30 July 2006
The Oldest Established Permanent Floating Crabcake in New York
When the literary speed dating meme was going around, I discovered that some of my reading tastes aren't too common in this corner of the blogosphere (although my Library Thing catalog does have a fair bit in common with Phantom and Genevieve). So I may be about to discover that my musical tastes are similar outliers, but I think it's time to discuss Guys and Dolls. Problematic as the gender politics are in "Marry the Man Today" or "Adelaide's Lament," I love the score. (As I mentioned in one of my ten by ten posts, "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat" can pretty much be counted upon to cheer me up when I'm in a crappy mood, and I'm going to upload that song to my office computer as a strategy for dealing with any of the stress that comes along with being chair. I have some more professional strategies in mind, too, but the music won't hurt.) Curious Girl and I have been listening to the soundtrack a fair bit this week, and the other day she said to me, "He said crab cake!" (very exciting, as there were many crabs in evidence on our vacation.) I explained no, not crab cake, but crap game. And we laughed. Today when that song came on, she said, "It sounds like crab cake, but it's not. Crap game! but it sounds like crab cake!" and laughed and laughed. And I'm laughing, too, for having a whole new insight into music I've loved for years. (And thinking, too, "Crap game! another word for the vocabulary list!")
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10 comments:
You know, I don't know Guys and Dolls at all, but I do know "Sit down you're rocking the boat" - my mom used to sing it to me as an ironic call to arms when she was suggesting I needed to be honest with myself. Always put a smile on my face.
I have an odd fondness for Jesus Christ Superstar, given that I'm not Christian, nor old enough to have been around when that came out.
I love Guys and Dolls, despite all the inappropriate gender politics. Love.it. Take Back Your Mink, Oldest Established, Sit Down, Adelaide's Lament, Marry the Man Today, Sue Me--I love them all. One of my favorite stories ever is a friend of #1 Son's singing the title song at a local musical theatre audition, at age 9. Hilarious! I think my absolute favorite is Fugue for Tinhorns, but ask me again in five minutes.
Do you feel better now?
We love Guys and Dolls here! J. and DH and I sing bits from it randomly, particularly Fugue for Tinhorns, Oldest Established, Sit Down, and Adelaide's Lament. When we watched the movie, I did talk with J. about the gender roles - but we've watched a lot of old movies, so he's kind of used to that discussion and will sometimes say it himself ("That's what they USED to say about [women/men].")
How about "Wonderful Town", the CD with the 2003 Broadway revival cast? Some terrific songs there. I loves me some Comden and Green.
Look for a new book by Julie Andrews Edwards (yes, the Julie Andrews) called The Great American Mousical. Cute book -- all the characters have names from musicals (Adelaide, Henry, Curly, etc.) and they're performing a musical revue where it's fun to identify the songs. A little wordy, but fun to read. J. was thrilled when he figured out one of the names I was stuck on (Emil -- we had just seen the concert version of South Pacific on TV, so he got it).
Oh, and I LOVE the idea of the oldest established permanent floating crabcake in New York. I will definitely be sharing that one at home -- DH and J. will get a kick out of it.
And I did worry a bit about the vocabulary words in kindergarten, when he was going around talking about crap games for a few days . . . but it passed.
I saw a high school production of Guys and Dolls that was absolutely fanstastic!
Love that musical. Love. IT.
Oh, and Little Women and Death's Jest Book? Love 'em too.
I have definitely heard of Guys and Dolls. It's some sort of Broadway thing, right? And they sing? And, probably, dance? Sort of like Chicago, right?
Love it!! I will always think of that now!
Oh, and yes, damn those musicals and their inappropriate gender stereotypes. I love them anyway!
Me too! I love that musical! "Reprehensible," RW mutters, when we listen to "Marry the Man Today," but she says it with grudging fondness, and even she can't help liking "Adelaide's Lament."
Actually, I have a fond memory of my first meeting with RW's aunt and aunt's-partner, who are both venerable second-wave feminist leaders who were in lots of important groups and wrote important articles, etc. Anyway, the first time I met them, the aunt's partner and I bonded big-time over "Guys and Dolls." So, there you go.
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