Years ago, legendary film critic Roger Ebert went on a tirade about David Lynch's infamous and iconic 1986 film Blue Velvet as he felt that the graphic sex scenes and nudity truly exploited star Isabella Rossellini in an uncomfortable and sleazy manner.
His colleague, Gene Siskel, basically sided with the filmmaker saying that Rossellini "consented" to what she did on the screen.
Maybe that is true...and it seems to be the case all over again with Ana de Armas, who is getting her next big splash onscreen after making a very promising debut in 2019's gem of a murder mystery Knives Out.
In a bit of casting that seems a little odd considering the effort it takes to hide her fairly thick Cuban accent, de Armas was given the task to play one of the most iconic figures in history: Marilyn Monroe...or rather her real-name, Norma Jeane Baker, in Blonde. This "SEMI"-autobiographical film is based on a Joyce Carol Oates novel which essentially told the life of Baker/Monroe with a lot of fictional and exploitative tendencies.
Before I dive more into the film and the performance of de Armas, I want to state quickly about the expectations I sort of held for this film over the past nearly two years.
Andrew Dominik's career has been rather limited, and he only really achieved any kind of significant success with 2007's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford starring Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt. I have no affinity to his work whatsoever and judging by how much he has been touting up his work on Blonde over the past year, he has an ego that seemingly rivals that of Quentin Tarnatino's.
How so?
He was quoted in an interview that he felt Blonde would be seen as one of the ten best films ever made.
So, does that mean that in a decade or so, we will start seeing Blonde appear on the BFI's Sight & Sound poll?
Oooh! Can I answer?!
Please let me answer!!
No.
No, it won't.
Prior to its release, I would hear these comments by Dominik how the film would be dark and different than the standard biopic, and yes, there were many others who seemed to sense that perhaps this was going to be a film that would flirt with the idea of being pure trash.
I sort of had this sense that maybe it would be viewed as a more abstract example of Pablo Larrain's Spencer, last year's biopic that took on a rather unhinged look on a brief moment of Princess Diana's life over one Christmas holiday at Sandringham. That film polarized people immensely and while I certainly responded to it rather mutely at first, I grew to respect it more over time for its rather surreal approach. It certainly fell in the same vein as that director's previous film Jackie, about Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis...and that was also a film I actually quite liked more.
I viewed Blonde as being one of those potentially polarizing films that would make me say I wished cinema could be as bold as this all the time.
And yet, despite the film being rather bold and going against the grain in many ways, I find the final results to be frustratingly pretentious, heinously exploitative, and rather offensive to the legacy of Marilyn Monroe.
I am also someone who has never had any real interest in Monroe being just a basic fleeting curiosity being someone who was fascinated by Hollywood and the entertainment industry growing up. She also even delved into my love of political history considering her rather infamous involvement with the Kennedy brothers.
Still though, Monroe was a woman who suffered from great trauma and was thrown into a Hollywood system that ruined her much like it did the likes of someone like Judy Garland.
And you get the sense that Dominik wants to show that Monroe was more than her basic image: blonde, voluptuous, sensual, breathy...along with being a drug/drink addicted kook with daddy issues...and yet, that is all we see.
It is a film that is simply brutal in its approach...and a film that somehow manages to both appall and appeal at the EXACT SAME TIME.
The film is overbearingly long and pretentious and yet, the style and look of it does have moments of interesting flourish. Biopics have become the bane of many film lovers' existence with the frequency in which they become the key part of awards bait season...and yet, here we are. We are given a film that is truly so bold and relentless in its approach that you sort of marvel at it and then quickly find yourself wanting it to calm down.
Through it all, Ana de Armas manages to come out of the film relatively unscathed. Sure, there are some issues with her accent work, and the script can be so brazen that you find yourself sensing that she has about run out of the energy to convey differing levels of tortured emotion, but in the end, she shows real promise here.
After giving such an assured and witty performance amongst the loony chaos of Knives Out, she does prove she has the ability to provide emotional intensity and also the ability to anchor a film.
Is she Oscar worthy for this film? I don't know.
It's still too early to tell and it is all too fresh in my mind, but I will say that I am far more pleased by her performance than I am upset. I do feel like a nomination might be worthy, but with as polarizing as the response has been, I would be surprised to see it happen currently.
Although...if Glenn Close can get nominated for Hillbilly Elegy, then anything is possible.
I did want to quickly single out Julianne Nicholson, who gets a brief but potent supporting role as the unstable mother Gladys.
She manages to imbue her role with a certain energy that is oddly captivating despite being essentially a one-note villain most of the time. I hope she keeps getting cast in more projects, because ever since we watched her scream at Kate Winslet in the car in Mare of Easttown, she proved she is one of the more real and underrated actresses working today.
So yes, Blonde is a film that manages to shock, infuriate, and intrigue you.
