Close out the school year with an exciting choral medley from an iconic Broadway show!  Whether you’re looking for music from a long-time theatrical standard or an innovative new production, we’ll help you find the perfect medley for your group.

Over the last few years, the Great White Way has hosted shows ranging from ground-breaking original productions (In the Heights, Next to Normal), to adaptations of popular movies (Shrek: The Musical, Mary Poppins), to Tony Award-winning revivals (Hair).  Even children’s literature (Seussical: The Musical) and popular music (Jersey Boys) have gotten in on the act!

Concert and community choirs may enjoy exploring medleys of music by various Broadway composers.  Try Rodgers and Hammerstein on Broadway (songs from The Sound of Music, South Pacific, Carousel and Oklahoma), Broadway Legends: Lerner and Loewe (songs from Camelot, My Fair Lady and Paint Your Wagon), Sondheim! A Choral Celebration (songs from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Into the Woods, Company and Sweeney Todd), Andrew Lloyd Webber in Concert (songs from Evita, Aspects of Love, Cats, Phantom of the Opera and Song and Dance), Applause! The Music of Charles Strouse (songs from Applause, Bye Bye Birdie, All-American and Annie) or Gershwin: A Concert Panorama (songs from Funny Face, Girl Crazy, Strike Up the Band and Oh, Kay!).

Bringing the magic of Disney movies to Broadway has also been popular recently.  Younger audiences will especially appreciate Disney on Stage, featuring music from the Broadway productions of Aida, Beauty and the Beast, High School Musical, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins and Tarzan.

You can also take the opportunity to introduce your singers to some of the most iconic Broadway shows in history.  Try a time-honored show like Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Guys and Dolls, Fiddler on the Roof, Oklahoma, Sweeney Todd, My Fair Lady, Chicago, South Pacific, The King & I, Oliver! and A Chorus Line.  Or maybe you want to explore a “new classic” like Wicked, Rent, Hairspray, Jekyll & Hyde or Ragtime.  The possibilities are practically endless!

For more music from the Great White Way, please contact us or visit us online.

During my freshman year at Duke, I took a writing seminar entitled “Images of Arthur”; in one of my first academic papers on musical theater, I explored musical renderings of Arthurian legend from A Connecticut Yankee (Rodgers and Hart, 1927) to Camelot (Lerner and Loewe, 1960).  Until this past weekend, though, I had never seen Camelot on stage, and I was excited to see one of the first shows that I had “seriously” studied in a live performance.

In the program’s introductory note, director David Lee notes that Camelot has always been plagued with “book problems.”  Despite a score of popular hits, the sprawling storyline has been endlessly worked and reworked over the years; Lee has now pared down the book to focus on the central love triangle of Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot.  While the story is undoubtedly tighter, this 8-actor minimalist production does not peel away the layers to reveal any new depth or nuance to the musical.  Instead, the minimalism sadly lays bare a still-rickety text.

Part of a musical’s excitement is its dynamic shifts from dialogue to music, from solo to ensemble performance.  With only 8 actors, I missed these vital changes in energy. Camelot needs the exuberance of a chorus, the joyous “lift” of a singing and dancing ensemble invading the stage for the opening parade march and “The Lusty Month of May.” Yes, Camelot comes to a tragic end.  But in the two hours leading up to this end, the audience must be convinced that this city truly is the “most congenial spot for happily-ever-aftering,” as King Arthur claims.  In Lee’s production, there is never a community to support this assertion through exuberant ensemble song and dance.

Without enough dynamic shifts, the musical feels rather staid, steady, and serious. This overriding seriousness is not a flaw in Lee’s production only, but one of the inherent “book problems” that should be reconsidered – yet again.  I watched the 1967 film this afternoon for comparison; while I felt the ensemble added a bit more life to Camelot before its downfall, I was still disappointed by the gravity that the book establishes from the outset. Lerner’s “propositions” and monologues for Arthur are beautifully crafted, but perhaps too much, too soon – and in striking opposition to the Loewe’s buoyant songs.  As an audience member, I want to get caught up in the giddy whirl of Arthur and Guinevere’s romance, as well as the communal hopefulness of Arthur’s new order of chivalry, before the story becomes too heavy.

