IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS: The Silver FOX

When I was little and it came to Broadcast Television, there were ONLY 3 networks: The Alphabet (ABC), The Eye (CBS) and The Peacock (NBC).  By the mid-to-late 1980s, each of "the big three" had cornered their own niche audience.  ABC aired several family-friendly shows (like The Wonder Years and Full House) plus other more mature fare for their 10PM time slots (see Moonlighting or thirtysomething).  CBS seemed to have a wider audience but with special attention to both older demographics (especially with their Sunday schedule: 60 Minutes and Murder, She Wrote) and female audiences (with primetime soaps like Dallas and female-led sitcoms like Designing Women).  And then NBC, who also had a wide audience, aired shows that were especially popular with both the critics AND the Emmy Awards (sitcoms like Cheers, The Cosby Show or The Golden Girls and dramas like Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere or L.A. Law).

But there seemed to be one audience that was being ignored, at least as far as the powers-that-be at the 20th Century Fox studio were concerned.  Several people (who were around college-age), were looking for programs that catered to their humor, to their style or even to their subversive nature.  And so, a fledgling network was born.  And now 25 years later, "the big three" have expanded into "the big four" (technically "the big five" when you count The CW, but it's not their anniversary!).  In honor of FOX's 25th Anniversary, I would like to take you through their brief history by sharing with you what I believe are the 25 shows that have shaped FOX into what it is today.  Some of them you could probably name right off and others are more like afterthoughts, but all 25 of them made their mark in the network's landscape and helped to re-shape what modern Television is all about.

IN THE BEGINNING...

Married...With Children

21 Jump Street

The Simpsons

These are the shows that birthed FOX.  Married...With Children first aired on April 5, 1987 and 21 Jump Street aired a week later.  The Simpsons first aired as animated shorts between the sketches on Tracey Ullman's comedy-variety show (which aired after Married...With Children) before gaining their very own animated sitcom two years later (a show that is still running today, by the way!).  Married... was especially different as its humor was extremely controversial and graphic showing the complete dysfunction of the Bundy clan.  21 Jump Street, which is now more famous for launching the career of a man named Johnny Depp, was compared in its gritty style to NBC's Hill Street Blues but had a younger appeal.  And as mentioned earlier, the history of The Simpsons is in some way the history of FOX itself.

LEGAL REALITIES
America's Most Wanted
COPS
With a subversive sitcoms (both live and animated) and gritty cop dramas, FOX wanted to jump-the-gun (no pun intended!) before the reality show blitzkrieg.  With both the FBI-led America's Most Wanted and the police docu-series COPS, FOX really was a forerunner before the other networks decided to produce cheaper (and more popular) reality shows.

STEAMY SPELLING SOAPS

Beverly Hills, 90210

Melrose Place

When Johnny Depp left 21 Jump Street to have a film career, FOX needed some shows that had the same youth/teen appeal.  Enter Aaron Spelling (who had massive hits with ABC like Charlie's Angels, Dynasty and The Love Boat).  He was also looking to market programs to a teen audience (and one that could feature is young daughter in the cast!). With the original 90210 in 1990 and Melrose Place two years later, Spelling seemed to define teen viewing in the 1990s.

SKETCH-Y DIVERSITY

In Living Color

MADtv

By the early 1990s, NBC had cornered the market in comedy-variety with Saturday Night Live (which by then had been running over 15 years!).  FOX began with a variety show starring Tracey Ullman, but when that show's animated shorts eclipsed it in popularity, Ullman found herself without a job.  But a few years later, comedian Keenan Ivory Wayans and his pals (including his brother Damon and sister Kim) created a sketch comedy series that appealed to a different audience...a multicultural audience.  With its brash style and SNL-like sketches, the young cast of In Living Color became comedy superstars (especially Jim Carrey, then known as "James Carrey").  They even had hip-hop dancers known as the Fly Girls that personified their show's style (one of them was a young Jennifer Lopez!).  In Living Color's popularity inspired FOX to try their hand at late night variety (to compete with SNL) and thence MADtv was born.