At its core, it is an exploitative and cruel film that basically drags the ghost of Monroe through the mud and doesn't want to let up.
That alone is nearly unforgivable.
On top of that, you have a run time of nearly 3 hours, and it FEELS that running time. You have a filmmaker who considers his own work to be among the best films ever made...and when you watch the film knowing that, you get the sense that Dominik is practically masturbating at the thought of his own visual and artistic genius.
There are ingredients in this film that prove it could've worked splendidly, but instead it was just a sour and bitter pill that might make you think "Hmmm...if only we had a spoonful of sugar".
I admire and hate so much about this film all at once.
So, I will give it a middling rating with some apathy.
I recently discussed Nathan Fielder's previous series Nathan for You, which aired on Comedy Central from 2013-2017. For access to that post, please utilize the link below:
Does having a knowledge of Nathan for You benefit your enjoyment of The Rehearsal? I would say it isn't essential, however the journey of Nathan of You does add something to the viewing experience here.
Going into discussing this show, I am going to take a quick detour in the world of theatre.
As someone who went to school for theatre, I am very familiar with the work of German playwright Bertolt Brecht.
I truthfully never responded to Brecht back then...and I wasn't as overly enthused when I got to act in one of his plays: The Good Person of Szechuan. Although there are some pieces of his I do really like such as The Caucasian Chalk Circle or The Threepenny Opera.
Brecht has had a significant level of staying power due to his style of writing/Theatre, which is referred to as "Brechtian".
One of the keys to understanding the Brechtian style is that it revolves around the Alienation Effect. Putting it at a very basic level, Brecht didn't want people to get swept up in his shows to the point where it was like you were watching real life. Everything was presented in over-the-top manners with very little done to try to hide that you were watching a live performance.
Even Tony Kushner would experiment with this kind of style in Angels in America...particular with the treatment of the Angel itself.
You could even make a case that The Rehearsal taps into an almost pseudo-Brechtian territory and there are moments that certainly feed into that kind of analysis.
But...after watching the season finale last night, I think the whole experience of the show wouldn't necessarily fall into that category. If anything, The Rehearsal is something unique in of itself.
I think Nathan Fielder created something truly masterful here.
Taking the tools of the kinds of scenarios he would create on Nathan for You; he takes it to a deeper level on The Rehearsal where he is trying to help others, but it ends up becoming a way for him to learn a lot more about himself.
While Nathan for You was presented as a satirical take on reality shows that would help struggling business owners, The Rehearsal wants to help people cope with their own daily lives.
At the head of it all is Nathan Fielder.
Fielder is one of the more fascinating figures to ever appear on TV because on one hand, he is essentially always playing a version of himself, but he very much fits a mold of commitment to the scenario at hand that places him in a similar orbit to Sacha Baron Cohen, even though he relies mostly on his iconic characters like Borat.
Fielder is very unassuming and meek in his demeanor and appearance. He plays up to this though, often leading to interactions with people that seem to lack any kind of social awareness. It was what made the cringe factor of Nathan for You both unbearable and hilarious.
I wouldn't say he always delves into cringe with The Rehearsal. Although, he does manage to stumble upon moments that certainly spark an uncomfortable feeling or, at best, make you just want to lean in and see what happens next.
The Rehearsal is presented as an experiment. In the pilot episode, Fielder places an ad on Craigslist that is asking for people to come to him if they are seeking guidance which leads to him encountering Kor Skeete, a man from Brooklyn who is obsessed with trivia nights at bars. Skeete is ashamed because he lied to many people about his education and that he did not have a master's degree. One person he is especially afraid to tell is his friend Tricia.
Fielder proposes that he will help Kor rehearse this conversation and be able to provide him with the environment to do so...which actually includes going to the bar where they will eventually have the discussion and then Fielder commissioning a replica of the bar be built both interior and exterior inside a warehouse at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
At this replica, Fielder has hired extras to act out as if they were real patrons in a bar and then hires an actress to play Tricia for Kor to rehearse with...and it becomes so specific that the actress who will portray Tricia is able to meet with the real Tricia over a business related matter (staged by Fielder) without Tricia knowing her mannerisms are being studied.
While the rehearsals go off without a hitch, including testing out multiple scenarios based on how the real Tricia could respond, the actual event drags on as the weight of the moment overcomes Kor, but he does eventually open up to his secret and Tricia accepts the news without much fanfare.
The pilot episode, entitled "Orange Juice, No Pulp" (as all the episodes are titled based on dialogue or themes within the episode), proves to be a truly remarkable debut that puts you deeply into the world of the show...but this wouldn't be a Nathan Fielder creation if it didn't throw you off guard.
