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Rich's Multimedia Retrospectives

Rich's Favorites

I will often be asked during or after one of my presentations what my favorite (film, opera, Broadway musical, TV program) happens to be.  This is, of course, totally subjective, and I will sometimes dodge the question on those grounds.  But just like anyone else who’s a fan of the arts I do have my personal favorites.  Here’s a list of some of them:

Film:  “Casablanca”---The quintessential movie.  Any film that has more quotable lines of dialog than “Godfather-1” has to be at the top.  Ingrid Bergman’s face as she watches Victor Lazslo (Paul Henreid) lead the room in La Marseillaise is priceless.

Broadway Musical: Very tough call. “Carousel” slightly edges out “Phantom of the Opera” and “Les Miserables”.  A show with two songs such as “If I Loved You” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” as well as Billy Bigelow’s tour-de-force “Soliloquy” number is tough to beat.

Television Program from the “Golden Age”:  “I Love Lucy” featuring the greatest comedienne of all time but “Your Show of Shows” with Sid Caesar and a writing team for the ages would not be far behind.

Opera:  “Tosca." Try listening to one of the most heartbreaking arias ever written, “Vissi d’arte”, and not be emotionally moved.  As Maggie Smith so accurately noted in “Downton Abbey”---“You can always rely on Puccini.”

Aria:  “Mon coeur s’oeuvre a ta voix” from Samson and Delilah.  Arguably the greatest melody written for any musical piece anywhere.

Song:  “Unchained Melody” by Alex North was my favorite even before the movie “Ghost” took its popularity to new heights.  Close second choice:  “So in Love” by Cole Porter.

Lyrics: “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered” from “Pal Joey” by Lorenz Hart.  Try to catch Patti LuPone’s unabridged version on this classic number with its non-repetitive lyrics and internal rhyming structure. Only Porter’s “Anything Goes” even approaches this for its wittiness.