BRING IN 'DA FUNNY

Martin

Living Single

Fresh off the success of In Living Color, FOX wanted to have more comedy shows that appealed to African-American audiences.  Comedian Martin Lawrence, with his many different personalities, had a very successful sitcom that centered around his in-your-face style.  To follow that, Living Single focused on the lives of 4 single African-American women (which included rap star Queen Latifah, former Facts of Life star Kim Fields and In Living Color regular Kim Coles).  Both shows are still quite popular in syndication on various cable networks and are fondly remembered by those of us who grew up with these shows that helped change the face of sitcoms in the '90s.

RE-DEFINING THE GENRES (AND THE EMMYS!)

The X-Files

Ally McBeal

As I said above, NBC seemed to have the Emmy market covered with shows like Cheers, L.A. Law, Seinfeld and E.R. throughout my growth into adulthood.  But FOX was fearless in trying to gain support from audiences and critics when it came to getting awards.  With the sci-fi drama The X-Files, FOX had a major contender.  Audiences took to it with rabid fascination and soon the awards followed.  Emmys finally recognized it with a Best Drama Series nomination in its third season (1995) and two years later star Gillian Anderson won Best Actress in a Drama (making it the first major Emmy for FOX to win!).  To follow that, David E. Kelley's romantic-dramedy Ally McBeal caused a pop culture fervor with its short skirts and dancing babies.  The show became the first FOX series to win the top prize in 1999 when its second season received Best Comedy Series over the likes of Friends, Frasier and Everybody Loves Raymond.

THE SIMPSONS HAVE SOME COMPANY

King of the Hill

Family Guy

The Simpsons opened so many doors for FOX and they knew it.  In the late 1990s, the network started to build around the flagship series by creating an entire night of animated shows.  Of the many animated sitcoms that have popped in and out around The Simpsons' popularity, two of them seemed to stick with audiences (and even some critics!).  King of the Hill,  from Beavis and Butt-head creator Mike Judge, had a homespun humor and was more sitcom-oriented than even The Simpsons (with lessons learned at the end of every episode for both conservative propane dealer Hank Hill and his march-to-his-own-drummer son Bobby).  Then there is Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane's raunchy and even-more subversive sitcom with its cutaway gags and ten-times the dysfunction of anyone in The Simpsons' hometown of Springfield.  Both shows seemed to strengthen The Simpsons' popularity (and quality!) and therefore made themselves more prominent in the minds of those wanting a break from typical live-action fare.

STAR-MAKING COMEDIES

That 70s Show

Malcolm In the Middle

Not to be completely dominated by animated sitcoms, FOX wanted to branch out with ensemble-heavy live-action comedies.  With a nostalgic throwback (like its inspiration Happy Days), That 70s Show made stars out of its young ensemble which included Topher Grace, Laura Prepon, Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis.  The show, which ended its run in 2006, is still extremely popular in syndicated airings.  It is one of FOX's most popular shows in syndication (third only to The Simpsons and Family Guy).  FOX's other popular live-action sitcom was Malcolm In the Middle.  Similar to Married...With Children by showing the chaos of a semi-dysfunctional family, the show was very popular with audiences and garnered several Emmy nods for the two actors playing the parents Jane Kaczmarek and Bryan Cranston.  Both actors have since shown their character-actor mettle on various projects from sitcoms to dramatic series to films (with Cranston winning 3 Emmys - so far! - for his dramatic work on AMC's critical hit Breaking Bad).

THE NEW CENTURY BRINGS MORE EMMYS

24

Arrested Development

In the 2000s, bolstered by the major Emmy wins The X-Files and Ally McBeal garnered in the previous decade, FOX was not going to let it lie at just those two.  With the action-packed spy-thriller series 24, FOX had a series that grabbed the critics' attention with its fascinating hook.  The entire season of the show (24 episodes) was one hour of one day, constituting the series to basically flow in "real time."  Season 5, known as "Day 5" in show's lexicon, was the highest rated season and won Best Drama Series (over major contenders like NBC's The West Wing and HBO's The Sopranos) as well as Best Actor in a Drama for star Kiefer Sutherland.  As for Arrested Development, the short-lived but critically-beloved sitcom, the show put FOX back on Emmys radar after Ally McBeal ended.  In 2003, Arrested Development's first season beat out Frasier and Everybody Loves Raymond to the Best Comedy Series prize.