Fortunately, a production consists of more than merely text.  The redeeming quality of Pasadena Playhouse’s Camelot is the performances, as each of the 8 actors is exceptional.  I was especially taken by Doug Carpenter’s Lancelot, with a deep romantic baritone voice and vastly improved acting skills since I saw him as Billy Bigelow in a semi-staged performance of Carousel last spring.  Shannon Stoeke is playful and enchanting as Arthur; his giddy, boyish smile lights up the role.  And despite decreased forces, a few production numbers draw near to the musical exuberance I imagine a larger ensemble would create – especially the numbers featuring the comical “3 manly knights.”  The jousting scene provides a particularly delightful dynamic shift in the production; here, minimalism of set and props is also used to great comedic effect, providing a necessary respite from the heaviness of the book.

Despite outstanding performances, the Pasadena Playhouse’s production of Camelot held very little more than historic interest for me.  The musical felt both rickety and a bit antiquated – which is why the sudden burst of Spring Awakening nudity surprised everyone in the audience on Saturday afternoon.  Most of the audience consisted of older patrons who were certainly not expecting the 21st century to intrude on this Lerner and Loewe classic, for which they have a deep nostalgic appreciation.

Nostalgia is certainly the keyword here.  There are many potential reasons to revive a show – artistic director Sheldon Epps even suggests a connection between the hopefulness of King Arthur’s reign and Obama’s administration – but nostalgia is a prime reason for bringing back Camelot.  I overheard several conversations about the original production and film scattered throughout the audience.  And of course, nostalgia is built into the show itself:

Don’t let it be forgot
That once there was a spot
For one brief shining moment that was known
As Camelot.

Yet nostalgia is – by definition – a desire for a past that is unattainable, and perhaps never even existed.  I wonder if Camelot was as enchanting as these older audience members had remembered.

The legend of King Arthur and the Roundtable is a millennium old. Not quite that long ago – in 1961 – composers Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe told the tale of Camelot. Its original Broadway production glittered with pageantry and boasted a cast that would become theatrical royalty – Richard Burton, Julie Andrews, and Robert Goulet as King Arthur, Lady Guinevere, and Sir Lancelot. But the Broadway version was dense – and ran into the following morning, too long for any audience.

A Pasadena Playhouse production could go by the name “Came-lite.” It offers a condensed version of the legend with only eight actors. David Lee, who co-created, produced, and wrote TV’s Frasier and Wings, directs this contemporary version. I asked David Lee why he took the ‘lot’ out of Camelot.

DL: Over the years, they’ve taken things out and rewritten it but I thought the writing is so stunningly beautiful, and the score is so magnificent, there has to be a more efficient way to tell this tale. So, a couple of years ago, I went through the script, and I took out everything that didn’t have to do with telling the story about Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere.

And what I was left with was still Alan Jay Lerner’s beautiful writing and the vast majority of the score, but I was left with a piece that could be told with only eight actors. And I thought, that’s sort of interesting.

SJ: David Lee took out the extraneous actors and focused it among the action of the three primaries.

DL: And what happened was – and others may disagree – but I found the story more accessible, easier to understand, and therefore ultimately more touching. Because of the economy of the script, I was able to add back in music and songs that are often excised because of the length of the piece.

SJ: Lee made the play more contemporary – with much younger actors.

DL: It’s something I’ve wanted to do with Camelot for a long time because there’s been this trend over the years, and I’m not sure why it’s happened, but Arthur gets played by increasingly older and older men,” said Lee. “In the story of Arthur and Guinevere, he was 22 when they met and she was 17. And his building the Roundtable occurred when he was in his 20s, and much of the story is about Arthur trying to figure out life, and it’s really interesting to watch a 20-year-old guy try to figure out life, and it’s a little sad to see a 60-year-old guy trying to figure out life.

SJ: The story’s a thousand years old but resonates today, doesn’t it?

DL: On its surface, the main story is about ideals coming into conflict with human frailty, that no matter how much you plan things out, no matter how much you think what you’re doing is for the good, you have to add into the equation that it may not work out because people are not perfect.

