memorable appearance as early rock pioneer Eddie Cochran was my favorite.

Favorite Number: Our first full number is Richie tearing through "Rip It Up" in his audition for the Silhouettes. Their original singer's attempts at "Charlena" and "Goodnight My Love" at the first garage party are embarrassingly amateurish and overly dramatic. Let's say, he's no Elvis. Richie shows how bad he was at a club, where they perform "Oh Boy!" with his brother on the drums. Even his mother ends up dancing along. The second garage party begins well, with Richie and his band really getting into his hit "Ooh My Head," Unfortunately, the second number, "Framed," is marred by his brother showing up and starting a brawl.

Bob Keane discovers him singing his own "Paddi-Wack Song" for his siblings' birthday at their home. He eventually gets him to record "We Belong Together," which becomes a montage of him and Donna making out at the movies and falling for each other. His second recorded number is another familiar hit, "Come On, Let's Go." Keane scolds him for not recording the lyrics as written, but Richie wants to sing how he feels it. He sings "Donna" in a phone booth in the hope of getting through to her after her father forbids her from seeing him. Richie first hears the title song in a brothel in Tijuana; he adapts it as his other major hit (and the major hit from this movie). 

After a fuller reprise of "Donna" in the studio, Richie hits the road to appear in American Bandstand. Brian Setzer does even better, really rocking Eddie Cochran's major hit "Summertime Blues" and impressing Richie and the viewers. Howard Huntsbury has just as much fun when we see him performing Jackie Wilson's hit "Lonely Teardrops." Richie finally gets to be equally impressive with the full "La Bamba" that's so energetic, the audience claps along. Marshall Crenshaw does a passable Buddy Holly with his "Crying, Waiting, Hoping." 

Trivia: Though Valens really did win his seat on the plane in a coin toss, he wasn't one of the ones who got sick. The Big Bopper was the one who got the flu, and he begged Buddy Holly's bassist Waylon Jennings for the chance to ride in the heated plane. Valens did his fateful coin toss with Tommy Allsup in their dressing rooms at the Surf Ballroom, not on the airplane hanger. 

The title song became a top ten hit all over again in late summer 1987 for Los Lobos, who performed all of Richie's songs in the movie. 

Frankly, that Winter Party Tour seems to have been doomed from the start. It was badly organized, with the singers criss-crossing the Midwest in ancient busses with no heat that were forever breaking down instead of going in a normal circular pattern. In fact, Holly chartered that plane so he could get to their next destination and get laundry done before the next show. It did continue after the deaths of the main attractions, and even gave Bobby Vee his start as the replacement for Valens. 

What I Don't Like: I'll pass Phillips actually being Filipino-American on the basis of his great performance, but I do wish there had been more Latinos represented in the cast. Not all of the performances land, either. Van Zerneck is cute but not a whole lot else, and Pena mostly disappears in the second half when the focus shifts to Richie's career and the brothers. The dialogue can get a little stilted at times, especially during more dramatic discussions or some of the obvious foreshadowing with Richie's fear of planes.

The Big Finale: Highly recommended for fans of classic rock or Chicano rock for the great music and Phillips' sterling performance. 

Home Media: Easily found on disc and streaming. The Criterion Collection re-released it on disc last year. 

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Musicals On Streaming - 13: The Musical

Netflix, 2022

Starring Eli Golden, Gabriella Uhl, Debra Messing, and JD McCrary

Directed by Tamra Davis

Music and Lyrics by Jason Robert Brown

Like The Prom, another recent school musical currently playing on Netflix, this began life as a teen-oriented Broadway show in 2008. In fact, it was Broadway's first show with a cast and band featuring nothing but teenagers. Also like The Prom, it wasn't a success then, but was still optioned for a movie anyway. CBS Films originally planned on producing it, but after they were folded into Paramount in 2019, it moved to Netflix. Let's start in New York, as almost-thirteen-year-old Evan Goldman (Golden) explains his dilemma and see what's different about this school story besides the cast being mostly kids...

The Story: Evan is devastated when his mother Jessica (Messing) and father Joel (Peter Hermann) split up after he's caught seeing a stewardess. Jessica takes Evan to her mother Ruth's (Rhea Pearlman) home in Walkerton, Indiana. Evan spends his summer hanging around with his energetic neighbor Patrice (Uhl) and her wheelchair-bound buddy Archie (Johnathan Lengel). 

