TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: American Musicals (The Band Wagon / Meet Me in St. Louis / Singin' in the Rain / Easter Parade)

TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: American Musicals (The Band Wagon / Meet Me in St. Louis / Singin' in the Rain / Easter Parade) Review

EASTER PARADE Strolling along 5th Avenue or bumming around as A Couple of Swells, Judy Garland and Fred Astaire lead a parade of music (17 Irving Berlin tunes and an Academy Award-winning adaptation score) and gotta-dance fun in this neverending delight co-starring Ann Miller and Peter Lawford. MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS She's in love with the boy next door. And movie fans are forever in love with her Judy Garland in a nostalgia and humor-filled tale of life with the Smith family in 1903 St. Louis. Songs include The Boy Next Door, The Trolley Song and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. SINGIN IN THE RAIN Considered by many to be the greatest movie musical ever! Silent movies are giving way to the advent of sound and a Hollywood matinee idol (Gene Kelly) is caught in that bumpy transition, as well as his buddy (Donald O'Connor), prospective sweetheart (Debbie Reynolds) and vocally-challenged co-star (Jean Hagen). THE BAND WAGON Fred Astaire dazzles in a train station (By Myself), a penny arcade (A Shine on Your Shoes), a back-lot Central Park (Dancing in the Dark) and a smoky café (Girl Hunt), the latter two with incomparable Cyd Charisse. Nanette Fabray, Jack Buchanan and Oscar Levant co-star, and as the movies hallmark song goes, That's Entertainment!

DVD-Innovative Arrangements For American Blues/Roots Guitar

DVD-Innovative Arrangements For American Blues/Roots Guitar Review

DVD-Innovative Arrangements For American Blues/Roots Guitar Feature

• Published by Homespun
• DVD taught by Geoff Muldaur
• Artist: Geoff Muldaur

Legendary singer and guitarist Geoff Muldaur has chosen six gospel and blues arrangements that are filled with ideas, techniques and wonderful songs to add to your repertoire. They include two traditional gospel songs: "Just a Little While to Stay Here," based on a New Orleans funeral march in dropped D tuning; the soulful "Trouble Soon Be Over" in open G; and "I Believe I’ll Go Back Home," Geoff’s own version of the biblical story of the Prodigal Son.

Geoff teaches his blues arrangement to "Wild Ox Moan," the amazing rendition of Vera Hall’s Texas Blues that was one of the highlights of his hit CD "The Secret Handshake." His original blues/ballad "Got to Find Blind Lemon" tells the compelling story of Geoff’s search for the blues master’s resting place so he can "see that his grave is kept clean," and includes some vintage Blind Lemon licks in the arrangement. Finally, Delta blues riffs and rich chord shapes in open C tuning (EGCGCE) make a powerful setting for Blind Willie Johnson’s "Tears Come Rolling Down."

Geoff’s vision of the guitar as an arranging tool gives this video lesson a uniquely important place among instructional materials. He uses standard ingredients of fingerstyle playing -- alternating bass, arpeggio rolls, moving lines, harmonized scales and syncopations, combined with rich chord voicings that add a jazz sensibility to traditional music. With his rare musical intelligence, he sheds light on how to "find the little things that make a difference" and how, by making small changes, you can make turnarounds and blues licks sound fresh and new.

American Movie Musicals Collection: West Side Story/Fiddler on the Roof/Guys and Dolls

American Movie Musicals Collection: West Side Story/Fiddler on the Roof/Guys and Dolls Review

WEST SIDE STORY: This "brilliant" (The New Republic) film sets the ageless story of Romeo and Juliet against a backdrop of gang warfare in 1950s New York. Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins and scripted by Ernest Lehman, the film combines Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s unforgettable score ("Maria," "America," "Somewhere," "Tonight") with Robbins’ own exuberant choreography to achieve an exhilarating "work of art" (Saturday Review). A love affair is fated for tragedy amidst the vicious rivalry of two street gangs – the Jets and the Sharks. When Jets member Tony (Richard Beymer) falls for Maria (Natalie Wood), the sister of the Sharks leader, it’s more than these two warring gangs can handle. And as mounting tensions rise, a battle to the death ensues, and innocent blood is shed in a heartbreaking finale. FIDDLER ON THE ROOF: "An outstanding accomplishment in every category" (Boxoffice), this lavishly produced and critically acclaimed screen adaptation of the international stage sensation tells the life-affirming story of Tevye (Topol), a poor milkman whose love, pride and faith help him face the oppression of turn-of-the century czarist Russia. Nominated for eight Academy Awards®, including Best Picture and Best Director, and featuring such classic songs as "If I Were A Rich Man," "Matchmaker" and "Sunrise, Sunset," Fiddler on the Roof is a universal story of hope, love and acceptance – a "stunning, joyful and jubilant" (New York Daily News) musical masterpiece. GUYS AND DOLLS: Hollywood legends Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons and Vivian Blain (from the original Broadway cast) are dazzling in this Frank Loesser (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) masterpiece, unleashing a "spectacular, song-and-dance show that's loaded with entertainment" (New York Journal-American). Featuring hits like "Luck Be a Lady" and "A Woman in Love," this smash film version of one of Broadway's most popular musicals is guaranteed, rip-roaring "four-star entertainment" (New York Daily News). The slickest big-time New York City gamblers, Sky Masterson (Brando) and Nathan Detroit (Sinatra), can't resist making or taking a bet on anything. So when a pretty missionary (Simmons) sets up shop in the neighborhood, Nathan stakes a grand that Sky can't seduce her. But all bets are off when Sky falls madly in love in this romantic musical spectacular that sets the Big Apple afire with excitement!