FOX'S NEWER YOUTH APPEAL

The O.C.

American Idol

In the 2000s, the youth culture that FOX first appealed to back when it first began was now what you would call middle-aged.  To grab that younger market that has since become an all-important demographic in the ratings race, FOX went back to "square one" with an Aaron Spelling-style teen drama.  For four years in the middle of the decade, The O.C. became a pop culture phenomenon especially with teen audiences as the show centered around rich teens in Orange County and their bitter rivalries.  But FOX's major hit with younger audiences was a little show that was basically a singing competition.  American Idol, which was the U.S. version of the European hit Pop Idol, has dominated FOX Broadcasting over the past decade.  With its crazy judges (Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul!) and star-making eliminations (from Kelly Clarkson to Carrie Underwood!), the show's power cannot be denied.  Even with new judges (including former Fly Girl Jennifer Lopez!), the show still manages to garner the attention of a massive audience that craves reality competitions.  Idol even has its copycats from NBC's The Voice to FOX's new Simon Cowell-import The X-Factor.

FOX'S PROCEDURAL STAPLES

House M.D.

Bones

Who said CBS could be the masters of procedural Television?  FOX, thanks to both The X-Files and 24, have built part of their current reputation around shows that solve the case within the hour, the procedural.  And they went beyond the typical police procedural that CBS was so good at (see CSI or NCIS).  They branched it out into medical science and forensic anthropology.  Led by a more dramatic Hugh Laurie, House M.D. was about a grouchy and people-repellent diagnostician who could solve any case put before him no matter how strange.  After 8 years, Laurie is hanging up his cane and stethoscope as Dr. House after garnering 6 Emmy nominations (with a possible 7th to come!).  Bones, House's sometime partner, centered on the genius-like mind of forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperence "Bones" Brennan and her knack for solving crimes with her FBI partner Sealy Booth.  The character was loosely based on a lead character from the books by noted anthropologist Kathy Reichs (Brennan being a character she loosely based on herself!).

RE-DEFINING THE GENRES (YET AGAIN!)

Fringe

Glee

Like The X-Files did in the 1990s, Fringe is once again re-defining what a sci-fi drama can be about.  Part procedural (like Bones) but also part soap-opera drama (with its romantic entanglements and familial estrangements), Fringe is a complete original with its exploration of parallel universes and Roswell-ian creatures.  The show has a large and vocal fanbase that has kept this "bubble show" going for four years and may very well get it a fifth season renewal.  And like they did with Ally McBeal in the late '90s, FOX is once again re-defining the modern dramedy.  Let us not forget Glee!  Ryan Murphy's uber-popular (at least in its first season!) mega-musical comedy-drama has garnered so much attention that people have gotten sick of it fairly quickly (teen suicide storylines don't help either!).  But the series has made its impression and will probably stick around for a fourth and maybe even fifth season (that teen market has money to burn people!).  It also has pioneered (or at least co-pioneered) the use of other media when it comes to promoting the show (particularly iTunes and YouTube!).

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY FOX!

You have made TV life very interesting for the past 25 years!

10 FAVORITES (55): Strangest Award-Winning Characters

Let's face it, some characters are just strange!  When I think of the many performances that have won Oscars, Emmys and Tonys over the years, I see that there is a wide array of characters from the very rich (Colin Firth in The King's Speech or Gwynneth Paltrow in Shakespeare In Love) to the working class (the casts of All In the Family or Cheers) to the struggling to survive (Nikki James in The Book of Mormon or Frances Ruffelle in Les Miserables).  But there have been several characters that have won these awards that would fall under the category of "strange."  Now when I say "strange," I am not referring to the circumstances surrounding the actor or actress' win (like when Marisa Tomei won for My Cousin Vinny!).  I am also not referring to characters who have a disability or are diagnosed as mentally ill/psychotic (sorry Hannibal Lecter!).  I am referring to characters whose eccentricities are a part of who they are and make the character that much more memorable.  So this week's 10 FAVORITES is devoted to...