And there’s another line with Guinevere. When you look at her first song, she talks about the romance of war and how she misses the fact that knights aren’t going to tilt for her, and that kith won’t kill their kin for her, and she really devoutly wants all that excitement and all that romance, and she gets through the course of the play everything she asks for, and she learns that there’s a difference between the romance of war and the romance of knights killing themselves over her, and the reality of that. Those are some big themes, which is why the story keeps getting told over and over and over again.

SJ: “Camelot” runs through Sunday, February 7, at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Dear Twin,

It seems like you do an awful lot of talking (or typing rather) about reading Dead Souls but precious little actual reading.  Have you actually started the book?  Or are you still “just thinking about it” or “setting goals to start”?  I’m getting tired of your lack of progress…I think I shall reproof you Lerner and Loewe style…If I may, I’ll  quote everyone’s favorite Cockney Flowergirl, Eliza Doolittle from the late second act complaint-as-song “Show Me”

Words! Words! Words! I’m so sick of words!
I get words all day through;
First from him [Gogol?], now from you!
Is that all you blighters can do?

I’m sorry I had to chastise via Eliza Doolittle, but I think we both know you had it coming.

I have actually been reading (proof:  I know Chichikov’s first name…its Pavlov).  I also know why he’s buying the souls and I only have two words to say about that…Let. Down.

I finished reading Part I on the bus yesterday and although I didn’t have time to start Part II, I did have time to peruse the back cover as I waited for my stop.  As I read I found out that this book was written over years and years as Gogol slowly went insane (a ringing endorsement!)…and that it was unfinished.

I couldn’t believe this so I quickly scanned ahead and indeed the book is conclusion-less.  The end of my book reads “Here the manuscript breaks off”

Did you know this, dear twin?  I think you know how I feel about unfinished pieces of literature (here’s a refresher:  I don’t want to read them!).  Ever since the Wives and Daughters Incident from Summer 2003 I made a vow never to read unfinished works again!  You knew this and yet you still decided to lead my on this psychedelic carousel ride that never ends!

Oh you’ll pay for this twin…remember that I have next pick for books and all of a sudden Atlas Shrugged is looking mighty tempting.

Off to find a suitably punishing read,

Jon

Two american hunters lost in the highlands of scotland stumble upon a small town not listed on any map Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 03/15/2005 Starring: Gene Kelly Cyd Charisse Run time: 108 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Vincente Minnelli

Anything is possible in Brigadoon, the Lerner and Loewe musical put to celluloid in 1954 by director Vincente Minnelli: a village can reappear for only one day each century, and Gene Kelly can tap-dance on a dirt path. Kelly and Van Johnson play a pair of New Yorkers who go on a hunting vacation in the highlands of Scotland. But what Tommy Albright (Kelly) captures is the heart of a bonny Scottish lass, Fiona Campbell (Cyd Charisse). The catch: Fiona lives in Brigadoon, an enchanted town that appears for only one day every 100 years. If Tommy stays, he must give up everything (including his fianc� back home); if Fiona leaves with Tommy, Brigadoon will vanish into the highland mist, never to be seen again. Not that this keeps anyone from having a good time. The men are clad in vivid tartan kilts and leggings, and the women swish about in multicolored petticoats. Fiona’s sister Jean is getting married, and the whole town is drinking ale and singing cheery songs–except for Jean’s ex-beau, who threatens to leave and thereby end the town’s existence. Brigadoon is a charming escape into a sweet fairy tale. Some of the songs may be less than memorable, but Kelly’s choreography is often as witty as the banter. When the hectic pace of the modern world threatens to overtake you, consider a brief vacation in the highlands of Scotland. As one character says, “There must be an awful lot of folk searching for a Brigadoon”–even if it only lasts for a couple of hours. –Larisa Lomacky Moore

Brigadoon is available at Amazon for $13.99. To Order click here
Amazon Product Pages contain a lot of other details on this product as Customer Reviews, Sales Ranking, Special Offers, Alternate products that customers are going for and much more.Want to read these details? click here

Want to get some other Format / Binding / Version? You can search for them from here