Dancing in the Light: Six Dance Compositions By African American Choreographers / Asadata Dafora, Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, Talley Beatty, Donald McKayle, Bill T. Jones

Dancing in the Light: Six Dance Compositions By African American Choreographers / Asadata Dafora, Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, Talley Beatty, Donald McKayle, Bill T. Jones Review

The American Dance Festival presents Dancing in the Light, a one-hour modern dance television program showcasing 6 historic dance compositions by African American choreographers. All of the dances were originally recorded for the Emmy Award-winning series Free to Dance, a three-hour documentary that aired on PBS in 2001 as part of the Great Performances: Dance in America series. While Free to Dance uses select excerpts from the dances to inform its narrative within a historical context, Dancing in the Light features six dances in their entirety or in the case of one work, a complete section.

AWASSA ASTRIGE/OSTRICH (1932)
Choreography by Asadata Dafora
Performed by G. D. Harris, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company

BARRELHOUSE BLUES - excerpt (1938)
Choreography by Katherine Dunham
Performed by Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble

STRANGE FRUIT (1943)
Choreography by Pearl Primus
Performed by Dawn Marie Watson, Philadanco

MOURNER’S BENCH (1947)
Choreography by Talley Beatty
Performed by Jerome Stigler, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company

RAINBOW ‘ROUND MY SHOULDER (1959)
Choreography by Donald McKayle
Performed by Dayton Contemporary Dance Company

D-MAN IN THE WATERS - Section 1 (1989)
Choreography by Bill T. Jones
Performed by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company

A Production of The American Dance Festival in association with Thirteen/WNET New York

Producer Jodee Nimerichter, Director And Writer Madison Davis Lacy, Editor Girish Bhargava, Consultants Matthew Diamond, Gary Halvorson, Host Taye Diggs, Camera Ed Fussell, Ronnie Smith, Tom Hurwitz, Sound Recordists Peter Miller, John Zecca, Lighting Designer Alan Adelman, Executive Producer Charles L. Reinhart.

Mel Bay The American Fiddle Method Volume 1

Mel Bay The American Fiddle Method Volume 1 Review

Brian Wicklund is widely regarded as one of the top fiddle teachers in the country. He shares his knowledge in this DVD lesson for beginning fiddle players, which is a supplement to his critically acclaimed American Fiddle Method Volume 1. Brian guides you through the basic skills of learning the fiddle and shares his pointers and shortcuts to help you learn faster and more efficiently. In order to include as much material as possible, each tune is played once followed by a few tips. This DVD includes nearly 2 hours of material, which is roughly equivalent to four to eight months of private lessons. Contents include: 22 common fiddle tunes, bow and fiddle position, bowing technique, fingering technique, rhythmic bowing, slurring, tricks for playing in tune, secrets for good tone, double-string playing, and backup playing.

An American Tail Family Double Feature

An American Tail Family Double Feature Review

From Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment come the adventures of Fievel, one of the most endearing animated characters ever created. In this thrilling adventure, the courageous little mouse braves the strange new world to find his family.

And the fun continues when Fievel joins forces with famed lawdog Wylie Burp to thwart a plot to transform unsuspecting settlers into mouseburgers! Filled with humor, adventure and action, these heartwarming tales are fun for the entire family.

American in Paris

American in Paris Review

A winner of six Oscars including Best Picture, An American in Paris (1951) was Vincente Minnelli's love letter to the City of Lights and to the music of George Gershwin. Gene Kelly plays Jerry Mulligan, a former American GI trying to make a living in France as an artist after the war. He's taken on by an American patron of the arts (Nina Foch) who has other intentions, but he falls in love with a local girl (Leslie Caron in her debut) who happens to be the intended of a Parisian cabaret performer (Georges Guetary). The music of George and Ira Gershwin sparkles throughout the film, including Kelly and Guetary's ironic duet "'S Wonderful," Kelly's simple ballad "Love Is Here to Stay," Guetary's flamboyant "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise," and Kelly's tour-de-force "I Got Rhythm" dance with a bunch of kids. Oscar Levant plays his usual acerbic self as Jerry's friend and pianist, and performs the final movement of the Concerto in F--accompanied by an orchestra of himselves. The movie famously concludes with a 17-minute fantasy ballet set to the tone poem the movie is named after. While its scope and placement might seem a little odd to viewers decades later, it's an elaborate showcase of Kelly's dancing and choreography (he received an honorary Oscar that year for it), and started a trend that would be followed by similar numbers in Singin' in the Rain and Oklahoma! --David Horiuchi