In the second episode, Fielder creates an even more complex rehearsal for Angela, a devout woman in her 40s who is considering adopting a child. As part of the routine, Fielder rents out a house in rural Oregon and then arranges for Angela to go on dates with men in hopes to find a guy who may be willing to rehearse with her as a paternal partner that also has an interest in her intimately.
This guy will be Robbin, who is ten years Angela's junior, and he has an obsession with numerology. They do seem to hit it off due to her very devout faith and watching these two interact becomes a perfect mix of comedy and cringe.
However, Robbin being the man that he is, really wants to have sex with Angela and she...being a devout Christian woman...wants to save herself for marriage. That, combined with the weird setup for caring for the child, which includes...
-Swapping out the children every 4 hours due to child labor laws.
-Aging up the children abruptly after a set amount of time.
-Caring for a robot child at night.
...leads to Robbin bailing on the rehearsal.
With this abrupt setback, it now allows Fielder to do what he does best: find a way to keep this snowball rolling. Fielder offers to become a non-romantic parental figure.
And just like that, The Rehearsal manages to become a serialized reality show with small episodic bits to keep you engaged throughout the episodes.
I am not sure I can properly convey the true joy and awe I felt watching The Rehearsal unfold. In many ways, this ties back into what I said at the very beginning that having a prior knowledge of Nathan for You could benefit in your viewing pleasure of The Rehearsal.
The Rehearsal does build upon many styles and themes that were set on Nathan for You. One of the biggest issues some had with the predecessor was that it came off as too mean spirited in that it often played up people's true concerns about their job and personal lives with humor at their expense.
The Rehearsal takes on a more nurturing approach and yet, there are times where Fielder finds himself second guessing how he is proceeding with dealing with other people's feelings/emotions.
One of my favorite "subplots" of the six episodes involves the fourth episode, which was entitled "The Fielder Method". In it, Fielder decides that a certain amount of detail and truth is required to be believable actors within these staged rehearsals so he rents out a storefront in LA and begins teaching acting classes based in The Fielder Method.
However, as a teacher, Fielder isn't sure if he truly sold his ideas or himself as a person. How does he solve this?
He stages the class again with other actors as extras and him posing as a random student named Thomas (whom he copies by wearing a blonde wig and the same outfit) while another actor plays Nathan, trying to mimic his demeanor as much as possible.
One of the assignments the real Nathan Fielder gave his students was to observe someone random in society and try to start a conversation with them...and he discovers that the one student he was trying to portray as his own exercise is having issues with properly connecting to other people.
This leads Fielder to actually moving into Thomas' apartment as he is trying to truly see how it might feel to be Thomas while also trying to get into the mindset of how it must be to be placed into the world of The Rehearsal.
After devoting so much time to this exercise, Fielder returns to Oregon because he is STILL posing as a father to a child named Adam...who is now a 15 year old.
When Fielder arrives, the kid greets him amicably and warmly while Fielder feels awkward about the whole thing...so much so that he breaks "character" to talk with the teenager as an actor.
Fielder and Joshua (the young guy playing Adam) agree that if this were more of a reality, Adam would be far less receptive to seeing his father return after such a long time...and they proceed to act out over a period of days where Joshua rebels and becomes a drug addict.
It proceeds down to such a dark level that Fielder realizes he wishes he could've done more even in this simulation, so with Angela's blessing, the reset the timeline and have Adam become a six-year old again.
"The Fielder Method" was one of the best episodes of TV I have seen in quite some time in how it tackled such a bizarre mix of life imitating art imitating life to the point where sometimes you buy into the lunacy of the situation...and how much the young actor who played teenaged Adam commits to the rebellion is surprisingly affective. So much so that we watch him have one-on-one sessions with Fielder where he helps guide him through preparations of the role, such as "What might a troubled teen turn to in order to cope?". Joshua tells Nathan he has a friend whose father left home and by the time he was 15, he was deep into drugs and already sexually active.
And with that, we watch all of that work play out.
Fielder's desire to become involved in parenting also deeply affects that of Angela, who often becomes distant and not invested in the rehearsal when Nathan isn't around because she can't seem to commit to the fake reality.
At first, Fielder views this from a lens of concern and even a little resentment.
However, he soon realizes that he himself contributed to some of the downfall and in mutual agreement, Angela parts ways with The Rehearsal and Fielder decides he wants to continue on parenting "Adam" as a single father".
This all leads to a season finale in which the true potential horror of the show comes to light.
A young child actor named Remy becomes so invested in his fake world playing son to Nathan that he doesn't want to leave when the show is done with him. At first you think he is just a kid having a tantrum, but as a child without a father, young Remy took to Nathan and even Fielder himself admits that he bonded with the kid in a way he hadn't to the others.
With the help of a professional child actor who is playing Adam at age 9, Fielder goes through the entire process again and hopes to find a way to see if he did something wrong in his approach...all the while, young Remy is at home crying because he misses "Nathan" or as he wants to keep calling him: Daddy.