THE 10 STRANGEST AWARD-WINNING CHARACTERS

CHARACTER #10

Guido Orefice, Life Is Beautiful

Roberto Benigni - Oscar for Best Actor, 1999

This is partly because the actor who won the award came off to the public as very very very strange.  He wrote and directed himself to an Oscar as a poor Italian man who woos a wealthy woman (whom he calls "Principesa") and goes on to have a son with her.  His clowning antics come in handy when he tries to shield his beloved son from the dangers and horrors of a Nazi Concentration Camp.

CHARACTER #9
Mary Poppins, Mary Poppins
Julie Andrews - Oscar for Best Actress, 1965
Who says a strange character can't be one of the most beloved from my childhood?  Yes, we delight in her "practically perfect" eccentricity.  But on face value, two kids brought up in strict Edwardian ways see a woman literally fly to their doorway and slide up the banister to greet them...I think eccentric is the "nice" way to put it.

CHARACTER #8
John (or Jean), Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros
Zero Mostel - Tony for Best Actor in a Play, 1961
Comic actor Zero Mostel played a man turning into a Rhinoceros in one of Ionesco's most unusual plays ('Nuff Said!).  He repeated that Tony-winning performance 13 years later in a film alongside his Producers co-star Gene Wilder.

CHARACTER #7

Truman Capote, Tru and Capote

Robert Morse - Tony for Best Actor in a Play, 1990 and Emmy for Best Actor in a TV Movie, 1993

and

Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Oscar for Best Actor, 2006

As a writer myself, I have to admit that we all are a little bit eccentric.  But genius author Truman Capote took eccentricity to a whole new level.  Just his very personality put some people ill-at-ease.  Robert Morse won both a Tony and an Emmy for Jay Presson Allen's play about the legendary writer (Tru) and almost 15 years later Phillip Seymour Hoffman wowed critics with his performance in Capote (the dark film about Capote's research for his infamous novel In Cold Blood).

CHARACTER #6
Dr. Dick Solomon, 3rd Rock From the Sun
John Lithgow - Emmy for Best Actor in a Comedy Series, 1996, 1997 & 1999
One of the best dramatic character actors (Terms of Endearment, Footloose) channeled his friend John Cleese when he took the part of an Alien assuming human form and studying our life habits.  John Lithgow won 3 Emmys for his stellar work as quite frankly one of the strangest college professors anyone has ever met (and judging by the average college professor, that is saying something!).

CHARACTER #5
Howard Beale, Network
Peter Finch - Oscar for Best Actor, 1977
We all know the catchphrase: He's "mad as hell, and he's not going to take it anymore!"  With that phrase Peter Finch's dynamic and all-over-the-map performance of a news anchor who goes from beleagured to god-like won almost every award of the season.  Finch, unfortunately, passed away before he could obtain that elusive Oscar.

CHARACTER #4
Cosmo Kramer, Seinfeld
Michael Richards - Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, 1993, 1994 & 1997
When it comes to strange characters, Kramer has to make the list.  It helps in this case that Michael Richards won 3 Emmys for his work during Seinfeld's 9 year run.

CHARACTER #3
Dr. Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory
Jim Parsons - Emmy for Best Actor in a Comedy Series, 2010 & 2011
Bazinga! With his back-to-back Emmy wins, Jim Parsons' performance as Sheldon Cooper is one of the reasons for this list (he was one of the first ones I thought of when I devised the category!).  His anal-retentive nature and his constant need to be right all the time makes it very hard for his friends to be around him and also makes him one of the funniest characters on Television today.  Just remember, don't sit in his spot!

