Mjeteconer Just perfect...

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

jcravens42 I wasn't at all familiar with this musical. I had no idea what it was about. I knew Ben Vereen won a Tony Award for his performance in the 1970s production, and that there have been endless numbers of high schools and colleges of it. That's it. I stumbled upon this production on TV with no intention of watching it - and watched the whole thing, mesmerized and delighted. It's not so much the music, which is dated, and certainly not the Bob Fosse choreography, which is always *really* dated (jazz hands!!!). Rather, it is the amazingly layered story and themes, which are much more complex and timely than I ever expected, that drew me in. I suspect these very risqué, biting themes are completely glossed over/ignored in high school or college productions. And the performances by Ben Vereen, William Katt (he can sing?!? who knew!), Benjamin Rayson, and the amazing Chita Rivera are wonderful - I realize other reviewers did not like them, because they had seen other people in the role, but looking at them from a clean slate, I thought they were all perfectly cast and quite compelling. I really loved the simplicity of the production. Sure, I wish the camera work had been better, but given how rare it was (and still it) to film live theatrical productions, I thought the videographers did quite well.

nycruise-1 David Sheehan needs to be drawn and quartered for his handling of this classic musical (ugh - the cross-fades during the Manson trio dance, the poor framing, etc).I love Chita Rivera but she is bit miscast as Fastrada.William Katt might sound better if he was miked to the camera.On the other hand, this is the only record we have this amazing musical circus. Obviously, even in pristine state, it would still lose something because it really is a live theater piece.I simply have newbies watch it, explain the mistakes/edits, and have them listen to the original cast album.

T Y Perhaps there's a worse librettist in the history of musicals than Stephen Schwartz but I don't know one. What the hell does the lyric "morning glow/fill the earth/come and shine/for all you're worth/we'll be present/at the birth/of old faith looking new..." mean? He begins with a vague hopeful image but then the sentence keeps going and going, desperately trying to find it's point; the next twelve words do little to deepen things.This is what annoys people about musicals. You can get away with perky, poorly written sentiment tossed away as dialogue (I've just named every drama that won an Oscar in the last 70 years) but as songs, the schlock is transparent. It's called padding; it appears most often on college exams and in poor creative efforts from the 60s and 70s. It was all Fosse could do to undermine this amorphous treacle with his more acid take on things. Schwartz could make a decent melody but his lyrics...ugh. Give him enough rope and he'll hang himself.Pippin is absolutely trite, and in it's current form it barely resembles Fosse's work.

hempick I LOVE THIS MUSICAL (and this version in particular). I wish it would come back to Broadway and have Ben Vereen as the Leading Player again. Even though he is older, he would still be amazing. William Katt was great, Martha Raye was brilliant, and Benjamin Rayson was top notch as well.To the reviewer who said the ending is lacking: They did that on purpose. It is supposed to be anticlimactic. If you paid any attention to the rest of the show you would have realized how brilliant the ending is. They even say at the end that it is a 'musical comedy.' The ending is the funniest joke in the whole show.10/10