It feels almost like a full-circle moment: we are back in area where Nathan Fielder is playing with fire and despite his innocent intentions, someone is hurt by his actions and worse, it is a 6 year old boy.
There is also the fact that his mother is involved and she does express how she was concerned over the dynamics of the situation, but even though it isn't explicitly said, you can tell that this is a mother who realizes maybe she made a mistake but thought it would be a truly wonderful opportunity for her son.
Nathan Fielder is a master at digging himself into a hole but instead of that being a detriment, he revels in it...and it is always a delight to watch him climb his way out.
Near the end of the season finale, Fielder makes a passing comment to Liam, who is currently playing Adam as Remy...and 9 year old Liam also does his homework to properly play Remy...that maybe he made a mistake at involving children in the process of this show.
Fielder always has that tendency of second guessing himself and how he deals with his emotions or lack thereof. Nathan for You famously ended with the 2-hour long episode entitled "Finding Frances", in which he helps his friend and elderly actor Bill Heath try to find a long-lost love he let slip away. The episode played in a far more serious manner than anything else he had dished out prior...but it showed that there was this darker philosophical layer underneath the absurdity of having people climbing the top of a mountain just to get a gas rebate.
It left you wanting more and wondering what he could possibly come up with next.
The Rehearsal latched on to that feeling and ran with it...and sure, it may need to work out who to properly involve in the world of the show, but that is, in a way, perfect for a show that is about a rehearsal.
Season 1 of The Rehearsal was truly a rehearsal for the show as a whole....but I would say that in the end, he is more than ready for opening night.
Before I go into this, I will make it clear that I am by no means a fan of Funny Girl as a musical property.
It has a few truly great songs, but it is held up by a very meager Book and has one of the weakest Act Two quality drop-offs of any popular musical.
This is a show that truly rests on the merits of its lead performer.
Speaking of leading performers, I am obviously way too young to have seen Barbra Streisand play this role onstage. I have only listened to her cast recording and audio clips of her time onstage, watched the movie, and heard her sing the songs live in concert.
Streisand is one of those big icons that I haven't had a passionate a feeling towards as I have to someone like Judy Garland or a lot of the great jazz singers such as Ella Fitzgerald or Lena Horne.
That isn't to say I dislike Streisand as I very much adore her early albums and I think she has one of the true distinct and vibrant voices of any female singer in the last 60 years. I tend to dip on my opinions of her career post-The Way We Were.
What I am trying to say is that I have no real passionate affinity to either Funny Girl or to Barbra Streisand. Although, I will gladly admit that when Jule Styne wrote the score, he knew exactly what he needed to do to make Streisand shine.
Streisand's connection to the role of Fanny Brice is one of the most iconic in the history of musical theatre. The legend and her shadow have made it far more intimidating to revive the show in the decades since it premiered in 1964, but I do think there are those out there who also were willing to admit that the show itself is simply not that great.
Cut to 2011: Bartlett Sher wants to revive Funny Girl but a lot of controversy is had because he wants to cast Lauren Ambrose, who at the time was mostly known for her work as Claire on the HBO series Six Feet Under. Many were baffled at the casting choice, but it didn't matter as everything fell through and the production got scrapped.
Randy Graff, who had signed on to play Mrs. Brice, told Seth Rudetsky "It's cursed". It just seemed like it wasn't destined to be revived...but there was one particular girl waiting in the wings who wanted a chance.
2011 was a time in which Lea Michele was achieving the biggest fame of her career starring as Rachel Berry on the hit FOX series Glee. Prior to Glee, she was mostly only known to theatre audiences for her work in musicals like Ragtime, Fiddler on the Roof, and particularly Spring Awakening, which paired her with her best friend Jonathan Groff.
On Glee, her character is known for being the girl with the amazing voice and as the show came to a close, her character went from being a complete unknown to getting cast in a revival of Funny Girl as Fanny to great acclaim.
Then, Glee creator Ryan Murphy bought the rights to Funny Girl with the seemingly growing interest of giving Michele a chance to play her dream role in reality.
I could be here for quite a while if I go into my own personal opinion about Lea Michele as a person and a performer...OR all of the stories about her treatment towards people that she deems to be not worth her time.
All I will say is this: I have never found Lea Michele to be a compelling actress. She DOES have a good voice, however I don't find anything about her voice to be particularly distinctive or that remarkable as opposed to belters like Stephanie J. Block.
So that brings us to the 2022 revival of Funny Girl.
It was announced last year that comic actress Beanie Feldstein would be playing Fanny Brice and that it would be a life-long dream come true. This was the truth as photo-evidence showed that she had a Funny Girl-themed birthday party at the age of 3.