Other Products of Interest

• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
• Singin’ in the Rain (Two-Disc Special Edition)
• Show Boat
• My Fair Lady
• The Music Man (Special Edition)

I love the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and I grew up on MGM movie musicals, so this stage adaptation of Gigi, considered by many to be the jewel in their crown should have been a perfect match. Sadly, it’s not, for the reason that Gigi quite simply doesn’t translate well to stage in the way that many stage musicals don’t translate well to film. I didn’t want to see a carbon copy of the film on stage, quite the contrary, but I couldn’t help feeling that I was watching a relic that doesn’t really belong on the stage. The score itself is quite charming, but the fact that it’s pure froth (and I mean that in a nice way) without any real big ’showstopper’ numbers makes it a bit anti-climactic on stage in a way that isn’t really noticeable in the film where everything strolls along at a leisurely pace.

I think this production is done about as well as it could be done, with a few issues, such as the lack of warmth and ‘old friends’ chemistry between Topol and Millicent Martin in I Remember It Well, which ought to be such a really delightful and poignant number. Lisa O’Hare is enchanting in the title role, displaying an endearing childlike innocence and a crystal clear soprano voice. I’m sorry I never got to see her in the far meatier role of Eliza Doolittle. I’m glad she gets the final bow instead of Topol because he’s Topol.  I have to say that Topol has seen better days, but he isn’t bad by any means. His voice isn’t what he was and he seemed very slow on the uptake in several scenes (whether this was intentional, I do not know), but I did like the poignancy he brought to Thank Heaven For Little Girls, which would otherwise be rather uncomfortable. I liked the costumes (especially Gigi’s sailor suit and I expect Barbara Cartland would have envied Aunt Alicia’s hot pink brocade frock) and the choreography was witty and stylishly done, particularly the beach scene at Trouville.

Perhaps the main problem is the book, which felt very creaky indeed and I felt that a lot of the sharpness of the novel and film was missing. I’d be interested to know why Gigi’s solos in the film I Don’t Understand The Parisians and Say A Prayer For Me Tonight were replaced with inferior numbers- if anyone can enlighten me, I’d be most curious to know.

All in all, one for my ‘indifferent’ pile, I’m afraid, though leaning towards the more positive end of the spectrum as I do appreciate the effort. I think a straight version would ultimately stand up much more effectively. If I had to recommend a purely fun classic musical currently playing, it would be the Chichester production of The Music Man, hands down (which even my non-American, non-musical theatre fan father enjoyed), for conosseuirs and newbies alike.

(This review refers to a performance that took place on August 11th 2008 )

You’ve seen movies set in alleys, rooftops and courtyards, but Old Pasadena has decided if these make great settings for movies, these also are great settings to see movies!

From the great Breakfast at Tiffany’s to the giggle-worthy Hygiene Shorts from the 1950s to the gory The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to the God-knows-what-to-expect student shorts, Fridays and Saturdays will be movie nights in Old Pas starting 11 July.

This year will be a special celebration of Audrey Hepburn, including Charade, Sabrina and Roman Holiday. Other classic movies shown include Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai and Mary Poppins. If you want an all-nighter, they will also be showing the Lord of the Rings from 8:30 p.m. to dawn.

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE:

Friday, July 11

7:00 PM – EMERGING FILMMAKERS ArmoryCenterfor the Arts, 145 N. Raymond

Films and shorts by students and faculty from the Armory Center for the Arts, Art Center College of Design and Pasadena City College.

8:30 PM – CLASSIC HEPBURN: BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S One Colorado Courtyard, 41 Hugus Alley

“I’ve got to do something about the way I look. I mean a girl just can’t go to Sing Sing with a green face.” – So sighs Audrey Hepburn’s girl-about-town Holly Golightly, breezing ever-so-gently through the real world with hardly a ripple. But when she meets sober, handsome, nice guy George Peppard, she begins to gradually re-think her “anything-goes,” high-living lifestyle.

10:00 PM – SCI FI: THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953) School House Parking structure rooftop, 33 E. Green Street.

Actress Ann Robinson will introduce the screening.