He desperately wants football player Brett (JD McCrary) and cheerleader Kendra (Lindsay Blackwell) to come to his Bar Mitzvah party and even agrees to bring the two together for their first kiss at an R-rated slasher flick. Upset at being left out due to the cool kids thinking she's a nerd, Patrice blows the whistle on them. Lucy (Frankie McNellis), Kendra's ambitious best friend, is the one who finally kisses Brett. Evan knows he's made mistakes, but it's his parents who ultimately remind him that mistakes can be fixed and they're not the end of the world.

The Song and Dance: This wound up being very sweet. The kids are uniformly terrific, with Goldman and Uhl the standouts as the kid who just wants to fit in and the girl who is happy being her. I also give them kudos for the wonderfully diverse cast that includes wheelchair-bound Lengel and a story that revolves around an important Jewish ritual that many people might not be familiar with. Some of the adults aren't bad, either. Messing is a lovely, patient mother, and Pearlman is a riot as her sensible mother. 

Favorite Number: We open in New York City with the title song as Ethan explains his parents' divorce and why he doesn't want to leave. Patrice spends their summer showing him "The Lamest Place In the World." Kendra and Brett claim "I've Been Waiting" for their first kiss. Lucy leads the cheerleaders through a lively and well-choreographed routine as she insists on waiting for her "Opportunity" to catch Brett. The kids all sing about seeing the R-rated horror movie "The Bloodmaster" and what that means for them and that they're "Getting Ready" for their movie dates. 

The members of the football team try to tell Brett that the clingy Lucy is "Bad, Bad News" in their own big choreographed number. "It Would Be Funny," laments Evan and his mother, if mistakes didn't hurt so much. "Tell Her" goes from Evan encouraging Brett to apologize to Kendra to all of the kids apologizing to each other. "Evan's Haftorah" begins with him reciting the chant, but becomes "A Little More Homework" as he and the other kids realize they still have a lot of growing up to do. It ends with the kids declaring it's time to create a "Brand New You" at Evan's Bar Mitzvah party.

Trivia: 13 began as a smaller production in Los Angeles in 2007. It finally opened on Broadway in 2008, but couldn't find an audience and barely lasted three months. It didn't make a week on the West End in 2012. It's done far better as a regional and school production, particularly for middle schools with actors in the appropriate age range. 

What I Don't Like: Apparently, this was greatly changed from Broadway. Lucy was a lot meaner - and wasn't redeemed in the end - and Evan finally told Brett off after Lucy spread a rumor that Evan was after Kendra. There were no adults at all, not even Evan's mother, and they stayed with a friend, not his grandmother. A lot of songs were cut, including a song for Evan and the rabbis helping him with his Bar Mitzvah speech, "Being a Geek," Patrice's solo "Good Enough," the song revolving around that cut subplot with Lucy "It Can't Be True," and another that made more of Archie's "Terminal Illness." 

And while I give them credit for the diversity and spotlighting the Jewish faith, a lot of this is mired in school and coming-of-age cliches. It's nothing you haven't seen in similar Disney and Nickelodeon movie musicals featuring all or nearly-all-teen casts. The idea of an all-teen cast was more novel in 2008 than it was over 15 years later after all those Disney Channel originals came and went, too.

The Big Finale: Lively school tale with great music and a diverse cast is worth checking out for real-life thirteen-year-olds and their parents as they return to school and try to figure out their place in the world.

Home Media: This is a Netflix exclusive at the moment.

Netflix

Back to School Again - Pigskin Parade

20th Century Fox, 1936

Starring Patsy Kelly, Jack Haley, Stuart Irwin, and Judy Garland

Directed by David Butler

Music by Lew Pollack; Lyrics by Sidney D. Mitchell

We move west to Texas for our next college football musical. There's a lot more history in this one than you might think. This was Judy Garland's first major role, on loan to Fox from MGM, and one of Betty Grable's bigger roles at the time. Irwin had been specializing in big goofy guys since the time of Sweetie; this wound up being one of his rare starting roles. Patsy Kelly was coming from shorts, Jack Haley from his success in the Shirley Temple vehicle Poor Little Rich Girl. How do they fare as married coaches who recruit a talented hillbilly to play against Yale? Let's start at Yale as the professors there try to decide who should play their football team in a big charity game and find out...

