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Home , Al Dubin, Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick

Thanks to those who have contributed this month. Would be lovely to have some more for next month!

Memory 10 sheet

From Chris and Amanda:

Locke (2013)

We discovered this film late one evening purely by chance.

The entire film takes place inside the confines of a BMW X5 on a journey from Birmingham to London on a Friday night. Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) is the only occupant of the car and the film centres around the numerous phone calls that take place during the journey. These phone calls reveal that Ivan is en route to the hospital, where an ill-advised one-night stand is about to give birth. If things weren’t high pressure enough, his wife and kids are waiting for him at home, and in the morning he’s supposed to oversee “the biggest single concrete pour in all of history, outside wartime”. He must coordinate 218 trucks and 55 metric tonnes of wet concrete. Remotely.

This may sound like a bit of an odd film but as the tension builds during the journey the drama of Ivan’s own making is amazing!

From Sandy:

Having given Phil a 'firestick' for his birthday we have now entered the world of Netflix & many other channels including 'Broadway HD!' We have recently watched the following. We have also enjoyed a lot of the Friday night 'The Show Must Go On' programmes on TV during lockdown.

42nd street (on Broadway HD but also on You tube) This show was written by Al Dubin and with music by and was the 2019 West End production starring Bonnie Langford as Dorothy Brock and Clare Halse as Peggy Sawyer. We really enjoyed it and felt we had actually visited a theatre. This Golden Age musical follows Peggy Sawyer, a young woman who quickly rises through the ranks to become an actress, taking over the leading role in a new musical. Cont’d. …….

This really is an excellent show with lots of tap dancing and musical numbers, for which one critic stated, “Rarely have I seen a physical West End production of this standard, with the full depth of the magnificent Drury Lane stage utilised with set after set… This is a show that will certainly tap your troubles away and leaves you beaming from the inside out. Infectious joy of the highest calibre.”

We also found ‘Showboat’ on Broadway HD. Another musical but with music by , lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and P. G. Wodehouse and based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock workers on the ‘Cotton Blossom,’ a Mississippi River show boat, over 40 years from 1887 to 1927. It includes racial prejudice but also enduring love and includes such classic songs as "Ol' Man River", "Make Believe", and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man".

Finally, we recently enjoyed watching ‘Making Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles’ on TV but it is also available on You Tube. This is a 2019 documentary film about the creation and significance of the 1964 musical . Directed by Max Lewkowicz, it features interviews with Fiddler creators such as , , , and , as well as actors and other musical theatre people like and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Also message from Sandy!:- Well here we are in lockdown 3! I therefore wanted to say Hi and to let you know that I am missing you and all my friends once more as we go back into isolation. Still here's to the vaccine and look forward to the spring when perhaps we can meet up again. Luv Sandy x I wanted to send a ditty to spread some festive cheer But this last year has been so shitty I‘m glad that it’s no longer here. So take these virtual hugs my friend and try to have some fun And try to stay both safe and well until the better times come!