CHARACTER(S) #2
Edith Bouvier Beale & Little Edie Beale, Grey Gardens
Christine Ebersole - Tony for Best Actress in a Musical, 2007
Mary Louise Wilson - Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, 2007
and
Jessica Lange - Emmy for Best Actress in a TV Movie, 2009
The documentary about the mother and daughter (related to Jackie Kennedy!) and their dilapidated East Hampton home has been beloved by many fans of underground cinema.  Their fascinating life story has been turned into a critically-acclaimed musical (which won Tonys for its leading ladies!) and a critically-acclaimed HBO TV Movie (which won Jessica Lange an Emmy and co-star/producer Drew Barrymore a Golden Globe!).

AND...
CHARACTER #1
The Master of Ceremonies, Cabaret
Joel Grey - Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, 1967 & Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, 1973
Alan Cumming - Tony for Best Actor in a Musical, 1998
When it comes to strange, I don't believe anyone can touch the oddity that is the Emcee from John Kander and Fred Ebb's most enduring musical.  Joel Grey enlivened this character to full effect (both on Broadway and on film) and the metaphor for Hitler and the Nazi party is quite prominent.  At times the character can be very over-the-top with his excessive garishness, but that's how he's supposed to be (just ask Alan Cumming, who winningly played him in the darker and more disturbing revival in the late 1990s).

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS: What Will Be Remembered?

Over this past weekend, I was on a little trip for a family gathering and a very interesting question was posed that I felt just had to be the topic of my next post: What media works of today will be remembered in about 50 years?  Now initially the question was referring to Television programs, but I decided to expand it into Movies, Music artists and (being a Broadway Baby!) Broadway shows.  In order to answer this question, I had to think of what (in each of those categories) is considered the most memorable and compare contemporary works to the legacy of those most memorable (it seems a bit unfair, but it is the best way to do it!).

Let's begin with Television.  When it comes to TV, no show will probably ever have the legacy that I Love Lucy has had.  Thanks to years of constant reruns and a multitude of people (especially women) singing the praises of Lucille Ball and her comic antics, the show has gained an iconic status that really no other TV series (sitcom or drama) will ever touch.  When you think of other shows over the years that can even come close, the "usual suspects" crop up: Bonanza, All In the Family, The Cosby Show, Seinfeld and even The Simpsons.  And of all of those, only the latter still has new episodes currently airing.  So what other shows of today even have a shot of being remembered in even 20 years?  Two of the first shows that popped into my mind (basically because of their unique qualities that are now trying to be copied on rival networks!) are the critically favored cable drama Mad Men and the extremely popular musical dramedy Glee.  But because of behind-the-scenes drama (on both shows!) and sagging storylines, the shows are showing signs of  trouble living up to their earlier successes and therefore may just end up becoming footnotes in the history of early 21st Century TV.  The same can be said for shows like 30 Rock or Modern Family (each universally considered two of the best sitcoms on Television today!) as they have had some trouble keeping the same "fire" they had in their respective first seasons.  And when it comes to dramas, most of the shows that are popular are police procedurals or part of a "franchise" like Law & Order or CSI.  Of the Reality TV contingent (cause let's face it, Reality TV will be remembered in some way or another!), the one with the clearest shot at memorability is American Idol as it has spawned a number of copycat shows which have become equally popular (re: The Voice or The X-Factor).  Only time will tell if any of these shows will even come as close to Lucy's legacy (or even Seinfeld's!).  The thing that has had a bigger impact on TV in the last ten years and will most definitely be remembered will be the advances in online viewing, in particular YouTube.  But that is probably a topic for another day, so on to the Movies!