The Story: One of their younger assistants accidentally invites Texas State University to play them. They haven't won a game in years, but the students believe their luck is changing when former high school coach Slug Winters (Haley) and his wife Bessie (Patsy Kelly). Bessie is really the one who knows something about football, and it's her suggestions that really begin to whip the team into shape.

Just as it looks like the team might have a chance against Yale, their quarterback Biff Bentley (Fred Kohler Jr.) breaks his leg. Desperate for a replacement, Bessie and Slug discover a shy hillbilly named Amos (Erwin) who can throw a watermelon farther than the pros. They bring him and his sister Sairy (Garland) to Texas State U under assumed names. Amos falls hard for co-ed Sally Saxon (Arline Judge), to the frustration of her wealthy boyfriend Mortimer (Grady Sutton). Amos almost leaves when he thinks Sally isn't interested in him, but the Winters convince him to stay for the Yale game. Inclement conditions could prevent Texas State from winning, until Bessie remembers how Amos likes to feel the earth between his toes...

The Song and Dance: Adorable football musical makes the most of its goofy premise with a terrific cast and some lively numbers. Irwin made such a delightfully sweet hillbilly, he got a nod for Best Supporting Actor in 1937. Garland already shines in her first movie, especially in her three big numbers. She's such an enthusiastic kid, you can't liking her. The movie really belongs to Kelly and Haley, and they, pardon the football pun, run with the ball. Kelly in particular is a blast as one of the few female coaches in filmdom. 

Favorite Number: We don't get our first number until almost 15 minutes in, but it's the students singing Texas State's rousing alma mater. Tony Martin, in one of his earliest roles, joins Dixie Dunbar for "You're Slightly Terrific" at the school pep rally, with Dixie leading the students in an energetic dance routine. The Yacht Boys get their first of many numbers at the rally with the adorably silly "Woo Woo!" Three lovely ladies join them at the homecoming dance for "We'd Rather Be In College," much to their surprise! They also lead campus radical Elisha Cook Jr. through "Down With Everything" as they try to get him arrested so Amos can use his name.

Judy finally gets to show what she can do with the dance number "The Balboa" to earn enough for the trip to Yale. Dixie Dunbar and Betty Grable lead the wild arms-and-legs two-step. Slug tries to seduce Sally back into Amos' arms with "You Do the Darnedest Things, Baby." Judy really makes the crowds at the train station to see the team off go crazy with her vivacious "The Texas Tornado." She also gets "It's Love I'm After" with a chorus of cowboys before the game. The Yacht Boys return near the end of the game...but they're embarrassed to perform "We Brought the Texas Sunshine Here With Us" during halftime in a major blizzard. The film ends with Texas State's band and the entire cast joyfully reprising "The Texas Tornado."

Trivia: Filming was reportedly a nightmare. A misfired gun in the crowd sequence towards the end sent one student extra to the hospital and injured three others, students sprained their ankles and hurt their necks during the fast-paced marching scene, and there was a fire on the train station set that the cast had to help put out. 

"It's Love I'm After" was originally intended for Betty Grable and Johnny Downs, but their version was cut. Judy also had a number dropped from the film, "Hold That Bulldog," though it is mentioned in the credits. The audio for "Love I'm After" survives, but "Hold That Bulldog" is completely gone. 

What I Don't Like: This is riddled with cliches of the highest order. They're better-presented than in Sweetie, but it still isn't anything you haven't seen before. It's Sweetie crossed with the slobs vs snobs comedies of the 1980's and the hillbilly B musicals of the 60's. It also doesn't treat campus protests and radicals any better than C'mon, Let's Live a Little did almost 30 years later. Though Cook Jr.'s character isn't a villain, he's blown off and treated as a joke by the other students. And if you're looking for more from Grable, you're going to be disappointed. She's limited to a barely-there love interest role and her part in "The Balboa."

The Big Finale: This wound up being a pleasant surprise. Judy Garland's first musical doesn't reinvent the game, but it is a lovely way to spend an hour and a half if you're a fan of her or any of the stars or want to see a good school-set movie. 

