Showing posts with label Mame. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mame. Show all posts

Monday, 11 July 2016

I feel like peckin' and bunny huggin'



Yesterday was the 85th birthday of that immensely talented Great Man of Showbiz, Mr Jerry Herman! He has a special place in our hearts here at Dolores Delargo Towers, being the creator of such faboo musicals as Hello Dolly!, La Cage Aux Folles, Dear World, Mack and Mabel and Mame.

On this Tacky Music Monday, to brighten up the start to another no doubt godawful week in the stuffy office, here's a song from the latter. Usually known for the version by Angela Lansbury, here's not one, but two renditions of That's How Young I Feel - first an unexpected one from Miss Ginger Rogers and her "safety gays":


...outdone and outshone (of course) by this bizarre version, featuring the combination of Miss Carol Channing and Mr Tommy Tune!


I wonder if Mr Herman's singing this to himself?

Jerry Herman (born 10th July 1931)

Tuesday, 16 October 2012

Blow a kiss. Take a bow.



Today is the 87th birthday of a truly wonderful icon - an inspiration for showbiz queens everywhere, Miss Angela Brigid Lansbury!

Quite rightly, we have Miss Lansbury in the top row of our pantheon of patron saints, and I have paid tribute to the lady on many occasions before - and will do again, no doubt.

Complementing her screen roles/vocal characterisation in Gaslight, The Manchurian Candidate, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Beauty and the Beast and of course Murder She Wrote, Miss Lansbury is THE star of Broadway - Gypsy, Mame, Sweeney Todd and A Little Night Music being her triumphs. We love her, and hope her much-anticipated "final" West End stage appearance does indeed take place, so we can finally see the grande dame in the flesh...

Here she is in glittering form, performing her show-stopper Mame at the 1975 Tony awards:


Here, she tackles one of our eternal theme tunes here at Dolores Delargo Towers, Everything's Coming Up Roses:


...and after that, it's time for some gentle exercise:


I'm exhausted! Yet she's 87!

Angela Lansbury on Wikipedia

Monday, 5 December 2011

You've given us the drive again



Oh dear, where do these bloody weekends disappear to?

On this Tacky Music Monday, let us ease ourselves back into the drudgery of another week tied to our desks in the estimable company of none other than Miss Diana Ross, here doing a few of her spectacular Broadway tributes (from the 70s show Getting It Together)!




Enjoy!

Wednesday, 8 December 2010

Jerry Herman honoured in style



On Sunday 5th December, the 33rd Annual Kennedy Center Honours celebrated, among others the talents and contributions of one of our icons here at Dolores Delargo Towers, none other than composer and lyricist Jerry Herman, the genius behind Hello, Dolly!, La Cage Aux Folles, Mame and Mack and Mabel, among other camp classics.

Speaking of camp - the line-up of stars who turned out (or were wheeled out in some cases!) sounds tremendous!

Our divine mother Angela Lansbury introduced the tribute. Kelsey Grammer (as Zaza) led a chorus of dancing "girls" on We Are What We Are from La Cage.

The triumph of art over nature that is the wonderful Carol Channing then sang Hello, Jerry (Hello, Dolly) with lyrics especially adapted for the occasion.

The sexy Matthew Morrison of Glee (who is apparently not gay - as these pictures prove) performed It's Today from Mame, and two of our favourite showgirls, none other than Christine Baranski and Christine Ebersole, teamed up for Bosom Buddies.

A host of Broadway stars did their turn - Laura Benanti sang the beautiful Time Heals Everything from Mack and Mabel, and returning to Hello Dolly!, Sutton Foster performed Before the Parade Passes By, and Kelli O'Hara and Matthew Bomer duetted on It Only Takes a Moment.

Leading the finale, living legend Chita Rivera sang and danced to I Don't Want to Know (from Dear World) and the tribute concluded with two of Mr Herman's greatest songs, I Am What I Am and The Best of Times.

Now if that isn't a celebration, then I don't know what is!!

The show is not going to be televised in the US until December 28th so there is no footage of this glittering gala available yet - and somehow I doubt it will even get a mention on telly here in the UK. But I'll be looking out for it!

PS Apparently also honoured on the night were Sir Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey, Merle Haggard and choreographer and director Bill T. Jones.

Kennedy Center Honours 2010



STOP PRESS

Here it is!

Thursday, 10 July 2008

You're lookin swell, Dolly



"There is never an evening when, somewhere in the world, the music and lyrics of Jerry Herman are not being sung by a lady in a red headdress, or a lady with a bugle, or a middle-aged man in a wig and a boa."

The grand-daddy of the high-kicking, sequinned camp showbiz number Jerry Herman celebrates his 77th birthday today!

We love Jerry - another of those wonderful out gay men who keep Broadway and the West End alive with shows such as Mame, Hello Dolly and La Cage Aux Folles. He provides a complete balance against the likes of Sondheim and Bernstein - they do the clever, the thought-provoking and the symphonic, but leave it to Jerry to provide the va-va-voom!





Happy birthday sweetie...