<< March 26 - April 2, 2008 >>>

Discuss this series with other film fans on:
http://www.myspace.com/americancinematheque

Join as a new Member at the Aero during out Musical Series, March 26th - March 30th at any level will recieve a soundtrack CD to ACROSS THE UNIVERSE & a DVD of HOLLYWOOD SINGING & DANCING. These supplies limited so act fast!

Few genres demand the big screen treatment like the musical, and this month the Aero gives you the opportunity to see some of the greatest song-and-dance films ever made the way they were meant to be seen. From vintage classics like SINGIN' IN THE RAIN and SHOW BOAT to revisionist masterpieces like CABARET and ALL THAT JAZZ, this series is a feast for the eyes and ears. In addition to many of the genre's most noteworthy films, we'll be screening a terrific new documentary (HOLLYWOOD SINGING AND DANCING) as well as two of the most recent and most offbeat musicals, SOUTHLAND TALES and ROMANCE & CIGARETTES. A special note: Don't miss the chance to see HELLO, DOLLY! projected in glorious 70mm!

HOLLYWOOD SINGING AND DANCING, 2008, 111 min. Director Mark McLaughlin's documentary is a very entertaining and comprehensive look at the Hollywood movie musical. This celebration of song and dance begins with Busby Berkeley's exquisite black-and-white choreographed extravaganzas that lightened the dark days of the Depression and continues through the rousing patriotic World War II musicals into the heyday of the great MGM spectaculars and finishes with the genre's recent resurgence and multi-generational embrace. This wonderfully entertaining historical document is illustrated by extraordinary clips and fabulous new interviews with, among others, Liza Minnelli, Shirley MacLaine, Mickey Rooney, Rita Moreno, Debbie Reynolds, Leslie Caron, Jane Russell, Tommy Tune, Joel Grey, Bill Condon, Rob Marshall and more. Director McLaughlin makes good use of an incredible amount of archival footage of luminaries like Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Bob Fosse and many, many more who made the pictures sing and dance. NOTE THIS IS A 2 HOUR VERSION AND IS NOT THE SAME VERSION PLAYING ON PBS. Discussion following with actress Shirley Jones and director Mark McLaughlin.

Thursday, March 27 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

CABARET, 1972, Warner Bros., 123 min. Director/choreographer Bob Fosse’s mad, desperate, thoroughly outrageous adaptation of Kander & Ebb’s Broadway musical stars Liza Minnelli in an Oscar-winning performance as cheerfully depraved sprite Sally Bowles, falling in love with naïve writer Michael York in 1930s Berlin, while the shadow of Nazism spreads across Europe. Co-starring Joel Grey as the devilish host of the sinful Kit Kat Klub. Winner of eight Academy Awards, including Best Director, Cinematography (Geoffrey Unsworth) and Supporting Actor (Grey).

ALL THAT JAZZ, 1979, 20th Century Fox, 123 min. Intense, compelling musical based on the life of its director, choreographer and screenwriter, Bob Fosse. Roy Scheider stars as an obsessed, womanizing, pill-popping, chain-smoking Broadway choreographer and director who pays the ultimate price for his insane, creative lifestyle and kudos go to Ann Reinking playing his patient mistress. The movie probably has the only musical number set during open-heart surgery. With Jessica Lange, Cliff Gorman, Ben Vereen. Discussion in between films with Michael York (CABARET).

Friday, March 28 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, 1952, Warner Bros., 103 min. Dirs. Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen. Hand selected by co-star Gene Kelly for the film, Debbie Reynolds delivered her stunning, breakout performance at age 20 in this all-time classic, arguably the greatest of American screen musicals. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN began with legendary MGM producer Arthur Freed giving screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green a stack of songs he'd written early in his career (with partner Nacio Herb Brown) – including "Broadway Melody," "You Are My Lucky Star," and the title song – and saying simply, "Weave a story around these." What emerged was a sublime marriage of song and dance, innocence and nostalgia, heart-tugging romance and surreal comedy (especially in co-star Donald O'Connor's show-stopping "Make 'Em Laugh" routine). Co-director Kelly shines as silent movie idol Don Lockwood, whose career and leading lady (hilariously played by Jean Hagen) are imperiled by the coming of sound – until he hooks up with lovely ingenue Kathy Seldon (a stellar Reynolds). The brilliant supporting cast includes Millard Mitchell, Douglas Fowley and the great Cyd Charisse.

SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, 1954, MGM Repertory, 102 min. Musical maestro Stanley Donen directed this infectious cinemascope musical about a group of fur-trapping brothers who, after one of their own gets married, set out to find their own wives. The music of Johnny Mercer and Gene DePaul, combined with Donen’s usual mastery of space and choreography, make this a perennial standard of the genre. With Howard Keel, Jane Powell, Russ Tamblyn.

Saturday, March 29 – 7:30 PM

70mm Musical!

HELLO, DOLLY!, 1969, 20^th Century Fox, 146 min. This irresistible film adaptation -- from one of Jerry Herman’s finest musicals -- features the fabulous Barbra Streisand in a kick-out-the-jams performance as matchmaker Dolly Levi, furiously working to make marriages while trying to snag reluctant bachelor Walter Matthau for herself. Staged with gusto by dancing legend-turned-director Gene Kelly, and featuring a wonderful supporting cast including Tommy Tune, Michael Crawford, and jazz legend Louis Armstrong (whose version of the title song is worth the price of admission!) Discussion following with actor E.J Peaker.

Sunday, March 30 - 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

SHOW BOAT, 1951, Warner Bros., 107 min. Director George Sidney helmed this lavish color remake of the Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein musical, an update of the Edna Ferber novel. When someone informs the authorities that singer Julie LaVerne (Ava Gardner), star attraction of the Cotton Blossom show boat, is of mixed-race parentage, the then-in-place miscegenation laws kick in, and she and her husband (Robert Sterling) are suddenly out of their jobs. Magnolia Hawks (Kathryn Grayson), daughter of the ship's captain (Joe E. Brown), replaces Julie and is soon bringing in her own huge fan base, as well as admirers like Gaylord Ravenal (Howard Keel), a suave, reprobate gambler who eventually marries her. Unfortunately, when the money runs out, Ravenal decides to skip town, not realizing he has left Magnolia pregnant. With Marge and Gower Champion, Agnes Moorehead, Leif Erickson. "SHOW BOAT...launched as a novel...and as a Broadway musical hit a year later, has steamed across the screen twice before, in 1929 and 1936, but never with such a lavish hand at the helm. M-G-M poured $2,400,000 into the latest voyage, refitted the venerable Cotton Blossom with a bright profusion of crisply Technicolored costumes, sets and vistas. The memorable Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II score ("Ol' Man River," "Make Believe," "Why Do I Love You?") is as dependable a mainstay as ever." -- Time Magazine

CAROUSEL, 1956, 20th Century Fox, 128 min. Dir. Henry King. This colorful Cinemascope adaptation of the beloved Rodgers & Hammerstein musical (which was itself an adaptation of Ferenc Molnar's LILIOM) is a feast for both the eyes and the ears. Gordon MacRae plays carnival barker Billy Bigelow, a macho tough guy who tries to change his ways when he falls in love with the innocent, lovely Julie Jordan (Shirley Jones). Timeless music and a witty script by Phoebe and Henry Ephron make this one of the best musical epics of its era. Kathryn Grayson will not be present for discussion as was previously announced.