Home Media: The Fox Marquee Musicals DVD is hard to find, but it may turn up used. You're better off streaming this one. 

DVD

Amazon Prime

Back to School Again - Horse Feathers

Paramount, 1932

Starring The Marx Brothers, Thelma Todd, and David Landau

Directed by Norman Z. McLeod

Music by Harry Ruby; Lyrics by Bert Kalmar

We skip ahead a few years for our second college football tale featuring three of the least-likely players in film history. The Marx Brothers were at the top of the movie heap when this debuted. Their first three films were critical and financial successes, and this one would continue that streak. Having parodied land speculation, the art world, and cruise ships and their wealthy clientele in their first three films, they took on no less than higher education in the fourth. How well do they do spoofing college sports cliches that continue to turn up to this day? Let's begin as the new dean Professor Wagstaff (Groucho) arrives at Huxley College and find out...

The Story: Wagstaff's son Frank (Zeppo) convinces his father to hire two professional football players to bump up the roster on Huxley's losing team. He actually ends up hiring ice seller Bavarelli (Chico) and dog catcher Pinky (Harpo) at a speakeasy to help Huxley defeat their rival Darwin University. College widow Connie Bailey (Todd) has been seeing Frank, but she ends up attempting to seduce all the other three as well. After Wagstaff realizes he's hired the wrong guys, he sends Bavarelli and Pinky to kidnap the players. The players end up stealing their clothes and locking them in, but they manage to escape in time for the wildest "big game" on record.

Oh, and you CAN burn a candle at both ends. And the password is always "swordfish." 

The Song and Dance: The Marx Brothers' fourth big-screen outing is more than equal to their earlier adventures. The sequences with Harpo, Chico, and Groucho trying to give the password at the speakeasy and them courting Todd are worth the price of admission. Kalmar and Ruby came up with a pretty decent score, too, including the standard "Everyone Says 'I Love You.'" 

This is also one of the few Marx Brothers movies with no young lovers taking away from the main story. Todd's no dewy-eyed ingenue, but a comedy scene-stealer in her own right. Check out her reactions to the Marxes when they each perform "Everyone Says." The wacky football finale is one of the best ending action sequences from any of their movies, including the truly insane "chariot race" in Chico's ice seller cart.

Favorite Number: We open with Groucho explaining his philosophy of life in pretty much everything he did, "Whatever It Is, I'm Against It,"  to the shocked staff and amused students of Huxtley. "I Always Get My Man" is his number with Zeppo and the students as his attempts teach a biology class degenerate into chaos. (Making this spoof one of the few vintage college movies to actually spend time in a classroom.) Chico plays "Collegiate" and his own "I'm Daffy Over You" on the piano, while Harpo gets a lovely harp solo.

"Everyone Says I Love You" starts off fairly normal, with Zeppo singing the sweet number to Todd to explain how much he likes her. Things get a lot weirder when each of his brothers try to serenade Todd with it in their own way. It becomes Harpo's harp solo and a comic dialect number for Chico. Groucho gives her the sarcastic version in a rowboat on a lake (while she's rowing).

Trivia: Like Animal Crackers, this was edited to bring it up to the standards of the Production Code in 1935. Among the missing bits are more of the sequence in Connie's apartment and a Harpo gag with a grapefruit in the speakeasy scene. A far more savage ending that featured the Marxes playing cards while Huxtley burned to the ground was filmed but not used. 

Chico Marx got into a car accident during filming, which is why he can be seen limping in several sequences and is frequently shown sitting down. 

The term "college widow" showed up a lot in these early school-set musicals. They were young women who hung around colleges trying to pick up young men, as Connie does with Frank here.

What I Don't Like: As with most of the Marx Brothers films, some of the gags have dated better than others. Many viewers nowadays may not even be aware of what a speakeasy or a college widow were. The supporting cast is barely there. It's the Brothers and Todd all the way, with a little interference from villainous Landau. If you're not into the Brothers and their brand of comedy, this is probably not the place for you. 

The Big Finale: Marx Brothers fans will find a great deal to enjoy in this farcical take on football and higher education. 

Home Media: Not currently streaming, but fairly easy to find on disc, solo and as part of a collection with the other Paramount Marx Brothers movies. 

