Color Me Magenta!

At Atlanta's Dragon*Con this weekend I had the wonderful experience of meeting Patricia Quinn.  What a lovely, friendly, funny lady.  A class act all the way.

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS: Cross-Pollinization!

Since I first heard them in 1986, the Little Shop songs have been like a personal scavenger hunt for me, as I explore 60s music and find all the little references which make this an indelible bit of Baby Boomer nostalgia.


By design, the Little Shop score evokes Motown, Doo-Wop and the songs of Ellie Greenwich as produced by Phil Spector.  As a point of comparison, Menken's Brill-Building-inspired, piano-driven pop is very much in the same vein as Billy Joel's.  Of course, Menken marries these pop/rock influences to a classic Broadway sound, exemplified by Rodgers & Hammerstein (The Sound of Music, Oklahoma!, etc) and Lerner & Loewe (My Fair Lady, Camelot etc), with just a smidgen of Kurt Weill in there, too.  Menken's musical style is also quite consonant with that of Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Wicked).  It is surely no accident that both composers have been tapped by Disney for its newer films.


As for Howard Ashman's lyrical style and its possible influences, that is a much more difficult thing to pin down, though of course the book and lyrics abound with witty references to pop hits of the era.  One might observe that his clever, idiomatic lyrics recall the work of Frank Loesser (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Guys & Dolls, etc).



These general influences aside, I have found a lot of direct musical and lyrical quotations, and I thought it would be fun to enumerate them, with links galore for your listening pleasure.  Click "Read More" for the full list.  I advise right-clicking on links to open in a new tab, so you can listen & read without interruption.

PLANET OF THE APES...The Musical!

I have been waiting for someone to do this!  

LITTLE FACEBOOK OF HORRORS

I have started a Facebook Group for people who'd love to see a new DVD of Little Shop of Horrors with the original ending intact.  Let's get Geffen and Warner Home Video to notice!  2011 is the 25th Anniversary of the film's release.  Isn't it about time?

A handy round-up of my Little Shop material can be found here, including my argument for why the original ending is integral to the film, and some very nice stills from the deleted scenes.

Here is my Blu-Ray Wish-List, which includes both new material and items from the original DVD.  While we are at it, a newly remastered version of the Original Soundtrack Recording would also be lovely.  That 25 year old CD sounds pretty tinny these days.

DVD WISHLIST

New Material:
• New HD transfer of the Original Theatrical and Restored Versions
• Commentary on Restored Version by Ellen Greene and Alan Menken
• "The Meek Shall Inherit" Dream Sequence (either reinstated, or as an extra - at Frank Oz's discretion)
• Puppetry & Visual FX feature with Lyle Conway, Bran Ferren, Richard Conway, Brian Henson, Anthony Asbury & Martin P. Robinson
• Mike Ploog's storyboards
• Photo Gallery
• Isolated score
• Levi Stubbs performing "Mean Green Mother" at the Academy Awards
• Any rushes, trims, tests and behind-the-scenes footage that might still exist
• Anything relating to the original play, like this TV Commercial.
• PDF version of the screenplay by Howard Ashman
• PDF version of the FX feature from Cinefex Magazine

From the Original DVD:
• Frank Oz Commentary on Theatrical Cut
• Original Ending Rough Cut (both with & without Oz commentary)
• Blooper Reel
• TV & Cinema Trailers
• Original Electronic Press Kit documentary


SOUNDTRACK WISHLIST

The whole thing needs to be remastered.  I'd like to hear the opening verses of "Don't Feed the Plants" restored, and I'd love to include selections from Miles Goodman's excellent score as well.  And please do include any demos that might exist for cut songs, like "Crystal, Ronnette & Chiffon," "Your Day Begins Tonight," "Bad" and especially the wonderful "We'll Have Tomorrow," which was cut from the stage show.

Peter, Paul & Mary do G&S

This is not really "mondo" but it's lovely nonetheless.  It's Peter, Paul and Mary in front of the Sydney Opera house, singing their version of the faux medieval ballad "I Have A Song To Sing, O" from Gilbert & Sullivan's The Yeoman of the Guard (1888).  Love it!

CONAN: The Musical

Sorry for the paucity of posts of late.  As if anybody's reading anyway!  This has made the rounds of the blogs lately and I think it's fairly funny, so here it is.

TOTAL RECALL: The Musical

Gotta love those YouTube spoofs.