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Wide my world, narrow my bed
As of last night, Bertie Owen appears to be trying to observe the Days of Awe by having a nervous breakdown, so any substantive thoughts I had on Cleopatra (1963) will have to wait until I have a laptop whose single fan doesn't whine at an ear-lacerating pitch all the time it's turned on. In the meantime, a couple of things I can get down quickly.
1. I discovered Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling with the announcement of their debut EP The New Number 2 (2010), the first in a planned cycle of songs based on episodes of The Prisoner (1967–68). How could I not head down to the now-defunct Church of Boston to see what that sounded like? It sounded great. They were one of the rare bands I followed live, including two release parties. I have a T-shirt for the second EP, Questions Are a Burden to Others (2011), and at least one set of buttons and stickers. They remained one of my favorite local bands right up until last year when they moved from Somerville to L.A. and the "local" part dropped out of the equation. With the release of their latest and last EP Whose Side Are You On (2017), DNFMOMD have finally completed the project. The full cycle is available in broadcast order under the title information . . . information . . . information! The Complete Prisoner Recordings (2017) and I strongly suggest kicking the band some money for it, because Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein are people who do interesting music no matter what genre they're in. Their video for "Episode 1: Arrival" remains unparalleled.
2. I have now lost track of how many times I have YouTube-listened to Anthony Perkins singing "Never Will I Marry" from the original 1960 Broadway cast recording of Frank Loesser's Greenwillow. It's breathtaking. I understand that he was in rehearsal for Greenwillow at the same time that he was shooting Psycho and that even if the musical hadn't folded within the first hundred performances, his fame as Norman Bates would have blown even a Tony nomination (which he got) off the map, and in point of fact the musical did fold, because while the score is Loesser's fascinating and not totally flawed attempt at a folk quasi-opera, everything I have ever read about the book suggests that it is fatally talky and never got its comic and dramatic elements properly organized; so far as I know it's never been revived. I have the vague impression that occasionally a track or two would go by on Standing Room Only, because I was aware the show existed before Wednesday night. But if I ever heard this number, I wasn't paying attention. Perkins is playing Gideon Briggs, current eldest son of a family whose eldest sons are all cursed to wander: for this reason they are encouraged not to form relationships, although Gideon's father married before leaving town and returns periodically, salmon-like, to father another child and then be pulled away into the world again. Gideon himself is in love with a local girl and of the age when any day now he'll start hearing the "call" of the curse and it is this state of affairs that prompts "Never Will I Marry," with its fancifully worded verse which is so quick and bitterly spoken melting into the mourning acceptance of the refrain. It's a song of longing and renunciation, but Perkins makes it sound almost perversely like an anthem. It reminds me of Patrick Wolf's "The Bachelor." It taps directly into that otherness he carried into most of his roles, that was just about to explode off the screen in Psycho. And he's more than up to it vocally, all that nervous energy making a folk aria of a poignant but appropriately simple melody. He just vaults for those high notes, achingly. It gives me chills. No wonder the Tony nomination, if he was like that every night on stage: whatever the show was like around him, he would have been electrifying. If he had stayed in musical theater, if he had had any kind of serious singing career (I know there are a couple of pop albums; they all predate Greenwillow), I would have expected this to be one of his standards, one of his characteristically identified songs. Instead I read that it was covered by Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand and with all due respect to both of them, I can't imagine either version having the same power.
3. For everyone to whom it is relevant, an easy fast.
1. I discovered Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling with the announcement of their debut EP The New Number 2 (2010), the first in a planned cycle of songs based on episodes of The Prisoner (1967–68). How could I not head down to the now-defunct Church of Boston to see what that sounded like? It sounded great. They were one of the rare bands I followed live, including two release parties. I have a T-shirt for the second EP, Questions Are a Burden to Others (2011), and at least one set of buttons and stickers. They remained one of my favorite local bands right up until last year when they moved from Somerville to L.A. and the "local" part dropped out of the equation. With the release of their latest and last EP Whose Side Are You On (2017), DNFMOMD have finally completed the project. The full cycle is available in broadcast order under the title information . . . information . . . information! The Complete Prisoner Recordings (2017) and I strongly suggest kicking the band some money for it, because Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein are people who do interesting music no matter what genre they're in. Their video for "Episode 1: Arrival" remains unparalleled.