The quintessential 1950’s science fiction film, in which scientists and the military join forces to conquer an alien invasion. Even today, few films can match this movie’s triumphant blend of special effects and snappy romance (in the form of the relationship between astronomer Gene Barry and his spunky girlfriend Ann Robinson.)

Saturday, July 12

7:00 PM – EMERGING FILMMAKERS Armory Center for the Arts, 145 N. Raymond

Films and shorts by students and faculty from the Armory Center for the Arts, Art Center College of Design and Pasadena City College.

8:30 PM – CLASSIC HEPBURN: MY FAIR LADY One Colorado Courtyard, 41 Hugus Alley

This unforgettable musical adaptation is PYGMALION as reinvented by Lerner and Loewe as reinvented by master director George Cukor. Oscar winner Rex Harrison plays Henry Higgins, who teaches lower class, Cockney flower girl Audrey Hepburn to be a lady and falls in love with her in the process.

Friday, July 18

7:00 PM – EMERGING FILMMAKERS Armory Cente for the Arts, 145 N. Raymond

Films and shorts by students and faculty from the Armory Center for the Arts, Art Center College of Design and Pasadena City College.

8:30 PM – CLASSIC HEPBURN: CHARADE One Colorado Courtyard, 41 Hugus Alley

Widow Audrey Hepburn finds herself thrust into adventure when her dead husband’s war buddies come after her, thinking she has money they stole together during the war. Cary Grant is the stranger who is as mysterious as he is attractive–and whom Hepburn falls for as she runs for her life.

10:00 PM – HORROR FILM: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE Basement of Schoolhouse Parking Garage, 33 E. Green Street.

Director Tobe Hooper will introduce the screening.

One of the best American horror films from the 1970s and certainly one of the scariest movies ever made. The unknown actors and real-life locations burn themselves into your memory, assuming a nightmarishly twisted reality that lingers long after you’ve seen the film. After hearing of a cemetery desecration, Marilyn Burns and friends go on a jaunt in the broiling Texas countryside to make sure her grandparents’ graves are okay, only to become stranded at the rural home of a family of inbred cannibals. Director Tobe Hooper expertly escalates the horror until you can’t stand it anymore…then goes one step further. With Gunnar Hansen, Ed Neal.

Saturday, July 19

10:00 AM – FAMILY MATINEE: MARY POPPINS Laemmle’s One Colorado Cinemas, 42 Miller Alley

Julie Andrews is God’s gift to nanny-dom as Mary Poppins in this classic musical comedy/fantasy. When Poppins comes to work for the Banks family in their turn-of-the-20th-century London household, she uplifts everyone’s spirits and brings magic to their lives. Dick Van Dyke is Bert, the good-natured chimney sweep and the great Jane Darwell, in her last screen appearance, plays the bird lady. Winner of five Academy Awards, including Andrews for Best Actress and Richard M. & Robert B. Sherman for Best Original Song and Best Original Music Score.

7:00 PM – EMERGING FILMMAKERS ArmoryCenterfor the Arts, 145 N. Raymond

Films and shorts by students and faculty from the Armory Center for the Arts, Art Center College of Design and Pasadena City College.

8:30 PM – CLASSIC HEPBURN: SABRINA One Colorado Courtyard, 41 Hugus Alley

Chauffeur’s daughter Audrey Hepburn blooms from ugly duckling to fashion queen as she tries to choose between wealthy, middle-aged Humphrey Bogart (at his sexy, smokey best) and cocky lover-boy William Holden (a Wilder favorite). Billy Wilder’s classic romantic triangle.

10:00 PM – MENTAL HYGIENE SHORT FILMS Mercantile Alley (right behind Coffee Bean at 18 S. Fair Oaks)

Presented by Archivist and Historian Rick Prelinger.

For the quarter-century following World War II, a special kind of classroom film received wide circulation. These “mental hygiene” films thrived in a confused and nervous America. The rebellious behavior of young people challenging the social norms struck fear into the hearts of parents and educators, who saw dark futures for teens who broke the rules and refused to fit in with society. These concerned adults embraced the metal hygiene film as a new means of delivering social guidance. The creators of the films took their cues from the wildly successful training and propaganda films of the World War II era. They used the same shock and scare techniques to warn teenagers about substance abuse, venereal disease, juvenile delinquency and the awful fate of kids who drive too fast on prom night.

