That's Life
December 12, 2015 8:36 PM Subscribe
From 1983, and in honor of the centennial of the birth of America's greatest interpreter of popular song, here is Twyla Tharp's Sinatra Suite, as performed at the Kennedy Center, starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Elaine Kudo.
Commissioned by American Ballet Theatre
Costumes by Oscar de la Renta
Lighting by Jennifer Tipton
Featuring
I. Strangers in the Night
II. All the Way
III. That’s Life
IV. My Way
V. One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)
Commissioned by American Ballet Theatre
Costumes by Oscar de la Renta
Lighting by Jennifer Tipton
Featuring
I. Strangers in the Night
II. All the Way
III. That’s Life
IV. My Way
V. One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)
America's greatest interpreter of popular song
Opinions vary.
Especially mine.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:33 AM on December 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Opinions vary.
Especially mine.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:33 AM on December 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
I loved the dancing, but I'm not sure why in the middle of it, Baryshnikov became a vaguely abusive gum chewer.
posted by ChuraChura at 5:00 AM on December 13, 2015
posted by ChuraChura at 5:00 AM on December 13, 2015
I prefer the word "ballad" rather than "popular" for the music that Sinatra was best at. Popular applies to anything at any given time by anyone performing such music.
posted by Postroad at 6:09 AM on December 13, 2015
posted by Postroad at 6:09 AM on December 13, 2015
I saw Twyla Tharp's Sinatra performed in a theater when I was a teenager in the 80's -- I think it was in Vermont, must have been a touring company? The thing I remember most vividly was a moment during 'One For My Baby', where the female dancer crosses the stage to leap into the male dancer's arms, just as he's shrugging his jacket on. I remember gasping in shock because the timing seemed so impressively risky; if his arms had gotten tangled in the sleeves, she would have crash-landed.
I'm kind of afraid to watch the linked performance, in case it conflicts with my memory.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:19 AM on December 13, 2015
I'm kind of afraid to watch the linked performance, in case it conflicts with my memory.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:19 AM on December 13, 2015
oh yeah - it's there, I was shocked too. It made me wonder about the rehearsals for that move.
posted by maggiemaggie at 8:38 AM on December 13, 2015
posted by maggiemaggie at 8:38 AM on December 13, 2015
I taped this off the TV at some point in the 80s and rewatched it a bunch of times, so thanks for the link! My favorite has always been "One For My Baby"; I think it does a tremendous job of translating the feelings of a melancholy torch song into physical movement.
Not as crazy about "That's Life", though I see the comedy they were aiming for. I guess it's just a little too floppy-Twyla for me. (Although the abusive-gum-chewer persona there really does strike me as a portrait of Sinatra done in dance.)
posted by theatro at 9:43 AM on December 13, 2015
Not as crazy about "That's Life", though I see the comedy they were aiming for. I guess it's just a little too floppy-Twyla for me. (Although the abusive-gum-chewer persona there really does strike me as a portrait of Sinatra done in dance.)
posted by theatro at 9:43 AM on December 13, 2015
In was Christmas 1978 when I first heard, in the sense of really listening to, the music of Frank Sinatra.
I was involved in a complicated, and toxic, relationship with an older woman and she had received "In The Wee Small Hours" as a gift from her husband, whom she had recently separated from. Anyway, within moments of those opening lyrics, "In the wee small hours of the morning/when the whole wide world is fast asleep..", I was hooked. I had never heard anything so pure, bitter and so sweet. Remember this was the 1970's, which in terms of popular music, was as dire as it gets. This music was anything but dire.
Thirty-seven years later Sinatra has been a consistent soundtrack to my life. I proposed to my wife while "Songs For Young Lovers" was on the turntable. My children recognise recognise Sinatra's music - admittedly mostly from the 1950's, golden age of Sinatra's music. I even appeared on the TV quiz program, "Mastermind" with my specialist topic being "The Life of Frank Sinatra" - I did appalling badly as I recall. No matter.
Whenever I told friends and colleagues about my love of Sinatra's music, they inevitably seem reply something along the lines of, "He is that mafia guy, isn't he?". Sigh.
Yes he was far from a perfect human being, and some of his music was at best forgettable. (Who can forget, Mama Will Bark?) He was to my mind though, the finest interpreter of the American songbook and will be listened to for decades to come, if not longer.
Even now, long, long ago from that Christmas in 1978, I still occasionally put on the headphones, close my eyes and
listen...
When your lonely heart has learned its lesson,
You'd be hers if only she would call,
In the wee small hours of the morning,
That's the time you miss her most of all.
posted by vac2003 at 3:29 PM on December 13, 2015 [3 favorites]
I was involved in a complicated, and toxic, relationship with an older woman and she had received "In The Wee Small Hours" as a gift from her husband, whom she had recently separated from. Anyway, within moments of those opening lyrics, "In the wee small hours of the morning/when the whole wide world is fast asleep..", I was hooked. I had never heard anything so pure, bitter and so sweet. Remember this was the 1970's, which in terms of popular music, was as dire as it gets. This music was anything but dire.
Thirty-seven years later Sinatra has been a consistent soundtrack to my life. I proposed to my wife while "Songs For Young Lovers" was on the turntable. My children recognise recognise Sinatra's music - admittedly mostly from the 1950's, golden age of Sinatra's music. I even appeared on the TV quiz program, "Mastermind" with my specialist topic being "The Life of Frank Sinatra" - I did appalling badly as I recall. No matter.
Whenever I told friends and colleagues about my love of Sinatra's music, they inevitably seem reply something along the lines of, "He is that mafia guy, isn't he?". Sigh.
Yes he was far from a perfect human being, and some of his music was at best forgettable. (Who can forget, Mama Will Bark?) He was to my mind though, the finest interpreter of the American songbook and will be listened to for decades to come, if not longer.
Even now, long, long ago from that Christmas in 1978, I still occasionally put on the headphones, close my eyes and
listen...
When your lonely heart has learned its lesson,
You'd be hers if only she would call,
In the wee small hours of the morning,
That's the time you miss her most of all.
posted by vac2003 at 3:29 PM on December 13, 2015 [3 favorites]
Not since Cyd Charisse in Silk Stockings has a dancer racked up a higher score on the cleroy take-my-breath-away meter. And I think Tharp (and Baryshikov) captured Sinatra's "caveman" attitudes to a tee!
posted by cleroy at 4:18 PM on December 13, 2015
posted by cleroy at 4:18 PM on December 13, 2015
the centennial of the birth of America's greatest interpreter of popular song...
Man-Thing (as in MeFi’s own) wrote a nice blog post the other day about that very subject.
posted by LeLiLo at 6:38 PM on December 13, 2015
Man-Thing (as in MeFi’s own) wrote a nice blog post the other day about that very subject.
posted by LeLiLo at 6:38 PM on December 13, 2015
« Older translated from the Italian | MRA Dilbert Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Confess, Fletch at 9:49 PM on December 12, 2015