The Band Wagon (1953)
Broadway Babies
At a low point in his career, song-and-dance man Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire) returns from California and the movies to Manhattan and Broadway. He plans to appear in a light-hearted musical written by his friends Lily and Lester Marton (Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant). But, they are also talking to Broadway’s hottest dramatic director, Jeffrey Cordova (Jack Buchanan). Jeffrey is currently starring in and directing his own adaptation of “Oedipus Rex,” as well as directing two other Broadway productions.
Lily and Lester think Jeffrey can direct anything—so does he. Jeffrey re-imagines their musical as a modern “Faust,” decides to direct it, and play the Mephistopheles figure to Tony’s Faust. To give it even more “stature,” he casts hot new ballet star Gabrielle Girard (Cyd Charisse) as the female lead. Tony hears these plans with increasing misgivings.
His first meeting with Gaby is a disaster. He worries about her height and about performing with a ballet dancer. She’s concerned about appearing with a legend and, when she nervously mentions she saw his movies as a girl, he takes it as an insult about his age.
In rehearsal, things begin to fall apart. Tony is at odds with Paul Bird (James Mitchell), Gaby’s choreograher, who has been hired for the show. Lester and Lily bicker—one exchange ends with her yelling, “We’re not arguing. We’re in complete agreement. We hate each other.” Jeffrey’s plans become ever more grandiose—the sets he demands won’t fit in the theater, or even in the alley outside.
The first half of The Band Wagon (1953) is a back stage demonstration of how not to put on a show. The movie’s director, Vincente Minnelli, brilliantly orchestrates the chaos of Jeffrey Cordova’s overweening vision.
After a disastrous out-of-town opening, the cast members hold a wake. They decide to stage the show Lily and Lester originally wrote—and, as Tony says, “It won’t be a modern version of ‘Faust,’ or ‘Pilgrim’s Progress,’ or ‘The Book of Job’ in swing time.” Jeffery agrees, tells Tony to take over the direction, and asks if he can remain in the show.
The Band Wagon is the most exuberant of Minnelli’s great musicals. Betty Comden and Adolph Green built their witty, literate script around songs by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz. The dynamic choreography is by Michael Kidd.
The movie's series of show stopping numbers, include “A Shine on Your Shoes,” danced on 42nd Street by Astaire and LeRoy Daniels; the beautiful “Dancing in the Dark,” in which at night in Central Park, Astaire and Charisse, both dressed in white, discover they can dance together; and the riotously funny “Triplets,” with Astaire, Fabray, and Buchanan as three angry stunted siblings singing, “We hate each other very much.”
Then there is the dazzling “Girl Hunt Ballet,” with its deadpan sub-Mickey Spillane narration. The Band Wagon is fifty-five years old, but it lives and breathes and gives us the great Fred Astaire with his most technically accomplished dancing partner, the infinitely long-legged Cyd Charisse.
[This review of The Band Wagon is dedicated to Cyd.]
—John Bloomfield (30 June, 2002)
At a low point in his career, song-and-dance man Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire) returns from California and the movies to Manhattan and Broadway. He plans to appear in a light-hearted musical written by his friends Lily and Lester Marton (Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant). But, they are also talking to Broadway’s hottest dramatic director, Jeffrey Cordova (Jack Buchanan). Jeffrey is currently starring in and directing his own adaptation of “Oedipus Rex,” as well as directing two other Broadway productions.
Lily and Lester think Jeffrey can direct anything—so does he. Jeffrey re-imagines their musical as a modern “Faust,” decides to direct it, and play the Mephistopheles figure to Tony’s Faust. To give it even more “stature,” he casts hot new ballet star Gabrielle Girard (Cyd Charisse) as the female lead. Tony hears these plans with increasing misgivings.
His first meeting with Gaby is a disaster. He worries about her height and about performing with a ballet dancer. She’s concerned about appearing with a legend and, when she nervously mentions she saw his movies as a girl, he takes it as an insult about his age.
In rehearsal, things begin to fall apart. Tony is at odds with Paul Bird (James Mitchell), Gaby’s choreograher, who has been hired for the show. Lester and Lily bicker—one exchange ends with her yelling, “We’re not arguing. We’re in complete agreement. We hate each other.” Jeffrey’s plans become ever more grandiose—the sets he demands won’t fit in the theater, or even in the alley outside.
The first half of The Band Wagon (1953) is a back stage demonstration of how not to put on a show. The movie’s director, Vincente Minnelli, brilliantly orchestrates the chaos of Jeffrey Cordova’s overweening vision.
After a disastrous out-of-town opening, the cast members hold a wake. They decide to stage the show Lily and Lester originally wrote—and, as Tony says, “It won’t be a modern version of ‘Faust,’ or ‘Pilgrim’s Progress,’ or ‘The Book of Job’ in swing time.” Jeffery agrees, tells Tony to take over the direction, and asks if he can remain in the show.
The Band Wagon is the most exuberant of Minnelli’s great musicals. Betty Comden and Adolph Green built their witty, literate script around songs by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz. The dynamic choreography is by Michael Kidd.
The movie's series of show stopping numbers, include “A Shine on Your Shoes,” danced on 42nd Street by Astaire and LeRoy Daniels; the beautiful “Dancing in the Dark,” in which at night in Central Park, Astaire and Charisse, both dressed in white, discover they can dance together; and the riotously funny “Triplets,” with Astaire, Fabray, and Buchanan as three angry stunted siblings singing, “We hate each other very much.”
Then there is the dazzling “Girl Hunt Ballet,” with its deadpan sub-Mickey Spillane narration. The Band Wagon is fifty-five years old, but it lives and breathes and gives us the great Fred Astaire with his most technically accomplished dancing partner, the infinitely long-legged Cyd Charisse.
[This review of The Band Wagon is dedicated to Cyd.]
—John Bloomfield (30 June, 2002)
posted by John Bloomfield at 9:31 PM
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