Friday, July 25

7:00 PM – EMERGING FILMMAKERS Armory Center for the Arts, 145 N. Raymond

Films and shorts by students and faculty from the Armory Center for the Arts, Art Center College of Design and Pasadena City College.

8:30 PM – CLASSIC HEPBURN: ROMAN HOLIDAY One Colorado Courtyard, 41 Hugus Alley

A real-life princess (Audrey Hepburn), weary of her sheltered existence, takes off on her own to see the sights of Rome, only to encounter romance in the form of suave Gregory Peck. But unbeknownst to Hepburn, Peck is really a reporter out for a story, and this inevitably complicates things as the two grow more intimate. This sweet-natured romantic comedy won three Oscars, including Best Actress for Hepburn.

10:45 PM – CLASSIC FOREIGN FILM: SEVEN SAMURAI One Colorado Courtyard, 41 Hugus Alley

Director Akira Kurosawa’s most famous film is certainly one of the finest movies ever made – a huge, sprawling but intimate, character-driven period epic about an aging swordsman (the great Takashi Shimura) who enlists six other warriors-for-hire (amongst them, Toshiro Mifune, Minoru Chiaki, Isao Kimura, Daisuke Kato, Seiji Miyaguchi, Yoshio Inaba) to safeguard a remote village plagued by bandits.

Saturday, July 26

7:00 PM – EMERGING FILMMAKERS ArmoryCenterfor the Arts, 145 N. Raymond

Films and shorts by students and faculty from the Armory Center for the Arts, Art Center College of Design and Pasadena City College.

8:30 PM – GREASE with guest to be announced, 22 Mills Place

Pompadoured tough-guy John Travolta learns the meaning of true love, 1950’s style, from summertime sweetheart Olivia Newton-John, with help from a fantastic supporting cast including Stockard Channing, Jeff Conaway, Eve Arden and Frankie Avalon. A soundtrack of wall-to-wall hits (“You’re The One That I Want,” “Hopelessly Devoted To You,” “Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee”) in director Randal Kleiser’s irresistible teen-dream of a movie musical.

8:30 PM till Dawn – LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY, One Colorado Courtyard, 41 Hugus Alley, Middle Earth

J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary masterpiece The Lord of the Rings has influenced generations of readers worldwide and continues to captivate new fans around the globe. Director Peter Jackson and a brilliantly talented cast and crew have brought to cinematic life the epic adventure of good against evil. The future of civilization rests in the fate of the One Ring, which has been lost for centuries. Powerful forces are unrelenting in their search for it. Fate has placed it in the hands of a young Hobbit named Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood), who inherits the Ring – and undertakes a heroic quest revealing how, through courage, commitment, and determination, even the smallest of us can change the world.

Screening concludes with sunrise Hobbit breakfast.

MUDGE’s Musings

This nanocorner of the ‘Sphere© doesn’t touch on issues in the world of sports that often.

But today I feel compelled.

I’ve spent all week sleep deprived, as the Chicago Cubs have been playing games on the West Coast, and those don’t begin until 9:05pm Central time. And the way baseball is played these days, only one of the past four night’s games has ended before midnight my time.

So, baseball has been on my mind.

They’re playing the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend. L.A. is the home of my daughter and her family: my son-in-law, and my two grandchildren.

My 7-1/2 year old grandson lived in Chicago for the first four years of his life, and somehow caught Cubs fan-itis, following the team on TV when available (and his mom and dad say it’s okay) and on line.

Last time we were together, he showed me how he logs into MLB.com on his Mom’s Macbook to get the latest scores and stats, and he grabs the L.A. Times sports section first thing to study the box scores. And his interest and enthusiasm, especially for all things Cubs, re-ignited mine. It doesn’t hurt that they’re off to a terrific start this season.

As I reflected on baseball, an enthusiasm that waxes and wanes for me, but which was a lifelong enthusiasm of my father, and which my older son inherited, and now, apparently, my grandson, I had this thought.

