The Great Gatsby

yeah never seen the coppola gatsby but mia as daisy works for me, makes more sense than dipsy mumford or whatever

but her voice sounds money, it doesn't sound LIKE money

Somehow, my English teacher didn't know that Romeo & Juliet had been turned into a modern-day musical until I mentioned it one day.

So I apologize to the next 15 grades that came through her room and had to watch West Side Story.

west side story is awesome. at first i thought you mean william shakespeare's romeo + juliet which is also pretty awesome. i think i pretty much like any movie of romeo & juliet, i'm just a big romantic i guess. justdudethings.

<3 West Side Story, hate the film of it, could go on forever, won't.

love the West Side Story movie

you're testing my commitment to not ranting about this at great length

i would love to hear your rant! tbh I've never seen the stage version, I just have nostalgia for watching the movie with my Mum

yeah go for it silby i loved it when i saw it too

Well my core objection to the film is that it casts adults to play the teenaged/maybe early 20s characters, which doesn't play on film like it does on stage, where you can suspend disbelief. It wrecks the whole hotheaded lovesick teenage-aimlessness theme of the show.

Other objections include casting mostly Anglos to play the Jets, and dealing with it by painting them all an identical shade of brown, and the repurposing of "Somewhere" from an anonymous soprano solo sung during the nightmare sequence that unites the warring gangs in a hopeful dream for a more humane future into a fucking SEX DUET.

In sum America is a land of contrasts and West Side Story is great when performed by high school students or Schlong.

Same English teacher showed us the 60s version of Romeo & Juliet, and jumped up to stand in front of the screen during the (5-second?) scene with nudity.

Also the prologue to West Side Story is like 20 minutes long.

Our teacher just fast forwarded the nude scene.

sex duet <3

our teacher screwed that up, to our stunned satisfaction

As he sings, the walls of the apartment begin to move off, and the city walls surrounding them begin to close in on them. Then the apartment it self goes, and the two lovers begin to run, battering against the walls of the city, beginning to break through as chaotic figures of the gangs, of violence, fail around them. But they do break through, and suddenly-they are in a world of space and air and sun. They stop, looking at it, pleased, startled, as boys and girls both sides come on. And they, too, stop and stare, happy, pleased. Their clothes are soft and pastel versions of what they have worn before. They begin to dance, to play: no sides, no hostility now; join, making a world that Tony and Maria want to be in, belong to, share their love with. As they go into the steps of a gentle love dance, a voice is heard singing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80-DtChQ39U

there's probably a better thread for this

wow Silby that just made me cry. what a voice!

THEEEERE'S AAAAAA THREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD FOR UUUUUUUUUUSSSS

WEST SIDE STORY motherjumping sountrack poll!

skip here for more versions of this song that are mostly better than the one in the film, including possibly the Barbara Streisand one

60s version of r&j is awesome, espec if you're in middle school and your teacher's bad at remembering when to fast-forward

the botched fast forwarding of that scene is like a universal experience among american middle schoolers

otm

No Zefferelli for us, sob. Our R&J experience was delivered by an irritating dumpling who used to shout 'this is MY TIME' when we stopped paying attention to her. We stopped paying attention to her because correcting her mistakes was tiring after the first fifty times it happened.

my sophomore english teacher held a cardboard box in front of the screen during the sex scene(s?) in the fishburne/branagh othello and i made some big deal about how it was absurd and typical that we were censoring the sex but not the violence. didn't make much sense cuz the fishburne/branagh othello isn't exactly peckinpah but it did at least waste a little class time.

I've still never seen the Zeffirelli R&J.

As for WSS, stage musicals belong on the stage, esp when an otherwise talented director has no facility for giving them visual rhythm (hey Robert Wise), and oh the lead actors aren't doing the singing.

also YOU KIDS MAKE THIS WORLD LOUSY

also YOU KIDS MAKE THIS WORLD LOUSY

― ballin' from Maine to Mexico (Dr Morbius), Friday, May 17, 2013 10:13 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

otm

i used to say that line all the time. i need to add that one back to my repertoire... freaking kids

Zeffirelli is boring, but my roommate had me giggling when he MST3K'd the moment the maidens were throwing their flowers in Juliet's grave: "Here you go. Plug it up."

Would love to see WSS get the Rosencrantz & Guildenstern treatment with Morbius as Doc.

if u wanna do the original I look good in friar's robes too.

we didn't watch the zeffirelli but we watched the lolmann. god high school was weird. we did heart of darkness my junior year and spent like four class periods watching apocalypse now. boomers.

when we were doing ancient greece in world history class we watched spartacus cuz our teacher thought it was about sparta.

lol

btw the WSS Doc was a ubiquitous character actor on TV when I was a kid, and I just learned he was in a buncha classic 3 Stooges shorts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Glass

i still love luhrmann's r+j, i blame nostalgia

so when will Gatsby be musicalized? inevitable, no? propose song titles.

i think danes+posthelwaite+especially leguizamo are all really good, and leo's ridiculously pretty. kinda hard to sit through for me tho. particularly remember it making a total hash out of the parents' parts. xp

postlethwaite. dunno why i thought i could get away with not googling that.

luhrmann's r+j is pretty good. insane-o production design and costuming. johnny leguizamo's a great tybalt

luhrmann's last good movie imo

so when will Gatsby be musicalized? inevitable, no? propose song titles.

"I Remember Yesterday," Donna Summer
"Barely Breaking Even," Universal Robot Band
"I'll Play the Fool," Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band
"Weekend," Phreek
"I Love New York," Metropolis
"High Steppin', Hip Dressin' Fella (You Got It Together)," Love Unlimited
"A Little Bit of Jazz," Nick Straker Band
"Love Hangover," Diana Ross
"Standing In The Rain," Don Ray
"Hit 'n' Run Lover," Carol Jiani
"Car Wash," Rose Royce
"Running Away," Roy Ayers
"You Saved My Day," Cheryl Lynn
"Goin' To A Showdown," Don Armando's 2nd Avenue Rhumba Band
"Last Dance," Donna Summer
"Was That All It Was," Jean Carn
"The Red Light," Green Velvet

High frame speed Paul Sorvino. Pretty much all I remember.

xp

it is pretty good. it's about romantic love, which is i guess where he excels. i do not think danes is that good. baby dicaprio a perfect romeo imo. leguizamo kills; i can't read the play without picturing him now.

xp luhrmann's romeo and juliet, i mean

Natalie Portman had been chosen for the role of Juliet, but after production began, it was felt that the footage looked as though DiCaprio was "molesting" her.[4] Eventually, Luhrmann agreed that the age difference between the two actors was too great. Filming was halted to find another actress for the part.

whoa

the botched fast forwarding of that scene is like a universal experience among american middle schoolers

― Treeship, Thursday, May 16, 2013 11:58 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

omg yes, except i think my teacher didn't even bother? olivia hussey was a stone fox

also i have much love for R+J, had the soundtrack on repeat for ages. and yeah, leguizamo totally ruled.

xp whoah indeed

it's about romantic love

the parts he left in, anyway. certainly fits him better than gatsby.

i might not be being clearheaded about claire tho cuz that dress + sudden brief expression of alarmed betrayal on "what satisfaction canst thou have tonight?"

this gatsby is great...

http://cdn.avsforum.com/6/69/80x80px-LS-69cdc448_triumph_insult_comic_dog.jpeg

i still love luhrman's r+j, the look and style of it, and that dude that played Mercutio that ended up in Lost, he was rad
and PAUL RUDD

never forget:
http://media.portable.tv/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/romeo-juliet-claire-danes-paul-rudd-gif.gif