When it comes to the classics in film, Oscar-winners like Gone With the Wind and Casablanca are two of the biggest icons.  In the late 20th Century, they were joined by films like The Godfather and Star Wars.  But of the films of today, the ones that make money are the surefire fan-based blockbusters like Avatar or the Harry Potter films or current box-office champ The Hunger Games.  And the ones that win awards lately have tended to be more charming or poignant independent fare like The Artist or The King's Speech or The Hurt Locker (the latter has the lowest box-office take of any Best Picture winner!).  Like I Love Lucy above, Gone With the Wind was a game-changer.  And when it comes to film, the game-changers get remembered.  Too many of the ones I just listed from the last 10 years are copying the same trends in which Hollywood studios just love to take part.  And when it comes to trends, just take a look at the Music business!

Elvis is the first name on a long list of Music icons we will never forget.  Among other members of that list include Michael Jackson, Madonna and, of course, The Beatles.  Like in movies, game-changers get remembered.  But does Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber count as game-changers.  Lady Gaga has the multitudes of Twitter followers, Bieber has the legacy of YouTube in his backstory and someone like Taylor Swift has the love and support of millions of little girls (despite the accusations of using auto-tuning!).  Compare them to the likes of more talented performers like Adele or Rihanna.  Or compare them to more controversial (yet still talented) artists like Kanye West or Bon Iver.  When it comes to Music these days, critical acclaim is taken into account as much as popularity.  And with so many possibilities, its hard to decipher which group or artist will be remembered with the likes of Elvis, MJ or even The Beatles.  

And on Broadway lately, money seems to be the all-important factor in being remembered.  Hell, its even the all-important factor in getting the big awards (Tony voters tend to chose the shows that will have the best chance of touring well!).  So the question becomes: Will a big hit with critics and audiences like The Book of Mormon ever be remembered in the same way as landmark musicals like Oklahoma!, West Side Story, Fiddler On the Roof or even long-running (and still going!) champ The Phantom of the Opera?

The ultimate point in all of these cases is that the shows, films and artists of today may never have the iconic status that their respective predecessors have had, but you can tell which ones have the best shot at getting into the proverbial "Time Capsule."  And trends are important.  Without them, pop culture would not be what it is.  However, it does seem to be the work that steps away from the trends (or perfect them in a way!) that get their place in the Pantheon of Great Media.

10 FAVORITES (54): Happy Birthday, Lord Lloyd Webber!

What does the Bible, Argentina, a Hollywood studio, a Parisian Opera House and the London back alleys all have in common?  They each serve as the settings for some of the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber.  Lord Lloyd Webber is celebrating his 64th birthday today (coincidentally he shares his birthday with another Broadway musical legend, Stephen Sondheim, who turns 82 today!).  For over 40 years, Lloyd Webber's musicals have thrilled audiences, broken box-office records and reshaped the musical theatre landscape.  His legend has been fully cemented especially with two new revivals of his earliest hits (Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita) opening on Broadway within the next month and the most financially successful musical of all-time now celebrating its 26th year on the London stage (Phantom's 25th anniversary on Broadway will occur in January of next year!).  His sumptuous and epic musical scores have won Tonys, Grammys and even an Oscar.  But what are the songs of his that this "Broadway Baby" will treasure most.  So, in honor of Lord Lloyd Webber's birthday, this week's 10 FAVORITES are devoted to the best songs the man composed for some of the world's most famous musicals.

THE 10 BEST 

ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER 

SONGS

SONG #10
An Unexpected Song
from Song and Dance or Tell Me On a Sunday
Original Lyrics by Don Black
Additional Lyrics by Richard Maltby Jr.
Originally written for the one-act musical Tell Me On a Sunday, when that show was combined with a balletic second act to create the 1986 Broadway hit Song and Dance (featuring a stellar Tony-winning performance from Bernadette Peters).  The stand-out song from the show was this charming number that has since become a popular audition song for almost every young female aspiring to stage greatness.  But of course, all these young women take their cues from the phenomenal Ms. Peters (see below!).

SONG #9
All I Ask of You
from The Phantom of the Opera
Lyrics by Charles Hart
Additional Lyrics by Richard Stilgoe
Arguably one of Lloyd Webber's most romantic songs ever written, its sweeping melody moves the audiences to tears towards the end of the first act of the gothic musical romance.  The song has become a standard at most weddings (especially ones where the brides have dragged their fiancee to a performance of Phantom!).