2. I have now lost track of how many times I have YouTube-listened to Anthony Perkins singing "Never Will I Marry" from the original 1960 Broadway cast recording of Frank Loesser's Greenwillow. It's breathtaking. I understand that he was in rehearsal for Greenwillow at the same time that he was shooting Psycho and that even if the musical hadn't folded within the first hundred performances, his fame as Norman Bates would have blown even a Tony nomination (which he got) off the map, and in point of fact the musical did fold, because while the score is Loesser's fascinating and not totally flawed attempt at a folk quasi-opera, everything I have ever read about the book suggests that it is fatally talky and never got its comic and dramatic elements properly organized; so far as I know it's never been revived. I have the vague impression that occasionally a track or two would go by on Standing Room Only, because I was aware the show existed before Wednesday night. But if I ever heard this number, I wasn't paying attention. Perkins is playing Gideon Briggs, current eldest son of a family whose eldest sons are all cursed to wander: for this reason they are encouraged not to form relationships, although Gideon's father married before leaving town and returns periodically, salmon-like, to father another child and then be pulled away into the world again. Gideon himself is in love with a local girl and of the age when any day now he'll start hearing the "call" of the curse and it is this state of affairs that prompts "Never Will I Marry," with its fancifully worded verse which is so quick and bitterly spoken melting into the mourning acceptance of the refrain. It's a song of longing and renunciation, but Perkins makes it sound almost perversely like an anthem. It reminds me of Patrick Wolf's "The Bachelor." It taps directly into that otherness he carried into most of his roles, that was just about to explode off the screen in Psycho. And he's more than up to it vocally, all that nervous energy making a folk aria of a poignant but appropriately simple melody. He just vaults for those high notes, achingly. It gives me chills. No wonder the Tony nomination, if he was like that every night on stage: whatever the show was like around him, he would have been electrifying. If he had stayed in musical theater, if he had had any kind of serious singing career (I know there are a couple of pop albums; they all predate Greenwillow), I would have expected this to be one of his standards, one of his characteristically identified songs. Instead I read that it was covered by Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand and with all due respect to both of them, I can't imagine either version having the same power.
3. For everyone to whom it is relevant, an easy fast.
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(Funnily enough, the photo you posted of Anthony Perkins made him look to me like a young Number Two; it was that striped college scarf.)
Fingers crossed for Bertie Owen. Come back soon!
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They add in some synths (and an oboe) in the last couple of EPs, but I agree with you about the raw early sound. They also have—still—some of the best paranoid lyrics I've heard in years.
(Funnily enough, the photo you posted of Anthony Perkins made him look to me like a young Number Two; it was that striped college scarf.)
I thought that, too! I can't remember if the show ever had an American Number Two, but I bet he'd have been great. You'd know he was playing a game, but not what kind.
Fingers crossed for Bertie Owen. Come back soon!
Thank you. I spent most of the evening out of the house and am doing brief internet check-in. I really cannot afford to lose this computer and at this point I'd feel bereaved.
Greenwillow
Re: Greenwillow
Yeah, that was "book" as in the book of the show, not the source novel by B.J. Chute. (Yours is the first review I have actually read of the latter, and you make it sound like something I should check out.) It was adapted by Lesser Samuels and reviews suggest he did not have that deft hand.
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I have not read it—I was aware of it only as the text behind the musical, which is what has a reputation for being clunky and tonally inconsistent—but with two recommendations in comments now, I'll look for it!
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I meant to ask a week ago—how so?
I like cats.
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Granted, this is all my own interpretation, YMMV, etc.!
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Oh no! I hope it can be fixed.
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Thank you. Bertie Owen is an eight-year-old MacBook who has had extensive home replacements, so I'm pretty sure the so-called Genius Bar no longer recognizes any warranty, but if I can install a new fan, maybe he'll keep going. He's been a trouper so far.
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While that Arrival video was certainly most excellent, after I watched it, YouTube did offer up a sort-of parallel.
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That is impressive.
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I am delighted to hear it!
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Oh, fantastic!
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Enjoy!