Most everyone who follows baseball in the U.S. knows about the Cubs. They last played in the World Series (that misnamed sporting event that only recently expanded its borders beyond the parochial U.S. into Canada [and has since pulled one of the two teams back to safe harbor in Washington, D.C.]) in 1945, before even I was born, and last won the championship in 1908, 100 years ago.

As I instant messaged a business colleague this afternoon the chat got around to weekend plans. some of my grandson’s Cubs fanaticism came out, as I described the fact that the entire L.A. extended family is going out to Chavez Ravine Saturday afternoon to watch the Cubs play the Dodgers.

My son-in-law grew up in L.A., and as that family is about evenly split between Dodgers and Cubs fans, it should be a rowdy afternoon.

As I described some of this while IM’ing my colleague, who works out of Boulder, Colorado, but comes from St. Louis and is a rabid Cardinals fan, he was ragging on me pretty good about how great it is to be a Cardinals fan, and how sad to be a Cubs fan.

The Cardinals indeed have had much more championship success over the past century than the Cubs — it would be impossible not to, actually.

He commented how sad it was that my grandson was growing up to know the perpetual futility and disappointment that is the lot of rooters for the Cubs.

I beg to differ, Mr. Cardinals Fan. We work together to support software, he on the technical side, and me on the end user side. The software has been a continuing challenge to support for the six or so years he and I have been doing this.

The pressures and stress of the constant emergencies we face, caused by the built-in shortcomings of the product that are his responsibility to maintain, have actually impaired his health, as he’s pretty much a one-man band on the technical side, and the software just isn’t a consistent performer.

I told him (kidding on the square) that my experience as a Cubs fan has prepared me well to support this particular software, whereas his Cardinals fandom has not at all prepared him for the constant disappointments he and I both face trying to figure out how to keep the tool available to the enterprise.

Further, while I wish only blue skies and sunshine and happiness and good health and prosperity to my children and my grandchildren, I strongly believe that being a Cubs fan will be for them a more realistic preparation for the inevitable roller coaster ride that is our real world.

But, that brings us to this year. It’s the one-hundredth anniversary of the last year the Cubs won the championship. The catchphrase “Tinker to Evers to Chance,” the double-play combination of that particular Cubs era, is one that still resonates in parts of my home town.

They’re actually playing very well so far this year, and it could be that this is the year that they stay strong and win it all. It would only be right, after 100 years.

So, MUDGE, what’s this Brigadoon thing?

Wikipedia says:

Brigadoon is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe.

It tells the story of a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every hundred years, though to the villagers, the passing of each century seems no longer than one night. The enchantment is viewed by them as a blessing rather than a curse, for it saved the village from destruction. According to their covenant with God, no one from Brigadoon may ever leave, or the enchantment will be broken and the site and all its inhabitants will disappear into the mist forever. Two American tourists, lost in the Scottish Highlands, stumble upon the village just as a wedding is about to be celebrated, and their arrival has serious implications for the village’s inhabitants.

Not the greatest musical of Lerner and Loewe (that of course would be the later My Fair Lady), but entertaining enough.

They made a movie of the show, of course.

A village that appears one day every one hundred years. A championship that hasn’t been seen in Chicago for 100 years. So, yr (justifiably) humble svt has perhaps coined a phrase. You read it here first!

Is 2008 the Cubs’ Brigadoon year?

Probably not. After all, this is a Cubs fan you’re reading.

But, even bitter, pragmatic realists entertain their sorry dreams.

It’s it for now. Thanks,

–MUDGE

Carol Webster sends this in. I often make sure I go home via Wardsville from the 401, just to see the scene portrayed when I drive down towards the bridge.  The bridge with the village nestled behind is straight out of Brigadoon~~~~~~~~~
Brigadoon, written by the duo of Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics) and Frederick Loewe (music), was very popular in its time. Directed by the legendary Bobby Lewis, the show opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre on 13 March, 1947, and ran for 581 performances. It continues to enjoy frequent revivals to this day. Brigadoon was also made into a movie of the same name, starring the immortal Gene Kelly. You can still catch it occasionally on late night television. You might also hear some of its songs on the radio now and then. Among them, the best-known is, “Almost Like Being In Love“.