SONG #8
Love Changes Everything
from Aspects of Love
Lyrics by Don Black & Charles Hart
Not many shows open with a powerhouse ballad, but in Aspects of Love Lloyd Webber took a chance.  While the show was not his most successful critically (not many of his shows are exactly beloved by the critics), this song was a popular hit and launched leading man Michael Ball into super stardom in the United Kingdom.

SONG #7
Buenos Aires
from Evita
Lyrics by Tim Rice
What I've always loved about this song is the mix of rock rhythms and latin-style dance music combined with the forceful attitude of the character of young Eva Peron.  She stands there when she enters the Argentinian metropolis and (while enthralled by what she sees) she is not intimidated to tell the world what to expect from her.  It doesn't hurt that the original Broadway production had a powerhouse performance from the amazing Patti LuPone (below!).

SONG #6
Memory
from Cats
Lyrics by Trevor Nunn (adapted from T. S. Eliot)
Every time I've talked with people about this musical, they always ask me "Why the hell did a show about kitty cats run so long on Broadway!?!"  There are lots of reasons why the show was so popular (so many to mention here really!).  One of those reasons though was this extremely popular power ballad that became the show's signature tune.  Who knew that kitties could have powerful emotions!?!

SONG #5
I Don't Know How To Love Him
from Jesus Christ Superstar
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Back in 1970, this was one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's first #1 hits.  Inspired by legendary rock albums by The Who and Led Zeppelin, Lloyd Webber and writing partner Tim Rice released Jesus Christ Superstar as a concept album hoping it would be successful enough to warrant a musical production.  Thanks to hit singles like this one (not to mention the title number!), the show opened on Broadway, opened in London  and had a feature film version all within a matter of 3 years.

SONG #4
As If We Never Said Goodbye
from Sunset Boulevard
Lyrics by Don Black
Additional Lyrics by Christopher Hampton
While Sunset Boulevard is not among Lloyd Webber's shining successes (the multi-million dollar original London and Broadway productions lost most of their original investments), this emotionally charged second-act "aria" gives the actress playing Norma Desmond a chance for a true tour-de-force performance.  The sweeping melody and the lyrical poetry make for brilliant speech by someone who has felt so alone, but now has a chance at returning to her former glory.  Just watch Glenn Close below in her Tony-winning triumph.

SONG #3
The Phantom of the Opera
from The Phantom of the Opera
Lyrics by Charles Hart
Additional Lyrics by Richard Stilgoe
When it comes to Broadway title tunes, this rock-influenced powerhouse ranks among the best (right up there with Oklahoma!, Hello, Dolly! and The Sound of Music).  There are several things I love about this number. One of the things is the minute I hear that drum-beat intro, I'm immediately taken back to the first time I saw this show and this musical sequence.  When the Phantom takes Christine to his underground lair, the stage production goes all out in wowing audiences with rising candelabras, swirling mists and a moving boat.  Combine all that with the thrilling final seconds of the song when Christine reaches high E's in her vocalizing, it makes for a memorable musical number.

SONG #2
Don't Cry For Me Argentina
from Evita
Lyrics by Tim Rice
This song doesn't really need a lot of explanation.  It is a powerful and very emotional song that epitomizes the love Eva Peron had for her people (more importantly the power they could give her!).  The melody is moving and Tim Rice's lyrics are the perfect mix of poetry and politics.  Get a great performer like Patti LuPone or original London star Elaine Paige (below) to sing it and you've got a Grammy-winning hit.

AND...
SONG #1
The Music of the Night
from The Phantom of the Opera
Lyrics by Charles Hart
Additional Lyrics by Richard Stilgoe
This goes on my list as one of my favorite Broadway songs of All-Time.  It goes up there with songs by the likes of Rodgers and Hammerstein, George Gershwin and Irving Berlin.  When I first saw Phantom of the Opera almost 20 years ago, I remember this song just moving me to tears (which was a complete turnaround as I had just been wowed by the phenomenal staging of the title number!).  With this song you hear the Phantom's lonliness and his heartbreak, but you also hear the beauty and the passion with which he floods his soul with his art and his music.  It is a hauntingly beautiful song that celebrates the thing that brings us all together: music.