Feldstein had been mostly known for her supporting character work, although she did get a chance to shine as the co-lead of the delightful 2019 film Booksmart.
She also managed to be a great foil to Kate Baldwin's Irene when she played Minnie in the 2017 Bette Midler-led production of Hello Dolly. That would've been my introduction to her and I found her very charming in the role...and later that year, she was featured as best friend to Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird.
Hearing her announced as playing Fanny was, to me, a refreshing choice. I knew she could sing but what sort of concerned me at first was that I hadn't really heard her sing anything that would hint she could tackle the belt-heavy score.
I had shortly found a video of her singing "Meadowlark" from The Baker's Wife on YouTube and found myself kind of underwhelmed by it. It wasn't that she was bad, but it just showed that it wasn't quite the right song for her voice.
The video was almost 10 years old so I thought to myself that it was possible she grew.
Feldstein is also great at comedy, and that became the other big promotional selling point: Putting the FUNNY back in Funny Girl.
So, let's do this...
I have seen many Broadway shows over the years. The quality of the shows varied but one thing I can definitely admire about Broadway performers is that they tend to rise to the occasion. Even if I may hate the material, the performers are usually very adept and able to show that there is talent underneath the mess of the writing or directing, etc...
I will reiterate that Feldstein is good at comedy...and she was able to find solid moments in a lot of the funnier scenes.
But I will say it....
I could easily make a case of Beanie Feldstein giving the worst performance I have seen on a Broadway stage.
This has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she doesn't fit the mold of the role due to her size, because I have seen some people claiming it is a weight thing, but that is not it at all.
This simply comes down to the fact that she simply cannot sing the role and even when certain songs are closer to her range, the timbre of her voice comes off as too forward, too nasal, and too breathy.
A lot of people have posted audio clips of Feldstein in the role but the producers of the show are very quick in taking them down.
So, while it is a bit lengthy and jumbled, the following video below features audio of 4 different performances of the show's most iconic number "Don't Rain on My Parade":
#1 - Streisand's last performance on Broadway in 1965
#2 - Beanie Feldstein on Broadway
#3 - Julie Benko (Feldstein's standby)
#4 - Lea Michele doing the song in concert in 2018
In the case of Streisand, keep in mind that with her recording being nearly 60 years old, the microphone audio is more prone to come across as rather metallic sounding at times.
Also worth noting is that Benko sings the song a step up than the standard arrangement.
Some of Feldstein's staunchest advocates (and she does have them) just say that the critiques against here are quite vicious just because she isn't Streisand...or that she does the role differently.
Well...yeah...she isn't Streisand. But other people have sung the song over the years and did remarkably well with it, like Lillias White or Stephanie J. Block.
This isn't a matter of being different; it is a matter of someone being out of their wheelhouse.
I have performed in many musicals over the years and I know I have my limitations as to what roles I can sing.
I am obviously way too old now...and then again, so was he at the time he made the movie....but let's say that when I was in my early 20s, I was cast as Evan in Dear Evan Hansen.
Maybe I would've been able to act the role, but there was no way in hell I could've been able to sing that role.
That might be more of an extreme example, because there are moments in the score of Funny Girl where Feldstein would sound perfectly fine.
However, if you listen to how she sounds in this recording, it gives you a very firm idea as to what the problem is with her in the role and a lot of that stems down to her vocal technique.
Her breath support is often lacking which is only further exacerbated by the fact that her energy in the performance is very lackluster. This is where I will slightly diverge to admit that I think a lot of this has to do with the arrangement and tempo of the song.
The orchestra feels so sparse and then when you put her quieter, nasal timbre next to the meager orchestra that matches the level of meek energy, it makes for the least exciting version of "Don't Rain on My Parade" I have yet to hear or witness.
Many rumors have been swirling about how she got the part, whether that be her family helping to finance in some capacity to guarantee her a shot at her dream role (and FYI, she is Jonah Hill's brother...he opted to change his name for Hollywood) or that she presented herself as a viable choice to director Michael Mayer.
Speaking of Mayer, he is one of the more erratic directors working in musical theatre today. Funny Girl represents some of the worst, if not THE worst, work of his career. I think a lot of the blame can be placed on his shoulders along with that of the show's main producers...one of whom is Sonia Friedman, a very prominent producer from the West End.
This is a case of someone who made it through rehearsals, through the sitzprobe, and possibly didn't even truly have a real audition...and yet, they just let every aspect slide that she simply wasn't right for the role.
You can't even write anything more juicy in how the real downfall began.
After a truly awkward preview period in which online message boards proceeded to drag Feldstein down a muddy Henry Street, the show opened and she got the expected mediocre reviews...although Rex Reed showed her an immense amount of mercy.
THEN...Feldstein had a wedding to go to for a close friend out in the Hamptons and the scheduled weekend set of performances were set to go on with Feldstein's standby Julie Benko.