DVD

DVD - The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection

Blu-Ray - The Marx Brothers Silver Screen Collection

Back to School Again - Sweetie (1929)

Paramount, 1929

Starring Nancy Carroll, Stanley Smith, Helen Kane, and Jack Oakie

Directed by Frank Tuttle

Music by Richard Whiting; Lyrics by George Marion Jr.

First of all, Musical Dreams Movie Reviews is going on vacation hiatus from September 22nd through the 30th. Reviews will resume October 1st. To make up for that, you'll be getting an extra review on Wednesday every week for the rest of the month.

Second, we kick off Back to School week with one of the oldest college-related film musicals. Movies with college settings go back to the silent era, complete with football games, homecoming dances, strict deans, and flappers chasing only slightly reluctant class presidents. College musicals had become especially popular in the late 20's, thanks to the success of the Broadway show Good News. This is Paramount's answer to that rush. How does the story of a chorus girl who inherits a university look nowadays? Let's enter the campuses of The Pellham School and Miss Twill's School for Girls in North Carolina and find out...

The Story: Barbara Pell (Carroll) is shocked when she inherits Pellham from a deceased uncle. Her former boyfriend Biff Bentley (Smith) was going to marry her, but he opted to stay at Pellham and finish out the football season instead. He's one of the reasons they're having their best season ever. Barbara's furious with him. She quit her Broadway job to be with him and was dumped back in the chorus when he left her. 

She first gives him tests on football days, then claims she'll sell the college to their rival school and let him knock it down. Even her Broadway buddy Tap-Tap Thompson (Oakie) knows that's pushing things too far. While Biff tries to prove to Barbara that she means as much to him as football does, Miss Twill's student Helen Fry (Kane) is up trees shooting boys in the rear, especially Biff's fellow football player Axel Bronstrup (Stuart Erwin). 

The Song and Dance: Carroll and the supporting cast are the standouts here. Kane shows the feisty cooing that made her the inspiration for Betty Boop, and Oakie has a fine time hamming it up as the dancer who ends up deciding he might actually like higher education. Carroll also has some good moments, especially early-on when she drops Biff after he claims he wants to finish the season. Paramount really jumped into this one, with lovely gowns and suits for the homecoming dance and a genuine field for the guys to play that all-important game on in the end. It honesty moves pretty fast for an early talkie film, with more vitality than most of them.

Favorite Number: Our first song is "Bear Down, Pellham." This sentimental fight song is what convinces Biff to stay at school and on the football team, after he hears his fellow team members singing it, looks into a mirror, and remembers what it feels like to be a football hero. Jack Oakie and the chorus girls have an instrumental tap routine at a Broadway theater after Barbara returns to the chorus that she's having a hard time keeping up with. 

Biff and Barbara perform the ballad "My Sweeter Than Sweet" on a simple piano as the school decorates for the homecoming dance. Helen boop-oop-a-doops through the only standard from this score, "He's So Unusual," looking every inch like a live-action Betty Boop. She and Oakie teach the kids decorating the lively routine "The Prep Step" for the dance. Oakie sings the goofy Al Jolson parody "Alma Mammy" at the school dance. All of the kids eventually join in for the closest thing this gets to a big dance routine. Helen tries to explain to Erwin when he climbs a ladder to her window that "I Think You'll Like It." The students briefly reprise "Alma Mammy" at the big game in very strange blackface masks that are probably supposed to represent Jolson. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, Smith is so dull, especially compared to hams like Kane and Oakie, that you wonder why Barbara wanted revenge on him to begin with. Though she does eventually rescind on her plans when she realizes how important football is to the school, Barbara's scheme to shut down an entire college just because her boyfriend dumped her for 8 months seems annoyingly petty. 

And yeah, this is an early talkie school musical. The story is cliched other than the angle of Barbara inheriting the school, only "He's So Unusual" stands out among the songs, and though the copy currently on YouTube is in surprisingly decent shape for the era, it still occasionally slows down and shows scenes of people sitting and talking.

The Big Finale: Mainly for fans of Carroll, Kane, Oakie, or the movies of the pre-Code late 20's and early 30's. 

Home Media: To my knowledge, this can only be found at YouTube at the moment, but the copy is in surprisingly decent shape.

YouTube