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS: The Luck of the Irish

Laziness.  Laziness and Procrastination.  Laziness and Procrastination and Lack of originality.  All of these things are what I can blame the "Ghost Town" that has been my blog in the last 17 days.  Over the last few weeks, I have mulled over and gone back and forth on a long list of article ideas that I could have done (if for no other reason than to make the blog seem active).  But for various reasons (no interest, not enough knowledge about the subject or just a plain bad idea!), none of these articles seemed worth going against my integrity as a writer.  I'm not one of those writers who writes just to write, I write because I'm passionate about a project or a topic or an idea.  And none of the article ideas I've had these past two weeks have thrilled me in the way a good topic should.  Just to give you all an idea of what I've been going through, I'll give you a peek at some of the topics that I thought about discussing but eventually scuttled.  First, I was going to do a very topical article about the vitriol that exists in our culture these days.  It was sparked by the debate over what conservative blowhard Rush Limbaugh said about student-activist Sandra Fluke and her pleadings to the U.S. Congress in regards to contraception for young women.  It was further inspired by the back and forth between former teen idol and now very Christian Kirk Cameron and the always stir-the-pot liberal group GLAAD over his comments on Piers Morgan's talk show in regards to gay marriage (for the record, he's not for it...just in case you were wondering!).  I thought about several ways to approach the article (including an angle that brings in the Facebook/Twitter factor and how 24/7 internet makes it much harder to say what you feel), but eventually the topic became too big for me and waaaaaay too political (something I said from the beginning this blog would never be!).  Other article topics that got the boot were a post about the phenomenon that is The Hunger Games books and the soon-to-be-released and highly anticipated film version of the first novel in the series.  But I felt that since I hadn't read the books and only have witnessed the phenom from the sidelines, I wasn't the best person to be talking about it.  There was also the article about how the FOX hit musical-comedy series Glee has disappointed me in their last few episodes before their Spring hiatus, but that topic just seemed a little petty and backbiting (something that I think too much of goes on in Hollywood!).  The other article ideas vary along these same lines as being too big for one post or too flimsy or just poorly researched.  And then I noticed a theme in my thought process when choosing a blog topic: What I think can go wrong with an article!

Now this being St. Patrick's Day, a holiday which celebrates the Irish in all of us (something that is very close to my heart!), I thought that this would be the perfect day to return to the blog.  A word we all hear a lot around St. Patrick's Day is "Luck" (unfortunately also the name of the recently cancelled and exorbitantly expensive HBO series starring Dustin Hoffman!).  Many people have told me that I am "lucky" to be a writer and have my own blog on which I can express my opinions and thoughts, and while I definitely see their point, I have never really felt "lucky" just full of ideas (though some of them don't work as you saw above!).  And then I remembered what most of the "philosophers" of our day (like Oprah and her pals) say about "luck:"  You make your own.  And what they mean by that is that what you put out into the world will be returned to you through Karma or Fate or God or whatever you want to call it.  And that reminded me of the story of St. Patrick, a story I heard over and over growing up in an Irish-Catholic family!  His luck and good fortune came to him because of the devout person he was and the goodness he put out into the world through his good works.  Then I thought about applying this theory to my writing and the way I think about article topics  for the blog, and what I noticed about the many topics that didn't work out failed because I wasn't thinking about what could be good about the article.  In short, I need to make my own "luck."  I need to see what is good about my ideas and focus on that when conceiving and executing my blog topics.  Whether that means I need to not think in broad terms or if that means I need to skip a few weeks to find my footing, that's what will happen.  Because when it comes to this blog (be it 10 FAVORITES or IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS), I want the best of me to shine through (I know that sounds cheesy, but sometimes cheesy is just how you feel!).