For the record, I had no idea who Benko was. She had been quietly making the rounds and as expected, she went on that weekend and got praised to the high heavens.
While I haven't gotten to see Benko live yet, it is obvious from the audio that she has a lot more confidence and verve in the role and she is able to make the rather ho-hum arrangement a lot more exciting.
Now that Feldstein is departing at the end of the month...although some wonder if she will bail even sooner...Benko will get the chance to play the role for a little over a month before Lea Michele will take it over.
Maybe if more news comes out, I will write a follow-up. I might also try to go see Benko in the role next month. As it stands, I think it truly is a shameful situation...but if the rumors are true that Feldstein is being rather bitter towards Benko, that sort of pisses me off.
I can understand that to an extent, but I also think it is fully aware that this is a case where the standby is just simply better and if you are going to be on Broadway, you need to be able to deliver.
It is shameful that some articles are now showing that the producers are painting Benko as having been deceitful for simply promoting herself and her performances.
She is getting praise because she, simply put, deserves some praise.
I still stand by the fact that Feldstein was woefully miscast and gave one of the worst performances, if not THE worst, performance I have seen in a professional show.
And it simply has to do with the quality of her voice being ill suited and being directed in a matter that didn't try to factor in any of her comic strengths.
It also has NOTHING to do with her weight either. Some will still claim it is a fat shaming issue, but that is very much not the case. Sure, she may look NOTHING like the real Fanny Brice but Streisand didn't exactly look like her either...and neither does Lea Michele.
If you really want to get technical, Benko does bare a slight resemblance.
Having said that, Fanny Brice isn't even really known as a figure in that capacity anymore. Her legacy is mostly connected to this rather messy musical...which is both a blessing and a curse.
...and speaking of curses, hopefully in the years to come, someone will come along who can play Fanny Brice to its best potential.
Right now, Benko deserves the shot...but also, why the hell has no one given Jessie Mueller a call?!?!
The Disney Universe has to be one of the most beloved and vast properties ever created. If you think about it, the first full-length animated feature to be released was Snow White & The Seven Dwarves back in 1937.
In the decades since, many generations have grown to fall in love with many Disney films and despite those decades, quite a few of these films have endured and maintained a high level of popularity and esteem...or, at the very least, a sense of warm nostalgia.
Having been born in the late 1980s, I came in right at the early years of the Disney Renaissance which led to some of the most iconic animated films ever made such as:
1989: The Little Mermaid
1991: Beauty & the Beast
1992: Aladdin
1994: The Lion King
This resurgence was so impactful that the success of Beauty & the Beast led it to being the first and only animated film to receive a Best Picture nomination at a time when only five films could be nominated.
*SIDE NOTE: Even after they increased the nominees to range from 8-10 in the last 12 years or so, only 2 animated films have managed Best Picture nominations: Up and Toy Story 3. That is truly a shame when other highly praised animated efforts like Inside Out and Soul got the shaft from the still seemingly intense animation bias*
A lot of the big success of the Disney Renaissance came from the fact that they were films modeled by a traditional Broadway Musical structure with scores written by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman, the team who had found immense success creating the iconic 1980s off-Broadway classic Little Shop of Horrors.
With The Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, and Aladdin, they truly transformed the downtrodden studio and on a strictly personal level, made mine and many others of my age group, have a very memorable childhood.
Even prior to the Renaissance, Disney had a history of creating truly iconic songs for their films and that is going to be my main focus for today's post.
Narrowing the list down to 10 is going to be a particularly difficult process, but I am currently stuck at my office on a slow day and need the distraction. Stressing over a list of Disney songs sounds far more appealing than making sure a bunch of people have the perfect kind of peanut butter (don't ask...)
Also, I am going to try my best to give this list some variety by limiting the movies featured. I just wanted to spread the wealth with the songs, but in the end, I have chosen two songs from 3 different movies (that includes my honorable mentions as well).
So, let's get this started. Here are my top 10 favorite Disney songs, plus 5 Honorable Mentions:
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
- When You Wish Upon a Star (Pinocchio)
-A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes (Cinderella)
- Poor Unfortunate Souls (The Little Mermaid)
- I Just Can't Wait to be King (The Lion King)
- Hellfire (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
-------------------
#10 - SUPERCALAFRAGALISTICEXPIALADOCIOUS
Mary Poppins (1964)
The Sherman Brothers
There are very few songs in the Disney canon...or just in the world of musicals in general...that are quite as jubilant and joyous as this one.
I can recall having to sing it in music class in Elementary school and it was one of the only songs that seemed to excite my classmates to sing...as often was the case that most people hated to even be in that class.
Even as a sequence, I can only imagine that the green screen effects and the blending of animation and live-action were quite the feast for the eyes back in 1964.
Ignoring the infamous accent work of Dick van Dyke, he is a true delight in this and his chemistry with Julie Andrews is off the charts.
It is crazy to think this was Andrews' feature film debut and that it would go on to net her an Oscar.
______________________________________
#9 - CIRCLE OF LIFE
The Lion King (1994)
John/Rice
This is a song that I don't exactly listen to often...but I felt like I just had to include it.
Why so?
This has got to be one of the best openings to a film ever.
It also would lead to one of the best opening numbers of a Broadway musical ever...although I will still say that I never felt the Broadway musical was that impressive aside from most of its technical aspects and certain cast members.
*SIDE NOTE: For you fellow musical theatre geeks out there, I still say Ragtime was robbed of the Tony. Full stop.*
Nevertheless, this is simply a very powerful opening number.
_______________________________________
#8 - CANDLE ON THE WATER
Pete's Dragon (1977)
Do I actually like Pete's Dragon as a film?
Some people honestly hate it and think it is one of the worst films Disney ever released.
While I might not go that far, I do think this is one of those films that is rather enjoyable though not exactly well made by any means.
The film's crown jewel was that of Helen Reddy, the Aussie pop icon who was most famous for her feminist anthem "I Am Woman".
Reddy, who sadly passed away in 2020, has such a distinctive and truly charming voice. She sings throughout the film in various songs, but it is when she climbs to the top of the lighthouse and sings about how she longs for her fiancé Paul to return after having been lost at sea for a whole year.
"Candle on the Water" is one of those songs that is on the brink of being kind of cheesy simply due to the metaphor of a title it has, but the lovely melody and the tender voice of Reddy made this a song that I have loved from quite some time.
Sometimes, I sort of forget about the song but whenever it crosses my mind, I can't help but smile and then rush to listen to it.
It never ceases to make me feel all warm and fuzzy...despite its sad undertone.
________________________________________
#7 - GOD HELP THE OUTCASTS
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
Menken/Schwartz
-
When it comes to the films of the Disney Renaissance, I usually would dim my admiration towards all of the films following The Lion King.
However, a recent rewatch of The Hunchback of Notre Dame proved to be a bit of a pleasant surprise.
While this version rather understandably erases the truly tragic ending devised by Victor Hugo, I am still kind of amazed by the darker and more mature themes that Hunchback had.
Frollo as a villain, in particular, was simply dark and disturbing. "Hellfire" (which got an honorable mention) is one of those villain songs that has seemed to gather more esteem over time, and I think it deserves a lot of praise for being such a dark number in a Disney animated film.
Though I am choosing to single out "God Help the Outcasts" for two very simple reasons:
1) It is gorgeous in terms of its melody.
2) Its message is rather profound.
In fact, a lot of the lyrics strike close to home...especially if you want to tie it into the whole Evangelical Right nonsense happening in the political world today.
"God help the outcasts, the tattered, the torn
Seeking an answer to why they were born
Winds of misfortune have blown them about
You made the outcasts, don't cast them out
The poor and unlucky, the weak and the odd
I thought we all were children of God"
_______________________________________
#6 - A WHOLE NEW WORLD
Aladdin (1992)
Menken/Rice
With the release of Encanto last year, an obsession arose around the score written by Lin Manuel Miranda...but the obsession was especially strong over the song "We Don't Talk About Bruno".
The popularity was so strong that it ended up becoming the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100...not even "Let it Go" from Frozen managed that.
The Encanto effort has become the biggest selling Disney single of all time and the first song to become #1 since Aladdin's "A Whole New World".
The biggest difference is that Bruno was the actual single from the movie. With "A Whole New World", it was the duet cover done by Regina Belle and Peabo Bryson.
Regardless, there is no denying the instant iconic status that the song received no matter which version you were listening to. I was only 4 when the film came out and around 5 when it finally came out on VHS.
I still recall the song being everywhere and it became so popular so fast that the Honors Choir that my sister was singing with in the spring of 1993 actually sang the song because it was already so popular despite the fact it had only been released 4-5 months before.
It is a song that has become something of a cliche but is also one of those songs that has such a high level of whimsy and charm that I can't help but fall in love with the song all over again.
_______________________________________
#5 - YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME
Toy Story (1995)
Randy Newman
The Toy Story movies were sneakily a deeper part of my soul than I ever expected...which was evidenced when I went to see Toy Story 3 in theaters and that the final third of the movie managed to leave me a sobbing mess.
I am not kidding. I came close to having to pull over when driving on the highway back home still reeling from how much it affected me.
I grew up on Toy Story. When the first movie came out in 1995, I was 7 years old...and seemingly around the same age as the Andy character.
There are a lot of things to love about this film series...particularly the level of writing. The first one was also the first animated film to receive a Screenplay nomination...but this was also the first film I can recall seeing with a score by Randy Newman.
While the work of Randy Newman these days seems to be coasting on relative Autopilot, this very simple song about friendship manages to always put me back into an instant place of childhood nostalgia.
I think it is a shame that Newman lost this Oscar...especially when he lost it to another song from the world of Disney: "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas, a song that is fine from a movie that is rather weak.
______________________________________
#4 - THE BARE NECESSITIES
The Jungle Book (1967)
Terry Gilkyson
The same composing team who often wrote for the Disney movies of this era, the Sherman Brothers, were brought into The Jungle Book when it was deemed that the work of Folk singer/songwriter Terry Gilkyson was too dark for the film.
However, one song of his remained: The Bare Necessities.
Despite the obvious talent of the Sherman Brothers, I think that their best work came from other films and there is a reason that this particular song stood out and managed to get a Best Song nomination (which it inexplicably lost to "Talk to the Animals" from Doctor Doolittle).
Despite its upbeat arrangement, the song does have a little bit of a moodier edgier sound than a lot of the other Disney tunes from that era...not to mention, it does have a very fun lyrical pattern.
While it may not exactly rhyme, I do love the flow of rhyming "necessities" with "rest at ease".
_____________________________________
#3 - FEED THE BIRDS
Mary Poppins (1964)
The Sherman Brothers
There are always those particular songs that whenever they would come onscreen as a kid that you would be compelled to fast forward through.
I can still remember my mother and sister showing me Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory for the first time and them fast forwarding through "Cheer Up Charlie" as they deemed it far too dull. Amazingly, I have learned I was not the only one who had that experience.
In the case of "Feed the Birds", I don't recall ever fast forwarding the VHS, but I do remember finding the song rather stuffy and little creepy as a kid.
It wasn't until I was in college and, for whatever reason, my acting teacher was talking about movie musicals and the topic of Julie Andrews came up. He asked me to think about what my favorite musical moment of hers was in a film...and after a moment of recollection, I was surprised when "Feed the Birds" was what I settled on.
It is no surprise that Walt Disney responded so strongly to this song. Its message is rather sweet, but the arrangement/melody has to be one of the most haunting from the Disney canon.
This is the second song from Mary Poppins on this list...and I made that exception as I actually consider it to be my favorite Disney movie.
Here is the clip from the film with Dame Julie Andrews singing the song as a lullaby to Jane and Michael:
___________________________________
#2 - UNDER THE SEA
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Menken/Ashman
This would be the first Best Song win for Alan Menken and Howard Ashman...and with it, we got the beginning of the Disney Renaissance.
The Little Mermaid was the saving grace for the Animation Dept at Disney and a lot of that success rested not just on the animation team but the shoulders of Menken and Ashman...particularly the storytelling genius of Ashman.
The whole score to Little Mermaid is sublime.
"Part of Your World", which almost met the fate of the cutting room floor, is one of the best ballads in Disney history.
"Kiss The Girl" is an enchanting and truly sly romantic piece.
"Poor Unfortunate Souls" is one of the more iconic villain songs of all time.
And then you have "Under the Sea", perhaps the more boring choice but I can't deny that I have always loved this song. Everything about is simply so infectious and the truly brilliant lyrical work of Ashman is on full display here.
_________________________________
#1 - BE OUR GUEST
Beauty & the Beast (1991)
Menken/Ashman
While I basically debated through dozens of songs and swapped out several, there was one song that remained pretty strong and that was "Be Our Guest".
I knew from the moment I started this list that it would be my #1 choice.
I can remember watching Beauty and the Beast for the first time...and although it would take me until I was a little older to acknowledge that it was fantastic and perhaps the best animated film from the Disney Renaissance era, I distinctly remember being entranced by "Be Our Guest" as a sequence and as a tune.
I didn't quite understand all of the lyrics of course (considering I was only 3 when it was in theaters and 4 when it came out on VHS), but there was a certain buoyancy to it I adored to the point where I would want to watch the sequence over and over again.
And while I may not have gotten the meaning of a lot of the fanciful lyrics, it was the first time I can recall taking notice of rhyming within lyrics.
It is a relatively simple song and premise that was equally made better by how it was presented onscreen. I could easily make the argument that "Be Our Guest" was the major deciding factor in me finding a love for big flashy musical numbers and taking an interest in looking at some older movie musicals at the recommendation of my grandparents, which then lead to my obsession with that of Judy Garland.
And now, Art Isn't Easy proudly presents, "Be Our Guest":
______________________________________
FINAL THOUGHTS:
This was sort of harder than I thought.
I think some of these songs could interchange and a few that I didn't even mention would warrant some attention.
I think this is a topic that would certainly get a lot of debate.
And yes, it felt good to have this list not include anything from Frozen.
